What are you reading right now? (April 2017)

[Kate]

So many comics, so little time! What are you reading this month?

[Chris]

I just ordered a bunch of Spawn trade paperbacks off Amazon that I want to get around to reading (surprisingly expensive!). I never read Spawn before, so I got books that cover the first 14 issues, as well as Armageddon and Endgame. Hopefully I can read at least one or two Spawn books this month.

[Kate]

Chris wrote: "I just ordered a bunch of Spawn trade paperbacks off Amazon that I want to get around to reading (surprisingly expensive!). I never read Spawn before, so I got books that cover the first 14 issues,..."

Nice! I have never read any Spawn. You'll have to let us know what you think.

[Kate]

I just finished reading:

1) X-Men Prime
This is the equivalent of DC's Rebirth issue, but for all the new X-Men books. It's a great issue, but man, there are way too many X-books coming out.

"Market oversaturation? What's that?" - Marvel execs, probably...

2) Super Sons #2
I am loving this series so far. Jorge Jimenez' art is perfect for depicting scrappy little super kids. It turns out Damian Wayne's power is being a terrible peer influence.

3) Batman #19
Does anyone care about Bane anymore? Bueller? Bueller?

4) Hawkeye #3-4
This series didn't grab me right away, but I'm completely on board now. Still wishing Leonardo Romero had ditched those ridiculous hip cut outs on her suit, but otherwise this is Grade A Kate Bishop shenanigans.

[Chris]

Kate wrote: "I just finished reading:

1) X-Men Prime
This is the equivalent of DC's Rebirth issue, but for all the new X-Men books. It's a great issue, but man, there are way too many X-books coming out.

"Ma..."

How is the new X-Men stuff? How does it compare to the older comics?

[Wayland]

This week's run got me:

Star Wars 30- Luke follows up on the Yoda solo tale from the last few episodes, and that tale concludes in flashback
Nightwing 18- Nightwing and Robin team up against Professor Pyg and find out who is behind him.
Jessica Jones 7- Jessica tries to reconcile with Luke.
Iron Fist 2- Danny begins a mystical tourney.
Harley Quinn 17- Harley looks into disappearing homeless people, with a Batman Animated style back up story.
Green Arrow 20- conclusion of the return of Roy Harper.
Bombshells 25- the Bombshells version of the Suicide Squad.
Aquaman 20- continuing the mystery of Dead Water
Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes 6- ending the war on Kang.
Champions 7- they meet their rival team and learn an important lesson.
Hawkeye 5- Kate teams with her idol, Jessica Jones.
X-Men Gold 1- any book with Kitty, Kurt, Peter and Rachel in it I'll at least take a look at.

[Kate]

Chris wrote: "How is the new X-Men stuff? How does it compare to the older comics?"

I really like it so far. I haven't read a ton of older X-Men books, so I'm not sure I could give it a fair comparison.

[Kate]

Wayland wrote: "X-Men Gold 1- any book with Kitty, Kurt, Peter and Rachel in it I'll at least take a look at."

Really excited to read this! Kitty has deserved her own team for a long time.

[Chris]

I just got finished with the first five issues of Spawn and thought it was great! I can't believe I've been missing out on such a cool franchise for so long. I posted a review for Spawn Book 1: Beginnings if anyone is curious to see what Spawn is like. I definitely recommend it.

[Kate]

Chris wrote: "I just got finished with the first five issues of Spawn and thought it was great! I can't believe I've been missing out on such a cool franchise for so long. I posted a review for Spawn Book 1: Beg..."

Nice! Have you jumped right in to volume 2 now, or are you going to take a breather with a different title?

[Chris]

Kate wrote: "Chris wrote: "I just got finished with the first five issues of Spawn and thought it was great! I can't believe I've been missing out on such a cool franchise for so long. I posted a review for Spa..."

I'm going to start volume 2 soon, but I want to try finishing at least one of the books I'm reading right now before starting anything new. But I'm definitely eager to continue the series.

[Kate]

I just finished reading Batman, Volume 3: I Am Bane in singles. I wasn't a big fan of this arc, but the final issue (#20) was so well written that it brought the entire book from 2 up to 3 stars for me.

Are any of you reading this series? What did you think of this last arc?

[Wayland]

This week's pick up:

Weapon X 1- got it because I like Warpath... who's naturally only on the cover.
Black Panther and the Crew 1- the titular character is notably absent.
Wasp 4- I'm really enjoying this one. Nadia vs a really obscure foe
Suicide Squad 15- concluding the sequel to the Squad vs JL story
Steve Rogers, Captain Hydra America-ish 15- death of a major villain. Gee, wonder how long until he's back?
Batgirl and the Birds of Prey 9-Dinah goes undercover
Sam Wilson, Captain America 21- Sam quits.
Detective 954- the team is missing/captured, leaving Batman to face Ra's and Shiva
Power Man and Iron Fist 15- final issue. Boo, hiss.
Spider-Man 2099 22-Miguel gets really creative with interrogation
Titans 10- Titans vs Fearsome Five
Torchwood (I don't understand their numbering at this point)- a bit about Jack and John Hart in the future.

