Yes, Graeme went on a cleanse and we talked about it at the start of the podcast. And left it in. And decided to warn you about it. You're welcome.
If you don't want to hear us talk about mucoid plaque and other delightful non-comics-related topics, skip the first fourteen minutes and thirty seconds and check in with us as we talk about the writers' room situation at The Walking Dead, digital comics and The Marvel Vault, and some promotions at DC. Because I've been in the weeds for the last few weeks this was recorded almost two weeks back, but I think there's still enough stuff in there to make it worthwhile.
It should be making its way out onto Itunes now or shortly, and you can also listen to it here:
Also, thanks to everyone for chiming in on the comments section--I try not to be an overbearing presence there in the first place but, like I said, things have been a bit busy for me, so I've had even less chance to contribute than usual. But all comments are read and appreciated.
And we should have more for you soon! Thanks for listening.
You know when you're trying to post something and you're having an even worse time than usual finding something that will sort of obliquely reference the point of your post, and you're digging through your relatively paltry photobucket library and you come across an old comic book cover that you like but is totally irrelevant to the topic at hand and you figure, "ehhhh, why not?"
Lord, I sure do.
Anyway, welcome to Wait, What? Ep. 18.3, wherein Graeme and I take an excellent question from the witty Adam Knave--"if you could pick anyone to be EIC at DC and Marvel, who would it be?"--and prove ourselves ridiculously uncomfortable with the idea of reshaping reality. I don't think anyone will be greenlighting our "Infinity Gauntlet: Now Everything Tastes Like Cheeseburgers!" cosmic event any time soon, let's put it that way.
It is very nearly an hour and 15 mins. long, it is absurdly insider-basebally (recently, in trying to tell her friends what kind of podcast I do, Edi had used that term to describe it, and also that it was the kind of show where we discussed not just our favorite comic book characters, and our favorite writers and artists, but actually would debate who our favorite editors were...and she had done so without knowing we had recorded this very podcast) and it is already up and wailing away on Itunes (as Ben Lipman, and hopefully others, have already discovered). You can also listen to it here:
So, this is important: there were shipping problems because of the East Coast storms, so this list of what's arriving is really only applicable to WEST COAST stores (and, as always, YOUR local comic shop may in fact be receiving titles that I'm not ordering at Comix Experience in the first place) -- there's another dozen or two books that are shipping to the Midwest and East Coast this week that we're not getting here out left.
(Which is a real shame because you want these pre-Christmas weeks to be PACKED with product)
This is probably the week to buy that book you've had your eyes on for weeks, from your LCS. Probably especially if you're in the Washington state area where I understand that Portland/Seattle stores (at least) have been screwed now for three weeks running. If you want your LCS to thrive and succeed, there's not a lot of commerce that's going to be generated by this week's pretty anemic number of comics. So, go buy that thing you've been looking at. They'll thank you!
What's shipping, under the jump:
27 #1 (OF 4)
ARCHIE & FRIENDS #150
ARCHIE & FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #1
BATGIRL #16
BOOSTER GOLD #39
BPRD HELL ON EARTH NEW WORLD #5 (OF 5)
CHAOS WAR ARES #1
CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER CITY OF DEMONS #5 (OF 5) (MR)
DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER LITTLE SISTERS ELURIA #1 (OF 5)
DCU HOLIDAY SPECIAL 2010 #1
DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #12
DOC SAVAGE #9
FABLES #100 (MR) (NOTE PRICE)
FIRST WAVE #5 (OF 6)
FLASH #7 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
GEORGE RR MARTINS DOORWAYS #2 (OF 4)
HALCYON #2
HOUSE OF MYSTERY #32 (MR)
I AM AN AVENGER #4 (OF 5)
INCREDIBLE HULKS #618
INVADERS NOW #4 (OF 5)
JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST #15 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
KNIGHT & SQUIRE #3 (OF 6)
MUPPET SHERLOCK HOLMES #4 (OF 4)
MYSTERY SOCIETY #5 (OF 5)
NEW AVENGERS #7
NORTHLANDERS #35 (MR)
REBELS #23
RED ROBIN #18
SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #4
SHADOWLAND AFTER FALL #1
SONIC UNIVERSE #23
SPIKE #3 (OF 8)
STAN LEE STARBORN #1
STAR TREK KHAN RULING IN HELL #3 (OF 4)
STAR WARS KNIGHT ERRANT AFLAME #3 (OF 5)
SUPER HERO SQUAD #12
SUPER HEROES #9
SUPERBOY #2
TERRY MOORES ECHO #26
