So, What comics did you buy this week?

[Diabolical]

Avengers Vs X-Men #1 - Yeah, I bought it. Big whoop. Wanna fight about it?
Curiosity more than anything. It was ok. So, Cyclops is an asshole now, rather than a bitch?
Predictions: Wolverine will flip sides when Jean returns from the dead (You know its gonna happen eventually, so why not now?). The Pheonix will not choose Hope (whoever the fuck that is), but, I dunno, let's say...Iron Man.

Batman: The Dark Knight #7 - Bane kicks the shit out of Bats until Flash shows up, then Batman knocks Bane off a cliff.

Batman: Detective Comics #8 - Scarecrow makes Batman chase down whomever is stealing his toxin. Batman finds out it's Hugo Strange's kid. And a back-up story featuring Two-Face.

The Boys #65 - The secret of The Homelander and Black Noir is revealed, and its fucked up. Homelander also skull fucks the decapitated head of the new president. Next issue starts the final story arc.

Daredevil #10.1 - Um, why wasn't this issue #11 (besides being a mediocre fill-in issue)?

Fatale #4 - still haven't read the series yet, but its Brubaker/Phillips, so I'm not going out on a limb by saying it's great.

IZombie #24 - Speaking of fill-ins, this series seems to have a lot of 'em.

Amazon delivered 2 Bat-books today, continuing my "essential Batman stories" collection:

Batman: Dark Victory - The sequel to The Long Halloween.

Batman: Hush - Apparently pretty awesome.

[Rollo Tomathi]

I did buy Avengers vs X-Men, anarky. I just didn't list it because it was such a letdown! First, it has Hope in it. Who wants to see Hope? We buy X-Men for good old Colossus running around in his underwear. Oh boy! Second, Emma, I don't know what crack addict you paid to design your outfit, but he was no Versace, and that "Wayne Brady gonna hafta choka bitch?" look does not work on you, hon.

Mostly, though this sexual tension between Cyclops and Captain America has been building up for decades. And what do we get, but a fistfight? What a rip! We all wanted to see those two wrestle for about fifteen pages, with their clothes being torn into shreds, until, finally, they find themselves face-to-face on the sand... and kiss.

[jjreason]

You will enjoy Hush & The Long Halloween immensely.

[Rollo Tomassi]

12 books this week. I carved out Avengers Assemble 2, and a couple other books rather than going to 16.

Amazing Spidey: Hooky A $4.99 comic sized reprint of the classic Bernie Wrightson GN from the 80s.

Avenging Spidey 6. The Beginning of the Omega Drive crossover with DD and Punisher.

New Avengers 24. AvX tie in. Luke and Jessica reunite after the Osborn events, and figure out their priorities. And then Cyke shoots Cap and it's all 'Avengers Assemble!'

Carnage USA 5. The series finale. Legless Flash Thompson beats up completely bottom torso-less Kletus Cassady. But then Captain America, pretentious moralist, decides not to put a bullet in his mad dog skull. So we get Minimum Carnage in the fall.

Formic Wars: Silent Strike 5. The end of the series, and the first Formic War. The Humans are victorious...for now.

Fantastic Four 605. Reed time travels into the future, and finds out Ben lives until the year 6012.

Cobra 12. Recently fired Hawk rereads Chuckles' final mission report.

Thor 12.1. A Point One issue. Volstagg and Sif reminisce about adventures they had with Thor growing up.

Journey Into Mystery 636. Loki tricks ALL the Fear Lords into a magical, infinite Mexican standoff with each other. Well played, Loki.

Winter Soldier 4. Bucky and Doom team up to stop the Doombot attacking the U.N.

Wolverine 304. In Jason Aaron's final issue, he wraps up all his loose story plots and has Logan crash Sabretooth's birthday party and stab him.

Uncanny X-Men 554 10. Since the SWORD satellite is wrecked, Abigail Brand blackmails Cyclops into housing her political prisoner super Alien AI computer guy on Utopia. Yeah, that won't end well.

