The Pull List (2-10-10): What I'm not getting this week

Suddenly, it's late in the day and I've got to assume most people have either picked up their comics or have already decided what titles they'll be getting this week. So instead of telling you what I'm planning to get once I make it to my LCS, here's a few comics I WON'T be getting:

Green Arrow/Black Canary #29: I actually really want to get this, as much as I want to really enjoy a Green Arrow comic again. But I'm afraid neither one will be happening today, as tempted as I am by art that's been finished by Bill Sienkiewicz. The recent storyline — something about an obsessed Arrow fan who suddenly can hold her own in a superhero fight or something? — has left me cold, and a constantly brooding Ollie gets old really fast. And while this is the last issue in the current storyline, the promos for the upcoming one trumpeting "spinning out of Justice League: Cry for Justice" don't exactly fill me with hope.


Human Target #1: Look, I love the Human Target, both it's Silver Age version and the excellent reimagining by Peter Milligan. And I was initially excited to see one of Christopher Chance's creators, Len Wein, would be writing a six-issue mini-series starring the master-of-disguise, deep-undercover bodyguard. Except, that's not what Wein will be doing. Instead, the series will more closely follow the recently kicked-off TV series, which has done away completely with everything that made Human Target interesting — namely the disguise angle, and all the questions about identity and Chance's eroding sense of self that went with it. Why is this called Human Target, again?


Hit-Monkey #1: No. No, no, no, no, no. I refuse to slip into Marvel's latest meme-trap. I gave up on the zombies, and I managed to completely ignore the monkeys the first time, so I will not fall for an obviously silly story about an ape with a gun and ... and ...

... monnnkeeeeys ...



(Oh, OK — and here's what I will be getting this week:)

Anchor #5

Batman and Robin #8

Booster Gold #29

Daytripper #3

Muppet King Arthur #1

Muppet Show #2


Preview: Green Arrow/Black Canary #29
Preview: Human Target #1
Preview: Hit-Monkey #1

This week's pull list, and some triple-scooper poopy-dooper

Hey pal-o-minos, guess what? I just got over a major hump at the day job, and hoo-boy, I'm beat. So before my eyes pop out of my head and start bouncing around like ping-pong balls or some other bouncy thing, here's what I'm getting this week:

Anchor #4: It's bruisingly good stuff and you should be reading it. That is all.

Booster Gold #28: I wasn't very excited when Dan Jurgens took over on this title, but damn if the slightly darker tone isn't growing on me. I'm also glad to see the Blue Beetle co-feature returning as a stand-alone story with Matthew Sturges scripting.

Daytripper #2: Beautifully written, beautifully rendered art from Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon. Don't cheat yourself out of what's shaping up to be one of the best titles out there — pick it up.

Muppet Show #1 (Vol. 2): The Muppets seem to be everywhere lately — in magazines, on YouTube and every other TV commercial. But if you want to find the real Muppets, read this comic written by Roger Langridge, which consistently captures the fun and spirit of the original show.

X-Men Origins: Cyclops #1: I must be feeling the influence of that last post, but this title is strangely appealing. Shut up.


And now, Kitty-Cat Superman:

Review: Moon and Bá map the moments leading to a life in Daytripper

Daytripper is, quite simply, unlike anything else out there.

Sure, there are plenty of heartfelt, poignant and well-done stories on the shelves, but I can't think of any that match the unique sense of time and place seemingly grown so organically by brothers Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon. In the first issue of a 10-issue limited series, Daytripper's Sáo Paulo, Brazil is at once new and familiar, a feeling which only gets stronger when the reader meets Brás, the drifting center of a delicate story that still evokes the scrape of concrete and the hum of power lines overhead.

Brás is an newspaper obituary writer, a job that pales when compared to the literary success of his father, an author considered a national treasure in Brazil. Making his way, alone and lonely through a day that is special for his father and which should have been special for himself, Brás wrestles with feelings of disappointment and the fact that those feelings come as no surprise. Instead the reader gets the sense these feelings are an ever-present ache, not an unexpected stab of pain, quietly endured and masochistically nurtured and prodded.

Still, Brás isn't unhappy and he isn't unloved, which makes the sudden and violent turn the story takes all the more tragic, giving readers a powerful and intriguing plot with a beginning disguised as an ending. Coupled with beautifully rendered artwork — as well as a gorgeous palette of color from Dave Stewart evoking both time of day and Brás' emotional state — Daytripper is equal parts heart and heartbreak

I've been a fan of Moon and Bá for a while now, an opinion that was cemented with their excellent De: Tales: Stories from Urban Brazil. But, De: Tales did have a sometimes tiresome tendency to fall into the realm of magical realism, and I'm hoping Daytripper avoids that. The story of Brás, and the days that come together to make up a life, have enough magic on its own.

Highly, highly recommended.

Read a preview of Daytripper #1 here.