THOR #618
THOR MIGHTY AVENGER #7
THUNDER AGENTS #2
TINY TITANS LITTLE ARCHIE #3 (OF 3)
TORCHWOOD #5
UNCLE SCROOGE #398
WHAT IF WOLVERINE FATHER
WIDOWMAKER #1 (OF 4)
WILDSTORM PRESENTS PLANETARY LOST WORLDS #1
X-MEN FOREVER 2 #13
Books / Mags / Stuff
5 DAYS TO DIE TP
BATMAN THE WIDENING GYRE HC VOL 01 (RES)
CAPTAIN AMERICA TP AMERICA FIRST
DC SHOWCASE SUPERMAN & SHAZAM RETURN OT BLACK ADAM DVD (NET)
EXCALIBUR VISIONARIES WARREN ELLIS TP VOL 03
JOJOS BIZARRE ADVENTURE TP VOL 16
LITTLE LULUS PAL TUBBY VOL 02 RUNAWAY STATUE
MAGNUS ARCHIVES TP VOL 01
SCI SPY COMPLETE SERIES TP
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ARCHIVES TP VOL 14
SPAWN ORIGINS DLX ED HC VOL 02
SWEET TOOTH TP VOL 02 IN CAPTIVITY
THE LODGER GN
THOR MIGHTY AVENGER GN TP VOL 01 GOD WHO FELL INTO EARTH
TRANSFORMERS ONGOING TP VOL 02 INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT
USAGI YOJIMBO TP VOL 08 SHADES OF DEATH NEW PTG
USAGI YOJIMBO TP VOL 09 DAISHO NEW PTG (RES)
USAGI YOJIMBO TP VOL 10 BRINK OF LIFE & DEATH NEW PTG (RES)
WIZARDS OF MICKEY SC VOL 03 BATTLE FOR THE CROWN TPB
X-FORCE SEX AND VIOLENCE HC
This installment was actually ready to go on Friday, but I thought Abhay's post was so impressive and awesome, I figured it was better to let it stand on its own. (Also, I've been besieged with pants-optional pics since then.) But here's ep. 18.2, recorded right before the opening weekend for Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. I don't know if you saw Graeme's great little piece about the show's history over at Techland, but if not, the podcast covers a good chunk of it with additional goodness thrown in.
We also cover news about the Lone Ranger, grouse about Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, and kvetch generally. It should be available on Itunes now or super-shortly, and you can also hear it here, below:
We should have more for you (much, much more) for you soon, and remember: When a problem comes along--Order code: DEC100215. Before the cream sets out too long--Order code: DEC100215.
Self-promotion warning. For those of you not interested in self-promotion, and don't want to spend their free time consuming advertising, this is fair warning, and I'll hide my infomercial for myself behind a jump. I apologize in advance to anyone who thinks this doesn't belong here-- in my defense, I got Brian's okay, plus Brian reminded me that Jeff had already done the whole self-promotion thing so... Please send all angry e-mail to Jeff Lester. Also: please send photos of yourself but just from the waist down to Jeff Lester. Pants tolerated.
***
"Good authors too who once knew better words, now only use four letter words writing prose.... Anything goes..." -- Cole Porter.
(Is it just me or did dudes from back in the day used to put quotes from songs in their comics way, way more often? "You bros ready to read a comic about HAWKMAN? Here's a quote from Jethro Tull to get this mother started on the right foot. WHOAH, AQUALUNG!" Is that something my mind is just making up on me? Didn't that use to happen all the time? Are people still doing that? I don't see that anymore.
It's not the same thing, but all I can think of at the moment is I remember Peter David issues of the Hulk that'd have Shakespeare quotes-- that one issue where the Leader tricks Banner into turning into Grey Hulk in order to fight Rick Jones Hulk, that's got that "Swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon" quote or whatever...? And there's me, age whatever-- "I promise-- no moon-swearing from me, Mr. Incredible Hulk, sir!" Does Peter David still do that? ... I don't know; I just heard that Cole Porter song earlier today and that line made me laugh. Funny song. Okay, whatever, let's start the whole sales thing... Let's get into character...)
SUPERMAN 80-PAGE GIANT 2011 #1
Written by JOE CARAMAGNA, STEVE HORTON, ABHAY KHOSLA, NEIL KLEID, AUBREY SITTERSON, BEAU TIDWELL and others
Art by EDDY BARROWS, CAFU, DAN MCDAID, ANDY MACDONALD and others
Cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN
I'm the co-creator of a 10 page Jimmy Olsen story in this SUPERMAN comic book, as advertised. It's solicited for sale in February 2011. I think Beau Tidwell has written reviews and journalism, too, including for the NEW YORK TIMES. I don't know who "Others" are, but my guess is that I'm at least the 4th or 5th best comic critic with a story in that SUPERMAN comic. Though I like to think that I'm the 2nd or 3rd best critic in that SUPERMAN comic, in your hearts.
Brian suggested I give you the Order code, so-- here's the Order code: DEC100215. Brian also suggested I give the Order code to the North Koreans, though, come to think of it. What was that about? Oh my god! Sarah Palin was right about San Francisco!
