This Chat Was Good - Tom Beland

Sweet! The Tom Beland chat transcript is up! Check it out here! As an added bonus, Tom was gracious enough to share a veritable treasure trove of art samples and neat photos! Super cool!!

T. isn't going to like this ...

... but my latest Comics You Should Own column is up and ready for your opprobrium or, you know, praise (would it be so hard?). Why won't T. like it? Well, it's about Challengers of the Unknown by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, and Loeb is T.'s bête noire. Still, it's a fine series worthy of your attention. Go find out why!

Congrats, Alex Segura!

Alex Segura, the founder of the Great Curve, is the new Publicity Manager for DC Comics!

Congrats, Alex!

He will be having an online diary on Newasarama about his start at the new job. Here is a thread about it for you folks to go congratulate him.

Guest Entry - “Comic Fans Should Be Good”

Greetings. Mordechai Luchins of “What WERE They Thinking?” here with a guest entry. Let me begin by thanking the folks here for lending me their soap-box. Mine’s in the shop.

I’d like to talk to you about that age old question – “what’s wrong with comics?” Now, aside from the fact that comics are a medium and not a genre so the whole argument is silly, I’d like to suggest a unique answer...

The problem with comic books is the fans.

Before you tar and feather me, hear me out. I’ve come to this hypothesis due to my own reading for my blog and other readings of comic book history.

Comic books, the super-hero type in particular, began as a form of children’s entertainment. Oh yes, adults read them too, but the main demographic was youngsters. Not only that, but they were meant to be disposable entertainment. Little Tommy was supposed to go to the dime store, grab this week’s ACTION COMICS, roll it up in his back pocket for later, read it, and throw it out. As such, it didn’t matter if Atlanteans had fish tails in Superman stories or legs in Aquaman’s because, well, kids don’t really think about stuff like that. No one was going to complain that the “Superman splits from Clark Kent” story was done multiple times because you didn’t think like that.

Except for one small portion of random. The really devoted types. You know the ones. The ones who saved their comics. The ones who kept reading them even when they were in college. The ones who got into heated debates about Superman’s powers, the kind of thing that most of us grow out of when we graduate grade school.

These guys grew up to write comic books. So all of the sudden, the entire industry was shifted to this sort of fan. Comics were no longer disposable. You’d see all kinds of references to old stories. Shared Universes were taken as a serious thing instead of a cool concept to use when it suited the story. This wasn’t bad, but it was different.

Except, just like with the first “sort” of comics fan, we end up with a more intense kind. Ones who, for whatever reason, make amazingly strong attachments to these characters. Couple that with rising prices, the death of the drugstore/newsstand market, and television and video games competing for the reader’s dollar, and we end up with modern comics, where all the fans are pretty dedicated and tend to be much older than the original target demographic. This affects content, which in turn turns off the few remaining younger readers (or their parents). So we end up with a limited and rapidly shrinking pool of readers.

You know what happens with a small genepool right?

And I’m seeing it too. In the last year I’ve seen:

1) A fan borderline stalking a professional for not handling his favorite character well. The fan should know, after all, he wrote a fanfic featuring said character being raped by her cousin, becoming transgender and getting a “revenge” rape, while another character watched and pleasured herself (she gets raped in chapter two, of course) as her brother watched, harboring sexual fantasies.

2) Another fan complaining that the writer and creator of an underage female character was sexualizing her based on one panel (wherein the character is expressing disgust on online fan behavior), when said fan had an entire web gallery of commissions of said underage character in bondage scenes : The same fan then claimed that the character was discracing the memory of the writer's loved one on which she was based.

3) More recently, someone took offence at my blog’s pointing out the silliness of a certain character as they initially appeared. A little clicking revealed that this person had not only commissioned hundreds of pieces of original artwork of this character (nothing wrong with that in itself), but that he had created photomanipulations of himself as her brother and had gone so far as to imagine an entire family tree for them and post it online. He refers to this character as his “sister”.

4) People have been asking if the recent Captain Carrot insert in Teen Titans is “canon”.

I’m sorry folks, I know the first three are rather extreme examples, but the last is more common and only a step less extreme.

Comic books are escapist literature. To deny that is to deny the core of what they are. All good entertainment is escapist. It’s what entertainment does. By all means, get lost in the latest issue of whatever you collect… but for goodness sake, find yourself when you finish, close the book, and get back to Real Life.

At the end of the day, they’re just fiction. Love your comics, just don’t love your comics.

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Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #33!

This is the thirty-third 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 thirty-two.

Let's begin!

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Marvel is sitting on an unpublished Peter Bagge Hulk comic book.

STATUS: True

Fellow blogmate, MarkAndrew, asks, "Is Marvel just sitting on a completed Peter Bagge Hulk story like the dude at my comic shop said? Cause if they are... MARK SMASH PUNY HUMANS! (In the butt!)"

Well, I am afraid that you might have to smash away, Mark, as Marvel indeed is sitting on a completed copy of The Incorrigible Hulk.

Released in 2002, Bagge's The Megalomaniacal Spider-Man was a real fun treat, and fans of Bagge (and good comics period) were looking forward to the Hulk follow-up.



As for what happened?

Well, let's let Bagge himself enlighten us (courtesy of this interview with Daniel Robert Epstein)

UGO: Will the Hulk comic you did ever come out?

PETER: I don't know. My editor at Marvel keeps asking me not to whine too much about it because there is still a chance it might come out. It all has to do with corporate politics.

UGO: Did it have anything to do with the Hulk movie?

PETER: No, let's back up a bit. About three or four years ago, a few guys were put in charge of Marvel when they were in really bad shape. They figured they had nothing to lose so they asked some people who don't normally do superhero comics to do them. They went kind of nuts, which is great, but if you ask me they didn't go nuts enough. Since then, Marvel has huge a string of huge blockbusters recently, especially Spider-Man. Now the company is worth a fortune, which has next to nothing to do with the comics. But what the comics sell is peanuts compared to the movies and the merchandising. Some new board members, who are trying to protect their investment, very carefully manage their more valuable brands. When the editors asked me to do Spider-Man, they were thinking the exact opposite because people who wouldn't normally buy it would buy it. But now the new people running it don't want Peter Bagge f**king around with their characters. My vision of the Hulk doesn't match with theirs.

UGO: I interviewed Kyle Baker a few years ago after he had done this story of Superman as a baby and all these crazy things happened to the baby. They never reprinted until the Bizarro book. When I asked him about it, he said he doesn't care about the story because he doesn't own it. "They could buy the story from me and toss it in the trash."

PETER: I'm not quite that cynical.

UGO: You?

PETER: To a degree, I agree with that. If it winds up never in print I won't be devastated like I would with something that was my own. But if this was my own thing I wouldn't be in this situation. It's because we don't own the right to these characters, we don't know when or if it will ever see print. Of course, working on it as much as I did, I spent six months on it, I hate to see all that labor wasted because I thought it came out pretty good.

UGO: Is the Hulk story like your Spider-Man one?

PETER: I think it's a little bit lighter. I tried to make it more action-packed with splash panels because I thought that Spider-Man was pretty verbose. The Hulk is about Bruce Banner with his dual personality, and I commented on how everybody can do that now to a smaller degree with modern medicine like with Valium and Viagra. Everybody is trying to control or alter their personality.

Now that is what I call a damn shame!

Here are some art samples that Bill Reed found from the above interview. The first is the cover, and the second is a sample page (click on the sample page for a larger version).





COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Stan Lee created the Black Marvel

STATUS: False

Stan Lee was a very busy young man for Timely (later Atlas, still later Marvel) in the 1940s, creating a number of characters.

However, thanks to some handy detective work by the awesome Jess Nevins and the esteemable Tom Brevoort, it turns out that ONE Golden Age creation has been misattributed to Stan Lee for years, misleading even by the great comic historian, Jim Steranko!

Namely, the Black Marvel, who made his debut in Mystic Comics #5 in 1941.



And who fairly recently had a comeback in the pages of Slingers.



This character has long been credited to Lee, but according to Jess Nevins (on his site that you should all visit - he is the ginchiest),

You'll note that I said that the intro to the Black Marvel's first appearance was very Stan Lee-esque. It is. Trouble is, it may not have been written by Stan Lee. See, Jim Steranko credits the Black Marvel to Stan Lee and Bob Hughes, but Greg Theakston says that Lee's first comic book story was in Captain America Comics #3, cover-dated May 1941. The cover date for Mystic Comics #5, the first appearance of the Black Marvel, was March 1941.

Steranko is partially wrong here; Tom Brevoort said that the folks Steranko talked to while compiling his book misremembered things, and this would seem to be one of them. While it's possible that Lee wrote the text page that introduced the Black Marvel - the "Warning! Don't turn this page!" - the rest wasn't him. The Marvel's firrst appearance was a back-logged story from Funnies, Incorporated, and--

I guess I should explain about Funnies Incorporated. Back in 1939, Lloyd Jacquet, the editor of Centaur Publishing (who produced Amazing-Man Comics), decided to form his own comic company. He left Centaur and took some people with him: Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, Paul Gustavson, and Bill Thompson among them. They formed Funnies Incorporated, which was originally supposed to be a comic book publisher, but due to lack of funds became an art packaging studio, creating material for other publishers. The stories in Marvel Comics #1 were created by the Funnies, Inc., stable of talent.

The Black Marvel was one of those characters created by the Funnies, Inc., stable. I say it was "back-logged" because after Marvel Mystery Comics became a success, Martin Goodman hired an in-house staff of his own and began squeezing out the Funnies, Inc staff in favor of his own. The Black Marvel's first story, as best I can figure, is one of those stories Timely had already purchased.

I find Nevins thought process to be flawless here. So a comic mystery solved that barely anyone knew NEEDED to be solved!!

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Aquaman was not from Atlantis for his first eighteen years of existence.

