Running way behind on these — it’s been a rough few weeks, I tell ya. Between dealing with bugs all over the darned place (termite infestation in the building, bugs creeping in and taking bites out of me in the evenings — yay, warm weather!), a chronic health issue worsening, and some minor stress at work I’m at the end of my rope. So it’s a good thing I’ve got a week off ahead as of this writing, allowing me to, as much as I can given the circumstances (those first two things don’t take a break for a week off, natch, but setting the third thing aside for a bit’ll help dealing with them, to whatever extent I will), take a breath and cross a few items off my to-do list.
Here, let’s look at a list of comics I bought over the past month & a half.
May 20
All-New X-Men (2012) 17 – Another for the “what do you mean, this was ten years ago?” stack — an installment of Bendis & Immonen’s “iffy premise, decent comics” run, somewhere in the middle of the “Battle of the Atom” crossover, which I absolutely don’t remember the premise of despite having the TPB on my bookshelf. Oh right, it’s the one with the fake X-Men from the future. Anyway, fillin’ in those Bendis X-Men gaps.
Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (2022) 12 – I’m probably sitting down with the recently concluded “Cold War” crossover sometime tonight. Really was expecting this era of Cap to roll a little longer, wonder if this was always just a stop-gap run before JMS came onboard or if someone’s multi-year story got derailed.
Catwoman (2018) 55 – Another issue of Tini Howard’s ongoing run. I think I ordered the next issue from my usual mail order place?
Fantastic Four (1998) 3, 52, 66, (2018) 20-21; FF (2011) 14 – My second round of snatching up the back issue of the month for May, the Fantastic Four. Hadn’t gotten any of the early Heroes Return issues before because I’m generally avoiding Scott Lobdell’s work, but Alan Davis draws it, so that overrode that. Next issue is Carlos Pacheco-co-plotting, Karl Kesel writing the dialogue, and Mark Bagley on art and it looks like there’s time travel involved? Couldn’t tell any of that from the cover — that’s just a nice Mike Wieringo Reed Richards piece. Then, part of Waid’s terrific run, but with Mark Buckingham on art (Wieringo took a few breaks, but the fill-in artists were always top-rate). The issue of Hickman’s FF has really crazy Juan Bobillo art in it … god, I need to find time to sit down all these Fantastic Four books. And finally, two Dan Slott issues with Paco Medina on art riffing on the old “New Fantastic Four” thing from way back in Walt Simonson’s short, sweet run.
Uncanny X-Men (1963) Annual 3 [2011] – Nick Bradshaw draws a James Asmus annual in the middle of the … was this the San Fran era, or Utopia? I forget. In either case, I adore Bradshaw’s art and am happy to grab anything from this stretch of Uncanny not drawn by porn-tracing hack Greg Land.
Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) 30 – This may have been past where I read in Aaron’s terrific and weird X-Men book, another one from ten damn years ago, Logan and his teammates at the Jean Grey School finally trying to put an end to the threat of Kilgore and the Hellfire Club. Now that I have all of Aaron’s run in omnibus form I’m not as urgently grabbing the back issues, but as you’ll see below, ehh, I’ll grab one a week and eventually that should cover the lot.
X-Factor (1986) 121, 128 – A Steve Epting-drawn issue and a Jeff Matsuda-drawn issue — behold, the only two reasons for anyone to read these otherwise exhausting Howard Mackie X-Factor comics.
X-Force (2008) 7 – At first it was just grabbing crossover issues, but now, blast it, looks like I’m collecting the “Cyclops’s kill squad” run of X-Force. At least this has nice art by Mike Choi & Sonia Oback, who I did dig on the issues of Uncanny leading up to 500.
X-Men Legacy (1991) 261 – And an issue of Christos Gage’s run on Legacy with art by David Baldeon, who I always enjoy.
Young Justice (1998) 35, 42 – Two sorta late issues of David & Nauck’s teen hero book, the first reminding us that oh yeah, Lex was the President at the turn of the century, LOL.
June 3
Captain America: Symbol of Truth (2022) 13 – The Cap crossover continues.
Clobberin’ Time (2023) 3 – From the department of comic ordering weirdness: I only ordered the second issue of Steve Skroce’s daft Thing team-up comic, so here’s the third issue that I picked up off the stands. (Really enjoyed the first issue, good sci-fi punch-up with the Hulk and a poor alien civilization under siege, and can’t wait to dig into the second and this one soonish.)
