Chats Should Be Good - Alex Robinson

I am really glad to be able to say that Alex Robinson is having a chat at Comic Book Resources this Monday, October 24th, at 5pm PDT/8pm EDT. I believe Robinson is one of the more talented comic creators to come down the pike in the past few years, and his collection, Box Office Poison, beyond just having one of the coolest names of a comic that I can think of, is a rare example of the comic where you should be able to share it with anyone you know.

Whether they usually enjoy comic books or not.

Whether they like Marvel or DC.

Whether they prefer Sand from JSA to Sandman.

Whether they prefer the Inferior Five to We3.

Whether they prefer Death the High Cost of Living to Lady Death.

I belive that they ALL should be able to (and rather, should PERIOD) enjoy it.

It is a work with true "crossover" appeal.

If you are already a member of CBR, then you just have to hit "Comic Chat," and then hit "vBChat Room Change" and choose to join the room marked "Alex Robinson Chat."

If you are NOT already a member of CBR, you just have have to register, which is no big deal, as it's free. Just click here to register.

You can talk to him about Box Office Poison, his recent (excellent) release, Tricked, or well, just comics in general!

Hope to see you all there.

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This Chat Was Good - Bob Layton

I was a really big fan of Bob Layton's Iron Man run with David Michelinie, so I was quite pleased when he came by Comic Book Resources for a chat. I think it went well, even though I did seem to yammer on for quite a bit. Click here for the transcript.

Covers Should Be Good - Which One Is Better?

The variant cover for All-Star Superman is out. Now it is time to decide which cover is better.





I pick the Neal Adams one.

I think it is more vibrant. I think the Quitely cover is a better DRAWING, but I do not believe that it pulls the reader in as well. And yes, the Quitely cover depicts EXACTLY what Morrison says he is trying to do with Superman (someone who is so powerful, he can just chill out on a cloud), but for a number one, I do not think it is dynamic enough.

The Adams cover is dynamic...to the EXTREME!

I pick the Adams one.

See the Covers!

This just in -- reading comics does not make you a weirdo.

Greg posted recently about his expedition to Jason Richards' Comics Riot! store and what a great place it is. Before we knew it, we were hip deep in debate about the merits of the traditional Marvel Zombie shrines that are most comics shops versus the hoity-toity shops preferred by The Comics Journal-reading crowd with their dark-rimmed glasses. (Yeah, these are both generalizations.) One poster, the ubiquitous Anonymous, had a lot of things to say and some other folks mostly disagreed. Such is the Internet.

But Anonymous said one thing in particular that made me think. It's something I've heard before, but this time it actually caused a brain cell to fire. It's the idea that people think a person's a weirdo if he (or she) reads comics.

Personally, I think a person's a weirdo regardless of their tastes in literature. A publication doesn't make an individual socially inept. A set of printed pages bound along one side does not a weirdo make. There's a whole slew of psychoses and neuroses resulting from poor socialization or disease or genetic heritage. A comic book, though? Not so much.

By the same rationale, we could say that, because a psychopath is a weirdo and he has an unhealthy obsession with the Bible, anybody who reads the Bible is a weirdo. It's ignoring the cause of the weirdness and perceiving an otherwise normal behavior to be more sinister than it actually is. I believe Frederic Wertham built his name on these tactics.

If I were walking down the street and I saw a middle-aged man sitting on a bench reading a copy of Seventeen, I might think that was weird. Likewise, if I saw a five-year-old reading The Wall Street Journal, that would be weird. But the weirdness was there first. The choice of reading material is just a manifestation of the pre-existing weirdness, not the weirdness itself.

Perception is key. The perceived is not always the real. The middle-aged man reading Seventeen -- what if he were an advertising exec doing market research? That's not quite the same as the perv I perceived at first. The child reading The Wall Street Journal -- what if he were just pretending to read it because he saw his dad doing it? That's perfectly normal. Context is important.

I suppose some folks who see me, a 35-year-old man, reading comics probably think I'm weird. They lack the context and perceive that, based on incomplete knowledge, I'm developmentally challenged in some way. Because they may not have read comics since they were kids, they assume that anyone who does is a few sandwiches short of a picnic, just like our Bible-reading psychopath. This is why education and actual human interaction are important.

For example, the people I work with all know I read comics. I haven't been secretive about that. I think, for the most part, they consider me to be a fairly well-adjusted person despite my taste in reading material. They conclude this because I can interact with them in a healthy, respectful, productive manner. They realize that any weird quirks I have aren't because I like to read Uncle Scrooge although my reading of Uncle Scrooge may be a result of my weird quirks. And so what if they did? I stopped caring about that sort of thing about 15 years ago. We've all got our quirks and not a one of us has a right to judge the other for those.

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What I bought - 19 October 2005

Man, I'm always pissing somebody off when I post - who knew a simple review of a comic book store would turn into that? I made a couple of comments responding to "Anonymous," and I'd like to say - I appreciate his thoughts, and hope he comes back around. It's always fun to have conflicting opinions here - conflict is good for the soul!!!!

So let's take a look at this week's purchases, shall we? Nothing controversial here, right? Right?

The phrase of this week will be "batshit insane." There was weird stuff in unusual places this week, and as I was reading, I just kept thinking ... "batshit insane." Not everything I bought was like that, but I will definitely point it out when it merits it.

303 #6 by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows
$3.99, Avatar


And so it ends, this series that flew under the radar and spent months delayed and weirdly split into two "parts" of three chapters each and never lived up to its potential. That's not to say it wasn't a good series. I enjoyed it, and would recommend the trade to anyone who bothered to ask me about it, but it was strangely disjointed, and I'll have to re-read all six issues at once to see if it's me forgetting crucial plot points from earlier issues, which is possible because it took so long for the damned things to come out. Even if it is me, the comic is partially to blame because of its wacky schedule.

Anyway, the thing that made this a good (but not great) series is Ennis's meditation on the violence inherent in being a soldier and how one reconciles with that, as well as the tradition of soldiery and the honor that goes with it. Ennis is big on "being a soldier," and while I don't read his Punisher (he's one character that even if one of my favorite writers tackles him - and Ennis is - I won't read it), I imagine it's chock full of this sort of thing. This issue is heavy with it, as it is the wrap-up, and I wish it had tied in better with the Russian sergeant's visions that he had earlier in the series. Ennis gets into politics a little and Bush's justifications for the war (and doesn't necessarily think it's a bad thing, which is nice) and again shows what a bad-ass the sergeant is, but it feels like it's not part of the larger series. The end is a nice image, though - depressing, but nice.

Brian gets on Avatar's case for all the Brian Pulido crap they put out, and it's perfectly justified, but they also put out a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with Goth chicks in leather bikinis, and it's unfortunate that gets all the press. Check this series out when it comes out in trade.

Astro City: The Dark Age Book One #4 by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson


And so the first part of the huge, sprawling "Dark Age" saga comes to an end, rather anti-climactically, if you ask me. What the hell is up with endings today? Charles and Royal's confrontation with the Blue Knight ought to be front and center, and it's a nice scene, but it's overwhelmed by the appearance of Tyranos Rex's mother, who wants him back and threatens to destroy the city. The Silver Agent shows up to broker peace talks, but isn't he on Death Row? Wha-huh?

Obviously, this isn't "the end," so Busiek is under no constraint to finish with a bang. He forgoes some of the key points of the story so far, though, for a rather incongruous appearance by a super-villainness and cameos by every single stinkin' hero Anderson can draw. Let's see: Was the Silver Agent really guilty of the crime for which he was convicted? Well, yes and no, but the reveal is kind of tucked away on the second-to-last page. I mentioned the Charles/Royal problem with the Blue Knight, which I would think would be a little more prominent. The final page is cool, because it doesn't wrap things up nicely, just like real life doesn't do, but it's a strange issue.

Common Foe #3 by Keith Giffen, Shannon Denton, and Jean-Jacques Dzialowski
$3.50, Image/Desperado


That's a neat cover, don't you think?

