This Week in Comics (and LEGO Winter Village 🎄)

My Pull List for December 4, 2024

This week I got out my LEGO Winter Village and started setting it up for the Holidaze. The Village is my effort over the years to pick up the annual Winter Village sets and create a “Winter Wonderland” in these times of uncertainty and sometimes just plain old “ugh.” I hadn’t planned on actually doing this, initially I didn’t even want to own any Winter Village sets, or Modulars. I looked at them as a very hazardous slippery slope which could lead to one more collection taking up space somewhere. Then I bought one, and like any addiction I just kept going. Now I do have a rule- I don’t go backwards. If the set isn’t available in stores, I’m not going to track it down and pay whatever so I can have it. LEGO sets are a collectors market, like comic books. You can resell old sets for a decent amount of money. As with any collectable you have to find someone willing to pay whatever price you set, but in some cases, and some sets it isn’t that difficult. I’m still working on it and have thought it would be easy to set up… It would be if I had a manageable number of sets and associated pieces… I don’t. At least this year I didn’t do the dive into the Advent Calendars like I have in the past.

My current set up is based on the IKEA/LEGO boxes. I have added a curling sheet to one end. It will be a work in progress until I take it down. I’m currently rebuilding the the train station since it had some problems when I moved the tracks. I had just rebuilt the Shrieking Shack after knocking it off the table this morning. 🙄

This Week’s Comics:

This week ended up with a bunch of comics… Don’t ask me how, it just happened.

The Ultimates #7 - With Tony Stark’s demise (It’s comics, he’ll be back) The rest of the team is trying to find their place in the group and the world at large. So this is a character building issue.

Flash Comics #1 (Reprint) - When I was a kid (ancient history) you could go to a bookstore and buy books with old comics in them (one book would have multiple heroes origins and key points in their story. Now it seems that every month DC and Marvel are reissuing old comics. It might be a key issue that while not that old costs enough to limit the availability to the common collector. For some reason people also want to read the individual issue instead of just a trade paperback of the story arc. The older comics, didn’t do thing episodic they tended to have multiple shorter stories in one issue. Being a Flash fan, I decided to pick up this, the first appearance of the Flash. It also contains stories dealing with other characters. To be honest what I’m really hoping to find (reprinted because there is no way I can afford it) The first appearance of Bruce Nelson in Detective Comics #1.

JSA #2 (Jeff Lemire Cover) - So how did the JSA get in the mess we saw in issue #1? Issue #2 digs into the backstory a bit while also following the efforts to rescue them from the predicament they are currently in. If only they had some expendable members to demonstrate the danger they are in.

Batman #155 (Tony Harris Cover) - What is up with Jim Gordon?!? Batman tries to figure this out and why his friend and confidant would kill the mayor… if he killed the mayor (SPOILERS- it looks like he did)

Absolute Superman #2 - So we are in DC’s version of the Ultimate Universe, in which the heroes have different origins due to Darkseid’s meddling in the grand scheme of things. In Superman’s case, The world seems to be run by multinational corporations and he didn’t arrive as a baby. We’re still getting the backstory as he tries to escape Agent Lois Lane while saving miners in Brazil. It is interesting to see how people end up following their fate, kismet, destiny… whatever. Take the example of Lois Lane.

Action Comics # 1078 - The sun is shining, the birds are singing, OK maybe not. Aether is using the power of the sun to destroy the Phantom Zone. Superman is going to stop him, even if it kills him. The rest of the Superman Family work to make sure all the inhabitants of the Zone are safe… however it looks like Aether has a Plan B and it’s something I don’t think anyone was prepared for.

I Hate Fairyland #18 - Gert goes to find help in the unlikeliest of places… Kansas. While she’s there the multiverse of Gerts decide that Happy might not be the solution to their mutual problem… Oh my! what could happen next?

The Rocketeer Breaks Free #4 - Cliff and the gang take on the Nazis on Alcatraz in hopes to save the free world from fascism… (pay no attention to the current state of the free world)

Rogue Sun #23 - The detective story continues with a few major twists… could it be an inside job?

Batman Santa Claus Silent Knight Returns #2 - You’re invited to a magical party where Santa, Robin and Zatanna hope to find out who the bad guy is, with the help of a few magical people…

The Magic Order #3 - Cordelia has a price on her head… can she survive the night with Skinwalker Sam on her trail? She already knows she’s supposed to die (cursed and all that) but can she save the world before that happens?

Night Club 2 # 4 - It looks like the those bad kids from high school, are worse when they are turned into vampires. Now the question is - Who is going to save us from them?

Survival Street #3 - How will our cute furry friends save the world from the evil corporate overlords? Except for the “cute furry friends” this is hitting a bit too close to home. Will AI be the death of us all or our savior?

Star Trek Defiant #21 - This, being the final issue in this arc, ties up a lot of the threads and lead us to what we already know will happen in the Star Trek Universe. (See the creation of the Kelvin Timeline) What’s next for those folks we don’t know their fates? Only time will tell.

Absolute Superman #1 & Absolute Wonder Woman #1 (Noir Editions) - How important is color? DC released the first issues of their initial three Absolute titles in “Noir Editions.” These are pretty much the inks. For those who don’t know about comic books, The writer writes (this is what we call the script). The Artist draws (This art is called the layouts or pencils). The Inker comes in using ink to finalize the lines and “clean up” the drawings. The Colorist adds colors. The Letterer adds the words to the drawings. This is an oversimplification and each job requires some amazing skills.

So, what DC has done is pretty much released issues these as inks only. The Superman book has some color in it to emphasize a few bits, but pretty much monochromatic. As an artist is kind of neat to see the process.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #27 - Miles goes to Wakanda and is put to the test before he tries to get his vampiric curse removed. Will the madness ever end?!?