Chad’s Comments (group member since Mar 22, 2018)

Chad’s comments from the I Read Comic Books group.

This week's LCS trip.

Dead Days #2
Artemis and the Assassin #4
Cable #3
Empyre: X-Men #4
Excalibur #11
Once & Future #10
Spider-Woman 33
Thor #6
Wolverine #4
Venom #25 3rd printing
Venom #26 2nd printing
Atlantis Wasn't Built for Tourists #1
Shadow Service #1
Maestro #1
Star Wars Bounty Hunters #4
Dark Nights: Death Metal Guidebook #1

Ed wrote: "I tried going to the page for Giant Days and looking at what this website suggests as similar. Lumberjames comes up a lot. Another that came up is Goldie Vance Vol. 1. Anyone read t..."

I've read Goldie Vance. It's a cute series. Great art. Like Lumberjanes though, I think it's intended for a little younger audience than Giant Days.

I thought Nuclear Winter by CAB had that same Giant Days vibe, although a completely different setting.

Last week's adventures in comics.

Lucifer (2018) Vol. 2: The Divine Tragedy ★★★
Much better than volume 1, mainly because things actually happen in it.

Daphne Byrne ★★★
A 19th century Rosemary's Baby combined with a possession story.

The Low, Low Woods ★★
This was boring as hell.

You Are Obsolete ★
Strives to be a modern day, technology-driven version of Village of the Damned but fails miserably. The rare Aftershock misfire.

Catwoman: 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular #1 ★★★
Not as good as the other 80th Anniversary specials. Maybe because there aren't that many Catwoman "eras".

Swamp Thing by Mark Millar, Vol. 1: The Root of All Evil ★★★
Back in the 90's Mark Millar wrote Swamp Thing.

Swamp Thing by Mark Millar, Vol. 2: Darker Genesis ★★★
It's overly long and kind of boring.

Swamp Thing by Mark Millar, Vol. 3: Trial by Fire ★★
I can see why it took 20 years for DC to reprint this even though Millar is one of the top writers in comics.

Superman: The City of Tomorrow Vol. 1 ★★★
This was a big deal at the time (back in '99), but I found it a bit boring this time around.

Wonder Woman: Come Back to Me ★★★
DC collects Wonder Woman's adventures in Wal-Mart (Not really but this story was serialized for some 100 page giants that were sold there.)

Deathstroke R.I.P. ★★★★
The end of Christopher Priest's Deathstroke run.

Lucifer Vol. 3: The Wild Hunt ★★★
Lucifer takes on the Wild Hunt. The story is fine, although it feels unfinished and this is the end of the series.

Today turned out to be a huge week at the LCS for me.

Devil's Highway #1-#2
Venom #27
Archie FCBD
Blade Runner FCBD
Hillbilly FCBD
Adventureman #3
Seven Secrets #1
Empyre: Avengers #2
Superman #24
Batman's Grave #9
Empyre #3, #5
Death Metal #3
Empyre:X-Men #3
Join the Future #4
Marauders #11
The Resistance #4
Something Is Killing the Children #9
X-Force #11

Last week's adventures in comics.

The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists ★★★★★
The is where the series really hit its stride. Dream is given the key to Hell and must decide what to do with it.

The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You ★★★★★
Gaiman's attempt at a children's fantasy story like Narnia mixed with explorations into issues of gender and identity.

The Absolute Sandman, Volume Two ★★★★★
These oversized Absolute editions are just superb with beaucoup extras.

LEWSER!: More Doonesbury in the Time of Trump ★★★★
Gery Trudeau still hasn't lost his touch.

Skyman Volume 1: The Right Stuff ★★★★
These Dark Horse super hero books were actually pretty good.

Project Black Sky: Secret Files ★★★★
A shadowy organization that takes care of otherworldy threats like Superman and the Fantastic Four before they can become a problem.

The Flash: United They Fall ★★
Some OK out of continuity Flash stories.

