The decimation of my pull list

It's been a while since I've written here (a little over a month) and this wasn't an intentional absence, but more a case of being WAY too busy in real life.

However, I've got some time now and I figured I'd write about something, although the topic which is holding pride of place in my mind right now is not what I really wanted to end a break with. That said, this topic IS on my mind and I kinda wanted to write it down so that I'm clear in both my thought process and intentions.

So, let me begin.

Basically, it's come to my attention recently that my comics budget, despite it's rather small size and/or value, is now too much of an extravagance. This is down to a number of things which have affected how I spend my hard earned. Amongst them are that real life costs have risen (as bills tend to do for us all) and I've recently had to spend a large amount of savings money on a new car to better accommodate my ever growing family. Then there are comic books themselves which, while not exactly a very recent thing, have also seen their prices increase as a result of both publisher discretion and exchange rate fluctuations between the States and the UK, mainly as a result of Brexit.

Anyway, all of these things have had a negative effect on my month payslip as more an more of it has to pay the important stuff. Therefore, despite my best attempt to weather that particular storm, it looks like the time has come to make a really tough decision and pretty much end my pull list. This is not an easy decision, as the withdrawal symptoms are going to be murder, but it is one which has to be made in order to stay solvent.

Of course, while it might be somewhat counter-productive, I can't find it in myself to go 'cold-turkey' on all my comics as of right now and so have put together a rudimentary plan in order to 'ease' myself (for want of a better description) out of new comics.

• Firstly, the Small Press Comics (Chunks, Afterlife Inc and Cognition and beyond), due to their more haphazard release schedule, will be cut immediately and their future instalments will be considered on an as and when basis (should funds be available). I feel bad for this as these books are created by talented people and deserve the same respect as any mainstream comic/ However, while they aren't as regular in their release, I may find it easier to pick their future issues in the future, considering them as 'one-offs'.
• Comixology bought trades and single issues (consisting of Huck and Autumnlands, Titans and Black Science) will also be cut immediately with their titles re-installed later should my budget recover. The reason for this is that, due to all these book being digital, I can easily catch up with little difficulty in locating those missing issues. Therefore, dropping them first is a quick money saver, if not slightly annoying as they are great series (Black Science especially).
• Printed comic mini series Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Broken and Lazarus X+66 will be kept on until they complete, unless their quality dips. The reason for this is that, as they are only six issues a piece, they should be completed by November/December at the latest. Therefore, it seems silly to miss out on issues for so small a run and if I struggle to afford issues, my LCS can hold them for an additional month without me falling too far behind.
• Printed comic ongoings Daredevil and Black Magick will continue to be picked up until the ends of the arcs ending in October/November time. This is for two reasons. 1. I don't want to screw over my LCS seeing as October solicits are out and they will no doubt have ordered. And 2. Both have been great series so far and, given they are picked up in print, I want to give them time to either drop the ball or my finances to pick up to accommodate. That said, should neither happen, the hard choice will have to be implemented.
• Printed comic ongoing Lazarus will continue unaffected. This is because this is my most enjoyable series which is picked up in print and, given it's long term storytelling, I don't want to risk missing issues which I struggle to find in the future should I be able to come back. Of course, if it comes to the point that I can no longer afford a single comic book every month then this series will also have to go (and I'll probably have to seek medical help).

So, there it is! My plan towards the decimation of my pull list. I'll be honest, I'm not entirely happy with the fact I've had to do this as I was at a point where every book on my list was fantastic. However, sometimes (and I stress 'sometimes') comics are not the be all and end all and this, sadly, is one of those times.

Of course, I'm not counting myself out of the race yet as I do have quite a number of old series and back issues which I will happily re-read. Also, during the course of this mass re-read, I may find that some of these comics do not appeal to me as they once did when I had first bought them. In that case, a simply case of selling on ebay (or equivalent selling platform) can mean a temporary boost of comic buying funds.

But that's not going to be immediate so, for now, I'll be focusing on all those great comics for review, the plethora of back issues under my desk and the careful planning of rebuilding my pull list back to it's former self.

Or, hopefully, something bigger!!

(Some of ) June 2017's Pull List

June isn't quite over yet and I have a few comics on my pull list which are still to be picked up. However, while books are still to be read for me, the majority of them are the beginnings of (or in the case of Star Trek, early into) new story arcs.

Because of this, and because I kind of enjoyed talking about the Lazarus Contract in it's entirety, I decided I would hold off on Daredevil, Black Magick and Star Trek: Mirror Broken and talk about them in regards to the full stories.

Therefore, there were only two comics for me to talk about and both of those were released in the same week, early into this month.

