Going to the comic store as a civilian has been a strange experience. From this side of the counter, I can understand how people would skip on adding books to their file, in that I’ve yet to make changes to mine in the past few weeks… despite the fact that there’s a chance some of the books I’m interested in won’t be on the shelves by the time I get into the store. So there’s that.

This week, I’m starting a self indulgent look at my pull list. If I’m being honest, I’m doing this because I’m talking about comics about 95% less than I usually do, and it’s really freaking me out. If I’m being more honest, I’ll probably continue this after my shop starts because I’m just conceited enough to believe you might care about what I read. Let’s uh… let’s do this.

THE SHOPPING LIST

01. BATMAN ETERNAL #42
02. BLACK WIDOW #14
03. BTVS SEASON 10 #11
04. BUCKY BARNES WINTER SOLDIER #4
05. DARK HORSE PRESENTS 2014 #6
06. DEAD LETTERS #7
07. DOCTOR WHO 11th #7
08. DOCTOR WHO 12th #4
09. GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #23
10. IVAR TIMEWALKER #1
11. LEGENDARY STAR LORD #8
12. LOKI AGENT OF ASGARD #10
13. LUMBERJANES #10
14. RED SONJA #14
15. THE VALIANT #2 (OF 4)
16. TOOTH & CLAW #3
17. UBER #21
18. WICKED & DIVINE #7
19. WILD BLUE YONDER #6 (OF 6)

Nineteen titles. God damn. That’s not normal. Or wasn’t normal. My list these days is a bit of a Frankenstein as I’m pulled in two different directions.

First: in my capacity as comic shop manager, I was able to read through quite a few titles that I really enjoyed, but didn’t have to buy. This wasn’t anything against them, so much as it was a way for me to spend my money on more collections and independent series that could use the dollar. Without the luxury of lunch reads and the like, I’m buying a few things I normally wouldn’t.

Now. Second: I’m currently funemployed and in the midst of starting a business from scratch so money is tight. This means that a few of the books that I love but are very very far behind on are being left behind until my situation changes. It makes for an interesting list, to say the least… one that I should cut back a bit further on, but… whelp, a dude’s gotta read, amirite?

  •  I’ve yet to see if I can stop reading Batman at this point, despite the fact that I know I’ll be able to grab that book later when I have some more money. That said, I can’t bring myself to drop Batman: Eternal which… well, honestly it has it’s ups and it’s downs, but for the most part, it’s a stellar book. It’s probably the best non-anthology weekly comic series of all time, taking the traditional monthly format and tweaking the formula ever so slightly to better suit the accelerated shipping schedule. Characters slip in and out of the story, plot points begin and end with fluidity, and every swirls and builds in ways that would fall completely flat if the issues were coming out monthly. A wonderful way to get your Bat-family fix on the regular. If you haven’t been reading it, definitely drop in when it begins a second weekly run later this year.
  • As I mentioned before, sometimes you have to kill your babies so you can uh… so you can eat, I guess. I dropped Captain America and the Mighty Avengers this week, despite the fact that it’s been my favourite Avengers book. It’s essentially Heroes for Hire, with a shiny splash of paint and a core of bright idealism. It never failed to entertain and always made me smile but… well, the budget only goes so far, and I’m a little behind on the book, dating back to when it was just called Mighty Avengers. So off it goes. On the other hand, I’m still getting Loki, so I can still get my Al Ewing fix.
  • Side note: Al Ewing is amazing. Track down anything he’s written for 2000AD, or even some of his prose work to see him at Peak Ewing. The man loves what he does, and what he does is tell some fucking crazy stories, and I love him for it.
  • I’m dipping my toes back into the Valiant pool with Ivar, Timewalker and The Valiant. I’ve read pretty much every first issue that’s come out from Valiant since they came back, and I’ve never been disappointed, but I always ended up falling behind on their books. I want to see if I can remedy this, because the stuff they’ve done has been amazing, there’s just… I dunno, too many comics, and not enough time in the day sometimes.
  • And oh hey Wild Blue Yonder is finally wrapping up and man, I need to re-read this whole thing again. I think it’s been… 18 months since this started? Maybe longer. A great series about a world where people have taken to the skies after the lower reaches of earth become uninhabitable. It’ll be quite the read in collection and despite the delays, I really, really hope we see more of this world in the future. If Zach Howard can’t swing some more issues (which would be a shame), I hope the creators would be open to seeing other artists intemperate the world.

And that wraps things for this week. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for specifics about my new shop. Or, you know, don’t. I’ll keep rambling here regardless. Because: the internet.

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