Comics Today! (10/19/05).

** means I'm getting it.

ABC UNIVERSE (DC)
**Top 10: Beyond the Farthest Precinct #3 (of 5)
--This whole thing is wrapping up soon.  Overall, I've enjoyed the ABC Universe, but it has faded a bit in it's magic and special-ness.  Partially because the new shine has worn off a bit and partially because Alan Moore stepped back from writing the whole thing himself, which was kind of odd in and of itself, for a line that was supposed to be entirely his vision.  Still, I'll likely follow it to it's new publisher.

ARCHIE UNIVERSE
Archie #561
Holiday Fun Digest #10
Jughead #169
Tales From Riverdale Digest #6

BLUE WATER UNIVERSE (ALIAS)
The 10th Muse: Volume 2 #5
The Legend of Isis #4
--I hate to say it, but I guess it means this line of books has finally found a publisher that can handle their very, very poor numbers.  After a stint with Image, a couple of faltered solo runs and now Alias, itself mired in controversy over other books jumping ship and its apparent double standard on adult content being related to any of its creators or titles.  I was so excited about Alias when it was first announced, and I've dropped almost everything they publish, including this line.  Thank god for Speakeasy, because I do like to support the indies, and Speakeasy seems to have a better eye for quality and diversity to be brutally honest.

DC UNIVERSE
**Batgirl #69
**Batman #646
DC has me in full geek-mode.  This one, even though the cover doesn't say so, ties indirectly into Villains United and could be leading to some interesting developments in Gotham.  Of course, at this point, virtually every DCU title is crossing over with some IC mini or another.  You know, I am way more geeked about Infinite Crisis, and the "One Year Later" event, than I probably should be, but I can't help it.  Linewide crossover events like this can't be done in any other medium than in comics in a shared universe.  I think that factor is part of why I like them and think they should continue to be a part of superhero universe comic lines.  Just when I think I'm getting tired of superhero comics they go and pull me back in!

**Batman: Gotham Knights #70
**Batman: Journey Into Knight #3 (of 12)
**Birds of Prey #87
**Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #2 (of 6)
**Justice #2 (of 12)
--Alex Ross painted on interiors remains a rarity.  His highlights are Marvels and Kingdom Come.  Here he is again, and it remains as beautiful as ever.  Using live models, you can't get a truer look at what it would look like to live in a superhero world of wonder. 

**Manhunter #15
--I have to admit, I'm kind of digging this series.  I'm sure it'll be cancelled soon, but it's been a fun ride thus far.  I like that she's an attorney and that her life outside the costume is every bit as important as her life in it; in fact, seemingly more so.  It's a nice variation on the superhero clichés that have to run rampant in the 7,684,212 superhero comics that come out each year.  Kind of like television has to find new angles to look at crime procedurals (look at the slate of new shows this fall), comics is always looking for a new angle to explore that same genre rather than exploring all those other possible genres out there.

**Robin #143
--Ties into The OMAC Project.
**Seven Soldiers: Klarion, The Witch Boy #4 (of 4) - FINAL ISSUE!
--Okay, for the uninitiated, this is a collection of interlacing min-series so confusing they have to put a guide in every issue to tell you what order you should read them... and they're collecting them in THAT order and not, say, collection all four issues of Klarion together.  Confused?  I think that's the way they want it.  And I get the feeling that I'm not reading this nearly as carefully as I should be.  Probably one of those things that once it's all said and done, you sit down with all of the books and read it in a weekend and then go ... "oooh, so that's what they meant there.  Good stuff, good stuff."  Whereas now, you sit down and read 20 pages or so and go... "man, that was weird" and reach for the remote to calm your brain with some mindless TV.  Might I recommend Sex, Lies & Secrets.  It's going to be gone soon, and you can't get much more mindless than that.

**Superman #222
--Ties into The OMAC Project.

MARVEL UNIVERSE
**1602: New World #4 (of 5)
--Some things do not a sequel need.  You can bet your sweet ass that if Marvel had published Watchmen, that we'd have had at least five sequels and spin-offs to it by now.  1602 was good and it was a singular vision by a singular creator and this is just a pale imatation attempt to cash in.

**Daredevil vs. The Punisher #5 (of 6)
**Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #19
--"The Other: Part 2 of 12"  The crossover event that hits all the core Spider-Man titles continues.  Thus far, it hasn't been much of anything.  This one promises major changes, but it's so hard to imagine them majorly changing Peter Parker.  It's been done before, after all he started off as an unpopular perpetually single geek living with his grandmother, and now he's an Avenger, living with his hot wife in Avengers mansion.  But it takes decades to slowly tweak a change here and there so it's almost unnoticeable.  We'll see how far they're willing to tweak their icon.  Who knows, maybe we'll all be surprised.

