...Marvel officially delays Civil War #6 and 7 two weeks. It's because penciller Steve McNiven has strep, apparently, although I'm wondering what the schedule for #7 will end up being if he still hasn't finished #6 yet. Click Here to Read More...

I'm so totally, crazily, not in the mood to write, but since G didn't get his comics last week, and Jeff is still NaNo-ing, I guess I should say something, even if it is short and crappy.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #536: I liked the first half (or so) of this filling in the blanks of CIVIL WAR #5 (BTW, #6 isn't listed on the 12/20 Marvel FOC list, which means it isn't going to hit that revised ship date, I don't think. What that means for #7 is even a bigger question) -- yes, there's your failsafe sequence, yes that makes point A match a bit better to point B, but then, suddenly, there's a time jump forward and we're told to read CIVIL WAR #6 (twice!) to have it make sense. Uh.... what? So, oddly half GOOD and half AWFUL.

BOYS #5: I almost cried when Hughie met Nice Girl (or whatever her name is.... does she have a name? I know I've forgotten) on the park bench. It just feels so contrived, and I can see where that's going. This book is really By-The-Numbers, and yet, and yet... I like D's art and I like G's writing, and I approve of the premise in general ways, and I like the characters more or less. So why am I so under-whelmed by the final package? OK

CONNOR HAWKE DRAGON BLOOD #1: I don't really have anything meaningful to say about this -- I just need to fill out the column inches til I get to the next book I *want* to say anything about (PWJ, so, yes filler indeed). Utterly competently done (though how ON EARTH someone having an Archery contest can never have heard of Ollie Queen is... weird), but Connor is mostly defined by what he isn't, rather than anything he is. That's why he needs Eddie as a sidekick, to provide really any color whatsoever. There's absolutely, positively, nothing wrong with this comic... but there's nothing too thrilling about it either. Competently OK

DRAIN #1: Sexy ninja Vampire fighting Evil. Yeah, sounds like an old-school IMage book. Again, competent, but dull. EH.

FANTASTIC FOUR THE END #6: Like I said to Jeff on Friday, it's really really pretty, but it is a "What if....?", AND it is set in the future, so that's pretty much 2 strikes against any relevancy whatsoever. Which is too bad, because it IS really REALLY pretty. For the art alone: GOOD. For how much I care? OK.

PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #2: I barely remember the first issue, but we finally meet the Pirates, and I don't like any of them whatsoever. Oh well, EH.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #1: I think I'm on record that Punisher-as-cartoon works really well for me, but I'm a little less sure that Punisher-as-snarky-blogger (c'mon -- "Asshat"?!?!) is a workable tone for the long run. I definitely laughed, HARD, in a couple of places, but I kind of can't imagine that anyone who LIKES "Punisher in the Marvel Universe" is going to enjoy the tone of this. I really want to hear what someone like ex-CEer Gary Barger has to say about this, because he's the target audience, not me. No, not me.

I also think it is of extremely questionable judgment of Marvel to have an "mainstream" and "adults only" version of a character running around at the same time. Some guy in Arkansas or Iowa or something is going to end up taking a raft of shit from some parent pretty soon, I fear.

All of that aside, I really really liked this. Like VERY GOOD liked it.

SUPERGIRL & LEGION #24: Just wanted to say, y'know who I miss? The Comics Shrew. Her last review is #12 of this series, so I guess its been a year. *sad*. I like a lot of the ideas in this series, but I've been bored with the execution. Its all moving so slowwwwwwly. And when you have a Legion of a cast, things need to happen faster, IMO. EH.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #102: I'll be damned if that isn't a better origin for Spider-Woman than the "real" one. I'll never live down this sentence, but: I'm actually enjoying this Spider-Man Clone War storyline. GOOD.

WALKING DEAD #32: Wait, where did Glen come from? How is everyone so casually skulking around in an armed camp? After all of the "Sh! Quiet!" stuff, they just smile and give Michonne a pat on the back as she decides to rip out the cancerous heart? This storyline is going on way way too long, and isn't making a ton of sense. A very rare EH for an otherwise great series.

WOLVERINE #48 and WONDER WOMAN #3: just Retail Intelligence, rather than reviews. Both took MASS dives from the last issue. WOLVIE shifts from "Civil War crossover" to "Casualties of War", and, book, 1/3 of the readership walks away like that. Despite it being epilogue to the last six issues which they bought. I no understand. WW lost a quarter of the people who bought #2, so thank you massive delays (and a pretty loony story, too, I think)

X-FACTOR #13: A "sequel" to a decade old X-FACTOR story (when some kid named "Quesada" was drawing it) with X-Factor on the Couch, and it's really terrific. So much so that Jeff Lester almost bought it, after reading it, despite not having #1-12, and not being likely to buy #14. Yes, its VERY GOOD.

ZOMBIES ECLIPSE OF THE UNDEAD #1: Actually didn't read this, but another "Retail INtelligence" thing -- zombies are done. Over. Jumped the Shark, as the kids say. If you're a creator, and you're thinking about it, please do NOT do another zombie book. They're completely flat with the audience today. Seriously.




PICK OF THE WEEK: There's some competition between it and X-FACTOR #13, but I'm going to go with PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #1, just because its tone COMPLETELY surprised me. And surprise is good.

PICK OF THE WEAK: Is probably really something I didn't review, but of what I did? The second half of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #536, I think.

TP / GN OF THE WEEK: MOOMIN, LUCKY, 3 new SC versions of classic Eisner works, BUDDHA 4 in SC, a new volume of Y THE LAST MAN, and a I-can-kill-you-with-it version of Morrison's X-MEN run -- it was a good week for books, I think. I'm going to geek on my young adulthood, however, and go with SWAMP THING v9: INFERNAL TRIANGLES, however. LOVE that Superman story in there, and Veitch is an under-appreciated creator. It even has an INVASION! crossover that works. Ah, for the days when Vertigo wasn't Vertigo...


That's what I got for you. What did YOU think?

-B Click Here to Read More...

I tried to post this last night, but Blogger seemed down for the two hours I kept trying it...

Yep, it's a five-Wednesday month, all right. Here, have some dribs!

What I'M glad about is that there aren't any major gift-giving holidays coming any time soon...

Hopefully some reviews tomorrow, I hope.

2000 AD #1512
2000 AD #1513 (Nope, we didn't get this issue)
52 WEEK #30
AMERICAN VIRGIN #9
AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #46
ARMY OF DARKNESS #12
AVENGERS NEXT #2 (OF 5)
BATMAN #659
BATMAN THE SPIRIT
BLACK PANTHER #22 CW
BLACK PANTHER 2ND PTG VAR #21CW
CAPTAIN AMERICA #24 CW
CASTLE WAITING VOL II #3
CONAN & THE SONGS OF THE DEAD #5 (OF 5)
CROSSING MIDNIGHT #1
DEATHBLOW #2
DUMMYS GUIDE TO DANGER #3 (OF4)
ESTANCIA #2 (OF 17)
FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #6
FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #14
GHOST IN THE SHELL 1.5 HUMAN ERROR PROCESSOR #2 (OF 8)
GREEN LANTERN #15
GUY GARDNER COLLATERAL DAMAGE #1 (OF 2)
HEAD #16 (A)
IMMORTAL IRON FIST #1
ION #8 (OF 12)
LOVELESS #13
MARVEL MILESTONES ONSLAUGHT
MICKEY MOUSE & BLOTMAN BLOTMAN RETURNS
NEGATIVE BURN #6
NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #10
ONSLAUGHT REBORN #1 (OF 5)
POWERS #21
PUNISHER #41
PUNISHER XMAS SPECIAL
RUSH CITY #3 (OF 6)
SAVAGE DRAGON #130
SEA OF RED #13
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #32
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #169
SPAWN #162
SPIDER-MAN FAMILY FEATURING SPIDER CLAN
STAN LEE MEETS DR DOOM
STAR WARS LEGACY #6
SUPERMAN BATMAN #30
TALENT #4 (OF 4)
TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST #16
TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #41
TEEN TITANS #41
TEEN TITANS GO #37
TRAILER PARK OF TERROR #5
TRANSFORMERS ESCALATION #1
TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD IMAGEED #2
ULTIMATE POWER #2 (OF 9)
ULTIMATE VISION #0
VERONICA #176
WARLORD #10
WETWORKS #3
WHAT IF WOLVERINE ENEMY OF THE STATE
WHISPER #1
X-MEN #193
ZOMBIE #3 (OF 4)
ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS #1 (OF 2)

Books / Mags / Stuff
ART OF BRIAN BOLLAND HC
AVENGERS GALACTIC STORM VOL 2TP
BECK MONGOLIAN CHOP SQUAD VOL6 GN (OF 19)
COMICS JOURNAL #279
DARK HORSE BOOK OF MONSTERS HC
DEGRASSI EXTRA CREDIT VOL 1 TURNING JAPANESE GN
DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND THE SATURDAYS HC
ELRIC OF MELNIBONE GN
EMILY THE STRANGE VOL 1 TP
ESSENTIAL MAN-THING VOL 1 TP
EX MACHINA VOL 4 MARCH TO WAR TP
GREEN LANTERN REVENGE OF THE GREEN LANTERNS HC
KAERIMICHI THE ROAD HOME GN (A)
LAST CHRISTMAS TP
MARVEL ADVENTURES FF VOL 4 COSMIC THREATS DIGEST TP
MOOMIN COMPLETE TOVE JANNSON COMIC STRIP VOL 1 HC (another 1/3 of our allocation -- thank God for Baker & Taylor)
OH MY GODDESS VOL 3 RTL TP
PUNISHER MAX VOL 6 BARRACUDA TP
RAGMOP TP
SENCILLA FINALE SC
SPARROW PHIL HALE
ULYSSES HC


What looks good to you?

