June Comic Books in Review

 
I spent $224.50 on the comic books that I read this month. I regret not putting in the key issues, variant covers, and speculation books I invested in into my tracking. That number exists and I know what it is. Of course I do. There is no way I am this fanatical about analyzing my comics without having a spreadsheet to track every dollar and dime I earn and where it goes. I am ashamed enough of the $224.50. That other number... I do not want to talk about it, but it does have as lot to do with why I cut back a bit this month. 

New Releases

Basilisk #1 - I like urban fantasy as a genre. I enjoy stories about Gods and Mythology. I am a big Cullen Bunn fan. There is a reason for that. For my tastes, he does not disappoint. I went into the book without reading any spoilers or previews (why do I do a show that spoils comics?) and just really enjoyed the read. 

Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #1 - The premise here is amazing and will probably make its way to the movies eventually: What happened to Boba Fett and the frozen-in-carbonite Han Solo from the time they left cloud city in Empire until you see them both again in Jedi? Wanna find out? Read pretty much all of the Marvel Star Wars comics currently running. 

Planet-Size X-men #1 - I may be outgrowing my favorite mutants (yes I like my X-men more than my Turtles) The spoiler is right in the title. Still, I did not put together exactly what the mutants were up to. With all the cool things coming up like Magneto being on trial for murdering that one infamous maybe/ maybe not mutant and Mystique burning Krakoa to the bloody ground for being played by the Council, I just was not gripped by the plot of Planet-Size. I cursed about it at length on the show and before we recorded on the 23rd. I am struggling with the X-verse right now. This did not help. 

Spawn's Universe #1 - On a nostalgia front, Spawn's Universe took me back to middle school, ya know, in a good way. Macfarlane really made me consider catching up on about 320 issues of Spawn with this one. I LOVE Medieval Spawn (and did when he got his own book back in the day). I am digging Gunslinger Spawn. I could see this book and the spin offs that are to come igniting a new generation of Hellspawn fans. 

Gamma Flight #1- Immortal Hulk made me a Hulk fan. That credit goes to Al Ewing's writing. There are a lot of threads from Immortal Hulk that are going to get tied off in Gama Flight. The first issue also proved that they are going to keep building on those threads. I enjoyed this one. 

I cannot truly include Heroes Return #1 as a new release. It was really the end of the Heroes Reborn storyline. Strong book, but I think it belongs in another section of this post. 

Best Books of June

...in no particular order

The Joker #4 - James Tynion IV is an astonishing writer. I sometimes wondered if this book should not be titled Gordon instead of The Joker, but I think James Gordon is the perfect plot device with which to frame a Joker story. This run could carry on for another 25 issues as long as it maintains its current quality. 

Radiant Black #5 - Where has Kyle Higgins' writing been my entire life? This is by far my favorite series running. I am following the guy into Darkhawk as a result of the good work he has done here. Radiant Black is Power Rangers with much less corny nonsense. The audience has not even gotten the full grasp of who the villain really is and already we are all trying not to get a popcorn-butter-stained fingers on the page. 

Heroes Reborn #7/ Heroes Return #1 - Jason Aaron redefined the cast of Squadron Supreme making them even more likable than they already were so that I couldn't help but cheer out loud when Thor smashed Hyperion across the face with Mjolnir. Was Vibranium always Hyperion's Kryptonite? If so, good on Jason Aaron for his research. If not, way to connect those dots, sir. Also leaving Marvel's Batman a.k.a. Nightthras...erm, I mean Nighthawk at large and aware of what he lost when the universe went back to normal is genius. That doesn't even get to the red council. All I can say is Konshu tried to stop this. 

Seven Secrets #9 - I love Seven Secrets. It is up there in my top rated books (Radiant Black, Nocterra, etc.). The twist at the end of issue #9 made me squee. I cannot wait for issue #10. 

Fantastic Four #33 - Johnny Storm slept with Doctor Doom's bride-to-be to make himself feel better about his awkward love life with Skye. Hahahahaha. This issue he confessed to it AT THE WEDDING. You can imagine how well Doom reacted. I am so glad I read FF. Can this storyline please find its way into the MCU?

Spider-man: Spider's Shadow #3 - Brock Ock! Need I really say more? JJJ saving a tormented and possessed Peter Parker? Yes, please. Chip Zdarsky you are a beautiful person. I treasure your work. 

The Drop Report 

BRZRKR - I am a huge Keanu Reeves fan. I just am bored to tears with this book. I am sure a bigger story is going to come out of it, but I cannot hang around for anymore of it. The violence did not compensate for the time jumps or the slow developmental pace of the first three issues. 

Justice League Last Ride - I just have a hard time caring about anything that isn't in the main continuity of the DCU. Honestly, I am having trouble following anything but Batman and The Joker. It is a price point thing, but also if everything is canon and hypertime is real then nothing really matters because you cannot keep up with it. 

Crime Syndicate - See Justice League Last Ride. My list may soon not include any DC that isn't penned by James Tynion IV.

Mighty Morphin / Power Rangers - These books are well written. They are beautifully illustrated. They are fun. They are really true to what I know about the Power Rangers...which isn't much past the first season. I liked what I read, but I don't really connect with Power Rangers. 

Geiger - I just got kind of bored with the book. The king in Vegas seemed a bit corny. It should have been up my alley. Maybe a little comic fatigue set in for me. 

Children of the Atom - Is this really a book about a group of teenage mutant wanna bes? I feel like the first four issues were out of chronological order. I also constantly felt like I was missing something. Every issue just frustrated me. I think maybe the 1st appearance of the new Dark Hawk happened in this book though. Maybe it isn't all bad. No. It is terrible and I haven't enjoyed a single issue thus far. 

