ArtisticallyChill

Yesterday night’s visit to Keith’s Komix was fun as usual. Not only did we have a nice stack of comic books waiting for us, we had a good time sharing our exploits at our last trip to the Chicago Comic-Con, with our friends at the store. After putting stuff on hold due to conventions, we picked up everything in our box and are now caught up! I also got to play some Monsterpocalypse too! My Subterrans lost to my buddy, Syd’s Elementals. It was definitely a good game as my gameplay seems to be getting faster. I spend less time looking up symbols and rules and more time planning my strategies. A few more games, and I should be able to kick-ass with my army one of these days.

• ASTONISHING X-MEN # 35
• BATMAN # 702
• BATMAN: STREETS OF GOTHAM # 15
• BOOSTER GOLD # 35
• BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON EIGHT RILEY ONE-SHOT
• DEADPOOL # 26
• DEADPOOL TEAM-UP # 890
• DETECTIVE COMICS # 868
• DV8: GODS AND MONSTERS # 4 and 5
• ECHO # 24
• GREEN ARROW # 3
• JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 48
• JUSTICE LEAGUE: GENERATION LOST # 8
• LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES # 4
• MAGDALENA: BLOOD DIVINE
• THE OUTSIDERS # 32
• TEEN TITANS # 86
• THE UNWRITTEN # 16
• WONDER WOMAN # 602

PICKS OF THE STACK:

GREEN ARROW # 3

Written by J.T. KRUL • Art by DIOGENES NEVES and VICENTE CIFUENTES • Cover by MAURO CASCIOLI• 1:10 White Lantern Variant cover by RYAN SOOK, FERNANDO PASARIN and JOEL GOMEZ

Witness the power of the BRIGHTEST DAY as death comes to Green Arrow’s forest. Is the Emerald Archer worthy of living in the sacred grove? Who else is in there? Will he be Green Arrow’s assassin or savior? The mysteries continue!

I just love that cover by Mauro Casciol and J.T. Krul’s writing hasn’t disappointed me thus far!

DEADPOOL TEAM-UP # 890

COVER BY: HUMBERTO RAMOS
WRITER: JAMES ASMUS
PENCILS: MICAH J. GUNNELL
INKS: ROBERT STULL
LETTERED BY: JEFF ECKLEBERRY

THE STORY:
Deadpool has caused an incredible amount of destruction in his career and now it’s time to pay the piper. Or in this case, the indestructible robot (and part-time insurance agent) Aaron Stack AKA Machine Man! The sexy android arrives with an ultimatum – either pay back the millions in damages OR start doing some mercenary work on behalf of Delmar Insurance. You’ll never guess which one Deadpool picks! Plus, the creepy return of Puppet Master!

Micah Gunnell’s pencils is definitely a right fit for the Merc with a Mouth!

SERENA’S PICK OF THE WEEK: WONDER WOMAN # 602

Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI • Art and cover by DON KRAMER and MICHAEL BABINSKI • 1:10 Variant cover by ALEX GARNER

J. Michael Straczynski’s epic Wonder Woman tale continues! In this issue, Diana takes the battle for her heritage to the enemy and discovers that the war may be over before it’s even begun! And she’s on the losing side…

HAPPY READING!

~ LoneWolf

We ventured out into one of this summer’s hottest days to pick up most of what we still had waiting for us post-SDCC as well as saving most of this week’s titles for next week’s pickup. This will probably be the one of those few times that our pull is Marvel heavy. We picked up all of our Deadpool comics we had waiting for us. That’s pretty much the only title we’ve been picking up from Marvel as of late since it hasn’t crossed into any of the X-titles and their hard to follow mega story arcs and neither has it crossed into any of the Avengers titles, both old and new, so far. I did pick up the Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes comic books I held over from last week. So next week will be all about BRIGHTEST DAY as I have set aside all of this week’s tie-ins for next week’s pickup! Hopefully I’ll have time to read them all as Serena and I are attending Chicago Comic-Con next week beginning Thursday night.

• DEADPOOL # 25
• DEADPOOL # 1000
• DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH # 13
• DEADPOOL TEAM-UP # 891
• LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES # 3
• MADAME XANADU: DISENCHANTED (TPB)
• SKYDOLL: LACRIMA CHRISTI COLLECTION # 1
• TEEN TITANS # 85

PICK OF THIS WEEK’S PILE: DEADPOOL # 1000

COVER BY: Dave Johnson
WRITER: PETER BAGGE
CHRISTOPHER GIARRUSSO
ADAM GLASS
HOWARD CHAYKIN, INC.
DAVID LAPHAM
FREDERICK JAN VAN LENTE
RICK REMENDER
ROB WILLIAMS

PENCILS: PETER BAGGE
PHILIP BOND
CHRISTOPHER GIARRUSSO
HOWARD CHAYKIN, INC.
DAVID LAPHAM
PACO MEDINA
JEROME OPENA

INKS: PETER BAGGE
PHILIP BOND
HOWARD CHAYKIN, INC.
DAVID LAPHAM
JUAN FRANCISCO VELASCO

COLORED BY: PETER BAGGE|TOMISLAV TIKULIN

THE STORY:
Has it really been 100 issues since Deadpool #900? Who cares! Some of comics’ top creators take aim at the Merc with a Mouth in this massive 104-page special that pits the Deadpool against a cavalcade of baddies – including urban cannibals…underage hit men…mimes from outer space…and Lady Luck herself.

