Comic Books

I haven't talked much about comic books here. When I first started this blog I thought I would talk more about comic books. So I thought I'd just post some random thoughts on some recent comics.

Daredevil: Still my favorite comic. Bendis' writing on Daredevil is what got me reading superhero comcis again. I had whittled my reading list down to very few when I picked up one of his first issues of Daredevil and was hooked. The new issue, his last arc before he leaves the series, is just as wonderful as everything that has preceeded it. For most of his writings on this series it could have been titled the adventures of Matt Murdock more than his alter ego Daredevil. One of the high points of this series is that for one of the first times in this series I feel the bond between Foggy and Matt. Usually Foggy is played for laughs, and Bendis isn't above this same tactic, but he also shows the friendship between the two men. And the best line in the series, when Angela comes on Daredevil with Natasha and Electra with him: "You have backup singers now?"

Y: The Last Man: Another great book. Another great writer. Brian Vaughan is another writer that I'll follow to almost any book. His Ex Machina is another great series. One thing I'm hoping is that the whole back story of Yorrick's girlfriend is finally put to rest and he can get on with the rest of his life. He's kept himself celibrate out of respect to his girlfriend, what happens I wonder if he finds her and they break up? Will Yorrick go crazy as the only man in a world filled with women?

Infinite Crisis: This is the sort of comic that non readers of comics points to when they say they can't understand them. Even as a regular reader of comics and knowing most of the characters I was confused. It's also why these big bloated "events" are so bad. I dont' really care for the whole thing they've done between the big three: Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. And the ending of this issue should have been the type of thing that send chills down the spine of any type of long reading comic fan, but it was not much better than a bore.

House of M: The Marvel big event is better than the DC version, but I'm not all that crazy about it either. It was too much like a long issue of the old What If series. And plus I'm just tired of Wolverine. My favorite X-Man was always Cyclops. He was the good guy in the group, he stood for what was right, so of course he never had a chance. Let's give Wolverine a rest, people. The series actually gets better as it goes along. A lot has to do with Bendis' ear for dialogue. And not making Magneto the "mastermind" behind the whole thing was something of a surprise to me. Pietro was and is such a second, even a third string character. No matter what has been done with him, he's never been much more than that.

The Walking Dead: I'm not a big zombie fan. I haven't seen the movies and really have no desire to. I've ignored most of the other zombie comics out there. But the guy at the local comic shop talked me into picking this one up. His other choices were good (Ex Machina) so I decided to give it a shot. And it's really good. But the focus on the story isn't on the zombies. Some issues they are not even in the book. The story concerns the survivors and the problems they are having. That's what makes this book so good.

Other books I've been enjoying: Ex Machina, Young Avengers, Pulse. It's strange, I've always been a fan of superhero comics, but I have also been a fan of the independent comics too. Back in the black and white craze I was a big supporter of the black and white comics. But lately I find myself buying less of the independent comics. I'm sure I'm still buying some, but the stack of comics on my desk now have been pretty much superhero comics. Oh, excpet for Finder. A black and white science fiction comic that is really good.