Gimme That (Pull List)

My monthly pull list has shrunk considerably over the past year. A few years (and one less baby) ago I was buying all kinds of stuff. I had to be spending like $100 a month. Now I've paired it down to about $50 on a regular non-event month and i have the other $50 to pick stuff that's not on my list but I might give a try. I'll go through my list in sections.

Guaranteed-are the 5 stars must-read, must have books. I love those books with a passion and will often wait until one of them comes out before I head up to Dr. No's.
General Bets-Mostly solid books that I enjoy every month. They're fun to read but I'm not passionate about. Others are things I pick up out of habit and haven't quite got fed up enough to cut.
Trying out- New and mostly non-big 2 books that I've heard about and willing to try.
Traded-book I'm going to wait on the trade to read. They were on the Good Bets list or the try list and have for whatever reason not justified being picked up monthly.
Cut- these books have slacked in quality to the point that I want nothing to do with them.

Guaranteed
Green Lantern, Invicible Iron Man, Thor
I am absolutely guaranteed to have Green Lantern, Thor and Invincible IronMan in my bag on the way out the store. I have to pick up those books every month. They maintain a level of quality on a month to month basis that has never and probably will never fail, given that the same creative team stays with the book. The stories they are telling are very complex and interesting. Geoff Johns is killing this Hal Jordan epic he's crafting. Same with Fraction and Tony Stark in Invincible. I expected a little story to coincide with the Iron Man movie but i was blown away with what they actually gave me. JMS and Copiel on Thor is absolutely must read storytelling. Its the best, most interesting, and most intriguing plot Loki has ever devised. Watching it roll out every month is a joy.

General Bets
Secret Six, War of Kings, Incognito, Invincible, Incredible Hercules, Ultimate Spider-man, Wolverine: Weapon X, Green Lantern Corps, Battle for the Cowl, Flash Rebirth,
All good reads. Secret Six and Invincible are almost guaranteed but haven't quite inspired me yet. I like what Robert Kirkman is building up to in Invincible. He juggles a lot of plot lines each month.

Trying
Unwritten, Dead Irons
Mike Carey is one of my favorite writers. His Lucifer is pretty classic. Xmen Legacy is a good take on Prof X. The concept of Unwritten sounds like a stroke of genius if its executed right. I'll give Carey a chance automatically. Dead Irons I'm picking up based on Jason Shawn Alexander's art. Its an old west vampire story. Should be worth at least one issue for the art alone.

Traded
Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead
I have all the single issues up to this point but I realized I haven't read half of them. The story isn't bad by any means. Its just...heavy. It's a lot to keep track of on a regular story when I've read all the Dark Tower novels and this is suppose to fit into the series in one big continuity. I can't help but try to make a big time line until my head hurts. Plus they have Robin Firth writing those novellas/history chapters in the back. When I read comics seeing all those words with no pictures turns me off. I get tired imagining reading it. I love Jae Lee's artwork though. So I'll wait for the trade.

Cut
All Avengers/Dark Reign books
They were cut a few months ago but its worth mentioning still. I was all into the secret invasion thing. I had all the tie-ins and man that ending made me feel like s#@$!. Anything that is touched by Dark Reign withers and dies in my opinion. It sucks my interest right out of it.

Detective/Batman
I don't know how I feel about this new Batman stuff. I liked Paul Dini and Nyguyen on Detective and Morrison of Batman. They're doing a lot of shuffling and I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet. I know I have no interest in Batwoman so Detective is out. I don't know who is in Batman proper, or if it will be Morrison's Batman and Robin with Frank Quitely (which I'll probably ad to the list). I'll wait a few issues before I pick those back up.