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Tuesday, July 01, 2008
 This week is to "indy" comics as last week was to "mainstream" Marvel comics, sheesh! 2000 AD #1589 2000 AD #1590 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #84 (A) ALL NEW ATOM #25 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #564 AMERICAN DREAM #5 (OF 5) AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO #4 (OF 4) ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #10 ARMY OF DARKNESS #10 LONG ROAD HOME ASTONISHING X-MEN #25 MD ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #7 AVENGERS INVADERS #3 (OF 12) BATMAN #678 RIP BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #162 BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #1 BLUE BEETLE #28 BOYS #20 BRIT #7 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #16 CABLE #5 DWS DARK TOWER END WORLD ALMANAC DARK TOWER LONG ROAD HOME #5 (OF 5) DC SPECIAL RAVEN #5 (OF 5) DOCTOR WHO #5 DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS #8 DUMMYS GUIDE TO DANGER LOST AT SEA #3 (OF 4) DYNAMO 5 #14 FABLES #74 FRESHMEN SUMMER VACATION SPECIAL FX #5 (OF 6) GHOST WHISPERER #4 GRIMM FAIRY TALES #28 GRIMM FAIRY TALES PIPER #3 (OF 4) HELLBLAZER PRESENTS CHAS THE KNOWLEDGE #1 (OF 5) HELLBOY THE CROOKED MAN #1 (OF 3) HIGH ROLLERS #1 (OF 4) HOUSE OF MYSTERY #3 HYPERKINETIC #1 (OF 4) INDIA AUTHENTIC #14 SARASWATI INFINITY INC #11 JOKERS ASYLUM THE JOKER #1 JONAH HEX #33 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #43 LOONEY TUNES #164 LORDS OF AVALON SOD #6 (OF 6) LUCHA LIBRE #5 LUCKY VOL 2 #2 MACK BOLAN THE EXECUTIONER DEVILS TOOLS #4 (OF 5) MANHUNTER #32 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #41 MYTH TOLD TALES #1 MYTH CONGENIALITY (RES) NEW BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON ZERO #10 NEW DYNAMIX #4 (OF 5) NIGHTWING #146 NORTHLANDERS #7 PATSY WALKER HELLCAT #1 (OF 5) PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #21 RANN THANAGAR HOLY WAR #3 (OF 8) ROGUE ANGEL TELLER OF TALES #5 SAVAGE DRAGON #136 SAVAGE TALES #8 SECRET INVASION #1 DIRECTORS CUT SECRET INVASION FRONT LINE #1 (OF 5) SI SQUADRON SUPREME 2 #1 STAR TREK ASSIGNMENT EARTH #3 STAR TREK MIRROR IMAGES #1 STAR TREK NEW FRONTIER #4 STAR TREK YEAR FOUR ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT #3 STATION #1 (OF 5) (RES) STEPHEN COLBERTS TEK JANSEN #2 OF(5) STORMING PARADISE #1 (OF 6) SUPERGIRL #31 SWORD #9 TALES FROM WONDERLAND ALICE ONE-SHOT TERRY MOORES ECHO #4 TOR #3 (OF 6) TRAILER PARK OF TERROR COLOR SP #9 (RES) TRINITY #5 VERONICA #189 VINYL UNDERGROUND #10 WALKING DEAD #50 WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #3 (OF 12) ZOMBIE TALES #2 CVR A Books / Mags / Stuff AFTER THE CAPE II TP CAPTAIN AMERICA TP OPERATION REBIRTH NEW PTG CEMETERIANS TP VOL 1 COMPLETE K CHRONICLES TP COUNTDOWN PRESENTS SEARCH FOR RAY PALMER TP COUNTER X TP VOL 01 X-FORCE DOCTOR WHO TP WORLD SHAPERS ESSENTIAL DEFENDERS TP VOL 4 EXTRACT GN (A) FAT CHUNK GN VOL 01 ROBOT FRANK BELLAMYS ROBIN HOOD GN COMPLETE ADVENTURES G FAN #84 HELLBLAZER FEAR MACHINE TP HORROR BOOK TP VOL 01 IN ODD WE TRUST GN INVADERS CLASSIC TP VOL 2 JUDGE DEATH YOUNG DEATH BOYHOOD OA SUPERFIEND GN MAGIC TRIXIE GN VOL 01 MIGHTY AVENGERS PREM HC VOL 02 VENOM BOMB NARUTO TP VOL 30 PATH OF THE ASSASSIN TP VOL 12 THREE FOOT BATTLE SFX #171 SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN TP VOL 03 SIZZLE #38 (A) STRANGE & STRANGER WORLD OF STEVE DITKO HC STRONTIUM DOG FINAL SOLUTION TP SUPERMAN LAST SON HC SWORD TP VOL 01 TEEN TITANS TP TITANS OF TOMORROW ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR TP VOL 10 GHOSTS USAGI YOJIMBO TP VOL 22 TOMOES STORY WATER BABY WILDSTORM REVELATIONS TP What looks good to YOU? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Thursday, June 26, 2008
 We met at where the cable cars turn around on California at Market, Hibbs and Paul and Anina, Graeme and myself. As it turned out, we ended up talking and leaning against the small monument built there for Robert Frost, the poet who so famously wrote about roads not taken and miles to go before you sleep, and etc., etc. An hour earlier, I'd sat by myself behind the ferry building, staring at the Bay Bridge, and tried very hard to think about Rory Root being dead at fifty. I've lived long enough to know I don't process death in anything like an efficient way: I've looked down at the dead bodies of close friends and death is still an abstraction to me, something I understand intermittently. It's like two thrashing sides of a severed power line that only occasionally touch and connect and when they do, I realize this thing that has haunted me through my life--the idea I shall end--is something that has happened to people I know and I'll never see them again. But mostly, the idea is too large for my simplistic worldview, and while I'm not happy with that, the experience of losing people close to me has forced me to accept it. I grieve when those wires connect and the realization comes through, and when they don't connect I think of that person just as someone I haven't seen in a while, out there about in the world, talking, laughing. It seemed important, though, on that beautiful summer day to look at the Bay Bridge and think of Rory Root being dead, to try and measure and see if it was a weight against which I could judge the fairness and unfairness of things in the world. It seemed unfair, for example, that Rory could be dead on such an impossibly lovely day--a day where San Francisco weather had called in sick, and Texas weather had shown up to fill in, the clouds vertiginously high and the breeze as warm on one's neck as a lover's breath. It seemed outrageous to the point of blasphemy that Rory would not see this day. And because the wires weren't connecting, I thought about the outrageousness of all the people who had died who would never see a San Francisco day like this, and how I, out of some odd parsing of the lots, could, and could also sit on a bench and think about exactly that because for some reason I was still alive. At the cable car turnaround, we went underground and caught BART over to Berkeley. Although the platform where we waited was cool and breezy, BART itself felt like someone stoked a fire under us with the intention of slow-roasting alive everyone inside. We sweated and swayed as the train wavered on the tracks like a heat mirage, and Graeme and Brian talked about what might happen with Dan Didio and DC. As we came out into the pungent Berkeley afternoon, Graeme said to me, "You know, I never make it over to Berkeley as much as I should. And when I do, I can never decide if Berkeley is great or skeevy. Or both." The man with four teeth in his head and the piss-yellow beard went on to underscore Graeme's point by insisting we give him money. And the more I thought about what Graeme had said, the more I realized how much that point resonated with me. I didn't make it over to Berkeley as much I meant to, either, and it wasn't just the convenience of living in San Francisco, that roguishly charming impersonator of a world-class city. Something about Berkeley set me on edge, but I couldn't say what it was. So I thought about it as we moved up to the entrance of Comic Relief, where people stood out on the walk, talking and drinking and smoking. The memorial had begun at 5, the testimonial for Rory's at 6, and we had shown up a little after 7, to see all these people on the sidewalk, making pleasant small talk and shaking hands and hugging one another. Hibbs stepped up to immediate greetings. Graeme and I stood to the side of the doors, looked at everyone and then went in to hear people talk about Rory. The store had trapped the heat of the day, as well as all the people inside, and it felt even hotter than the BART ride over. A woman wearing Rory attire (black hat, black t-shirt) with Scandinavian features stood behind the back issue counter and talked--not quite loudly enough--about Rory and his love of Swedish meatballs. I assumed at the time but never confirmed that it was Rory's sister, and this is something you should keep in mind about my recounting of this night: my mind still refuses to confirm or deny the identities I assigned to each person. I can't say for certain it was Bob Wayne who talked travel benefits with Anina Bennett, or Shaenon Garrity, heart-stoppingly elegant in a gorgeous green dress, who walked quickly out of Comic Relief with tears in her eyes. But my mind continues to tell me it must've been, there was no one else it could be. Mortality had rendered everyone at Rory's memorial important and mysterious and fragile and powerful, and I guess some part of me refuses to negate any part of that with something so trivial as knowledge. The very obvious (but no less true for that) analogy would be picking up a superhero comic for the first time, and trying to infer how all the colorful characters related by what they said to one another, how they reacted, and even with the occasional assistance of a blatant bit of introduction. Even people I knew seemed somehow strange and new, and so I can make no true claims for people's identity that night, not even my own: I wandered about, watchful and sweaty and silent, not quite sure I recognized myself. While the people outdoors laughed and smoked, the people with the too-quiet voices continued to stand and speak about Rory (underneath a poster of The Inifinity Man, Jack Kirby's strangely impassive hero, the one who resembles an Aztec Warrior crossed with a '56 Chrysler) and all the things Rory loved: Swedish meatballs, military histories, his customers, comic books, bad puns, talking. "He loved, well, he loved just about everyone," one speaker said, and the way she said "everyone" caused a surprisingly fresh wound of anguish in my heart. For a moment, those interior power lines snapped together before slicing apart and putting me outside myself again, making me again someone sweaty and uneasy and out of place. And yet I was filled for whatever reason with the hubris that if I got up and spoke, I could say what none of the speakers had yet to say. I could say something that could put everything in context, that could be notable for its candor but without cruelty, forthright and yet gentle. Because this is the other thing I've learned about myself in seeing friends and family and casual acquaintances die over the years: I've come less and less to care about the love. It is well and fine, of course, and it is in fact very, very important for us to talk about how we love the person who is gone and how that person loved us. But for the most part, talking only about love and laughter and bravery and success renders the person who has passed as flat as a pop song. The older I get, what makes people alive for me is everything we usually don't talk about at a memorial--a person's failures, the prickly edges of their angers and resentments, the resonant tones of their shortcomings and pains. And this is what kept me from standing up and saying anything at Rory's service and what makes me feel uncomfortable and creepy as I sit here typing this, because one of the things that makes Rory Root most alive to me in my mind--both as he lived and now that he's dead--can be summed up in