I'm catching up on the adventures of Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk, by reading the latest two collections: She-Hulk Vol. 8: Secret Invasion and She-Hulk Vol. 9: Lady Liberators.

I'm in the middle of The Eternals by Neil Gaiman and John Romita, Jr. and really enjoying it - this is a new story to me.

Message edited by its author, Sep 7, 2009, 11:39am.

I just got hold of 100 Bullets Vol13: Wilt so I am going to reread the entire series.

Message edited by its author, Sep 7, 2009, 11:45am.

Mainly (relatively) new stuff this weekend:

- The Bat titles - Batgirl 1, Streets of Gotham 3, Red Robin 3 -- definitely the whole thing is going in a good direction

- The BN titles: BN2, BN:Batman 1, BN:Superman 1, GLC 39 - I like the stories but at one point I actually want to see something more than rising a dead hero after a dead hero. I know that technically things were happening but the rising was what is the main thing for now.

- The last story-arc of Daredevil (The return of the Kingpin) - I am not sure that I like the returning to the original numbering but oh well.

- The Ultimate Universe - the Requiems and the new Ultimate Comics (Spider Man and Avengers). The Requiems were mostly expected and they succeeded in closing the arcs (although some of the closings were... strange). As for the new reincarnations of both titles - still no idea. I likes Avengers much more than Spidey (which is not such a surprised considering that I had never been Spidey fan) but need to see a few more issues before I can say anything more

Still in the midst of The Eternals, but meanwhile read Parker: The Hunter by Darwin Cooke, which was as good as advertised. High-strength noir.

Anniemod, you and I are definitely reading along the same lines. I'm looking forward to DC Comics' "Blackest Night" titles getting past their Act I stage (ie, the dead rising and black rings flitting 'bout the greater DCU) as well, but I think we'll start seeing that come October, both through the main series as well as the 8-10 tie-in titles coming our way!

And I've already torn into the first issues of both Ultimate Marvel/Disney (please excuse my French - I just had to type that to know that it's actually real) books. I really dig Brian Michael Bendis -- he's the John Hughes of the comics world right now, and his books always ring true for me.

I mentioned this in another thread,but as it goes, I've still got the first four issues now of Image Comics' way-past-sold-out series "Chew" to bite into. I'm looking forward to those...hmmm, maybe I've been holding off on 'em because I've got some major expectations. Of course, Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly's Batman and Robin held even higher, and I scarfed down their first issue back in May. Then again, that dynamic duo never disappoints.

Also worthy of mentioning is that a new creative team jumped aboard Marvel/Disney's (there I go again!) Fantastic Four as of the latest issue, #570. I go on this book and off it again, loose track of it, then reacquaint myself almost by surprise. Right now, the FF and I are looking forward to our second date.

Try it out.

#6: Rolandeco, I've always thought of Bendis as the David Mamet of comics, for his realistically awkward/intense dialog. His writing on Alias & Daredevil was superb. For various reasons, I haven't been tempted to read his Ultimates or Avengers work. But I'm really looking forward to his upcoming take on Spider-Woman (with Alex Maleev, the artist he teamed with on Daredevil).

#7: Edgewood, interesting call there with the Bendis /David Mamet comparison. I certainly can see your point, especially when taking into account Bendis' earliest works, ie his Image comics line Jinx, Goldfish, and Fortune and Glory.

The books that define Brian Michael Bendis for me, at least, are Powers and Ultimate SpiderMan, especially the latter, as that series -- and the newly relaunched Volume II -- comprise the larger part of his work. And from those, I tend towards the John Hughes side of the spectrum.

It'll be interesting: Bendis is currently writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures (with Charleze Theron already attached, apparently). If this picture makes it to the Cineplex, I think you and I will be much better situated to make our cinematic comparisons .

#8: Yes, how could I forget Powers, another one of my favorite series? I haven't read his earlier crime comics, which genre is not my cup of tea.

