Pick Of My Pile for the weeks of 1-2, 1-7, 1-14, and 1-21

Hello Chums,



I've got a few weeks worth of reading to get caught up on, so lets go.



Week of 1-2:



Marvel:



Stephen King The Stand Captain Trips #4 (of 5). This book continues to be really good.



Punisher War Journal #26. This is a nice Christmas stand alone story.



Marvels Eye of the Camera #2 (of 6). Phil Sheldon continues his street level view of the Marvel universe.




Kick Ass #5 (ICON). This book is great. I just wish it would come out monthly.



Fantastic Four #562. The Funeral of The Invisible Woman. The Invisible Woman from the future that is.



Captain America #45. More Bucky Barnes as Captain America. Good Stuff.



Avengers - Invaders #7 (of 12). What's taking sooo looong on this book? It can't be the artwork.




Incognito #1 (ICON). Another Brubaker - Phillips book off to a great start.



Image:



Back to Brooklyn #2 (of 5). This guy knows how to use a shotgun. Punisher style.



DC / Vertigo:




Jack of Fables #29. Bookburner vs. The Golden Boughs p.2.





The Pick Of My Pile this week is Incognito #1. This story is off to a great start.





Week of 1-7:




Marvel:



Punisher War Zone #4 (of 6). Continuing The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci.



The Immortal Iron Fist #21. Another stand alone story of a different (future) Iron Fist.




Secret Invasion War of Kings. (one-shot). This story sets up The Inhumans and Kree alliance to battle Vulcan and The Shi'Ar Imperium.






War of Kings Saga (free). Does DC do any free books? Yeah I know this is just an ad to get readers into books, but it's a nice recap for free.




Hellboy The Wild Hunt #2 (of 8). Probably the best Hellboy story (so far) in years.






The Pick Of My Pile this week is Hellboy. Great story and art.





Week of 1-14:



Marvel:



The Amazing Spider-Man #583. Spidey meets the President issue.



Wolverine #70 (Old Man Logan). More Logan and Hawkeye in the future.



Marvel Zombies 3 #4 (of 4). Finale of Machine Man and Jocasta's trek with the Marvel Zombies.



Punisher #1. Another Punisher book!!?? Does this make four titles in one month? Punisher War Zone, Punisher War Journal, Punisher Max, and this new Punisher. That's Four! Isn't that more than Spider-Man? Let's hear it for Marvel's new flagship character - The Punisher!



Punisher War Zone #5 (of 6). Ennis, Dillon and The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci. Nuff Said!



X-Infernus #2 (of 4). More of the return of Illyana Rasputin.



IDW:


Star Trek The Next Generation The Last Generation #3 (of 5). Betrayal by Wesley Crusher.



Image:




I Kill Giants #7 (of 7). The conclusion of Barbara's story.



Dark Horse:



B.P.R.D. The Black Goddess #1. A new story with art by Guy Davis featuring Lobster Johnson!!


Archaia Studios Press:



Mouse Guard Winter: 1152. Tough little mice battling bats and an owl.





The Pick Of My Pile this week is B.P.R.D. This new arc is off to a great start.






Week of 1-21:



Marvel:



The Mighty Avengers #21. An all new line up featuring: The Vision, Jocasta, The Scarlet Witch, Hercules, The Wasp, U.S. Agent, Stature and The Hulk!




Captain America - Theater of War - America The Beautiful (one-shot). A nice W.W.2 story by Paul Jenkins.



Dark Avengers #1. A team of Bad Guys posing as the Good Guys.



Astonishing X-Men #28. The X-Men fight monsters in China. With a mutual friend named Forge.




Uncanny X-Men Annual #2. The White Queen, Sebastain Shaw, The Hellfire Club and Namor? Nuff Said!



DC / Wildstorm:


The X- Files #3. A nice start to a multi-issue story.


Image:



Back to Brooklyn #3 (of 5). The violence continues Garth Ennis style.



IDW:



Star Trek Countdown #1. The prequel to the movie begins.




