My Pull list: January and February 2019

So, I'm a little bit late with writing this (or a lot in the case of January). The reason being is twofold. 1. I've just been feeling incredibly lazy and 2. I've being burning the lunchtime oil on other posts of other books as well as reviews for Pipedream and the odd bit of scripting.

Also, I wanted to go through the 2018 Fantastic Four issues before getting this years books looked at (and that has also taken a bit of time to get to).

Star Trek IDW 20/20
Image from Comixology

My first pull list read for the year was Star Trek: The Next Generation: IDW 20/20, which was one of a selection of one shots which IDW released throughout their various comic series to celebrate their 20th anniversary (I think?), with each issue focusing on events 20 years in their comics respective pasts or futures. This issue went backwards as we got to see the beginning of Captain Picard's tenure as commander of the U.S.S. Stargazer as well as an early encounter between him and Jack and Beverly Crusher.

Now, I've always loved Star Trek the TV show, but the comics never really appealed to me. However, while Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Broken certainly changed that and help hook me in, I struggled to find a subsequent run which I enjoyed just as much. This one shot, unfortunately, continue that run as it still failed to live up to my lofty aspirations set by Mirror Broken. I think the thing that got me about it was how' you are here' it was, not really setting everything up sufficiently and assuming you would know all the players which, while I do, it doesn't hurt to start the story at the beginning instead of halfway through.

That said, it wasn't all bad as the premise was an interesting one and, I have to confess, if they made a mini-series charting this early life of Picard I would pick it up, especially if J.K. Woodward was drawing it. I really love Woodward's art (it's lack of presence may have been a key reason for my problems with Through the Mirror) and to see him so accurately portray Picard and Beverly but with a younger slant was just gorgeous. For me, this art was what I enjoyed most about the issue but I think the same could be said about anything with Woodward's art (I still maintain that he should draw Star Trek on an ongoing basis.

Overall, however, I think I could take or leave this issue. While it was gorgeous to look at, it was only an ok read. However, if they David and Woodward came back to do a mini to follow on from this, I'm not sure I'd say no.

Fantastic Four #6, the
beginning of the Herald
of Doom. Image from
Comixology.

Next was Fantastic Four #6 and #7 (which, admittedly, were released a month apart. However, because they are the same story arc, I'm going to rope them in together). These two issues started a new arc in Dan Slott's run as the First Family, fresh from the Thing's wedding to Alicia Masters, race to Latveria to face down the returning Galactus, despite having been warned off by Dr Doom who has plans of his own when combating the devourer of worlds.

This arc took me a couple of reads to get on board with, as after my initial catch up and read through of the first couple of arcs for this new run, I did worry. This certainly was the case with issue 6, as I struggled to find the story overally compelling, although the characters and their dynamics certainly felt familiar and made me happy to see. The things which I think got to me was:

1. The almost immediate use of the FF's big two villains (I'd have thought they'd be held until later in the run)
2. How this arc seemingly undoes all of Doom's 'growth' in Invincible Iron Man, Infamous Iron Man and Marvel 2-in-1. And
3. How the book immediately seems to jump into standard superhero fares, despite my hope that it would mostly avoid that.

(Also, I got to me how Reed called Doom 'Doom' as he always calls him 'Victor'. However, that's a small thing).

Fantastic Four #7 and this
Ribic cover is gorgeous.
Image from comixology

Thankfully, issue 7 fixed those niggles I had for issue 6 (although, maybe not point 1, entirely) and has turned the arc around for me as I got to see the Fantastic Four more in the light that I know them as. It also helped that this issue started to open up the plot a bit more (something I struggled with prior) and explain the reasons behind both Galactus' and Doom's actions. In fact, I enjoyed hearing Doom's actions as they implied that he hadn't simply been reset.

Meanwhile, I loved the art of both issues, with Jason Kuder's style making me think back to the Waid/Wieringo run (although the story did that too now that I think about it) and Esad Ribic's covers looking truly spectacular. Suffice to say, while I may have been worried to start with, this arc turned me around as it has gone on and I am looking forward to issue 8.

And with that, January and February's pull list is all read up. It's been an ok couple of months worth of titles (for me anyway. Everyone else, this is a third of a week I bet) but hopefully, with the return of Lazarus, Detective 1000 and the end of Black Science, March's pull list will be far superior.