For all I know, this may be unreadable: Graeme's reviews of the 11/1 books.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mistaken Identity Crisis!

Just a quick story here (maybe reviews in the next few days), because I thought it was funny, and if I don't type it up SOON, then I never will. So, it's last Tuesday, Halloween, and I super-double rush through work early so I can take Ben Trick-or-Treating (3 years old is the BEST time for that, yes)

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

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

(It was a nice Halloween. End digression)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And he wandered off.

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

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

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

-B

Happy Birthday, Jeff Lester!!!

The big Four-Oh! and Happy Halloween to the rest of you!!

-B

Arriving 11/1

ANd we start off November with a pretty slow week. That's not a great plan, really. 52 WEEK #26 AGENTS OF ATLAS #4 (OF 6) ALL NEW ATOM #5 AMERICAN SPLENDOR #3 (OF 4) AMERICAN VIRGIN #8 APOCALYPSE NERD #4 (OF 6) ARMY OF DARKNESS #11 ATHENA VOLTAIRE FLIGHT O/T FALCON APE ED #2 AVENGERS NEXT #1 (OF 5) BATTLER BRITTON #5 (OF 5) BETTY #160 BEYOND #5 (OF 6) BLUE BEETLE #8 CRIMINAL #2 DETECTIVE COMICS #825 DEVIL WATER #1 EX MACHINA #24 EXTERMINATORS #11 FALLEN ANGEL IDW #10 FANTASTIC FOUR THE END #1 (OF6) FRESHMEN VOL 2 MIGLIARI CVR #1 GHOST IN THE SHELL 1.5 HUMAN ERROR PROCESSOR #1 (OF 8) INCREDIBLE HULK #100 IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #2 JONAH HEX #13 JUGHEAD AND FRIENDS DIGEST #15 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #3 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #27 KILLER #1 (OF 10) KOLCHAK TALES GHOST STORIES LOCAL #7 (OF 12) LOONEY TUNES #144 MANIFEST ETERNITY #6 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #21 METAL GEAR SOLID SONS OF LIBERTY #8 MIDNIGHTER #1 MINESHAFT #18 MOUSE GUARD #5 (OF 6) MYSTERY IN SPACE #3 (OF 8) NEXT #5 (OF 6) NIGHTLY NEWS #1 (OF 6) NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET #2 NIGHTWING #126 NINJA SCROLL #2 OTHER SIDE #2 (OF 5) OUTSIDERS #42 PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #107 PIRATE TALES #1 PLEASE RELEASE #1 RED PROPHET TALES OF ALVIN MAKER #3 (OF 12) SHE-HULK 2 #13 SHRUGGED #3 SOULFIRE CHAOS REIGN #2 SPIDER-MAN AND POWER PACK #1 (OF 4) STAR WARS LEGACY #5 STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS SAKURADOGAN CVR A #3 (OF 4) STUDENTS OF THE UNUSUAL EXTRACREDIT SPECIAL #1 SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #1 TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #3 UNCANNY X-MEN #480 WHAT IF AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE #4 X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #3 (OF 5)

Books / Mags / Stuff ADAM STRANGE ARCHIVES VOL 2 HC ARMY OF DARKNESS MOVIE ADAPTATION JOHN BOLTON TP ART OF PLAYBOYS ELDON DEDINI HC BIG BOOK OF HORROR TP COMPLETE DICK TRACY VOL 1 HC COMPLETE JON SABLE FREELANCE VOL 5 DRAWING COMICS IS EASY (EXCEPT WHEN ITS HARD) HC DREAMING VOL 2 GN (OF 3) FAMILY GUY VOL 3 GN (OF 3) FANTASTIC FOUR FIRST FAMILY TP FOUNTAIN SC GEEK MONTHLY #1 GO GIRL VOL 3 TP ROBOTS GONE WILD GOTHAM CENTRAL VOL 4 THE QUICK AND THE DEAD TP POISON CHERRY DRIVE GN (A) RED SONJA VS THULSA DOOM TP RENFIELD TALE OF MADNESS TP SPIDER-GIRL VOL 7 BETRAYED DIGEST TP STAR TREK MAGAZINE #2 STAR WARS TAG & BINK WERE HERE TP X-MEN COMPLETE AGE OF APOCALYPSE EPIC BOOK 4 TP YOSHITAKA AMANO HERO VOL 1 SC JIM WOODRINGS VISIONS OF FRANK DVD

What looks good to YOU?

-B

Kirby Kastoffs: Graeme on Seven Soliders and then paying lip service to other 10/25 books.

SEVEN SOLDIERS #1: Oh, alright: Holy crap. First read-through of this, I spent half my time thinking, “Wait, what…?” and the other half marvelling over the amazing job that JH Williams does on the artwork, shifting styles every few pages to evoke the various artists whose work has been seen elsewhere in the whole Seven Soldiers event (as well as Jack Kirby, because it turns out that the New Gods tie into more than just the Mister Miracle arc here after all). If nothing else, this would easily be the best looking book of the year, thanks to the stellar job that Williams does here; his ink washes looking just like Simone Bianchi’s, his Mr. Miracle pages having the weird look of Freddie Williams, and yet all of it reading like a whole instead of a patchwork, and in doing so, drawing all of the visual styles on each of the separate minis together into a whole as well… It’s an amazing job. But like I said, that was the first read-through. That was when the art was distracting me from what was going on in the story, so I was all “Hang on, what’s going on, how did he get there, and what does that have to do with everything…?” Because, boy, this is a dense issue – There’s a lot going on, and it not only needs your attention, but your imagination as well. But when it has those, it really, really delivers.

I’m in a pretty good place to have read this today – I’ve been rereading the various chapters of some of the 7S mini-series recently, so a lot of the back story to this is fairly fresh in my mind. If I hadn’t done that, I probably would’ve been a lot more upset by what happened in this issue, because there’s more than a little backstory needed for this to make sense, especially from the Mr. Miracle and Frankenstein mini-series. It’s interesting to see that each of the seven soldiers has their character arc end in a manner that reflects the individual series; Bulleteer saves the world by accident, reflecting her ambivalence about being a superhero (which makes you kind of wonder what had happened to her between this and her appearance in last week’s 52), Guardian saves his relationship before saving the city, Zatanna finds that it doesn’t matter if you screw up as long as you keep trying, and so on. I don’t know if it’s meta-commentary or not that Mister Miracle doesn’t join in the main battle at all – as much as any of the other characters join, at least – considering that his mini-series was the furthest removed from the main plots of all of them, but the revelation of just what the Sheeda are, and that they end up working with Darkseid, makes the whole thing into some weird-ass Kirby Fourth World sequel that you really didn’t see coming.

(Actually, I’m in two minds about that whole thing. On the one hand, it really does feel like it has thematic connection to the Fourth World books, and a lot of Kirby’s other ‘70s stuff, and I really dig that, but on the other… It almost reduces the whole thing to epic prequel to another story, especially with the last page that says “To be continued!” without using those three words, and that kind of makes me feel as if I’ve been cheated somehow. Does that make sense? The evolution of humanity becomes a New Gods plotline, which ties in with the Mr. Miracle series and the one completely unresolved plot from that book: Whatever happened to the New Gods? I mean, yes I want Morrison to tell that story – with Ladronn artwork, please – but now I feel as if the entire Seven Soldiers story was almost just a McGuffin to get you interested in an upcoming New Gods one. Which isn’t to say that this story wasn’t awesome, just more… well, it would’ve been nice for it to have had a less obvious “This story isn’t finished yet!” ending, I guess.)

(That said, when you think about it, three of the seven soldiers have a Kirby pedigree already: Klarion, Guardian, Mr. Miracle…)

(No more parenthesis. I got it.)

It’s interesting to note that this is the most… serious that Morrison’s writing has been for awhile. As much as I enjoy Batman, say, or something like All Star Superman or Wildcats, there’s something of pastiche going on there. Or maybe not pastiche, but a feeling that it’s Morrison at play, not really stretching himself but comfortably writing things that he knows inside and out. That’s not the case here; there’s a sense of urgency and intensity, of just taking what he’s writing seriously, that’s been missing from his writing since… what, We3? Or maybe even the Invisibles…? It’s both good and bad, because it throws his more recent work into a worse light, but still. It’s nice to get again.

This isn’t a perfect comic, of course. For one thing, it’s six months late, which is never a good thing – but in a world of Ultimates and All-Star Batman and Robin, not that surprising – and for another, it’s probably too dense for its own good, considering that a lot of people are reading it and feeling as if they don’t get it. Nonetheless, it’s Excellent, a great writer and artist at the top of their game, providing a satisfying and ambitious conclusion to multiple series, and delivering a superhero story that fufills the promise of seven different ideas of what it means to be a superhero that also manages to wrap in a classic science-fiction concept and more than a little bit of playing around with the language of comics itself. Yeah, it’s late, but this is really one of those cases where the wait was more than worth it.

PICK OF THE WEEK, easily. But there were, of course, other comics that also came out this week, so let’s talk about them quickly, shall we?

ACTION COMICS #844: Or, Superman The Movie comes to comics. Richard Donner’s co-writing (or, as I suspect, his plot suggestions as fleshed out by somewhat starstruck and faithful to the Movie co-writer Geoff Johns) isn’t the only reason for me saying that, as everything here feels as if it belongs to Donner’s 1970s version of the character than the current Busiek version (Which is, in itself, kind of interesting – We have a ‘50s/’60s version of the character with All-Star Superman, and now a ‘70s version. Let’s wait for Robert Kirkman or someone to start the Byrne revival with an ‘80s version, and we’re getting closer to a franchise character where every audience gets the version they want), and Adam Kubert’s Clark Kent owes a lot to Brandon Routh’s recent recreation of Christopher Reeve. None of which is to say that this isn’t enjoyable, because it is, very much so – The plot is simple and yet open enough to offer some potential future drama, and Kubert’s art is bold and clear, using double page spreads at every opportunity for the (somewhat expected) “widescreen” approach. Very Good for a first issue, although we’ll see what they do with the set-up in later issues.

NEW AVENGERS #24: And, finally, the plot monster that is Civil War comes to New Avengers. It has to happen, really; we’ve had, what, three issues of Civil War crossovers in this title that have provided the character beats that the main mini-series has been entirely devoid of, but finally the overpowering of character by what the plot demands has reached this title as well, as what is supposed to be a solo story about the Sentry’s struggle with what’s going on becomes a lead into Silent War (coming in January 2007, true believers), with the Sentry acting as exposition device #987 explaining why Civil War really didn’t come out of nowhere, no, honest, and the Inhumans respond by telling the reader why they’re going to be at war with the human race in a few months time, before Iron Man appears with a page-long monologue about just how hard Civil War is for him, honestly. It’s not just that none of it rings true, it’s that none of it feels in the least bit organic, which is one of the main problems I’ve had with Civil War in general: I can’t buy it as a story, because it feels like nothing as much as the manipulation of plot by writers who want to shock the reader instead of entertain them, and have no problem doing whatever it takes to do that (The portrayal of Iron Man, which is becoming somewhat schizophrenic depending on what title he’s appearing in, is the best example of that, I think, especially when you compare his “I will help [Captain America] open his eyes and see that the world around him once again has changed. And from there we’ll start the healing process” with his “Imprison all the bastards who oppose me in the Negative Zone for life” schtick in the J. Michael Straczynski-written titles). Pasqual Ferry’s art is his usual beautiful work, but it’s wasted on this Crap.

STAN LEE MEETS THE THING #1: Well, that’s kind of depressing. Stan’s third tribute book sees him play things more or less straight, which is much less interesting than his last two condemnations of what Marvel has become: Stan apologizes for making the Thing into a monster, and he more or less says “Hey, I get ta beat things up and get lots of pussy! Fergit it, skinny!” Which is… um, alright, I suppose. The back-up strip, by Roy Thomas and Scott Kolins, also falls victim to being too respectful, leaving the two-page cartoon by Johnny Ryan to be the highlight of the new stuff. And even that is pretty weak. Okay, and that’s only because the reprint of Fantastic Four #79 is really rather good.

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #23: Fill-in creators Tony Bedard and Adam DeKraker disappear after a couple of months, and suddenly the book regains some of the momentum that it’s lost over… hmm… the past couple of months. Coincidence, or something more sinister? And not only the momentum, but the element of surprise, as well: Did anyone really see the return of where the majority of the issue takes place? Or, if you’ve been avoiding spoilers and solicitations, the return of that particular character on the last page? I don’t know if this return to the quality of the first year of the book is more than temporary, but I’m certainly hopeful that the focused storytelling that’s on show here sticks around, and a refocused-and-hopefully-less-under-the-52-deadline-gun Mark Waid continues to remember that, as nice as subplots are, it’s always nice to have an A plot, as well. Okay to Good, depending on where you fall on the Legion fanboy spectrum.

SUPERMAN/BATMAN ANNUAL #1: I may be sick, because I actually really enjoyed this remake – sorry, “reimagining,” if the cover is to be believed – of the origin of the World’s Finest team. It’s always nice to see Ed McGuinness art on Superman (It’s the way he does the chin, really), and even if he couldn’t do the whole book (I wonder if this was around the time he went Marvel-exclusive…?), the three other pencillers who complete the book keep the look pretty consistent. Joe Kelly, meanwhile, manages to keep his plot fairly straightforward for a change, and manages to get back to writing Deadpool thanks to shamelessly admitting the character’s “inspiration”. It’s not going to win any awards, but it was a nice fun little book. Good.

It was a pretty dull weak, all told. I wanted to read the Civil War: Choosing Sides book out of curiosity for how Marvel do books rushed out to fill a percieved gap in the market that are full of short teases for future Marvel product, but there was only one left in the store when I was there this afternoon, and Brian should probably sell that to someone who really wanted it. Bri did try to convince me to review this month’s issue of Rear Entry, which has a cover just like you’d expect it to after hearing the title, but I demurred, because of my shy demeanor and a desire to avoid Kate taking the piss out of me as I read it. So, we’re left with Seven Soldiers as the undisputed PICK OF THE WEEK, and I’ve already told you, and New Avengers as the fairly obvious PICK OF THE WEAK. The TRADE OF THE WEEK is the new Runaways collection, RUNAWAYS: PARENTAL GUIDANCE, which has Brian K. Vaughan managing to still make me upset when he kills off that one character, even though I knew it was coming. You bastard; she was my favorite character in the series.

