The holiday season and new books to buy and expect!

There are going to be quite a lot of new comics coming up over the next few weeks...which coincides with the Christmas shopping season, meaning that I've got to learn how to save and budget and prioritise like never before!

Brian Michael Bendis' Secret Invasion just finished...and what a series it was! The anticipation of what would happen in the next issue was just like Mark Millar's Civil War a couple of years ago and boy, was that a fantastic series and Secret Invasion certainly ended with more questions than resolutions.

Yes, the Skrull invasion was halted...was there really any doubt? But the fallout is just about to happen, and it leads nicely into Marvel's event of 2009: Dark Reign. I won't list any spoilers for those who haven't yet read Secret Invasion (and if you haven't, hurry up and go read it already!), but the gist of it is, the Marvel Universe has just become a much darker place with even MORE conspiracies than ever before at the conclusion of the failed Skrull invasion.

While Tony Stark was heralded as the Marvel Universe's saviour only a mere two years ago, with the Superhero Registration Act implemented as a result of the Civil War, he now finds himself discarded by his own government. All his plans post-Civil War failed to yield any fruition and he's failed to deliver on his promise of protecting America with the 50-State Initiative program.

So the government has sacked Tony from being the big kahuna of S.H.I.E.L.D. Wait until you see who they've chosen to be the new big boss...it's the shock ending of Secret Invasion that will resonate and create a ripple effect in all of Marvel Comics' books for years to come!

Anyway, I'll give Secret Invasion a proper review sometime down the line. Back on topic, another new title I'll be adding to my standing list is Dark Avengers, which spins off from the ending of Secret Invasion. There have been quite a number of huge releases in the TPB and HC format such as The Boys: Definitive Edition HC which collects the first 13 issues of Dynamite Entertainment's superb series.

The Boys is a guilty pleasure and the world it's set in is as realistic as it comes in posing the question: What would it be like if there really were superheroes in the real world? Garth Ennis (of Preacher and Punisher: Max infamy, and one of my favourite writers) crafts such a splendid tale of absolute power corrupting absolutely. He certainly doesn't hold back and while there are some moments in the series which are just flat out gross, it IS classic Ennis, which means fans will be treated with over-the-top humour in the vein of Preacher.

Hmm...methinks I should review The Boys sometime down the line too! It's just too good not to have a review!

The Rising Stars Compendium HC also gets released after the new year, which collects the entire series of Rising Stars, from the original 24 issue mini-series by J. Michael Stracyznski, to the three related mini-series. Rising Stars was absolutely brilliant, especially in the first third of the series where it established the world in which 113 special humans with powers lived and how they interacted with society at large.

It's a great time to be a comic book fan...not good for our wallets though!

Francis is also helping me to get the entire series of the Slam Dunk manga in English, published by Chuang Yi Comics in Singapore. 31 volumes means that it'll be a while before I can actually pay him for the order...yipes. Good reading times ahead!

Preacher rules!

Well, I read the final TPB of Preacher yesterday and it is JUST. SO. AWESOME. There are only 75 issues in the entire series of Preacher: 66 regular single monthly issues, five one-shot specials and a four issue Saint of Killers mini-series. And the entire saga is just brilliant.

I can't just recommend it highly enough. I've recommended so much stuff to friends over the years...Watchmen is another one of my highly recommended titles, as well as Fables and most stuff written by Alan Moore. But for sheer great storytelling and comedy/dark humour, you just can't go beyond Preacher. Where else will you get to see a teenager with the face of an arse, a German ex-special ops soldier who's got a head that looks like a giant penis, just to name some of the more memorable characters?

I really like Garth Ennis' title to each single issue story too. He's got titles that are named after brilliant quotes from lyrics, such as "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose" ("Me and Bobby McGee" - Kris Kristofferson), and then he makes reference to the battle at the Alamo with Bowie, Crockett and Travis and the 180 men.

The Wikipedia entry on Preacher is pretty comprehensive too, for those who want to find out more about it. Not too many spoilers there either:

Preacher on Wikipedia

Started reading the latest TPB of Y - The Last Man yesterday...that's another super read, though nowhere close to as good as Preacher.

Catching up on reading TPBs

No new updates from Wizard Universe today, unfortunately...nothing that really interests me much. There's an interview with Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey and Chris Yost about the latest storyline, Messiah Complex, that's going to be the prevalent storyarc in the X-Men titles, but I've been weaned off the X-Universe for quite a long time now that it doesn't really interest me much anymore. The last real storyarc/series I read was Morrison and Quitely's run on New X-Men...and not only was that ages ago, but I didn't even get the single issues and resorted to purchasing the HCs and TPBs to read the entire storyline! Oh yeah, must remind myself to save up for that New X-Men Omnibus...I really love those Marvel Omnibuses which are something like the DC Absolute Editions, though with less extras but more issues collected.

I'd finished reading Preacher Vol.7, so I'm about 70 to 80 per cent through the entire series. Jarrod from Classic Comics rang me yesterday evening to inform me that Preacher Vol.8 is in store now, so once I get it, just another two more TPBs to read and I'd have read the Preacher series for the third time. It gets better everytime I read it...learn so much more! I'd really love for one day to have loads of free time to read the entire series from cover to cover in one go. Would take me a good portion of the day methinks. But hell, it'd be worth it.