The Pick Of My Pile this week is Uncanny X- Men Annual #2. I love Hellfire Club stories and this story did not disappoint.


K.R.C.



D.L.

Best Of 2008!

Hey Chums,


Everybody out there does a best of list for the years end. Since they pretty much miss the mark, can I do any worse? Here is my best of list for 2008. Enjoy!



Best issue: Criminal: A Wolf Among Wolves. Marvel (Icon).



Best limited series: Universal War One. Marvel (Soliel).



Best continuing series: Captain America. Marvel.


Best (NEW) continuing series: X- Files. DC (Wildstorm).


Best continuing series in trade format: Fables (1-10). DC (Vertigo).



Best trade packaging: Local. ONI.





Best Graphic novel (read this year): Goon Chinatown. Dark Horse.




Best book by a foreign creator: Mesmo Delivery (by R. Grandpa). Ad House.




Best independent comic: Sulk (1-2). Top Shelf.


Best Black and White comic: Sulk (1-2). Top Shelf.



Best Cover: The Immortal Iron Fist #17. Marvel.





Best zero issue: Captain America White #0. Marvel.



Best licensed comic property: Star Trek. IDW.



Best character in a continuing series, limited series or one-shot: The Punisher. Marvel.




Best character surprise resurrection: Mockingbird. Marvel.


Comic book company of the year: Marvel.



Best Writer: Ed Brubaker. Marvel/Icon.




Best Artist: Sean Phillips. Marvel/Icon.




Best book related to comics: Watching the Watchmen. Titan Books.



Best book on an artist (that I had to buy again): Tim Sale Black and White Revised and Expanded. Image.


Best comic book related podcast: Fanboy Radio.



Best comic book con: San Diego Comic-con.


Best piece of published fan art: Doc Savage The Man Of Bronze. San Diego Comic-con art book (by D.L. Nelson).





Best (Superhero) movie: Iron Man. Marvel.




Best movie period: Speed Racer.




K.R.C.

D.L.

Pick Of My Pile for the weeks of 12-17 and 12-24

Hello Chums,

Two weeks this time around for the end of the year.

12-17:

Marvel:

Thor God -Size (one-shot). The story of Skurge The Executioner. By Fraction with Brereton and Allred.

Uncanny X-Men #505. More Matt Fraction doing the X-Men with art by the Dodsons.

The Immortal Iron Fist #20. Danny Rand vs. the killer of Iron Fists conclusion.

Dark Reign New Nation (one-shot). Five short stories featuring: Secret Warriors, Agents of Atlas, War Machine, Skrull Kill Krew and New Avengers.

The Age Of The Sentry #4. More sixties style action with The Sentry.

The Mighty Avengers #20 Secret Invasion Epilogue. Wasp funeral issue. Not that it's not good but, they'll make an issue about anything these days.

Punisher War Zone #2 (of 6). The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci continues.

Samurai #4 (of 4) (Soleil). The conclusion of a very well drawn and colored story.

DC:

Air#5 (Vertigo). The first arc of this series concludes. It's time for me to drop this book.

The X-Files #2 (Wildstorm). A pretty decent story with nice character likeness' by Brian Denham.

DC Universe Holiday Special (one-shot). Multiple stories by multiple creative teams but the best part is the Frank Quitely cover.

Image:

Elephantmen #14. Unfortunately no Moritat art.

IDW:

Star Trek The Next Generation The Last Generation #2 (of 5). More Star Trek multiple crew stories.

The Pick Of My Pile this week is Thor God Size.

12-24:

Marvel:

Thor#12. This Loki betrayal story line is almost done .... It concludes in issue 600.

Captain America - Theater Of War - America First! (one-shot). Howard Chaykin does Captain America Commie Smasher with a different Cap set in the fifties.

Secret Invasion Requiem (one-shot). This is a nice issue that re-presents the first appearance of the Wasp (with her origin) and the trial of Yellow Jacket after he beat her.

Ultimatum #2 (of 5). Ultimate universe chaos after Magneto's flood hits New York City.

