Continuing the list of Top 25, the following are my Top 10 — at least of the comics I have on hand at the moment. The precise order may change in any given week, and a change in the creative team can have an effect, too.

Review code format (ranked 1-5, blah to faboo): [writing / art / new reader? / non-comics reader?]

16. The Pulse (Marvel): w. Bendis; a. Lark. [4/3/3/3] Investigative report newspaper in Marvel’s NYC.
17. Invincible (Image): w. Kirkman; a. Ottley. [4/3/3/3] Powerful young hero.

18. Astonishing X-Men (Marvel): w. Whedon; a. Cassaday. [4/5/2/2] Very nice rendition of the mutant team.

19. Fables (Vertigo): w. Willingham; a. Medina. [5/3/3/4] Fairy tale characters fighting a secret war in the real world.

20. Powers (Icon): w. Bendis; a. Oeming. [4/3/2/3] Cops and metahumans, gritty and slice-of-life.

21. Dork Tower (Dork Storm): w/a. Kovalic. [4/3/4/4] Gamer/media geek humor.

22. PvP (Image): w/a. Kurtz. [5/4/3/4] More gamer/media geek humor.

23. Strangers in Paradise (Abstract): w/a. Terry Moore. [5/5/2/5] Multi-layered, multi-year, incredibly rich soap opera.

24. Planetary (Wildstorm): w. Ellis; a. Cassaday. [5/5/3/4] A tribute to pulp/comics genres, as well as a multifaceted parable and ripping good yarn.

25. Usagi Yojimbo (Dark Horse): w/a. Sakai. [5/4/3/5] Elegant anthropomorphic samurai adventures.

It occurs to me that I’ve left out (because I haven’t received issues of it in the last couple of months) an Aaron Williams book that would end up on this list, PS238. It’d probably get clustered right with the other gamer/geek humor books.

Including this post, I have seven posts left to do. Wow. That means there is no way I will run out of material because I have at least 16 posts I have outlined that I could make.

Woo-hoo! It’s almost like I’m done! Can I go to sleep now?

Juuuuuust kidding. Okay, here’s the plan. First off, I’m going to post over the next two entries, my Top 25 Comics Currently Being Published, based on the “Best for Last” principle. Normally, when I get my comics, I stack them so that the best are on the bottom, where I’ll most look forward to getting to them.

Consider these my recommendations for what you should grab if you wander into the comic book store, either the current issues or recent trade paperbacks.

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