Am I too late to suggest 2000AD? Thought so.

Also: The other dude calls Daredevil an independent comic. D-A-R-E-D-E-V-I-L.

I love foreign film! Memoirs Of A Geisha and Marie Antoinette were awesome!

MarkAndrew: He does get quite a bit of far more independent stuff than that, but his list was basically designed to lure hard-core superhero people away from regular superhero stuff. Crawl before you walk, that sort of thing. I agree, his list isn’t great, but it’s certainly a start.

I can see that. Those are the books that most superhero fans read for Indy Cred.

And I guess I agree with them in theory, since I'm not regularly buying any Marvel or DC comics. (ALthough I did buy an issue of Scooby Doo 'cause it had a Pirate Cover.)

But, by and large his list strikes me as (A) not independent and, barring Lone Ranger and Mouse Guard (which I haven't read) and Astro City (which I really like) ....

not substantially better written than your average Superman or Spider-man comics.

Also: The other dude calls Daredevil an independent comic. D-A-R-E-D-E-V-I-L.

Otherwise, get Black Canary #1, which, unfortunately, is NOT being written by Gail Simone, but Tony Bedard isn't a bad writer.

Joss Whedon's Runaways #27. Should be a good read as were his last two issues. Much faster with the pacing than he is on Astonishing, Whedon has been doing interesting things with the kids.

Finally, as Y The Last Man comes to a close, shouldn't you be there for the final few issues? It's been a great ride til now, and the ending will hopefully be worth it.

In the spirit of independence, I recommend picking up the trade for either: Supermarket, Conan (from Dark Horse, volume 1 or 3 were the best), something from Andi Watson, or Nowheresville by Mark Ricketts and published by Image (http://www.handbuzzer.lurid.com/nowheresville/index.html),
you'll love it - Tales Of Ordinary Madness meets Altmans Long Goodbye.

And Stuart, I'm way ahead of you. I buy Rex Libris in single issues. I know the trade is supposed to come out soon, but if it's not on Diamond's list, it's probably not showing up this week. Of course, that's only a "probably," because it might slip in there!

Hmmm ... I bought the first trade of the Atom and was unimpressed. It was okay, but nothing to make me want to snap up the rest. Maybe I'll have to give it another try. We shall see.

I can't give a shout out to the other books as they are either ending (Fallen Son) or mid-story (Ultimate Power, but take a gander at the Greg Land cheesecake cover which will probably drive all the females out of the store in disgust).

Will it suck? Probably.

Will it also rule? ABSOLUTELY!

Clearly (if it is actually in the stores) it's the only purchase that you need to make this week. Check it out if you haven't already, or burn in hell, your choice.

ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #1 left me sorta interested but that may have been because it was free. So #2 is a sorta, maybe, depends if I buy lunch or go hungry.

Other than that? Faker and Silverfish you already plan on buying and I think you said you were buying Scalped in trades, so look out for Rex Libris or suffer the wrath of the world's mightiest librarian.

USAGI YOJIMBO VOL 21 is the best of the bunch. As is the series, since we are at that. Smartly written samurai comic with an anthropomorphical animal cast (don't let this fool you, the series is VERY sophisticated!).

If you can't find anything besides Marvel and DC in your shop, you could do much worse than buy the Jeff Parker godness that is MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE. A reprint series with two Jeff Parker books under a single cover! Fun for the whole family!

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

Oh, and I think Thor is worth a shot from what I've seen.

Anyway, I'm getting: Atom, Uncanny X-men, Countdown (I'm stupid), Dynamo 5, Action, Detective, Black Canary (I cant say no to my favorite character...unless she's written by Winnick), American Virgin, Jonah Hex, Tranquility, and Y the last man.

I think it's time to start dropping stuff again.

Anyway get THE ATOM, get THE ATOM, get THE ATOM I cannot say that enough, it is amazing. And if not that, either Jonah Hex or American Virgin, two more amazing books.

I'm almost awed.

That is by far the worst list of it's kind that has ever been. Almost certainly the worst list of it's kind that ever will be. It is to shitty list-making what Beethoven's fifth is to music. The absolute apex of the art-form.

I wonder if he knows that there are independent comics that aren't produced by huge corporations? You figure that if you work at a comic shop for a while someone would tell you that, or you'd kind of figure it out on your own.

But I shouldn't judge. It's possible there's a law banning good comics in Phoenix. (I wouldn't put it past them.)

Alright, I'm exaggerating. But half his list is freaking DC comics. There really are more indepented and more better comics than Ex Machina out there.

And I guess I could read his manifesto before commenting on his (really very poor) taste.

But I'm 99% sure that it will just fill me with aggravation and distemper.

Go figure.

As for a book outside my comfort zone, I dunno. I guess I'll choose when I get there. If I do it at all (and since my list is already pretty big this week, I may not).