No time for love, Dr. Richards: Graeme gets the silver.

Firstly, isn't SFO big? I always used to think of it as a fairly small airport, but then last night, I ended up doing laps of the building when a number of snafus sent me from terminal 1 to terminal 3, and then back again, while meeting my vacationing father off his flight. Of course, in a perfect world, parents give you the correct arrival time and flight number, and airlines wouldn't tell you that it can't be them, it's actually another airline you're probably looking for, necessitating said airport laps, but since when did we live in a perfect world?

SILVER SURFER: REQUIEM #1: So, picking this up at the store last week, I pointed out to Hibbs that the cover had the same design and logotype as Spider-Man: Reign. "I can't wait to read about Norrin Radd's Power-Cosmic-Sperm," I said. Little did I know that this really would turn out to be a story about how the Power Cosmic was, indeed, killing poor Norrin. Admittedly, there's no cum-related incidents, but it's only the first issue. There's still time.

Here's the thing, though; Marvel Knights is obviously becoming the imprint for Marvel to push what they've decided are their more prestige and self-important projects featuring their superheroes, between this and Reign. It's just somewhat strange that the first two projects were both in some sense about the twilight days of the characters - I wonder if someone at Marvel feels as if the only way to tell a timeless story about someone is to make it happen at sometime outside of when they were at their best?

(DC does the same thing in reverse, of course; they'd rather go back to "Year One" at any given opportunity.)

That said, this is a perfectly respectable first issue - I had an issue with J. Michael Straczynski's plodding narration (Ending the issue with "I am dying" three times felt like overegging the pudding to me, if you can forgive the food metaphor. I know what JMS was going for, but it seemed off for some reason), but Kate - who ended up reading the book after falling for Esad Ribic's admittedly beautiful painted artwork - pointed out that the Silver Surfer is meant to be a bit over the top and pretentious, and she's kind of right - despite just being entirely set-up. Despite the protestations of the characters, I don't believe that the story really is going to end with the Surfer dead, but I'm sold on the idea that the characters believe it, which is enough to start with. There's more than enough potential for this to go off the rails at any moment (and with the cover for the next issue featuring Spider-Man, I actually somewhat expect it to), but for now? It's a high Okay.

Arriving 6/6

2000 AD #15352000 AD #1536 2000 AD #1537 2000 AD #1538 30 DAYS OF NIGHT EBEN & STELLA #2 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #59 (A) ALIEN PIG FARM #2 (OF 4) ALL NEW ATOM #12 AVENGERS INITIATIVE #3 CWI BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #10 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA CYLON APOCALYPSE #4 BETTY & VERONICA #227 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #175 BIRDS OF PREY #107 BLACK SUMMER #0 (OF 7) BREATHE CVR B #2 (OF 4) BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #4 COUNTDOWN 47 DANGER GIRL BODY SHOTS #3 (OF 4) DAREDEVIL BATTLIN JACK MURDOCK #1 (OF 4) DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER BORN #5 (OF 7) DARKNESS LEVEL 4 DALE KEOWN CVR A DEATH AND THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT DIE #1 (OF 4) DETECTIVE COMICS #833 DYNAMO 5 #4 EXTERMINATORS #18 FEAR AGENT LAST GOODBYE #1 GHOST IN THE SHELL 1.5 HUMAN ERROR PROCESSOR #8 (OF 8) GHOST RIDER TRAIL OF TEARS #5 (OF 6) HARD BULLIED COMICS #4 HULK AND POWER PACK #4 (OF 4) INVINCIBLE #42 (NOTE PRICE) IRON MAN #18 CWI IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #9 JACK OF FABLES #11 JONAH HEX #20 JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #258 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #131 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #34 LONE RANGER #6 LONERS #3 (OF 6) LOONEY TUNES #151 MAD MAGAZINE #479 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #28 MARVEL ZOMBIES ARMY OF DARKNESS #4 (OF 5) MIDNIGHTER #8 MS MARVEL #16 CWI MYSTIC ARCANA BOOK OF MARVEL MAGIC NEW WARRIORS #1 CWI NIGHTWING #133 OMEGA FLIGHT #3 CWI (OF 5) OUTSIDERS #48 PS238 #23 PUNISHER #48 RAISE THE DEAD #3 SADHU #8 SCALPED #6 SIMPSONS SUMMER SHINDIG #1 SOCK MONKEY THE INCHES INCIDENT #4 (OF 4) SPAWN #168 SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #3 SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #19 STARSHIP TROOPERS ONGOING CVR A #1 STRANGE EMBRACE #1 (OF 8) STRANGE GIRL #17 SUPERGIRL #18 SUPERIOR SHOWCASE #2 SUPERMAN #663 SUPERNATURAL ORIGINS #2 UNCANNY X-MEN #487 WARD O/T STATE #2 (OF 3) WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #7 WITCHBLADE PUNISHER WITCHBLADE TAKERU MANGA #4

Books / Mags / Stuff ALIENS VS PREDATOR OMNIBUS VOL 1 TP ALTER EGO #69 ANIMATION MAGAZINE JUNE 2007 #173 ARCHIES CAMP TALES VOL 1 TP BATMAN TURNING POINTS TP BULLET POINTS TP CATWOMAN WHEN IN ROME TP CIVIL WAR IRON MAN TP CIVIL WAR MARVEL UNIVERSE TP COMICS JOURNAL #283 COMPLETELY DOOMED TP DOCTOR WHO THE FLOOD TP DRACULA VS KING ARTHUR TP ESSENTIAL SILVER SURFER VOL 2 TP FANTASTIC FOUR INHUMANS TP FORTEAN TIMES #224 FUN NEVER STOPS ANTHOLOGY OF COMIC ART 1991-2006 SC GEORGE W BUSH & WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION T/C SET I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS SC INTERNATIONAL STUDIO #4 KEEPERS OF THE MASER VOL 7 YOUNG QUEEN HC LEES TOY REVIEW JUNE 2007 #176 MAN CALLED KEV TP MPD PSYCHO VOL 1 TP OLD BOY VOL 6 TP SEVENTH SHRINE TP SHINY BEASTS GN TRANSFORMERS MOVIE PREQUEL TP TRANSFORMERS MOVIE TP WIPE THAT CLOCK OFF YOUR FACE HC YOUNG BOTTOMS IN LOVE GN

What looks good to YOU?

-B

Look, up in the sky: Graeme celebrates 850 glorious years.

It's the start of another week - The start of the longest week in the world if you're me (but that kind of griping should really be saved for the middle of the week, I'm sure). So let's begin with a nice, refreshing dip into the anniversary pool, shall we?

ACTION COMICS #850: A story so big that it took three writers to tell it! Somehow, having not paid too much attention to the credits of this before I read it - I was happy enough to see Renato Guedes on artwork again; he's slowly becoming one of my favorite artists working in superhero books these days, and his Supergirl concept art that's been floating around the internet recently has made me excited about the idea that there may be a Supergirl comic out there soon for people who aren't fans of Michael Turner and/or stick figure big-eyed blondes - the fact that this was written by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza and Geoff Johns seemed wrong, somehow; it doesn't read in an incredibly patchwork manner (despite the patchwork, flashback-nature of the story - There's a unity of purpose and tone here), or as if three different writers were involved. Nonetheless, there's a temptation to look at various scenes and look for fingerprints ("That part where Superman talks about being visited by the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the current-Legion - Waid's version - say that they've never visited Superman? That's got to be Geoff Johns." And so on), and in writing that, I'm suddenly reminded of 52, and the way that this issue is reminiscent of that series, both in terms of groupwriting and continuity injokiness. This is somewhat smoother than that weekly juggernaut, though, in that the writing still manages to have an individual voice that evaded 52, and that there's - somewhat obviously - a clearer throughline and clarity of purpose on a single issue than 52 weekly ones.

Anyway, getting back to the comic itself instead of digressing aimlessly: This is a surprisingly effective anniversary issue, acting as both an introduction to Superman and Supergirl to new readers (if there are any? Not that this issue doesn't deserve them, but I'm just wondering whether the 850th issue of anything would be something potential new readers would pick up. Hey, DC? You should make this your Free Comic Book Day book next year) and, maybe more interestingly, an introduction to longstanding readers to the post-Infinite Crisis history of Superman - There's a lot of backstory clarification here, which has become more welcome than may have been expected in the last year or so of not only the Superman titles, but also the current Justice League/Justice Society crossover. Most importantly, though, it still reads well - it's very much a continuity fix and clip show, sure, but there's fun and value in and of itself.

It's an old-fashioned anniversary issue, in many ways; it doesn't kill off any major characters or go for the big change in the status quo, but instead celebrates the past and reminds you why you liked the characters in the first place. It hits the main points of who everyone is and why they do what they do, and sets up all the relationships between everyone, and does it all with some very good art (and also very good coloring). Overall, then, a wonderfully enjoyable Very Good issue that won't change the world, but doesn't feel the need to, anyway.

Read the color supplement, the TV Guide: Graeme, 5/31, part four...

If it's Sunday, then it's time for me to catch up on random things that I won't be talking about elsewhere across the week...

DAREDEVIL #97: It's only when I type that out that I realize how close we are to the 100th issue; I knew it was coming, I've seen the double-page cover in the solicits and all, but somewhat refreshingly, the story in this issue is entirely devoid of dramatic "the tension is building towards something big that's going to happen in three months' time" moments. Not that there's no tension here at all; just the opposite, in fact - It's just that all of the tension is for drama that's a lot more immediate. Is Brubaker so kill-happy after killing off Captain America that he's going to kill off Matt's wife? What's going on with the magic smelly woman? Who do I have to threaten to get a Brubaker-written Dakota North series (Yes, I was one of the few who read her first series, waaaaay back when)? It's not all drama, though; there's also humor in the reason why the cops don't unmask Matt when they arrest him (He gets arrested for Civil War/Initiative-related reasons that don't seem too obtrusive, happily enough. I hope there's a sales bump for the scene, nonetheless) and in Foggy's appearance. Between this, Captain America and Criminal, Ed's so on his game these days that I'm almost tempted to check out his Uncanny X-Men after all. It goes without saying that Michael Lark and Stefano Gaudiano's artwork is as effective as ever, so you can consider this a safe Very Good.

GREEN LANTERN #20: There are two things that save this from being Geoff Johns' uncomfortable fanfic made public ("Why doesn't every woman in the universe love Hal Jordan as much as I do? I know! I'll make that a plot point in the actual comic!") - the sense that he's actually going somewhere with the Green Lantern/Sinestro/Zamaron Corps storylines, and more tellingly, artist Daniel Acuna's attractively-sloppy art, which manages to be sketchy and convincingly finished at the same time, and gives the story much more credibility than it probably deserves. Okay, but if regular artist Ivan Reis had drawn this, as much as I normally like his stuff, his idealized-realism would've shot that down a couple of ratings...

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #6: I can't quite tell if there's self-aware humor in this issue (I'm pretty sure there are shots at Kingdom Come and old Legion stories) or just some kind of pre-exemptive snark strike at those who don't love what Geoff Johns loves, but even that's not enough to save what feels pretty much like extended filler so that Brad Meltzer gets to finish the story over in Justice League. There's even more continuity self-love with the Triplicate Girl appearance (And, appallingly, I fell for it, thinking to myself "Wait, wasn't she Duo Damsel by the time Dawnstar joined the team...?" I am nerd, hear me moan), and the reveal of the final time-tossed Legionnaire was unexpected, but still... Eh.

If my response to The Lightning Saga is any indication of how other JLA and Legion fans are feeling about the story, then I'm sure that somewhere in DC's hallowed headquarters, there's a team of crack scientists wondering just how a story with so many of the right ingredients is leaving the target audience so cold...

Why couldn't I live that "ultimate power corrupts absolutely" one, instead: Graeme on DC 5/31

Well, this week has pretty much officially kicked my ass. It's mostly work-related stuff - in fact, I think it's entirely work-related stuff, now that I come to think about it - and as such completely disinteresting to all of you, but I just want to announce that Stan Lee had it right: That great power? Really does come with great responsibility.

Let's lose ourselves in the world of DC continuity, shall we?