First up was Titans #12, which was another little one-shot issue between arcs as Omen made a visit to Psimon in his cell in order to find out what had happened to Bumblebee's missing memories, only to have all of her teams problems thrown back at her by her nemesis, along with a terrible revelation to set up the next arc. Now, I have to admit that after the let down that was the Lazarus Contract last month, I was expecting an improved outing this time around. However, I don't think I was expecting this much of an improvement as this issue was fantastically written and totally had me hooked as all the revelations, secrets and frayed dynamics were shown. I also loved that Kenneth Rocafort is providing the art on this issue as I've always enjoyed his work since first seeing it on Action Comics (although I don't recall seeing it since then.) His work really works well here as he has a very similar style to Booth, meaning I don't find any transition in styles (which works for me). I've said before that Titans is a guilty pleasure more than a great book, as it has as many hits as misses, but this issue is certainly the best yet. I'm now eager for the 'Judas Among Us' arc and to see if my guess of who is the traitor is right. My guess: It's Garth.

Next was Copperhead #14, which saw the end of the current arc with the Sheriff closing in on the Mayor's killer, while Hickory causes more problems for Boo behind the scenes and Clay finally makes his way to his destination. Unfortunately, while I had hoped for something of a miraculous ending to this arc to regain my interest, this issue really turned out to be very forgettable. This issue, while tying up all the loose ends the arc had revealed as well as set up for what was to come next, just felt so boring to me and was just in no way captivating, while the characters of Clara and Boo just felt flat and shells of their earlier selves. Meanwhile, while I like Drew Moss' art, it's just not Scott Godlewski's and really doesn't make this book look like it did (in truth it doesn't look as gritty), something which really appealed to me when I first picked up this book. As a result, I'm kind of glad this issue is out as my time on Copperhead has come to an end. It had a good start in it, but it's hiatus seemed to be it's undoing and, as such, it's a comic I would rather not spend my limited funds on.

And so, I guess that's June done. I have to admit that I'm sad that Copperhead was such a let down and kind of sad to see it go, but when a book is no longer enjoyable then why spend good money on it? Thankfully, Titans more than made up for both it and it's previous instalment, so I guess it evened out overall.

For now, I won't be posting these breakdowns of my pull list for a while due to my grand plan of talking about books by arcs. In the meantime, I'll have to try and find something else to write about (but, in comics, that usually isn't too hard).

The Autumnlands Vol. 2

Like I said previously, last weekend I got to go on holiday and, due to circumstances beyond my control (well, kind of, I could have kept my son up I guess), I was given the gift of time to read some trades which I hadn't yet gotten around to. The first evening was taken up by the Mark Millar superhero book; Huck.

On night two, I decided I'd have a read of The Autumnlands Volume 2: Woodland Creatures by Kurt Busiek and Ben Dewey. This was another book which I had been given the opportunity to review when it had initially been released. Now, as full disclosure, I hadn't originally enjoyed this comic but, when convinced to give it a second try (because it's Kurt Busiek), I did find Tooth and Claw (It's original title) to be much better than I had first thought and decided to give that first trade a try.

Well, volume 1 was read and thoroughly enjoyed and so when volume 2 was released, I snapped it up (which was helped as Comixology had it selling for a discounted price), but had yet to read through it, until now.

The Autumnlands volume 2 follows on from the first trade with Learoyd and Dustain recovering after their battle to defend the (former) floating city's inhabitants from Seven Scars and his Bison tribe. No lost and alone in the wilderness, the two set off for survival and civilisation when Learoyd has an encounter with a being unlike anything he's so far seen in the Autumnlands. This encounter leads the great Champion and his dog-wizard companion deep into the Woodlands and up a nearby mountain as he attempts to gain more answers as to how he got here and why.

Much like the first volume, however, this was a bit of a struggle to get into initially. That said, unlike the first volume, this had more to do with a lack of a recap page being included in Volume 2, meaning finding the memories in my rather full mind of the previous read. This, as is usually the case with a non-recap page book, made it a bit of a slow start to get into.

Of course, as I read and the first book came flooding back to me, I really got more and more engrossed into this story, which also saw the duo attempt to help a sheep's village and pick up a new companion in the form of a Goat called Albert as they made their way up the mountain. I have to admit that, once the comic's pace picks up, the entire story begins to feel incredibly mythic.

The thing I enjoy most though are the characters and their interactions as, free from the more political characters of Volume 1, Learoyd and Dunstain really come across better as the former shows his hidden depths beneath his rather crude first impression and the latter feels a lot more confident here with both his skills and his overall demeanour. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the rendition of the Sheep village, showing a simpler, more comprehendible aspect of the this world while Albert, although a little annoying in places, I thought helped give the story some levity with his arrogant and humorous nature.

Meanwhile, I do love the art, which really goes with the mythic quality of the overall book and it has some good colours to help bring it across really well (which you come to expect when it's Jordie Bellaire.) What's really great about the art in this book though are the truly mesmerizing landscape scenes at the start of each issues which make me think of Oil Paintings or the art you may see in ancient texts (although the actual text which goes with them feels a little long.)

In truth, this book is a seriously terrific book, but not just for the things I've mentioned above. I've always considered that there's some unknown quantity on every book which can cause you to love the worst made or hate one of the highest quality. With Autumnland, it is the better of those two options as I find this book incredibly epic and, despite having to have worked to remember what was going on, the pay off was worth the effort.

I could have picked a few other things to read in my precious free time, but I'm glad I chose this. I look forward to volume 3!