How I Won The War (And Lost The Universe): Jeff's Reviews of 2/21 Books

I'm being so damned slow Graeme's already posted his other reviews since I started this entry, so lemme just dive in (although if everything works out, you should see Dick Hates Your Blog over there in our blogroll): 52 WEEK #42: For a storyline I didn't care about, I thought this was a Good issue with some strong art by Darick Robertson--it's good to see Ralph look like an ectomorph again, if nothing else. I'll leave it to the rest of you who actually cared about Ralph's storyline to make the call on whether it actually worked or not, but I thought it was worth picking up on art and readability alone.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #538: Both Hibbs and Graeme thought I was higher than a kite for liking this, but I thought Straczynski did a pretty good job milking all of his non-reveals: they felt fun, and knowingly funny, and did a better job with the self-commentary (for me, it was worth the anachronism to have JJJ solemnly ponder his possible spoilerific headlines, although I wonder if JMS feels more like that lonely dude in the hotel room waiting for the authority to take his shot) than Millar's stuff in Civil War #7. Of course, next issue may well make me regret saying anything nice at all, but this was OK to me. Please be warned that you may very vehemently disagree.

BIRDS OF PREY #103: I would've preferred a much smoother work-up to the new Spy-Smasher's connection to Oracle--it suffered a bit from Hush-itis, where the dramatic situation hinges too heavily on how much you can buy into a suddenly prominent (but previously unmentioned) character from the protagonist's backstory (arguably a little harder to excuse here since Simone's been on the book for a while)--and I just didn't buy the last page (of course, I've never bought that Barbara would hide her secret identity from her father so I'm at a disadvantage going in). So it's I guess the usual BOP-itis for me again, where there's enough interesting stuff going on and talented people at work that I pick the book up, but somehow not enough that I actually enjoy myself. Eh.

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1: I was expecting this Waid & Perez book to feel stuffy and self-important, but damned if this didn't read just like a Haney/Aparo issue of Brave & The Bold, except done by Waid and Perez--which means enjoyable amounts of OCDish attention to tiny details even while the overall storytelling gets played fast & loose. (At one point during a fight, Batman says he's out of weapons while he's in the Batcave. Wha-huh?) But you've got Batman, Green Lantern, space aliens, old supervillains, Bruce Wayne in a tux and Hal Jordan in a flight jacket, with Las Vegas thrown in to boot. It was a Very Good chunk of superhero fun, and I enjoyed it.

CIVIL WAR #7: Listening to Hibbs make all his points in-store yesterday (I didn't read his or Graeme's review because I hadn't yet read the book) was pretty exciting, and I could almost imagine his ideas working--Marvel's universe gets its shit together, most of the supervillains disappear, work begins on making a better world and then slowly, everything starts to unravel and fall apart and we end up in a new (but rougher) version of the original Marvel Universe, one that even feels a little more like our own... I could really see it.

But could I see Marvel doing it? Oh, please.

In fact, it may be true or not, but these days I think of DC as having the editorial infrastructure to get everyone on board (but having nowhere to go) and Marvel as being the place with lots of really big ideas (and absolutely no idea how to get everyone--or anyone, really--to get there, so howzabout a nice three page "Dear Sue" montage instead?) Maybe they'll prove me wrong, but considering The New Avengers launched with dozens of supervillains escaping The Raft and all Marvel wrung from that was one paltry miniseries and the Avengers shaking down some dude in front of a French restaurant, I find myself far from hopeful. (And let's face it, can you imagine Brian's dream of an exciting new status quo being done in any satisfying way from the guys who published Civil War: The Return? I can't.)

Weirdly, it was Marvel--good ol' Nu-Marvel back at the end of the '90s--that got me to finally let go of my fanboyish near-deathgrip on continuity. In the early Jemas/Quesada days, they were mostly avoiding crossovers, editors apparently weren't coordinating, and you could have major shit going down in Grant Morrison's New X-Men without being told you had to pick up Busiek & Perez's Avengers to see why they didn't, for example, show up to help pick up Genosha. It was annoying at first, but it quickly became a relief: as long as I was reading a good story, who cared if the Wolverine I was reading in one book had only the faintest similarity to the Wolverine in the other?

So it's with no small sense of irony that I watch Marvel swing heavily into its new golden age of heavily cross-referenced continuity. It was, after all, that very lesson I learned from Nu-Marvel (and, of course, Hibbs being generous enough to let me out of books I'd committed to buying) that allowed me to drop Civil War in mid-storyline, leaving those first few issues orphaned in my collection. In order to win the Civil War (and save myself at least twelve bucks), I finally gave up on the Marvel Universe, and that's really probably for the best. I'll ignore the Civil War stuff until it goes away, keep looking for the books that do what I want them to do, and pray too many good books don't get railroaded into following editorially mandated storylines along the way.

Oh, and as for the book itself, it felt rushed (full page panels that felt like one half of a double-page spread, pages with no dialogue apart from hollered taglines), bloated and exhausted. Props to Jake W. (for linking to it in our comments), Brandi at Scans Daily (for posting it) and whoever was actually responsible for this, because, although obvious, it really is the more honest and satisfying ending to Civil War (and Wanted, really). If Hibbs had made me buy the books I signed up for, this would've been Crap, but since I more-or-less escaped, Eh.

EX MACHINA INSIDE THE MACHINE VOL 1: A behind-the-scenes puff piece that focuses mainly on the transition from script to art, and Tony Harris's working methods. If it was a freebie, it'd be fucking fantastic, because both Vaughan and Harris come off as intelligent and passionate about their book. But at $2.99, the only way I can justify that price is if I pretend it's an issue of Wizard where they left out the price guide and poop jokes. Eh, but maybe DC/Wildstorm will reprint the sucker as a FCBD freebie or an insert to send to libraries or something...

HELLBLAZER #229: Some strong understated work by John Paul Leon makes this one-off from Mike Carey seem better than it is. Don't get me wrong, it's highly OK but the way the story's constructed, it'd benefit from more Mad Ideas: Carey only works himself up to Unsettling Concepts. But his dialogue and, again, Leon's art are strong enough to cover for that.

HELLSTORM SON OF SATAN #5: It's a shame this was so solidly Eh: I thought Irvine's take on Egyptian myth was solid, and his thoughts about the gods and religion had a bit more sophistication than we normally get with this sort of thing. But swap out the trident and the tattoos and the annoying cellphone, and swap in a trenchcoat, some silk cuts and the occasional "Cor, Blimey!" and this could be just another Constantine story. And while maybe that's the point as far as the writer and editorial are concerned, it's pretty underwhelming.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #3: It's a gorgeous looking book (the first flashback artist didn't really do it for me, but between David Aja and Russ Heath, I was in nerd heaven) but I know I can't be the only one who thinks it's reading very, very slow. Frubaker's script and some thought in it, the dialogue is witty, and the art is buttery smooth, but I'm worried nobody's going to be reading it by issue #8 except me and Arune if it doesn't get to the point where the ass meets the kicking in a pretty big way. Good, but I'm worried. (Although, admittedly, I'm a worrier.)

NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI #2: This is nine different kinds of boned, I'm afraid. Putting aside the pain caused by unnecessary retcons and possible present and future story fucking (I hope this whole infinity gem thing gets returned to again because if you expect me to believe that major players of the Civil War had gems and didn't use them, you're sadly mistaken) this is just a badly paced done-in-one issue. At the plotting stage, it must've looked like a classic Marvel comic (heroes meet and discuss the problem, heroes split up and face separate challenges, reunite to find out they've just exacerbated the problem, barely escape by the skin of their teeth) but by the time Bendis and Reed have their chatty Cathy way with the script, it ends up a both draggy and truncated, graceless and artless, meaningless unless you know the characters involved and unbeliebable if you do. Some expressive work from artist Jim Cheung keeps this from me rating it lower than Eh, although I should.

POWERS #23: Meanwhile, back at What-Bendis-Does-Best-Ville, this story had a dialogue-heavy confrontation where a possible revelation suddenly pops up and ends with a cliffhanger that "could change everything." And yet, what keeps you reading are the little character beats and payoffs from things put in motion dozens of issues ago. Very Good stuff, and although I can't fault Bendis for continuing to stretch himself, and write superhero team continuity books because of being a big ol' fanboy at heart, I'm amazed he continues to focus on work so far from his strengths.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #4: A very odd issue, in that Fraction seems spend most of it making excellent subtextual arguments against the ending he then proceeds to use anyway. While I think that pays excellent dividends this issue--along with Deodato's increasingly dark artwork, it creates a palpable sense of tension that grows in the last several pages--the returns could diminish pretty rapidly if the protagonist goes on to become the despoiler of everything the writer like. (Or, I dunno, maybe like some weird superhero version of The Sopranos, PWJ could turn into a deeply compelling denunciation of the lead character's values. Or, hmmm, something else, maybe? [Yeah, this review has gotten itself lost in the weeds, hasn't it?]) Good, but yeah, very odd.

SPIRIT #3: Lovely, lovely art with simply astonishing color (why'd it remind me of early DC romance comics? Was there some Sekowsky influence someone was trying to work in there or something?) helps me forgive a less-than minor flaw in the storytelling--if you're gonna switch storytelling perspectives every page, you can't decide to do that six pages into the story, just like you can't run your title credits sequence thirty minutes into your movie. It's a Good issue, and the potential continues to grow, but it's not there yet.

SUPERMAN #659: I guess from reading those Superman Showcases I was immediately aware as to how this had such a Silver-Age hook--an elderly religious woman assumes Superman is an angel--and such a non-Silver-Age execution: in the Silver Age version, the tension would've come from Superman continually trying more extravagant ways to prove that he's not an angel while fate or oversight foul things up ("Groan! The lighthouse beacon is bouncing off the silver nitrate I seeded those rain clouds with earlier! Now it looks like a heavenly light is shining down on me from above!") In the non-Silver Age version, Superman continues to save the increasingly adventurous religous woman until he ends up too busy (fighting an alien made out of radio waves at the South Pole) to keep someone from busting a cap in her ass. Admittedly, this was a unique situation--a fill-in issue published ahead of schedule because of other delays--but I think I would've preferred the Silver Age version: by the time I got to page four or five I guessed the rest of the issue (well, except for the alien made out of radio waves). Highly OK--particularly given the circumstances--but I was lefting wanting more.

PICK OF THE WEEK: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1, which kinda blows my mind. Who'd a thunk?

PICK OF THE WEAK: NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI #2, because Bendis and Reed handle a continuity changing superhero team book with all the skill of those burglars from Home Alone.

TRADE PICK: KAMANDI ARCHIVES VOL. 2, DRIFTING CLASSROOM VOL. 4, GOLGO 13 VOL. 7, and MONSTER VOL. 7. I hope to have reviews of that stuff and other trades in the next week or so.

And you?

It's not all Civility, you know: Graeme reviews other books from 2/21.

So, Kate's sick. I know this because she keeps telling me, just in case I'd forgotten since the last time she told me. In between updates on her condition, she's keeping herself entertained by watching all of the television we have on TiVo from this past week, which we hadn't managed to watch because we had houseguests who - horror of horrors! - weren't fans of shows like The OC (Arune! Please tell me that you were getting all choked up at the end of it as well), Veronica Mars or Kate's current favorite, Spike's reruns of Star Trek: Voyager. Me, I'm getting 'round to reviewing things and fielding Kate's questions as to when I'm going to make her soup or hot chocolate, so I'll be quick for a change. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #538: Ehhhh, Awful. This issue just seems to show that J. Michael Straczynski either isn't getting updates from editorial or doesn't care what's happening in other books - the Kingpin is shown to be a mover and shaker, even though he's already been defanged and disposed of in Daredevil (Yes, I saw the "this takes place before" caption, but even still, it's an odd choice to place the character center stage of this latest "status-quo" changing event, knowing that he's due to be written off entirely soon), and the tie-in to Civil War #7 reads as if he doesn't know what actually happened in the issue itself, especially with the "some who will never get up again" bit," considering that only Clor died in CW. Maybe it's that, or maybe it's the story itself, but the entire book had the feeling of filler, trying to squeeze out as many extra pages as possible before dealing with the cliffhanger from last issue. And when that cliffhanger gets resolved - in the last couple of pages - it's dumb to the point of slapstick: Aunt May gets shot by mistake! Because she just happened to be in the line of fire, which means that Peter, Mary Jane and Aunt May were all standing in an exact line! No fun, and I still don't see why Spidey's going to wearing his black costume next issue. Whoever said that it's because black is slimming and helps hide Peter's comfort-eating may be onto something, though.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1: God, remember when DC superheroes could team up without crying or rape? Mark Waid does, providing a Very Good revival of the old team-up title that captures some of the goofy fun of the classic Bob Haney era: Bruce Wayne and Hal Jordan going undercover in a casino where Hal wins the money and the ladies! Batman versus aliens! High concept murders (64 identical victims killed in identical ways)! This is what I want from my superhero comics, and I'm even willing to forgive unclear action sequences - what exactly happened in the Batcave? How did the penny get involved? - for lines like "Batteries to power... Turbines to speed" and the nerd glee they provide. Here's hoping that they can keep it up in the following issues.

NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI #2: Okay, so that was unexpected. We've all heard of Deus Ex Machina conclusions, but never Deus Ex Disappointed In You, Reed ones like we get here. If this issue isn't setting up some kind of conclusion for the Civil War universe, then I really have no idea what the point of it was - The Illuminati have all powerful cosmic gems that allow them to control time and space and stuff and say they're never going to use them and... well, that's it. It seems to contradict recent continuity, as well - If it happens after the end of Dan Slott's first She-Hulk series, did Professor X still have his powers by that point? Wasn't he vanished or something? (Paul O'Brien, where are you with your knowledge of X-Men continuity?) - and all seems very strange in light of what happened after that time: Why didn't the magic gems get used during Civil War (to, I don't know, go back and time and prevent the destruction of Stamford, for example?) or to deal with the Hulk instead of sending him into space? It's a retcon that doesn't make sense at all, in an issue that doesn't seem entirely convinced of it itself. Crap.

LOCAL #8: Brian Wood mentions in the text at the end of the issue that he's realized that this series is really all about Megan's life as opposed to a series of one-off stories that just happen to feature the same character in some way, so it's probably fitting that I ended up reacting to this less as the return of a series as seeing a friend for the first time in too long. I admit it; I'm a soft touch for Wood and Ryan Kelly's tour around America and a life, especially as both creators seem to be getting better with each issue - Kelly in particular puts in a stellar performance here, managing to give Megan the sense of seeming older than she was last issue without it being immediately obvious. Good, and hopefully Wood and Kelly's lives have settled to the point where we'll see this every month again.

SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1: Worth buying for the reprints alone, as the Len Wein/Ross Andru Amazing issue and "Spider-Man J" both manage to amuse and entertain. The brand new stories less so, with both of them less complete stories and more filler to point towards later events with generic script and art. Okay, even if it's clearly aimed towards the Spider-Man 3 fanbase (Black costume Spidey versus Sandman? I would never have seen that coming).