**Marvel Monsters: Fin Fang Four - ONE-SHOT!
--Overall, these haven't been very good thus far.  I like the concept and the potential for fun is there, but I'm just not feeling it.

**Nick Fury's Howling Commandoes #1 - FIRST ISSUE!
--Come on.  Seriously.  Do they really think this is going to work.  Because it's not.  It really isn't.  First of all, the name Nick Fury is not associated in any way with the supernatural, so those who are familiar with the name are going to be turned off by the this when they want good quality military and/or war comics.  Second the cover looks really bad and a government team of werewolves, vampires and the like is just tired and was done better in CVO than it will be done here.  Mark my words.

**The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Horror 2005 - ONE-SHOT!
--It looks, however, like Marvel is jumping on the "Horror" bandwagon.  The same bandwagon that turned a little publisher into a quality juggernaut (at least as much as you can be a juggernaut in this two-party industry).  Of course, I'm talking about IDW which blew up with Steve Niles' and Ben Templesmith's 30 Days of Night, a franchise they continue to try and milk for any penny they can squeeze out of it (well, they certainly play like one of the big boys *cough*x-men*cough*batman*cough).  Of course, when Marvel does imprints, it's not like DC does with Vertigo or even WildStorm, which is an entirely separate universe.  They do different "takes" on the same old Marvel Universe anymore.  It's not diversity.  It's more superheroes.  And this will be super-heroes as well.  Just like the new Howling Commandoes will be written like a super-hero.

**Runaways #9
--Okay, this is the best new superhero concept to come out in a long, long time.  And that says a lot because neither Marvel or DC have had any success in coming up with new characters and concepts.  An absolute gem in the Marvel Universe.  One of two that were canceled before their time but then relaunched to greater success...

**She-Hulk 2 #1 - FIRST ISSUE!
--...okay, well maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.  This is the other one, and who knows if it will be successful or not this time around.  Runaways came out much stronger the second time, and I'm hoping this one does too.  This is the Ally McBeal of superhero comics.  She-Hulk is a lawyer as Jen Walters who works at a lawfirm that deals often in superhuman law.  The humor and antics in the office are as good if not better than anything superheroic that happens.  Again, it's the characters that make great series.  Just look at this and Runaways.

**Spider-Man Family #1 (of 1) - ONE-SHOT!
Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham!  That's all I need to know.  Sure, it's probably all reprints, but it is a fun idea to have all the iterations of the wall crawler available in one 100-paged fun collection.  If you really want to be impressed, check the reprints of Spider-Man 2099 #1 and Untold Tales of Spider-Man.  Untold looked at stories that happenend in and around the classic old Spidey tales told by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and were brilliantly done.  Meanwhile, Spider-Man 2099 recreated the webhead for a dark future and proved itself the strongest, by far, of the 2099 line.  Written by Peter David with fantastic art by Rick Leonardi, this first issue is everything you'd want in a first issue.  It reminds me that the 2099 universe was victim to the implosion of the late '90s, along with the Ultraverse, Valiant and many other excellent lines, that deserves a second chance.  Get a hint of that second chance when the Exiles go to the 2099 Universe in a few months.  Rumor has it they may even pick up a new member while there.  Maybe a certain arachnid... ??

**Thor: Blood Oath #3 (of 6)
**Weapon X: Days of Future Now #4 (of 5)
**X-Men #176
**X-Men And Power Pack #1 (of 4) - FIRST ISSUE!
**X-Men: Colossus: Bloodlines #2 (of 5)

SQUADRON SUPREME UNIVERSE (MARVEL)
**Supreme Power: Hyperion #2 (of 5)
--J. Michael Straczynski wowed us with Babylon 5 and then again with Rising Stars.  And yet, RS was obviously just him getting used to the concept of superhero comics.  He's got it now.  And Supreme Power is him showing us how well he's gotten it.  It has a leisurely novelistic pace and seems intent on telling some larger story a piece at a time... sound familiar.  Excellent dialogue, excellent characterization and a great take on a world being introduced to the fantastic.  Again, it is rare in superhero comics that you can believe the world 100% as if you could live there, but JMS makes us wonder if maybe we aren't there already.

TOP COW UNIVERSE (IMAGE)
**V.I.C.E. #1 - FIRST ISSUE!

