The Pull: A Look at the Comics Dropping the Week of July 31st

By David Harper

July 31, 2019

This week’s release list is putting me into an impossible situation when it comes to selecting my Book of the Week. But if comics have taught me anything, there’s always a solution to something that’s seemingly impossible. Let’s find that as I look at my buys, recommendations and curiosities in this week’s edition of The Pull.

The rest of this article is for
subscribers only.

Want to read it? A monthly SKTCHD subscription is just $4.99, or the price of one Marvel #1.

Subscribe Monthly

Or for the lower rate, you can sign up on our quarterly plan for just $3.99 a month, or the price of one regularly priced comic.

Subscribe Quarterly

Learn more about what you get with a subscription

Already a member? Sign in to your account.

Notable Replies

actualtotoro says:

July 31, 2019

My shop didn’t have Powers of X for me today and I am amazed at how well I took that. (For those keeping tabs, today I spoke directly with the owner, who intends to look into things for me as well as get me a copy of PoX himself, so I’m optimistic the bumpy road is behind me). It would’ve been my book of the week too!

One thing I find funny – not sure if I’ve noted this before – is that I loved Coates’ opening Black Panther run and how, well, grounded it was. I dropped the book when it went to space. Obviously comics takes all kinds, but I am always entertained when reminded that your Coates BP preferences are basically the opposite of mine XD
SKTCHD says:

July 31, 2019

Did they give your copy away or were they shorted? Shorted I get. Giving your copy away is a little weird.

And yeah, that is super funny about the Black Panther stuff. I’d say that’s what you get when there is a clear line in the sand between one volume of a comic and another. It’d be easy to guess that one would be for some and not for others. I do need to go back and read Coates’ early stuff. My problem with his first volume - and this is very common for new comic writers - is it felt wildly overwritten without enough action baked in the comic. It was pure steak and no sizzle. Bored me to tears. I only lasted a few issues, though. Did you try the space stuff or was it just “Space, no thanks!” from the jump?
JoshuaLazarus says:

July 31, 2019

“I was trying to make a #ChipDoubleDip type comment work here for Ta-Nehisi Coates, as he has this and the aforementioned SPACE PANTHER issue out this week as well, but it just didn’t work.“

#TwoNehisiCoates
JoshuaLazarus says:

July 31, 2019

And if it’s ever 3 in a week, #TaNethreesiCoates
actualtotoro says:

July 31, 2019

SKTCHD:

Did they give your copy away or were they shorted? Shorted I get. Giving your copy away is a little weird.

I don’t know what happened, tbh! I got there just after opening, so if they had a copy of it they’d likely have given it to me. I didn’t see any copies on the shelf (despite last week there being a huge stack of HoX), so maybe something went wrong with ordering?

SKTCHD:

I’d say that’s what you get when there is a clear line in the sand between one volume of a comic and another. It’d be easy to guess that one would be for some and not for others. I do need to go back and read Coates’ early stuff. My problem with his first volume - and this is very common for new comic writers - is it felt wildly overwritten without enough action baked in the comic. It was pure steak and no sizzle. Bored me to tears. I only lasted a few issues, though. Did you try the space stuff or was it just “Space, no thanks!” from the jump?

Perhaps it worked for me because I’m used to reading his stuff in contexts like The Atlantic which are obviously going to be drier than any comic. As with Tom King’s initial stuff, I like the wordy, slow burn stuff as long as there are some really good ideas or commentaries on humanity/society behind them.

I ended up buying the first issue of space panther because my show hada gorgeous variant that caught my eye from the shelf. It was honestly incredibly jarring to read coming right after all the other BP stuff (I’d been buying ever BP spinoff too). That first issue doesn’t clarify at all why we’re in space, if we’re in the future or what, etc. So to go from a few years of nothing but Wakanda and T’Challa and Shuri to… whatever is going on in that first issue, may as well have been a completely different series.

To which end, if they hadn’t made that clear line in the sand with the renumbering, the content of the book would’ve still made the shift clear.

Continue the discussion at community.sktchd.com

3 more replies

Read more from SKTCHD

The Pull: A Look at the Comics Dropping the Week of October 23rd

The Art of the Cover: John Paul Leon on His Craft and Career

The Pull: A Look at the Comics Dropping the Week of February 16th

Off Panel #361: Secret City with Tyler Crook

On the Power and Potency of Crowdfunding, Both Today and Tomorrow

Share This