Reviews: Doom for a Wednesday

Even when a person has the best intentions, it can be hard not to slip into the "collector" mentality. I've always considered myself to be more of a reader than a collector, and I try to approach my weekly comic book purchases with that in mind.

Between that and the increasing number of titles that are hitting the $3.99 price point, I'm suddenly buying fewer comics than I had been and passing on titles I would have otherwise brought home to my little comic book love den. (Ew.) Who was the chopping block this week?

After some back-and-forth, I finally decided to pass on Wednesday Comics #5 (of 12) . It's not because I don't like it — hell, some of it I downright love. And I'm a fan of the format and the serial approach. Wednesday Comics is a lot of fun on a lot of levels. But as I've mentioned elsewhere, there isn't enough to justify picking it up every week when I'm really just digging about a third of the strips. I'll wait to see how DC collects it in the end and probably pick it up then.

The other casualty really killed me, 'cause I love me some Ed Brubaker Captain America. But trying to stick to a weekly budget means fewer of the higher-priced titles, so Captain America: Reborn #2 (of 5) is another one that will have to wait for a trade. Of course, I say that now — if it turns out I can squeeze it in on some other week, I'm totally picking it up.

Still, it's not like I went home empty-handed. Agents of Atlas #9 was another great issue from Jeff Parker, with entertaining art from Dan Panosian. Superman: World of New Krypton is another comic I've been enjoying — more than I expected to, honestly — and issue #6 (of 12) sees Greg Rucka continuing to use his chops for political intrigue to tell a different kind of Superman story. I'm not looking forward to watching it jump to other titles in the Superman line, but it was probably as inevitable as Taco Tuesday.

I also grabbed Doom Patrol #1, and I'm torn. It wasn't bad, really (not especially great, either), but I'm one of those assholes who's been so steeped in Grant Morrison's version of the gang that Keith Giffen's characterizations just sound ... weird. Which is kinda odd in itself since I'm basically arguing that the guy who is a mummified manifestation of negative energy doesn't come across like the floating hermaphrodite I'm used to. I do appreciate the nihilistic vibe of the first issue, so I'll be back for the next one. The Metal Men back-up (also by Giffen with J.M. DeMatteis, and wonderful artwork by Kevin Maguire) is almost worth picking up the book on its own; it's fun, surprisingly character driven and a worthy modernization of the notoriously wacky Robert Kanigher stories.

Oh! I almost forgot! My LCS is gearing up for its big annual sale by putting one trade paperback on sale every week. So for one measly buck I picked up Uncanny X-Men — The New Age: The End of History, written by none other than Chris "Body and Soul" Claremont.

It's pure Claremont, and it is AWESOME. At one point, swear to God, Wolverine and Nightcrawler are strapped back-to-back to each other and fighting — shit, I don't know, some robot-thing — while Bishop throws a connecting rod at some contraption on Wolverine's chest so he can REEL THEM BACK IN. And later, Viper wears the most impossible costume ever.

Again — AWESOME.

(I mean, I wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't on sale, but at $1 ... totally worth it.)

What did you pick up this week? Let me know in the comments!