-B Click Here to Read More...

The Thanksgiving week turns out to be a week of kicking my ass - Not that I've really had that much to do outside of work and helping Kate to pull together a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, but still: I am somehow sick again (or, rather, I've not really recovered from being sick last week), and therefore haven't had a chance to get myself to the store to pick up this week's books. I've heard Punisher War Journal was good, mind you, but for now, let's talk about what you were reading this time last week...

ASTRO CITY: THE DARK AGE BOOK TWO #1: I've never really read that much Astro City before - Maybe one other issue? - so maybe that explains just why I was so surprised by how much I loved this. I'd previously written this off as yet another Analog Hero book; you know, the ones where the characters are stand-ins for the more famous, more copyrighted characters that the creators really wanted to write about? But this is something more interesting, metacommentary about the comics industry that still works as a story, with characters who are fully-formed enough that you don't get distracted by trying to work out who their inspiration was. Surprisingly James Jean-esque cover from Alex Ross, as well. Very Good

BIRDS OF PREY #100: Well, that's a somewhat misleading cover blurb: "Who will make the cut in the new Birds of Prey"? Well, apparently, everyone, if this seeming-Mission Impossible set-up that begins this "new direction" issue is to be believed. The new team - really just the old team with the exception of Black Canary along with some new members at this point - seems interesting enough, but part of me wishes that this had been the first One Year Later issue. The book felt like it was losing momentum and direction over the last four or so issues, and I'm wondering if it's because Gail was playing for time waiting for this 100th-issue spectacular and reboot, which may have had a better chance of reaching a new audience before post-OYL apathy set in... Nonetheless, this is Good and hopefully setting up a status quo that lasts more than six months (as opposed to the last new members; Shiva was written out of the book, but did I miss something happening to Gypsy?).

THE ESCAPISTS #5: With an issue to go, I'm not entirely sure what kind of ending this series is going to have. It might just be me... Things are happening, but there doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency to anything, and the whole story feels kind of weightless, despite the apparent death of one of the characters at the end of this issue. I'm not sure why I feel so detached from the story; Is it Brian K. Vaughan's fault for not making the characters seem real enough to me, after the first issue? Is it that I can't find that much drama in copyright disputes? Or maybe it's me, considering that Hibbs loves it? Eh, with qualifiers that I may just have lost my taste and/or mind.

IRON MAN #13 and NEW AVENGERS #25: Two Iron Man spotlights in the whole Civil War way of things hit on the same week - Way to schedule these things, Marvel - and hammer home the fact that Tony Stark is going to be the next Director of SHIELD, post Civil War (Both books approach it differently; the Secretary of Defense tries to talk Tony into it in his book, while Maria Hill suggests it in Avengers by saying that it would piss off the administration. By this point, I'm not sure if I really care about consistency in anything other than core plot points anymore with this event, mind you). Despite that, though, neither of the two books really did anything else to move the story forwards; Iron Man in particular was Crap, with no core story as much as a collection of random subplots and an especially weak "Why you're great, Tony" scene. New Avengers was more enjoyable as a story, and generally Good - avoiding attempting to explain Tony Stark's motivations in favor of showing the way that Civil War is affecting the regular people of the Marvel Universe. I've really enjoyed the New Avengers crossovers; they've been giving me a lot of the background material that I would've wanted to see in the main series, but at least I've been getting it somewhere...

OMAC #5: Oh, boy, this was Awful. Bruce Jones's issues with sex are something that he should really either get out of his work entirely, or focus on and make something interesting out of it. The underage hero seduces the love interest (nine years his senior) despite her problems with the age difference, and then admits that he's broken her run of celibacy because she trusts him, and then in a "shock twist" - he gives her OMAC AIDS! Appalling.

SUPERGIRL #11: This issue is so close to what I'd like to see DC do with their schizophrenic teenage superheroine (Seriously - The version of the character here isn't anywhere close to Mark Waid's version in Legion, who wasn't anywhere close to her portrayal in the "Back In Action" Superman arc, which wasn't really close to her appearance in JLA before it got cancelled, which wasn't... well, you get the picture) and yet a million miles away at the same time - As much as the plots and artwork (Especially Joe Benitez's kind of disturbing take here) don't serve the idea well, for some reason I really like the idea of Supergirl as an awkward, swearing teenager who doesn't know who she is (just who she's supposed to be) and has random crushes on the other superheroes... I'd just like it to be done well, instead of the way it's being handled here. Imagine if that kind of Supergirl was being done with Becky Cloonan or Philip Bond artwork and didn't have stories that made it necessary for her to go undercover as some kind of someone's-idea-of-sexy pirate girl, but was just more honest and less contrived and self-conscious. Who wouldn't want to read that kind of Supergirl? Eh, and I'm getting bored of the missed opportunity that this book represents, to be honest.

PICK OF THE WEEK would be Astro City, with PICK OF THE WEAK being OMAC, which was horrible no matter which way you look at it. As you all probably expected by the pre-release excitement I'd displayed, TRADE OF THE WEEK was easily ABSOLUTE NEW FRONTIER; It's a beautiful presentation for one of the best things that DC has done with its main characters in years. The new pages are gorgeously illustrated but, for the most part, non-essential (although a couple of the scenes really help explain the breakdown one character suffers about midway through the book), but the value of the previously-unseen pages is, for me, the Darwyn Cooke-written annotations to the story, where he identifies the influences and secrets behind his work - Grant Morrison is Captain Cold? I knew there was something untrustworthy about him - in a way that makes you want to go back and reread everything one more time. If you have the money, then consider it recommended.

How did the rest of the Americans spend your Thanksgivings, and everyone else spend their weekends? Click Here to Read More...

52 WEEK 28: The first boring issue in several months. There's a big part of my that thinks that since they're past the halfway point, they need to dramatically ramp up the plot, right quick, to fit everything in before the end. Unless it doesn't end, in which case a lot of people are going to be really upset.

I'll tell you something else: planning more weekly comics? From either big publisher? Probably not a good idea. "52" is a sales success because of a number of specific-to-the-project things, and I think it's going to be VERY difficult to replicate them for try #2. If not flatly impossible.

Last thought: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER aside, a "prophecy" that doesn't come true kind of isn't a prophecy, is it? Anyway, this issue: Extremely EH.


ASTONISHING X-MEN #18: Liked liked liked this, but the last few pages of pacing felt like "we need twice as many pages" marring an otherwise very good conclusion down to a plain GOOD.


ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE BOOK 2 #1: Is that the first time we've actually seen the "Appolo 11" on screen? Totally not what I was expecting. Liked that. Liked the whole issue, really, though the long gap between arcs is a big drag and leaves me without any forward momentum. GOOD.


BIRDS OF PREY #100: I was really afraid that wasn't going to work, but it did just fine. I still kinda think that Black Canary *has* to be on the BoP team (see: the "Birds" part), but, yeah, I'll watch where it goes. a low GOOD.

CATWOMAN #61: This "Film Freak" story has gone on for like 3 months too long. He's not not NOT a compelling antagonist. AWFUL.

CIVIL WAR #5: My first thought upon putting this down was "Huh, nothing happened" -- which is odd, because there's a NUMBER of plot points in this issue... but you can really boil the whole thing down to looking at the cover. The cover shouldn't tell the entire story, no.

Graeme's review covers most of the dumb stuff about this one, but I'm personally probably most annoyed by the bait and switch of "oooh, we're using the most dangerous villians", and then it turns out to be Jack o'Lantern and the friggin' Jester. Oooh, spooky. The problem is, even beaten, bloody, semi-conscious, drugged, and wearing a suit that is 50 pounds of useless weight, Peter shold be able to handle THOSE two light-weights without the slightest of problems. To have the big "cool!" moment being, "THe Punisher returns" isn't especially cool when it's 2 third-tier losers who probably couldn't beat Katie Power from Power Pack, y'know?

In the "Retail intelligence" category, we've had a 20% drop in sales (not orders, SALES) between issue #4 and #5. That's 20% of a REALLY BIG number, so, y'know, owie. The various tie-in comics are off by about that same amount, too. The wait for #4 didn't seem to bother anyone too badly (only 3% there, which COULD be within normal mini-series ranges), but a lot of people seemed to have jumped off this one. Jeff Lester threw his pre-ordered copy back, too -- just like he said he would.

