Tag: Batman

This Week’s Comics

FANTASTIC FOUR #5: In five diagonal swatches with different layers and color patterns, the Fantastic Four fight in the Dark Dimension.
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #21: "This is it!!! The story arc you've been waiting for!!!" Peter Parker (in Spider-Man attire from the neck down) and Mary Jane Watson, holding each other, face the reader and an unseen person—whose shadow reaches them.
BATMAN #133: Batman digs up Bruce Wayne's grave, and Alfred comes at him from behind with a rapier.
THE FLASH #794: "One: Minute:War Part 00:05: Like Father, Like Daughter..." Irey West, in costume, crouches beside her father as at a starting line.
  • Hey, the Amazing Spider-Mail printed my letter!
    Dear Albert and Nick, It was nice to see the Coffee Bean crowd together again, even just briefly. I've seen plenty of letters asking when the big 'What Did Peter Do?' mystery will get resolved, but what I want to know is when we'll get to see the Randy Robertson/Janice Lincoln wedding! Lots of good potential for gang-related hijinks, methinks. Martin Pyne, Sunnyvale, CA. Hey, Martin! Hope all is sunny in Sunnyvale! More Randy and Janice is coming down the pike sooner than you may think! Maybe they're responsible for what happened to Peter and MJ?!
    Unfortunately it is quite rainy today.
  • The actual solution to the “What Did Peter Do?” mystery appears to call back to the Zeb Wells-written Wolverine team-up back in Amazing Spider-Man #555–557, which I had honestly entirely forgotten about except for Chris Bachalo’s art.
  • Irey West unlocked “choose her own hero name!”
  • I see Chip Zdarsky felt the need to subtweet everybody who says that Bruce Wayne doesn’t spend money on charity.

This Week’s Comics

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #19: “Guest-Creators Joe Kelly, Terry & Rachel Dodson bring you the worst date ever!” Spider-Man and Black Cat stand on top of the pile of ninjas that they're fighting.
BATMAN #132: Selina Kyle greets an off-cover Bruce Wayne at a fancy party, with a similarly-posed Catwoman and Batman reflected in the window behind her.
THE FLASH #792 (“One:Minute:War Part 00:03”): “Grand Theft Speed Force”: Impulse and Kid Flash are inside an alien vehicle, commanding it. Impulse is much more excited about this than Kid Flash is.
  • See, Bruce Wayne can cook.
  • Tim Drake and Bernard Dowd finally got to kiss on-panel!
  • The Flash featured a Bart Allen / Wallace West team-up, and I have to say that watching Wallace deal with Bart’s, ah, impulsive style of superheroing was quite entertaining.
  • I’m also kind of amused that Mr. Terrific showed up in both of my DC pulls this week.
  • Continuity note: Amazing Spider-Man #913 takes place after the denouement of Dark Web but before the epilogue, as it’s still winter. Per the recap page, it also takes place after the Mary Jane & Black Cat miniseries that’s currently running.
  • And speaking of the recap page, I have to say that confirming that MJ and Paul are actually married is a hell of a thing to just casually drop there!

This Week’s Comics

Justice Society of America #2: Huntress pursues the glowing Helm of Fate. Behind her are Jakeem Thunder, the Golden Age Flash, Stargirl, Wildcat, Doctor Mid-Nite, and the Golden Age Green Lantern.
Tim Drake: Robin #5: Robin, perched in front of a wall of heads, readies a throwing weapon.
Amazing Spider-Man #18: "Dark Web". Spider-Man faces a crab-like demon.
Action Comics #1051: “1st Super-Sized issue! More pages! More Action!” Superman leads Superboy, Power Girl, Steel, Jon Kent, the Super-Man of China, and the Super-Twins in floating above the Earth.
Detective Comics #1068: The halves of Two-Face’s face are separated; Bruce Wayne, with Batman’s shadow, appears in the middle.
  • In Justice Society of America (vol. 4) #2, the events of Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #3 (September 1994) is captioned as “eight years ago” and those of Doctor Fate (vol. 4) #1 (August 2015) is captioned as “one year ago.” As with most things related to DC Comics timelines, I don’t entirely buy this—all of Rebirth occurring within one year seems absurd even without getting into specific textual points (for instance, I seem to recall Tim Drake saying that he’s been dating Bernard Dowd for six months). And all of the Johns-written stuff since Doomsday Clock has seemed like it’s happening in its own, kind of disconnected corner of the DCU anyway. But eight years since Zero Hour would put the Young Justice generation in their early 20s (Tim was 14 at the time) which seems to be about where they really should be? (I am begging artists to give Kon back his stubble.)
  • Speaking of timelines, I’m still not sure when in relation to anything else this “Gotham Nocturne” Detective Comics arc is taking place. Given what happened with Two-Face this issue, feels like it might matter at some point.
  • I’m not saying I wouldn’t read an entire issue of Kon and Kenan hanging out. But I’m not not saying that.
  • The villain rant in Tim Drake: Robin #5 is impressively obsessive.
  • I am pretty ready for Amazing Spider-Man to go back to being self-contained. (“Back” may be overly generous given all of the tie-in issues last summer.) This issue opening with Madelyne Pryor’s plot being resolved in a different tie-in that I didn’t read was kind of funny, though.

Books Acquired, 11-17 March 2019

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Big week this week. First of all, Monday night means free books from FOPAL:

Adams, Douglas. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. Harmony Books, 1984. U.S. hardcover edition, 2nd printing. Has some notable dust jacket tears and overall isn’t the nicest copy I’ve ever seen, but it was also signed by the author. Fourth in a five-book series.

