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Still reading more prose than comics, but I did read more comics in July than in June.
YTD through June 683
[B]July reads:[/B]
Octavia Butler's The Kindred GN (240 pp; Abrams Comic Arts; 2017)
Tor #1-6 (DC; 1975-1976)
The Last Templar Vol. 1: The Encoder (56 pp; Cinebook; 2016)
Tommy Gun Wizards/Machine Gun Wizards #1-4 (Dark Horse; 2019)
Superman Dailies 1939-42 (DC/Sterling Books; 560 pp)
Abbott #1-5 (BOOM!; 2018)
Folklords #1-5 (BOOM!; 2019-2020)
The Brave & the Bold #28-30 (DC; 1960)
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133-135 (DC; 1970)
Donald Duck Adventures #14 (Gladstone; 1989)
Uncle Scrooge Adventures #18 (Gladstone; 1989)
Joe Kubert's Tor #1-6 (DC; 2008)
Showcase #76 (DC; 1968)
Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 1 The Ronin (144 pp; Fantagraphics; 1987 collects Usagi stories from Albedo #2-4, Usagi Yojimbo Summer Special #1, Critters #1,3,6, 7, 10, 11 and 14; Doomsday Squad #3)
Forever People #1 (DC; 1971)
Justice League of America #1 (DC; 1960)
Ragman #1-5 (DC; 1976-1977)
making the equivalent of 92 issues read for July
new YTD total: 775
-M
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Comics Read in 2020
June/July = 212
2000AD #2184-90
A Man Among Ye #1
Analog #10
Adventureman #1-2
Alter Ego Book 1 (3 issues)
Arthus Trivium Book 1 (3 issues)
Asgard Book 1 (3 issues)
Bliss #1
Cable #1
The Campbells Book 3-5 (9 issues)
Conan The Barbarian #14
Disaster Inc #1
Downfall (12 issues)
Dr Strange #4-5
The Dream of Jerusalem Book 1 (3 issues)
Excalibur #5-10
Fallen Angels #5-6
For the Empire Book 1 (3 issues)
Ghost Rider #4
Giant-Size X-Men Jean Grey + Emma Frost
Giant-Size X-Men Nightcrawler
Gogor #1-5
Fearscape #1-5
Hawkman #22
Heathen #10
Hellions #1
Ira Dei Book 1 (3 issues)
Legion of Superheroes #1-6
Legion of Superheroes Millennium #1_2
Levius/Est Vol.1 (10 issues)
Marauders #5-10
Michael Cray #1-4
New Mutants #5-10
Tartarus #3
That Texas Blood #1
Spellbound Book 1 (3 issues)
Strange Academy #2
Suicide Squad #4-6
Red Sonja #0-10
Rogue Planet #1
Ubel Blatt Vol.1 (24 issues)
The White Lama (13 issues)
The Wildstorm #1-24
Wolverine #1-2
Wynd #1
X-Force #5-6,8-9
X-Men #4-9
X-Men + Fantastic Four #1-3
Total = 790
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[B]X-Men #10/ Giant Sized X-Men: Fantomex:[/B] Okay forward motion on the ongoing story.
[B]Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom #1-6/ Clockwork #1-6/ Omega #1-5/ Alpha #1-2:[/B] An excellent second half to a great mid-level series.
[B]Doom Patrol Volume 2 #35-63:[/B] Decent exploration of superheroes dealing with weird stuff. I really appreciate Cliff/ Robotman as the everyman who recognizes how messed up it all is.
[B]Marauders #1-10:[/B] Takes some interesting twists with a select group of X-Men.
[B]Sentient #1-6:[/B] Excellent sci-fi mini.
Comics So Far: 903 Issues
Best of the batch: Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom. Plays with the status quo in some interesting ways to set up the final confrontation.
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Hello all! It's been a few months since my last post. Hope everyone's well! Here's what I've been up to since last time:
130-132. Amazing Spiderman 43-45
133. Amazing Spiderman- Sins Past Prelude
134-135. Avengers 33-34: I really like the use of Moon Knight in this arc. Moon Knight has a lot of great things going for him, but his rogue's gallery is weak- so I like seeing Moon Knight interact with the main Marvel Universe.