My bottom line: too much dense (as in "dumb") story logic, and way too much Plothammering = AWFUL.


DAREDEVIL FATHER #6: It had a OCT05 code, so I cut my rack order to 2 whole copies and said "fuck it, if MARVEL doesn't care, why should I?" I mean, the LEAST they could have done is resolicited the fucker, rather than leaving a hanging chad of an old ship date like that. I'm say bullshit! Didn't read it, didn't care, very INCOMPLETE.


DEADMAN #4: This is incomprehensible gobbeldy-gook, but you put the lead in the Bostom Brand costume, and at least a few more people are going to pick it off the rack out of curiousity. Don't think they'll be back for #5, however, as it was AWFUL. Even the art by John Watkiss (who I generally like [and I know I am in the minority]) seemed majorly phoned in.

ESCAPISTS #5: NOthing cogent to say except: VERY GOOD.

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #6: If you would have told me six months ago that a Dave-freakin'-Gibbons drawn Green Lantern comic wouldn't even sell double digits off my rack, I would have laughed in your face, and called you an idiot. And yet, here's our evidence for the prosecution: we sold 16 copies of #5, and 9 copies of #6. We sold more copies of frickin' OMAC, if you can beleive that.

There's no one (NO ONE!) who thought getting rid of the GLC was a worse mistake than I, but the WAY they brought them back, all instantaneously and in-the-middle-of-Soap-Opera was clearly also a mistake. And teh way they've tried to leverage a successful Rebirth into a full-scale franchise (FOUR titles, are you nuts?!?) was ALSO a mistake. And it has yielded some really awful sales for us (ION is also a train-wreck, sales wise)

DC really screwed the OYL pooch, launching way WAY too many titles off of it, and that's yielded single-digit sales on a Dave Gibbons comic. Lame.

I thought this was highly OK.

HELLBLAZER #226: I don't like John as a "real" Magus, with lots of real magic running around. I've generally dilkied this "Empathy" storyline, especially since it doesn't seem like it is ever going to end. And, while in prose you can end a chapter with "What the hell is THAT?!", it doesn't work in COMICS because there's at least a one month gap between installments. Feh. AWFUL.

IRON MAN #13: Instead of a "What the hell is up with Tony" as you'd hope you'd get from the finally-we're-synching-up-with-CIVIL-WAR issue, there's instead a lot of blah blah with Spymaster. SPYMASTER? C'mon, he's not even in the top 20 of Most Threatning IM Villians. Foo. AWFUL.

OMAC #5: Sexually-transmitted super powers? More like O-CRAP, if you ask me.

ROBIN #156: a little on the preachy side, but I liked it. OK.

SHADOWPACT #7: Well, since it made it to #7, I guess it is going to make it past the first year, which I would never have bet on, but this here's a book I really don't understand how and why it is being published. There just doesn't seem to be a POINT to this. EH.

SQUADRON SUPREME #7: This book has lost its way. Big big delays, and this is just a run-of-the-mill fight scene, really. I used to love this comic, and now I just don't care (and haven't since it switched to "all ages") EH.

ULTIAMTE FANTASTIC FOUR #36: Reach exceeding its grasp, I think. Tonally, this is way way off from the rest of the ULTIMATE books, and we're bleeding readers hard. EH.

WHITE TIGER #1: I kinda liked it, be it was way too talky and ponderous. being a co-anchor of, say, a MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS, I might be more positive, but in the relentless expansion of Marvel and DC comics, I don't see a great reason for this to exist. OK.


PICK OF THE WEEK: Probably ASTONISHING X-MEN #18.

PICK OF THE WEAK: OMAC #5, yessir. Bruce Jones is 2007's Chuck Austen or Ron Zimmerman.

BOOK / TP OF THE WEEK: There's only one choice, and that's ABSOLUTE DC NEW FRONTIER. No, I mean, there's ONLY one choice -- I can't come up with a second place choice at all this week.


That's what I thought, hows about you?


-B Click Here to Read More...

I'm swamped with a lot of stuff in the run-up to Thanksgiving - a lot of it being work-related, sadly - so only one review right now, soundtracked by the Tony Bennett special on NBC that should've really had Nellie Mackay involved, but doesn't. More later this week.

CIVIL WAR #5: Oh, come on. They've stopped even trying now, haven't they? This issue literally just doesn't make any sense when you start to think about it. There are numerous plot holes that are scattered through this issue - If Iron Man built Spider-Man's armor and suspected that he was going to rebel, why didn't he have some kind of failsafe device to deactivate the armor? Why couldn't Spider-Man punch his way through a window when he managed to punch Iron Man through a wall a page earlier? Why did Iron Man threaten Spider-Man when he wasn't doing anything illegal, anyway? If Spider-Man could be tracked in the sewers, why can't he be tracked to Captain America's secret headquarters when he goes there afterwards? Talking of those secret headquarters, how did the Punisher not only find them but manage to break into them when we're supposed to believe that no-one on the side of the Pro-Registration argument can manage to do so? Why is the Punisher a better candidate to break into the Baxter Building than the Invisible Woman, considering that she used to live there until the last issue and therefore probably knows the building better than anyone else and can, you know, turn invisible? Why does no-one seem to notice that Daredevil isn't just not Daredevil but is instead Iron Fist, who they've all met before and should presumably recognize the voice of, if not the different height and shape of the body? - that no-one even vaguely attempts to address that go beyond bad writing and into the realm of some bizarro world where this managed to get past everyone in editorial without anyone noticing, and still manage to keep all of its schtick intact. And, oh boy, there's some schtick to be found.

This issue, we finally see why DaredevilFist was playing with a silver coin in the first issue - so that he could play out some awkward Iron-Man-as-Judas metaphor in the closing pages of this issue. Sure, it makes no sense coming from that particular character (or, for that matter, from any character), but that's pretty unsurprising considering the dialogue elsewhere is full of small moments that make no sense other than as attempts to be deep. Why does Spider-Man suddenly say "...Did you know my girlfriend died of a broken neck?" with no context or follow-up when he's being attacked by the lame cannon fodder Thunderbolts (When C-list characters Jack O'Lantern - whose head is now apparently a flaming pumpkin instead of just a pumpkin mask, judging from the way it explodes - and the Jester make appearances in a series like this, then there's only one reason why, and it's called "cheap deaths to try and emotionally manipulate the reader". Ask Goliath from last issue, he'll be able to tell you about it. Don't you remember Tom Brevoort and Mark Millar saying that there would be no pointless deaths in this series? Seems that their definition of "pointless" may be somewhat flexible)? And that's not even going anywhere near the trademark "edgy" Mark Millar humor(Johnny and Sue Storm have to have new identities as - wait for it, wait for it - a married couple! Oh, my sides are splitting. "I'm still annoyed Nick Fury couldn't find us any brother and sister identities. Pretending we're a married couple is the creepiest thing I've ever done," Sue complains, as an attempt at an explanation, even though it automatically raises the question of why the two of them had to have new identities where they were related in any way whatsoever. I mean, if you were really going undercover and not wanting to be recognized at all, you'd kind of not want to hang around with your sibling and increase the potential of being recognized, right? But then we couldn't have yet another Mark Millar incest moment, and would be missing out on the "funny").

As if a plot that doesn't make sense and dialogue that doesn't work as anything other than the voice of the author wasn't enough, the mechanics of the whole thing start to get wonky as well: The Spider-Man/Iron Man confrontation comes out of nowhere unless you've been reading the crossovers, and references things that the readers who have only been reading this series - or, down the road, the inevitable trade paperback - won't get (They may also wonder about the rubble that surrounds the characters, which seems unnecessarily starting things in media res - They could've easily have skipped the background details in the art and no-one would've known any different). The Negative Zone prison gets mentioned during this scene for the first time this series, which seems like a strange way to bring in what should be what is such a big concept for the story. Similarly, we get told that "the public's behind us [and] crime is at all-time low," but that's not been even vaguely hinted at at any other point in the series. Isn't that basic, writing 101, "Show, don't tell" stuff? Trying to set up a world where the registration act has been a success gets completely undermined because it's Reed Richards telling us, and he's been a schmuck up until this point, so why should we believe him, you know...?

By this point in the series, I should at least be able to tell what the context the story is happening in is, especially as we enter the third act and - presumably - get to the climactic changes. But, instead, the way that the story is being told - against logic, against consistent characterization, and without clearly demonstrating whatever the effects of characters' action so far have been - makes it impossible for anything to really mean anything anymore, even to the point of a reader having an idea what the rest of the world thinks about what's happening. It'd be nice to think that, with two issues to go before the end of the series and the unveiling of the "new status quo" of the Marvel Universe, that Mark Millar and Tom Brevoort would manage to somehow turn that around and make it all have some real kind of resonance, but on the evidence of this issue, I'm sure they'd much rather rest on their sales figures and indulge their worst instincts instead. Awful.