Dickson, Gordon R. The Dragon and the George. Del Rey, 1981. Mass market paperback, seventh printing. World Fantasy Award nominee. No. 878 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Hobb, Robin. Royal Assassin. Bantam, 1996. Trade paperback, third printing. Second in a trilogy. A later printing of the first U.S. edition. No. 288 on Mt. Tsundoku.

McKillip, Patricia A. Harpist in the Wind. Del Rey, 1982. Mass market paperback; fifth printing of the Ballantine edition. Inscribed by the author on the inside front cover: “Damon / best wishes”. Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel; Hugo finalist. Third in a trilogy. No. 412 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Varley, John. Demon. Berkley, 1984. Trade paperback. Third in a trilogy. Per ISFDB, the Berkley trade paperback was published simultaneously with the Putnam hardcover. No. 1114 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Willis, Connie. Futures Imperfect. GuildAmerica Books, 1996. Hardcover. Omnibus collecting three short novels: Uncharted Territories, Remake (Locus Award for Best Novella; Hugo finalist for Best Novel), and Bellwether (Locus Award for Best Novella). Some noticeable water damage. No. 919 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Then Half-Price Books had a bunch of daily coupons:

Delano, Jamie, et al. Hellblazer, Volume 1: Original Sins. DC Comics, 2011. Trade paperback collecting John Constantine, Hellblazer #1-9 and material from Swamp Thing #76-77.

Jordan, Robert. New Spring. Tor, 2004. First edition hardcover. Prequel to the fourteen-volume Wheel of Time. I’ve been gradually working on obtaining all of these. Mostly a question of condition/price at this point given that everything I don’t have is either pretty common or hilariously expensive.

McGuire, Seanan. One Salt Sea. DAW, 2011. First edition mass-market paperback. Fifth in the October Daye series, which is at twelve books and counting. Like the above, I’ve been gradually working on obtaining all of these, although due to being mostly paperback and it’s a lot cheaper.

The 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Novel.Scalzi, John. The Collapsing Empire. Tor, 2017. First edition hardcover. First in a series. Nicely completes my set of 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Novel.

Finally, the Friends of the Sunnyvale Library book sale continues to provide extremely discounted comic book collections. All of these are ex-library and usually not in the greatest shape but … this in total cost $14.50:

Azzarello, Brian, et al. Wonder Woman Volume 6: Bones. DC Comics, 2015. Hardcover??? collecting the New 52 Wonder Woman #30-35 and a story from Secret Origins #6.

Cloonan, Becky, et al. Gotham Academy Volume 2: Calamity. DC Comics, 2016. Trade paperback collecting Gotham Academy #7-12 and the sneak peek from Convergence: Green Lantern Corps #2.

Ellis, Warren and Kaare Andrews. Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis. Marvel Comics, 2011. Hardcover collecting Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #1-5 and the Director’s Cut of #1.

Ellis, Warren, et al. StormWatch Vol. 3: Change or Die. WildStorm, 1999. Trade paperback collecting StormWatch #48-50, Stormwatch Preview #1, and StormWatch (vol. 2) #1-3.

Ennis, Garth and Steve Dillon. Preacher Volume 9: Alamo. DC Comics, 2001. Trade paperback collecting Preacher #59-66; the final volume in the series.

Fletcher, Brenden, et al. Gotham Academy Volume 3: Yearbook. DC Comics, 2016. Trade paperback collecting Gotham Academy #13-18 and Annual #1.

Mignola, Mike, et al. B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth, Vol. 3: Russia. Dark Horse, 2012. Trade paperback collecting B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia #1-5 and “B.P.R.D.: An Unmarked Grave” from Dark Horse Presents #8.

Millar, Mark, et al. Superman: Red Son. DC Comics, 2004. Trade paperback collecting Superman: Red Son #1-3. Elseworld asking what would have happened if Superman had been raised in the Soviet Union.

Moore, Alan, et al. V for Vendetta. DC Comics, 2008. Trade paperback collecting the complete series. Remember, remember, the fifth of November.

Morrison, Grant, et al. All-Star Superman, Volume 2. DC Comics, 2009. Hardcover collecting All-Star Superman #7-12.

Morrison, Grant, et al. Batman Incorporated, Volume 1: Demon Star. DC Comics, 2013. Hardcover collecting Batman Incorporated #0-6.

Morrison, Grant, et al. Batman Incorporated, Volume 2: Gotham’s Most Wanted. DC Comics, 2013. Hardcover collecting Batman Incorporated #7-13 and Batman Incorporated Special #1.

Seeley, Tim, et al. Grayson Volume 1: Agents of Spyral. DC Comics, 2015. Hardcover collecting Grayson #1-4, a story from Secret Origins #7, and Grayson: Futures End #1.

Seeley, Tim, et al. Grayson Volume 2: We All Die at Dawn. DC Comics, 2016. Trade paperback collecting Grayson #5-8 and Annual #1.

Seeley, Tim, et al. Grayson Volume 3: Nemesis. DC Comics, 2016. Trade paperback collecting Grayson #9-12 and Annual #2.

Simone, Gail, et al. Wonder Woman: Ends of the Earth. DC Comics, 2010. Trade paperback collecting Wonder Woman (vol. 4) #20-25.

Finally, a couple of $1.99/pop Kindle deals:

McAuley, Paul. Fairyland. Gateway, 2010. Ebook. 1996 Clarke and Campbell Awards for Best Novel. No. 118 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Watson, Ian. The Embedding. Gateway, 2011. Ebook. 1975 Nebula finalist for Best Novel. No. 119 on Mt. Tsundoku.