Boy Did I Wait for the Trade

Finally got around to reading the first hardcover volume of Marvel’s Supreme Power series. It contains the contents of the first 12 issues, or the first two softcover collections, in a larger size that really benefits Gary Frank’s art. I read the first softcover and reviewed it for theLogBook, but decided to switch to the larger format going forward. Of course, then Marvel decided to end the Max (i.e. rated-R) version of the series with issue 18, and now I have no idea how whether and how they’re going to repackage the remaining issues and other Max spinoffs into hardcover, if they do at all. However that works out, I really liked this first hardcover. J. Michael Straczynski pushes the story forward at a pretty good clip and we start to see how everything is falling apart. I’m half tempted just to get the third softcover, but I have more than enough to keep me occupied for now.

Included there are a few Vertigo series I really need to catch up on, 100 Bullets and Fables. I like both series, but I gotta get into a certain mood to read ’em, and I have been nowhere near that mood lately.

I have caught up on all of the trades and issues of Quicken Forbidden, an independent series from Dave Roman and John Green, the same people that make the Teen Boat minicomic. (If you don’t know what Teen Boat is – it’s about a Teen that turns into a Boat. Sometimes simplicity is best.) The creators have decided to go with publishing chapters online and then collecting them in book form, which given the economics of the comics market is a pretty good move. Hopefully this lets them fully explore their settings and characters – I liked the first 13 chapters of Quicken Forbidden, but especially towards the end the story felt a bit rushed. Good stuff, though.