AMAZONS ATTACK! #2: You know what I'm bored of? Fake "Oh no, we've killed off Superman's Ma and Pa" cliffhangers. Guess what, DC? We know that they're somehow fine - We've survived The Kingdom and Our Worlds At War, both of which (as far as I remember) featured exactly the same ending to this issue at one point or another - "Kansas is aflame! Superman rushes off, griefstricken!" - so it just doesn't work anymore. It's one of a few bum notes in this overall Okay second issue. Will Pfeifer's script is pretty sound overall, and Pete Woods' art is really great, but there's something disconcerting about seeing the return of "Why is this happening? See Another Comic #7! - Ed" footnotes not once but twice. Have I been so mollycoddled by modern superhero comics that the prospect of plots flowing between books, or is it just that I'm annoyed when it happens in scenes that don't seem to have any other purpose in the book other than to drive people to those other comics?

COUNTDOWN #48: I really like Adam Beechen's writing normally - Sorry, people who want to kill him because of Batgirl - but the last page of this issue has ridiculously clunky dialogue: "...I think Lightray's dead. But how... how is that even possible?" "I... I don't know, Jimmy. What does it mean for the universe... when a god dies?" I don't know, Superman, but I do kind of feel that your incredibly melodramatic question - and, in fact, that entire ending, which reads as if it was meant to be a shock and surprise - would have had more power had the cover of this issue not read "Death of a New God" and had you standing over Lightray's corpse. Elsewhere in the issue, it's still as if the series hasn't found its feet yet, but it's (dare I say it) improving slowly. There's nothing here that matches the joy that marked 52's best stuff yet (although Jimmy Olsen's various super powers appearing and disappearing comes close), but this Okay issue did mark the first time that the series didn't feel like a terrible mistake, which has to count for something, right?

TEEN TITANS #47: All-new! All-continuity! Not only tying up their own loose ends, the Teen Titans seem to be becoming the go-to characters to get everything else tied in as well - The main thrust of the issue is following through from Countdown #51 and 48, and ends with the start of an Amazons Attack! crossover. Which, in one way, is kind of cool for the continuity nerds - Now you can work out the timeline for all these events in the DC Universe, finally - but on the other hand, it feels as if the lead characters are just guest-stars in their own book (especially as, of the three main characters in the Countdown-related plot, only one is a regular in this series); the Titans-related scenes feel tacked-on and superfluous, which is somewhat depressing. But then again, this kind of thing is what the kids want... Eh.

On a related note, how bad is it that I was still tempted to pick up the first 52 trade this week, despite having bought the singles, just because I wanted to read whatever extras were included...?

Spam Filters and such

I set my spam filter pretty high -- not all the way to max, but up there, because, with a (very) public email address, I easily get 2-300 messages a day some days. I religiously check my spam folder 2-3 times a day before deleting, but I'm scanning for "names I know", and if I don't know your name, I'm not going to notice you've gone into spam, right?

What made me think of this is that I recently emailed someone with a clear "internet pseudonym" at their Last Known Public address, and I started to get frustrated that I hadn't heard anything back. And then I thought, well damn, maybe it got trapped in spam and I never knew because I don't know the person's real name (I'm only seeing names in my list, not titles -- life is, actually, too short to do it any other way)

Anyway, the upshot is, if you sent me an email, and I didn't respond at all, maybe give the store a call at 415-863-9258 and leave a message (if I'm not there) with your name and "Hibbs said so on the internet, which I know sounds crazy, but is true", then send me another email 24 hours later, and I'll know to be looking for your actual real name within the spam folder.

-B

How about a review?

Post Jeff Irony #2 -- he's not here this week, my first solo 8 hour day in a while, and none (not one) of the usual Friday night regulars came by to hang out. Guess I know who the Popular Kid is now (*sniff*) However, Skip Tuttle DID come by -- I haven't seen him in 6 months at least -- but, of course, he came by to say goodbye to Jeff *double sniff*

DRAWING FROM LIFE #1: Jim Valentino's had a pretty interesting career, really -- doing pretty much the definitive superhero parody with normalman, being the One-Of-These-Things-Is-Not-Like-The-Other member of the original Image 7, and so on, but I've always been way more partial to his autobio stuff, really. He was doing it earlier than most guys, and he neither seemed to flinch OR pander.

The problem is that's he's not much of an artist. Don't get me wrong -- he's a pretty reasonable CARTOONIST, but there's more than a few pieces here that I would have liked to see a more ... dunno, "assured", maybe? line on.

Everything in this first issue reads really well, but that Valentino's art hasn't really grown at all in the last 20 years works against it on the flip test (We've not sold a single copy as of yet, though I ordered 10 because I personally like his auto-bio writing) -- he's got some better tricks with use of negative space and what not, but his underlying rendering sadly works against the content in most cases.

The weirdest thing for me is that this is billed as all new material, but it looks really old -- not just because of Valentino's basic craft, but also because it's not really "cleaned up" -- you can see the lines in many word balloons, for example, that I assume are badly erased hand lettering marks. In the 21st century, that doesn't look quaint -- it looks sloppy.

Despite that, I still largely recommend the issue -- I think its stronger stuff than, say, TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD, and there's a nice denseness in the sheer number of stories on display here. I really would like this to sell, because I'd much much MUCH rather be reading this than 80% of the we've-grown-past-superheroes-but-the-market-demands-them output of the Shadowline.

Still, I say: Solid GOOD, and if you like auto-bio, and, especially, comics industry-related auto-bio, this should be in your reading stack.

What did YOU think?

-B

POS follies part one

I hate hardware installation -- even with a fresh system... so many wires and stuff to trip over and wind through and trying to make sure that everything is all compatible. I suspect it is even worse when, like me, you're not actually putting in the POS *yet*, so you have to keep the space for the cash register and all of the "analog" systems at the same time you're trying to set up the new stuff.

I'm likely about a month or so before I even try to ACTUALLY put in the POS -- I'm waiting to hear back from MOBY about what I can expect with the database before I start making with the inventory and all of that. I've downloaded the demo of MOBY from Bitter End, but I haven't installed it as of yet, trying to get all of the hardware pieces sorted first.

I picked a cheap Dell computer (it really was a good price, on the catalog sale), and it's working just fine. What's funny is that, except for the video card, it's faster and smarter than my "home" computer, which is mostly a gaming rig from Alienware. And it cost about a fifth of the Alienware (nearing about 4 years old now... got it right before Ben was born)

Dell's peripherals are damn awful, I have to say -- this keyboard and mouse feel like a child's toy, though the monitor seems decent enough. I'll be getting a new POS-oriented keyboard in a week or so (with a touch pad mouse built in), and that can't happen soon enough.

