Doctor Doom

Doctor Doom 1-10

Original reviews.  Still good a year after the first read.  It illustrates Doom at his most flawed and tragic.  I’d call it beyond Shakespearean - Old Bill never wrote about collapsing black holes that threaten the existence of mankind.  Also, Hamlet never destroyed an entire parallel reality because his alternate self wounded his massive ego to universe-destroying proportions.

Hee, "picnic ant."

Wow, Doom actually wanted them to succeed.

They're such babies, it's hilarious.

Only Doom could piss himself off so much.

And have so little self-awareness as to the possible consequences.

A wonderful character study.  Between this and all of his other appearances, one thing this project has done is boost Doom’s standing in my best villain power ranking by quite a bit.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Valiant Comics, Grendel, New comics

New comics!

Doctor Doom 6-10

I ordered this trade before I’d read the first one.  Based off the first five issues, I wouldn’t have kept going.  Thankfully, the tail end of this series is a lot better than the first.  Doom’s visions of himself as the leader of a world utopia are finally explained, and they set up an amazing character study that tragically explains why he will never ultimately win.  I was doubting the hype around writer Christopher Cantwell for most of this run, but the ending’s convinced me to keep an eye out for more of his stuff.

That is indeed the proper reaction to someone riding a bear.

That last line is so Doom

Misc box 8 actually finished with the end of Walking Dead.

Box summary

Time spent reading: 23 hours 35 minutes

Issues read: 295

Issues cut: 12

Highlights (Good or better): All of Walking Dead

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 34 days, 16 hours, 12 minutes

Issues read: 7235

Issues cut: 856

Delinquents 1-4

I liked the Archer and Armstrong trade.  I find Quantum and Woody to be pretty amusing.  A team-up between the two duos in search of a hobo treasure sounds like the perfect, light-hearted jaunt I’d be in the market for.

Utter fail.  There are moments of levity, but the story left me completely bored.  Easy cut.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring (Cut)

X-O Manowar 1-8

A perfect example of replacement level entertainment.  I enjoyed my time reading it, would read it again, but will never go out of my way to do it.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Grendel: Devil by the Deed

I love this comic every single time that I read it.  More an illustrated novella than a comic, this Matt Wagner creation is the beginning of an epic, amazing saga of evil and comic book mastery.  And to think he started this at nineteen years of age.  The art is gorgeous with its art deco motifs, and the writing is utterly captivating.  I rarely have patience for such large blocks of text in comics (see: Alan Moore’s later LoEG), but I’ll read this stuff all day long.

Love the body language on Larry

Sweet wheel of death.

So pretty.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy

Wild Storm, New Comics

New comics!

Rorschach 3

Again, a solid one-issue story that doesn’t do much to explain the overall course of the series.  

Taskmaster 2

Not as funny as the first issue, it’s mostly a protracted fight between Taskmaster and Hyperion.  Eh.

Solid Blood 17

My LCS threw this in for free.  It’s a gag issue from Robert Kirkman, playing as if Walking Dead never hit it big, and this is what he did next.  It’s a high concept that failed to amuse me, but apparently its rareness makes it worth something for now, so it won’t get thrown into the cut bin for now.

Doctor Doom 1-5

I’ve been hearing a lot about writer Christopher Cantwell and this title, so I thought I’d give the first trade a try.  It starts off strong, where Doom has just the right mix of arrogance, intelligence, snark, and power.  But I don’t like Doom on the run, the role of the underdog doesn’t suit him.  I’ve already ordered the second trade, so I’m committed for at least another five issues.

Heh, the meta 2099 dig.

Wild Storm 13-24

Man, am I glad that I followed through with this series after the re-read.  It gets better and better as it progresses, building up at a rapid pace into a breathtaking final issue.  It definitely reads best in one sitting, instead of spread out over two years.  

Ellis manages to mix in so many callbacks to the original Wildstorm universe, many of which went completely over my head for far too long.  (I can’t believe it took me until the very last issue to realize that Jackie King was Battalion.  Ingrained sexism?)  I would have loved to see what Ellis was going to do with Gen13, the Authority, WildCATS, and all the rest, but it looks like that’s never going to happen.  (The spinoff that did get published, Michael Cray, wasn’t all that.)

Great setup for the page turn reveal...

Stunning work by Jon Davis-Hunt and Steve Buccellato

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good