Nerd in the 'Noke

Those who follow my social media accounts are likely already aware, but this past Wednesday night I was a guest on the Omnidog's Vault YouTube channel's LIVE Crime Corner show! We discussed the modern classic Daredevil runs of Brian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev and Ed Brubaker/Michael Lark.  It was a ton of fun and fortunately my WiFi waited until just about the very end before acting up and dropping my connection (apologies for the technical difficulties) These are two of my favorite runs produced by a handful of my favorite creators and it was great to chat with Jess and Taylor about them.  You can watch the discussion here or by visiting Omnidog's Vault on YouTube (which you should do, because there's a ton of great content there). Thanks again to Jess and Taylor for the invite, hopefully we can talk more DD in the future!

Daredevil: Back in Black Vol. 7 - Mayor Murdock - Collecting Daredevil (1964) #601-605. Since Marvel has not yet seen fit to give Charles Soule's excellent, recently completed Daredevil run the oversize hardcover/omnibus treatment yet, I feel compelled to continue my series of reviews for the trade paperback collections (the previous entries can be found  here , here and here ).  Volume 7 just came out a couple weeks back and includes one of my favorite arcs from Soule's run: Mayor Murdock. I won't get into too many story specifics as the title of this volume itself is a bit of a spoiler for events from the end of Volume 6.  With Mayor Fisk incapacitated and The Hand descending upon New York, a little known order of succession change made by Fisk's predecessor puts the Mayor-ship of New York in the hands of Matt Murdock!  Can the Man Without Fear save his beloved city from one (or is that two?) of his fiercest enemies?  And can he do so without revealing...

Aquaman and The Others: Vol. 1 - Legacy of Gold - Collecting Aquaman (2011) #20 and Annual 1, and Aquaman and the Others (2014) #1-5. Aquaman and The Others: Vol. 2 - Alignment Earth - Collecting Aquaman and the Others (2014) #6-11, Aquaman: Futures End (2014) #1, Aquaman and the Others: Futures End (2014) #1. Believe it or not, for about a year during DC's New 52 era, there was a second monthly Aquaman title called Aquaman and The Others.  I don't claim to be an Aquaman historian, but I'm pretty sure that at no other point has DC released multiple, monthly Aquaman titles.  I remember trying to keep up with the title digitally when it first came out, only making it through a handful of issues before falling behind, eventually forgetting about it completely.  It wasn't until I read through the  Aquaman by Geoff Johns Omnibus  a week ago that I remembered this titled had existed.  With my interest piqued once again, I tracked down the two trade paperba...

Aquaman by Peter David Book One - Collecting Aquaman: Time and Tide (1993) #1-4, and Aquaman (1994) #0-8. I've clearly been on an Aquaman kick lately, having really enjoyed both the Aquaman by Geoff Johns Omnibus and the Jason Momoa/Amber Heard-led live-action film .  I figured, what better time than now to check out another of DC's classic runs: Peter David's Aquaman.  Fortunately, this run is currently being collected by DC in thick trade paperbacks.  Unfortunately for newcomers to this material such as myself, only the two books have been released thus far (with a third solicited for the fall of 2019).  Judging by the length of David's run, a fourth volume should complete this series collecting his work on the title.  I may have gotten sucked into this era of Aquaman, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to finish David's Aquaman for another year or two.  In hindsight, I may not have picked the best time to dive into this run after all! Aquama...

Aquaman by Geoff Johns Omnibus - Collecting Aquaman (2011) #0-19, 21-25 (including 23.1 and 23.2), and Justice League (2011) #15-17. Daredevil may be my favorite comic book character, but you'd be hard pressed to find a hardcover collection that I have looked forward to more than this volume, the Aquaman by Geoff Johns Omnibus.  It is a book that, over the last four years, has had three solicitations and two cancellations.  Fortunately, the third time was the charm as DC finally saw fit to make this collection a reality in conjunction with the live-action Aquaman film hitting theaters this week. Prior to this run, I had never read any Aquaman.  Honestly, I hadn't really had any interest in the character either.  But that all changed when DC announced their New 52 initiative: a reboot of their entire comic book universe in an effort to be more new reader friendly.  Aquaman launched with the creative team of Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis: a combo that had produ...

Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters  - Collecting Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (1987) #1-3. Green Arrow: Vol. 1 - Hunter's Moon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #1-6. Green Arrow: Vol. 2 - Here There Be Dragons - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #7-12. Green Arrow: Vol. 3 - The Trial of Oliver Queen - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #13-20. Green Arrow: Vol. 4 - Blood of the Dragon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #21-28. Green Arrow: Vol. 5 - The Black Arrow - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #29-38. Green Arrow: Vol. 6 - Last Action Hero - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #39-50. Green Arrow: Vol. 7 - Homecoming - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #51-62. Green Arrow: Vol. 8 - The Hunt for the Red Dragon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #63-72. Green Arrow: Vol. 9 - Old Tricks - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #73-80, and Green Arrow: The Wonder Year (1993) #1-4. Shado: Song of the Dragon (1992) #1-4   - loose issues (not collected). Over the last couple of years, I...

Thor: Heroes Return Omnibus Vol. 1 - Collecting Thor (1998) #1-35, Annual 1999, Annual 2000, Iron Man (1998) #21-22, Juggernaut (1999) #1, Peter Parker, Spider-Man (1999) #2, 11, and Silver Surfer/Thor (1998) #1.  I picked this omnibus up last year when it was first released based primarily upon a good recommendation from a friend of mine, but also because Thor has become one of my favorite Marvel characters over the last few years.  I was actually in the middle of reading the Thor by Walter Simonson Omnibus when this arrived, and as epic as that was, it was a lot of Thor and I needed a bit of a break.  So now, almost a year later, I finally got around to tackling this first volume of Thor from the Heroes Return era. Thor (1998) #1 (Romita, Jr.) Heroes Return marked Marvel's line-wide reboot after their Heroes Reborn experiment that saw their biggest properties optioned out to the creative studios of Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld in an effort to breath new life in...