Nerd alert.

I spent some time in Portland's local comic shop today a) because I am that nerdy and b) because I was looking for the first volume of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles (they had every volume except the first, which happened to be the only volume Borders did have, but I digress). I don't buy comics in the monthly issue format (the ads are ugly/break up the story, trade paperbacks look nicer on a bookshelf), but I did flip through a few this afternoon.

Fables #87: Fables was my big graphic novel obsession of last summer (replaced throughout the year by Y: The Last Man). It's a great series, very entertaining, with absolutely gorgeous artwork from Mark Buckingham. Frankly, I stopped buying it because the trade paperbacks were getting too expensive, and issue #50 (Bigby and Snow's wedding) felt like a good stopping place. This issue is part one of the Witches arc, and addresses Baba Yaga's recent escape from imprisonment. It's the usual Fables loveliness (and it features the debut of Ozma), but I'm not sure I'm ready to buy the four volumes needed to catch up. We'll see.

Uncanny X-Men #514: The X-Men franchise has been floundering since Grant Morrison left. The post Messiah Complex era has felt more cohesive, but I'm a long ways away from buying a new X-Men comic. That said, this issue wasn't that bad. The Utopia storyline is getting some good press, and the story has a fun sense of momentum. The book still needs a regular cast of less than 15 characters, and I'm not sure it's a great idea to rip the team out of San Francisco just yet, but I'll be keeping a closer eye on this one.