I'm sure that lots of people out there really didn't mind this issue, so feel free to use the Comments thread to tell me why I'm wrong. You won't change my mind, but at least then I'll get an idea as to why it's selling so much... Click Here to Read More...

I kinda forgot that I had to photocopy ONOMATOPOEIA today (like in, it's 11:30, and I reach into my bag to get this week's invoice to set up, and I'm thiking "why is this so thick? Ohhhhhhhh fuck.")

Then, when the truck shows up, its a new driver (cue the trumpet player "wahWAH!"), whoi tells me they give him the truck without the lift gate ("..."), and, no his only obligation is to get the boxes to the curb, not to get them inside the store ("....!")

Of course, it's 1 at that point, and Rob isn't due in until 2, so I have to haul Five Store's worth of funny book boxes (approx 1600 pounds the ladeling bill says) all by my lonesome.

So, reviews tomorrow. Maybe Thanksgiving at the latest.

-B Click Here to Read More...

I really wanted to get reviews done last week, but I got flattened by the Flu (also known as: Children are Disease Carriers, yes) -- it would be nice if my blog had, you know, content from me.

So, Tuesday, for sure, I'll have soemthing up on last week's books, promise.

Here's what's coming this week:

24 NIGHTFALL #1 (OF 6)
52 WEEK #29
ACTION COMICS #845
ALL NEW OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z #11
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #536 CW
ANGEL AULD LANG SYNE #1
ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #12
ARCHIE & FRIENDS #105
AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES II #2 (OF 8)
BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #147
BIG BANG COMICS PRESENTS PROTOPLASMAN #3
BIG QUESTIONS #9
BLUE BEETLE #9
BOYS #5
BUCKAROO BANZAI #3 (OF 3)
CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #27
CASANOVA #6
CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #8 (OF 11)
CLASSIC BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #2
CONAN #34
CONNOR HAWKE DRAGONS BLOOD #1(OF 6)
CREEPER #4 (OF 6)
DAMAGED #1
DAREDEVIL #91
DEAD AT 17 VOL 2 #2
DEVILS PANTIES #6
DRAIN #1
DWIGHT T ALBATROSS THE GOON NOIR #2 (OF 3)
ELEPHANTMEN #0
ENIGMA CIPHER #1 (OF 2)
EXILES #88
FANTASTIC FOUR THE END #2 (OF6)
FATHOM #11
FUTURAMA COMICS #28
GODLAND #14
HAUNTED MANSION #5
HAWKGIRL #58
HELLSTORM SON OF SATAN #2 (OF5)
HEROES FOR HIRE #4
HORRORWOOD #4 (OF 4)
IMPALER #2 (OF 4)
JACK OF FABLES #5
JOHN WOOS SEVEN BROTHERS #2
JSA CLASSIFIED #19
LOOKING GLASS WARS HATTER M #4 (OF 4)
MAN CALLED KEV #4 (OF 5)
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS MARK BAGLEY
NEW EXCALIBUR #13
PERHAPANAUTS SECOND CHANCES #2 (OF 4)
PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #2 (OF 8)
PLANETARY BRIGADE ORIGINS NEWSCHOOL CVR #1 (OF 3)
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #1 CW
RED MENACE #1 (OF 6)
RUNAWAYS #22
SAM NOIR SAMURAI DETECTIVE #3
SAVAGE RED SONJA QOTFW #4 (OF4)
SCREWTOOTH #2
SIMPSONS WINTER WINGDING #1
SNAKEWOMAN #5
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #12
STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #10
STREET FIGHTER II #5 ALVIN LEE CVR A
SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #24
THE EXPERTS #1
TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED MOVIE ADAPTATION #2 (OF 4)
TURISTAS OTHER SIDE OF PARADISE BOOK ONE
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #102
UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #5 (OF 8)
UNCLE SCROOGE #360
USAGI YOJIMBO #98
WALKING DEAD #32 (RES)
WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #675
WOLVERINE #48 CW
WONDER WOMAN #3
X-FACTOR #13
ZOMBIES ECLIPSE OF THE UNDEAD #1

Books / Mags / Stuff
ALEX RIDER STORMBREAKER GN
AQUAMAN 13 INCH DELUXE COLLECTOR FIGURE
ASIAN CULT CINEMA #52
ASTERIX AND THE FALLING SKY SC
BATMAN DARK KNIGHT ARCHIVES VOL 5 HC
BETTIE PAGE BY OLIVIA HC
BLAB VOL 17 GN
CAPTAIN AMERICA RED MENACE VOL 2 TP
COMICS BUYERS GUIDE FEB 2007 #1625
COMPLETE OMAHA THE CAT DANCERVOL 5 TP (A)
DONT GO WHERE I CANT FOLLOW GN
ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA VOL3 TP
FLASH VINTAGE MESH CAP
HAYATE COMBAT BUTLER VOL 1 TP
HEROES REBORN CAPTAIN AMERICATP
HOT MEXICAN LOVE COMICS 2006
IRON WOK JAN GN #21
JORDI BERNETS THE BEST OF CLARA HC
JUXTAPOZ DEC 2006 VOL 14 #12
LUCKY HC
MARVEL HOLIDAY DIGEST TP
MONSTER WAR TP
MOOMIN COMPLETE TOVE JANNSON COMIC STRIP VOL 1 HC
NEW X-MEN OMNIBUS HC
READ OR DREAM VOL 1 TP
SEQUENTIAL ART ANTHOLOGY VOL 2 SCIENCE TP
SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE UNKNOWNSOLDIER VOL 1 TP
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ARCHIVES VOL 1 TP
SQUADRON SUPREME VOL 1 PREWARYEARS PREMIERE HC
SUPERMAN BATMAN VOL 3 ABSOLUTE POWER TP
SWAMP THING VOL 9 INFERNAL TRIANGLES TP
TEZUKAS BUDDHA VOL 4 FOREST OF UNVELA SC
VIDEO COLLECTED ED TP
WILL EISNERS CONTRACT WITH GOD SC
WILL EISNERS DROPSIE AVENUE SC
WILL EISNERS LIFE FORCE SC
WIZARD COMICS MAGAZINE IRON MAN CAPT AMER CIVIL WAR CVR #183
WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED #37 UNNATURAL DISASTERS
Y THE LAST MAN VOL 8 KIMONO DRAGONS TP


What looks good to you?

-B Click Here to Read More...

But don't be sad about it (Watch this to cheer yourself up if you need to). If nothing else, I want to bitch about Civil War and Iron Man, so expect something this week. Click Here to Read More...

Kate's watching Good Eats, where Alton Brown is currently telling everyone how to fry a turkey for Thanksgiving. What's with the frying of the turkey? Does it taste good? For some reason, I'm not convinced about the whole thing. Considering Kate and I generally have small Thanksgivings - what with me not really being American and therefore not really "getting" Thanksgiving and all - that consists of the Macy's parade, dinner and watching Christmas movies, even the idea of going to all the trouble of setting up a turkey to fry seems like a bad idea, so I don't really see the potential joy of the whole thing. But nonetheless, Kate is hypnotized by the idea.

(Kate's just turned to me and said, "I wish the turkey had been our national bird. I mean, the eagle's cool and all, but the turkey looks better.")

Which is to say, comics!

PHONOGRAM #3: I'm doing this out of alphabetical order because, well, this book is evil. You may not expect it by looking at Jamie McKelvie's clean and polite artwork, or by reading Kieron Gillen's Hellblazer-but-without-the-history script, but it is. It's not even the way that this issue in particular speaks to that particular part of me that's still a popkid who's somehow grown older but pines for a decade ago when the clubs were better and full of smartly-dressed people listening to music that wanted to be the music it'd grown up listening to, and does so in a way that feels true despite the magical framework (Maybe I'm missing the point, but I would enjoy this series more if it had less magic and more pop culture; the former feels too familiar in a bad way - which is to say, bordering on the cliched - and the latter familiar in the good way, personal and honest). No, this book is evil because, after reading the text pieces at the back, I've had Britpop also-rans Shed Seven's "Dolphin" in my head all weekend. "Would you give blood, if you had annnnnnnnnaaaaaaaay," indeed. Okay, but for those who like the pop music, well worth it for the essay in the back.