(Yes, I know that I’ve promised you that I’m going to review FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL after getting it mailed to me this week. I’m still going to, but I wanted to gush about Seven Soldiers first. Sometime this week, honest.)

Next week: 52 hits the halfway mark, so I’m probably going to say something about that. And Superman Confidential, as well, which – if nothing else – has a really nice logo. But that’s enough about me and graphic design: What did the rest of you read this week?

(And now, when I go to post this, Jeff's already posted his reviews! Jesus! Okay, now I have to see if we're being psychic twins about Seven Soldiers or not...)

"Ooo, mama" and other insightful comics reviews from Jeff on the 10/25 Books.

Blab-blab-blab Vegas, blab-blab birthday, yak-yak Nanowrimo. However, a very sweet week for comics so while I've still got time:

52 WEEK #25: The crime bible is one of those really goofy things only comics can pull off, and so I'm very happy to see it here, used to beat people's brains in and whatnot. In fact, this issue seems to split right down the middle between feverishly odd and enjoyable ideas--crime bible, mad scientist island, some sort of Chinese cybertech Humpty Dumpty dude--and relatively by-the-book melodramatic scenes--some clever dialog spruces up the tired fight scene between the Dark Marvel family and a demon, and we don't even get that when it comes to the cautionary tale of Felix Faust (in which Ralph Dibny takes the wrong lesson, I should add: Dibny walks away from the story going "Yeah, yeah, I get it, Fate. Be careful of deals with the Devil" when the point of the whole story is that when writers don't know how to handle a c-list character, that character is in for a whole world of shit and degradation.) Highly Good issue, though.

ACTION COMICS #844: I wasn't expecting much from this, but ended up liking it for a really unexpected reason--Kubert's art was odd, whimsical and what the French deconstructionists would call "loosey-goosey." I think the story should have taken place out of continuity--as long as you've got Perry White and the supporting cast acting out of character, why not shoot the moon?--because the orphan of Krypton storyline doesn't have much weight if it's happening to the same Superman who went through most of this not long ago with Supergirl. But I'm in for next issue and I wasn't expecting that to happen at all. Low end of Good, high end of OK.

BLACK PANTHER #21: Hadn't heard good things about the last couple of issues, but this was pretty OK, truth be told. As Hibbs pointed out, it didn't have a Civil War crossover cover and it was probably one of the best Civil War issues of the past week or two. The Storm character isn't recognizable in the least, but at least there wasn't anything too offensive in her characterization, and Namor was written pretty well. A happy surprise but it's a shame they didn't market it correctly, though.

BOYS #4: Weirdly, I think this is the issue where the book has hit its stride, as Ennis's utter distaste, and Robertson's full enthusiasm, for the subject at hand somehow function together perfectly--but whether that subject is sex or superheroes, I really couldn't tell ya. I can't imagine the book will continue on like this for long (at some point, either the creators or the publishers will become too self-conscious) but what's amazing is it could: Ennis and Robertson could create original and offbeat scenes of superhero sexual degradation for a long, long time. But, like I said, someone's gonna flinch before too long so I'd recommend picking this issue up now. Very Good, if you're either a big fan of examining a work in light of it might say about the creator(s) and their other work, or you just want a book that makes Ennis's own The Pro read like an issue of Archie.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #23: Brubaker continues to have me in the palm of his hand on this one, even if he might be overplaying the "Bucky is such a bad-ass" angle a little. Very Good stuff.

DAREDEVIL #90: By contrast, things have slipped just a little since the first arc for any number of minor reasons but mainly because this just doesn't have the breathless "oh, fuck" of the first arc. Still, it looks lovely, reads well, and there's still a kind of noirish sense of doom to the whole thing. It's really Good, but I'm not quite rocking my world as much as previously.

CIVIL WAR CHOOSING SIDES: I dropped this out of alpha order so as not to muddle my Captain America/Daredevil reviews (and why isn't it on our ARRIVING list?) It runs the gamut from the satisfying (Ty Templeton writing a surprisingly strong Howard the Duck story) to the tantalizing (David Aja's gorgeous looking work on that Iron Fist preview) to the Meh (the remarkably bland Ant-Man story) to the what-the-fuck (Helloooo, Guiding Light preview). As I guess others have noted, very much like DC's Brave New World book except you're paying through the urethra for it. If it'd been only a buck I would've given it a Good (because yes, I'm just that much of a '70s Iron Fist and Howard The Duck nerd). At $3.99, though, it gets an Eh.

DEATHBLOW #1: In toying around with a standard genre convention--the guy who shows off a picture of his girl or kid in a war movie is doomed to die--Azzarello comes up with an idea (the superstitions of soldiers bent on staying alive, and the tendency of armed combat to kill them anyway) far more interesting than the rest of the stuff in the issue. If future issues similarly have something off-beat to say about war and the people caught up in it, then this'll be worth reading. OK.

EXILES #87: An okay twist on the Galactus mythos but how many times has Galactus appeared in Exiles already? I can think of at least one other time and that was drawn by Mike McKone so it trumped this issue. As I said, though, OK.

HEROES FOR HIRE #3: More-or-less OK until the tepid villainess from the previous Daughters of the Dragon mini escaped at the end, and then I felt like downgrading the issue to Eh. Less fickle reviewers may have taken umbrage at the whole "thought we'd really tie in to the main plot of Civil War? Psych!" and started at Eh to begin with.

IMPALER #1: The art was fine until something needed to happen and then it got pretty damn muddled, pretty damn fast. But if the book doesn't overplay the grim and dour angle, I'd like to see where it goes--the retirement scene of the cop with the dead wife was oddly affecting. The art doesn't leave me particularly hopeful but OK, nonetheless.

NEW AVENGERS #24: What happens when an unstoppable plot hammer meets an immovable editorial edict? I mean, The Sentry's real power, it appears, is to rewrite reality on the fly. So if he's so uncomfortable with the whole Civil War thing why doesn't he just wipe it out, or resolve it in a way that feeds his dangerously fragile ego? I feel like Bendis has an effectively creepy handle on the character (so much so, I wish he'd written that recent miniseries) but the contradiction just stops my appreciation for anything dead in my tracks. Eh, I guess.

NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #9: I thought this was absolutely hilarious, more or less from start to finish. And whether Ellis is examining how Marvel, from Not Brand Echh to The Ultimates, has used self-commentary to heighten its own self-mythology, or he's just having a royal piss-up, it doesn't matter. Either I was too hard on some of the issues around the middle or the run, or this book is getting a helluva second wind. It's Very Good smart-ass stuff.

PLANETARY #26: Since I barely remember a damn thing and refuse to re-read issues, you're not going to get the most incisive review from me on this. (Do you ever? Wait, don't answer that.) But I thought the character beats were quite strong, and we'll see what next issue's epilogue leaves us with. Pretty Good but you should check with the professionals to see whether it's actually stronger or weaker than that.

SEVEN SOLDIERS #1: As the post title goes, "Ooo, mama." I loved this, perhaps all the more so because I didn't understand it, and from what I can tell, it may not have mattered if I had re-read the previous issues and/or online annotations or not: I think Morrison's intention with this issue was to recreate the experience of the "first superhero comic book" you ever read. Remember that one? It was the one with the whole complex mythology filled with references to other events, and likeable characters and strange motivations and the feeling that maybe, just maybe, if you were, I dunno, devout enough, you could somehow make sense of the whole thing? I think that's what Morrison is going for here, and thanks to the more-than-capable hands of J.H. Williams III he gets it all--Kirbyesque prologue, Windsor McCay and Maurice Sendak influences, celtic designs, Sterankoisms, and everything else combining into a disparate yet unified whole. I may have a theory or two about what happened and what it means, but I'm actually pretty happy to just read it and re-read it, the same way I read that first superhero comic book from way back when, over and over again. Very Good stuff, in short, and I probably would've rated it higher if there'd just been more Frankenstein.

STAN LEE MEETS THING: This week on Stan Lee's "All The Lies That Are My LIfe:" Stan bicyles down Yancy Street and encounters The Thing who tells Stan it's okay that The Thing's a monster because women are really attracted to power, not looks. Also, as a bonus, Roy Thomas writes a tribute to Stan that reads like a pitch-perfect parody of a Roy Thomas story, Johnny Ryan does a very odd two-pager that looks like it had its original chubby-chasing, dual-felching punchline cut for obvious reasons, and a pretty decent Lee/Kirby FF reprint that maybe obliquely makes the same point Stan's opening story did so bluntly. Not my favorite of the "Stan Lee Meets.." one-shots (because I don't think there's any character so squarely at the intersection of Lee & Kirby as The Thing), but odd enough to be worth checking out, maybe. Eh but worth looking for.

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #23: I wax and wane in my appreciation of this title. There's so much to like (clever dialogue, lovely art), why does the stuff I don't dig turn me off so much? I'm inclined to think the good stuff makes the bad stuff stick out that much more (a character thinking she's just in a weird dream for, like, months, is the main craw currently stuck in my throat) but I really don't know. Any ideas? OK because it's too accomplished for Eh even though my real feelings about it are indeed Eh.

SUPERMAN BATMAN ANNUAL #1: Satisfyingly dumb fun, believe it or not. While it may be just as in-jokey and hard-to-believe as the last issue of Loeb's Superman/Batman, I found it much more enjoyable for one of any number of reasons: art, dialogue, blatant absurdity, etc. The bellwether is pretty much Joe Kelly's joke that the Deathstroke of Earth 2 (you know, the crime earth from Morrison and Quitely's OGN) is, more or less, Deadpool. If you think that's funny, you'll like this issue. If you think that's absurdly self-indulgent (or, rather, too absurdly self-indulgent to be funny) you probably won't like it. Chalk me up in the "I liked it" column. It was Good.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #101: After all of the intense mind-fuckery of the last few issues, this issue seemed to spin its wheels. Maybe because the UFF showed up, got a free pass, then conveniently disappeared so Peter could still be left in the soup? Surprisingly Eh, this issue.

WETWORKS #2: Whilce Portacio's work is the stuff of migraines for me--I can't look at it for too long without getting nauseous and seeing odd visual haloes in my vision. So you'll have to turn elsewhere to find out if this vampires-versus-werewolves-versus-cybernetically-augmented-soldiers story is proceeding along nicely or isn't. I've got to go lie in a dark room for a few hours and not think about it. No rating.

ZOMBIE #2: Underwhelming in almost every particular. Kyle Hotz's storytelling has some weird hinks where action is involved and it looks like this is heading toward a very E.C.-ish conclusion, but those are about the only impressions I was left with. Eh.

PICK OF THE WEEK: What are you, crazy? SEVEN SOLDIERS #1, but there was a lot of stuff out there I enjoyed reading. Much better than I would've thought.

PICK OF THE WEAK: I think if I could've made it through WETWORKS #2 without the hysterical blindness setting in, but who knows?

TRADE PICK: Oh, man. The first forty pages or so of THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM, VOL. 2 really fucked my shit up and I mean that in the most "get out there and get a copy NOW" kind of way possible. I've got a variety of things I could rant about but I think most of 'em would be pretty spoilery (save for my weird belief that there's an odd Chester Gould vibe permeating Kazuo Umezu's artwork for this). Let's just say if you draw succor from seeing a talented creator unafraid to explore some really dark ideas, you'll love this. I found huge chunks of this almost unspeakably satisfying. Just amazing.

And you?

Technology hates me: Graeme talks 10/18 Grant Morrison.

Is it too much for me to ask to have a working laptop that doesn’t crash every two minutes? Really? That’s the question I’ve been asking since this weekend, when my usual laptop started to die a series of very slow, very annoying deaths, forcing me onto this old, semi-abandoned laptop that has a “B” key that doesn’t really work, and entirely intermittent internet access. So if you’re wondering why I’m reviewing things a couple of days later than usual, and why I’m only reviewing two books, it’s because writing anything else may drive me into a rage that could result in the murder of the entire staff of Dell Computers worldwide. Which may not be a bad thing.

(To give you an idea as to how bad that “B” key is, that last line took roughly seven attempts to make that sixth word not say “ad”. And during that time, my internet access has come and gone four times. Science, my friends. It sucks.)

WILDCATS #1: I have to admit, I wasn’t convinced by this book by the time I reached the second last page. It seemed as if Grant Morrison’s script was trying to do too much, having too many ideas to try and explain and too many characters to introduce (or reintroduce, I guess, but I never really followed any previous Wildcats series), giving us fragmented scenes and awkward expositionary dialogue like “All these widescreen battles and public displays of stupidity: It’s vulgar and frightening. Adolescent. How would truly adult superheroes behave?” Meanwhile, Jim Lee’s art continually felt as if he had wandered into the wrong book and was trying to keep up – he’s a great superhero artist (ironically, perhaps, being one of the best for those public displays of stupidity that Grant seems to keen to get away from), but he can’t do subtle emotion very well, and there’s something about his idealized bodies that seemed at odds with what the story wanted to say (for me, at least; the sex scene in particular seemed really strange because Lee’s characters are so sexless and stiff, even before you got to the odd coloring and blurring that was, I presume, meant to suggest some form of surviellance or something). But then that second last page happened, and it was so beautifully ridiculous, with the generic superhero action being given not just stupid over-the-top narration, but stupid over-the-top narration in German that I was… not exactly sold, exactly, but willing to see where it was going to go next issue. Every character seems more like a character type, but with that narration – Grifter is confusion! Grifter is chaos! And death! And death! – it was almost as if that was intentional, at least for this part of the story, and that Morrison was not only aware of that but perhaps had plans for where it was going to go in the future. Alternatively, maybe he just thought it was funny. Okay, but for the best reasons, in a weird way – it’s too ambitious for its own good (and probably way too ambitious for a book that’s not going to make its bi-monthly schedule), but I guess there are worse reasons for something to fail, right? Much more successful was…

THE AUTHORITY #1: Maybe it’s just me, but as I read this, I kept wondering what the hardcore fans of Mark Millar’s Authority would make of this. This was a book that came closer to fulfilling Morrison’s above promise from Wildcats, being entirely devoid of widescreen battles or public displays of stupidity – or anything resembling superheroics at all, at this point – which, let’s face it, is what the Authority as a book is known for, thanks to the run that made Millar’s name. Would everyone who picked this up wanting to see a return to superheroes who swore and fucked and smoked joints be disappointed in this? Bored by it? Confused? The sheer difference in tone that this had from all the previous versions of the series – and this is also apparently the fourth volume of the series, like Gen 13 last week, but somehow more shocking considering this book is only six years old - felt both ballsy and necessary, but I’m wondering whether it’s something that’s going to alienate as many readers as it excites (Judging from the reaction on Millarworld so far – where people are complaining that they’re dropping the book because none of the title characters made an appearance, and how dare this not be a double-sized first issue so that there can be some action and punching – that seems to be the case). It’s not a complete break from what the book started as, though, as it still feels like a movie… It’s just that it’s now the beginning of a science fiction movie, in a way: Reality before the aliens invade, but an extremely stylized reality - one where the most apparent thing to the reader is how empty everything is. The dialogue and the artwork (most panels devoid of background, and colored in such a way to seem devoid of energy and life, too) are sparse to the point where it’s almost parody, and the story moves forward slowly, building atmosphere by keeping its distance from its characters and the true nature of the plot (If Wildcats is Morrison playing with his idea of recompressed superheroics, as he did for Seven Soldiers, then this book is a reclamation of decompression, in terms of speed and structure of the storytelling. It’s as if Bendis had started watching early Spielberg instead of Mamet). The way that “reality” is portrayed, as something beyond mundane, is a familiar Morrison trick, as seen especially in the final issue of his Doom Patrol run and sections of The Filth, but given a new charge here because you know that they’re just prelude to what’s to come, and because you don’t really know what is to come. This was Very Good, but I’m worried that the reveal of the Authority themselves is going to ruin the whole thing.