I picked out most of the rest of my hardware based on recommendations from other retailers on the CBIA, the internet-shopped for most of a week before finding the cheapest vendor.

Some of the hardware I can't precisely test yet -- I've hooked up the receipt printer to the cash drawer, but without installing MOBY, I'm not positive they actually work. Next week sometime!

The first thing you have to do with a new computer is scrub off all the useless software crap they come preloaded with. That's why they're so cheap, I guess -- kickbacks from the software companies.

I also got a regular laser printer from Dell, but I was flabbergasted (FLABBERGASTED) that it didn't come with the USB cable it REQUIRES to hook up to the computer. Next week for that I guess, too.

I've also hooked up the barcode printer, but I don't have the right size labels yet, so setting that all up correctly is going to take some time too. Using the starter labels it came with gave me indifferent results, but they're not the same size as the labels I'll end up using, so I don't want to invest a lot of time in programming it until I get the right labels. That could be today's FedEx, but dunno. I'll begin worrying about that for real tomorrow.

I haven't hooked up the barcode scanner yet, either, but that's more from not being sure exactly where it will finally end up more than anything else.

But yeah, the DSL was easy enough to put in (I can't believe how eensy the modem is!)

Spent yesterday and most of the morning downloading and installing virus protection, firewall, Firefox, then all of the websites I'll want to access from the store with the various passwords. I'm at about 9 hours now, and I'm feeling good about all of that stuff.

Still 9 hours, and POS is still a "soon" prospect, if you see what I mean? At least another 2-3 hours of hardware foolin' in front of me, but its lunch time, then I should get to some "actual store business" (not that this isn't, but you know what I mean -- it feels like I'm "fooling around" by blogging from work)

I'll do one review before the end of the (store) day, I think, but I need to cross off at least 5-6 more items off my "to do list" for today...

-B

A quick test

At the store, just making sure I have everything set right.... "Content" in a few hours, after I get a couple of other things done....

-B

Would you care to let it show?: Graeme doesn't get it.

There are some books that I literally don't understand.

I mean, I read them and understand the plot. That's not what I'm getting at. What I mean is that I read them, and I can see that technically they're fine (everything goes in and comes out in the way that it's supposed to and all the parts move in the directions you'd expect them to), but still can't see any excitement or reason for others to relate to it or even like it, really, in any way. Such is the case with me and THE BOYS, which relaunches with #7 this week from Dynamite Entertainment.

It's not that there's anything wrong with the book, because there's not, not really - Garth Ennis's script follows its themes closely and the dialogue is that convincing kind of unrealistic dialogue that nonetheless reads very well. Similarly, Darick Robertson's art is a fun mix of Dave Gibbons and Richard Corben, clear to read but not clean. It's just that I don't particularly want to read about an Iron Man analog who wants to fuck everything in therapy, or about how comics are the santized version of reality for the public in a world with superheroes... They're ideas that I'm either not interested in, have read variations on before, or just don't get why they're that worth reading in the first place (I have the same reaction, interestingly enough, to a lot of Mark Millar's work; maybe I'm just immune to the charms of non-insane writers from Britain. Which would, perhaps, explain my lack of reaction to the careers of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Also interesting is the way that I don't have the same problem with superhero comics that are equally as unoriginal and uninspired - Perhaps I'm happy with familiarity and getting what I expect, and it's only when stepping outside of the norm doesn't step far enough outside that I get disappointed?). To be honest, it's kind of depressing; I'm sure that I'm missing something by not being seeing how transgressive and/or funny this book seems to be to other people, and I almost feel as if it's my fault as a reader that I find this book a perfectly respectable, but perfectly dull, Eh.

Maybe I'm just a prude.

Shh, something's coming

Yeah, yeah, I suck, you're tired of reading it. But I spent most of today installing (much of) the hardware for our new POS system at Comix Experience, and getting the new DSL up and running at the store. Yes, after 18 years, Comix Experience is actually going to enter the 20th Century.

What's funny is tomorrow will be the first without-Jeff Friday in a loooong time, and Jeff was kind of complaining about not having internet at the store, and tomorrow will also be the first full day of having internet, so, huh. That's more ironic than rain on your wedding day...

I've also been spending a lot of time setting up a Secret Future Plan for the Savage Critic, and, while we're probably a month away from saying anything real, I think it's going to make the place rock. Hard.

So, like, I might be kinda quiet for the next month, because I'm putting like 80% of my brain into Getting POS online (and another 10% to the Secret Future Plan), but I definitely plan on doing at least one post from the store tomorrow, just because I can.

Honestly though, I hope to reward you for your patience (and I don't want Graeme to think he's alone out there, darn it!)

-B

Anything you can do: Graeme gets started on this week's books.

When I say that the best example of the current state of DC's superhero comics available this week is Marvel's NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI #3, I hope you'll all understand that it's not really a compliment.

I know that Brad Meltzer and Brian Bendis are fans of each others' work - I remember reading an interview between the two where they were comparing notes on Justice League and Mighty Avengers with something approaching glee - but it's a really strange thing to read a comic that so clearly embodies the worst attributes of each of them. On the one hand, I almost want to congratulate Bendis on his incredible ability to write (or co-write; Brian Reed is responsible for some of this as well) a comic that's not so much a story as much as well-illustrated continuity porn fanfic without much of a plot just like Meltzer's current JLA run has been - It's certainly a different style for him if nothing else, as he normally works his fandom into a stronger framework that shelters it slightly. But on the other hand, Good Lord, what the hell is this book?

I have no idea how this saw print, unless it was literally just the "Well, they're all hot creators" thing - Not only is the entire plot of the issue somewhat weak (It's literally "The heroes go looking for the Beyonder. They find him. Then they leave, because he's convinced them that he's gone away... but he hasn't!"), not only is the issue based around an unnecessary retcon of a series and character over twenty years old - and, man, is that depressing to realize - but it's a retcon that doesn't really work, either: If (spoilers) the Beyonder is just a mutant Inhuman who somehow has the powers of a god, and if he remembers Black Bolt and is therefore on some level aware of his origins - as is what's suggested here - then why does he go through the whole "What is this thing you call 'life'?" thing during Secret Wars II? I mean, if he knows that he's not only not a god, but instead a living thing that - at some point - used to be a mortal himself, then why doesn't he have any grasp of that concept?

