New Year + New Comics – Money = Having To Drop Current Titles

So, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m planning to pick up the new Black Widow, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk books when they come out. In addition, I’m honestly kind of enticed into at least checking out an arc of Iron Man‘s coming up soon where Malekith, the main villain from Thor: The Dark World, plans to find the Mandarin’s rings to gain even more power. However, since money’s gonna be a little on the tight side for reasons I don’t wanna get into, that means dropping some titles to make room for the new ones. So, let’s go through the books I regularly buy these days to get a better idea as to which stays and which goes.

Batman

Hell no, I ain’t dropping this book! This is the best frigging book DC puts out every month! Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have been putting out one of the best runs of Batman in years, and I’ve been loving the crap outta this book since day one that I’ve been buying it, and I honestly don’t see that changing any time soon. Batman STAYS.

Superman Unchained

Again, the best Superman book of the New 52, though largely because it still feels like the pre-Flashpoint Superman. Y’know, the far better one. lol Not planning to drop this one, but depending on how long it winds up lasting, I may not have a choice. For now, however, Superman Unchained STAYS.

Nightwing

Nightwing has been great, especially since the move to Chicago (although I still don’t understand why there and not a New 52 Blüdhaven, but whatever). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Nightwing has kinda been reminding me of Spider-man before Marvel ruined Spider-man. Now, depending on the ending and fall-out of Forever Evil, I MIGHT be dropping this book, or it might even be getting cancelled. We’ll just have to see what happens.

Supergirl

As great as Supergirl’s been, I’m thinking I might have to drop it, on account of a change coming up where Supergirl is going to be joining the Red Lanterns. Mind you, that all depends on whether or not this decision turns out to be permanent. If so, dropping. If not, we’ll see. Either way, though, I think I’m gonna skip the next arc involving Lobo, just because it doesn’t look terribly interesting and it’ll free up some cash.

Batgirl

Yep, I am coming back to Gail Simone‘s Batgirl, as was always my intent once Batgirl: Wanted was over. I won’t be picking up the next issue, since it’s a tie-in to an event I’m not gonna be following, but after that, apparently Batgirl’s gonna be teaming up with Strix, so that should prove interesting. So yeah, gonna say with some confidence that Batgirl STAYS.

Batman/Superman

Batman/Superman has been a lot of fun, albeit pretty different, and I do plan to get the trade for issues 1-4 when it comes out, perhaps for my birthday, but I don’t really plan to follow the crossover with Worlds’ Finest, so I guess whether I continue to pick it up after that will depend on what comes afterwards. Still, I give props where props is due to Greg Pak for making this a fun series, which is what a team-up book for Superman and Batman should be. Now if you could talk DC into bringing back the old Superman/Batman logo for it, that’d be great. I don’t care which hero gets top billing, just bring back the logo. lol

Talon

James Tynion’s Talon’s been AMAZING, but it’s also changing writers and gonna be going in a new direction, so I gotta wait to see how that goes before making a decision. If it remains as great as it’s been, and we get to see Calvin Rose and Casey Washington continue to be awesome, definitely gonna continue to pick Talon up.

X-Men

Brian Wood’s X-Men continues to be fun and engaging, which is good since it’s the only mainstream all-women team right now with Fearless Defenders being cancelled and Birds of Prey having Condor, AKA That Guy No One Cares About. And I know, the Birds have had a dude on the team before in the form of Hawk, but that was only ‘cuz Dove was on the team and it’s always best to keep Hawk and Dove together. Sadly, it had a little bit of a shake-up with its roster due to Remender deciding to kill off Rogue in Uncanny Avengers and Kitty deciding to go hang out with Cyclops of all people, but the current line-up works too, so I’m probably gonna keep with it.

The Movement

The Movement…Yeah, I’m sadly done with this one. Not Gail Simone’s best work, as I feel the overall storytelling and character arcs are kinda messed up, but the characters themselves are alright, and I hope that the book improves and gets new readers. Maybe I’ll pick it back up someday if that happens.