Meanwhile, now that Wildcats #2 has been moved to March, can we assume that the Worldstorm relaunch is more of less fucked already? Ah, probably. Shame.

Based on these two books, it’s obvious what’s my PICK OF THE WEEK and PICK OF THE WEAK. I would’ve had a TRADE OF THE WEEK, and it would’ve been the Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall graphic novel, had I remembered to pick it up. But I didn’t, because, well, I suck. But luckily, and to be honest, somewhat surreally, I found it in my mailbox today sent to me by DC. So somewhat confused (but no less grateful) thanks, Sierra, and the rest of you, expect me to review it next week. When either my laptop and internet will work again, or I’ll steal Kate’s because she won’t be working on freelance design stuff anymore.

This week: Seven Soldiers #1, right? That’s got to be pretty exciting...

Arriving 10/25

Looks like a pretty good, and fairly balanced week of stuff. 52 WEEK #25 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #45 (A) ACTION COMICS #844 ALL NEW OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z #10 ANGEL MASKS ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #174 BART SIMPSON COMICS #32 BLACK PANTHER #21 BOYS #4 CAPTAIN AMERICA #23 CW CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #26 CASTLE WAITING VOL II #2 CINDY & HER OBASAN IN ELVIS &THE LOST HALO CLASSIC BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #1 COMMON FOE #4 (OF 4) CONAN & THE SONGS OF THE DEAD #4 (OF 5) DAREDEVIL #90 DEATHBLOW #1 EXILES #87 GLOOMCOOKIE #28 GODLAND #13 HAWKGIRL #57 HEROES FOR HIRE #3 CW IMPALER #1 (OF 4) ION #7 (OF 12) JACK OF FABLES #4 JACK THE LANTERN GHOSTS #1 JSA CLASSIFIED #18 JUSTICE #8 (OF 12) LOVELESS #12 MARVEL SPOTLIGHT HEROES REBORN ONSLAUGHT REBORN NEGATIVE BURN #5 NEW AVENGERS #24 CW NEW EXCALIBUR #12 NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #9 PERHAPANAUTS SECOND CHANCES #1 (OF 4) PLANETARY #26 REAR ENTRY #14 (A) SAVAGE RED SONJA QOTFW #3 (OF4) SECRET SIX #5 (OF 6) SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #31 SEVEN SOLDIERS #1 (RES) SNAKEWOMAN #4 SPAWN #161 SPAWN GODSLAYER ONE SHOT SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #11 STAN LEE MEETS THING STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #9 SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #23 SUPERMAN BATMAN ANNUAL #1 TAG #2 (OF 3) TEEN TITANS GO #36 TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED MOVIE ADAPTATION #1 (OF 4) TRIALS OF SHAZAM #3 (OF 12) ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #101 UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #4 (OF 8) UNCLE SCROOGE #359 VAMPIRELLA 2006 HALLOWEEN SPECIAL #1 VERONICA #175 WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #674 WARLORD #9 WETWORKS #2 XENA #3 X-MEN #192 ZOMBIE #2 (OF 4)

Books / Mags / Stuff ABRAXAS AND THE EARTHMAN TP AMERICAN VIRGIN HEAD TP ARMY OF DARKNESS VOL 3 AOD VSREANIMATOR TP ASFA PRESENTS 108 DRAWING SC BATTLE POPE VOL 2 MAYHEM TP BLACK PANTHER BRIDE TP CLIVE BARKERS GREAT & SECRET SHOW VOL 1 TP DAREDEVIL DEVIL INSIDE AND OUT VOL 1 TP DAVE MCKEAN PARTICLE TAROT MINOR ARCANA HC EC ARCHIVES WEIRD SCIENCE VOL1 HC FOUNTAIN SC GIANT ROBOT #44 GRAPHIC HISTORY ISLAND OF TERROR GRAPHIC HISTORY SURPRISE ATTACK GRAPHIC HISTORY THE BLOODIESTDAY GRAPHIC HISTORY THE EMPIRE FALLS HAWAIIAN DICK VOL 2 LAST RESORT TP HEAVY METAL FALL 2006 HEROES REBORN FANTASTIC FOUR TP IRON WOK JAN GN #20 JUXTAPOZ NOV 2006 VOL 14 #11 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES VOL 3 SUPERGIRL LET US BE PERFECTLY CLEAR HC MARVEL COMICS ENCYCLOPEDIA HC MARVEL MASTERWORKS ATLAS ERA TALES SUSPENSE VOL 1 NEW ED HC PREVIEWS VOL XVI #11 PRIVATE STASH RED SONJA VOL 1 TP RUNAWAYS VOL 6 PARENTAL GUIDANCE DIGEST TP SCOUT VOL 1 TP SHOWCASE PRESENTS PHANTOM STRANGER VOL 1 TP SPAWN MANGA COLLECTION TP STAR WARS OMNIBUS X-WING ROGUE SQUADRON VOL 2 TP STRAY LITTLE DEVIL VOL 2 GN SUPERMARKET TP SWAN VOL 8 TEZUKAS ODE TO KIRIHITO SC VIDEO WATCHDOG #127 WIZARD COMICS MAG IRON MAN SPIDER-MAN CIVIL WAR CVR #182 YOUNG AVENGERS VOL 2 FAMILY MATTERS PREMIERE HC

What looks good to you?

-B

An Invitation, Plus Jeff's Reviews of 10/18 Books...

Oh, man. Thank God Hibbs has been posting and Graeme's back in the game, because I've been a busy little chimp. I'd like to say the worst is over and I'll be back to posting reliably, but...well, that's why we have three people writing this, I guess. Speaking of writing, National Novel Writing Month is right around the corner, and I wanted to invite any and all who might be interested in giving it a go. Nanowrimo is a great way to break old bad writing habits, develop bad new writing habits, and write a crappy 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I love it to death, although this may be the last year for me for a while--I've got five stinky first drafts sitting around and really have no need for a sixth--but I recommend it for anyone who's always said they were going to try their hand at a novel "someday." I've got a small mailing list of people doing Nano, so I also invite you to drop me a line at PIGdotLA/TINatGM/AILdotCOM (remove the two '/' marks and convert the rest appropriately) after you've registered at nano's website if you want to be part of my list. (Believe me, you'll find plenty of community even without my mailing list--Nano's message boards and community are supportive and extensive.)

So, there you go.

100 BULLETS #77: Too lazy to review TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED from last week, but wanted to echo the praise for the Dr. 13 feature there--the art was gorgeous, but even more stunning (for me) was Azzarello's successful creation of a voice different from his typical "who you think you are , winnie the fucking pooh?" "No, but I think I *am* winning this fucking pool" "Not once I finish skinning this fucking fool," etc., etc., you typically find here. If you're looking for something a bit different from "the Azz," go find that premiere issue of TALES.

52 WEEK #24: Last two weeks of this have been great fun although this issue took a strong turn into What-The-Fucksville right at the very end. The whole set-up with Super Chief only having his powers for an hour makes you expect that he's going to get chronoblasted an hour into the future, but, um, instead, he's, like, dead and stuff? And getting lectured by some spirit about who he fucked things up by expecting power without sacrifice and like that? Made not a lick of sense, particularly since one would think grandfather-smothering fits most traditional definitions of "sacrifice." Oh, well. Great art by Phil Jimenez (definitely the loveliest looking issue of 52 yet) and a prominent appearance by Ambush Bug puts this at a high Good, anyway.

ANITA BLAKE VH GUILTY PLEASURES #1: This should have huge crossover appeal: I know at least three people at work who swear by the Anita Blake books, and two of 'em might probably be tempted to pick this up. Me, I flipped through it and couldn't quite bring myself to read it--I know it sounds snobbish but if the work isn't being adapted by the author, I don't much care. (It's why I doubt I'll bother with the upcoming Dark Tower stuff from Marvel, as well.) But if your idea of a dramatic cliffhanger is seeing a vampire get a knee to the chump stump, then maybe you'll be more receptive.

AUTHORITY #1: I found both the Morrison Worldstorm books underwhelming, but for different reasons. Here, you've got some amazing Gene Ha art and absoutely nothing happening. I think I know where this is going--The Authority is going to end up in "our" world--and if so, the evocation of real life is fascinatingly dreary (I particularly liked the blurring as a way to evoke movement without resorting to any kind of speed lines and the associations with comice they might evoke). Lovely, but, seriously: Nothing. Happens. Supremely gorgeous Eh.

BIRDS OF PREY #99: Aw, and here I was hoping the new Batgirl would be, basically, Batmite (the teleportation, the thrown together outfit, the weirdo speech patterns--it all fit). Alas, no. Anyway, I continue to be emotionally vested in BoP, despite never quite being contented with any particular issue, and I can't imagine that's going to improve as we lose Black Canary. But who knows? Soundly OK.

BLADE #2: I know I read comics way too quickly, but at what point did Blade decide he was going to save Doom's mother instead of kill her? It seemed like he changed his mind between panels or something, didn't it? Still, if you've got to buy only one Chaykin drawn title out of the last year or so (sadly, the Chaykin fans I know have bought all of them), this is probably be the one to go--there's a lot more dynamism in the art here than I've seen from the Chay-man recently. Eh.

CABLE DEADPOOL #33: I don't get it. Why would you spoil your cliffhanger ending on the recap page? Is it some wacky "by spoiling it, I'm actually not spoiling it because the readers will never expect me to actually spoil it" double-blind? Middle of the OK scale for that reason, although it's a pretty decent issue overall.

CASANOVA #5: I've got quibbleage--for one thing, this issue is as heavy-handed in its way as some of the DC "message" books from the '70s (although I found that kinda charming, even as it dragged me right the fuck out of the narrative)--but five issues in five months and you can pick 'em all up for a hair under ten bucks? This is really Good work despite minor complaints, and a great deal.

CATWOMAN #60: Similarly, what I like about this title currently is what's also driving me crazy--like many of my beloved Marvel titles in the '70s, this title appears to be so far under people's radar that it's free to do all kinds of quirky, crazy crap. But it's also unfocused, draggy and almost all about the villain who, while entertaining, is really, really one note. It's Eh, unfortunately, and I'm frustrated I'm not having as much fun reading it as the writer seems to be writing it.

CHECKMATE #7: I missed last issue so: Hey! The Suicide Squad! Probably too little too late, as far as sales go, though. The story probably has too many ideas and characters already, as well, so--kind of a bust. More or less OK, and maybe better if last issue set things up well.

CIVIL WARDROBE: Ouch. I'm a fan of Rich Johnston's writing (I have the first two issues of Holed Up somewhere, although I can barely remember reading them) but this really stank. I thought the first three pages were kinda funny as Johnston does a parody of the opening of Civil War #1, but that's just a set-up for unamusing single-page riffs on Marvel characters--imagine Not Brand Ecchh as a pin-up book and that's Civil Wardrobe. I wanted to like this, I really did, but it was Awful.

DAMNED #1: Initially, I thought this was gonna be a slog--the milieu where gangsters and demons mix freely seems fresh from the High Concept Easy-Bake Oven--but the creators are taking their cues from Miller's Crossing (or The Glass Key, take your pick) and that helps makes the protagonist a cut above your usual hard-boiled mug. If it can keep itself from being too derivative of the work(s) inspiring it, it could be quite Good, and, frankly, even it does get a little too derivative, I'm a big enough Miller's Crossing fan to not care. Not great, but surprisingly Good.

DESOLATION JONES #7: Hmm. Interestingly, I think new artist Daniel Zezelj will make me want more from this than I did on the first arc. There, the suave J.H. Williams III made the various pop nods seem inherently woven into the theme of the work. Here, Zezelj's work brings a spareness that could make a similar approach feel flat (if Williams had been doing the work, I'm sure I would've been much more giddy to see the Phil Dick book pop up) as things become more--I dunno, unadorned?--in the telling. Fortunately, Ellis seems up to the challenge in Round I (I thought it was great that the characters introduced each other at the begining of each scene, for example. True, they were probably written that way before Zezelj signed on, but as it made the storytelling a thousand times so much clearer, I'm not entirely sure) and I'm lookng forward to the next issue. Finally, kudos to Jose Villarubia for helping ease the transition between two very different art styles--there's something about that urine-yellow sky that ties the two arcs together for me. Very Good.

HELLSTORM SON OF SATAN #1: A lot like the Son of Satan stories I remember reading as a kid: surprisingly superheroish art, an interest on the part of the writer in everything but Satanism, and capable of fostering the suspicion in the reader that, maybe, if you think about it for a while, the Son of Satan really *isn't* that cool an idea. Eh but I'm in for another issue because dammit, he's the Son of Satan! He could be really cool!

