Turtlepop! #3 "Secret Empire"

Always operating on PEDs. Completely unapologetic.

STORY RECAP: TURTLE IS SARCASTIC! PROCEED WITH NONSENSICAL INTERVIEW!

Comics Reader: So, we're back.
Turtle: Are we pretending we're consistent with how this feature began?

Comics Reader: Hey, I ask the questions!
Turtle: Apparently not.

Comics Reader: So anyway, the Captain America Is An Agent of Hydra story is still going on, almost a year later?
Turtle: True.  This is happening because Marvel had not yet glimpsed the scope of the backlash to literally its every creative decision for the past five years.

Comics Reader: How is that even possible?
Turtle: Marvel has been operating on recreational narcotics for fifty years.  Next question!

Comics Reader: So Secret Empire is a whole event based on a terrible idea that should never have seen the light of day?
Turtle: Of course it is!

Comics Reader: I remember we were a lot more flippant about this last time.
Turtle: I remember pretending to be the writer of a terrible Marvel stunt idea the first time.  But that was dropped the second time.

Comics Reader: Wait, you were pretending to be Dan Slott the first time?
Turtle: Yes.

Comics Reader: But you didn't want to play Nick Spencer the second time?
Turtle: No.

Comics Reader: Care to elaborate?
Turtle: No!  Although I think it's funny how in some of these interviews the respondent goes on and on, and in others the questioner goes on and on.  I like to strike a balance.  You're welcome!

Comics Reader: As the one asking questions, I should be neutral?
Turtle: Oh, good heavens no!  Wear your bias on your sleeve!

Comics Reader: I'm a DC guy. 
Turtle: Clearly.

Comics Reader: Notice that in this completely erratic series of features they've all been about Marvel ideas.
Turtle: It's the House of Ideas!

Comics Reader: But we hardly discuss the ideas.
Turtle: Yes.

Comics Reader: Anything you'd like to add?
Turtle: Good day, sir!

Quarter Bin 101 "The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael and other finds"

Black Knight #2, 3, 5 (Marvel)
(from 2016)
Frank Tieri is one of those comics professional I linked up with on social media before really knowing much about them much less having actually seen their material.  That's pretty much social media in a nutshell, I think.  Anyway, so this is the first time I've read his work, and I like it.  Black Knight is one of those fascinating characters that've just never really gotten their due.  Here his Ebony Blade is like a demonic Excalibur.  Seems to have spun out of Secret Wars.

Bloodshot Reborn #1 (Valiant)
(from 2015)
Although I'd read subsequent issues and the preceding inciting event in The Valiant, I hadn't read how the series began.  Explains all over again why I love Jeff Lemire's work with the character.  I wish more readers were aware of the truly stellar work Valiant has been doing with some of its material.

The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael (and the Dead Left in His Wake) #2, 3, 4 (2000 AD)
(from 2015)
Reprinting material previously serialized in 2000 AD itself, this mini-series is like a secret origin of Rob Williams' later Martian Manhunter.  It's brilliant.  I found out that you probably shouldn't try reading it if you're struggling to stay awake, because it's printed small and your instinct will be to give up on it.  But it's a great find, it really is. 

Klaus and the Witch of Winter (Boom!)
(from 2016)
Unlike the other comics here, this one was bought at retail and not out of an actual quarter bin (Newbury stuck little orange tags on all of them, which I still haven't tried to remove), so it doesn't really belong, but I got it on the same day, so...Anyway, this was a follow-up to Grant Morrison's Santa Claus origin story, the first of a proposed yearly one-shot return engagement with the concept. Morrison exhibits his typically explosive imagination in ways that he hasn't since Joe the Barbarian.  Which suddenly puts Klaus into a new context, actually.

Letter 44 #13, 15, 16,17 (Oni)
(from 2015)
Charles Soule's vision of complicated alien contact is something I've been reading sporadically the last few years, really only when I get a chance at my semiannual trips to the Maine Mall, where Newbury Comics is (I previously had regular access to a different Newbury location in Burlington, which was where I discovered another Oni series, Wasteland, along with a lot of other good stuff, including my first Free Comic Book Day, which I'll remind you is coming up on the first Saturday in May).  Honestly, if I had regular access to Letter 44, I'd be reading it regularly.  Soule has come up with something that's kind of Arrival meets George W. Bush. 

Ninjak #2 (Valiant)
(from 2015)
Having just read the most recent issue of the series, I know that the stuff that happens in this second one continues to develop over the next two years.  Matt Kindt at this point is very much channeling his Mind MGMT, which at the time was still unfolding.  And just like that I have another Valiant series I want to read in its entirety...

Reading Comics 203 "Fourth Trip 2017"

Grant Morrison's 18 Days #20 (Graphic India)
I love to keep tabs on it.  Would love to read the whole thing sometime.

Atomic Robo: The Temple of Od #4 (IDW) (2016)
Still an absolute pleasure to read.

Avatarex #3 (Graphic India)
This was the best issue of Grant Morrison's other Graphic India project to date.  Issues seem to be released sporadically.

Batman #20 (DC)
Best issue of Tom King's run so far, ties a lot of stuff together, including some further personal reflections he'd hadn't gotten to yet.

DK III: The Master Race #8 (DC)
Can't help but feel as if Frank Miller envisioned this as a career statement, his current role and how he remains as relevant as Batman.  Also, the Amazons are truly Amazonian basically for the first time ever.  Wonder Woman has really joined the trilogy.

The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom #4 (DC)
To say that Captain Atom has had an interesting publishing history would be an understatement.  Cary Bates returns from the past, too, to co-write a thoroughly considered story.

Green Lanterns #20 (DC)
Checking in.  Still loving it.  Still am hugely pleased that someone is finally getting Green Lantern(s) right again.

Ninjak #25 (Valiant)
Here's a character who always seems so important when I see him in other Valiant titles.  Despite the fact that Matt Kindt has been writing his solo adventures, I hadn't read them until now.  A mistake.

Providence #12 (Avatar)
The conclusion of Alan Moore's latest comics vision, an ode to Lovecraft and those obsessed with him.

WrestleMania 2017 Special (Boom!)
The recent Boom! launch of WWE comics has placed an emphasis on retelling stories originally presented in WWE programming itself.  There's a good bit of that to be found here, and it's done excellently.  Plus the New Day!

Superman #7, 20 (DC)
I had a look at an older issue because I'd heard Tomasi/Gleason were up to their old tricks of telling personal, standalone stories again.  I thought it was drawn by Gleason, too, but it turns out to have been Jorge Jimenez, who is typically excellent.  The latter issue is also the newest one, and once again features guest-stars from Tomasi/Gleason's last project, Batman and Robin.  You guessed it, Batcow and, ah who am I kidding?  Tomasi/Gleason continue to be master storytellers.

Old Man Logan #20 (Marvel)
Jeff Lemire will be taking a trip down memory line in his final issues, and this one's the setup.  A good one.