THE SPIRIT #3: I don't know why I'm surprised, but another Excellent issue, as Darwyn Cooke revisits the Spirit's origin and sets up what looks like an ongoing plotline for future issues with style and speed - Moreso than earlier issues, the star here is the art, with Cooke and colorist Dave Stewart teaming up to give the flashback scenes a look that's both beautifully 1950s retro and contemporarily original. Each month, this book just keeps raising the bar on what you to expect from an ongoing mainstream superhero book. Which, of course, means that Superman will probably show up by #9 to crossover from Countdown to bring the tears. Pessimistic? Me?

PICK OF THE WEEK, despite the awesomeness of Spirit, is actually The Brave and The Bold, because sometimes you want ice cream instead of steak. Or something. PICK OF THE WEAK is Civil War #7 (or New Avengers: Illuminati #2, if you want one from this set of reviews), because, well, you know. TRADE OF THE WEEK, for me, is between a couple of pre-release sneaks that I got sent this week - AiT/PlanetLar's The Homeless Channel and First Second's The Professor's Daughter. Proper reviews for both coming when I finish the next set of book reviews, but for now, pre-order both safe in the knowledge that the houseguests loved The Professor's Daughter, at least.

Next week: Wondercon! Which probably means no reviews, sadly. But is anyone here going?

It's not that bad: Hibbs on CIVIL WAR #7

Unlike Grimmy over there, I'm not going to go all the way to "ASS" on CIVIL WAR #7 -- mostly because I think "ASS" needs to be saved for very very special occasions, and probably should only be trotted out once or twice a year, if that. I mean, don't get me wrong, I certainly didn't like CIVIL WAR #7, but it is far more from execution rather than concept

See, and this is the thing you HAVE to give them, here we have a universe-spanning intercompany crossover that does, in fact, "change everything". Some of it may change back, sure, given enough time, but there wasn't any reset button being hit, and the status quo of the Marvel universe is CLEARLY very very different than it was before CIVIL WAR #1.

Now, this puts aside the questions of whether these are GOOD changes, or LOGICAL ones; nor are these changes simply cosmetic ones -- the basic dramatic under-pinning of the Marvel U are now very different, and it certainly will provide a reasonable amount of fodder for stories, depending on how they handle things.

Let's also put aside the question of whether you LIKE these changes. I mean, *I* don't want to read about the Adventures of Super-fascist, the friend-killing, villain-working, two-faced lying liar, but like it or not, "Civil War" fundamentally changed the very idiom of the super-hero in the Marvel Universe. And, really, that's kind of exciting.

No, what's really wrong with CIVIL WAR #7, and, for that matter, #2-6, is that it doesn't actually tell a story. In a story, or at least in a good story, there's forward movement in both event and character. And with the possible single exception of Spider-Man's arc, that simply doesn't exist throughout the bulk of CW

Think about it this way: in CW #1, Stamford blows up, and the Superhero Registration Act is rammed through. But (basically) nothing that happens afterwards changes anything from that premise. Further, nothing COULD change that premise -- Cap and IM can punch each other all they like, but the laws been made, and unless Marvel starts publishing MIGHTY PARLIMENTARY ADVENTURES #1, there's nothing about that that will change.

I think "Civil War", as an idea, was probably a great one, really -- by all means, let's mix things up; let's have characters who believe they're doing absolutely the right thing, but who are wrong; Let's deal with fairly complex issues of freedom and identity. C'mon, admit it, even if you didn't like it's execution "Civil War" was an EXCITING concept. That's also why it sold so well. ANd why people are talking about it.

The problem is that CIVIL WAR, as a series, bobbled the execution by putting the focus on an "event in seven parts"; and COMPOUNDED that problem by HOLDING UP the actual story from unfolding in the monthly line of comics in order to wait for the "event" to get produced!

Even the "big events" of the CIVIL WAR mini-series (Spidey unmasks, Reed & Sue break up, the punisher returns, and so on) were pretty much uniformly handled much better in the individual bits of the titles then they were in CIVIL WAR itself.

One of the crossover's most dismissive memes is the "red sky" crossover. This dates from the original crossover, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, which had issues cover-billed as COIE crossovers, where the extent of it was someone pointing upwards and saying "Look, the sky's gone red". And here's the thing, CIVIL WAR #2-7 were basically ALL "red sky" books. I haven't learned anything new OR RELEVENT from them. The things I *did* get that I could ONLY get in CW -- and is there really much more than Reed and Hank building a Clone...er robot thor which kills Bill Foster? -- are kind of logically objectionable.

Its really really easy to MOnday Morning Quarterback these things, but I had me a Time Machine, I'd probably have structured this more as a stand-alone special that kicks the whole thing off, and sets up all of the threads. I would have made sure that the KEY books (IRON MAN and CAPTAIN AMERICA) were in-synch and contemperous with the launch date for the story, and were diriving the individual battles of the war. I would have probably doubled the frequency of FF, and put the "mystery" of 42, the clobothor, and Sue begging Namor all in there. I would have also done the IM/Cap conversation, and the "Criminals react" specials much as they did, and FRONTLINE becomes the spine that moves the backstory of the story, rather than being perceived as the spin-off of the main book, it would have BEEN the "main book". But issues #2-7 wouldn't have been published, nor would I have stated an "end" to the "story", because that creates a false expectation in the audience.

Because, in point of fact, the story DID NOT "end" in CW #7. And the ways that it did felt both forced and commercialized.

(parenthetically, because I'm flashing on it now, and will forget later, Breevort's interview says Sue is returning to Reed in that scene, and I TOTALLY read it as "Sue came back to get her things to go for good")

What's funny is the Joe Quesada text piece I liked so very much in CW #1 ("new Marvel reader? Dude, you totally need to read such AND such, they rock!"), just gave me the raging skeevies as the "last pages" of CW #7 ("We like money, please buy these other 47 things!!!!")

So, look, really, for the IDEA of "Civil War", and for the storytelling possibilities (if not actualities!!), I kind of have to give "Civil War" AT LEAST an OK, and maybe possibly even a GOOD. There's not a person amongst you who reads regular mainstream interconnected comics who doesn't really wish for change and forward movement in in the "universe". That's precisely why we love those universes, after all!

Even us black-hearted grinches here at the SAVAGE CRITIC have to admit that the Possibilities of a "Civil War" is, in fact, exactly and precisely what we want. OF COURSE it is.

And we cry because the execution lets us down.

Before I get into CW #7 specifically, let me do some of my purported "retail intelligence", and let me try to explain my big fear in the next six months.

I have this really deep fear that "post-CW" Marvel is going to pan out to be "One Year Later", where there's an initial burst of sampling, but then the audience wanders away if its not WOWED. The good thing is that, unlike OYL, we have FOC on Marvel books, so exposure is really only limited to 1, maybe 2 issues max. But I have to tell you (after reading CW #7) feeling the let-down (as a reader) that there's no there, there, I'm inclined (as a retailer) to assume the worst. My initials are, I think, leaning high, but this is mostly still from fear over Marvel's (former) no re-order policy.

They've never stated it out loud, but, yeah, Marvel DOES overprint these days -- you can reorder CW #3-6 from them, even today. But because they're far from the "open taps" of DC (Dig it, EACH AND EVERY [42 right now] issue of 52 is inprint and in-stock from DC right now), we've still got the Battered Wife thing going on where we've been trained to order on the side of caution. Like, how, say, I can't reorder NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI #1 because Marvel has none. Despite #2 coming out on Wednesday.

So, CW #7 itself.

Obviously, it lets us down with a conclusion that's not a conclusion. "Cap gives up, and here's the trailers for our next year" isn't an ending. But here's some specific questions:

Am I supposed to believe that the Super Soldier of WW2 doesn't know what Acceptable Losses are?

Who is Peter Parker actually on the run from? He's a fully Registered super-hero, right? How can he possibly be with the (expressly) anti-registration (new) Avengers.

With all 50 states covered by super-teams, what possible mission can the (mighty) Avengers have? Global operations? Atlantis, Wakanda, Latveria, almost certainly umpty umpty others are against America's reaction.

Honestly, where's the American dissent to civil liberty abrogations? I kinda feel like "Civil War" is Fox, and we never get to see what CNN, let alone an actual liberal perspective. The series portrays the general populace as lock-step with fascism.

Right, so, 50 teams for 50 states. What are 32 of them going to be doing day-to-day? Most of the major villains are now Thunderbolts. Almost, how can there be crime? Is thre anyone left in the MU TO strive against?

Ugh, it's 11:30, I need to end this, but sure, CW #7 was bad, probably up (well, down) to AWFUL; but the concept was good, damn it.

Just what I always wanted: Graeme reads Civil War #7 and gets depressed.

Here's the worrying thing about CIVIL WAR #7: The possibility that this really was the best that they could come up with. The problem with the issue isn't that it's bad - in a world where Spider-Man's loving can give her cancer, "bad" has almost been redefined, after all - but that it's so amazingly underwhelming. There are no surprises, no shocks, no nothing; it's as if even the creators lost interest in the book by this point and were just going through the motions to complete their obligations. You get the "big fight" you would expect, the one character realizing that maybe they've gone too far, and then the extended close that really pushes the idea that everything has changed. Except that it doesn't feel as if anything has changed at all. There's nothing revolutionary or new or changed about this book at all, and the end of the issue doesn't carry any extra weight that such a conclusion (or even a beginning, as Tony Stark says) should have; there's no release of tension, perhaps because there wasn't really any tension to begin with. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew how many issues were in the series, I wouldn't be that surprised to see Civil War #8 on the stands next month - Well, okay, three months from now - if only because not only has nothing been resolved, but the final issue actually brings up new things to be unresolved in order to make you want to buy the books that Joe Quesada pushes in his column at the end of the issue. Not that I expected anything different, but... I don't know. Maybe I was hopeful? Stupid? Both?

It's Ass, as you'd expect, but not in an entertaining way. It hits exactly the points you knew it would, including Mark Millar's five-year-old sense of what "cool" is, as filtered through his mid-30s brain (Hercules does the "I knew Jack Kennedy" speech? Who read that and thought that it was (a) in any way in character, or (b) not a really shitty idea that doesn't deserve a page and a half? Other than those who found it offensive, of course). Captain America's surrendering doesn't really make any sense when you think about it - "My God! This fight has caused some property damage... I've never thought about that before, ever! I have to give up!" - and cutting from that to weeks later looks entirely like the dodge it is: What happened to everyone else who was fighting at that point? Did they just stop fighting? It's not explained at all, even in the embarrassing Mr.-Fantastic's-Love-Letter-To-His-Wife scene that follows. Did the anti-reg heroes just give up (with the exception of the New Avengers, who somehow escaped and went back underground, but we don't know how)? And if they did, what the fuck is that? "Hey, Cap's quit. This isn't cool anymore. We give up." I don't think that anyone at Marvel really knows, or cares. The ending happens purely because it was time for the series to finish, as opposed to... well, any other reason at all. Not that it's really an ending of course, but what could be more fitting for a series that wasn't really a story but a collection of scenes to set-up other comics?

Never was the "And this is a new comic we're doing!" theme of the series more obvious than in that horrific closing montage that accompanied Reed's equally horrific letter to Sue ("I cried for exactly ninety-three minutes"? I'm sorry, Mark, but that's just bad writing, even if you ignore the "You've never (a) read any Fantastic Four comics ever, or (b) met another human being" things). Here's a hint how to make this kind of thing more subtle in future, Marvel: Closing montages generally work better when they have some thematic connection to the story you're closing, are not full of characters who have never appeared in the story previously ("Some heroes have moved to Canada, to star in our new Omega Flight book. I know that none of these heroes were in Civil War, but look. We have a new Omega Flight book, Sue. Come back to me and we can read it together."), and if they, you know, aren't being used as a rushed attempt at exposition to tell you how DARING and NEW and DIFFERENT Marvel comics will be from now on. That sequence also contains some of the most self-congratulatory writing ever seen, when Millar speaking as Reed complains about how hard it has been to recreate the superhero dynamic (even though he, well, hasn't) and nobody knows the trouble he's seen, just deepening the weird navel-gazing quality of mainstream Marvel these days. I'd put my traditional "Where are the editors?" question here, but they're over at Newsarama saying things like "[A]t the end of the day, Civil War is a story, and a story about some very specific ideas, so the ending needed to revolve around those ideas and the two heroes—Cap and Iron Man—who had come to represent the dueling ideologies. But I can write the reviews right now: 'That’s it? All that hype for nothing? Nobody died??!!' I know where everything is going down the line, though, so I’ve got a bit more excitement for it than perhaps the average reader does right this second."

Dear Tom Brevoort, I really like you and all, but if you really thought that this issue resolved an ideological conflict, you are high and need to calm down. Also, I think you'll find that a lot of fan complaints about this issue are based in more than just "No-body died??!!" Just sayin' that you might want to not get lost in Strawmanargumentville. Love, Graeme.

In the end, I think it's fair that I (like many others) went into this with lowered expectations and yet somehow still found myself disappointed. But it's still going to massively outsell everything else this month - and maybe this year - so really, what does my opinion matter?

Not Comics: The Brain of Dr. Ben

There are items that are our Grail markers from when we're young. Things we saw or did once, then only recall that we liked it -- not the why or the how of it. (though, really, this coming generation may not face that problem -- if all is digital, then all is "eternal")

For me, the first thing I can ever remember coveting was a comic book. An issue of, of all things, THE JOKER. #4, in fact, which features The Joker standing on top of the "Star City" bridge, holding (Black Canary) over his head, threatening to throw her off while Green Arrow looks on madly. It's this issue, actually

(This wasn't the first comic I remember READING - that would be JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #110 -- where John Stewart becomes Green Lantern after Hal Jordan slips on the soap in the shower and knocks himself unconscious just as a JLA emergency happens. I also vividly remember Black Canary (who made me feel very weird) getting absorbed by a giant christmas ball. There's also a JSA reprint in the issue, which is probably why I love the JSA oh so very much.)

I saw THE JOKER #4 in the window of a bodega several blocks outside of my normally allowed walking range (this was '75, so I'd have been 8), but I didn't have the 25 cents to buy it. By the time I finally got the money for it, and, presumably, got an adult to take me there, it was GONE!! We lived on Warren st. in Brooklyn, between Court and Clinton. The boundaries of my world were Court st. to the East, Hicks (or, really, the BQE) to the West, Atlantic Ave to the North, and Caroll st. to the South. The bodega was probably either on Smith, though I guess it could have been Hoyt -- but Court was the "big street", and I wasn't allowed to cross it by myself. Disturbingly, looking at a Brooklyn map today, it's probably just about where ROCKETSHIP is today... though I remember the bodega having a corner location, so *whew*

I probably had found a copy of THE JOKER #4 by 1980... though it seemed like forever to me. When I did my FIRST comics purge (I was 13 and I wanted weed more than comics), I sold it and never looked back -- it really wasn't that good of a story.

The second thing I remember coveting was the soundtrack albulm of THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH. I saw it in a store on Atlantic, but same thing, didn't have the cash (IRONIC!), and when I came back it was sold out. I'd seen the broadcast on what I remember being on PBS, and thought it was the funniest thing ever. That one took me much longer to find, probably well into my teens, though, of course, now you can just buy the film, AND the soundtrack from the internet, and the soundtrack has a score of songs that weren't on the LP.

The THIRD thing I remember coveting was something called MAD MONSTER PARTY? made by Rankin-Bass in 1969. It's claymation-whatever, just like RUDOLPH THE RED NOSE REINDEER or FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, but this one is Halloween and it has all of the monsters -- Dracula, and Frankenstein, and the mummy and the werewolf, and the Invisible man, and so on. It's also co-written by Harvey Kurtzman, something I didn't know until it was released on DVD last (?) year.