JOHN WOO'S SEVEN BROTHERS #1: Struck a pretty good balance--it read more briskly than most current Ennis work but it didn't seem like he phoned it in, either--and I think that Ennis has ideas about brotherhood, courage and sacrifice similar to Woo's, even if the work of the two men is different in tons of other ways. Highly OK, I thought, but hardcore Woo fans or non-Ennis readers probably won't think so much of it.

KING OF KINGS #1: This actually came out 10/11, but I'm so smitten with this book I wanted to mention it. It starts off in a futuristic, Blade Runnerish city and a sky car wherein a prostitute discuses Scripture with a client. Then, another prostitute (named, I shit you not, Gomer) shows up and the two prostitutes start arguing about the accuracy of Biblical prophecies, and then giant crabs show up and bite off people's shins. In short, if the words "Jack Chick manga" strike any sort of sympathetic chord with you, seek this book out. Beautifully drawn and batshit crazy, I loved it from start to finish. No rating, because we don't really have a "So Bad It's Heavenly" rating.

LONE RANGER #2: A little heavy on modern remake syndrome (where everything you expect is given a twist so that, for example, Tonto first appears saying "How. ...did you ever survive so many gunshot wounds?") but an unsettling and over the top villain, some fine art and a general intelligence make up for it. (Gotta say, though, between the evil, flensing murderer here, the cowardly pimp in Seven Brothers and the New Orleans muggers of Hellstorm, it's not really the best week for portrayals of African-Americans, no matter how Casanova #5 tries.) High side of OK--I'll be back for more.

MS MARVEL #8: First: The Shroud lost his eyesight in a ritual scarification ceremony that's part of his origin so I have no idea who this Shroud is. Second: Every character in this book is more likeable than the title character and I don't think that's really a good direction for the book. Third: I wonder if Marvel's sales are gonna drop post-Civil War because I don't know if I can take another four or five months of it. Fourth: Not that I'm any kind of canary in a coalmine about that kind of thing, because I ain't. Fifth: Highly Eh, because I like C-list Marvel characters (like the Shroud) and read the last three issues because of that.

WILDCATS #1: The more successful of the underwhelming Morrison Wildstorm books, just becuase stuff happens. Jog's of the opinion that this issue doesn't quite work because the Cats characters aren't mythic enough to have the characters presented the way they are in this first issue--I think the problem is rather that Mr. Morrison is currently exceeding his grasp (deadline-wise, if nothing else) and so everything he's turning out is pretty uneven. I mean, that page of Grifter killing guys while disembodied word balloons yell at you in German? Fucking awesome. But kaleidoscopic sex scenes and characters speaking in flattened metareferences (like when Spartan refers to the onset of superhero violence as "widescreen")? Pretty tired. Part of this may be Jim Lee's art, which has hit comic book entropy--some kind of storytelling heatdeath where every single scene is presented so dynamically, none of it has any impact.

Or maybe I just had my expectations set too high and this thing shipped later than it should have. A lowish OK, because who really knows?

PICK OF THE WEEK: Desolation Jones #7, for teh win!

PICK OF THE WEAK: Civil Wardrobe #1, for teh lose!

TRADE PICK: Lots of good stuff this week, but I dug into Vol. 5 of NAOKI URASAWAS MONSTER like a starving man. Very episodic, but also very enjoyable.

NEXT WEEK: Me and the missus celebrate my birthday in Vegas! Got any good (non-pervy) suggestions for attractions?

Hibbs does 10/11

No preamble, not if I want to have a chance of finishing this today... (And, man, I really need a good idea for the TILTING I'm supposed to write tomorrow.)

DORK #11: What I loved about this was the sheer density of ideas. Even when some of them kinda sucked (I thought "Shitty Witch" was fairly well named), you just turned the page, and there were another 5 new ideas waiting for you. I wish Dorkin could give us an issue a year (or more), but I'll definitely take what I can get of this VERY GOOD comic.

GEN13 #1: Oh. A full-on hard reboot. Not what I expected, I have to say, and something that could really backfire, since if it doesn't take THIS time, well its pretty much over, ain't it? The whole relaunch of the WS books has kind of been a disaster, really, what with not being able to hit deadlines on the "flagship" title, and all, but I thought this was a fairly solid launch here. If only they'd been clearer about the intentions. I'll go with GOOD, albeit a very LOW "Good". It has my attention for 3 issues.

CHIP ZDARSKY'S MONSTER COPS #1: I love ol' Chipper (A deep, masculine love), though I keep waiting for the home-run humor of his online persona to really translate in a comic book. I was pretty meh about the first story in here, but then we got to the Vampirella one, and I just howled and howled. "Buh...buh...but I can't READ!" Beauty! And pure comedy gold. That story alone elevates the proceedings to a GOOD.

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #1: Go read Graeme's review, because I think he nailed it pretty accurately. Me, I just want to add that I thought the Dr. 13 story was really wonderful. I'm not used to liking Azzarello's writing (Sorry), but here it was like a whole new guy. Oh, and that art! The Spectre stuff was pretty meh, but I liked 13 enough to give the whole thing a GOOD. Yeah, shocked me, too.

BOMB QUEEN v2 #1: Sure, it's pandering, but I thought it reasonably amusing in doing so. Unlike, say, TAROT, one gets the sense Jimmie Robinson's tongue is firmly in his cheek. A solid OK.

PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #1: Pretty enough, but badly paced. I'll give it one more issue, at least to find out about the eponymous Pirates, OK

STAN LEE MEETS DR STRANGE: Not as full-bore insane as the SPIDER-MAN one, but fairly close. At first blush I thought maybe that Stan just scripted this over a wholly different plot, but there are a few things in there that must have been from Stan, so... I'm sorta sorry he's so cynical about his creations, and their value, since a lot of us still respond viscerally to them, but, I guess that's what happens when your very name becomes household like that. Its funny, it probably takes me 20 years to gross what Stan does in one, and he's the one cynical about money. Ah well. The Bendis backup was, as Graeme observed, shrill, self-serving, and kinda blechy (Grow a thicker skin, it my advice), but, at the same time, I thought it was really terrific. And right, in places. It's just that someone OTHER than Bendis needed to make that argument. Overall, I'll go with an OK for the package.

ULTIMATE POWER #1: Problem #1 is the art. Ugh, so stiff, so posed, so traced-looking. I used to really like Land's work in SOJOURN (because the fantasy setting hid the photo ref?), but I can't hardly bear to look at it any more. Problem #2 is the story -- it's an adequate FF story, I guess, but it ends with such a huge awful thud when the Squadron arrives. There's no weight or power to it -- just a bunch of posed costumes with no context. Bordeline awful, but I'll be a soft bastard and just say EH, instead.

DMZ #12: I couldn't read it. Just couldn't. Way way way too soon in the series to release a "worldbuilding" sourcebook issue. Especially in the context of a regular issue. AWFUL.

On to the BOOKS:

ANTHOLOGY OF GRAPHIC FICTION CARTOONS & TRUE STORIES HC: Here's the thing: if GRETEST AMERICAN COMICS hadn't JUST come out... or possibly if MCSWEENEYS #13 had never come out, then this might have been perceived as kinda great. Maybe. But those books DID come out, and that gives a benchmark to look at this against. See, it's not that this isn't a great big honking collection of suberb comics, because it is -- its just that we've seen this before, and better, at that.

Part of my problem, I think, might be that the book is kinda formless. Title aside, there's no clear theme when you're reading the book, and it jumps around in decades willy nilly. Plus, there's a sense of including stuff because (creator) "needs" to be in the book.... whether because it is "expected" or because they're pals with Brunetti, I can not say.... but it FEELS like one of the two.

When discussing the book with Jeff on Friday, the only thing I was able to seize upon was that, maybe, because it is published by Yale University Press, maybe the intent of the boo is to be a syllabus for a critical comics reading class. That might explain the excerpt from MAUS (8 pages from the middle kind of have no power on their own), or the section where "here's all the D&Q cartoonists" and so on. As a TEXTBOOK, it's not a bad package really.

Really, it is a package of really really good comics. REALLY GOOD... but if you already know comics, it's pretty formless, pretty toothless, and pretty damn dated. If all you've ever read in your life is SUPERMAN or X-MEN, then, damn straight, you should get this. But if you know your comics, then this package is a failure. A well intentioned, noble, lush, pretty failure, but a failure nonetheless.

The PICK OF THE WEEK is pretty obviously DORK #11 (and isn't the lack of Dorkin in Brunetti's anthology pretty glaring?)

THE PICK OF THE WEAK goes to DMZ #12 this week. Too soon, too slight.

THE GN/TP OF THE WEEK has 2 primary choices: DESOLATION JONES, which is just pure gold, and the ABSOLUTE SANDMAN HC, which, OMG, is a supremely lush version of one of the greatest serialized stories ever. The recoloring on those first issues is really damn good (though I wish someone asked around for some of the original art... I own the original for page 7, and could have given them a better scan of it than the "decolored" version they had)

I'm going to be an ass and lean towards ABSOLUTE SANDMAN because... well, because it was actually MY idea. Neil had complained about the original coloring for YEARS, and after the first "Absolute" (HUSH, was it?) came out, I called both Karen and Neil and suggested that they amortize the cost of recoloring on the back of an ABSOLUTE. "That's a really good idea!" they enthused, but 2 weeks or so later Karen told me that Levitz said no. Well, it took a year or two of convincing, I guess, but eventually he apparently came around, because here's the book. It's going to really pay off the next time they go back to press on v1 & 2 of the SCs, and they can use this coloring. Should send sales right upwards!

Anyway, I don't know if anyone up there remembers it was my idea (Certainly, there's nothing in the final book to suggest so), but I don't really care, because the more important thing is that it happened. And it looks GREAT. Best $100 you'll spend, really.

And that gives me 10 more minutes until the truck is supposed to show, so off I go to try to read a comic or two today...

What did YOU think?

-B

Arriving 10/18

Here's this week's pile. 100 BULLETS #77 2000 AD #1506 2000 AD #1507 52 WEEK #24 ADRENALINE #1 (OF 8) AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #1 ANITA BLAKE VH GUILTY PLEASURES #1 (OF 12) ARCHIE #570 AUTHORITY #1 BATMAN AND THE MAD MONK #3 (OF 6) BIRDS OF PREY #99 BLADE #2 BRIAN DENHAMS BIT TORMENT #1 CABLE DEADPOOL #33 CASANOVA #5 CATWOMAN #60 CHECKMATE #7 CIVIL WAR X-MEN #4 (OF 4) CIVIL WARDROBE CLAW THE UNCONQUERED #5 CLAWS #3 (OF 3) CONAN #33 CREEPER #3 (OF 6) CSI DYING IN THE GUTTERS #3 DAMNED #1 DEADMAN #3 DESOLATION JONES #7 DEVILS PANTIES #5 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #345 ELEPHANTMEN #4 E-MAN RECHARGED EXTERMINATORS #10 FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #5 GHOST RIDER #4 GIRLS #18 HELLBLAZER #225 HELLGATE LONDON #0 (OF 4) HELLSTORM SON OF SATAN #1 (OF5) HIGHLANDER #1 HOLIDAY FUN DIGEST #11 JACK KIRBYS GALACTIC BOUNTY HUNTERS #3 JOHN WOOS SEVEN BROTHERS CVR COMBINE #1 JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #250 (NOTE PRICE) JUGHEAD #177 KRYPTO THE SUPER DOG #2 (OF 6) LAST CHRISTMAS #4 (OF 5) LONE RANGER #2 MARVEL 1602 FANTASTICK FOUR #2 (OF 5) MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #6 MICKEY MOUSE AND FRIENDS #294 MS MARVEL #8 CW NOBLE CAUSES #24 OMEGA MEN #1 (OF 6) QUEEN & COUNTRY #31 RAMAYAN 3392 AD #2 RED SONJA #15 REX MUNDI DH ED #2 ROBIN #155 RUNAWAYS #21 SANDMAN #1 SPECIAL EDITION SAVAGE DRAGON #129 SCOOBY DOO #113 SHADOWPACT #6 SIMPSONS COMICS #123 SKYE RUNNER #5 SONIC X #13 SPECIAL EDUCATION #1 STUDENTS OF THE UNUSUAL EXTRACREDIT SPECIAL #1 TABULA RASA #1 TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST #15 TASK FORCE ONE #4 TESTAMENT #11 THRUD THE BARBARIAN #4 TOUPYDOOPS #4 TRANSFORMERS STORMBRINGER #4 (OF 4) ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #35 UNION JACK #2 (OF 4) WASTELAND #4 WHAT WERE THEY THINKING MONSTER MASH UP ONE SHOT WILDCATS #1 WOLVERINE #47 CW WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE #3 X-FACTOR #12 X-MEN FIRST CLASS #2 (OF 8) ZOMBIES #5

Books / Mags / Stuff AGNES QUILL AN ANTHOLOGY OF MYSTERY GN ALTER EGO #62 BATMAN GOTHAM COUNTY LINE TP BIRDS OF PREY THE BATTLE WITHIN TP BLACK DOGS GRAPHIC SHAKESPEARE KING LEAR GN BLACK DOGS GRAPHIC SHAKESPEARE MACBETH GN CHARLEYS WAR VOL 3 OCT 1916 FEB 1917 HC #3 COMICS BUYERS GUIDE JAN 2007 #1624 ESSENTIAL MARVEL HORROR VOL 1TP EXILES VOL 13 WORLD TOUR BOOK2 TP FABLES 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL HC FORTEAN TIMES #215 GOLGO 13 VOL 5 GN HELLBOY COMIC SER 2 AF ASST HELLCITY VOL 1 GN LITTLE LULU VOL 12 LEAVE IT TO LULU TP LUCKY LUKE GHOST TOWN TP MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS VOL 1 HEROES ASSEMBLED DIGEST TP MARVEL CLASSIC COMICS 2007 WALL CALENDAR NAOKI URASAWAS MONSTER VOL 5 TP NEAL ADAMS POINTERS FROM MASTER STORYTELLER SKETCH BOOK NEW TEEN TITANS ARCHIVES VOL 3 HC OHIKKOSHI TP ROUGH STUFF #2 SEVEN SONS GN SHOWCASE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN VOL 1 TP SIMON BISLEYS PARADISE LOST SC SUPERMAN RETURNS THE PREQUEL TP TAILS VOL 1 LIFE IN PROGRESS TP THIEVES & KINGS PRESENTS WALKING MAGE GN VOL 1 TWO FACE 13 INCH DELUXE COLLECTOR FIGURE ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 6FRIGHTFUL TP WICKED WEST VOL 2 ABOMINATION& OTHER TALES GN WOLVERINE ORIGINS VOL 1 BORN IN BLOOD PREMIERE HC YOU AINT NO DANCER VOL 2 GN ZOMBEE GN FROM HELL TP (new printing)

The big hooray of the week (for me at least) is that last item -- that's been OP for a long long time.

