The Pull List (1-30-08): A trip to the tradin' Post

In my mind, this little feature is supposed to be posted on Tuesdays. Who knew, right?

This week I'm going to blame the slight delay on something new being added to the Pull List: Trading Up is a section highlighting comics that I'm interested in reading but, for various reasons, I'll be waiting until they come out in trade. Sometimes it's something that looks like it would be better to read in one big chunk, and sometimes it's something that I had been picking up monthly, but have decided to see whether or not it's worth following all the way to the end of a storyline (or at all — dun-dun DUN!).

Now — on to the list!

Wormwood: Calamari Rising #1: Wormwood is without a doubt one of the weirder comics out there. It's sort of a horror comic, but that's mostly because the main character is a tiny demonic worm that tools around in a fully-functional corpse. In spite of its macabre setting, Wormwood is really a humor comic, wringing comedy out of clever word-play, sight-gags and good-old-fashioned gross-outs (seriously, leprechauns are far from anything magically delicious in this book). It doesn't hurt that Ben Templesmith continues to be a hell of an artist, drenching everything in washes of color that brings his weird, sketchy little world to life. He also does a solid job with the tongue-in-rotting-cheek writing of this title, and putting it all together it's easy to see that Wormwood is his baby. If you only know Templesmith from 30 Days of Night or Fell, give Wormwood a try and see his work from a slightly different, and much funnier, angle; it's good stuff.


The rest ...

Captain America #34

Daredevil #104

Green Lantern #27

The Spirit #13


Maybe ...

Ral Grad Vol. 1: On one hand, this fantasy-based manga about a dragon, hellish creatures that spring from shadows, and a boy who's kept prisoner in a pitch-black cell for 15 years sounds interesting. On the other hand, it's based on a video game. But on another, Stryker-like hand, one of the personality quirks of the main character is a fascination with squeezing booby. Decisions, decisions ...

Salem #0: I had to read the solicitation a couple of times to get it, but I think this is about a coven of witches who are a manifestation of God's punishment for some major sin of mankind, and a Solomon Kane type of character is all that's between them and ... God's will? I guess? I'm not sure I get the conflict, but still, it sounds kinda neat so I'll be giving it a look.


Trading up ...


Conan #48

Suburban Glamour #3

Y The Last Man #60


Recommended ...

Manhunter Vol. 4: Unleashed: I really, really wish they would bring back the Manhunter monthly. It was fun while still maintaining some grit, with a strong and smart female character that readers actually cared about. In the meantime, the trades are a good way for people who are new to this Manhunter to catch up and pine with the rest of us.

What Were They Thinking? Vol. 1: The stories from this occasional anthology are silly, funny and almost as much a love-letter to the goofy age of comics as it is a roast. And hey, Kevin wrote some of it (and other fine folks like Blue Beetle writer John Rogers and comics godfather Keith Giffen) so check it out.