This Week's Releases: January 16, 2007

It'll be a damn light week for me at 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics, and half this meager list is populated with items of dubious desire. Were it not for the demands of 52 on 52, I doubt I'd make the horrific drive this week. After all, I have lines to learnin'.

The ebbs and flows of comic product fascinate me. While I understand it's seasonal, my budget is not. I have about $X a month/week to spend on comicbookery. If there's more stuff than I can afford it just doesn't get bought. If there's not enough to meet the budget ... it often gets spent elsewhere.

I was hyped to read Emperor Joker, until Kevin burst my bubble. Fantastic FOur is almost a pity vote: I'm always willing to give Dwayme McDuffie a chance, and without this book I'd simply be skipping Marvel entirely this week. Star Trek I assume would be unremarkable at best, but hits a sweet spot of series affection for me. Battlestar Galactica has been a disappointment, yet I keep buying with the hope that it'll turn into the kind of brilliance the TV series displays weekly. I keep buying Green Lantern with the hope that ... you caught me: I am a victim of character inertia.

It would all leave me feeling quite listless until I realize that there's also some more yummy Darwyn Cooke Spirit, Dans Slott and Jurgens on JLA Classified, and AiT/PlanetLar's First Moon. Larry Young was kind enough to send along a PDF of the book, and I overcame my comics-on-screen revulsion long enough to read the first few pages and get instantly hooked. Berkeley, Werewolves, Roanoke, and Continuity's Jason McNamara and Tony Talbert will do that to a guy. I didn't read it fully, as I need my comics printed on dead trees instead of phosphors ... but I'm excited to read the rest tomorrow.

• 52 #37
• Green Lantern #16
• JLA Classified #32
• Spirit #2
• Superman: Emperor Joker
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between #1
• Fantastic Four #542
• First Moon $12.95
• Battlestar Galactica #5