I saw MAD MONSTER PARTY? on TV on what I'm going to guess was '76 or '77, and it was broadcast (as far as I know) exactly the one time. It's obscure, and, usually, when I mention it to be they're all "Uh.... what?"

So I was pretty joyous when I found it last year on DVD.

Well, it's not very good, actually, but I, of course, bought it, because I had to -- it was a childhood Grail.

A couple of months ago, I decided that Ben could watch it -- the monsters are all cute, and what kid doesn't like that style of animation. But little did I know I was UNLEASHING a monster!

Ben, as he is wont to do (see: his Superman obsession, or his garbage/garbage truck obsession), DEVOURED it, and wanted more more more. He especially liked the Mummy, which led us getting him various books on Egypt and Pyramids and Mummies. He's probably one of a few 3 year olds in America who knows about Egyptian burial customs, and how they remove the brain through the nose, and stored the organs in canopic jars, and so on. He'll have a 10 minute conversation about mummies with you, if you'll let him.

A part of me kind of regrets it -- part of getting him into monsters is explaining what they are. He knows something about corpses now, and that's not a usual 3-year old topic, really. Some days I'm afraid I'm sending him down a path towards black fingernail polish, and hanging around Hot Topic. But then the other side of me says its good for him to start understanding that part of society's unconscious, and it will make him less likely to be afraid of those kinds of things as he gets older (he's had a few bad dreams in his life, but they're always "generic" monsters, not the Name ones)

His grandmother even made him some mummy "action figures", by wrapping some dolls up in gauze, and making him a "tomb" out of an old check box, and some 99 cent costume jewelry. Then, after we went to the Ginsberg's baby shower, where there were little micro babies frozen in the ice cubes, and Ben collected like 9 of them, he had us glue those to the roof of his tomb. It's really quite surreal!

Anyway, I bring this all up as a sort of a way to try to explain how impressed I am with Ben's brain being able to inter-relate concepts and intuitively build upon them. Ben's never seen FRANKENSTIEN yet, though he's seen the Dr.'s lab indirectly in books like (the TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME) Maurice Sendak pop-up book "Mommy?", or in MMP? and things like that. I've also verbally described how Frankenstein’s Monster was created, with lightning providing the spark of life. ("though, son, you should always be careful and respectful of electricity, because it can be very dangerous" "I know, daddy, don't worry.")

So today, he starts gathering up all of his action figures, and tells me they're a pile of corpses. Um, alright. Why are they corpses, though? The superheroes are there to help people not be hurt. "I know, Daddy, its just 'magination"; Fair enough!

Then he carefully arranges the corpses, and starts talking in the sing-song that all little kids do when they verbalize what's happening in their play -- I'm not even sure they know they're doing it, really -- "we need all of the body parts, I want this one's leg, here I'm taking the lungs" and stuff like that. He piles the bodies up between two dollhouse-bed-sized mattresses (meant to be the operating table, I think), then sets up this industrial-sized construction bolt (he likes me to hold it up to my neck and pretend I'm F's Monster), and says something like "and this is the Frankenstein machine", and then places 2 old dead batteries that we let him keep as part of his "garbage dump" on top and declares "then the 'lectricy strikes, wha-boom! wha-boom!" and tells me that tomorrow his Frankenstein monster will be alive.

Maybe it's just crazy proud-poppa syndrome, but, to me, for a 3 year old to make the intuitive leap between the electricity in batteries, and lightning, and to further assemble that all in his own "laboratory", to make his OWN monster is just pretty insanely smart.

Plus I told you last week how he's pooping in the potty solo? Well, the potty is upstairs in the bedroom (since he needs it to pee before going to bed, and that makes it harder to use bathroom breaks as an excuse to stay awake, with the production number of going all the way downstairs), and I usually sleep an hour past him. So, when he was doing his morning business, he'd yell out "Mommy, come upstairs and wipe my boo!", and by day 4 I was Grumpy McIwantToSleepMore, and I snarled "Dang it, kid, just wipe it yourself!" from my half-asleep bed. And so he did, and he hasn't gone back yet.

Man, that was easy!

Now all we got to do is get him to sleep in his own bed (we co-slept in the beginning because it felt exactly right. At year 3, I'm sorta sick of it), and he'll have made the full transition away from baby. I really can't wait.

He can freeze there, as far as I'm concerned -- childhood is something that shouldn't be rushed, and should be treasured as much as possible -- but I'll be happy once we're fully past the baby stage.

His brain, though... the kid terrifies me with how he's able to make conceptual leaps between topics, and apply logic to a situation.

Anyway, I wanted to tell that story... sorry it's only tangentially related to comics. I *will* be doing reviews sometime this week, and I'm sure Jeff and Graeme both will too, given the week's contents.

-B

Arriving 2/21

OK, last week, "new blogger" just hung on "publishing" on Opera... but it was published. This week, it says "uploading to ftp server", and then hangs. But nothing publishes. Which means I now have to open up IE, sign my wife's gmail account out (she uses IE, I use Opera... it makes a lot of things much much easier for us), open the blogger.com page, edit the post (in order to publish it), sign myself out, then sign my wife back in, and close IE.

FUCKSAKE

You know how I post pretty rarely anyway? This pretty much slaughters my interest in even posting shipping lists, I have to be honest.

(edit #2: Huh, maybe not.... front page still isn't updating for me, oh well, I have too much other things to do tonight to worry about it.... maybe you'll see this before Wednesday, maybe not)

(maybe edit #3: it's possible that we broke something in the background and Jeff just fixed it, which means OUR ARCHIVES ARE WORKING AGAIN! and so let's see if this allows we to edit a post without hanging)

(edit #4: Yup, back to the old hangs-in-Opera-but-still-actually-publishes, so I don't *have* to use IE, hurrah again!)

Anyway, this week....

Lots of stuff, and lots of very very late stuff, too.

30 DAYS OF NIGHT SPREADING THE DISEASE #3 (OF 5) 52 WEEK #42 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #51 (A) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #538 CW AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #49 ARCHIE & FRIENDS #107 BATTLE POPE #13 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #6 BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #77 BIRDS OF PREY #103 BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1 CABLE DEADPOOL #37 CATWOMAN #64 CHECKMATE #11 CIVIL WAR #7 (OF 7) CLASSIC BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #4 CONAN #37 CRIMINAL MACABRE TWO RED EYES #3 (OF 4) DEVILS PANTIES #9 DMZ #16 ELEPHANTMEN #7 EX MACHINA INSIDE THE MACHINE VOL 1 GHOST IN THE SHELL 1.5 HUMAN ERROR PROCESSOR #5 (OF 8) GIRLS #22 GRIMM FAIRY TALES #11 GRUNTS #3 (OF 3) HELLBLAZER #229 HELLSTORM SON OF SATAN #5 (OF 5) HELMET OF FATE BLACK ALICE #1 HIGHLANDER #4 HUNTER & PAINTER IMMORTAL IRON FIST #3 IMPALER #3 (OF 4) INVINCIBLE #39 ION #11 (OF 12) KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #123 KRYPTO THE SUPER DOG #6 (OF 6) LEGION OF MONSTERS WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #1 LOCAL #8 (OF 12) MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #10 NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI #2 (OF 5) NIGHTLY NEWS #4 (OF 6) NUMB OMEGA MEN #5 (OF 6) OUTER ORBIT #3 (OF 4) POWERS #23 PS238 #20 PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #4 RAMAYAN 3392 AD #6 RED MENACE #4 (OF 6) RETRO ROCKET #4 (OF 4) REX MUNDI DH ED #4 ROBIN #159 SCOOBY DOO #117 SE7EN SLOTH #3 (OF 7) SHADOWPACT #10 SHE-HULK 2 #16 SILENT WAR #2 (OF 6) SIMPSONS COMICS #127 SOCK MONKEY THE INCHES INCIDENT #3 (OF 4) SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #172 SPECIAL EDUCATION #2 SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1 SPIRIT #3 STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION THE SPACE BETWEEN #2 (OF 6) SUPER BAD JAMES DYNOMITE #5 SUPERMAN #659 TALES FROM RIVERDALE DIGEST #18 TESTAMENT #15 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #39 WALK-IN #3 WARHAMMER 40K #2 WASTELAND #7 WITCHBLADE TAKERU SUMITA CVR A #1 WONDER WOMAN #4 (RES) X-MEN FIRST CLASS #6 (OF 8)

Book / Mag / Stuff BIRDS OF PREY PERFECT PITCH TP BRIT VOL 1 TP OLD SOLDIER CATWOMAN THE REPLACEMENTS TP CHARACTER SKETCHES 2007 TRAUMA & JOY SC CHECKMATE VOL 1 A KINGS GAME TP DANGER GIRL BACK IN BLACK TP DRIFTING CLASSROOM VOL 4 TP GOLGO 13 VOL 7 GN HEARTBREAK SOUP PALOMAR VOL 1 TP HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE SPRING 2007 HOUSE OF SUGAR GN JUSTICE VOL 2 HC KAMANDI ARCHIVES VOL 2 HC KOLCHAK NIGHT STALKER CASEBOOK SC MAGGIE THE MECHANIC LOCAS VOL 1 TP MARVEL 1602 GAIMAN HC NAOKI URASAWAS MONSTER VOL 7 TP NEED MORE LOVE GRAPHIC MEMOIR HC NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE VOL 1 THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT TP PREVIEWS VOL XVII #3 SHE-HULK VOL 4 LAWS OF ATTRACTION TP SKATE FARM GN SOULS WINTER COLLECTED TMNT WORK OF MICHAEL ZULLI TP TEEN TITANS TITANS AROUND THE WORLD TP UNIVERSE X VOL 2 TP NEW PTG X-FACTOR VISIONARIES PETER DAVID VOL 2 TP X-FACTOR VOL 1 LONGEST NIGHT TP

What looks good to you?

-B

Prose ain't easy: Graeme's review of the 2/14 books.

As Jeff pointed out, it's a busy weekend due to Onomatopoeia deadlines and other stuff, so short reviews where I'll play nice because I'm now kind of embarrassed about the whole spider-spunk thing now, really. BATMAN #663: Well, that was... interesting. And yet, not so good. Grant Morrison, for all his strengths, overwrote the crap out of this ("The Batman feels the kind of chill that comes from stepping into deep, freezing, black water that rises rapidly around the rubs and stops the breath with a hammer blow. Some like it hot." "She's cute like a Chihuahua pup with rabies, or a baby swinging an open razor." That's just plain bad writing, Grant), managing to bury the actual plot of the story under the somewhat unreadable prose. And it's unreadable for multiple reasons - not only was the writing itself awkward and over the top, but the page design, type and illustrations all work against the readability of the text. John Van Fleet's illos are fine until they involve people, and then the computer-modelling becomes very obvious, adding to the feeling that the whole book is a well-meaning, ambitious misfire. Eh

GODLAND #16: The thing that strikes me as odd about this book is actually how unlike Kirby's work that it is - There are surface similarities, especially in the art, but it doesn't have the beautiful sense of design that Kirby's stuff had, the way that each panel led the eye perfectly into the next panel and around the page. The writing, too, reaches for a Kirby-esque sense of scale and ridiculousness (because, let's face it, the two are pretty much tied together), but then undercuts it with the self-conscious comedy and throwaway lines of dialogue that clue the reader in too much to a sense of "Hey, we know it's dumb too" that... well, kind of ruins the fun. Unlike Jeff, I wasn't too annoyed that this was a recap issue - maybe because I don't normally read the book? - but on the other hand, I didn't really read anything here that made me desperate to read the next one, so I guess that it failed as New Reader Bait. Okay for what it is, but the real New Kirby book that Image publishes is Casanova. Which, of course, I forgot to pick up this week. Because I suck.

THE PUNISHER PRESENTS BARRACUDA #1: I don't know, maybe it's my British White Guy Liberal Guilt or something, but this just made me uncomfortable. There's something that never rings true for me reading British writers in particular writing "black" dialogue like "My nigga," and I can't quite shake the feeling that the entire book exists because the creators have bought into some kind of stereotype of the Scary Black Man that they've seen in countless shitty action movies that doesn't really exist in the real world. That said, it's Okay for what it is, if you accept that it's more or less just a comic version of one of those shitty action movies, down to the improbable McGuffin plot (You have to protect the Mob Boss's son - and he's a hemophiliac!) and unfunny comedy moments (the white guys who keep getting fucked up by Barracuda without his even really noticing who they are). It's just that it worries me, for some weird reason I can't put my finger on.

THE SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #35: Wait, so am I misreading or did this issue really spoil the cliffhanger of "Are Aunt May and/or Mary Jane about to die"? Admittedly, it's a stretch, but Peter saying "My family has been put through the wringer" is an incredibly polite way to talk about things if one of them was even near death at that point. Yes, there's that whole "they wouldn't give away something as big as a death in a throwaway line of dialogue" thing, but it would've been easier to just avoid the whole subject if spoilers were an issue. Meanwhile, this issue - which, taken on its own is Okay but nothing amazing (or even Sensational, for that matter), and suffers from Angel Medina's art - also spoils one potential candidate for the big death in next week's Civil War, much to Hibbs' chagrin; Reed Richards shows up here, alive and unharmed. Good planning, Marvel.

THUNDERBOLTS #111: I really want Brian to review books this week, because he passed this to me and said that he thought it was enjoyably sick and twisted, and I really don't see it at all - the issue is essentially a fight scene with a couple of moments to show that the characters are bad guys (Oh! Swordsman kicks a man when he's down! Gasp! Bullseye stabs someone!), and it feels very much what's expected of everyone involved. Pretty much Eh, and enough to convince me that I don't particularly want to stick around to watch talented creators phone it in to pick up a paycheck.

THUNDERBOLTS PRESENTS: ZEMO - BORN BETTER #1: Meanwhile, the previous incarnation of Thunderbolts gets to continue in this miniseries that is probably the most old-school Marvel book around right now. It's not just in the plot - The current Baron Zemo is thrown back in time and makes sure that his ancestors become power-hungry bastards - but in the execution, which shuns historical accuracy for a Roy Thomas shine that oddly enough works. It's hard to shake the feeling that this series is a consolation prize for being thrown off the main book, however, and the lack of adolescent grim and gritty tone (which makes the book more interesting to me) underscores both how depressing the majority of Marvel's current output is and also how ultimately inconsequential this series will be in Marvel's grand scheme of things; as soon as someone else wants to write "Baron Zemo rapes Aunt May and Spider-Man cries: A Marvel Comics Event in Seven Parts," this book will be officially forgotten. Okay, but sadly enough, not enough.

PICK OF THE WEEK is Casanova, even though I didn't pick it up; I just have that much faith in it. Of the ones that I did read, it's probably Godland - it was a pretty blah week, but at least Godland was fun enough. PICK OF THE WEAK is Batman, because it was such a strange choice to do it in that format, and the execution only made the choice seem more strange. TRADE OF THE WEEK would probably be the Showcase Presents Aquaman book because I loves me my seamen.

And, yes, self-referential pun intended.

Next week: Civil War #7! And, if good comics are your thing instead, Local #8 finally appears! Which side of that particular battle will you all be on, Earthlets?