this question: why did someone so kind and loving and prominent in his field seem so lonely and in such terrible health? Later, outside in the night, watching Joe Field hold his two daughters close and smile and nod, I saw a woman march determinedly through the crowd, her eyes on the ground in front of her. She was about Rory's age--fifty--and she clutched to her chest two hardcover books so throroughly marked with blue post-it notes they seemed feathered. Watching her pass, I finally figured out the discomfort I felt in Berkeley. If you live in San Francisco, you deal with a lot of people who went to U.C. Berkeley. Frequently, they are people who seem to command a certain amount of money and prestige and seem entirely comfortable with it. And even if they don't take that path, they have both a knowledge and a network--whether they want it or not--that seems to keep them from, say, attending a political fundraiser without bumping into someone with whom they went to school. But Berkeley is like a low-grade singularity--objects of sufficient speed can hurtle right by with only the most minor change in trajectory, but some objects get caught and swept in, and the last you see of them is right at the point of an event horizon from which they'll never return. These are the people who stick in your mind when you go to Berkeley, people who went there and never escaped, who found some passion that overwhelmed them, outweighed their trajectory. You see them dressed in second-hand clothes, clutching a rare edition of Goethe's letters in which they've made notes in three languages. You spot them sitting at cafes, one leg jiggling like a telegram key while they pick out their change with unwashed hands, calculating the cost of a refill. Their teeth are a mess. They have an impressively substantial mole or perhaps a single long white hair that juts from their eyebrows and sways in the corner of their vision. I have no reason to fear these people. I don't even have any reason to pity them--who am I to say that their life, empty but for a dizzily powerful passion, is worse than mine? Isn't it just as likely that whatever wild passions and commitments they carry make their lives better, richer? But, with a childish superstition, I fear staying too long in Berkeley because there's not nearly enough distance between myself and those men and women, their tiny apartments stacked with sour-smelling books, as I would like. I fear staying in Berkeley because of the fear that I am them already, and just haven't realized it yet. And so it is for me with Rory Root, a man I could not have loved so much if I did not in some way fear, a man who I could not have respected so much if at some level he did not make me ashamed. Because Rory was in such poor health the entire time I knew him it never failed to tap a tuning fork of dread in my heart. Rory was in such poor health that one of the things that shocked me about his passing was that I was shocked, and this I think is one of the real reasons why, unlike in so many other memorials and testimonies about the deceased, talking about all the many ways Rory loved and was loved by people is not only necessary but vital: Rory's love and knowledge and compassion and generosity transcended every way in which his poor health terrified me. To say talking with Rory moved me from fear to compassion is both cheesy and, fortunately, untrue: the generosity with which Rory spoke, and the gentle, cheerful knowingness with which Rory spoke, moved me from fear to something like religious awe. It can take the power of being born to them to make our love for our parents conquer the frustrations we might have with them in later life, or transcend the horror of the agony with which their old age might bring. For me, all it took with Rory was about ninety seconds of conversation. It is a tremendously old cliche (and annoyingly new-agey) but I can think of no other way to say it: Rory Root was a lifeforce, someone who conveyed to me so much of what it meant to be alive, almost entirely (but not entirely) for the better. My memories of him seem more vivid to me than they do of other people, as if they were shot with a larger lens on better film. And the love he brought to his life was so all-encompassing, I knew whether I stood outside the shop ignoring the testimonials, or pilfering a few too many oreo cookies for the ride home, or idly straightening the comics on the new comics rack--it was all too easy to imagine him encouraging me to do so. It's funny. That night I asked Charles Brownstein if he had given a testimonial and he shook his head. "Let's face it, those things are almost always either therapy for the speaker or just self-aggrandizement," he said, to which I agreed emphatically and with relief. But having reread what I have written until now, I cannot say I've done any better and may have done far worse. And I'll be honest: I started with the idea of linking the singularity of Berkeley to the singularity which is the comic field, in the hopes of finding some clear link between Rory's loneliness and poor health and some facet of the comics field I figured I would nail down in the course of writing. (The hard-knock life of retailers who've been in the field since near the beginning, maybe.) But I've reached the end here, and not only do I still not know what it is, I doubt I could fairly make that conclusion. It is very easy and satisfying to take the single context in which one knows a person and suggest that context is the reason for everything about what they do and will do and have done. It is also, I suspect, usually wrong. Robert Frost wrote a sonnet entitled "On A Bird Singing In Its Sleep," in which the poet meditates on a bird that sings in the night. One interpretation of the poem is that Frost at first draws a comparison between a bird and its song (and its seeming frailty) and human beings and the poetry we create (and our frailty), but by the end of the poem he rejects that comparison ("It could not have come down to us so far/ Through the interstices of things ajar/ On the long bead chain of repeated birth/ To be a bird while we are men on earth / If singing out sleep and dream that way/ Had made it much more easily a prey.") And so I reject my initial half-hearted thesis, easy and satisfying though it might have been to make it. At one point during the night, Brian looked the length of Comic Relief to the far end where Todd Martinez, the store manager who Rory had made owner, rang up customers. And Brian said, "I really want to talk to Todd about his plans for running this place. I think the best way we can honor Rory is to make sure Comic Relief always stays open." Although he only said it around Charles Brownstein and myself, I have no doubt nearly every retailer who'd made an appearance that night, having traveled from many distant cities--Los Angeles, New York, Las Vegas, Missoula, among others--would've agreed with him. And in fact, right before I left at around eleven or so, I saw Hibbs talking to Todd in the back by the coolers, flanked by Charles Brownstein and Larry Marder. Todd sat, exhausted, while Brian knelt next to him, and Charles and Larry flanked Todd's opposite side, their heads bowed. I wasn't fooled by the coolers, the sweat stains, the crenulated pans of aluminum and their cooling tides of barbecued beef: the positioning of the people was precisely that of a classical painting where the elders of a court advise a boyish new king on the kingdom he must run. The old king had passed, and now the new king held sway. And I saw in the postures of these men an imperative, a tradition, in which one can (I hope) find a solace that no bird singing in the night could ever begin to understand. Perhaps these traditions--these communities--can help all of us, by means large and small, as we make our way toward the dark destinations our hearts hold forth as inevitable. Labels: Brian, Jeff, Rory Root Click Here to Read More...Monday, June 23, 2008
I haven't seen anyone else write about it (or, at least Tom 'n' Ace 'n' Dirk ain't linked to anything yet), so let me take a stab at saying something about the memorial for Rory Root at Comic Relief this past Saturday night. I traveled to the Memorial with Jeff and Graeme, as well as Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan. We arrived right around 7 PM, while the event itself was scheduled to start at 5. I was told that the actual Stand-Up-And-Say-Something portion of it started about 6 (and it lasted until 10:30 or 11 or so, wow!) When we showed up, the street in front of CR was packed, with probably 40-50 people milling about talking, reminiscing on the sidewalk. Immediately I recognized tons of people who came in from out of town -- oh, there's Diana Schutz, there's Larry Marder, there's Bob Wayne, it went on like that pretty much all night, every time I turned I saw someone in comics who'd flown in from out of town for this. To a certain extent, it might have been almost good that it happened the same weekend as Heroes Con, because otherwise maybe it would have shut down traffic, y'know? Then there were all of the retailers. Wow, there were a lot of folks flying out-of-state for this -- Jim Hanley and Steve Gursky, Matt Lehman, Brad Bankston, Mike Malve, Hell Kelly Down came down all the way from Alberta - and I'm missing a couple of people there. Then there were at least 25, maybe 30 retailers from inside California. Honestly if you wanted to pull a string of comic book store heists up and down the left coast, last Saturday would have been the day to do it -- all of the owners were out of town! I'm awful at eyeballing numbers in a crowd, and it's even harder in CR because the store is so ginormous it throws off my sense of scale, but I'm guessing that at certain points there were likely upwards of 125 people inside the store at one time. It was packed. It was also kind of like walking into an oven. Thursday and Friday had been EVIL hot days in the Bay Area (at least by Bay Area standards), but Saturday had started to cool off. So, OUTside the store it was a wonderfully pleasant summer evening, with a nice breeze and all, but, wham 20 degrees hotter once you get two steps in, from the heat of the crowd, and lack of any real ventilation. I heard a lot of great Rory stories, both delivered to the crowd, as well as shared in small groups, and we talked a lot about comics more generally, and saw people we might not have seen in a long time, and had lots of food and beer and just generally a good ass time. Which is pretty much what Rory would have loved. I'm young enough that this kind of thing is really rare for me (and thank god for that), and I never really know what the etiquette of things should be. Everyone asks "how are you doing?" and I am sorta not sure if that's in the "What's up?" sense or the "How hard is the loss hitting you?" It is maybe even weirder now, because "enough" time has passed that most of his friends are just now starting to "get over it". I open with "my condolences" to a handful of people -- Rory's family, Todd, ex-Partner Mike, because I feel like they really deserve more than the "how are you doing?" but I still feel kind of awkward and strange with what to say and