The Savage Critic: August 8th, 2001 By Brian Hibbs

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.

OK, I seem to have gotten all caught up on life again. Well, I still have a Tilting due over at Krause, but I’ve got a few days yet on that – half of it is written, anyway.

Book’s come back together – the two weeks I took off solved a couple of the story problems I was having (well, at least I THINK they’re solved), and I’ve been pulling way over 1000 words a day since Saturday. Hell, Sunday alone I drew 3091 (!) from the well, which is nearly 50% better than I’ve managed yet. The neat thing is I’m much closer to "just transcribing" than I’ve been since I finished "book one" (which is now just "part one" on advice from Gaiman), and if I had the 12 hours a day to JUST write, I could finish it off in two weeks. "Just transcribing" is my ideal writing state – it is how I manage to pull of the Savage Critic each week, and it’s the way I write my Tiltings.

Sadly, I have other duties (and not enough focus!), so I’m projecting 8 more weeks, just to be safe.

(I really wonder how many of you skip these preambles because you don’t give a fuck?)

I’ve also managed to edit my crappy old text files (there are days I miss being DOS-boy, damn it) for 6 more Tiltings to go up on this Site – but it will be a week or so before they are up, I think, because WebMeister Jeff Lester is having Two Weeks of Work Hell. By the time he’s finished with that, I’ll probably have another 5 edited. I’ll try to remember to mention it here, but, honestly, odds are poor that I will, so go over to the columns section and look around a bit, k?

Once I get done converting the last of the text Tiltings to .DOC format, they should start going up boom-boom-boom -- #50-100 are all "ready" now. I expect the first 100 will be available for you to read by, say, Halloween.

What else? Oh, yah, I want to do a "links" section for the Site, so if you have a cool comics-related link, drop me an e-mail at brian@comixexperience.com and I’ll add it to the file I’m beginning to fiddle with.

Business outta da way, let’s get to the Savaging!

ADVENTURES IN THE RIFLE BRIGADE OPERATION BOLLOCK #1: Lowbrow humor at its finest. I mean, sure, it’s all 2, maybe 3 jokes, but I cracked up more than once. Good.

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #595: Uh, what? Awful.

AUTHORITY #25: Er, THAT was a little convenient, weren’t it? Well, maybe there will be some clever twist in part 4. OK

AZRAEL AGENT OF THE BAT #81: There’s something about the art I liked, but how many different directions has this book had since it began? There’s nothing holding this story together, and I don’t get the sense there is any particular goal, either. Eh.

BATTLE POPE SHORTS #2: One really funny story, and then a buncha half-ass stuff. I loved the original mini, and I love it less with each addition. I think this was a one-story idea. OK

BLACK PANTHER #35: I like Ross’ story better than the political stuff (because superhero politics are just a little silly) – and there wasn’t enough of that this month to make me go "woo". Priest has written the single best Henry Peter Gyrich ever, though. OK

CABLE #95: Bad end to a bad story. Awful

CYCLOPS #1: I dunno, man. Didn’t do much for me, didn’t seem to advance Cyc’s character all too much. Just a way to part you with some coin... but I’ve read worse ways to do so. Eh.

DAREDEVIL #21: The last page was real funny. Not sure I really buy the premise though. OK

DEADMAN DEAD AGAIN #2: E-yuck! That just... ew. I thought the first one was fine, but this was just grave robbing. Crap

DEFENDERS #8: Lotsa running and shouting, with the plot just treading water. Eh

DETECTIVE COMICS #761: If it's not Batwoman, then Sasha will probably die. I think I’ve read too many comic books. Still... very well handled issue. Good.

DORK TOWER #14: Nuttin’ to say, really – story is handled fine, but too little for a single issue. OK.

FINDER #23: I find myself lost in McNeil’s world. She’s an EXCEPTIONAL artist, and a damn fine story-teller... but I really didn’t CARE about the content of this issue. It's weird. This is excellent work, but I’m admiring her craft, not the content. Good.

FLASH OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1: 4 hours after reading it, and I had already forgotten it – needed to pull it out of the stack and flip again to go "oh, right." That’s generally a bad sign. Good use of DC continuity, but that can’t muster more than Eh

HARLEY QUINN #11: What was the point again? Nice art, and shots of a cute redhead in a Batgirl costume are always appreciated, but I honestly don’t care. Eh.

HELLBOY CONQUEROR WORM #4: If I was a woman, I’d let Mike Mignola sire my baby. Excellent.

HUNTER THE AGE OF MAGIC #2: Mm, yah. I like this just fine. Not enough to take it home each month, but Dylan Horrocks is getting me one step closer to that potential state. Good.

IMPULSE #77: Yawn. Eh.

IRON MAN #45: "New creative team coming on, so lets reset everything pretty close to where it was before we started doing the book" issue. Awful.

JINGLE BELLE THE MIGHTY ELVES ONE SHOT: I haven’t really liked any of the other Jingle Belle material, and I don’t care for hockey at all.... but I thought this was smart and funny and even a little charming. Good.

JLA INCARNATIONS #4: Ruh-ruh-ruh-retcon! Eh.

KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE ILLUSTRATED #8: If you take an original funny comic, and squeeze all of the situational humor out of it, and then give it awkward art, this is what you get. Which fucking sucks since KODT is so damn funny. Awful

MEAT CAKE #11: Dame Darcy is clearly insane. I remember her coming to a CE signing with Dan Clowes, and singing him weird little songs she had written. She’s talented, sure, but this is so very much not my cuppa... Eh

MURDER ME DEAD #7: I’ll need to read the whole mini-series in one go to see if I REALLY like this or not... but the individual pieces seem like they work to me. Good.

