Firstly – Christopher Priest. I am working on remedying the fact that I have not read his Black Panther run, or the Crew for that matter, which was helped along nicely by Chris at Wild Pig Comics, where I got a bunch of those books during the Super Show. But I digress.

Over at my tumblr I posted about the fact that, when he was going by his birth name Jim Owsley, Priest wrote one of the Spider-Man issues that I fondly remember from my days collecting back in the 80s. It revealed the secret identity of the Rose (it was Web of Spider-Man #30), and I don’t think it gets enough love, because it directly preceded the first part of “Kraven’s Last Hunt.” Which leads to this question: have you ever gone back to fondly remembered books and discovered they were written, or drawn, by a creator whom you’ve come to appreciate but never realized they wrote or drew “that book?” It’s things like the above that tend to prove the adage that skill wins out, in my mind, plus it’s cool to know you had some taste even when you were a pesky kid.

Batman: the Cult. I really enjoyed this story and have read it a few times since first buying those four issues a quarter-century ago. I always relate the Cult with a succession of house ads in the DC comics I was reading in 1988 that led to me buying a series of prestige and baxter books that I still remember with great fondness – including V for Vendetta, the Cult, and the Killing Joke. I know there were others, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

And finally, Grant Morrisons’ Animal Man. I distinctly remember the subscription ad in the back of DC books that announced this series, alongside the New Guardians series spinning out of Millennium. I’d never heard of Morrison. I don’t know that I’d heard of Animal Man. I had read the entirety of Millennium (crossovers and all). So, obviously, I cut the subscription ad out and sent away for New Guardians. Years later, those books have long since been purged and Morrison’s Animal Man run (the first trade, and the rest in single issues) is something I re-read every few years.

chris

– End of the Fucking World was the best monthly comic, in my opinion, when it was coming out as minis from Chuck’s Oily Comics imprint.
– Sin Titulo is equally brilliant, though I haven’t read through to the end. Stewart set up an incredibly engaging story, and I have no idea how he could tie it all together. Interested to finally see it completed.
– Dark Horse has a collection of the complete Peter Milligan/Brendan McCarthy collaborations, which I’m very anxious to read. I have some of their earlier work, and it was great, so I can’t wait to see what else they’ve done together.
– The second volume of Greg Rucka and Matt Southworth’s Stumptown is also in Previews, from Oni. an updated Rockford Files with a broken, female protagonist that has everything I love about Rucka’s work.
– along with Genius there’s another book from Steven Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen – the Red Diary/the Re(a)d Diary, which looks interesting. It’s a Bird… was a great book, so anything these two collaborate on always piques my interest.

These are just a few of the standouts that helped put my order over-budget (and some I had to put on a list to seek out later). Good, good stuff.

chris

I can understand people being offended by John’s comments, but if Rios wanted to be professional he could’ve spoken with John privately. Instead he got on his high horse. “Making fun of people is wrong. Tune into my next episode where I make fun of you for making fun of people.”

I will never be listening to a Rios podcast again. Life’s too short for this silliness.

It’s not a political resignation or anything. It’s people putting on a free podcast, and when they don’t have time for it, maybe they move on.

I think that what has been said between Peter and John on Twitter has been far more damning than this clip. It’s been pretty sad to see.