ULTIMATE UNIVERSE (MARVEL)
**Ultimate Fantastic Four #24
**Ultimate Spider-Man #84
--To their credit, this is no longer fresh and new either, but for the most part the quality remains as strong as ever.  And that's because this is a Peter Parker and supporting cast that I can care about.  Of the entire Ultimate line, only Ultimate X-Men remains consistenly weaker than I wish it was.  But it has been disappointing me for a long time now.  Hopefully Robert Kirkman (Invincible, Marvel Team-Up, The Walking Dead) can perk things up there.  If not, maybe Marvel should plan a big series wherein all the mutants are killed and then the Ultimate Universe has to deal with that.  And I won't have to deal with a sub-par Ultimate X-Men anymore.  Now that's what I call a win-win!

VERTIGO UNIVERSE (DC)
**Books of Magick: Life During Wartime #15 - FINAL ISSUE!
--You and I both know it's just a matter of time before they trot out Tim Hunter and try again to have a hit series with him at the helm.  All of these titles are related to old-school Vertigo, when it actually spun out of the DCU proper into it's own entity.  Since then, these core titles and a few others formed a sort of Vertigo-verse within Vertigo, and DC keeps trying to push that forward.  With this over, Lucifer ending and Swamp Thing nearing cancellation as well, one can only guess, maybe this will finally end and Hellblazer will be just as independent as the rest of the line.

**Hellblazer #213
**Lucifer #67

WILDSTORM UNIVERSE (DC)
**The Authority: Revolution #12 (of 12) - FINAL ISSUE!
--I gotta tell you.  Another thing that surprised me is how much I like the WidStorm universe.  This started about the time Warren Ellis took over StormWatch (later The Authority) and Wildcats was revamped.  What started as a really bad superhero universe became the world's first mature (and I mean sophisticated not pornographic) superhero universe.  Complex situations and characters.  Not always clear black and white.  In other words, good stuff.  It hit a bit of a lull there for awhile, but looks to be getting back on track.  Hints are they're getting their own Crisis of sorts, which is actually not a bad idea.  It's a cluttered universe they live in.  We'll see how it pans out, but as I say, these kinds of things can be exciting.

**Captain Atom: Armageddon #1 (of 9) - FIRST ISSUE!
--From the DCU to the WSU.  After Majestic took a tour in the DC Universe, DC returns the favor by sending Captain Atom to the WildStorm Universe.  Could this be a teaser of the alternate realities returning in Infinite Crisis.  If so, I hope they buy the Ultraverse from Marvel and make that another parallel world.  And they can let me write it.  :)

**The Intimates #12
--This is one of my other favorite books you're not reading.  And do you know why I love it so much?  Because I believe the characters and situations.  Yes, it's superheroes, but it's still grounded in a way that New X-Men only wishes it were.  These kids really seem like teens with powers and this academy lives and breathes.  And the information crawlers at the bottom (as a nod/parody to the crawlers all over our news channels on television now I'm guessing) only enhance both our understanding of the characters and their world, but the entire package.

LICENSED
**Conan #21
C.S.I.: New York: Bloody Murder #4 (of 5)
--Again, a good spin-off of the TV series.  Every bit as good as the novels, and written by the same guy.  C.S.I. is a procedural so you don't need to worry about character development and advancement, because they are there to develop the plot, not themselves.  Thus, just come up with another case and BOOM, instant C.S.I.  Should be good enough for any fans of the show.  Or at least the few hundred who happen to see this in the few thousand comic shops scattered across our great nation.  How come the licensed comics can't get greater exposure.

DragonLance Chronicles #3 (of 8)
G.I. Joe: America's Elite: Data Desk Handbook - ONE-SHOT!
G.I. Joe: Snake-Eyes: Declassified #3 (of 6)
Mr. T #2
--This still makes me laugh just seeing it.  I mean what kind of audience base can Mr. T have at this point in his career?  But it's gotta be better than Mr. T and the T-Force.  Of course, Care Bears is better than that piece of crap was.

The PowerPuff Girls #6
Robotech: Prelude To The Shadow Chronicles #2 (of 5)
**Simpsons Comics #111
Sonic X #2
**Star Wars: Republic #78
**Transformers #0
--Maybe this time I will be able to follow what's going on and keep all the giant robots apart.  I did okay with it when they were in Marvel, but the murky, dark, detailed artwork of DreamWave left me confused more often than not as to which 'bot was which.

Walt Disney's Donald Duck and Friends #333
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse and Friends #282
--As soon as the money is there, I will be picking these up again because they are guaranteed good, clean fun.  And they are so much more dense than the average comic, so you're really getting a lot of story for your money.  Disney has always been the king of quality, family-oriented entertainment in comics and this continues with the new line.