STATUS: True

We have already learned that poor Aquaman had to go NINETEEN years from his comic debut to his first cover appearance, but did you know that the origin that we all know so well of Aquaman did not come about until a mere YEAR before his first cover appearance?

In Aquaman's debut, More Fun Comics #73, all we know about Aquaman is that his name is Aquaman, and he is the son of a human scientist who had experimented on him and given him with the power to breathe underwater and survive deep sea pressures. This was inspired by Atlantis, but Aquaman himself had NO ties to Atlantis!

This was the status quo for EIGHTEEN years, until 1959's Adventure Comics #250.



It was this tale that writer Robert Bernstein, alongside artist Ramona Fradon, gave us the origin we all (okay, MOST of us) know and love.

His name, Arthur Curry.

His ties to Atlantis.

His lighthouse father bedding an Atlantaen woman named Atlanna.

Within a year, all the other Atlantis tie-ins began to swarm in, like Aqualad.

Talk about good timing, though, huh?

A cool, new origin JUST in time for his Justice League of America debut (which was his cover debut, as well!)!!

Aquaman knows how to work the system (for the record, the "experimented on" version of Aquaman became the "Earth-2 Aquaman," although he was very rarely seen in comics ever again)!!

Well, that's it for this week, thanks for stopping by!

Feel free to drop off any urban legends you'd like to see featured!!

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What I bought - 11 January 2006

January - the month to cull the herd! Let it begin! Bwah-ha-ha-ha!

This week: some titles might not make the cut. An issue angers me a lot more than it probably should. One of my favorite titles stumbles, while another of my favorite titles comes to an end (with a promise of resurrection - hallelujah!). I fearlessly question the writing of a very good writer, one who could kick my ass if he felt like coming to Arizona - which he won't. It's all here, gentlemen and ladies!

DMZ #3 by Brian Wood and Riccaro Burchielli
$2.99, DC/Vertigo
 
 
"On The Ground," the initial introductory storyline, concludes with kind of a whimper, but it's appreciated because it's only three issues long. This allows the discriminating reader to decide in less time than usual whether he or she wants to continue. Well, I think I'm going to jump the ship on this sucker. It's just not doing it for me. The premise isn't terribly original, the characters aren't terribly interesting, and although I like the interaction between, say, Matt and Zee, I don't find either of them all that memorable, so what's the point? From Matt's inner monologue at the end of the book, it sounds like this may be the kind of series that wanders all over New York, and Matt learns a little bit about the DMZ at each place he goes. Meh. This issue, meanwhile, is just there. The army busts into Manhattan, kills some people, loses some people, and Matt decides to stay in New York instead of using his Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card. It's disappointing, because I had high hopes for the series and enjoyed the first issue, but its quality has dipped in the last two. It's not a horrible book by any means, but it's just not that interesting. Sorry, Brian. I still like Local!

Daughters of the Dragon #1 (of 6) by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Khari Evans
$2.99, Marvel
 
 
Okay, this issue made me angry. I might go all high-and-mighty liberal telling y'all what to think, but bear with me, please. First, the book:

Misty and Colleen are trying to find four bad guys. Said bad guys are goofballs of the Marvel U. - Humbug, Freezer Burn, Whirlwind, and 8-Ball (I love 8-Ball!). They decide to find Freezer Burn first, because they know where he might be - with his girlfriend, who's the mother of his kid. The problem is, those four goofballs stole something from a publisher who is willing to kill them to get it back - they were just stealing jewelry and didn't realize they took anything else. Shit hits the fan, and Misty and Colleen find themselves in the middle of it.

It has a lot of potential, and it is, in spots, a lot of fun. Well, not the killing part. But still. The idea that goofy villains bite off more than they can chew is always nice to see, and the fact that Misty and Colleen are going to have to pull their fat out of the fire is a nice set-up for future issues. I probably won't be around, however, because this issue made me angry.

I don't know if anyone has been keeping up with the whole thing about sexual harassment in comics and Lea Hernandez's decision to stop working in comics. I would link to the various articles, but there have been a lot of them, and When Fangirls Attack is keeping up with them. Anyway, it's fascinating. So maybe I'm just being all sensitive to these sorts of things these days, but the whole ickiness of this issue bugged me.

First, let's look at the cover. Yes, there's nothing drooling fanboys like more than sexy chicks holding weapons, but this one is kind of weird. What's up with the guy with the rubber ball strapped in his mouth? Weird. I bet that guy digs it, though. Eeeewwww.

Anyway, Misty has some breasts on her. Yes, I've harped on breasts before, but check these out:

The art in the book is a bit weird (I generally like it - it's got a Pander Bros. kind of thing going on), so that's not the most egregious thing in the book, but they're sure bizarre-looking. You can't look away!

Then Colleen shows up:

Now, this isn't an "all-ages" book (it could be, with a few tiny minor changes), but this is a bit excessive, isn't it? The jumpsuit is fine, but the two ladies are out fighting the Rhino (we'll get to him), and isn't Colleen just a teeny bit frightened she might just, you know, pop out? And way to make sure we're all looking at her nipples, too. That's classy.

Colleen is standing on the Rhino's hand (his last name is O'Hirn?) because she just drove Misty's Mustang onto his head (which is pretty funny - a good deal of this book is fun). The Rhino throws the car off of him and attacks!
 
 
Nothing wrong with that, right? Yeah, it's a fine page, nothing offensive here. Except:
 
 Rhino is wearing shorts! Dear God, you have to be joking. He's already wearing a suit, but because it covers him completely, people might think it's his skin, so quick - put some shorts on him! So, let's review: it's okay for Misty and Colleen to be, quite literally, busting out of their clothes, but the Rhino needs shorts. Somebody shoot me.

Then we are introduced to our villainess, Ricadonna (I don't know if it's her first name or her last, or if it's her only name). She's having a party. Now, she runs a publishing empire - she's not a high-class whore. Keep that in mind as you check out her party clothes, in contrast to the people around her:

What. The. Fuck. Seriously. Again, I don't mean to be a prude, but what the fuckin' fuck?!?!?!? And because that's not enough, on the next page she disrobes:

That's pretty unnecessary, if you ask me. I believe the word is "gratuitous."

So Misty and Colleen decide to track down Freezer Burn. Under the category "Too Much Information," Palmiotti and Gray decide to reveal something about Misty we didn't need to know:

I have to call bullshit here. Yes, it's a comic, so realism shouldn't be that big of an issue, but are you telling me she runs around in that outfit and has nothing protecting her delicate parts? Give me a break. This panel is just more puerile crap.

The ladies go to Freezer Burn's girlfriend's apartment. Freezer Burn is apparently a stand-in for comic book nerds everywhere. Here he is, getting beaten up by the bad guy Ricadonna hired:

Now, I'm sure Freezer Burn is a nice guy and all, but there's no way he's getting a girl like this:

Also, not to delve into realism again and not to be too icky and scare all you happy bachelors out there, but that girl recently gave birth. Not to get too specific, but after a woman gives birth, she doesn't look like that. There are consequences to pushing a kid out of a small opening. Anyway, that was just a minor thing, but it bugged me.

Finally, the issue ends with some bad guy (I assume I should know who he is, but I guess I'm not as much of a Marvel Drone as I should be) threatening Freezer Burn's baby. This was the final straw as far as I'm concerned, but not for the reasons you think. Threaten kids all you want, Palmiotti and Gray! I'm fine with it! However, you and I both know there is NO WAY that kid dies, so it's an empty, meant-to-tug-at-our-emotions-cheaply threat. In entertainment, kids and pets simply do not die. (The most obnoxious example of this is Independence Day, when God forbid that damned dog dies in the tunnel but nobody has a problem with killing thousands of humans, including poor Mary McDonnell and Harvey Fierstein.) So there is not threat here, which renders the cliffhanger ending worthless. Boo!

Am I thinking too much? Should I just let it go? Is this just mindless entertainment and I shouldn't make such a big deal about it? I don't know. I don't know if we should hold creators responsible for creating this culture where women are objectified even when they're supposed to be in charge. There's no reason why these things I've pointed out have to be in this book. It would still be enjoyable without them - in fact, in my case, the book would be a lot more enjoyable without them. I don't know. I don't think I'll buy the rest of the mini-series, because all this stuff bothered me enough so that I wasn't able to enjoy the story. Am I crazy?

Desolation Jones #5 by Warren Ellis and J.H. Williams III
$2.99, DC/Wildstorm
 
 
This might be sacrilege to some, but I'm thinking of dropping DJ as well. Again, it's a decent enough book, but I'm not sure I'm enjoying it as much as I should. The culling continues!

In this issue, Ellis basically recaps what has happened in the previous four issues. This in itself is a bit of a problem, because it means that Ellis realizes that having Williams draw this so lovingly (and it's gorgeous) while having a meandering plot like it does means that we're going to lose the thread. I assume he's going to wrap things up next issue, and when that happens, I will sit down and read the first six issues in one sitting, and see where we go from there. It just seems like this is a whole shitload of sound and fury. I'm also tired of Ellis pulling his Mary Jane thing (that's what it's called, right, Brian?). When Jones tells Robina about killing a girl with his bare hands, we're supposed to get all choked up about it, but we've read it before in Ellis books, and like threatening a kid, it no longer has an effect on us. Ellis, it seems, thinks his protagonists are all noble souls who have done reprehensible things but are now trying to make up for them because they still have a conscience. Michael Jones = Richard Fell = Spider Jerusalem = Jenny Sparks. Sure, they all have differences, but they're essentially the same. The reason I actually like Richard Fell is because he doesn't seem to have the "balls" of a typical Ellis character - and by that I mean he's not as self-assured as they project, even though they're all wounded deeply anyway.

I'm probably not making any sense. This book seems to want to be about something different than it should be, and provide Ellis with yet another place where he can vicariously live through his heroes (not that he wants to be Jones, necessarily, but I think he wants to live in a world like the one he writes). Sigh. We'll see after next issue.

