Steve also occasionally reads the comics he buys (3 June 2009)

(Some of these might be books I bought last week, not this week. I tend to get really behind on my comic reading during the school year, which is why I'm using the summer to catch up. And then share my thoughts here.

I also buy a shit-ton of books as you shall soon see. Thank you for your willingness to slog through it all.)

Air 9

I really love this book. It reads a lot like old-school Vertigo series, a bit of fantasy, a bit of real-world character drama. Good stuff.

Astro City Dark Age Book 3 #2

decent enough, but damn if this story isn't taking forever to get somewhere. I mean Book one Issue one came out in August of 2005! We're only on the tenth issue of a sixteen issue story.

Back to Brooklyn #5

A decent conclusion to a good little crime story by Ennis. I'd recommend picking it up in TPB.

Buffy: Tales of the Vampires one-shot

was ok overall but very inconsequential. And is it just me or did Becky Cloonan perhaps give uncredited assists on the art to her boyfriend Vasilis Lolos on a few pages?

Captain Britain Annual

I'm sorry Chad but I am just not loving this book near as much as you are, and when it wraps up I'm going to be happy to sell my issues to someone else. I just don't care about it overall. The cricket bit was nice though.

Chew #1

Nice to see Layman come back to comics, and really great art on the book too.

Dr. Who Classics series 2 #7

eh. I love Who but have never been that into the ancillary materials. The Stockbridge story was interesting to me only because the "companion" in that story has just reappeared in DWM's current comics.

Ex Machina #42

This book is getting really interesting... I just wish it came out more often. I swear I don't complain about this kind of thing usually. I mean my favorite creators include Seth, Jason Lutes, and Adrian Tomine. It's just for serialized stories like this one, which are action-driven, a quicker pace is needed.

Hellblazer 255

This two-part story was quite clearly a fill-in and utterly pointless in the worst kind of way: it wasn't even that interesting. Basically Constantine stands around and listens to a ghost tell his life story in this issue. There's no sense of mood (as in "Hold Me" by Gaiman) and nothing is gained from the ghost telling his story at all, for the people in the ghost's story, for the ghost himself, for John and his supporting cast or for the reader. Why does the ghost do what it does at the end of its story? No real reason. Why is John listening to the story? Nope, just 'cause.

House of Mystery 14

didn't see that character twist coming. A lot of rules were being broken in this issue. food for thought in a story that has only been getting attention for the shorts it contains when the mythos of the frame story is much more interesting.

Impaler #3

Actually a rather moody and scary post-apocalyptic vampire story shaping up here. The bit with the religious zealot in the diner was actually really creepy.

Invincible 62

An extended fight sequence that will read better when the story is completed and read as a whole. Sorry, Kirkman, I know you said in your lettercol that it insults the artist and gets your goat when someone says "I read this book in 5 minutes!" but that's when you get when your whole issue is full-page or double-page spreads. I don't deny that the fight sequence is important... but it's still a quick read.

Jonah Hex #44

One of the things that I love about this book is that it tells complete stories in a single issue. This issue, however, is part one of a six-part story. Make of that what you will.

Madame Xanadu #11

I love how this book is blurring the line between DC and Vertigo, and I really like that this current storyline seems to be involving the Wesley Dodds Sandman, one of my favorite characters in comics.

Northlanders #17

Now here's a fight scene that took me a good fifteen to twenty minutes to read and was enormously satisfying because it was actually ABOUT something. And it's a perfect single issue story as well.

Secret Six 10

Gail and Nicola deliver another great issue. Very interesting new storyline starting here. Love this book.

Scalped 29

Like Chad, all I can do to review this book is swear: holy hell this comic is intense. I need to go back and reread this storyline pronto.

Amazing Spiderman: The Short Halloween

Hilarious story and one of the few books I've ever read by Hollywood types that shows a true understanding for how to tell stories through the medium of comics. All the extras in this book though have nothing to do with the story and are totally filler.

Trinity #47-52

I think I was one of the only people in the world buying this book, and I actually enjoyed it, a lot more than Countdown at the very least. But I'm glad it's over and Busiek will have more time to concentrate on other things. Like Astro City perhaps?

Unknown Soldier #8

I think there's only one or two books Vertigo puts out that I'm not buying, and I love them all. Unknown Solider is the one tied most closely to the "real" world, very different from books like Air or House of Mystery, but I love it just as much.

Young Liars #15

This book doesn't make a lick of sense... but I still love it. I look forward to it finishing so I can go back and reread it all to try to follow it more closely. And I have to admit that I'm kind of glad it will end soon, because it might mean Lapham would go back to Stray Bullets.