Weekly Comics for September 2014

Weekly Comics for September 2014
SUBTITLED: What? Another MCOE?
MCOE = Massive Cross Over Event

Hello, blog reader.

Those who regularly read my blog, all two of you, Hi.

Well, took me a long time to do this one, eh? I am leaving the subsequent text in which I discuss my new format, but it's not really relevant anymore.

I may be able to get back on the horse doing monthly updates of my comic book reading. But I have fifteen months worth of back log, which I plan to add to a single entry.

Watch me fly.

New format. The separate post for each week's worth of comics thing was not working. On April 19th 2015, I finished an entry for comics from August 27th 2014. That's quite a back log, especially when I work on the posts for a month each! It would take me years to catch up. Will anyone want to read about comics from September 2014 in the year 2018? I doubt it. Well, maybe as historic curiosity but hardly in line with pulse keeping of current popular culture. Sometimes I wonder if anyone in 2015 wants to read about comics in 2015.

Catching up on the week-to-week entries was proving to be pure insanity, and so I am switching to monthly posts, which still puts me EIGHT months behind at this writing (counting this post), but eight is a more manageable number than thirty-two, which is the number of weeks in eight months.

I did not start out in the vast blog-o-sphere set to write about comics books either weekly or monthly.
This exercise in writing about my comics as they arrive each week at the comic store and ranking of how I will read them started in my T-shirt blog at T-shirt #92- Mad Magazine shirt.  I think it speaks to the evolution of my t-shirts blog that I wrote 90-some entries before the idea occurred to me to list my weekly comics stack in ranked order and write about the comics that I was purchasing each week. Much like the evolution of the blog, the first entry is a bit short and spartan. I reflect a bit on why I stack the comics as I have them, and revel in the purchase of the Galactus bottle opener magnet, which is still stuck to my refrigerator. Isn't it awesome?

As I hit my stride, like the evolution of the entire blog, I found time periodically to write HUGE entries if not completely about the comics for a given week, at least including them in part . For instance, a few weeks later, I included comics for the week in the massive and voluminous blog entry for T-shirt #119 - Doctor Strange, which, ironically, happens to be the T-shirt I am wearing right now, this minute, by total random chance You may ask: "so what? Of course, you chose this blog entry to write about. You're wearing the T-shirt." But no. This entry really demonstrates the evolution I am talking about. In T-shirt #119 - Doctor Strange, I created one of my longest and most involved blog entries in the entire year of T-shirt blog entries.


I even made a new Facebook friend in creating the blog. I tracked down Catherine Yronwode, who had done some very interesting fan writing about the "magic" that is featured in the Doctor Strange comics and published these writing to the Internet. Yronwode used to work at a comic company called Eclipse, which published some very good comics back in the late 1970s. 1980s, and early 1990s, such as Miracleman, Zot!, and The Rocketeer along with its manga branch, Viz, that published one of my all time favorite series: MAI THE PSYCHIC GIRL. In another one of those weird coincidences, I was just talking about Mai the Psychic Girl in a class today.

Anyway, the Doctor Strange entry may have been under construction for some time before it was complete. I employed two methods to complete entries. As much as was possible given my schedule, I would write ahead, but sometimes, I was forced to post an incomplete entry and keeping plugging away at it until I considered it be "finished." IN FACT, there are still SIX entries on the blog that I consider to be "unfinished."

This issue of the time involved in crafting blog entries is relevant to my current subject as I would often find myself deep down to rabbit hole in terms of content. Just scroll back through the blogs to see what I mean. Even when I tried to restrict myself to a series of reviews or even a one specific subject, my content would grow and grow and with it the length of time needed to complete the blog entry.

Well, no more. I am planning to do two things with each of these monthly entries. For one, I will write about the lists for each week and how they represent my reading patterns and current interests with comic books. Then I will select one issue or series to write about and keep my comments focused and brief. The goal is to catch up to the current month as quickly as possible. With that in mind, here we go on the first monthly posts and my two subjects.

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Original Sin #8 of 8

The subtitle of this blog is "What? Another MCOE?" I coined the MCOE acronym for Massive Cross Over Event, which seems to happen a lot in the comic book industry, mainly the preoccupation of the big two companies: Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

The comic book companies did not always launch MCOEs. In fact, for many years comic book issues featured stand alone stories, so even the idea of the inter-locked, multi-issue story arc is a relatively new concept for story telling compared to the history of the genre.