Fables #45 by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and Andrew Pepoy
$2.75, DC/Vertigo
 
 
One of my favorite titles hits a bit of a snag this issue, which I think must wrap up the d'jinn storyline. Why do I only think this? Because there's really no clear signal from the creators. I admire Willingham's ability to keep a lot of balls in the air and make each thread a part of a bigger tapestry, but it would be nice to know that next issue we're going to be focusing on something completely different. This issue kind of meanders along, as Yusuf suffers horribly at the hands of the d'jinn, Sinbad learns his fate for bringing the d'jinn to Fabletown in the first place, Boy Blue discovers what his tasks will be at the Farm, Bagheera gets all the good lines, King Cole goes to Iraq and is introduced to the real Baghdad, and then the issue ends on a weird note. I'm not kidding - this is the last page:

It's like Willingham was in the middle of writing something twice as long and said, "Whoops! Here I am on Page 22. The end." Strange. And we never do find out if the d'jinn went back in the bottle, which is why I can only assume the "Arabian Nights (And Days)" story is over.

As usual when there's a weaker issue of Fables, I'm willing to forgive it because I know when I sit down and read the whole damned series it will flow fine, but this was a weird way to finish. Willingham is turning into Bendis - setting up stories well but finishing them poorly. Don't be Bendis, Willingham!

She-Hulk #4 by Dan Slott and Scott Kolins
$2.99, Marvel
 
 
She-Hulk #4 is a nice, self-contained issue that manages to explain what happened to Jennifer after her last title got cancelled and tie into the events of the larger Marvel U., as well as present a nice little murder mystery in the bargain. Not bad. Not bad at all.

It's a flashback issue, as Jennifer thinks about going back to the town in Idaho that she destroyed last year while rampaging around. I'm not familiar with the story, but apparently it's pretty important. It doesn't matter, however, because Slott does a fine job summarizing the events. Jennifer feels guilty about destroying the town, so she hooks up with "Green Cross," a charity organization devoted totally to help out sites destroyed by the Hulk. This is an idea so brilliant it staggered me, but Slott makes it sound like it's just sitting around and anyone could have picked it up (the best ideas always are, I guess). While digging through the wreckage, a body is discovered. This really makes Jen crazy, because she didn't think anyone died. She does say something ridiculous, though - that no one has ever died in a Hulk attack. I'll forgive Slott for that, I guess (and for his use of the word "apagogic," which I had to look up). She investigates the death, and learns that all is not what it seems. We also learn some other secrets, especially about the founder of the Green Cross, which, if it ties into continuity in any way (I don't know - can anyone help me?), is a very cool thing. If it doesn't, well, it's still a nice idea by Slott.

The interesting thing about this book is that it's not funny in the least. More than that, it's not really "fun," like this book usually is. That's not a big deal, because I don't mind seriousness, especially if it's done well. Jen is unable to turn into She-Hulk, and Doc Samson tells her she will when the time is right. She finds the right time, but it's not when you might expect. There's also, as I mentioned, a murder mystery, and shockingly enough, there are enough clues for us to solve it on our own. I always appreciate that.

A very nice book. If you don't read She-Hulk, you can pick it up and give it a try without worrying about stepping into the middle of a story. Kolins' art is fine - I'm not his biggest fan, but it's pretty good. I still hope Bobillo is back next issue, when Jen takes off with her mystery Avenger (someone else I don't know, but probably should).

Small Gods #12 by Jason Rand and Juan E. Ferreyra
$2.99, Image
 
 
Small Gods comes to an end as an ongoing with the conclusion of the "Nightingale" story, which ends pretty much as it has to, but that doesn't mean it doesn't pack an emotional punch. Michael and Crissy face off at the end, and Crissy seems to have the upper hand, and then Michael has it, but in the end, we're left wondering who really did. It's just another nice issue from this team in a string of excellent ones.

For those who didn't buy this, well, shame on you, but wait! in March there will be a two-issue mini-series, in color, to tempt you. If you were daunted by the black-and-white, or you missed the early issues of this title and didn't want to jump in halfway, check it out. Only two issues! What will it hurt?

Ultimate Extinction #1 (of 6) by Ellis and Brandon Peterson
$2.99, Marvel
 
 
Whoo-hoo! It's the third mini-series about Ultimate Galactus! Maybe Peterson will be able to draw the whole thing! Wouldn't that be a hoot?

Okay. My new policy for mini-series, since I read far too many of them. I will read the first issue. I will decide if I like it enough to get the rest. I will then buy the issues but not read them. When it's done, I'll read them all. Yes, some minis will plummet in quality, but that's the chance I take. I will let you know if the first issue is any good, but after that, you're on your own. Except when I tell you if the inevitable trade paperback is worth it.

So. Ultimate Extinction. The final battle against Gah Lak Tus. The first half of this book is exposition, with Reed Richards explaining how the big creature works. Nasty. Ellis is always good at explaining how something will kill everything else. But, of course, because this is an Ellis book, we have ... superfluous panels!

Do we really need these? This is not a main book - it's a mini-series with guest stars. Give us non-stop action, Warren! Okay, it's a small nit, but given this "event's" track record (entire issues in which nothing happens) , I thought I'd point it out.

The second half of the book stars Ultimate Misty Knight (she's everywhere!) tracking down a religious cult leader who seduces rich women and steals their money. I suppose the leader turns out to be Ultimate Archangel, but who the hell knows. Anyway, I'm sure it will be connected to Gah Lak Tus in some bizarre, Ellisian way. That's cool.

I'm a fan of Peterson, so I like the art. The shading is nice, too - it looks rougher than his usual stuff, especially when Misty is doing her thing, which matches the tone of that part of the book.

I'm in it for the long haul. I have been for a while. Call me a sucker. Go ahead!

Ultimate X-Men #66 by Robert Kirkman, Tom Raney, and Scott Hanna
$2.50, Marvel
 
 
The Kirkman era begins on Ultimate X-Men with "Date Night," which is a lot more ambitious than it sounds. Kirkman dives right in, juggling several vignettes as the X-Men go their separate ways for a night, but you can sense he has some ideas about where he's going, which is nice.

The main story, I hope, will deal with Jean and her Phoenix power. As you can see by the cover, this might not be too big a leap, but it's nice to see that at least some X-Men (Wolverine, in particular) are aware that Jean is manipulating them, and it appears they might be ready to confront her. We'll see. Meanwhile, Charles has a date with ... well, I won't ruin it. Someday I'll post about the "failure" of the Ultimate line, and Xavier's date is symptomatic of that. Meanwhile (I told you there were a lot of vignettes!), Kurt and Peter visit Alison in the hospital, and Kurt doesn't like hanging out with the homo. I always love when, in entertainment, oppressed minorities have their own prejudices. It's interesting, and I hope Kirkman does something with it. Meanwhile, Bobby and Rogue ... get it on. Somehow. Something to do with Rogue having absorbed Gambit's powers. Again, I don't mean to be prudish, but how old are they? Rogue, I guess, is old enough to get into a casino (wasn't she in one in the Annual?), but maybe she just looks older. Bobby is still a teenager. Yes, teenagers have raging hormones, and if Rogue threw herself at me when I was a teenager I certainly wouldn't say no, but I'm not a teenager any more, and if they're going to jump into bed I hope Kirkman at least acknowledges that it might not be the best idea. I'm still uncomfortable with Jean screwing Logan during Millar's run, so this development bugged me. I do like that Bobby is sort of screwing Gambit as well. Run with that, Kirkman!

Not a bad beginning after Vaughan's excellent run. I was a bit trepid about the new creative team (well, not Raney, because I like him, even though his art seems rushed here a bit), but it's a good start. We'll see how Kirkman continues next time.

Man. That's a lot of blather about comics. Sorry for the ranting. Feel free to tell me how stupid or overly sensitive or politically correct I am!

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100 Days of Justice League Day 4: JL #4

Justice League #4
Story: “Winning Hand”
Plot: Keith Giffen
Script: J.M. DeMatteis
Pencils: Kevin Maguire
Inks: Al Gordon
Letters: Bob Lappan
Colors: Gene D’Angelo
Editor: Andy Helfer



The plot for this issue is pretty simple and doesn’t require a lot of recapping. The League want to know what’s up with Maxwell Lord and why he thinks he can recruit new members for them. Booster Gold, feeling that the League isn’t interested in letting him join, leaves in a hissy at the exact same time the Royal Flush Gang attacks League HQ. The ensuing fight ends up being his initiation to League membership. That’s pretty much it. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Like a good joke, though, it’s all in the delivery.

Right off the bat (heh!), we have the tension between Batman and Guy Gardner. I think we all like the tension. It’s fun and funny. But it occurred to me – why in tarnation would the League tolerate Guy’s assholery. He’s a loose cannon. None of them like him. He admitted himself at the end of Legends #6 that he’s not a “joiner.” And yet here he is, annoying everyone and serving as the butt of their jokes. The League probably shouldn’t have even let him in the door. It’s not like they’re all marooned on an island together. They can make him leave and make it difficult or impossible for him to return. Mister Miracle even says he can adjust their security system “to keep Green Lantern out. Permanently.” So, why is he a League member? I said it in the third sentence of this paragraph. Because it’s fun and funny. Sometimes, trying to analyze the motives in a comic of this nature is a little like trying to analyze the motives in an episode of Three’s Company. The motives are often secondary to the madcap hilarity. Don’t ask questions. Just enjoy the ride.

In addition to being our introduction to Booster Gold in this comic, it’s also our introduction to Maxwell Lord. We’ve seen Max in the previous issues, but he’s been the guy behind the curtain. We don’t really know much about him. In one sense, Booster and Max are opposites. While Booster is a little insecure in his new role as superhero, Max seems very confident in his own vision for the League. The League is uncomfortable with the notion that he has a vision for the League and perhaps rightfully so. He’s an “ends justify the means” type guy. For idealists like your typical superhero, this can seem like more of a compromise than many are willing to make. But Max seems to know where his own strengths lie and he plays to them. Booster on the other hand hasn’t had much of an opportunity yet to prove to himself what he’s capable of. So the Royal Flush Gang’s infiltration of the grounds outside League HQ couldn’t come at a more opportune time.