There's something almost admirable about the way that this issue, much more than either of the earlier issues, seeks to specifically address a subject that was neither a dangling plot point nor a question on any fans' lips, but instead just something that's clearly been bothering Bendis and/or Reed since they read the last time the Beyonder was given an origin and they didn't like it - It's the same (depressing, anal) drive that created things like The Official Handbook To The Marvel Universe in the first place, the urge for things not only to make sense, but to explain to everyone else just how they make sense so there, as well. But sadly, that and the art (which is good, but somehow lacking compared with earlier issues - Maybe it's just me?) are really the only two things that this issue has going for it; otherwise, it's just the continuity porn that DC's big books have been trafficking in for the last year or so with some extra novelty for coming from the other side of the tracks. Awful.

Little Short One, Pt. 1: Graeme rushes in, tells you to buy Gloom.

I was explaining PERCY GLOOM to someone the other day, and the best I could come up with was that it was a philosophical story done by David Lynch and Walt Disney (but without the Nazi thing) in a beautiful, somewhat retro pencil style but with a depressed, disassociative voice similar to Chris Ware's stuff.

The person I was talking to looked as if I was insane, and then walked away wondering what I was on about. The last comic that they'd read was Mike Zeck's Punisher in the '80s, and I think they probably regretted asking what I was reading these days.

Nonetheless, Percy Gloom is a wonderful book, a fairy tale for grown-ups who've lost their faith in humanity and want to get it back. It's calm and gentle in the best way, without sacrificing narrative thrust - What little there is, admittedly, but it's there - but present in such a manner as to making it impossible not to fall for the main character or the book. The entire thing has a dreamlike quality, both in terms of the illogical logic and the old-fashioned, formally daring artwork, and the book itself works best on that level for me; I don't want to analyze it that far for fear of destroying my enjoyment of it, but suffice to say that it is an Excellent book and a leader in the recent spate of worthwhile graphic novels released (See also The Homeless Channel, also out this week, PLAIN Janes, out last week and the upcoming and still to be released The Black Diamond Detective Agency); those looking to spend pennies should have a problem deciding what to spend them on right now...

This is astonishingly freaky!

Thanks to Dan Shahin to pointing this out to me: You can even zoom in and see the comics on display in the window!

-B

Ugh, Sick Again: Shipping 5/31

rassen frassen plague carrying children... Been asleep most of the last 48 hours, that's why this is late.

REMEMBER: due to Memorial Day, comics are THURSDAY this week. DO NOT go to your Local Comics Shop on Wednesday, or they will laugh at you behind your back!

ACTION COMICS #850 (NOTE PRICE) AMAZONS ATTACK #2 (OF 6) ANITA BLAKE VAMPIRE HUNTER GUILTY PLEASURES HANDBOOK BETTY #165 BLACK COAT OR GIVE ME DEATH #1 (OF 4) BLUE BEETLE #15 BOYS #7 (RES) CHUCKY MEDORS CVR A #2 (OF 5) COUNTDOWN 48 CROSSING MIDNIGHT #7 CTHULHU TALES RISING ONE SHOT (O/A) DAREDEVIL #97 DARK XENA #2 DEADMAN #10 DEATHBLOW #5 DRAWING FROM LIFE #1 FALLEN ANGEL IDW #16 FRESHMEN VOL 2 SCOTT BENEFIEL CVR A #4 GREEN LANTERN #20 HAWKGIRL #64 HELLBOY DARKNESS CALLS #2 (OF 6) JSA CLASSIFIED #26 JUGHEAD AND FRIENDS DIGEST #20 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #6 KISS 4K #1 MAGICIAN APPRENTICE #7 (OF 12) NEGATIVE BURN #11 NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI #3 (OF 5) NEW EXCALIBUR #20 OKKO CYCLE OF WATER #3 (OF 4) PALS N GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #112 PUNISHER PRESENTS BARRACUDA MAX #4 (OF 5) RAY HARRYHAUSEN PRESENTS WRATH OF THE TITANS #1 (OF 4) REAR ENTRY #16 (A) RIDE DIE VALKYRIE #1 (OF 3) SHAOLIN COWBOY DARROW CVR A #7 (RES) SILENT WAR #5 (OF 6) SILVER SURFER REQUIEM #1 (OF 4) SPAWN GODSLAYER #1 SPECIAL EDUCATION #3 (OF 4) (RES) SPIDER-MAN FAIRY TALES #1 STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION THE SPACE BETWEEN #5 (OF 6) STAR WARS KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC #17 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #44 TEEN TITANS #47 TEEN TITANS GO #43 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #42 USAGI YOJIMBO #103 WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #681 WHEELA (A) WHITE PICKET FENCES #1 (OF 3) WITCHBLADE CHRIS BACHALO CVR A #106 WOLVERINE #54 X-23 TARGET X #6 (OF 6)

Books / Mags / Stuff 52 VOL 1 TP AVENGERS NEXT REBIRTH TP BLEACH VOL 19 TP BOYS VOL 1 TP (RES) CIVIL WAR COMPANION TP DC COMICS COVERGIRLS PX HC EC ARCHIVES SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES VOL 2 HC ELVIS ROAD HC FEAR AGENT VOL 2 MY WAR TP FUN HOME TP GIRLS VOL 4 TP HOUSE GN HOUSEWIVES AT PLAY FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS TP (A) JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT COULDNT GET WORSE SC MARTIAN MANHUNTER 13 INCH DELUXE FIGURE MARY SCARY HC NEW X-MEN CHILDHOODS END VOL 4 TP OUR GANG VOL 2 SC PENNY ARCADE VOL 4 BIRDS ARE WEIRD TP PREVIEWS VOL XVII #6 (NET) PRISM COMICS LGBT GUIDE TO COMICS MAG 2007 PUNISHER MAX VOL 3 HC SOULFIRE DYING OF THE LIGHT TP THREE PARADOXES GN (RES) ULTIMATE GALACTUS TRILOGY HC WIZARD MAGAZINE WORLD WAR HULK CVR #189

What looks good to you?

-B

Of our elaborate plans, the end: Graeme wonders what could've been of Waid's and Kitson's Legion.