[vynsane]

last week i got the first issue of Atomic Robo Presents: Real Science Adventures

this week i got the last issue of Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X

what i'm saying is, it looks like the only comic i'm buying in the store anymore is Atomic Robo. i have a newly reinstated subscription to amazing spider-man and ultimate spider-man, and that's all three comics i've been getting for months now. i'll catch up on hellboy sooner or later. i'm just so far behind on invincible and walking dead i might start TPBing them.

[anarky]

One advantage I've found to TPB's is cost. Amazon has some as low as half price (particularly "hot" books like Walking Dead) and it's easy to get free shipping (even if you have to combine a few preorders). With comics being $3+ now, the paperbacks are really advantageous if you can avoid (or don't care about) spoilers and aren't collecting for the "collectibility" of the floppies.

[Diabolical]

My only problem with switching to trades of what I'm currently reading is the wait. You get a trade, read it, then you've got to wait like 6 months for the next one. Monthly makes me feel more invested in the story.
For me, trades work on the stuff I missed, like Y: The Last Man or The Walking Dead or the newer, classic Batman stories.

The other thing about switching from monthlies to trades is the completist mentality. Say I have issues #1-30 of Title X in monthlies, but issues #31-60 in trades, which forces me to spend more $ buying #1-30 in trade form, because that just can't happen.

This week's haul:

Bionic Man #8 - Steve gets captured by the bad guy and monologue'd for pages and pages.

Batman: Arkham Unhinged #1 - Filling in some blanks and backstory to Arkham City.

Batgirl #8 - Babs deals with the new bad guy and she discovers one of his henchmen was one of Joker's henchmen when Mr. J shot Babs.

Batman & Robin #8 - Bruce and Damian heal and deal with Robin murdering Nobody.

Avenging Spider-Man #6 - The Omega Effect part 1. Spidey and DD talk Frank and his new partner into not killing people way too easy as they plan of using the Omega Drive to take down a bunch of super criminal syndicates.

[RoIIo Tomassi]

My only problem with switching to trades of what I'm currently reading is the wait. You get a trade, read it, then you've got to wait like 6 months for the next one. Monthly makes me feel more invested in the story.
For me, trades work on the stuff I missed, like Y: The Last Man or The Walking Dead or the newer, classic Batman stories.

The other thing about switching from monthlies to trades is the completist mentality. Say I have issues #1-30 of Title X in monthlies, but issues #31-60 in trades, which forces me to spend more $ buying #1-30 in trade form, because that just can't happen.

First off, I can usually find most floppies down the road for cheaper than I could find the Trade down the road, even at Amazon's slashed prices.
Second, I also have problems doing runs half and half. I tried doing the Ultimate Line as trades, and now I'm working backwards to filling in tr whole darn line as floppies. Aside from the first year of Spidey and X-Men, it's been fairly easy.

Batman: Arkham Unhinged #1 - Filling in some blanks and backstory to Arkham City.

Was this an online first series?

Avenging Spider-Man #6 - The Omega Effect part 1. Spidey and DD talk Frank and his new partner into not killing people way too easy as they plan of using the Omega Drive to take down a bunch of super criminal syndicates.

I do believe Frank said that just to shut that idiot Spider-Man up. That, and he can reign it in if he knows the bigger prize is worth it. As always, this is going to boil down to a fight between Frank and Matt.

[vynsane]

My only problem with switching to trades of what I'm currently reading is the wait. You get a trade, read it, then you've got to wait like 6 months for the next one. Monthly makes me feel more invested in the story.
For me, trades work on the stuff I missed, like Y: The Last Man or The Walking Dead or the newer, classic Batman stories.

i have a backlog of about six months of books i've not read yet, anyway, so there's relatively no difference at that point

The other thing about switching from monthlies to trades is the completist mentality. Say I have issues #1-30 of Title X in monthlies, but issues #31-60 in trades, which forces me to spend more $ buying #1-30 in trade form, because that just can't happen.

i picked up TWD late, so the first ~30 issues i have in trades, then monthlies after that. i wouldn't feel too bad about switching back to the trades. i get what you're saying about the 'completist mentality', but i was already contemplating getting some trades of various books i already have to keep the monthlies as 'collection' and TPBs as 'readers'.

'invincible' might be harder for me to transition, since i have a straight run from #1.