Red Sonja

On the other hand, Gail Simone’s Red Sonja is definitely sticking around on my pull list. This is Gail at her best, when the people above her basically just let her do whatever she wants, and it’s FANTASTIC. XD So yeah, Red Sonja STAYS.

Batman and Robin

And finally, Batman and Robin, or rather, Batman and Whoever these days. Look, I’m gonna be honest, I like Peter Tomasi‘s writing a lot, but at this point, if we don’t get a new Robin soon, this book is going to suffer a LOT. Why? Three words: Lack of direction. It feels like Tomasi is having to stall for the moment that either Damian comes back or someone takes his place. Batman and Two-Face has been alright, but if this continues for much longer, I may need to seriously consider dropping this book.

So, of the books I just listed, four are staying for certain and one is getting dropped. That leaves Nightwing, Batman/Superman, Supergirl, X-Men, Batman and _____, and Talon. Which of these books do you think deserve to stick around, and which do you think should be banished from What I Bought Today? Lemme know in the comments, and/or vote below which of the six you think is the best, and we’ll see what happens in the new year. Ja né!

Related articles

• Bullet Reviews #137 (comicbooked.com)
• EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK: Jae Lee Returns to “Batman/Superman” for “First Contact” (comicbookresources.com)
• Time For A Little (More) Gail Simone Appreciation (venusfrommars.wordpress.com)
• Lobo, Fear, and the God of Death: Marguerite Bennett on Comics and Writing (hopeburnsbright.wordpress.com)
• Batgirl #26 Review (comicsrefueled.wordpress.com)
• Bedard Returns To The Lantern Corps With “Supergirl” (comicbookresources.com)
• Revealed: DC Comics Was to Have Featured Rape and Torture of Batgirl (breitbart.com)
• Batman/Superman #6 (comicvine.com)
• Willow Writes the New Ms. Marvel, a Teenage Muslim Shape-Shifter (comicbookresources.com)
• DC Comics Jumps Forrward 5 Years With Weekly “The New 52: Futures End” (comicbookresources.com)
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Changes To My Pull List

So I’ve heard rumors that DC Comics plans to increase the price on all their books by a dollar at some point in the next few months to compete with the kind of money that Marvel makes. Wonderful. I should note for the record that I am unemployed and only have so much money to spend on comics. Heck, I’m pushing it as it is. So, with that said, I’m thinking I’ll be cutting back on some of the comics that I buy.

So, which ones get dropped? Well, obviously Batman Incorporated, since the book is getting cancelled in a couple of months. I’ve already dropped Justice League of America, and I wasn’t ever really steadily buying Justice League, instead buying what issues interest me if and when they pop up. And unfortunately, one book I MIGHT need to drop is Earth 2 once James Robinson leaves. It’s just, he’s leaving the book that he was highly passionate about and was making plans for all the way into late next year, and now he’s leaving it and DC altogether. That tells me that, among other things, DC has plans for Earth 2 that rubbed him in a seriously wrong way. If that turns out to be the case, it will be sad beyond words, so I hope I’m VERY wrong here. And finally, I’ve considered dropping Detective Comics in favour of Superman Unchained. Nothing personal, its just that, other than one or two hiccups, I really like Unchained. Besides, I’m already buying what I consider to be the best Batman book going right now, I don’t NEED this one too.

But what about the others? Well, at this exact moment, the only two I am swearing off dropping are Scott Snyder‘s Batman and Brian Wood‘s X-Men. The others, I don’t want to drop, but I will if I have to. So, for the next couple of months, I’m gonna be doing some serious thinking about this. However, since I like talking about the books I buy every week in What I Bought Today, and since plenty of people read those articles, I’m gonna ask you for your help in this decision.