AVENGERS: EXPOSITION'S MIGHTIEST HEROES II #1: See what I did with the title there? I am so funny. But, sadly, that's what this issue felt like - a fill-in "slice of life" issue instead of the start of an eight issue series on its own. I'm sure that Joe Casey intended it to read like a love letter to Roy Thomas's Avengers run, but it does that too well, coming off as pointless as anything other than twenty-odd pages of advertisement for Essential Avengers volumes 3 - 5. It's a very dense book, as well - not in terms of plot, because there isn't really much of an independent plot outside of continuity porn (Did anyone really need to see that T'Challa met with the government to create a secret identity when he came to the US?), but in terms of dialogue; there's just so much to read here, more than necessary. It's overwhelming, almost, and when combined with the slowness of plot and exceptionally close ties to continuity from thirty-plus years ago, really doesn't help new readers get into things. Which is a shame, because Casey's clearly got a good handle on the characterizations, and has probably been dying to write some of these scenes since he got into comics, so strong is the fanboy feeling of the book. In terms of art, Will Rosado's pencils are fine, but I'm not sure that Tom Palmer is the right man for the inking job - the inks kind of muddy up Rosado's normally cleaner line, leaving something that looks more uncertain than either man's usual work, which is a shame but indicative of the wasted opportunity that this first issue feels like. As something to make you think, "Wow, those early Avengers books were awesome!", this does a Very Good job, but taken on its own, this is just Eh. Nice cover by Dave Johnson, though. If only the book itself had half of its sense of urgency.

BATMAN #658: Um... what? There are some nice touches in this conclusion to Grant Morrison's first arc - the rocket part and Robin's first words being "...s'okay... I stopped the bleeding..." being the main ones, for me - but did Grant forget to write a story for this issue or something? Nothing really felt organic, and the story just kind of stopped at the end without any attempt at resolution; it read as if it'd been plotted by Grant when he was five years old ("And then Batman finds the bad guy and flies there in a rocket and then they fight and then they blow up! The end"). Really, depressingly, unsatisfying, even if it's not actively bad or anything. Eh.

DOCTOR STRANGE: THE OATH #2: First off, yes, there are a shitload of adverts in this book, and yes, it's very offputting when you're reading and have to skip every second page (if not more) - Joe Quesada's reasoning for this on Newsarama this weekend (Essentially, "I wanted to change it, but we ended up selling more ads and people wanted to advertise so what can you do?") was a surreal moment where you realize that, really, the people in power at Marvel don't care about how the original comic reads like - but more than enough people are already talking about that. Enough people, in fact, that I'm almost worried that this comic will end up being remembered as "That one that has lots of advertisements in it," and not "That really rather Good book that manages to have its cake and eat it by treating Doctor Strange as a character with respect while having other characters point out the more ridiculous parts of the way he's been portrayed in the past - "By the hoary #%*-ing hosts!" - all the while spinning out an interesting story and being easily the best looking Marvel book out there right now," as it deserves to be. Brian K. Vaughan, you may be slipping with Ex Machina these days (Am I the only one who read the last issue and felt as if the series has completely lots its way?), but this is much more than anyone deserves from a Doctor Strange comic.

GEN 13 #2: There have been times, in the past, where I've gotten the idea that there's something really twisted about Gail Simone. Sure, she can write and snark with the best of them, but every now and again, there was something else - kind of perverse - that kind of peeked out and then disappeared again just as quickly as it'd appeared. Apparently, there's something about this revival of Wildstorm's grunge teen titans that's brought that side of Simone out to stay: The plot may be fairly generic in some respects (Teenagers with superpowers on the run from adults with nefarious designs on them), but there's something deliciously... off about the execution. What are the internet voyeurs really after...? Superhero snuff? Porn? It's not made clear and, to be honest, probably unlikely to be made any clearer. And what about the evil adults, who give metacommentary on what's they're doing that's detached and bizarrely reminiscent of Dave Eggers if he was an evil supervillain ("Did you hear that? That was us breaking the morality barrier. Boom, boom, oh my God, boom." "It was inevitable. I just felt a chill of remorse. There now, forgotten already.")? The forms of degradation that the kids are put through are interesting and well-considered, as well - Scary, but revealing about their characters, and revealing about the thinking behind the book as well. There's a lot going on behind the scenes here, and I'm wondering if the series can keep it up now that the main characters have escaped into the real world. Right now, though, it's surprisingly Very Good. Yeah, I know, Gen 13, very good. Who knew?

SUPERMAN #657: As Jeff said at the store on Friday, it's "Days of Future Past: The Superman Edition". And as good as it looks - and it looks amazing, with the opening double-page spread showing off the coloring and lettering skills of the team as much as the linework in particular, I think - it's a really odd thing to happen so soon in the Busiek/Pacheco run. The fairly traditional stories of the last three issues find themselves replaced by an exposition-heavy flash-forward that lays groundwork, I presume, for the next year of so of the book (if not a future crossover; Kurt is leaving Aquaman for some big DC event," after all), centering around a bad guy that we've never seen before and killing off the title character midway through the book before bringing him back as a zombie at the end. I can't quite work out if it's ballsy or just disorientating, but it's definitely an unexpected direction to take a Superman book. Good, I think, but I'm really not quite sure.

WISDOM #1: Even if you didn't know that the writer of this new "mature readers" version of the X-character was one of the writers of the new Doctor Who series going into the book, you'd be able to guess as much once you'd finished it, because this is just like an episode of Doctor Who: the dialogue, the structure, the attempts at mysteriousness ("Don't you tell me to - - !" "Mo, I know." "You know, I get the feeling you actually do."), all that's missing are the shitty special effects and David Tennant mugging for the camera (And I say that as someone who really likes the new version of Doctor Who). Surprisingly, it really works - This was much more enjoyable than I'd been expecting, perhaps because it doesn't come anywhere close to taking itself seriously, especially with a climax that's definitely, well, climactic, and more than a little piss-taking. There's even a thought-balloon in the middle of it, for cheap comic effect, and who can ask for more than that? Very Good, and I'm getting worried about the number of Marvel books I'm enjoying these days. What will happen to my reputation...?

PICK OF THE WEEK is Gen 13, because once you get the idea of Dave Eggers being a villain in your head, it's strangely persuasive. PICK OF THE WEAK is Batman, which breaks my little Grant Morrison-lovin' heart, but it deserves it. I'd say something about the TRADE OF THE WEEK, but I still have to write reviews of Fables and American Virgin, so I probably shouldn't say anything, but - hey - Project Romantic sure looked pretty, didn't it?

Next week: More dental surgery for me, thanks! But Absolute New Frontier apparently really honestly comes out on the same day, so at least I'll have something to bleed and drool over later. What did the rest of you read this week? Click Here to Read More...

Well, I know at least one balding scotsman who will be Absolutely thrilled this week...

100 BULLETS #78
52 WEEK #28
A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #46 (A)
ANITA BLAKE VH GUILTY PLEASURES #2 (OF 12)
AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #45
ARCHIE DIGEST #230
ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE BOOK TWO #1
BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #212
BATTLE POPE #11
BETTY & VERONICA #222
BIRDS OF PREY #100
BLADE #3
BOMB QUEEN VOL 2 #2
CATWOMAN #61
CHECKMATE #8
CIVIL WAR #5 (OF 7)
CLAW THE UNCONQUERED #6
CLIVE BARKERS GREAT & SECRET SHOW #7 (OF 12)
CONTENT #2
DAREDEVIL FATHER #6 (OF 6)
DEADMAN #4
DEADWORLD #6
DEATH JR VOL 2 #2 (OF 3)
DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #346
ESCAPISTS #5 (OF 6)
FAMILY BONES #1 (OF 10)
GHOST RIDER #5
GIRLS #19
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #6
GRUNTS #2 (OF 3)
HELLBLAZER #226
HELLGATE LONDON #1 (OF 4)
INVINCIBLE #36 (RES)
IRON MAN #13 CW
JACK STAFF #12
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #120
KRYPTO THE SUPER DOG #3 (OF 6)
LEADING MAN #4 (OF 5)
MAD MAGAZINE #472
MARVEL 1602 FANTASTICK FOUR #3 (OF 5)
MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #7
MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #295
MOON KNIGHT #6
MS MARVEL #9
NEW AVENGERS #25 CW
OMAC #5 (OF 8)
OMEGA MEN #2 (OF 6)
PHANTOM #13
PVP #29
RAMAYAN 3392 AD #3
ROAD TO HELL #3 (OF 3)
ROBIN #156
SAMURAI HEAVEN & EARTH VOL 2 #1 (OF 5)
SANCTUARY #1 (OF 6)
SCOOBY DOO #114
SHADOWPACT #7
SIDEKICK #4 (OF 5)
SIMPSONS COMICS #124
SOCK MONKEY THE INCHES INCIDENT #2 (OF 4)
SONIC X #14
SQUADRON SUPREME #7
SUPER BAD JAMES DYNOMITE #4
SUPERGIRL #11
TESTAMENT #12
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE #1
THE SUPER NATURALS #1
THUNDERBOLTS #108
TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT HOT ROD
TRON #2
ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #36
UNION JACK #3 (OF 4)
WARREN ELLIS BLACK GAS 2 #1
WHAT IF SPIDER-MAN THE OTHER
WHITE TIGER #1 (OF 6)
X-ASTONISHING X-MEN #18
X-CABLE DEADPOOL #34
X-MEN FIRST CLASS #3 (OF 8)

Books / Mags / Stuff
ABSOLUTE DC THE NEW FRONTIER HC
AVENGERS AND POWER PACK ASSEMBLE DIGEST TP
BACK ISSUE #19
BOOK OF BOY TROUBLE GAY BOY COMICS WITH NEW ATTITUDE TP
CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE FALCON SWINE TP
COMICS JOURNAL LIBRARY VOL 7 HARVEY KURTZMAN TP
EC ARCHIVES SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES VOL 1 HC
FAMILY GUY COLLECTED ED TP
FURY PEACEMAKER TP
GIRLS VOL 3 SURVIVAL TP
GRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY MALCOLM X GN
HELLBLAZER EMPATHY IS THE ENEMY TP
JACK COLE READER VOL 1 TP (RES)
JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #47
OUTLAW NATION TP
PATH OF THE ASSASSIN VOL 3 TP
SCRIBBLER GN
SOUTHLAND TALES BK 2 FINGERPRINTS
SPAWN ARMAGEDDON VOL 1 TP
STAR WARS KNIGHTS O/T OLD REPUBLIC COMMENCEMENT VOL 1 TP
SUPERMAN THE MAN OF STEEL VOL5 TP
TIN HOUSE GRAPHIC ISSUE
WATERLOO SUNSET TP


And what looks good to you?