At first this struck me as a little convenient. Right when Booster’s leaving, feeling insecure about himself, a group of villains needing a good ass-kicking shows up? I’m getting to the point where if something seems convenient, I just assume is Max’s doing. We don’t find out if it is in this issue. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. It’s best just to ignore it and enjoy the fight. Remember – fun and funny. Keep saying it as we read through these. It’ll be our little mantra.

So, Booster really shines. Single-handedly, he takes out the King, Queen, Jack, and Ten while the League looks on like those gawkers at the Battle of Bull Run. When Ace rears his bald head, though, they all join the fray and take him out. We see a first here – Booster and Beetle working together. The rest of the team wears him down, but it’s these two guys, who we know are destined to become bosom buddies, close friends, and life-long pals, who deliver the “death blow.” In unison, they shout, “We did it!” and even Batman is impressed.

So, they let Booster join. But even as they’re welcoming him, Max introduces himself to the press as the League’s official press liaison. Batman is not happy about this.

Next issue: Justice League Annual #1 – “Germ Warfare”

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Nerd Credit Victory - Swordsman's Identity!

A year ago tomorrow, I posted here, for posterity, my guess for who the mysterious Swordsman was in New Thunderbolts.

Today, in New Thunderbolts #17, my guess was shown to be correct! That's cool, because I never guess these things so early (except when it is way obvious, but in those cases, everyone else knows, too)!!

Free Good Comics Are Good - Fear Agent #1 and Fell #1

Check it out! Newsarama has the full first issues of Fear Agent AND Fell up for you to read - for FREE!! How cool is that? Too late, I will answer! The answer is "It is very cool!" Fear Agent #1 is here and Fell #1 is here.

Current Comic Conversation for 1/11

The shtick here is that I and a friend (or friends) look at the shipping list for this comic week and riff, using the books that are coming out for inspiration for the discussion. This week, I am talking with my pal Justin Davis as well as my pal Fabian (F=Fabian, J=Justin and B=Brian). There very likely WILL be some spoilers mentioned in the discussion, so be forewarned!

Let's begin!

STAR WARS REPUBLIC #81 $2.99

F: Because Lucas can't screw up the Star Wars universe on his own, we have a new issue. It can't be worse than episode I because at least you won't hear Jar Jar talking through a comic

B: I do not think that Jar Jar has ever appeared in a comic

B: Thank heaven for small favors!

J: I think he has. I've only purchased one Star Wars comic. The indy creator jam Star Wars did a while back.

B: That doesn't count!

J: I won't have a whole lot to say then. Not a Star Wars guy. I'm more a Star Trek nerd.

B: Star Trek has had better comics.

B: Peter David even seems to rein in his style when he writes Star Trek comics.

J: Everyone always says some of the best Star Trek books are by David.

B: I think he had so much respect for Star Trek.

J: We can discuss why people refer to Peter David as PAD.

F: Because it's easier

B: and because he calls himself that, too!

F: Like John Romita jr is JRJr

J: I guess the A stands for PAD's middle name. We can make up goofy names for it. Peter Apollo David.

F: Peter Alfredo David

J: Peter Antagonistic David.

B: Or hahaha...imagine...hahah...Peter ALLEN David! Hahahahah.

CAPTAIN ATOM ARMAGEDDON #4

B: Captain Atom Armageddon is a decent book, but it is weird.

B: There are a lot of jokes in it that you would only get if you read a lot of 90s Wildstorm comics.

J: I like it too. Surprisingly good read. I didn't read a lot of Wildstorm books in the 90s though.

AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS VOL 2 #4 $2.99

J: Sadly, I haven't picked up any issues of Amazing Joy Buzzards.

B: You should.

B: It is a really fun book.

B: Last issue had fill-in artist, but even the fill-in artists were all top notch.

J: I've heard.

B: And one of the dudes is half-YETI!

MARVEL KNIGHTS 4 VOL 4 IMPOSSIBLE THINGS HAPPEN EVERY DAY TP $14.99

F: What's with the title of the Marvel Knights book? "Impossible Things Happen Everyday"? Well yes if you're in the Marvel Universe. Unless they mean it in our world in which case people will buy the book and won't say Joe Q is the latest scapegoat of comic book suckage

J: I think that's the name of the story arc in 4, the Marvel Knights FF book.

B: Yeah, that is just the name of the trade.

F: Still an odd title

B: Marvel Knights 4, by the by, is a great book.

B: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is one of the best mainstream superhero comic writers out there.

J: It's always looked interesting. The art is said to be impressive too.

B: It WAS awesome when it was drawn by Steve McNiven

F: What does he write?

F: The Roberto guy?

B: He writes Marvel Knights 4.

B: And he will soon write Marvel Knigsts Spider-Man

J: Fabian's a little slow. You have to forgive him.

B: He is one of those guys that got a comic gig because he did something good outside of comics.

B: He was a playwright

B: Who wrote a play about the Archie characters grown up, with the topic "What if Archie came out as gay and moved to New York?"

J: What was the big hoopla over Sacasa taking over FF, again? I've forgotten.

B: Jemas liked the play a lot, so he fired Mark Waid and made Sacasa the new writer

B: People freaked out, so he instead kept Waid and gave Sacasa his own title.

F: Is he a good outsider writing comics like early Geoff Johns was or is he a Ron ZImmerman writing Jay Leno beating up the hand?

F: THat's an odd thing to do

J: Oh, yeah, Waid got fired.

B: His early stuff, I think, suffered in translation.

B: But he's adapted to the form, and is now one of the best writers out there, I think.

B: He also has a new play coming out this year - about a gay comic writer.

F: "THat man writes a great gay read. Brokeback Mountain with Archie! Waid bitch, you're off your title. Don't be laughing PAD, I've been reading some pretty good THundercat furry love stories and he could take your title"

J: So, you could skip the first 4 trade?

B: Yes, you could skip the first one.

B: The PROBLEM, and it's a big one, is that McNiven's art was amazing.

B: On the first trade

J: Yes, ... that's a problem....

B: And he left after that.

J: Oh. Who took over?

B: When the writing got good.

B: Jim Muniz for awhile, then a bunch of fill-in artists.

B: And, well, Jim Muniz is no Steve McNiven.

J: "I knew Steve Mcniven. Sir, you are no Steve McNiven."

F: Maybe you cant have too many good things on one Marvel title unless it ships 6 months late

J: I think that's a general rule.

B: Fabian even knows McNiven's art!

B: He drew New Avengers #7, the last issue you read, Fabe!

F: Is he the guy where he drew a New Avengers cover with Spider-Woman on the front and you had me/us blast it?

F: We found like 10 things wrong with it

B: No.

B: That was Frank Cho.

B: Who did a very good interior job on the latest New Avengers.

J: Is that the one where she had big breasts or the one where she had big breasts?

B: Hehe.

B: The interior work was much better.

B: Surprisingly very good.

F: All comic book females have big breasts

J: Not true. Supergirl never has.

F: She's an alien

F: She doesn't count and she's still a kid

J: Well, it's doubtful she'll ever be Superwoman anytime soon.

B: Too much coffee has stunted her growth

B: He even threw in a self-mocking joke.

B: Where he shows Spider-Woman having surgery to get her new powers.

B: And he shows them putting breast implants in her, too.

J: Wait..... Spider-Woman has breast implants.

J: ...I"m not sure what to think of that.

B: It was just a joke.

B: By Cho.

J: Hilarious? Smart? Disappointing?

B: To make fun of how big he draws her breasts.

J: ........ So, she doesn't have breast implants?

B: He drew her getting breast implants.

B: One little panel.

F: Smart. If a bullet hits her i the chest it's better if it takes out a chunk of silicone rather than flesh

B: You can barely notice it.

F: Unlike her breasts?

J: But, oddly enough, you did.

B: Just like how Batman had the bulletproof yellow signal!

B: Frank Cho pointed it out somewhere.

J: Riiiight.

B: He did!

J: Bulletproof boobs.

F: Those scare me

EXILES #75 $2.99

J: I liked the first trade enough and this World Tour thing sounds entertaining.

B: I dunno.

B: Seems sorta nerd pandering to me.

F: Exiles always held a special place for me.

B: Why's that?

F: You calling me a nerd?

J: Then again, I like What if/Elseworld type stories and that's basically what Exiles is except with continuing characters.

F: Exiles was what brought me into X-men

J: Is it wrong to pander?

F: Gave me a differnet spin on characters I hated

F: To nerds? Yes

J: You're a nerd. I don't care how much crap you put in you hair.

B: I do think it is wrong to pander.

B: That being said, I think I am being too harsh on Bedard.

B: I think he honestly IS interested in these alternate universes.

B: So I take it back.

J: Ok, pandering isn't good. How about another word? Cater?

B: I am sorry, Tony Bedard, you are not nerd pandering!

F: That's not good either

F: Appeals is good enough

B: Yeah, if someone writes something that appeals to nerds, that's fine.

B: It's when you start writing stories specifically FOR the nerds.

B: That you have a problem.

F: Otherwise it makes it sound all fancy and we know nothing is fancy nerd wise unless it's in a minth condition holofoil limited edition variant signed by Moore, Morrison, or Claremont

J: Isn't that just another way of saying the writer caters to a specific audience?

B: Sure.

B: Which is lame, no?

B: You shouldn't be catering. You should just be writing what you think is a good story.

F: What if he is a nerd and he thinks that's an awesome story?

B: Haha.

B: Touche.

B: Fair point.

B: I think that describes Gruenwald.

B: I do not think Mark Gruenwald wrote his continuity-dripped stories to appeal to continuity nerds. I think he just was really into it.