Dustin Nguyen did the cover, which I guess is a spiritual sequel to this fantastic cover he did for BATMAN 80-PAGE GIANT. Dustin Nguyen is one of my favorite cover-guys working with DC (plus I really love those chibi style drawings he does on rare occasion), so... Boy, I was so happy when I saw that cover...
I was approached by DC in May 2010 about contributing something-- out of the blue. Just this weird out-of-nowhere thing. I guess they've been approaching new-ish people for these anthologies for a while now. It's nothing I went out and got for myself-- just this thing that fell into my lap. I think it's going to be pretty funny for me, though, the next time I hear some mainstream comics person talk about, "Breaking into comics, man, it's like infiltrating a volcano headquarters surrounded by a high-security prison, shoved up a nun's butt. If someone manages to figure out a way in-- they wall that way in up with bricks, and have Hakeem Olajuwon piss on the bricks in order to sanctify them with his famous +1 Urine of Obstruction." Because-- really? I was just sitting around watching SAVED BY THE BELL on blu-ray the other day, and got an e-mail offering to pay me to write a comic about one of my all-time favorite comic characters. Did you... Did you guys try chilling out and watching SAVED BY THE BELL? Because my way sure sounds much easier. For nuns.
Anyways, I sent in three pitches at the end of June-- two were comedies: one pretty terrible, too vanilla, too much me pulling my punch, looking back on it; the other... it probably was a little weird.
The third was sort of what I hope is a pretty straight-ahead superhero comic. DC went with that one. And I'm kind of happy that's what I ended up having to try to make. Given the chance to make a superhero comic, I'm glad I had to make a real one, and didn't find a way to hide from that...? I don't know if any of that makes sense. You know-- I figure this is the only time they'll ever let me make this particular kind of comic, so I guess I wanted to be a part of... Part of the "tradition."
Though I don't know-- my "tradition" probably isn't everybody's. A lot of DC comics in the 00's, I suspect were trying to be in the tradition of the reveal of the Terra character in the Wolfman-Perez TEEN TITANS, which didn't mean anything to me since my formative Teen Titans experience was the Teen Titans being buzz-kills and narcing out the cool kids on behalf of the Keebler corporation.
I was always sort of more fascinated with the post-WATCHMEN Inappropriate Superhero comics, as I think I've mentioned before. Or, like, you know what comic got stuck in my head this week. Does anyone remember that Jamie Delano comic TALKING TURKEY from VERTIGO JAM? It was an Animal Man comic that was just Animal Man (in his post-costume SERIOUS VERTIGO COMICS incarnation)(!) getting yelled at about environmentalism by a turkey on Thanksgiving...??
I don't know. I didn't have the balls to write a comic about a man arguing about SERIOUS ISSUEZ with a turkey(!), so I can't say I achieved true glory. Failure of nerve, I guess. You know-- but I tried to have Nerd Fun. Stole the first line of my script from those excerpts from Alan Moore's script for SWAMP THING ISSUE 20 that Stephen Bissette had on his blog last year (one of several excellent series of blog posts on comics history, if you haven't seen that before): "Before commencing this debacle, a few words" yaddah yaddah. Stole the last line of my script from Grant Morrison's THE INVISIBLES: "End theme." That's how Morrison ended his first two INVISIBLES scripts, which I think are floating around online. I thought that was kind of a neat way to end a script for THE INVISIBLES.
I don't know if I did anything anyone will like, especially-- that's not really up to me, I guess. I'm sure I made a lot of mistakes, or... It's an all-ages Jimmy Olsen comic, and maybe that inherently has a limited appeal. I don't know. But I tried my best to try not to make a faux-"cinematic" storyboard comic, which sure as hell was goal #1; I tried to give the artist chances to be awesome; and if my execution was lacking, well, I think I at least tried to have my goals be true to my tastes, so... I think that's what I was supposed to do...? I think...? Or maybe not-- I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. All my research aside, I'm not entirely sure what a hypothetical reader wants out of a 10 page Superman comic, or why they want it, so...
Annnnnd this is awkward-! I am not built for self-promotion. I *totally* judge other people when they promote themselves, so, I'm so sorry if this is horrible for you. It's awkward for me. This is awkward for me. It makes me feel-- I feel like I'm at the corner just in time to see the bus fly by.
Fun-fact: Mario Lopez is a guest on George Lopez tonight. Fun fact.
***
And... yeah: they let me write Jimmy Olsen.
Jimmy Olsen is just about my favorite character in superhero comics.
Olsen was already reinvented for modern times-- decades ago! By the best-- by Kirby. Olsen before Kirby is okay. But the Kirby Olsen... To me, the Kirby Olsen is a crazy young man who seeks out the future so he can bring photographs of it back to the present. Maybe just no one could separate that aspect out from all the other, more idiosyncratic things Kirby brought to the book, I think.