-B Click Here to Read More...

Dude. I totally shouldn't be doing this. Nanowrimo. The regular job. Preparing for my brother in law's engagement party. Plus, the Net connection is slow as hell this morning. And I want to post about Vegas at some point...

But just to fly in the face of common sense:

52 WEEK #26: What a weird little book this is--The Sivana Family meets the Black Marvel Family (and if I'm not mistaken, the Black Marvel Family is getting their own reptilian version of Tawny the Talking Tiger)--as every issue becomes more and more about a group of four ultra-fanboy comic book writers trying to amuse each other. And that's closer to a Good comic than you would think.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR #3: A lot of last issue's charm doesn't stick around--or maybe I was just irritable last Friday. Either way, this seemed like Pekar at his laziest, just pages of kvetching. Includes a piece on community renewal so ineptly structured you'd think Joyce Brabner wrote it. Sub-Eh.

AMERICAN VIRGIN #8: As ever, some little bits that I like, and a lot of stuff I don't. In fact, I think Other Side did a pretty good job of showing up this and Exterminators. Vertigo may want to think about their shipping schedules a bit. Eh, again.

APOCALYPSE NERD #4: The Daredevil: Father of the indie-nerd set. As usual, I wish some canny book publisher would nail down Bagge for a book of stories from the American Revolution. Though, looking at this book's publication schedule, it'd probably be wise if they paid on delivery. OK.

BEYOND #5: Makes me feel like less of a geek for collecting Englehart's run on West Coast Avengers. (Not that I am less of a geek, mind you, I just feel that way.) I dunno--if you're like me and like Marvel c-listers drawn with panache, you'll think this is Good (and like me, you won't really be able to justify it).

BLUE BEETLE #8: I just realized--Blue Beetle is the Gilmore Girls of superhero comics. This book is really funny, really charming, and widely ignored, which breaks my heart a little. I doubt this issue, with Beetle fighting a generic monstery guy, will win any converts, but...the fun! The charm! Good.

CRIMINAL #2: I think we may be entering a new golden era of the comic book text page. Sure, sure, the story is Very Good and all, but Brubaker's essay on Out Of The Past made me downright giddy--he just casually unpacked everything that was great about the movie, pointed out how it uses some of the great noir themes, and made his points cogently with no fuss and flash. Plus, there's that lovely illustration to go with it... Fucking great issue.

EX MACHINA #24: A nice bit of progression for the overarching story and body language that fit the action made this a Good read.

EXTERMINATORS #11: Like American Virgin, possesses likeable bits (that shot of the dining table in near-darkness after all the night-vision POV shots was great) amid a vast and crushing unlikeableness. I'm all for misanthropic social satire (or maybe I only think I am) but it's gotta have wit and incisiveness to work. Eh.

KILLER #1: Like Graeme, I picked this up at Hibbs' urging and, like Graeme, I was completely won over--it's a quietly assured little opener with a compellingly detached killer as the main character. Highly Good stuff and I'm look forward to where it'll go from here.

MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #21: Because I'm slow to the point of retardation, it wasn't until the Newsarama article that I was made aware that the Van Lente toiling at the fringes of Marvel is the dude writing Action Philosophers, one of my favorite books. Althougn not earth-shaking, I thought this was a sensible little done-in-one that introduced a bunch of classic stinky Marvel villains (yay, Rocket Racer!) and the black Spidey outfit without a lot of fuss. Very OK and worth watching further.

OTHER SIDE #2: Cameron Stewart's expressive and detailed art lends this story a feeling of direction it might otherwise lack...if that makes any sense. Two issues in, it's very episodic and, apart from juxtaposition of the twin protagonists, might seem a little rootless. But the various episodes are either chilling or blackly amusing and Stewart's ability to fill the pages with detail that descends into clutter keeps it pretty devastating. Highly Good, with an excellent potential for more.

SHE-HULK 2 #13: Another fun book for oldschool Marvel geeks like me--I mean, this has got Thanos and Stargod in it, for Christ's sakes! I also loved the Rick Burchett art--simple but full. I hope they're yanking our leg about switching this to a "serious" book. Highly Good.

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #1: As sometimes happens, Hibbs' description of the book before I read it was better than when I read it ("It starts off amazingly awful--like, narrated by Kryptonite or something?") I've never been particularly damp in the panties for Tim Sale's art, but I was kinda surprised by how underwhelmed by Darwyn Cooke's script I was. The "untouchables" angle on getting Lois, Jimmy and Clark to cover Lex Luthor seemed pretty damn lame--maybe we'll be lucky and Perry'll give a "they come at you with a knife, you hit 'em with correction fluid!" speech next issue. Eh.

TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #3: Hilariously odd--if the Monty Python TV show been a comic book, it'd be a lot like TDTT, I think. I'm too far away from my copy to quote it at length but if you like the funny, you should get it. Very Good stuff.

UNCANNY X-MEN #480: It's a very old-school approach to The New X-Men, so I don't entirely hate it, but mixing Vulcan with the Shi'ar is like pepping up your heroin with some tangy opium. OK in a very competent, face-clawingly dull kind of way.

WHAT IF AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED: My week as a froth-flecked Marvel fanboy ends here with a "What If" I found pretty enjoyable--particularly clever is the way the story is structured so you're not really sure for the first two-thirds if you're reading an alternate reality tale or not. And it made more sense than the original story and has roughly the same amount of heroes acting Out Of Character as Civil War. So call me crazy but Good.

PICK OF THE WEEK: Criminal #2, for the win but Tales Designed to Thrizzle #3 is right on its heels.

PICK OF THE WEAK: American Splendor #3? I dunno, my memory is shot--I either barely remember or don't have time to read the awful books any more.

TRADE PICK: I picked up COMPLETE DICK TRACY VOL 1 HC but haven't opened it up. I kinda wish I'd bought ART OF PLAYBOYS ELDON DEDINI HC, though: those cartoons bring me right back to those days of, as Garth in Wayne's World put it, feeling like I'd just climbed the rope in gym.

And you?

Labels: Jeff

Click Here to Read More...

2000 AD #1508
2000 AD #1509
2000 AD #1510
2000 AD #1511
52 WEEK #27
ACTION PHILOSOPHERS ITS ALL GREEK TO YOU
AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #2
ANNIHILATION #4 (OF 6)
AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES II #1 (OF 8)
BATMAN #658
BATMAN AND THE MAD MONK #4 (OF 6)
BATMAN STRIKES #27
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #3
BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #170
BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #76
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #119
BULLET POINTS #1 (OF 5)
CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #7
CIVIL WAR YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #4 (OF 4)
CROSS BRONX #3 (OF 4)
CSI DYING IN THE GUTTERS #4
DAMNED #2
DEVI #5
DMZ #13
DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #2 (OF 5)
ETERNALS #5 (OF 7)
FABLES #55
FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #31
FRANKLIN RICHARDS HAPPY FRANKSGIVING
GEN 13 #2
GREEN ARROW #68
GREEN LANTERN #14 (RES)
HUNTER KILLER SILVESTRI CVR #9
JLA CLASSIFIED #29
JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #251 (NOTE PRICE)
JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #126
LAST CHRISTMAS #5 (OF 5)
LITTLE SCROWLIE #15
MAGICIAN APPRENTICE #3 (OF 12)
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #4 (OF 8)
MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #18
MARVEL LEGACY 1980S HANDBOOK
MIDNIGHT SUN #2 (OF 5)
NEW X-MEN #32
NODWICK #35
PEEPSHOW #14
PHONOGRAM #3
PUNISHER #40
RED SONJA #16
REX LIBRIS #6
ROKKIN #5
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #168
SPIKE ASYLUM #3 (OF 5)
STAR WARS DARK TIMES #1 (OF 5)
STORMWATCH PHD #1
STRANGERS IN PARADISE #85
SUPERMAN #657
SWAMP PREACHER
TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #2 (OF 8)
TEEN TITANS #40
TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS #9
ULTIMATE X-MEN #76
URSA MINORS #3
VAULT OF MICHAEL ALLRED #2 (OF 4)
WALT DISNEYS CHRISTMAS PARADE #4
WISDOM #1 (OF 6)
WOLVERINE ORIGINS #8
XENA #4
Y THE LAST MAN #51