F: Would that be self nerd cater-master-pandering?

J: I like time travel stories. If I pick up a book just because a book involves time travel stories in it, is it catering to me because it's written for an audience that likes time travel stories?

B: Who writes a time-travel story for time-travel fans?

B: Is that a thing?

F: Yes

J: I think you can cater and write awesome stories. Pandering is a different topic. Pandering is when you throw in certain emotional and plot twists simply to make a key demographic squirm.

B: "I hate this shit, but those time-travel freaks eat this shit up, so I will write one."

F: If there's a pervert for every type of porn out there, there's a geek for every type of sci-fi out there

B: I guess I'm still looking at cater and pander as basically the same thing.

J: No one does that though. I doubt seriously someone is going to think, "I hate this stuff, but the fans like it."

B: I agree.

F: All those Image swimsuit artists probably did

B: Haha.

B: I dunno.

B: I think those dudes DID like drawing those things.

J: They do. I've seen some of their personal portfolios. Women in skimpy to no clothing all over them.

B: Yeah, they really do like drawing the female form.

F: Yeah but what about the poor saps who got stuck doing the "Grunge" pin-up in the Gen13 swimsuit special?

J: Grunge was hot.

J: .....

J: oops

B: Don't worry, we can edit that out so you won't look like a fifi boy.

B: Man...I loved that Ali G moment.

B: Where he tells James Lipton that he will redo the point where Lipton admits to crying at movies.

J: People who write time travel stories write them for time travel fans, including themselves. Same for other types of stories. Usually.

F: What if they have to use time travel?

J: Have to?

J: "Yes, as your editor, I'm demanding you show time travel used in this next book/issue."

ARES #1 (OF 5) $2.99

B: Marvel is doing a comic about Ares.

F: Is this because God of War was a popular video game?

J: They did a comic about Thor, so why not Ares?

F: Cause Marvel did a texas hold'em comic.

B: I think it's actually a Thor sequel.

B: Written by Mike Oeming.

F: So the greek Gods take over now?

B: I saw a quote that I did not like by Oeming.

B: Something like "My Thor run will always be remembered."

B: And I just thought, "Duh. You killed him."

B: "Of COURSE they'll remember your run. That's not a sign of talent."

J: I think it's because Oeming wanted to do a comic about Ares.

F: Well you could all be wrong and some editor told Oeming, "No, you write about Ares because the fans want it. And put in some time travel in that. It's gonna be hot!"

B: "He better be in a bathing suit!"

B: "This will outsell X-Men!"

J: "Don't forget to have him hop to some alternate universe!"

F: "Not enough nerd pandering! I want more nerd pandering!"

J: Ok, actually, Ares looks interesting. Never read the solicit until now.

F: what's it about?

B: It seems odd to me that Marvel seems to approve pretty much any pitch right now, so long as it involves a property that could CONCEIVABLY be made into a movie.

J: http://www.marvel.com/catalog/showcomic.htm?id=3423)http://www.marvel.com/catalog/showcomic.htm?id=3423

J: Ares info there.

J: That's pretty funny since I was just thinking that I could see Ares as a movie at some point.

J: Probably starring Vin Diesel.

B: Haha.

B: Or The Rock.

J: No, not the Rock. Sorry, even jokingly, no.

F: Keanu?

J: No, Vin Diesel. Look at Ares in the picture. That's Diesel.

F: You sound more and more like a Fifi boy

B: That's gotta be the only reason

DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON #1 (OF 6) $2.99

B: was approved.

B: Because they think it would make a decent TV show.

J: The guy doing the art on Ares is the same guy who did (will do?) the art on Doctor Spectrum. Never read any of the new Squadron Supreme stuff, Supreme Power.

F: Supreme Power was amazing even if it was "realistic JLA" take 4

J: I have a friend that asks me why or complains about books using JLA archtypes every time he sees something about Supreme Power

J: Or Invincible.

B: What's the problem?

B: He doesn't like the idea of using archetypes?

J: I think he considers it lazy.

J: Maybe it's that there's been an abundance of those stories coming out in the last few years.

J: "LIke the JLA, but in a way you've never seen them before."

B: That IS true.

J: I just point them out as archetypes like Mr. Hyde and Dracula.

B: Sorta like something Alex Robinson was talking about a month or so ago.

B: Where he was discussing his plan to do a "different" take on traditional superheroes.

B: And people mentioned a bunch of other comics with that same idea.

B: That had come out recently.

B: I guess there IS something to be said for zeitgeist.

J: Exactly.

J: And seriously, how often do you get to casually use the word zeitgeist in conversation?

B: I try using it at least once a day.

J: I learn my big words from porn spam emails now.

B: I do not get any porn spam e-mails.

B: I feel deprived.

B: All my spam e-mails are all business-y stuff.

J: This word showd up in one the other day: pulchritudinous

B: Haw.

J: Characterized by or having great physical beauty and appeal.

B: Right.

B: I've heard of pulchritude.

B: Never heard of pulchritduinous, though.

B: Good stuff.

J: I rarely get porn spam emails in my inbox, but the ones I do are tricky ones that use words like the one above or literary quotes to get through filters.

B: Comic books should use spam to advertise.

J: "Draw more pulchritudinous shots of Spider-Woman. The fans demand it."

J: They should package comics with potted meat.

B: No way.

J: That's probably not what you meant, is it?

B: Tinned meat.

J: Tanned meat?

B: Is Spam trademarked still?

B: If Spam is NOT trademarked, then superhero should not, either.

SHE-HULK 2 #4 $2.99

B: Have you been enjoying She-Hulk?

J: Yes, I like She-Hulk.

B: This latest issue was guest-written by Geoff Johns.

J: I think it's #4 that has the appearance of the Green Cross.

J: Oh. Well, I missed the third issue so I have to pick up that sometime.

J: Ha, it has time travel in it!

B: Or rather, it is writtn by Dan Slott.

B: In the style of Geoff Johns.

B: As it explains some continuity minutae that no one should care about.

J: Continuity minutae or ..... character building moment?

B: I don't know about you, but I was prepared to douse myslef with gaosline and light my self aflame if they did not explain what happened to She-Hulk after "The Search for She-Hulk" story in Avengers.

J: Maybe he's not pandering or catering. Maybe he just thinks he's writing a good story. Maybe "Let's find out what happened to her during this moment in her life" isn't the same thing as "Let's find out what happened to her during this moment in her life so we can fill in a missing gap because it's necessary that we know what happened next".

J: I'm snarky.

B: Bah.

B: That was barely snark.

B: Still, that is as good a time as any to draw to a close.

B: Thank you, sir.

Okay, that's it for us, folks!

Feel free to stop by tomorrow, to see if we know what we're talking about, at all.

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100 Days of Justice League Day 3: JL #3

Justice League #3
Story: “Meltdown”
Plot & Breakdowns: Keith Giffen
Script: J.M. DeMatteis
Pencils: Kevin Maguire
Inks: Al Gordon
Letters: Bob Lappan
Colors: Gene D’Angelo
Editor: Andy Helfer
Special Thanks to: Terry Austin


Remember when the Russians were our enemies instead of our trading partners? It’s interesting to read a comic like this from the 80s because it really takes you back to those pleasant days when we all thought we were going to vaporized in fireball of radioactive death unleashed upon us by godless communists. Good times.

Of course, I mention this because Colonel Rumaan Harjavti, leader of the Middle Eastern nation of Bialya, thinking he’s pretty slick, “suggests” that the three heroes from another world, Wandjina, the Silver Sorceress, and Blue Jay, intent on eliminating nuclear weapons from our world, continue their work in the Soviet Union. They’re totally on to him, though, and go there because it more than meets the criteria for their presence on our happy planet, not because he wants them to.

The Justice League have been buzzing around just outside of Bialyan airspace when they spot the three nukebusters heading for Russia. Afraid that the Soviets will interpret the three heroes’ attack as American aggression, they set out in pursuit. Unfortunately, so do the Rocket Red Brigade.

The Soviet Union, not really having many (any?) superheroes have created the Rocket Red Brigade, a group of soldiers who wear powerful armored suits capable of rocket-powered flight. Luckily for the League, Maxwell Lord pulls some strings. He convinces General Secretary Gorbachev to order the Brigade to stand down, but not before a lively little skirmish.

The Brigade have also confronted the three nukebusters at the nuclear facility they’re about to destroy. Somehow, the plant begins to meltdown just as the League arrive. Before anyone can act, Wandjina summons some monster winds, which blows everybody around and he busts into the plant. Everyone thinks he is lost, that he has sacrificed himself to save them, but he emerges shortly to announce that disaster has been averted. Then he collapses.

Of course, the Soviets take him into custody. The Silver Sorceress and Blue Jay have no choice but to let them if his life is to be saved. The League is reluctant to allow this, thinking the Soviets could use the information they acquire by studying Wandjina to create their own superhero. However, they clearly have no grounds to object and return home to Justice League HQ to be greeted by Maxwell Lord and their newest member…

Booster Gold!

This issue, as one might expect, is the most solid yet. The plot flows logically based on the character development thus far. The writers have established some characters’ motives and others’ personalities and, in remaining consistent with this character development, what follows makes perfect sense. Col. Harjavti, for instance, is oily and manipulative, so it’s perfectly reasonable to expect that he would try to sweet talk Wandjina, the Silver Sorceress, and Blue Jay into doing his bidding. These three, in turn, have been established as experienced and worldly-wise, so it’s reasonable to expect that they would see through his guile and do what they want. It’s been established that what they want is to destroy Earth’s nukes so, again, it makes perfect sense that they’d head for a country absolutely bristling with nuclear warheads.