Going the Way They're Going: Jeff's Reviews of the 2/14 Books.

I should apologize. We're really horrible hosts here at the Savage Critic(s). I was well aware that we got a ton of traffic links to Graeme's review from places like Bookslut, Wired and Time (and of course our pal Dirk at Journalista who started it all) but didn't think, until just yesterday, to write some sort of post to greet new readers who might stick around but wonder, like, why this blog never gets updated? So if you're a noob and you're still here, hello! We update at a rate considered lethargic by the Internet's terms--usually three times a week on average--with usually two (but sometimes three) reviewers tackling the week's books, and Hibbs chiming in with a shipping list, or an oddly-formatted link to some article or other he's written for Newsarama, or some complaint or other about toilet training. But sometimes you get a little bit more (one day, I swear, you'll get my post about NYC and Rocketship) and sometimes you get maybe just a little bit less.

This week? Considering there's a store newsletter to get out? Mmmmmmaybe just a little bit less. We'll see how Wonderman McMillan does. As for me, while everyone stayed away from the store and enjoyed our lovely end-of-the-world weather, I read:

52 WEEK #41: Putters along nicely, particularly if you're interested in the space opera story, or Renee's story. (I'm sure I'll be proven wrong, but the last six or seven appearances of Ralph feel like they're running out the clock on his arc--it's ready to end, but they're not ready to have it end.) (And, boy, is it a lovely feeling for an old-school paranoid like me to bust out a sentence with so many "they"s in it. I should go back and capitalize and italicize them: "Ralph is supposed to be the new Spectre but They won't let him!") It's Good stuff, I know it, but because I'm really only concerned about the Black Adam storyline, the mad scientist storyline, and poor ol' Will Magnus, I'd probably give it an OK if it was just you and me talking over a beer somewhere.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #20: I'm willing to bet Hibbs won't be posting reviews this weekend after all that insane number-crunching and summarizing in his Newsarama article, which is a kind of a shame since my take on the book was "Wow!" and his was "Yeah, it's all right. I guess. Pretty standard." His take is that he doesn't give a crap about Breakworld so the story has no tension. My response was that Whedon and Co. put the emphasis on the story not on whether Breakworld lives or dies, but what that'll do to Peter. Hibbs' response to my response was that that was a moot point because it's not like Whedon would bring back Colossus just to break the character (which makes me wonder if he's been paying attention to those Buffy seasons he watched at all) and then I don't know what happened because they next thing I remember we were both shrieking and flinging our feces at each other. To sum up: I think this is a Very Good work, being as it's well written and beautifully drawn and, while I can see Hibbs' complaint, he probably still deserves a face full of poop.

BATMAN #663: The thrill of the world's loveliest title page gave way to a sinking feeling as I discovered the whole issue was illustrated prose. I mean, I'm a fan of prose, really--hey, some of my fictional best friends come from prose!--but it almost always feels like a chore to me in a comic for some unknowable reason.

Here, Morrison gives us passable writing (it reminded me of the stuff I used to read in the lesser pulp magazines, purple, occasionally prolix, but definitely serviceable), perhaps as a commentary on how close to the pulps Batman can be, and while it allows Morrison the space to expound on the Batman's methods and The Joker's madness, it doesn't add much more to the story than the amount of time you'll need to read it. I'd give it a high OK/low Good, since it's a noble experiment and kinda cool to look at than actually to read, but if the construction of twenty-some-odd pages of prose is why this title had to run a fill-in arc for a few months and possibly lose several thousand readers for good.... well, I guess I wish Morrison had waited and done this as an Annual or something.

BLADE #6: You can tell Chaykin loved drawing the clothes on those flashback scenes, and Guggenheim continues working hard to throw some kind of cool twist into all of his action scenes (if nothing else, he's becoming the go-to guy for self-mutilatory characters) but this still feels like less than the sum of its parts--depending on how much you care about the character of Blade, maybe a lot less. OK, unless you're a fan of the character in which case it might be awesome, maybe.

CASANOVA #7: [Got about nine pages into it, then forgot to bring it to work. I reserve the right to retroactively add stuff in here later.]

GHOST RIDER #8: By creatively yoinking the hook of an old Night Stalker episode (where the headless horesman comes back as a biker), and tossing it into an issue of Ghost Rider, Daniel Way accomplishes the formidable task of ruining two of my beloved childhood memories at once. As always with Way, it's not the ideas that are the problem (frankly, that headless horseman on a hog is a cool idea, and a great fit for Ghost Rider), it's the execution: he lingers over his scenes of cruel cops and untouchable rich kid date rapists as if they were new breeds of rare orchids and not the bitter ragweed of cliche. The art's not bad, although Texeira's dramatic scenes continue to be overwrought, but books written and edited this shittily and cynically are why I always feel guilty when I don't praise some mediocre, but well-meant, book to the skies. Awful.

GØDLAND #16: Hey, speaking of which.... I was kinda bummed that Casey and Scioli published a sixty cent issue of this title to nab new readers and pretty much muck it up. Admittedly, summarizing fifteen issues of storylines and introducing all the characters isn't an easy task, but the approach taken here (a bunch of pissy military men argue about it in a room and you get flashback panels) is the path of least resistance...and even lesser drama. I thought this was deeply Eh, and like I said, I feel guilty as hell admitting it.

GREEN ARROW #71: It almost feels like genuine tension when Winick has his two favorite Mary Sues (Green Arrow and Red Hood) fight it out--I mean, since neither one can ever lose, who will win? Actually, despite my sassmouth, I liked this issue OK: Judd and Scott McDaniel are doing pretty much the opposite of something new and yet they're doing it pretty damn well. It certainly could be worse.

JLA CLASSIFIED #34: I missed the first issue of this arc by Dan Slott when it first hit the stands--and most of the people whose opinion I trust was pretty dismissive of it, at the time--but it hasn't been that bad. This issue is my favorite so far, as it uses the alternate reality powers of the bad guy to indulge in the classic Imaginary Story trope of the Earth being evacuated before it explodes. Slott, Jurgens (writing and drawing) and Ordway are really just going for an extra-large Gardner F. Fox story here and, if you like that kind of thing, I think you'll dig it. Good stuff so far, if you ask me.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #3: Poor Alan David Doane. I remember thinking he was kind of going overboard a few years back when he was loosing long tirades about Geoff Johns and his overly violent, age-inappropriate handling of DC icons, but these days, Doane's screeds seem more and more prophetic. I mean, by page five of this book, you get to see a woman and child torn apart at a picnic, an invulnerable silver dude killed by having a metal shard jammed through his open mouth... it's like Friday the 13th: JSA for a bit, there. Hibbs was bemoaning the fact that this is a really good JSA book except that he doesn't feel comfortable having kids read it and how sad is that? (Note: the proper answer here is very, very sad, since the original JSA stories from All-Star Squadron are some of the earliest books Hibbs read as a kid and a cursory glance at the Matt Wagner original art on CE's walls will attest to Bri's enduring fondness for the characters.) Me, I'm just bothered that Johns, who's always struck me as the professional's professional, thinks that this is the best, strongest and most effective way to craft a gripping story and that's really, really sad. As the non-maimy parts of this book show, Johns has a good handle on characterization and the clever hook. But I kinda doubt he'll ever really develop those traits to any significant extent now because this is the kind of stuff that keeps him at the top of the charts. It's an OK issue, but it's also kind of a god-damned shame, you know?

MANHUNTER #28: Skimmed through this issue and it was Eh. The parade of sales-saving cameos continues, but for me the most noteworthy thing about it is that on the last page Kate sees the chess piece, the mark of covert government agency Checkmate, and looks all alarmed. And you know, no matter how Rucka and Co. try to make it work, Checkmate just isn't alarming, and it's not cool. (Maybe for the same reason that a top secret organization called "Bingo!" or "Yahtzee!" wouldn't be cool. I'm not sure, to be honest.)

NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #12: Yes, okay, of course, the revelation of the ultimate villain (which I'm loathe to reveal) had me initially squeal with glee. But, after thinking about it, it's really just the "Fin Fang Foom" thing + the Kirby character piss-take of the first two issues rolled into one. I laughed once or twice reading this, and the art was insane and gorgeous, but to tell ya the truth, I don't think they could've gotten much more from this series: as it was, it often felt like one part inspiration to two parts rehash. Good issue, a fun bit of skylarking, and a pretty decent miniseries overall, but I think it's probably for the best that it's the end.

PUNISHER PRESENTS BARRACUDA MAX #1: If this had been a prequel to the Punisher storyline with Barracuda, I would've been much closer to loving it: as a sequel, it really diminishes the impact of the original storyline. And your enjoyment of the rest of the issue may depend on what you think of Ennis's imitations of Christopher Walken's vocal stylings (not bad) and/or how you feel about a trope from the first Fury miniseries popping up (the tagalong nebbish? Really?) But I did like this issue despite all that: some similarly perverse sense of humor on the part of Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov makes Barracuda a strangely appealing nightmare. The character's monstrous good cheer is infectious. I was actually hoping for better to be honest, but I thought it was Good.

I have another four or five books I read, but I realize I really don't have much to say. So let's just cut to

PICK OF THE WEEK: Even the stuff I liked I damned with faint praise. ASTONISHING X-MEN #20 was the stuff I bitched about the least, maybe because I was defending it from Hibbs.

PICK OF THE WEAK: Well, if that movie is as much of a turd as it looks to be, then at least Marvel is putting out material in the direct market perfectly suited for any new readers it might bring in: GHOST RIDER #8 sucks, too.

TRADE PICK: SHOWCASE PRESENTS AQUAMAN VOL 1 TPB and I can't wait to get a day or two to dig into it.

And howzabout your fine self?

TITLTING AT WINDMILLS v2 #37: BookScan 2006 is up

http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tilting37.html Its very very long.

Go read, tell me what you think!

-B

Arriving 2/14/07

Gr, new Blogger... I sure hope this shit works with Opera (unlike nearly every other god damn thing that Google does....) I really hate being forced into something new that I didn't ask for... (edited to say, it's frozen on "publishing" in Opera, but it published fine when I open up IE... plus I should title the post, huh?)

I held off on posting the shipping list because I wanted Graeme's Spider-Spunk on the top of the page, but the time has come (as it were)

In our happy personal news, Ben is a Big Boy now, and HUZZAH, is now pooping in the potty. If you don't have kids, you don't get it, but man, have I been waiting for this day. The boy has been, let's face it, lazy about the whole process -- he has had complete control of his body functions for at least a year -- no accidents, peeing on command, but he's always been insisting to still poop in a diaper. So, big big change, and, best part? He came to it on his own, without any real action from us.

I'm VERY VERY proud of him.

(plus, WOO HOO, this is like $30 a month in diapers saved, yes!!)

Happy Sweeties Day to you and yours -- I know it's a made-up holiday by card companies and whatever, but it has long been the Hibbs household's National Holiday. Because we're sappy like that.

Right, here's the stuff we recieved this week:

2000 AD #1521 2000 AD #1522 52 WEEK #41 AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #5 ANT #10 ASTONISHING X-MEN #20 AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES II #6 (OF 8) BATMAN #663 BATMAN STRIKES #30 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ZAREK #2 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #149 BLADE #6 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #122 CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #10 CASANOVA #7 CIVIL WAR CASUALTIES OF WAR DARKMAN VS ARMY OF DARKNESS #3 (OF 4) DINOWARS JURASSIC WAR OF THE WORLDS #3 (OF 4) EXILES #91 GEN 13 #5 GHOST RIDER #8 GODLAND #16 (NOTE PRICE) GREEN ARROW #71 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #9 HEAD #17 (A) IMMORTAL IRON FIST DIRECTORS CUT #1 INCANTO #1 JLA CLASSIFIED #34 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #3 MAD MAGAZINE #475 MANHUNTER #28 MARTIAN MANHUNTER #7 (OF 8) MARVEL ADVENTURES FANTASTIC FOUR #21 MARVEL LEGACY 1990S HANDBOOK MIDNIGHT SUN #3 (OF 5) NEW EXCALIBUR #16 NEW X-MEN #35 NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #12 OMAC #8 (OF 8) ORSON SCOTT CARDS WYRMS 2ND PTG #1 (OF 6) PERHAPANAUTS SECOND CHANCES #4 (OF 4) PUNISHER PRESENTS BARRACUDA MAX #1 (OF 5) PVP #31 REX LIBRIS #7 SADHU #5 SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE SLEEP OF REASON #3 (OF 5) [Actually, Diamond stiffed us on this -- we'll have it NEXT week) SCARFACE SCARRED FOR LIFE #3 SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN #35 STAR WARS LEGACY #8 STORMWATCH PHD #4 SUPER TABOO XXX #5 (A) SUPERMAN BATMAN VS ALIENS PREDATORS #2 (OF 2) TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED #5 (OF 8) THUNDERBOLTS #111 THUNDERBOLTS PRESENTS ZEMO BORN BETTER #1 (OF 4) TRIALS OF SHAZAM #5 (OF 12) TRUTH JUSTIN & AMERICAN WAY #5 (OF 5) ULTIMATE X-MEN #79 WOLVERINE ORIGINS #11 Y THE LAST MAN #54

Books / Mags / Stuff BATMAN THE GREATEST STORIES EVER TOLD VOL 2 TP BEYOND HC BORGIA VOL 2 POWER AND INCEST HC EC ARCHIVES TALES FROM THE CRYPT VOL 1 HC EXCALIBUR CLASSIC VOL 3 CROSSTIME CAPER BOOK 1 TP FRANKLIN RICHARDS LAB BRAT DIGEST TP GYPSY COLLECTION SC HELLBOY SWORD OF STORMS ANIMATED MOVIE DVD HELLSHOCK DEFINITIVE ED VOL 1 TP JAMES BOND PHOENIX PROJECT TP JOURNEYS THE COLLECTED STORIES VOL 1 GN LITTLE LULU VOL 14 QUEEN LULU TP LORE VOL 2 TP NEIL GAIMANS NEVERWHERE TP RED SONJA 35TH ANN CVR SHOWCASE COLL BOOK SFX #153 SHAZAM 13 INCH DELUXE COLLECTOR FIGURE SHOWCASE PRESENTS AQUAMAN VOL 1 TP STAR WARS REBELLION VOL 1 MY BROTHER MY ENEMY TP STRONTIUM DOG SEARCH DESTROY AGENCY FILES 01 GN SUPERMAN CAMELOT FALLS HC TOYFARE TRANSFORMER MOVIE FIGURE CVR #116

We also got, via B&T: TO TERRA GN MALCOLOM X A GRAPHIC BIOGRAPHY

Also, for RJ, I'm mediocre on the Asshat, unless it's really egregious, but, yep, egregious as fuck this week, so here's your ASSHAT OF THE WEEK:

HELLSHOCK DEFINITIVE ED VOL 1 TP This has a MAY05 code, which makes it NINETEEN MONTHS late. Holy mother of god!!! THANK YOU DYNAMIC FORCES!!!!!

(This is among the many many reasons I am *thrilled* THE BOYS is moving to DE. Nick's got a great rep [and from what I hear ABSOLUTELY EARNED] from the creative community. But to retailers? He's a MASSIVE FLAMING PAIN IN MY ASS. Not to mention the huge hit to profitibility that the move brings -- 5% on front list, plus the additional 3% Diamond levies on backlist -- there goes 15% of my profit on the TP orders that we got from DC, or would have gotten from Marvel or Image....)

