I thought i’d do something different this week and share my pull list. For those who don’t read comics off-line a pull list is the list of comics you have your local comic book guy put aside for you. From month to month it changes as writers move about and i have to make monetary trade off’s but I hope you find this interesting.

Batgirl: The current incarnation of Batgirl has only being going for a few issues but already it’s a more interesting interpretation of both Stephanie Brown (former Spoiler, Robin and Robin love interest) and Batgirl (most recently Cassie Cain) than I’ve seen. Her mentor is Barbara Gordon, the first and best Batgirl and that dynamic has been one of the highlights of the series. After Joker shot her in the spine and ended her career as Batgirl, Babs has been super protective of the legacy so her mentoring Stephanie seems to be a relationship akin to a sports agent with his player. Sure she cares about the girl but she’s just as worried about the brand and isn’t afraid to bench Brown if she embarrasses it.

Gotham City Sirens: Ok by now you’ll have noticed I’m a Batman fan. and I can’t deny that. Sirens began as a book that I thought would stretch my love for all things Gotham. The premise of Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn rooming together screamed Sex in the Gotham City and that’s not something I can stomach reading however the awesome Paul Dini was writing it so I picked it up and boy I’m glad. The current arc is about joker’s old sidekick annoyed about Harley. It’s really a lament over the end of the Silver Age’s Joker’s old madcap schemes as he becomes more and more savage in this post-Miller era.

Deadpool- Merc with a Mouth: Wade Wilson is apparently the only thing Marvel is making money on at the moment with every cover this month featuring a variant Deadpool cover but as a fan following this guy since the late 90s I have yet to hit saturation even if my wallet has. Top of the pile of his multiple series has to be Merc with a Mouth which teams Wade up with Headpool, the zombie head of Deadpool from the Marvel Zombies universe. It’s been nothing short of brilliant combining adventure and humour.

The Seige: Ok I’ll admit it. I buying into the latest mega-event. After following the last few years of DC’s events which at every turn dropped the ball and left me and my friends asking what it was about and lamenting wasting our cash I’m giving the House of Ideas a go. For one reason their events seem far more contained. Yes I could get 300 tie ins but Civil War and Secret Invasion was a great read without having to do that. The other reason is Brian M. Bendis creates events that make sense and then tops himself by tying those events together so that the Seige is the direct descendant to 2004′s Disassembled and every event since then has built on that. When DC tried that following the great Identity Crisis they muddled the water so badly every event since then has in some way damaged their continuity.

In much less detail
Red Robin: Not sure why i’m persisting with this one. Ho hum since issue 1
Batman and Robin: Reasonably good so far but written by Grant Morrison so it’s only a matter of time before it stops making any sense.
Batman. Tony Daniels is handling the writing AND art chores on this and doing a damn good job.
Streets of Gotham: Again Paul Dini rocks. Nuff said
Futurama: I’ve got a soft spot for this show, even though it feels like the movies jumped the shark.
Superman/Batman: I have loyalty despite the fact it’s lost it’s edge since Loeb stopped writing it.
The Marvelous Land of Oz: While the text (ripped directly from the book) is quite dry the visuals courtesy of Skottie Young are mind-blowingly awesome. Get this book and be amazed.
Powers: A really different take on superheroes and the letters pages are worth the cover price alone.

This arc is drawn by the talented Andrew Fulton who is currently travelling with Jen across the grand old United States (actually about now he’ll be in Toronto for TCAF). Andrew’s comic Mumblier is sometimes NSFW, sometimes strange but always beautiful and delightful. Jen and I are huge fans of both his comic and his resplendant beard. Sadly he’s not such a great mario cart player but we still love him.

Today is free comic book day. It’s a day when you can pop into your local comic shop and get more than 40 books designed especially for the day FREE! But it’s more than that. It’s an opportunity to discover comics, find your local store. Engage with comics. For the industry it’s about getting new readers. Comic buying is steadily decreasing even though there has never been a better time for comics as far as the quality of the writing and art. So please give titles you’d not usually read a look, if you see a comic a friend’s kid might like pick it up for them, get them reading!

For my part I’ll be supporting FCBD by doing sketches at All Star Comics in Melbourne between 2-3pm along with 17 other great comic creators. Here is the full list. Hope to see you there.

Sawbones began 5 years ago as Sawyer and Bones appeared as background players of a bunnified version of Poe’s the Raven.

Recently I realised that that story wasn’t on the site and went looking for it. Turns out i don’t actually have a copy on any of my computers. Technology moves so fast i’ve been through 4 of them in that time. So I used my moderate google-fu skills and found it online. Apparently nothing dies on the interwebs.

Anyway reading through the story I was struck by two things.

1. Jen’s storytelling was just as delightful 5 years ago. Reading the story with so much water under the bridge was like reading it for the first time and I loved the turns of phrase and way she balanced the horror tone with the comedic twist.

2. There was no way I could bear putting that art up online now. I don’t know a single artist who doesn’t cringe at old work and i’m no different. So over the last few weeks I’ve redrawn the comic. Tightening it up a little and adding a little more mood. I’m sure in another 5 years I’ll hate this too but it’s a start.

I do however want to aknowledge how this started so as this story progesses there’ll be a link at the bottom of the comic where you can look at the original version.

I hope you enjoy this.