This week I finally take an axe to some monthly pulls in favor of trade waiting, if you want me to read more, you’ll have to find a way to pay me more! Here’s what I’m reading and why.
Lumberjanes #10 by Shannon Watters (Writer), Noelle Stevenson (Writer), Carolyn Nowak (Artist), Maarta Laiho (Colorist), Aubrey Aiese (Letterer), Kat Leyh (Cover Artist)
This is issue is the first of the book’s second arc! I didn’t know until fairly recently that Lumberjanes was originally a 8-issue limited series but due to its immense popularity it was changed to ongoing fairly early on. After the first 8 issues wrapped up an adventure full of dungeons, magic, monsters, and friendship, #9 was a fun ghost story exchange anthology and the focus returns to our group of young lady Lumberjanes in issue #10.
So within the first few pages something felt off and I realized that the faces of the characters seemed different somehow. I used super investigative methods like looking at old issues and the internet to discover that Brooke Allen was the artist for Lumberjanes #1-8 and this issue was illustrated by Carolyn Nowak. I remember when I first started reading people’s thoughts on ongoing comics I always found it strange that people would get so upset about changes in an artist, only now do I get it. Not to say that I dislike Nowak’s style, but the change is kind of jarring although I should say that she did a great job in capturing the style of the previous books, but it’s inevitable that there’s some differences. Once I figured it out the difference no longer mattered and Lumberjanes remains an awesome adventure with unpredictable hijinks! This issue comes with bonus omg-those-two-are-on a-date-and-everyone-is-totally-okay-with-it-why-can’t-this-be-real-life features.
I’m continuing collecting single issues of this book because it’s funny, cute, and it never fails to make me smile. Also I feel like it’s important to support a book with a rare (otherwise non-existent?) all female creative team that is also an all ages title which challenges stereotyping of girls and their body types and also is queer positive.
Intersect #3 by Ray Fawkes (Writer & Artist)
This book! So creepy! So cool! Go read it! I was slightly disappointed by the reveal of the creature that’s been stalking Jason/Alison and the Kid, but only because I was thinking it would be a Jaws type reveal where you don’t see it until pretty far in. The design is creepy in the way that Fawkes’ watercolors can capture so well. I totally get the choice of medium, it adds that aspect of inconsistency and transcience, the suggestion of changing and morphing that’s happening at a rate difficult to comprehend visually, which is exactly what’s going on for everything in this city.
I’ve been eagerly anticipating the back pages to see just what people write in…and it seems like it’s all poetry/words thematically appropriate for the comic which is just perfect! I kind of want to sing there too. Sing. Did yo you have a fav favorite song? Sing.
I’m keeping up with this book because I actually think it’s genuinely awesome and it feels like it was written just for me. But that doesn’t mean you can’t read it too! Go read it!
Loki: Agent of Asgard #10 by Al Ewing (Writer), Lee Garbett (Artist), Nolan Woodard (Colorist)
A comic that normally makes me laugh…but this was a sad issue. Identity crisis ahoy. Apparently it’s drawing on things that happened in Journey into Mystery that I haven’t read and heard second hand, honestly the book has been hinting at it for quite some time so it wasn’t a surprise but I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around certain things. This Loki isn’t Loki. Or isn’t Kid Loki. It’s Ikol? And Ikol is…not Loki. But he’s basically Loki and grows up to be Old Loki. In the future. Are you as confused as I am?
I’m sticking with this book because the first 5 or so issues were ridiculously good, it was unfortunately interrupted by two events but continued to deliver some great material, and I want to keep giving it a chance until this arc finishes. But it’s on a pretty short list at the moment, sorry Loki.
What I Didn’t Pull – And Why?!
Magneto #14 by Cullen Bunn (Writer), Gabriel Hernandez Walta (Artist), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist), Cory Petit (Letterer), Dan Panosian (Cover Artist)
Magneto, like Loki, was doing awesome all by himself. The book was hitting its stride right out the gate and I was on board. Unfortunately Magneto is too important a character not to get dragged into events the X-Men are involved in. AXIS hurt this book worse for me than Loki’s because it felt like a huge interruption to its direction, Bunn did a great job using AXIS as an opportunity to show some interesting sides of Magneto but it just wasn’t the story I wanted to read. With more events down the road…just how stretched out is this story going to be? Since the third trade paper back will collect starting with #13 which I just bought last month I decided to cut my losses and just trade wait. If that collection gives me better feelings about the story I might start pulling it again.
The Wicked + The Divine #7 by Kieron Gillen (Writer), Jamie McKelvie (Artist), Matthew Wilson (Colorist)
I know. Why is this here? It actually hurt physically to put this issue back on the racks. It’s here because I know it’s awesome and has tons of fans and whether I buy single issues or not it will still be printed because Image is awesome that way. Also there are tons of people buying it anyway. The essays from Gillen are often fun, as is the fan mail, but it’s not an extra $16 fun when considering how much money I’d save by only buying the trade. Also while I think The Wicked + The Divine is amazing, after rereading the Faust Act I do think that the arcs read better collected. So that’s what I plan to do. Honestly though I might just end up buying #7 in the next few weeks because I feel really bummed about not having it ha ha. Anyway, this won’t be the last time you’ll hear me singing the praises of this book, so don’t worry about that! Even if I’m not reading month to month I certainly encourage you to!
Closing Thoughts
What kind of strategies do you use to cull your pull list? What frustrates me is that the success of a comic book is considered entirely based on it’s sales of single issues rather than trade paperbacks, so if you don’t buy a comic in single issue form it’s more likely you’ll see that very comic cancelled within a year. So I tend to think of single issues as casting a vote with my wallet…but this voting system is getting too expensive! And I thought Warhammer 40,000 was a money sink (but really it is, I’m glad I escaped that hobby).
What's on the Table? 