A Descent into Dullness

Two weeks worth of comics because..well because..um..because shut up thats why. Yeah, thats why...

Starting with some Courtney Crumrin, with Courtney and her teacher on the road and battling the hunters of the Council...

Then a one-shot return to Marvel's zombie Earth for Van Lente with Marvel Zombies Halloween. And a survivor story with a holiday appropriate guest spot...

Next Daredevil reveals the mastermind behind the whole Matt-is-crazypants plot. And while I can always appreciate a good D-level villain reinvents themselves tale I still am amazed that Daredevil figures out who it is without ever even thinking "vampire". 'Cause I totally would have gone with vampire...

the Dark Avengers face off against the returned full team of Thunderbolts. They don't come off so well. Especially as that includes a re-empowered Cain Marko...

Saucer Country is past the world/mythos building to get back to the focus on the joint presidential race/x-files investigation...

Decided to at least try out the new Sword of Sorcery title from DC, since Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld was always one of those off-genre bits of the DCU I've been curious about. Its a decent if somewhat stereotypical lost heir to the magical kingdom thing. Still its a hard sell at $4 for 20 pages with the "extra" value of a re-imagined Beowulf back-up story....

Wonder Woman begins its new big story arc with Diana and her allies, including a banished from Olympus Hera, looking for allies amidst Zeus other demi-divine children...

Glory and company set off from her base to begin searching for her little sister, Nanaja. Who is basically Glory with all the brakes taken off...

And then we've got Savage Dragon with more alien invasion aftermath for Malcom and Angel Dragon. Plus some more violent overreaction by the new Overlord...

Then its this week starting with the Unwritten. And Tommy goes on a walkabout back into the world's of fiction by after hearing the Australian whale origin myth of Kondili...

I also grabbed the A-Babies Vs. X-Babies one-shot. 'Cause Skottie Young and Gurihiru writing and drawing half the Marvel Universe as brawling babies is too adorable for words...

Over on Adventure Time Finn & Jake engage in multiple time trips and crazy Princess Bubblegum science-ings in order to get back to the status quo they started from...

The majority of the Knights of the Dinner Table cast is still at Garycon. Where we learn that Felicia Day is so magical she can even overcome Brian's near crippling shyness around women he's attracted too...

And then a doubleshot of Brandon Graham. First off with the scifi crazy awesomeness of Prophet. And then a different kind of scifi crazy with the return of his Multiple Warheads series. Which is totally crammed with visual puns and concepts, much like his King City. MW follows Sexica, former alien organ smuggler and her werewolf boyfriend Nikou as they go on a road trip in search of a new life and home...

After that Invincible wraps up the Flaxan/Robot/Monster Girl story. Relationships are rebuilt, secrets are revealed, secrets are kept, love is confessed and awkward sex is had. Not necessarily all by the same people...

And finally a new Dark Horse Presents. With "Finder" getting the main cover this time around. Plus a "Mr. Monster" story that features Munden's Bar...

A fairly hefty pull this week, despite a few missing items thanks to Diamond. Starting with the latest Dark Horse Presents. Which includes a new Mike Mignola "Hellboy", a Stan Sakai "Usagi Yojimbo", a bit of wonderful strangeness from Brandon Graham and more from Andi Watson, Howard Chaykin and Carla Speed McNeil. Even at eight bucks an issue, this is one of the best values in Quality Pages of Story & Art for Your Dollar...

Invincible has OmniMan and Kid OmniMan and Allan the Alien throwing down over the fate of the surviving Viltrumites and Earth. Also Cory Walker still can draw some big ol' buckets of blood can't he...

Savage Dragon has an attack on New York City by the resurrected, irradiated, green, giant-size Osama Bin Laden. No seriously...

Over with Wonder Woman, Diana goes to a club to recover from the revelation about her new origin from last issue. And Hera pays a visit to Paradise Island. Plus creepy Apollo has a very Azzarello-ish conversation with his bro Ares...

I'm still not sure how I feel about Silverback, the robo-gorilla revamp of Monsier Mallah. I do kind of dig that the Scarab is a lot less under Jaime's control and more dangerous in Blue Beetle. Though that is subject to change based on how permanent the final page stabbing turns out to be...

Thunderbolts wraps up its Jack the Ripper story after mixing in some vengeful ancient Celtic witch spirits. Also I kind of want a book where Mr. Hyde and Satanna are a couple that have adopted Gunna the Troll-Girl. Say in some small midwestern suburb community...

One, the snow angel cover to the newest Daredevil is just super-sweet. And two, the story with ol' Hornhead trapped in a blizzard with a stranded school bus' worth of blind kids is crazy good...

A relatively large pull this week, with Marvel seeming to decide to double down for the month. Starting with a 163.1 issue for Thunderbolts. The placement of these .1 introductory issues seems pretty random. But Parker manages to put together both a recap on the series and a fairly solid issue for the ongoing story. A brief Spider-Man cameo even serves to highlight how well Parker is at capturing individual and distinctive characterization...

Next up is a sort-of finale for Heroes for Hire. With Moon Knight, Silver Sable, Paladin and Stingray all being brought in to revisit the Hook drug trade. Leading to a well done appearance by Namor. After this the book moves to being a Spider-Island tie-in mini or one-shot. And then its due to return as Villains For Hire. Though I'm unsure how much Marvel really needs two bad guys as protagonist books...

And then, just one week after the last issue, another perfectly executed Daredevil from Waid and and artist Marcos Martin. This issue Matt fights a couple of lions...

Picked up two nuDC books this week. First off the new Blue Beetle. I've never been a big fan of writer Tony Bedard. Nothing negative, he was just always one of those guys writing a couple C-list books that I didn't follow. But I've got to say that, so far anyway, he's managed to recapture what made the original John Rogers run so good. And still add some personal touches as the book relaunches as a clean reboot. And artist Ig Guara is not too shabby either...

I also picked up the new Wonder Woman on the strength of Brian Azzarello writing and Cliff Chiang on art. Azzarello seems to be doing a more urban fantasy/horror take on the concept. The bit with the summoning of a pair of monster assassins is especially creepy...

On a lighter note a new Darkwing Duck finishes up the election story line. With Dark and his allies taking down the apparent master mind behind the recent super-villain attacks. Or have they?

And finally an especially strong fourth issue of Dark Horse Presents. No Concrete, but still a great Finder short and another solid episode of Chaykin's crime noir Marked Man. AND a new Beasts of Burden story, the start of a new supernatural thrillers Criminal Macabre and the Adventures of Dog Mendonca and Pizzboy. PLUS a brief but gorgeous Age of Reptiles piece. Really, this is the best issue so far of this new volume...