Tuesday, September 14, 2004

You may not be aware of this, but every comics blogger is required by law to comment on the DC solicitation listings when they appear throughout the Web. And since I try to be a law-abiding citizen (stop snickering), here's mine for December's offerings.

By far the best cover of the month belongs to GOTHAM CENTRAL 26, as you can see at left. I guess it's just my weird predilection for illustrations featuring beautiful women in cemeteries. Oh wait- I haven't mentioned that before, have I? Anyway, looks like Catwoman's gonna hook up with the GCPD, and since Mike Lark's gonna do the art, it should be great.

Speaking of covers, I can't believe that the cover for BATMAN: LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #186 is by Sean Phillips. It just doesn't look like his work- looks more like Kelley Jones. And that Jae Lee cover for BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #60 looks more like Phillips' style, in my eyes anyway.

I see where Carlos Pacheco is still drawing BATMAN/SUPERMAN; that still doesn't make me want to buy but I sure do like Pacheco's art.

The relaunch of THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES is coming out this month; I really want to like the Legion, but I got real bored real fast with the tail end of Abnett/Lanning's tenure on the book, and dropped it before the Gail Simone fill-ins. Mark Waid isn't a terrible writer, and in fact was on board for the post-Zero Hour reboot so it might be interesting to see what he'll do with the characters again. He helped create my favorite newish character, Kinetix, who had really gotten the short end of the stick from subsequent writers; if Waid will restore her that would go a long way towards inducing me to buy. It would also help if they had found an artist with a bit more pizazz than Barry Kitson, whose style is functional and competent, which equals "boring" in the Johnny Bacardi Lexicon. We'll see.

Wow! PLASTIC MAN is solicited through issue #13! Good to know, since I'm interested in it finally. Whether or not I'm still interested in December is something else again. I wish I had enjoyed #'s 1-7 as much as I had hoped I would; more on that later.

ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE #1 is the latest in the series, which has been really up-and-down in its infrequent appearances for the last couple of years as far as I'm concerned. I'll probably get this anyway, but if I'm not blown away it just might be time to put Astro City in my rear-view mirror.

I'm also happy to see THE LOSERS #19 listed, and Mike Kaluta turns in another nice cover for LUCIFER #57. And thanks to the DC copywriters for not putting spoilers in the text for Lucifer's entry like they did the FABLES 32 copy...

Another wow-inducing Tara McPherson cover on THE WITCHING #7. Must...remain...strong...don't buy...

And that's about all that grabbed my attention. Small beer, huh! Nothing much new, anyway. Titles like Sleeper, Ex Machina, 100 Bullets, and Justice League Elite sound like status quo is maintained, and it's hard to comment on titles like The Question and Angeltown, both of which I'll be getting, without having seen the first issues of both. And I'd love to get the JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER -- ALL HIS ENGINES HC, the synopsis of which sounds like primo Mike Carey...but I can't afford g-darned hardcovers, can barely afford softcovers on the infrequent occasions that I purchase them. Oh well, maybe there will be a storewide sale coming up soon at my comics shop.

Either way, looks like perhaps my wallet will get a bit of a break in December, if all the other companies will help out...

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