Anyway, I should be finishing off my BookScan column for TILTING (to run Friday -- Christ, I'm sitting at 8500 words!), so back to the grindstone...

What looks good to you this week?

-B

Well, I didn't see THAT death of Mary Jane coming. No pun intended: Graeme's review of the 2/7 books.

Is it wrong of me to be surprised that so many of the midnight openings that comic book stores across the country had for the Dark Tower book were so popular? Not to slight Marvel or Stephen King or anything, but I just can't get my head around anyone going out at midnight for a comic at all. Does that make me a bad comic fan? ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #10: Man, this could have been so good. It has such potential: A Silver-Age style anthology of short stories - complete with go-go checks on the cover! - illustrated by an all-star lineup (I mean, seriously; Joe Kubert and Art Adams in the same book? How often does that happen?) giving hints about what's to come for Superman in the next year or so. Where could it go wrong? The answer, of course, is with the writing. Geoff Johns ("with Richard Donner", which I'm now taking to mean that Donner said something like "So, Superman fights Lex Luthor and there's Kryptonite involved. And you know that Superman movie I did? Make it like that," and poor Geoff has to make it into an actual story) sadly forgets to bring any story to the proceedings, with the exception of two plots that are retellings of past stories (Literally, in the case of the Mon-El one), making the whole thing feel like a 48-page trailer for a particularly confused movie made by a rabid fan of Curt Swan and Julie Schwartz. I love the Silver Age Superman as much as the next guy, but even I'm a bit concerned at the sudden reappearance of the Intergalactic Zoo in the Fortress of Solitude, or square Bizarro Earth, with no explanation whatsoever. Okay, maybe not that last one (Mind you, Toyman suddenly being Winslow Slott the old guy again, considering we had the little creepy living talking toy version in Up, Up and Away this time last year, was unexpected). Disappointingly empty, and not as fun as I'd hoped for. Eh, and that's almost entirely because of the artwork.

THE DARK TOWER: THE GUNSLINGER BORN #1: I am completely the wrong person to review this, because Stephen King normally leaves me cold (aside from his journalism; I loved "On Writing" and "Danse Macabre"), and I generally have problems with fantasy stories in general, so I was never going to be the target market for this. It seems to be fine for what it is, however, with Peter David coming up with a narrative voice that seems to be part his and part King's. Jae Lee's art is strong, although Richard Isanove's coloring weakens it, for me; everything has the same texture and weight, which gives the whole thing a very artificial feeling. The rest of the package is almost as interesting to me as the main story, with a map and text story back-up playing very much to the existing Dark Tower fan demographic, advertisements that try to play up Marvel as a serious literary company, and an amusing editorial by Ralph Macchio that reads like someone awkwardly trying to impress strangers before ending with "Catch ya at the Tower," as if Stan Lee had suddenly entered the room. Like I said, I'm the wrong person for this; I'm sure others more interested in the subject matter will love it, but it was just Okay to me.

THE NEW AVENGERS #27: Is it wrong of me that I love the narrative device of this issue so much? Echo sends an email to Matt Murdock, which is interesting in and of itself considering he's blind and all - although, yes, someone else could read it to him, or he could have software that will read it out loud - but said email outs him as Daredevil by the second page of the book. You can imagine one of Matt's legal assistants checking his email for him and getting a surprise, or someone hacking his email and finding out his secret identity... There's just something wonderfully not-thought-out about it that I love. The rest of the book, I'm much more on the fence about - It's completely unfriendly to any new readers (or, for that matter, people who haven't read Millar's Wolverine run or Mack's Daredevil run), and I'm not so sure that I understood what was actually going on, but I enjoyed the appearance of the team, and Bendis's banter-dialogue, and Lenil Yu's art is always fun. None of it really feels especially Avengers to me, but I think that battle's been long lost by now; it's still Okay, though.

THE SECRET #1: You can tell that writer (and Dark Horse head honcho) Mike Richardson has been hanging out in Hollywood, because this first issue of a new horror series reads entirely like a generic horror movie, somewhere between "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and "The Ring". The star of this book is Jason Shawn Alexander, whose painted art is essentially Kent Williams, circa his Moonshadow fill-ins, or Blood, used for more commercial purposes. It may be entirely unoriginal, but still Good at being entirely unoriginal.

SHAZAM!: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #1: As I'm sure comes as no surprise to anyone, Jeff Smith's take on Captain Marvel plays the material very straight, and true to its origins, giving us a very enjoyable story that's as kid-friendly (especially considering that "Lust" is replaced as a deadly sin by "Injustice") as it is fun for old-school fans. Smith's cartoony touches (Billy's hair standing on end when he's scared, beads of sweat flying off him) and simple dialogue and character motivations feel very pure and more true to the character than anything else that DC has done to him in... well, maybe ever, and the only thing that's wrong with the book is the format - Something that perfect for kids should, I feel, be in a cheaper format than the $5.99, 48-page one. A dumb complaint, I know, but otherwise, this is Excellent.

SPIDER-MAN: REIGN #3: And now it's time for this week's "I seriously can't believe that Marvel did that" moment. I'm very surprised that I've not seen more online outrage about the reveal, this issue, of what killed Mary Jane: Spider-Man's cum. And for all of you who think I'm joking, here's the dialogue from the book itself: "Oh God, I'm sorry! The doctors didn't understand how it happened! How you had been poisoned by radioactivity! How your body slowly became riddled with cancer! I did. I was... I am filled with radioactive blood. And not just blood. Every fluid. Touching me... loving me... Loving me killed you!"

Seriously, Marvel, WHAT THE FUCK? At what point did Spider-Man having radioactive sperm ever seem like a good idea? At what point did anyone even think about Spider-Man having radioactive sperm? Jesus Christ, I can't believe this ever saw print, I cannot believe that no-one at Marvel thought that having a comic where Spider-Man tells the corpse of his wife - because, yeah, I meant to say that, he's talking to the corpse of his dead wife - that he killed her with his special radioactive spider-spunk was ANYTHING that should ever be allowed to appear in a comic. And that's before you even get to the continuation of his admission: "Like a spider, crawling up inside your body and laying a thousand eggs of cancer... I killed you."

Holy crap. To get an idea of the context of this scene, as he's saying this, the corpse of his wife is trying to kiss him with some kind of demon tongue. I was so numbed by the idea that Marvel somehow thinks that this is a perfectly publishable idea - that showing Marvel's #1 licensing jackpot, the same character that they put on all manner of kid products, the same character who's probably going to have the highest-grossing movie of the year this year coming out at the same time as the collection of this series, as being responsible for the death of his wife (potentially strong story idea, possibility for tragedy, etc.) specifically because of his radioactive jism (somewhere between WTF and TMI, and reducing potentially strong story idea to cheap dirty joke and/or bad idea, and something that I feel is kind of offensive in ways that I can't really explain) - that, later on, when the book does a very, very obvious 9/11 rip-off ("Bodies are falling! From the top of the building!" - They're not bodies, they're mini-Venoms, by the way), I was just bored. This book has gone from Dark Knight rip-off to car-crash embarrassment far too quickly. Ass, and, boy, does someone on the blog have to complain that Marvel really has no idea what to do with their own characters anymore every single week?

(And nothing to do with the book itself, but do you think Nissan are going to be that thrilled at their probably-expensive back cover ad having some of its text be covered up by the barcode and pricing info that Marvel didn't want to ruin their front cover?)

WONDERLOST #1: Another book that I had high hopes for, and didn't deliver. The idea of an autobio anthology (all written by the same person) about romantic failures and successes could, in other hands, be a thing of wonder and beauty... But for CB Cebulski, it sadly is just a collection of chances to show how much women like him even though he's an asshole. The common thread through all of these stories (aside from the first, which is about a friend being dumped) is that the women want him - even the best friend of his girlfriend, who pulls him into the back seat of her car and strips for him before they both come to their senses at the same time. His best friend, who he manages to offend by claiming to friends that she wants to fuck him even though she doesn't? She returns at the end of the book and leads him to the bedroom, and leaves the book offering the possibility of future love. Cebulski himself, meanwhile, comes across as a jerk, insensitive and - and this is the failure of the book, I think, as Jeff pointed out to me in the store - seemingly incapable of any real reflection on events beyond "Man, I sure screwed that up." Add those two things - Cebulski's fratboy sensibilities and apparent inability to stop women falling at his feet - together, and the book is nothing more than a shallow teen movie by a John Hughes wannabe trying to show that he really is sensitive, after all. Probably to try and get into someone's pants. It's a shame, because there is some lovely art in here, most notably from Paul Azaceta and Alina Urusov, and the basic idea was strong... but, no, it really is Eh, I'm afraid.

X-MEN ANNUAL #1: I'd love to see what someone like Paul O'Brien would make of this book, because it's all about ongoing storylines and completely impenetrable to someone like me who's not been keeping up with the X-Books at all. It's not just that I don't understand what the backstory is, or who all of the characters are, but I also don't really understand what actually happens in the story itself - Some characters fight and then they stop because there aren't going to be any more mutant babies? Or something? There's nothing discernably Mike Carey-ish about the writing, which is what always fascinates me about the X-Books: They kind of eat writers up and overwrite their styles with the generic X-style. It doesn't matter who writes them, because they're always going to be these sub-Claremont overstaffed tapestries, written for the pre-existing audience. In that case, I guess, it's probably fine and decent, but for a lapsed X-fan like me, kind of Eh.

PICK OF THE WEEK is easily Shazam!, and PICK OF THE WEAK, just as easily, Spider-Man: Reign. I can't get over "I killed my wife with my spider-sperm". I really want to, but I can't. I think it's scarred me for life. TRADE OF THE WEEK is tough, because I've been finishing off the Showcase: Brave and Bold Bob Haney Boy Genius collection this week, but I talked about that last week. Instead, I'll point to Yotsuba&! volumes 1 through 3, which Jeff loaned me as part of my continuing indoctrination into the world of manga, because they were ridiculously fun and full of joy.

But what did the rest of you read this week?

Finally, Secret Writing Project X... Revealed! (Or, Yesterday's News Today...)

Okay, so some of you may remember me mentioning Secret Writing Project X (as far back as here) and some of you have been kind of enough to remember and ask, "When the hell are you going to tell us about Secret Writing Project X?" Well, that time has come. Yesterday.

Yes, yesterday would have been the perfect time to tell you about it, because yesterday is when Telltale Games released Episode 3 of "Sam & Max: The Mole, The Mob & The Meatball" for which I worked on the dialogues.

As you probably know, Telltale moved into the area of episodic gaming a while back, and their plan is to release a "first season" of interconnected Sam & Max games over a very short period (six episodes released over the course of seven months). Because they were working on such an ambitious schedule, they found themselves looking for a contract writer to help with the dialogues in Episode 3 to keep on schedule. And, through a confluence of absurd good luck, good friends, and hard work, I ended up working with Writers/Producers Dave Grossman & Brendan Ferguson on two of my favorite characters in the whole world.

Seriously. Look at my answer to Spurgeon's Five For Fridays back in June, or this Savage Critic cancellation page from 2002. I've been a huge fan of Steve Purcell and his Sam & Max comics almost twenty years. And it's not like there's a lot of opportunities to work on the characters (unless you're, you know, Steve Purcell).

It was a pretty intimidating gig, considering I'd never written for video games, had no programming experience, and was working on two of my favorite characters of all time, and it was strange coming into a game where everything was all mapped out, and only funny dialogue needed to be provided. But I'm pretty happy with the result. I guess Telltale was too, because I also ended up contributing to the dialogues for Episode 2, Situation Comedy. (I thought about making this announcement back when Episode 2 came out but considering I had even less to do with it than Episode 3, I thought I'd wait.) What made the difference is that Dave and Brendan are incredibly great guys--funny, and smart (to which their writing on Episode 1--and the resulting GDC nomination for Best Game Writing--will attest) and also patient and gracious--and that I got tons of support from Hibbs, Edi, Tim & Michelle Reardon, and all my friends. (Having a regular paying job where you can take a few weeks off each year didn't hurt, either.)

It's weird seeing the episode almost five months later; they changed the game design around, pulled some of my dialogue and rewrote other bits. (I was a little bit spoiled because although I didn't write nearly as much for Episode 2, almost all of it made it through exactly as written.) On the other hand, Episode 3 has a truly amazing song I had nothing to do with: it's like Tom Lehrer writing a song for a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant about the non-existence of organized crime... only funnier!

I could bore you interminably with stories about how great the people at Telltale are, how hilariously squalid their offices are, or how strange it was to go from someone writing "fire and forget" reviews to somebody who relentlessly combed Google to read any positive mention of a product I'd worked on, but my time at the comic book store draws near. If you've played either of the episodes on Gametap or directly, I'd be curious to know what you think: I'm in the perfect position of being able to take the blame for almost nothing (and, since it's the Internet, the credit for just about anything). I'm not sure I can guarantee reviews (or replies) for the next day or two since it's Edi's birthday on Saturday, but, work willing, I hope to have more for you in the early part of next week.

Arriving 2/7/07

Aw, I've got to work today because Bennett wanted Super Bowl Sunday off, so here, this is a little early while I rejigger my schedual this week.... 52 WEEK #40 ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #10 ALL NEW ATOM #8 ANGEL AULD LANG SYNE #4 ANTHEM #4 ARCHIE DIGEST #232 ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE BOOK TWO #2 BETTY & VERONICA #224 BULLET POINTS #4 (OF 5) CALAVERA BEAUTIFUL & BLOODY REG CVR #1 (A) CEMETERIANS #4 CHEMICAL WARFARE #1 (O/A) CHEMICAL WARFARE #2 (O/A) CTHULHU TALES RISING ONE SHOT DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER BORN #1 (OF 7) DESPERADOES BUFFALO DREAMS #2 (OF 4) DETECTIVE COMICS #828 FANTASTIC FOUR THE END #5 (OF 6) FELL #7 FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #17 GHOST RIDER TRAIL OF TEARS #1 (OF 6) HELMET OF FATE SARGON THE SORCERER #1 INCREDIBLE HULK #103 IRON MAN HYPERVELOCITY #2 (OF 6) IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #5 JONAH HEX #16 JUGHEAD #179 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #30 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #122 LEADING MAN #5 (OF 5) LONE RANGER #4 LOONEY TUNES #147 LOVELESS #15 MAINTENANCE #2 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #24 MIDNIGHTER #4 MS MARVEL #12 MYSTERY IN SPACE #6 (OF 8) NEW AVENGERS #27 NEWUNIVERSAL #3 NIGHTMARES AND FAIRY TALES #18 NIGHTWING #129 OTHER SIDE #5 (OF 5) OUTSIDERS #45 PIRATES OF CONEY ISLAND #4 (OF 8) PIRATES VS NINJAS #2 (OF 3) PUNISHER #44 RED SONJA #19 SAM NOIR RONIN HOLIDAY #1 (OF 3) SCALPED #2 SECRET #1 (OF 4) SHAZAM THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #1 (OF 4) SPIDER-MAN AND POWER PACK #4 (OF 4) SPIDER-MAN REIGN #3 (OF 4) SPIKE ASYLUM #5 (OF 5) SQUADRON SUPREME HYPERION VS NIGHTHAWK #2 (OF 4) SUPERGIRL #14 TAG CURSED #1 (OF 5) ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #105 UNCANNY X-MEN #483 WAR OF THE UNDEAD #2 (OF 3) WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #3 WHITE TIGER #4 (OF 6) WORMWOOD GENTLEMAN CORPSE #5 X-23 TARGET X #3 (OF 6) X-MEN ANNUAL #1 X-MEN PHOENIX WARSONG #5 (OF 5)

Books / Mags / Stuff ALTER EGO #65 AMERICAN WAY TP BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC BLEACH VOL 17 TP BORDERLINE VOL 1 TP CIVIL WAR ROAD TO CIVIL WAR TP DMZ VOL 2 BODY OF A JOURNALIST TP DR BLINK SUPERHERO SHRINK VOL 1 ID EGO & SUPEREGO TP ESCAPE FROM SPECIAL GN ESSENTIAL MS MARVEL VOL 1 TP GHOST RIDER TEAM-UP TP IRON MAN EXECUTE PROGRAM TP JUSTICE SOCIETY VOL 2 TP KRAZY & IGNATZ 1939-1940 BRICK STUFFED WITH MOOMBINS KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE VOL 2 TP LEES TOY REVIEW FEB 2007 #172 MAKESHIFT MIRACLE VOL 1 GN MIGHTY SKULLBOY ARMY VOL 1 TP NEUROTIC HC OLD BOY VOL 4 TP RED STRING VOL 1 TP REGARDS FROM SERBIA GN STUART MOORES PARA TP SUPERMAN CHRONICLES VOL 2 TP THE CASTAWAYS HC TOMARTS ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #151 JUSTICE LEAGUE ALEX ROSS SER 5 INNER CASE ASST

-B

Graeme fights a Dragon!: Reviews of the 1/31 books.

