Pull list 05/06/13 the "not so much Big Two as Big Who" edition

As our time with out current suppler / LCS winds down, so does our list of books. Now that Wrath of the First Lantern (or whatever the latest Green Lantern universe event was called, we are down to a very small number of DC books, and were it not for Marvel bringing out Kick-Ass 3, they wouldn't even show on the list at all this week.

Image once again reign supreme as my favourite publisher, a trend that I anticipate will continue as we wend our way into the murky waters of finding a new weekly supplier. I swear, reading / buying comic books is worse than having a drug habit! On which unsavoury note, here are the weeks books...

DC

Green Lantern #21 

DYNAMITE

Garth Ennis Red Team #3

IDW

Colonized #3 

Locke & Key Omega #5

IMAGE

68 Jungle Jim #3 

Bedlam #7

East Of West #3

MARVEL

Kick-Ass 3 #1

INDYS

Uber #2 

Herobear And The Kid Special #1 

Pull list 30/5/13 - the "delayed because of another bank holiday" edition

Thanks to a combination of the bank holiday and my lcs having the worst courier company in the world, this weeks book have been delayed by a day.

The entire world seems to be looking forward to the new Brain Wood take on the (all female) X-Men, but I will be totally honest and admit I am only getting it to make sure that my run of Skottie Young baby variant covers is complete! If I enjoy the first issue then I'll pick up the first trade when it comes out, but I'm not going in with any expectations.

On with the list then...

Dark Horse:

Dragon Age Until We Sleep #3

DC:

Justice League Of America #4 

IDW:

Danger Girl Trinity #2 

My Little Pony Micro-Series #4 Fluttershy 

Image:

Lost Vegas #3 e

Mind The Gap #10 

Thief Of Thieves #14

Marvel

X-Men #1 - Skottie Young Baby Cover

Pull list 22/05/13 - the "Lantern heavy" edition

It's almost like the old days looking at this weeks picks, eleven new books coming out!

It should be a good week for MrGiantwoman, he has four new DC books this week, plus new Deadpool and the second issue of the bizarre (but rather good) Miniature Jesus.

From my point of view Revival is one of those books that just keeps getting better and better, so I'll be settling in with that (and maybe a cheeky glass of wine) this evening.

DC

Batman Lil Gotham #2

Flash #20 

Green Lantern New Guardians #20 (Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)

Green Lantern #20 (Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)

Red Lanterns #20 (Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)

Image

Five Ghosts Haunting Of Fabian Gray #3

Miniature Jesus #2

Revival #10

Marvel

Deadpool Vol #10

Indys

Adventure Time #16 

Adventure Time Fionna & Cake #5 

Pull list 15/05/13 - the "my money saving plan is finally working" edition

So, finally the pull list is down to a manageable number of titles, and I can stop despairing at the size of the "to be read"  long box, and actually start reading some of them!

Fingers crossed this will mean a few more articles coming up on here in the near future.

Saving money may have just been ruined though, as I've been offered a ticket to MCM at the end of the month, and I can't decide whether to trust my brain and pass on it, or to use my normal approach and grab it with both hands. Hmm...

While I ponder, here are this weeks books:

DC

Fables #129

Dynamite

Bionic Man vs Bionic Woman #5

IDW

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic #7 

Image

It Girl & The Atomics #10

Pull list 08/05/13 - the "I wonder if the bank holiday will mess up the delivery this week" edition!

After a great time at Free Comic Book Day in London, visiting Orbital and Forbidden Planet - managing not to pick up any free books in the process - it is a nice quiet week for myself and MrGiantwoman, which might be even quieter if the delivery hasn't turned up today. Only one way to find out!

Without further ado, here is today's list:

DARK HORSE

Star Wars (Dark Horse) #5

DC

Green Lantern Corps #20 (Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)

Justice League Of America #3 

IDW

Rocketeer Hollywood Horror #4

Chin Music #1

MARVEL

Deadpool #9

INDEPEDENTS

Uber #1

Plus of course an FCBD titles that we asked them to get for us!

Pull list 01/05/13 - the "calm before the storm" edition

A nice quiet week, which I can do the before the Green Lantern 1:1 scale replica I am expecting some time in the next couple of weeks turns up. The LCS got a job lot of Green Lantern trades in last week and somehow (no names mentioned MrGiantwoman...) a number have ended up in our box. A quiet day today should give me a chance to grab a couple of those, as I need some GL inspiration for a potential cosplay that is currently in the works...

Once again Image take the lead, although only two books this week are for me, and neither are Image, shockingly. 


DC

Fairest #15 - looking forward to reading Sean Williams new storyline.

Dynamite

Game of Thrones #14

IDW

Colonized #2

Image

68 Jungle Jim #2

Epic Kill #10

Pull list 24/04/13 the "Jupiters Legacy comes out at last" edition

Iron Man 3 comes out tomorrow. I have avoided all teasers, trailers, spoilers, photos, screenshots, you name it! As with Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man last year, I am going in to the cinema tomorrow with a totally clean palette, hoping for an awesome film experience with no preconceptions. It had better be good, I've got the whole day off work for it!

