Coming This Week: "Sitting In A Nest Of Bad Men, Whiskey Bottles Piling High"

It’s a thin week for me. I’m only purchasing two of the three titles you see here for certain, with the third being a low maybe, but probably not. I recently re-read all of my Scalped trades and I’m as in love with that series as ever. It’s amazing with a good solid re-read to re-discover how intricately plotted things are so far in advance and I picked up plenty of nuance and even one major surprise that I hadn’t remembered with the regular monthly readings. Oh, how I long for an HBO or Showtime style rendition of Scalped. It could easily function in that Sopranos, Six Feet Under, True Blood entertainment paradigm. So, hey Hollywood, get on that will you? In any case, it’ll be great to move things forward with Scalped #40 (DC/Vertigo). Terry Moore’s Echo #24 (Abstract Studio) is also due out, and continues to be hands down one of the best books on the stands. Moore will likely be winding the series down within a year or so and I hope that the eventual collected edition finds a second life in the bookstore market and on the con circuit. This title deserves to find a larger audience. I don’t see anyone really blogging or talking about it beyond die hard Moore fans, which makes me sad, but it’s quite well done and I’m happy to support it. Last up is the chronically late (and not very good) Astonishing X-Men #35 (Marvel) from Warren Ellis and Phil Jimenez. Judging by latter issues of this series, it would be difficult to believe that this was once the “it” book that everyone flocked to. You want to know a good litmus test to determine if you should continue buying a series in single issue installments? Ask yourself if you’d want it collected sitting on your shelf one day. Don’t shy away from it and say the arc or run isn’t completed yet, don’t think about it too hard, don’t re-read it, simply do an honest, gut-level, visceral, instinctive response. If the answer is no, then why the heck are you buying the single issues? If you don’t value it enough to upgrade to a nice trade or hardcover, then you’re just operating on monthly inertia and making excuses that avoid you having to make an active decision, probably saying to yourself, well I have all of the issues so far, maybe I’ll just keep buying it, maybe it’ll get better, maybe a different writer or artist will come on, maybe, maybe, maybe… I’ll just stick to my oversized hardcovers by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, thanks. This is going nowhere, slowly.