A Major Event for Comic Book Day

At least it was a major event for your pal Chuck! Today, for the first time in more than 45 years, I didn't pick up the latest issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. I thumbed through it at the shop and couldn't work up any interest.

I've been hanging on since the whole One Day More storyline left such a bad taste, but I've endured through bad storylines before.

This time, I think the culprit is more the three-times-a-month publishing schedule, which keeps the book from having a consistent creative team. It's just too patchwork and haphazard, as the teams grind out stories at top speed.

No doubt one of these days they'll have a story that interests me enough to pick it up. In the meantime, I'm a fan who chose this moment to "jump off." It was fun while it lasted!

Here's what I did pick up:

- Agents of Atlas #9 - Looks like this comic is getting out of its Dark Reign slump. Good!

- All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary #1 - I've been enjoying these anniversary specials.

- Astro City: The Dark Age: Book Three #4 - This thing is coming out monthly - awesome!

- Black Panther #7 - This one's been flying under the radar - a darn good comic.

- Captain America Reborn #2 (of 5) - I was hoping Brubaker had a good story to tell when he finally brought Cap back. So far, turns out that he did.

- Doom Patrol #1 - One of my all-time faves, with a Metal Men backup? I wouldn't miss it.

- Hulk #13 - This one is hanging by a thread.

- Invincible Iron Man #16 - This series, on the other hand, has been very strong.

- Irredeemable #5 - A good series and a comic for 99 cents - can't pass that up.

- Justice League: Cry for Justice #2 (of 7) - Still gathering the team.

- The Spirit #32 by Mike Ploog, which is the wrap-up of the this version of Will Eisner's character. Good to see it going out on a high note - this comic has really run the gamut from terrific stories to truly bad ones.

- The Warlord #5 - This has been good, if a bit slow evolving.

- Wednesday Comics #5 - Still enjoying this, though some strips obviously work much better than others (I'm looking at you, Wonder Woman).

I also picked up Alter Ego #88, which features a lot of info about the legendary Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson.