What I Buy Wednesdays

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As a lifelong reader and fledgling critic of comicbooks, I take my weekly trip to the comicbook store pretty seriously. I suppose film buffs might have a similar feeling towards Fridays, and music aficionados may hold their breath for Tuesday releases, but I don’t think either of those examples are quite as appointment-like comicbook readers make their new release day. I would guess that it has a lot to do with the serialized nature of comics, and the loyalty of its readership to specific brands. In fact, I would say that the closest approximation to the scheduled issue would be football fans on Sunday, but of course, that is also the day of rest. Wednesday as new comics’ day, for a certain breed of nerds, is a midweek holiday, and for us the hump day is a little bit easier.Regardless, the fact is that if you love comics, you’re getting your weekly fix the day they come out.

Or maybe I just have an addiction. Either way.

So I go just about every Wednesday to find my fix. Unlike many readers, I don’t have a specific store that I visit every week. I think of it more like a starting rotation; I have my ace, my change-of-pace, my junkballer, and my mop-up. Okay that last one sounds bad, but it isn’t. I enjoy the variety of experiences, though sometimes it is based on nothing more than where I might be that day. Also, because I’m somewhat grandiose in my ambitions and investments in comics, I enjoy the idea that I might be able to help multiple retailers keep roofs over their heads. With the way buying works in comics’ direct market system, retail stores are often expected to be both subscription services to their loyal customers, along with being prognosticators of the success and subsequent demand of those titles, (basically because it is a no-returns system for the retailers, but what a digression…)

So when I buy matters to me, where I buy matters to me, but, obviously, what is most important to my reading experience is what I buy. Because as I said, I take this stuff serious as shit.

It’s because of all the effort I realized I put into this weekly ritual that I’ve decided I want to use this space to document my purchases, and provide short blurbs as to why they earned my mighty dollar or four. Obviously, it is from the best of these books that I select my weekly Best Shots for Newsarama, but really, it isn’t my one favorite book of each week that proves gratifying for me as a reader; it is the whole goddamn stack of books that make each Wednesday so good! So let’s get the hell to it.

- The Muppet Show Comic Book #1 (Boom Kids): When I was 10 years old, I wanted my life to go one of two ways; I either wanted to join Jim Henson’s creatureshop, and live my life as a Muppeteer, or I wanted to run Marvel Comics, and justify a lifetime of playing with action figures, if only to plot out the Marvel character’s lifetimes and mega-wars. Those were literally the only two things I could imagine doing with my life. I was so serious about the puppeteer route that I actually ran for student office via a speech delivered by a Muppet-puppet of my own creation. I won the election, actually, but probably set my dating opportunities within my class back somewhere around a decade. Doesn’t matter, it was awesome. Anyway, the convergence of these great loves of mine downright defines ‘serendipity,’ and I got to review an advance of this book for Best Shots. I loved it, obviously, but since the advance I reviewed from was a .pdf I still had to get my hands on a hard copy.

- New Avengers #51 (Marvel): I would never want to admit that I’m a slave to Brian Michael Bendis’ writing, because it would compromise my integrity as a critic. But when reading his work, much like that of his cross-town rival Geoff Johns, it feels like the only work that counts. The New Avengers is where the Marvel Universe happens, there’s no two ways about it. I haven’t loved Billy Tan’s work on the book; it is technically sound, I guess, but it just lacks a clear definition, to my eye. Chris Bachalo is a very stylized artist who balances that style well with clear visualization, which is really just a roundabout way of saying I dig his work, because that is what every comic artist should be doing.

- The Umbrella Academy #5 (Dark Horse): To me, this book is the most unlikely success in comics. I don’t know or care about My Chemical Romance, which is sort of the circus gimmick that rides in this series by frontman Gerard Way. I came to this series via the strength of artist Gabriel Ba, because homeboy can draw.

I’ve written about all the things I love about this book before, but to me the most critical aspect of it is that here five issues into the second volume of the series, the book still has momentum. It is no flash in the pan. It has achieved the highest honor I can bestow upon any comic; the-zero-contemplation-auto-buy. The only way I miss this book is if it doesn’t ship. Dallas, the latest volume, has had an uncanny sense of Americana about it, and added a welcome extra element of pulp culture to the series.

- X-Force/ Cable: Messiah War One-Shot (Marvel): Unless someone beats me to it, I’m going to cover this book in a Best-Shot this week. The most important aspect to me about this book is that I am no lover of either the X-Force, Cable, Bishop, or the X-brand as a whole, but I was really curious about this one. That zero-contemplation-buy thing? The X-Men branch sustains on a massive clan that bestows that honor upon any title with an “X.” This is cool, and I’m not saying I haven’t done my X-Zombie time, but things get to a point where the overarching concept is more interesting than the books. After that, it takes that much more of a good story to bring you into the fold. The Messiah War has the potential to be just one of those great stories. Editor Axel Alonso has taken great pains, and a load of patience, in getting the X-wing of Marvel Comics to a place where they can both be serving their more slavish followers while at the same time challenging readers, (and creators) to tell more modern, better stories. Looking at how this story uses hyper-convoluted characters like Bishop and Cable in a way that actually naturalizes their complex, time-traveling continuities in a way that explores the characters without resorting to gimmicks. If this series can make the lamest characters of the 90s work, anything might be possible.

- Justice League of America #31 (DC): This book has never really caught on for me. It is always on my radar, because it is meant to be the flagship title of the DC line, but I’ve never gotten very far from feeling overall underwhelmed by the title. I don’t really know how to make bones about it, a large part of my feeling this way has been the consistency issues in the work of Ed Benes. It’s weird, because I was a huge fan of Benes’ work directly before coming on to this high-profile assignment. His Superman book was really the first oning Superman title I bought on a monthly basis. But the pieces have never fit together on this series, and to me, the book suffered. Enter Shane Davis. Now, full disclosure, I know Shane more personally than I know most artists, so I’m not sure I’m fully impartial when looking at his work. But the fact is that to my mind he is one of the most talented superhero artists in DC’s stable. And without slighting his earlier work, I don’t know that his talents have been optimized with regards to the market. His Mystery in Space work was solid, but it wasn’t the most visible of projects. He did a fill-in issue of JLA previously that soared, but that was 22 issues ago. His Superman/ Batman story was my favorite since the series beginnings under Jeph Loeb’s spectacle-focused work. But the writing team he was matched with was hardly top-tier in fandom’s eyes, so it may not have gotten the attention it deserved. From his collaboration with Geoff Johns on Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns to here, to what I expect and hope is an ongoing assignment on what should be the jewel of the ongoing DCU, it looks as though DC-higher-ups have finally put two and two together, and Davis will be able to shine on the main stage.

Not even halfway through my stack. Will have to pick up from here later.