DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke

Over the last week and a bit I've read both volumes of The New Frontier. Each volume is 200 pages and writtena and drawn by Darwyn Cooke.

I thought is was pretty awesome and lived up to the promise of being a classic. In fact I think it would get better on subsequent readings as my knowledge of DC history isn't that great.

I am very plased to have bought this.

More trades to add to the "To be read list"

Two relatively modern superhero trades to add to the list.

"Batman: The Cat and the Bat" is another of those stories recommended in the Best Stories articles on CBR. This particular one was in the Best Barbara Gordon stories ever told. It's about 10 years old. When I saw that the art was by Kevin Maguire I knew I had to get it.

"Fantastic Four: New Departure, New Arrivals" is brand new. I've been reading very good things about the Fraction/ Allred run on FF and this trade collects the 1st 3 issues of that run together with Fantastic Four 1-3 which explains why the orginal FF have to leave and the new FF have to take their place.

I also have purchased a new Star Wars trade from Dark Horse. "Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison" is set in the Dark Times and looks really good. Going to have a bit of a Star Wars month soon and will read it then.

New Purchases Galore

 I am having to blog more regularly to keep up with my new purchases recently. My goal of buying less than I am reading is well beyond reach at the present time. There are a few factors to blame for this. My trips to London for one and alos CBRs's greatest stories of all time series.

I really value the sites where I find out about cool comics from the past I missed and these features listing stories are a real treat. Of course, as soon as I read about stuff I investigate the net to see if I can get it! This trade of "Generations" from 1999 was the only copy I could find. It was listed as in "good nick" on ebay and I can't disagree. Definitely well read but complete. This particular story was highly placed in both the best Elseworlds stories and the best Superman stories. And it's by John Byrne who was a favourite of mine for a long time.

I did say I was going to look out for more Iron Man Masterworks. Just like the Superman/Batman book above, this hardback edition is quite rare and getting expensive. That's why I plonked down £30 for this copy from Amazon Market place. I will still try and get Vol 5 very soon too.

I haven't forgotten by actual comic collection either despite the number of trades and hardcovers I have bought recently. But there are not that many on my wants list and those that are are hard to get at a good price. These two issues of Team-Up were an exception priced at 99p and £1.04 respectively.

This isn't the end of the spending spree..more stuff on the way. Oh my giddy aunt!

Arkham Asylum: Living Hell

I read this during the week and was diappointed that I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. It was the art that let this story down. After the crisp and clean work of Amanda Conner recently, the art by Ryan Sook looked poor. And, as is often the case with ccomics, if the art doesn't cut the mustard then the story suffers.

Oh well. You win some and lose some.

Crazy time in London Comic Shops

 I had another business trip to London a couple of days ago and I got to visit both Forbidden Planet and Mega City Comics whilst I was there. I picked up 4 trades/ collections all for cheaper than I could have got them on Amazon.

The sale at FP again yielden results with this SHIELD hardcover "Agents of Tomorrow" by Hickman.

 Flex Mentallo always gets rave reviews on CBR but they all seem to worship Grant Morrison. What sold this for me was Frank Quitely's art which is amazing. This deluxe edition is very hard to find so I snapped it up when I saw it in Mega City.

 Recent posts have included stuff by Darwyn Cooke and although he didn't draw this story Tim Sale is a more than adequate substitute. On sale at less than a tenner? Yes please!

I also picked up Vol 4 of Dark Horse's reprints of the original Star Wars comics by Marvel. This is crazy stuff but worth it for £10 and having resisted first time round at FP I went for it this time. If they still have Vol 5 in the sale next time I am there then I'll bring that home too.

A varity of Graphic Novels & trades

Lots of new stuff has arrived in the post over the last few days. A cheap (£2.49) hardback collection of Iron Man Extremis was a bit of an impulse buy on ebay. This is from the "Ultimate Graphic Novel Collection" but I don't mind as the story with a few pages of extras looks well presented. I have the majority of the UGNC in the original comics so it was not something I was particularly interested in - but this was one story I was missing.

 The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke is supposed to be excellent so when Amazon got some new stock in I jumped at the chance to buy both volumes.

I read an article about Ravine on CBR and was impressed by the painted artwork as well as being interested in the fantasy based story. This is a 128 page original graphic novel published by Image. I don't know how many volumes they are planning but it sure looks pretty leafing through it!

Howard the Human

 3 more issues of Howard the Duck read. As I said before I prefer Howard in small chunks and 3 issues at a time seems good. I'll complete reading my run (up to issue 30) before plunging into the next novel but I'll read a few of my trade paperback collections inbetween.

In issue 19 begins the  story as a human, but hat doesn't last long. Nice cover homaging ASM#50 though.

 He soon runs into a "villan" made out of soap suds?

And then this guy, of whom I don't have a clue to his origins. Bizarre as always, but these were easy to read issues as the supporting cast took a break and Howard took centre stage again.

Captain America and The Falcon #186

This issue arrived today. I thought I better get this issue quick off ebay (I'd had it on my watch list for a bit) as it has recently been featured on Comics Should Be Good Legends revealed. Here's the link btw.

Anyway Captain America #186 has one of the most controversial retcons in Marvel Comics history, where we learn that Captain America’s partner, the Falcon, was actually a former crook who the Red Skull had used the Cosmic Cube to make into Cap’s perfect partner, all for the purpose of eventually having the Falcon turn on his friend at a key moment…

It also happened to be the last issue I needed to complete Steve Englehart's run and I didn't want anyone else snapping it up out of interest.

Of course I'm not sure when I'll get to read it..probably not this year as the list is already long! But at least I have it and that's another comic run completed.

Marvel Masterworks: Iron Man Vol 3

Always pleased to add to my Masterworks collection as new ones often move forward the date from which I have all the Marvel titles from FF#1 that I want to read.



This hardback (as it was good value on ebay) takes my Iron Man to August 1966 and Tales of Suspense #83. So this now means that the Hulk is languishing behind as I am only up to May 1966 with him. That equates to FF#50 and ASM#36.



I'm keen on getting more Iron Man masterworks. Vols 4 & 5 would take me up almost to the point from which I have the original comics so I'm going to look out for them soon.

At the Movies: Jack the Giant Slayer

How very remiss of me not to mention that this time last week I went to see Jack the Giant Slayer. The story was predictable but I enjoyed it more than Oz the Great and Powerful.

So did my 9-year-old.

Sleeper Omnibus

My one purchase this week is this massive 720 page hardback collection reprinting all the Sleeper series written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Sean Phillips.

As I'm a big fan of their work on Criminal and Incognito (yet to read Fatale but I have two volumes so far) I was prepared to pay £40 for this collection.

Power Girl by Amanda Conner

This was great - probably the most enjoyable of Amanda Conner's work I read. And the majority has been very good. Shame I have to wait for a year to pick up a trade containing the next (and last) 6 issues of her run.

Fun writing and art. Recommended!