Strange Academy #1-#2 ★★★★
Harry Potter set in the Marvel Universe but who cares. It's fun.

FCBD 2020: Canuck Beyond and Captain Battle ★
I remember liking Captain Canuck when I was little but this was awful. Our resident Canadians could write better comics than this.

Basketful of Heads ★★★★★
This was like an 80's horror flick crossed with an ode to EC Comics.

Venom by Donny Cates, Vol. 3: Absolute Carnage ★★
Donny Cates is absolutely killing it on Venom, often literally.

The Dollhouse Family ★★
I found this plodded along unlike other Carey and Gross collaborations. A rare miss by these two.

Batman Beyond (2016-) Vol. 7: First Flight ★★★
Every time a new volume of Batman Beyond shows up on Hoopla, I'm always surprised the series is still going. It's not very good.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Vol. 8: Yancy Street Legends ★★
Marvel finally put a bullet in this awful series about a smart, arrogant, awful little girl who is definitely going to grow up to be the next Dr. Doom.

The Stonekeeper ★★★★
Your typical but very well done children's fare set in a magical fantasy world like Narnia or Oz.

The X-Files: Season 10, Volume 1 ★★★
I consider myself an X-Files expert and this was still hard to follow at times. Only recommended for hardcore fans.

Justice League of America by Brad Meltzer: The Deluxe Edition ★★★★
I loved Meltzer's run on the Justice League. Full of odes to classic elements from the 70's and 80's comic.

100 Ways Your Two-Year-Old Can Hurt You ★★
A bunch of observations made about one's life before and after children that you've already come up with yourself.

Stranger Things: The Bully ★
Utter crap with poor art. There's absolutely no new story here at all.

Fangs ★★
Dad jokes about a vampire and werewolf that fall in love.

This week's comic run:

Bad Mother #1
Star Wars #5
Lords of Empyre: Celestial Messiah
Empyre: X-Men #2
Empyre #4
Strange Adventures #4
Dark Nights: Death Metal: Legends of the Dark Knights: Could This Title Be Any Longer #1
Finger Guns #4
Fire Power #1
Fire Power #2
The Resistance FCBD
The Tick FCBD
Disaster Inc #2

This week's comic book reading.

Irena: Book Two: Children of the Ghetto ★★★★
Book two in the story of Irena Sendler and how she saved over 2,500 Jewish children imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

Rock Heaven (Saturday and Sunday, #1) ★★★
An amusing tale of two lizards on an existential quest.

The Mask of a Thousand Tears ★★
Great art. Uninteresting story.

Pirate Queen: The Legend of Grace O'Malley ★★★
Grace O'Malley lived an interesting life.

Lon Chaney Speaks ★★★
Lon Chaney lived a very private life so Dorian extrapolates in some places and recaps his movies to fill this out.

Addams' Apple: The New York Cartoons of Charles Addams ★★★★
A subtle, oft-kilter look at New York City through the eyes of Charles Addams.

Mason Mooney: Paranormal Investigator ★★★
A decent children's book about a self-centered, down on his luck, kid paranormal investigator who helps a young girl whose sister is being haunted.

Stranger Things: Into the Fire ★★★
It was smart to spin off this story about other kids that escaped from Brennan's clutches, but this is kind of slow paced.

Shazam!: The Seven Magic Lands ★★★★
Johns has done a good job of updating the Shazam family's adventures for modern times. It doesn't feel at all hokey like some of the previous Captain Marvel books.

Shazam! #12 ★★★★
A very good fill-in issue from Jeff Loveness and Brando.

The Absolute Sandman, Volume One ★★★★★
One of my all-time favorite comics. This oversized edition is fantastic!

The Sandman Vol. 3: Dream Country ★★★★
Four unrelated stories where Morpheus takes a back seat, appearing as a supporting character in each one.

The Sandman Vol. 4: Season of Mists ★★★★★
This is where the series really hits its stride. Dream gains the key to Hell and has to determine what to do with it.

