Thoughts from this week’s trip to the comic shop

I’ve been pretty apathetic about comics lately, even by this blog’s evolvingly negative standards. I’ve maintained a pretty firm boycott of all things $3.99, which means I’m missing out on almost everything new.

I considered Super Soldier #1 and Shadowland #1, but a glance at both sold me on neither. A rush of nostalgia convinced me to pick up X-Men #1 from the shelf, as the 90s X-Men #1 came along during the previous peak in my fandom. But a quick flip through the issue and the casually cartoonish beheading led me to put it back down. Superhero comics are so much more adult and serious now nearly 20 years later, but so shamefully unaware of their lack of maturity.

The only $3.99 book I did decide to take a chance on was Neal Adams’ Batman Odyssey #1 on a pretty Batman-heavy week. I also picked up Batman and Robin #13 (one of the few books I consistently look forward to anymore) and Red Hood #1 and 2. I missed the first issue and have no idea if the series is any good, but I really liked Winick’s run on Batman in the mid ’00s.

Beyond that, Brightest Day #5 was my only other purchase. DC dominated this week, thanks largely to the rapidly disappearing $2.99 price tag.