Comics Radar

In this day and age, with constricting budgets and a new World of Beer opening by my house, we have to tighten our wallets until we strangle the moths to death. So I’m looking at this week’s comic releases through the lens of a tight budget.

The $10 budget:
If you’ve listened to the podcast, the first pick should be absolutely no surprise. X-factor 227, ($2.99) the best x-comic published. Not “one of,” but “The” best. and as the sales copy says: “In his issue, a member of X-Factor dies.”
The second book to go in the bag is Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X #3. ($3.50) Whether you need something to tide you over between issues of Hellboy, love pulp style stories, or just great fun comics, this is one needs to be on your pull list.
To round out, the first ten dollars, I have to go back to Marvel and get Venom #9. ($2.99) This is listed as a Spider-Island aftermath, so I’m wary. But when Spider-Island started off, Flash had to leave his dying father’s bedside; I really want to see the follow up. Plus it’s a really great book that I don’t want it to be cancelled.

the $20 budget:
To be honest, this week is a little hard for me to get up to a $20 budget, a good number of decent books, but not much that can wrest my pennies from my palm. The first book I really like is Young Justice #10. ($2.99) This is the second part of a really interesting story about the Young Justice group trying to solve the case of who framed Captain Nathaniel Adam for murder, which led him to become Captain Atom.
The next book would be DC Universe Presents #3. ($2.99) I’m still miffed what was described as “an anthology series” is only one character for five issues, why not just make it a mini? Regardless, this is a really good look at the origins of Deadman without being “Yet Another F***ing Origin Story.™”
And to round out our $20, I’m going to pick Xenoholics #2. The first issue was good, not groundbreaking, but it has a really strong concept. Alien Abductee AA group and then aliens actually show up. So, I want to give another shot before writing it off.

Column concept stolen from Robot 6′s Food or Comics, but with slightly better priorities. Expected releases come from ComicList.

Budgets are getting tighter everywhere and with a new World of Beer opening closer to my home, spending choices are getting more and more difficult.

So, it’s time to look at comics through the lens of a tight budget.

The $10 budget:
If I was limiting myself to only $10 worth of comics this week, I would have to start with the ending. Darkwing Duck #18, ($3.99) the last issue of the 4 part crossover with Ducktales and the last issue of Darkwing from Boom! Studios. There’s still been no announcement from Marvel about more Disney comics, so cherish this one. Second would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #3. ($2.99) Buffy Season 8 kind of lost me towards the end, but Buffy Season 9 resimplified and has the fun of the early television seasons. And to round out the first $10, I will go with Superboy #3. ($2.99) I like the new take on Superboy, it aligns with the Young Justice Superboy where Superboy is really trying to figure out where he fits in humanity. But I do find it odd that this will be the second Superboy #3 I purchase this year.

The $20 budget:
If I double my budget for the week, I would add in Demon Knights #3. ($2.99) DCU characters we don’t regularly see in an aspect of the DCU that’s not regularly covered. Plus, one of my favorite characters, Etrigan. Next up would be Mega Man #7 ($2.99) the best book I never thought I would be reading. The second story has Mega Man teaming up with the Robot Masters from the original Mega Man game. Finally, I love the Pilot Season books just for trying something new. It could be great. It could suck. I would try out Pilot Season Anonymous #1. (3.99)

Stealing this liberally from Robot 6′s Food or Comics, but with slightly better priorities. Expected releases come from ComicList.