Well this week I discovered what an ass I was. I started attending comic book conventions in the late 80’s. Back then I was only interested in what I had in my grubby little hands. That train of thought has influenced how I collect now as well. While I’m much more likely to explore genres and styles now, when I go to a show looking to collect original art, I have a compulsion that anything I get drawn must be by the artist associated with whatever book I’ve got. In other words, I wouldn’t be happy if Todd McFarlane drew in my Marvel Masterworks. Sure I’d be happy with the McFarlane art but I’d be surly about it at the same time. So, where I’m going is, I didn’t care about the history of comics, I didn’t care about what else anyone was doing, or what was ‘Hot’, or anything else. So I very well could have crossed paths with Will Eisner at the time and it didn’t mean a damn thing to me. That attitude’s changed full circle since then as I shower all of the love and respect I can on the men and women that built this great life I involve myself in. Eisner comes up specifically because I recently discovered his work through “Last Day in Vietnam: A Memory” and I really loved that just so much. In fact, I went and got myself a copy of the “The Contract with God Trilogy” and his work really does stand out and I’ll review that more fully on my own site when I finish the entire book. As of right now I’ve finished “A Contract with God”, the first full volume collected in this copy, and while I’ve spoken before about not judging a book by its cover... This is another case of exactly that. ‘Contract with God’... I didn’t want somebody else’s religion pushed down my throat, so I avoided it. Embarrassingly, it’s that simple. Instead, I found a man railing at God for taking his daughter away much too soon. I found, cheaters, adulterers, and rapists. I found snippets of life. I found my regret.
What I’m hoping not to regret this week is Green Lantern New Guardians #21, $2.99, written by Justin Jordan with art by Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessy published by DC Comics. The Templar Guardians need Kyle Rayner’s help and he wants nothing to do with them. Once Kyle finds the strange anomaly at the end of the universe, he may have no choice but to work with them. I find this interesting because Justin Jordan is another Valiant Entertainment talent to come to DC and deal with creating the Green Lantern mythos after Geoff Johns, insinuating that there’s already a working relationship between him and Venditti, so I look forward to what they may create together here…
IDW is sold out of Comics About Cartoonists HC limited sketch edition, $40.00. This extremely limited collection - limited to just 200 copies - features a blank front plus blank headshot area on the back cover, allowing you to commission an artist to create a one-of-a-kind cover. Collecting comics about cartoonists by these top cartoonists; Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Jack Cole, Dick Briefer, Winsor McCay, Chester Gould, Sheldon Mayer, Milton Caniff, Ernie Bushmiller, Basil Wolverton, Siegel and Shuster, Will Eisner, Elzie Segar, Harvey Kurtzman, Charles Schulz, George Herriman and a 1940s comic about Walt Disney! Very cool indeed…
Marvel has its own sold out book in Age of Ultron #10, $3.99, the finale featuring Neil Gaiman and Angela. All versions of this book are coming polybagged to protect its ‘secret’ ending. Unless there’s something other than Angela’s coming to the Marvel Universe I think that’s out of the bag already…
Game of Thrones HC volume two, $25.00, collects #7 – 12 of the 24 issue run by George R. R. Martin, Daniel Abraham, and Tommy Patterson. I don’t watch the series, that’s right I said “I do not watch the TV series”, but I really did enjoy the first volume of the graphic series published by Random House…
Once again, though, Valiant Entertainment’s got me on the edge waiting for Bloodshot #12, $3.99, by Duane Swierczynski and Barry Kitson. After Dr. Emanuel Kuretich freed Bloodshot from Project Rising Spirit, he promised Bloodshot that the answers to his identity would be found inside PRS' secret Nevada facility. Instead, Bloodshot discovered two dozen super-powered psiot children, which Kuretich then manipulated Bloodshot into setting them free. Now that the kids have ignited a Harbinger War in the middle of the Vegas strip, Bloodshot is all that stands between them and the opposing forces of Toyo Harada, Peter Stanchek and his Renegades, and PRS’ H.A.R.D. Corps. But Bloodshot hasn't forgotten about Kuretich and it's payback time…
Harbinger #13, $3.99, by Joshua D. M. Dysart and Khari Evans. The Renegades vs. Bloodshot! The Harbinger hunter called Bloodshot is a much more dangerous, and much cleverer, foe than Peter Stanchek and the Renegades ever could have anticipated. We’ll also find out the secret of Toyo Harada's first Harbinger War…
After last week’s Harbinger Wars #3 I’ll read both of those before I even get all of the books out of the boxes and inventoried. That has turned into such a stellar story! Both of these are Harbinger Wars tie-ins and I don’t think I could get enough if there was even more of it right now…
…And there are plenty more that are not listed. For a more complete list, feel free to visit your local comic store or favorite site. If you’re interested in more of what I think, follow me on Twitter at Mycomicstore001 or like my Facebook page.
Michael R. Murray is a full time Letter Carrier for the United States Postal Service who finds that the older he gets, the more he enjoys comics and graphic novels. They’re not getting stale, they’re becoming more exciting in every way!