Obviously, I needed something else to read in the meantime, since I didn't know when Preacher Vol.8 was going to be available, so I started on Brian K. Vaughan's Y - The Last Man Vol.8. I've got the seven previous volumes back in Singapore and I THOUGHT I'd remember enough of the story to make reading the latest TPB worthwhile...but alas, it felt like just jumping into the series midway with not much of an idea what had happened previously before! That's one of the reasons why I decided to get the ENTIRE Preacher series again here...I wanted to have the whole collection to read in the one go. Y - The Last Man is absolutely brilliant as well and well worth getting the entire series too. Hmmm...priorities.

I started on the Ed Brubaker run of Daredevil as well last night, which is kinda nice because while it was good to have some previous idea of what happened in the past in Brian Michael Bendis' run, it certainly wasn't necessary to know ALL that had transpired. Got through the first three issues in the TPB and it's as good as the critics have said. I really love the whole notion of Daredevil's secret identity being outed in the press, then everyone looking at him as if he's this street urban vigilante who fights crime at night but fights evil in the court of law in the day. Which is exactly what he does...but now with the added "twist" that people know and shoot accusatory glares at him!

It's funny seeing how Murdock keeps denying that he's Daredevil, but then proceeds to prove that he's anything BUT a blind man. Take for instance: Murdock is thrown in jail and he keeps telling the prison warden that he's not Daredevil. So the prison warden, who's been bought off, sets a trap for him in which a group of superthugs all jump Murdock, hoping to shiv him. A couple of panels later, the prison guards bust in and they find everyone bruised, bloody and down for the count...all except Murdock, who's ATTEMPTING to hide in the corner, completely unharmed. Murdock's excuse? That the thugs (who ALL work for the same person) just started beating up on each other and in the panic, he was trying to find some corner to escape the violence. Yeah, I'm sure they'd believe that.

There are too many incidents in the prison where the prisoners all start heading to the infirmary, one by one. And is it a massive coincidence that these prisoners all have had run-ins with Murdock BEFORE being sent to the hospital? It doesn't look good for Murdock's secret identity, but I love the way that it's playing out this way. Oh! In the last panel of the third issue, we see a man snapping the neck of a wannabe rapist. A bunch of cops see this happening and they rush up to arrest the man. The man opens up his trenchcoat and then puts his arms up in the air, asking for the cops to arrest him and take him to prison...the same prison that Murdock is in.

All this is well and good, until they focus in on the man's chest and there's this eerie huge fricking skull on his chest. You guessed it...the Punisher wants to go to prison! Does he want to save Daredevil, his one time ally? Or does he want to kill him, since Daredevil has been his long-time nemesis...not nemesis in terms of "I want to kill you because you're my enemy", but nemesis because both of them don't agree on the way to deal with villains. Daredevil wants villains to go through due process in a court of law, while the Punisher, well, he wants to punish them by killing them all and letting God sort them out.

I can't wait to read the rest tonight!

New stuff purchased 24 Sep 2007

Headed to Classic Comics yesterday after work to pick up The Complete Bite Club TPB. I read the collected TPB of the series some time ago and it was pretty fantastic, so this was something I was really looking forward to read. Haven't had the time to do so yet, of course.

Oh, and I got the Captain America Omnibus HC yesterday too! I saw that it was on sale and since it was really cheap (as far as 25+ issues worth of a collected edition...hardcover no less!) I decided it would be worth it there and then to buy it on the spot while it was still available. It'd be too difficult (and perhaps expensive if the price went up!) to obtain a copy later...especially since I'm expecting it to be sold out as interest in Captain America picks up when the movie is about to be released...or when Marvel decides to resurrect the character.

Got and read The Pro yesterday...it's hilarious! I couldn't find it on the TPB racks under "R" and I asked the sales assistant, who said they had put it with all the other Garth Ennis stuff. Ennis is such a brilliant writer...I often find myself laughing out loud at his dark, sick and twisted humour. Some of my favourite comics and series have been penned by the Irish master scribe: Preacher, the reboot of the Marvel Knights imprint Punisher series ("Welcome Back Frank"), his Marvel Max imprint Punisher series, among others.

Slowly, but surely, I'll catch up on reading all the stuff that I've bought. Gotta find something to do in the evenings when waiting for Aeris to return home, and at night before I go to bed!

I want want want (but can't have all at once)!

Back this week for more comics and pop culture shenanigans! Aeris and I went to Classic Comics on Friday, so I could see whether my ordered copy of The Complete Bite Club was in yet, but the stupid Connex train and Yarra Trams tram services conspired to get me there AFTER 7pm, when the shop was closed.

I think I also want to purchase the entire run of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher, which has been one of the most awesome series I have ever read. Nine books in total, so it will cost a fair bit...I really need to work out my budget over the next couple of months, because I also want to get Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Captain America Omnibus which collects, in HC, the first 25 issues of their run, plus two other related comics. And then we've got the move as well, which has eaten into my finances...need to prioritise what I want to get.

And the Marvel Zombies Vs Army of Darkness HC will be released sometime next week too, which is something I want to get as well! So many choices. Not enough money. Grah.