INDEPENDENT
**(Garth Ennis') 303 #6 (of 6) - FINAL ISSUE!
**1000 Deaths of Baron von Donut #1 - FIRST ISSUE!
--Let's not kid ourselves.  This is Arsenic Lullaby.  No matter what title he puts it under it's the same thing.  Laugh your ass off while at the same time looking over your shoulder hoping no one you like is seeing what you're actually laughing at.  The kind of uncomfortable humor where you wonder why you think that's funny... and yet it is.  So freaking funny!

2000 A.D. #1457
2000 A.D. #1458
Abiding Perdition #1 - FIRST ISSUE!
The Amazing Joy Buzzards: Volume 2 #1 - FIRST ISSUE!
**Armageddon & Son - GRAPHIC NOVEL!
**Astro City: The Dark Age #4 (of 16)
Banana Sundays #3 (of 4)
**Battle Hymn #4 (of 5)
**Capote In Kansas - GRAPHIC NOVEL!
**Common Foe #3 (of 4)
David: Shepherd's Song #2 (of 3)
Dead Men Tell No Tales #2 (of 4)
Deal With The Devil #5 (of 5) - FINAL ISSUE!
**DeadWorld #2
Dork Tower #32
Fauna - GRAPHIC NOVEL!
**Giant Monster #1 (of 2) - FIRST ISSUE!
Grenuord #1 (of 6) - FIRST ISSUE!
**(Brian Pulido's) Medieval Lady Death #7
**Hello - GRAPHIC NOVEL!
Jazan Wild's Carnival of Souls #1 (of 3) - FIRST ISSUE!
**Jindai #1 - FIRST ISSUE!
**The Living And The Dead - GRAPHIC NOVEL!
--The story of Anna Nicole Smith's marriage.  Okay, no it's not.  But it should be.  She could be like a vampiress sucking the life out of this old rich guy and... and... oh, I guess it was a lot like that.

**The Lonely Tombstone - ONE-SHOT!
Midnight Kiss #1 - FIRST ISSUE!
**Night Mary #3 (of 4)
**The Norm Magazine #10 - FINAL ISSUE!
--And it's a shame, too.  I think the idea of collecting newspaper strips in this format (double-sized comic) and reasonably pricing it is a great way to sell the format to people.  And to help us get reasonably priced collections of our favorite newspaper strips.  Of course, The Norm is no longer in the papers, having switched to a subscription-based web comic so as to not have censors breathing down his back.  Same thing Liberty Meadows did, only now that Cho has upped his Marvel exclusive, we may never get another issue of LM.

**Opposite Forces: Volume 2 #2 (of 4)
Orc's Treasure - GRAPHIC NOVEL!
Potlatch Project: Volume 4 - GRAPHIC NOVEL!
**Shaolin Cowboy #4
--Trying to make sense of this story is like trying to solve the quadratic equation while high on a kilo of crank.  Not as easy as it sounds, is it?  But Geof Darrow's art is so freaking beautiful, you don't care.  In fact, you can skip right over the words and just look at the pictures and you'll be happy.  But if you do read the words you'll get to enjoy some truly surreal and weird and yet entertaining stuff.

Shygirl: Volume 1 - GRAPHIC NOVEL!
**The Surrogates #2 (of 5)
Tales of Bloody Mary #4 (of 8)
**Thread: The Unraveling #1 - FIRST ISSUE!
**The Walking Dead #22
--Bar none, one of the best books on the stands.  Even if you don't like zombie movies, you can probably like this.  This is as simliar to a cliché zombie movie as Jennifer Love Hewitt is to an Oscar-caliber actress.  Don't get me wrong, JLH is sexy as hell and does sweet very well, but if she can stretch herself as an artist, I haven't seen it yet.  The best characterization, twists and turns and the most realistic human drama, despite the presence of the undead, comics usually dares to grapple with.  Believe me, for all the posturing that the Crisis series at DC of late have been humanizing their superheroes, they're still freaking superheroes.  And they're written like that.

Wyatt Earp: Dodge City #3

MANGA
**Battle Royale: Volume 14 (of 15)
Blade of Heaven: Volume 5 (of 15)
Blade of the Immortal #106
Boys Be: Volume 7 (of 12)
Dragon Hunter: Volume 13 (of 18)
Heaven Above Heaven: Volume 3 (of 6)
Honey Mustard: Volume 2 (of 4)
Initial D: Volume 20 (of 30)
The Kindaichi Case Files: Volume 12
King of Hell: Volume 11 (of 13)
Land of the Blindfolded: Volume 5
Rebirth: Volume 16 (of 19)
Snowdrop: Volume 11 (of 12)
Tenshi Ja Nai (I'm No Angel): Volume 1 - FIRST ISSUE!
Tramps Like Us: Volume 7 (of 12)
Vampire Game: Volume 13 (of 15)