Apparently, my mother-in-law was the least of my worries last weekend, as I instead ended up sick and sneezing and coughing for more or less the rest of the week, feeling sorry for myself only when I realized that being too sick to work also, occasionally, means that I was too sick to really concentrate enough to do that much else as well. So that long review I'd wanted to do about all of the Essential Fantastic Four books? Covered in mental snot. Attempting to read the crayon-laden pornography that was Lost Girls? Lost to the much-easier task of watching Top Chef reruns (Ilan won? What?). It seemed that my apathy was matched by this week's releases, though, which is something. Maybe not a good something, mind you, but something nonetheless.

52 WEEK THIRTY-NINE: Firstly, as Jeff pointed out in the store, look at the ticker along the bottom of the cover: "Montoya fights a Dragon!" it says, twice... but Montoya doesn't even show up in this issue. Victim of last minute rewrites, or is the ticker now just giving us updates on what the characters are doing off-panel? It'll be interesting to see next issue, when either Richard Dragon will be punching Montoya, or the cover will tell us "Booster Gold has a sandwich!" Storywise, it looks as if they're trying to bring the relatively-deadend Lex Luthor plot to a close, and it's not entirely happening smoothly - the "Yeah, remember that whole 'Lex can't have superpowers' thing? Only joking!" of this issue's events doesn't feel as if it's a cleverly-planned reveal as much as an about-face to try and give the thread some dramatic oomph. Nonetheless, hopefully this'll be over next issue and we can get back to the much more interesting other storylines; we already know how the Black Adam plot is going to go, thanks to the DC Nation page this issue, but I want to find out what's going to happen to Ralph, goshdarnit. Eh.

DAREDEVIL #93: And talking of surprisingly obvious writerly touches, I was convinced that I'd missed an issue along the way, for the majority of this book. Everything from the past few months, even reaching back to Bendis's run, suddenly gets tied up so quickly as to feel rushed and unsatisfying - you feel like this issue should've been subtitled "The Reboot Button gets pushed" - and I'm left conflicted. I like where everything is left, but I wanted more from Murdock's return to public life, more from the latest showdown with the Kingpin, and much more from Murdock learning that Foggy wasn't dead after all. Seriously, what happened? This should've been excellent, but ended up just Okay.

EX MACHINA #26: Wait, is this a plot? An actual, real plot that has something to do with the characters' present, as opposed to some random Law And Order plot that loosely ties into flashbacks while the main characters talk about political theory? Yes, it's much more of a generic superhero story, but that turns out to be better fitted for the title that what we've been getting recently, if this Good issue is anything to go by.

MS. MARVEL SPECIAL #1: Strange Marvel publishing decision number one; I have no idea why this story got its own one-shot, because everything about it says "standard fill-in issue" through and through. There's nothing special about the issue at all, from idea to execution, and it also doesn't work as an introduction to the character due to its unwillingness (or inability, who knows?) to actually introduce anything about the character or her status quo to those who are unfamiliar with her, instead throwing back to part of her part that, in retrospect, is best forgotten, and still managing to say nothing about even that. If it had been a filler issue of the regular book - and there's no obvious reason why it couldn't have been - then it would've just been pretty Eh, but as its own special issue? Crap. I'd love to find out how it managed to end up as a one-shot; between this and last week's Civil War oneshot, it's almost as if Marvel editorial is on a mission to devalue the idea of a one-off special.

ULTIMATE CIVIL WAR SPIDER-HAM FEATURING WOLVERHAM #1: And this doesn't help matters, either. You can almost imagine what happened - J. Michael Straczynski manages to convince Joe Quesada to do a comedy issue to lighten Marvel's output in the midst of Civil War, only to discover that he has nothing whatsoever to say, and has to resort to full-page pictures of Marvel characters as - get this - pigs! There's nothing to this; you can't even say that it's not funny, because there's nothing to be funny. There's nothing to this comic at all beyond the idea that it's inherently funny and fulfilling to make a familiar character into a pig and add "Ham" somewhere to their name, and... well, it's not. It's embarrassing, instead; an injoke stretched beyond interest and even more proof that so much of Marvel's output these days has become preoccupied with self-indulgence instead of entertainment. Ass, and worryingly, probably not the height - or depths, maybe? - of Marvel's current love of naval-gazing.

Another short week means that it's surprisingly easy to pick both the PICK OF THE WEEK (Ex Machina) and the PICK OF THE WEAK (Spider-Ham). In the midst of my own preoccupation this week, what with being sick and all, I've been entertaining myself with my TRADEs OF THE WEEK: Showcase Presents Justice League of America Vol. 2 (Gardner Fox's stories mix the simplicity of good children's stories with a trickiness of imagination and novelty, and Mike Sekowsky's art is an ugly little joy), and the absolutely insane (in the best way) Showcase Presents The Brave And The Bold: Batman Team-Ups Vol. 1 that I picked up last night but can't stop reading - Bob Haney's writing must've seemed as strange and offkilter back in the day as it does now, what with his concentrated attempts to make Batman swinging and out-Stan Lee Stan Lee. Why this man didn't become an often-ripped-off genius worshipped by all, I have no idea.

What did the rest of you read this week, you healthy bastards?

Arriving 1/31

The last bit of our 5 week month brings a pretty decent spread of stuff -- especially trades! 2000 AD #1519 2000 AD #1520 52 WEEK #39 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #50 (A) ADVENTURES OF SPAWN #1 DIRECTORS CUT #1 AMERICAN VIRGIN #11 ANITA BLAKE VH GUILTY PLEASURES #4 (OF 12) ANNIHILATION #6 (OF 6) BATMAN AND THE MAD MONK #6 (OF 6) BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #214 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #172 BLACK PANTHER #24 CW BLUE BEETLE #11 CALVARIO HILLS #1 CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #29 CHEMICAL WARFARE #3 (RES) CREEPER #6 (OF 6) DAREDEVIL #93 DEATHBLOW #3 DEVI #7 DINOWARS JURASSIC WAR OF THE WORLDS #2 (OF 4) ELEPHANTMEN #6 EX MACHINA #26 GARTH ENNIS CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD #1 (OF 6) GHOST RIDER FINALE HAWKGIRL #60 HUNTER KILLER ROCAFORT CVR A #11 ION #10 (OF 12) JACK OF FABLES #7 JLA CLASSIFIED #33 JSA CLASSIFIED #22 JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #254 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #128 KABUKI #8 KOLCHAK TALES FRANKENSTEIN AGENDA #1 (OF 3) KRYPTO THE SUPER DOG #5 (OF 6) LOVE AND CAPES #3 MARVEL SPOTLIGHT DARK TOWER MS MARVEL SPECIAL NEGATIVE BURN #8 NODWICK #36 PHANTOM ANNUAL #1 PIECES FOR MOM A TALE OF THE UNDEAD (ONE SHOT) PTOLUS CITY BY THE SPIRE #4 (OF 6) REFLECTIONS #2 SCARFACE SCARRED FOR LIFE #2 SE7EN GLUTTONY #1 (OF 7) SNAKEWOMAN RED CVR #7 SPAWN #164 STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #13 STRANGERS IN PARADISE #87 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #42 TEEN TITANS #43 THE END #1 ULTIMATE CIVIL WAR SPIDER-HAMCRISIS #1 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #38 UNCLE SAM AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #7 (OF 8) UNCLE SCROOGE #362 (NOTE PRICE) USAGI YOJIMBO #100 (NOTE PRICE) VAULT OF MICHAEL ALLRED #4 (OF 4) WALKING DEAD #34 WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #677 (NOTE PRICE) WASTELAND #6 WONDERLOST #1 X-MEN #195

Book / Mag / Stuff ANDRU AND ESPOSITO PARTNERS FOR LIFE SC ANIMATION MAGAZINE FEB 2007 #169 ASTONISHING X-MEN VOL 3 TORN TP BATMAN SECRETS TP BEASTS HC CHARLES BURNS LIBRARY VOL 2 BIG BABY SC CHICANOS VOL 2 TP COUNCIL OF CARNALITY UNLIMITED GN (A) COYOTE VOL 4 TP DEFENDERS INDEFENSIBLE TP DOOM PATROL VOL 5 MAGIC BUS TP ESSENTIAL GHOST RIDER VOL 2 TP FLASH 13 INCH DELUXE COLLECTOR FIGURE FORTEAN TIMES #219 FRANK MILLERS ROBOCOP TP GEAR GN GRAVE ROBBERS DAUGHTER GN HELLBOY ANIMATED VOL 1 BLACK WEDDING TP HOUSEWIVES AT PLAY LOVE LETTERS GN (A) ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #18 IRON MAN EXTREMIS TP MARVEL MASTERWORKS ATLAS ERA HEROES VOL 1 NEW ED HC MR BIG GN MUSHISHI VOL 1 GN RED EYE BLACK EYE GN SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY VOL4 TP (RES) SUPERMAN BACK IN ACTION TP WIZARD COMICS MAGAZINE HEROESPHOTO CVR #185 XIII TP

What looks good to you?

-B

The Intervention: Jeff's Review of the 1/21/07 Comics.

You know the deal. Your friend calls you, makes plans to meet them at a bar for a few drinks and, when you show up, you realize that not only did they get to the bar early and begin drinking without you, they showed up five hours early. Now, your friend keeps making out with the stranger next to them (who is toothless and looks like Curly Joe Besser in a platinum wig) and, after trying to start a fight with you when you point out they have what you think might be vomit in their hair, you realize your friend has a problem. And if you're lucky you can make your friend realize it too, before they drive away everyone who cares about them. Obviously, in this case, I'm talking about Marvel Comics and their releases this week. But I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself... Read on and you'll see what I mean.

Oh, and there are spoilers and stuff, so don't read if you don't want 'em...

52 WEEK #38: Kind of a time-waster, in some ways. I think it's already well-established that Nanda Parabat pops up just when you can't go any farther and are right on the edge of collapse, so maybe we could have just opened with that? Also, what fun is the Crime Bible if they've got the same stuff as the regular bible, but with just slightly more absurd details? Give me the the Four Second-Story Men of the Apocalypse any day!

Ooo, and that plea by Eddie Berganza to read Supergirl was uncomfortable, wasn't it? "We're so concerned about making this a book for women, I even asked my assistant--who's a woman--for advice!" And "We wanted Supergirl to be more like a real girl and have a little more weight on her bones!" (Does the tits and ass really count as "bones"?) Sadly the subtext--"ladies, we failed to successfully pander to men, so we're ready to try pandering to you!"--is pretty apparent and sorta amusing in a depressing kind of way.OK.

CIVIL WAR THE RETURN: There's a few things in Civil War--Nitro being part of the instigating event, the prison's location in the Negative Zone--that tie in nicely with the original Captain Marvel (who, to make things more confusing, isn't the original Captain Marvel, but is Marvel's original Captain Marvel) so it seems like this was planned from the start of the event. But, if that's the case, why is "The Return" both unbearably lame and done with so little cognizance of the actual character? I'm not even a big Captain Marvel fan and I found enormous continuity flaws with this (they show Captain Marvel putting on his Nega-Bands, but the dude wasn't able to take 'em off; also, where the hell is Rick Jones? Back in the past, on fire, clanging on his bands, screaming "Why? Why aren't they working??"). If you're gonna bring a character back, shouldn't you bother to at least read the Marvel Handbook entry on him? Plus, why make him the warden of the prison? "We need someone to sign guards' request for overtime, Mar-Vell, and you're the only one we can trust!" Slapdash and hackish, but, to be fair, should I really be surprised when Paul Jenkins can't even do justice to a character he's created? That Sentry story was arguably even worse. This was a really ASS book, and suggests Marvel has already dealt their good shit with regards to the Civil War--it's all rat poison and baby laxative from here on out.

CONNOR HAWKE DRAGONS BLOOD #3: I didn't bother with the first few issues, but probably because they didn't show Connor making out with his smoking-hot Ninja stepmom on the cover. Hopefully, this mini will do the trick and we don't have to read Chuck Dixon's Connor Hawke: The Dragon's Totally Straight, Okay? where Connor really has to overcompensate. OK.

CRIMINAL #4: VERY GOOD stuff, although, you know, some quibblage. Would Leo really leave Greta the recovering addict with access to tons of high grade junk right after he buries his mentor with whom he's made the same mistake? Apparently he would, and I bet it's essential to the "coward" nature Brubaker is observing, but...I dunno. As I said, quibblage. Well worth your time and coin, though.

DAMNED #4: This is also highly GOOD crime stuff which I've been enjoying. I'm not entirely sure on the cosmology--obviously, the creators don't want me to get all the angles yet, but the hardest part about writing magic and fantasy stories is making the reader feel like they know enough of the "rules" to think they're being treated honestly. I suspect we won't know if it all hangs together until the final issue, but I have high hopes.

DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #4: What with all the puns, it's thisssss close to being a high camp self-parody of near Joel ("Ice to meet you, Batman!") Schumacherian proportions, but compared to nearly every other book Marvel put out this week, it's practically Watchmen. OK, is what it is, and probably about as good as Dr. Strange is gonna get anytime soon.

ETERNALS #6: You know, San Francisco is a very difficult town to convey visually, which is why almost everyone falls back on Golden Gate Bridge/Transamerica Pyramid/Gate of Chinatown imagery, but jeez. Thanks to John Romita Jr's apparent disdain for photo-reference (or detail), an average episode of Full House feels more convincingly San Franciscan than this miniseries. Sadly, that's not the worst of its problems, as top-name talent Neil Gaiman sheepishly drags his cosmic superhero tale through its paces with all the verve of a hungover dad at Disneyland. Parts are definitely charming, and Gaiman is one of the few guys who bothers with the idea that superheroes can (and perhaps should) be super-compassionate, but barring some ultra-mega-cosmic finale in the last issue, I kinda feel like an idiot for spending so much buck on so little bang. EH.

FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #8: After eight issues, the creative team has clawed all the way up to an EH rating. Flash goes to Vegas, gets laid, and traps an intangible electrical being behind him on his slipstream. The End. New scripter Marc Guggenheim starts in next issue and I wish him all the best because this book is nine kinds of screwed, already.

HELMET OF FATE IBIS THE INVINCIBLE #1: So, I guess this Helmet of Fate thing is, like, DC's old First Issue Special but with Fate's helmet as a joined linking device? As Brian points out, this'll probably do little more than hurt the upcoming Dr. Fate series and that's a bummer because I thought this wasn't a bad little book--lovely art by Phil Winslade and Tad Williams manages to cover in 20 pages what it took Gaiman 6 issues--if a little glib and unnecessary. But as I grow nostalgic in my dotage, I think I prefer the "let's throw shit at the wall and see what sticks" trademark retention to "hmmm, who can we rape and unmask now?" crossover events. Like I said, kinda GOOD.

HEROES FOR HIRE #6: I can't fully hate any book that has both the Headmen and a Doombot trying very hard not to bond with its precocious kid savior, but it didn't really fry my burger, either. Between this, Dr. Strange: The Oath, Punisher: War Journal and (to a much lesser extent) X-Factor, there's a lot of comedic shtick, as if people writing for Marvel are just trying to keep themselves amused for as long as the checks clear, and hoping that enough old-school shout-outs will keep the audience from noticing how embarrassed the creators are to be workiing on the material. Considering the creators have some talent to them, and it's not quite as bad as the cynically serious-faced money-grab Millar and Jenkins spend more and more of their time at, it's struck me as the lesser of two evils up to now. So, OK, kinda, but Marvel, what's that in your hair, dude?

MOON KNIGHT #7: Moves like a greyhound doped up on horse tranquilizers--slow and kinda stupid (apparently every hero in the Marvel Universe is okay with murder and slaughter when the plot requires them to be (or until the plot requires them not to be)). And if this really got delayed because of Civil War, I'd really like to know why since it's nothing but the most generic of tie-ins. Still, the creative team here has created a superhero who continues creeps the fuck out of me in a way that's neither out of line with the character nor particularly common in the marketplace these days. So, OK, even though I guess it's gonna be draggy-ass all the way through this team's run.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #3: Maybe Fraction is just making the best of the hand he's been dealt, but this was so badly paced, I really have to wonder--The Punisher stumbles out of his interminable Civil War scene (complete with what I assume is an intentional paradox of a flashback) and ends up in an armory...how, exactly? One scene ends with crazy scientist guy in an elevator and the next starts with him and Frank in the armory... it's as if an entire scene in the middle dropped out (I actually flipped through the pages twice to see if I'd missed something). The first point I can kind of forgive (the scientist has a doo-whatsit pinned on Frank with which he can track him down) but the second is such a fumble of basic pacing, I was kind of mystified.

Also? Establishing shots? They're not just for hacks. Really.

So between all that and the plot-hammering, and the OOC stuff, is it enough to have real pretty art and the re-appearance of the Satan's Claw? I wish it was, but really, this was AWFUL, and I'm really, really hoping that's just a fluke.

ROBIN #158: Brought back those fond days of yesteryear, when two unlikely heroes teamed up and fought an even more unlikely villain, and yet you could read it and pretty much believe it because the creators showed a certain respect and affection for the characters. It wasn't showstopping, even with such lovely art, but it was GOOD.

SILENT WAR #1: Sorry, Marvel: I have successfully made my saving throw against your pretty looking unlikely miniseries. I just couldn't buy The Fantastic Four--humanity's first contact with The Inhumans, mind you--being told by the government to fuck off and being okay with that. I'm starting to feel like Helen Lovejoy from The Simpsons: "Won't somebody please think of the characters?" EH.

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #26: Sweet art, a strong story, and even a sense of peril in a story where three of the superheroes have Superman level powers--which, if you think about it, is a pretty hard trick to pull off. GOOD, although there's really no way to do an LSH book without it being crufty as hell, is there?

TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD #3: A strong little issue, even if the ending might be just a little bit too pat. GOOD stuff, though, and one of those books I'm always glad to see on the stands.

WOLVERINE #50: The final sign that Marvel might need help is this horribly hacky over-priced issue. Not only is it bad enough that an artist like Simone Bianchi is wasted on this dreck (although, to be honest, he's not that great here. Does "Wolverine" mean "make the fight scenes too dark and show a bunch of knees and elbows flying out at the reader" in Italian or someething?), not only is Jeph Loeb at his most scattershot "I'm having a flashback--or a dream! That's it, a dream of a flashback!--and it inspires me to start a fight--or maybe it doesn't! Yeah, maybe I'm really upset about this flashback, instead! Or maybe not!" But we don't even get a full story (yes, I know that should be in quotes, and yes I know I'm echoing Hibbs' earlier "and such small portions!" complaint) for our $3.99. Instead, we're expected to underwrite Loeb's fellating of former boss Damon Lindelof in the form of a "tribute" to Len Wein and Herb Trimpe's first appearance of Wolverine (where Wolverine says Wein's dialogue and thinks, "Like I'd ever say crap like that if I wasn't told to," and "those whiskers on the costume were humiliating and I begged Mac to take 'em off," which, as tributes go, lacks a certain something) that suddenly morphs into the infamous double-page spread of Ultimate Wolverine Versus Hulk for no reason. I think it's meant to be cute, but the unintended message--"I can suppress my gag reflex if you can get me paying work"--is really off-putting. And that's why Marvel needs an intervention: it's not just that Wolverine #50, like Civil War: The Return, is an ASS comic, it's that it's an ASS comic that Marvel presents like the most amazing comic you're going to read all month and really seems to believe it. We're all used to hyperbole from Marvel with the books it publishes but there's a wild-eyed desperation to the shit Marvel is putting out on the market--"Isn't this girl awesome? Show him your teeth, honey!"--that makes me deeply, deeply afraid and, obviously, cranky. Blow Damon Lindelof on your own time, Loeb!

PICK OF THE WEEK: CRIMINAL #4. Go get it now.

PICK OF THE WEAK: CIVIL WAR: THE RETURN. And WOLVERINE #50. And PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #3, while I'm at it.

TRADE PICK: Just this week, I was rounding up a bunch of books on my shelf that I'd read and realized I was never going to read, and the first two Penny-Arcade volumes were in that round-up. I'd enjoyed them, to be sure, but was I really going to re-read them? So of course, along comes PENNY ARCADE VOL 3 WARSUN PROPHECIES and I tore halfway through that thing yesterday afternoon. I'm sure it's not for everyone, but Tycho's prose style is utter fucking catnip for me.

And, hey, this is a trifecta right here. Howzabout that? Please read my savagely critical colleagues below if you haven't already, and lemme know your thoughts in the funny little comments box when you can.

It's not you, it's... No, you're right, it's you: Graeme's letter writing to the book of 1/24.

Dear Marvel, I believe that the acronym that the kids today would use today to describe my feelings about your much-hyped one-shot addition to the whole Civil War "event", CIVIL WAR: THE RETURN, would be - if you will - "WTF?". I have read your comic in question multiple times by this point, admittedly because the first time I read it, I was kind of stunned by it. I read it, and my mind kind of locked up. And not in a good way, Marvel. Not in a good way.

Here's my thing, Marvel: I don't understand what you're doing. I don't get why you're bringing this particular character back, or why you're bringing this particular character back in this particular way. If this were not really a letter that I'm writing to you, but instead a post for an online review blog, I would feel compelled to tell anyone who really cared that it's time for a Spoiler Warning right now, so that we could talk openly, Marvel. I feel that we should talk openly, don't you? Good. So, Marvel, here it is. I don't care about Captain Marvel. And I don't really think that anyone else really does, either.

I mean, seriously. When was the last time that anyone was screaming for the revival of Captain Marvel? Or, for that matter, that anyone really talked about Captain Marvel outside of the context of the fact that he died? That's been the entire value of the character, for the last twenty-odd years - That he was dead, that he was staying dead, and that he died in mundane circumstances that brought a gravity and realism to the Marvel Universe in a way that exemplified the whole "world outside your window" Marvel thing in a way that had never really been done before with one of the main characters before - much in the same way that Barry Allen has been much more worthwhile as a sacrificial Crisis lamb over at DC. So, you know, bringing him back for no immediately apparent reason and in such a dumb, pointless manner (Never mind a manner that was done last week in 52, and in a much more fitting manner, which has really got to hurt, especially considering Steve Wacker, editor of this book, was also editor on 52 when that storyline started... Hey... wait... Does that mean that this could possibly be a more deliberate reference to the Booster thing...? And, now that I've mentioned Barry Allen, dude! This is exactly the way they always have Barry guest-star to be the Silver Age icon in Flash or Green Lantern or whatever! And it's cheesy even then, even when it's very clearly temporary!)... I don't get it. What's the point?

It hasn't been a good couple of years for death in the Marvel Universe, let's face it. Bucky is back, Colossus is back, hell, even (an) Uncle Ben is back, so perhaps this is some kind of weird post-modern self-commentary thing. Are you trying to make some kind of point about the revolving door, worthless nature of "death" in ongoing superhero narratives, Marvel? Is the fact that Captain Marvel returns to us not as the character that he was before, but instead as a buff depressed Emo kid who wants to listen to Evanescence who just happens, is that meant to represent the insecure overly emotional loner that each comic reader is, and... Oh, no, wait, never mind. I forgot, Emo is in at Marvel again. Especially in Paul Jenkins books, where he's overloading on the "To be a hero, I must feel pain" thing (Sentry: "To be a hero, I must be schizophrenic and deal with the fact that I could accidentally destroy the world!" Penance: "To be a hero, I must pierce myself with spikes!" Captain Marvel: "To be a hero, I must use my super-bracelets that give me special mutated cancer!"). Never mind. Maybe I should just go and get some eyeliner or something so that you'll be my friend again.

Don't get me wrong, though, Marvel. The Captain Marvel story, as shitty as it is - and boy, am I glad to know that he's going to be seen in an all-new Captain Marvel #1 real soon! - still wasn't the worst thing about the book. I love that you keep giving work to Paul Jenkins, because who else could make the second story in a oneshot, a story that's been advertised by the editor of changing the entire status quo of the character and making the new Mighty Avengers series possible in the first place, such a non-event. Any hack could've made that half of the book dull, but only Paul could've made it center around a decision that most readers of Civil War thought that he'd made months ago. I mean, how is there any dramatic tension in wondering if the Sentry is going to register with the Superhuman McGuffin Generic Political Act of 2006 - 2007 when we've all already seen him team up with Iron Man and fight people who don't want to register for the last couple of months? There's something to that kind of thing, Marvel - Call it balls, call it gusto, hell, call it laziness that betrays a disdain for the fans who have shelled out money for this bullshit - that's just impossible to ignore.

So, yeah. I don't know what to tell you, Marvel. I was kind of impressed that you'd managed to get some kind of fan expectation about this obviously-last-minute-addition-to-the-schedule oneshot, especially considering the general apathy that's settled into "fandom" about Civil War in general, and to see the book itself be something so breathtakingly worthless and naval-gazingly, cringeworthingly Ass... It kind of brings a lump to my throat.

Oh, no, wait. That's bile. Sorry. Very easy to get the two confused.

Best to the kids. See you this summer!

Love, Graeme

***

Dear Internet,

I'm sorry that I don't have time to write anymore reviews this week - especially considering that Wolverine #50 proved once and for all that, as nice a stylist as Simone Bianchi is, a Wolverine comic that has art that looks like Heavy Metal and a script that reads like it's been produced by a computer fed with Mark Millar and Chris Claremont comics for years on end is still pretty Crap - but it's been an endless fucker of a week - The one highlight of which was the "She's Such A Geek" reading last night at City Lights, headed up by Charlie Anders and Annalee Newitz (who were both very nice to meet, even if I was sick and potentially just talking shit endlessly because I was nervous. If so, I'm sorry, the two of you. And also sorry to Devin Grayson, who was one of the authors doing the reading, and whom I probably bored to tears even though she hid it very well). For those of you who are free next Thursday night and in San Francisco, they're doing another reading at Modern Times on Valencia, and if it's anything as good as last night's, is highly highly recommended - and the Savage Critic illness curse has struck again, so I'm on reduced Criticing for a week. If you want non-reviews, though: PICK OF THE WEEK is probably Criminal #4, PICK OF THE WEAK is easily Civil War: The Return, and TRADE OF THE WEEK is Bryan Lee O'Malley's Lost At Sea, which I finally read this week after months of meaning to do so.

Okay, now I'm going to finish preparing the house for the arrival of my mother-in-law, and also to make a Theraflu and feel sorry for myself.

What did the rest of you read this week?

Hibbs has an hour & talks about 1/21 books.

I totally don't have time for doing reviews.... like ever, which is why I hardly ever post, but here I find myself with about an hour and I don't feel like doing any REAL work (or playing a brief bit of MARVEL: ULTIMATE ALLIANCE -- jeez, I suck hard at "traditional" video games), so let's try to pretend that I post content to this blog, too -- shall we? 52 WEEK #38: A downer of an issue after the last page of last week (I'd probably be happy if the last 14 weeks were ALL about the yellow aliens, to be honest), but at least it does seem like some of the threads are starting to come together. This issue is at least OK. I think I'd rather comment on the "DC Nation" page, and Eddie Berganza's plea for women to pick up SUPERGIRL.

I'm kinda disturbed by the "We want her to be a 'real' teenage girl" when the CONTENT is "Act like Paris Hilton, loath yourself, and try to kill your male role model", because all of that, to me, makes it sound like no one in the DC offices has ever MET a "real" teenage girl. This kind of bothers me even more in the context of DC cancelling THE BOYS, resumably for content, because I think garbage like the current SUPERGIRL comic is far (FAR!) more harmful to the souls of people, or to the "mythic value" of the superhero genre, than Garth & Darick's dirty little minds.

Y'know, even IF "real girls" ARE like that (and I think most aren't), maybe JUST MAYBE its because of messages in the media that encourage those kinds of feelings/behavior. And comics ARE part of the media. I certainly wouldn't give this highly sexualized version (look at the skirt! Look at her body proportions!) of Supergirl to a young girl precisely because its the wrong kind of role model. It's pretty shameful stuff, if you ask me.

CIVIL WAR THE RETURN: ....the fuck? Well, I think we have our first contender for The Very Worst Comic of the 21st Century. What a horrific cluserfuck this is. It's not only totally out of left field to have Captain Marvel be the warden of the Civil War prison, but its hamfistedly done at that with exactly the kind of awkward "DC plot" that Marvel usually strenously avoids. It's not even so much a "return" as much as "Oh, look he's been standing here for a while" And, then, as the old joke goes "...and such small portions, too!" The Sentry story just ate up pages that could have been summarized in 2 panels, max, but it didn't even feel "Sentry-like". Man, I am so glad I didn't take a significant position on this one -- this dog isn't going to hunt. It's worse than CRAP -- it's ASS.

