Stemo's Secret Stash for 8.26.09

Of course I picked up the Marvel 70th Anniversary variant for Wolverine First Class #18 even though I don't read the book, but 1) it's Takeshi Miyazawa and 2) it's KITTY! I also got the covers for Avengers Initiative #27, X-Force #18, Secret Warriors #7, and Runaways #13.

• Dark X-Men: the Beginning #3 - the best of the series, probably because of the twist that we got in Dark Avengers #8 this week. It was nice that Jason Aaron got to pick up the "Get Mystique" story where he left off, and the Jeanne-Marie Beaubier story, despite knowing nothing about her character except that Northstar's her brother, was pretty cool.

• Guardians of the Galaxy #17 - I wish that never that read War of Kings hadn't read the mini series and had instead only read the events of the story as they unfolded in Guardians of the Galaxy, especially since the real conclusion is in this book!

• Unknown #4 - not a bad conclusion, but when I summarized the series in one sentence for somebody today ("The world's greatest detective gets a terminal brain tumor and attempts to solve the greatest mystery of all, is there an afterlife" [halfway lifted from the summary]) I realized that the concept was a little better than the execution.

• Incredible Hercules #133 - I'm having a very hard time sticking with this title and probably wouldn't if Agents of Atlas wasn't going to come in as a back-up feature in a few months.

• X-Force #18 - my favorite of the week, a big surprise coming from pretty far down my stack. Awesome as always Choi and Oback art, X-23 drama going back to the "Target X" mini series and New X-Men "Mercury Rising", Kyle and Yost introducing concepts from the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon, and Boom Boom making a Nextwave reference!
  

• Justice Society of America #30 - still not feeling Willingham and Sturges's run yet.

• Batman: Widening Gyre #1 - I think that my reception of this Smith Batman mini series was that when Cacophony came out I was pretty unhappy with everything except Detective and it was a welcomed exception. Now that I'm enjoying all the Bat books, this fell a little flat on the initial reading.

• Dark Reign: Elektra #5 - super psych-out ending, and like Secret Invasion: Front Line #5, this was one of those times that Norman Osborn came out looking outright scary, not because of a public show of force, but an incredibly maniacal use of manipulation.

• Runaways #13 - Immonen and Pichelli's run continues to rock.

• Deadpool #15 - I think I need to do a blog about the soundtracks that I hear while listening to certain comics. All I could hear in this one was Reggie and the Full Effect.

• Flash: Rebirth #4 - I held on to the continuity. I think that will be the "makes his mama proud" hype in the next RE: Comics! "Stephen makes his mama proud by understanding Flash Facts."

• Avengers Initiative #27 - huh? Random Dazzler villains and then picking up a story from Guardians of the Galaxy without pointing people in the right direction?

• Gotham City Sirens #3 - my heart sank when I didn't see Paul Dini's name on the cover, but Scott Lobdell did a really great job filling in.

• Detective Comics #856 - people will probably poo poo this all over the place for being too much talking, not enough action. Dave Stewart needs to win the Eisner for best colorist for the umpteenth time for his work on this book (see especially the tail end of Batwoman's cape as a hybrid takes her away and the Bat symbol in the center of the following page). J.H. Williams needs an Eisner for best artist for the layouts during the gala dinner. And finally, for a character that appeared to much media exposure in 52 and played second fiddle to the Question for the last 3 years in various mini series, this is the first time we've gotten any insight into Batwoman herself.

• Blackest Night: Titans #1 - wouldn't have cared anything about this if I hadn't read the 2 part Gail Simone/Rob Liefeld arc from the current volume of Teen Titans earlier this week.

• Dark Avengers #8 - the pacing felt a little forced, but I finally got what I wanted.

• Secret Warriors #7 - is the sh*t.

• Green Lantern #45 - a little bit too much going on, but I like that the fight has been taken to the stars.

• Fantastic Four #570 - it's both a good jumping on point for new readers and a payoff if you read Hickman's Dark Reign: FF. Like everyone else, I'm not sure about Eaglesham's interpretation of Reed yet.

• New Avengers #56 - the Mockingbird sequence at the beginning was fantastic. Jim McCann worked me into a Mockingbird frenzy with New Avengers: the Reunion, and besides that I can't remember a line that she's spoken as a member of the Avengers since. From then on it felt like Bendis couldn't write an issue of Dark Avengers this month because of Utopia, so he threw in a DA co-feature with more awesome Immonen art.

• Batman and Robin #3 - another Bat book that had people ready to run for the hills. All I can say in consolation is that just because the villain goes nuts and supplies most of the dialogue doesn't mean that Batman or Robin are acting out of character from their previous appearances in the book. Gonna miss Quitely on the next three.

• King City #1 - this is an awesome read, 32 story pages, cover to cover for $2.99. The first six issues are going to reprint the first volume that was released from TokyoPop several years ago and the second six will comprise the all new second volume that TokyoPop wouldn't put out.

• Stuff of Legend #1 - the hype here is 100% real! Pick it up and support future Acme guest Brian Smith!

• Wednesday Comics #8 - my favorite to date, front to back.