Lost more time than I thought I would this week – got the order form done pretty early, but Rob got sick on Monday, killing my afternoon that I planned on writing. So, AlphaSmart at the store’s counter, while the rain pitter-pats down outside. Been open 45 minutes, and we’ve yet to have a customer yet. Good for writing, poor for the pocketbook.

I studiously avoided going to the site in the last few days, but I’m going to go ahead and assume that both Graeme and Jeff have posted reviews this week, making this the rare hat trick. Unless they didn’t, in which case… never mind.

(If I read their reviews, it usually kills my interest in writing any of my own)

Next week, I think, I’ll do a big One Year Later review – although we’ll still be at least one book short (TITANS isn’t shipping this week). This is why you’ll see no DC reviews this week,

So, what shall we talk about? Well, in no particular order:

CYBERFORCE #1: Actually, I didn’t read this, but, as a retailer, I really wonder sometimes what Top Cow is thinking with their trade dress. Their TPs have “Top Cow” taking up nearly a third of the spine, in bright yellow, sticking out more than the name of the actual work. And now their periodicals have a massive TC logo nearly as visually dominating as the title of the book. Do they think that general readers give a fuck? I mean, I sell more dollars from say Lightspeed or Airship in an average month (both of which have switched to TP-only, no more serialization) than I do of the entire TC line combined. Go figure. I think this branding chases more people away than it attracts, especially because “Top Cow” isn’t descriptive of, well, anything much at all…

GUN FU SHOWGIRLS ARE FOREVER: Cute little hip hop Bond pastiche thingy, but I was a little surprised to see the credits claim that Dave Sim was a co-scripter. Maybe some of the accents or something? Didn’t read much different than the first GUN FU comics. Either way, fairly clever stuff, but I think I’d lose interest fast if this was a monthly. As a “once in a while” release, this was a solid OK.

FUTURAMA #24: I laughed, I cried, I kissed $3 goodbye. Well, I laughed, at least, which is what you want in a humor comic. A low GOOD.

RED SONJA #8: I also didn’t actually read this issue, but that’s more because they’ve just been jamming them out so fast lately, trying to “catch up” to schedule, rather than just redoing the schedule itself. Sales are also dropping really fast for us, so it seems I’m not the only one. I’ve also had a lot of complaints from customers getting confused by the multiple covers, and buying some issues twice. *sigh*

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #530: Beyond the fact, I really don’t buy the set-up – I mean, what with Peter and MJ living in Avengers Tower, and Peter having the “Iron Spider” suit, you don’t think that some investigative reporter isn’t going to figure the connection out, toot suite? – but, putting that aside, the political stuff worked pretty decently. So much so, that if it weren’t for that extremely brain-damaged dueling editorial caption thing, I probably would have said “GOOD”. But that caption thing was really heinous, knocking the whole issue down to a mild OK.

BLACK PANTHER #14: Did I say this already? That putting the two best-known Marvel black leads together just feels like pandering to me? Coming soon: the wedding of Coleen Wing and Sunfire! Wait, no, make that Dr. Strange’s manservant, Wong – Wing and Wong, quick, someone pitch that! Still, enjoyed this more than the 13 issues preceding it, so that must count for something. OK

DAREDEVIL #83: I really really really don’t buy the set up, and I don’t see how this can even a vaguely successful conclusion, but, oddly, I liked the issue just fine. A solid enough OK

NEW AVENGERS #17: I really liked the thinking behind the first couple of pages, but, man, that was much more suited for a MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL or something, than THE AVENGERS. I mean “…and we’re just going to stand there”? That’s not exactly exciting action in the mighty Marvel manner, is it? I’m sure kids all over America want to read about the Avengers just standing around. I know I do. BUT WAIT, cosmic House of M action intrudes with the really preposterous power of “millions” of mutants in one man. I liked the 2 pages of Iron Man trying to negotiate (“…Korvac?”), but then we’re back to punching as a seemingly out of character Ms. Marvel throws herself in the middle (what happened to trying to be a better hero? No, she just dives in and punches. Swell), and then that dopey last page, which seems pretty damn badly timed just when MM gets her own monthly book, yes? Man, this book is just a crazy-ass train wreck, ain’t it? I can’t call it anything except AWFUL.

NEXTWAVE #3: What’s with the new “: Agents of HATE” subtitle? Someone from Eclipse threaten to sue? (I’m not the only one who remembers that book, am I?) Anyway, “second verse, same as the first”, and, already this seems like it has no legs, nor any forward momentum. Twasn’t even funny. EH.

SHE-HULK #6: A humor book (or even a “humor” book, since this seems to be trying to straddle a few lines) has some particular art needs – not “house style” like this issue. If Bobilla was still drawing this, I’d probably be enthused, but he’s not. We’ve also lost nearly half the readers from the relaunch, which isn’t a good sign for long-term health. OK

SQUADRON SUPREME #1: lots and lots of recap, which I suppose is necessary for any new readers possibly coming in, but kinda killed my interest until next issue. We’re probably the rare and odd store where it being a “Max” book was a prime selling point, and not something to be afraid of – the book was already selling Top 20 for us, so we really don’t HAVE any new readers coming in. I expect its rating to climb once we’re past the “here’s what you missed”, but this time round, I can’t muster more than an OK.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #28: That was a bit of a cheat, wasn’t it? I liked Land’s art in a fantasy context, but in the “real world” setting, it looks too “real” or something to me. Big EH.

TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #16: Don’t remember if I said anything about this when it FIRST came out, 6-8 weeks ago (it was on a “Previews Update”, and, huh, looks like I double ordered it for this week), but this was a terrific issue, moving away from the romantic love to the love of comics. Really sweet stuff, and this week’s sole VERY GOOD.(even if that’s slightly cheating)

OK, just talked to Rob, he’s feeling better, but not 100% so I told him to stay home today so he’s 100% tomorrow. Which means I’ve got a lot more work to do this afternoon than originally planned. Dats dat for reviews, then, sorry.

PICK OF THE WEEK: TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #16, yes.

PICK OF THE WEAK: Please, NEW AVENGERS #17, though it has its mental charms.

TP/BOOK OF THE WEEK: I kind of liked that the new printing of SILVR SURFER REBIRTH OF THANOS now has THE THANOS QUEST in it – but there’ still like six orphaned issues between TQ and INFINITY GAUNTLET that haven’t been reprinted and for $25, I feel they could have thrown those in.

But that’s pretty irrelevant because this week was the SC of TOP 10 THE FORTY NINERS which easily and immediately becomes the PICK, probably of the month. Fucking A+ level work, and, if you waited from the HC, getthisgetthisgetthisNOWNOWNOW!

Next week (probably): the big One Year Later wrap up….

-B Click Here to Read More...

A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #31 (A)
ACTION COMICS #837
ALL STAR SUPERMAN #3
BATMAN JOURNEY INTO KNIGHT #8(OF 12)
BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #202
BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #141
BLUE BEETLE #1
BOOK OF SHADOWS #1 (OF 2)
BOOKS OF DOOM #5 (OF 6)
CAPTAIN AMERICA 65TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
CHICANOS #5
DEADWORLD #3
FALLEN ANGEL IDW #4 (OF 5)
FANTASTIC FOUR #536
FROM HEAVEN TO HELL #2
GODLAND #9
GREEN LANTERN #10
HOW TO SELF PUBLISH COMICS #2(OF 4)
HYSTERIA ONE MAN GANG #2 (OF 4)
INVINCIBLE #30
IRON MAN #6
JLA CLASSIFIED #19
JOVAS HARVEST #3 (OF 3)
LUCIFER #72
MARVEL ROMANCE REDUX GUYS & DOLL
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT DAVID FINCH ROBERTO AGUIRRE-SACASA
NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI SPECIAL
NICK FURY HOWLING COMMANDOS #6
PARADOX #2 (OF 3)
POISON ELVES LOST TALES #2
QUEEN & COUNTRY #29
RISING STARS UNTOUCHABLE #2 (OF 5)
ROBERT JORDANS NEW SPRING #5
ROBIN SCREWSO #1 (A)
SAVAGE DRAGON #124
SENTRY #7 (OF 8)
SOULFIRE #6
SPAWN #154
SPIDER-MAN & ARANA SPECIAL
SPIKE VS DRACULA #2 (OF 5)
STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #3
STAR WARS RETURN OF TAG & BINK SPECIAL ED #1 (OF 2)
STRANGE GIRL #7
SULLENGRAY #3 (OF 4)
SUPER REAL #2
SUPERMAN BATMAN #24
SURROGATES #5 (OF 5)
TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #37
TEEN TITANS GO #29
THING #5
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #92
UNCANNY X-MEN #471
UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERSE PSI-FORCE
USAGI YOJIMBO #92
VERONICA #169
WALKING DEAD #27
WARLORD #2
X-MEN DEADLY GENESIS #5 (OF 6)
X-STATIX PRESENTS DEAD GIRL #3 (OF 5)
ZOMBIE TALES THE DEAD #1

Book / Mag / Stuff
ALIAS OMNIBUS
ANT VOL 1 REALITY BITES TP
BALLAD OF SLEEPING BEAUTY TP
BANANA SUNDAY TP
BATTLE ROYALE VOL 15 GN (OF 15)
DAREDEVIL VOL 13 THE MURDOCK PAPERS TP
EAST COAST RISING VOL 1 GN (OF 3)
ESSENTIAL NOVA VOL 1 TP
FIRST KINGDOM VOL 2 TP (OF 4)
FORGOTTEN REALMS DARK ELF TRILOGY VOL 2 EXILE TP
GEORGE ROMEROS LAND OF THE DEAD TP
GUNNED DOWN TP
HEAVY METAL MAY 2006
HELLBLAZER LADY CONSTANTINE TP
INFINITY WAR TP
IRON WOK JAN GN #15
IRON WOK JAN GN #17
JUXTAPOZ APR 2006 VOL 14 #4
LADY SNOWBLOOD VOL 3 RETRIBUTION PART 1 TP
MARVEL MASTERWORKS GOLDEN AGEMARVEL COMICS VOL 2 NEW ED HC
NEW AVENGERS VOL 3 SECRETS & LIES PREMIERE HC
NIGHTWING MOBBED UP TP
OR ELSE #4
PACIFY GN
SEA OF RED VOL 2 NO QUARTER TP
SHARKNIFE VOL 1 GN
SOLSTICE TP
SPAWN MANGA VOL 3 TP
STAR WARS CLONE WARS VOL 8 LAST SIEGE FINAL TRUTH TP
TALES OF ALVIN MAKER RED PROPHET #1 ARLEM CVR A
TARZAN THE JOE KUBERT YEARS VOL 2 HC
TRAILERS SC
TRANSFORMERS GENERATION 1 VOL2 TP (IDW)
WILL EISNERS SPIRIT ARCHIVES VOL 18 HC
WIZARD COMICS MAGAZINE SUPERMAN PHOTO CVR #175
X-MEN COLOSSUS BLOODLINE TP
X-MEN DARK PHOENIX SAGA TP NEW PRINTING


What looks good to you?

-B Click Here to Read More...

Just in case you don't check it out on a regular basis, this week's Onion A.V. Club brings the critic with a side-helping of savage this week. Their review of DC's One Year Later titles is really just an overview (so Hibbs should clear some space in his schedule and get to his take on the books), but their Comics of Note section has quick takes on sixteen or seventeen recent books, from La Perdida to Ganges to Daredevil and X-Men: Deadly Genesis.

