Wednesday Comments – My Shrinking Pull List

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So my pull list is shrinking. Due to an odd confluence of events my pull list is diminishing by nine titles. Nine titles! That’s more books than some people pick up in a month. It’s probably a sign that I’m reading too many books.

And honestly I probably am reading too many books. I’m guessing that I average twelve books a week, even on months with “fifth weeks.” And I’ve pretty much always got a stack of unread comics sitting by my bed.

So it makes sense to cut back on my spending. But some of this attrition isn’t by choice. Some of these books are ending are ending naturally, some are being cancelled and some I’m just dropping.

Now I don’t really feel bad that The Ray, My Greatest Adventure and Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes are ending. They were all minis and they wrapped up their stories in satisfactory conclusions. So while I’m sad that I’m not going to get to read them anymore, I entered into reading them knowing that they were going to draw to a close.

There are also three books that are getting cancelled. Static Shock, Hawk & Dove and Mr. Terrific are the three books that I’m reading that are getting the axe dropped on them. Now with these titles I’m not nearly as sad as you’d think I might be.

I had high hopes for both Mr. Terrific and Static Shock. As a Black guy, I really wanted those two books to succeed. I could remember reading the original Static title, so naturally I hoped that this version would recapture that magic. And I always found myself drawn to Mr. Terrific because he was one of the few Atheist characters in comics.

As far as Hawk & Dove goes, my best friend at the time and I were huge fans of Liefeld’s original run on the characters. So seeing him return to the characters hit a certain nostalgic nerve. Unfortunately this time around the book lacked substance.

All three of these titles disappointed me for different reasons. Static Shock felt too busy and crammed with so much stuff that Virgil seemed to be lost in the mix. Mr. Terrific felt too generic. There wasn’t really anything memorable about book, aside from the Silver Age-esque dialogue filled with pseudo science. And Hawk & Dove was just an example of a writer catering to an artist to the detriment of story.

So, while part of me feels some sadness that these books are getting the axe, the overwhelming majority of me is 100% that these books are ending.

Finally we have the three books that I’m dropping, which are Superman, Grifter and Justice League International.

I’m dropping Grifter for a couple reasons. Firstly, I’m dropping it because Rob Liefeld is coming aboard as the writer. There are some artists who can writer. I don’t believe that Rob Liefeld is one of them. I was really enjoying Nathan Edmondson’s work on Grifter and I’m sad that he’s going to be leaving the title.

Secondly I’m dropping the book because Liefeld is linking the book with the other two books he’s writing; Hawkman and Deathstroke, neither of which are books that I’m already reading. I don’t want to feel obligated to pick up books that I’m not reading so understand what’s going on.

Justice League International is getting dropped for another reason. I enjoyed Generation Lost. I liked how it set up a new status quo for the JLI and played well on the past. It had some really good moments. And to see that Justice League International builds on none of that and starts with a new status quo is just disappointing. Especially because I’d invested in Generation Lost. It made me care about the characters and gave the team a purpose. I don’t care about this JLI.

Superman is just disappointing. I enjoyed George Perez’s return to Metropolis, but that he’s gone there’s really nothing keeping me there. I’ve just read Jurgens & GIffen’s first issue and I’m not really that impressed. I feel like I can walk away from this book guilt free, so that’s what I’m going to do.

If I’m being honest, there are some Bat books that could be dropped as well, but since there’s a crossover coming up, they’ve been spared the axe.

But there you have it, I’m done with nine books and really I’m ok with that.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday go and get some new comics.