[Diabolical]

Batman: Arkham Unhinged #1 - Filling in some blanks and backstory to Arkham City.

Was this an online first series?

I believe so. I hadn't read it so I grabbed it.

Avenging Spider-Man #6 - The Omega Effect part 1. Spidey and DD talk Frank and his new partner into not killing people way too easy as they plan of using the Omega Drive to take down a bunch of super criminal syndicates.

I do believe Frank said that just to shut that idiot Spider-Man up. That, and he can reign it in if he knows the bigger prize is worth it. As always, this is going to boil down to a fight between Frank and Matt.

I'm assuming that also. I did love the panel where Spidey is thinking "ninjas + bullets - kneecaps = rout" as Frank is shooting one in the head right in front of him.

i picked up TWD late, so the first ~30 issues i have in trades, then monthlies after that. i wouldn't feel too bad about switching back to the trades. i get what you're saying about the 'completist mentality', but i was already contemplating getting some trades of various books i already have to keep the monthlies as 'collection' and TPBs as 'readers'.

What sucks about TWD is that I did initially start with trade #1, but stopped to focus on Y:TLM. I never got back to TWD until I got the first Compendium for such a great price. Now I really want to continue but I don't want regular trades, I want Compendium 2, which still has no solicit (because the series isn't that far yet), so I'm forced into the waiting game.
I need professional help.

[Rollo Tomassi]

12 books this week.

Amazing Spidey 684. Ends of the Earth. Waiting to read it.

Avengers 25. AvX tie in. But not really. It's about taking down an AIM cell, bit it's more THE AIM cell, and they confiscate ALL of AIMs sciency...stuff. Which is at odds with the Punisher issue. But whatevs, Walt Simonson graced this issue with his pencils, so it's all good.

Avengers Assemble 2. The In-Continuity answer to the Film continues. Hulk shows up and the Avengers figure out they're fighting Zodiac 8.0 or 9.0 or whatever incarnation they're on. Also, how does Captain America not know who hell the Zodiac is/are? Is that right? I could've sworn he would have fought one version or another at some point. But even if he hadn't, the guy goes through Avengers Logs like six hours a day. He'd know who they were.

AvX 2. Everybody fights. Wolverine gets called a race traitor, so that was fun. Hope goes all Phoenix-y already and flash fries his midget ass. I speculate Scarlet Witch will end up being the twist Phoenix at the end of the series. I'm calling it. I also downloaded the AR app and tried it out. Cute diversion for a few pages.

GIJoe:ARAH 177. The Blue Ninja Droids have invaded Broca Beach. CC, Baroness, Snake Eyes and the Cobra forces repel them in a big ass battle. Plus, old school art by Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema. Between this and Simonson on Avengers, it's 80s Marvel day!

Iron Man 515. Tony's Armor doesn't work! Pepper Potts is disgraced. And Rhodey is KILLED by the Living Lighting!! The Mandarin has won, and it's just what Tony wanted. Next issue, IM is gonna kick some un-PC ass.

New Mutants 41. Blink shows up from the boring school faction and the team heads to Madripoor to party! Dani hooks up with Nate Grey. Warlock hooks up with a cosplayer.

Punisher 10. Part 2 of the Omega Effect. Frank keeps his word and uses non-lethal ammo. DD, Spidey, and the two Punishers lure all the crime syndicates (including AIM, who obviously weren't aware the Avengers shut them down already). Then Punisher II double crosses DD and takes the Omega Drive. Sweet.

Thunderbolts 173. The past team and present team fight, then Zemo figures out the present team is the future team and they have a big TBolts kegger! Then present Fixer kills Past Fixer. Whoops. Also, because it's the 15th anniversary of the TBolts theres a nifty Q&A with Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley, and Tom Brevoort in the back.

Transformers MTMTE 4. A Red Rust virus breaks out, infecting Pipes and Drift. And Fort Max returns!

X-Factor 234. The team deals with Madrox being alive and Alex being the new team leader.

WaX-Men 9. AvX tie in. As the Pheonix Force approaches Earth, Rachel and Quentin are affected by it. Prof. Clown Shoes Race Traitor justifies his position of helping the Brownshirt Gestapo Avengers invading Utopia to kidnap Hope. And Gladiator heads to Earth so get his son out of the school before Phoenix shows up.