Worth checking out, although comparing Kevin Huizenga to Peter Bagge and Terry LaBan? Hmm...

Labels: Jeff

Click Here to Read More...

Jeff and I both review on the same day? This kind of thing can only happen… in DC Nation. I admit it; I’m kind of amused by the revamp of DC’s back page version of “Bullpen Bulletins,” especially as it reminds me of the version they had the last time they had a Crisis of Infinite proportions, when Dick Giordano had the Dan Didio role and promised all manner of good things and revolutions and the like. Still, at least DC have finally hired a good designer to do the page this time, even if a third of the page is filled with a stylish black and white portrait of Didio. Shall we begin the reviewing, nonetheless?

BATMAN #651: First off, you don’t fool me with that cover, Simone Bianchi – You can’t really connect it to the cover of this month’s Detective Comics. It’s a different drawing, you sneaky wee so-and-so (I am anal enough to notice that the brushstrokes on the gloves on each cover are different. Pity me). This is a first for the One Year Later books – a Part Two. As such, it’s weird to see the “One Year Later” caption at the start of the issue. Sure, it’s One Year Later than the last issue of Batman, but this issue actually starts before the end of the first part of the story, in Detective #817, so I’m guessing that someone in DC’s collections department will have some editing to do before the inevitable trade.

What’s that? You want me to say something about the comic itself? It’s Okay, I guess; the art (by former JSA artist, Don Kramer) is kind of generic and the larger plot doesn’t really get advanced that much, but there are things to like about it, especially the way it reinforces the new “Batman isn’t a dick and can do teamwork” zeitgeist for the OYL set-up, considering that he more or less sets himself up as a diversion while Robin does the primary work beating this issue’s bad guy (Oh, okay: bad girl). But it feels like filler, already, which doesn’t bode well for the rest of this eight-issue storyline. Is it too early to want Paul Dini and Grant Morrison to take over the books?

CATWOMAN #53: The strange thing about this book is how underwhelmed I am by it, even though there are so many details about it that I really liked. Will Pfeifer has the characterization down – Being a big fan of the Brubaker run on this book, but not having picked it up since he left, I really enjoyed the Selina/Holly/Slam scene, with Slam speaking for the reader when he talks about Holly’s role as the new Catwoman – but the plot and pacing feels disjointed, and just like other OYL books, it’s playing entirely to the existing audience (No characters really get an introduction for those unfamiliar with them – Holly’s name doesn’t appear in the entire book, despite her apparently being the title character - and the scene with the cops completely lost me), without acknowledging that the Holly-as-Catwoman thing was done before, at the end of Brube’s run. David Lopez’s art is static and problematic in some scenes, but he does a nice Holly-Catwoman to balance out his weird Selina. Overall, there’s enough here to make me curious enough to maybe pick up another issue, but I wish that Pfeifer would let his characterization run riot more. Okay.

DAREDEVIL #83: I really wish that someone with a sense of humor would change the subtitle in the logo to “The Man Without Freedom” at least once before Matt gets out of prison, but that may just show why I’ll never get a job in Marvel’s production department. Meanwhile, Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark are doing a pretty good job with this book. Ed’s hitting a tone somewhere between his Sleeper and Captain America, and Lark’s stuff is just amazing in certain scenes. I’m convinced that the Daredevil running around New York is Spider-Man, for some reason, but am happy enough to hang around to see just how wrong I am over the next few issues. Good.

HAWKGIRL #50: Howard Chaykin, he likes those nipples, I’m telling you. There’s something so ideosyncratic about both Chaykin’s art and Walt Simonson’s writing that you could tell even without looking at the credits who’s behind this book, and all they’re really doing here is staying within their own comfort zones, with varying degrees of success. Simonson’s writing, with old-school thought balloon-expositions and self-depreciating humor intact, sets up the story fast and heads away from superheroics for the mythological and historical so much that the five pages Kendra appears in superhero costume at the start of the book feel like the result of editorial begging, while Chaykin provides the impressive layouts and unusual fashion choices that you expect from him. Sadly, his actual draughtsmanship is looking kind of weak – the third panel on the page where Kendra meets Grubs features the second worst facial drawing of the week – and his fondness of close cropping in every second panel begins to get a bit repetitive by the end of the book. Nevertheless, this book kind of feels a bit reviewproof: If you like Simonson or Chaykin, you’ll probably come away enjoying it – I did – and if you’ve never liked them, this definitely won’t change your mind. It’s Good, but it’s not only nothing new, it’s almost intentionally old.

JSA CLASSIFIED #10: And this book features the first worst facial drawing of the week. Paul Gulacy, the man who used to be great and then became the man who really ruined the end of Ed Brubaker’s run on Catwoman, continues his artistic decline with the final panel of this issue, where we discover that Vandal Savage is not only a (formerly) immortal caveman, but also someone whose entire head is unusually slanted to the right. And it’s a shame, because Stuart Moore’s story about Savage discovering that he’s not only no longer immortal but now only has eleven days to live, deserves better than Gulacy’s increasingly lifeless linework. Okay, but with better art, it would’ve been a Good.

MANHUNTER #20: Hello, last page reveal that means nothing to anyone other than long term readers, again! Jeff was telling me about this book the other day, and the best he could put it was that it was “ept,” whereas once it was “inept”. Me, I’m not even convinced of that; as a new reader, there was nothing here that made me want to come back, or even think of the book as anything other than fairly bland. Everything from the “superheroing is just a job” attitude to the domestic drama felt as if it’d been done before, and with more style and passion. Eh, and that’s only because it wasn’t even bad enough to get more involved with giving it a rating.

ROBIN #148: Bri and Jeff seemed somewhat surprised when I paid for this, this week, but I’ll admit it: I had a sneaking hope that this would be one of the One Year Later books that worked. I’m not sure what I could put that down to – I don’t think I’ve ever read any of Adam Beechen’s writing before, and even though I’m a fan of Karl Kerschl, I knew he was only on the book for one issue before disappearing to do movie tie-ins. But for some reason, I really wanted to enjoy this. Thankfully, I did (Not that it would’ve been that bad if I hadn’t, of course. At worst, it still would’ve been better than Manhunter). The tone of the book feels light and “young adventure”-ish, despite the murder mystery plot, and, as with Catwoman, I enjoyed the characterisation (This is definitely the week of Batman not being a dick, as his appearance here shows most effectively of all, even down to the offhand mention of he, Robin and Nightwing all going off on holiday together to “build trust” post-Infinite Crisis) – Beechen has a nice line on Robin as intelligent detective without him coming across as arrogant or annoying (Something else that works in the writing is that it’s almost entirely absent of any awkward “It’s been one year since anything special happened,” unlike almost every other OYL book so far. I keep expecting someone in one of the books commenting on how weird it is that all of these heroes who’ve been disappeared for some time all reappearing at exactly the same time). Kerschl’s art is, if anything, better than his under-rated Adventures of Superman run; there’s just something about his kind-of angular style that really appeals to me. If he wasn’t off doing covers and special projects now, I’d say something about him being DC’s best artist on a regular book right now. With the benefit of hindsight, he might’ve been a better choice for the Seven Soldiers Mister Miracle book than any of the artists that ended up working on that series… Hmm. Anyway, this was Very Good, if you ask me.

SQUADRON SUPREME #1: In an effort to guilt Brian into abandoning his already way-too-packed schedule and writing reviews, I really wanted to say that his take on why this issue doesn’t work is spot-on, and leave it at that. Except that I can’t. I feel compelled to ask whether I am the only person who is bored to death, then ressurrected as a zombie, and then bored to death again, by “superheroes - - in the real world!” comics like this. And, as if that wasn’t dull enough, to create a set-up where superheroes are really just a secret military project and, by the way, the military are evil and underhanded and aren’t telling the American people everything, feels even lazier. Luckily, it’s all in the execution, right? And considering that execution reads like sub-Claremont (complete with lines like “Do one last thing for me. Run fast, Stanley… Run so fast… that I never see you leave”), then… Ehhh. Kind of Ass, and when the most entertaining thing in a book is seeing the artist do a bad characture of George Bush, then surely someone somewhere at Marvel must be hoping that the upcoming “Ultimate Power” crossover with the Ultimate Universe is going to keep interest alive where quality can’t.

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #16: Well, that’s an interesting cliffhanger. Supergirl comes to the book, as “hinted” at by the cover portrait of the Maid of Might and that whole “changing the name of the book to include Supergirl’s name” thing, but only revealed in the book itself towards the end. Hibbs and Lester both pointed out that this seemed like somewhat strange plotting, considering that it was fairly obvious that the “mysterious impending disaster” with the S-shield was really Supergirl, and yet somehow Kate, my wife and person-who-avoids-all-the-hype-about-these-books, was still hooked on what was happening, and wondering if Superman was about to appear. Which just goes to show what they know.

(Kate’s just asked if I’m trying to show everyone that she’s dumb. I’m really not. I’m trying to show that people who don’t read blogs like this don’t read stories waiting for the obvious – to us - reveal. She had much more fun reading New Frontier than I did for the same reason.)

Anyway. Like Birds of Prey last week, this is pretty much the same book as it was prior to (One Thousand and) One Year(s) Later, and as a result, it’s the non-Supergirl aspects of the book that are more interesting – the political status of the Legion, the somewhat bratty attitude of the main characters, and just how much society doesn’t like them. I’m hoping that Supergirl doesn’t overwhelm what made those aspects, and what made the first year of this book work so well for me (Waid’s humor, and the done-in-one pacing that also moved larger plots forward simulataneously), but given that the title of the book has been changed, I’m not sure if I’m that hopeful. This issue was Good, but the series has been much stronger than this.

SUPERMARKET #2: I missed reviewing the first issue of this because I missed it in the store (Chris Hunter sent me a copy, because he is wonderful and kind), but enjoyed it very much, mostly because of the stunning art by Kristian (Donaldson). This second issue opens up the story slightly, and for some reason makes me wonder if Brian Wood has been channelling Grant Morrison. Not only does the set-up of warring porn and Yakuza armies have a Morrison-esque quality to it, but some of the dialogue is reminiscent of my bald countryman as well… Or perhaps I’m reading into it. Nonetheless, this is another side to Wood, closer to his Couriers than his current DMZ or Local books, and with Kristian continuing to provide wonderfully stylized (and wonderfully colored) work, he’s matched with his best collaborator since Demo’s Becky Cloonan; taking all of those books, along with next month’s “The Tourist” OGN from Image, I think there’s a case to be made for Wood to be one of the most versatile writers in the mainstream these days, something made all the more interesting for his refusal to engage in that mainstream in any way other than his own. For that alone, he’s someone to pay attention to. This book alone? Very Good.

PICK OF THE WEEK, my friends, is going to be Robin, just to blow your minds. Well, that and it actually being one of the books I enjoyed most this week. PICK OF THE WEAK is Squadron Supreme, one of those things that make me wonder just how I ended up so out of step from mainstream opinion. I mean, lots of people liked Supreme Power. Lots of people I like like Supreme Power. So is it just me, or is this really as horrible as it seemed? We may never know. But I’m probably right, and you’ll all come round to my way of thinking sooner or later. Trade of the Week, though, is something that escapes me, because I’ve not read any of them. If the Jack Kirby: Visionaries Volume 2 hardcover hadn’t been so expensive, it would probably have been that one, though… Instead, I spent my trade-reading powers this week cracking open Crossover Classics, Volume 1, which collects the first four Marvel/DC crossovers from the ‘70s and early ‘80s. There’s really something to be said for those first couple of Superman/Spider-Man books, you know… Click Here to Read More...

[Insert clever intro that, as per Hibbs and G-Mc, almost-but-not-really-spoils the end of Battlestar Galactica this season.]

[Add ancillary para talking about nerdly pleasure received playing Metal Gear Solid: Subsistence, nerdly frustration in being forced into either piracy or poverty to watch that one god-damned season of the animated Planet of the Apes.]

[Provide clumsy transition from previous paras to reviews of this week's comics. Realize meta-introduction crutch has been utilized twice before. Grimace. Shrug. Begin.]

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #530: In an attempt to break irony-measuring gauges worldwide, JMS, who works with no editorial interference, illustrates exactly why everyone needs an editor, via a terrifyingly unfunny page of asides set as, of course, duelling Editor's Notes. A working man might go on to hypothesize how such a blatant and distracting bit of editorial intrusion is also a perfect working metaphor for Marvel's upcoming Civil War storyline, where characters and continuity will be relentlessly plot-hammered into a hot button issue, but I am not that man. Besides, that ghastly page aside, the rest of this was pretty competent no matter how much I disagree with it. Eh.

ARES #3: I liked the first issue, missed the second, and return to the third to find a story sabotaged by an artist completely out of his depth. If I remember correctly, the first eight pages have two splash pages and two double splash pages, and the rest of the book goes on to tell as much of its story with as many quasi-splash pages as possible unless there's, you know, action and stuff, in which case it gets taken care of in lots of sketchy tight panels. It's funny that Bri just mentioned this book as an example of a book that sells because of the Marvel brand assuring "a level of quality and professionalism of at least such-and-such," because this is a disheartening fall from the quality of the first issue. Way to drop the level of such-and-such, guys! Awful.

BATMAN #651: I also thought the artist on this was overwhelmed, although I'm aware a guy fighting plants isn't easy to make look dramatic. Here, there's some sort of sloppy, quasi-Colanish approach to show Batman, I dunno, cartwheeling through ferns that looked hilariously dumb. But, overall, some nice touches (It's Batman trapped and Robin who saves his hash) and as long as the Batman-after-charm-school approach continues to feel novel, the creative team probably don't have to do too much to keep me interested. I just hope they don't realize that. OK.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #16: It's a shame people can't just spout tons of dialogue while punching people out, Stan Lee style, because it means stories have to slow their pacing so people can talk, exchange exposition, build up motivation, etc. Here, you'd think Cap, trying to discover if Bucky is still alive and/or suicidal and/or completely fucked up thanks to Cap's winning way with a cosmic cube, would be a sweaty, palpating driven man. But instead we've got a Captain America surprisingly happy to work government hours: "You say this entire town is covering something up, and Bucky's involved?! Wow! Hey, howzabout a burger and a quickie?" I can't see a way around it, and Lord knows this book is popular enough so I guess nobody minds, but it just feels...odd. Good.

CATWOMAN #53: One of the better One Year Later books in that the creative team starts with the big twist and then moves on from there almost immediately, seeding the story with little twists related to remaining plotlines. I find this approach works much better than the "spend the last page getting to the big reveal they gave away on the cover" approach of Green Arrow or Supergirl & the Legion. A high OK, because I wasn't grooving too much on the story pre-OYL, but I appreciated the competence.

DAREDEVIL #83: Kinda like Brubaker's run on Captain America, I strongly disagree with some of the stuff going on here. And yet, I'm completely captivated by it and feel it's being done really, really well. So Very Good, although I'm very conflicted about it.

DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #3: Works a little too hard to make with the funny, but the mad rush of absurd C-list characters and the unique and ambitious art of Khari Evans (notice how the Trapster's nose slowly slides out of his mask during his fight with Whirlwind? What kind of goofy attention to detail is that?) still made it an enjoyable read. Highly OK, but didn't wow me as much as previous issues.

EVERY GIRL IS THE END OF THE WORLD FOR ME GN: Oh, man, I was so totally looking forward to this, and I was so totally wrong to do so. What I thought would be Jeffrey Brown's swan song/afterword to his unhappy love trilogy is just a whimpery shout-out to all the other women he's ever flirted with, presumably so they'll stop pestering him about popping up in one of his books. Kinda makes me spit blood to think about it. Awful.

EXILES #78: Ach, it's terrible. I've read nearly every issue of this title but once I heard Chris Claremont was taking over, I can't even bring myself to crack the cover. (And he's not even on the title yet!) I can only appreciate current-day Claremont in that campy way one can appreciate, say, Showgirls. The idea of him being associated with anything I actually currently like is just too painful. No rating.

FUTURAMA COMICS #24: Not without its charms (Giant Robot Santa versus Giant Robot Easter Bunny) but it felt more slapdash and shrill than genuinely funny. Also, nice/odd to see Mike Kazaleh doing work on the title: I haven't seen that guy's work in a dog's age (a pantsless, sexually neurotic dog's age, I guess). He's not a perfect fit for the characters, but man, if they ever do a crossover with Hanna-Barbera characters, I can't imagine anyone better. Eh.

GUN FU SHOWGIRLS ARE FOREVER #1: Kind of rough to see those Dave Sim emphases without Dave Sim lettering--the work suffered a bit for that, particularly with those charmingly musical spitting noises offered up by the French showgirls. Overall, it was charming, albeit anachronistic, and gave me some hope that we can get some future work from "entertaining Dave" without "wildman prophet Dave" popping out unexpectedly. Definitely OK.

HAWKGIRL #50: Well, fuck. Who would have guessed that Howard Chaykin was going to outsource the artwork to Mike (Shatter) Saenz? Who knew Walt Simonson was going to retool his script for a Nancy Drew comic book ("Oh no! Falling cornice!" "Oh no! No brakes!" And the delightful last page cliffhanger, "Oh no! I'm trapped in the dark!") into a Hawkgirl script? Nobody came out looking particularly good here, including chumps like me who signed up for this one in advance. Crap, and humiliating in that "two of my acting idols are reduced to performing The Odd Couple at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater and they're really, really bad" kind of way. Jeezis.

INCREDIBLE HULK #93: Like Snakes on a Plane, "Hulk as Intergalactic Spartacus" should be too stupidly effective to screw up, and if we had Ladronn doing more than just the covers, you probably wouldn't hear a peep out of me. But the art is slapdash enough that the story's creakiness really stands out. I mean, that whole "I don't trust anyone; that's why I'm going to elliptically mention my alter-ego and that he's tooo weak to survive this planet" comment from Hulk? Ummm...yeah. Eh, alas.

JEREMIAH HARM #2: Kinda bummed I didn't review last week's Annhilation Prologue because I wanted to point out how Giffen's love of sweeping galactic storylines and down-on-their-luck gritty antiheroes inevitably produces an opening scene in an intergalactic prison. Here, in issue #2, we get the other reliable staple of the Giffen sweeping galactic storyline--the mouthy, innocent bystander who gets drawn into the action (just like Drax, which also had the intergalactic prison motif). And that's all fine, albeit a little numbing, as long as you get an artist capable of delivering the cosmic "Wow" side of things to make up for it. I was pretty sure Rael Lyra was going to be that artist until the big fight scene where any sense of basic anatomy suddenly disappeared. Now, I'm a lot more dubious.

Oh, and p.s. to Alan Grant: Thanks to the Internet, phrases like "I tasted his taint" should probably be retired, yes?

To sum up: Eh.

JSA CLASSIFIED #10: At about three a.m. last night, I realized Paul Gulacy draws exactly the way Robert Evans speaks--with the same sort of highly stylized, oily machismo I find simultaneously hilarious and hypnotic. I also realized I think of Stuart Moore's scripts exactly the same way I think of red flannel shirts--serviceable, and obviously appreciated by somebody because you keep seeing them all over the place. I also realized I perhaps need to adjust my Ambien dosage. In any event, add all that together (but take away the Ambien) and you've got this story telling you Vandal Savage has been up to...One Year Later. If you enjoy the charms of Gulacy and Moore, you'll find it OK. If you only kind of do, then Eh, at best. I'm somewhere in the middle.

MANHUNTER #20: This book, One Year Later, but since I haven't read an issue since #2, I guess for me it's Two and a Half Years Later. And it's been a pretty okay two and a half years, it looks like. There's a decent-sized supporting cast and superheroes are cracking wise while socking jaws. It actually does a good job of sprinkling in some OYL references that suggest the book has its place in the larger DCU. So, even though I wasn't particularly interested, I'd still give it a high OK. Maybe I'll even check out next issue, which I think is supposed to be the point of all this, yes? We'll see.

NEW AVENGERS #17: Dumb, to varying degrees--the whole "Avengers on street corners" would've been fine if it hadn't derailed the supposed nail-biting momentum of the previous issue. (One page of that, maybe. Six pages? No.) Teamed with the Ms. Marvel dumbness in the second half, it makes for just a Crap book. It's embarrassing how inept Bendis is at this big-action team book stuff.

NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #3: Yup. Diminishing returns, I'm afraid. The soda gets flatter every time you come back to it. A few good pages here and there, but those opening six pages of unfunny bad cop hijinks killed the new fun deader than any Dirk Anger joke could resuscitate it. Please prove me wrong, next nine issues. Please?? Eh.

SHE-HULK 2 #6: Never enjoy this book as much when Bobillo's off it, but this was still an OK issue. (As amusing as parts of it were, nothing was quite as funny as Eros looking like a long-lost Baldwin brother on Greg Horn's cover.) Also lacking a certain sense of drama but we'll see where it ends up.

TESTAMENT #4: At first, this seemed really, really cool, in part because I'd missed issue #3. Then I realized it's just a big ol' mess. It comes across like The Matrix as rewritten by Jack T. Chick and Ed Wood but not in a good way, no. Less thanEh, but the art is too lovely to go to Awful.

TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #16: In the same way the first issue of this grabbed me by the heartstrings and got me fired up by the possibility of true love, this issue really moved me in its conveyence of the daring and the dedication needed to pursue the creative life. I think it might lose some impact to those who don't know anything about the comic celeb cameos at the end, but I couldn't say for sure. Very Good, and very moving.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #28: Sure, that "twist" at the end would've wrecked it anyway, but Greg Horn's art [oops, I mean Greg Land. Thanks for the correction, Peter] really hampered this: Millar's shooting for a Silver Age feeling where everyone's a superhero and all the world's problems are abolished, and the best Horn can give him are three smiling children in jumpsuits--less a "Superman Red/Superman Blue" feeling than a "Minute Maid Orange Juice Now With Extra Vitamin C" feeling. But then that really dumb ending would've tanked it all regardless, so Eh.

ZOMBIE TALES: THE DEAD: I never know what to do with review copies that come early. Hold off 'til release week? Blab about 'em early? Mean to wait, and then forget? In any event, the stories here run the gamut from Good (Rogers and Tadem's "4 out of 5," Giffen and Lim's "Deadest Meat") to OK (Stokes and Martin's "Zoombies") to incomprehensible (Pascoe, Simpson, Moreno's "A Game Called Zombie") with no award given to "I, Zombie" and the special Savage Critic Quibblage award to Nelson & Moder's "The Miracle of Bethany" (if you're gonna have zombies in the Vatican, but you don't have Christ's last supper at the corner of your zombie mythos, you get no love from me). Boom! Studios gets huge props for milking the zombie fad and still keeping things creatively vibrant, but I'm relieved they seem to be moving on to different challenges.

