ItsJustSomeRandomGeek's recommended comic book reading list

Do you think comics are dumb? Have you ever considered getting into reading comic books? Well I have a handy-dandy list of stories you should read. I guarantee that each story will change you're perception on comic books. I promise. So without further blah blah here's the list:

- If this be my destiny... (Amazing Spider-Man#31-33 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)

- Dark Phoenix Saga (Uncanny X-Men#129-137 by Chris Claremont and John Bryne)

- Hobgoblin Saga (Amazing Spider-Man#238-239, 244-245, 249-251 by Roger Stern, John Romita, Jr., and John Romita, Sr.)

- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns#1-4 by Frank Miller)

- Daredevil: Born Again (Daredevil#227-233 by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli)

- Batman: Year One (Batman#404-407 by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli)

- Batgirl: Year One (Batgirl: Year One#1-9 by Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, and Marcos Martin)

- The Night Gwen Stacy Died (Amazing Spider-Man#121-122 by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane)

- Power and Responsibility (Ultimate Spider-Man#1-7 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley)

- Ultimate Clone Saga (Ultimate Spider-Man#97-105 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley)

- World's Most Wanted (Invincible Iron Man, current volume#8-19 by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca)

- Batman: The Killing Joke (Batman: The Killing Joke One-Shot by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland)

- Batman: Hush (Batman#608-619 by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee)

- Green Lantern: Rebirth (Green Lantern: Rebirth#1-6 by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver)

- Superman: Man of Steel (Man of Steel#1-6 by John Byrne)

- Wanted (Wanted#1-6 by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones)

- The Tomorrow People (Ultimate X-Men#1-6 by Mark Millar, Adam and Andy Kubert)

- The Death of Captain Stacy (Amazing Spider-Man#88-90 by Stan Lee, Gil Kane and John Romita, Sr.)

- Batman: A Death in the Family (Batman#426-429 by Jim Starlin and Jim Aparo)

- Batman: The Man Who Laughs (Batman: The Man Who Laughs One-Shot by Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke)

- Warren Ellis' run on Thunderbolts (Thunderbolts#110-121)

- Judd Winick's Batman issues (Batman#626-630, 634-641, 645-650, 687-691)

- Geoff Johns' ENTIRE run on Green Lantern (Green Lantern, current volume#1-current)

- Magnum Opus (Deadpool, current volume#8-9, Thunderbolts#130-131 by Daniel Way, Andy Diggle, Paco Medina, and Bong Dazo)

- Death of a Goblin (Ultimate Spider-Man#112-117 by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen)

- Daredevil: The Man Without Fear (Daredevil: Man Without Fear#1-5 by Frank Miller and John Romita, Jr.)

That's all I think of right now. Any stories that YOU guys out there suggest that I read? I'm currently reading JLA/Avengers, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and other random back issues. I'm on the look out for Superman: Red Son, Birth of Venom, Pax Romana, and Blankets. I'll probably add more if any good stories come to mind.

Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama#4 REVIEW (Who saves the day? Does Ash? Does Obama? Does Anyone?)

Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama#4

Writer: Elliott Serrano

Artist: Ariel Padilla

Price: $3.50

Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment (See, I don't read just DC and Marvel!)

It's finally here! The thrilling conclusion to Ash Saves Obama! The deadites are trying to take over the world by trying to turn Obama into one of their own. Overall this story is clever and well executed. The deadites are smarter than we think! They're not just brain-eating undead beings, ya know! What I think is one of the best parts of this mini-series is that a female character is the main hero that gets everyone out of the mess. I like this because most comic books treat women as inferior to men (coughbrianmichaelbendiscough) and I believe that is the main reason why not a lot of girls read comic books which is unfortunate. So kudos Elliott for giving me a little bit of hope I had once lost in the comic book industry. Also the bit where Obama burns the necronomicon comic was pretty cool, Another thing that impressed me in this book... I never thought I be buying a comic with Obama in it, but this mini-series is better than I thought it would be and I believe people who love comedy and fun team-ups should give this book a try. Humor is pretty frequent in this book as well, but it's clever and well thought out humor, so if you love potty humor stay away from this book. So I really enjoyed the writing.

Padilla's art is also nice as well. It adds to the feel of the story, but at times it looked a little different or inconsistant, but otherwise it was good. I... don't know what else to say about the art and the writing other than overall I really enjoyed this series and it should have more attention than it's getting. Well done Elliott and Ariel!

Rating: B+

Also Elliott Serrano is part of comicculturewarrior so if you want to have great comic book discussions and see and read some of the greatest opinions, if not the GREATEST, opinions about comic books and comic culture check out their Youtube channel and their blog!

