2012 Year In Review - Part 2

My total new comic purchases remained in line with the previous two years, at basically 11 comics a month. Marvel set a new low in terms of monthly purchases, at 5 and one-third issues a month, down from the previous record low of 5 and five-sixths, set last year. This meant Marvel also set a new low for its percent of my purchases, at 47.41%. DC didn't take advantage, as it declined for the second consecutive year, and saw its percentage fall almost to 28%, compared to over 35% in 2010. Comics not published by Marvel or DC were the big gainers, rising from 18.38% to 24.44.

I don't keep track of it, but if I charted back issue buys, DC would likely win, but Marvel would have won when it came to trades this year. For what that's worth, since basically all of that is pre-owned stuff they are already got their money for.

Batman Beyond Unlimited #1-11:  Adam Beechen and Norm Breyfogle put Batman in between Mad Stan and some foolish Russian weapons dealers who kidnapped Stan's dog. Then they unleashed 10,000 Jokers on Gotham, under the control of Dana's loopy brother. Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs had Kobra awaken the Ouroboros, and it would have destroyed the Earth, if not Bruce Wayne holding onto the ashes of Jason Blood. Nguyen and Fridolfs also gave us the origins of Warhawk, Marrina, and Barda, illustrated by Eric Nguyen, James Brower, and Ben Caldwell, respectively. Oh, and J.T. Krul and Howard Porter had Superman doing stuff.

High Point: I love Breyfogle's art, so getting that on a regular basis, on a Batman comic no less, is pretty nice. It even stars a Batman I don't hate. Astounding. I've really enjoyed the 10,000 Jokers story. I might enjoy a little more reaction from the average person, to convey how terrifying this is, but Beechen and Breyfogle are getting across how overwhelmed the good guys have been up to this point. I've also enjoyed the Justice League stories much more than I expected. I figured I would just tolerate it for Nguyen's art, but they seem determined to throw everything at the wall (but not The Wall, because on idiots throw things at her), and it's been really enjoyable.

Low Point: The Superman story. Krul's trying hard, I think, to make points about Superman by contrasting him with others - Lucinda, that cop Walker, his fireman coworkers - but he's too obvious about it. Very ham-fisted. Porter's art is also flat, lifeless, and not stacking up well against the other artists in the book.

Captain America #1, 2: Rick Remender and John Romita Jr. took Captain America and threw him into some dimension where Zola's running things, and essentially using the place as a big laboratory. Cap's on the loose, but in a world he doesn't know his way through, with a child in tow.

Captain Marvel #1-8: So far, Carol's taken it upon herself to set an altitude record in a T-36 as a way of honoring a woman she greatly looked up to. Unfortunately, the attempt sent her spiraling back in time, firs to WW2, then to a stretch where she and that pilot, Helen Cobb, tried out for the space program. Then Cobb nearly stole Carol's powers away, and Carol had to fight simply to exist as she did. Kelly Sue DeConnick wrote it, and Dexter Soy drew most of issues 1-4, with Rich Elson and Will Quintana doing 2 pages of #3, Karl Kesel and Javier Rodriguez another page. Then Al Barrionuevo drew 5 pages of issue. Emma Rios drew all of issues 5 & 6. All the time travel dealt with, DeConnick, Christopher Sebula, and Soy sent Carol headed to the Gulf of Mexico to help Monica Rambeau investigate several missing boats. And to get her chops busted about swiping the name Captain Marvel. Turns out a giant robot was behind it. The missing ships, not the name-swiping.

High Point: There's a high spirit to DeConnick's writing that makes it enjoyable. Not simply the witty banter, but also Carol's confidence in herself and her approach to things. "Hit stuff", mostly. It keeps things from being too depressing, even during the more serious moments. I probably liked issue 7 the best, for all the bickering, and Frank Gianelli seems like the sort of pushy activist that will create problems for Carol to have to solve.

Low Point: I wasn't a huge fan of the time travel story. I didn't feel like the Banshees were fleshed out enough, so maybe they'll get an encore. I can't decide whether the whole bit with Helen trying to swipe the powers was about giving Carol the chance to show she is better than her idol, or if DeConnick was saying Carol has doubts about having the powers, and it was time for her to accept them, with all the positives and negatives that accompany them. I prefer the former to the latter. Also, the artist shuffle is giving my whiplash. Going from Soy, to Emma Rios, back to Soy, and in this year, Andrade, there's none of the consistency you might see with say, Hawkeye. The true lowest point was issue 3, because they ripped us off by only having 19 pages.

Daredevil #8-21, and 10.1: Or this title, for another example. Mark Waid wrote it the whole way. On the art side of things, Kano started us off with the conclusion to the Daredevil/Spider-Man/Black Cat team-up, which saw Matt and Felicia hook up. Until Foggy called to say Matt's father's body was missing. Which brought Paolo Rivera back in as Matt descended underground to face the Mole Man. That didn't end satisfyingly, and then Megacrime set its sights on Daredevil, leading him to team up with the Punisher and Spidey, and then use the Avengers to throw everyone off track, as depicted by Khoi Pham, Marco Chechetto, and Chris Samnee. Just when it looked like Matt had things under control, and Samnee took over as almost all the time artist, Matt's shunted off to Latveria and infected with senses-deadening nano-bots. Which force his senses to develop in other ways if he's to escape. The problem is ultimately solved by Hank Pym going inside his brain and killing robots. Then Matt gets fired by Foggy for keeping his father's bones in his desk, which Matt swears he didn't do. Turns out he didn't, it was actually a new player called Coyote, using the Spot's powers to make Matt crazy. He only succeeded in making everyone else think Matt was crazy, so good enough?

High Point: Paolo Rivera's covers. His art in general. That Mole Man story was gorgeous, especially the fight where neither guy was even looking at the other, because they don't need to. The Coyote's design, for somehow being creepy instead of goofy. Don't know whether to credit Rivera or Samnee for that. The Avengers enjoying playing bad guys a little too much.Wolverine bragging about his backfist, Spidey gloating over ruining Matt's date, it was hilarious. Hank Pym getting to be useful, and not constantly hearing about how much he sucks (are Remender/Hank McCoy listening?) Matt's whole struggle to remain upbeat is really fascinating. Especially when even his friends think it's a sham, or a sign of mental instability.

Low Point: I don't think the Omega Effect crossover was necessary. Also, not a big fan of Waid's take on Doom, which I'm pretty sure he used Daredevil as a mouthpiece for. Which is why I won't be reading Waid's FF run any time soon.

I know, only 4 titles? Blame Daredevil for double-shipping so much the first half of the year. The pace will pick up some tomorrow.