The Last Dark Horse Star Wars trade

This arrived this weekend. So I now have all four volumes.

Even though I was slightly disappointed by volume 1 when I read it (it's the only volume I have read so far), I'm pleased to have all four volumes to read consecutively,

When I  get round to it.

The new Marvel SW launch is getting excellent reviews so I should read this first,

X-Men Annual 4

It's from 1980 - 9so Byrne was still the regular series artist ) it's the classic team

The annual has John Romita Jr on art

Why haven't I bought this before??

A Spider-man conclusion

 I was recently browsing my Marvel Comics search on Ebay and spotted these two premiere edition HC which together collect the final issues of Brand New Day. These were published not long after i gave up buying monthly comics and had always planned to get them someday to complete the storyline. Not that it was that good - just for completeness really. As a result I wasn't really wanting to spend too much and prices on Amazon were never keen enough for me and there was always something more interesting to buy.

However, these were half price on Ebay and worth a pop,

I guess I should read all of Brand New Day back-to-back at some point.

Warlock Masterworks Vol 1

There aren't many Masterworks volumes that I still want (had to stop myself typing "need" then) and in fact there's not much room on my shelves any more.

But I had to get this one despite the fact that I've already got some of the stories it contains including the Incredible Hulk issues. Good value from the Book Depository too. This is a significant Bronze-Age series which I haven't read so it's lovely to finally own it.

One last point. This is the last softcover masterworks. It seems the epic collections will replace both these and Essentials as the softcover reprints from now on. It's a shame though as I did have my eye on the next Hulk one.

Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman vol 2

This beautiful, 832 page, deluxe hardcover collects Fantastic Four issues #600-611 and 605.1 and FF (Future Foundation) issues# 6-23. Plenty of comics there but it cost £60 from the Book Depository (RRP £90 though!) so i hope it's worth it.

I bought vol 1 back in Oct 2013 and I've still not read it so I've plenty to crack on with once I've finished some novels I'm reading.

Review of 2014

So it's now 2015 time to look at how I did this year. This is the third year I've been keeping track of what I've bought and what I've read (with a count of movies seen at the cinema too)

This is how I did in 2012 and 2013. In both years I've bought more than I've read, but one reason might be that I don't buy books but do read them and reading RPG rulebooks don't count on either column.

This is what I bought in 2014 ( The numbers in brackets are the 2013 figures);

New back-issues purchased      (30) 33
New trade collections                (51) 33
New copies of Epic Collections, Masterworks  & Omnibus editions     (24) 16

So it looks like I've successfully cut-back on the purchases. Probably because I now possess the majority of the bronze-age material I want. Of course, there is more but I've now got the key material to start reading Marvel from the beginning.


Last year (2013) I made a vow to not read any Marvel comics and concentrate on the DC and independents. And I've kept to that promise. This is what I've read.


Order of the Stick Start of Darkness
All New Brave and the Bold
All New Brave and Bold Vol 2
Bone Vols 1-9
Order of the Stick Vol 3
Order of the Stick Vol 4
All Star Western Vol 1
Power Girl: Power Trip
Batwoman: Elergy and New 52: Vol 1
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Batwoman Vol 2
Black Science Vol 1
Heart of Ice and Roses of Berlin 
Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold
Miracleman Vol 1
After Dario by Jules Hornbrook
Sleeper Omnibus
Doc Unknown Kickstarter trades
Batman and the Outsiders issues 
Batwoman Vol 3
Silver Age Classics (2 old Batman issues)
Batman Illustrated by Neil Adams Vol 1 -3
The Rocketeer collections
Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

AND the last trades I read in 2014 - Harley Quinn

These two collections were trying to be the same but were quite different. Preludes and Knock-Knock jokes was the first (I think) solo series for HQ moving her away from the Joker's influence. The art by the Dodsons was pretty but the stories collected didn't quite click for me. Whereas the recent version for the New 52 by Palmiotti and Conner was a better story even if the body count was very high. HQ doesn't care about collateral damage. The latter hardcover collection is a very nice book indeed. It's clear to see why this is a popular title at the moment.

I'll continue with the new series and there's a new collection out in May.

So what does that add up to?

Back-issues read      (39) 5
Trade collections read          (23) 34
Epic Collections, Masterworks  & Omnibus editions  read   (0) 1
Movies (4)
Books (3) 

So -I'm in positive figures for trades (even though I'm way behind on back-issues and the larger collections) But at least I bought less larger collections this year. I feel this is a positive step. My wishlist is getting smaller and my back-issue wants list is only a handful. I'll do a separate post about that.

I was hoping to start my Marvel collection from the start this year but that's not gonna happen. Still plenty of other stuff to read first but I will read some of my modern Marvel collections.