Green Arrow (2023) 1 – More tales from the department of comic book ordering weirdness: How the hell did I fail to order the first issue of Josh Williamson & Sean Izaaske’s new Green Arrow mini featuring the entire expanded Arrow family? For my sins, I got saddled with the Black Canary-focused cover by boob-fixated whiny internet troll Frank Cho. Nothing against Canary, I’m deffo grabbing the new Birds of Prey series, but … it is a Green Arrow book, and also that artist is a jackass.
Impulse (1995) 59 – Rando Todd DeZago issue-written issue of Impulse I didn’t have.
Iron Man (1968) 285, 327, (2008) 3, 5, 7, 9, 12-16, 33, 500.1, 506, 508, 511, 520, 522; Superior Iron Man (2014) 7 – Hey, guess what character is the buy-one-get-one guy for June? The first one was just a random 90’s issue that was basically the “buy one” for another in the pile. Then, a post-Crossing “teen Tony” issue I grabbed for a laugh. Then: sixteen issues of the Fraction-Larroca Invincible Iron Man. I think I’ve mentioned, I used to have the first two twelve-issue hardcovers of that run and it’s one I’m aching to revisit. Finally, one issue of Tom Taylor’s “Axis”-inverted Superior Iron Man, (art by Yildray Cinaro & Filipe Watanabe) from the days before everyone knew that dude could write.
Iron Man: The Inevitable (2006) 2-4; Enter the Mandarin (2007) 1 – Oh, and four issues of two different Joe Casey-written Iron Man minis. Used to have “The Inevitable,” probably sold it on eBay a little over ten years ago. Never dug into “Enter the Mandarin,” but Eric Canete’s very stocky, stylized art is an interesting fit.
JLA (1997) 28-29, 31 – Had a sudden itch to fill in some Morrison/Porter JLA gaps, so I grabbed these three issues …
JSA (1999) 31 – … and then I spotted a Johns JSA issue I didn’t have, so that goes into the pile as well. Almost dreading that re-read at this point.
Knights of Pendragon (1992) 5 – Obligatory Marvel UK grab of the week.
Man-Thing (1997) 3, 6 – So, this was funny — I fished one of these out of a longbox at the Rangeline Vintage Stock and was like, I never knew DeMatteis & Sharp did a Man-Thing series in the late ’90s, no less one with a Howard the Duck guest appearance. Then I hit the Main Street Vintage Stock and, just sitting there in the very front of another longbox was another issue featuring Man-Thing in a Santa hat & beard. So I guess I’m giving those a read.
Marvel Team-Up (1972) 148 – A random 1984 issue of Marvel Team-Up featuring Spidey and Thor with generally unfamiliar credits, but given that it’s nearly forty years on, I’ll generally just snap up an ’80s Spidey comic I don’t have if it’s at a normal price and doesn’t look like it’s taken a bath.
New Mutants (2009) 6 – An installment of the Necrosha crossover featuring the original return of Doug Ramsey from the dead. Dude stayed under the ground for over twenty years; my literal first issue of New Mutants was the prologue to the storyline where that happened. Zeb Wells writing this with Diogenes Neves on art.
The Mighty Thor (1998) 25 – More Jurgens Thor, with Romita Jr. on art and a very shiny cover. It’s funny, Thanos is the villain here and damn if he doesn’t make Thanos look like “what if Darkseid was also Apocalypse?”
Warheads (1992) 11 – Ah, another obligatory Marvel UK grab this week.
X-Men 2099 (1993) 11, 16-18, 20 – Was starting to think I might be nearing a full run here, but apparently this ran a bit longer than I thought it did. Still, only missing five issues out of the first two years now.
Young Justice (1998) 18 – Likewise, this run’s getting ever closer to complete — six issues of the first two years I’m missing, I think?
June 17
Cable (2008) 10, (2017) 156-159 – Was in a mood to see if anyone had the last few Casey/Ladronn Cable issues I’m missing, and they didn’t, but someone clearly parted with a lot of Cable comics, so I snagged one issue of the post-Messiah Complex “protector of Hope” run and four issues of this post-Secret Wars run with the “legacy numbering” by Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson, and German Peralta in which Nate fights a techno-organic threat across his timeline — so, in fact, there is one comic here set during Casey & Ladronn’s run, it’s just by another creative team and was published in 2018.