Books / Mags / Stuff
CAPTAIN ATOM ARMAGEDDON TP
DAYBREAK GN
DEATH NOTE VOL 8 TP
EMO BOY VOL 1 NOBODY CARES TP
FHM MAGAZINE DEC 06
FORTEAN TIMES #216
FOUNTAIN SC
HEROES REBORN IRON MAN TP
JUDGE DREDD HUNTING PARTY TP
KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE VOL 1 TP NEW PRINTING
LAST CRY FOR HELP GN
LEES TOY REVIEW NOV 2006 #169
LIBERTY MEADOWS COVER GIRL HC
LUBA THREE DAUGHTERS TP
LUCIFERS GARDEN OF VERSES VOL4 THE DEVIL & MILES DAVIS SC
MARVEL ZOMBIES 2ND PTG SPIDER-MAN HC
MOURNING STAR GN
NIGHTWING RENEGADE TP
NUDE MAGAZINE #9
POPEYE VOL 1 I YAM WHAT I YAMHC
PROJECT ROMANTIC SC
PUNISHER VERY SPECIAL HOLIDAYS TP
R CRUMBS HEROES OF BLUES JAZZ& COUNTRY WITH CD HC
ROBERT E HOWARD KULL TP
SECRET WAR TP
SFX #149
SHADOWLAND GN
SHANNA THE SHE DEVIL TP
SLAINE BOOKS OF INVASIONS VOL2 SCOTA & TARA HC
TALES FROM THE CLERKS TP
TOYFARE HOLIDAY BUYERS GUIDE CVR #113
TRINITY BLOOD VOL 1 GN (OF 6)
X-MEN FAIRY TALES TP
ZIPPY CONNECT THE POLKA DOTS SC


What looks good to you?

-B Click Here to Read More...

I'm writing this on my new handy-dandy Mac laptop, so if there're any strange characters that appear in this post, then blame Steve Jobs. Also, if anyone knows of any cheap word processing software for a Mac that lets me change fonts (This is being written using TextEdit, which doesn't seem to want to let me do that), then that'd be nice to know, as well...

Anyway. Comics, shall we?

52 WEEK TWENTY-SIX: I don't know quite what I was expecting for this halfway-through-the-series issue, but I'm sure that it was something more impressive than this. Not that this was a bad issue, as such, but nothing much actually happened; Black Adam had dinner and the Question met up with some friends, and... um... that was about it. But thinking about it some more, this kind of seems fitting, a sign that, by this point, 52 has become something all on its own in terms of pacing and expectations. That might not necessarily be a good thing, mind you, but still - there's a very particular way that this series has started to treat its characters and plotlines, with a lack of direct to-be-continued-next-issue cliffhangers and a very weird, leisurely pacing, that is unique in superhero comics these days, so why not have an important milestone marked by an issue kind-of about friends and family, in an indirect way? This issue was Eh to Okay, but the series as a whole has settled into a Good; the turning point, for me, was the nineteenth issue, where it felt as if the writers had finally worked out the kinks in juggling the storylines without particular characters being obviously missing and the timeline seeming screwy when they reappear (Although John Henry Irons still has that problem, I think, and where the hell has Batwoman disappeared to? She was given a big build-up, and then vanished, entirely. I know she's coming back in a few weeks, but I hope that there's going to be an explanation as to where she's been for the last few months), allowing for the series to regain some sense of momentum. But even with weird, stop-start, writing, it's been an interesting ride so far, with a lot of familiar faces making appearances (Greg Rucka proving, yet again, that he's the new Chris Claremont by bringing in characters from his Detective and Wonder Woman runs as if every single comic he writes for DC is part of one very large, ongoing, story that only he is paying attention to) and unfamiliar ones being introduced (The Great Ten, Batwoman, Isis, Osiris, the new Infinity Inc., Supernova, etc.), giving the series the feel of unifying and refining the DC Universe, sure, but also being really rather nerdy in doing so. It's the opposite of something like Civil War, where character continuity is ignored in the service of the ideal of being "new-reader friendly", but almost more enjoyable for the way it embraces the ridiculous past of the characters without shame. I mean, they even brought Egg-Fu back, and created a giant talking Crocodile Man who wants friends. That's all kinds of awesome.

CRIMINAL #2: This may be a much nerdier reference that Ed Brubaker would like, but my first thought while reading this was that Criminal is shaping up to be the Battlestar Galactica of comics: Very, very good creators doing some of their best work that transcends the genre that they're working in while also being exceptionally dark and depressing. Also, Criminal has the heroes being hunted down by robots who happen to look human - what, you thought that the cops were really cops? - so there's that, too. Anyway, things go from bad to worse for the main characters in this second issue as the heist gets all frakked up (Hey, I mentioned Battlestar Galactica; I had to work in frak somewhere) and people die much earlier than I'd expected. Brubaker's script is tight and full of tension, and Sean Philips' artwork continues to be deceptively understated and intelligent (The panel layout is simple and uncomplicated, making it easy for the mythical new-readers to understand, but the linework within the panels is evocative and packed full of information in the way the camera is situated and the body language of the characters). He also provides a great illustration to the text piece in the back of the book, about Brubaker's favorite film noir. Again, Very Good, verging on Excellent. Here's hoping it continues to sell better than Brubaker expected.

FANTASTIC FOUR: THE END #1: There was a point when I was reading this that I got excited about the way that Alan Davis seemed to have caught onto what I enjoy about the Fantastic Four: Dr. Doom was fighting the Thing, and the dialogue went "Give peace a chance, y'sick, psychotic nut!" "Ignorant, weak-minded dolt!" Ridiculously over-written dialogue! Punching! This was what I wanted! A shame, then, that that flashback ends and the book became stranded in a future where the team has grown apart because they didn't talk enough, and the plot was slow and stuck in a pseudo-political mode that mirrored nothing as much as Star Wars: Episode 1 (Seriously, why should I care about the "Methuselah Treatment" or the truce with the Galactic Parliament that's under threat from supervillain terrorists?). Solidly Eh, because of the way that the initial promise got cut off so dramatically. Alan Davis can still draw up a storm, though.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK #100: My first taste of Planet Hulk, and it's... alright, I guess. There's more than a bit of deja vu about the plot, but that kind of works in its favor; yes, we've seen the "gladiator rallies the other gladiators against their rulers" plot before, but we've never seen it in space and starring the Hulk and had some religious prophecy thrown in there as well, right? There's something that reminds me of classic 2000AD in the shamelessness of the way the familiar elements are used, which makes me more of a fan than I would've been otherwise, but even so, the most interesting story in this anniversary issue is still the back-up, starring a new supporting character who works out why the Hulk isn't on Earth anymore. Maybe that's proof that I'm not the world's biggest Hulk fan, huh? Okay.

JONAH HEX #13: Jordi Bernet joins the creative team in time to illustrate the "shocking" origin of Jonah, and phones it in. In what is either a testament to Bernet's talent or an indictment of almost every other comic artist around these days, the art is still miles ahead of almost everything else that came out this week. Shame the same can't be said for the story, which gives Jonah an origin less shocking, and more "He got tortured during the Civil War and then got revenge". Okay, and that mostly comes from the artwork.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #3: There are so many reasons that I should really enjoy this, not least of which is that it has in some sense a Grant Morrison-esque ambition (The bad guys so far feature Starro, Amazo, Professor Ivo, and the brand-new brother of Mr. Miracle, Dr. Impossible, and we've seen an army of Red Tornadoes, which have different elemental powers depending on what color they've been painted). But it's just not working; the narration is uniformly awful - and, for that matter, awfully uniform; Black Lightning, Arsenal and Red Tornado all have the same voice - and the plot has taken three issues (four, if you include the Zero issue) to get started. The scale feels wrong, too, with Meltzer trying to simultaneously go for the massive action epic and small emotional story without hitting either point properly, leaving us with fight scenes punctuated by overly-sentimental schmaltz (Red Tornado's adopted daughter asking if he's going to die) or attempts at cryptic ("What I know, John Smith, is that by tampering with you - - they tamper with the balance... What you are right now is human. And in that is the greatest potential of all."). This is better than last issue, if only because something actually happened this issue, but still, it's pretty Crap.

