I came across this “100 Issues Ago” panel in an old JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA and thought I’d tidy it up and re-purpose it. If one month = one issue, what was I reading 100 Issues Ago?
With all my comics in storage right now, I’m reliant on my admittedly not too brilliant memory for these posts over the next couple of months.
THE RAY was a mini-series by Jimmy Pamiotti and Justin Gray that would redefine a character they’d recently been working with pre-New 52 in FREEDOM FIGHTERS. It was a good start; the duo usually delivered good, solid superhero stories and given a clean slate with the New 52, gave us a new version of The Ray that showed some promise.
Elsewhere, things were starting to slow down for me; normally a fan of Dan Jurgens, his JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL was just a bit slow; MISTER TERRIFIC and BLUE BEETLE were plodding; and FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN and CAPTAIN ATOM just seemed to be throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.
There were high points as well, though: ALL-STAR WESTERN (another Palmiotti and Gray title) was working well; FRANKENSTEIN: AGENT OF SHADE was fun and interesting; and GREEN LANTERN was romping along nicely.
Outside of the nineteen New 52 titles, I had THE BOYS and it’s side series BUTCHER from Dynamite, and then PUNISHER MAX from Marvel.
Crisis on Earth-Prime 
December was my last issue of Grifter. I don’t know if Green Arrow showing up had anything to do with that, but it didn’t help. Resurrection Man is still on the list. Got caught up on Angel & Faith, and Atomic Robo: Ghost of Station X.
At Marvel, Annihilators: Earthfall ended with in a way that felt abrupt and unearned. No real build-up to the solution. Avengers: Solo is on issue three, Villains for Hire is on issue 1 (because the first issue was #0.1, stupid Marvel and their pointless, obnoxious numbering schemes), Legion of Monsters was on issue 3 (it’s easily the high point of those four books).
Daredevil double-shipped, I think, which is fine with me. One of the issues was Matt taking a bunch of kids from a school for the blind on a winter field trip, then having to lead them to safety while concussed after the bus crashed. The only other ongoing I was buying from Marvel was the Matt Fraction/Terry Dodson Defenders series, which shipped its first issue that month. That book wound up being kind of a confusing mess about lost histories and magic wish machines, and I gave up around issue 10.
It’s too bad, because the cast was really interesting. You got Namor, Strange, and the Surfer, but also Iron Fist, the Red She-Hulk (Betty Ross), and eventually the Black Cat, Scott Lang Ant-Man, and like ’60s era Steranko Nick Fury. I feel like I should have enjoyed that book so much more than I did.
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Man, I’d forgotten about the New 52 GREEN ARROW series – I picked it up for the first eight or nine issues but Ann Nocenti’s work really put me off. It’s not often I ditch a series, but that was one of them.
Not being a Marvel reader, it caught me by surprise reading your comment that Betty Ross became a She-Hulk.
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Yeah, that was during that stretch when there were Hulks up the whazoo. I don’t remember exactly how she became a She-Hulk, but she was. I don’t think she still is, though. Al Ewing may have turned her into a literal Harpy in the Immortal Hulk book that’s going these days.
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