Stephen Kings The Dark Tower Treachery #4 (of 6). More Jae Lee art with Peter David script.

Hulk #9. The third and final part of the Loeb, Adams and Cho run.

Patsy Walker Hellcat #4 (of 5). It's taken what seems like forever, but this story is just about finished.

The New Avengers #48 (Dark Reign tie in). Welcome back Mockingbird, Spider-Woman and Captain America, but good bye Iron Fist.

Punisher War Zone #3 (of6). The resurrection of Ma Gnucci continues with Frank fragin bad guys.

Dark Horse:

Mister X #1 (of 4). Who knows what going on here, but there is very old school looking art.

ONI:

Resurrection #6 (end of vol. 1). The conclusion of the first story arc.

Resurrection Annual #1 (2008). The story of Spock and his escape.

Image:

I Kill Giants #1-5 (of 7). The story of Barbara a fifth grader who might just kill giants or is as crazy as her class mates think she is.

The Pick Of My Pile this week is Secret Invasion Requiem. The re-colored Jack Kirby art from Tales to Astonish #44 was very nice to look at. It's too bad they don't go back and re-color/reprint more old classics.



How many one-shots are there these days? It used to be easy to start picking up a limited series because you knew that there was going to be an ending. But now there are too many limited series' so you have to pick and choose what you would get started on. Now there are ALMOST too many one-shots also.

K.R.C.

D.L.

Pick Of My Pile for the weeks of 11-26,12-4 and 12-10

Hello Chums,

I'm back with a few more picks. Check them out.

11/26:


Marvel:

Hulk #8. Jeph Loeb, Arthur Adams and Frank Cho bring us the 2nd part of this 3 part story. The art in these issues is soooo good, I wish this team would continue on forever (or at least 12 issues).


Thor: Reign of Blood #1 and Man of War #1. These books are actually p.1 and p.2 of a two part story. Matt Fraction has written a pretty good story which features Thor battling Odin.


Secret Invasion Inhumans #4 (of 4). The conclusion of Medusa's search for Black Bolt.


True Believers #5 (of 5). The conclusion to the entry of the True Believers into the Marvel
universe.


Captain America #44. A Cap story that ties into a Winter Soldier mission from 1968.

Vertigo:


Jack of Fables #28. Jack becomes the Commander-In- Chief.






The Pick Of My Pile for this week is Secret Invasion Inhumans #4. We get to see Black Bolt whisper a word!


12/4:


Marvel:


Secret Invasion #8 (of 8). The conclusion to the Secret Invasion story line, however it goes directly into Dark Reign.


The New Avengers #47 (Secret Invasion). Where's Luke Cage and Jessica Jones baby?



Secret Invasion Front Line #5 (of 5). The conclusion of writer Ben Urich's street level view of the Secret Invasion.



Marvel Zombies 3 #3 (of 4). Machine Man and Jocasta's mission continues against the Marvel Zombies!


Marvels Eye Of The Camera #1 (of 6). Another street level story. This time featuring Phil Sheldon from the original Marvels.



X-Infernus #1 (0f 4). Peter wants his "little" sister back. Maybe leaving her in hell is a better idea.



Iron Man-The Incredible Hulk-Nick Fury #1 (one-shot?). This Iron Man story ties directly into the Iron Man movie.


The Punisher X-MAS #1 (one-shot). Frank kicking ass in the spirit of Christmas.


ICON:



Criminal Bad Night #4 (of 4). This conclusion is not what I expected. Maybe a little bit of a let down.





Hellboy The Wild Hunt #1 (of 8). It starts off on a mission to kill giants... Who knows where this is going?




The PICK OF MY PILE this week is The Punisher X-MAS. Great story and art in the Christmas spirit.



12/10:


Marvel:



Punisher War Zone #1 (of 6) (Marvel Knights). Garth Ennis. Steve Dillion. Frank Castle. Nuff Said!