I have a Very Special Asshat award this week, not for the usual lateness reason. No, it has to go to WILDCATS #1. Why? This was the "flagship" of the WS relaunch (And this feels, to me, like the 3rd or 4th time the line has been "relaunched"), the one with, externally, the biggest draw, since it has Jim Lee art, and it ships the same week as the OTHER Grant Morrison penned WS book, to boot. Le Groan.

I think my favorite comic book title ever is this week "BIT TORMENT". HAHAHAHAHAHAAH. I ordered it JUST for that.

What looks good to you?

-B

I should be asleep, or doing something more interesting: Graeme's reviews of some comics.

The downside of vacation? Potentially missing seeing Brian Hibbs eat insects, but I think that happened after I was back, but just nowhere near the store at the time. Still, how often do you see people eat bugs because they lost a bet? Brian Hibbs – Man of honor. Me – I’m a man of grumpy and overlong reviews, as you’re about to find out. BOMB QUEEN II: QUEEN OF HEARTS #1: So, despite the Mature Readers block on the cover (A cover that features the titular character lying on her bed in the throes of pleasure, her hand wrapped suggestively around a stick of dynamite acting as phallic symbol, with the shadow of a male lover against the wall behind her, ready for the male reader to project himself into the scene. That whole “Never judge a book by its cover” thing? Don’t bother; this particular cover tells you all you need to know about this particular book. Its purpose is some weird fan service titillation, and little else), there really is nothing in this book for mature readers. Yeah, there are breasts and swearing, but really? This is the kind of book a horny 15 year old could come up with, right down to the reductive – and somewhat offensive – portrayal of women as personified by the eponymous heroine. The plot, such as it is, is this: Bomb Queen is a hardass supervillain who meets a man, fucks him, and then falls in love with him, missing the point that he is plotting her downfall. Bomb Queen is gifted with such thought balloons as “Yummy British accent. Handsome. I want him.” and “Holy fuck! I think that was the best sex I ever had?” while showing off her nipples at any given opportunity, and the man she falls for spouts unbelievable “British” dialogue like “James Barry is what me mum fancied and I’m stickin’ with it.” It’s a really weird comic, as if some mid-level 1950s DC writer tried his hand at softcore porn, but somehow less interesting than that sounds and more Awful.

CRIMINAL #1: Yes, I know; everyone has reviewed this by now and loved it. I’m not any different. It really is Very Good and an amazing first issue, wonderfully evocative and still spare in the execution; there isn’t a superfluous line of dialogue and Sean Philips’ art is probably the best he has ever produced (helped a lot, it should be said, by Val Staples’ coloring, which keeps the palette of Matt Hollingsworth’s best stuff without seeming a complete copy of his work). Ed Brubaker’s writing is so tight here that it almost reflects badly on his mainstream superhero stuff, where things don’t flow as naturally or as well (even though they’re very enjoyable, especially Daredevil, which currently has a feeling not a million miles from this). You come away from the book feeling as if the crime genre is not only where Brubaker thrives the most, but also that it’s a genre with more potential than any other for interesting stories, the writing is so good. Although I doubt everyone will agree with me, I thought it was miles better than Sleeper, as good as that series was.

DOCTOR STRANGE: THE OATH #1: I’ve just watched the last three episodes of Venture Bros on TiVo, and as a result, find it very hard to take Dr. Orphe – I mean, Dr. Strange that seriously right now. Luckily, Brian K. Vaughan seems to be in the same mindset, having him complain about having to incant in Latin while manservant (and plot McGuffin) Wong kicks some gangster ass in the background. He’s not playing for laughs, though; it’s just that the jokes – Iron Fist grumbling about people asking him where Luke Cage is, Night Nurse’s amusement about Strange’s title Sorcerer Supreme – offset the potential overblown nature of the plot (Dr. Strange – spoiler – cures cancer!) without defusing the tension. Nonetheless, the star of the show may be Marcos Martin’s art, which is gorgeous, mixing Mazzuchelli, Lark, and Risso into something that’s spacious and simple and really rather special. Very Good, even if I expected Strange to say that he had to check his daughter’s closet at any point.

DORK #11: Despite Evan Dorkin’s self-depreciating commentary, this might be one of the funniest things you’ll see all year, with joke upon joke upon joke. With each joke being – with only a couple of exceptions, at most – four panels long, if you don’t find one particularly funny, there’s another one along in seconds. Luckily, most of the jokes are Very Good. Especially the Prisoner of Second Avenue one, which made me laugh far more than it probably should have.

GEN 13 #1: I’ll admit, I never read any previous version of Gen 13 (According to the indica in this issue, this is the fourth volume of the series, which seems kind of amazing. Isn’t the series only about ten years old?), so I have no idea if this is a new, grittier take on the characters or not, but this was much darker than I was expecting. Starting with date rape being watched on the internet by those who’d bid highest for the “pleasure” was definitely an unexpected opening, and while nothing else in the issue gets that unsettling, nothing here feels very light or fun, either. It’s obviously an intentional move, but one that feels curiously false for some reason, as if it’s dark for the sake of being dark, if that makes sense. Which isn’t to say this isn’t worth reading, because it was actually Good, but I’m really curious where it’s going next and whether or not the hand of the author (or editor, perhaps, in this case) will feel less obvious as the series progresses.

THE PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #1: I read East Coast Rising while I was on vacation, and saw Pirates artist Vasilis Lolos’s name in the credits in there, credited with toning Becky Cloonan’s linework. You can see Becky’s influence in Lolos’s own art here, along with the influence (as I think Beaucoup Kevin Church has already pointed out) of Supermarket’s Kristian Donaldson. It’s Supermarket that this book reminded me of, for the most part; Rick Spears’ script being reminiscent of Brian Wood’s writing when he does his disaffected young urban loners thing with the ultraviolence and sparse dialogue that always makes me think of Frank Miller’s teen gangs in Dark Knight Returns. I liked Supermarket more, perhaps because it had an easier-to-follow narrative, but this came together enough in the last few pages for me to want to check out the next issue, if only to actually see the eponymous Pirates and see what’s meant to be so great about them. Okay.

(East Coast Rising, by the way, was a lot of fun, and annoyingly short – it ended just as the story felt like it was getting going, although I was a fan of the fact that the plot really does center around a treasure map. Becky Cloonan’s artwork was pretty damn nice, as well, a step on from her Demo stuff.)

STAN LEE MEETS SPIDER-MAN #1 and STAN LEE MEETS DOCTOR STRANGE #1: Yes, I know that they’re both one-shots, but both of them are listed as issue 1s on the cover, just in case the world demands a second issue down the line somewhere. I have to admit, I wouldn’t mind seeing these as miniseries, just to find out if, if you keep Stan Lee doing these stories, he’ll end up breaking down in tears at what his creations have become. That’s the feeling I get from the Lee-written stories in both of these special issues, that there’s some part of “The Man” who realizes, with no small cynicism, that his characters are more commodities than anything else these days. How else do you explain him explaining to Spider-Man that he can’t quit not because of the “great responsibility” he once wrote about but because of the merchandising he has, or his recasting Dr. Strange as someone who has to sell t-shirts and tours around his house in order to make his rent each month? Yes, both stories are funny, but there’s something really sad about them as well, as if Stan’s acknowledging of the importance of business overpowering everything else represents something along the lines of an old man watching his life’s work being used for evil or something. Or maybe that’s just me.

The worst thing in either issue – where the Stan-written stories are backed up with short humor strips, reprints of other Stan work and longer stories by current fan-favorite Marvel creators – is the Brian Michael Bendis-written story in the Dr. Strange book, which is a bizarre passive-aggressive fuck you to fans who’ve complained about the current direction of Marvel: The Impossible Man comes to Earth, learns about Avengers Disassembled, House of M, Gwen Stacy fucking the Green Goblin, and Civil War, gets upset about his childhood being raped – and yes, he actually says “You’re raping my youth” to emphasize that he’s meant to represent the generic message board complainer, no subtlety here, true believer – only to meet Stan Lee who tells him that Marvel always was about change and people complained about Hawkeye joining the Avengers way back when, so shut up. It sticks out appallingly in the books so far, because it’s not a story about Stan Lee, but a story about Brian Bendis and his friends and their generic (and, to be honest, kind of weak) defense against criticism of their work, where Stan Lee is used as a figurehead instead of anything else. There are funny things in the story (Gwen Stacy’s one panel cameo kind of emphasizes what was so dumb about the whole “Sins Past” storyline), but overall it left a bitter taste in my mouth. It’s not enough to have books that sell so well, but you’ve got to get back at the few (but vocal) people who complain about your work? Isn’t that kind of petty?

(Joss Whedon writes the back-up for the Spider-Man book, a shaggy dog story with an end you can see coming a mile off, but the execution is amusing enough, and any story which ends with Stan Lee heading to PornWorld has to be given some kind of credit.)

Both books are Good in a really strange way, and both are almost worth it for the art alone; Olivier Coipel’s Spider-Man will make you want to see him on a regular Spider-book sooner rather than later.

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #1: Ignoring the cover, which I liked a lot – not just for the Mike Mignola cover, but also the logos. Yes, I’m a geek – and the first thing that hits you with this book is that it really has the wrong artist. Eric Battle, who does the Dave Lapham-written Spectre serial, just can’t do the understated atmosphere that the writing calls for, for the most part. He’s too much of a superhero artist, wanting to make everything too dynamic but without the ability to play things cool when it’s necessary for contrast (I could make a cheap comment about his anatomy, as well, but it’s probably enough to say that the hand on page 2 apparently is symmetrical, with a thumb on either side). It’s a problem that’s made all the more apparent by Cliff Chiang’s artwork on the second story in the book, Brian Azzarello’s Dr. 13, which is by far the superior of the two. Compare and contrast: The Spectre gets curious about a tenement full of people with secrets, and The World’s Greatest Skeptic investigates the paranormal alongside his teenage daughter, about whom he has the kind of dreams that parents shouldn’t have about their children. Really, which one would you rather spend your time with? Overall, the book is pretty Eh, but the Dr. 13 strip is Good, and hopefully going to be collected on its own when the series is over and done.

ULTIMATE POWER #1: You know it’s not good when the thing I remember most about a comic is that Greg Land needs to spend more time with real people because of the proportions he gave a character in the first page of this issue (For those with the book, or who’ve seen the page online: Look how thin Black Mamba is! What’s going on there?). Yes, it’s another big event book from Marvel, and it’s all very competently done, but at no point does it make me care about anything that’s happening or make me want to come back for the second issue. Even the climactic reveal feels underplayed, because the arrival of the Squadron Supreme is done without dialogue; it’s just two pages of random people flying around (and posing, because it is a Greg Land book). If you haven’t seen the advance hype for the book and know who these people were, I’m not sure what you’d take from the ending here: “Oh. People are flying. Is that bad?” There’s just a lack of excitement in the whole enterprise, no tension in the story anywhere. Even the McGuffin feels stale (Reed tries to cure Ben, makes mistake, adventure ensues). Eh and then some, sadly. At least Civil War elicits some kind of response for the most part.

PICK OF THE WEEKS would have to be Criminal, although Dork should technically get it considering it, you know, actually came out this week. PICK OF THE WEAK is easily Bomb Queen, a book that you kind of feel that creator Jimmie Robinson probably read Tank Girl and took all the wrong lessons away from it about why women found it empowering. I have no idea what trades even came out this week, to be my TRADE OF THE WEEK; I’m still upset that apparently Absolute New Frontier hasn’t been released, because that was going to be my birthday present to myself in a strange way of my justifying the price tag in my head, and can’t focus because of that. Absolute Sandman really looked pretty, though.

So before I get hate mail about being so mean to Bomb Queen, what did the rest of you read this week?

Hibbs eats a bug: the context

Here's your context for the entry below. (this is a repost from a couple of months ago):

****

Just because I am a big enough man to admit when I was wrong, I stumbled across a post in the Comic Book Industry Alliance boards from 3/2/01 where I said this about ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN:

>>>LONG TERM...I really really really don't think it will suceed. By the time it hits issue #50, how is it really going to be any different than the "real" Marvel universe, RE: the accretion of history? If it makes #100, I'll eat a bug.<<<

While I do think the line has become SOMEwhat innaccessible now because of that accretion of history, I was clearly really really really wrong, and it seems all but inevitible that ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN will, in fact, make it to #100.

(Unless something were to happen to Bendis. And we wouldn't want that. No.)

My especial apologies to Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagely for doubting thier creative accumen, and to Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas for doubting thier marketing instincts. They were right, and I was wrong.

****

I decided on, as you can see below, a Cricket. Crickets are sold by pet stores. These came in a box that said "The classic cricket experience! Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside!", which I would have to say is fairly accurate.

Maybe more "squirty and gross on the inside", though.

There was a definate "pop" when I bit in, and bug guts went oozing into my mouth.

It wasn't, neccessarily, a BAD taste -- just a GROSS one. Foreign, y'know?

Really, though, the worst part was when Jeff & James Masente (our second witness, and the operator of the video on Jeff's camera) informed me the video didn't take, and we should do it again. Um, no. I said I'd eat "A" bug, not "multiple bugs until you get the shot right".

Either way, really, my truly sincere apologies to Bendis and Bagley, Joe Quesada, and Jemas -- they were right and I was wrong, and I have the mandibles stuck in my teeth to prove it!

Never let it be said that I am not a man of my word!!!

****

I should also point you over to the podcast that the guys at http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/ did with me this week -- 90 minutes of me blab blab blabbing about the comics industry and how we got where we are, and where we're going.... but thier server seems to be down. I guess I'm too popular for my own good, and I broke thier server. Whoops.

-B

Attend The Tale: Hibbs Eats A Bug.

