Marvel's January solicits and Trade Talks schedule

Here are the books I’m thinking of getting from Marvel’s January 2009 solicitations:

Spider-Girl, v. 10: Season of the Serpent: Marvel must have heard my plea for more Spider-Girl volumes and finally decided to release v. 10, more than a year after v. 9. (Of course Marvel was listening to me and rushed this volume into production. No, of course they didn’t have this in development already. That’s crazy talk. What are you, crazy?) I’m not enamored of the new digest price of $9.99, but it’s better than no Spider-Girl reprints at all. Season of the Serpent covers #52-9.

Essential Punisher, v. 3: I have no idea how long I’ll remain interested in the Essential Punishers. Repetition has to set in soon, but the previous volume was surprisingly entertaining, and I’ll keep getting them until they stop being entertaining. Reprints Punisher #21-40 and Annuals #2-3.

Ruins #1: Not a trade paperback, but it does collect Warren Ellis’s Ruins, which is his answer to Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’s Marvels. Ellis takes Marvels and squeezes it until all the hope is gone, then takes glee in repeatedly injecting its eyeballs with liquid depression. Still, I read #1 almost a decade ago after finding it in a quarter bin, but I hadn’t found #2 (of 2). (Back-issue prices are innnnnsane!) It’ll be nice to finally find out how it ends: I’m holding out for a happy ending.

This week is a digest week; Mini Marvels: Rock, Paper, Scissors was the Tuesday review, and Friday is Spider-Girl Presents The Buzz and Darkdevil. Yes, that should be a crowd pleaser. Next week is, of course, Halloween, and that means ostensibly scary stuff: Batman: Vampire and Essential Marvel Horror, v. 1. After that, I’m not sure, but I’m thinking of changing the format a little, and the books I review will probably be from Carrier Library’s graphic novel collection. That means more DC and more books focusing on women and minorities, because that’s one of the emphases of the collection. Or, I suppose, two emphases.