Captain America (1954) 451; Sentinel of Liberty (2022) 13; Cold War Omega (2023) – An issue of Waid & Garney’s pre-Heroes Reborn run — slightly crumpled, but definitely readable and only two bucks — and the end of the crossover I still have to sit down and read.
Captain Marvel (2019) 3-5 – Here was a big surprise: three early issues of the Kelly Thompson-written Captain Marvel run that I think just ended? Always looking for these, and was surprised to see this handful in the disorganized mess of the Rangeline store’s stock. I think I’ve mentioned, I’ve only been reading it thru this last arc with the Brood, but I’ve doubled back and grabbed a majority of the rest of the issues of the run. Another one of these runs I keep planning to read and just haven’t gotten to yet.
Daredevil (1964) 288, (2011) Annual 1 [2012] – A random Ann Nocenti Daredevil appeared out of the blue. I’ve been grabbing these on eBay, but to see one at Vintage Stock? A rarity! Then … I just looked it up, yes, Alan Davis did write and draw three random Marvel annuals that went out in the fall of 2012. I grabbed that Fantastic Four one a little bit ago, and was surprised to find this matching Daredevil one in the longboxes.
Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow (2023) 2 – Second issue of the current Kon-El mini-series. Gonna dig into this after I’ve got a few other current Super-books read.
The Superman/Madman Hullabaloo (1997) 1 – With a name like that you’ve just gotta grab this if you don’t have it, right? Mike Allred’s creator-owned hero and the Man of Steel get weirdly dimensionally entangled. Shenanigans ensue.
Waller Vs. Wildstorm (2023) 2 – Absolutely need to get this and the previous issue read before any more come out.
Wolverine (1988) 25 – A pre-Hama issue of Wolverine — Jo Duffy writing, John Buscema drawing — with a Jim Lee cover. How could I have refused? That said, I spent six bucks on it and just had to do the tape trick on the lower staple (the cover was detached there, so I stuck a piece of Scotch tape on the inside, pulled the staple, and reattached it thru the tape).
Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure (1990) – Another “I swear I used to have this,” a prestige one-shot by Walt Simonson & Mike freakin’ Mignola featuring a jungle tribe out of a ’30s adventure story, dinosaurs, and a throw-down with Apocalypse. It is very handsome to behold.
Wolverine and the X-Men (2011) 31 – Funny, when I grabbed this I didn’t even remember that I’d nabbed the previous issue a month earlier.
Wonder Woman: Evolution (2021) 8 – Last issue of the Stephanie Phillips-Mike Hawthorne mini-series I’d been buying but only read the first issue of back when it was coming out last year. Someone goes and builds themselves a better Wonder Woman? Is that the idea? When I duck back into it I’m definitely going to need to reread the first issue.
X-Force (2008) 8 – See my comment about the Wolverine and the X-Men issue above, LOL.
As far as figures go, geez, can I even remember what I grabbed during these outings? I know I got the recent safari jacket-clad Marvel Legends Wonder Man, because being Hank McCoy’s best Avenger-bro makes him vaguely X-Men-adjacent.
I know I came away from the early June outing with the NECA Shredder mutants, which I haven’t yet unboxed; drives me a little nuts that the one with the big vaguely lobster-esque spikey mallet arms was apparently a Lootcrate exclusive a while back, but I’ll take what I can get. Was that it? Honestly don’t recall at this point. But last week’s haul included the DC Multiverse Kalibak, since he was on sale for thirty, the DC Multiverse “Hush” Batman, which Entertainment Earth cancelled my blasted preorder for months ago but I was lucky to spot at one of Joplin’s three Walmarts, and the Indiana Jones Adventure Series Marion Ravenwood, which surprised me since I half-expected never to see any of those figures save the exclusives out in the wild. Shame the face printing on her is just enough off to be annoying.
Whew! So, that’s that! Hopefully I can get back on track for the 4th of July weekend, which will be another “all used items buy-one-get-one” mega-sale, so my checking account had better brace for impact! Good thing I’ve got a week of eBay sales in full swing this week …