And then there were two. August is half over, and after this weekend's Fan Expo conventioneering "volunteering" I'll have a pirate's booty of store credit at the LCS to keep me going until the new year. I've seen what September and October have to offer, and now it's November's turn to try and bilk me of my credits.
As usual, not necessarily what I'm going to buy, but also what I would normally buy and snide comments on things I'd never buy. Come January I'm going to do a side-by-side comparison list of acquisitions vs. want list.
Dark Horse
THE CLEANERS #1 (of 4) - from former Thor's Comic Column writer Mark Wheaton... TSC - Trauma Scene Cleaners... methinks someone's searching for a CSI/NCIS-style tv series, and why not?
THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY: DALLAS #1 (of 6) - the first series was gold (apparently, I read and like the first issue and have held off for trade but it's on the backlist for pickup)
DC
FINAL CRISIS #6 - it'll be nice if FC actually is final by '08's end. Holding breath/turning blue in face. Insert Guardian of the Universe joke.
BATMAN #682/683 - "In his last hours, Alfred the Butler tells the life story of the Batman as you've never seen it before in this two-part adventure which bridges the gap between the events of "Batman R.I.P." and FINAL CRISIS. Learn the secrets of Batman's early years! Witness the nightmare of a Gotham City where Batman never existed!"
BUH?
BATMAN: CACOPHONY #1 - by Kevin Smith and Walt Flanegan. At one time the uber-geek/fanboy would've been tremendously excited. Now? Enh.
ACTION COMICS #871 - "New Krypton" part 4!
SUPERGIRL #35 - "New Krypton" part 5
SUPERMAN #682 - "New Krypton" part 6
GUARDIAN OF METROPOLIS SPECIAL #1 - "New Krypton part 3!" (great, force me to buy another special to complete the "New Krypton" story). "At last! The true origin of the Guardian of Metropolis is revealed!" (At last? When did Robinson re-introduce the Guardian? Two months earlier? What a scam.)
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #27 - Holy shit, it's ICON and HARDWARE! Awesome. Awesome awesome. McDuffie's JLA has been a huge disappointment, but Milestone heroes being reintroduced, I have no problem with that and will support it.
AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #5 - AKA the bestest comic book ever. I can quit reading comics when this series finishes. For reals.
SECRET SIX #3 - Bane? Hopefully Gail Simone can make him interesting because he's always been one of Batman's lamest bad guys.
DETECTIVE COMICS #850 - "And the life of Bruce Wayne will never be the same as the confrontation with his childhood friend Tommy Elliot reveals a terrible and shocking secret!" (Terrible and shocking... nooo, I can't handle it).
NIGHTWING #150 - "Armed with the same acid that turned him into Two-Face, Harvey Dent plans to scar half the population of New York to make them pay for his loss" (Umm... Pete... that's a little, how you say... too much there, y'know?)
ROBIN #180 - Blue Flu, is that like Bird Flu? Given his name, Bird Flu would be more apt, no?
THE FLASH #246 - starring the real Flash. None of this "Barry Allen" business.
GREEN LANTERN #36 - am I buying in? Yeah. Probably.
GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY #14 - Winick's last issue. Not sure how I feel about that. It's been fairly entertaining if under-the-radar, and occasionally goofy.
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #21 - no
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA KINGDOM COME SPECIAL: MAGOG #1 - no
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA KINGDOM COME SPECIAL: THE KINGDOM #1 -no
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA KINGDOM COME SPECIAL: SUPERMAN #1 - aaaand...no.
BATMAN: THE MAN WHO LAUGHS TP - erm... I might have these... Brubaker + Joker = yes please.
THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE TP - yay
EX MACHINA #39 - huge delays in printing mean I'm only 3 issues behind this year... awesome!
PUSH #1 - 2 - "In anticipation of next year's blockbuster new movie Push..." you can't call something a blockbuster until it's actually proven itself to be one (especially when "Push" looks to be a film they've "pushed" the release date back on to, likely the Jan - March dead zone). Silly copy writers.
THE X-FILES #1 - written by series writer Frank Spotnitz. I did like the movie, but I'm not certain I need any more X-Files in my life...
100 BULLETS #97 - it's almost over, and I'm about 11 issues behind.
Marvel
CAPTAIN AMERICA #44 - keep it coming.
DAREDEVIL & CAPTAIN AMERICA: DEAD ON ARRIVAL - "Presented for the first time in North America: an amazing tale by two of Europe's top creators..." It's a one-shot, and I've been surprisingly enjoying Daredevil and Captain America for a few years now, so I'm game.
X-FACTOR #37 - "Madrox loses all control"? I really have to wonder what that's like
AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE VOL. 2 " KILLED IN ACTION TPB - As you can tell from the above, I'm really distancing myself from Marvel again. Their House of M/Civil War/Secret Invasion trifecta has given me a good case of who gives a damn about most of their books. They have some good talent in their pool right now (Fraction, Gage, Spurrier, Slott... two of them working together on The Initiative), but I really can't be bothered. I may, one day, pick up the Initiative trades... if I find them cheap somewhere.
ULTIMATE HULK VS. IRON MAN: ULTIMATE HUMAN TPB - if there's anything I care less about than the Marvel 616 proper, it's the Ultimate universe. That said, I like how Warren Ellis plays in it.
THUNDERBOLTS BY WARREN ELLIS VOL. 2: CAGED ANGELS TPB - Again, Ellis' territory.