So the time has come for me to make another set of cuts, on my monthly reads. Some upcoming stuff (exciting for sure), will mean that the money has to be focused elswhere. Last time, I went from 45 comics a month to 30. This time, I'm going to be cutting from my monthly regulars, so as to allow me smoe flexability for mini series. Not all series are being cut because of poor delivery. Some are being cut, just because I want to focus more on the titles that I grew up on, and the characters that I truly enjoy reading about. Also this is not a definitive list, just what's being reviewed as a potential cut.

So here's what I'm eyeing, and why:

New Avengers: Yes the title has been good. But I'm not really an Avengers fan. It looks like Spidey and Wolvie might be leaving, and Sentry has been a big flop as a member of the team. Thor would be a saving grace, or a t least a reason to think about staying on. Laslty, I'm enjoying Squadron Supreme more.

Transformers: Infiltration: This one saddens me. I grew up as a G-1 fan. But the fact is, that IDW has decided to make Transformers into more of an anime style comic, and Simon Furman has fizzled out as the great Transformers' writer he once was. Add to the fact that that Megatron is back as a tank (like he was in G-2), and I can't continue. I have asked that I be taken off the pulls list as of Issue #6.

Outsiders I've been wanting to drop this for awhile. As soon as the current arc is over, it's done. I like Nightwing and Arsenal, but Indigo and Shift were major favs of mine, and they are no longer on the team. Plus Winnick's writing hasn't been good on this title in at least a year. So I'm hoping that the arc ends by September.

All-Star Batman & Robin: I haven't been as disappointed with this as most, but the release schedule (or lack there of), has pretty much killed the title for me.

Teen Titans: I think Johns is burned out on this book. I don't get the same vibe from it, as I did before the Infinite Crisis events. The Superboy goes bad arc, that crossed over with the Outsiders was the last good one that comes to mind. It's not terrible, but without Conner and Bart, this team seems flat. Plus there are some more changes in store shortly, and I'm just not seeing it fit to my tatses

Batman: Secrets- This ends this week so no biggie.

Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre- Ends next month, so again no biggie.

Ultimates 2: Ends next month. I am undecided about Year 3, with Loeb. i'm not very fond of his work overall.

New Excalibur: This book moves closer to the keeper list, than the drop list. I like the make up of the team with Juggernaut and Dazzler, plus the writing has been consistenly solid.

The Flash: I'm currently seeing how this goes. But it could be dropped any time.

There are some things that I will be picking up to replace some of these titles, that I currently do not read:

Uncanny X-Men, starting this week.
Amazing Spider-Man (already reading it for Civial War, just thinking of making it more permanent).
Trials of Shazam! maxi
Martian Manhunter mini
Justice League of America (More Superman is never a bad thing for me)

I would keep All Star Batman and Robin on for two reasons: 1) It's a great read even though it takes forever to come out. 2)It's not really killing your budget when you have to pay 2.99 once every 4 months. But I like how your reading Uncanny X-men now(that's a killer team) and Amazing Spider-Man has been good since Civil War started (let's hope it stays that way) but for the Ultimates 2 thing, I would skim the first issue of 3 and if you like it a lot, keep it, if you don't just put it down and don't even bother with the series. I'd keep New Avengers until after Civil War and then drop it. I don't read the other books so I can't give any suggestions on them.

The good thing is, I don't drop books in the middle of arcs. So AS Batman and New Avengers are safe for the time being.

As for Ultimates 3, it kind of falls under the Avengers thing, where I'm not a big fan of them in general. Perhaps it's probably too soon to even mention it.

I'm dropping Iron Man myself. The storys aren't that great, and the art has become garbage (under the new team).

The 'Inevitable Iron Man' miniseries was a fun read, funky art, but fun. The regular title is just not nearly as good.

Interesting that you'd post this.

My regular read list constantly fluctuates as well. But some of the books on your chopping block are one's on my 'definite keep' list, and vice-versa.

New Avengers – I’m actually interested to see where this title goes post- Civil War. If it reinvents itself in a clever and interesting way, I’ll continue to stick around.

Outsiders – I too have been a little disappointed with the current arc, but I’ve enjoyed the book for so long, I’m willing to see where they go.

ASB&R – Wow. What a steaming pile this book is. And to have to wait several months for each issue is like salt in the wound.
Personally I haven’t been impressed with anything FM has written in a decade.

Titans – Like Outsiders, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I suspect that the current arc is being used as a launching point for a new Doom Patrol book. So the Titans may pick up more post OYL.

Ultimates 3 – If the next series has a release schedule anything like the first 2 (and there’s no indication so far that it’ll be any better), you could wait and see, then pick up the series in Trade Paperback by story arc.

Uncanny X-men – I really want to like the X-men, but this looks like yet another ploy, and another major shake-up by a new creative team. If this creative team turns over in 6 months, like so many have in recent years, and the book re-boots with yet another new team, I’d be bummed again. So I’m not even bothering with it. (Plus, I don’t even consider this, or (adjectiveless X-men) to be real X-men books when half the team are actually Brotherhood.