PICK OF THE WEEK: True Story Swear To God #16, because it was heartfelt and moving. Also Daredevil #83, even though I should probably know better.

PICK OF THE WEAK: In March 2007, it'll be One Year Later...and I'll still feel like a tool for buying Hawkgirl #50!

TRADE OF THE WEEK: I walked out with Vol. 5 of Runaways but haven't read it yet (nor have I read vol. 4 for some reason). And I probably don't need to tell you that if you didn't get the hardcover, the softcover of Top 10: The Forty Niners is really, really worth your time and money.

But what I've really been reading and enjoying this last two weeks is Planetes by Makoto Yukimura, which is a surprisingly humanistic hard sci-fi story about garbage men in space. Yukimura has a really great way of creating quirky characters and pushing their concerns to the fore in a way that reminds me of Carla Speed McNeil or Terry Moore (with Warren Ellis serving as technical advisor). It's not flawless--there's been at least one storytelling leap in each volume that's left me in varying degrees of befuddlement--but eminently recommendable. If you like any of the above creators (McNeil, Moore, Ellis), you should check it out. Really good stuff.

Labels: Jeff

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I will have reviews this week, I promise (-ish)

Meanwhile: Here's what is arriving at CE this week:

13TH SON WORSE THING WAITING #4 (OF 4)
2000 AD #1476
2000 AD #1477
ADULT FRANKENSTEIN (A)
ALICE IN WONDERLAND #2 (OF 4)
ALL NEW OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z #3
AMAZING FANTASY #19
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #530
AMERICAN WAY #2 (OF 8)
ANGEL SCRIPTBOOK #1
ARCHIE & FRIENDS #99
ARCHIE DIGEST #224
ARES #3 (OF 5)
BATMAN #651
BLACK PANTHER #14
CAPTAIN AMERICA #16
CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #19
CATWOMAN #53
CONVENTION CONFESSIONAL #2
CYBERFORCE LEE CVR #1
DAREDEVIL #83
DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #3 (OF 6)
DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES KURTH CVR A #8 (OF 8)
EXILES #78
FATHOM #8
FUTURAMA COMICS #24
GUN FU SHOWGIRLS ARE FOREVER #1
HAWKGIRL #50
HELLBLAZER #218
INCREDIBLE HULK #93
INTIMIDATORS #4
IRON GHOST #6 (OF 6)
IRON MAN THE INEVITABLE #4 (OF 6)
JEREMIAH HARM #2
JSA CLASSIFIED #10
LADY DEATH LOST SOULS WRAPAROUND #1 (OF 3)
LIVING IN INFAMY #3 (OF 4)
LOVELESS #5
MANHUNTER #20
METAL GEAR SOLID SONS OF LIBERTY #5
NEW AVENGERS #17
NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #3
NOBLE CAUSES #18
PLANETARY BRIGADE #2
RED SONJA #8
REX MUNDI #17
ROBIN #148
SABLE & FORTUNE #3 (OF 4)
SGT ROCK THE PROPHECY #3 (OF 6)
SHADOWHAWK #10
SHE-HULK 2 #6
SHRUGGED PREVIEW FLIPBOOK
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #160
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #4
SQUADRON SUPREME #1
STARSHIP TROOPERS HART CVR C #1 (OF 4)
STORM #2 (OF 6)
SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #16
SUPERMARKET #2 (OF 4)
SUPREME POWER HYPERION #5 (OF5)
TESTAMENT #4
TOUPYDOOPS #1
TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS (IDW) #1
TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #16
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #28
UNCLE SCROOGE #352
UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERS DP7
WALT DISNEYS COMICS AND STORIES #667
WOLVERINE #40
X-FACTOR #5
X-MEN #184

Books / Mags / Stuff
ABIDING PERDITION VOL 1 TP
BILLY HAZELNUTS HC
BLACK PANTHER WHO IS THE BLACK PANTHER TP
CABALLISTICS INC VOL 1 GOING UNDERGROUND TP
CINEFEX #105 APR 2006 #105
D R & QUINCH COMPLETE REBELLION ED TP
EVERY GIRL IS THE END OF THE WORLD FOR ME GN
FAMILY SECRET VOL 1 GN
JAPAN AS VIEWED BY 17 CREATORS TP
JESTERCROW TP
MARVEL VISIONARIES JACK KIRBYVOL 2 HC
MOME VOL 3 GN
NIGHTMARIST GN
PHANTOM VOL 1 GHOST WHO WALKSTP NEW PTG
PREVIEWS VOL XVI #4
RUNAWAYS VOL 5 ESCAPE TO NEW YORK DIGEST TP
SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY VOL2 TP
SFX #141
SHADOWPLAY VOL 1 TP
SILVER SURFER REBIRTH OF THANOS TP
STRANGE EMBRACE TP
THOR BLOOD OATH HC
TOMARTS ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #143
TOP 10 THE FORTY NINERS SC
WEAPONS FILE SUPERSIZED VOL 1TP
X-MEN MUTANT GENESIS TP


What looks good to you?

-B Click Here to Read More...

I had a dream, dear friends, the other night. And it was a dream in which I met DC's Dan Didio, and he was wearing an old-fashioned circus strongman's outfit, and his moustache was newly waxed to match. As he led me through the house where I grew up, he told me in no uncertain terms about the secret cabal he belonged to, and how said cabal was looking to change the way the world viewed "old media" such as print. At one point, I asked him if he was telling me all of this because he wanted me to join the cabal, and he laughed as if I'd just said the funniest joke in the world.

My subconscious? Not so kind to me, apparently.

Anyway, for those of you who read Brian's column on Friday, you may be interested in Tom Spurgeon's response, the (surprisingly small) thread on The Engine, and a more direct market-centric commentary from Millarworld. Alternatively, you might want to check out the 22 page preview of upcoming Image graphic novel The Five Fists of Science on (Five Fists writer) Matt Fraction's site, which he was nice enough to put up in a format crappy enough that even I could read it at my work computer, running Windows 95 (Yes, dear readers, I am who he's talking about at the end of his post there). Just some things to keep you busy until the new comics come out tomorrow... Click Here to Read More...

After the dreaded lurgy last week – nowhere near as bad as Hibbs’s lurgy, because I was only off my feet for a couple of days – I’m back, fighting fit (albeit with a runny nose), and mad that me missing the reviews last week meant that Brian got to the “Battlestar Galactica did that One Year Later thing better than DC” bit before me. Damn you, sickness!

A LATE FREEZE: This is a mini that a mutual friend of the artist and m’good self sent me earlier on in the week, and it’s probably the best thing I read all week. Danica Novgorodoff is the artist in question behind this almost-silent story of a bear that falls in love with a robot, and everything that happens in the winter that follows, and it’s something that’s unexpectedly beautiful, despite the comedic broadness that you think of from the “it’s a bear in love with a robot” premise. With an art-style somewhere between Chris Ware and Lauren McCubbin – and something that has an amusing eye for detail, as the floating Hanes briefs underwater show – and writing that reminds me of Hope Larson and the Perry Bible Fellowship, this is something that’s well worth looking out for. Excellent.

AMERICAN VIRGIN #1: Am I the only one who thought that this was Y: The Last Man for Christians? I’m not even sure why I got that feeling all through the issue – Steven Seagle isn’t Brian K. Vaughan when it comes to the fast-moving pop-culture-filled writing, but there seemed something Yorick-esque about the main character’s well-meaning-but-confused-slave-to-plot role, as well as his devotion to his girlfriend being the prime mover in getting the larger plot running. I’m sure that the book will get more of its own identity as it goes on, but right now, there’s something very generic Vertigo about the proceedings. Becky Cloonan’s art is the best thing about this OK book.

ANNIHILATION PROLOGUE: It does what it says on the tin: it’s a prologue, pure and simple. Forget any beginning, middle and end stuff here, it’s all… well, it’s actually all kind of middle, really. Boom! Disaster! Things blowing up! People dying! And that’s about all I really got from this book, because it’s full of places and things that don’t really get introduced that well. Space prisons and space police get exploded, and the stars of all the spin-off miniseries get to comment on it in one- or two- page cameos (well, except for Nova, who gets the majority of the book to go through his own version of Emerald Twilight). There are fact files at the back of the book to underscore how little introduction most of the characters and concepts got in the actual story, but not even the greatest Mark Gruenwald fact file could fix how flat and generic this whole thing seems. Eh.

BIRDS OF PREY #92: It’s One Year Later, and you could hardly tell. Which is, actually, a good thing, because I know that my life hasn’t changed that much in the last twelve months, and all of the changes that Aquaman, Batman and the Outsiders have gone through were making me feel pretty inadequate. Sure, there are some things that are different – Gypsy! - but this is more or less the same book as before, with Gail Simone and Paulo Siqueira providing both fine superheroic action and a bit of a sequel to Villains United from last year. It’s Good, and an odd relief from all of the other OYL books.

GREEN ARROW #60: It’s the West Wing but with superheroes. As in, it’s literally the structure of the first episode of the West Wing, but with superheroes – Lots of people talk about things, introducing the status quo and supporting characters – before the main character appears at the very end of the story. Sadly, it just doesn’t work here, because we already know the main character, so keeping him out of the picture just feels forced, especially when the big reveal has not only been revealed by all of the pre-release hype but also the cover to this very book. Instead of paying attention to what everyone is talking about, you spend the issue thinking, “Show us Green Arrow, already.” Not that what everyone is talking about is that interesting, as the whole Star City has been abandoned by the government set-up (a) is an obvious New Orleans analog (Has Star City always been New Orleans, or are the “We used to have Jazz festivals” comments new?), and (b) has been done already with Gotham City a few years ago. It’s not bad, exactly (It’s Okay), but I can’t see many new readers reading this and suddenly thinking, “I must rush out and order the next issue!”

INFINITE CRISIS SECRET FILES AND ORIGINS 2006: Now, there’s a title that makes you worry that there’s going to be an Infinite Crisis Secret Files and Origins 2007. Is the Crisis that Infinite? Surprisingly, though, this isn’t the entirely pointless cash-in that I’d been expecting, with Marv Wolfman explaining what happened to the survivors of the original Crisis and just why they all ended up kind of crazy (You know, the part that Geoff Johns accidentally left out of Infinite Crisis proper). For the continuity anal, it also explains Superman-2’s cameo in The Kingdom, years ago, so finally we can sleep well at night again. Sure, the plot logic will make your head spin, what with Superboy magically changing continuity by punching things and all, but if you’ve bought into it so far you’re kind of stuck… It’s Okay, which is probably about as good as you can get with this type of thing.

