Midknight was cute, but not nearly as good as the rest of the R5 titles.
Scream was just…weird. I’m don’t think it’s bad, but it’s definitely not as excellent as you made it seem.
And Angel was fun, and quite a surprise, because I wasn’t expecting it to be season SIX. At all. Yay! The art was way too dark, and somewhat ill defined, but perhaps that’s by design. I’m interested in seeing how it shakes out.

I just read Angel: After the Fall and it was okay… 5/10. I’m going to keep reading it though. I’ll keep reading because I’m intrigued by the changes that have happened to the characters and to the status quo in LA. But with that said, the art is poor, the coloring is waay too dark, and at times the art in general was a bit hard to follow. I dont know if that was the script’s fault or the artist’s fault.

Ironically, that’s how I feel about the current Buffy book. Jeanty’s art is my major problem (the inconsistent character looks, and the incomprehensible action). But even BKVs current arc is moving too slowly for me. And surprisingly, I quite liked “After the Fall” #1. Especially the ending …

just wondering what do you think of What If Annihilation and Thunderbolt Breaking Point? I didn’t really like that Thunderbolt one-shot that Jenkins wrote, which came before Breaking Point but this one-shot is written by Christos Gage, whose work I’m enjoying lately.

I thought it was OK… not up to the level Ellis & Deodato are bringing to the regular book, but far beyond the pretty awful level that the previous Thunderbolts one-shot achieved. If you’re jonesing for a little extra Thunderbolts (particularly if you have a fondness for Songbird, who gets the focus here), it’s worth a look.

But if you’re digging Gage’s work, I can’t recommend the Iron Man Annual from this week highly enough. Probably my favorite Iron Man story in quite some time.

I have bought Grendel: Behold the Devil #1 but still have to read it. If I do enjoy the comic, then I would be interested in buying some Grendel trades. Can anyone recommend which Grendel trade(s) I should buy?

Best bet is probably to grab Devil By The Deed, which is the tale of Hunter Rose, the original Grendel.

From there, it’s tough to say, because Dark Horse has not done as good a job reprinting Grendel (and keeping it in print) as they have with Concrete, Sin City, etc. Grendel: Black White and Red and Grendel: Red White and Black are both excellent anthology reads with a ton of talent drawing Wagner’s scripts, and great if you really love the Hunter Rose character (as I do). If you want to follow the Grendel saga through the various characters, pick up Grendel: Devil’s Legacy (which reprints the post-Hunter Rose Grendel series)… beyond that, a lot of the really good stuff (like Grendel: God and the Devil and Grendel: War Child) is unfortunately out of print.

But basically, while not all Grendel is created equal (some of it gets too weirdly experimental for my taste), all of it is worth a read.

I was just wondering what you guys think of the EC archives? I always hear about them in other places but never heard this websites opinion on them.

I have four EC hardcovers waiting to be read (Weird Science, Two-Fisted Tales and a couple others), but I just have to be in the right mood. I think that might be soon, though.

I did write a review of Shock Suspenstories Vol 1 which also has my general overview of the Gemstone EC hardcovers as well. In short, they’re pricey, but generally worth it if you’ve got an interest in the material.

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I have bought Grendel: Behold the Devil #1 but still have to read it. If I do enjoy the comic, then I would be interested in buying some Grendel trades. Can anyone recommend which Grendel trade(s) I should buy?

Personally I would recommend any and all of it. Matt Wagner is one of those seriously underrated veritable legends of comics.

I have bought Grendel: Behold the Devil #1 but still have to read it. If I do enjoy the comic, then I would be interested in buying some Grendel trades. Can anyone recommend which Grendel trade(s) I should buy?