how to say it. Or how to respond, sometimes. Death is weird. Heh, so I'm standing outside (AND NOT SMOKING A CIGARETTE, mind, so that's good)(though I got offered many from people who know me as a smoker, which is also nice, if no longer practical), and some girl walks by and asks "Wow, what's going on here?" and I tell her that it's a memorial for the owner of the store, and that he was a great man, and that there are people from all over the country here to pay their respects, and she smiles, and says quite innocently, "Wow! Sounds cool!" She didn't MEAN any harm, nor did I take any, but isn't that like exactly the wrong thing to say? Berkeley, y'know? I ended up leaving just before midnight (If I don't get on BART by then, I turn into a pumpkin... though I really timed my train right, I waited for less than 5 minutes, so was back in The City waiting for my Muni bus in under a half-hour... and that's WITH the transfer at McArthur), and I think I was among the last people who wasn't a CR employee, or past CR employee. I left it to them, as it should be. (though I sorta pity whoever opened Sunday, heh) I'll miss the big guy, and I didn't want to say goodbye, but this was an alright way to do so, if we have to. Rory would have adored the party and all of the people and that they were all happy; but he would have been embarrassed as heck that they were actually SAYING all of the wonderful things they did. -B Click Here to Read More... Big week! 76 #4 (OF 8) A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #83 (A) ANGEL REVELATIONS #2 (OF 5) ARCHIE #586 ARCHIE DIGEST #245 AVENGERS FAIRY TALES #3 (OF 4) AVENGERS INITIATIVE #14 SI BART SIMPSON COMICS #42 BATMAN GOTHAM AFTER MIDNITE #2 (OF 12) BEYOND WONDERLAND #0 (OF 6) BLACK PANTHER #37 BPRD ECTOPLASMIC MAN ONE SHOT CALIBER #3 (OF 5) CAPTAIN AMERICA #39 CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #46 CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #0 CROSSING MIDNIGHT #19 DAREDEVIL #108 DARKNESS #4 KEOWN CVR A DC UNIVERSE SPECIAL REIGN IN HELL 80 PAGE GIANT FANTASTIC FOUR #558 FEAR AGENT #22 1 AGAINST 1 (PT 1 OF 6) FINAL CRISIS #2 (OF 7) FIRE & BRIMSTONE #1 (OF 3) GREEN LANTERN #32 HERCULES #3 (OF 5) HULK #4 HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #4 (OF 6) IMMORTAL IRON FIST #16 JACK OF FABLES #23 JIM BUTCHERS DRESDEN FILES #3 (OF 4) WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE JSA CLASSIFIED #39 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #140 MADAME XANADU #1 MADAME XANADU #1 VAR ED MAN WITH NO NAME #2 MARVEL 1985 #2 (OF 6) MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #37 MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #10 MARVEL ILLUSTRATED MOBY DICK #5 (OF 6) MIGHTY AVENGERS #15 SI MS MARVEL #28 SI MYTHOS CAPTAIN AMERICA (RES) NEOZOIC #5 NEW AVENGERS #42 SI NEW WARRIORS #13 NO HERO #0 (OF 7) NUMBER OF THE BEAST #6 (OF 8) OZ WONDERLAND CHRONICLES ORBIK CVR B #3 (OF 4) PHANTOM #24 CHECKMATE PART 4 (OF 5) PIGEONS FROM HELL #3 (OF 4) POWER PACK DAY ONE #4 (OF 4) PROGRAMME #12 (OF 12) PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #4 (OF 7) PROOF #9 RUNAWAYS #30 SECRET HISTORY THE AUTHORITY HAWKSMOOR #4 (OF 6) SECRET INVASION RUNAWAYS YOUNG AVENGERS #1 (OF 3) SI SHE-HULK 2 #30 SONIC X #34 STAR WARS DARK TIMES #12 VECTOR PART 6 STEPHEN COLBERTS TEK JANSEN #1 (OF 5) NEW PTG STRANDED #5 SUPERMAN #677 SUPERMAN #677 VAR ED SUPERNATURAL RISING SON #3 (OF 6) TEEN TITANS #60 THOR AGES OF THUNDER REIGN OF BLOOD THUNDERBOLTS #121 TRINITY #4 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #123 ULTIMATES 3 #4 (OF 5) UNCANNY X-MEN #499 DWS WASTELAND #18 WHAT IF FANTASTIC FOUR TRIBUTE TO MIKE WIERINGO WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #4 WOLVERINE ORIGINS #26 WORLDS OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #2 WALPOLE CVR B X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #13 X-MEN LEGACY #213 DWS YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #6 (OF 6) Books / Mags / Stuff ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER HC VOL 01 ANDRU AND ESPOSITOS GET LOST TP (RES) ARCHIE AMERICANA SER TP VOL 08 BEST OF 60S BOOK 2 BARBARIAN CHICKS & DEMONS TP VOL 01 (A) BATMAN JEKYLL AND HYDE TP BLUESMAN HC CHRONICLES OF CONAN TP VOL 15 CORRIDOR OF MULLAH KAJAR DEMO TP DEVI TP VOL 04 DISCWORLD GN VOL 01 COLOUR OF MAGIC & LIGHT FANTASTIC EX MACHINA DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 01 FORGOTTEN HC (RES) GANTZ TP VOL 01 GREEN LANTERN TALES OF THE SINESTRO CORPS HC HEAVY METAL SUMMER 2008 HOUSE OF M TP AVENGERS INDIANA JONES ADVENTURES TP VOL 01 JACK OF FABLES TP VOL 03 THE BAD PRINCE JUXTAPOZ VOL 15 #7 JUL 2008 LOADED BIBLE TP VOL 01 ORDINARY VICTORIES WHAT IS PRECIOUS GN PREVIEWS VOL XVIII #7 (NET) SILENT LEAVES THE LAST BONDSMAN GN VOL 01 SUPERMAN CAMELOT FALLS TP VOL 01 TANGENT COMICS TP VOL 03 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE TP VOL 06 TOMARTS ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #166 WALKING DEAD TP VOL 08 MADE TO SUFFER WIZARD MAGAZINE #202 MCNIVEN WOLVERINE CVR WRITE NOW #18 What looks good to you? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Friday, June 20, 2008
 The new Tilting at Windmills is live here Always interested in your thoughts. -B Click Here to Read More... Monday, June 16, 2008
Here's the list of stuff that Comix Experience is receiving from Diamond this week... AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #563 AMERICAN DREAM #4 (OF 5) ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #9 ANITA BLAKE VH GUILTY PLEASURES #12 (OF 12) ANNA MERCURY #2 (OF 5) PAINTED CVR BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #8 BETTY & VERONICA #236 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #185 BIRDS OF PREY #119 BLOOD BOWL #1 (OF 5) KILLER CONTRACT CVR A BOMB QUEEN V #2 (OF 6) BRAVE AND THE BOLD #14 CASEY BLUE BEYOND TOMORROW #2 (OF 6) CATWOMAN #80 CHECKMATE #27 CTHULHU TALES #3 CVR B DARKNESS VS EVA #4 (OF 4) DC SPECIAL CYBORG #2 (OF 5) DC WILDSTORM DREAMWAR #3 (OF 6) DEAD SPACE #4 (OF 6) DEAN KOONTZS FRANKENSTEIN VOL 01 #2 (OF 5) PRODIGAL SON DMZ #32 DOCK WALLOPER #5 (OF 5) EVERYBODYS DEAD #4 EX MACHINA #37 FALLEN ANGEL IDW #27 FIRST BORN AFTERMATH (ONE SHOT) FLASH #241 GEORGE R R MARTINS WILD CARDS #3 (OF 6) HARD CALL GHOST RIDER #24 GRENDEL BEHOLD THE DEVIL #8 (OF 8) GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #2 HELLBLAZER #245 INCREDIBLE HERCULES #118 SI IRON MAN DIRECTOR OF SHIELD #30 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #141 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #22 KICK ASS #1 DIRECTORS CUT KILL ALL PARENTS #1 LOVE AND CAPES #7 MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #25 MARVEL ILLUSTRATED ILIAD #7 (OF 8) MEGAS #4 (OF 4) MY INNER BIMBO #5 (OF 5) PS238 #32 PUNISHER #58 RAMAYAN 3392 AD RELOADED #6 (OF 7) (RES) RASL #2 REX MUNDI DH ED #12 SCALPED #18 SCOOBY DOO #133 SECRET INVASION FANTASTIC FOUR #2 (OF 3) SI SIMPSONS COMICS #143 SPIRIT #18 STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF OLD REPUBLIC #30 EXALTED PART 2 (OF 2) STAR WARS LEGACY #25 STREETS OF GLORY #5 (OF 6) SUPER FRIENDS #4 SUPERMAN BATMAN #49 TANGENT SUPERMANS REIGN #4 (OF 12) TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE #5 (OF 6) TRINITY #3 UBU BUBU #2 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #55 ULTIMATE X-MEN #95 UN-MEN #11 WAR IS HELL FIRST FLIGHT PHANTOM EAGLE MAX #4 (OF 5) WARHAMMER CONDEMNED BY FIRE #2 (OF 5) CVR A WOLVERINE #66 DWS WORLD OF WARCRAFT #8 X-FACTOR #32 DWS ZORRO #4 Books / Mags / Stuff AND THEN ONE DAY #6 (NOTE PRICE) ASTONISHING X-MEN TP VOL 04 UNSTOPPABLE ATOMIC ROBO TP VOL 01 CAT EYED BOY GN VOL 01 CINEFEX #114 JUL 2008 COMICS BUYERS GUIDE #1644 AUG 2008 CONAN BORN ON THE BATTLEFIELD SC DAN DARE OVERSIZED UK HC VOL 01 DIARY OF MOLLY FREDRICKSON PEANUT BUTTER FULL COLOR GN VOL 01 DRAWING WORDS & WRITING PICTURES SC ETERNALS BY NEIL GAIMAN TP GREEN LANTERN HC VOL 02 THE SINESTRO CORPS WAR HULK WWH TP DAMAGE CONTROL IRON MAN TP HAUNTED KILLING GIRL TP VOL 01 A SISTERS LOVE LEES TOY REVIEW #188 JUN 2008 MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS TP VOL 06 MIGHTY DIGEST NAOKI URASAWAS MONSTER TP VOL 15 POCKET FULL OF RAIN SC POSTAGE STAMP FUNNIES HC PVP TP VOL 05 PVP TREKS ON SAFEST PLACE GN SHADOWPACT TP VOL 03 DARKNESS AND LIGHT SHOWCASE PRESENTS SER 1 BALANCED INNER CASE ASST (NET) SHOWCASE PRESENTS THE FLASH TP VOL 02 SKIN DEEP SC EROTIC ART OF BRUCE COLERO (A) STAR WARS LEGACY TP VOL 03 TERROR INC TP TITANS COMPANION SC VOL 02 UMBRELLA ACADEMY APOCALYPSE SUITE TP VIDEO WATCHDOG #140 WORLDS FINEST DELUXE EDITION HC Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 10 WHYS AND WHEREFORES What looks good to YOU? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Sunday, June 15, 2008
At the conclusion of last season of BATTLESTAR GALACTIC, I had thought there was something wrong. I wasn't entirely sure what, precisely, the mistake was, but I felt there was one going on. I've watched all of this season's BATTLESTAR, and I'm fairly certain I didn't really enjoy almost any episode. Moments from episodes, yes, some clever bits of plotting or little twist on characterization, or whatever -- but not a whole entire episode from start to finish. As I was was taking my shower tonight (washing my birthday suit, as Tzipora put it, har), I think I figured out what it was. [Clearly, there's going to be SPOILERS at some point after this, and, though I haven't yet typed it, I'm fairly certain I am going to COMPLETELY SPOIL the end of this season of BATTLESTAR. Please turn away now) After 9/11, they declared irony dead. And, I think that a lot of people, even if they didn't actually agree with that, at least understood it. The wound was too fresh, too near. But allegory never dies, and what was that first season or two of BATTLESTAR except allegory-a-go-go? This is the beauty thing about Science Fiction -- it can help us sort out how we feel about Today's Burning Issues, with out actually directly confronting them. Heck, a lot of the time I'm not even fully certain that SF writers fully even understand themselves what they're talking about, y'know? Much like STAR TREK before it (in most every incarnation... well, maybe not VOYAGER), BATTLESTAR has confronted a lot of our own feelings and concerns -- mostly about war, and the inhumanity it can engender -- and it usually succeeded the best at that when it did it at right angles. How to you feel about terrorism and suicide bombing when "you" are the repressed people, that kind of thing, right? Its a show that made you think, and made you feel, and, once it was the best show on television. But this entire season... well it (largely) stopped being about Allegory, and stopped being about Survival, really -- and started being about the Mythology of the show instead. From the moment that the (nearly) Final Four were revealed that's pretty much became what the show was ABOUT -- what will they do? Will they help or hinder getting to Earth? What will the other Cylons do? and so on. We've had Civil War among the Cylons, but over things largely sub rosa to the audience -- I'm not at all sure why this group went this direction and that group went that way. And maybe that's intended as Allegory, I don't know -- certainly Iraq has broken into Civil War -- but if so it doesn't work for Four Words that are in the opening title sequence each and every week: They. Have. A. Plan. "They" implies a certain amount of collective imperative amongst the Cylons, and certainly the various factions in Iraq don't seem to have the same thing. I've been wondering about this "plan" for a real long time, because it hasn't seemed to be in play for a while. Sure they have 12 or 16 episodes (or whatever) left to try and massage it all together, and lord knows that LOST makes it look like plan-less seasons can be hand-waved away. At the end of the day, I'm not at all sure if I care one way or another if they find Earth on BATTLESTAR -- or who is alive or in what configuration when they get there; what I was loving was the Allegory and the Mystery of "The Plan" (Much in the same way on LOST, I could really give fuck all about Jack and Sawyer and Kate, really -- what I'm watching for is a good reason for the Polar Bears and Smokey and all of that) -- so to have episode after episode after episode this season to be not about either the Allegory OR the Mystery, but instead to be about Mythology, its lost my interest almost entirely. See, that's the thing about Science Fiction (whether it is fantastic like STAR TREK, or mundane like X-FILES), most of the time episodes that are "about the show" fail miserably, because that isn't what we watch for. Each show is a little different, of course, some are more about the Allegory as I noted, while others really are about the Characters (think X-FILES, or maybe TWIN PEAKS?); some are about the Situation, while others are about the Science Fiction itself (something I think NEXT GENERATION tended to excel at when it was on-game), but most of the time, really, it isn't the Universe Building that makes you watch. No, in fact, Universe Building should be seamless and background and you shouldn't even realize that's what you're seeing until much later. I can immediately think of only one partial exception to that "rule", and that's the later sections of DS9, with the Dominion War, but I think that's because 1) the novelty of Universe Building in what had previously been a very Ad Hoc Universe for 20+ years was intriguing, and 2) There was more than one TREK show on at the time, so it didn't seem like that was ALL they were doing. So that's why I think that BATTLESTAR has "jumped the shark" -- it stopped playing to the strengths that it had, and has become about the Show Itself. As soon as the Cylons were Significant and Important Characters, it gutted much of my interest -- what was intriguing about them is they were anonymous, that they were infinitely replaceable; what kept me watching week after week was the notion that the Cylons DID have a plan, and that all of those endless scenes of Six and Baltar actually were going to add up to something interesting and coherent. I watched the final episode (for now), and was pretty appalled, because with the revelation that Earth is dead, and everyone Cylon and Human alike being blindsided by this strongly indicates there weren't no plan, or if there was, it was a really stupid plan. And if that's the case, then why have I been watching all along? Plus, ugh that last episode just had a badly structured ending. I can't be the only person who, amongst all of the cheering and sobbing with joy, and all of that, thought "Um, not going to send a Raptor down or something?" and I KNEW the place was a wasteland because it just went on and on and on. That last shot of virtually every character wandering around the wreckage looking stricken and stunned was really impressive to look at (made me think of Hitchcock's ROPE, sort of), but it also made me think of, dunno, a photo shoot for a fold out in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY or something. I want to love the show, but I think I don't really care anymore, and that makes me sad. What do YOU think? -B Labels: Brian, Television Click Here to Read More...Thursday, June 12, 2008
Nope, no comics review this week -- nothing really struck me at all this week at all, good or bad. Instead I'm going to go back in time to a week or so ago when I saw INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. But let's start in the present day. I had Ben this morning while Tzipora had a doctor's appointment, and I knew that they had a playdate planned for the afternoon, so I opted to not take him to the park, since then he'd be park-ed out at that point. So, I thought, let's watch some movies. In fact, let's watch RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK -- he's been begging for Indy for weeks (which he was, for a lot of that, was calling "Hannah Jones", har!) I was a little tiny bit hesitant because of some of the violence (especially the face melting thing at the end), but he absolutely assured me that he wasn't going to be scared, so I thought, ah what the hell? He LOVED it. Just freakin' adored it. So all good there. Then he started begging for more. "Well, only until your mom gets home, dude -- we WON'T be watching another FULL film" I opt out of TEMPLE OF DOOM because, really, I think that heart-pulling scene is way too intense for him, so I go for LAST CRUSADE. We get to the scene in the castle where they reveal the nazis are there, and Ben says to me, SECONDS before Indy's similar line, "Aw, man, Nazis! I HATE those guys!" ("Too true, Ben, too true..." He was really digging what we watched of LAST CRUSADE (about 3/4s, I think), so I'm going to see if the library has the YOUNG INDY TV series (or whatever the thing was called), since I think he'll dig those too.... Anyway, like I said, he can wait a few years for TEMPLE, and I probably won't be taking him to see the CRYSTAL SKULL, mostly because I am not sure if I could sit through it again. I saw it bout a week ago with Anina Bennett, at the Castro Theater. MAN is it nice to see a first run film in a gorgeous palace like the Castro -- which is almost ALWAYS a revival house. The place is lovely, and a real joy to see films in. Heck, Jeff Lester got married there, so you know it must be nice! They've got a Wurlitzer theater organ, which is frickin' awesome-sauce, and the organist is playing his usual medly on 1930's biggest hits, and right before the show is to start, he kicks it over to the Indy theme. DOUBLE-awesome. Anina tells me that one of the places INDY is showing in Portland is also at a revival theater. I wonder if this is a conscious plan by Lucasfilm (or whoever) to help Revival palaces? If so, give them props, that's a wonderful wonderful thing. There's nothing that beats seeing a period film in a period hall, really. So, I was feeling the love going in, right? And the movie unfolds adequately -- Indy is feeling his age, but he's discernibly Indy. There are nods to previous continuity, and there are visual cues, and it's working just fine. But it completely blows it in the third act. After thinking about it for a while, I think the problem is the complete passivity of Indy in the third act, and, while he's meant to be older and wiser and all that, he uses LESS of his brains than he does in the earlier films. In RAIDERS, Abner Ravenwood is the one studying the Ark, but it is INDY who puts together the clues to find the thing. In CRUSADE, it is Henry Jones who is the font of Grail Lore, but it is up to Indy to put it all together ("Penitent man, penitent man... IS ON HIS KNEES!") -- but in SKULL once they rescue Oxley, Oxley does all of the work, even showing Indy what to press and how and whatnot. Further, WAY too many characters at the end, none of whom are really doing a thing (Triple-cross guy really only succeeds in making the commies look absolutely incompetent, rather than moving the plot along), and while the idea of a lost family could have possibly been interesting, Indy and Marion have very little chemistry in their 60s (or whatever), making that last scene feel tacked on and gaggy. I didn't have a lot of problem with Old Indy, really; although he might have broken a hip in there, I was fine with transferring at least some of the action over to "Mutt" ("We called the dog Indy...") -- but there's no reason that Indy shouldn't have used his BRAIN and TRAINING a whole lot more in the third act. He didn't seem to have a thing to do in the end of his own movie! At the end of the film, I walked out thinking EH. Here's hoping that maybe it's a reverse-STAR TREK film thing, where the odd # ones are the good ones... What did YOU think? -B Labels: Brian Click Here to Read More...Tuesday, June 10, 2008
To quote George Constanza and all that. It's really hot in San Francisco this week, kind of unseasonably so. Sure, I understand that it isn't as gross and hot as it is on the EAST coast, but still. Public transportation is even more grueling in High Heat. With gas prices rising rapidly, more and more people are turning to (or at least considering) public transportation. I, myself, have always been a bus guy. I don't know how to drive, and while our family has a car (preschooler, kinda have to), I still buy a monthly bus pass every month, and try to use the bus as much as humanly possible. I don't know if it is just that no one ever taught people (I mean, when I was in elementary school in Brooklyn, they taught us things like "when you're in the library, and you don't know where to reshelve the book, just leave it on the table for the librarian to do -- that's MUCH better than mis-filing it!" Today, I think all they're really concerned about is making sure kids can pass standardized tests...), or if people are just stupid and rude, or what exactly the problem is, but here are some tips if you find yourself on public transportation: (I apologize that this has nothing to do with comics) 1) If you HAVE to stand RIGHT IN the DOORWAY, at least be aware of your surroundings, and move out of the way as someone approaches the door to exit the vehicle. I really don't understand why people CHOOSE to stand in the door, but jesus, people, please let your fellow passengers use it for its intended purpose. As a corollary to that, you CAN NOT get upset if you get elbowed, or smacked, or pushed, or yelled at because you're standing in the doorway and aren't letting people go past. The doorway is not an aisle! 2) If you wear a backpack REMOVE IT FROM YOUR BACK ON A CROWDED BUS. Wear it over one shoulder, or, even better, hold it by the loop in your hand. Your full backpack on your back takes up the space of a second person, nimrod, and every time you turn your body, you're smacking people all around you, even though you don't know it. 3) Let people in pain, or children, or the elderly have your seat. Don't be an ass. 4) Unless it is an EMERGENCY, please please please don't talk on the phone. NO ONE wants to hear your half of your conversation, and EVERY SINGLE OTHER person on the bus thinks you're an inconsiderate asshole. 5) If you don't have a bus pass or transfer or equivalent thing that allows you to just stroll onto the bus, it's really inconsiderate to shove other people out of the way to board, then hold up the entire line by fumbling with your fare at the fare box. There's a lot more, but it all boils down to: don't be an ass; pay attention to your fellow people; be considerate and polite. Thanks, and have a great day! -B Labels: Brian, General Rants About Humanity Click Here to Read More...Monday, June 09, 2008
No editorializing from me, my head is fuzzy today as I enter day 5 sans cigarettes. Having a hard time focusing for longer than 3 minutes at a time, gr.... 100 BULLETS #92 2000 AD #1587 2000 AD #1588 ACTION COMICS #866 AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #21 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #562 ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #8 ARCHIE & FRIENDS #120 BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #18 BATMAN STRIKES #46 BOOSTER GOLD #10 BOY WHO MADE SILENCE #4 BPRD WAR ON FROGS #1 CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #2 SI CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #26 CHARLATAN BALL #1 CHUCK #1 (OF 6) CLANDESTINE #5 (OF 5) DC UNIVERSE SPECIAL SUPERMAN MONGUL DOKTOR SLEEPLESS #7 WRAP CVR DRAFTED #8 ELEPHANTMEN #12 ETERNALS #1 FALL OF CTHULHU #13 CVR A FEAR AGENT #21 HATCHET JOB (PT 5 OF 5) GAMEKEEPER SERIES 2 #4 GENEXT #2 (OF 5) GOON #25 GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #9 (OF 9) GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #9 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #25 HOT MOMS #11 (A) HULK RAGING THUNDER HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #3 (OF 6) INVINCIBLE #50 IRON MAN LEGACY OF DOOM #3 (OF 4) JACK STAFF #17 LAST DEFENDERS #4 (OF 6) LEGION OF SUPER HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #15 LOCAL #12 (OF 12) (RES) LOCKE & KEY #5 LOST BOYS REIGN OF FROGS #2 (OF 4) MAD MAGAZINE #491 MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #9 MAGDALENA DAREDEVIL (ONE SHOT) MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK #12 MARVEL ILLUSTRATED THREE MUSKETEERS #1 (OF 6) MOON KNIGHT #19 NARCOPOLIS #3 (OF 4) WRAP CVR NEW EXILES #7 NEWUNIVERSAL SHOCKFRONT #2 (OF 6) NUMBER OF THE BEAST #5 (OF 8) PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #122 PILOT SEASON LADY PENDRAGON #1 PUNISHER MAX LITTLE BLACK BOOK RED MASS FOR MARS #1 (OF 4) (RES) REICH #3 SADHU WHEEL OF DESTINY #2 (OF 4) SALVATION RUN #7 (OF 7) SECRET INVASION WHO DO YOU TRUST SIMON DARK #9 SKAAR SON OF HULK #1 SKY DOLL #2 (OF 3) SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #189 SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE #1 SPIDER-MAN WITH GREAT POWER #4 (OF 5) STAR WARS REBELLION #14 SMALL VICTORIES PART 4 (OF 4) SUPERIOR SHOWCASE #3 TINY TITANS #5 TITANS #3 TRINITY #2 TWELVE #6 (OF 12) UNCLE SCROOGE #376 VOYAGES OF SHEBUCCANEER #1 (OF 3) WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #691 WILDGUARD INSIDER #2 (OF 3) WONDER WOMAN #21 X-FORCE AINT NO DOG YOUNG LIARS #4 Books / Mags / Stuff ABSOLUTE SANDMAN HC VOL 03 ALTER EGO #78 AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS GN VOL 01 HERE COME THE SPIDERS BECK MONGOLIAN CHOP SQUAD GN VOL 12 (OF 19) BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL TP VOL 19 BADGER HOLE BURNOUT CAPTAIN AMERICA TP VOL 01 DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED THE INVISIBLE MAN COMPLETE LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE HC VOL 01 ETERNALS BY JACK KIRBY TP BOOK 01 FLUFFY HC FORTEAN TIMES #237 HERO SQUARED TP VOL 02 ANOTHER FINE MESS ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #1 2ND PTG JAMES BOND TP PARADISE PLOT JOKER THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD TP JUDGE DREDD HENRY FLINT COLLECTION TP JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #272 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA HC VOL 03 INJUSTICE LEAGUE LOST OFFICIAL MAGAZINE #17 PX ED MARVEL ZOMBIES 02 HC METAMORPHO YEAR ONE TP OUT OF PICTURE SC VOL 02 PENNY ARCADE TP VOL 05 THE CASE OF THE MUMMYS GOLD PROGRAMME TP VOL 01 QUESTION THE FIVE BOOKS OF BLOOD HC RIDE TP VOL 02 SILVER SURFER TP IN THY NAME SLAINE THE KING SC NEW PTG TOYFARE #132 DARK KNIGHT MOVIE TOYS CVR VINYL UNDERGROUND TP VOL 01 WATCHING THE DETECTIVES WILL EISNERS SPIRIT ARCHIVES HC VOL 24 WITCHBLADE ORIGINS TP VOL 01 GENESIS WOLVERINE TP ENEMY OF STATE ULTIMATE COLLECTION YOSHITAKA AMANOS MATEKI THE MAGIC FLUTE HC What looks good to you? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Friday, June 06, 2008
I'm trying to quit smoking again (third time is the charm?), so forgive me if I write anything that makes no sense -- I'm having a slightly hard time concentrating on anything for longer than, say, 60 seconds or so, and I've got aches all over. Has to happen, however -- when I come down with Tonsillitis and/or Strep Throat TWICE in like 6 weeks, there's a good sign your body is trying to tell you something. But that has nothing to do with anything related to comics, so let's talk about TRINITY #1 instead. Unlike COUNTDOWN #1, er, #51, which after reading it was clear was really really bad, and probably wouldn't get any better TRINITY is decently solid superhero material -- nothing exceptionally wonderful, but nothing offensively poor either. In the best possible sense of the word, this is journeyman material, probably pretty close to exactly the same level material that got your reading comics in the first place. It won't cure cancer (or win an Eisner!), but there are far worse comics you could waste your time and money with; and it gives you everything you need to know to get what's going on (though the gag of not mentioning "Enigma"'s name in the back half was pretty annoying), which, in 2008, puts it way ahead of almost all of it's contempories. So, I'm going to go with a low GOOD. What did YOU think? -B Labels: Brian Click Here to Read More...Monday, June 02, 2008
Another solid week.... A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #82 (A) ABE SAPIEN THE DROWNING #5 (OF 5) ALL NEW ATOM #24 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #561 AMERICAN DREAM #3 (OF 5) AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO #3 (OF 4) ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #189 ASTONISHING X-MEN SKETCHBOOK AVENGERS INVADERS #2 (OF 12) BATMAN DEATH MASK #3 (OF 4) BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ORIGINS #6 BETTY #174 BOYS #19 BRIT #6 BUDDHA STORY OF ENLIGHTENMENT #3 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #15 CABLE #4 DWS CRIMINAL 2 #3 DARK TOWER LONG ROAD HOME #4 (OF 5) DC SPECIAL RAVEN #4 (OF 5) DETECTIVE COMICS #845 DEVI #20 (RES) DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS #7 DUO STARS #1 FX #4 (OF 6) GRIMM FAIRY TALES #27 HAUNT OF HORROR LOVECRAFT #1 (OF 3) HOUSE OF MYSTERY #2 INFINITY INC #10 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #2 JONAH HEX #32 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #46 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #16 KICK ASS #3 LOONEY TUNES #163 LORDS OF AVALON SOD #5 (OF 6) MACK BOLAN THE EXECUTIONER DEVILS TOOLS #3 (OF 5) MANHUNTER #31 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #40 MARVEL SPOTLIGHT SECRET INVASION MIDNIGHTER #20 NEW BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON ZERO #9 NIGHTWING #145 NOVA #14 OMEGA UNKNOWN #9 (OF 10) PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #20 RANN THANAGAR HOLY WAR #2 (OF 8) RAY HARRYHAUSEN FLYING SAUCERS VS EARTH #2 (OF 4) RED SONJA #34 ROBIN SPOILER SPECIAL #1 SECRET INVASION #3 (OF 8) SI SPAWN #179 SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #9 STAR TREK ASSIGNMENT EARTH #2 STAR TREK NEW FRONTIER #3 SUPERGIRL #30 TALES FROM WONDERLAND MAD HATTER #1 TANK GIRL VISIONS OF BOOGA #2 TOR #2 (OF 6) TRINITY #1 ULTIMATE ORIGINS #1 (OF 5) (RES) VINYL UNDERGROUND #9 WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #2 (OF 12) WITCHBLADE #118 WOLVERINE DANGEROUS GAME YOUNG X-MEN #3 DWS Books / Mags / Stuff BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE COLLECTORS SET BLEACH TP VOL 23 CONAN BORN ON THE BATTLEFIELD HC CRAWL SPACE TP VOL 01 XXXOMBIES DOGWITCH TP VOL 03 MOOD SWINGS ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN MARVEL TP VOL 01 FABLES TP VOL 10 THE GOOD PRINCE GEEK MONTHLY VOL 2 #6 HEDGE KNIGHT II SWORN SWORD PREM HC HULK VS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE TP HULK WWH TP FRONT LINE INDIANA JONES OMNIBUS TP VOL 02 INVINCIBLE TP VOL 09 OUT OF THIS WORLD LEGION OF SUPER HEROES 1050 YEARS IN THE FUTURE TP LOBSTER JOHNSON TP VOL 01 IRON PROMETHEUS LOST BOOKS OF EVE TP VOL 01 MONSTER ZOO GN MPD PSYCHO TP VOL 05 MUZZ GN NEW AVENGERS TP VOL 07 TRUST NICEST NAUGHTY FAIRY HC NUMBER 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 HC PATH OF THE ASSASSIN TP VOL 11 PENANCE RELENTLESS TP SEX DRUGS AND VIOLENCE I/T COMICS TP VOL 01 SHOWCASE PRESENTS HAUNTED TANK TP VOL 02 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ARCHIVES TP VOL 07 STAR WARS OMNIBUS DROIDS TP VOL 01 TALES FROM THE STARLIGHT DRIVE IN GN TELLOS COLOSSAL TP VOL 01 TOM STRONG TP BOOK 06 VAISTRON TP VOL 01 WORMWOOD CALAMARI RISING TP X-FACTOR VISIONARIES PETER DAVID TP VOL 04 X-MEN TP VOL 02 COMPLETE ONSLAUGHT EPIC ZOMBIE SIMON GARTH TP What looks good to YOU? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Saturday, May 31, 2008
So there's two ways to look at FINAL CRISIS #1. The first way is as the end of a "trilogy" of Crisii; the culmination of Dan Didio's editorial vision which, at this point, would make this issue #122. (to whit: TITANS/YOUNG JUSTICE: GRADUATION DAY [3 issues], IDENTITY CRISIS [7], COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS [1], DAY OF VENGEANCE [6], VILLAINS UNITED [6], RANN/THANAGAR WAR [6], OMAC PROJECT [6] and the [4] part SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN crossover that spun from that, plus another special for each of those four series [4], THE RETURN OF DONNA TROY [4], INFINITE CRISIS [7], COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS [51], SALVATION RUN [7], DC UNIVERSE #0 [1], DEATH OF THE NEW GODS [8]) (That's me being nice and not counting AMAZONS ATTACK, or 52, or all of the individual crossover issues that happened in various comics, or event things like the JLA "Crisis in Confidence" storyline. You could certainly make the case that this is the 250+th issue if you're less charitable) (And, of course, that's not counting the 30 issues of SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY, which really feel more like the lead-in to this than most of that other stuff...) There's a lot of me that thinks that is a very very fair way indeed to look at it because that's exactly how they pitched it, and, to a large degree, the very title of "Final Crisis" puts that very weight upon it. By that thinking, yes, I think this comic is largely a failure -- it is a slow build, it doesn't appear to have any direct focus, has seemingly important things happen in a small small, and lets seemingly unimportant things happen at a dawdling pace. It also appears to either directly contradict, or just ignore things that have happened in the last 2-6 months in the DCU universe -- the New Gods have already been dropping like flies, why is the GLC and JLA just noticing now as if it were the first time? Since SALVATION RUN is shipping late, a lot of these characters really should be running around, right? Where's the C-List Monitor Posse, starring Ray Palmer, who said