Functional & Elegant

When you’re shopping for art pieces for the home, it’s important to not only consider how it will look in your abode, but what added functionality it’ll bring to the table. Guillotines and Iron Maidens only make so much of an impression unless you keep them sharp. If Kyle has retrofitted Al & Gnome’s house so easily without them knowing, then maybe his is more dangerous then he appears.

Our pull lists tend to be more super hero orientated at the moment. Kris likes to joke that a comic’s not good unless everybody’s wearing spandex. I don’t think that super hero comics are better than others, but I think that superhero comics are a little bit more approachable. There’s a good guy that has some sort of special ability - whether it’s that he’s an alien who gets powers from our Yellow sun, some sort of mutant, or just really freakin’ smart, somehow he/she is special. There’s a bad guy (or multiple bad guys) that thinks the world could be made better (or worse) by them and them alone. The good guy fights and stops the bad guy. The world is saved and at the end everybody gets ice cream.

I’m not saying that superhero comics don’t have depth or the vast worlds and stories that build off of each other month to month, because they definitely do. However, to read and enjoy the comic you don’t have to notice these things. If you just want to read it and enjoy the face value good vs evil fight, then you can and happily move on. For those that do know the more detailed backstories and character development, it’s there for them to enjoy. If you happen to understand why Batman’s computer password is Zorro, more power to you. For others, it’s just a word and the important thing is not what Batman’s password is but what will happen now that the Joker knows it.

Non-superhero comics, on the other hand, don’t have the simple luxury of this formula. For a non-superhero comic to tell it’s story, it has to not only tell the story, but create the world in which the story is taking place. In the hands of a skilled writer, this could result in a very rich world where a subtle nuance or minor incident one month can have a major impact six months later. While this can make for a great story, I feel that it makes non-superhero comics harder to approach if not started from the beginning. When I jump in the middle of a non-superhero comic, it feels like I’m always missing something until I have gone back and read the series from the beginning. For some series, that’s easier to do then others. Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead has always been highly praised and something that I’m interested in reading. However, with 77 issues to date collected in over twelve trades, I haven’t been able to bring myself to start reading it.

When I got into comics, I got there through non-superhero books like Atomic Robo and Neil Gaiman’s masterpiece Sandman. My plan had always been to stick to most of the non-superhero books, but then I got distracted by the shiny spandex. While I’m not about to abandon the superhero books I’m interested in, I think it’s time for me to get back to some of those other worlds. First stop is going to be to finish collecting Lucifer. After that, we’ll see where the winds take me.

Travis, what’s on your pull list?

• Batman: Streets of Gotham #16 - Finally picks the House of Hush story back up. I’m really enjoying the backstories of Thomas & Martha Wayne as well as the illustrious Zatara.
• Darkwing Duck #4 - Still one of Tiffany’s favorite books. This is the end of the first arch that definitely establishes how the new ongoing series will run.

Kris, what’s on your pull list?

• Batman: Streets of Gotham #16 - Finally back to House of Hush! The back ground stuff on the Waynes is awesome. The Two-Face second feature is interesting and unique.
• Cowboy Ninja Viking #9 - Still my favorite book running. It’s less laugh out loud funny, but still 100% awesome.
• Flash #5 - Beautiful and excellently written. This issue really ups the ante and shows what Johns and Manapul are capable of. Pick of the Week.
• Green Lantern Corps #52 - I’m not a fan of Bedard. At least not in the way I love Johns, Tomasi, or Rucka. But this book makes up for a pretty weak story arc by showing it all served a very important purpose. If he improves from this point forward, Bedard will live up to the pedigree of this series.
• Justice League of America #49 - Decent read, but Robinson just seems to be missing something with this series. I hope the Crime Syndicate arc coming up will turn it around.
• Justice League: Generation Lost #10 - Great issue, showing the development of the team as well as what other heroes are experiencing as a result of Max Lord’s actions.
• Legion of Super-Heroes #5 - This series is getting better, but I’m willing to admit that it might have been good from the beginning, and now that I like the characters, I’m enjoying the series a lot more. I love the depth Levitz has given Earth Man, considering he could be a very one dimensional character.
• Power Girl #16 - A great tie into Generation Lost, as well as following the crumbling of Power Girl’s company. I hope Nicco backing up Power Girl is the beginning of a whole network of tech support inside the super hero community. We already have Oracle and Proxy, add Nicco to that and the introduction of Chloe Sullivan, who served as Watchtower on Smallville, and the nerd revolution is coming to comics as far as I’m concerned.
• Supergirl #56 - Sterling Gates can’t write Bizarro speech, but was savvy enough to lampshade it. Otherwise this book was really good, showing Supergirl working on her issue. Also, I have a sick crush on Bizarrogirl.
• Superman/Batman #76 - A good but completely unnecessary issue. This should have happened back with Final Crisis.
• Titans #27 - I want this book to be good, I really do, but it’s just not meshing. I love a lot of the characters, and Wallace writes Deathstroke, Chesire, and Osiris well. There is just too much working against him. The art being done by two people with no rhyme or reason didn’t help either.
• Velocity #2 - This book is just fun. Its a good story, and a great character.