On the comic book front, "Jupiters Legacy" comes out this week. I am excited. That is all. 

Dark Horse

Dragon Age Until We Sleep #2

DC

Before Watchmen Comedian #6
Flash #19
Red Lanterns #19 (Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)

IDW

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic #6
My Little Pony Micro-Series #3 Rarity

Image

East Of West #2
Jupiters Legacy #1
Lost Vegas #2

Marvel

Deadpool Killustrated #4
Deadpool #8

Indy

Adventure Time #15

Pull list 17/04/13 - the "50% Image" edition

Well, another week, another trip to see what we will or  won't get! Plenty of new titles out this week that we are looking forward too, and it seems that I can officially call myself an Image fan girl now. 7 out of 14 books from one publisher? Eep!

A bit of new Danger Girl to keep MrGiantwoman out of trouble is always good, and hopefully the latest edition to the 'Wrath of the First Lantern" series from DC will mean it is drawing to a close, for the sake of my wallet if nothing else.

DC

Green Lantern New Guardians #19

Fables #128

DYNAMITE

Bionic Man vs Bionic Woman #4

IDW

Colonized #1 Regular Dave Sim Cover - missed from last weeks pull!

Danger Girl Trinity #1 

IMAGE

Five Ghosts Haunting Of Fabian Gray #2

It Girl & The Atomics #9

Mara #4

Miniature Jesus #1 

Revival #9

Thief Of Thieves #13

Todd The Ugliest Kid On Earth #4

MARVEL

Captain Marvel #12

INDEPENDENTS

Adventure Time #15

Pull list 10/04/13 - the 'sub-ten books' edition

Finally, getting to have a quiet week! I am not sure how the reaction is going to be when I go in to get the books this week, as it will be the first time seeing the shop owner(s) since cancelling all the orders, but only time will tell. 

I don't expect we will get Star Wars, as they still don't have issue #2 for us, but the others are regulars or ones ordered from Previews, so here's hoping!

DC

Star Wars (Dark Horse) #4

Batman Lil Gotham

Green Lantern Corps #19  (Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)

Threshold #4

IDW

Rocketeer Hollywood Horror #3 

Image

Saga #12

Marvel

Wolverine Vol 5 #2 Regular Alan Davis Cover

Secret Service #6

Independents

Adventure Time Fionna & Cake #4 

Pull list

I made a big decision last week. I talked it over with MrGiantwoman, and we agreed that it was for the best for our future. I'm not talking about coming off all my medication (although I have done that recently too), I'm talking about cancelling our entire pull list with our local comic shop. The entire thing, some 50+ titles per month. This was obviously a massive choice for us to make, given that the shop is a mere fifteen minute walk from my work, and they have been good enough to us in the past to let us have books on credit the week before pay day, all three staff from the shop came to my 30th birthday party last year, and we recently went to London Super Comic Con with the two shop owners. So why did we do it?!

Part of it is to do with money. Everyone is tightening their belts again this year, the cost of living has gone up again and there is no sign of a payrise on the horizon for many of us, so spending the crazy amount we were on books just wasn't feasible in the long term. Plus we are still paying off our trip to NYCC last year and trying to work out how we can get back to the States to see all our awesome friends out there again, sooner rather than later.

It wasn't just that though. For me it was an emotional l decision. I get very stressed and anxious about the littlest things, which affects my health. New comic book day is supposed to be fun, and time to chat to your friends, discuss what each of you is picking up, post pictures online of your haul, and have a good time reading the new issues. 

But it isn't for us any more. 

Every week I would get an impending sense of dread as my lunch break approached, wondering which books we would be missing this week. You may have noticed that I tend to post my pull list online prior to visiting the shop each Wednesday. I actually started doing that to save myself printing off copy of my list to take with me every week, as I have to meticulously check off each book to make sure we have it. It was okay though, because every week there would be two or more books in our box that we neither asked for nor had ever expressed an interest in... Oh no wait, it's the other one. The one where that doesn't make it okay, it makes it worse. The last three books they missed from our list were Mind The Gap, Deadpool and Flash. If you've met (or know) MrGiantwoman and I, you will know why this is an major issue. Add that to the fact that we have been going to this shop for over two years, and you may start to see why I stopped looking forward to the trip.

I am going to absolve myself of blame for the missed books too, as every month we would leaf through the latest issue of Previews borrowing it at closing time on a Wednesday or Thursday, then dropping it back in before they opened the next day so that no-one would miss out on taking a look, along with a list of all the title we would like in addition to those we already have. Only last month they decided that if we wanted to look at it we would have to buy a copy. Fair enough, they are a business, they need to make money. Would have been nice if they had told us before they sold all their copies though, so we could not make a list for June, this not including the fact that they called me at work to demand their copy back. The one I hadn't borrowed...