they'd be the ones Monitoring the Monitors? And so on. Plus, as Graeme notes, there ain't no explosions. And yeah, I think it a company universe-spanning crossover, especially one with a name like "Final Crisis" there shore should be some of dem purty spolsives, lordy yes! I mean, honestly, after reading the issue, my first, gut-level reaction was "Well, where's the 'Crisis'?" So, from the "Man, we've been reading the unending event from like 2003 now, where's my payoff?" POV, I can't give much more than an EH for this first issue. But of course, the other way to look at it is without the weight of expectations, to completely let the last year of comics slip out of your brains, to not have the weight of a "Crisis" upon it, and just judge the book by itself. And as that kind of reader, I'd call this a fairly GOOD book. Because I think if it had come along with a different name, or not had a year-long lead-in (kinda sorta), or not been pushed as the conclusion of a trilogy, or even not come out in comparison with Marvel's string of similar events -- if people did not have the weight of expectations upon them, then I think the general internet reaction would have been very different. Another book with a big Weight upon it was GIANT-SIZE ASTONISHING X-MEN #1, the big wrap-up to the Whedon/Cassaday story. And it, too, suffers I think, because of it. After all of the long ass waiting for it, I think it fails to impress, but that is because of the long-ass wait. I suspect someone reading it in TP form for the first time is going to think that was a pretty solid story and a GOOD ending to the run; me, I've been living with that wait, so it too was kind of EH, for me. What did YOU think? -B Labels: Brian Click Here to Read More...Monday, May 26, 2008
Here's a pretty brutal week for comics - we're receiving three comics that are triple digits in sales, and three trades with double digit orders -- and there's tons of other stuff, too! PLEASE REMEMBER: because of the Memorial Day holiday, comics are 24 hours late this week, and are on sale on THURSDAY, May 29th! Don't go into your local comics shop on Wed looking for new books -- they'll laugh at you behind your back! 2000 AD #1585 2000 AD #1586 ACTION COMICS #865 ALL STAR SUPERMAN #11 ANGEL REVELATIONS #1 (OF 5) ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #14 ARCHIE #585 ARMY OF DARKNESS XENA WHY NOT #3 (OF 4) ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #6 BATMAN #677 RIP BATMAN GOTHAM AFTER MIDNITE #1 (OF 12) BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #161 BLUE BEETLE #27 CALIBER #2 (OF 5) (NOTE PRICE) CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #45 DAN DARE #6 (OF 7) DAREDEVIL #107 DARKNESS VS EVA #3 (OF 4) DRAFTED #7 EMILY THE STRANGE II BE ALL YOU CAN BE #3 FABLES #73 FINAL CRISIS #1 (OF 7) FIREBREATHER SERIES #1 FUTURAMA COMICS #37 GIANT SIZE ASTONISHING X-MEN #1 GREEN LANTERN #31 HELEN KILLER #2 (OF 4) HERCULES #2 (OF 5) (NOTE PRICE) HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #2 (OF 6) IMMORTAL IRON FIST #15 INDIA AUTHENTIC #13 LAKSHMI JENNA JAMESONS SHADOW HUNTER #3 HORN CVR (RES) JSA CLASSIFIED #38 JUGHEAD #189 KING SIZE HULK #1 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #42 MARVEL 1985 #1 (OF 6) MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #36 MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #13 MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #9 MARVEL ILLUSTRATED MOBY DICK #4 (OF 6) MARVEL ILLUSTRATED PICTURE DORIAN GRAY #6 (OF 6) MS MARVEL #27 SI NEW AVENGERS #41 SI NEW BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON ZERO #8 NEW WARRIORS #12 NIGHTMARES AND FAIRY TALES #23 NORTHLANDERS #6 NUMBER OF THE BEAST #4 (OF 6) POWER PACK DAY ONE #3 (OF 4) RESURRECTION #5 ROGUE ANGEL TELLER OF TALES #4 SALEM #1 (OF 4) CVR A SECRET HISTORY THE AUTHORITY HAWKSMOOR #3 (OF 6) SHADOWPACT #25 SHE-HULK 2 #29 SNAKEWOMAN CURSE OF THE 68 #4 (OF 4) SONIC X #33 SPEAK O/T DEVIL #6 (OF 6) ST TNG INTELLIGENCE GATHERING #5 (OF 5) STAR TREK YEAR FOUR ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT #2 STAR WARS DARK TIMES #11 VECTOR PART 5 STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF OLD REPUBLIC #29 EXALTED PART 1 (OF 2) SUPERNATURAL RISING SON #2 (OF 6) SWORD #8 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #50 TEEN TITANS #59 TEEN TITANS GO #55 THOR #9 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #122 UNCANNY X-MEN #498 DWS USAGI YOJIMBO #112 WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #3 X-FORCE #4 DWS X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #12 X-MEN LEGACY #212 DWS YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #5 (OF 6) ZOMBIE TALES #1 CVR A Books / Mags /Stuff BIONICLE GN VOL 01 BLACK ADAM THE DARK AGE TP COMIC BOOK COVER PORTFOLIO #1 WOMEN OF THE DCU COMICS JOURNAL #290 COMPLEAT NEXT MEN TP VOL 01 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS TP VOL 01 ESSENTIAL RAMPAGING HULK TP VOL 01 HEARTBURST & OTHER PLEASURES TP HELLBOY TP VOL 08 DARKNESS CALLS HEROES SC IMMORTAL IRON FIST PREM HC VOL 02 CITIES OF HEAVEN JACK KIRBYS OMAC ONE MAN ARMY CORPS HC JUDENHASS GN JUSTICE TP VOL 01 JUXTAPOZ VOL 15 #6 JUNE 2008 NEARLY COMPLETE ESSENTIAL HEMBECK ARCHIVES OMNIBUS NO PASARAN GN VOL 03 PREVIEWS VOL XVIII #6 PRISM COMICS LGBT GUIDE TO COMICS MAG 2008 RETURN TO WONDERLAND HC ROBOT GN VOL 05 ROSWELL TEXAS GN VOL 01 SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN TP VOL 03 SKYSCRAPERS O/T MIDWEST HC STARMAN OMNIBUS HC VOL 01 STUDIO SPACE SC SUPERMAN WORLD OF KRYPTON TP TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD ARCHIVES TP VOL 01 WIZARD MAGAZINE #201 SUMMER PREVIEW CVR WOLVERINE ORIGINS TP VOL 04 OUR WAR What looks good to YOU? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Monday, May 19, 2008
I feel like I've just been punched in the chest. Rory Root, owner of Comic Relief in Berkeley, and a tremendously great friend of mine, just passed away following a brief coma after surgery for a ruptured hernia this weekend. Rory and I had a lot of shared paths in comics retailing -- we both worked at the Best of Two Worlds chain in the Bay Area. He managed the Berkeley store, and I managed the SF one, before we each opened our own stores, he two years ahead of my own. Rory was a confidant, a friend, a mentor, and always always ALWAYS, whether I wanted it or not, a sounding board.  There's many a time when the phone would ring after midnight. Nope, not an emergency or anything, just Rory wanting to gab about something relating to comics or retailing. He'd call so often and so late at times that Tzipora half-suspected I was having an affair. "Nope, just Rory calling," I say, and she'd roll over to sleep contented at that. If Rory had a fault, it was that he was a talkaholic. Man, could the man talk! This is coming from, you understand, a veteran talker myself -- but Rory had me beat six ways to Sunday. The man never met a tangent he didn't like, never had a topic he couldn't opine upon. But it was all good -- because his gabbiness was tempered by wisdom and knowledge. The man (usually!) knew exactly wherefore he was speaking of, and on the few occasions he didn't, he was possessed of enough awareness to ask the questions that would make him MORE knowledgeable. Comic Relief, once upon a time, had a second store in San Francisco, about eight blocks away from mine. He hadn't opened it on purpose, in fact, he was there to help out a friend who had gotten locked into a bad lease due to the actions of another. At no point we were enemies, however -- he used to call me "Mr. Macy", and I'd call him "Mr. Gimble" like we were out of A MIRACLE ON THIRTY-FOURTH ST., sending customers freely back and forth between the stores, knowing that making sure people got the book they want was infinitely more important than any kind of rivalry. When CR went in, sales actually INCREASED because there were now two excellent comics shops within walking distance of one another. There are other retailers in my City who could have learned the lessons of camaraderie that Rory and I taught each other over those two or so years. I know Rory thought so too -- he told me so many times. Rory was a generous man -- generous with his time and his attention, perhaps maybe generous to a fault because I can think of many people over the decades who took advantage of his trust and generosity, but it never made him bitter. But there are few retailers, publishers or creators who spent any amount of time with the man and didn't walk away learning a dozen things about how comics work the way they do, and what things that could be done to make things better. It is the loss of that generosity of his knowledge (and it was truly encyclopedic and broad) that is going to be the loss that the comics industry is going to face over the next years. If only we had a few dozen Rory Roots, we could have utterly transformed the entire industry. I've said more than a few times that Comic Relief was the best comic book store that I've ever been in in my life, and through his many illnesses over the last few years, he thought long and hard about making sure the store will outlast him. He told me on many different occasions that the store will fall to long-time manager Todd Martinez, and I really think it could not be in better hands. Todd's a very good guy, and I'm sure that the store will continue to thrive under his hands. I owe Rory a lot, personally, professionally. He was always there for me with encouraging words, solid advice, and a wicked bad case of loving puns; I hope I was even half the friend to him that he was to me. People used to mistake us for each other all of the time. I mean, not really, but in the sense that "they're two overweight bearded long-hair retailers from the Bay Area, who are deeply passionate about comics; so I've got a 50/50 chance of guessing right since I can't see his nametag clearly" Here's how I most know I'm going to miss the big guy: if it was anyone else I was writing this for, I'd be calling Rory right now and reading it to him over the phone, and asking "what am I leaving out?" and he'd give me six great ideas of things that I really should have said. Well, I don't have him now, and I'm sure I'm leaving out six things I really should have said, but I know this much: I'm going to really really miss my friend Rory Root. May he rest in peace. -B Click Here to Read More... Thursday, May 15, 2008