NIGHTWING #118: It’s not often that I’m thankful for the next issue solicits at the end of books, but this time, it’s very helpful. “While Dick Grayson and Jason Todd battle over the identity of Nightwing,” starts the solicit, which is handy, considering that Jason Todd’s name doesn’t appear anywhere else in the book. Sure, there are two Nightwings – you can tell, because their narration boxes are different colors, and they have different lengths of hair – but at no point does the one that isn’t Dick Grayson get identified in the story itself. Mind you, Dick Grayson isn’t really seeming like himself, either, so maybe it’s some kind of double-bluff. Or maybe just crappy writing, as the rest of the dialogue would tend to suggest (The bedroom scene is bad enough to make me wonder if Bruce Jones has never met any real human being, and instead gets his dialogue ideas from daytime soap operas). It’s a really weak issue, with an unclear plot, unlikable characters, generic villains and an overall Ass quality. Sorry, former Boy Wonders.

SUPERMAN #650: I don’t know what it says about DC’s overall strategy that the most successful One Year Later books so far have been the Batman and Superman books. Just like the Batbooks, the Superman line gets back to basics in most ways: Everyone is back at the Daily Planet fulfilling their classic roles, Lex Luthor is once again an evil genius who’s hated by the general public, and there’s a hint of Titano to come (They’re experimenting with kryptonite and monkeys – That can only mean one thing, surely). That said, it was the other things that really worked for me: The sense of place that the creators have managed to give Metropolis (that place being New York, for me, finally), the way that it was revealed that Clark no longer had his powers (and the signal watch), and Pete Woods’ art, which is scratchy enough to seem unusual on a Superman book, but strong enough to carry the traditional superhero story. Very Good.

TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1: Finally, those of you who’ve wanted to see Superboy and Wonder Girl have sex have your dreams come true! Well, almost; there are levels of decency to be met, after all. Sadly, the same doesn’t appear to be true for levels of quality, as this is 48 pages of Crap, as only two writers, four pencillers, five inkers and not enough editing can bring you. There’s nothing here beyond Infinite Crisis-related filler, and Superboy and Wonder Girl talking about their relationship in exceptionally bland terms, which means that no-one except for Teen Titans-obsessives will get that much out of it.

PICK OF THE WEEK is a bit of a cheat, as it wasn’t on Diamond’s list, but A Late Freeze really was great. PICK OF THE WEAK was Nightwing, because apparently two ex-Robins really aren’t better than one, and Trade of The Week goes to Essential Godzilla, purely on principle: What could be more worth your less than twenty dollars than C-level Marvel characters going up against a giant mutant lizard? Click Here to Read More...

http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting26.htm

Are Marvel & DC crowding indies off the shelf?

Does the DM only want super-heroes?

NO!

-B Click Here to Read More...

Nearly back to "fighting trim" -- my green mucus is now back to clear, and I'm only having to blow my nose first thing in the morning. I expect I'll be back to 100% by this weekend. I'm at 96-97% right now.

Now that my brain is starting to work again, I've got to pound out a TILTING AT WINDMILLS for Friday on Newsarama, plus, this week is ONOMATOPOEIA week, so I don't think you'll see any reviews from me until next week. Actually, what I really want to do is to do a big "One Year Later" catchall, I think.

Heh, though the second season finale of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA probably did it better than any of the OYL comics I've read to date.

Plus today makes 2 weeks without smoking a cigarette (Right, well, I had about 1/4 of one last Friday -- but the racking coughing fit it brought on was really good for me) -- that's how sick I was, and I think that it's going to stick this time. I stopped smoking for... 2 months? when Ben was born, but then Tzipora's mother came from Israel, and stayed with us, and my stress level went so crazy high that I fell off the wagon. I certainly WANT a cig, but "one day at a time" feels right for me right now. And, unlike last time, this is crutchless -- no patch, no Wellbutrin (fuck those altar-your-brain-chemistry drugs!), so I feel more like it's from me, if you see what I mean.

What else? My mother reads this blog (and Googles me -- doncha love moms?), and said that I should say what a lovely lunch we had at Lulu's this weekend. Which we did. So I am.

Mom is (Probably, let me not jinx it!) moving up to San Francisco proper (she's in San Jose now), which will be great for Ben having her closer. He's ALLLLMOST ready for the sleepover, I think.

Right, and Graeme decided not to mention his new bi-weekly column on Comic World News. Thankfully Ace McDonald mentioned it today, because that's not a site I usually go to. Guess I have to start now!! Find it at http://www.comicworldnews.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?column=grimtidings&page=26


So, here's what's coming out tommorow at Comix Experience -- another smallish week (five Wednesday month, donchaknow?), but there's a few gems in there



100 BULLETS #70
A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #30 (A)
ANGEL OLD FRIENDS #4 (OF 5)
ANNIHILATION PROLOGUE
ASPEN SWIMSUIT SPECIAL #1
ATHEIST #3 (RES)
BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #201
BATMAN YEAR ONE HUNDRED #2 (OF 4)
BETTY & VERONICA #216
BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #164
BEYOND AVALON #3 (RES)
BIRDS OF PREY #92
BLACK HARVEST #4 (OF 6)
BODY BAGS 3 THE HARD WAY ONE SHOT CVR A
CONAN #26
CONAN BOOK OF THOTH #1 (OF 4)
DMZ #5
DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #338
ELFQUEST THE DISCOVERY #2 (OF4)
EVIL ERNIE IN SANTA FE #4 (OF4)
FATHOM #7
FLAMING CARROT SP
FOUR #28 (Actually, not retitled on cover -- still "4")
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #6
FURY PEACEMAKER #2 (OF 6)
GENERATION M #5 (OF 5)
GIRLS #11
GREEN ARROW #60
INFINITE CRISIS SECRET FILES 2006
JETTA RATE ONE SHOT
JLA CLASSIFIED #18
JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #120
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #113
LIVING WITH ZOMBIES #6
LOOKING GLASS WARS HATTER M #2 (OF 4)
MAJESTIC #15
MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #287
NEW MANGAVERSE #3 (OF 5)
NIGHTWING #118
PAINKILLER JANE #1
PERHAPANAUTS #4 (OF 4)
PLANETARY BRIGADE #2 (we didn't receive it, in actuallity)
PUNISHER VS BULLSEYE #5 (OF 5)
PURGATORI (DDP) #5
PVP #24
RED SONJA CLAW DEVILS HANDS #1 (OF 4)
RUNAWAYS #14
RUNES OF RAGNAN #4 (OF 4)
SCOOBY DOO #106
SEVEN SOLDIERS BULLETEER #4 (OF 4)
SIMPSONS COMICS #116
SPIDER-WOMAN ORIGIN #4 (OF 5)
SPIKE VS DRACULA #1 (OF 5)
SUPERMAN #650
SUPERMAN SHAZAM FIRST THUNDER #4 (OF 4)
TALISMEN #2 (OF 4)
TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #1
TRANSFORMERS BEAST WARS (IDW) #2 (OF 4)
TRUTH JUSTIN & AMERICAN WAY #1 (OF 5)
ULTIMATE EXTINCTION #3 (OF 5)
ULTIMATE X-MEN #68
UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERSE JUSTICE
WALKING DEAD #26
WITCHBLADE #96
X-MEN APOCALYPSE DRACULA #2 (OF 4)



Books / Mags / Stuff
ANIMATION MAGAZINE APR 2006 #159
BACK ISSUE #15
CALL OF THE WILD PUFFIN GN
CHRONICLES OF CONAN VOL 10 GIANTS WALK THE EARTH TP
CONCRETE VOL 4 KILLER SMILE TP
CRYING FREEMAN VOL 1 TP
DRACULA PUFFIN GN
DRAX THE DESTROYER EARTH FALLTP
ESSENTIAL GODZILLA TP
FAIRY TAILS VOL 1 TP
FRENCH KISS #15 (A)
GRAY HORSES GN
HARLEQUIN PINK IDOL DREAMS TP
IRON WOK JAN GN #17
JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #45
KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE VOL 16TP
LUBA THE BOOK OF OFELIA TP
MORA VOL 1 ALL BEASTS WILL SHOW THEIR TEETH TP
OUR EVERLASTING VOL 2 GN
PHOENIX VOL 6 TP
PIZZERIA KAMIKAZE TP
SAMURAI EXECUTIONER VOL 9 TP
SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN FAMILY VOL 1 TP
SUPERMAN THE DAILY PLANET TP
SWAN VOL 6
TALES OF COLOSSUS GN
TERRITORY HC
TOYFARE GI JOE SIGMA SIX CVR #105
ULTIMATE IRON MAN VOL 1 PREMIERE HC
ULTIMATE X-MEN ULTIMATE COLLECTION VOL 1 TP
WIZARD BEST OF BASIC TRAININGCHARACTER CREATION TP


What looks good to you?

-B Click Here to Read More...

After a hideously short period of time, you'll have to register to read this, but for now you can read this keen little profile on Alan Moore and his frustrations over the V For Vendetta movie here at the New York Times. So far, I think my favorite quote from Moore is, "I am what Harry Potter grew up into...and it's not a pretty sight." But I'm not all the way through the article yet.

Labels: Jeff

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Yeah, I had to go pick up a package I had shipped to CE yesterday, and all those bright shiny new comic books were just staring at me, so I figgered, you know, what the hell?

AMERICAN VIRGIN #1: Oh, Becky Cloonan, what have you gotten me into? That's not entirely fair; I try to pick up any first issue of a ongoing Vertigo to help give it a little nudge out of the gate, but the draw for me here was Cloonan. I'm impressed the previews led me to believe the storyline was going to go a certain way--it helped keep the turn of events surprising--but overall, I didn't dig this too much. Cloonan's scenes only intermittently show the charm we saw regularly in Demo, probably because the script ricochets through the introduction of eight main characters, two seduction scenes, two rallies, and seven changes of location, with tons of dialogue in every scene. (Little wonder the scene with the bum in the gas station was poorly staged--it's evidence of Cloonan's talent and skill they didn't all turn out like that.) Seagle introduces us to a ton of characters but--again, unsurprisingly, because of the script's speed--none of them seem either likeable or complex: a teen sex comedy on the same subject would hit most of these same notes with only the slightest difference in tone. Only the ending, which is more The Constant Gardener than 40 Days and 40 Nights, gives me any reason to come back for issue #2: one of the things that was effectively conveyed in this issue was Adam's conflation of God and his girlfriend, and it'd be nice if a genuine examination of faith came out of all this--or more chances for Cloonan to cut loose. Technically, this is probably sub-Eh, but first issues of ongoings are almost always choppy, so I'll toe the line at Eh, and see what the next issue brings.

BOMB QUEEN #2: Lord knows, as a big ol' pinko liberal of the San Francisco ilk, I'm down for a book that examines why people tolerate so much blatant corruption in their government. But Jimmie Robinson's mini, about a town under the thumb of a violent supervillain for so long the citizens actually prefer her to the prospect of any real change, can barely pose that quandry, much less ponder a solution with any clarity. And that wouldn't be a problem if all the madcap bombings and killings and superhero fights that fill up the issue were done with any inventiveness but a single page aside, this was just loud, dumb and dull. Reading Bomb Queen is like listening to your neighbor's kid practice heavy metal guitar every day. It may pay off for them somewhere down the line and you've got to admire their moxie, but it's a chore to put up with nonetheless. Awful.

DOWN #4: Not that I'm keeping track, but a little bit of a lag between the first three issues and the last, yeah? It sure seemed like it, and yet the art also seemed very rushed, with the colorist working overtime to keep the art from feeling flat. Lord knows, I'm all for women with pigtails shooting men in the head, but this seemed too compressed to have any real weight: I neither felt like Deanna became truly corrupted, and the only revelation about her character--that's she's willing to further to make sure that the people who deserve to die get killed than anyone might have imagined--lacks any oomph to it. It's merely a case of the baddest of the badasses winning. Maybe I'm missing nuances to be seen in the trade, but I also found this sub-Eh.

