Waiting for Wednesday, Issue 24

I want to start this twenty-fourth weekly edition of Waiting for with the following: I have a headache. And not one of those namby pamby, take a couple of aspirin and you'll be fine, headaches, either. This is one of those Spider-Man just got bonked on the head by one of Doc Ock's tentacles headaches.

How did I achieve such headache-dom, you ask? Well, let me answer you with a question: Anyone out there ever correlate state specific standards in a textbook?...across eight different states?

Hello?

Bueller?

That's what I thought.

Anyway, this afternoon's trip to the LCS will be postponed a bit in my case, as we have a going away party for an employee at my company right around the time I usually head out to my local shop.

Yay.

But, hopefully, by the time we're eating cake, my head will stop with the hurting. I hear sugar does wonders for migraines.

Even so, like Steve Rogers not accepting the whole getting shot thing, or Bruce Wayne not accepting the whole incinerated on-panel in front of all of us thing, I will trudge onward with this week's List of Things I Want to Buy.

And what a list it is.

First up, we have two (count 'em, two!) Mike Mignola Hellboy-verse books. The first, titled BPRD: 1947, issue two, is a book I picked up last month, read yesterday, and absolutely loved. Dark, creepy, everything you want from a Mignola comic.

1947 tells the story of a team of former soldiers, each a survivor in his own right, hunting down an ancient vampiric threat. This series is a direct sequel to the mini-series, 1946, which (stupidly) I'd never even heard of. Still, I was able to follow issue one with no problems whatsoever.

I mentioned in an earlier post (I'd link to it, but I'm a lazy, lazy man) that I wanted to get into more of the non-Hellboy Mignola books, specifically the BPRD series. So, this is a start at least. I really liked the first issue of 1947, and I'll be looking for the 1946 trade, as well as whatever other BPRD books I can get my hands on.

The second Mignola book this week features Hellboy in a series called The Wild Hunt. This is issue five of the series, and it ships after a several month hiatus since issue four. If you're a Hellboy fan, then I'm sure you're reading this book, as some longtime questions and plot points are resurfacing in the series.

The art in Hunt is by Duncan Fegredo, who does the Mignola minimalist thing quite well. Atmospheric and creepy, Hunt is a great book for fans of the character, and it comes highly recommended.

On the more mainstream side of things today, we have a couple of important DC "event" books. The first is Geoff Johns' second issue of his Green Lantern opus, Blackest Night, a mini-series that is receiving critical acclaim while achieving incredible sales numbers.

So far, this series is moving along nicely, with some good shocks in issue one. Now, while I didn't attend the San Diego Con a couple of weeks back, I did download and listen to a few of the DC podcasts from their various panels at the show.

Which, clearly, makes me an expert.

The one thing that was evident through each of the panels I listened to was the positive reaction from the DC die-hards when it came to Blackest Night. And, yes, I know attendees at panels liking something is like preaching to the choir, but the reaction at last year's SDCC to Grant Morrison's Final Crisis series was nowhere near as...um...we'll say polite.

And, while I'm not a real big Green Lantern fan (that whole "space epic" part of it just doesn't appeal to me, as you all know), I can say that I have been enjoying this book. As long as you have a (vague) idea of what DC heroes have died in the last couple of years, the whole "dead shall rise" thing will likely seem pretty cool.

The other big DC book is the first issue of the Peter Tomasi-penned Black Night: Batman series, which got a ton of buzz at SDCC.

By now, everyone knows that Bruce Wayne is "dead," but that the mantle of Batman has been picked up and will continue. So the real question is, will Bruce Wayne be a Black Lantern? I'm thinking no, and that this series will focus on the new Batman, but hey, it's an event centered around death, so something has to be said about Bruce Wayne, right?

Sure.

Anyway, I'll be picking both of those issues up. I have to say, I like what DC has going on (even though I read only two, well now three, of their DCU titles on a regular basis). I won't be buying all the tie-ins, and I won't be going much further out into Blackest Night beyond the Batman book, but still, I'm enjoying it.

And my head still hurts.

So, that's where my story is going to end today. But before we go, one question: What are you Waiting for?