I don't want this to turn in to a list of complaints about a shop that won't be able to respond (they are all technophobes after all) but the other main issue I had was their organisation. I am a creature of habit. Every Wednesday I leave my office at the same time, take the same amount of time to walk to the lcs, and every week - without fail -  they will not have pulled my books for me. They have a book of orders you see, and we are pages 63 - 66 in the book. The lady that pulls the books doesn't make it past page 43-ish by 2:15pm on a Wednesday. Even if I phone ahead and remind her that I'll be in at 2:15pm. Sigh.

If I am going to spend £200+ in a shop each and every month I at least want them to show me a modicum of respect as a customer, and to make a bit of an effort to get my order right, and ready when I want it. Maybe I was spoiled by visiting the wonderful Tor Comics on Long Island, but the sense of community in that store, and the solid organisational core they had, was something to behold. Bearing in mind the relationship we thought we had with the two owners (they offered me a job recently), the fact that neither have been in touch to ask about our cancellation speaks volumes to me.

So, for the future (we will still take our books up to May due to their ordering process), who knows. After a recent visit to Orbital comics in London we might try their subscription service, if not it might be the corporate giant that is Forbidden Planet. We aren't going to go without our comic book, we just need a way of getting them into our desperate little mitts...

Pull list 15/03/13 - the "my money saving plan is finally working" edition

So, a (sort of) quiet week at last. Just in time for New York Comic Con to start announcing guests, and for me to start considering selling internal organs to get back there again this year!

Anyway, before I start sobbing in to my keyboard, this weeks books:

DC

Emily and the Strangers #2
Ghost #4
Start Wars #3 - if we actually get it, seeing as we're still waiting on issue #2!
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #6
Green lantern Corps # 18 (Wrath of the First lantern tie in)

Dynamite

Game of Thrones #13

IDW

Rocketeer Hollywood Horror #2

Image

Mind The Gap #8 - absolutely cannot wait for this, still my favourite book of the moment
Todd The Ugliest Kid On Earth #3

Marvel

Wolverine #1 - very excited about a new Paul Cornell book, especially taking on a favourite character of mine. This could get expensive though, as I will probably end up buying the regular and Skottie Young covers!

On a different note, this should be a very good week for the comic reading community, as not only have those lovely folks over at Talking Comics got Jonathan Hickman on their show, but they will also have the one and only Matt Fraction coming in for a chat too - well done those guys! I highly recommend checking out their weekly podcast for all things comic related, published every Wednesday with book of the week reviews and lots of listener question and comment.

Right, time for me to delve back in to the world of Dr Wertham, which I am still struggling through chapter by eye-twitching chapter! 

Pull list 06/03/13 -the "split decision" edition

Hmm, seem to have a bit of a two way split between myself and MrGiantwoman as to the top publisher this week, with his five DC titles (well, three, two are for me) equally the tally from my five Image titles. Once again, Marvel fail to even make the billing, with Boom! and IDW slipping in one title each on the sly!

Enough pre-amble, here is the list:


DC

Before Watchmen Rorschach #4 
Green Lantern #18 (Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)
Insurgent #3
Lot 13 #5
Fairest #13

IDW

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic #4 

Image

Bedlam #5
Epic Kill #9
Lost Vegas #1 
Mara #3
Repossessed #3

Boom!

Adventure Time Fionna & Cake #3 Regular Cover

I am especially looking forward to Lost Vegas, as proven by my going all fan girl about it on Talking Comics earlier today. 

I'm also looking forward to the end of the Before Watchmen series, not for the usual "event dragging on too long" AvX type reasons, but because I've been holding off reading most of them until they are all safely tucked away in my long boxes, so that I can read them all in one. 

The end is nigh!

Pull list 13/02/13 - The "what happened to the Marvel fan-girl" edition

I have spent my life being a Marvel fan-girl, with a hefty nod towards Vertigo on the side. I'm not quite sure what is going on this week though, with appearances on the list from Image (my new favourite publishers), DC and a couple of smaller, independent publishers but NO MARVEL! You see guys, this is what double (and sometimes triple) shipping titles does, as well as spreading the X-books and A-books so far and wide as to become unappealing.

So, on with the list:

Star Wars #2

Batman #17 (Death Of The Family Tie-In) - looking forward to finally reading all of these before it is spoiled for me, although I fear I will have to fight MrGiantwoman for them.


Batgirl #17 (Death Of The Family Tie-In)

Before Watchmen Comedian #5 - still enjoying this series the most out of all the Before Watchmen, must be something about him that appeals to my hidden in sociopath...

Bionic Man vs Bionic Woman #2 - for MrGiantwoman

Americas Got Powers #5 - as a much earlier review showed, I wasn't really a fan of this series, but as it is only a short run I figured I'd see what happens in the end

Bedlam #4

Todd The Ugliest Kid On Earth #2 - really looking forward to this title, found the first issue hilarious.

All in all, a fairly quiet week again, but as we are building up to London Super Comic Con in two weeks,it seems like a good idea!