136-138. Batman 86-88: I'm not a big Batman fan/collector, but I like Tynion as a writer and got curious about this very popular arc. So far I'm really liking it!
139. Daredevil 20: Zdarsky is Marvel's crown jewel right now. I love this Daredevil run!
140.-141 Dr. Strange- Surgeon Supreme 2-3: Overall, I've enjoyed Waid's run on this character. Sad to hear that it's ending soon.
142. FF Empyre
143. Avengers Empire
144-146 Empyre 1-3
147. Avengers Empyre 1
148-151. Flash 753-756
152-153. Immortal Hulk 34-35
154. Olympia 1: Heard about the premise of this book and thought it looked interesting. Didn't hook me with this issue though. Might revisit it in trade form.
155-159. Once and Future 4-8- Really enjoying this book. I was going to trade-wait this, but I like it too much to have to wait.
160. Strange Adventures 2
161. Thor 5
162. Undiscovered Country 1: Lots of great creators here, but this first issue is a slog to get through.
163. X Factor 1: This is another book that I thought had promise, but the pacing and dialogue really put me off. There's a generation of writers that write all characters as if they lived in sitcoms. I don't know anything about Williams, but that what this writer's style feels like to me.
164. X-Men 9
After reading an old Mutant Massacre trade I dug out, I decided to try to read through to the end of the Claremont era:
165-215. Uncanny X-men 214-263
This is the first time I've re-read most of these since they came out 30ish years ago. My biggest surprise is how much I like Forge and Madeline Pryor. As convoluted as Madeline's origin is, I still found her a compelling character thoughout the "Outback" storyline and up through Inferno. As a young reader, I really didn't like either Forge of Pryor much (they didn't have "cool' costumes), but now I have a new respect for them and for what Claremont created with them. Storm and Forge's love story hit me so much stronger as an adult reader than way back when I read these as a kid. Glad I decided to revisit these books. Still have a few more to go to get to the end of this era.
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[B]New Mutants (new) #1-11:[/B] Decent take on the younger generation of X-Men from various reasons (classic New Mutants, Whedon/ Cassady, Morrison) having adventures on the periphery.
[B]Fallen Angels #1-6:[/B] The story of mutants VS tech isn't that satisfying, and has been done better elsewhere.
[B]Shadowhawk Volume 1 #1-3/ Volume 2 #1-3/ Volume 3 #1-4:[/B] The earlier issues have more of an indy comics feel than an Image feel which works. There are some bold choices (making the superhero's identity a mystery) but it backfires with an unfocused opening arc.
[B]Shaolin Cowboy #1-7:[/B] Good combination of absurdist humor and hyperdetailed hyperviolence.
[B]Iron Man (Slott) #1-11/ 14-19:[/B] I'm enjoying this take on Iron Man embracing virtual reality while also having a serious identity crisis in the aftermath of Bendis' run.
[B]The Sixth Gun #1-6:[/B] Solid opening to a new type of mythos (Mignola influenced Western/ horror hybrid.)
[B]Starman #0, 1-16:[/B] Really impressive superhero run. Harris gets better as an artist, but often astounds. The book has a great take on the learning curve of a reluctant hero embracing his legacy.
[B]Jungle Action #6-22, 24:[/B] McGregor & company are finally getting the appreciation for their development of Wakanda and key aspects of the Black Panther mythos.
[B]Flash (Rebirth) #21-22/ Batman (Rebirth) #21-22:[/B] Solid crossover getting to what makes two iconic DC heroes similar, and setting up some strangeness in the DCU.
[B]St. Swithin's Day:[/B] An early Grant Morrison comic I saw on a best-of list. Different from his usual stuff, as it's generally realistic, following an alienated young adult planning to kill Margaret Thatcher, and getting into that kid's perspective.
Comics So Far: 1,000 Issues
Best of the batch: Starman #11. It's an excellent standalone about superheroes pushed to the limits that was seeded really effectively in earlier issues.
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Sadly my computer crashed and I lost everything. That is why I have been so hit and miss on here as of late. Just didnt have access. I lost my comics list and count. I know I was over 1600. So I am going to start oover and try and read 1000 by the end of this year. I started Aug 1st and I am doing pretty good. Will post a list at the end of the month if any one wants me to.