The Justice League is no different in this consistency. The character’s personalities, as written by Giffen and DeMatteis, are gelling. For instance, by now, we pretty much know that Batman is gruff and bossy. Blue Beetle is a wiseacre. Captain Marvel is a boy in a man’s body (much to t.’s chagrin – see the comments for issue two). When things happen, it’s because of the writers’ faithfulness to these basic characterizations. When the Rocket Red Brigade attack, who’s the first one out the door? Guy Gardner, of course. He’s been characterized as impulsive and a little bloodthirsty. For him not to be the first to engage in battle would be inconsistent with his established personality. The battle is Giffen and DeMatteis putting the characters through their moves.

There are some characters that could use more development perhaps, but it’s early in the run. As time goes by, characters will either be developed or dropped.

Something I admire is when a writer can give us insight into the personality of an incidental character. Space is limited in a standard comic, so it requires economy. The writers do this twice in this issue. One is with Gorbachev himself. Faced with his nation being invaded by superheroes, he and a military advisor debate how to handle the situation. When the advisor leaves, Gorbachev simply says, “Hell of a job.” Of course, he’s right, but the muttered understatement says something about one of the most powerful men in the world.

Another occasion of this is with Dmitri of the Rocket Red Brigade. In just a few panels, Dmitri is established as a patriot, but one who, perhaps, has not entirely embraced the communist ideology. As he waxes patriotic, he says, “God help whoever gets in our way.”

“Dmitri?” says Alexei. “We’re not supposed to believe in God.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Maguire’s art seems cleaner this issue. I’m not really familiar with his work prior to JL, so I don’t know if he was very experienced with these characters but, after having gotten a couple of issues under his belt, he seems to be in the groove, at least with this issue. Most of us know that he excels particularly with faces and facial expressions and he has some nice ones. Highlights are Batman scowling, Blue Beetle biting his bottom lip, the Black Canary getting riled up and the results of this on the face of the Rocket Red Brigadesman whose faceplate she shatters. Another nice touch – being able to see their breath. It’s the dead of Russian winter after all.

Next issue: Justice League #4 – “Gold in the Hills!”

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This Artist Is Good - Terry LaBan

I understand that a good deal of these pieces may be a bit, how you say, self-evident, but there is always a sizable group of people who do NOT know of a certain artist, so I think it's always worth pointing out the great artists we have in our midsts.

Like Terry LaBan.

LaBan has not done a great deal of comic book work, to be honest, as he is mainly an editorial cartoonist (as well as one half of the creative team on the syndicated comic strip, Edge City...his wife is the other half, natch). However, during the period from 1989 to 1998, LaBan did Unsupervised Existence and Cud for Fantagraphics and then Cud Comics for Dark Horse Comics.

All in all, we're only talking perhaps 20 comic books in total, but those twenty comics left quite a lasting impression upon me (and from what I have read, on a number of other people).

The main impression you get from LaBan's work is FUN.



He is just a flatout FUN artist.

What I like about him the best is how he writes these normal, "slice of life" stories without any hint of making the art itself "true to life." The stories are slices of life, the art works to evoke moods and feelings, not a snapshot of the events.



See? It is definitely like a cartoon, with the distorted figures, but a true-to-life cartoon (which makes absolutely no sense, I know...hehe).

I wish I had more of his sequential art to show you, to really get across what I'm talking about, but sadly, I do not have any of it. Luckily, these covers to Dark Horse's Cud Comics also get across a lot of the same effect.



Look at the attention to detail in the background, while still making sure that the detail is as wacky as everything else in the image. It is like a really weird Archie comic.

Speaking of wacky, like I said before, LaBan is willing to go there...



So yeah, Terry LaBan, a good artist (and what's even MORE impressive is that he's probably a better writer than he is an artist!!!). Here's some links to purchase his stuff.

Love's Not a Three Dollar Fare: More Stories from Unsupervised Existence

International Bob

Eno and Plum

Well worth checking out!

But in case you don't want to listen to me, how about award-winning comic creator Alex Robinson?

Brian Cronin: If someone has finished collecting all of your work, are there any other "lesser known" comics out there that you would recommend, if people liked your style?
Alex Robinson: Terry Laban was a big influence on "Box Office Poison."
Alex Robinson: I think Fantagraphics might have some collections of his in print. One's called "Love's Not A Three Dollar Fare."

Would Alex Robinson steer you wrong? I say thee nay!!

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Comic Quotes Should Be Good for the 1/5 Comic Week

On the side of this blog are a lot of fine blogs where folks talk about comic books. Each week I pick out ten cool quotes about comics from those blogs during the past comic week. I cannot promise that my picks will be thorough, or even the best quotes. They are just quotes that made me laugh or smile or say, "Good line." Please note that the folks who write on this here blog (Comics Should Be Good) are excluded, as it strikes me as a bit too self-serving to quote any of them here. But be assured that I think they are all quite good!

Let's begin!

David Welsh, who is a nice guy, talks to us about jerks,

In his run on a previous version of X-Factor, it was Quicksilver, who had gone from hero to villain and back, with several stops at jerk along the way.

In one of the best issues of David’s run on the series, the team goes through psychological debriefings. During Quicksilver’s session, he succinctly describes the reason for his aggressive unpleasantness: the nature of his mutation makes it seem like everyone around him his moving at a crawl. They can’t possibly keep up, and crankiness just naturally ensues.

It’s a great bit of characterization, not excusing so much as explaining. Quicksilver is still a jerk, but he isn’t an irredeemable one. (Unfortunately, just as David’s take on the character was gelling, Quicksilver got swiped by Bob Harras to mope around as a noble cuckold over in Avengers.) One of the recurring agonies of watching soap operas was the certainty that a smart, mean, funny character was destined for one of two depressing fates: they would become so evil that their usefulness on the canvas would run out and they’d be dumped to the nuthouse, prison, or morgue, or their rough edges would be sanded off in some brutal way to make them sympathetic. As the Witch put it in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, “You’re so nice./You’re not good, you’re not bad, you’re just nice.”

I’m glad to see that David still has a fondness for the jerks and can portray them in imaginative, entertaining ways.

Johnny Bacardi takes a look at Seth's Wimbledon Green, the Greatest Comic Book Collector in the World, from Drawn & Quarterly,

I'm about to make a shocking confession. As someone who is regarded as having Good Taste In Comics, whatever that means, it will amaze when I confess that I do not own a single book by critical darling Seth. Although his praises were sung long and loud by the Comics Journal, back when I was a subscriber, what I saw just never really moved me to buy. Not that I didn't think he was talented, or worthy of my attention, but I just wasn't interested. So what caused me to invest in this handsomely packaged and surpisingly moderately priced lark, you may ask? A small preview in D&Q's Free Comic Book Day offering, if you must know, proof positive that FCBD is indeed a worthwhile effort. But I digress. Seth celebrates the Comic Book Collecting Culture with one hand as he ridicules it with the other, then hides behind the false modesty of the "It's merely a sketchbook exercise" dodge. He needn't have done that- while his smirk is prevalent, this is really a richly imagined fantasy of the highest order, with just enough truth to make it sting although I kinda wonder, in my rural insulation away from this aspect of comics fandom (which I thought kinda peaked over 10 years ago) if anyone will feel stung. Sometimes the 20-panel grids become a tad monotonous, and I can't look at the titular character without thinking of the Mayor on all those Monopoly game "Chance" and "Community Chest" cards, but really, this is a meticulously drawn, often amusing, somewhat smirky, and impressively imaginative exercise in satire, and while I think he'll have a hard time topping this, I'd urge him to do a whole book of "Fine and Dandy" stories. A

Let's be honest, here at Comics Should Be Good, there's ALWAYS going to be room for people to say nice things about All-Star Superman, as Alex does here,

The original Man in Tights is back. My favorite author and one of my favorite artists brought me a simple story about a man who only does good. I ate it up with a wooden spoon, and re-read it until the staples fell out. I drank in the art like milk with cookies, and I felt like an eight year old all over again. Not since NEW FRONTIER has my nerd weiner been so fondled. SEVEN SOLDIERS came out of the heavens as well, pulled from the rushes in a basket, and delivered to me in swaddling clothes. It was a good year to read comics. Aside from Grant Morrison, there were lots of delicious treats. But everyone knows that. It was a good year.

Jog does a marvelous job of defending Chris Ware's storytelling abilities,

Frankly, I think Ware is one of the most attentive creators out there in relation to how stories work in differing forms - serialized, collected, whatever. And Acme Novelty Library #16 does indeed provide a satisfying single experience, as a panorama of human concerns and consternation. Maybe this fits into Larsen’s definition of what a ‘character study’ is (as opposed to those stories that don’t add up to much yet are still worthwhile, which has to be a different thing since, let’s remember, this work fails as a story). All I know is that Ware employs a damned effective (and utterly simple) double-tiered storytelling structure, simultaneously following the journeys of Rusty and his dad (and the characters they encounter) on the top tier, and the experiences of eventually-to-be pal Chalky White and his sister on the bottom, the two paths occasionally crossing to provide multiple viewpoints of the same events. Which is both the point, and what makes this thing work as a single unit.

It’s climbing through the minds of these characters, guided by Ware's hand, that provides much of the interest: Chalky’s sister Alice often thinks in fragmented, excited interior utterances, while Rusty’s thought bubble-powered stylized musings (“Golly...”) belie his melodramatic, comics-fueled soul. Even more notable is 'Mr. Ware,' an art teacher avatar for the author himself, whose interior dishonesty is revealed through his rambling, jargon-laden narration, far more formal and reader-targeted than Alice’s purely personal use of the same narrative device; Ware the character is here to convince us, but Ware the creator reveals his dishonesty by contrasting his words with damning images. Rusty’s dad, meanwhile, uses a wide variety of devices, all of them actually, which ultimately is what draws the story together.

