Roots

It was many years ago that I had reached the conclusion that American comics just weren't my "thing" anymore. I remember that period of time quite well, my interests in the stories of the X-Men had reached it's twilight and I was winding down and quick. It was during the time when the "Operation: Zero Tolerance" storyline was just finishing up. My thoughts then were how uninteresting the stories of the X-Men, along with the other mutants, had become.

And so without a second thought, I set aside what was once my love for comics and brushed away it's memory like a bad dream.

In the years following, I had picked up into Manga and had thought that I had found where the good stuff was at. And granted, there were some fairly good stories being told in those books. But after picking up into several series, I grew disinterested in due part to the fact that it took many, many months before the next book would be released. Factor into that the idea that a great many of the stories were beginning to sound painfully too similar to one another and... and there went my interests again.

It felt like it had the many years before when I have given up on American comics. The story just wasn't there and the waiting period between books was murder. As a matter of fact, I am presently pissed off because the one and only series left that I've been reading religiously for the past few years (Rebirth) has seemingly died. No new release dates, nothing.

Not even the faintest of whispers.

BREAKING NEWS (Mostly for my own purpose here, being that I tend to obsess over stories I like): So I just was reading about what volume 23 for Rebirth is going to be like. So the story is FINALLY reaching the point where all the major players are finally going to meet on the battlefield. GODDAMNIT!! I hate waiting for this stuff!! I hope Tokyopop will -somehow- get their shit together and speed up their translating!! Faster!! Get volume 22 out and then get a step in it and get the rest of the series out ASAP!!!

Sorry.

Anyway, yes... after losing a great deal of interest in Manga, I began to pick up reading American comics. But unlike before, I didn't really commit to any single series in particular. But then, I did get my re-introduction in the form of the Astonishing X-Men, which became an instant favorite for me. In recent months, I've read the stories for Planet Hulk, Batman: The Killing Joke, Superman-Batman: Supergirl, X-Men: The New Age of Apocalypse, Wonder Woman: Love and Murder and X-Men: Messiah Complex just this morning.

And let me tell you, there isn't a stinker amongst that list. With each new comic I pick up, my love for their stories is coming back. Needless to say, I am simply amazed with how much better the story telling has become over the past years. Admittedly, it was a first time for me in reading stories for Hulk and Wonder Woman and I will say that I wasn't even disappointed there. I did want to continue reading the story following Planet Hulk (aptly named World War Hulk), but then I saw the number of books that spans and I think that will have to wait a little while longer.

I am also a little sad to learn that Astonishing X-Men had ended. I enjoyed the series a good deal and the smaller X-Team made things a lot more focused and easier to follow. Much easier then having guys all across the globe, that's for sure.

Pictured above is Runaways, which might have also ended (part of the creative team was also heading the Astonishing X-Men book). Sad, I actually wanted to pick that up next. And I know that these happenings were back in February of this year, which means I'm getting a little closer to catching up and yet I am still so far away.

If not Runaways, I'd like to pick back up into X-Men, which I read had disbanded in the story "Divided We Stand." What intrigues me is the fact that the team ended up reforming and relocating from New York to San Francisco under the sole leadership of Cyclops!

Easiest way to say it, I am a fan renewed. Is it obvious? 'Nuff said.