Yes, it happened, and I was there to see it. Sadly, we were not able to catch this event in all the full videographic glory it deserves, since, at a crucial moment, my camera decided it didn't understand what it was being asked to do when someone pushed the shutter button. Until I prepare my signed deposition testifying that Hibbs did indeed eat a bug, you'll have to make do with these delightful pictures. And by "delightful," I mean, "not for the squeamish," as some of the faces Hibbs makes are...not for the timid. Anyhoo. Here's our first photo, where our man looks very sad that he ever expressed doubt that Ultimate Spider-Man would last in the marketplace and that he would eat a bug if it made 100 issues:

From Bug Hibbs

And here we see him preparing to eat the wee beastie:

From Bug Hibbs

And just so you don't think there's any sleight of hand involved, please see the following blown-up image:

From Bug Hibbs

From there, our tiny friend traveled to the mouth of Mr. Hibbs. I'd like to say it was quick and painless, but at least for Brian, it was neither:

From Bug Hibbs

(I know I should have adjusted the color balance on that one but, not only am I no Joe or Janie Photoshop, if I remember correctly, Brian really did change colors as he ate.)

Finally, Mr. Hibbs produces proof that he devoured the cricket. After this picture, he went outside for a very long time, where I believe he retched, smoked a cigarette, and tried to wash his mouth out with soda all at the same time:

From Bug Hibbs

And there you have it--a fitting gift for your Friday the 13th. I'm sure my awful karma for participating in this event will return fivefold shortly. Have a great weekend!

Blogger the 13th.

Sorry, Internet. I wrote a whole post and transferred all of Hibbs' exciting bug-eating photos but blogger doesn't feel like uploading them. So now I'm late for work and we don't have any bug-eating entry for today. Hooray!

I'll try posting them again tonight. (And, now, finally, I understand why people switch to Wordpress. Grrr.)

Lotsa Books Plus No Time Equals: Jeff's Reviews of 10/04 Books

This is the second week in a row where I walked out of the comic store shaking my head in shame. Just tons and tons of books I didn't get a chance to read at all. Of course, part of that may be that there are more and more substantial book releases all the time as well--I spent a good chunk of this last Friday making my way through BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006--but, me being me, I'm perfectly happy to blame the complete and utter breakdown of my reading faculties (or is that facilities?) as 40 bears down on my unprepared ass. And on that merry note, will Steve D, Adam Stephanides and Sean, all of whom provided invaluable answers to my fat, slobby bad-ass survey of a few weeks ago drop me a line at pigDOTlatinATgmailDOTcom? Your valuable prizes have arrived!

And now, on with the four-color feeding frenzy:

52 WEEK #22: As Bri pointed out, this book is far better than a weekly comic really has any right to be. The scene with Will Magnus muttering "I don't want to be crazy, I don't want to be crazy" while his world falls apart around him was great, but I admit Super-Chief sort of kertwangs some deep liberal knee-jerk response in me--finally, a superhero for Native Americans who want to kill their mouthy grandfathers! Very OK, but when Bat-Hombre debuts by kicking out his mom's uterus to use as a magic bolo, don't say you weren't warned.

ALL NEW ATOM #4: Apart from the comment about Byrne's dynamism in dialogue scenes, I pretty much agree with Hibbs' review here, too. And did I imagine it or did the Atom's arch-nemesis lick his knife on the last page of this issue? Licking a knife is what today's kids do instead of twirling one's mustache, if you ask me. It's kinda played out as an "ooo, he's so eeeevil!" form of shorthand. More-or-less OK issue overall, though.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR #2: The good news: Chris Weston draws Harvey Pekar (at a comic book convention!) The bad news: he only does so for two pages. Still, a terrific line-up of artistic talent made this a Good issue if you go in for the Harvey Pekar kind of thing.

BEYOND #4: Four issues in and it's still playing its big, cosmic concept very small. While I think that's generally a plus--I was sure we'd have gotten a power cosmic Gravity wrist-wrestling The Beyonder for control of the cosmos by now--it feels like the story isn't going to ramp up as much as putter about and then tidily close up shop. I know I'm a contrarian, but now that McDuffie and Kolins have my interest, I'd like to see something bigger.

BOYS #3: Nothing particularly deep or snarky to say about the issue, but I thought it was interesting how Robertson can give his work an almost-Dave Gibbons-ish feel when he wants to--like that cover, for example. (I thought Cameron Stewart's work in Other Side looked a bit like Robertson's work too, as long as I'm saying whatever's coming to mind as I write this.) An OK issue, but if there aren't some serious fireworks in store by the end of the first arc, I wonder if enough readers are gonna stick around--which is kinda like saying I wonder if I'm gonna stick around, but kinda not. I can read this for free while working the counter, you know.

CRIMINAL #1: You picked this up, right? If not, you should. There's a lot to praise here, but the two things that struck me most were Phillips' way with a setting (and Val Staples' fantastic coloring), making a half-dozen different neighborhoods still feel like part of the same city, and the way Brubaker has compressed his already-taut storytelling--the bit about the newspaper strip was the only thing that I could've seen cutting (and I'm sure it has a payoff later down the line). Very Good stuff, in the way that, say, a '70s Don Siegel film is very good stuff--you're watching a genre work done by someone at the top of their craft who knows that genre front to back. A rare treat for comics, and worth picking up.

DETECTIVE COMICS #824: It's hard to believe that a competent done-in-one Batman comic is all I really want these days, but it's true. So the fact that this doesn't quite satisfy is unsettling. I think it's because I've been trained to expect the run to end in six issues, or for a huge crossover story to come in and wipe out the tone of the run, or maybe because it seems likely to me Dini's renovations of the Rogue's Gallery will be forgotten two issues after he leaves. Highly OK, but I guess the Bat-franchise has left me gun-shy.

DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #1: As mentioned in Bri's comment thread, the art in this was amazingly lovely--as with any good Ditko creation, Dr. Strange is actually receptive to stylization--and Vaughan's thoughtful way of connecting bits and pieces (Strange reciting the Hippocratic oath almost as if it was one of his spells) made for a Good read. Like Detective above, I can't really get too fired up about it because there'll be likely be an entirely different take on Dr. Strange coming down the pike in about a year. But that's my problem (or the marketplace's) and not anything having to do with the book per se, I... think.

FANTASTIC FOUR #540: Suffers a bit too much from "have the cake and eat it, too" as far as Reed's behavior is concerned--JMS has him as both the frightened tool of the government and the Lehrer-quoting critic. If you can get around that, though (and it seems like reading most of the Civil War stuff means willing to suspend disbelief as far as character behavior is concerned), I'd say this was pretty OK.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #13: I thought the art was blucky, and apparently Peter David wants "Friendly Neighborhood" Spider-Man to mean "time-traveling demonic enemy fighting" Spider-Man, so I think I'm pretty much through. Bummer. Eh.

GIANT SIZE WOLVERINE #1: Actually reminded of most of the Giant-Size books I used to buy in the '70s--lovely art, disposable story, eye-meltingly bad back-ups. OK but mainly because David Aja's work was really impressive here--a melange of great '70s artists like Wrightson, Ploog, Steranko, while somehow having its own flavor. Really not bad at all.

IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #1: You could teach a class off of Phil Hester's masterful handling of the overabundant text--it all went down more or less smoothly. Sadly, all that yakkity-yak didn't really have much of a payoff in this issue as the big reveal (the guy in the Ant-Man suit isn't Gallant, it's Goofus) is spelled out in the title of the book. There were a few other problems as well, but let's just call it a lowish OK and hope the book hits its stride next issue.

TO DANCE: A BALLERINA'S STORY: You may or may not know this about me but I'm a medium-sized ballet nerd. Friends got me hooked on the S.F. Ballet back in the early '90s when I was a huge HK film fan and it was a surprisingly smooth transition from watching John Woo and Jackie Chan films to watching pieces choreographed by Mark Morris and George Balanchine. This puts me in an odd place with regards to Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel's book, TO DANCE--not being a twelve year old girl, I'm far from the perfect audience for this, but I do think I know enough about the subject material to be frustrated by the work. While the illustrations are superb--Marc Siegel captures that perfect balance between weight and weightlessness in a ballerina's dance--the story as written seems to be one missed opportunity after the other: there's a million interesting things about in the story of a young girl attending ballet school while her family falls apart, and Siena Cherson Siegel knows enough to nod at them as they pass by in the narrative, but little more. It all slides by too quickly, too much anecdote and too little incident, and the protagonist manages to become entranced with ballet, have her family break up, lose her career at an early age due to an injury, and find a new life with husband and child, all without the reader really connecting once. And then there's the whole frustration for the ballet nerd of reading a graphic novel set at the NYCB during Balanchine's last days, with Barishnykov and Suzanne Farrell running around--apart from a brief, evocative recreation of Farrell's farewell dance to Balanchine after he died, it could just as well be the story of any gal growing up at any ballet school anywhere. And that's a damn shame.

I'm sure TO DANCE will kill with its intended audience--it's not too hard to imagine it flying off the shelves of savvy ballet shops during Nutcracker season--but rather than an EH children's book, it could have been an inspiring graphic novel, and it's a damn shame that it's not. At least according to this ballet nerd.

PICK OF THE WEEK: CRIMINAL #1, no doubt. Although OTHER SIDE #1, which I was too lazy to review, is also really worth your time and coin.

PICK OF THE WEAK: Obviously, I was more disappointed with TO DANCE than any other book I read, but that's just because of all the squandered potential. I'm gonna give it to FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #13 because I'm a complainy bee-yotch.

TRADE OF THE WEEK: THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006--it has a piece or two that didn't work for me, but apart from stuff I read and loved previously (like those killer McSweeney's pieces by Ware, Dietch and Heatley), the stuff I missed the first time around that was great--I think Justin Hall's "La Rubia Loca" makes this book worth the price of admission alone, but I'd probably think that about Rebecca Dart's "Rabbithead" is I hadn't already seen it. It's almost 300 pages of top-notch comics for 22 bucks, and the book itself is a lovely looking thing. If you've got the coin to spend, it's worth it.

COMING UP: Bug pictures to post! Probably in the next day or two. And hopefully I can get these fucking things written and posted a little sooner....

What'd you think of last week?

Whoops! Arriving 10/11

Look, I still got it up before the store opens, so it counts right? Right?!?!? 52 WEEK #23 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #44 (A) ANNIHILATION #3 (OF 6) ANTIGONE ARCHIE & FRIENDS #104 BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #211 BATMAN STRIKES #26 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #2 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #146 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #118 BOMB QUEEN VOL 2 #1 CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #6 CHIP ZDARSKYS MONSTER COPS #1 CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #7 (OF 11) CYBERFORCE #6 DARKMAN VS ARMY OF DARKNESS #1 (OF 4) DEAD AT 17 VOL 2 #1 DEVI #4 DEVILS PANTIES #4 DILDO #12 (A) DMZ #12 DORK #11 EMISSARY #5 EMO BOY #9 ESCAPISTS #4 (OF 6) FABLES #54 FABLES SPECIAL EDITION #1 FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MAN #30 GEN 13 #1 GREEN ARROW #67 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #5 GRIMM FAIRY TALES #9 JLA CLASSIFIED #28 JOE LANSDALES DRIVE IN VOL 2 WRAPAROUND CVR #4 (OF 4) KING OF KINGS #1 COVER A LOVE THE WAY YOU LOVE #2 MAD MAGAZINE #471 MAGICIAN APPRENTICE COLLECTEDEDITION MARTIAN MANHUNTER #3 (OF 8) MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #17 MARVEL MILESTONES LEGION MONSTERS SPIDER-MAN & BRO VOODOO NEW X-MEN #31 NEXT #4 (OF 6) PAULA PERIL #2 PHANTOM #12 PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #1 (OF 8) POWERS #20 PUNISHER #39 RED PROPHET TALES OF ALVIN MAKER COLLECTED EDITION ROKKIN #4 SAM NOIR SAMURAI DETECTIVE #2 SCARLET TRACES THE GREAT GAME #4 (OF 4) STAN LEE MEETS DR STRANGE STAR WARS LEGACY #4 STRANGE GIRL #11 SUPER TABOO XXX #4 (A) TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #1 (OF 8) THUNDERBOLTS #107 ULTIMATE POWER #1 (OF 9) ULTIMATE X-MEN #75 UMBRA #3 (OF 3) UNCANNY X-MEN #479 WOLVERINE ORIGINS #7 WORLDSTORM #1 X ISLE #3 (OF 5)

Books / Mags / Stuff ABSOLUTE SANDMAN VOL 1 HC ANIMATION MAGAZINE NOV 2006 ANTHOLOGY OF GRAPHIC FICTION CARTOONS & TRUE STORIES HC AQUAMAN VINTAGE MESH CAP ARES GOD OF WAR TP BABY SITTERS CLUB VOL 2 TRUTHABOUT STACY SC BIG APPLE SHORTS TP (A) BLACK HARVEST VOL 1 TP CANCER VIXEN CAPTAIN AMERICA WINTER SOLDIER VOL 2 TP DAVE MCKEAN PARTICLE TAROT ARCANA HC (O/A) DAVE MCKEAN POSTCARD FROM VIENNA HC DESOLATION JONES TP EDU MANGA BEETHOVEN GN GIRLS BY BILLY MARTINEZ SC INFINITE CRISIS COMPANION TP INVINCIBLE VOL 7 THREES COMPANY TP LEES TOY REVIEW OCT 2006 #168 LIBERTY MEADOWS VOL 3 SUMMER OF LOVE TP NEW PTG LONG CHALKBOARD & OTHER STORIES GN MANHWA NOVELLA COLLECTION VOL2 GN OLD BOY VOL 2 TP PULSE VOL 3 FEAR TP RED WARRIOR ASSASSIN FOR THIEVES WORLD GN ROCK BOTTOM GN SCANNER DARKLY GN SPAWN COLLECTION VOL 2 TP SPIDER-MAN THE OTHER TP TOM STRONG BOOK SIX HC TOMARTS ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #148 TOYFARE BOWEN SPIDERWOMAN STATUE CVR #112 UNTOUCHABLES TP WAHOO MORRIS BOOK ONE TP WHO FIGHTER WITH HEART OF DARKNESS TP WIDE AWAKE 666 TP

What looks good to you?