Click here to visit their blog!

Click here to visit their Youtube channel!


What are you waiting for?!?!?!? Click those links already!!!

Blackest Night#5 REVIEW (Most of the DC Universe... DIE!)

SOME SERIOUSLY MAJOR MAJOR AND I MEAN MAJOR SPOILERS ARE IN THIS REVIEW SO IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS ISSUE YET DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW.

Blackest Night#5

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artist: Ivan Reis w/ inks by Oclair Albert and Joe Prado

Price: $3.99

Publisher: DC Comics

A month ago after reading Issue#4 I asked myself, "How can this get any worse???" Well after reading this... Geoff Johns has easily shown us that it has gotten much, much worse. At the beginning Johns gets your hopes up by having all the Lantern Corps leaders in one place and you think, "Alright! Something good is going to happen!" So for a while you have a happy feeling but then Johns takes that away from you and plunges you back into the bad news. Not complaining... that's the sign of a good writer. So Nekron, the lord of the dead basically, has been risen by Black Hand. Nekron has risen all of Coast City, which is about 7 million people, and things don't look very good. So then a bunch of heroes and all of the Lantern Corps leaders come together and it looks like things are going to be fixed and well. But then... Bruce Wayne is risen from the grave. Then Nekron says that he has connections to everyone who has died and came back. Then commands those who have died and come back to life... (SPOILER!!!)... to die. So we're talking a huge amount of the heroes have just been killed and turned into black lanterns. Superman, Wonder Woman, Kid Flash, Green Arrow, Superboy, Animal Man, and others have died and Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are next...

I. Love. This. Series. I'm gonna come out and say it... this could possibly be the BEST event comic book EVER. Blackest Night is better than Secret Invasion, Civil War, and House of M combined... times five. Seriously if you aren't reading this series you need to go to your local comic book store and buy the issues that have come out so far. Now. You may be asking yourself, "Why does this guy love Blackest Night so much?" I love Blackest Night because it has you emotionally invested in all of the characters involved with the event. You care for them and wonder what's going to happen to them. Plus the heroes act like heroes. They don't bite people's heads off, or kill people, or rape anybody, etc. Geoff Johns knows how to torture the characters he writes and his fans, which is the sign of a good writer.

Ivan Reis' art is great. I would be remiss if I didn't praise his art. For what he does on this book he does really well. His art is spooky, creepy, etc. His art works nicely with the whole story of Blackest Night. The only complaint I have is that there are two inkers working on Reis' art. I understand that they have two inkers working on the art to get it out on the deadline. That's fine and I understand that, but a times the art looked different and a little inconsistant because both Oclair Albert and Joe Prado have different take on Reis' art, but that's just a minor complaint. Otherwise Blackest Night is my favorite book now and I can't wait to see the outcome of this story. DC has yet to disappoint me with this series, so DC: keep up the good work!

Rating: A

Amazing Spider-Man#612 REVIEW (The Gauntlet Begins!!!)

Amazing Spider-Man#612

Writer: Mark Waid

Artist: Paul Azaceta

Price: $3.99

Publisher: Marvel Comics

The Gauntlet has begun! All of Spidey's classic and most deadly villains are coming back and I am totally on board! ...This is about the when Marvel gets me pumped up for something and they fail to live up to the hype. Example: Mary Jane's return, I was sooooo happy, but Marvel was only teasing me and did little to nothing with her return. Chameleon came back! Cool! That could be a cool story, but it turned out to be one of the worst Spider-Man stories I've ever read. Ooh! Steve Rogers is coming back!!! Awesome!!! I stopped buying Reborn at #2 because it was boring me to tears, wasn't worth $4, and quite frankly... there was MUCH better stuff out there. I could go on but it's time to talk about ASM#612. When I first heard about The Gauntlet I thought, "Finally! The old but good villains are returning!" Because I spent a majority of my childhood living off of ASM reprints that my dad gave me and having loved the old villains I was stoked for this new storyline. It was even better when I heard that Mark Waid would kick off the first few issues of this story. After the sucky Black Cat arc and the extremely tedious Guggenheim arc I was desperate for a good Spider-Man story (I even started reading the older Ultimate Spider-Man issues and those classic ASM reprints). I did enjoy last week's issue by the way. Did Waid give me what I longed for? For the most part, yes.

In this issue Electro returns and Waid does a really nice job writing the character of Electro. The inner monologue of Electro was really cool and I gave you a good feel of the character and how he thinks and what his life is like. One of the coolest part of the book is when Electro takes a stand against The DB! and Dexter Bennett on T.V. and this results in people following his beliefs. I was surprised by how much humor was in the book. Waid does a nice job writing Spider-Man's/Peter Parker's inner thoughts and doesn't take it too far.

