A Look at Comics for Week 39 of 2018

I’m still not entirely convinced that the DC Universe slate of comics is a good thing. Sure, they have over 2500 comics available for the subscription but along with what I sense is a strong push for people to attend to the animation and live action TV and movies, I find it incredibly difficult to figure out what story arcs are available for reading. The service has only been around for a short while but it sure would be nice to see a “New Releases” section or “Story Arc” section that would point users in the direction of where to start.

Marvel on the other hand has been in the game a while and while I may be spoiled by them, I can actually take a quick look at the front page and see exactly which comics are newly available this week. As things stand, I’m not even sure DC is releasing new comics each week, or each month, or at all. I can also make a few clicks and find a listing of good starting places for characters, events, or creators.

While I can find some comics I know about in the DC app, like the first appearance of Batman in Detective Comics, Superman in Action Comics, or the Teen Titans since that’s the spotlight of October, but I have a hard time figuring out how to find anything else in the app.

I did find a Discord channel that may help -> the DC Universe Book Club. They seem to be working on reading through some of the available comics and tracking what’s available.

One thing that I’ve seen is that DCU seems to be more like Netflix than Marvel Unlimited. Where MU puts out new comics each week, adding to a growing list, DC Universe seems to add and REMOVE content. If they’re gonna be removing issues after a time they had better let people know the time frames things are available for or they’ll get a lot of angry fans. For instance, you can read the first and ONLY THE FIRST issue of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. My memory isn’t what it used to be but I certainly thought there were a few more issues of this classic available last week, and my memory is corroborated by Dave over at Comic Book Herald and on the discord.

In any case, I know the DC Universe comic offerings are a new thing and they’re still working out all the kinks, I just hope they get their act together soon so I can feel more confident in spending money on their service and start reading more DC comics.

As it was this week, I didn’t even get through all the Marvel comics I wanted to read but here are a few highlights from what I enjoyed and as I mentioned the other day, there seemed to be an abundance of Hammers and Hulks this week.

• The Mighty Thor #705 was really good featuring Jane Foster as Thor in a battle with Mangog. Worlds are breaking apart and gods are running for cover as the fight rages on in one of the last issues in this story arc.
• Thanos #17 saw the fight between the Mad Titan and Silver Surfer continue and we get an appearance from Hulk – or at least “Old Man Hulk” – with Death decked out in a wedding dress at the end of the issue.
• Runaways #7 seems to be setting up ‘normal’ life for the kids as some head to middle school while others test out the job market. I can only imagine that strange things will be thrown at our heroes as they get used to ‘normality’.
• Doctor Strange: Damnation #3 sees Johnny Blaze confront Mephisto in his Las Vegas tower as the rest of the crew continue to battle the Ghost Riding Avengers. Thor sure seems pretty nasty as a spirit of vengeance and I love Bats the hound dog!

In all, while I haven’t read through all the comics each week from Marvel Unlimited’s new releases I have enjoyed many that I’ve read through and I’m gonna work to keep reading them as well as some from DC and other publishers as well.

Comics Corner – A Look at Comics for Week 39 of 2018