Now, I’m not asking you which book(s) I should drop. I’m just asking, of the books I regularly buy, which one do you like to hear me talk about the most, which one do you think is the best, etc. Also, keep in mind that I’m adding Gail Simone‘s Red Sonja to this list since I plan to buy it next week. So, feel free to vote on the poll, or add comments below. Keep in mind, this won’t necessarily mean the one(s) that get the least votes will be dropped, I just want your take on all of this to help me make my decisions.

I should note that it may yet turn out I’m wrong about DC increasing the price of their books, but even if that is the case, I really should be considering doing this given my current financial status. Thank you for your time, and I hope to have this all figured away soon enough. Ja né!

Related articles

• “Injustice’s” Tom Taylor Takes Over “Earth 2” in October (comicbookresources.com)
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What I Bought Today – X-Men #1 (WARNING – SPOILERS AND MASSIVE BACK-STORY, LOL)

Say what? It’s Friday? Say what?! I bought a Marvel book?! Well, let’s just go ahead and see exactly…

Before anyone asks why I decided so quickly after my last post to go ahead and buy a Marvel book, I just wanna give the quick answer right now: When someone is willing to go to the trouble of writing a 13 paragraph essay on why I should at least be willing to give Marvel a chance, I really don’t have any other choice but to do just that, so thank you John W. Bruce for making this decision all the easier on me. Speaking of which, note to self: Apparently asking in the title of a blog entry helps to get feedback. lol With that said, let’s take a look at X-Men #1.

Okay, I gotta go over a couple of things for readers of my blog whom I know for a fact may not be all that familiar with recent happenings in the Marvel Universe, particularly involving the X-Men. So, if I may borrow one of Linkara‘s quotes, it’s now…

Back in 2005, an event comic called House of M has Scarlet Witch losing control of her magic, resulting in her de-powering most of the mutant population. The known number of mutants goes from millions to a couple hundred in an instant. Naturally, not everybody exactly handled this all that well. However, last year, Marvel put on an event known as Avengers vs. X-Men. In it, the Phoenix returned, Hope Summers was to be the one it would possess, and Cyclops decided that was a good thing, because the Phoenix’s powers of rebirth might bring back the mutants, even though anyone written with half a brain told him how idiotic a decision due to the number of people the Phoenix has killed whenever it showed up before. This led to the Avengers trying to stop this outcome, which resulted in the I-don’t-even-feel-like-keeping-track’th time Marvel set heroes against each other for the mass crossover event, as the X-Men who were loyal to Cyclops fought against the Avengers, who were merely trying to place Hope in protective custody. I should note for the record that, by the end of this book, Cyclops is very clearly a villain, becoming the Dark Phoenix himself by choice and killing a number of people, including Professor X. The ultimate outcome of Avengers vs. X-Men was that Hope Summers and the Scarlet Witch were able to wish away the Phoenix, Cyclops was arrested but later escaped prison and became a terrorist, the mutant population went back up to how it was previously due to the spell Scarlet Witch previously cast being broken, and Captain America has reformed the Avengers to include a number of X-Men as a gesture to help with mutant rights, because for some reason, the civilians in Marvel are still ignorant and racist dumbasses. This has also led to the start of Marvel NOW, which was originally believed to be a reboot to compete with DC’s New 52, but has actually proven to be more or less just a whole new series of #1 issues, basically re-establishing the events of the modern universe for newcomers while also progressing everyone’s stories.

This is TOO adorable! XD

So, with that said, let’s look at the cast. You got Storm, who in my opinion has ALWAYS been one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe with her ability to manipulate the weather however she sees fit. Then there’s Rachel Summers, AKA Marvel Girl, who is the daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey, and thus has the same insane levels of telekinetic and telepathic powers her mother did, and then some. Next is Rogue, who can steal powers just by touching someone’s bare skin, and is actually a member of the Uncanny Avengers nowadays, so I guess she’s pulling double duty here. Fourth member of the team is Kitty Pryde, AKA Shadowcat, who is literally untouchable with her ability to phase through solid objects. Next is Psylocke, who is also a telepath/telekinetic, but her preferred ability in combat is to form psychic weapons. And finally, well, now I’m a little confused.

