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RadConsv wrote: (Dead Kennedy's stilll are awesome!)

California Uber Alles!!!!!

I loved this band back in High School/College....... I saw them play at the Whiskey-a-go-go when I was 19 or 20.

Royal Historian of Oz #1 (SLG) - This was OK. Story set in the future and a frustrated writer who wants to follow in Baum's footsteps and write more Oz stories is not successful. He swipes Dorothy's silver slippers from an estate sale (yes, they were silver in the books, Ruby slippers in the movie only).... He then goes to Oz and "acquires" a lot of magic under shady circumstances and brings it back to the mundane world. I'd be getting this if I was not cutting back on titles, but since I'm trying to get my pull list in line, I'm only going to add stuff I absolutely love.

Astro City: Silver Agent Special#1 - Great story delving into the history of the Silver Agent. Must read for fans of Astro City, probably not so great as an entry point for people not already reading Astro City.

Morning Glories #1 (Image) - I got an advance copy of this at the Image panel at SDCC....Wow! This book blew me away, it was so good. It's been called Runaways meets X-Files....maybe, as good a description as any I suppose, it's a great story of a prep school that "recruits" highly intelligent students and there is WAY more than meets the eye lurking under the covers at this school.

Well written, good art, and a very intriguing plot/storyline. Some really cool mystery-element breadcrumbs dropped in the 1st issue to make me itch to come back for more, and enough story elements to make me feel like I got a satisfying read right there in the 1st issue.

BobBretall wrote:Morning Glories #1 (Image) - I got an advance copy of this at the Image panel at SDCC....Wow! This book blew me away, it was so good. It's been called Runaways meets X-Files....maybe, as good a description as any I suppose, it's a great story of a prep school that "recruits" highly intelligent students and there is WAY more than meets the eye lurking under the covers at this school.

Well written, good art, and a very intriguing plot/storyline. Some really cool mystery-element breadcrumbs dropped in the 1st issue to make me itch to come back for more, and enough story elements to make me feel like I got a satisfying read right there in the 1st issue.

You guys doing a review of this? If you want a interview with Nick or Joe, I'm sure I could hook that up!!

Frank Castle wrote: You guys doing a review of this? If you want a interview with Nick or Joe, I'm sure I could hook that up!!

Depends on what comes out the same week as this book competing for the review slot with it.

As far as interviews go, we've already passed the window for that, but maybe when the 1st trade is solicited.

Murderland #1 (Image) - I got an ashcan of the 1st issue in San Diego, then the writer (Stephen Scott) sent me a full review PDF of #1 so I got a chance to read this early before the copy I bought via DCBS makes it to me.

I like the main character "Method". Kind of a blank-slate assassin that can take on a variety of looks/personalities to fit the job at hand like an actor (Method-actor....good one.....)

Nice clean line-art by David Hahn complements the story (you may have seen his art on the "Bite Club" minis from Vertigo and Red Herring from Wildstorm).

The 1st issue raises a lot of questions that I want to find out more about, but does so whilst giving me a fair amount of story & action so that I felt like I was getting my money's worth. Bottom line is I'll be back for #2 to see how the story develops.

Driver For The Dead #1 (Radical) The overall premise is a driver for a funeral parlor gets involved with combating monsters. This is one of those books that benefits from Radical expanded page count. There is an extended setup scene at the beginning of the issue that would have felt like it was too much if this was a normal sized issue. The book is set in New Orleans so the book has a southern flair.


Hotwire: Deep Cut #1 (Radical) This miniseries picks up a few months after the first Radical Miniseries ends. The same quirky Buffy meets Bones comedy tone the first mini had. The book does a good job at doing a summary of how the world works so I think even if you did not read the previous miniseries you could jump into this issue without much of a problem.

God Machine - Preview (Archaia) I picked up the preview book for this upcoming Archaia GN in San Diego. The art was good, kind of like Drew Rausch on Sullengrey, but the story was not really my cup of tea. A bit too "goth"-y.
BTW, I appreciate the fact that Archaia is now just doing a preview book to let you sample the work before you drop $20 on the full OGN.....or instead of publishing 2 issues of a mini and then aborting it to put out a GN.

Vampire, PA (Moonstone) Nice story of a suburban Pittsburgh guy who's fallen into the vampire-slaying business. I liked the art by Brendon & Brian Fraim (I have seen their work doing occasional covers on Knights of the Dinner Table for years.

Stellar #1 (Top Cow - Pilot Season) Incomprehensible story, Kirkman has had many better days writing. I'm not sure if this just got knocked out to make a deadline & stop holding up the completion of the current Pilot Season or what, but very lackluster. Lots of setup, no resolution, and I really don't care to ever see this story continued. Let it lie.

The Scourge #0 (Aspen) Picked up this preview issue in San Diego at the Aspen panel. Decent action story about a NYPD SWAT cop who's fighting huge mutated creatures that used to be people (exposed to "The Scourge" of the title. He needs to make it across town to get to his son. I'll check out this mini when it's released.

CBGB #1 (Boom!) Music-based anthology based around the legendary NY club CBGB. The 1st story by Kieron Gillen was great, nice place for more of this kind of story from him if you dug Phonogram, but the artist he was paired with on this one was just not doing it for me. 2nd story was a pretty good story focusing on an act called "The Helsinki Syndrome". I won't be picking this up at full price, but would snag future issues out of a discount bin.
If you're more into the "edgy indie" type of art (& punk/hard rock) you'll like this a lot, though.

