Cheap Date: Oct 3rd
Good afternoon, everyone! I would like to welcome you back to another edition of Cheap Date. If this is your first foray to this weekly article, I will describe it for you. Cheap Date is where I recommend nerdy entertainment for you that will ultimately cost no more than $30, because we all know expensive it can be to enjoy our hobbies.
Head on past the jump to see my recommendations.
Holy, sweaty balls!
Alright, let me just say before we begin that if you are not a comic book fan then this article is not for you this week. But of course as a connoisseur of entertainment, you may want to keep yourself informed.
Comics – $28.92
Avengers vs. X-Men #12
Avengers vs. X-Men has actually been a fun series to read. You may ask yourself, “Shouldn’t that be a given?” Well, not always. I was seriously let down by Siege and Fear Itself stories, although they did have their moments. But AvX has had a wonderful way of combing all the different corners of the Marvel Universe into one story. As the title states, the story has the best of the Avengers and X-Men. A lot of history exploding on the pages and this is the finale. I’m psyched about it.
Uncanny X-Force #23
Rick Remender’s run of Uncanny X-Force is coming to an end due to all the Marvel NOW! shuffles and he is still on top of his game. We have watched as this new Brotherhood has taken on X-Force, pretty much dismantling them. In this issue, we get to watch the roster come together to finally fight back. Not to mention Phil Noto’s art is no joke.
Amazing Spider-Man #695
Another series that is coming to a close due to Marvel NOW!, Dan Slott’s stellar run on Amazing Spider-Man begins its final story before issue #700 with the Kingpin and Hobgoblin coming at Spidey at full force. I thought this new Hobgoblin was an interesting story, but disappointed that he seems to be only in the background. Now he may get a chance to shine.
Daredevil End of Days #1
Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev are back on Daredevil after Eisner winning run from 2001-2006. Instead of returning to the ongoing, Bendis is penning finale of the Daredevil story. How does Matt Murdock finally bite it? Find out here! Incredible writing and lovely art, I can not wait.
Avengers Academy #38
Yet another series that is coming to an end. Avengers Academy has been an interesting ride and I think it has been a fun one that has some heart. Of course, they have a lighthearted side every so often and this issue is one of those. As the second to last issue, we get to see the students of the Academy take on the students of Jean Grey School from Wolverine and the X-Men in a game of flag football. Not really a serious choice, but I would still pick it up for something a bit more fun.
Non-Humans #1
Every so often there is a series that catches me by surprise and it is completely wonderful. Non-Humans from Image Comics has luckily been one of those. In this new series, we venture into a future world where a strange disease brings toys to life. The description calls the story a crossover between Blade Runner and Toy Story.
Green Lantern #13
We come out of DC’s Zero Month and one of the must read series is Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern series. In this issue we find out more about the newest Green Lantern, Baz, as he takes on the Justice League. Elsewhere in the universe, the Guardians are about to unleash the Third Army. It is going to be really interesting to finally see what the Guardians come up with this Third Army.
Animal Man #13 & Swamp Thing #13
Seriously out of all crossovers, DC’s second year story, or really most any other story out there; Animal Man and Swamp Thing are some of the best writing out there. Not to mention there are two different writers that are excelling in their craft. Lemire and Snyder have their respective characters enter Rotworld and we get to see that horrific world. If you are not reading these two series then you are making a grand mistake. Pick up both books.
That’s it for Cheap Date for this week. Hopefully you will enjoy each of these books that I have recommended in this comic book centered edition. See you all next week!
Call Yourself A Nerd 
“Animal Man and Swamp Thing are some of the best writing out there”: I agree. A very few series can stand the comparison. Team 7, for example.
What makes Animal Man so special is the way Lemire deconstructs the superhero mythology. For example:
1) Superheroes tend to monopolize the attention of the reader, while Animal Man is constantly upstaged by the supporting characters of the series.
2) Superhero comics usually don’t give much importance to the private life of their main character (they tend to focus only on the “costume on” part); in Animal Man, on the contrary, the private life of Buddy is the main theme of the series. In fact, it is rather infrequent to see Buddy with his costume on.
3) Buddy is not perfect, and is not perceived as perfect by other people: in fact, in the 11th issue, when he tells his wife “It’s going to be okay”, she replies “Don’t give me anything of that superhero crap, Buddy.” That cut and thrust perfectly enlightens the philosophy of the series.
Steel is going to make a guest star appearance in Animal Man # 13. I’m a big fan of John Henry Irons, so I’m very glad he didn’t fall into oblivion after the closure of his awesome solo series. A character like Steel written by a writer like Lemire… wonderful!
David Mack will co-write and co-draw Daredevil: End of days, and this is a wonderful news. He has already been the writer of Daredevil’s regular series for a short period (1999 – 2000), and each issue he wrote at those times is simply wonderful. I don’t want to use the word “masterpiece” because, like the word “cult”, nowadays everybody employs it too often, so it lost a lot of its significance, but I was on the verge of using it.
In the 90s some teen dramas like Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson’s Creek had an enormous (and deeply deserved) success: this led to the creation of comics about young superheroes who were facing not only this villain or that, but also their youth problems. The best one definitely was Generation X, in my opinion: that marvellous comic book closed in 2001, and since then every similar title didn’t last more than a few years. Avengers Academy was no exception. Unfortunately, it seems that teen-drama-like comics are not a big thing anymore. The only one still surviving is Teen Titans, as far as I know – and, as chance would have it, the writer of Teen Titans is the creator of Generation X, Scott Lobdell. He’s simply born to write this particular genre of comics.
Animal Man is wonderful story. The focus of him being a family man and finding out that he was given his gifts to protect his daughter. Simply great.
I believe there is still a large focus on teen comics to this day. Even though Avengers Academy is ending, they are starting another series as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative called Avengers Arena. Not to mention there may be another Young Avengers series that features Kid Loki.
I think Scott Lobdell has lost a few steps since his earlier writing and maybe it is become of DC mandated crossovers, but I have yet to fall in love with the Teen Titans series even though they were some of my favorite characters pre-New 52.
Thank you for your opinion.
Thank you as well for your replies and informations! : )