I Bought Comics: The End of 2008 and Beginning of 2009

[Thoughts, relfections, impressions, but not reviews. Oh no, these are not reviews. They also cover the last three weeks of new comics that I didn't review for CBR.]

Final Crisis: Secret Files #1

Wow, was this a waste of money or what... Really just the story of Libra, which was fine, but wasn't anything special... Throw in a few sketches and a couple of text pieces and, yeah, not worth it. But, has anyone noticed that DC is beginning to just outright lie in their solicitations? First, they did it with the final two issues of Morrison's Batman run and now this. I don't mind the Batman ones, because I think it helped hide one of the key elements of that story and was a bending of the truth more than a lie. But this book... just a fucking lie, okay? And that's not right. And it wasn't a lie to hide plot details, which I can get behind, it was a lie of who was working on the book and the actual contents... not cool.

Punisher: War Zone #4-5

I have a theory why there was no issue last week and no issue next week in this "weekly" series: last week, Punisher #1 came out and, next week, Punisher: Frank Castle #66 comes out, and both are meant to be big issues and Marvel doesn't want this series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon to overshadow the other books, because, let's be honest, it would. It's Ennis and Dillon doing the Punisher--of course it overshadows anyone else. Garth Ennis will almost certainly go down as the most important (and best) writer of the character ever, his run hailed for decades to come and such. So, yeah, move the schedule around and avoid making your other guys compete with the best you've got. This isn't meant to be a slight to the other creative teams, it's just one of those obvious things.

As to the quality of this series, it's moving along fine, it's nice, it's lovely, it's funny, it doesn't match the MAX stuff, but it's a pretty entertaining book nonetheless.

Doktor Sleepless #11

More establishing of Heavenside and it's very interesting. That Ellis is bringing journalism into this book is also interesting--and will either work well or fail since it raises comparisons to Transmet more than what was already there. We'll see.

Gravel #7

Fantastic conclusion. Gravel is a brutish thug not unlike the other members of the Minor Seven. After all, he kills all of the acolytes along with the final member--why? Because he's better than those fucking idiot children (who are all adults--just to clarify). It's rather harsh. But, good conclusion and then, a new issue this week, too, was a lovely surprise.

No Hero #3

Slow issue that ups the ante, but will read better as part of the whole.

Captain Britain & MI:13 #9

Wow. Harsh and wonderfully executed. Paul Cornell writes one hell of a comic book, I tell ya. Now that this arc has finished, I may go back and reread all nine issues of the series.

Final Crisis #6

Discussing this with Tim via the Splash Page. Not sure I have anything else to add to that.

Young Liars #11

When I hit the final page of this issue, I sat there, holding the comic and stared, mouth open and I didn't do anything for half a minute or so. That's how shocked I was. Fuck you if you don't read this comic.

That's it.