The final member of the group is Jubilee, who WAS a mutant with the ability to shoot…erm, fireworks out of her hands. However, she was among those mutants who were de-powered, and some time afterwards, she was made into a vampire…Yeah, I had no idea that was a thing. I found out last night, and I was like “WHA?!” To keep from losing control of herself, she drinks bottles of Wolverine’s blood (since he has an unlimited amount to spare), which has the added bonus of giving her limited amounts of Logan’s healing powers. All this actually sounds kinda cool…except that they have established she can only handle so much sunlight before it becomes toxic to her, and yet we see her on several occasions in direct sunlight in this comic. Also, there was an image posted a while back of her using her old mutant powers. This has led to a theory that she either was cured of her vampirism, has regained her old powers, and/or has gained increased invulnerability to the sun, possibly all three due to the outcome of Avengers vs. X-Men.

So yeah, that’s the main six protagonists for this book, which brings up a point that everybody online has brought up: This is an X-Men comic with an all-female leading cast. And I gotta say, I love what the book’s writer, Brian Wood, had to say about that…

And I quote…

“I feel like as far as the X-Men go, the women are the X-Men. Cyclops and Wolverine are big names, but taken as a whole, the women kind of rule the franchise. If you look at the entire world as a whole, it’s the females that really dominate and are the most interesting and cool to look at. When you have a great artist drawing them, they look so amazing and always have.” I cannot argue those points, people. But what’s really great about this comic is that it stars a team of women, but it never feels like it’s beating that fact into you. It feels more natural that way.

Anyway, let’s actually get into the story here. It seems that when Sublime, the evil sentient bacteria who is trying to keep mutants from becoming the dominant species (he was created by Grant Morrison, don’t ask questions, lol), arrived on Earth billions of years ago, he had a twin sister named Arkea. The two had a fight over who got to come to Earth, which Sublime won, forcing Arkea to evolve elsewhere while harbouring a deep-rooted need for revenge. Cut to present day, where Jubilee is headed for the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning, along with a baby. No, we’re not in Renesmee territory here, the baby is from a town that got destroyed, supposedly in a terrorist bombing, but some people claimed to have seen a meteorite. She finds she’s being stalked by Sublime and calls the school, which by the way is jam packed with a ton of students, and I pretty much have no idea who the hell ANY of them are. Regardless, Storm, Kitty, and Rogue head out and meet Jubilee on her train, which later has an apparent electrical malfunction that kills the drivers and Rogue has to save everyone on the train.

Meanwhile, Sublime has arrived at the school ahead of Jubilee, and immediately surrenders. He’s not there to start a fight, he’s there for protection. It seems there really WAS a meteorite, and that Arkea was piggybacking on it to get to Earth. So why was he stalking Jubilee earlier? Because apparently, the baby has something of an infection, if you get my drift. Also, Arkea was the one responsible for the train accident, as she can possess machines as Sublime can with people. And it gets better, since Jubilee and the others arrive just as Sublime is explaining the details about his sister, Arkea deciding to send herself in a text message to Hank down in the lab and possess Karima, the Omega Sentinel…Definite pants-to-be-darkened ending.

So, how do I rank this comic? It’s awesome, no doubt. Would I call it the best comic I’ve read this month? No, but it’s pretty high up there. Then again, this is the month where DC gave us this…

And this…

And THIS…

“Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down”

…So yeah, that might be influencing me a bit, but honestly, I think I would really like this book regardless, so I will be buying the next issue at the end of June…which means now I gotta re-evaluate my planned pull list for the coming months…dammit. Oh well, at least now I know I CAN enjoy a Marvel comic a lot, and I hope anyone who’s interested will do so too. Ja né!

Related articles

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