And unlike most DC characters, he's not locked into any single theme. A comic about Batman should probably be about crime being a bitter fruit that grows weeds, or whatever that expression is; a story about Wonder Woman should be about Man's World; a story about Black Canary should be about fishnet stockings; a story about Zatanna, I don't know, I guess should also be about fishnet stockings. A story about Cheryl Tiegs should be about that fishnet one-piece she wore in the 1978 Sport's Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Maybe the story could be from the perspective of the fishnet swimsuit-- let that blow your mind, intro to creative writing 101 professor. Or it could be from the perspective of a young Brazilian girl watching, from binoculars, and she's judging at first but then gradually her defenses wear down and she starts having FEELINGZ. I don't know-- I don't want to accidentally screw up any plans that Geoff Johns might have there, you guys.
Jimmy Olsen doesn't really quite have a heavy burden of theme to him. You can think of him as someone inspired by another's heroism to go be a hero himself; i.e. as a symbol for the positive way being a fan of some fantasy character can effect your life. Or you can think of him as ... As someone who tries to be cooler than he plainly is, to the extent he's making a fool of himself or even risking his life, based upon an impossible standard that he's imposed upon himself. Which I think is sort of how we all process mass media...? Mass Media gives up Superman and then we're trapped in the bodies of Jimmy Olsen. When I watch a James Bond movie, what goes on in my head? How much have James Bond movies screwed up the inside of my head? And is that any different from what happens in Jimmy Olsen's head when he's watching Superman? Or you can think of something else entirely for him-- Jimmy's just this guy, you know?
I think I've mentioned this here before, but: what I love most about Jimmy Olsen doesn't show up in my story, but it's the signal watch. I couldn't do that justice in 10 pages. I mean, none of this made it into my comic any, but ... the signal watch not making it in smarts the most because I love it so much: Jimmy Olsen survives his adventures not because he's more powerful or stronger than his adversaries, but because of his ability to form friendships with people who are. He doesn't need superpowers-- his superpower is social skills! Which -- I think I consider that a better "lesson" than almost any other lesson in all of superhero comics. And the ultimate symbol for that is the signal watch. Plus, post-Crisis, at least, Jimmy Olsen invented the signal watch-- he saw Superman and responded to Superman by inventing a way to get Superman to help him in his life.
Jimmy Olsen is a person in a society transitioning from a human society to a post-human society, and the way he responded to that is by putting that post-human society at his disposal. Which-- is my favorite heroic type that I grew up with: the computer hacker. The computer hacker, when I was a kid, was a person who saw the effect computers were going to have on society coming, and was going to control that machinery of the world rather than let himself be a cog in it. Matthew Broderick in WAR GAMES isn't going to be a victim of the military industrial complex; he's going to use the technology of the military industrial complex to force it to recognize his right to be free of its machinery. Jimmy Olsen is exactly that. Jimmy Olsen is a hacker, not of computers but of a post-human society.
This is all stuff I'd thought about on a regular basis, years before anyone from DC ever got in touch with me, so...
Oh, god. I've wasted my life.
***
Plus: I got to write something that would have real comic art to it for once! I basically draw like crap, and so there are types of comics I don't think I'll ever create on my own, in one-man-band mode, for that reason. Action comics, horror comics, monster comics, suspense comics-- really, anything besides people talking in a sparsely decorated room is probably off limits to me. So, getting to actually write, you know, ANYTHING and it's some other stupid asshole's job to draw it...? That is a Christmas miracle.
We managed to get my top pick to draw the comic: Mr. Andy Macdonald of NYC MECH, RED WARRIOR, TERMINATOR: 2029, TERMINATOR: 1984, PUNISHER: WAR JOURNAL, a SPIDERMAN web-thing, and END LEAGUE fame-- no, infamy! I've known Andy for many, many years, and I've spent hours and hours watching him draw. No-joke: Andy would be my top pick to draw this if I could get anybody, anybody at all, so I feel like I got extraordinarily lucky. Well, no, wait-- my top pick would be Jesus-- that's sort of a no-brainer. #2 would be Lee Harvey Oswald-- my family's pretty convinced he didn't do it, so it'd be a big deal for them if he drew my Superman comic. But #3 would be Andy Macdonald. So: Andy Macdonald: Almost As Good as Lee Harvey Oswald in My Book.
Plus: we're trying to get an old, old friend to letter the story, too-- I don't know if that's 100% locked in yet. But this person, Andy and I all had dinner together at San Diego many, many years ago, and it's one of my favorite memories of the times I went to that thing. So, I guess I'm happy that... If it feels like something made by an assembly line of strangers to other people, then that's how it is and I apologize to you, but I'm really happy it's not going to feel that way to me...? And aren't my feelings all that really matter? Yes! You're right! They are!