Secret Invasion Dark Reign #1 (one shot). Norman Osborn is now in control. Step one: Assemble a new team. Namor, Emma Frost, Dr. Doom, The Hood and Loki. This team can't be built for good.




Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes #2 (of 2). Two more parallel earth X-Men stories.



Ythaq The Forsaken World #1 (Soleil). Sixty page sci-fi / fantasy story.




Dark Horse:



B.P.R.D. War on Frogs #2. A team of B.P.R.D. agents search an abandoned boat. Could Frogs be there? This story is one shot like in it's execution.






The Pick Of MY PILE this week is easy. Punisher War Zone #1 sets up for a very entertaining six issue run. And It's weekly! I can't wait.













K.R.C.

D.L.

Pick Of My Pile for the weeks of 11-05, 11-12, and 11-19

Hello Chums,

After having multiple computer problems (the computer was in the shop twice), I'm finally back on line! Let's hope it lasts.

Since I have missed many weeks of The Pick Of My Pile, I'm going to put multiple weeks together. So here goes.

11/5:

Marvel:

Stephen King The Stand Captain Trips #3 (of 5). Excellent adaption of King's best work.

Stephen King The Dark Tower Treachery #3 (of 6). I'm under impressed so far.

Franklin Richards Sons Of Geniuses! #1 (one-shot). Mostly for kids, but fun anyway.

Daredevil & Captain America Dead On Arrival #1. Lame. Lame. Lame.

Ultimatum #1 (of 5). This could be a great story. Let's hope for it. The art is great.

Marvel Zombies 3 #2 (of 4). Not as good as the first issue but I'll hang in there.

Punisher War Journal Annual #1. Great art and coloring in a "Murder World" type of story.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Sketchbook (free). The Wizard of Oz + Skottie Young = CRAP! Can you get your money back on a free book?

DC:

Kingdom Come Special Superman #1 (one-shot). Alex Ross story and art. Nuff said.

IDW:

Star Trek Mirror Images #5 (of 5). An okay ending to this mirror universe story.

Dynamite:

Project Superpowers Chapter Two Prelude. Very nice Alex Ross pencil pages.

Image:

Kick Drum Comix #2 (of 2). Two more stories written and drawn by Jim Mahfood.

The Pick Of My Pile for this week is Kingdom Come Special #1. Check out the cool Alex Ross cover.

11/12:

Dark Horse:

B.P.R.D. The Warning #5 (of 5). Great Guy Davis art. The story? Ehh.

Image:

The Mice Templar #6. The end of the first arc. I might drop this title before arc two starts.

Marvel:

Wolverine #69 Old Man Logan p.4. More of Logan and Clint in the future.

Because of the lack of books to pick from, Wolverine #69 has back doored it's self into The Pick Of My Pile for this week.

11/19:

Marvel:

Punisher War Journal #25. Frank verses the Skrulls. Attaboy Frank.

Uncanny X-Men #504. The Mojo universe, Scott has a secret "black box" in his brain and the return of Dr. Nemesis.

The Age Of The Sentry #3. The most fun comic in quite awhile. With great cartoony art also.

Fantastic Four #561. Excellent story from Millar and Hitch.

Avengers / Invaders #6 (of 12). A good story that I wish could of happened after the Secret Invasion.

Wildstorm:

The X-Files #1. More Mulder and Scully set in or around the fifth season.

Star Trek The Next Generation The Last Generation #1 (of 5). The great start to a time travel (or multi-generational story) with many of the different Star Trek crews set in different time periods.

The Pick Of My Pile this week is Age of The Sentry #3. The retro story and art is a lot of fun and should not be missed.

That's it for now.

Keep Reading Comics.

D.L.

Pick Of My Pile for the week of 10-29-08

Hello Chums,



I have a nice reading list this week. Check them out.



Marvel:



The Immortal Iron Fist #19. Continuing on with the story of the killer of Iron Fists.



Thor Secret Invasion #3 (of 3). Conclusion to the return of Beta Ray Bill story.