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January: 62
Feb / March: 295
April: 32
May: 92
June: 180
July: 51
August:
Sandman omnibus 1: 38
Sandman omnibus 2: 40
Oblivion Song deluxe 1: 12
A walk through hell complete series: 12
Total: 814
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A so-so month. Falling behind a little on the comics, but it's just what I fancy reading at the moment.
[B][COLOR="#FF0000"]Goals[/COLOR][/B]
Comics - 1000
Books - 30
[COLOR="#00FF00"][B]This Month[/B][/COLOR]
[U]Comics - 41[/U]
Crosswind - 6
Doctor Who: Eleventh Doctor Year One - 15
Foolkiller - 5
Family Man - 13
The Man Who Laughed - 2
[U]Books - 5[/U]
Being Emily (Donovan)
Belgariad: Enchanters Endgame
Morse: The Riddle of the Third Mile
The Invisible Library: The Masked City
Wuthering Heights
[COLOR="#FFA500"][B]Overall[/B][/COLOR]
[U]Comics - 757[/U]
January: 181
February: 128
March: 48
April: 132
May: 121
June: 87
July: 19
August: 41
September:
October:
November:
December:
[U]Books - 34[/U]
January: 5
February: 2
March: 2
April: 7
May: 3
June: 0
July: 10
August: 5
September:
October:
November:
December:
[B][COLOR="#0000CD"]Complete Reading Record 2020[/COLOR][/B]
[U]Comics[/U]
An Inspector Calls - 6
Batman: New 52 - 87
Batman: Venom - 5
Black 47 - 4
Bloodthirsty: One Nation Under Water - 5
Chew - 64
Crosswind - 6
Doctor Who: Eleventh Doctor Year One - 15
Doctor Who: Tenth Doctor Year One - 15
Ether V1 - 5
Family Man - 13
Foolkiller (Marvel) - 5
Green Valley - 9
Hacktivists - 4
I Kill Giants - 7
JB: The Quasimodo Gambit - 3
Kingdom of the Wicked - 4
Mercy #1-2 - 2
Midas - 8
My Friend Dahmer - 10
Negation - 37
Ordinary - 3
Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood - 7
Pride of Baghdad - 6
Sabrina - 9
Sally Heathcote: Suffragette - 8
Secret - 7
Sensible Footwear: A Girls Guide - 14
Tex: The Lonesome Rider - 10
The Clock #1-2 - 2
The Facts of Life - 10
The Fade Out - 12
The Last Days of American Crime - 3
The Man Who Laughed (Awful adaptation) - 2
The Underwater Welder - 10
To End All Wars - 15
The Walking Dead: Book I to XVI - 193
Violent Cases - 2
Virgil - 4
Water Baby - 7
WW: Deodato/Messner-Loebs - 15
WW: Gail Simone - 34
WW: John Byrne - 39
WW: Phil Jimenez - 31
[U]Books[/U]
Barnaby: Death in Disguise
Barnaby: Written in Blood
Beauty and the Brooding Boss
Being Emily (Donovan)
Belgariad: Pawn of Prophecy
Belgariad: Queen of Sorcery
Belgariad: Magicians Gambit
Belgariad: Castle of Wizardry
Belgariad: Enchanters Endgame
Conundrum
Diablo: Storm of Light
Doctor Who: The Stealers of Dreams
Doctor Who: The Stone Rose
East of Eden
Gerritsen: Girl Missing
Gerritsen: In Their Footsteps
Gerritsen: Presumed Guilty
Invisible Library: The Invisible Library
Invisible Library: The Masked City
James Bond: Goldfinger
James Bond: Solo
King: Salems Lot
King: Carrie
Languedoc Trilogy: Sepulchre
Morse: Service of all the Dead
Morse: The Dead of Jericho
Morse: The Riddle of the Third Mile
The Secret History of Wonder Woman
The Starling & Other Stories
TWD: The Rise of the Governor
TWD: The Road to Woodbury
TWD: The Fall of the Governor I
TWD: The Fall of the Governor II
Wuthering Heights
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August was small reading month comics-wise for me, as most of my reading time went to prose again this month.