-B

Hibbs on 10/4 releases

Well, the original plan was that yesterday, Thursday, I was going to belatedly take care of last week's reviews. Not only was Sue on vacation, so I had an extra 3 hours of riding the register, but it was the first rainy day in SF all year -- first rainy days historically totally killing business as people adjust to the new weather (it did, we were off by 1/3), as who wants to buy paper when water is coming from the sky? There's no way I wasn't going to have MORE than enough time to get caught up on both reading and reviewing. And then Michael Lieberman walked in the door. For long-time CE customers, you'll remember Michael as "Little Mike", the store's original "Munchkin" -- a young kid who gets you lunch, does some scut work, etc. Michael is Munchkin no more, having been now to law school, just come back from a summer internship (I think) at the Hague (!), and about to start a new job in Washington DC at a law firm where, in his first year, will be making a greater salary than either my Mom (president of marketing), or my Stepmom (runs a 10 acre complex for the elderly) are after being high in their fields for 20 years.

Frickin' lawyers!

Michael is also Ben's Godfather, because I'm not an idiot, and I wanted to be sure that if Tzipora and I died in a fiery cash accident or something, that Ben would have someone both young AND capable of taking care of him.

Michael showed up around 1:30, and before I realized it, it was suddenly quarter-to-six and we had jawed the whole afternoon away, talking about supply-side economics, political ethics, morality & money, and a dozen other light subjects. Chris Carter (no, the other one) also hung out for like an hour and gave us some interesting primers on how globalization is affecting animation.

So, no, I didn't write any reviews yesterday.

Wednesday was Ben's 3rd birthday, and a wonderful time was had by all -- a small party at his preschool, dinner with the 3 American grandparents (mm, Pauline's Pizza!), and the beginning of the presents. Tzipora got him a super-realistic 1/6 scale garbage truck (Ben has the odd fixation with garbage men and their trucks), which, for like the first time ever got Ben to play 100% all by himself for like 90 minutes at a time. Usually, he's too interested in his parents to play alone -- he wants us to do all the playing with him -- but finally, FINALLY he's got a toy which utterly absorbs him.

Me, I started the decade-long project of doling out *my* action figures to the boy -- gave him my "Super Powers" Superman, Batman and Robin figures, with the cloth capes and all.

He liked the garbage truck better, at least on day one!

Sunday, we have his birthday party with all of his friends. We've got a jump house, and there's a hot tub at my parents house. And tons of screaming little children. Should be awesome.

Finally, I'll be eating that bug for ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #100 today (I think). I've decided on crickets, since the pet store carries those, and I was wowed by the packaging (?!?) of live crickets. They're in a box in which they'll live "a week or two", that has marketing copy like "The classic cricket experience -- crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside!" Um, wow. I was just expecting a clear plastic bag, really.

(I was also offered mealworms to buy, but they don't look enough like a "bug" to me, although the clerk assured me they were reasonably tasty) (?!?!?!)

I just lost too much time last week to do the bug eating, but it should be today, as long as I remember to bring the camera to work this afternoon. Hopefully sometime middle of next week for pix, depending on Jeff's schedule to resize and post them.

Like a said above, I was originally going to do last week's books yesterday (then this week's books early next week), but since I missed that window, I'm just going to skip ahead and handle THIS week's books, much earlier in the cycle than you are used to.

However, here's a quick run at last week's comics: my PICK OF THE WEEK was STAN LEE MEETS SPIDER-MAN. Not because it was any good, but because it was the strangest god-damn thing I've ever read in my life. Not only do you have Stan psycho-analyzing Spidey, and giving him... dodgy advice ("You've got to keep doing it, son – think of all the people depending on you with toys and movies and underoos!"), but then it had a Joss Whedon story that ends up with, and I swear I am not making this up, Stan going off to PornWorld. Ah, Marvel comics! We're not just for kids any more! Oddly, STAN LEE MEETS SPIDER-MAN was also my PICK OF THE WEAK, since, wholly fuck, can you BELIEVE that content?!?!?! My BOOK/TP OF THE WEEK: SHENZHEN A TRAVELOGUE FROM CHINA HC. I thought last year's PYONGYANG was one of the best books of 2005, and I was really looking forward to this. It isn't at all the same as PYONGYANG, which really gave me "deep" insight into a culture I'll likely never experience on my own -- instead SHENZEN (and this has to be an earlier work, no?) is much more about how Desisle personally feels while traveling in China, with all of the boredom and banality that being a stranger in a strange culture can bring. But, I didn't feel like I learned anything much about China or Shenzhen itself, that I didn't already know. Despite that, this was still, easily, my pick of last week's stuff.

As far as THIS week goes....

52 WEEK #22: We're rapidly reaching the halfway point (4 to go), though it doesn't at all feel to me like we're halfway into the plots. The back half is going to need to be pretty dense, I think, to handle all of the threads they've opened up (like, gosh, hasn't it been forever since we've seen Vic and Renee?). Still and all, I'm pretty much enjoying the run. My only real problem this week : "Going Themyscira" doesn't real sound that likely to me as a (what would you call it?) catchphrase -- there's 4 syllables in that second word! "Doin' a Diana" or "Going Wondy" would both parse better, I think (though the former probably wouldn't translate that well without a footnote, as I tend to think the average reader would probably first flash to the real English one). This is spectacularly OK work, all around, which for a weekly comic is like the gold standard.

ALL NEW ATOM #4: Byrne's gone, and the book suffers from it a bit. I thought #3 was one of the best things Simone had ever written, but that spark doesn't follow through for this reader into #4. Probably because of Mr. Info Dump guy that lays out the Ivy Town weirdness in a very tell-not-show way. I'm also already getting pretty sick of the funny-talking aliens. The art is fine -- just a little too, oh, "DC House Style" for me, I guess. You can say a lot about Byrne, but at least there was always dynamism in his art, even (especially?) in scenes where its just people standing around talking. Merely OK.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR #2: This is much more what I was expecting from a Vertigo AmSplen -- Richard Corben AND Eddie Campbell? Cool! AmSplen's historical problem has always been the art -- I LIKE Gary Dumm's art just fine, but it makes Pekar's mundane tales that much more mundane, and having a Campbell or a Corben makes the mundane seem much more dynamic. Comics NEED dynamism, I believe. On the other hand, I kept expecting an ax murderer or something to show up in the Corben piece because, y'know, Corben. Still, I'll go with GOOD.

BOYS #3: Momentum builds here. Each issue has been better than the one before, which is great because I thought #1 was pretty darn weak. Here, finally, I'm getting a handle on the characters and their world. I'll go with a solid, if unspectacular GOOD.

CRIMINAL #1: Very dense, very strong, very pretty. Top notch stuff from two guys who have really strongly found their legs, and, clearly, work well together. I was going to go with an "Excellent", but I think I'm going to be a petty bitch and knock it down to a VERY GOOD because of the thin cover and the lack of "Good hand" when you pick the comic up. (But, it is actually really Excellent)

CROSS BRONX #2: There was that one SPECTACULAR page in issue #1 where the ghost lady rises up and causes the car crash, and there's nothing here that matches that astounding visual. But it is still GOOD.

DETECTIVE COMICS #824: There's something just a little tiny bit off here, and I'm not sure what it is -- maybe that there aren't any villains on display, or not any real detectiving going on, or maybe it's just the stupid Paris Hilton stand-in (which seems out of place even for foppish Bruce Wayne). Its certainly not bad, but it was pretty much just OK.

DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #1: Oooh, pretty. Plus it had some great bits of business (that Iron Fist opening), and some adept craft (excellent job fitting the origin into the issue without seeming forced -- that kind of natural info dumping is a hard trick to pull off, really), and, so, hard to not call it VERY GOOD from me.

FANTASTIC FOUR #540 CW: What I would have said, had I reviewed last weeks comics, is that, regardless of what you think of CIVIL WAR itself, they're doing some fairly amazing tie-in tricks; for the most part, every tie-in comic has seemed to be relevant and expansive, and you can see why they HAD to hold the crossovers for the main book, because core plot points are involved. That's REALLY rare in line-wide crossovers, especially doing them so well integrated. Which makes this FF even that much odder -- the only thing it seems integrated TO is last weeks AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, not CIVIL WAR itself. I mean, that's NOT how Sue left, is it? Now, I like this version better (Just like I liked FRONTLINE's Death of Giant Man better than the "real" one), but it is a real false note here. I also am really looking for a legitimate justification of Reed's actions, and I'm just not getting it at all. A big EH from me.

GIANT SIZE WOLVERINE #1: The front story was alright (if a bit MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS), but WTF is up with the reprint story as the back up? That kind of incoherent, ugly nonsense is exactly the kind of story that Marvel should be trying to forget, not mis-match pairing with a more "arty" Wolvie story. Brings the whole package down to an AWFUL.

IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #1: Decent and dense read, but it doesn't really hold up. SHIELD is comprised of these kinds of agents? So, then, like the only reason Hydra hasn't taken over, is because they have bigger boobs working for them, then? "The world's most unlikable character" is, perhaps, not exactly accurate (THE FLASH's Griffen takes the 2006 prize, so far, I think), but that's not exactly a sustainable pitch for an ongoing hero book, I think. Hard time Savage Critic Scaling this one, since I think the faults in premise and setup are large, but the skill of execution is decent, so let's be wishy-washy and say OK.

JONAH HEX #12: I had a few problems with pacing, and who-shows-up-where-when, but it's all minor, and this is one of those books that almost certainly deserves a bigger audience than it is getting. I never EVER thought I'd like a Jonah Hex comic book, yet I really do, so I'm going with GOOD.

KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #119: Just one of those periodic reminders that this crudely drawn comic, with all of the annoying (since I'm not playing, and have zero use for it) gamer material in the back, is still pretty much the funniest monthly comic on the stands. No, it IS the funniest monthly comic on the stands. There's nothing special about THIS issue, and, really, everything is mid-story so maybe not the best jumping in point (last issue, #118, is probably better for that), but every once in a while I feel the need to remind you this is VERY GOOD.

MYSTERY IN SPACE #2: Bored now. I used to have a "Zzzzzz" rating, so consider it brought back for this.

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET #1: Nope, they're not really getting the appeal of Freddy here, are they? If this is what we're going to get from Wildstorm horror titles (especially where, I assume?, they're paying licensing fees too), then lets abort the line now, since this is just AWFUL.

NIGHTWING #125: So, first off, thank god Bruce Jones is gone. Wolfman and Jurgens are... well, they're kind of the equivalent of comfort food, as a creative team, aren't they? Not particularly good or anything, but filling enough, and evoking nostalgia. There's no way I could cal this better than OK, but, compared to what came directly before, this is a home run of a comic.

OTHER SIDE #1: Wow, that was a punch to the gut. Strong strong characterization, and a solid look at both sides of the Vietnam war. Loverly artwork. A solid home run, and one you should snap right up, because, let's face it, Vertigo is really really spotty about collecting mini-series into TP. VERY GOOD

X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #2: So, uh, wait, this book has nothing to do with Phoenix afterall? Now, that's a dead-brilliant move! Really AWFUL.

As for the Books/TPs, there were three major releases this week... all aimed at the bookstores, at that (though I'm going to sell a ton of each):

BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006 is a really nice package of work, with a superb presentation, but I have to admit it felt a little too close to MCSWEENEYS #13. Still, I expect to sell a shedload. On the other hand, I want to kill Elizabeth Moore for that fucking introduction ("Please please please take comics seriously. We're all adult and stuff! Plllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeaaassssseeeee") -- we're in a really sad place if we need the validation of someone else to bless the medium. I was also a little ... amused maybe that Pekar's introduction goes on an on about how comics are not just superheroes, and the VERY FIRST STORY presented in the book is a SUPERHERO STORY. Sure it's got a "he shouldn't have been a superhero" punchline, but that doesn't make it any less of a punchline. These kind of collections/surveys tend to be pretty snobby, high brow, and otherwise elitist in their presentation of "Comics are Art, damn it! Plllllease believe us!" (and they have been since since Fantagraphics did the BEST COMICS OF THE DECADE (1980s) sixteen or so years ago -- and I keep thinking there was at least one other even before that), but, let's face it, this IS a collection of really fantastic stories. I'm not all the way through it yet, but I haven't read one story that was anything less than "VERY GOOD" so far. Next year, turn down the desperate rhetoric, and I'd have nothing but good things to say. Up to the point I've read, I'm calling it EXCELLENT.

CANCER VIXEN: Its breezy, its focuses on what I think is a largely superficial and vapid segment of American (and specifically New York) culture, but I find it hard to really review autobio, especially when it's about something really fucked up like breast cancer? (or domestic abuse, in the case of DRAGONSLIPPERS by Rosalind Penfold; or abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder in Madison Clell's CUCKOO) Actually, I think those two are also good comparisons, because from a comics-as-craft sense, none of these are especially "good" -- Marisa Acocella Marchetto's cartooning isn't really strong enough to carry the parts of the story that have weight here, but it's breezy enough to make the fashonista stuff clever and fun -- but they're all affecting works if only for the raw sheer bravery on display. I'd put this in the hand of someone who has, or knows a woman with, breast cancer, most certainly, because "Yes, you can survive" is a really important thing. I'd also recommend it to people who are interested in comics-as-a-form because there are relatively few works that try to tackle subjects like these (I'd add PEDRO & ME, and MOM'S CANCER, and I know there are 2 or 3 more, but I'm blanking at the moment), and because of the "it"-driven nature of the book, I think this might ultimately be seen as a historical book in the widespread awareness of comics. If I have to give it a Savage Critic rating (and I do), it's not really much more than an OK, though. That might just be me, however -- if you read VOGUE and watch fashion on E! then you'd probably like it much more than me.

CHICKEN WITH PLUMS HC: I haven't had the time yet this week to read it! I suck! On a flip through, it looks instantly better than EMBRODERIES, so I am heartened and eager to get to it, but I haven't been able to yet. But the reason I am even typing a thing is because I CANNOT believe they went for the cut-out dustcover. God, those things are a nightmare. Virtually every copy of EPILEPTIC that we received ended up damaged, if not from distribution or transport, then from rack damages. The cutout is "safer here, being in the middle of the book, but my god, if you're going to do a dustjacket that *in any way* can be mishandled (Also this week, Gaiman's FRAGILE THINGS falls into the same category), shrinkwrap the son of a bitch. Trust me, WE can open the ONE copy for display.

So, uh, PICK OF THE WEEK: Aw, CRIMINAL #1 by far.