THE KILLER: LONG FIRE #1: So, Brian hands this to me and tells me that it's his favorite thing he's read all week. I was skeptical, because the back cover blurb didn't look that promising - "A professional. A man of few scruples, nerves of steel, and a steady trigger finger. A man whose crimes might be catching up with him. A man on the verge of cracking." - but it turns out that man Hibbs knows his stuff. This is Very Good indeed, a book length monologue from an assassin about how he got into his line of work, the moral ambiguity of murder and the price he's unwillingly (and perhaps unknowingly) paid for his job, with lush artwork by Luc Jacamon. It shows its origin as a European graphic novel in the sudden break at the end of the issue, but more than convinces you to come back for the next nine issues it'll take to conclude the serialization. Between this and Criminal, it's a good week for double-bills of morally dubiousness.

LOCAL #7: Probably the closest of the series so far to Demo, as Brian Wood slips in a one-off story only tangentally connected to the ongoing story of lead character, Megan that also mirrors the hopeless feeling that haunted a lot of his earlier series. I'm not sure how I feel about it, to be honest. It's well done (Wood's really good with the ability to evoke not just a strong sense of place but a strong sense of personality in so few pages), but I spent the whole time disliking Nicky, despite the best attempts to humanize him and make him someone to empathize with. Perhaps I just missed Megan. Good.

MIDNIGHTER #1: Yeah, I don't really care. Sloppily done - The Midnighter is kidnapped and forced to kill Adolf Hitler (which seems like both cheap sensationalism and toothless at the same time - Yes, Hitler was an evil man, but he was so evil that he's almost become a safe choice to have as bad guy, if that makes sense) because he's "the most lethal man in the world." But in order for us to get to that point, the most lethal man in the world has just been beaten up, kidnapped, operated on, and apparently had some superpower that isn't really explained taken away from him. Doesn't that make the people who defeated him more lethal, if they can, you know, do all those things to him? Why can't they go and kill Hitler instead? - and full of dumb macho bits (Watch as Midnighter kicks away a missile that's been shot at him! And then kicks someone else's head off!), this is a book that feels generic and done for the money more than any other reason. I'm sure that it'll have an audience (It is written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Chris Sprouse, after all, so it's definitely professionally and coherently done), but that audience isn't me. Crap.

THE NIGHTLY NEWS #1: So, I was an art student once, many years ago. And when I was an art student, I was so impossibly pretentious about everything that I'm surprised that more people didn't try to punch me in the head and/or give me money to shut up and just draw or something. Not that that has anything to do with The Nightly News, a visually stunning book that really should not be read under any circumstances, of course. I mean, sure, the afterword by Jonathan Hickman says things like "I don't have the pavlovian emotional response to the word Democrat or Republican that seems to have infected everyone, and I certainly don't buy into the good vs. evil mentality that has infected intellectual debate in this country... What you can look for [in this series] is a full-on, no-holds-barred, dissection of corporate news and its relationship with both you and I. You know: consumers. How they talk to us. How they sell us. How they educate us," but that doesn't mean that he's being pretentious to try and impress upon us that he's intelligent and really, means it, man. Yes, narration like "There's a dying breed of human that thinks they changed the world. They thought that they were revolutionaries. Instead, they grew up to become Corporate Lackeys. Political Ideologues. Divorced Parents. It's important to know it was coordinated. That they were programmed" and "To find out more about media consolidation, read this section. However, if you're like me and only care about your own shopping convenience (certainly not anything like iPods made at work camps in China), keep reading at the bottom of the page!" may sound smug and patronizing, not to mention simplistically Them Vs. Us, but I'm sure that it's all meant very sincerely. Which may be the problem... It's funny and depressing that the most visually interesting new comic creator since Brian Wood comes along with a debut comic that is probably even more annoyingly self-conscious attempt at being politically and socially relevant and serious than Channel Zero; Reading this, I wanted to be able to talk back to the comic and tell it that, yes, I've read Greg Palast and Chuck Palahniuk as well, thanks very much, but maybe things aren't as straightforward as you want to try and portray them, you know? Hickman is definitely a talent to watch in the future - I'm curious to see if his writing follows the same process as Brian Wood's, after starting off in the same fashion, and matures as the personal begins to balance out the polemic. But right now, this book is a curiosity: Fascinating and rewarding to look at, and unpleasant to read. Which, I guess, kind of balances out to an Eh.

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #1: Somehow, even more retro than I'd expected - that logo isn't sending out the wrong message at all, with the repurposing of the old-school lettering from DC's in-house ads from the '50s - as Darwyn Cooke gives us a Clark Kent and Lois Lane crusading against social ills and trying to use the Daily Planet to save the city from vice and temptation while dressed in sharp fashions that wouldn't look exceptionally out-of-place in Guys and Dolls, thanks to Tim Sale. In fact, as good as the writing is (and it is good, simple and direct, like Superman stories should be), this is easily Tim Sale (and colorist Dave Stewart)'s show. The artwork is beautiful, especially on the scenes that don't feature men in underwear leaping tall buildings in single bounds, and thankfully, such scenes make up the majority of the issue. As an ongoing anthology title, of course, this is doomed to the somewhat pointlessness of things like JLA Classified, but this opening issue suggests that the first storyline from these creators is going to be must-read stuff for people who like superhero stories done well. Very Good.

PICK OF THE WEEK is Criminal #2, which doesn't just prove that #1 wasn't a flash in the pan, but actually got better. How often does that happen these days? PICK OF THE WEAK would have to be Justice League, which wants to be something and just... doesn't manage it. It's oddly reminiscent to me of Bendis' early Avengers work, so who knows? Maybe there's going to be a similar learning curve for Brad Meltzer, and I'll actually miss him when he leaves the book after issue twelve. I'm going to keep TRADE OF THE WEEK until later in the week, just because I got a copy of the first AMERICAN VIRGIN book in the mail the other day and want to write about that some (and I still have to review the Fables book, I know, I know. Sorry).

Next week: Apparently the New Frontier Absolute edition comes out, but I'll believe it when I see it. What did everyone else read this week, though? Click Here to Read More...

Just a quick story here (maybe reviews in the next few days), because I thought it was funny, and if I don't type it up SOON, then I never will.

So, it's last Tuesday, Halloween, and I super-double rush through work early so I can take Ben Trick-or-Treating (3 years old is the BEST time for that, yes)

(Digression: We went to his grandmother Michele's neighborhood, Seacliff, because we could go there and not feel like carpet-baggers. Michele has an apartment there, but its home to some of the nicest houses in SF -- and some of the richest. Robin Williams' house is there [handing out glow in the dark lanyards, which I think is an EXCELLENT thing to give out to kids who are wandering in the dark] for example.)

(We went into all of these fancy courtyards -- y'know, courtyards that are bigger and nicer than our entire house! -- in front of all of these fabulous mansions overlooking the ocean. The nicest, I think, was the one that was owned by, I'll assume, the 49ers owner or head coach or lead player or something. There are big burly security guards at front, with like earpieces and whatever. The gate opens down to this path with a "velvet rope" [well, there were stanchions, at least] between TWO side-by-side mansions [on the same property] that leads out to this bluff overlooking the water. There, literally in a 135-degree or so view, like the whole range of your eye's peripheral vision, is the Golden Gate bridge. I'm not even slightly describing what an impressive and magical view this is. I'd need hand gestures. There, on this bluff, the 49ers cheerleaders [!] are handing out candy to the children. Um, wow.)

(It was a nice Halloween. End digression)

Anyway, like I said, I was on my way home, its maybe 4 in the afternoon, couple of hours before the festivities start in the Castro, and I'm waiting for the 35 at 18th and Castro, watching the police set up the barricades and whatnot for the street parties.

Because I've come back from processing this week's comics, I'm holding some comic that I was reading (52, I think) while I wait for the bus.

A really nerdy (Don't *think* it was a costume, but it *could* have been) black guy comes up to me, and says, "Um, excuse me, are you Rich Johnston?!?!"

Now, if I had any web skills of any kind, I'd link that cover shot of Rich from CSI: DYING IN THE GUTTERS next to a picture of me, and you'd think "Yes, I can see why someone might possibly make that mistake"; but I don't have those skills, so you just have to trust me.

And, if I hadn't just come back from racing through the comics and the subs and the racking, so my head wasn't all filled up with a bunch of stuff, I should have answered "Crikey, Guv'nor! Aye, oy'm bleedin' Rich Johnston, like. Strewth! Chim-chimmeny-chim-chim-charooh, didjer know tha' bloody tosser Mark Millar 'as a tattoo of Princess Di snoggin' Superman on his wee arse? Throw another shrimp on th' barbie! Beggorah!"

But I was tired and engrossed in my funny book, so I just sadly shook my head, and said "No."

"Yeah, because I thought it would be really weird to meet Rich Johnston in the Castro on Halloween in San Francisco"

"Yeah, that WOULD have been weird. Have a good day"

And he wandered off.

Ah, the things we think of in hindsight. Oh well.

Anyway, there’s this week's funny story, and tale of why I love living in San Francisco. I hope you relish it as much as I.

(Also, for the funny, go read Spurgeon's minute-by-minute account of THE GUIDING LIGHT/Marvel crossover -- I had tears coming out of my eyes: http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/cr_reviews/6715/)


-B Click Here to Read More...