YTD through July: 775
[B]August reads:[/B]
Invisible Kingdom #6-10 (Dark Horse/Berger Books; 2019-2020)
Tarzan in Color Vol. 1 1931-1932 (NBM; 72 pp; so far Sundays from 9/27-12/27/31)
Bat Lash #1-7 (DC: 1968-1969)
Pulp OGN (67 pp; Image; 2020)
Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 2 Samurai (collects Usagi Yojimbo #1-6; Fanatgraphics; 1987-1988)
Seven Secrets #1 (BOOM!; 2020)
Avengers #1 (Marvel; 2018)
Seduction of the Innocent #1 (Eclipse; 1985; includes 50s pre-code horror published by Standard)
Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 3: The Wanderer's Road (collects Usagi Yojimbo #7-12, story from Turtle Soup; Fantagraphics; 1988)
Wynd #1-2 (BOOM!; 2020)
making it only the equivalent of 37 comics in August
new YTD total: 812
-M
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Batman (Vol. 3) (2016) # 86 - 94 (9 issues)
Batman Secret Files # 3 (2 issues)
Batman Three Jokers (3 issues)
Batgirl (Vol. 5) (2016) # 47
Dark Nights Death Metal (2020) # 3 ( 1 issue)
Dark Nights Death Metal Legends of the Dark Knight # 1 (2 issues)
Dark Nights Death Metal Guidebook # 1 (2 issues)
Detective Comics (2016) 1006 - 1025 (18 issues)
Hawkman (Vol. 5) (2018) # 19 - 26 ( 8 issues)
Injustice Year Zero (2020) # 1 - 4 (4 issues)
Iron Man 2020 # 1 - 6 (6 issues)
Justice League Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (2017) # 's 1 - 6 (6 issues)
King Thor (2019) # 1 - 4 (5 issues)
Nightwing (Vol. 4) (2016) # 58 - 73 (16 issues)
Nightwing Annual 2 - 3 ( 4 issues)
Power Rangers Ranger Slayer (2020) # 1( 2 issues)
Red Hood And the Outlaws (Vol 2) (2016) #'s 12 - 25, Annual # 1, 2 (19 issues)
Red Hood : Outlaw (2018) # 26 - 48, Annual # 3 (25 issues)
Superman (Vol. 2) (1987) # 4
Superman Year One (2019) Books One - Three (9 issues)
Teen Titans (Vol. 6) (2016) # 20 - 23 (4 issues)
Teen Titans Special # 1 (2 issues)
Wolverine # 116 - 118 (3 issues)
Uncanny X-MEN # 347 - 350 ( 6 issues)
X-Men # 69
Issues read this month : 160
Issues read this year: 775
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[B]August[/B]
Sandman omnibus 1 (38)
Thor 2012-2020 (109)
Sandman omnibus 2 (38)
Sandman omnibus 3 (30)
The Losers tpb (32)
[B]
Total for month: 247 issues
Total so far: 1837 issues[/B]
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[B]July[/B]
[B]Annihilation: Nova[/B] #4 (1)
[B]Annihilation: Silver Surfer[/B] #1 - #4 (4)
[B]Annihilation: Super Skrull[/B] #1 - #4 (4)
[B]Annihilation: Ronan[/B] #1 - #4 (4)
[B]Annihilation[/B] #1 - #6 (6)
[B]Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus[/B] #1 - #2 (2) Had that feeling of not understanding why this was a big deal until I got to the main issues. Can see the build up was needed and while I wouldn't call the early issues a slog, it took a while to get going. Good fun.
[B]Hellblazer[/B] #6 - #16 (11)
[B]Swamp Thing[/B] #76 - #77 (2) I was enjoying this until Constantine started living with hippies and I checked out. If I return to this I'll have to space other issues between rather than a straight read through.
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[B]August[/B]
[B]Parker - Martini Edition[/B] (15) This was great visual storytelling. At surface level the story is simplistic because Parker is such a direct character, but there is so much meaning conveyed through the art. Highly enjoyed this, looking forward to more. Fun book.
[B]Daredevil Vol 2[/B] #1 - #29 (29)
[B]Daredevil: Yellow[/B] #1 - #6 (6) DareDevil made me look forward to reading again and making more time to get through issues. Plan to go all the way through to end of Brubaker run then onto Waid. Undecided if I'll fit shadowlands era in there.
I'm on the upswing now, still on track to hit 1,000 by year-end.
