The Adventures of a City Blerd on New Comic Book Day
Howdy Folks. To begin this blog, I'm going to give you all my methodology for doing comic hunting on New Comic Book Day Wednesdays. As a city rat, I rely on public transportation for getting around to hunt for my books and that leads to some pretty *ahem* interesting encounters/situations. Here are my 5 top tips to doing comic book hunting in the big city:
1. Know Your Shop Location & Routes - Always, and this is the street punk in me, have 2 or 3 different ways to get to the shop(s) that you go to. I visit no less than 3 comic shops in 3 different boroughs for my books. I was kind of forced to learn different ways and connections due to time restrictions, traffic, unforeseen parade, apocalyptic event, etc. So just a pre-reminder to have a plan...
2. Wear Comfortable Shoes - Within that plan is to ALWAYS dress comfortably. I listed shoes for the reason that I run around, meaning that I am on my feet 90% of the hunt. This, however, can easily be applied to other parts of the wardrobe. Wear jeans, wear a t-shirt, wear overalls if it helps you be relaxed. It not like every day is an ideal day where you aren't going to be faced with some sort of difficulty and in that vein...
3. Weather Forecast - Cannot stress enough that you need to know the weather. If it a warm day, make sure your books aren't situated in a bag with your food. If it a rainy day, is your bag waterproof? Can you carry your umbrella far enough away from your books so that they stay dry? I see you laughing at these simple questions but for comic book fans, these can be life or death quandaries....
4. Prepare To Be Annoyed - Public Transportation is like a GIANT petri dish. You never know what situation might pop up on a train, bus, cab, even walking in a crowd. Be calm. Be distant. Be prepared for ANYONE to have an unsolicited opinion of you reading comics in public. This is where I have the NerdCore song list (Adam WarRock, Tribe-One, Schaffer The Darklord, Wordburglar, Mega Ran, Sammus, Eye-Q, Kirby Krackle, SkyBlew, Mikal kHill, Childish Gambino, ETC.) playing in my ears, just so the rest of the world can go kick rocks. *AHEM* Sorry. Anti-Social Geek side came out....
5. Most important of all Have Fun! These are the books you have waited on to read! Let nothing stop you from enjoying your reads! Never lose sight why we do this insanity and that reminds me...
BOOKS!!!!!
The Ultra-Humanite's plan starts to come into focus in Earth 2 Society #13 by Dan Abnett, Federico Dallocchio & David Calderon and Batman is DEFINITELY not going to be happy. Meanwhile, Fury comes clean to the rest of NuEarth's heroes and possibilities for the planet are endless....if they can stop Ultra-Humanite that is....
Home means different things to different people and in Howard The Duck #8 by Chip Zdarsky, Joe Quinones & Jordan Gibson, we find out what it means to Howard. Meanwhile, Bev's back and unfortunately that means Howard's weirdness will find her again. Throw in some very disparate elements of the Marvel Universe and a nice stealth twist and Chip once again pulls on the heartstrings of this comic fan.
Final battles abound as the universe contracts within Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion #6 by Tom Taylor, Jack Herbert, Scott McDaniel & Hi-Fi. Kilowog, Guy, John and the rest of the Corps vs the World Eaters. And even if they do beat them, how exactly do the Corps get home? And what about the planet's occupants? Well Simon has got a plan...
Kobik took Moonstone's moonstone at the end of issue 1 and in Thunderbolts #2 by Jim Zub, Jon Malin & Matt Yackey, the team has has to contend with that AND the fact that they are in the midst of a Terrigen hive/nest. Wait. Terrigen? Usually when that word is used, a certain group of superhumans follow close behind...
I didn't think I would like DC's re-imagining of my past BUT once again, they got my money! Wacky Raceland #1 by Ken Pontac, Leonardo Manco, & Mariana Sanzone is just plain nuts! Sentient cars. Over the top violence. Races out of Speed Racer's nightmares. Mutated creatures. Yeah. This ain't a 60's cartoon anymore folks. Holy Cwap!!!
Faux Iron Men everywhere and heroes under siege. Their only hope? That Coulson in Agents of SHIELD #6 by Marc Guggenheim, German Peralta, & Rachelle Rosenberg remembers his various training and DOESN'T fall back into a cycle of vengeance. Great to see my crossover fantasies play out here without TV/Film red tape ruining it for me. Now will someone please check out Gemma? Seriously? Thank You Deathlok for reminding of that....
The Flash Rebirth by Joshua Williamson, Carmine Di Giandomenico & Ivan Plascencia picks up right where DC Rebirth's Barry/Wally meeting left off and expands on it. Nice to see heroes with intelligent theories and forays in these days of mindless fighting. Speaking of which, hey BatFans! The Caped Crusader is in this one too.....
Years after the death of Garrison, his nanites still feel his presence in 4001AD: Bloodshot by Jeff Lemire, Doug Braithwaite & Brian Reber. This book actually covers a lot of the things that I was hoping to get out of the Walker Cyborg run but got "interrupted". I wonder if the "new" Bloodshot will make an appearance in the main book because...well cool factor...
An interesting new direction with Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz essentially joined at the lantern in Green Lanterns Rebirth by Geoff Johns, Sam Humphries, Ethan Van Sciver, Ed Benes & Jason Wright. Teamwork is now a MUST because of, who else, Hal. Can the kiddos play along or will the upcoming threat on the final page end this before it gets good. Hint: Red Dawn...
Can you say a whole lot of trouble? Well Goldie is in it deep within Goldie Vance #3 by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams & Sarah Stern. Because of her enemy, she AND her dad are canned from the hotel BUT that's not the bad part! Can you say Russian Spies and the necklace? Yeah...and the gentleman who she thinks the necklace belongs to is still missing! Oh this final issue (for now) is going to be loco fun! And for one more tease, you won't believe who she teams with to make this right..
Had some time, so I finally picked up Grayson Vol.2: We All Die At Dawn by Tim Seeley, Tom King, Mikel Janin, Stephen Mooney, & Jeromy Cox. In this volume, we see that Spyral isn't too stable but neither are events happening around the "former" Robin. Heck, everything that made Dick my favorite DC hero is on display in this volume...and oh yeah, Midnighter is around to cause even MORE mayhem. More than Helena that is....
Been meaning to talk about Swords of Sorrow The Complete Saga by Gail Simone, Emma Bebby, Marguerite Bennet, Nancy A Collins, Mikki Kendall, Leah Moore, Mairghread Scott, Erica Schlutz, G Willow Wilson, Sergio Davila, Dave Acosta, Mirka Andolfo, Ronilson Freire, Francesco Manna, Rod Rodolfo,Noah Salonga, Crizam Zamora, Jorge Sutil, Salvatore Aiala Studios, Inlight Studios, Nanjan Jamberi, Valentina Pinto, Agnes Pozza, Dinei Ribiero, Vincenzo Salvo, Kristy Swan & Chiara Zeppegno for some time now but it hard to condense into quick blurbs. Fantastic women of Pulp literature team up to face...um I can't reveal that because then it will give away...um can't reveal that. Dangit! This storyline was great and I had fun with all the disparate personalities playing off one another. If you are a comic book fan for a long time, this does deserve your attention! Vampirella, Red Sonja, Kato, Lady Zorro, Pantha, Dejah Thoris, Jane, Jungle Girl and more! Damn! How did Gail co-ordinate all of this? But this was awesome for the longtime comic book fan in me. So many allusions to other things and characters here. And I think I'm over geeking...Give this one a read if you can. It SO worth it!
THX For Reading! Onward to this week's books! Until Next Time, Keep Fantasizing!
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