I've been philosophically opposed to the whole concept of the "Ultimate Universe" line (why milk/rehash/update old stories instead of creating new ones?), but I might just give Ultimate Spider-Man a try, if I can find used collections.

That's what got me into the Ultimate Universe - I had never read any Marvels besides DD and that was a way to get into a new story:) From the ones before the reboot I prefer Ultimates -- had heard a lot of bad things about it but I really enjoyed it.

Talking for Powers I need to pick up some more volumes from it.

AnnieMod, I always liked the Ultimates series quite a bit, too. It was very cinematic, had great characters - and new takes on the older Avengers characters -- and was comfortably a more adult read than some of the other titles.

Nevertheless, although the book went through several different creative teams during its run (which wasn't always a bad thing), I probably enjoyed the Ultimate Fantastic Four series the most. Having a more youthful FF (as opposed to the Marvel Universe's adult team) was fun, and gave the team a new perspective when interacting with the other Ultimate heroes.

#8 Edge: I'm happy to hear that you're thinking about giving Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man a try. If you ever shop on Amazon.com, you may want to look there for used copies of the USM trades. I noticed the other day that the first collected Ultimate SpiderMan was being sold for about $6.00, including shipping.

I've read just the first 12 issues of the UFF + the requiem - I like it but just need to read it before I say that I really like it. While with the Ultimates, I've read Ultimates and Ultimates 2. And I can not compare with the 616 universe - as I said I had been reading only DD (and I had even dropped him at one point) from Marvel. Read DD and Elektra (the Ultimate versions) a few weeks ago and I liked them also.

Lots of temptations identified by rolandeco and AnnieMod; I've read Ultimate Spiderman but otherwise am way behind. I may have to take a hiatus from all else and just read.

The latest for me is Emma Volume 10 in the really good series by Kaoru Mori set in Victorian England. I just watched the DVD of the Emma Japanese TV series - it extended the ideas in the manga and was much better than I expected.

On a whim I grabbed a bunch of graphic novels from the library. Right now I'm into Marvel 1602. It makes me wish I knew the Marvel Universe better.

#13 jnwelch)
Kaoru Mori's Emma Volume 10, eh? I've never read anything by her, but I have heard that she does some wonderful work -- a lot of grey's in the art and that she captured a true historic feel throughout. I've got a pretty strong bias against manga, though -- can't help it. If you take that hiatus, maybe then I'll pick up Volume 1. It is a DC/CMX title, after all :)

#14 Lit)
In my opinion, you chose pretty well on your whim, especially as Neil Gaiman is the guy making the intro's (more or less, I'm guessing) to the Marvel U. I'm not sure what else you may have picked up at the library, but if haven't read 'em, yet, give these two books a look: Marvels and, for a specifically X-Men book (what the heck?), X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. From the mid-80's and the mid-90's, respectively, they're both quite excellent.

Also, another book that's just come out (as a monthly limited series title), The Marvels Project, would be a great way to get the whole skinny on the Golden Age history of the Marvel U as well as the origins of many of the characters, old and new(-er). The first issue is out now maybe 3+ weeks, so you could still get in on the ground floor. I think there's going to be 8 issues in all, so no worries about getting in over your head with that one, either!

I just wanted to mention a fantastic book I finally was able to read last night and which I think many of you would enjoy: THE STUFF OF LEGEND VOLUME 1 BOOK 1, by Mike Raicht, Brian Smith, and Charles Paul Wilson III. The publisher is Th3rd World Studios.

Here's the Solicitation from Previews:

"The year is 1944. An allied force advances along a war-torn beach in a strange land, outnumbered and far from home. Together, they fight the greatest evil they have ever known. Never ending waves of exotic enemies come crashing down on them, but they will not rest. Thousands of miles away, the world is on the brink of destruction. But here in a child's bedroom in Brooklyn, our heroes, a small group of toys loyal to their human master, fight an unseen war to save him from every child's worst nightmare-the Boogeyman.