Azaceta's Spider-Man drawings reminded me of how artist-extraordinaire Ross Andru would draw Spider-Man and since I grew up on reprints of ASM this was pretty cool to see. His new Electro design is cool, but I personally liked the old-school costume he had. The art is nice, but nothing to get crazy about.

The only problem with this book that I had was that it didn't really generate the exciting feeling I was expecting. That could just be because the story just started and hasn't really gotten anywhere yet, so hopefully that will change and this story will be more interesting and more heart-pounding. I can't wait to see where this story goes and what it for our favorite web-slinger.

Rating: B+

Green Lantern Corps#42 REVIEW (Another one bites the dust...)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS! READ AHEAD WITH CAUTION IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS ISSUE YET! FOR THOSE WHO READ THIS ISSUE... I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE REVIEW!
Green Lantern Corps#42

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi

Artist: Patrick Gleason w/ inks by Rebecca Buchman and Tom Nguyen

Price: $2.99

Publisher: DC Comics

Peter J. Tomasi sure knows how to torture the characters and the fans doesn't he? Tomasi gets you quickly emotionally invested in the characters and then he breaks your heart when bad things happen to your favorite characters, which is the sign of a good writer. Throughout the whole issue the Green Lanterns keep getting pummeled with bad news after bad news after bad news. First the Black Lanterns all gather to destroy the green lantern power battery. When I saw that double splash-page of all the Black Lanterns heading towards the power battery I said, "Holy $#%^! How are the good guys gonna get out of this?" The remaining good guys fight off the black lanterns and it's pretty cool. Then... Tomasi does something I didn't see coming at all... I'll talk about that later on.

Patrick Gleason continues to show that he is one of the best artists out there. All of the splash-pages and battle scenes are drawn beautifully. I hope Gleason stays on GLC for a looooooong time because he's in my Top 5 current artists right now. I can't say anything about the art other than what I've already said.

Now for the part that EVERYONE will be talking about. So towards the end of the book Kyle Rayner takes the alpha lantern battery and this attracts a lot of the black lanterns. Then the detonation of the power battery is activated, killing Rayner and thousands (hopefully) of black lanterns. This scene broke my heart because Kyle Rayner was just starting to be one of my favorite characters. I even cried a little... We're only halfway through Blackest Night guys... it's only gonna get worse from here unfortunately. That aside... Rayner's death is one of the better deaths I've seen in comic books in a long time. He didn't die in vain at all and was a true hero. I can hardly wait for the next issue to come and see the reactions of especially Gardner and Soranik. We all know Gardners reaction is going to have some anger in it...

Rating: A

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas#2 (Why is Agents of Atlas my favorite Marvel book?)

X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas#2

Writer: Jeff Parker

Artists: Carlo Pagulayan, Gabriel Hardman, Chris Samnee, and Carlos Rodrieguez w/ inks by Jason Paz, Hardman, Samnee, and Terry Pallot

Price: $3.99

Publisher: Marvel Comics

So here we have the second and last part of the X-Men vs Agents of Atlas mini-series. This has to be the best Marvel mini-series I've read in a loooooong time. Jeff Parker yet again shows us just how well he can write superhero teams: pretty darn well. In fact in my opinion Parker is the best at writing superhero teams currently. When certain writers write teams poorly *coughbrianmichaelbendiscough* Parker comes along and shows everyone how it's done. He has the teams working together, helping each other, planning ahead, etc. With each issue of Agents of Atlas I read I slowly become more emotionally attached to each member of the team. When I first read AoA I thought, "Who the heck are Namora and Venus?" Now Venus and Namora are some of my favorite comic book characters. I think the reason why not many people are buying this book is because most people probably don't buy this book is because they don't recognize the characters. At first people didn't care about Wolverine until the Claremont/Bryne run on Uncanny X-Men and look at him now. He's in just about every Marvel book! The characters in AoA are awesome and should be more recognized.

In the previous issue there was a back-up story which I assume most people thought that it wasn't part of the main story. But in this issue Parker does something I didn't see coming at all. He made the back-up story part of the main story which I thought was pretty clever. At the end of the story it sets up something that I'm looking forward to and since I am not a fan of spoilers I will rarely provide any in my reviews. I'll put a warning at the beginning if there are any. This book is definetly worth 4 dollars. It's double the size of a standard comic book and contains an awesome story and awesome art. And you know what the best part is? It's only two issues. So you don't feel like you're wasting money. This book is great and an excellent spot to jump in on Agents of Atlas. So, if you're not reading AoA... READ IT! If you don't want to buy it, that's fine, then just read it in a comic book store. Trust me, it's that awesome of a book! :)

Rating: A-