[Alex]

Letssee here besides "The Spire" I'm reading:
Paper Girls Vol. 1
The City of Shifting Waters
Obi Wan & Anakin Vol 1

So as usual, I'm pretty all over the place lol.

[Ross]

Picked up black mirror from the library. Been looking passively for this for a while and I'm excited to check it out. What's people's thoughts on it?

[Dom]

I've just read The Omega Men (new 52). Would highly recommend. Next up is Kingdom Come..

[Kate]

Dom wrote: "I've just read The Omega Men (new 52). Would highly recommend. Next up is Kingdom Come.."

I have heard so many good things about The Omega Men: The End is Here, and I love Tom King. I have no idea why I haven't tried it yet. Really need to fix that...

Have you read his work on Vision? The Vision, Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man and The Vision, Volume 2: Little Better than a Beast are the best superhero comics that came out last year. Absolutely incredible.

[Mike, Host & Producer of IRCB!]

Got myself caught up on Uber: Invasion. This book is scary, scary, scary. Highly recommended if you can deal with historical fiction and Nazis...

[Wayland]

This week's haul from ye olde comic shop:

Batman 21- beginning of the team up with the Flash, looking into the Watchmen button
Invincible Iron Man 6- Riri gets an interesting offer... or two
Green Arrow 21- someone's putting a hit squad on Ollie
Ms. Marvel 17- gamers to the rescue!
US Avengers 5- Captain America comes calling
Nightwing 19- the hunt for Robin
Harley Quinn 18- more on the future and homeless in the present
Red Sonja 4- showdown with Kulan Garth and she keeps her clothes on!
Steve Rogers Captain America 16- Captain Hydra kicks into high gear
Aquaman 21- the mystery of Dead Water gets stranger
Moon Knight 13- more on Marc's origin and his current quest
Thunderbolts 12- a very disappointing final issue

[Peter]

Titans, Volume 1: The Return of Wally West

The Flash: Rebirth

The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward

[Chris]

Wayland wrote: "This week's haul from ye olde comic shop:

Batman 21- beginning of the team up with the Flash, looking into the Watchmen button
Invincible Iron Man 6- Riri gets an interesting offer... or two
Green..."

The Batman/Flash Watchmen story seems really interesting. I'm hoping it gets released as a trade paperback eventually so I can read it all at once.

[Wayland]

I'd lay money that it'll be a trade eventually.

[Kate]

Wayland wrote: "I'd lay money that it'll be a trade eventually."

Oh definitely. I imagine they'll do it the same way they did Batman: Night of the Monster Men.

[Kate]

Huu wrote: "Old Man Logan
Hawkeye

Wanted to see what Old Man Logan was all about and how it influenced the Logan movie. Read most of it up to the point where Kate Bishop shows up. I didn't want to get spoiled..."

Lemire and Perez's Hawkeye was a let down for me after reading Fraction and Aha's run, but their's was a really tough act to follow. I wasn't that into the first few Thompson issues, but I'm really enjoying it now. I'd definitely recommend it if you liked Kate in Fraction's run.

[Kate]

Peter wrote: "Titans, Volume 1: The Return of Wally West

The Flash: Rebirth

The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward"

Who is your favorite Flash?

[gxvault]

Deadpool classic vol. 3

Hidden Universe Travel Guides: The Complete Marvel Cosmos: With Notes by the Guardians of the Galaxy

Avengers vs thanos

[Meera]

As a relative novice to graphic novels, I am currently reading the Saga series. I went through the first 3 volumes yesterday. I'm kind of cheap when it comes to spending on books though so I'll be reading the rest of the series next week after they've arrived from the library. I joined comixology so I'll check out some of the novels you've already read through that.

[Kate]

Meera wrote: "As a relative novice to graphic novels, I am currently reading the Saga series. I went through the first 3 volumes yesterday. I'm kind of cheap when it comes to spending on books though so I'll be ..."

I get almost all of my books from the library too. Do you use the Hoopla app? If your library participates with it, you can read tons of great comics and graphic novels on there for free, including this months' BotM The Spire.

Who is your favorite character in Saga so far?

[Meera]

Unfortunately my library doesn't participate so I will have to wait till the price drops. I've been enjoying comiXology though and have already read couple of the group reads. For Saga, I think my favorite characters are The Will, Marko, and the ghost.

[Kate]

Meera wrote: "Unfortunately my library doesn't participate so I will have to wait till the price drops. I've been enjoying comiXology though and have already read couple of the group reads. For Saga, I think my ..."

