Just read AXM #2. Good stuff. #1 suffered very much from having to set things up, IMO. I enjoyed #2 a great deal more.

Stupid Raining-on-new-comics-day. What with the raining, I had to hang around the store until it let up a bit. And what with it being a really slow new titles day, I had to flip through a bunch of other stuff and pick up 6 out of the 9 issues of Batman: Death and the Maidens. Stupid Greg Rucka, being a fucking brilliant writer and making me buy stuff I didn't plan on.

In other news: Picked up Astounishing 2. I do love Joss's Kitty, but the whole thing still feels up and down to me -- maybe it's just the fact that I have, basically, no preexisting investment in the Marvelverse, but I was about ready to put it down for several pages before the Kitty/Emma smackdown. Even so, Kitty (as mentioned) and Beast (BIG BLUE BRAINY FURRY WOOBIE!) are killing me.

Others: looked through Robin 128(?) and Teen Titans 12 in the store. I still can't bring myself to buy the current Robin run. As for Titans, I was mostly *deeply* confused -- I feel like I know who the characters are, but I don't have the background in the post-YJ story to have half a clue about what's going on with the current arc and Raven and all that. So, still resistant to those crazy kids.

Wolverine was hot, especially that shot from behind where he says he won't do anything not involving beer. But not as hot as he is in Ultimate.

Batman was also hot. So far, Psimon is more attractive than ever before (which is more attractive than zero).

Haven't gotten to the end of last week's Outsiders yet, nor started Titans.

Amych, I can hook you up with DatM soft.

w00t! Hook me up, babe.

Oh, amy, I loved the Kitty/Emma smackdown. Very cool dynamic going on there.

BWEEHEEHEE!

I got a BIG stack of comics from P-C in the mail for my birthday.

I'm going through them and giggling. (And when I'm done with that, I have to actually drag self to store.)

Yaaay! I'm glad they're giggle-inducing.

My pull list for today (partial):

Astonishing X-Men #2 - The story is really rounding into shape. I found the art a little stiff at times.

Astonishing X-Men #1 (Director's Cut) - A waste of money, for completists only. Xtras included are some character sketches by Cassaday, reprodutions of the "X-Men Reloaded" event, and three pages of Joss' script (the fight between Logan and Scott, pages 11-13). Still included the ads.

Robin #127 - I'm going to take a contrarian point of view and say that I think Willingham is starting to catching on. The Bat-humor was really only on one page, and I feel that Batman has (generally) been "lighter" in the Robin title than is his other titles. There really was a lot of story in this issue, and I like his take on Stephanie, and he's still handling Tim well.

Catwoman #32 - I wish Sean Phillips could continue on the art, but then we wouldn't have Sleeper. This also showed a little bit of a "lighter" side of Bats/Bruce.

Teen Titans #12 - I found it pretty confusing, to tell the truth. Still, Superboy declared that Wondergirl was his girlfriend while he was fighting. That will be a fun development.

Superman #206 - I think that Azzarello's take is very interesting, and Jim Lee on art is the gold standard in comics today.

Wonder Woman #205 - The Joker is on the cover. Wearing WW's bracelets and tiara. Written by Greg Rucka. What more needs to be said?

Queen and Country #25 - Continuing the Greg Rucka theme. Double-sized (and -priced (ouch!)) anniversary issue. Best spy fiction going today.

The Losers #13 - Absolutely, positively the best action comic on the market today. Criminally low sales. This starts a new story arc, so if you get a chance, jump aboard!

30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow #4 - An excellent vampire comic (sequal to 2 previous series). Probably too late for newbies to jump into the series, but the first 2 are collected in TPB (30 Days of Night and Dark Days).

As aforementioned, I picked up Astonishing #2 today, and my love affair with it continues. The first one, it was a gentle glow of like, for there wasn't much there despite, as ita pointed out, quite a reveal. In this one, I have jumped to ready to throw the comic down and insist it take its clothes off... except it's a comic book, so, not so much.

Anyway. I REALLY enjoyed it. More thoughts when I'm not so fuzzy-headed.

And Batsfolks, are you not pleased with my Year One purchase? I am turning to the dark side. And by the dark side, I mean reading ONE DC book.