***
And then: sometime in 2011, the 4th issue of my webcomic TWIST STREET. I also started writing issue #4 sometime in May, I think, according to my notes. Hopefully this gets released sometime in June but it's hard to say for sure. I'm wrapping up a final draft now, and hopefully drawing starts in late December / early January. Talking heads, repeating images, endless dialogue-- low-low-low-budget comedy webcomics. More than 100 pages, but less than 200, I think. With a plot, this time-- another stab at doing a plot, unfortunately. But the good news is I think I found a way to make my cheapest looking, laziest comic yet! I really think people might hate this one! Yay, honesty!
You know: there have been times when I've wished that other people had found a better balance between their personal work and their work for others, and have been disappointed that they haven't. So, I guess I really, really want this to be out in 2011 so that I won't ever have to feel like I was wrong about anything. Take that, world! No comeuppance, everybody! I avoided comeuppance!
I mean, I'm not saying it's normal but ... I really think my feelings about the Superman thing would be diminished in some essential way if I didn't also have this coming out. Anyways, here's the Order Code: Seven.
***
And of course, there'll be more of this sort of thing. You know: more stuff that gets posted here, extremely slowly, and probably not often enough, and probably about comics no one cares about, and sometimes with me maybe calling the guy who wrote POWER PACK a baby-killer. (You reading anything good? I'm wrapping up DUNCAN THE WONDERDOG-- I really haven't decided yet if I'm enjoying that or disliking it intensely-- interesting book, though. That and HARLEM HEROES-- why did people who wrote 2000AD think black people rhymed so much?? I'm going to end the year sitting down with the ALEC omnibus...)
But yeah, I should say: writing for this blog, this is the most fun i have writing anything. Oh god, when one of these comes together-- it is so much goddamn fun.
You know: I think part of the fun of this whole experience has been watching myself to see if I turn into That Guy. Because I was really scared I'd have that moment of, you know, "Oh, I was wrong! Forgive me, people who work in comics! I've learned the error of my ways-- the real enemy is snark. How dare you, snarky snarks? Comic creators have FEELINGZ." And maybe I did it wrong, but... I didn't have that moment. I was never visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past. I never felt like I had to repent.
And I'm so happy about that. SO HAPPY. Having been through this experience now-- I take NONE of it back. DC gave me every opportunity to think about what I was putting out into the world, and I've gotten asked questions throughout the process, questions making sure I understood and respected the characters, questions about story logic, theme, etc. And if I didn't think hard enough on my work product, and what I put out there was ... was intellectually lazy or morally repugnant to someone else in any way, then there's no way I can pretend I didn't deserve the "snark" (or as I like to call it, "entertainment") that I get in retaliation, even if I disagree with that person or how they draw their conclusions. And that would only be my fault, and no one else's, not snark, not "The Internet", and especially not Lee Harvey Oswald, who loved the smell of cookies coming out of the oven, which I think you'll agree the Warren Commission completely overlooked....
Plus, I just really, really don' want to repent-- this is such goddamn fun and I don't want FEELINGZ to get in the way of that. So, I guess what I'm saying, if anything, I really hope that this experience has only made me a worse and more unfeeling monster than I was before.
In conclusion: No comeuppance!
"Lee Harvey, you are a madman. When you stole that cow, and your friend tried to make it with the cow. I want to party with you, cowboy." -- John Winger.
"Drying in the cold sun -- watching as the frilly panties run." -- William Shakespeare.
Late, late, late. Graeme and I recorded this the day before Thanksgiving and it took me a week to break out the virtual scissors and cut something together. Sorry 'bout that.
So here we go, with what those in the industry call a "decompressed" first episode. I mean....a failed cold open? Graeme mocking me for complaining about the weather? Me mocking him for throwing out his back? Throw in Luke Cage and you've got an early issue of Bendis' Avengers run, more or less.
Nonetheless, we do get around to talking Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali and Absolute All-Star Superman, and you can totally skip to the 16:55 point if you just want to get the verbal kicking and punching. It is, or should very shortly be, available on Itunes, and/or you can listen to it here:
(I really wanted to title this with a "NaNaNaNaNaNaNaNa", but thought it was too soon after Graeme's Flash joke last post)
What is kind of awesome about Batman is just how infinitely malleable he is as a character -- not every single note hits all of the time, but for the most part Batman can be a grim avenger of the night, or a smiling Pop-infused Caped Crusader; he can fight lunatic gangsters, or space aliens; he can call Robin "Chum", or he can say "-tt-" a lot. He can be a pirate and a cowboy and a knight and a superhero and... well it seems like there's very little Batman can't become, under the right hands (witness the 47-million different "Elseworlds" books -- Batman fits more of them, better, than ol' Clark does)
In comics, Grant Morrison seems to get this pretty well -- and, in a way, his entire run of recent Batman comics has been a way to embrace all of the disparate versions of the character over the year (it is almost as if this is an inversion of Alan Moore's famous line about "this is an imaginary story. But aren't they all?" with a "these are all true stories, regardless of the source of that imagination"), and he makes it explicit with the debut of BATMAN, INC. which very nearly makes Batman into Captain Universe ("The Hero Who Could Be You!")
(Though let me also underline the "Batman: the Brave & the Bold" cartoon also has this "it's all true!" sensibility, which works crazy better than you thought it would as a cartoon...)
As I said before, a whole lot of the eventual success of this model is going to fall on creators whose initials don't invoke a car company, there has to be a certain amount of cohesion at the center, but I thought it was worth a look at the batfamily of titles as a (semi-) whole as we reach the last month of 2010.
BATMAN: THE RETURN: Let's start with this one because it is a clear enough demarcation point. This is the one-shot that "bridges" "The Return of Bruce Wayne" to "Batman, Inc.", but to me, it was a pretty blah, nothing cash-grab of a comic that added really nothing whatsoever to understanding of what's going on. In fact, the only thing I found memorable about it, two weeks after having read it was that GM kinda inverted the dead-brilliant eight-word summation of Superman's origin from ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #1 in taking the original "I shall Become A Bat!" and stretching it out over a half-dozen-ish pages. Yeah, that kind of summarizes what I thought of this comic overall, really: Stretched out. and pretty AWFUL, really.
(This does give me a great place, however, to link to Colin Smith's fairly brilliant takedown of JMS'" Superman Earth One" via comparing it to GM's "ASS" in four parts:
BATMAN, INC. #1: Yeah, this is what the Bat needs to be relevant in the 21st century -- a million possible Batmen, of all cultures, and styles. On paper, this is the best idea for Batman in years. As an actual first issue of a comic it was solidly GOOD, though I don't think we're really going to be able to judge this too much until we have 3 or 4 arcs done and we see where it gets taken. But I really liked the interplay between Bruce and Selina, and I especially liked the call-back to the 1960s Batman TV show in the "next issue" space (much like Geoff Johns really smart "this year in..." bits in THE FLASH and ADVENTURE and whatever). I want more, and that's the most important bit.
BATMAN #704: Tony Daniel does a good enough job with the "main" bat-book, even introducing a few new characters (one of which might stick, maybe?), but I can't say there's anything in there that made me think "more, now!". I'll go with OK
DETECTIVE #871: Scott Snyder and Jock tackle the "flagship" book, with a focus on Dick's Batman. It's a bit grim and atmospheric for what I want from a Dick Grayson comic -- I kind of want Dick to be the Laughing Daredevil Batman, rather than mini-Bruce -- but I certainly liked it enough to want to read more. Solidly GOOD.
BATMAN & ROBIN #17: The book that was started FOR GM, that's continuing without him. I'm not so sure how I feel about this, really, because at this point it kind becomes "yet another Bat-book" -- this book needs to find a hook, and find it fast. Having said that, Paul Cornell and Scott McDaniel turn in a decent enough job here, with a pretty interesting new Oddball Villain.. like I said, this book just needs to find it's own unique Hook. A low GOOD.
BATWOMAN #0: Well, not batman, per se, but probably the book I'm most looking forward to besides INC. Rucka did a pretty astonishing job in making Kate a well-rounded character, and I want more. This "zero issue" doesn't have much meat to it, really, but it sure was an attractive 16 pages. On the other hand: only 16 pages of story content, foo. I'll go with OK because of that.
BATMAN STREETS OF GOTHAM #17: Ostensibly a bat-book, but really it's the Hush comic. Which might be alright if this "Hey, he stole Bruce's face!" plot actually tied in at all to anything else that's going on in the bat titles. I don't know, I never thought Hush was much more than a decent McGuffin at best, but this doesn't seem like enough to hang a series on, and I pretty don't much care what happens next. EH.
BATGIRL #15: One thing these low issue numbers all clumped together makes me think of: man, they just basically rebooted Batman in the last year and a half, didn't they? This one is fairly cute and charming, and absolutely weightless. I don't care, but I don't not care, y'know? OK
RED ROBIN #17: Here's another book desperately in desperate need of a premise. The problem is it was launched on "Tim believes Bruce is alive, and this is his quest" and now that Bruce is back... well, what does this book exist for? It isn't bad or anything... just kinda pointless. I sort of think Tim either needs to become a Bat himself, or to become an "uber-Robin" of some sort that, dunno, finds and trains new Robins? But I'm-dealing-with-dangling-plotlines-and-am-not-inherently-compelling-myself thing? Not going to work in the mid- or long-term. EH.
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #??: I couldn't tell you. It's dropped into "subs only" sales here, feeling like the place when spoiled inventory went to die. I have a mildly hard time seeing this last another year... unless they really have that much inventory to burn off these days. INCOMPLETE
SUPERMAN/BATMAN #78: Also a book that feels driftless and only there for completionists. Constantly changing creative teams and premises doesn't help either. Without a singular and focused creative team this one should probably be retired, too.
Nor did I read the latest AZRAEL (and neither are you, as far as I can tell!) or GOTHAM CITY SIRENS, but I don't really consider either of those "bat" books, myself.
I promise, I wasn't really looking for a pun to start this off, but this one was unavoidable. With the sixth issue finally out a couple of weeks ago, I finally had a chance to sit down and re-read THE FLASH #1-6, only to realize that Geoff Johns let the story run away from him early on, and couldn't quite catch up. Get it...? "Run away... from... him..."? Oh, okay; I'll just say what I mean, then.
I'd hoped, before re-reading, that the weird disjointed feeling that'd plagued me reading these issues as they came out would, if not disappear, then be lessened by the experience of getting everything in one sitting, watching all the pieces fall into place without months of waiting in between. But instead, the opposite happened; it seemed to become more obvious that the pacing of "The Dastardly Death of The Rogues!" is really badly off, and for reasons that don't seem apparently obvious. Reading the first four issues in particular evoke a strange feeling of deja vu: Wait, didn't we see the Flash spend a few pages performing what should be a visually impressive feat of superspeed before being confronted by the time-traveling Renegade Task Force last issue? The plot doesn't really get going until the series' fourth issue, at which point there's at least enough of a premise put forth that we finally get some forward motion. The problem then becomes that it's a fake out - Essentially, the entire arc is a series of "What if this happens? Only joking! Here's something unexpected interrupting to make sure that the cliffhanger isn't really followed up on!" delays and false starts; insert your own "Who'd've thought The Flash would have trouble getting up momentum?" jokes here - and the resolution to the plot gets pretty much squashed into the final chapter, where it becomes unconvincing and, because it not only ends with foreshadowing for Flashpoint next year but also doesn't really address the McGuffin that took up the last half of the story, pretty unfulfilling.
Not helping, sadly, is Francis Manapul's art which is lush, attractive, beautiful and entirely wrong for the series. This isn't a dig at Manapul, whose work I really do like; it's just that his attempts at the large-scale spectacular action scenes never seem to ring true to me, and instead, I find myself drawn to his quieter moments - which he himself seems to enjoy himself, it seems. I can't quite say what would work as a speedster style for me, but Manapul's brushwork and toned art seems more leisurely, more relaxed and at odds with the non-stop, impatient world that we're supposed to believe Central City has become.
The annoying thing is, there's actually a lot to like about The Flash, when taken out of context: I like the Barry and Iris relationship, the concepts behind a lot of the new status quo (That Barry will, by his actions, teach the forensics department the value of taking their time and valuing their jobs, for example. Or that people in Central are generally pushy and impatient), and Manapul's art. But none of it has managed to really come together in a way that works for me, yet. It's sad; I like Johns' work, normally, and had high hopes for this series after his short run with Manapul in Adventure Comics, but based upon the first arc, The Flash is a high Eh, or Okay at best. Here's hoping for better in future issues.
Because of American Thanksgiving, comics arrive on THURSDAY.
It's OK, I forgot about that one too, until I made the call this morning...
ACTION COMICS ANNUAL #13
ADVENTURE COMICS #521
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #9
ANT-MAN & WASP #2 (OF 3)
AUTHORITY #29
AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES #2 (OF 4)
BALTIMORE PLAGUE SHIPS #5
BATMAN 80 PAGE GIANT 2010 #1
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #51
BATMAN ORPHANS #1 (OF 2)
BETTY #189
BOYS #49
BRIGHTEST DAY #15
BRING THE THUNDER #1
BUFFY VAMPIRE SLAYER #39
BULLET TO THE HEAD #6
CAPTAIN AMERICA PATRIOT #4 (OF 4)
