Random Happenstance

From Midnight Men #2, story and art by Howard Chaykin, letters by John Workman.

This is going to be a little more gloomy than usual, I think, but I'm just 'thinking out loud' a bit to see where it goes. The other day, I went downstairs to get some comics out of my messy, messy basement. Among other things, I re-read Midnight Men, which was part of Marvel's Epic line, and their 'Heavy Hitters' launch. Most of those books are barely remembered now, which isn't to say they were bad, just not classic. And that was during a stretch when Marvel was trying to corner, or rather flood, the market. Indy books like Fish Police or Trouble with Girls were brought up to the big leagues, then promptly sent right back down when the market contracted. Good times.

Although I've been a fan of Howard Chaykin's for years (many, many years, if you count the amount of time I poured over his Star Wars adaptation), a lot of his work I picked up long after it was off the racks and into the back issue boxes: the Shadow, Blackhawk, the American Flagg! issues I've read. I did buy the singles of American Century and Challengers of the Unknown, though, and still think American Century was underrated and doomed--the direct market didn't seem to be the target audience for that one.

But then came Hawkgirl, which, even with Walt Simonson writing, was only OK for me, and I dropped it when I had to cut the budget. I didn't have the same level of distaste or mockery for it that a lot of bloggers/readers seemed to, but it wasn't firing on all cylinders either. I was kinda looking forward to Chaykin's New Avengers fill-in...until I flipped through it. Chaykin has a set style, and he drew Hank Pym in his 'asshole' style. I fell off the Civil War bandwagon pretty quickly...

Running over all that made me think about what I was buying. I dropped some books during a cash drought, and then was gunshy about picking new ones up. For some new limiteds, like Beyond!, Annihiliation, and Agents of Atlas; I decided to try that 'wait for the trade' thing. An idea that only works if you actually pick up the trade in question...we'll see how that goes.

There's other books that I would like to read, or should be reading: Cable & Deadpool, for example, although I would probably only buy the more Deadpool-centric issues. I take a similar approach to Uncanny X-Men, buying only issues with Nightcrawler; despite Brubaker doing an OK job on the Vulcan character, I kinda don't care. I dropped Daredevil before Brubaker picked it up, and now I'm thinking about getting it again. Ditto Criminal.

Over at DC, I've been occasionally reading Detective and Batman again, for what seems like the first time in years...since No Man's Land? No, I read some of that, then fell off entirely during Bruce Wayne: Criminal. The Justice League relaunch hasn't grabbed me, I tried the first issue of Creeper but it didn't take, and I've bought all the first issues of the Authority that I care to, thanks. (I thought Brubaker's Authority started great, lost steam, then broke its leg right before the finish line.)

In recent months, I've read the occasional issue of Legion of Super-Heroes and Catwoman and if I had more comic budget I would buy both more often. I may still try Scalped, since like a lot of Vertigo, it looks interesting and doomed.

I don't buy them consistently, but I seem to enjoy the all-ages Marvel Adventures line or Justice League Unlimited more than the regular universe books. Since they're almost always 'done-in-one,' those comics are more enjoyable because they can't take the scenic route; but then they sometimes don't have the same push to make you buy them every month.

Then, the other publishers...where if I want something, it seems I just buy it, but fortunately most are published on a staggered schedule, like Hellboy/B.P.R.D, Fell, or Warren Ellis' Avatar work. Planetary is almost over...Gah, what else am I reading? I am getting excited for the eventual return of Nexus, one of my favorite comics ever.

Maybe it's just my mood, but looking at the DC and the Marvel solicits this week, and the new figures premiered at the 2007 Toy Fair, and there just didn't seem to be as much stuff I couldn't live without as previous years. I'm having a hard time telling if that's because I'm more discerning with my hard-earned dollars, or if everything just sucks now. Something to consider, once I get my overtime check, since I think I've earned a bit of a splurge. We'll see what I end up with...