Pruning the branches 2: Electric Boogaloo

When we last left our hero, he was debating the merits of various comics he collected and engaging in a careful cost/benefit analysis in consideration of their survival of The Purge. Man, could I make that sound any more boring? I'm reviewing my monthly list and seeing where I can make cuts. So far, it's been brutal. (Looking for Part 1? You've found it, Brother!) Meanwhile, I'll see you after the jump:


Jonah Hex: I was a little reluctant to pick this up initially, given my perception of Palmiotti/Gray's writing ability, but a funny thing happened: it turned out to be good! Not just good, but great! Seriously, Hex is one of the better books I read each month. They're all done-in-one and Hex is an interesting character. Graymiotti portray him as morally consistent, even when those morals bring him into conflict with "authority." My only complaint is artist Luke Ross' tendency to a) make Hex look like Clint Eastwood, and b) occasionally migrate Hex's scar from one side of his face to the other to ensure it's on the camera side. This has only happened a couple of times, so it's probably unfair to call it a tendency, but if nothing else, shouldn't the editor catch this sort of thing? Anyway, if you're not reading Jonah Hex, you need to. You owe it to yourself. Verdict: Thumbs up.

JSA: This one ends next month, so in the short term, it's a non-issue. This is good, because I'm of mixed feelings about the current arc. I usually like Jerry Ordway's art. His Power of Shazam! OGN is one of my favorites. But I just haven't enjoyed his work on this arc. There are points where it's been distracting to the point where I think "Wow! When did Jerry start holding the pencil with his feet?" Of course, to be fair, there are many other panels/pages that are well up to his usual standards of excellence. Anyway, I'll be picking up the new Justice Society of America series when it drops in October because Geoff Johns will be writing, and because they're going to address the new Starman. Woo-hoo! Verdict: Thumbs up.

JSA Classified/JLA Classified: I'm grouping these together because the same reasoning applies to both. These books are going to be picked up on a case-by-case basis. Since there's a new creative team for each arc, there's no reason not to pick & choose. Particularly since both books have been somewhat uneven. Verdict: Thumbs...in the middle? I'll get it when I like the teams involved (creative and character), or the storyline sounds particularly compelling.

JLA Adventures: Yes, I'm going to continue getting this. Adam Beechen's been writing this for a while, and I used to follow the same plan with this one that I'll be following with the Classified titles and buy only the ones that looked good. The problem with this plan is that they all looked good. So I finally decided to quit kidding myself and just put the darn book on the list. No regrets here. Besides, where else in the DCU proper am I going to see a story where Vibe is not only the main character, but a competant and sympathetic character on top of that? Seriously? Verdict: Thumbs up.

I'll stop there for tonight. Largely because it's getting late and I still have to do the Friday 5 for last week. We'll continue this tomorrow, I think.