Aw that's a bummer, but ComiXology is the best! Izabel (the ghost) is one of my favorite characters as well :)

[Ross]

Wow Katie I was just lurking through this tread and saw you mentioned Hoopla.

Just checked it out and I love it. Thank you. Another website/app for cheap books is Thriftbooks.com

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

[Phil]

Ross wrote: "Wow Katie I was just lurking through this tread and saw you mentioned Hoopla.

Just checked it out and I love it. Thank you. Another website/app for cheap books is Thriftbooks.com

Does anyone ha..."

HumbleBundle has comic book bundles on occasion.

[Phil]

Been a bit busy lately so I've fallen behind on reading comics. Recently I was able to get to Ivar, Timewalker, Volume 2: Breaking History, Divinity III: Stalinverse, Lady Mechanika, Vol.1: the Mystery of Mechanical Corpse, and Lady Mechanika Vol. 2: The Tablet of Destinies.

[Kate]

Ross wrote: "Wow Katie I was just lurking through this tread and saw you mentioned Hoopla.

Just checked it out and I love it. Thank you. Another website/app for cheap books is Thriftbooks.com

Does anyone ha..."

No problem!

ComiXology has incredible sales on digital comics sometimes, and it has a subscription service like Amazon Prime Video where you pay a monthly fee for unlimited use of qualifying titles. The best sales usually come and go quickly, so it's good to check often.

Groupees.com is similar to HumbleBundle with occasional comic bundles.

Half.com is similar to ThriftBooks and has especially good deals on anything that gets assigned as college course materials (like The Complete Maus and Watchmen).

Barnes & Noble frequently does buy 2 get the 3rd free TPB publisher sales, which can be really cost effective if you stack it with store-wide coupons. I've only seen them do it for Marvel, DC, and Image.

Most comic shops I've used have some sort of loyalty program for trades, whether it's a punch card, percent off, or what have you. Sometimes these are really good, plus it's always good to support your local comic book shop.

And check your local library! A lot of them hide the comics in the teen section, and if yours doesn't have any, ask if they participate in any inter-library loan programs, where you could order them from another library. I get a lot of the comics I read through MeLCat, Michigan's inter-library loan system.

[Wayland]

Last trip to the comic shop this month. I got:

Suicide Squad 16- Squad vs Lex Luthor
Justice League of America 5- the JLA takes on a new threat in... rural Pennsylvania?
Infamous Iron Man 7- Doom hunts villains and talks to an old foe.
Hulk 5- Jen has a lot of flashbacks and the present isn't looking too good, either.
Great Lakes Avengers 7- final issue.
Weapon X 2- more of the new team show up and get captured
Batman/Shadow- Batman's on the case when The Shadow kills Lamont Cranston?
Thor 18- The Shi'ar gods pull a surprise move when they start losing.
Occupy Avengers 6- Hawkeye and company find a small town with a big secret.
Detective 955- Cassandra clashes with many enemies as the rest of the team is captured.
Clean Room 18-the battle ends. Final Issue. A lot of that going around.
Blue Beetle 8- Dr. Fate vs Arion as Jaime has to do something new.
Flash 21- the Batman/Flash team up about the Watchmen button continues, and there's a hint about a long-lost team coming back.

[Stephen]

Just started reading "Mockingbird Vol. 2: Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda," a title so "controversial" that it drew attacks from Men's Rights trolls and drove the author off of Twitter, at least for awhile. So far it's as breezy, entertaining and smart but non-controversial as Vol. 1, and is another of those entertaining, funnier-than-it-is-thrilling books that Marvel's been producing lately. Reminiscent of Fraction's "Hawkeye" run (with not quite as stellar but still terrific artwork), it's one of those books that feels like you're reading the template for another potential Netflix series.

[Wayland]

I loved that Mockingbird book. So sad what happened there. Hell, I defended her on the site I right for and I got attacked for it myself. Too many ignorant people in the world.

[Stephen]

Wayland wrote: "I loved that Mockingbird book. So sad what happened there. Hell, I defended her on the site I right for and I got attacked for it myself. Too many ignorant people in the world."

Cheers to you for putting it out there and trying to help. It goes to show that there's still a lot of good folks left, too.

[Mike, Host & Producer of IRCB!]

Picked up Night Owl Society #1 on a whim yesterday (the art sold me) and enjoyed it quite a bit. The story is fun, reminds me of 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, and should be a nice mini-series to keep up on.

[Kate]

Stephen wrote: "Just started reading "Mockingbird Vol. 2: Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda," a title so "controversial" that it drew attacks from Men's Rights trolls and drove the author off of Twitter, at least fo..."

This is the perfect description of this book! I loved it and was so disappointed when it got cancelled. It was disgusting how Chelsea Cain was treated.

Imagine being surprised and upset to find out that a strong, independent female character believes in gender equality. Oh the horror!