Pull List for 15 Apr 2009

1. Captain America #49
2. Incognito #3
3. The Living Corpse Annual #1
4. Mysterius the Unfathomable #4 *
5. Oracle: The Cure #2 (of 3)
6. Salem’s Daughter #0 *
7. Secret Invasion Aftermath: Beta Ray Bill — The Green of Eden #1 (one-shot)
8. X-Factor #42

* — Denotes those wavering at the edge of the Culling List.
§ — Denotes my last issue of this misbegotten series.

Okay, Marvel, seriously… What’s up with that title on the Beta Ray Bill book?

I bought Salem’s Daughter in the hopes that it will suck. I haven’t lambasted anything on here in months.

Pull List for 4 Dec 2008

1. The Astounding Wolf-Man #10
2. Batman #682
3. Criminal #7
4. Hack/Slash #18
5. Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #1 (of 8 )
6. Kull #2
7. The Living Corpse #6
8. The New Avengers #47
9. Secret Invasion #8 (of 8 )
10. Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #2 (of 4)
11. Wonder Woman #26

Quick Reviews for 4-10 Sep 2008

1. Criminal #5 — Still awesome. A
2. Dead, She Said #3 — This was a fun little miniseries.  It’s worth getting in TPB if you don’t feel like looking for back issues.  A
3. Deadpool #1 — Not sure about this one yet.  Way’s trying something that I think is going to exceed his ability.  B
4. Detective Comics #848 — “Heart of Hush” finally reveals what the title is about.  Interesting… A
5. The Living Corpse #5 — I’m starting to lose my interest in this series.  It just seems to be floundering and not really going anywhere. B
6. Ms. Marvel #30 — Please get Ms. Marvel out of the “Secret Invasion” tie-ins.  None of these have been any good. D
7. Ms. Marvel Annual #1 — Well, at least it occurs before “Secret Invasion”.  Unfortunately, like most annuals, aside from a few humorous bits, it’s a completely throwaway story. C
8. Necronomicon #1 — Mostly just set-up in this issue.  We’ll have to see where it goes next issue.  B
9. Neozoic #6 — Loving it.  Seriously, track down the back issues of this series. A
10. Red Sonja #37 — Oh geez… now it’s the freakin’ training sequence.  Next month it’s the acquisition of her “armor”.  Get to the beheadings already!  C
11. Savage Tales #9 — Again, kind of a mixed bag.  “Valaka” looks to have a nice twist, “Battle for Atlantis” has beautiful art and an okay story, “Quartermain” was trite and predictable, and “Osin” was good fun.  B
12. Secret Invasion #6 — Nick Fury: “Yeah? Well my god has a hammer!”  Bendis is really impressing me with this miniseries.  I had doubts at the beginning, but he’s really made it work. A
13. Secret Six #1 — Gail Simone shows her strength is character pieces.  A
14. Simon Dark #12 — Again… I just don’t care for this series, so I’m done with it. B
15. Ultimate Origins #4 — We re-tell the Hulk’s origin from Ultimates and advance the story with the obelisks.  I think I see where this is going, but I’m not 100% sure it really does anything for the Ultimate Universe. B
16. Wonder Woman #24 — As I stated in Secret Six, Simone’s strength is character pieces and this is one.  A

Quick Reviews for 2 Jul 2008

1. The Astounding Wolf-Man #7 — Wow, that went in a completely different direction than I thought it was going.  Dare I say this book might actually be “dark”?  A
2. Batman #678 — Um… wow.  Like Final Crisis, Morrison isn’t writing this anywhere near conventional.  If I have one complaint, it seems there’s too much left for the reader to draw in between this issue and the previous one.  Still good, though.  A
3. Beyond Wonderland #0 — Interesting concept put into play here since I was unfamiliar with the universe. I’ll probably definitely check out the first Grimm Fairy Tales TPB in the near future.  I could’ve done without the Sinbad story, though.  It seemed out of place with the lead story, and it wasn’t particularly compelling either.  B
4. Conan the Cimmerian #0 — Mission accomplished.  I will be checking out the first issue of the regular series.  B
5. Echo #4 — I understand Moore’s strength is his characterization, but this type of story really needs the plot to move a bit faster.  I’m not sure how much more of this I’ll be reading.  Something that progresses at this leisurely of a pace seems better suited for TPB format, IMHO.  Plus, $3 for a black-and-white book seems a bit pricey.  B
6. Hellboy: The Crooked Man #1 (of 3) — More great stuff from Mignola and Corben.  I don’t think I need to elaborate more than that.  A
7. The Living Corpse #4 — I like the way Hasson and Haeser are telling this story.  There are some great imaginative bits inside.  I’m curious to see their take on Frankenstein’s Monster next issue.  If I have one complaint about this series, it’s that the artwork is too cheery and cartoony for the dark and creepy mood they’re trying to establish.  B
8. Neozoic #5 — This might be the most entertaining series you aren’t reading.  Try getting some back issues, and you’ll see what I mean.  A
9. Northlanders #7 — Hmph… A plot twist cheats the final battle between Sven and Gorm.  The next issue, which concludes this first arc, could make or break this series.  B
10. Savage Tales #8 — The Red Sonja and Osin stories were pretty good.  The Battle for Atlantis story was mostly boring exposition and set-up.  The Quartermain story was relatively predictable.  Anthology series tend to be hit and miss by nature.  B
11. Trinity #5 (of 52) —  Well, the punch-fest is finally over.  The end of the main storyline showed some decent character and plot development.  The Tarot back-up story actually did something interesting as well.  I’m a bit torn here.  If it’s going somewhere, I’m interested.  However, as I speculated earlier, I’m worried this is a 25–30 issue story decompressed to 52.  I guess we’ll see what kind of mood I’m in next week as to whether I buy #6 or not.  B