COMICS REVIEW: Backlog

Even though I'm behind schedule on my book, it was time this past weekend to get away for some much needed R&R, camping in the great Northwest... Aside from relaxing in the outdoors and the usual fair, one of the things I look forward to most about camping, is reading, comics, lots of them.

Even though I keep cutting titles and scaling back, with little time to actually sit around and read them, I still end up with tons of comics that pile up, week in and week out. Thus the camping reading material is not only a way for me to relax, it's a way to get caught up in my "industry research"!

This weekend I plowed through 45 books! Not single issues, but runs of titles, from recent months. The following is my quick take on what I read:

UNCANNY X-MEN 470-473 - The end of one short arc, the start of another, with 3 solid artists, and some suprisingly fun and enjoyable Claremont writing. Bedard scripting Claremonts plots works well for me.
MILDLY RECOMMENDED

ULTIMATE X-MEN 69-70 - I was excited for Kirkman's run on the title, hoping for more pizzaz than the also anticipated, but underwhelming Vaughn run... but it's actually become even more mundane. The Oliver art, while accomplished, doesn't help the plotting at all. This is the X-Men reimagined? X-Levi-Men, or Genereric-X is more like it... blah. Hurry up and get better or the title that used to be one of my faves is history for me...
NOT RECOMMENDED

BOMB QUEEN 2-4 - Great book. Love it! Over the top, mature, and nasty. But also a great 4 issue storyline and interesting concept. GOOD BOOK!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

MIDDLE-MAN 2.1-2.4 - Hey, look! There's a Super Real ad in issue one! I feel honored to be associated with such a great book. I really liked the first volume, the writing, the art, the characters, but I found the story lacking. Volume two is soooo much better than the first!! GREAT BOOK!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

STRANGE GIRL 3-8 - After reading the first 2 issues I was on the fence... I loved the concept and the art, but it just wasn't paying off for me. Coming in knowing what the book was about left the intro to the book cold, but once things get moving story wise, this book is great! I also enjoy that it tackles themes and issues that are big and outside the norm, while telling an entertaining post apocalyptic survival tale! GREAT BOOK!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

CYBER FORCE 1-3 - I love team super hero books, so I give most of them a shot at some point. This is really bad though. Really bad. No thanks.
NOT RECOMMENDED

SUPERGIRL 1-6 - Loeb can be fun, and I like books that feature the ladies. I really enjoyed this. Nothing too special, but great classic super hero comic book fun.
I'm not sure at all about the new ONE YEAR LATER direction though...
RECOMMENDED

ULTIMATE EXTINCTION 3-5 - Peterson's art is impressive, while still a bit stiff, I love the new graphic touches he's using. This one was a page turner, but a bit anit-climatic (especially for a 3 series story).
MILDLY RECOMMENDED

WILDCATS NEMESIS 2-9 - I like Talent Caldwell's art, and I love Wildstorm, so this was an easy sell. The book itself, not so much... it's actually two artists, Caldwell and Domingues, alternating plotlines, with Caldwell only doing the present storyline, not the flashbacks. At first the flashbacks are important to the story, but as we go along, they are pure fluff (and really hard to believe/swallow). This really should've been a 5 to 6 issue story (maybe even 4), not the odd 9 issue run it was.
NOT RECOMMENDED

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN 91-94 - This, for me, is Bendis's best book, nothing else he does comes close (except perhaps Powers, but I gave that up years ago). Ultimate Spidey is just as wisecracking as the regular Marvel U version, but in this book, he's actually funny! Bendis continues to weave the best continuity based title going, with each arc entertaining, while building on the past. Also, in this run he plays with the Ultimate X-Men, who are much more in continuity here, than they've been in their book in years!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

That's it, some mostly great stuff, and stuff I haven't got to talk up on the blog cause I'm so far behind.
Books on the edge, outside the norm you should check out if you haven't, like:
STRANGE GIRL
BOMB QUEEN
and MIDDLE MAN
Really good stuff!

So, tomorrow, the breaks over (well, it was today, getting caught up on the email etc), and it's back at it double time!!