Indeed, there’s even a nice bookend provided. We have the technical, if slightly sugared narration of that snowy television at the beginning (beautiful flakes instantly zapped away into electronic 'snow'), and at the end we have Rusty’s dad, 'drawing' his own surprisingly eloquent interior musings on the board, restating the television’s opening narration from a more humanist (and more pleading) standpoint, human life and snowflakes alike dissected into their components, all unique. This is a both statement of the story’s theme, as well as its very structure, its reason for being. We follow a wide variety of characters (using a narrative design that allows for maximum visibility) and all of them reveal their thoughts and trajectories though a multitude of comics-specific narrative devices, many of them quite smoothly deployed through Ware’s command of the form. Rusty’s dad employs all of them, from thought bubbles to snap-cut intrusions of fantasy, finally adopting the use of familiar cursive-font narration to tie things together, and his role as final ‘speaker’ matches his role of most studied character, given many ways of expressing himself (ironic, since as a person he’s arguably the most sheltered among all of them).

And that’s the story, right down to its own stated intent. It wraps up quite nicely, with a reiteration of its introduction, the objective having been completed, and a matching view of the snowy city to compliment the introductory view of stylized snowflakes - we can now see the inhabitants who have the snow fall upon them, and things aren't rendered artificial and televised anymore. I will concede that there’s little in the way of an arc for these characters, but claiming that the story simply stops ‘mid-scene’ with no closure doesn’t seem accurate to me at all, as the book is quite straightforward as to what it wants to do, and it does it with panache.

Graeme McMillan reviews a bunch of comics, including Superman/Batman #23,

I get a lot of shit for being a fan of this book, and it’s around this point where I start thinking that I may be deserving of it. We’re four months into Jeph Loeb’s phoning it in, with a plot that substitutes dramatic reveals for substance or logic and dialogue that’s entirely injoke or cliché. What makes it different from the times where this book has worked for me – Ed McGuinness’s first run on the title, or the Carlos Pacheco run – is the lack of big stupid idea fun. Yes, there’s a half-chuckle at seeing the Maximums poking fun at the Ultimates, but that joke’s old within a few pages, never mind a few issues, and there’s nothing behind it to make it last. Kryptonite Batman? Great, but make it something more that him hitting Superman for a few pages and then going away with no explanation. The return of Red Son Superman and Batman Beyond? If they were there for any reason, sure. I don’t know; there seemed to be some internal logic to things like the Giant Composite Superman Batman Robot, or the Zombie Justice League, in the past that’s lacking here. It’s as if whatever gonzo credibility the book had has been abandoned in the rush to the finish line. Ed McGuinness’s art is still the bouncy castle of the superhero world, though. Eh.

Scipio has something to tell us,

If you're not enjoying All-Star Batman, why aren't you reading "Batman and The Monster Men"?

It's Matt Wagner's near perfect retelling of Batman's first clash with Hugo Strange. Great insight into all the characters, logical plot developments, fun art. And, after sixtyish years, Julie Madison has finally blossomed as a great character, someone I actually believe young Bruce Wayne would date.

By the way, Bruce Wayne is so cool, that when he denies you a night of passion, he does it politely and in haiku:
I apologize.
I would love to spend the night
in your arms again.

AND he makes you feel good about yourself in the process. That's how it's done.

Remember that the next time you turn down an offer from a sexy and intelligent red-haired heiress who wants you badly.

Kurt Addams has some harsh words for Young Avengers Special #1,

At first glance I thought this book was titled YOUNG AVENGERS SCHOOL since Giant-girl’s head - alright, Stature (horrible) – obscures the word “special” in the masthead. In hindsight an issue showing the Young Avenger's receiving some superhero-type training might have been more entertaining than this turned out to be.

Instead, this is a guided tour of how the Young Avengers came to realize their powers, with Jessica Jones and Michael Gaydos providing the narrative and visual anchors. Gaydos draws the Jones sequences with an impressive array of talent filling in the flashback origins. I like Gaydos’ work and would have had no problem with him drawing the whole shebang, but then our focus might have been drawn to the actual text of the issue, and to crib from Gertrude Stein, there’s no there there.

We didn’t really need an origin issue. In a general sense we know how these characters got started because we know how characters like these usually get started. We understand the mythology that the genre dictates so detailed origins aren’t a requirement and the origins provided give us very little insight into these characters. If anything this may detract from them as what we’re presented with is series of predictable, pedestrian origin stories that left me wondering if that was really the best they could come up with.

The whole thing is in service to Marvel’s renewed love affair with Annuals and Specials. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing -- many of us have fond memories of these issues and some of these recent attempts have been quite good -- but this falls flat and leaves me feeling that Marvel is going through the motions simply because they can or perhaps because someone thinks it’s expected. Equally, I can imagine them thinking that readers are anxious to explore every inch the Young Avengers lives, past and present, after all their appeal is a humanist one that relies a great deal upon who these characters are when they aren’t in costume. But Heinberg had been slowly, successfully dishing this information out in the regular series making this book feel that much more forced and needless.

Specials and Annuals provide opportunity to explore a title’s characters and themes outside the continuity of the ongoing series and they should be fun. This book fails on both fronts.

Chris Tamarri takes a look at a book I enjoyed a lot, Death, Jr.,

Really, this story exits in two worlds, on two levels, rubbing up against the boundary of parable territory. Superficially, it's fun to absorb the trappings of the Goth mindset filtered through--and for--the minds of children. Here, there's no reason why Death shouldn't have a son, that he shouldn't have friends like Stigmartha (whose hands bleed when she's nervous), Smith and Weston (twins conjoined at the head who personify their respective lot in the right brain/left brain lottery), Pandora (who has a thing for boxes, natch), and the Seep (an inexplicable, legless, baby homunculus who rolls around in a huge formaldehyde jar propped up on tank treads). And there's no reason he shouldn't be able to save the day, even if, through foolish naiveté, he imperiled it in the first place. On a deeper level, this story's themes are both familiar and timeless, with lessons--and without the sanctimoniousness that the word implies--of identity acceptance, recognizing and meeting responsibility, extending and fulfilling trust, and, of course, growing up.

What's really impressive is how Whitta uses the story's particular weirdness to illustrate these themes, and even grant them something like novelty. One of the simplest examples is in the way that Jr.'s classmates react to his odd appearance (he's got a skull for a head). For an adult, trained to extend his extension of disbelief instinctively, it's not necessary to question why a kid that looks like this is sitting in a classroom filled with other, "normal" kids. But for a younger reader, that'll probably be a question that comes up, and Whitta meets it head (no pun intended) on. DJ--that's "Death, Jr." for the time-impaired--fails to see any difference between himself and kids like the Seep, and the other students. It's naïve, sure, but it's also charming in its simplicity. If I were a more cynical reader, I might suggest that the reason Death's son looks at everyone the same is that, from his perspective, they all are the same, corpses-to-be. Good thing I'm not that cynical.

In all seriousness, the nature of death (and of Death) is broached just enough to acknowledge that it's going to be a factor, and can't be ignored if you're gonna put that name in the marquee. At a particularly low point, DJ and his "she's not my girlfriend!", Pandora, argue and he, in a fit of anger, kills her. Well, he doesn't kill her, not exactly, so much as… take her life, I guess. Whatever. She's not alive afterwards. In any other story, this would be a deal-breaker, the point at which you can no longer sympathize with your protagonist. But here, it's just what DJ does, by his nature, albeit hopefully without as much flippancy. Whitta's able to have his cake and eat it, using the death of a main character as a dramatic turning point for the hero's journey, but without the inherent increase in stakes that death usually brings (at least, not to the same degree).

Shawn Hoke has kind things to say about David Yoder's Lou Season,

Lou Season is cutesy in that “Awww, look at the talking animals” way, but Yoder infuses it with enough emotion from our own childhood experiences that it’s relevant. Maybe you weren’t the one picked on in school, but you’re hopefully old enough to empathize with those that were. Lou is one of those misunderstood kids that find solace in escaping from his peers, but in doing so he ignores the girl Sally who aches to be closer to Lou. Oblivious to Sally, Lou treats Candice as his friend and confidant, even though she can only manage a few squeaks in response to Lou’s conversation.

Issue one of Lou Season is breezy and carefree; duck and gerbil have fun in the park and Yoder includes a page of trading cards featuring the four main characters from the story. Issue two gets kind of hairy though, as Candice is stolen from Lou’s room. The gerbil-napper leaves a note and Lou retaliates in an unexpectedly violent manner.

Yoder’s art is boldly brush inked giving his lines a lot of depth. Joey Weiser inks the first issue and David does the second. I enjoyed the cartoony art a great deal; he does a nice job on sound effects and concentrates on only the details that matter to the story.

Lou Season is a wonderful two-part story appropriate for any age group. Each mini-comic is 26 black and white pages and you can email David Yoder through his website. While you’re there Yoder has plenty of online strips for you to read including You Want to Know How I Make Comics?!!?.

Finally, Chris Sims talks about how cool Impulse #3 is, which is good, as I loved that issue, as well, proving that Sharknife likers and non-likers CAN like the same things!,

Bart Allen, to keep things short, is the grandson of the Silver-Age Flash, Barry Allen, who was born in the 30th century and, due to uncontrollable super-speed, was aging rapidly. To deal with that, he was raised in a virtual reality simulation, and the result of growing up inside a video game left him a little unable to comprehend the consequences of his actions. Then he came back to the present, teamed up with the Flash, and fought KOBRA! THE DEADLIEST MAN ALIVE!

And then they sent him to live in Alabama.

That poor, poor kid.

Anyway, this issue focuses on Bart's first day at school, and features the single best portrayal of a teenage super-hero dealing with High School since Peter Parker clocked Flash Thompson in a boxing match. See, Bart's the new kid, and the small-town high school heirarchy of Manchester, Alabama abhors a new kid. But with the attention span of a super-speed goldfish and no regard for anything beyond the moment, he goes through the entire school day just pissing off bullies constantly, broken down by Waid and penciller Humberto Ramos into a series of "encounters." And he just keeps making more enemies as the day goes on, walking unscathed through a food fight and giving the business to a bunch of jocks who apparently forgot to Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge. And each one he cheeses off calls him out to fight at a different part of the school.