EXTERMINATORS #3: Feels like the third strike to me. A seduction scene where two characters who don't know each other talk about cockroach mating habits and end up having sex is straight out of a Revenge of the Nerds movie, but I'd be hard-pressed to say it was any worse or less realistic than any other scene in this issue. I firmly believe there is a Great American Graphic Novel to be written about pest controllers in modern day Los Angeles, and I am now firmly convinced this will never be it. Bummer. Awful.

FANTASTIC FOUR FIRST FAMILY #1: Great art is a wonderful thing. Without Chris Weston and Gary Erskine's gorgeous art, I would have found this story perfectly serviceable, albeit a little padded. The idea of setting it between the events we know about in FF #1 seems sensible, and there's no real bones of contention to pick about the characterization. I also liked the decision to break it into chapters like the early FF issues did, and working the name of a Master P song into one of those is, uh, commendable, or something. But at this point, it's all about the art. Weston and Erskine excel in technical detail and identifiably real people--they're a dream match for the Fantastic Four, and this issue gets a high Good from me just from the look of it. Fans of the FF and/or Ministry of Space should check this out. It's lovely.

FELL #4: Reveals the only real flaw with the format Ellis and Templesmith have cooked up--if there's no story for them to turn their super-compressed chops on, it's kind of underwhelming. The issue does other pieces of work, mind you: it establishes Fell as a guy who's willing to cheat the rules to put away a bad guy, and it continues to embellish Snowtown's many urban failures. But you know when you watch an episode of a TV show you really like, and it's not nearly as good as the previous episodes, but you like it anyway because you've developed a fondness for the show itself? This is that episode. Good, but not great.

FIRESTORM #23: I thought I'd try this issue as a jumping-on point since I haven't really read anything since issue #2 or #7, or something. And it was perfectly serviceable, even if the final twist seemed lifted from the old Rutger Hauer/Mimi Rogers flick Wedlock. I worry a bit about having every piece of drama in the issue (crazy missles! strange attackers! arbitrary distances!) come from everything but the main characters, but hopefully that'll be unique to this issue. A high OK.

HARD TIME SEASON TWO #4: The most ambitious of the four issues, and, unfortunately, suffers for it: we've got Cindy's "origin," increasing prison tensions, the Cutter subplot and its still unexplained effects on Ethan, all jammed into 22 pages. It kept me turning the pages, certainly, but I never felt like I could synch up with the material. As for the majority of it, Cindy's story, it was sympathetic but unoriginal, the kind of thing that gets points for trying but not much else. I've been enjoying this since the reboot, so I'm hoping this is just a momentary Eh in the overall picture.

HYSTERIA ONE MAN GANG #1: This is a very much a glass half-empty/half-full comic (as is usually the case when the storytelling is first-rate but the story isn't). The idea of a guy who is so tough he's a one-man gang is funny and you gotta like a gang who wears eggs on their shirts (it's like The Warriors carried to even more absurd extremes), but there's no characterization, there's no story, and just because the obnoxious child ward is beind done so deliberately (at an almost Kricfalusian level), it doesn't make her any less obnoxious. Still, those action sequences are pleasingly kinetic. If you've got money in your budget earmarked for supporting new talent, you could much worse than picking up this very OK book, but it's kinda slight.

POWERS #17: Probably not really jumping the shark as much as much as working its way up to a misguided third act but I find that cold comfort. I care about the characters enough to hang around for the ride, but giving both cops Powers is one of those hooks that manages to be both utterly unique and utterly generic at the same time. (How many movies have we seen where the third act utterly subverts the first?) Despite the bitching, this gets a Good because of high quality execution and that Oeming interview of Ellis on the letters page that I didn't bother to read on the Web. It's very good reading, and I felt like I learned more about Ellis than in his last ten interviews put together.

PULSE #14: Made me all nostalgic for those issues of Alias, but the emphasis is different since Jessica is no longer as much of a fuck-up: not even in the recounted flashback to when she was fucked up, is she a fuck-up. That's not really a big problem or anything. I mean, it's not like even the worst fuck-up is a mess 24/7, but I liked Jessica much more when she was a mess and you didn't quite know why. So this is a pretty good place to wrap things up, more than likely, and certainly an OK issue, but it would've been nice to be all verklempt about it, and I wasn't.

RETRO ROCKET #1: I liked Tony Bedard's writing on Exiles enough to check this out, despite not being a Mecha fan, and I thought it was decent: Bedard lays out his setting with a lot of skill, and the character and situation of Retro is nicely set-up without being too over-explained. And Jason Orfalas' art is elegant and clean, with a lovely color palette backing things up. If there are problems, it's that the conflict isn't particularly clear--Retro's biggest problem seems to be that the people around him are dicks and talk openly about mothballing him--making this read feel a bit too lightweight. But it's a Good first issue, and if people like me, who lack the giant-robot-appreciation gene, enjoyed it, hopefully the people this is aimed at will really like it.

SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #24: "His webline-advantageous!" "His webline-advantageous!" Come on, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, you know you want to write it, so go ahead. Every other element of this feels like an issue from Mr. McF's million selling Spider-Man title so why not? (Christ, I feel like Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo badgering Kim Novak to put on Madeline's dress...) I can undersand the appeals of going retro (hey, if they put anyone on this team that draws like Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, I'll be the last one you'll hear complaining) but the stinkiness of McFarlane's run hasn't really had time to fade. Give it another three or four hundred years, maybe. Awful.

SEVEN SOLDIERS FRANKENSTEIN #3: Wow. In this issue, Grant Morrison wields the exclamation point like it was a barbarian sword, lopping off the top of my head and exposing my brain to a frightening new world. I think I liked this issue even better than the first, since the enemy is sentient water(!) and you've got the Bride of Frankenstein finally showing up. Plus, just the other day I was thinking about that golden age Human Torch story where all the pets of the world turn on their owners, and how much that story realy disturbed me as a kid even though the threat seemed, compared to Galactus, relatively lame. And here's a lovely updating complete with carnivorous hamsters, angry bunnies, and--well, I dont want to give page 14 away but I both laughed and shivered a little bit (and then laughed a lot more). This is my dream superhero comic for 2006 and between it, Nextwave, Shaolin Cowboy, and other titles like Daughters of the Dragon, I feel like this might be a new trend. (Maybe, I dunno, the "New Fun" or something...) Anyway, whatever you call it, I thought this was absurd and entertaining and Excellent, and I heartily exhort you to go get it. More like this, please.

SEVEN SOLDIERS MISTER MIRACLE #4: Morrison goes for a series of super-tight switcheroos--maybe Grant's the one escaping? First, from Kirby's New Gods mythos? Then from his own Seven Soldiers storyline?--that aims at catapaulting this right into Flex Mentallo territory, where the hero's resurrection transforms the first three issues into a metaphor for the resurrected character's psychological imprisonment (or, depending on how you look at it, it was always that way)/ I don't think it works nearly as well good ol' Flex, but it's kind of touching to see Chaos Magician Morrison craft one of the most Christian comics I've ever read. And there's tons of wonderful ideas and lines in here: when Dark Side says, "If the god-machine has merged her consciousness with his, then she too is doomed. There can be no escape from Omega. Omeaga is the life trap!" it's about as as close to my long dreamed-of Phil Dick/Jack Kirby collaboration as I'm going to get. Very Good, although I think it won't rate nearly as high with Seven Soldiers apostles and agnostic New Gods fans.

TEEN TITANS #33: Essentially a lead-in to IC #6 although the resonances with the Titans Future storyline makes it a good fit as an issue of Teen Titans. And if you're not as violently tired of the twin caption narration of Loeb's Superman/Batman, you'll have more patience at seeing it used, to even far less effect, here with Nightwing and Superboy. Marv Wolfman co-wrote the script which explains why everybody seems even more whiney and nearly every character has a a scene where they put a hand to their head in pain or angst, but the mix of plot references, character appreciation, and mutual admiration shows the hand of co-scripter Johns. Despite my bitchiness, it's probably OK if you're still emotionally invested in IC but, hot on the heels of Infinite Crisis, this suggests to me that I'm not.

Tomorrow Stories Special #2: Alan Moore and Rick Veitch do a that nouveau-retro thing with an "America's Best" story that reads like a Gardner Fox Justice League story, Steve Moore and Eric Shanower do another lovely Margie/Promethea story, Steve Moore, Arthur Adams and Joyce Chin do another Jonni Future tale, and Alan Moore and Jim Baikie grace us with another First American story. And if you've followed these creators, you're getting exactly what you expect: The America's Best story is charming but seems missing the modern context Moore would wrap around such pastiches; the Promethea story looks stunning and reads dully; the Jonni Future story is gorgeous and mildly titillating but also dull; and, despite a story idea perfectly and brilliantly suited for the characters and tone of The First American, the First American story has moments of pure brilliance but overstays its welcome by about eight pages. If it were $4.95, the quality would trump the banality, but at $6.99? Sure, it's 64 pages, but I still can't give it more than OK.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #91: I like the Peter/Kitty romance, and Bendis has managed to make them neurotic teens in a way familiar to any fan of Stan Lee while still feeling fresh. That's really an impressive accomplishment. Even with that bad patch, this may still end up being the Bendis book I most enjoy reading. A high Good.

UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERSE NIGHTMASK: What a shame that the storyline that's gone unfinished for so long gets drawn by Arnold Pander while he's waiting in the drive-thru at In-N-Out. I didn't really care, mind you, but if it'd be drawn by Chris Weston I bet I would have. Eh.

PICK OF THE WEEK: "And murder comes to the farmyard!" Absolutely, positively SEVEN SOLDIERS FRANKENSTEIN #3. Brilliant.

PICK OF THE WEAK: I was pretty rough on the group this time out--I wonder if that's what happens when you review the books at home with them right in front of you instead of at work when you're dredging 'em up from memory? (Which might explain why Graeme's been such a holy terror since he started...) I say EXTERMINATORS #3 since it pisses away a lot of potential, money and good will.

TRADE PICK: I'd like to say LA PERDIDA GN but I haven't picked it up to see if my major concerns with the last issue got resolved. I'll let you know. Until then, I'm most interested in giving an extended sit-down to ROCKETO VOL 1 JOURNEY TO THE HIDDEN SEA TPB and see if it measures up.

Oh, and it didn't come out this week but Naoki Urasawa's first volume of Monster was tremendously engaging melodrama. I loved it.

There. Now to figure out what I'll be reading about at the store Friday and doing if work is quiet on Saturday....

Labels: Jeff

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Going on somehting like day 10 of the Plague That Maggie Thompson Gave Me -- though I actually managed a full day of work yesterday. This is starting to get damn tiresome. All I want to do it sleep and blow and my nose, I can't muster more than that.

Same with Tzipora and Ben, ew.

Here's what showed yesterday -- I'm hoping I'll have the strength to write a review or something soon (I want to talk OYL, too!), but, man, I've got to get this flu off my back....