Thor: The Mighty Avenger #1 (Marvel) Another book I got for free in San Diego, I had originally decided to pass this up as a book not set in the mainstream Marvel U (it's a new retelling of Thor, not kidified, but definitely not any version of Thor we've seen before. I liked it, especially the Chris Samnee art. I've actually dropped the main Marvel U Thor book, but I'll be getting this one (I've already picked up #2 from the LCS....)

Artifacts #1 (Top Cow) Ron Marz did a great job of introducing me to the Top Cow-iverse with this book. I know some of the characters & backstory, but this story was created in such a way that I was pulled into the mythos he's creating/unifying around the 12 known artifacts and the mysterious 13th artifact. An ambitious project for Top Cow and I'm going to be along for the ride!

BobBretall wrote:Artifacts #1 (Top Cow) Ron Marz did a great job of introducing me to the Top Cow-iverse with this book. I know some of the characters & backstory, but this story was created in such a way that I was pulled into the mythos he's creating/unifying around the 12 known artifacts and the mysterious 13th artifact. An ambitious project for Top Cow and I'm going to be along for the ride!

I was surprised how easy it was for a reader like me who hasn't kept up with the Top Cow books to follow the story. It is definitively a book that I am going to pick up as it comes out.

HassanT wrote:

BobBretall wrote:Artifacts #1 (Top Cow) Ron Marz did a great job of introducing me to the Top Cow-iverse with this book. I know some of the characters & backstory, but this story was created in such a way that I was pulled into the mythos he's creating/unifying around the 12 known artifacts and the mysterious 13th artifact. An ambitious project for Top Cow and I'm going to be along for the ride!

I was surprised how easy it was for a reader like me who hasn't kept up with the Top Cow books to follow the story. It is definitively a book that I am going to pick up as it comes out.

I'm really glad to hear it's not just me!

X-Files/30 Days of Night #1 (IDW/Wildstorm) This really didn't do a whole lot for me, as a 1st issue. Mulder & Sculley come into the investigation and don't do anything of substance (except, I guess, if you call Mulder bickering with another Federal agent something of substance). While there was nothing wrong with this issue (it was OK) there was nothing really RIGHT either. Way too much setup and too little action/resolution, this is not a #1 that causes me to want to come back for another $3.99 issue.
Plus, while I like Tom Mandrake's art, his vampires just don't look "30 Days of Night"-ish.

Batman Odyssey #1 (of 12?) (DC) - I'm torn on this one because I do still love Neal Adams art but the writing is oh so bad. I don't normally read much in the DCU but I do like Batman. Stylistically this looked liked it stepped out of the late 80's or early 90's. This issue is an example of why good writing is so important to a good comic. Maybe it's supposed to be just wacky fun like watching the old Batman TV show. I don't know.

Time Bomb #1 (of 3) (Radical) - This is the better of the two Radical titles that I read recently. It's nice to see Paul Gulacy's art again and this spies and Nazi's type stuff is perfect for his style. The premise is a bit much, a missile left over from WWII is about to end the world. I do want to see what's going to happen in the next issue though.

Driver for the Dead #1 (Radical) - Ah, excuse me, Morgan Freeman, did you know you're in a comic book. Great art but too heavy on the celebrity photo referencing. This is very reminiscent of of Hellblazer but different enough to keep me interested.

Artifacts #1 (of 13) (Top Cow) - I'm in for at least the first 6 issues or so. I'm not sure yet if I'm in for 13 issues. That's a long crossover, more than a year at least. It was a good first issue but it's a downer for sure at the end there.

BobBretall wrote:X-Files/30 Days of Night #1 (IDW/Wildstorm) This really didn't do a whole lot for me, as a 1st issue. Mulder & Sculley come into the investigation and don't do anything of substance (except, I guess, if you call Mulder bickering with another Federal agent something of substance). While there was nothing wrong with this issue (it was OK) there was nothing really RIGHT either. Way too much setup and too little action/resolution, this is not a #1 that causes me to want to come back for another $3.99 issue.
Plus, while I like Tom Mandrake's art, his vampires just don't look "30 Days of Night"-ish.

I really enjoyed this book so I am marking it green but I did feel the exact same way about Tom's vampires. It just did not feel right.

comicm wrote:

BobBretall wrote:X-Files/30 Days of Night #1 (IDW/Wildstorm) This really didn't do a whole lot for me, as a 1st issue. Mulder & Sculley come into the investigation and don't do anything of substance (except, I guess, if you call Mulder bickering with another Federal agent something of substance). While there was nothing wrong with this issue (it was OK) there was nothing really RIGHT either. Way too much setup and too little action/resolution, this is not a #1 that causes me to want to come back for another $3.99 issue.
Plus, while I like Tom Mandrake's art, his vampires just don't look "30 Days of Night"-ish.

I really enjoyed this book so I am marking it green but I did feel the exact same way about Tom's vampires. It just did not feel right.

I was more harsh on this because it's one of DC's pilot "$3.99 for a 22 page story" books. I have to really love one of these to keep getting it.