Batman Reptilian - I didn't have anything nice to say about this book. I shouldn't have said anything at all. I dropped many curse words on the Reviews episode of 6/23. Only my love for Garin kept me from hitting him over the head and taking my $5 out of his wallet. He didn't write this heap, but he talked me into it when I was VERY against it. Thus he keeps his $5 and I trust my gut from now on. Ugh. Terrible. Someone who loves it, please explain it to me. 

X-Corp - I love Monet St. Clair/ Penance. Angel isn't my favorite character. Trinary's 1st appearance is one of my prized comics. I detest the current version of Multiplema.... Maddrox. Maybe the premise should have steered me away, but it is an X book and I am normally intensely loyal.  That really changed this month. Also, Tini Howard is a personal favorite writer. 

New Mutants -What happened here? The art was always a bit funky to try and mimic the original run's art, but I could live with that because Gabby and Magik. The stories have ground to a halt along with any interest to keep reading. If you cannot pull me in with Scout/ Gabby/ Honeybager then something is very wrong. Not the least of this is that Faruk totally gives off "about to molest these kids in the woods vibes," Sure, Shadowking should be creepy, but damn. Maybe he wasn't the one for this book. 

X-Factor - This is certainly someone's favorite X title. Eyeboy/ Trevor is AWESOME. I could not care less about the Canadian Twins, Daken, or surprisingly Rachel Summers. The artist formerly known as Phoenix is a personal favorite but she is being written poorly. Also, what was up with dressing her as a hound for the gala. That is VERY out of character for this poor girl from a terrible alternate future. WTF. 

X-men Legends - I honestly haven't read any of these issues since the first one introducing another Summers brother. I should be deep into this, but it feels out of canon. It feels anachronistic (which may be right. I wanted to love it, but the struggle was too real. 

On the Chopping Block

Savage Avengers - I am really only sticking this one out for Conan and Gerry Duggan. It did not need King in Black Tie in issues. It really took an already slow run and just ran it through the Deadpool. I do not blame Gerry Duggan at all. I will give him the chance to restore my faith and love. 

Detective Comics - Again, this is about value. Paying $4.99 per issue so that they can give me a back up story I do not care about and shorten the main story I am somewhat interested in SUCKS. DC is totally misreading their audience... at least if you consider me part of it. Maybe they don't want me buying their comics anymore. If I feel this way at the end of issue #1038, I will grant their wish. 

Excalibur - Psylocke used to be one of my favorite characters. I didn't care for about the last 6 issues of this run. I mostly blame the presence of druid Rictor and the absence of Apocalypse. Again, my love of Tini Howard keeps me buying issues... for now. I have a bit of hope that this team will either improve with Rogue being a main roster X-man or it will take a turn into total crap like X-Factor, New Mutants, and Children of the Atom and I will drop it. 

Way of X- When did Nightcrawler become so boring? Swash a buckle and *bamf* about. Damn. If Onslaught turns out to be an aspect of Legion's personality held over from way back when I am going to throw something. 

The Full June Pull List 

1. Basilisk #1 (both covers)
2. Batman #109
3. Batman the Detective #3
4. Batman Urban Legends #4
5. Batman/ Catwoman #5
6. BRZRKR #3
7. Cable #11
8. Children of the Atom #4
9. Conan the Barbarian #22
10. Crime Syndicate #4
11. Cult of Dracula #4 (both covers)
12. Detective Comics #1037
13. Detective Comics #1038
14. Die #17
15. Excalibur #21
16. Excalibur #21 Dauterman Connecting Variant
17. Fantastic Four #31
18. Fantastic Four #33
19. Fire Power #12 (Main Cover + Liefeld Variant + Todd Macfarlane Variant)
20. Gamma Flight #1
21. Geiger #3
22. Hellions #12 (Main Cover + Dauterman Connecting Variant)
23. Heroes Reborn #5
24. Heroes Reborn #6
25. Heroes Reborn #7
26. Heroes Return #1
27. Justice League Last Ride #2
28. Magic the Gathering #3
29. Marauders #21 (Main Cover + 2 x Dauterman Connecting Variant)
30. Marvel Previews Volume 5 #13
31. Mighty Morphin #8
32. Money Shot #12
33. Money Shot #12 Black Bag Variant
34. New Mutants #19 Dauterman Connecting Variant
35. Nocterra #4
36. Planet-Size X-men #1
37. Planet-Size X-men #1 Dauterman Connecting Variant
38. Previews #394
39. Radiant Black #5 x2
40. Savage Avengers #21
41. Seven Secrets #9
42. Shadecraft #4
43. Spider-man: Spider’s Shadow #3
44. Star Wars #14 x2
45. Star Wars: Darth Vader #13
46. Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #1 ( x 2 Main cover +1 Action Figure Variant)
47. SWORD #6 Dauterman Connecting Variant
48. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #117
49. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #118
50. The Immortal Hulk #47
51. The Joker #4
52. Venom #35 Gleason Variant x2
53. Way of X #3
54. Way of X #3 Dauterman Connecting Variant
55. Wolverine #13
56. Wolverine #13 Dauterman Connecting Variant
57. X-Corp #2
58. X-Corp #2 Dauterman Connecting Variants #4 Deadpool 30th Anniversary Variant Rob Liefeld
59. X-Factor #10 Dauterman Connecting Variant
60. X-Force #20 (Main Cover + Dauterman Connecting Variant)
61. X-men #21
62. X-men #21 Dauterman Connecting Variant
63. X-men Legends #4 Christopher Action Figure Variant
64. X-men Legends #4 Deadpool 30^th Anniversary Variant Rob Liefeld

Maybe the sheer volume of the books I am pulling is the fatigue. I need to think about doing a cut to 10.