2000 AD #1474
2000 AD #1475
30 DAYS OF NIGHT DEAD SPACE #2 (OF 3)
AMERICAN VIRGIN #1
ARMY OF DARKNESS #5 (RES)
BATMAN AND THE MONSTER MEN #5(OF 6)
BATMAN STRIKES #19
BETTY #154
BJ BETTY #1 (A)
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #111
BOMB QUEEN #2 (OF 4)
CABLE DEADPOOL #26
CAPTAIN ATOM ARMAGEDDON #6 (OF 9)
CAPTAIN BLUEBUSH #1
CAVEWOMAN PANGAEAN SEA #9
DOLL & CREATURE #1 (OF 4)
DOROTHY #5
DOWN #4 (OF 4)
ESCAPE OF THE LIVING DEAD WRAPAROUND CVR #4 (OF 5)
EXTERMINATORS #3
FABLES #47
FANTASTIC FOUR FIRST FAMILY #1 (OF 6)
FELL #4
FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #23
GI JOE VS TRANSFORMERS VOL 3 ART OF WAR CVR A #1 (OF 5)
GRENUORD #2 (OF 6)
HARD TIME SEASON TWO #4
HEAD #14
HI HI PUFFY AMIYUMI #2 (OF 3)
HYSTERIA ONE MAN GANG #1
INVINCIBLE #29
JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #242
JUGHEAD AND FRIENDS DIGEST #9
KEIF LLAMA XENOTECH #5 (OF 6)
MAD MAGAZINE #464
MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #10
MASTERS OF HORROR #3 (OF 12)
MATADOR #6 (OF 6)
MAZE AGENCY #3 (OF 4)
NEW X-MEN #24
PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #101
POWERS #17
PULSE #14
RETRO ROCKET #1 (OF 4)
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #24
SENTINEL SQUAD ONE #3 (OF 5)
SEVEN SOLDIERS FRANKENSTEIN #3 (OF 4)
SEVEN SOLDIERS MISTER MIRACLE #4 (OF 4)
SILENT HILL DEAD ALIVE #3 (OF5)
SKY APE KING OF GIRLS ONE SHOT
SON OF M #4 (OF 6)
SONIC X #6
SPIDER-MAN UNLIMITED #14
TEEN TITANS #33
THUNDERBOLTS #100
TOM STRONG #36
TOMORROW STORIES SPECIAL #2
TRANSFORMERS INFILTRATION #3
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #91
UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERSE NIGHTMASK
VAMPIRELLA REVELATIONS HORNE CVR #3
VICE #5
WILDCATS NEMESIS #7 (OF 9)
X-MEN THE 198 #3 (OF 5)

Books / Mags / Stuff
ABANDONED VOL 1 GN (OF 3)
ALTER EGO #57
ARTHUR SUYDAM ART OF THE BARBARIAN VOL 2 SKETCHBOOK SGN
AUTHORITY REVOLUTION BOOK TWO2
BIRDS OF PREY BETWEEN DARK AND DAWN TP
BROWNSVILLE HC
CINEFANTASTIQUE MAR APR06 VOL38 #2
CYCLONE BILL AND THE TALL TALES TP
DARE DETECTIVES VOL 2 THE ROYALE TREATMENT TP
FORTEAN TIMES #207
IDENTITY CRISIS SERIES 2 INNER CASE ASSORTMENT (NET)
INCREDIBLE HULK PLANET HULK PRELUDE TP
LA PERDIDA GN
LEES TOY REVIEW MAR 2006 #161
LENORE VOL 3 TP
MAD CLASSICS #6
MAXX BOOK SIX TP
PLACEBO MAN TP
ROCKETO VOL 1 JOURNEY TO THE HIDDEN SEA TP
ROGUE TROOPER TO THE ENDS OF NU EARTH TP
SLAVE CONTRACT GN
SOCOM SEAL TEAM SEVEN GN
VIDEO WATCHDOG DEC 2005 #124


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So, it’s an odd week. DC’s first One Year Later books appear while other DC books ship late and confuse people who aren’t paying attention. Meanwhile, Marvel launch Ms. Marvel really quietly, and wonder whether they’ll have to change the name of their Civil War series if the situation in Iraq gets much worse. Ttt. Comics, huh? Who’d bother with them?

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #649: Or, as the cover calls it, “The Last Adventures of Superman”. Of course, that’s not true in any sense; it isn’t even the last part of this particular (and peculiar) three-part Superbook crossover that appears to take place between pages of Infinite Crisis #5. Even the art on the cover has nothing to do with the story inside whatsoever: It’s got Superman and Lois from Earth-2, plus some blonde Superboy from Earth-Pantene and Evil Alex Luthor from Earth-3, all looking very dramatic and everything. Thing is, Evil Alex and blonde Superboy don’t appear anywhere in this book. I’m guessing that this is one of those cases where the cover was drawn waaaay before the book was written, and the editor probably just made some guess as to what’d happen inside. “It’s an Infinite Crisis crossover, right? Aw, put Alex Luthor on there. And Superboy, too. But, hey! Make him blonde. Kids like those blonde superheroes.” The story itself really doesn’t work for me as it seems to rely on the assumption that both Supermen are arrogant, self-centered and unsympathetic… That’s not really the Superman that I want to read about, you know? I don’t care if he’s married to Lois or not married to Lois, or whether he’s the Last Son of Krypton or the third-cousin-twice-removed of multiple sons of Krypton who are all around, but, come on. Superman is meant to be a good guy, sometimes too nice, sometimes a bit naïve, but definitely not someone who has internal dialogue like “I almost pity him… almost. Too blind to see that his world was a shell. Empty as his black and white ‘morality’. The falseness of it all is part of his very being.” Here’s hoping that the whole One Year Later relaunch is better than this Crap.

AQUAMAN: SWORD OF ATLANTIS #40: One Year Later, Aquaman is suddenly and suspiciously much closer to what the upcoming TV version of him is going to be like: Teenage, confused about his origins, and two-handed. Feel that corporate synergy at work, aquafans. Kurt Busiek’s revamp of Vincent Chase’s favorite hero starts out fairly slowly, not helped by heavy-handed narration of the “Great things are expected of this young man, lo, it has been written” variety. Butch Guice’s scratchy art stays as ideosyncratic as ever – he still draws limbs too long whenever he gets the chance – and given coloring that makes everything muddy where it should be clear. Kind of a disappointment, to be honest, but that might be because I’m not a fan of the fantasy genre that’s being introduced here. Okay, if you like that kind of thing, I guess.

BLOOD OF THE DEMON #13: John Byrne books have become kind of review-proof these days, haven’t they? Here’s my cheap-shot one, anyway: One Year Later, I’ll be surprised if this book is still being published. Eh.

DETECTIVE COMICS #617: I’m completely torn on this one. It’s Very Good, I should get this out the way straight off, and probably the best a regular Batman book has been since Ed Brubaker’s Detective run was cut short way back when. Like Jeff said, James Robinson comes up with the best use of the One Year Later gimmick so far to reintroduce old characters and set up the idea that significant things have happened that we don’t know about, while also putting a current day plot in motion that offers up a few things of interest. But at the same time, I’m kind of annoyed that all of the changes to the status quo are steps back – James Gordon is the Commisioner again, Harvey Bullock is back on the police force and Harvey Dent clearly soon to be Two-Face again. Yes, it’s the classic Batman set-up, I can see that, but… it’s all been done before…

I (HEART) MARVEL: MASKED INTENTIONS: Given the rumors that are floating all around the comics internet about the fate of the New Warriors, this seems like a strange parting gift that Marvel’s giving fans of those characters – A one-shot with two short stories, both written by original NW writer Fabian Niceza, centering around the love lives of various NW characters. The first story, starring Joe Quesada’s favorite Speedball, is the most successful by far; Paco Medina’s art giving the story some bounce – sorry – and Niceza’s writing keeping pace with some fun classic romance story plotting and dialogue (“I felt a fire in my belly, and then my heart melted.”) that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The second story, about the break-up of minor characters Justice and Firestar, drags on and feels painful for all the wrong reasons in comparison. It’s not just that the reason for the split isn’t given any context in the story, but there’s nothing there to give you any reason to care about it one way or another. Apparently, Firestar doesn’t want to get married but does want to have parties in college. Um. Okay. The first story’s Good, but the second story drags the book overall down to just Eh. New Warriors fans, savor it, though; they’re all getting blown up in Civil War. Allegedly.

INFINITE CRISIS #5: If that last page reveal is meant to be taken seriously, then I’m very worried that the final two issues of this series are going to lose the goodwill that it’s generated so far. He’s meant to be the big bad guy of the series? What about Evil Alex Luthor? Why isn’t he getting a page to himself wearing Anti-Monitor cast-offs and trying to catch flies in his mouth? As we get further and further into the “Oh My God, Nothing’s Going To Be The Same Ever” series, Geoff Johns seems to be losing control of the pacing, even if certain scenes still work (The Superman versus Superman battle is much better here than in the Superman books, perhaps because neither Superman seems like a pompous dick). In one way, Johns is to be commended for keeping so much of the book centered around Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman, considering their rift was meant to be the central conflict to the series originally, but the Batman plot feels shoe-horned in here, and somewhat unbelievable (“I want to fight an invisible satellite in space with its own army of invincible cyborg defenders, so I want the best team! Black Canary! Green Arrow! Blue Beetle who doesn’t even know his powers yet! You’re with me!” And he’s supposed to be the smart one?); Wonder Woman’s role in the Superman fight was nice, as well, but how she got there was gratutious Crisis fanboy wankery of the highest order. I’m guessing that it’s unlikely that everything can be resolved in the next couple of issues, so I’m preparing myself for either a deeper downturn following this issue, or some crazy expositioning over the next couple of months. Okay, with a nervous forecast for the remainder of the series…

JSA #83: The fourth of the One Year Later books this year, this is the one that really pushes the whole “What’s the point” thing home. Really, it’s just a JSA story. There’s no obvious benefit or result of the one year jump, and it seems to ruin a couple of Infinite Crisis dangling plots (Flash has his powers back, so presumably the Speed Force comes back, and everyone seems to all be on the same earth, so I’m guessing that the multiple earths aren’t sticking, either), so… well, maybe this was one of the few DCU books that no-one thought could be improved on? Or maybe Paul Levitz didn’t want to rock the boat too much during his fill-in run. About Mr. Levitz, however… You can tell that he’s got his roots in 1970s and 80s team comics, as Mr. Terrific brings back two hallmarks of X-Men, Teen Titans and Legion comics of my youth: Characters saying “ohmigod” and very bad accents (“I’ve told ya, lad, ya canna fight like this”). It’s almost enough to make this more than just Okay. But only almost.

MS. MARVEL #1: Remember back when Bill Jemas was at Marvel, there were rumors about people trying to come up with a Sex And The City-style book starring superheroines? The first half of the book seems to be the result, mixing Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel talking about their days over lunch, with flashbacks to the appropriate plot points (The second half settles into a more traditional first-person narration of an uncertain hero thrown into an unfamiliar situation scenario, and it’s much less interesting as a result). Surprisingly playing down the cheesecake factor suggested by Frank Cho’s bland-but-busty cover and the character’s recent (Frank Cho-illustrated) New Avengers appearance, this reminds me of nothing as much as the first four issues of Grant Morrison’s Animal Man, before he got all metatextual… There’re some funny sequences – Captain America’s cameo, in particular – and the tone for most of the book feels appropriately light and devoid of the recent “event” thinking of Marvel’s core books. If you liked the mix of respect for the original material and irreverance for fanboy convention of Allen Heinberg’s Young Avengers, you might be as pleasantly surprised by this as I was. Very Good. No, really.