I don't think that it's the greatest secret that I love the Legion of Super-Heroes. Besides Green Lantern, I think it's my favorite superhero high concept (As cool as "It's an army of teenaged super-heroes! In the future!" is, "He's a space cop with a magic wishing ring!" is very hard to beat, let's face it), and you pretty much have to have a heart of whimsiless stone not to find the original 1950s stories featuring the characters charming at the very least. My favorite era of the characters - because everyone who loves the Legion has their own era, I think, usually corresponding to when they first found the characters, just like everyone's favorite Doctor Who - is easily the last eight or nine years (!) of Paul Levitz's run on the books, from when Keith Giffen took over on art all the way through him coming back again, after Steve Lightle and Greg LaRoquette (with Mike DeCarlo's beautiful inks... Man...); it was a run that took the soap operatics - and some of the dialogue tics - of Claremont's best X-Men and soldered it onto Silver Age DC weirdness to come up with something uniquely fun and confusing and demanding your attention. From there, it was all downhill for me: every subsequent take on the team was interesting but ultimately not as interesting as what'd come before, whether it was Giffen's byzantine "Five Years Later" storyline or the post-Zero Hour reboot or Abnett and Lanning's revival after that. The stories all walked the fine line between nostalgia and wanting to seem updated and contemporary, and couldn't manage to do so and weave exciting stories into the mix as well.

All of which is one way of saying that the Mark Waid and Barry Kitson relaunch of the title a couple of years ago was both an exciting and depressing proposition. Depressing because, well, it's the second hard reboot of the concept in, what, ten years or so? And exciting because Mark Waid knows his stuff, and loves the concept as much as any fan; even if you're a tepid Kitson fan like me, at least the book would be readable. And it was; for the first year, it was an amazing book, one of the best superhero books that DC published. Seemingly informed by Joss Whedon both in terms of snarky dialogue and pacing (each issue containing a complete story in and of itself, while also moving a larger plot forward), Waid's revival succeeded where others had failed by jettisonning both plot nostalgia (Although he does love his easter eggs) and the need to be contemporary in a book that's meant to be set a thousand years from now. He found the easiest explanation for the quaint nature that's - I think - essential to the Legion working (that the Legion themselves are nostalgic fanboys in a way) and worked forward from there, and if you bought into that idea, the rest was all tightly-plotted and carried out with humor and tension. The first year of the book (as collected in the first two trades of the series, for those who haven't read them) is just Very Good superhero work.

And then the second year happened. And with it, 52.

Now, I have no proof that it was really 52 that derailed the book, but something clearly did, and Waid's involvement with the weekly book that took up everyone's time much more than they'd intended it to seems like a pretty guilty looking suspect. For whatever reason, though, the second year of the book - which, to cheat, really counts as #14 onwards - blew it. There was a wealth of good stuff, but it was unfocused and the tightness of plotting and pacing from earlier was missing. There were fill-ins on the writing and art side, and plots drifted in and out of the reader's attention in a way that suggested that similar drifts were happening for those responsible for the book. It was frustrating not just because I wanted the Legion to be better, but because it had just been better, just a few months earlier. When it was announced that Waid and Kitson were leaving the book with this month's issue, it was depressing but not surprising - You could almost sense that the fight's gone out of both of them, for whatever reason (A feeling helped by the fact that they missed the penultimate issue of their run, letting a big plot moment be handled by the fill-in team who're about to take the book over from them).

So.

SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #30, on its own, is actually pretty good; there are two swerves here that show that Waid is not only playful with his characters but inventively so, and also that he loves the history of them enough to tribute in unexpected ways (Did anyone really see what happened to Cos coming? Or, for that matter, did anyone think it was out of character that he accepted...?). Taken as a single issue, it's as much of a love letter to the series as you would've wanted Waid to end on; respectful of but not tied down by what has come before in the concept's, what, 50-year history. But, depressingly, it's kind of hard to take it entirely on its own - it is the final part of a multi-part storyline, and it fails in that respect - It feels like an epilogue, and that the main battle that was teased in the previous issue has all happened off-panel, which is somewhat disappointing but again, not incredibly surprising given the sway of the last year's books. Also, it rushes a couple of reveals to longrunning plots that really should've been given more space or else abandoned altogether, and in doing so kind of undercuts them entirely. The strongest feeling I had at the end of the issue was one of frustration - that Waid was leaving in the first place, that he hadn't stuck around a couple of more issues to let the story breathe a little more, and that the final issue of a run that started out so strongly was, ultimately, just Okay.

So it goes. Here's hoping that someone at DC really does give the book to Christopher Bird; if nothing else, I know that he's probably a bigger fan of Levitz's run than I am, so we'd have nostalgia to share.

Where did it all go wrong?: Graeme returns, again.

I'm desperately trying to catch up on reviews, after this weekend being much busier than I'd expected - Chopping up Jeff Lester's body takes time, after all - so excuse the rushing through the following books... Luckily, none of them are really worth paying that much time on...

BIRDS OF PREY #106: Gail Simone's heading towards the end of her run with something resembling abandon; this issue's essentially entirely all fight scene as opposed to plot development, and really enjoyable because of that - It's just banter and violence all the way. I'm not sure whether Gail's defined her characters (outside of Barbara and Huntress) enough for them to survive her when she leaves the book, but for this issue it's not something to worry about. Good mindless fun.

COUNTDOWN #49: Hibbs is right; three issues in, and it feels as if none of the plots are in motion yet - It doesn't help that the cover underlines that stalled feeling by featuring three characters, two of which haven't even appeared in the series yet. For all the talk of the writing team of the series having learned from head writer Paul Dini's TV experience, it seems to have been entirely missed that no TV show would get away with such a slow, sloppy start as this book. Crap.

FANTASTIC FOUR #546: After two issues of well-done build-up, this conclusion feels rushed and unbelievable, partially due to the McGuffin Machine that T'Challa just so happens to have lying around at home (It's just one step above "Luckily I have my Beats-All-Bad-Guys-Ometer right here!"); it's as if Dwayne McDuffie was suddenly told by his editors that he really had to wrap up everything he had planned and start working on getting the original team back together in time for the new creative team arriving in four issues' time or else. Both sad and Eh.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1: Obviously a delayed tie-in to the movie, this "Sandman: Year One" issue is surprisingly flat - The origin story is cliched in almost every way (He had a rough childhood! He's trying to prove himself to his absent father!), with no sparkle or surprise in the execution. There's also a strange back-up strip that's so simple that it makes me feel as if I'm missing a context for it... All in all, a somewhat disappointing Eh.

MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #1: All of the fun in this Okay first issue came from the small things - Tony Stark as Steve Jobs, for one thing - and not from the revised origin, which may make the whole thing make a little more sense, but still just comes over as extremely hokey. I wouldn't be surprised if this is more or less what the movie version of the character is like, though...

NEWUNIVERSAL #6: I'm not sure why I'm still reading this book - It's extremely slow, to the point where at the end of this issue (which will also be the end of the first trade), almost nothing has actually happened, in terms of actual plot - but there's still something enjoyable, if seen-before, about its "if superheroes were real" take on the characters. A low Okay, but I look forward to seeing something moving forward pretty soon.

SHE-HULK #18: "A tin-plated tyrant... who thinks he knows more... than everyone else. Remaking the world in his own image. You know who that is? That's not Iron Man, Tony! That's Doctor Doom!" It's almost worth reading the rest of this lackluster, Eh issue (with appalling art - Cliff Rathburn, your inking is really not a match for Rick Burchett's pencils) for those lines alone. Sadly, the rest of the book reads like filler while waiting for World War Hulk to arrive. Didn't this book used to be fun?

Tomorrow, if I have time: Mark Waid's last Legion issue, and why it's both great and sucky at the same time...

Hibbs continues on 5/25

Best laid plans, and all that -- forgot about CEO, forgot the POS computer was arriving, forgot that the order form better get done, forgot that... well, lots of stuff this week, darn it. About a half hour here before Tzipora gets home with my Fast Pass, and I can go in (early!) to the store (Jeff's Last Day!) (FOO!), so bang some out quickly here:

SATAN'S SODOMY BABY: I don't really get it -- this is selling for $20 on eBay already? Apparently part of it is that the east coast got it before the west (Didn't retailers make it clear to Diamond this is Bad Juju? RE: CIVIL WAR #6); part of it is there apparently aren't any reorders available (oh, you wacky Dark Horse, who wouldn't know how to set a print run if it came with an instruction manual!); part of it seems to be that Diamond has decided to not distribute it into Canada, due to content.

But.... it's basically just an issue of THE GOON. Maybe I'm a jaded West Coast Liberal (you THINK?), but the content didn't seem THAT much rougher to me than THE GOON can get.

(even more curious was Diamond's [really?] decision to prebag all of the West Coast's copies before distributing. They don't even do that with the actual Adults-Only comics that have, y'know, penetration in them)

Reasonably funny, very well drawn, just a little over the top -- it's a solid, or perhaps high, OK all around. Just don't pay $20 for it!

CRIMINAL #6: If I have a "problem" with this one, it's that there's not a sympathetic character in sight, yet, in this arc. And yet such is the skill of Brube and Phillips that, actually, I don't care -- I'm enjoying the ride very much, thanks. VERY GOOD, and let's cheat in case I don't get all the way through, very clearly the PICK OF THE WEEK.

MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #1: Honestly, I don't care much for Iron Man in any universe, because, traditionally, Tony's tech has been kind of like Dr. Strange's magic -- it can and is redefined on the fly as needed by the dictates of the plot. The suit makes him such a complete badass, that you're generally reduced to either getting him OUT of it, or making the man have really bad problems (bad heart, alcoholism, creeping fascism, whatever)

I've largely given up on the "real" Iron Man (excepting say, HYPERVELOCITY, below), but there's still a small potential of interest for me in these kinds of "kid friendly" versions.

I don't think, if I was a kid, that I'd have liked this much, but at least they give a noble stab at making Iron Man's origin timelessly work by not having it tied to the Commies, or Desert Storm (Sheesh), but to AIM. Not that I think it *does* work -- largely because of the whole Tech = Magic thing, and you'd think that AIM (if they were to live up to their concept) would have "better magic", but it's a good try, and one I couldn't rate lower than EH.

ANT-MAN #8: Now that we're past the origin stuff, and the special guest stars, this here is the first issue that I think shows what this book will be, on its own -- and its actually pretty entertaining once you get past the absolutely loathsome protagonist. Not much of a surprise, but this is the most "Image-like" (Current Image, not Historical Image) book that Marvel is publishing, and for that, at least, this is a good experiment. The problem? It's also *selling* like an Image comic for us -- to people who still really want nothing other than capes and powers, but have "grown past" just Marvel and DC stuff. You'd think (perhaps) that there actually a lot of people in this boat, but nah, not really -- those people who don't develop a taste past the capes tend to stop reading comics rather than find this type of material. This is probably the first issue of this I have genuinely liked, but I don't see how it has the slightest chance of even making it to issue #16. Still: I thought it was a low GOOD.

SHADOWPACT #13: What a strange strange issue. First off, Scott Hampton draws it (buh?), second off, it basically has none of the book's cast in it, and third, it's mostly setting up month's worth of more stories. Why is that last one weird? Because this, too, sells pretty much like an Image book, and I can't imagine they'd get a third year from this (and I'm surprised they got a second, to be honest). Now, having said all that, I really liked it -- especially with the nice Hampton (!) art, and I'd probably recommend it if it didn't just come to an abrupt stop like: "whoops, out of pages, see you next month!" abrupt, which, as a $2.99 entertainment experience, knocks it right down to EH all by itself.

Right, OK, that should be enough today, eh? Time for work, and getting Jeff drunk enough that he crashes into a tree on the ride home tonight, thereby killing both of us, and avoiding me running the store without him! (Yes, I'm going to miss him, damn it!)

What did YOU think?

-B

See that cat? Yeah, I do mean you: Graeme ignores the comics.

Because you kind of demanded it - Well, "Viewer" did, even if he's apparently part of BBC Canada and therefore may be biased! No comics! Just season (and series) finales of TV shows!

