The European comic shop scene is weird to me you guys. Between London, Halifax and Paris, I saw no less than a dozen comics shops, some of them named Forbidden Planet even, but man, it’s weird seeing the books I pull be considered imports. It’s also worth noting those shops were kinda fantastic, as there were things in them I was wiling to drop insane amounts of cash on. Also man the dollar sucks in the global sense, which is why I didn’t drop crazyyyyyy money. But if you’re ever in Europe, I encourage y’all to take some times to look at some of the local shops, ESPECIALLY in Paris.
So yeah remember when I said I was going to take a break from the X-books and wait for the oversized hardcover that was dropping in December? J/K, I BOUGHT CHAPTERS 3 AND 4 BECAUSE I AM WEAK! Zero regrets about that mind you (YOLO), because this event is crazy fun and serves as testament on how strong the X-line is these days. Brian Wood and David Lopez absolutely kill on their chapter (X-men #5, Marvel, $3.99, 20 pages) which should be a suprise to no one. The two had a great run on the X-men last year, and it’s great to see them work their magic once again on Marvel’s mutants. Lopez especially, who’s John Cassadyesque, only with better faces. And Woods, not unlike Bendis, is fantastic at injecting humor throughout the soap opera that is the X-men. As for Uncanny X-men #12 (Chapter 12, also $3.99 and 20 pages), Chris Bachalo and like 4 inkers (Really?!?) rejoin Bendis for a tale that had me drop at least 5 very audible profanities as I read it. The last 6 pages of this book are insane, and are setting some some great stuff for Chapter 5. Despite my intial concerns about this book, Battle of Atom has pleased me on every level, and I cannot stress how awesome this X-event has been so far. THIS is how events should be done.
Mark Waid and Chris Samnee are really doing their best to trying to get me to come up with new ways to praise Daredevil. This current arc, a take on the Trayvon Martin case, covers a LOT in 20 pages, making it a stral for $3. Also everytime Mark Waid writes Hank Pym is a treat, and adding him to DD’s supporting cast was a genius move. And Chris Samnee remains one of the best artists working in the industry today. Don’t let the cover fool you, there’s a lot more going in the pages of Daredevil 31 then it implies (the promised deathtraps are missed though) and you’re a fool if you’re not reading this book. Yes I’ll resort to name calling to get people to buy this title, I am not above doing as such.
Captain Marvel #16 ($2.99, 20 pages, Marvel) had a very fun cover, but it’s an uneven read. Which is unfortunate, as the book has been very hit or miss as of late. I’m not reading Infinity,and this book is VERY much tied into the event of this mini, so there’s a lot that I just didn’t get. A shame, because there’s some great talent giving KSD a hand with this issue in the form of Jen Van Meter and Patrick Olliffe. And there’s a lot of strong bits spread through out the issue, as the writers have a great handle on the Avengers featured in this book. But again, if you’re not reading Infinity you’re gonna be lost. At least the 5 months of crossovers comes to an end next issue..before the book takes a small break before the rumor relaunched during ALL NEW MARVEL NOW, or whatever it’s call. Either way, this was probably the worst issue to drop in an otherwise fun run, and hopefully the break will do KSD and Captain Marvel some good.
And with that I’m caught up with my single issues. However, I did read some trades, some manga and there’s a bunch of great books coming out this upcoming week. So I’ll be back real quick (maybe).