NIGHTWING #60: Some amusing misdirection and clever cop-stuff... but I’d rather read it in a book that doesn’t star Dick Grayson. This seems so wildly out of place to me here. Eh.

NODWICK #9: Cute "It’s a wonderful life" kinda story, but it shoulda been a one-parter. Eh.

PUNISHER #3: Not as fall down funny as last issue, but solid stuff. Very Good.

SUPERMAN & BATMAN GENERATIONSII #1: I really like "G1"... but this didn’t interest me very much at all. Not a well that should have been gone back to. OK

TOM STRONG #14: Three stories, with the Barta one being WAY out of tone with the others. Fourteen issues in, and my enthusiasm wanes with each one. OK

TRANSMETROPOLITAN #48: A year to go. We’ve established this over the last two issues. Felt like marking time. OK

VAMPIRELLA #1 NOWHERESVILLE: I dunno. Premise was OK, but Vampi was more about titillation than "my, she has enormous breasts" stated as fact. Eh

WONDER WOMAN OUR WORLDS AT WAR #1: Recap, both of 100-something issues of Wonder Woman, and OWAW. Nothing else, really. None for me, thanks. Eh.

X-TREME X-MEN #4: It is not that I liked it, but it was a lot better than the first three issues. The plot was actually advanced, and there were a few somewhat interesting character moments, and I didn’t really spot any super-obvious writing clichés. It’s still just a Claremont X-Men book, but it was better than the trainwreck of the first three. Eh.

For Sake of Completeness, here’s a list of all of the OTHER comics that CE got in this week, that I did NOT read (and, therefore, am unlikely to review!). Note, that in most (but not all) cases this is limited to 1) Manga, which I try to read as it is collected; 2) "Kids" comics like most of the Archies; 3) titles that were subs-only, either by design or accident; 4) Porno [oh, like you need me to REVIEW it!], and 5) Things that looked SO bad on the racks that I didn’t bother. (or, in the case of something like the Ring this week, a comic which I’m saving to read the whole series in one swell foop)

ARCHIES WEIRD MYSTERIES #16
ARSENIC LULLABY APR 2001
BETTY & VERONICA #165
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #59
CYBERFROG AMPHIBIONIX 2001
DEADBEATS #48
DIRTY PAIR SIM HELL REMASTERED #4
EAGLE VOL 17 COMING HOME
HAMMER OF THE GODS #4
INSANE CLOWN POSSE PENDULUM #10
LAST SHOT #1
MANGAZINE #23
MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO #25
MYSTIC #15
PEARL HARBOR THE COMIC BOOK #1
PURGATORI THE HUNTED #2
RING OF NIBELUNG GOTTERDAMMERUNG #3
SCOOBY-DOO #51
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #100
SPAWN THE DARK AGES #27
SPIDER-GIRL #37
STAR TREK DIVIDED WE FALL #4
THOR THE ROCK WARRIOR ONE SHOT
TICK INCREDIBLE INTERNET COLOR COMIC #1
TIME TRAVELER AI #21
TOMB RAIDER #15

And, for even MORE completeness sake, here’s a list of books, TPBs, GNs, and magazines that CE got this week. I generally haven’t read any of this by the time I post these reviews. Though I generally attempt to give at least one recommendation amongst the TPBs each week, since I HAVE read the material at SOME point.

AMAZING WORLD CARMINE INFANTINO REVISED DLX SC
ANIMERICA EXTRA VOL 4 #9
AQUA KNIGHT VOL 1 TP
ASIAN CULT CINEMA #32
CLIVE BARKERS TORTURED SOULS ACTION FIGURE ASST
COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE #84
CREATURES FEATURED VOL 2 FANTASTIC CREATIONS B WRIGHTSON
DAN & LARRY GN
DOMU A CHILDS DREAM 2ND ED TP
FANTASTIC FOUR FLESH & STONE TP
GHOST WORLD SCREENPLAY
GRAY MORROW VISIONARY HC
GREEN LANTERN VERSUS ALIENS TP
HEART OF EMPIRE LEGACY OF LUTHER ARKWRIGHT LTD ED HC
HEAVY METAL 2002 WALL CALENDAR
HEAVY METAL ART BY BISLEY 2002 WALL CALENDAR
HEAVY METAL ART BY LUIS ROYO CALENDAR 2002
HEAVY METAL SEPTEMBER 2001
JUXTAPOZ SEP OCT 2001
MAD MAGAZINE #409
PULP VOL 5 #9
STAR TREK COMMUNICATOR #134
STARLOG #290
TOYFARE SIMPSONS CVR #50
VERTIGO TAROT DECK SET NEW EDITION
VIDEO WATCHDOG #74

This Week’s TPB recommendation is: Dave Cooper’s Dan & Larry GN. Man, Cooper is just about the most fucked-up cartoonist working today. Creepy shit, that has me turning pages as fast as I possibly can. Fantastic, dynamic cartooning that will leave you queasy, but wanting more.

Average Rating for the Week: 3.62 (of 7.00) Not a stellar week.

Pick of the Week: Its obvious, but Hellboy: Conqueror Worm is the hand’s down winner of the week. I want the next Hellboy series NOW, damn it!

Pick of the Weak: Deadman: Dead Again #2. Felt like necrophilia. Shame!