PICK OF THE WEAK: it is either X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #2, or NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET #1, and I gotta go with the latter. Freddy should have FOUNTAINS OF BLOOD, man

GN/TP OF THE WEEK: No contest, screwed up introduction or not -- BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006.

ASSHAT OF THE WEEK: It really really bugs me when publishers ship the HC and SC version of a book at the same time. That, almost always, means the SC is DOA. So, give it up for both WALLYS WORLD and LIFE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II IN COMICS. Eedjits!

And, if I may ask, what did YOU think?

-B

Arriving 10/4

Couple of really terrific books coming out this week! Now I've got to get back to the order form and other first of the month stuff...

2000 AD #1504 2000 AD #1505 52 WEEK #22 AGENTS OF ATLAS #3 (OF 6) ALL NEW ATOM #4 AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #0 AMERICAN SPLENDOR #2 (OF 4) ARCHIE DIGEST #229 BATTLER BRITTON #4 (OF 5) BEGOTHS COMICS #1 BETTY & VERONICA #221 BEYOND #4 (OF 6) BOYS #3 CITY OF HEROES #16 CRIMINAL #1 CROSS BRONX #2 DETECTIVE COMICS #824 DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #1 (OF 5) DR DEBUNKO THE SHORT STORIES DUMMYS GUIDE TO DANGER #2 (OF4) ELEPHANTMEN #3 EMILY THE STRANGE #3 FALLEN ANGEL IDW #9 FANTASTIC FOUR #540 CW FEAR AGENT #8 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #13 FUTURAMA COMICS #27 GIANT SIZE WOLVERINE #1 HORRORWOOD #3 (OF 4) HOT MOMS #8 (A) HUNTER KILLER CASSADAY CVR #8 INCREDIBLE HULK #99 IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #1 JONAH HEX #12 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #26 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #119 LEADING MAN #3 (OF 5) LOONEY TUNES #143 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #20 MARVEL TEAM-UP #25 MONSTER PARADE #1 MYSTERY IN SPACE #2 (OF 8) NEIL GAIMANS NEVERWHERE #9 (OF 9) NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET #1 NIGHTWING #125 NORTHWEST PASSAGE #3 OMAC #4 (OF 8) OTHER SIDE #1 (OF 5) OUTSIDERS #41 POISON ELVES DOMINION #6 POISON ELVES LOST TALES #7 PS238 #18 PVP #28 ROCKETO #12 SAVAGE BROTHERS #2 (OF 3) SHADOWHAWK #15 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #167 SPIKE ASYLUM #2 (OF 5) STREET FIGHTER LEGENDS SAKURADOGAN CVR A #2 (OF 4) TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS (IDW) #8 TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD IMAGEED #1 VAULT OF MICHAEL ALLRED #1 (OF 4) WINTER MEN #5 (OF 8) X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #2 (OF 5) Y THE LAST MAN #50

Books / Mags / Stuff BATMAN 13 INCH DELUXE COLLECTOR FIGURE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SAGITTARIUS IS BLEEDING TP BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2006 BOSNIAN FLAT DOG GN CHICKEN WITH PLUMS HC COMPLETE PEANUTS VOL 6 1961-1962 HC COMPLETE POPBOT COLLECTION TP DR STRANGE VS DRACULA MONTESIFORMULA TP DRAGON HEAD VOL 4 GN (OF 10) ELFQUEST THE DISCOVERY TP ESSENTIAL X-MEN VOL 1 TP NEW PTG HAUNT OF HORROR EDGAR ALLAN POE HC HONEY TALKS STRIPBURGER COLLECTION HOW TO MAKE MONEY LIKE A PORNSTAR GN INFINITE CRISIS HC JANES WORLD VOL 6 TP LAST PLANET STANDING TP LIFE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II IN COMICS GN LIFE OF POPE JOHN PAUL II IN COMICS SC MAGIC BOTTLE A BLAB STORYBOOKHC MIKE HOFFMAN SPACE GIRLS 50 SKETCHBOOK MOTHERS MOUTH GN NATIONAL LAMPOON MAGAZINE RACK TP NEIL GAIMAN FRAGILE THINGS HC OLD JEWISH COMEDIANS A BLAB STORYBOOK HC PEANUTBUTTER & JEREMY BEST BOOK EVER TP PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES SC PREMILLENNIAL MAAKIES 1ST FIVE YEARS HC RISING STARS VOL 3 FIRE & ASHTP (NEW PTG) SFX #148 SIZZLE #31 (A) SPIKE VS DRACULA TP SWEETER SIDE OF R CRUMB HC ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN VOL 7 HC ULTIMATE X-MEN VOL 14 PHOENIX? TP WALLYS WORLD HC WALLYS WORLD SC WILL EISNERS NEW YORK LIFE INTHE BIG CITY HC WIZARD BEST OF BASIC TRAININGADVANCED TECHNIQUES

What looks good to you?

-B

Yesterday's Comics Today! Jeff's Reviews of 9/20 Books.

Oh, sure, horrifically late, but I didn't think I'd be back so soon, to tell you the truth. However, I finished my writing contract (and am now sort of hanging out hoping they'll throw more my way) and have my Wednesday morning free and clear (I might have tried to write this sooner, in fact, if the IT guys at work hadn't done something at work so my web browser bombs out whenever I open two windows...) so let's see what happens when guy with no short-term memory opens up week-old whup-ass on books he barely remembers. Maybe it'll be entertaining in that "senile old fool chastises couch cushion he thinks is his cat" kind of way... 52 WEEK #20: When Lobo he put on his little hat at the end of the book, I involuntarily thought, "Hey! I want back the five bucks I spent on Devil's Rejects!" Either Lobo needs a makeover, or my brain needs a bleaching. And anyone else notice the ad count in this issue? It wasn't as bad as some of those Marvel books a while back, but I did put this book down struck by the cosmic sci-fi sweep of Rush City. On the other hand, Kevin Nowlan, $2.50, etc., etc. Highly OK.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #17: Huh. Having this come out within a month of the previous issue made it seem almost twice as good. Which is my way of saying I liked it, but, apart from that hilarious and amazing background/foreground transition, would be loathe to say exactly why any more or any less than the previous issues. And yet, Very Good.

BIRDS OF PREY #98: Kinda why I wish Simone'd stayed away from the whole Batgirl thing--it's fucked if it's Barbara and it's fucked if it's somebody else we don't know--but I do wonder if these past few storylines is setting us up to a change in the focus of the Birds of Prey team. Instead of cracking down on crime, they're going to be helping/saving/fighting young female metas that have fallen through the blabbity-blab of society's yakkity-yak. Or maybe they expressly said that four issues ago and I kinda missed it. Anyway, OK, but really only because the new Batgirl was at least amusing with her "dark justice rulez!" dialogue.

BLADE #1: Double-damning with faint praise: the best Blade book I've ever read and the best Howard Chaykin art in the last year or so. It's still underwhelming, mind you (I feel for the writer who comes up with the the big splashy moment, like the one here where Blade is facing off against nine million vampiric SHIELD agents firing guns and sliding down ropes, You Only Live Twice style, and how that writer must feel after an artist does a somehwat perfunctory job of execution (it looks like Chaykin just adapted some pages from that graphic novel adaptation of Bob Fosse's Chicago he's been working on all these years)) but, for a first issue, I've seen much worse. OK, and we'll see where it goes.

CATWOMAN #59: Has this book officially changed its name to Film Freak yet? Yeah, I can see how he could be a classic villain in the Batman Rogue's Gallery style but, dude, isn't this like the tenth consecutive issue he's appeared in? Also, I know this probably makes me come off like an uptight prude, but I don't think Selina is really the type of person who would knowingly sleep with the son of someone she's slept with (and I think knows is in love with her) just because she and the son feel they have "a connection." But, hey, maybe this is just to pave the way for the revelation that the father of her baby is Tim Drake and I'm being too judgmental. Eh.

CIVIL WAR #4: You'd think that, for my review, you could just cut to a cage full of chimps going apeshit and you'd have an accurate take of my reaction, right? Weirdly, no. I had a genuine reaction to Peter's unmasking in Civil War #2 because I felt that (a) it was a huge mistake, and (b) it at least had been well-established by the JMS lead-in stories over in ASM. For better or for worse, they had led the character to a point where the choice there seemed natural. But, despite being a huge old school Marvel fanboy, I had no real reaction to Civil War #4 (apart from "Wow, that's dumb") because everyone was just so out of character, I didn't believe any of it. Also, honestly, although Mark Millar has read enough Marvel comics to find the wiggle room in any characterization he wants to make--"Of course, Professor X was molesting Jean Grey! Don't you remember that one panel where he's thinking...."--I genuinely believe the clarion call of Millar's muse is the sound of the money truck backing up to his house. There's no real point in debating character or motivation or plausability--you either buy it or you don't. I didn't (in the suspension of disbelief sense), and I won't (in the fiscal sense) from now on.

(Sorry I didn't get to work in the "This is my face as I'm fucking the Marvel Universe in the ass" joke, but I'm sure someone else has gotten around to it by now.)

Lovely art, though. I guess I'll go Eh.

CLAW THE UNCONQUERED #4: I am docked a full letter grade in Barbarian Appreciation because I read this and not the other two Conan books this week. I'm sure they're fine, the other two books, but I have to admit, I kinda dig Claw, and I'm liking this miniseries. This issue was a little heavy on the expository blabbity-blab after the initial werewolf fight, but considering I'm the only person buying it, who cares? OK.

EXILES #86: The threat was utterly limp, but the all-Wolverine conceit was fun. I'm sure it's better than what Claremont's first story--Exiles on the Planet of Infinite Ororo Dominatrices or somesuch--would have been, for sure. Highly OK, just because I think the art, although competent, lacks a certain pizzazz.

FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #4: Back to teh suck. Whoever last issue's fill-in artist was, get that dude more work, and pronto! Awful.

GHOST RIDER #3: Ghost Rider and Dr. Strange have a sissy slapfight in a cemetery. Soothingly sibilant high concept notwithstanding, it's dumb and dull and the "Johnny Blaze is a Tool of the Devil, and we do mean Tool!" approach drives me nuts. Not worth your time. Awful.

HELLBLAZER #224: I missed Ms. Mina's first arc, so have no idea how in media res this issue is, but wow, it'll media res the shit right outta you if this is your first issue. A decent conceit, a fun take on Constantine, and a refreshingly balls-to-the-wall approach made it a Good read, but I'm not altogether sure the team can pull off the story effectively. We'll see, I guess.

IRON MAN #12: For extra credit, read this and Civil War #4 back to back and figure out how you're supposed to believe these books are even by the same publisher, much less featuring the same character. Really weird.

MOON KNIGHT #5: Home Alone, as re-enacted by the Moon Knight Community Players. I was okay with it until, I shit you not, Taskmaster got his ass shot by a butler with a blunderbuss. A staggeringly fucking stupid issue with a lot of really terrible choices made by the writer and a real misunderstanding (to put it mildly) of the Taskmaster. Awful, awful, awful.

NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #8: Probably my favorite issue since the dragon in the purple underwear left. Having a Dormammu analog get his head jammed in a toilet was positively inspired, I gotta say, and those Mindless Ones? Gold. And there was some actual characterization and shit, so I'm going with Very Good.

REVOLUTION ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #6: Came out last week, but I wanted to mention it because I'm a big Ape-head. I thought the story kinda ran around in circles for six issues, had far too many people hollering things at each other, and tended to mistake portent for genuine drama far too much of the time. And yet, I also thought it was a lot better than most of the Apes comics projects I've seen over the last decade or so, and that last backup story in particular was exceptionally satisfying. If they release a trade of this and it's affordably priced, you could do worse than to pick it up. Highly OK.

SUPERMAN #656: I hope Superman fights the Anti-Christ ten issues from now. That'd be great. Good.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #34: It's odd. I should totally love this, since Carey not only is having the Ultimate version of the FF meet and fight a pastiche of the Forever People, but also in that Carey's alteration to his pastiche (instead of loveable hippies, his Forever People are paranoid veterans of an unending war) seems to be addressing the differences between two similar periods of American history (The Forever People were created while America was still at war in Vietnam, after all). And yet, I'm only more-or-less OK with it and I'm not sure why. It could be that Ferry's art, which I loved on Adam Strange, is so light and colorful and Euro, it just can't evoke the Kirbyness required for me to really appreciate the conceit. Of course, one of my big problems with UFF is that it swapped out Kirby for Kubert right at the beginning, thus making this book absurdly visually lackluster.... I don't know. Obviously, I could blather on for hours and get no closer to my discontent. Let's call it distressingly Eh.

WALKING DEAD #31: I was strangely underwhelmed by this issue as Kirkman makes some hard-to-believe plot choices and some odd pacing decisions (that conversation between Rick and the nurse didn't feel believable at all--even if Rick's trying to get someon on his side, I can't believe he'd take the very slow "so what's with you and the doctor? Are you guys dating?" since he knows about the threat facing his community). Guess it was Eh? Weird.

WETWORKS #1: What the fuck? I haven't read any previous iteration of Wetworks, so lemme get if I follow this--it's a covert operations team that underwent some dramatic transformation around the time it got involved in a battle between vampires and werewolves? That concept is so retarded it's almost awesome, but Mike Carey goes for a thoughtful, underplayed approach that (I think) takes that original "idea" and tries to change it up--and that would work if somebody somewhere had bothered to recap the original premise so new readers like myself weren't completely baffled. Kinda Awful, but amusingly so.

PICK OF (LAST) WEEK: ASTONISHING X-MEN #17, but there was a lot I didn't read.

PICK OF THE WEAK: MOON KNIGHT #5, with just a few bad choices, all but destroyed the tone the entire mini had been working toward. That seems like more of a disappointment than what Mark "Do you like my hat? It's made of money!" Millar is doing, just because Mr. Millar knows what he's doing.

TRADE PICK: I don't know, to be honest. GODLAND VOL. 2 TPB, probably? Where's another god-damned volume of god-damned SGT. FROG when you god-damned need him?

NEXT WEEK (by which I mean this week): Blue Beetle, Daredevil and She-Hulk will probably make me 80% less cranky this week than I was last week. Plus, I had no idea about this Dracula vs. Capone miniseries--I'll be reading it just to see if the King of the Vampires is defeated by Capone's untreated syphilis! Nuff said, true believer!

And youse?