SERENA’S TRADE PAPERBACK OF THE WEEK: MADAME XANADU Vol 1 – DISENCHANTED

Written by Matt Wagner; Art by Amy Reeder Hadley and Richard Friend; Cover by Amy Reeder Hadley

“The fast pace [is] instantly immersive, as is Amy Reeder Hadley’s finely detailed, complicated art, which is almost shockingly pretty. B+”– The Onion “This features lots of the fairies, magicians and medieval-style witchcraft in a style that evokes at least a little bit the classic Midsummer Night’s Dream issue of THE SANDMAN. The book looks lovely and reads well.” – Variety

The first ten issues of the hit series from writer Matt Wagner and rising star artist Amy Reeder Hadley are collected in this new trade paperback! Madame Xanadu’s powers of sight can change the course of human history, but her vision is clouded when she looks into herself. Thrown into worlds of war and men, she encounters a dark stranger who knows both her past and future. This debut volume reveals Madame Xanadu’s centuries spanning origin from Camelot to the court of Kubla Khan to 1940s New York City and beyond… Featuring an introduction by James Robinson (STARMAN).

HAPPY READING!

~ LoneWolf

This week we’ve got this and a little extra somethin’ somethin’ from our trip to Keith’s Komix tonight. On top of what we had waiting for us, I added DEADPOOL TEAM-UP # 899 and Serena added SHERLOCK HOLMES VOL. 1 published by IDW. This hardcover novel features the earliest adventures of the legendary detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It features illustrations by Kelley Jones and all the short stores are presented in chronological order. Serena also picked up the SERENITY LITTLE DAMN HEROES painted JAYNE COBB maquette which Keith was nice enough to set aside for her when she saw it last week.

• ASTONISHING X-MEN # 32
• BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL # 36
• BUFFY SEASON 8 # 30
• DEADPOOL TEAM-UP # 899
• FATHOM # 9
• THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ # 1
• PROJECT SUPERPOWERS: CHAPTER 2 # 4
• SHERLOCK HOLMES VOL.1
• SKY PIRATES OF NEO TERRA # 2
• X-MEN ORIGINS: ICEMAN

PICK OF THE WEEK: ASTONISHING X-MEN # 32

COVER BY: Phil Jimenez
WRITER: Warren Ellis
PENCILS: Phil Jimenez
INKS: Andy Lanning
COLORED BY: Frank D\’Armata
LETTERED BY: Chris Eliopoulos

THE STORY:
The X-Men have fought towering, mutant-slaying robot Sentinels before. But never one quite like this. Never a Sentinel made of meat and bone, wearing the skin of one of their own deceased teammates, every technological aspect given a biological solution. And as the X-Men fight for their lives, they’re left to wonder: What could this monstrosity have to do with THE BROOD?

Anything written by Warren Ellis is always worth the wait. Since taking over the writing duties with the last story arc, I have been eagerly waiting for what Warren Ellis has planned for The Astonishing X-men team. Paired with the very talented Phil Jimenez, Astonishing X-men continues to be my favorite X-Men title. And the fact that it’s the only X-Men title on my pull list (I dropped X-men Legacy and Uncanny X-men last month) is proof of that it is my favorite X-Men title and it is also why Warren Ellis is a literary god among men.

SERENA’S PICK OF THE WEEK: THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ # 1

COVER BY: SKOTTIE YOUNG
WRITER: Eric Shanower
PENCILS: SKOTTIE YOUNG
INKS: Skott Young
COLORED BY: Skott Young
LETTERED BY: Jeff Eckleberry

THE STORY:
The epic continues! Fresh off their landmark run on THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF OZ, superstars ERIC SHANOWER (Age of Bronze) and SKOTTIE YOUNG (X-MEN) return with L. Frank Baum’s MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ. Join new characters Tip and Jack Pumpkinhead as they’re whisked to Oz, and meet foes and friends! You’ve NEVER seen L. Frank Baum’s masterpiece like this before…

We both enjoyed THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ so it’s no surprise that Serena picked THE MARVELOUS LAND OF OZ out of the stack to admire the cover and flip through the book before we even checked out. Both Skottie Young and Eric Shanower have done an outstanding job showing us an OZ like we’ve never seen before.

RECENTLY ADDED TO THE LIST: DEADPOOL TEAM-UP

On a side note, I picked up DEADPOOL TEAM-UP # 899. For some reason I thought last month’s # 900 was part of the regular series and it was just making fun of all the comics that are in the hundreds. But then Keith pointed out that # 900 was the first issue of a whole new DEADPOOL series. Then he pointed out something that didn’t dawn on me – DEADPOOL is the new WOLVERINE. Think about it. Ever since Ryan Reynolds poorly portrayed Deadpool in that shitty Wolverine movie, and after a Deadpool movie was announced, Deadpool has had two new series added to it’s belt, MERC WITH A MOUTH, and just recently, DEADPOOL TEAM-UP. Looks like Marvel’s found another character to milk a few extra dollars from our wallets. So why did I still pick it up? Because Deadpool is an unpredictable and unconventional comic book character and it’s that quality that will make the stories interesting and make the readers want to read more. You don’t really need any continuity between all the Deadpool titles. Even Marvel doesn’t care to much as it makes fun of continuity by making DEADPOOL TEAM-UP’s numbering work backwards. The writers wouldn’t need to put in those little boxes to remind us what happened when because with Deadpool everything is in chaos. And a little chaos never hurts now and then.

~ LoneWolf