All of which leads up to one of the best school scenes in comics history: The bell rings, and Bart takes a slow lap around the school, walking past each group of high school toughs that wants to see him creamed, leading them all to the football field. Why?

"I figured we could use the room."

With the entire student body gathered to either watch or perform a serious beatdown, Bart keeps it cool, and as the groups argue about who's got first dibs on him, he busts a quick move...

Probably grounds for expulsion....and starts a fight with the entire school.

Now that's badass.

hanks, folks, for providing me with so many great quotes! See you next week!

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The best of the rest from 2005

I thought I would add some more stuff to the "best-of" lists we did this past week, because I like hogging the spotlight and I enjoy spreading the word about comics, even if I've spread it before. So here are some other highlights from 2005:

Best Comic Book That No One is Reading:
 
 
Elk's Run. Okay, according to Jason, maybe 150 people are. But that's not nearly enough. This is a bracing, intense look at a generational war played out in small-town America with enough secrets to stymie the CIA. It's a gripping adventure story but also a insightful psychological piece. The bumper edition (collecting the first three issues) and the fourth issue should still be around. The only excuse you have for not reading it is not being able to find it, which, I admit, is a reason, but people can help. Ask Jason where you can get it. Ask Joshua, the writer. Or, you know, go here.

Best Trade Paperback of Stuff from a Previous Year:
 
 
If you haven't bought Scurvy Dogs yet, I really don't know what I'm going to do with you. Weep for your cold, black soul, probably. How can you resist?

And while I'm at it, how about an out-of-context joke: "The cow says 'true'!" Bleepin' hilarious.

Best Idea for A Collection: Unlike some people I'm not going to say DC's Showcase series. What the hell do I care about comics from the '50s, man? But I will say "Huzzah!" to DC's decision to collect Morrison's Doom Patrol. Quite possibly the best run on a comic book ever. If you don't have 'em, buy 'em. You will not be disappointed.

Best Original Graphic Novel: I know we had a best "one-shot or mini-series" post, but I decided OGNs were a different animal, so I went with GrimJack: Killer Instinct for that.
 
 
The best OGN, however, was Different Ugliness, Different Madness. My original review is in the second part of this post. It's a beautiful and moving and painful story, one that lifts you up and makes you think.
 
 
Coming in on its heels is Capote in Kansas, a review of which can be found here (it's down the page a bit). And closely following behind that is Nil: A Land Beyond Belief, which I reviewed here. It's one of the more fun books you'll read.
 
 

Publisher of the Year: Image. Those of you who read my posts regularly should not be surprised by this. Image is putting out some of the best stuff on the market right now, and although some of it comes out inconsistently (B. Clay Moore, I'm looking at you), it's still better than most independents, and so many of their books are just excellent. This year they published stuff like:
The Atheist (a late title, but pretty damned cool)
Bad Planet (only one issue out so far, but neat-o keen-o)
Common Foe (its schedule has slipped a bit, but it's a war story with demons - nifty)
The Expatriate (a Moore title, so it's late, but it's neat)
Fell (it's cheap and Ellis likes it, which means he puts some effort into it - and the art is cool)
Girls (I can't make an argument for this, because I don't like it, but still - something unusual)
 
 
Gødland (just buy it already, and I'll leave you alone!)
Hatter M (quite the bizarre little twist on Alice in Wonderland)
Hawaiian Dick (an issue of which actually came out this year!)
The Iron Ghost (about which more below)
 
 
Noble Causes (my pick for best ongoing title)
Pigtale (I didn't love it, but it is certainly different)
Rex Mundi (see more below)
Sea of Red (another title I dropped, but another different kind of book)
 
 
Small Gods (which was close to being my pick for best ongoing title)
The Stardust Kid (fantasy from DeMatteis and Ploog)
Waterloo Sunset (a very weird and dense sci-fi epic, but interesting)

That, my friends, is a good pedigree. And they publish Invincible, "the best superhero book in the world" (bah!), and a bunch of other stuff - Fear Agent, Strange Girl, that Dragon book. Make yours Image! Now if only they would pay me for the advertising ...

Best Single Issue:
 
 
Since my "moment of the year" came from JLA: Classified #7, I'll say that. This issue, and the series as a whole, shows why "funny" comics are so neat: there is a lot of humor, and yes, some of it doesn't work, but when the seriousness comes, it hits you in the gut and really makes you appreciate the humor and the bonds between these characters. Kind of like real life. When Matt Murdock gets into yet more trouble, we don't feel it as much because he's always in freakin' trouble. Giffen and DeMatteis used this to great effect in their old run on JLI (remember the Despero story and how shocking it was?) and they do it here. This is a great issue. A runner-up would be any issue of Action Philosophers!, although #2 remains my favorite.
 
 

Best Ongoing Title That Doesn't Count Because It Doesn't Come Out Often Enough:
 
 
Hey, Planetary, how ya doin'? And you too, Rex Mundi. Nice to see you.
 
 
I love both these titles. They're "ongoing." Let's see: Planetary - 2 issues in 2005, 4 in 2004, 2 in 2003, ZERO in 2002, 2 in 2001, 5 in 2000, and 8 in 1999 (including 2 in December!). Meanwhile, Rex Mundi - 3 issues in 2005 after 6 in the previous two years. Sigh. I love them both, but it's a chore waiting for them. Rex Mundi has been plagued by internal talent disputes, but what's the deal with Planetary? Both Ellis and Cassaday seem to be fine and dandy.

The "Who Shot J.R." Award:
 
 
The Award for best cliffhanger¹ goes to The Expatriate #3. Jaw-dropping. I still don't want to discuss it in case people want to read the book (and you should; it's good). It's the kind of cliffhanger that is really neat - you didn't see it coming at all, and you can't figure out what will happen next issue, and when the next issue comes out, it makes (some) sense. Brilliant. Wizard said the cliffhanger of the year was Daredevil #79, but I think we've pretty much established that they're full of shit. This is so much better it can't even see Daredevil #79 in its rear view mirror, having smushed it like a dead opossum back in Virginny somewhere. Very close second: The end of Perhapanauts #1. It cheats a bit, though, which is why it slips to second.

The "Kevin Smith" Award:
 
 
Matador #5 came out in September. So where's #6?
 
 
Defenders #4 came out in October. Where's #5? At least Chuck Dixon explained that Hurricane Katrina delayed Iron Ghost #5 (in case you've been breathlessly waiting for that - I like it, so I have, maybe not "breathlessly," but still). But these two books - they're published by the big boys. Let's go, DC and Marvel.

HONORARY MENTIONS: Scarlet Traces: The Great Game, which was solicited in April and never shipped. What's up, Dark Horse? (According to this, it will be out on 1 May 2006 - a good year after it should have been. Stellar.) And where's Black Diamond On Ramp, Larry?

The "Weirdly Inappropriate and Completely Baffling Presence of Bare Midriff" Award:

The Middleman. I really enjoyed this mini-series, but I still don't understand why Wendy had such a tiny shirt. She's not in the book for sex appeal, the book could easily be read by children of all ages, she's wearing a tie so the look is even weirder, and it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. The trade is supposed to be out this month, and I recommend it, for the killer monkeys and the humor, but not for the attire. More information about the series here.

The "After Two Days, Guests and Fish Start to Smell" Award for A Good Creative Team I'll Be Glad to See End Their Run: Bendis and Maleev on Daredevil. An excellent run that needs to go away. They have run out of things to do with the character. I'm intrigued to see how they will end it next issue, but it's time to move on. Thanks, guys. Don't let the billy club smack you in the back of the neck on your way out.

The "Nuke Laloosh" Award: This is for the talent that should get snapped up by the Big Two and turned into a corporate drone right away. Maybe they will resist, but maybe not. It goes to Jacen Burrows, whose art is stellar. Here's a page from 303 #3:
 
 
Maybe he doesn't want to work for the Big Two, which would make me happy. This year he did 303 with Ennis, and most of his work has been with Avatar. He wins over Juan Ferreyra, the excellent artist of Small Gods and new artist on Rex Mundi, simply because I think he's been around longer.

The 1995 Oscar Awards Award for the Biggest Disappointment²: So many to choose from. So many disappointments. Jack Cross immediately leaps to mind, but a lot of Ellis is not as good as his truly brilliant stuff, so while it was disappointing, it wasn't surprising. Batman: Gotham County Line was disappointing, but more because I wanted it to be something different, not because the story was all that awful (I didn't like the story, true, but I liked it less because of what it wasn't). My biggest disappointment (besides, of course, the cancellation of titles I liked, which is neither here nor there, because titles always get cancelled) has to be this:
 
 
Wanted #6 was a piece of shit. It was poorly written and mean-spirited and stupid. That would be okay, I guess, except that I was disappointed because Millar is basically saying that the only people who know he exists - comic book fans - are stupid and full of shit for buying the only thing he gets paid for - writing comic books. Ask anyone on the street who Mark Millar is and they won't fucking know. He's not a superstar. He's a superstar among the few hundred thousand people on the planet who read comic books, but that's a tiny, tiny, tiny, infinitesimal portion of the population, and what he thinks of them is very clear. That book made me boycott Mark Millar, which is another disappointment, because Ultimates can be a fun book and he can be a great writer. I don't expect others to join me in my boycott, but I am surprised that more people haven't been more vocal about this asshole saying to his readers that he's better than they are and that they're stupid for buying his product. You're a moderately big fish in a teeny-tiny pond, Mark, and I'm doing the only thing I can - not putting money into your pocket. Fuck off.

Sorry for the rant. A year later it still rankles me.

Anyway, goodbye 2005 - it was fun. Bring it on, 2006! One Year Later! Civil War! Fuck yeah!

¹ Some of you young whippersnappers might not get the "J.R." reference. Ask your parents! More important than the Kennedy assassination and the moonwalk all rolled together!
² I'm still bummed that stupid Forrest Gump beat Pulp Fiction for Best Picture.

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