Bolivar Eats New York: A Discovery Adventure ★★★
Unfortunately, there not really a story here. It's just a series of drawing of Bolivar and Sybil eating different foods around New York City.

Majestic: Strange New Visitor ★★
The Superman of the Wildstorm comes to the DC universe through a wormhole and gets stuck here.

H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau ★★★★
Gabriel Rodriguez's art is fantastic in this adaption of the HG Well's classic.

Batman, Vol. 13: City of Bane Part 2 ★★★★★
Whew! A fitting end to an epic run. I'm looking forward to reading this straight through now that's it's all over.

One Soul ★
One of the most tedious things I've ever read. Others may talk about how revolutionary this was, but it was nothing more than a terribly written gimmick.

Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales ★★★
A completely skippable tie-in book.

Absolute Carnage vs. Deadpool ★★★
Carnage sends his cronies after Deadpool because he was merged with 5 different symbiotes.

War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men ★★★
This is really just an extension of Rosenberg's X-Men run. He was allowed to do whatever he wanted since soon none of it would matter once H0X/PoX came along.

Comics for a Strange World: A Book of Poorly Drawn Lines ★★
Absurd comics that are more boring than absurd.

Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: Re-Entry ★★★★
Captain Marvel along with a bunch of other female superheroes get trapped in a dystopian Roosevelts Island with the misogynistic Nuclear Man.

Captain Marvel, Vol. 2: Falling Star ★★★★
I really like how Thompson continues to bring Carol's female superhero friends into the book and they actually feel like friends. I also like how Thompson has a firm grasp on Carol's complicated history and uses it to power new stories.

Superman vs. Muhammad Ali ★★★★
Superman and Muhammad Ali fight one another without powers to determine who will fight an alien champion for the fate of the Earth. Yes, the premise sounds hokey, but it works surprisingly well.

The Dreaming Vol.3: One Magic Movement ★★
Spurrier gets lost in flowery language and forgets how to tell a coherent story.

Tales from Harrow County, Vol. 1: Death's Choir ★★★
It's 10 years later, Bernice is all grown up and now the main character. Naomi Franquiz's art isn't as good as Tyler Crook, but it is similar.

Promethea, Vol. 2 ★★★
In the issues where Alan Moore tries to teach us some esoteric magic lesson my brain completely shuts down and turns into "Let's look at J.H. Williams beautiful artwork while Alan Moore rambles on about nonsense."

Hi Seamus. It's always good to see another GR friend here.

This week's comic run:

Empyre: Avengers #1
Empyre: Savage Avengers #1
Iron Man 2020 #5
X-Factor #1
DC Cybernetic Summer
Plunge #5
Cable #2
Doctor Tomorrow #4
X-Men #10
Hellblazer #8
Legion of Super-Heroes #7
Suicide Squad #7
Stranger Things FCBD

Ed wrote: "Christian Ward for artist really surprised me. Yeah, his stuff is interesting, especially for colors. (I think he does his own colors.) "

He does do his own colors.

Erin wrote: "Is anyone else super excited to get to watch the Eisners online tonight? I love award shows so I can't wait!"

Am I the only one who thinks the Eisner's are past their prime? The majority of nominees held no interest to me or just weren't that great when I did read them.

This week's comic book reading:

Secret Six, Vol. 1: Friends in Low Places ★★
Really disappointing reboot of the Secret Six from Gail Simone.

Secret Six, Vol. 2: The Gauntlet ★★★
Vol 2 was better but nowhere as good as the original run.

Captain Midnight Volume 6 Marked for Death--Reign of the Archon ★★★
Unfortunately, it looks like this was cancelled before the war with the Archon was resolved. Still, this was a solid series.

Super Sons: The Foxglove Mission ★
Sometimes YA authors shouldn't try to write comic books. This is the most confusing children's book I think I've read. Maybe a child actually wrote it?