It's nice that Giffen and Denton provide names for all these soldiers, because who cares? Really. They are all in the process of getting eviscerated by these weird creatures who came out of the well, so why do we need to know their names? This is a fun, action-movie-type of book. Creatures come out of the well, start killing German soldiers and move rapidly on to American soldiers, causing Germans and Americans to put aside their enmity and fight together. Many soldiers die. We have no idea what the creatures are. More soldiers die. There are many problems. And finally, more soldiers die. Fun. Batshit insane, but in a good way.

The Intimates #12 by Joe Casey, Alé Garza, and Carlos D'Anda
$2.99, DC/Wildstorm


Another series ends, but not by design. Why can't Casey sell books? I really wonder about that, and I've mentioned it before. He's the Kiss Of Death on a book. It's strange. I don't think it's the quality of the books - The Intimates wasn't the greatest book, I'll admit, but it was certainly better than a lot of books that last a lot longer - but maybe it is. Casey makes some mention of this in the crawl at the bottom of the pages, and he goes meta on us again, like he did at the end of Automatic Kafka, but not as obnoxiously. There's really no point in discussing it.

Buy Gødland, people! One issue won't hurt, will it? The nice thing about Casey is that he never gives up. You don't like Automatic Kafka? Fine, he'll hit you with Wildcats 3.0. Don't like that? Here's The Intimates. Reject that? How about Gødland? The neatest thing is, they're all different. They are all unique. Track them down, even though three out of the four are dead. You won't be disappointed.

Seven Soldiers: Klarion #4 by You-know-who and Frazer Irving
$2.99, DC


I have noticed that the Morrison backlash has begun. I can't join in, because I still haven't read these, but don't think I haven't noticed, people! Where's the trust that Morrison has an idea in mind and will pull it all together? I trust him, even though I have been disappointed in the past (I still don't get The Invisibles - sorry). However, I will point out that I have a feeling that when all is said and done, this "crossover" will be MUCH better than the other DC crossover. The other will sell more, but in ten or fifteen years, this one will be regarded more highly. Sales don't always mean quality, people!

She-Hulk #1 by Dan Slott and Juan Bobillo
$2.99, Marvel


Is Marvel batshit insane? Okay, let's relaunch She-Hulk because all the people who didn't buy it last time cried when it went away. It's a light-hearted, fun look at superheroes (which doesn't mean it's for kids, because it ain't) and the interior art reflects that. I love that Jen looks mousy and tiny in the book. So if you're Marvel, how do you sell this sucker? Slap a Greg Horn cheesecake cover on it? Sure, why the hell not? That's not the worst cover in the world, but really - what the hell? What kind of person who buys comics because, say, Jim Balent draws it would like this kind of comic? Maybe they're out there, but I have a feeling they are two different kinds of consumers. What a weird way to market this book.

Some people have bitched about Slott picking on waiting for the trade. Well, on the one hand, it bugs me because it takes us out of what is actually a fun story that has interesting ramifications. On the other hand, Slott is right, and it's why I rarely wait for the trade. I waited for the trade on the last series, and it got canceled because no one was buying it. And guess what? If people don't buy this, they might not even collect it (although Marvel collects everything, so that's probably not going to happen). So until it becomes policy to get rid of monthlies and release everything as a trade, it's probably better to buy the individual issues. This is a fine superhero book. Bobillo's art is better than Pelletier's. There's time travel! There's a surprise guest star! She-Hulk is back. Don't whine when it goes away this time.

Supreme Power: Hyperion #2 by J. Michael Straczynski, Dan Jurgens, and Klaus Janson
$2.99, Marvel


Here's my batshit insane purchase of the week. Dogpile on me all you like, because I am buying this and the other mini-series simply because I'm a completist. It's ... well, it's not bad, but it's not great. It's certainly not up to the quality of the main title. It's a big fight scene. The smart guy from issue 1, Emil Burbank, is excellent. Other than that, it's just ... kind of there. Call me crazy. Go ahead! I can take it!

X-Men #176 by Peter Milligan, Salvador Larroca, and Danny Miki with Allen Martinez
$2.50, Marvel


The third part of the X-Men/Black Panther crossover is a monumental batshit insane book. This is the weirdest book I've read in a long time. It's not very good, either, so the weirdness doesn't help. Let's review:

The villain is the Red Ghost. The. Goddamned. Red. Ghost. For those of you who don't know who the Red Ghost is, count yourself lucky. I'm not even going into it, but quickly: he's a Communist who has an ape army. Read that again and try not to laugh. What the hell is any writer, much less a good one like Milligan, using the Red Ghost? He's played freakin' straight, too, which is even worse. Maybe he could show up in She-Hulk and he would work, but come on - it's the Red Ghost. Stupid damned Commie.

Then there's Black Panther. The last issue of his title was the first one I've read in a while, but when did he turn into a teenager? Isn't he supposed to be stoic? He's acting like a 15-year-old around Ororo. It's idiotic.

The "smart" apes aren't much better. The story makes no sense. The climax is dull. The explanations about what's going on don't exist. The death trap that Polaris is in stinks. And the villain is, in case you didn't know, the Red Ghost. Holy shit.

I'm really disappointed by this issue. I started reading X-Men again because of Milligan, but this is approaching Elektra-Milligan, and that's not good. I will, I think, pick up next issue, because it's not part of a crossover anymore, but he's on extremely thin ice with me. This schizophrenic Milligan is weird.

What do y'all think?

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The Character Reclamation Bin, or "Hey, I could make it work!"

What character feels wasted to you?

My pet “wasted” character is Pietro Maximoff, known as Quicksilver.

Quicksilver has been revealed as a major part of the “House of M” mega-crossover event, tied in with the warping of reality and all sorts of insane jibba-jabba. He’ll probably be either a new villain, or at the very least, end up all confused and turned into a black hole of plotting.

Dang it. I think he could be a mainstay of Marvel instead of a plot-tangle character with bad hair!




Check out his backstory:

Born to a master villain. Raised with his twin sister by gypsies. (Yes, early Marvel loved using gypsies.) Developed the mutant power of super-speed. Recruited by his father into a mutant terrorist organization, though neither knew of their familial relationship. Rebelled against the villain and joined the pre-eminent heroes of the age, the Avengers. Married a princess of a secret kingdom of superhumans. Had a daughter who proved to be totally human. Split from his wife. Worked as a government agent.

Now factor in his personality: he’s a prickly, arrogant bastard, overprotective of his (much more powerful) sister, prone to fits of temper. He’s also one of the very few characters who bridges the gulf between X-books and the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Think of what you could do with this guy. His backstory boils down to “poor country boy develops powers, is recruited by his father for evil, rebels, and tries to do the right thing.” That he’s a less-than-admirable person adds to the stew. Yet he is not insensitive to injustice.

Why Pietro? Quicksilver won me over in an issue of X-Factor when he surveyed the damage from a mutant terrorist group’s assault. During the hospital visit, he learned that the anti-mutant Sentinel robot program had been re-established. The rest of the X-Factor team was horrified. His reaction? It was the right decision; humans need to protect themselves from mutant zealots. *

Let’s hear an X-Man state that patently obvious truth. Ever.**

He has a couple of juicy conflicts built right into him:

--Father versus son.
--Nature (son of a world-conquering madman) versus nurture (adopted son of a nice everyman sort of fellow).
--Outsider who married into royalty, then spurned by it.
--A villain who became a hero.
--An arrogant jackass who understands the price of arrogance better than most.

He had his own series briefly. It was awful. The writers felt the need to bring in the High Evolutionary and his Knights of Wungadore. (Use of the High Evolutionary is a guarantee of a crap story.) The series was both silly and overly serious from the get-go.

No, no, no, no.

Quicksilver is a perfect straight man. He is the Frasier Crane of superheroes: intelligent, pompous, a little ridiculous sometimes. Give the man an opportunity for some humor, dammit.




He’s also very disconnected from normal peoples’ lives. Fer cryin’ out loud, his ex-wife lives on the moon and his father’s come back from the dead at least six times. How about making him the Superhero of Tampa or some such weirdness. Have the Prince of Mutants and a member of the Royal House of Attilan live in the land of strip malls and defend regular people from superhuman threats?

I dunno.

Enough about my pet idea. Here’s the question for the blog-reading public:

What character do you feel could be great if given a day in the sun?


-------------
*Peter David's run on X-Factor showed Quicksilver to great effect. A fine run it was.

**Okay, okay, given the trillions of X-books, I’m sure somebody else said it at least once. Still, a remarkable moment of clarity from the son of Magneto.

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Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #21!

This is the twenty-first in a series of examinations of comic book urban legends and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of the previous twenty.

Let's begin!

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Wolverine was initially intended to be a genetically mutated wolverine.

STATUS: True

Initially, not only was Wolverine to be a mutated Wolverine, he was also supposed to be a teenager, just like the rest of the X-Men! It wasn't until Dave Cockrum first drew Wolverine without a mask that everyone realized that Wolverine was not as young as the other X-Men. Said Wein, at the time, "You just put thirty years on that guy."

In addition, according to Len Wein, “The adamantium claws were [only] in the gloves when I first created the character. And the claws were retractable. They were telescoping, and they would fit back in the casing of the gloves.”

As for the "mutated Wolverine" part, check out X-Men #98. A technician gets a reading on Wolverine that suggests he is not a full-fledged mutant. This was because Wein's initial intentions were to make Wolverine an evolved wolverine, courtesy of the High Evolutionary.

Chris Claremont soon took over writing the book full-time, and he went his own way with the character, but imagine...what could have been?!?

(Wein quotes courtesy of The X-Men Companion, 1982)

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Superman's secret identity was made up by combining the first names of two popular pulp heroes.

STATUS: False

Superman's secret identity is Clark Kent.

Therefore, a nice urban legend has sprung up that Siegel and Shuster named their hero after two popular pulp heroes who were certainly known to the young comic creators, Doc Savage and the Shadow.

Clark Savage, Jr. and Kent Allard.

The truth, however, is far from that.

According to Julie Schwartz,

"When I saw Jerry Siegel, I asked him, "What is the real story? Where did the name Clark Kent come from?"

He smiled and said, "It's very simple. I named Clark after the most romantic movie idol of the age, Clark Gable."

I said, "I anticipated that. But where did Kent come from?"

He thought for a while and smiled and then he said, "Oh, I'll tell you. My wife's brother-in-law is Kent Taylor, a movie actor from back in the 40's."

So Kent came from Kent Taylor."

Too bad. The other story has more pizzazz to it, doesn't it?

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Dazzler's life was saved by Marc Silvestri.

STATUS: True

In Uncanny X-Men ##245, a caption points out that Dazzler`s "basic luminescence has been upshifting along the spectrum" from yellow into white.

Apparently, this was foreshadowing by Chris Claremont to Dazzler's upcoming death a few issues later, in a battle against the Master Mold.

However, all Dazzler fans out there should be happy to note that Marc Silvestri essentially yanked her neck from under the guillotine and allowed her to live another day.

Silvestri came up with an idea of doing a Hollywood story with Dazzler, with her having a stalking fan. Perhaps not the most clever of ideas, but it was clever enough for Claremont to relent, sparing Dazzler's life.

Well, that's it for me this week!

Feel free to tell me some urban legends you have heard, and I will try to confirm or deny them!

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This Comic Is Good - Fin Fang Four

I am sure a bunch of good books came out this week, like Amazing Joy Buzzards, Astro City, Authority: Revolution and Conan, but I am confident enough in saying that, even before reading those books, that I think that Fin Fang Four was the best book of the week.

I am not familiar with Scott Gray, the writer of the book, but Roger Langridge is a favorite of mine. His Fred the Clown is an awesomely humorous book, and Langridge's art is one of the best "humor" art in the business today. Together, they combine to create, in Fin Fang Four, a comic that is so funny that I have to say that I do not believe that a single page went by without a really funny joke.

The basic gist of the story is that four former monsters (all actual monsters from Marvel's monster books of the late 50s and early 60s) get shrunk down to human size and allowed to reform and work at normal jobs for the Fantastic Four (Reed is their benefactor). One of the monsters, Googam, still holds a grudge against the Fantastic Four, and through a series of screwups, he ends up unleashing a terrible monster. The four monsters then must ban together under the direction of Fin Fang Foom to correct Googam's mistake.

The other two monsters are Gorgilla, a dim-brained gorilla-like monster and Elektro, the robot who was high tech when he was created, but not so much now (He is proud of being able to hold 32K in his computer brain).

The jokes come fast and furious throughout the book. Joke after joke after joke, and they're actually GOOD ones.

Langridge's art is, as you expect, quite good.

Basically, this was a funny comic book that actually had a little HEART in it as well.

Highly recommended!

Oh, and you also get a story by Dick Ayers and Jack Kirby, reprinting Fin Fang Foom's first appearance. It is a bit culturally....insenstive, to say the least, but a good story, outside of that.

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Current Comics Report for 10/19

This is a report about what I think about the comics of this week, based upon Diamond's Shipping This Week list, as reprinted below, with my (sometimes quite snarky, so be forewarned) comments.

This week, there is guest commentary by my pal, Stony, as well as some cameo commentary from last week's guest analyst, Comic Should Be Good's own, Tadhg (who posted an entry here the other day! Woohoo!!)

Certain sections of the Current Report on the 10/19 Comic Book Week contain forward-looking statements that are based on my expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. Words such as “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate” and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which include but are not limited to projections of books being good, writing performance, character flaws, artistic coolness and continued title stability.

Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Prognasticators Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results and trends may differ materially from what is forecast in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation:

• A book being better than I thought it would be;

• A different creative team on a book;

• A different type of story than I thought it was;

• Differences in anticipated and actual performance by the writer and/or artist

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this report or, in the case of any document incorporated by reference, the date of that document.All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to me are qualified by the cautionary statements in this section...

NOTE: S=Stony, T=Tadhg, B=Brian and if there is no letter before the sentence, then it is me, as well.

Shipping This Week: October 19, 2005

DARK HORSE

AUG050047 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #106 (MR) (NOTE PRICE) $3.99
AUG050016 CONAN #21 (MR) $2.99

S: I once had a friend who had an idea for a story where he teamed up Conan and Sherlock Holmes

B: I bet Busiek could handle that.

S: I don't remember too much of it, just one scene where Sherlock is examining a door and says to Conan "Conan, bring the door"

B: That sounds awful.

B: Conan would probably brain him with a pipe.

B: By the by, Busiek's Conan? Very good book. I estimate that this issue will be excellent, as well.

S: Speaking of Holmes, I read that novella that Michael Chabon did... The final Solution" wonderful read

S: I think they should do a black Conan

B: You WOULD like the Final Solution - Herr Stony!

T: Busiek and Nord are adapting Tower of the Elephant?

B: Yes.

T: Wasn't that one of the first stories that Thomas and Windsor-Smith did?

B: Yes, I believe it was.

B: But I think Busiek's take is supposed to be a good deal different.

B: A bit more literal-minded.

T: And less cool.

B: Apparently, Thomas has adaped the story TWICE.

B: Once with Smith and once with Buscema.

B: But I think Busiek will be able to draw the story out more, which will allow him to include more of Howard's original style.

T: I think I prefer the Busiek original Conan stories more to adaptations.

JUL050103 HOT STUFF HEART KEYCHAIN $4.99
JUL050102 HOT STUFF MMMM KEYCHAIN $4.99
AUG050156 SIN CITY KADIES CLUB PECOS ZIPPO LIGHTER (O/A) $29.95
JUL050105 SIN CITY KADIES CLUB PECOS ZIPPO LIGHTER (O/A) $29.95
JUL050106 SIN CITY MOLLYS ESCORT SERVICE ZIPPO LIGHTER (O/A) (STAR0246 $29.95
AUG050157 SIN CITY MOLLYS ESCORT SERVICE ZIPPO LIGHTER (STAR02469) $29.95

Okay, Sin City lighters is actually a pretty cool idea.

APR050065 STAR WARS REPUBLIC #78 $2.99

DC COMICS

JUL050277 ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE #4 (OF 16) $2.99

S: This I am getting

B: I am enjoying how Busiek is really setting up the tapestry of The Dark Age well.

S: I recently re-read the story with the Blue Knight from Local Heroes... Highest praise.

AUG050262 AUTHORITY REVOLUTION #12 (OF 12) (MR) $2.99

S:Oh God, no... Not after boring me to tears with the first 6 issues... I am still saddened by the praise this, very boring, comic is receiving

B: But are you pleased that it is at least ending?

T: I liked Revolution you fascist bastards

B: Is this the end of the Authority?

S: I dunno, I dropped it with #6

B: I liked Revolution.

B: But Nguyen's art freaks me out.

B: Why does everyone have lines over their faces?!?!?

B: How is THAT a "style"?!?

S: It was just so dull! I'm sorry but it just didn't live up to the zany madness of Ellis and Millar's run... It made the cardinal sin of actually making the Authority seriously consider the repercussions of their actions. Which is wrong.

S: There's just something about shoving a tyrant's face through a brick wall that has more oomph to it than Midnighter and Jack sitting around talking about the rights and wrongs of what they're doing... while receiving oral attention from Apollo and the Engineer respectively

B: Well, fool, you are missing out on one of the best Authority fights in awhile.

B: The only thing that would make it cooler.

B: Is if each character did not have lines over their faces.

S: And my beloved Henry Bendix... what has Brubes done to my beloved Henry Bendix?

B: Brubaker?!? Ellis ruined him first!

B: Don't be laying that on Brubaker!

S: (am I allowed to call you cunt on your blog?)

B: Certainly.

AUG050186 BATGIRL #69 $2.50
AUG050183 BATMAN #646 $2.50
AUG050182 BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #70 $2.50
AUG050187 BATMAN JOURNEY INTO KNIGHT #3 (OF 12) $2.50
SEP050335 BATMAN KIA ASAMIYA SERIES 2 AF MASTER CASE PI
AUG050208 BIRDS OF PREY #87 $2.50
AUG050281 BOOKS OF MAGICK LIFE DURING WARTIME #15 (MR) $2.75
AUG050257 CAPTAIN ATOM ARMAGEDDON #1 (OF 9) $2.99

S: I was thinking about trying this...

T: Ugly art

T: UGLY art

B: Well, I DO like Will Pfeifer.

T: and a bad job on the costume

B: This is the artist from Intimates.

B: I agree on the costume.

B: I don't even get the concept - why did he change costume?

S: I think Cap's due for a costume change... but not that one

T: That's what he looked like when entered the wildstorm universe

B: I like the silver look.

B: Right, but that WASN'T what he looked like when he left the DCU

T: I flipped through the book, but didn't pay attention as to WHY he looked different

S: Really, as much as we can say about the costume, I fear Giffen and DeMatty have already said it all for us

T: The only saving grace

T: Is that since he's in the WS universe

T: They can't kill him off during Crisis

S: heh

AUG050283 CHIAROSCURO TP (MR) $24.99
AUG050214 GREEN LANTERN CORPS RECHARGE #2 (OF 6) $2.99

S: Is this tied into Crisis?

B: I don't believe so.

T: Too bad

T: Crisis would be the perfect time to kill a bunch of Green Lanterns to show how terrible the threat the DCU faces is

S: Guy Gardener!

B: Not Guy.

B: But yeah.

S: No no, Guy! It fits in with Blue Beetle et al

AUG050285 HELLBLAZER #213 (MR) $2.75
AUG050261 INTIMATES #12 $2.99

Sniff...tis the end!

AUG058214 JSA CLASSIFIED #2 THIRD PTG $2.50
AUG058213 JSA CLASSIFIED #3 SECOND PRINTING $2.50
AUG058187 JUSTICE #1 2ND PTG (OF 12) $2.99
AUG050223 JUSTICE #2 (OF 12) $3.50

S: Why is there a difference in price?

B: Paper prices went up dramatically between issues.

AUG050252 KIKAIDER CODE 02 VOL 1 (MR) $9.99
AUG050254 LAND OF THE BLINDFOLDED VOL 5 $9.99
AUG050287 LUCIFER #67 (MR) $2.75
AUG050228 MANHUNTER #15 $2.50

Apparently, there is going to be a Peacemaker cameo in this comic!!

AUG050225 OUTSIDERS VOL 3 WANTED TP $14.99
AUG050230 PLASTIC MAN ARCHIVES VOL 7 HC $49.99
AUG050245 POWERPUFF GIRLS #67 $2.25
AUG050194 ROBIN #143 $2.50

Ah....nepotistic continuity, and he's been on the book for less than two years.

AUG050266 ROBOTECH PRELUDE TO THE SHADOW CHRONICLES #2 (OF 5) $3.50
AUG050233 SEVEN SOLDIERS KLARION THE WITCH BOY #4 (OF 4) $2.99

S: Coincidentally enough, there's a pub I frequent called Clarion... no demonic cat sleeping in the corner though

B: Luckily.

B: I predict that this will be awesome.

S: To be honest, and in no small part to derive joy from rankling the Morrison-fans... I've been a little underwhelemed with Seven Soldiers...

B: It is okay. I am underwhelmed with you, as well.

S: That is until I decided to stop reading them as they come out and read each series at it was collected. Case in point: the manhatten Guardian. Wonder ful stuff as a whole

B: But it was great on its own, too.

B: But yes, I bet they're even better read as a whole.

S: Actually it was... Wish I could say the same about Shining Knight and Zatanna

AUG050195 SUPERMAN #222 $2.50
AUG050202 SUPERMAN IN THE FORTIES TP $19.99
AUG050277 TOMORROW STORIES BOOK TWO TP $17.99
AUG050274 TOP TEN BEYOND THE FARTHEST PRECINCT #3 (OF 5) $2.99

S: Did anyone try number 2?

B: I liked it well enough.

B: I liked the scene where Smax was looking at apartments.

IMAGE

AUG051646 AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS VOL 2 #1 $2.99

B: This book will be good.

B: Did either of you two read Volume 1?

S: No I did not...

B: Fun stuff.

JAN051589 BATTLE HYMN #4 (OF 5) $2.99
JUL051649 COMMON FOE #3 (OF 4) $3.50
APR051671 DEADWORLD #2 $3.50

S: What is this... Is this about those Zombies? Man, do i hate zombies...

B: Zombies are the new black.

B: Just ask Tadhg.

S: I dunno, I just prefer... My monsters to have brains in their heads rather than in their stomachs...

AUG051731 FRESHMEN MIGLIARI CVR #1 POSTER PI
JUL058210 INVINCIBLE VOL 1 ULTIMATE COLL HC (NEW PRTG) (APR051666) $34.95
AUG051653 LONELY TOMBSTONE ONE SHOT $5.99
JUL051631 NYC MECH VOL 1 LETS ELECTRIFY TP $14.99

B: Who did NYC Mech?

S: Pat Lee?

AUG051658 RUULE GANGLORDS OF CHINATOWN TP $19.99
AUG051727 TERRY DODSON WITCHBLADE #91 LITHO $19.99
AUG051728 TERRY DODSON WITCHBLADE #91 LITHO SGN $29.99

Witchblade #91 Lithograph! Now I know what to get my grandfather for Veteran's Day!

JUN051786 THE RIDE ADAM HUGHES LITHOGRAPH $19.99
AUG051722 VICE BENITEZ CVR #1 $2.99
AUG051720 VICE KIRKHAM CVR #1 $2.99
AUG051721 VICE SILVESTRI CVR #1 $2.99

Buying this book IS this book.

MAY051578 WALKING DEAD #22 (MR) $2.99

By the by, Walking Dead is a zombie book that even you would enjoy, Stony.

MARVEL

AUG051979 CABLE DEADPOOL VOL 3 HUMAN RACE TP $14.99

S: This must be doing well...

B: Well enough. It is a pretty fun series.

S: Is it Joe Kelly Deadpool or Priest Deadpool?

B: Neither

B: It is Nicieiza Deadpool.

B: Which took place before Kelly and Priest.

S: Old school Deadpool eh?

B: Yes.

B: Remember, Nicieza co-created Deadpool.

AUG051981 DAREDEVIL VOL 12 DECALOGUE TP $14.99
AUG051907 DAREDEVIL VS PUNISHER #5 (OF 6) $2.99

S: I remember when I was modding the CBR Marvel board, there was a great deal of discussion about this,... A lot of the newer Punisher fans that came on with Ennis berated this because Punisher had white gloves, but the classic Punisher fans welcomed this return to classics

B: People actually complained about the gloves?

B: Fools.

B: This story is awesome.

S: People complained about the gloves.

B: The art is good, as well.

B: David Lapham has created a really good Daredevil AND Punisher story, while actually incorporating the goofier aspects of their continuity.

B: He uses the JACKAL well!

S: The Jackyl, you say?

B: Yes, the Jackal!

B: Because, remember, the Jackal was the guy who hired Punisher in Punisher's first apperance!

S: Yes i do remember that actually!

S: Guy looked like a cross between the green Goblin and Gollum

B: Yes.

B: Lapham has drawn him like the Grinch.

B: But it actually WORKS!

S: Is that Boris Karloff grinch or Jim Carrey Grinch?

B: Karloff.

AUG058181 HOUSE OF M SECOND PTG VARIANT #4 (OF 8) $2.99
AUG051923 MARVEL 1602 NEW WORLD #4 (OF 5) $3.50
AUG051885 MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #19 $2.99
AUG051933 MARVEL MONSTERS FIN FANG FOUR $3.99

I predict that this will be suh-weet.

AUG051962 MARVEL SELECT FLIP MAGAZINE #5 $3.99
AUG051963 MARVEL TALES FLIP MAGAZINE #4 $3.99
AUG051889 NICK FURY HOWLING COMMANDOS #1 $2.99

S: The art in this looks terrible.

B: Giffen is scripting himself. Therein lies trouble.

AUG051935 OFFICIAL HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE HORROR 2005 $3.99
AUG051926 RUNAWAYS #9 $2.99

S: Do the kids have a name for their team yet? Young Pride? New Pride?

B: The Runaways!

S: Runaways? what kind of name for a team is that?

B: This plot sounds so...old-fashioned.

B: I keep waiting for the twist.

B: "The Runaways help Cloak clear his name"

B: That is so old school.

B: New school would be "Runaways help Cloak clear his name, but then learn that he IS guilty"

S: That is new school...

S: Or... "Runaways help Cloak clear his name, only to find that Dagger is the guilty party"

B: But I think even NEWER school is "Make people think we're doing a new school plot, but actually have it turn out to be an old school plot."

B: Kirkman used the "NEWER school" technique on his Captain America run.

B: Where he made it look like he was telling a new school story, but it was actually a seriously old school story.

S: That was the run with... bachelo?

B: So old school that Gruenwald could have written it.

B: No, it was the short run AFTER Bachalo.

S: who was the artist?

B: Scot Eaton, inked by Drew Geraci, I believe.

AUG051987 RUNAWAYS TEAM SHOT POSTER $5.99
AUG051888 SHE-HULK 2 #1 $2.99

S: Oh dilemna.... singles or trades? singles or trades? singles or trades?

B: Slott makes a snarky comment in the issue about buying for trades.

B: It is a comment that, coming from a fan, might be funny.

B: Coming from the writer of the title, though, it sounds kinda whiny.

AUG051895 SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1 $4.99
AUG051955 SUPREME POWER HYPERION #2 (OF 5) (MR) $2.99
AUG051985 SUPREME POWER VOL 3 HIGH COMMAND TP (MR) $14.99

S: There's an interesting thread on the new Ultimate board that Supreme Power, as well as being a new take on the Squadron Supreme... Is supposed to be Marvel's attempt at underscoring an All-Star Justice League. Comments?

B: I disagree.

B: I do not think that thought ever crossed JMS' mind.

B: Well

B: Maybe AFTERwards.

B: But not at the creation point in time.

S: It never crossed his mind that this new team holds... some... similarity to the
JLA?

S: Not even at creation point?

B: Oh, yes, of course so.

B: I think it was his attempt to write the JLA.

B: Obviously.

B: But NOT, as you mention above, "underscoring an All-Star Justice League"

AUG051925 THOR BLOOD OATH #3 (OF 6) $2.99

S: Ultimate Thor title. Come on marvel, let's go already.

B: I really don't get how Oeming is still writing a Thor title.

AUG051890 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #24 $2.50

S: Apparently... and I've long accepted this even if you CBSGers haven't... Millar is the Man.

B: How is he "the man"?

S: He writes fun stories with great twists on classic characters that keep us interested without losing the eesence of what attracted us to those characters in the first place?

B: What? His last story was about Marvel Zombies!

S: what? where?

B: And you just got done talking about hating zombies!

S: Well yeah, but you don't expect to meet up with Zombies in a sci-fi title with other dimensions! It's a good twist! Even if it is... zombies

B: Bah.

B: If you want zombies with a good twist, read Walking Dead.

B: Then you will come running back to me with, "Wow, Brian! I was so wrong! How could I have been extolling the virtues of Millar when there was this other book that was so much better!"

S: You're just jealous that he's starting to outshine that other scots you like

B: The day Mark Millar outshines Grant Morrison will be a sad day indeed.

B: It will likely occur two months after Morrison's funeral.

S: Ah ha! There I have you! I haven't even been reading Ultimate Fan Four..... hmmmm.... that admission doesn't do wonders for my argument...

B: No, no it does not.

S: Onwards and upwards!

AUG051893 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #84 $2.50
AUG051984 VISION YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW TP $14.99

B: FINALLY!

S: I know i've been saving up for it

B: I have been waiting for them to release this hackneyed Johns mini-series for two years now!

B: The timing is excellent, as well.

B: As Johns has been off the book for well over a year.

B: And this story ties into nothing Marvel is currently publishing.

B: Yay!

AUG051948 WEAPON X DAYS OF FUTURE NOW #4 (OF 5) $2.99
AUG051951 X-MEN #176 $2.50
AUG051946 X-MEN AND POWER PACK #1 (OF 4) $2.99

B: It is amazing how well Sumerak gets the Power Pack characters.

S: Power Pack!

S: The girl from Power Pack is in Excelsior, right?

B: Sadly, yes.

AUG051949 X-MEN COLOSSUS BLOODLINE #2 (OF 5) $2.99

S: Is this the gay Colossus or the straight one?

B: The bi-curious one.

WIZARD

AUG052582 WIZARD ANIME INSIDER TOONAMI IGPX CVR #26 $5.99

COMICS

SEP052762 1000 DEATHS OF BARON VON DONUT #1 $2.99
JUN052685 10TH MUSE VOL 2 #5 $2.99
JUL053032 2000 AD #1457 $4.10
JUL053033 2000 AD #1458 $4.10
JUL052916 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #21 (A) $4.99
JUN052750 ABIDING PERDITION LITTLE RED CVR B #1 $3.50
JUN052751 ABIDING PERDITION RAMOS CVR C #1 $3.50
JUN052749 ABIDING PERDITION WRAPAROUND CVR A #1 $3.50
AUG053097 AKIKO VOL 6 TP (STAR19184) (O/A) $14.95
JUN053101 ALISON DARE LITTLE MISS ADVENTURES TP #1 (O/A) $8.95
JUN053099 ALISON DARE LITTLE MISS ADVENTURES VOL 2 TP $11.95
MAY052760 ANAL INTRUDERS FROM URANUS #2 (A) $3.95

S: hmmmm.... is this guest-starring Colossus?

AUG052702 ARCHIE #561 $2.25
AUG053058 ARMAGEDDON & SON GN (MR) $9.95
JUL053012 BANANA SUNDAYS #3 (OF 4) $2.99
AUG053133 BATTLE ROYALE VOL 14 GN (OF 15) (MR) $9.99
JUL053023 BLACK HOLE COLLECTED HC (MR) $24.95

S: Wow, Collosus is in everything these days

B: You are sick and twisted individual.

B: And we haven't even hit "Blowjob" yet.

AUG053135 BLADE OF HEAVEN VOL 5 GN (OF 15) $9.99
JUL052867 BLOWJOB #15 (A) $3.95

And we get there, and NOTHING. Figures.

AUG052724 BOLD BLOOD #1 $5.95
AUG053137 BOYS BE VOL 7 GN (OF 20) (MR) $9.99
JUN052808 BRIAN PULIDOS MEDIEVAL LADY DEATH #7 $3.99
AUG052774 BRIAN PULIDOS MEDIEVAL LADY DEATH GRACE CVR #4 (OF 8) $5.99
SEP052813 BRIAN PULIDOS MEDIEVAL LADY DEATH PEACEFUL CVR #4 (OF 8) $5.99
JUN052810 BRIAN PULIDOS MEDIEVAL LADY DEATH PREMIUM CVR #7 $9.99
JUN052809 BRIAN PULIDOS MEDIEVAL LADY DEATH WRAPAROUND #7 $3.99
SEP052811 BRIAN PULIDOS WAR ANGEL PLAY TIME CVR #3 (OF 3) $5.99

I decided to read this title as "Brian Pulido's War: Angel Play Time."

AUG052782 BRIAN PULIDOS WAR ANGEL SHOCKING CVR #3 (OF 3) $5.99
AUG052953 CANTARELLA VOL 1 GN (MR) $10.99
AUG052989 CASTLEVANIA THE BELMONT LEGACY VOL 1 TP $19.99
AUG052951 CROSSROAD VOL 1 GN $10.99
AUG052987 CSI NEW YORK BLOODY MURDER #4 (OF 5) $3.99
JUN052678 DAVID SHEPHERDS SONG #2 (OF 3) $2.99
JUL052631 DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES #2 (OF 4) $3.95
JUN052687 DEAL WITH THE DEVIL #5 (OF 5) $2.99
JUL052823 DF ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN #2 SGN $29.99
MAY052724 DF ALL STAR BATMAN & ROBIN BOY WONDER TEAM SGN #1 $149.99

Wow.

That is a pretty goddamn expensive comic book.

JUN052948 DF MARVEL 1602 NEW WORLD #1 SGN $19.99
JUN052951 DF ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1 SGN $29.99
AUG052823 DJUSTINE TALES OF TWISTED WEST NUDE CATFIGHT #2 (A) $5.95
AUG052939 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #333 $2.95
APR052825 DORK TOWER #32 $3.49
AUG053138 DRAGON HUNTER VOL 13 GN (OF 18) (RES) $9.99
AUG053139 DRAGON KNIGHTS VOL 21 GN (OF 22) $9.99
AUG052865 DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES BURNS CVR A #3 (OF 8) $2.95
AUG052866 DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES WALPOLE CVR B #3 (OF 8) $5.95
JUL053067 FAUNA GN (MR) $10.00
JAN052532 GARTH ENNIS 303 #6 (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
JAN052533 GARTH ENNIS 303 WRAPAROUND CVR #6 (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
JUL052790 GI JOE AMERICAS ELITE DATA DESK HANDBOOK $2.95
AUG052861 GI JOE SNAKE-EYES DECLASSIFIED #3 (OF 6) $2.95

I do not know WHAT the hell is going on in this series.

MAY052683 GI JOE VOL 7 UNION OF THE SNAKE TP $14.95
JUL052723 GIANT MONSTER #1 $6.99
AUG052645 GLOOMCOOKIE VOL 4 CARNIVAL WARS TP (MR) $16.95
AUG053158 GREATEST STARS O/T NBA CINEMANGA VOL 5 ALLEN IVERSON GN $7.99
AUG053159 GREATEST STARS O/T NBA CINEMANGA VOL 6 FUTURE GREATS GN $7.99
MAY052743 GRENUORD #1 (OF 6) (MR) $5.95
AUG053141 GUNDAM SEED ASTRAY R VOL 4 GN (OF 4) $9.99
AUG053142 HEAVEN ABOVE HEAVEN VOL 3 GN (OF 6) (MR) $9.99
AUG052931 HERE COME THE LOVEJOYS AGAIN #1 (A) $3.95
APR052926 HERO SQUARED #1 GRAHAM CRACKERS EXCLUSIVE CVR $6.99

It would be cooler if it came with exclusive graham crackers inside.

FEB052578 HEROBEAR AND THE KID VOL 1 INHERITANCE TP (NEW PRTG) (STAR18 $19.95
SEP052650 HIP FLASK LADRONN SKETCHBOOK #3 MUD IN YOUR EYE $10.00
AUG052707 HOLIDAY FUN DIGEST #10 $2.39

Out already?

AUG053143 HONEY MUSTARD VOL 2 GN (OF 4) $9.99
AUG053144 INITIAL D VOL 20 GN (OF 30) $9.99
AUG053031 JAZAN WILDS CARNIVAL OF SOULS #1 (OF 3) $3.50
AUG053319 JINDAI #1 $2.99
AUG052708 JUGHEAD #169 $2.25
AUG053285 KEKKAISHI VOL 3 GN $9.99
AUG053145 KINDAICHI CASE FILES VOL 12 PLAYING THE FOOL PART 1 GN (RES) $9.99
AUG053146 KING OF HELL VOL 11 GN (OF 13) $9.99
SEP053007 KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE VOL 12 TP $11.99
SEP052815 LADY DEATH DEATH GODDESS REGAL CVR $5.99

I don't CARE how regal the cover is! Without the Brian Pulido seal of approval, I do not trust it!

JUN052671 LEGEND OF ISIS #4 $2.99
AUG053107 LIVING AND THE DEAD GN $14.99
SEP052814 MEDIEVAL LADY DEATH BELLADONNA UNSTOPPABLE CVR #1/2 $5.99
AUG052942 MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #282 $2.95
JUN052753 MIDNIGHT KISS #1 (MR) $3.50
APR052622 MR T #2 $3.50

S: I pity the foo' who makes this and yet doesn't make an A-Team comic

JUL052932 NIGHT MARY #3 (OF 5) $3.99
JUN052676 OPPOSITE FORCES VOL 2 #2 (OF 4) (NOTE PRICE) $2.99
JUL052912 ORCS TREASURE HC (RES) $24.95
AUG053129 PITA TEN OFFICIAL FAN BOOK VOL 1 GN $9.99
JUN052870 PORN BLONDS 4 PACK (A) $9.95
JUN052725 POTLATCH PROJECT VOL 4 TP (MR) $6.95
AUG053147 REBIRTH VOL 16 GN (OF 19) $9.99
APR052741 SHAOLIN COWBOY #4 $3.50

S: I wanted to like this but...

B: Did they touch you in the bad place?

AUG053149 SHAOLIN SISTERS REBORN VOL 3 GN (OF 4) $9.99
AUG052824 SHAUNDRA MORE SWORDS SEX & SORCERY #1 (A) $9.95
JUL052716 SHYGIRL VOL 1 GN $13.99
AUG052804 SIMPSONS COMICS #111 $2.99

Ian Boothby has been doing a fine job on this series. Of course, watch this issue be written by someone else, just to spite me.