Led by the toy soldier known as the Colonel and the boy's faithful teddy-bear named Max, the toys enter the dangerous realm of The Dark. There they will face off against the Boogeyman and his army-- a legion of the boy's forgotten, bitter toys. Fighting to survive insurmountable odds, the toys will discover this is a battle not only for the soul of a child, but for their own as well..."
_______________

STUFF is a "square" comic (similar format to Mouse Guard 1152 but twice as full of story), and the first issue actually debuted in August, sold-out, and is now available in second printing. BOOK II should hit next week, I believe.

It's definitely worth checking out. In fact, Newsarama.com has posted the entire first issue online, so you can read it free here:
http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/...

Stuff of Legend looks interesting. Rolandeco, you can see some of what the Kaoru Mori Emma material looks like here: http://emma.rightstuf.com/

So far this september I have read a bunch of great comics, Jamilti and Other Stories by Rutu Modan, Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan, Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan and True North Book 1: Fight For the Frozen Frontier by Jeff Lemire. They were all awesome and I would request them to anyone!

I was able to get Stuff of Legends as well. Enjoyed it very much. More sophisticated art than I was expecting.

Also ditto the recommendation of Tales from Outer Suburbia.

I just received Stitches and Asterios Polyp but haven't read either yet. Oh, and the Dark Horse The Saga of Solomon Kane collection.

jn & kristenn: thank you both for the recommendations and links. I'll be giving both Emma and Tales from Outer Suburbia a good look.

I've decided to make the end of September a time of experimentation. Including the two recommendations above, I'm going to sample two new or relatively new Vertigo titles that I've heard good things about, Sweet Tooth (a just-debuted ongoing) and North 40 (which is a six-part mini-series, currently in its 3rd issue).

I'm also looking forward to Planetary and that series long-awaited final issue / prologue, from Warren Ellis and the uber-talented John Cassaday. Issue #27 is finally going to be out from Jim Lee and the folks at WildStorm.

Also, if anyone's been following the sporadic but otherwise intriguing series All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder from Frank Miller and Jim Lee, Jim Lee put brand-spanking new pencils from that series next issue up on his Twitter page. LOL. I am slowly coming to comprehend the power of a 'tweet'.

I'm reading North 40. It's just on the border of too creepy/gory for me, but I'm a total wimp for that stuff. It's certainly mellower than your average modern horror film. And I like the characters.

It will be strange (and a bit sad) to live a world where there will not be a new issue of Planetary maybe hopefully sometime next year. It's been that way for so long... (And it's my second favorite ongoing ever.)

I'd given up on ASBAR returning. Neat.

Walking Dead

and i'm working my way through Transmetropolitan and just finished the first Air TPB

Ghost in the Shell - the technology driving all of this is interesting, and the ideas are interesting too, but the way that the story is told is not. 2/5.

Message edited by its author, Sep 27, 2009, 9:52am.

Just finished Rasl Volume 1 by Jeff Smith. Good start to a series involving travel to (and through) alternate universes.

jn, you've done it again! you know i'm a huge fan of Rasl. I'm glad you liked it. It's so "simple" compared to most of the usual fare I'm used to getting, but I like it, I like that it's sexy, and it hits on so many of my conspiratorial interests. And you can feel how the story is picking up, in a very moderated yet purposeful way. Fun stuff.

I made a switch to my forthcoming reads: instead of North 40 (which I've got a feeling I'll still eventually find inside my longbox), I opted to get the back issues for the Superman: World of New Krypton maxi-series. So, I'll have seven of those arriving within the next 2 weeks. I've never been much into the Superman titles, but for the better part of a year now, the unified over-haul DC has done with all the related titles has made things come together for the Man of Steel.

Ironically, for the large part of this year, Superman is absent from his own titles. I've read that, in terms of a protracted story-arc in the Superman books, it's the 3rd time DC has sent Supers packing. Lately, with the current goings-on, I begin wondering if these story lines aren't being laid down in case the Siegel-Schuster famalies decide to yank the character away from DC in 2012.

I hope that never happens, actually. It would be wrong in so many ways.

As soon as I can sit down in a quiet place I'm going to start Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie.