Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Your Current Pull List

I don't have a current pull list now that Legion is gone.

I think First took Marvel to court over this. Marvels glutting of the market was alleged to be a deliberate ploy to wipe out the indies. It was settled a few years later, but in what way I don;t know. House of ideas? Only if it's the only house left in the neighbourhood.

I would think that charges like this, while true, would be difficult to prove in court.

Sadly, the history of Marvel is an analog for American business in general: it starts off by providing a service unavailable elsewhere (in this case superheroes as people with personalities), becomes successful and then becomes more interested in profits than the service it provides. This leads to cutthroat business practices that in the long term harm everyone, including the company itself. Ultimately the entire industry falls into stagnation until someone finds a way to provide a service unavailable elsewhere and the entire cycle starts all over with new players.

it would help explain why I thought Marvel comics were so poor for such a long time, if they were just churning them out.

Sadly, my pull list is almost non-existent these days. I'm down to like 4 titles: Earth-2, Teen Titans, Young Avengers and Nova. YA is going away in a few months, and I will probably replace it with New Warriors.

It's sad, really. I used to collect like 30 books a month, but I finally started dropping the books that I just wasn't enjoying any more. Too expensive to keep supporting characters I like (like the Scarlet Witch and Wasp) in books that I just am not that into (like Uncanny X-Men).

The industry's current work model of producing 50 books a month featuring mostly the same characters, gratuitous graphic violence and one crossover event after another has more or less killed my love for comics.

It's funny that we Legion folks really are the outliers. Our pull lists are down across the board, yet the industry is supposedly doing better than it has in years. Somebody's buying this stuff, just not us.

Hmmmm... but who...

KGBeast: Now rich from all his invalidity benefits and his hush money, he now has a warehouse full of DCs. Comics he will never read as he sits drooling in his easy chair, fed porridge by his nurse?

Anony-mouse. A cadre of hackers from Earth-C artificially altering bank accounts to buy up DC digital versions?

Bizarro - with no quality control, he's buying truckloads of them with gold, as gold is worthless to him.

Jonni-DC: Continuity Cop. Still rich from figuring out how Hawkman worked 20 years ago. She spends her time shovelling DC books into the nearest singularity, shaking her head sadly.

Nightwing
Worlds Finest
Green Lantern
Aquaman
Birds of Prey

Warlord of Mars
Racheal Rising

And from what I hear, we may be losing nightwing.

Spellbinder, I was buying Titans, along with the Superman stuff, but Lobdell didn't catch with me at all.

I've drifted away from my reads over the last few months. So, on the pull list...

Dark Horse Abe Sapien
Dark Horse BPRD
Dark Horse Lobster Johnson
Dark Horse Beasts of Burden - I vaguely remember reading a previous issue of this and quite liking it.
Dark Horse The Victories
Dark Horse Dark Horse Presents - Mister X is in it.
Dark Horse Star Wars, The
Image Stray Bullets - Yay!
Image Stray Bullets: Killers - Yay!
Image Invincible
Image Minimum Wage - Again, on the list based on a memory of reading a previous one.
Image Walking Dead, The
Abstract Rachel Rising - way behind but I know it will be fine. My Anti- James Robinson book.
Archie Afterlife with Archie - everyone here was right. It's really good.
Top Shelf Nemo


Passing thoughts:-

DCNu - I had looked at DC again, but they are at the rear end of Forever Evil and I've not read any of it. Nothing else held any interest. Any interest at all sadly.

Marvel seem to be in some renumbering crisis. I've no idea what's going on or how they relate to previous issues. So, the same as the last time I looked. Thousands of X-characters everywhere again too.

Miracleman is a brilliant story, but I think I'll reread my old ones. I notice that it has "The Original Writer" on it. Something else else else that hasn't changed then for this property. I'll wait and see what happens if there's new material afterwards. I also spotted Warheads, which had a lot of promise way back in it's first couple of appearances then dropped away like a coach off a cliff.

Most over-hyped: "Get in at the start of something massive." - A derivative of a derivative take on Flash Gordon by Millar. Also see Dan Dare remakes.

IDW seem to have really amped up their volume of titles since I last looked. Number on my list = 0

I chuckled as the CBLDF issue came pages before umpteen pages of atrocity advertising Crossed. I'd be careful letting kids anywhere near the part of the shop with those in it. Actually I'd be careful letting them read Previews.

Avatar have series by Ellis and Hickman no longer written by them. Not too many issues into the run either (well on this run anyway for Gravel). It's something I remember from the likes of American Flagg etc. They were never quite as good, putting it nicely.

From the April Previews, read with my Hyperbole filter on. Here’s what interested me.


Dark Horse – Witchfinder # 1
Dark Horse – Abe Sapien #13
Dark Horse – BPRD #120
Dark Horse – Lobster Johnson #2

It's not that I'm a massive Hellboy/Mignola fan. My favourite Hellboys are the first 2 or 3 arcs. But they are consistent reads that have stayed the course, while everything fell around them. Lobster has pulp fun too.

Dark Horse – The Goon: One for the Road
Dark Horse – Edgar Allen Poe
Dark Horse – Victories #12

Goon has offensive/funny moments, Poe is to give to someone (although I'll read it eventually) and Victories is a little uneven.


Image – Chew # 42
Image – Invincible #113
Image – Sex Criminals #6
Image – Stray Bullets: Killers #4
Image - Walking Dead #128

Image are now where I look first for my monthly reads.

Image – Velvet # 6
I've not read Velvet, so this will be a trial issue. I'm miles behind in the other two, but will catch up.

Abstract – Rachel Rising # 26
For a jumping on point #25 had way too many ties to previous events without explaining much. I'd recommend any TPBs instead of that issue.

Dynamite – The Shadow: Midnight in Moscow #2
Chaykin is doing this one. He gave the character a new lease of Comics life decades ago.

Oni – The Auteur # 4

Red 5 – Atomic Robo v9 #2
Always worth the wait.

DC –
Superman/Batman art looks interesting
Giffen’s Larfleeze ends with #12.
I’ll take a look at the 7 Against Chaos TPB in the shops
Why not put a poster in a comic book, instead of endless variant covers DC, you rip off artists?
Didio & Giffen launch another Kirby “homage” title. Let’s see if it gets as far as OMAC.

Image -
Didn’t see much in Kirkman’s new offering – Outcast.
Wildfire looks interesting as does Trees.
I have a number of early issues of Manhattan Project and Mind Mgt. I'll read them before reading to the pull list.

Real Heroes has Hitch art, which is usually enough for a look at, regardless of the writing.

Boom!
5 covers for Big Trouble in Little China? Interest dwindling rapidly.

Oni
Miles behind in Sixth Gun. Need to catch up before adding to the list again.

Went to Free Comic Book Day yesterday. Did not pull anything from DC or Marvel. Moral: even when they're free, some things are not worth getting.

Went to my CBS for the first time in about two months...

Couple issues each of:

Walking Dead - still great
Wonder Woman - still enjoying it, though so far from the Wonder Woman I know and love
Justice League - as much of a hack I think Geoff Johns is, I gotta admit I enjoyed Forever Evil and I like how the Luther stuff is playing out in JL
Worlds' Finest - boring and pointless
Superman/Wonder Woman - boring and pointless

Last issue of Justice League of America - boring and pointless... glad it's over
First issue of Justice League Unlimited - total crap

I flipped through a couple of issues of Future's End - garbage

What a mess the DCnU turned out to be...

Ain't I just a ray of sunshine...

My annual June 16 pull list update, 2 weeks late...

DC, Vertigo, Wildstorm
FAIREST (only 10 issues left)
FABLES (only 10 issues left)

Marvel
N/A

Image & Others
ALEX + ADA
EAST OF WEST
MANHATTAN PROJECTS
MIND THE GAP
MORNING GLORIES
SAGA

Trade Paperbacks
LOCKE & KEY (only 1 trade left)
WALKING DEAD

Books I want to check out
THE WICKED + THE DIVINE (Image Comics)
THE WOODS (Boom Comics)
TREES (Image Comics)

In 10 months time I'll only be getting 6-9 books and 1 trade, and nothing from the big two. Steady attrition.

Revising my pull list again:

- Justice League United (It's been terrible, but I'll hold out for the Legion stuff)
- World's Finest (Starting to meander. I'll miss PG and Huntress, but I'll give the E2 Supes/Bats a try).
- Shadowman
- FBP

Adding:

Annilhator (Morrsion/Irving? Yes, Please)
The Names (New Milligan Vertigo)
Terminal Hero (More new Milligan)
Ragnarok (Walt Simonson)
Multiversity (Finally)

Lots of DC (+Vertigo) and Image, only 1 Marvel book. Nothing against Marvel, I've just always been a DC guy. The Retroboot brought me back to comics after about 15 years away, so I didn't have the emotional investment in the DCU that led to so much angst over the New52 reboot. Continuity's not that important to me; I read what I like and ignore everything else.

DC + Vertigo
I'm a sucker for Superman (I even suffered through months of Lodbell's nonsense), so there' lots of Super books

• Action Comics - went through a rough patch after Morrison left, but I like what Pak and Kuder are doing
• Adventures of Superman - sadly, ending with #17; it was my favorite book published by DC in the last year and a half
• Batman/Superman - I'm old enough to remember when the super-friendship was status quo, so I like the return to that here
• Superman/Wonder Woman - their relationship has been handled better than I thought DC capable of
• Superman: Doomed - story went off the rails a little - too long for one thing - but my OCD makes me want to see the ending
• Superman Unchained 8 - I bought issue 1 in June 2013, so some time around September 2016, I should have all 9 issues. Maybe that will be the DC September event: "Jim Lee finishes a Mini-series"

• Detective Comics - not really a Batfan, but I came on board for Manapul and Buccellato
• Earth 2 - I've been on the verge of dropping since Robinson left; I'm not enjoying the endless war and yet another evil Superman
• Flash - although I don't know why; I lost interest at least 4 issues ago
• Justice League - masochism, perhaps, I haven't actually enjoyed any of it except Throne of Atlantis
• Justice League United - I know others have criticized it as slow, but I like Lemire's work and it's nice to see a less grim JL
• The Multiversity - love Morrison or hate him, at least he's interesting
• Phantom Stranger - love the character; this book started rough as Didio's vehicle to introduce other supernatural characters, but DeMatteis' issues have been good. Enough so that I might pick up the new Trinity of Sin title
• Sensation Comics - I like Wonder Woman, but I rarely like her ongoing title, so the out-of-continuity treatment may be just the ticket for me

• Bodies - Who doesn't love a time-crossed murder mystery? Okay, so maybe the victims
• Dead Boy Detectives - dead, boy, detectives
• FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics - Flash Fact: science!
• Hinterkind - I was initially intrigued by the Fairie spin on a post-apocalyptic future, but it needs to show me something soon or I'm out

Image

• C.O.W.L. - all the excitement of the Kennedys' war on organized crime, but with superpowers!
• Great Pacific 17 - nation-building adventure on the great Pacific Ocean plastic gyre. Pirates, monsters, holograms!
• Manhattan Projects - a talking dog, aliens, cannibalism, Einstein kicks ass
• Saga - it's really good
• Satellite Sam - love Chaykin, love a period piece mystery
• Shutter 5 - movie serial adventure stories in a world where a business-suited Minotaur reading the paper on the subway is mundane

Marvel

• Iron Fist: the Living Weapon - I'm a child of the 1970s when everything involved Kung Fu or Karate; see the Camp David Accords {citation needed}

Currently reading everything AVENGERS. That's about it. Only one friend of mine reads DC now...so I try to catch up with the New 52...but while some of the stories are good...I just can't get into it.

I don't get all the solo Avengers book. Iron Man has been a bit horrible. But I do get most. I've started a few X-books but only last 4 or 5 issues. It's been a year since I've bought an X-book...except Uncanny Avengers.

So, Top Shelf has an annual online sale where they sell their bacskstock of trades for like 80%+ off or something. Most of them you can get for $3.00 - $7.00. I saw Bleeding Cool post this last Tuesday so I rushed over and was able to take advantage real quick, picking up:

Super Spy - Matt Kindt's hit
The Bojeffries Saga - Alan Moore & Steve Parkhouse
The Underwater Welder - Jeff Lemire's hit
The Lovely Horrible Stuff
The Homeland Directive
Bughouse (Vol 1)
The From Hell Companion
The Playwright

All of them look fantastic.

And also, September is my annual TPB big order month where I load up on trades from my comic book store--as kind of an alternative to my not taking part one iota in whatever crap DC is doing that month. I will shortly be picking up:
Hellboy: Conqueror Worm – Dark Horse, TPB
Hellboy: Strange Places – Dark Horse, TPB
Hellboy: Troll Witch and Others – Dark Horse, TPB
Battling Boy – First Second, Paperback
Red-Handed: Fine Art of Strange Crimes - First Second, Hardcover
Secret History Omnibus Volume #2 – Archaea (Hardcover)
Pax Romana – Image, TPB
Lil’ Depressed Boy Vol #1: She is Staggering – Image, TPB
Promethea Books 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 – all in Trade Paperback

So it looks like I'll have plenty to read on the train and while I'm traveling for work (in addition to my backlog of novels & books to read). I look forward to posting reviews and discussing in future months.