MAY053345 SIN CITY VOL 4 COBARDE BASTARDO YELLOW BASTARD SPANISH ED $19.00
SEP053030 SINFEST VOL 1 (O/A) (MR) $17.95
SEP053031 SINFEST VOL 2 TP LIFE IS MY B$TCH (O/A) (MR) $17.95
AUG053150 SNOW DROP VOL 11 GN (OF 12) (MR) $9.99
AUG052713 SONIC X #2 (OF 4) $2.25
JUL053176 SURROGATES #2 (OF 5) $2.95
AUG052715 TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST #6 $2.39

I think this is the one featuring manga Josie and the Pussycats! Rock!

AUG052802 TALES OF BLOODY MARY #4 (OF 8) $2.95
AUG052678 TALES SLEEPY HOLLOW LOST CHRON I HUNT MONSTERS #1 $2.99
JUL052727 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE DLX ED #34 (MR) $19.99

Comes with its own tissues!

AUG052952 TENSHI JA NAI (IM NO ANGEL) VOL 1 GN (MR) $10.99
JUN053160 THE NORM #10 $4.95
AUG053152 TRAMPS LIKE US VOL 7 GN (OF 12) (MR) $9.99
AUG052972 TRANSFORMERS #0 $0.99

Ah, I see. Lower the price point to the point where it is not WORTH it for Pat Lee to steal people's money.

AUG053157 ULTIMATE BTVS CINEMANGA VOL 1 THE GIFT GN $7.99
AUG053153 VAMPIRE GAME VOL 13 GN (OF 15) $9.99
JUL053071 WALLACE AND GROMIT A PIER TOO FAR HC $12.95
JUL052987 WYATT EARP DODGE CITY #3 (MR) $2.95

That's it for us this week!

Read More

Three 10/12 Books That I Read So That You Did Not Have To

As always, I tell you about three comics that I did not hear a lot about this week, and then I ask you all to fill me in on comics that I did not read this week.

Special All-Infinite Crisis Edition!

Nightwing #113, JLA #120 and Villains United #6 Spoilers Ahead!

Nightwing #113

I actually enjoyed the last issue of Nightwing, more or less. I liked Grayson's take on Deathstroke and Ravager. Her Nightwing is a bit odd, but I can understand that that is due to the fact that she is being influenced by outside forces in how she writes Nightwing.

The basic gist of the issue is that Nightwing is training Deathstroke's daughter, Ravager (he got the job last issue, after a few pointed jabs about the short lifespans of Deathstroke's other kids). The conflict arises with Dick trying to train her while stopping bad guys...and keeping her from killing bad guys withOUT her thinking that he is a good guy (at this point, WE do not even know if Dick is really a good guy anymore. Ya gotta figure he IS, but who knows).

So you have a lot of scenes where Dick keeps her from killing someone, then her complaining about how he didn't want her killing someone because he's a good guy, and then him giving her a perfectly logical NON-good guy reason for why he did it.

Meanwhile, Deathstroke is trying to find some leverage on Dick.

Phil Hester has been dynamite on this title, but he takes a break this issue. Lucky for us, Cliff "I draw comics awesomely" Chiang is the fill-in artist. He does a great job (and Ande Parks does a really nice job on inks). The comic looks like a Mike Parobeck comic on speed. Good stuff.

In any event, while the story is a bit repetitive, it is still fun, and the art is awesome, so I would say...

Recommended!

JLA #120

Wow.

I don't know WHAT to really say about this comic book.

You know how Infinite Crisis #1 was sorta plot-driven, as the point was just to resolve certain things?

Well, that is JLA #120 in a nutshell. I see that Bob Harras was credited for writing this comic, but it really reads like it was written by an exposition machine. I mean, to fully get this comic, you would also have had to have read Justice League Elite, by Joe Kelly!! That was really surprising to me, to see an Elite plot factor in so heavily into the storyline.

The whole issue is just the various members of the Justice League gather around to pay their respects to the League, and to the Martian Manhunter, who has disappeared (although, his surprise return is kinda screwed, as Harras has him show himself to Dawn Raven in THIS issue to say that he WILL be showing up later!!!).

And it goes down just as a computer would have it go down.

Leaguer A says mean thing to Leaguer B.

Leaguer C says mean thing to Leaguer D.

Leaguer E makes off-hand comment that Leaguer F takes poorly.

Multiply the 2, carry the four, and you have yourself a pretty lame comic book.

The saving grace was that Tom Derenick's art was quite good. Dan Green's inks were heavy, giving Derenick a very classic feel. I liked it.

The "story," though, was awfully lame.

Not Recommended!

Villains United #6

I have worked on a few scenarios, and I have found one that I like...Villains United is the A-Team of Comic Books.

It is filled with action scenes.

It is filled with interesting characters.

The enjoyment of the series is mainly derived from those two things - the fun action and the interesting characters (and the way the interesting characters interact with each other, which is encompassed by good dialogue).

In addition, it is one of those comics that, if you are to enjoy it, you have to pretty much be willing to leave logic at the door. There should be a big "BE READY TO SUSPEND DISBELIEF ALL THROUGHOUT THIS COMIC" warning on the cover of Villains United, because you are going to need it a lot. That was the same thing with the A-Team.

Remember when the A-Team would be locked inside a barn, and they would build a tank out of a tractor? It was always a tank. Always. In any event, when they came out against the bad guys in their tank, they would bring out their machine guns and fire at the bad guys - but they would never actually HIT the bad guys. Meanwhile, the bazooka they built in their tank would be used to blow up the bad guys' car...but the bad guys would always manage to leap out of the car before it exploded. Heck, in the very first episode of the A-Team, we see a bad guy jeep get turned upside down...and they actually DUBBED in lines of "You okay?" "Yeah."

That is what reading Villains United is like. Deadshot gets betrayed by Cheshire, but he doesn't kill her. Cheshire gets shot by Deathstroke, but does not die. Deadshot gets shot a bunch of times by Deathstroke, but does not die. There is a huge explosion that presumably SHOULD have killed off such big-name villains as Scarecrow and Weather Wizard, but it just...didn't. Stuff like that.

In addition, there was this big Infinite Crisis tie-in bit with the head of the Secreat Six (the stars of Villains United) turning out to be Lex Luthor, and the Lex Luthor who is in the Society is a Luthor who switched places with the first Lex Luthor at one point. That's not really important to understand Villains United, though. It's more of an Infinite Crisis plot point. I would imagine the idea did not even originate with Villains United writer, Gail Simone.

Dale Eaglesham's art was quite nice. He just signed a two-year exclusive with DC. Congratulations to him!

In any event, two ratings for this issue:

If you like the A-Team, Recommended!

If you dislike the A-Team, Not Recommended!

Now on to the books that I did not read, so I was hoping you might have read them and could tell me what I missed out on:

Apocalypse Nerd #2

Futurama Comics #21

Golden Plates #3

Thanks!

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Elliot S! Maggin Chat Transcript!

Click here to check out the chat transcript of the Elliot S! Maggin chat! It was fun, and Scott Shaw! showed up, so there was a meeting of the "Exclamation Mark" Club, with Shaw! and Elliot S! Maggin.

Places to buy comics should be good, too

Over the weekend I flew back to Pennsylvania for a wedding of a friend of mine, but last Friday I had nothing to do, so I made a pilgrimage 100 miles west of where I live to Camp Hill, a suburb of Harrisburg, and visited Jason Richards at Comic RIOT! Those of you who read Jason's blog know he opened his store a few months ago with the intention of focusing more on independent comics than just superhero stuff from the Big Two, and I was interested to see how it was going and how his "comics lounge" thing was working out. So here, dear reader, is my report.