The Fox: Fox Hunt ★★★
A fun, retro superhero book where The Fox's son wants to be a superhero.

New Kid by Jerry Craft ★★★★
The first graphic novel to win a Newberry Medal.

Uncanny X-Men, Vol. 4: The Draco ★
Widely panned as the worst X-Men story ever written. Chuck Austen makes Nightcrawler's dad an actual demon. His X-Men run was responsible for getting him thrown out of comics to where he started self-publishing porn comics.

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? ★★★
Not as good as the buzz I heard about it. Fraction has started to believe his own hype.

Halo: Tales from Slipspace ★★
Only recommended for Halo enthusiasts. This sucked of you haven't played the games.

Dear Justice League ★★★★★
Superheros for kids done right.

X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X ★★★★
The X-Men and FF fight over Franklin Richard's future. Really well done.

X-Men: Trial of the Juggernaut ★★
Marvel tries to disguise this book as The Trial of the Juggernaut but that's only two issues of Chuck Austen's infamously terrible run on the X-Men. FYI, the Juggernaut gets it on with She-Hulk.

Gunland ★★★
An oddball, sci-fi, spaghetti western with dinosaurs replacing horses.

Empyre #2 ★★★★
I'm really digging this book. It's fun. It's exciting. Ewing is packing each issue with some "Wow!" moments.

Lords Of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling ★★★★
Fills in the gaps between Incoming! and Empyre #1.

Infinity 8 Vol.7: All for Nothing ★★
I couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on in this. Basically some alien was being manipulated by a robot and lots of timey-wimeyness was mentioned.

Strange Skies Over East Berlin ★★
A disappointing story about an alien crash landing in East Germany and being captured by the Stasi.

The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: California Library Edition ★★★★
This reminds me of something Jamie Hewlett would do if he and Damon Albarn ever turned Gorillaz into a comic.

James Bond 007, Vol. 2 ★★★
A re-imagining of Odd Job and Goldfinger for modern audiences. Not too shabby.

Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues - Johnny's Story ★★
The Karate Kid retold from Johnny's perspective. It doesn't really add much at all to the story unfortunately. I'd give this a pass.

The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes ★★★★★
Decided to do a re-read of Sandman and snagged all of the oversized Absolute collections from the library. I'm really happy I still love this 30 years later.

The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House ★★★★★
The Corinthian is badass.

Valiant has 25% off its collections of digital comics through Sunday. It's a little weird in that it's a USB flash drive that is locked to your device. But it's every Valiant comic they have produced from 2012 to 2018. I bought this one a year or so ago. There's a ton of great comics here. It's almost 600 comics.

The other collection is Valiant Classic and it's all their comics from the 90's except for the ones that were licensed, Solar, Turok and Magnus, Robot Fighter. I just bought that one today even though I have most of these issues scattered throughout my basement.

http://www.gitcorp.com/valiant25offsa...

Today's comic book pile.

Empyre #2
Emperor Hulkling
Empyre: X-Men #1
Dr. Aphra #2
Spider-Man FCBD
Bloodshot FCBD
Dark Ark: Instinct FCBD
Shazam #13
Hellions #2
The Man Who Fucked Up Time #4
New Mutants #11
The Resistance #3
Wolverine #3
X-Men / FF #4
Action Comics #1023

I'll nominate Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant. It's such a fun book.

This week's comic book reading:

Birds of Prey by Brian Azzarello & Emanuela Lupacchino ★★★
Eh. There's no much story here and definitely not what I'd expect from Azzarello. Emanuela Lupacchino's art is fantastic but this was nothing more than an attempt to capitalize on the failed movie.

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher ★★★★★
Not a comic, but a new urban fantasy book from one of my favorite authors. If you're never read The Dresden Files, you should rectify that immediately. There's some spectacular worldbuilding going on in these novels.

Swamp Thing: The Dead Don't Sleep ★★
Len Wein returns to his Swamp Thing roots for a story better left untold.