NEW ORLEANS AND JAZZ: Yeah, this is going to be a tough one to review. Because it’s a charity book, raising money for the American Red Cross’s Hurricane Katrina relief effort, and that means that I feel guilty saying that it’s a really bad book, because, you know, it’s for a good cause. But still. It’s a really bad book. Everyone involved has clearly the best intentions but worthiness isn’t enough to protect the contents from being occasionally tasteless, especially in the one story that seems to say that Hurricane Katrina happened because the devil couldn’t steal someone’s hat. Billy Tucci’s “pouting Mardi Gras dancer with one lone tear” cover kind of sets the tone, really. Crap, but, hey. Help out the Red Cross and donate the money directly, instead.

NEXTWAVE #2: Not as good as the first issue, true, but still worth your time and money. Warren Ellis is still playing the stupid comedy card, and even though the pace is less frenetic this time around, he finally manages to work “Kick! ‘Splode! This is what they want!” into a comic. Stuart Immonen is still an art god, with his lovely cartoony cleanness looking unlike else Marvel is currently publishing, and this is what I wish New Avengers was like. Very Good.

OUTSIDERS #34: Everyone who bought this book, turn to the last page right now. Right there, while Nightwing is finishing his sentence? That is the kind of thing that I thought we’d managed to get rid of in comics, Goddammit. You can’t even pretend that the rest of the team is just standing around listening to him; they’re quite clearly posing for the camera. Look at Metamorpho! He’s doing that whole flex thing! Even if the rest of the issue had been the greatest comic ever created, that last page would have left a sour taste in my mouth through its sheer unnecessariness. Thankfully, this was far from the greatest comic ever created, as it’s lacking in anything other than a painfully drawn-out set-up for yet another super-team that gets involved in real world politics that will lack complexities and be solvable through blowing things up. Crap, and the type of crap that makes you wonder yet again if the 1990s are back in full force. Dan Quayle will be revealed to be an alien invader in this book within a year, I’m telling you.

UNTOLD TALES OF THE NEW UNIVERSE: STAR BRAND: I really liked Star Brand when I was a kid. Not the whole thing, mind you, but the Jim Shooter run with John Romita Jr. art. If there was an Essential Star Brand collection, I’d get that in a second. Is that wrong of me? So, I guess that I’m the target market for this one-shot “celebrating” the 20th anniversary of the failed New Universe by Jeff Parker and Javier Pulido. It’s a fun book, with Parker pretty faithfully riffing off Shooter for the majority of the book before a new character offers a pretty accurate list of complaints about what was wrong with the original series, and Pulido’s art managing to look like Romita’s without slavishly copying it. There’s a pretty strong “But what’s the point” feeling to the whole affair, but overall this offers something surprisingly enjoyable in terms of nostalgia without the rose-tinted glasses. Good, and really, who expected that?

STAR WARS: REBELLION / STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #0: Okay, so Rebellion, I can understand. It’s set between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, so, cool. That’s Star Wars. But Knights of The Old Republic? Set four thousand years before Episode One? Why bother? It’s not got anything Star Warsish going for it apart from people with lightsabers that you’re not familiar with, calling themselves Jedi. Not being an obsessive fan of all things Lucas, both of these previews for the relaunch of Dark Horse’s Star Wars franchise leave me pretty cold, but they’re both fine for what they are. Eh, but perhaps only because I don’t know how many parsecs it took Han Solo to do the Kessel Run.

(Although if I remembered the name of the run that Han Solo boasted about correctly, I may be showing off my geek points nonetheless.)

PICK OF THE WEEK, despite my conflictedness, is probably Detective #617, because it was a strange relief to see a well done Batman story after so long. PICK OF THE WEAK is Adventures of Superman #649, and I’m hoping that it’ll act as some kind of exorcism of shitty Superman stories for the foreseeable future. Trade of the Week for me, I’m entirely ashamed to admit, is Essential Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition Volume 1, purely because I got it the first time around when I was ten years old and I still love the dry straight-faced way in which all of the ridiculous stories are recounted. But I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone with taste, that’s for sure. Click Here to Read More...

Man, where to start? Hibbs is really, impressively ill--it's the closest I've seen anyone in real life looking like a zombie from a Romero movie--so I worked nearly all of yesterday at the store by myself. This means I didn't plow as deeply into the week's comics as I would have liked, nor did I get as far into my backlog of stuff as I would have liked.

But here's my two cents about:

AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #40: My first "One Year Later" book reviewed (although not the first one read) and I think "Aquaman meets Conan" is a very smart approach to the title, since the undersea oceans are as distant and strange as any fantasy realm. I wasn't exactly down with the presentation, however, because it took a while to get to the barbarian hijinks and when they did show up, Guice's art made it look a little murky and unclear. I also think the whole "Is this really Aquaman card?" got played a little too soon. The new Aquaman is a bit of a cipher and, frankly, the old Aquaman was a bit of a cipher. I'd have rather been eased into who this new guy is (by how he acts) and hear from other characters who Aquaman is supposed to be rather than getting thrown into full-page montages in the middle of the first issue. But that's all quibblage, by and large. A very high OK, and worth checking out.

BATMAN ANNUAL #25: So Jason Todd came back to life because Superboy punched stuff? If Judd wanted an explanation that nobody could have guessed, well, mission accomplished, I guess. But by any other measuring stick, it's weird, crappy and dumb, and the issue never really recovers. The whole damn thing just ends up being dull and a waste of cash and really frustrating--pretty much everything you'd want in a Crap comic. Fuck.

DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #2: Read this right after Nextwave #2, and it made me think the creative team here is going for a similarly "plastic fun" approach where the absurdity of the genre is used as a joke without being the butt of that joke. It's far from profound, and I'll be god-damned if I can remember anything after the first seven pages, but I thought it was OK.

DETECTIVE COMICS #817: This was the first "One Year Later" book I read, and it still seems like the best of the bunch: Robinson is able to seed the work with both hints and pay-offs, and the art is really lovely. But, of course, you know, it's Batman. Batman has sixty years of accreted history to pull from so it's pretty easy to change things around (hey, it's Bullock! And Gordon!) in a way that has immediate resonance whether or not there's an immediate payoff. Is, I dunno, Manhunter going to have the opportunity to do anything remotely similar with the One Year Later hook?

I think I see part of the thinking behind OYL (apart from the money grab)--after all, very few of us start reading comic series at the beginning, and half the hook, part of the reasons why the characters loom so large in our memory, is that when you start reading comics there are all these references to stories that have happened that you haven't read, and that's part of what really lights the fires of your imagination. So OYL seems conceived, in part, to make these characters mysterous and evocative again, even if only for a year, and to fire our imaginations about who they are and what they've gone through.

But can you fire an audience's imagination simply through corporate mandate? I'd be a little surprised, frankly: even this issue, as good as it was, will feel like cheap padding if this mix of shilling and obfuscation contnues, say, three or four issues down the road.

All that said? This was pretty Good, and was much more of a success than I thought it would be.

EX MACHINA #18: This book needs less scenes of Mayor Hundred and his inner circle tossing around theories, and more scenes of political enemies of the Mayor blaming the Mayor for stuff: there would be more urgency to prove or disprove the idea an old supervillain was responsible for the ricin gassing, and it'd just give things a little more dramatic snap. But what do I know? I can't even remember how the issue ended, try as I might. OK... I think.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #5: Not as, uh, "friendly" as I thought it would be, now that "The Other" is finally out of the way, but it's a done-in-one and Weiringo is one hell of a Spider-Man artist so I'm not too worked up. If this is the tone David's going to set for the rest of his run, though, maybe SLIGHTLY BITTER NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN would be a more suitable title. OK.

GODLAND #8: Finally gave me that sense of cosmic tingles the book's been promising, due in no small part to Sciolli really stepping up to the plate for those ultra-large "unknown universe" sequences (and if he did the coloring as well, all the more so--the coloring really gave it that extra bump up). I think the narrative is extraordinarly unfocussed in a way neither Kirby nor any of the '70s cosmic greats (except maybe Gerber) would have gotten away with, but I was entertained the entire time I was reading it, and that counts for Good in my book.

HELLBOY MAKOMA #2: These days, Mignola's approach to Hellboy reminds me--and not necessarily in a bad way--of Chris Carter's latter days with The X-Files (or, hell, even later seasons of David Chase's Sopranos). These creators were very aware of what their audience wanted, but were ambivalent about providing it, and so put forward very offbeat, unexpected material with promises to tie it into the larger storyline. It's a way for the artist to remain true to their instincts without taking the financial gamble of striking out in a new direction, but it risks alienating the audience in the long run. I expect I'm not the only person, for example, who finished this issue thinking, essentially, "Yeah, so?" and wondering why Mignola couldn't have teamed up with Corben to do this amazing interpretation of African myth as its own thing, and not as part of the Hellboy mythos. And while that "Yeah, so?" is almost entirely drowned out by the quality of the material, of Corben's amazing art, and Mignola's dry humor and deft storytlelling, it's still there. A very high Good, to be sure, but that little nagging question keeps me from pushing that rating higher, because I can't help but wonder, at least a little, where or when we'll get the full payoff, if ever.

INFINITE CRISIS #5: Fumbled the ball, I thought, and kind of spectacularly--unlike previous issues, I felt like some very crucial pieces of information weren't being communicated. Like, why does Earth 2 only have eight people on it? And why would the Superman of Earth 2 think that Lois would be restored to health just by being put back on Earth 2? Wouldn't it ever occur to him that she is, like, old and stuff? And about a dozen other bits where it just seems like the plot has been lost and things are powering forward strictly on the writer's say-so. And yet, this issue's failure really underscored for me how successful the previous issues of this have been. It's taken some serious skill and craft to keep the whole thing from reading this badly. So, I'm going with Eh, even though a very good case can be made for it being less than that. Hopefully, it'll pick up next issue.

JSA #83: Yeah, I tried to crack this fucker three times, and never got farther than page eight. Johns' JSA did a great job of passing the subplot baton from issue to issue, so I kept reading it well after I would have otherwise stopped. But now that it's "One Year Later," I just couldn't get interested. I'll try again next issue, maybe. No rating.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #18: Kirkman has an interesting way of giving his stories in this title a twist, in that he consistently chooses the least interesting way to wrap things up. Here, our time-jumping heroes handily defeat the bad guy and realize they've only saved another timeline, not their own, and so have little choice but to stay where they are in their comfortable little niche future. Sure, it avoids the cliche "Days of Future Past" style ending I was expecting, but it also underlines the story's dramatically inert structure--it doesn't really matter what happens as long as Kirkman gets another story written and another paycheck cashed. But maybe I would've felt differently if this had been, say, a jam-packed annual rather than three ultra-leisurely go-nowhere issues. Awful.

MARVEL ZOMBIES #4: Conversely, Kirkman's leisurely pace works much better here, as it really allows the story's dark humor to blossom fully: since it's particularly hard to care about any of the characters here (except maybe the Black Panther), the plot isn't isn't half as interesting as the scenes where the Marvel Zombies realize they can keep pulling the food out of their stomachs and re-eating it to stave off hunger pains. There are probably too much threads to wrap up satisfyingly by next issue, but I've found this w