[B]Total for July[/B] = 34
[B]Total for August[/B] = 50
[B]Total for Year[/B] = 686
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[B][I]Die [/I]#1-13:[/B] Accessible and satisfying exploration of fantasy tropes as people find themselves in the world of an RPG. But it goes deeper than that, exploring the relationships between some traumatized individuals, as well as the nuances of fantasy worlds and what that means.
[B][I]Northlanders[/I] #21-29:[/B] The story of the plague and people trying to survive it/ take advantage of it isn't exactly subtle, but it works with the themes of the viking series.
[B][I]Space Bandits[/I] #1-5:[/B] Fun R-rated sci-fi by Millar, with a decent revenge plot.
[B][I]Dick Tracy Forever[/I] #1-4:[/B] Fun take on the different eras of Dick Tracy.
[B][I]Fantastic Four [/I]#356-365:[/B] DeFalco and Ryan's run starts with some retcons, and a lot of new characters. The series has been better, but this is a solid exploration of the wonders of the universe, which is just what Marvel should be.
[B][I]Marvel Comics Presents[/I] #1-12:[/B] The anthology primarily has major bronze age teams returning to old characters (Claremont on Wolverine, Gerber on Swamp Thing, Gulacy on Shang-Chi) with some 80s "relevant" preachiness. It's okay, and might have more appeal to fans of the originals.
[B][I]Sharkey the Bounty Hunter[/I] #1-6:[/B] More sci-fi action fun from Millar.
[B][I]Iron Man 2020[/I] #1-6:[/B] Decent conclusion to Slott's Iron Man run, with a satisfying showdown between the Stark brothers.
[B][I]Mystique [/I]#1-13:[/B] Accessible spy drama with Professor X and Mystique. Not BKV's best work, but pretty solid.
[B][I]Justice Society of America [/I]#1-8/ [I]Justice League of America[/I] #8-10:[/B] For the relaunch, Johns introduces some new characters with old roots. It gets a bit dark for what this series is supposed to be, especially the story of villains hunting descendants of golden age superheroes.
[B][I]The Spirit[/I] (Kitchen Press) #1-8:[/B] Eisner's return to the Spirit after his World War II service is consistently inventive, although much of it has not aged well. Still, he covered a lot of ground in weekly 7 page stories.
[B][I]Superman [/I](Bendis) #7-14/[I] Action Comics [/I]#1007-1011:[/B] I get more of a sense what Bendis is trying to do, although he's got radically different stories with the same character (family saga with cosmic secrets, along with the set-up to the spy drama Event Leviathan crossover.) There may be too many developments/ retcons, although it makes sense in the context of DC's rumored and likely scrapped Generations relaunch.
[B]Bad Weekend:[/B] Solid noir set in the world of jaded comic book legends.
Comics So Far: 1,109 Issues and one graphic novel.
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January: 62
Feb / March: 295
April: 32
May: 92
June: 180
July: 51
August: 102
September:
Sandman omnibus 3: 30
Pulp: 3
The complete witchblade 1: 25
Broken frontier: 12
Secret Weapon: 4
Shadowman deluxe 1: 11
Total: 899
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YTD through August-812
September reads:
DNAgents #1-12 (Eclipse; 1983-1984)
Batman: Gotham Noir (DC Elseworlds; 2001; 64 pp)
Undiscovered Country #1-6 (Image; 2019-2020)
Classics Illustrated #32 (Lorna Doone; Gilberton; 1946)
Milestone Returns #0 (DC; 2020)
Crossfire #1-9 (Eclipse; 1984)
Son of Sinbad #1 (St. John; 1950)
Antar: The Black Knight #1 (IDW; 2018)
The Cimmerian: Red Nails #1 (Ablaze; 2020)
Surge #1-4 (Eclipse; 1984)
Four Color #588 (King Richard and the Crusaders) (Dell; 1954)
Tarzan in Color Vol. 1 1931-1932 (NBM; 38 pp; Sundays from 1/3-9/18/32)
Showcase Presents Jonah Hex Vol. 1 (including stories from All Star Western #10-11; DC 1972)
Buried Treasure #1 (1986; 40s-50s reprint material; 56 pp)
making it the equivalent of 47 comics in September (still spending more time reading prose than comics)
new YTD total: 859
-M