GILMORE GIRLS: I have to admit, I kind of stopped caring about halfway through the season, and kept watching mostly out of apathetic momentum. I found myself in love with this show thanks to a combination of ABC Family reruns of the entire series and being home sick one afternoon, so perhaps I was spoiled by the idea of daily episodes and wittier writing, but too much of this last season seemed to be slow and often nonsensical; you could tell that the writers really didn't know what to do with its characters (Especially Logan at the end of the series: "I love you so much, I can't be without you. Marry me." "I can't." "Okay, I'm leaving you." Wait, what?), and spent the last twenty-odd episodes with plots that stopped, started and went nowhere. Nothing felt organic or even that believable, which may be why I ended up so forgiving of a final episode so entirely unorganic and unrealistic. Instead of complaining that, wait, Rory just all of a sudden gets offered a job covering Obama's campaign for the year and has to leave in three days, and how exactly did Luke manage to sew all of those dropcloths together overnight on his own, I was just somewhat relieved that everyone was getting something resembling a happy ending, no matter how unrealistic. I wanted the characters that I'd enjoyed so much earlier to rest in a kind peace, instead of end up in uncomfortable angst-ridden faux cliffhanging permanence. As an episode in and of itself, it would probably have been unsatisfying and annoyingly full of writerly laziness, but as the end of a disappointing season, it was surprisingly Good.

But I'm glad that it's out of its recent misery, nonetheless.

LOST: If nothing else, I hope that someone in the make-up department got a raise for the subtle-but-noticable way that they managed to age Matthew Fox in the fake-out "flashback" sequences - Ignore the beard, as hard as that was, and you'd notice the flecks of grey in his hair, which has receded ever so slightly from his time on the island. I'm not so convinced about the twist at the end of this episode - It makes me think of the time jump at the end of the second season of Alias, which just ended up being abused and derailing the series in the third season as the writers realized that they really had no idea what to do with the idea. Yes, it makes for a good shocking reveal at the end of a season, but how is the show going to follow up on everything now that we know that they do get off the island?

Much more interesting was everything that was happening in the island timeframe - We had action and adventure and death-defying Russian assassin men with one eye! We had Hurley in a van knocking over the bad guys! Locke back from the dead, and more importantly, back from the crippled - again! Explosions! This season started with some really weak episodes, and it's kind of amazing to consider how much has improved in its second half; its as if the writing staff looked at Heroes and thought, wait, we don't have to have impossibly slow storytelling where we drag things out for weeks on end! We can have episodes that provide some forward momentum for a change! Somewhere around the episode where Hurley found his van, the plot kicked back in and the show became fun again, and more importantly, compelling again.

The end of the season was a series of moments that you've wanted to see all along (albeit punctuated by the flash-forwards that I'm not sure really added that much to the whole thing) - It was Very Good, and enough to make the wait until January next year seem disturbingly long. Here's hoping that it'll give the writers enough time to work out what exactly to do with Future Jack and his magic beard.

VERONICA MARS: This was the depressing one - After another uneven season (Did any show outside of the cancelled OC have a really strong season all the way through this year?), the last two episodes of VM ended up being the strongest the show has been since the first season, and also - not coincidentally - the darkest. For all its Nancy Drewness, this has always been a show about a moral ambiguous heroine who doesn't recognize where the line is, so it's weirdly fitting that the (unintended) final episode is all about how incredibly fucked up Veronica makes the lives of everyone around her - Her father gives up his principles and his ambition to protect her, Wallace ends up semi-naked and electrocuted, Logan... well, he could've had a series of his own to deal with his self-destructive issues, which Veronica only amplified. And at the same time, Veronica herself went singlemindedly along, not even recognizing those whole breaking-and-entering, theft, manipulating her friends things as being not so good for the hero of the piece. It was both Excellent and surprisingly bleak, and would have been even if the show was continuing for another year; as it is, leaving the series with Weevil returning to a life of crime, Keith about to probably lose the vote to keep his job, and Veronica a social outcast again returned everything to the way the first season began and provided an accidental and wonderful circular feeling to the whole series.

That said: Veronica Mars, The OC and Gilmore Girls all ending this year? Whatever am I going to replace these shows with next year? Unlike Hibbs, I liked the look of that Bionic Woman trailer, and Josh Schwartz and Amy Sherman-Palladino both have new projects coming up... I may not be Tim Goodman, but if any BBC Canada or other channels want to send me any screeners, I'd be happy to watch them in the name of scientific review, of course...

Meanwhile, much more importantly: It's Jeff Lester's last day at the store today, and as much as I wanted to do some kind of fake review of him with the punchline being that he's Excellent, it'd be kind of unnecessary; not content with being the moving force behind this blog (I don't think Brian would disagree with that that much), a voice of sanity and humor when needed and the kind of Kirbyhead who gets excited when the Devil Dinosaur omnibus is announced, he's also the kind of man who emails to congratulate me when I manage to work P!nk, Elliott Smith and the muppets into the same post. With no snark or sarcasm, he'll be very very much missed around these here parts.

And, no, I won't be that nice or sentimental when I see him this evening.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad... Oh, never mind: Graeme continues 5/23.

I can't tell if this week is going quickly, or if I'm just getting old and forgetting what's happening each day. Nonetheless, I'm tried and it's almost the weekend, and one of those things is definitely good. So, let's move on from there, shall we?

MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #2: In which we discover that last issue's everything you know is wrong cliffhanger is, in fact, wrong in and of itself - So everything you know is wrong again! Ha! Sucks to be you! Sadly, the "you" in this case turns out in a very real sense to be "everyone who's reading the book," and this turns out to be a second Crap issue in a row.

It's not even that everything is a lie is a lie is that bad of a dodge - It gives some weight to the extended recap that was the first issue, after all - but that it's a dodge that it takes seventeen pages to get to, most of which are filled with meandering dialogue that goes exactly nowhere (Seriously: "I think. I think I am. And so, therefore I am. I think." That's an entire page right there. Or maybe "I remember nothing. Nothing. Nothing!" "He's bad. Real bad." That's a double page spread). And once we get that twist, it's half-undone by the end of the book, where Madman seems to think that maybe it's true or maybe it's not, and Allred tells us that everything happened the way we've previously read it except where it didn't. It's not that I don't want to read existential superhero comics - I'm a Grant Morrison fan, for the love of God - but I don't want to read existential superhero comics that are so weightless and meaningless. None of the concepts are really even thought through, never mind explored fully - Mike Allred writes in his (pretty interesting, but maybe not in a good way) lettercolumn text piece at the back that he wants this comic to be "an epic mindtrip" that evokes similar questions to the ones that 2001: A Space Odyssey gave him when he was a kid, but the only similar question it brings up for me is that "When is this bit over?" part that I had when all the solarized color was being used towards the end. It's an admirable goal to try and create a comic that asks the big questions, but it's a pretty hollow one if all you're really going to do is ask those questions without any real context or intent to try and at least suggest answers.

The art is still really nice, though. So there's that.