Weekly Comics Discussion – March 18, 2009

The complete list, as usual, is here. Someone take Chad off the respirator: there’s new “Star Wars” titles this week.

Dark Horse Comics

  • STAR WARS KNIGHTS O/T OLD REPUBLIC #39 DUELING AMBITIONS PAR

DC Comics

  • AZRAEL DEATHS DARK KNIGHT #1 (OF 3)
  • BATMAN CHRONICLES TP VOL 07 – Batman has changed a LOT since the 1940s. Heck, back then he was some guy named Bruce Wayne, and he was alive!
  • BATMAN HAUNTED GOTHAM TP
  • BLACK LIGHTNING YEAR ONE (OF 6)
  • HELLBLAZER #253 (MR)
  • OUTSIDERS #16
  • TRINITY #42
  • WORLD OF WARCRAFT #17
  • X-FILES #5 (OF 6) – The series isn’t great, but it’s better than sales numbers would indicate. Issue 4 sold an estimated 8,320 issues at the retailer level, let alone the consumer level. The series is actually a set of three stories that take two issues each, so this is as good a jumping on point as any.

IDW Comics

  • ANGEL #19
  • GI JOE COBRA #1
  • STAR TREK COUNTDOWN #3
  • STAR TREK CREW #1
  • TRANSFORMERS REVENGE FALLEN MOVIE PRQ DEFIANCE #3

Image Comics

  • INVINCIBLE #60
  • WITCHBLADE #125

Marvel Comics

  • AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #588 – Wrapping up the “Character Assassination” story arc. I’m going to try to find the time this weekend to reread and review the last 30 issues of “Brand New Day,” as this is a culmination of the first year and a bit.
  • AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EXTRA #3
  • DARK AVENGERS #3 – Dark Reign. The first two issues were excellent.
  • DEADPOOL GAMES OF DEATH
  • ENDERS GAME BATTLE SCHOOL #4 (OF 5)
  • NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC TP VOL 04
  • PUNISHER #3 – Dark Reign. The first two issues suprised me: it’s the first Punisher story that I’m really enjoying.
  • SPIDER-MAN NOIR #4 (OF 4)
  • ULTIMATE X-MEN #100 – The final issue.
  • ULTIMATUM #3 (OF 5) – So far, the plot structure seems to be based on who is going to die next.
  • UNCANNY X-MEN #507
  • WOLVERINE #71 – This title will eventually become “Dark Wolverine,” and revolve around the Wolverine from the Dark Avengers.
  • WOLVERINE ORIGINS #34 – Dark Reign
  • YOUNG X-MEN #12 – Final issue.

Marvel’s Monday morning “comics on sale” press release includes X-MEN: KINGBREAKER #4 as well, which is a “War of Kings” tie-in, but Diamond’s list doesn’t include it this week or next week. Keep an eye out for it this week, just in case.

4 replies on “Weekly Comics Discussion – March 18, 2009”

  1. Fantastic Four
    Anyone reading Fantastic Four? What issue would be a good jumping in point?

    • Re: Fantastic Four

      Anyone reading Fantastic Four? What issue would be a good jumping in point?

      I’m not thrilled with the Millar and Hitch take on the FF, which seems to be the prevailing opinion. Theirs is only a 16 issue run that started with #554, and it will be followed by Jonathan Hickman on the writing chores. (I forget who the artist is.) Hickman is also writing "Secret Warriors" and "Fantastic Four: Dark Reign." The latest issue was #564, so you might want to hold off until their run is over. They don’t have any independent portions to the run, so you’d really have to start with #554 if you read that run.

    • Re: Fantastic Four

      Anyone reading Fantastic Four? What issue would be a good jumping in point?

      Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer – Complete Comic Edition
      http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000P9IIFA/scifinews/

      I had quit purchasing them about 15 years ago.
      The above got me all caught up.
      I also got The Hulk version also.
      Both took me from issue 1 up to mid 2006 iirc.
      But they may be updated since then.
      Handy if you just want to read the stories.

      • Re: Fantastic Four

        Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer – Complete Comic Edition
        http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000P9IIFA/scifinews/

        I had quit purchasing them about 15 years ago.
        The above got me all caught up.
        I also got The Hulk version also.
        Both took me from issue 1 up to mid 2006 iirc.
        But they may be updated since then.
        Handy if you just want to read the stories.

        Those GIT Corp DVDs are great, but Marvel pulled the license. You can only get them used now. The available releases are as follows:

        Spider-Man 11 CD-ROM set – Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1-500, no annuals.

        Spider-Man DVD-ROM – includes the "Road to Civil War" issues, but not the Civil War issues themselves. Includes all annuals.

        Hulk DVD-ROM – Includes up to #99 of the rebooted series, which is midway through the "Planet Hulk" story. Includes all annuals and the "Tales to Astonish" issues.

        Fantastic Four DVD-ROM – The solo DVD included up to the tail end of the Waid/Wieringo run, which is probably my single favourite run on the title (and I’ve read them all, thanks to the DVDs.) Includes all annuals.

        Fantastic Four / Silver Surfer DVD-ROM – This is the one you linked to. It runs up to the end of the Civil War for the FF, and covers the Silver Surfer through all of the series and annuals named after him. That’s the 18 issue series from 1968, the John Byrne one-shot, the complete 146 issue series from the 1990s with all of its annuals, and the 14 issue series from the 2000s. Probably my favourite collection; the Spider-Man set suffers from having only one part in four during much of the 1990s crossover mania.

        Ghost Rider DVD-ROM – Includes the Marvel Spotlight issues that launched the character, the original Johnny Blaze series, the Danny Ketch relaunch (with its annuals), the "Hammer Lane" and "Road to Damnation" miniseries, and the first few issues of the Daniel Way series, which (thankfully) is now the Jason Aaron series.

        Avengers DVD-ROM – Includes "Avengers" up to and including "Disassembled," and the first year of "New Avengers," ending part way through the "Ronin" arc. It doesn’t include the "Avengers Finale" or "West Coast Avengers" issues.

        Uncanny X-Men DVD-ROM – Includes the series, including annuals and the 1970s reprint issues, up to but not including the "House of M" crossover.

        House of M DVD-ROM – The event with all of its tie-ins.

        Civil War DVD-ROM – The event with all of its "Road to Civil War" and "Civil War" tie-ins, as well as a few other unbranded issues that make those more readable. It’s also got all of the "Initiative" issues except the two issues of "New Warriors" that shipped late and weren’t ready when the DVD-ROM was pressed, but you’re really not missing much if you miss out on that series.

        Captain America DVD-ROM – Everything from his "Tales of Suspense" issues to the death of Steve Rogers, post Civil War. (i.e. it ends with issue 25 of the series now at issue 48.)

        Iron Man DVD-ROM – Everything from his "Tales of Suspense" issues up to but not including the Civil War tie-in.

        Ultimate X-Men DVD-ROM – This is the one I don’t have. Collects the first 70 issues of the series. I don’t know if it includes the "Ultimate War" miniseries; that was sold as its own entity, but was collected as a volume of the Ultimate X-Men trade paperbacks because there’s a big story jump if you don’t read it.

        GIT Corp has also released collections of "Archie," "Jughead" and "Betty and Veronica" from the 1970s and a "Star Trek" DVD-ROM that’s loaded with all of the Star Trek comics from before IDW took over the rights, with the exception of the Star Trek/X-Men crossover issues, probably due to the X-Men rights, as Marvel had pulled the license at that point. These ones don’t collect Marvel stuff and are still in print.

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