And even though Bagley’s gone, and the series had maybe 15 – 20 somewhat boring issues somewere in the middle, things are looking up. Stuart Immonen’s art gets better with each issue, and his work really takes the book in a new direction. Definetely worth checking out.

Nothing against Stan Lee/Romita or Ditko, but I find that it is INCREDIBLE for Bendis and Bagley to stay together for 110 solid, consistent issues in this day and age, were most writers only stay on a title for an arc or two.

I’ve only read a little Astro City and liked it but just wasn’t falling down over it. It was ok and I’ll get more of it later.

Levitz / Giffen LSH !! – I voted for Levitz’ run on LSH as my # 1 vote, that way it not only included Giffen’s seminal work on the title, but also Greg LaRoque and Steve Lightle, who both did good work. The 5YG Legion by the Bierbaums, while entirely different in tone, took my # 2 vote. Obviously I’m a huge LSH fan and am elated that they’re getting some well deserved 50th anniversary love coming up with Johns & Perez as well as the return of Shooter to the franchise, which I never would have believed could happen. I would love to have Levitz take another crack at the team, but with his position as publisher, I doubt that’ll ever happen outside of an anniversary issue of a one-shot.

Suicide Squad is one of those very cultish fan fav titles I picked up years ago in a near complete run in one fell swoop but are tucked away in storage and I still haven’t gotten a chance to read.

I read the first couple issues of Invisibles and was not connecting all the dots. I’m waiting until I have the entire run and have almost done that before I go back and give it another shot. Knowing Morrison’s style I’m sure I’ll like it.

Ultimate Spidey – I’m sure I’m the only guy on the planet who has not read this. I’ve read the Ultimate Marvel Team-Up years ago (I think that’s what they called it) and liked it but never got around to going back and starting from the beginning on the Ult Spidey title. It sounds good but I can’t say anything more about it right now in all honesty. Considering that it’s success was the cornerstone for the Ultimate Universe, which I love, I’m looking forward to finally reading this.

So far only 3 of my choices have made it. Hopefully that means there are 7 more to do.

Interesting to note, though, Giffen’s style didn’t become Kirbyesque until well into this run. In the first half (maybe evern longer), his art was much more clean, smooth, and linear, whereas much later, he developed the blockier style of Kirby.

Huh. I haven’t read any of this Legion run so that’s surprising. His earliest stuff, like Defenders in the seventies, is really, reeeaaaallly Kirby-esque.

As for the Levitz/Giffen run, I loved it. It made me a LSH fan. Levitz was able to give the entire cast distinct personalities, something many writers are unable to do with a cast two-thirds the size of the Legion. I only wish the Steve Lightle and Greg LaRocque were included, as the title continued more or less on the same track with them. And as I mentioned in another post earlier, the LaRocque era had one of my favorite mini-eras of all time, around the time of the ‘Who is Sensor Girl?” story.

Interesting to note, though, Giffen’s style didn’t become Kirbyesque until well into this run. In the first half (maybe evern longer), his art was much more clean, smooth, and linear, whereas much later, he developed the blockier style of Kirby.

I think the Bendis/Bagly run is now officially one of the longest un-interrupted runs ever, right?

Mike, all of the artists you mention above are very good (even Liefeld and McFarlane), but if they had been drawing the Suicide Squad: then the women would have been more beautiful, the men would have been more muscular, the guns would have been shinier, the poses would have been more dynamic and the costumes would have been sharper. Everything would have been a little bit more superhero. It may have sold more issues (a lot more), but the comic would have lost the down-and-dirty quality, which made it so special.

Simply compare John Byrne’s depiction of them in the Legends mini-series. Specifically, look how he draws the Enchantress. She looks great. She has curves, curls and a naughty glint in her eye. Whereas Luke O’ Donnell draws her as a mentally ill woman.

The Invisibles, more than any comic except possibly L&R, changed my life. Morrison captured the millennial fever, the mid-twenties creative energy and social dynamic, the DIY ethos, and a fascination with conspiracy, spirituality, and fashion and blended it all together into a package that looked like just a slight magnification of the life I was living from 1994-2000.

The Invisibles hook me out of my dull atheism and gave me the ability to admit that Universe is infinitely novel, and that some things may be what they seem, but we can’t see everything.

In the tattoo frenzy associated with the 1990′s I gave into the urge once, getting a tattoo of the Barbelith symbol on December 31 1999. I have had not a moment of regret.

Reading the Invisibles broadened my perspective, and I was driven to read over 50 books to enhance the experience. Books on conspiracy, quantum physics, consciousness theory, holographic theory, chaos magick, and work by Robert Anton Wilson, Terrence McKenna, and Aleistar Crowley along with re-readings of William S. Burroughs and the like.

No other comic has ever done so much to expand my intelligence.

I dunno… Writer/artist disconnect really hurt the Invisibles for me. It didn’t seem like Morrison was tailoring his scripts to his artists at all, and therefore they had a hard time properly communicating his ideas. If Jill Thomson (for instance) had drawn the entire run and established a consistent visual style for the whole shebang, I think it would have been much, much stronger.

There’s still a lot to like about this series, mind. (Lord Fanny vs. Mr. Quimper is one of my favorite comic scenes ever.) But it’s also got some serious, crippling flaws.

Anyway, I absolutely adore Astro City. It’s just a beautiful, beautiful book, in so many ways.

I know one reason Astro City has the most “heart” of any Busiek series- it’s creator owned. I’m a teacher. I like my students, I want what’s best for them, and I will put in my best efforts on their behalf. When it comes to my own children, however, there’s no comparison.

Oh hell. How did I forget that one?