Hoopla! - Episode 31: The Hoopla that Time Forgot...

Hello and welcome to Hoopla!

I want to start by apologizing to both of my loyal readers... this column is very, very late. Not as late as Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine #3, it's true, but late nonetheless.

For the past several few months I've been working on my Field Statement, which is essentially a literature review on three different academic fields that are central to the upcoming dissertation. I was way behind schedule for a number of reasons, none of which are interesting enough to go into, and so had to work super-fast to get this thing done so I can get started on my disseration proposal and still have a hope of getting my dissertation completed before my funding runs out (next May).

The good news is that I was successful in this endeavor and my Field Statement is complete, my professors are happy, and I'm almost caught up to where I should be in this process.

My reward for finishing the Field Statement about ten days ago was that I then had to take the Field Exam, which is a three day process that's sort of the PhD program equivilant of college hazing.

The Field Exam is where you're given four questions that are related to your Field Statement (hence the "Field"-i-ness of it) and you're given three days to write 8-10 page answers to each of the four questions.

You do the math.

So, as of noon today (Saturday) I'm finally finished with that excruciating process and am now a relatively free man, once again! And tomorrow, to celebrate, I'm going on a (very) short vacation with Mie, who has been extremely patient with me during this whole rig-a-ma-role. (How the hell do you spell that word?)

Anyway, I'll be back on Tuesday and then I'm hoping to get back on track with this Hoopla! thing but, in the meantime, I just didn't want y'all to think I'd forgotten you.

I assure you, every morning for the past two weeks I've woken up with only one thought in my mind: "Must... write... comic-book reviews..."

Well, maybe there were a couple of other thoughts, but they were entirely secondary and not really worth mentioning...

Anyhow, to tide you over until I come back and do some actual comic-book reviews and some of that witty banter stuff that we all so enjoy, here's a list of what I'm ordering for October 2007, to do with as you will...

ACTION COMICS #857
ACTION COMICS #858
SUPERMAN #669

I don't normally pick up the Superman titles these days, but here we've got Eric Powell doing art on a Bizarro story, the first part of a Legion of Super-Heroes story (the 'real' ones, that is) and the beginning of a 3-part Superman/Batman team up written by Kurt Busiek.

What's not to love?

ANNIHILATION CONQUEST STAR LORD #4 (Of 4)
NOVA #7

Loved, loved, loved Annihilation Conquest: Prologue, Star Lord #1, and Nova #4.

Loved 'em.

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #7

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #1

I'm not terribly optimistic about this Outsiders business because (1) it's the Outsiders and (2) it's written by Tony Bedard, who is a decent writer but certainly not a great one.

But... every month my comic-book subscription service, mailordercomics.com, has a few titles for under a title to get you to try them. This month, one of those comics is Batman and the Outsiders #1.

For 74 cents, I'll give it a try...

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #7

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #7

CAPTAIN AMERICA #31

DETECTIVE COMICS #837

FABLES #66

FAKER #4 (Of 6)

The first issue of Faker wasn't actually as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it wasn't bad and it seems to have a lot of potential, so I'm willing to stick with it for now...

FANTASTIC FOUR #551

FLASH #233

GREEN LANTERN #24

Lovin' the Sinestro Corps storyline...

HOWARD THE DUCK #1 (Of 4)

Hey, it's Howard the Duck! And with art by Juan Bobillo, who also did the art on those totally kick-butt early issues of Dan Slott's She-Hulk. And written by Ty Templeton.

What's not to love???

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #10

INCREDIBLE HULK #111

JLA HITMAN #2 (Of 2)

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #14

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #10

MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #1 (Of 5)

I'm actually kind of burnt out on the whole Marvel Zombies thing, but this is another of those 74 cent comics, so I'm picking up the first issue...

MIGHTY AVENGERS #6

I've enjoyed not buying Mighty Avengers for the past few months, but this issue ties into the larger Skrull thing that's going on over at New Avengers, so I'm going to give it a try...

This could be a fatal mistake on my part...

OMEGA UNKNOWN #1 (Of 10)

PARADE WITH FIREWORKS #2 (Of 2)

SUBURBAN GLAMOUR #2 (Of 4)

SUICIDE SQUAD RAISE THE FLAG #2 (Of 8)

SUPER VILLAIN TEAM UP MODOKS 11 #4 (Of 5)

Loved the first issue of MODOKS 11...

THE SWORD #1

[74 cents...]

[But what's up with that title?]

"Hey, what'cha reading?"

"Oh, I'm reading this great new series!"

"Yeah? What's it called?

"The Sword."

"Zzz..."

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #115

WONDER WOMAN #13

Gail Simone's first issue...

WORLD WAR HULK #5 (Of 5)

X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #5

Jeff Parker!!!

Plus Booster Gold #3, the Spider-Man "One More Day" storyline, Gutsville #6, and the latest New Avengers...

So, how do you feel about that?

- Paul, ready for a vacation...