I hadn't been to my closest Ollie's in a long time because it was in an obvious decline and I wasn't finding anything.

But having seen a couple of things mentioned here I was interested in, I decided to give them another chance. This is what I found. This was indicative of most of the book section. They've stopped the decline and just gone over a cliff.

Unbelievably, there's an Ollie's a couple of towns over that's even worse.

Just at the beginning of the X men ( excluding all new x men by Grant which I read before) just finished the B&G Omni vol. 1, which I really liked with the exception of the mojoverse stuff. I'm probably going to skip on the B&G omni 2 ( with fatal attractions omni) someone tell me if it's mistake.

P. S. I have no clue about the reading order post messiah complex with the collection I've got, someone correct me if wrong.

Also have Dawn of X Omnis but no space on the shelf atm

Still got some backlog to get through but super excited to read these nonthless. Which ones are your favorites?

Buying Magic cards to match up with my collected editions.... Because the books aren't expensive enough

I am visiting Washington, DC in the next few days and looking for recommendations for the best comic/book stores to find Marvel and DC omnibus editions and compendiums.

I’m interested in both new releases and older editions. Price isn’t an issue.

What stores should I definitely check out?

I feel like we always bring up Claremont, Morrison, AoA, or the Krakoa era when talking about the best X-Men stories ever written, but this trilogy deserves as much attention and recognition, imo 😅

As a Cyclops 💥 fan, I appreciate this era gave him significant development and established him as a true alpha-male leader with serious aura 😎 hopefully, after all these years, MCU will treat him right in the upcoming Avengers Doomsday and 2028 X-Men movies 🤞🏼

So, indeed, a great pick-up! 🤩

A few days ago someone posted the punisher max omnibus prints being out of print and likely not being reprinted due to the Mouse. I found someone on Facebook marketplace doing local pickup only for $200, asked them to ship, and these beauties arrived today.

Pre-Reading

Nothing, really. I came into this having read no other post-crisis Wonder Woman runs, and never felt lost. Greg Rucka does a good job of bringing you up to speed on anything you need to know.

Story

Wonder Woman isn’t a character a read a lot of growing up. My first exposure to Diana of Themyscira was through the DCAU Justice League cartoon where she played the role of “strong naive princess.” While I loved the DCAU, Wonder Woman often faded into the background and I was never tempted to pick up any back issues or trades. I did read the New 52 run a few years back (mostly for the Cliff Chiang art) and thought it was fun in an elseworlds sort of way, but it wasn’t until reading Death Metal and Justice Leage Dark this year that I was really intrigued by the character.

Boy was I missing out.

Rucka’s run focuses heavily on Diana’s role as the UN ambassador for Themyscira and explores the role of a superhero in international politics, while still showcasing classic villains and the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses. Hiketeia is a great introduction to Rucka’s interpretation of the character. While it has a darker feel than his main run, it does an excellent job of highlighting Diana’s ambassadorship, celebrity status, and hopeful nature while pitting her views against those of other heroes and maintaining close ties to Greek mythology.

The main run explores the role of Wonder Woman in modern society, and is approached with real world sensibility not often seen in superhero comics. Rucka does a great job using Diana’s role as a UN ambassador to explore both how superheroes could impact international diplomacy, and how a matriarchal society may be viewed as a threat by a patriarchal world.

Diana herself is outspoken, which inspires as much ire as love. While she certainly does her fair share of superheroics, Rucka’s interpretation is a published author and champion of social justice, which makes her feel more in-line with revolutionary cultural icons like Gandhi and MLK. Early in the run, she is faced with two antagonists who serve as foils for different facets of her character: Dr Veronica Kale and Dr Psycho. Dr Kale serves a Lex Luthoresque role, in that she is a powerful self-made woman who could do much good for the world, save for the resentment she harbors towards Diana. While Diana lifts those around her up, Dr Kale tears down those who challange her station. Dr Psycho, meanwhile, is suitably gross, representing the bondage that Diana opposes; while physical bondage has been a Wonder Woman motif since the golden age, he represents a psychological bondage that is viscerally upsetting.

In the back half of the book themes of compromise and consequences come to the forefront. The Medousa arc both cost Diana her sight (both literally and metaphorically?) while beginning to fracture the trust within her Embassy team. She remained a hero in the eyes of the public because she “killed a monster,” but there was a noticeable shift towards darker tone. Her now-infamous killing of Max Lord several arcs later was basically the essentially the same situation, but there was a cold confidence in her actions that underscored how her character had changed.

I do wish we had gotten to see more of the fallout from Max Lord’s death. Diana was basically detained by the UN, but then just eloped from custody because Themyscira needed her, which is followed immediately by Infinite Crisis. Wonder Woman 225 does provide some degree of closure, but I feel like the story was setting up an interesting courtroom drama that never materialized.

The omni also includes 3 Blackest Night tie-in issues that felt tacked-on. I appreciate the desire to include all of Rucka’s pre- Flashpoint Wonder Woman material, but these issues are presented without context to the larger crossover, take place years later, and don’t really contribute much story-wise.

Art

Hiketeia is drawn by J.G. Jones and is detailed and moody. The backgrounds feel intricate and the characters are consistent from page-to page. Though I much prefer his cover art to his sequential art, it’s still probably some of the better art in this book.

Most of the run is drawn by Drew Johnson and Ray Snyder, with additional contributions from Rags Morales and Cliff Richards, among others. The art is decent, maintains a similar feel through changing artists, and avoids the pitfall of oversexualizing Diana, but serves more as a vehicle for Rucka’s writing than a selling point itself. That’s not to say that any of it is bad, but it feels kind of generic and doesn’t really elevate the story.

The Blackest Night tie-ins are all drawn by Nicola Scott. While these issues don’t do anything for me narratively, her art alone probably makes them worth including. I really appreciate how dynamically she draws combat, and was happy to learn that she worked on Rucka’s Rebirth run as well.

Build/ Presentation

Coming in at just over 1000 pages, this is about perfectly-sized for an omnibus. The paper stock is thick enough where there isn’t any noticeable bleed-through, and while it’s doesn’t have the biggest eye, the book lays open with minimal gutter loss. I appreciate the all of the dust jacket art highlights the beautiful J. G. Jones covers of the run, and especially like the art on the spine.

Final Thoughts

This was a really good run, and a great jumping-on point for Wonder Woman. Rucka just understands the character and does a great job exploring her role as both an ambassador of peace and a warrior. Though the end of the book feels a bit muddled, it’s still a very satisfying read, great character study, and has me excited to check out Rucka’s Rebirth-era Wonder Woman run.

Rating: 8.5/10

I have been collecting for about 1.5 years.

Finished USM about two weeks ago, and it was an amazing series. Finally got Vol. 2 on the reprint and now my collection is complete. Started Miles’ run as well about 7 issues through!

I guess that now after I got a bookshelf I am committed to fill it all lol.

For years I saw people on this sub and elsewhere hype up Johns Green Lantern run and now I finally understand.
I loved it, I read volumes 2 & 3 in under a week I was glued to these books.
The world building and lore that’s put in this run is incredible. So much cool space magic stuff and things the Guardians kept secret over the billions of years they held power.
This series left me satisfied but sad that it’s over.
I’m excited to read Green Lantern Corps by Tomasi one of these days so I can be immersed again and see what John, Guy, Kyle and the rest of the Corps was doing while Hal and Sinestro were doing their thing.

Been collecting omnis for a while, but I kept them wherever I could find the space. Redecorating the office and finally get to display my omnis properly!

Still wip, need to move some stuff around.