CRIMINAL #4: This, on the other hand is EXCELLENT in all ways, shapes and forms. I have nothing more meaningful to say than that, but I wanted to have at least one great comic in this week's pile.

ETERNALS #6: I absolutely have to criticize this for the artistic depiction of San Francisco, which has been an ongoing problem (again, from ground level, you simply can't see the Golden Gate Bridge from Golden Gate Park), but reaches new heights here as we pull back for the wide shots, and it appears the only reference used was maybe a geologic survey map.

Golden Gate Park is yes, about 50 blocks long, but it is only about 6 blocks wide, and on either side of the park is houses. Lots and lots and lots of houses. The way these scenes are drawn, there'd be horrific casualties, in the thousands, if not tens of thousands, with billions of dollars of property damage.

Ignoring that, the story was fine, if a little awkward from the inclusion of the Civil War elements, but I just couldn't get past the staging at all. AWFUL.

FABLES #57: Neat, Mike Allred draws this issue. Solid issue otherwise, too. GOOD.

HELMET OF FATE IBIS THE INVINCIBLE #1: This issue, in and of itself, is fine -- introducing a new Ibis, who probably won't appear in another DC comic for a year, but, unfortunately, making him way too much like Captain Marvel in doing so. The actual execution is really pretty decent, I might even give it a low GOOD, but this is an obvious go-nowhere character introduction that also doesn't really move the "Dr. Fate" part of the plotline forward. All in all, this is bound to hurt the introduction of the DR. FATE monthly book upcoming -- you'd have thought that DC would have learned from the virtually identical marketing mistake made on POWER COMPANY.

PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #3 CW: Wow, really disliked this issue. Like virulently hated it. Everyone seems totally out of character, or moving to the dictates of the Plothammer. (yeah, as if Luke Cage would let Castle walk with a "he won't forget a punch from Captain America anytime soon!" after he just murdered two guys in front of them). The art is really lovely though, which saves it by giving it an AWFUL.

WOLVERINE #50: I was kind of surprised that the story ended where it did, given this was the double sized issue, and the backup was (while also fun to look at), basically fluffy filler. So, basically, eye candy, no meat. I'm going to go with OK, but feel free to raise that if you're good with just eye candy.

So, I think the PICK OF THE WEEK should be obvious -- CRIMINAL #4 was a fine piece of work, with a lot of solid backmatter, too! I just wish #1 had gone back to press is all...

PICK OF THE WEAK should also be obvious -- CIVIL WAR THE RETURN, which shouldn't have, and isn't really.

For TP/BOOK OF THE WEEK, I think I'm going to go with two left field choices, which your LCS probably doesn't even have anyway. Either the COMPLETE NEMESIS THE WARLOCK BK 1, with the early eyeball-bleeding work of Kev O'Neill, or Paul Chadwick's underlooked WORLD BELOW TP, which I remember as being seriously strange, and gorgeous to look at at the same time.

That's what I got in my hour -- what did you think this week?

-B

Back on the Chain Gang: Jeff's Reviews of 01/17/07 Books

Wow. New York. Actually, that'll probably be another post later in the week, but god damn, did that town knock me on my ass. Since I got back last week, I've been laying low and taking it easy but it's probably time I get back into the swing of things and, since this week was so low-key, the time is right. You'll probably also get another post on some of the trades I've been working through...maybe. I've been so deeply annoyed by that first trade of Paul Jenkins' The Sentry (which I picked up super-cheap) that a long, hectoring screed will be in order.

And finally, for those of you who remember me talking about Secret Writing Project X about five or six months ago, I should finally be able to talk about in the next week or so.

So, that's what I've got for you in the future, but what have I done for you lately?

52 WEEK #37: Since I didn't get to the previous week's books until this week, I read this right along with the previous and together they were pretty enjoyable. At the risk of being spoilerific, it's kind of a bummer when Supernova's reveal isn't quite as cool as all the red herrings (kinda like when Hush wasn't Jason Todd but turned out to be that boring doctor dude after all) but at least it's still satisfactory in a larger arc kind of way. And the paragraph where Dan Didio talked like The Architect from the second Matrix movie was pretty enjoyable as well, so I'd say this was relatively Good stuff.

AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #48: Old school alert!! Bee-you-tiful art by Ricardo Villagran (a name I totally remember from those Savage Sword of Conan days) makes this book worth picking up. I have to admit, though, it conjures the flavor of the book I'd like to read (Aquaman, Underwater Barbarian) rather than the book I feel like I'm reading (Aquaman, Whingey Naif). Still, just to see some gorgeously fine linework? Highly OK.

BIRDS OF PREY #102: Graeme does a pretty good job below pointing out stuff with this ish that doesn't work and misses the big one: the conclusion of the big confrontation between Barbara and Lois retroactively strips the scene (and since it's the bulk of the book, the issue) of any drama. I don't know if it was last minute editorial influence, or a sudden "hey, wait..." realization on Gail's part, but there are better ways to have surprise twists on your confrontation than "Did you really think I was gonna out your operation? Psyche!!" Eh, although I should mention I'm digging the art.

CABLE DEADPOOL #36: Maybe moves a bit too much into the realm of outright absurdity (the book never lacks for it, but the Cable storylines mean that it has to be kept under pretty tight leash), but not enough to mitigate my enjoyment. And although I liked Patrick Zircher's art, I'm glad to have a new artist on the book--so much so, it may take me an issue or two before I can tell what Reilly Brown's bringing to the table. Good.

EXILES #90: Chris Claremont finally takes over the book, with remarkably hacky results. (An imaginary "and that's what would happen if..." scenario followed by danger room training sessions--all we need are the Exiles going on patrol and beating up a band of muggers and we'd have 95% of the Marvel Comics openings I read growing up.) Then Psylocke shows up and the countdown to sexy ninja mindrape begins. Although Claremont doesn't fumble the ball, it's apparent he's on Exiles because its sales are remarkably bulletproof rather than anything in particular he needs to say. And that's probably the way it's going to be until (a) the book gets cancelled; or (b) Brevoort takes Claremont behind the barn to show him the rabbits. In a way, all well and good, but in another way, unfathomably depressing. Quasi-Awful.

FANTASTIC FOUR #542 CW: Exhibit A in why Hibbs should do reviews this week, because his comprehensive overview of why this did and didn't work is beyond what you're gonna get from me. Me, I thought McDuffie did a very good save on Reed's CW motivations, and Mike McKone's art seemed a little more lively than it's been. I don't think we're out of the woods yet--Civil War hasn't left this book "revitalized," so much as "just about broken"--but we're getting there. OK, at the very least.

GHOST RIDER #7: Again, lurve the Corben art--particularly those faces--but WTF is up with the story? I think it's flipping between a fiery showdown between Satan and Ghost Rider, and a flashback detailing the events of Johnny Blaze's death before the beginning of the Ennis/Crain mini, but honestly, that's just a wild fuckin' guess. It reads like someone mapped a bunch of cliches to keyboard macros, dropped their keyboard, stepped on it a few times, and then submitted the result. God-damn lovely art, though. Eh.

GREEN LANTERN #16: There's a line here where someone (I think Alan Scott, but I'll be assed if I can remember for sure) says something like, "Every time you and Carol started to get too close, you and Oliver would go on the road to discover America. But you're not running now, Hal," which manages to be a clumsy retcon, a lazy shortcut (So far, Hal appears to have the same relationship with Cowgirl that he seems to have with every other member of the DCU--she admires him and he feels a fierce loyalty to her for which he will break The Rules--and the only way the reader could assume he felt any differently is that the artists always draw Cowgirl super-hot), and hilariously bitchy all at once. Throw in an annoyingly shrill ubervillain (Abin Sur's son, who is apparently the only person in the universe unclear as to how the Green Lantern succession process works) and you've got the very dregs of Eh(--even if it'll maybe lead to a return to Ysmault or something cool like that).

HELMET OF FATE DETECTIVE CHIMP #1: Although competent, it somehow fails to meet the high bar of expectation set by a comic titled "Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp." Eh.

PHONOGRAM #4: Yeah, I dunno. Although it could well be because I can't follow the theme and the imagery of the story without reading all the copious notes and essays in the back of each issue, I think there's something vital missing from this story four issues in. Whether through inexperience or an overabundance of caution, Gillen has left the genuine heart out of his narrative (probably the real-life emotional events at the heart of the story as alluded to in the notes) and chosen instead to invest his allegory with dense imagery and fervent argument. Consequently, even as the book trembles on the cusp of justifying Why Pop Matters, I'm not emotionally invested enough to have it matter to me. It could turn that around before the end, of course, but currently I'm frustrated that the book doesn't feel more than OK considering the amount of passion and skill being put into it.

SHE-HULK 2 #15: Both Burchett and Slott seem off their game here: although Burchett's work usually looks cartoony, this issue doesn't have his usual top-notch storytelling, and Slott's Agent Cheesecake is just one of several neither-fish-nor-fowl conceits. If they're trying to change gears on this book to save or boost sales, they'd better change 'em quickly and a little more smoothly. Eh.

SPIDER-MAN REIGN #2: There's a certain excitement that can accompany a very bad comic book: unrestrained by good taste or commmon sense, the creator can take the reader to an utterly unexpected place. And for about four panels, where a fat, aged Hypno-Hustler suddenly appears, I was struck giddy at the possibility Kaare Andrews might make the entire issue a showdown between an decrepit, senile Spider-Man and his absolute lousiest villain. Unfortunately, Andrews quickly veers from the realm of the insane and ill-considered back to the realm of the dull and ill-considered, but boy did those four panels give me hope. Awful work, as much as it pains me to say so.

SPIRIT #2: A nice improvement over the first issue--the sudden passage of time wasn't handled as elegantly as I would've liked but that's a quibble--and a Very Good little read. Unlike Graeme, I'm not too worried about how long this book'll last--Darwyn Cooke is clearly meant for better things than easing The Spirit's transition from creator-identified signature character to quirky corporate asset--but I'll enjoy the ride while I can.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #104: That fight scene went on and on even though neither Bendis nor Bagley had their hearts in it at all, but the emotional scenes worked really well. Not sure if it was worth the extra buck, exactly, but at least I didn't pay it for an eight page black-bordered series summary. Good.

WISDOM #2: Read this right after Phonogram #4, which was amusingly apt as the two books cover surprisingly similar ground. Since I didn't read the first issue, it didn't make a lick of sense to me, which didn't hurt it much, truth be told. Nice art, general insanity, and the sort of thing "New Marvel" would throw at you back in the day. Good stuff if you're a fan of the peculiar.

Y THE LAST MAN #53: I couldn't buy some of the events in this based on the timeframe (I don't care how much closure somebody needs, I can't imagine anyone looking in a sewers for a body years after the fact unless it was presented as the mother of all quixotic quests) but I liked the, I dunno, how brazen it was about its thematic concerns. Still, it felt more like an item on BKV's dwindling to-do list for the book, and needed more finessing than it got. OK, I guess.

PICK OF THE WEEK is SPIRIT #2, one of the few books I didn't beat until it bled from the ears. PICK OF THE WEAK is SPIDER-MAN REIGN #2, which proved to me that I'll take bad & crazy over bad & derivatively dull any day. No TRADE PICK because I hope to cover that at more length shortly.

And you?

Arriving 1/24/07

And this week, I'm absurdly early, go figure. SIX Vertigo comics this week. It's like they're TRYING to kill the periodical versions stone dead....

100 BULLETS #80 2000 AD #1518 52 WEEK #38 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #49 (A) ALL NEW OFF HB MARVEL UNIV A Z UPDATE #1 (OF 4) AVENGERS NEXT #5 (OF 5) BETTY #162 CHECKMATE #10 CIVIL WAR THE RETURN CLIVE BARKERS GREAT & SECRET SHOW #9 (OF 12) CONNOR HAWKE DRAGONS BLOOD #3(OF 6) CRIMINAL #4 CRIMINAL MACABRE TWO RED EYES #2 (OF 4) CROSSING MIDNIGHT #3 DAMNED #4 DEADMAN #6 DMZ #15 DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #4 (OF 5) DRAIN #2 DUMMYS GUIDE TO DANGER #4 (OF4) DWIGHT T ALBATROSS THE GOON NOIR #3 (OF 3) ETERNALS #6 (OF 7) FABLES #57 FALLEN ANGEL IDW #12 FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #8 FUTURAMA COMICS #29 HELLBLAZER #228 HELMET OF FATE IBIS THE INVINCIBLE #1 HEROES FOR HIRE #6 INVINCIBLE #38 JOHN WOOS SEVEN BROTHERS AMANO CVR #4 JUGHEAD AND FRIENDS DIGEST #17 LOW ORBIT VOL 1 GN MOON KNIGHT #7 CW MOUSE GUARD #6 (OF 6) MYSTERY IN SPACE #5 (OF 8) NINJA SCROLL #5 NINJA TALES #1 OCCULT CRIMES TASKFORCE #3 (OF 4) OFFICIAL HANDBOOK O/T INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE #2 (OF 2) OUTER ORBIT #2 (OF 4) PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #109 PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #3 CW PVP #30 RAMAYAN 3392 AD #5 ROADKILL ZOO #1 (OF 6) ROBIN #158 SAMURAI HEAVEN & EARTH VOL 2 #2 (OF 5) SAVAGE BROTHERS #3 (OF 3) SILENT WAR #1 (OF 6) SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #171 SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #14 STAR WARS DARK TIMES #2 (OF 5) SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #26 TAG #3 (OF 3) TEEN TITANS GO #39 TRANSFORMERS ESCALATION #3 TRUE STORY SWEAR TO GOD IMAGEED #3 WALK-IN #2 WETWORKS #5 WITCHBLADE LINSNER CVR #103 WOLVERINE #50 X-FACTOR #15 ZOMBIES ECLIPSE OF THE UNDEAD #3

Book / Mag / Stuff ARCHENEMIES SINNERS & SAINTS VOL 1 TP BANANA GAMES VOL 3 GN (A) BLECKY YUCKERELLA VOL 2 BACK IN BLECK GN BLESSED THISTLE GN CHRONICLES OF CONAN VOL 11 DANCE O/T SKULL TP COMPLETE NEMESIS THE WARLOCK BK 1 DAME DARCY DELUXE BOOK/DVD BOX SET (O/A) JSA CLASSIFIED HONOR AMONG THIEVES TP JUDGE DREDD COMPLETE CASE FILES VOL 6 TP JUXTAPOZ FEB 2007 VOL 15 #2 KID KOSMOS GN LEGEND OF GRIMJACK VOL 6 TP LUCIFER VOL 11 EVENSONG TP MARVEL MASTERWORKS WARLOCK VOL 1 NEW ED HC MARVEL ROMANCE REDUX ANOTHER KIND OF LOVE TP MARVEL ZOMBIES 3RD PTG FANTASTIC FOUR HC MODERN MASTERS VOL 10 KEVIN MAGUIRE SC PENNY ARCADE VOL 3 WARSUN PROPHECIES TP PREVIEWS VOL XVII #2 (NET) RED SONJA CLAW DEVILS HANDS TP SHOWCASE PRESENTS BRAVE & BOLD BATMAN TEAMUPS VOL 1 ULTIMATE ANNUALS VOL 2 TP WORLD BELOW TP

What looks good to you?

-B