The Comic Book Pile:Summer 2012

***Note***
This is an unpublished blog post from 2012. Not sure why I never posted it, it was interesting to see how much has changed in 6 years. I've inserted some updated comments.
- Chris Sept 25th 2018
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2012: (2018)

I am currently blogging while on my vacation in Fairview, Alberta. The family and I are visiting my Grandparents-in-law. (Sadly we did not make our annual trip to Fairview in 2018)
We are having a blast as always. But onto the blogging:

 

As you no doubt know I am a huge comic book fan. I order most of my comics on line from a company out of Quebec called 'Comic Pull' (I no longer order comics through Comic Pull. I get my comic books digitally from comixology and I order trades from Amazon) . I also have a 'pull list' at the 'Comic King' comic book store in West Edmonton Mall (Which has now been closed for probably 2-3 years. The last owner was a bone head and not a comic book fan and had no clue how to stay in business. I really did not like him and I am glad to see his business fail, although I am sad to see no comic book store in the mall. I have a lot of fond memories of WEM Comic King as it was my first comic book store).

I read a lot of comics in a month so I've decided to do a quarterly update segment where I tell you what I feel is the best of what I read (I never kept up with that nor do I want to do that now...lol). Some titles will not change from month to month because my favourite titles are pretty solid, but I'll try and include something different. If your thinking about picking up some comic books to try I hope this segment will help. in my opinion this truly is a great time to be reading comics.  

 

Top 10 Comic Books (In my opinion)

 

1- Batman (DC). Best written and drawn book out there!! (Still good with Tom King currently writing it)

2- Invincible (Image). Created and written by Robert Kirkman (creator of 'The Walking Dead' comic and TV show) (Sadly this book ended earlier this year but still worth checking out)

3- Daredevil (Marvel). Written by the great Mark Waid. This book is a lot of fun. (Waid no longer writing and I stopped reading it)

4- Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics). Jonathan Hickman is a great writer and this is a fun thinking man's comic book. (Hickman no longer writing and it just relaunched with Dan Slott writing after a 3 year hiatus of the title. So far it is good) 

5- Earth Two (DC) Still a new title but this is a great read by James Robinson (Starman) (No longer being made)

6- FF (Marvel) This is the sister book to the Fantastic Four and is written by Hickman. Fun book. (No longer being made)

7- Saga (Image) Written by Brian K. Vaughan this is a cool sci-fi comic book. Romeo & Juliet-ish it is. (No longer reading. got very boring)

8- Justice League (DC) Written by Geoff Johns, art by the legend Jim Lee. The back up 'Shazam' story is great too. (No longer reading. Johns no longer writing)

9- Aquaman (DC) Written by Geoff Johns. This really is a fun book to read and yes it is Aquaman. (No longer reading. Johns no longer writing)

10- Flash (DC) I was a fan of the Flash but with the relaunch of the 'New 52' this book got really good. (No longer reading. Got boring and redundant in my opinion)

 

Mentions: Swamp Thing (DC)(No longer reading) , Secret (Image) (No longer being made), Action Comics (DC), Hulk (Marvel)(No longer reading) , Batman Incorporated (DC)(No longer being made) .

 

Trade I'm reading: Starman Omnibus 1, paperback from DC comics. Reprinting this series from the 90's written by James Robinson (Earth Two). this is a fun book to read. the art is not the best but it suits the story I think.

  

See you in the fall for more of 'The Comic Book Pile'!! (No you won't)
(But more blogging goodness next week as always!)

The Comic Book Pile: Summer 2012

As you no doubt know I am a huge comic book fan. I order most of my comics on line from a company out of Quebec called 'Comic Pull'. I also have a 'pull list' at the 'Comic King' comic book store in West Edmonton Mall. I read a lot of comics in a month so I've decided to do a quarterly update segment where I tell you what I feel is the best of what I read. some titles will not change from month to month because my favourite titles are pretty solid, but I'll try and include something different. If your thinking about picking up some comic books to try I hope this segment will help. in my opinion this truly is a great time to be reading comics.  

 

Top 10 Comic Books (In my opinion)

 

1- Batman (DC). Best written and drawn book out there!!

2- Invincible (Image). Created and written by Robert Kirkman (creator of 'The Walking Dead' comic and TV show)

3- Daredevil (Marvel). Written by the great Mark Waid. This book is a lot of fun.

4- Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics). Jonathan Hickman is a great writer and this is a fun thinking man's comic book.

5- Earth Two (DC) Still a new title but this is a great read by James Robinson (Starman)

6- FF (Marvel) This is the sister book to the Fantastic Four and is written by Hickman. Fun book.

7- Saga (Image) Written by Brian K. Vaughan this is a cool sci-fi comic book. Romeo & Juliet-ish it is.

8- Justice League (DC) Written by Geoff Johns, art by the legend Jim Lee. The back up 'Shazam' story is great too.

9- Aquaman (DC) Written by Geoff Johns. This really is a fun book to read and yes it is Aquaman.

10- Flash (DC) I was a fan of the Flash but with the relaunch of the 'New 52' this book got really good.

 

Mentions: Swamp Thing (DC), Secret (Image), Action Comics (DC), Hulk (Marvel), Batman Incorporated (DC).

 

Trade I'm reading: Starman Omnibus 1, paperback from DC comics. Reprinting this series from the 90's written by James Robinson (Earth Two). this is a fun book to read. the art is not the best but it suits the story I think.

 

See you in the fall for 'The Comic Book Pile', but see you next week for more blogging goodness!

Blog #32: State Of The 'Bat Nation'

With DC's New 52 last fall I decided it was an excellent opportunity for me to jump on the Batman bandwagon. I have always been a fan of Batman but I have never been a regular reader of any of his titles. The only Bat-comics I have have been story arcs that interested me, but I never dedicated myself to a particular title. but with the New 52 I decided this was my chance to jump onboard and hit it from the beginning. Here is my reviews of each title, rated on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the best rating.

Batman: Written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Greg Capullo. This is the BEST Batman title out there. The writing is amzing and the art too is just as amazing. This is the BEST title in all of the 'New 52' in my opinion. Their 'Court Of Owls' storyline has been absolutely amazing. The 'Owls' are probably the best Batman villain creation since Bane in the 90's. Batman and all his allies have truly met their match with the Owls. This really is an amazing book.

Batman:  Rating of 5 out of 5.  Read this book!!!

Batman & Robin: This too is a good title. I love the Batman and Robin dynamic, especially this Robin because he is actually Bruce Waynes son, Damien. And Damien may be a little evil himself, too much like his Grandpa Ra's Al Ghul. The art is OK, but not great, and the writing too is OK. This book definitely has room to grow and I do enjoy reading it every month.

Batman & Robin: Rating 2.5 out of 5.

Batman The Dark Knight: This is a good book too. The writing is OK, but what is awesome with this title is the art!! Aside from Greg Capullo on 'Batman' this is the second best Batman art in the Bat titles. This is a beautiful book to look at and read. Especially the character of the 'White Rabbit'. Wow she looks amazing, too bad she's not real.

Batman The Dark Knight: Rating 3 out of 5.

Detective Comics: Again this is a good book. Like 'The Dark Knight' this is a book with OK writing and great art. And as the title suggests this books focuses on the 'Detective' side of Batman. The story line so far has not been great, but the more recent Penguin storyline was better.

Detective Comics: 2.5 out of 5.

Batman Incorporated: I still have to read this title. I had read the previous run before the New 52. But I like Grant Morrison on 'Batman'. So I will definitely be reading this title with a review to come.

Have a great week!