Ro-Gan--- Trades are nice, but I like to be involved with the stories as they happen. I usually get trades of older stories.


azs> I've been reading Outsiders and Teen Titans since the begining. So letting either of those titles go would be a bit wrenching. Somehow Outsiders always gets an 11th hour reprieve. So I must like it more than I'm telling myself. So we'll see. At this point, the only one that's gone for sure, is Transformers.

Ultimates 3- Loeb might influence me to pick this up regularly, and certainly won't write it off just yet. We'll see when I'm at when it comes out.

Considering Madureira has been drawing it for nearly a year now, that should give him enough time to finish the series without any delays. I know he's a slow artist, but even he isn't that slow.

I also wanted to mention that Amazing Spider-Man has been really good during Civil War, although that's really only the last issue as the rest have been fairly bad for the most part. You may be better off waiting for the Loeb/J. Scott Campbell series that's been remoured (last I heard) to be the Spider-Man equivelent of Astonishing X-Men. Amazing is doing alright for the time being, but I'm wary of anything JMS writes involving Spidey.

I might pick up Uncanny X-Men as well, only because of some faith in Brubaker and I actually enjoyed Deadly Genesis. Most of it anyway.

Seems like you're a team book kind of guy. New JLA coming out somewhat soon. May I suggest the Annihilation series coming out next month , too! As for AllStar Bats and Robin...switch gears....get AS Supes or may I suggest Manhunter or Daredevil. Both Andreyko and Brubaker are KILLING on those titles with great supporting casts in them.

Anyway, something to ponder....

Yeah, I'm mainly a team book guy. JLoA will be one of my regular monthly pick ups, and AS Supes already is ( I read all his titles). Annihilation isn't something I'd pick up, because the cosmic aspect of either DC or Marvel doesn't appeal to me that much. Tried Manhunter for a few issues when she was hunting down Shadow Thief- just couldn't dig it, and though I like Daredevil, it's not enough to pick him up regularly. Like I said, I'm going back to my core titles. That means more of:

Superman, X-Men, Batman, JLA, Spider-man, Wolverine and possibly Hulk. Along tthose lines, I will also be reading Squadron Supreme, and Ultimate FF.

I am going through a similar process right now. I just laid out all my books and I had more then 30 piles (stupid minis and supplemental books).

Looking at applying for my 1st mortgage and realizing I spend $100 a month on comics is not a smart move. I am considering dropping the following titles:

Outsiders - I couldn't care less about Grace or Thunder
Uncanny X-men - Could they finish a story line already
Aquaman - I stood by the hook hand and the water hand, but I can't follow it anymore.
Manhunter - I will follow you until the end
X-men Unlimited - juvenille story telling highlighting characters we already see too much of.

I have yet to determine some others.

You should give Uncanny a shot. With Ed Brubaker coming on board, and following up Deadly Genesis, the title has potential. The first issue was a good start to his run.

I agree with most of your analyses, Darth Sabre. And, like you, I don't drop titles in the middle of an arc, so all of these are safe for now, but might wind up being gone soon.

Here's what is currently on the chopping block for me:
1) The Flash. I started picking up the book when Johns was writing it. It made me really care about Wally. Then, it took Wally away and the writing has fallen off pretty drastically. I'll wait out the first arc, but then it's likely over.

2) JLA: Classified. Honestly, I'm not even sure why I stuck with the title this long. It's even making me question whether or not to pick up the actual JLA title when it starts up again.

3) New Avengers. I hopped on this book after the first arc, and the only reason I didn't pick up the first arc was because I was still disgusted by the abomination that was Disassembled. Now, they're going through another 'Disassembled' and re-vamping the title again, and just when I was really starting to like the make-up of the team. And, on top of that, the new artist stinks. Unless things take a sharp up-turn post-Civil War, I can't see myself continuing to buy this title.

4) New Excalibur. I want to like this book. And, it has glimmers of being really good. But, glimmers aren't enough to get me to continue shelling out $2.99 for it. So, we'll see how I feel after the current arc concludes.

5) Captain America. I started picking up this title with the current arc because I really like Brubaker's writing, but it's still 'on probabtion'. If I like the way the current arc concludes, I'll likely continue with it.

6) X-Men. Bought the arc for the return of Apocalypse but was generally disappointed. I also dislike the new 'manga' style Sentinels. I doubt I'll be carrying this title much longer.

7) Ion. If it weren't for the fact that this is a limited series, and I really like Kyle's character and want to see where this story goes, I'd've already dropped it. The art has been horrible. The story has been slow. It's like they're stretching six issues worth of story into a twelve issue series.

8) 52. I really want to like this series, and there's no doubt in my mind that I'll continue to see it through to the end, but I'd like to at least pretend that I'm going to drop it because the last two or three issues have been so incredibly boring.

Honestly, I'd cut all of those. Most of them are pretty bland (though, obv there's no reason to drop Ultimates now with one issue left, but once Vol. 3 hits I'd call it a day. I don't trust Loeb to write anything remotely looking like a good comic these days).