Now, I have been in a lot of comic books shoppes in my life. My favorite continues to be Excalibur Books and Comics in Portland, but Jason's is right up there. First of all, he understands that comics shoppes are businesses, not hobbies. I like my current comic book store (which doesn't have a web site or even e-mail, as the owner is stuck in the 1960s, I think), but it feels like a place that would be run out of someone's basement. I'm not kidding when I say that they argue endlessly about how many costumes Cyclops has worn over 40 years (that's my "go-to" nerd story when I talk about my store, as I have gone to it before). Jason doesn't think that way. He wants his store to be well lit, clean, modern-looking, and, well, like a business. And he does it well. Here's a couple of pictures of his store:




The second picture is the lounge area, where he encourages people to hang out and watch television, which at the time was showing cartoons. Jason hasn't left the geekiness completely behind, people! In the first picture, the center bookshelf is completely taken up with independent comics trades. It's a joy to see so many indy books, arranged nicely (some by series, obviously, but some by creative talent, which is a good way to do it) and featured prominently. It's not only new stuff, either, but a lot of older work. He has plenty of superhero Marvel and DC stuff, but it's not front and center. Let's face it - if you want the superhero stuff from the Big Two, you will find it. The indy stuff needs to be featured more at stores, and it's nice to see.

You also notice the wide open spaces and the good lighting. Never underestimate the power of appearances. Again, I have to compare Jason's store to others I have been to. At Excalibur, it's more cramped than Jason's, because they sell back issues and a lot of space is taken up by long boxes. Jason doesn't have that inventory yet. However, Excalibur still has good lines in which to walk, and it is bright and welcoming. It's still a comic book store, though, and it feels like one. Here in Arizona I often go to Atomic Comics, which is also run like a business and not a hobby. It's a chain, so I am a little disposed against it, but I still go there and spend money. Both Atomic Comics I go to (the one in Mesa and the one in Chandler, for ArizonaTeach) are nicely laid out and the staff is friendly and willing to help. There's still a whiff of comic book geekiness, but that's okay - it's comics! Atomic has plenty of independent comics featured, which is nice. The one problem I have with Atomic is that their salespeople sometimes try too hard - I've been collecting comics longer than some of their employees have been alive (okay, maybe not, but close), and I know what I'm looking for. I don't mind them asking me if I need anything, but if I say I'm fine, I'm fine!

I hung out at Comic RIOT! for a while and checked out Jason's inventory. I picked up the first trade of Gotham Central (not bad); Essential Amazing Spider-Man Volume 7 (I LOVE the Essential Spider-Mans); Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards by Jim Ottaviani, which I had been looking for ever since David Carter sent me the free preview, and which I missed ordering from Previews and could not find anywhere (which is why Jason's store is good); the Come In Alone collection by Warren Ellis, most of which I read online years ago but still dig; and Comic Wars: Marvel's Battle for Survival by Dan Raviv, about which I've heard good thing. Jason has plenty of books about comics, too, which is a good thing. Because I am a comics geek, I like reading books about comics, and often can't find them in bookstores, because they're in weird places, instead of, you know, with the comics.

Here's Jason ringing me up. Note again the bold design of the store, with the star painted on the wall.



I can't stress enough how different Comic RIOT! is from most stores - perhaps it's the newness of it, and eventually it will turn into a nerd hangout, but right now, it's the kind of place non-comics readers would be comfortable in. And because this is a business, you can still appeal to your core demographic while trying to attract new customers, right?



Here Jason says hello and asks people to come to his store! As he explained to me, the problem with his kind of store is that superheroes still dominate the industry, and the two stores in his area sell almost exclusively superheroes. The buzz indy stuff gets on the web is great, but in the real world, the people who buy a lot of indy stuff are spread all over the place, and can't make trips to Camp Hill every week. So the issue is how to get people to take chances with their comics purchases, because people like the familiarity of Batman and Spider-Man. As I've said before, there's nothing inherently wrong with superheroes, but there is a lot of good stuff out there that has nothing to do with superheroes too.

I had a great time at Comic RIOT! Jason is a personable guy (even though he's a Miami Hurricane fan - boo!) and he understands the business. He also knows enough people to get Dean Haspiel and Brian Wood to come to his store for a signing in November. I hope it's a success for him, and I hope he keeps fighting the good fight. If you're in the area, I highly recommend you stop by. And even if you're not, you can still buy a T-shirt from him. He'll mail it to you!

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Judging (DC's January) Books By Their Covers

DC's January Solicitations are up, so now is as good a time as any for us to make prejudgements based just on the covers (as we all love to make prejudgements, don't we? And DC's covers are at least detailed enough that we CAN make prejudgements based on them!).

Let's begin!

First off, just to screw with me, no Jock Batman cover for me to say how good it is!!

Luckily, there at least was some Cliff Chiang goodness for me to look at.



Man, Cliff Chiang RULES!
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I think Chris Weston did a great job, once again.



I think this is a striking piece.
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Wow.



A Castellini cover that actually seems to WORK for the title!
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Wow.



A Pat Lee cover without any clear problem.

Good to use a lot of shadows when your design work is flawed.
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Great Wagner art, but really doesn't do much for the story.


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Tim Sale sure does know how to use color well.


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WOW.



Never has so much good been mixed with so much bad.
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Phillips seems to be vibing on some other artist here. Any clues, people? It almost look European to me.
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Hmmm...I am torn.



Is Nightwing looking like a pansy Hester's fault, or is Hester just drawing him like he is currently being written?
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Man, McDaniel has his niche, where he draws certain characters well enough.

Don't take him out of that niche, DC!
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Livewire as a really evil character?!? What's next, having a comic relief character beat a superhero to the death with his fists?!?!
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Good work by Kerschel...



but it is too bad it came out the same time as THIS piece...


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I really wish Ed Benes' Superman could make like this cover...



..and be up, up and AWAY.
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Someone really ought to give her a thread to keep that sewed on.



By the by...seriously, how can THIS cover be drawn by the same guy who drew THIS cover?



Just doesn't follow (NOTE: The second cover came out already).
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BATTLE OF CRISIS HOMAGES!



vs.



I think Perez wins.
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Did someone just inform Aquaman that Patrick Gleason was off his book?
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Great cover by Byrne.
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Well.



This is SOMEthing.

What, I don't know exactly.

But it is definitely SOMEthing.
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Another way too dark Gleason cover.
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BATTLE OF THE GREEN ARRROW COVERS!

Merlyn vs. Green Arrow in a pink flower tree field?



or

Old School Green Arrow?



Who wins?

I choose Old School.
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Hey!



Hard Time is a good book!
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Ooooh...even good artists hid a bump in the road every once in awhile.



Here is new DC stud Acuña's bump.
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Nice Bennett piece, and it works as a cover, as well.



Nice.
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Oooh...



Jose Garcia-Lopez.

Drooool.
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Poor Luke Ross.



Now Phil Noto?!?!

A lot to live up to.
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I really dig Jesus Saiz.



I wonder where he will end up, post-Infinite Crisis.
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Ouch.



ANOTHER Acuña bump in the road.
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Dale Keown drawing Captain Atom.



That's right up there with "Odd pairings."
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Acuña! What will we do with you?!?!



Oh, okay...this one wasn't bad.
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Idea is not bad.



Execution leaves a little to be desired, though.
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Chuck Dixon, Doug Mahnke, War



A good combination.
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Good cover.



But a bit like repeating the same theme a bit too much. Will all the Arabian Nights covers look the same?
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I love the cover designs for this series.


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We'll miss you, JG!



See you soon on 52!!
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Hey kids, check it out, the Freedom Fighters!!



If you like reading about them HERE, be sure to check out their cameo in Infinite Crisis #1!!!

Nice timing there, DC.
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SEVEN SOLDIERS!!

Good



Bad



Where have you gone, Joe Dimaggio (or Paschal Ferry?)
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TOP FIVE COVERS OF THE MONTH FOR ME!!

5. It's Phillip Bond drawing a big ass bug.



Come on, who wouldn't pick this comic up?
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4. Walt Simonson should do a monthly book again.


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3. Seven Soldiers pays dividends!


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2. Joe Kubert is amazing.


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1. I don't even LIKE super realistic art that much, but man, Bolland is so awesome!



Okay, that's it for me, folks!

Feel free to share YOUR prejudices!!

AND your top five choices!

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