Thor #11. Continuing with the return of the Asguardians in good 'ol Oklahoma. And oh yeah, Thor talks to the ghost of Captain America.




Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes #1 (of 2). Two stories of the X-men set in different worlds.



Ultimate Captain America Annual #1. The origin of Ultimate Black Panther. And how Captain America replaced him.



1985 #6 (of 6). A very fine conclusion to this retro story set (mostly) in 1985.



Captain America Theater Of War (one-shot). Single mission Cap story set in 1944 which pits Cap against the Nazi's. Nuff said!



Vertigo:



Jack of Fables #27. Turning Pages p. 3 (of 3). What's going on here?



ONI:




Resurrection Annual 2008. Somehow I've got this issue but I haven't got issue 6 yet (which completes the first arc). So I'll hold off and read this later.



Dark Horse:



Hellboy In The Chapel Of Moloch (one-shot). I may be in the minority here but I didn't think this story was that great. Also for Mignola's first drawn story in a while, I was under impressed with the art work. This reminds me of when McFarland stopped drawing Spawn and Capullo took over. In just a few issues Capullo was out McFarland(ing) McFarland. When McFarland did do an issue it couldn't hold up to Capullo's art.



Image:








Kick Drum Comix #1 (of 2). Over sized book. Check. Two stories in one. Check. No adds. Check. Art and story by Jim Mahfood (kind of a Paul Pope look and feel). Check. Nice Package.

The Pick Of My Pile this week is Kick Drum Comix #1. Not your usual super hero fare with entertaining art in a "new" nice size package.

K.R.C.

D.L.

Pick Of My Pile for the week of 10-22-08

Hello Chums,

A great week for comic book reading this week. I picked up quite a few solid reads. Let's check them out.

As always Marvel first.

Thor - The Truth Of History 1 (one-shot). Alan Davis does the art and writing on this 34 page story. This story features Thor, Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun in Egypt when the pyramids are being constructed. For fun Laurel and Hardy make an appearance in present day.

Hulk #7. Jeph Loeb, Arthur Adams, Frank Cho. Nuff Said. Maybe not. How about this: Two stories written by Loeb, one drawn by Adams the other by Cho. Hey these guys are so slow this is a good way to get them in a monthly book. They only have to draw 11 pages (each) a month. We get 22 pages of great art and hopefully they can keep up.

Samurai #2 (of four) (Soleil). More great story and art set in feudal Japan.

The New Avengers #46 (secret invasion tie-in). When is this going to be over? This issue tells the story of how the villains find out about the Skrull invasion.




Captain America #43. The first Bucky as Cap arc after the 18 month death of Captain America story.



True Believers #4 (of 5). Since Payback is in a coma for most of this issue, it's a good time for some flashbacks.



Secret Invasion #7 (of 8). The least interesting parts of these event books is when all of the characters finally go at it at the same time. This issue has too much of that.



Criminal #6 (Icon). Bad Night part 3 of 4. Jacob and Iris together. No way. Poor Jacob.



Vertigo:

Air #1. A story set in the world of airlines with flight attendants, sky marshals, and a very frequent flier all post 9-11.

Image:

I Kill Giants #1. A story of a fifth grader who might just kill giants. Or is she just a dreamer who plays Dungeons and Dragons. Black and white art with gray tones.

Top Shelf:

Sulk #1. Jeffrey Brown doing what he does best. This time it's 64 pages of Big Head stories. Issue #2 will feature a cage fight called Deadly Awesome. I can't wait!

This week there were no less than four great books: Hulk, Samurai, I Kill Giants and Sulk. I wanted to point out two clear winners. First is Hulk, this issue features a Jeph Loeb story with Mr. Fixit. What is great is the art by Arthur Adams. My copy has the Michael Turner cover. How many more Turner covers can there be? Secondly, is Sulk by Jeffery Brown. His stories are off the wall and his artwork is so much sharper and more detailed than just a few years ago.

So this week I have a duel Pick Of My Pile. Hulk #7 and Sulk #1.

K.R.C.

D.L.