[Diabolical]

Avengers Vs X-Men #2 - The masturbation continues as the Avengers fight the X-Men. And something happens with the chick they're all fighting over.

Batman #8 - Night of the Owls begins. The Court of Owls sends their Talons into Wayne Manor to kill a weakened Bruce (Spoilers - they don't).

Catwoman #8 - Selina and her new partner Spark (this ain't gonna last) plan on robbing Penguin and save a hooker. The Court of Owls gets tacked on at the end.

Punisher #10 - Omega Effect part 2. Spidey, DD, Frank and Alves begin their plan until the end where the story telling becomes really unclear. It looks like DD trips and falls into the bad guys or something and drops the Omega drive, where Alves picks it up, I guess.
Or what Rollo said.
- I just realized something...back in the 90s this would have totally been an overblown 3-4 issue miniseries rather than just a crossover.

Rocketeer Adventures 2 #2 - More fun Rocketeer short stories by various writers/artists. IDW just needs to start an ongoing already.

[Rollo Tomassi]

12 books this week.

Avengers Roll Call. Handbook style oneshot that updates all the A-List Movie Avengers' bios interspersed with a bunch of D-List obscure characters like Hyena, Carina, and the Scarlet Beetle.

New Avengers 25. AvX tie in. K'un L'uns poobah has premonitions of the Phoenix and acts accordingly.

AvX:Versus 1. Iron Man beats up Magneto. Thing beats up Namor underwater. As neither of these is remotely likely, it seems as if Marvel Editorial is prematurely tipping their hand as to who they favor in this event.

Battle Scars 6. Marcus Johnson officially becomes Nick Fury, Jr. Because when the deadbeat dad you never knew shows up after 30+ years, you immediately want to take HIS name and not the name of the woman who raised you all alone all those years. After five decent issues, this was a letdown.

Captain America and Hawkeye 629. Bucky gets replaced with Movie Star Hawkeye. He and Cap fight weaponized dinosaurs.

Daredevil 11. The end of the Omega Effect crossover. Frankly, it was a letdown because nothing happened.

FF 17. Spidey and Johnny Storm: Roommates!! Pete has to think of how to kick Johnny out of the apartment. The two page spread of them getting hammered on Kymellian booze is one of the funniest fucking things I've read this year. And all without captions or balloons. Also, Annihilus sitting on the crapper.

Game of Thrones 7. Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister on the Wall(the two page splash page of the Wall is too fucking cool). Considering my assumptions about the parentage of those two, it adds weight to their talk. And Arya begins her 'dancing lessons' with Syrio. Yay!

Snake Eyes 12. Before he joins StormShadow, SE makes one more journey back to the Hard Master and Alondra. Then he fucks up some drug dealers, yo! Book becomes Snake Eyes & StormShadow next issue.

Transformers RID 4. Prowl fucks up some Decepticons! He kills Bombshell, and most of the Constructicons! And Arcee kills Sunstorm. Dammmmmnn.

X-Men Legacy 265. Since they can't figure out to stop Weapon Omega from blowing up, they put him in a coma. And he and Mimic have one of the gayest hetero moments I have ever seen between two straight dudes. Seriously, it'd make gay men cringe.

Uncanny X-Men 555 11. AvX tie in. Juggulossus(Collosunaut?) fights Red Hulk underwater at the base of Utopia. Then gives up like a bitch because he's afraid he'll knock it down. Ugh. That's three unfairly pitched battles where Avengers won when it should have been an easy beatdown.

[anarky]

Is Mimic still exactly like Wolverine? Remember the story in MCP where it turns out he was wounded in Canada after his last run-in with the X-Men, and he couldn't control his powers, so absorbing Wolverine's powers (as he was involved in Incredible Hulk 181 not far away) along with gamma radiation from Hulk made him pretty much turn into a physical duplicate of Wolvie?

[jjreason]

I can't generate any motivation to get to the store. My next visit will be fcbd at which I'll clear out my bin, sigh, go home & file books that I have no interest reading. I think I'm near the end for new books (yet again).