Robin 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 ★★★★
I loved that DC brought most of the major creative teams back to do stories for each of the Robins. Dixon and McDaniel on Nightwing. Seeley, King, and Janin on Grayson. Tomasi and Jimenez on Supersons. Judd Winick on Red Hood. Tynion and Fernandez on Tim Drake's Gotham Knights era.

Empyre #1 ★★★★
A really solid beginning to this event. I like how the Avengers and FF come at this from opposite sides.

Nightwing Year One ★★★★
Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel return to tell Nightwing's untold time between quitting as Robin in A Lonely Place of Dying and his 1st appearance as Nightwing in New Teen Titans.

Flash Forward ★★★
DC's attempt to try and fix all the awful things they've done to Wally West since Flashpoint. I'm really curious how the end of this book plays out in the future as it seems to tie into Doomsday Clock.

Nancy in Hell ★★
Blood, guts and T&A... and not much else.

Red Hood: Outlaw Vol. 3: Generation Outlaw ★★★
Red Hood signs up to train the next generation of villains as part of Year of the Villain.

Quantum and Woody: Earth's Last Choice ★★
Typically I like Christopher Hastings but this was a dud. No story and terrible art from Ryan Browne.

Suicide Squad Vol. 1 by Tom Taylor ★★★★★
Pretty much anything Taylor touched turns to gold. Taylor brings back a sense of danger by introducing a new cast of characters that can actually die at any moment.

Secret Six, Vol. 1: Friends in Low Places ★★
Really disappointing reboot of the Secret Six from Gail Simone.

X Omnibus, Volume 1 ★★★
Dark Horse's version of the Punisher written by the writer of the original Punisher miniseries.

X Omnibus, Volume 2 ★★
This book quickly jumps the shark once X takes over Arcadia.

Captain Midnight, Volume 3: For a Better Tomorrow ★★★★
Captain Midnight is a public domain, pulp character Dark Horse resurrected when they brought back their shared superhero universe several years back.

Captain Midnight Volume 4: Crash and Burn ★★★
Midnight mopes around after the death of his friend.

Captain Midnight, Vol. 5: Lost Time ★★★★
Midnight's sidekick from the 40's has gone "the end justifies the means". That plotline wraps up here.

Two Past Midnight ★★★★
Ghost, X, and Captain Midnight team up.

X, Volume 1: Big Bad ★★★★
Duane Swierczynski's reboot of Dark Horse's version of the Punisher.

X, Volume 2: The Dogs of War ★★★★
X takes on some criminal elements he didn't murder in the last volume.

X, Volume 3: Siege ★★★★
Swierczynski brings back some villains from the previous X series.

X Volume 4: Better Off Dead ★★★★
X goes up against some Aryan villains that later threaten Captain Midnight.

X, Volume 5: Flesh and Blood ★★★★
This story gets pretty gruesome as there is a man kidnapping prostitutes and surgically removing their skin.


Can you tell I had a bunch of hoopla downloads I needed to use before the end of June?

Interstella5555 wrote: "Im not entirely sure it might meet the criteria but ill nominate Dial H, Vol. 1: Into You

if it doesnt meet the criteria then thats ok :)"

I think all of the Wonder Comics line is intended for all ages, so I think you're good.

Kait wrote: "I had some trouble finding it on Hoopla. Here's the Hoopla link for people having a similar problem: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/1... (sorry if the link doesn't come through live, I'm o..."

Thanks Kait. I couldn't find it on hoopla either and had given up on reading it.

Today's comic book run:

Year Zero #3
Once and Future #9
Canuck Beyond and Captain Battle FCBD
iWolverine 2020 #1
Empyre #1
Death Metal #2
Strange Adventures #3
Jimmy Olsen #12
Daphne Byrne #6
Artemis and the Assassin #3
Spider-Woman #2
X-Men FCBD
Giant Size X-Men - Magneto