Look, a review (kind of!)!! HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #1: I really don't get the thinking behind this "Year one" series, for the most part -- they seem to be focusing mostly on characters without their own books, and seemingly no particular thing coming up soon that they're an important enough part that you've got to retell their origin. (cf METAMORPHO YEAR ONE) Huntress is largely a third string character, made much more so by decoupling her from being Batman-and-Selina's child (the Earth-2 version). The Mafia-Princess-become-The-Punisher isn't the worst idea ever, but it strikes me as being one of those inherently limited ideas that isn't enough, in and of itself, to sustain a character. Jeff Lester and I were discussing something similar a week or two back when he opined that he thought when they finally bring Captain America back from the dead that it might be cool if they more or less fully rebooted him to be Man From The Past in the Modern World he was circa AVENGERS #4. I said, sure that's cool, and could be interesting... for maybe (MAYBE) a year, then anything interesting about it really dissipates in the same way that I was amused by the first "Oh, what is this strange and mystical thing you call a 'gas-o-leen pump'?" in Jodi Picault's WONDER WOMAN run, but by the third one I was gagging and "get over it already!" That's the problem with High Concepts -- as a general rule they're designed for A story, possible two, maybe maybe you can push it to three, but then you need to reinvent things or else it stagnates. If a High Concept becomes what a book/character is ABOUT, then how and where can you care? Fer example, I don't think Superman is ABOUT "rocketed to earth as a baby, he fights for ...the American Way". Sure you can do a couple of stories that are exactly about being an immigrant and an outsider, but I doubt that your personal Top 10 Superman stories ever actually feature that as a significant theme (*waits for Kurt Busiek to post and tell me how wrong I am about that one*) So, that's why "Mafia-Princess-becomes-The-Punisher" is clever enough, but it basically has no where to go from there -- either she loses against the mob (which no one wants to read), or she beats them (which ends the arc/conflict), or she joins them (which can't happen any longer in current continuity -- she was a member of the JLA after all!) In fact, what it has left us with is a character who basically is just "anger management issues", which, again, is okay-ish, but also one that you can't go very far with. I'm speaking as a recovering Angry Young Man here -- it's only charming up to a point. Here's the thing about this book: they can't possibly expect it to sell more than, say, 30k copies, and I think I'm being wildly optimistic there and wouldn't at all be surprised if it was 20k or under (like in CATWOMAN range). By the time it gets to issue #6, I'm guessing it will be 16k range or less, down to those kind of numbers that pretty much just represents the DCU fans with OCD who buy every DCU book because they HAVE to -- does anyone really even think there are even 5k *Huntress* fans? (I don't) There's no bursting market clamor for Huntress as a character, that I can see -- and if there was, it almost certainly wouldn't be for a retelling of her origin, over some form of new work. The writer, Ivory Madison, seems to be an established writer, but not one that has a big bold body of work behind her that could draw in vast new audiences, that I can really see from her website there (though, to be fair, it's not like I'm the go-to guy for literary matters), so I'm really trying to figure out what the thinking involved here in green-lighting this series was. Who knows, maybe its a little suck up to Paul Levitz. As a comic book retailer, I am perpetually very nervous about overproduction, and this seems like such a misformed idea to me, one that really only exists to suck up another 1/20th of a point of market share, another 6 inches of rack space. Be that as all of it may, the only question that matters at the end of the day is "Is it any good", and really, this was OKAY. The writing is good enough, the art is competent, and I liked the color palette used, but I think that if you're going to devote six issues to The Huntress, heck even more so, six issues to retell the origin of The Huntress, it really needs to be a whole heaping lot of better than just "OKAY". As always, what d0 YOU think? -B Labels: Brian Click Here to Read More...Monday, May 12, 2008
Our remodel on our bathroom at home is nearly done, and we've moved back in this weekend, so I've got one major weight off my back (paying for it, however, will be another, different kind of joy) Once I get the new TILTING written (now with more surprises than ever!) (and, no one noticed that I skipped last month altogether?), then do this month's Diamond data import I should be back to a "normal" posting schedule... 100 BULLETS #91 2000 AD #1583 ALL NEW IRON MANUAL AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #20 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #559 ANITA BLAKE VH GUILTY PLEASURES #11 (OF 12) ARCHIE & FRIENDS #119 ARMY OF DARKNESS #9 LONG ROAD HOME BAT LASH #6 (OF 6) BATMAN #676 RIP BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #17 BATMAN STRIKES #45 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #184 BOOSTER GOLD #9 BPRD 1946 #5 (OF 5) CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #1 SI CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #25 CASANOVA #14 CLANDESTINE #4 (OF 5) CTHULHU TALES #2 CVR B DEAD OF NIGHT FEATURING MAN THING #4 (OF 4) DEAN KOONTZS FRANKENSTEIN VOL 01 #1 (OF 5) PRODIGAL SON DEATH GRUB (ONE SHOT) DMZ #31 DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS #6 EVERYBODYS DEAD #3 FINAL CRISIS SKETCHBOOK FX #3 (OF 6) GEN 13 #20 GENEXT #1 (OF 5) GHOST WHISPERER #3 GIANT SIZE INCREDIBLE HULK #1 GOON #24 GOTHAM UNDERGROUND #8 (OF 9) GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #8 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #24 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #1 HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #1 (OF 6) IRON MAN LEGACY OF DOOM #2 (OF 4) JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #140 LAST DEFENDERS #3 (OF 6) LEGION OF SUPER HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY #14 LOCKE & KEY #4 LOST BOYS REIGN OF FROGS #1 (OF 4) MAD MAGAZINE #490 MARVEL ADVENTURES HULK #11 MARVEL SPOTLIGHT HULK MOVIE NEW EXILES #6 NEWUNIVERSAL SHOCKFRONT #1 (OF 6) NUMBER OF THE BEAST #3 (OF 6) PHANTOM #23 PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #3 (OF 7) PUNISHER #57 RED SONJA #33 SECRET INVASION FANTASTIC FOUR #1 (OF 3) SI SERENITY BETTER DAYS #3 (OF 3) SIMON DARK #8 SOLEIL SKY DOLL #1 (OF 3) SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #188 STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF OLD REPUBLIC #28 VECTOR PART 4 STRANDED #4 (RES) SUPERMAN #676 THUNDERBOLTS #120 TINY TITANS #4 TITANS #2 TRANSHUMAN #2 (OF 4) TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD IMAGE ED #11 TWELVE #5 (OF 12) UN-MEN #10 WALKING DEAD #49 WARHAMMER CONDEMNED BY FIRE #1 (OF 5) CVR A WOLVERINE #65 DWS WOLVERINE AMAZING IMMORTAL MAN BLOODY TALES WONDER WOMAN #20 X-MEN LEGACY #211 DWS X-MEN ORIGIN COLOSSUS YOUNG LIARS #3 ZORRO #3 Books / Mags / Stuff 2 GUNS TP 52 AFTERMATH THE FOUR HORSEMEN TP BATMAN THE JOKERS LAST LAUGH TP BATMAN THE RESURRECTION OF RAS AL GHUL HC BIG BRILLIANT BOOK OF BART SIMPSON TP BOOSTER GOLD HC VOL 01 52 PICK UP BTVS SEASON 8 TP VOL 02 NO FUTURE FOR YOU CHECKMATE TP VOL 03 THE FALL OF THE WALL COMIC ARF SC EROTIC COMICS GRAPHIC HIST TIJUANA BIBLES TO ZAP COMIX HC ( EXPLAINERS HC (RES) GEEK MONTHLY VOL 2 #5 GREEN LANTERN NO FEAR TP HEAVY METAL JULY 2008 #117 HULK WWH TP X-MEN IRON MAN AND POWER PACK TP ARMORED DIGEST JAMES BOND TP ON HER MAJESTYS SECRET SERVICE NEW PTG (C: 0-1 LAST BLOOD TP VOL 01 NEW X-MEN BY MORRISON ULTIMATE COLL TP BOOK 01 PAPYRUS GN VOL 02 IMHOTEPS TRANSFORMATION REX GN RIME ANCIENT MARINER HC SGT FROG GN VOL 15 (OF 15) SPAWN COLLECTION VOL 5 TP STAR TREK ALIEN SPOTLIGHT TP TOYFARE #131 HULK MOVIE CVR ULTIMATE HULK VS IRON MAN PREM HC ULTIMATE HUMAN VERTIGO FIRST CUT TP WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY TP VOL 02 What looks good to YOU? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Monday, May 05, 2008
Oh, there's the stupidly-large week of comics I was expecting.... EVERYONE should be able to find SOMEthing to buy this week... 24X2 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #80 (A) ABE SAPIEN THE DROWNING #4 (OF 5) ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #11 ALL NEW ATOM #23 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #558 AMERICAN DREAM #1 (OF 5) AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO #2 (OF 4) ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #7 AVENGERS INVADERS #1 (OF 12) BATMAN DEATH MASK #2 (OF 4) BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ORIGINS #5 BOYS #18 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #14 CABLE #3 DWS CONAN #50 COUNTDOWN TO MYSTERY #7 (OF 8) CROSSING MIDNIGHT #18 DARK TOWER LONG ROAD HOME #3 (OF 5) DC SPECIAL RAVEN #3 (OF 5) DC UNIVERSE SPECIAL JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA DEAD SPACE #3 (OF 6) DETECTIVE COMICS #844 DOCK WALLOPER #4 (OF 5) (RES) DOCTOR WHO #4 DUMMYS GUIDE TO DANGER LOST AT SEA #2 (OF 4) DYNAMO 5 ANNUAL #1 EXTERMINATORS #29 FOOLKILLER #5 (OF 5) FORGOTTEN REALMS THE LEGACY #2 (OF 3) ATKINS CVR A FOUNDATION #5 (OF 5) FRANKLIN RICHARDS NOT SO SECRET INVASION GEORGE R R MARTINS WILD CARDS #2 (OF 6) HARD CALL HOUSE OF MYSTERY #1 INFINITY INC #9 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1 IRON MAN VIVA LAS VEGAS #1 (OF 4) JACK STAFF #16 JONAH HEX #31 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #45 LOGAN #3 (OF 3) LOONEY TUNES #162 LORDS OF AVALON SOD #4 (OF 6) LUCHA LIBRE #4 MACK BOLAN THE EXECUTIONER DEVILS TOOLS #2 (OF 5) MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #8 MAINTENANCE #10 MAN WITH NO NAME #1 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #39 METAL MEN #8 (OF 8) MIDNIGHTER #19 MIGHTY AVENGERS #13 SI MOON KNIGHT #18 MUMMY MOVIE PREQUEL RISE & FALL OF XANGOS AX #1 MY INNER BIMBO #4 (OF 5) (RES) NEW DYNAMIX #3 (OF 5) NIGHTWING #144 NOVA #13 OMEGA UNKNOWN #8 (OF 10) PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #121 PRETTY BABY MACHINE #1 (OF 3) PS238 #31 PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #19 RANN THANAGAR HOLY WAR #1 (OF 8) RAY HARRYHAUSEN FLYING SAUCERS VS EARTH #1 (OF 4) REX LIBRIS #11 ROGUE ANGEL TELLER OF TALES #3 SAVAGE TALES #7 SCUD THE DISPOSABLE ASSASSIN #24 SECRET INVASION #2 (OF 8) SI STAR WARS LEGACY #23 SUPERGIRL #29 THUNDERBOLTS REASON IN MADNESS TOR #1 (OF 6) UNCLE SCROOGE #375 UN-MEN #9 VERONICA #188 VINYL UNDERGROUND #8 WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #690 WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #1 (OF 12) WASTELAND #17 X-FACTOR QUICK AND DEAD YOUNG X-MEN #2 DWS Books / Mags / Stuff AFTER SCHOOL SEX SLAVE CLUB GN (A) AMELIA RULES SC VOL 04 WHEN THE PAST IS A PRESENT AMOR Y COHETES SC AND THEN ONE DAY #5 BATMAN GRENDEL LTD ED HC BEST OF DRAW MAGAZINE TP VOL 03 BLACK MAGIC 2ND ED TP BOMB QUEEN TP VOL 04 SUICIDE BOMBER BUCK GODOT PSMITH SC CAPTAIN AMERICA PREM HC VOL 02 DEATH CAPT AMERICA COLOR OF RAGE TP VOL 01 DEADWORLD TP BITS & PIECES ESSENTIAL X-MEN TP VOL 01 NEW PTG EXTERMINATORS TP VOL 04 CROSSFIRE AND COLLATERAL GARY PANTER HC SLIP CASE GIANT ROBOT #53 HULK TP WORLD WAR HULK IRON MAN TP ENTER THE MANDARIN IRON MAN WAR MACHINE TP JLA PRESENTS AZTEK THE ULTIMATE MAN TP LEES TOY REVIEW #187 MAY 2008 MOME VOL 11 GN NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI TP QUESTION TP VOL 02 POISONED GROUND SALT WATER TAFFY GN VOL 01 LEGEND OF OLD SALTY SUBURBAN GLAMOUR TP VOL 01 TINYRANNOSAURUS HC TOMARTS ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #165 VIDEO WATCHDOG #139 X OMNIBUS TP VOL 01 What looks good to YOU? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Friday, May 02, 2008
