Pull list 20/02/13 - The "trying to save money but failing miserably" edition

Darkhorse

Star Wars #2 - hopefully, as it didn't ship to the UK last week

DC

Green Lantern New Guardians #17 (Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)
Green Lantern #17(Wrath Of The First Lantern Tie-In)
Fables #126

IDW - rumour has it that some or all IDW books will be delayed to next week due to Nemo hitting the US recently, so these will probably have to wait, unfortunately.

Borderlands Origins #4 
Fever Ridge: A Tale Of MacArthurs Jungle War #1 [I think MrGiantwoman ordered this from Previews]
Locke & Key Omega #3 
My Little Pony Micro-Series #1 Twilight Sparkle 
Womanthology Space #5

Image - as with IDW, not expecting to see any Image books in store this week.

It Girl & The Atomics #7
Revival #7
Saga #10
Thief Of Thieves #12

Marvel - yay, actually getting some Marvel books this week. Two to read and one because of Skottie Young again!

Captain Marvel #10
Deadpool #5
Nova #1 Variant Skottie Young Baby Cover

Independents - this has a horrible tendency not to arrive on time anyway, so I won't hold my breath given all the others that are expected to be late

Adventure Time #13 Regular Cover 

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!

Pull list 06/02/13

This weeks pull list contains:

Three from DC:

Detective Comics Vol 2 #17 (Death Of The Family Tie-In)
Insurgent #2
Fairest #12

Only one IDW this week:

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic #3

Two Image, quiet for me:

Epic Kill #8
Repossessed #2

One Marvel that I'm reading and one for the cover:

Fearless Defenders #1 - Skottie Young Baby Cover
Hit-Girl #5 

Last but not least one from Boom!:

Adventure Time Fionna & Cake #2 

A missive to Marvel: Captain Marvel

Dear Marvel,

I have recently heard rumours, via the entertainment website bleedingcool.com, that ‘Captain Marvel’ was facing cancellation, due to its falling below the so-called “kill line” of 20,000 or more sales.

As a female reader (yes, sorry, but I am going to play the gender card) it is not often that I come across a strong character that I can identify with. Carol Danvers is one of those few and far between ladies, she is strong when she needs to be, but human enough for us readers to empathise with her. Not that I need to be telling you that of course, you’re the marvellous folks who saw the vision Kelly Sue DeConnick had, and chose to give her the chance to bring that vision to life.

The humanity that Kelly Sue shows within Captain Marvel, and the way that the character is drawn by the highly talented Dexter Soy, make Captain Marvel one of the top books on my pull list, and the weeks it comes out are a joy, seeing the online love for the character and the book pouring out on Twitter and Facebook.

I for one would be very sad to see Captain Marvel dropped, not least because it would mean one less book I could recommend towards friends who do not currently read comics, especially female friends.

Kind regards

Sarah Bell

Pull list 30/01/13

This weeks pull list contains:

Emily And The Strangers #1
Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill #1
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #5
Flash #16
Green Lantern Crops Annual #1
Red Lanterns #16
Lot 13 #4
Mara #2
Adventure Time #12

Hopefully there will also be a few back issues of Marceline and the Scream Queens to finish off that limited run, and maybe a treat or two as well...

Joe Hill's The Cape

Joe Hill's The Cape

Author: Jason Ciaramella
Artist: Zach Howard
Colourist: Nelson Daniel
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Publisher: IDW Publishing

Writing a review on a book whilst remaining spoiler free isn't easy, even when the book was published in collected form in May of 2012 and virtually everyone you know has read it before.
I'm struggling to come up with words for how good The Cape is, with using overly gushing praise or simply writing a list of adjectives such as awesome, brilliant, stunning...

Suffice to say, The Cape turns the classic 'capes and cowls' superhero genre on its head, subverting the expected in a series on events that repeatedly led to my hand covering my mouth, a shocked expression on my face and more than one muttered expletive.

Howard's art and Daniel's colours mix the youthful exuberance of a young Eric with the broken man he grows in to with a startling grace. Even in the twisted interior of Eric's head there is a dark beauty to be found, if you are willing to look for it.

Saying any more would give too much away, but I can't encourage anyone to read this enough. As the lovely H_Paz on Twitter put it: just say "it was like, woah. But then it got more crazy and I was like, DAYUM. This shit is nuts, read it". I couldn't have put it better myself.

Best of 2012

So, it is around the time of the year when people start looking back at what has gone in the past twelve months or so, and compile lists of their favourite music/books/films/etc. In my case, in order to compare with those of MrGiantwoman and the lovely Bob Reyer of Talking Comics, I have dutifully compiled several lists of comic books, writers and artists that have caught my eye, piqued my interest and generally worked their way in to my heart and mind this past year.

Some categories have gotten five or six entrants, some have just got the one. This is partly because some of the entrants were out and out favourites of my year, and partly because there were some books that were just too good to miss out on putting in. It may also have something to do with me being indecisive, but I'm blaming in on there just being so many great books out in 2012

I've listed my current "best of" list below, and will try and go in to more details on several of the books over the course of the next week or so, as some of these are absolute corkers that shouldn't be missed.

So, without further ado the lists:

Best continuing series:

Mind The Gap

Revival

Saga

Captain Marvel

Thief of Thieves

Best limited or mini-series:

Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe

New Deadwardians

Hit Girl

Best single issue or one shot:

Iron Muslim

A Babies Vs X-Babies

Halloween Eve

Amazing Spider-Man #698

Best story arc:

Death of Peter Parker (ASM #698-700)

Intimate Strangers (Mind The Gap #1-6)

Prince of Thieves (Fairest #1-6)

Best Writer:

Jim McCann

Brian K Vaughan

Brian Wood

Bill Willingham

Best Artist:

Rodin Esquejo

Skottie Young

Fiona Staples

Koray Kuranel (Point of Impact)
Menton3

Best Cover:

Fairest #3, #8

Anything from Mind The Gap!

Before Watchmen #2

Revival #3

IT Girl and the Atomics #1 (standard cover)

Lady Mechanika #1

Best Humour:

A Babies Vs X-Babies

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Deadpool (Marvel NOW)

Best Anthology:

Womanthology

Best kids/young readers:

A Babies Vs X-Babies

Have I missed anything? Have I included something you think I shouldn't have? Let me know in the comments, I'm always open to new reading suggestions.