Anyone else only buying back issues?

Awesome! Looking forward to finding out what you think. I've always thought of it as a distaff cosmic version of Moore's Swamp Thing epic American Gothic, but it's much, much better than American Gothic.

Like Fickles, I look forward to some reviews: I've read some of The Bojeffries Saga (waaay back), From Hell (but not the companion); The first few Secret Histories, All the Hellboys after a late start, Pax Romana, some more recent Lil’ Depressed Boy and I did buy Promethea floppies when they came out.

Interesting list, Cobie. Most of these aren't even on my radar, except for Secret History Vol. 2 which I hope to get some day. I, of course, own Promethea in floppies and highly recommend them. Hellboy, I've never been drawn to. The Top Shelf stuff, Battling Boy and Red Handed, I've pretty much never heard of. Pax Romana is Hickman, so his stuff is mostly a pass. Li'l Depressed Boy really doesn't look like my kind of thing at all.

It's clear you're going in an overall recent indie direction with your trade buys, while I'm veering toward '80s indies and '70s/early '80s Big Two with mine.

Look forward to your reviews, though, for sure. Maybe some day, you'll get around to The Boys and some of the other stuff I've recommended....

I really liked the first couple of HellBoy trades. It sort of became a staple of my pull list (with BPRD)after reading those.

It's consistent enough, even if it doesn't exactly get me jumping up and down about it.

The last couple of years have been global carnage. It was pretty dull when the Wildstorm books were all about that. It's better written here, but it's still month after month in rubble.

I noticed that the other books I used to really like fell away, so it was BPRD that was left, rather than it being my first pick.

I only read Hellboy in trades, doing a about 2-3 a year (in order except for random one shots in recent years) and thus far it's all been freaking brilliant. These early trades are full of lush, moody art and fun, adventure stories. BPRD hasn't started yet where I am.

The Top Shelf stuff has all been on my radar (mostly--Bug House I never heard of) but none of it was "must have". That was until I got each one for $3.00. Then I was all about it. I'm particularly interested in the Bojeffries Saga because I've decided I want to read every story ever written by Moore, no matter how obscure, and I love Parkhouse on Resident Alien.

Thoth, I loved Secret History vol 1, which Fat Cramer recommended to me here years ago. I finally have gotten around to vol 2. I'd love to hear our review on it sometime!

Same goes for From Hell which I reviewed in the "any recommendations?", but got no response on. Like any mature adult whose posted online for 15 years, I took the lack of response as a personal affront and total betrayal by my friends. The companion volume arrived and a quick glance looks like it'll take me weeks to read! Typical Moore!

Speaking of which, I can't read Promethea! Eventually I'll read the rest of the ABC stuff too. I'm glad you guys all read it, and I love the high praise Fanfie has given it. A trusted comic book friend / cbs owner said he considers a contender for Moore's best work.

Hickman's independent stuff has largely been genius IMO. It's totally different from his Marvel stuff, and much more ground breaking and interesting.

I'm definitely in a "Indies of this era" mode these days. With so many companies and creators doing so many good things, I just want to try everything! I love how the industry is right now outside of the big 2. I will check out those 80's and early 90's indies one day, and hope to use your reviews (and comments from Fanfie and friends) as a bit of a guide. And I will one day get to the Boys! Possibly my next go round, with at least the first 2 trades.

And Lardy, Battling Boy is being praised as the best thing to happen in the last two years! All the creators on twitter couldn't say enough good things about it.

"From Hell" is one of those things I've yet to get around to picking up. I'm sure I will some day, but right now, my sights are set on totally different things. I'll definitely get there, though.

Right now, I'm just so in love with the older writing styles that I'm a little burned out on the modern "show and don't goddamn TELL!" style. I'm finding myself pass on most new release indies unless they have creators associated with that I'm familiar with because so many have been disappointing. I'd say that pretty much every single new indie with unfamiliar creators I've tried over the last year has washed out, with only rare exceptions like Five Ghosts, Manifest Destiny and (the sadly cancelled) Five Weapons. And a lot of the others have been put out by creators I generally avoid like Remender, Gillen and Morrison.