Before I start, let me say "Cool!" for Douglas' Deconstruction of DC UNIVERSE ZERO (below), that was a rush I haven't felt since the good ol' days of 52 Pickup. Here's hoping he does the same for FINAL CRISIS! On the other hand, I'm not here to praise ZERO. I think teasers and trailers are pretty cool. I especially liked the little "Glimpse" at the end of the "Sinestro War" storyline. That was awesome. But it was awesome because it was a part of the package of entertainment that I had bought. And that's my problem with ZERO -- I thought I was buying a package of entertainment, a story, an actual lead-in to FINAL CRISIS. And ZERO really isn't that. Instead, it's basically that teaser at the end of GREEN LANTERN #25, times six. Now, don't get me wrong, that's not a terrible thing in and of itself, I just don't think it is something that should be sold as an entertainment product. What I think of most of all is Marvel's SECRET INVASION SAGA, the free giveaway that recapped a couple of decades of Skrull appearances before SI proper started. Retailers got x copies for free (a bundle of 25 for every 25 copies of WORLD WAR HULK you ordered), and you could also purchase more bundles if you liked. That's, in my mind, a better way to handle what's essentially a promotional tool. Anyway, what did I get out of ZERO? Well, George Perez can sure draw those 80-jillion character pages; and I'm still not interested in "Batman: RIP" very much; and the Wonder Woman arc might be interesting, but not a great teaser; and yes, sure I'm still looking forward to "Blackest Night", but there's not much new there; and I haven't really got the slightest idea what the Rucka book is about from that preview; and FINAL CRISIS itself is sure to be gorgeous, but why are they charging 50 cents for this? Apparently enough stores misordered ZERO, so that it is going to a second print (for a DOLLAR, sheesh!), which I can barely understand. But we've still got 3/4 of our order left and I'm sort of tempted to give it out on FCBD, actually, since we have so many copies left over, but I really really can't see anyone not already interested and buying DC comics decided they're going to buy anything coming out of this. In an interview at Newsarama, Dan Didio said this: "NRAMA: And as you’ve said before, this issue had to be a “primer” in a way for the DCU to readers who may be checking it out for the first time in a while? DD: Right. When we did Countdown to Infinite Crisis, it really became a great jumping-on point just to get people in tune with the direction and tone of the DC Universe and familiarize or re-familiarize themselves with the characters of the DCU. This one again, has that same goal and agenda." and I think that one those terms, this is a pretty miserable failure, because there weren't ANY introductions going on here, really, and there doesn't seem to be any discernible through-line going on. I mean, I read each and every DC comic, and am a DC fanboy of the first water, but even I still don't really understand what FINAL CRISIS is "about", or, perhaps more importantly, where the hell the DC Universe is going AFTER it... On the potential return of B*rry *ll*n, if that's meant to be a permanent change, and its not some sort of clever red herring, I do think its a bad idea. At the end of the day, he was really kind of a dull character himself, and there's only so far that "straight-edge" is going to take you (esp. when Superman fits that role in the DCU even better) At my bottom line, I have a modicum of faith in Geoff and Grant to write exciting superhero comics, but I wonder if that's ALL that DC has going for them these days, and if there's any coherent plan that extends past those two writers. For DC UNIVERSE ZERO, I'm going to go with either a high AWFUL or a low EH, depending on how cynical you actually are... -B Labels: Brian Click Here to Read More...Monday, April 28, 2008
In good news, on Round 2 of the SF public school lottery, Ben got into the A#1 school we wanted him to get into, so there's happy happy happy dancing all around. In the mediocre news, its yet another small teeny week of comics. Considering this Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, can I declare THE ENTIRE COMICS INDUSTRY as the ASSHAT OF THE WEEK? It really woulda been a smarter idea to have a rich and full week of comics this week, given that we'll have thousands of civilians pouring into DM stores, right? *sigh* 2000 AD #1581 2000 AD #1582 ACTION COMICS #864 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #557 ARCHIE #584 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #188 AVENGERS INITIATIVE #12 BIG AMOEBA ONE SHOT BLACK SUMMER #6 WRAP CVR BLUE BEETLE #26 BUDDHA STORY OF ENLIGHTENMENT #2 CALIBER #1 STANLEY LAU CLOSEUP CVR B CALIBER #1 STANLEY LAU FULL BODY CVR A CALIBER #1 WILKINS CVR C CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #44 CRAWL SPACE XXXOMBIES #4 DAREDEVIL BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA DC UNIVERSE ZERO DEVI #19 (RES) ELEPHANTMEN WAR TOYS #3 (OF 3) EX MACHINA #36 GIANT SIZE AVENGERS INVADERS #1 GLAMOURPUSS #1 COMICS ED GLAMOURPUSS #1 FASHION ED GON VOL 04 GREEN LANTERN #30 GRIMM FAIRY TALES PIPER #2 (OF 4) HELEN KILLER #1 (OF 4) HERCULES #1 ADMIRA CVR B HERCULES #1 STERANKO CVR A HUNTER #2 IMMORTAL IRON FIST #14 JACK OF FABLES #22 JSA CLASSIFIED #37 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #41 LOCAL #11 (OF 12) (RES) MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #12 MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #8 MARVEL ILLUSTRATED MOBY DICK #3 (OF 6) NEW AVENGERS #40 SI NEW BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON ZERO #7 NEW WARRIORS #11 ORDER #10 PROOF #7 SNAKEWOMAN CURSE OF THE 68 #3 (OF 4) STAR TREK YEAR FOUR ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT #1 STAR WARS REBELLION #13 SMALL VICTORIES PART 3 (OF 4) TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST #28 TEEN TITANS #58 TEEN TITANS GO #54 TEEN TITANS YEAR ONE #4 (OF 6) THOR AGES OF THUNDER ULTIMATE HUMAN #4 (OF 4) ULTIMATE X-MEN #93 UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #8 (OF 8) USAGI YOJIMBO #111 WILDGUARD INSIDER #1 (OF 3) WONDERLAND #6 X-MEN LEGACY #210 DWS YOUNGBLOOD #3 Books / Mags / Stuff ADAM STRANGE ARCHIVES HC VOL 03 ALTER EGO #77 BACK ISSUE #28 BLACK PANTHER TP LITTLE GREEN MEN BPRD TP VOL 08 KILLING GROUND BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER OMNIBUS TP VOL 04 COMPLETE DICK TRACY HC VOL 04 COMPLETE GREEN LAMA FEATURING ART OF MAC RABOY HC DANGEROUS INK MAGAZINE #3 DELAYED REPLAYS GN FACTS I/T CASE O/T DEPARTURE OF MISS FINCH HC (RES) FANTASTIC FOUR TP BEGINNING OF THE END FRANK FRAZETTAS DEATH DEALER DELUXE HC JUXTAPOZ VOL 15 #5 MAY 2008 KABUKI REFLECTIONS #10 KIRBY FIVE OH 50 YEARS OF KING OF COMICS TP (RES) MYSTERY IN SPACE TP VOL 02 ORDINARY VICTORIES GN (O/A) REMEMBRANCE THINGS PAST PT 3 TP VOL 01 SWANN IN LOVE SFX #169 SHOWCASE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN TP VOL 02 SUPERMAN BATMAN HC VOL 06 TORMENT TALES O/T FEAR AGENT TP THOR BY J MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI PREM HC VOL 01 WIZARD MAGAZINE #200 PLATINUM MARVEL JAM CVR X-MEN HC MESSIAH COMPLEX What looks good to YOU? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Here's what we're getting this week... I'm going to go ahead and assume that next week is going to be a ball-breaker, then... 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS ADVENTURES OF SINBAD #0 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #79 (A) ARMY OF DARKNESS XENA WHY NOT #2 (OF 4) BART SIMPSON COMICS #41 BATMAN #675 BETTY & VERONICA #235 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #160 BIRDS OF PREY #117 CHECKMATE #25 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 1 DARKNESS VS EVA #2 (OF 4) DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #8 (OF 8) DYNAMO 5 #12 FABLES #72 FALL OF CTHULHU #11 CVR A FALLEN ANGEL IDW #26 GODLAND #22 HACK SLASH SERIES #11 SEELEY CVR A HULK #3 HULK VS HERCULES WHEN TITANS COLLIDE INDIA AUTHENTIC #12 ANDHAKA INJURY COMICS #2 JIM BUTCHERS DRESDEN FILES #1 (OF 4) WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #20 MAC BOLAN THE EXECUTIONER DEVILS TOOLS #1 (OF 5) MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #35 MARVEL ILLUSTRATED PICTURE DORIAN GRAY #5 (OF 6) MICE TEMPLAR #4 MIGHTY AVENGERS #12 SI MS MARVEL #26 SII NEOZOIC #4 NEW EXILES #5 NORTHLANDERS #5 NUMBER OF THE BEAST #2 (OF 6) POWER PACK DAY ONE #2 (OF 4) RETURN O/T GREMLINS #2 (OF 3) (RES) SADHU WHEEL OF DESTINY #1 (OF 5) SCOOBY DOO #131 SECRET HISTORY THE AUTHORITY HAWKSMOOR #2 (OF 6) SHADOWPACT #24 SHEENA TRAIL O/T MAPINGUARI STONE CVR A ONE SHOT SHE-HULK 2 #28 SONIC X #32 SPAWN #177 SPAWN GODSLAYER #8 SPIRIT #16 ST TNG INTELLIGENCE GATHERING #4 (OF 5) STAR TREK NEW FRONTIER #2 STAR WARS DARK TIMES #10 STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF OLD REPUBLIC #27 VECTOR PART 3 STAR WARS LEGACY #22 SUPER FRIENDS #2 SUPERMAN BATMAN #47 SUPERNATURAL RISING SON #1 (OF 6) TALES FROM WONDERLAND QUEEN OF HEARTS #1 THOR #8 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #53 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #121 UNCANNY X-MEN #497 DWS WITCHBLADE #117 SEJIC CVR A WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #2 WORMWOOD CALAMARI RISING #4 X-FORCE #3 DWS X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #11 YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #4 (OF 6) Books / Mags / Stuff AVENGERS TP KREE SKRULL WAR NEW PTG BATMAN CHRONICLES TP VOL 05 BIZARRE NEW WORLD POPULATION EXPLOSION GN CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE TP VOL 02 TALES BROTHERS GRIMM COMPLETE TERRY AND THE PIRATES HC VOL 03 1939-1940 DAREDEVIL TP VOL 02 HELL TO PAY DEAD AT 17 TP COMPENDIUM ED DEADPOOL CLASSIC TP VOL 1 DEADPOOL VS MARVEL UNIVERSE TP FEMME FATALES VOL 17 #2 FUNERAL OF THE HEART TP INVINCIBLE SUMMER AN ANTHOLOGY TP #2 JONAH HEX TP VOL 04 ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG JSA HC VOL 02 THY KINGDOM COME PART 1 KLASSIC KOMICS KLUB HC LIVING WITH THE DEAD TP MAKING STUFF AND DOING THINGS METRONOME HC MODERN MASTERS SC VOL 16 MIKE ALLRED PREVIEWS VOL XVIII #5 QUEEN & COUNTRY DEFINITIVE EDITION TP VOL 02 ROUGH STUFF #8 SIMPSONS COMICS TP DOLLARS TO DONUTS VIDEO WATCHDOG #138 WARHAMMER 40K BLOOD & THUNDER TP WELCOME TO THE DAHL HOUSE TP X-MEN TP EMPEROR VULCAN X-O MANOWAR BIRTH HC We also received, from B&T, DORORO by Tezuka and SLOWPOKE: ONE NATION, OH MY GOD! What looks good to YOU? -B Labels: Brian, Shipping Lists Click Here to Read More...Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tuesday, while I was in the middle of pulling the comics, I started to get chills, then fever, then chills again, and I was feeling very logy. When I got home Tuesday night, I passed out for nearly 24 hours. On Wednesday, the searing throat pain began, and the only reason I didn't sleep continuously for the next 24 hours was that pain. Thursday I finally went to a doctor -- Tonsillitis is the verdict and anti-biotics should knock it back fairly soon, but if you wonder why I've been completely silent here (and only writing Priority One emails), its because I feel like someone stuck a |