I have already written about the original Sin cross over series a few times on this blog, such as in
Comics for July 16 2014 - Original Sin #4. Also, I wrote about the Original Sin series in Comics for May 21 2014. And I wrote about the first issue when it came out on April 23, 2014.

ROUND UP - ORIGINAL SIN #8 REVIEWS

A bit underwhelmed as I look back on this crossover from the first day of 2016 with 2015's big epic, Secret Wars, still not complete.

Secret Wars is a better crossover, but I am intrigued about how Marvel moved the original Nick Fury into a role as a new kind of Watcher, killed the former Watcher (Uatu), and now has moved in the movie version Nick Fury into that role.

However, I suspect that Uatu or another of his race will be back some day. It's comics after all.

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I find it interesting that Uber took second place this week, which probably only happened because Aquaman and Grayson were not in the usual continuity and excellence, though I do love Uber. I am sad that Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #006 ranks so low, but art is a huge factor in this ranking, and that art is awful (Kaare Andrews).

Weekly Comics for 1409.03 - CBR link

Original Sin #8 of 8
Uber #17
Black Widow #010
Green Arrow - Future's End - #1
Aquaman  - Future's End - #1
Grayson  - Future's End - #1
Batman: Detective Comics  - Future's End - #1
The New 52  - Future's End - #18
Uncanny X-Men - Original Sin - #25
Batman Eternal  #22
Moon Knight #007
Captain America #024
Justice League #33
Batman and Son DC Essentials #1
Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #006
Spider-Man 2099 #003
The Punisher #010
Green Lantern  - Future's End - #1

BACK LOG
She-Hulk #008
Superman - Action Comics  - Future's End - #1
Earth 2 -  - Future's End - #1


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Pretty much Fantastic Four always hits the top of my stack as it is arguably my all time favorite comic book. It unseats The Walking Dead, which had been taking top spots, and even claims my attention over Velvet and Lazarus  both of which are FANTASTIC.

Weekly Comics for 1409.10 -CBR link

Fantastic Four #010
Velvet #7
The Walking Dead #131
Lazarus #11
The Amazing Spider-Man #006
Superman Unchained  #8
Hawkeye #020
Batman Eternal #23
The New 52: Futures End #19
The New 52: Futures End: Batgirl #1
The New 52: Futures End: Batman #1
The New 52: Futures End: Justice League United #1
Ms. Marvel #008
MPH #s 2 and 3


BACK LOG

Captain Marvel #007
New Warriors #009
Avengers Undercover #010


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Clone ranks third. I have been loving this book, and planned a separate entry devoted to it.

Weekly Comics for 1409.17 - CBR link

Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #005
Daredevil #008
Clone #20
Savage Hulk #004
Hulk #006
Avengers #035
Sirens #1 of 6
The Wicked and the Divine #4
Stray Bullets #7
All New X-Men #032
Thor: God of Thunder #025
Supreme Blue Rose #3
Multiversity: Society of Super-Heroes #1
Nova #021
Uncanny X-Men #026
Batman Eternal #24
The New 52: Futures End #20
Trees #5
Deadly Class #7
The New 52: Futures End: Justice League #1
The New 52: Futures End: Batman/Superman #1

BACK LOG

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10: #7
Fables #144
Uncanny Avengers #024

SPECIAL PURCHASES

Locus #644 Vol. 73 No.3


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Guardians of the Galaxy: Original Sin #19 hits the top of the list based on the strength of issue 18, which I wrote about at Comics for 1408.27. See banner image above.

That's one of my favorite posts and it's dedicated to NOVA, a favorite hero of mine from the 1970s.

I love the Guardians of the Galaxy, too, but prefer the old team to the new team.



I like seeing that a whole collection -- Fatale: Book Five: Curse the Demon -- takes second, especially since it's the final volume.

Weekly Comics for 1409.24 - CBR Link

Guardians of the Galaxy: Original Sin #19
Fatale: Book Five: Curse the Demon
Mighty Avengers #014
New Avengers #024
Amazing Spider-Man: Learning to Crawl #01.5
Saga #23
Outcast #4
Red Sonja #12
All-New Invaders #010
Secret Avengers #008

BACK LOG

The New 52: Future's End #21
Batman Eternal #25
The New 52: Future's End: The Flash #1
The New 52: Future's End: Aquaman and the Others #1
New Warriors #010
Legenderry #7
Superman: Doomed #2

SPECIAL PURCHASE

Fatale: Book Five: Curse the Demon


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COVER GALLERY

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1601.01 - 10:19