CAVEWOMAN HUNT #1
CHAOS WAR GOD SQUAD #1
CHIP N DALE RESCUE RANGERS #1
DAREDEVIL #512 SL
DARKNESS #87
DC COMICS PRESENTS BATMAN BEYOND #1
DO ANDROIDS DREAM DUST TO DUST #7 (OF 8)
DOOM PATROL #17
EDGE OF DOOM #2
FEEDING GROUND #2 (OF 6)
FEVRE DREAM #9 (OF 10)
FREEDOM FIGHTERS #4
GENERATION HOPE #2
GREEN HORNET STRIKES #5
GRIMM FAIRY TALES #52
GUMBYS GANG #1 (OF 4) STARRING POKEY (RES)
HEROES FOR HIRE #1
IRON MAN THOR #2 (OF 4)
IRREDEEMABLE #20
IZOMBIE #8
JONAH HEX #62
JSA ALL STARS #13
KILLER MODUS VIVENDI #6 (OF 6)
KING CITY #12
LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #0
LIFE WITH ARCHIE MARRIED LIFE #5
LOONEY TUNES #193
MARVELMAN FAMILYS FINEST #6 (OF 6)
MOTEL HELL #3 (OF 3)
NIGHT O/T LIVING DEAD HOLIDAY SPECIAL #1
OZMA OF OZ #2 (OF 8)
POOD #2
RAISE THE DEAD II #1
RASL #9
RESIDENT EVIL #6 (OF 6)
SECRET SIX #28
SHADOWHAWK #5
SHADOWLAND #5 (OF 5) SL
SHE-HULKS #2 (OF 4)
STAR WARS OLD REPUBLIC #6 (OF 6) BLOOD OF EMPIRE PT 3 (OF 3)
STRANGE SCIENCE FANTASY #6
SUPERGOD #5 (OF 5)
SWEET TOOTH #16
TASKMASTER #4 (OF 4)
THOR FOR ASGARD #5 (OF 6)
TOY STORY TALES FROM TOY CHEST #3
VERTIGO RESURRECTED WINTERS EDGE #1
WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #713
WARRIORS THREE #2 (OF 4)
WHAT IF IRON MAN DEMON IN AN ARMOR
WOLVERINE BEST THERE IS #1
WOMEN OF MARVEL #2 (OF 2)
Books / Mags / Stuff
ACHEWOOD HC VOL 03 HOME FOR SCARED PEOPLE
AKIRA KODANSHA ED GN VOL 04
BLEACH TP VOL 33
BLUE AGAVE AND WORM GN
BRIGHTEST DAY HC VOL 01
CHRONICLES OF CONAN TP VOL 20 NIGHT OF WOLF
CREEPY ARCHIVES HC VOL 08
DANNY HUSK THE HOLLOW PLANET GN
DEADPOOL TEAM-UP TP VOL 01 GOOD BUDDIES
DEEPAK CHOPRA PRESENTS BUDDHA HC TALE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
DEVIL TP
FABLES TP VOL 14 WITCHES
FLYWIRES GN
HEAVY METAL JAN 2011
JUXTAPOZ VOL 17 #12 DEC 2010
LEES TOY REVIEW #215 NOV 2010
MAD SPECIAL SPY VS SPY #1
METAL HC
PAPERCUTZ SLICES GN VOL 01 HARRY POTTY AND DEATHLY BORING
PINOCCHIO VAMPIRE SLAYER GN VOL 02
PLANETARY TP BOOK 04 SPACETIME ARCHAEOLOGY
ROBERT E HOWARD HAWKS OF OUTREMER TP
SIEGE TP AVENGERS INITIATIVE
SIN CITY NEW MILLER CVR TP VOL 06 BOOZE BROADS BULLETS
SIN CITY NEW MILLER CVR TP VOL 07 HELL & BACK (NOTE PRI
SIXSMITHS GN VOL 01
SKY DOLL SPACE SHIP PREM HC
SPIKE THE DEVIL YOU KNOW TP VOL 01
STAR TREK BURDEN OF KNOWLEDGE TP VOL 01
STAR WARS CLONE WARS YR TP VOL 06 DEADLY HANDS OF SHON JU
STAR WARS OMNIBUS TP QUINLAN VOS JEDI IN DARKNESS
SUPER FRIENDS HEAD OF THE CLASS TP
TEZUKA AYAKO GN
VAMPIRELLA MASTERS SERIES TP VOL 02 WARREN ELLIS
WIZARD MAGAZINE #233
Hey kids, comics!
25 TO LIFE #3 (OF 3)
28 DAYS LATER #17
ACTION COMICS #895
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #649 BIG
AMORY WARS KEEPING SECRETS OF SILENT EARTH 3 #6 (OF 12)
ARCHIE #615
ASTONISHING THOR #1 (OF 5)
AVENGERS VS PET AVENGERS #2 (OF 4)
BATMAN AND ROBIN #17
BATMAN BEYOND #6 (OF 6)
BATMAN ODYSSEY #5 (OF 13)
BATWOMAN #0
BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #186
BILLY THE KID GHASTLY FIEND LONDON #3 ERIC POWELL CVR
BLACK WIDOW #8
BOMB QUEEN VI #2 (OF 4) (RES)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #612
CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #54
CHAOS WAR ALPHA FLIGHT #1
CHIP SECOND CRACK #2 (OF 3)
CLINT #3
CONAN LEGACY FRAZETTA COVER #6 (OF 8)
CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #25
CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER CITY OF DEMONS #4 (OF 5)
DEADPOOL #29
DEADPOOL PULP #3 (OF 4)
DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #887
DETECTIVE COMICS #871
DMZ #59
DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP #17 (OF 24)
FANTASTIC FOUR #585 THREE
FIREBREATHER VOL 3 #1 (OF 4) HOLMGANG
FRINGE TALES FROM THE FRINGE #6 (OF 6)
FUTURAMA COMICS #52
GOTHAM CITY SIRENS #17
GREEN ARROW #6 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
INCORRUPTIBLE #12
INCREDIBLE HULKS #617
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #32
JLA THE 99 #2 (OF 6)
JOHN MOORE PRESENTS DEAD SOLDIER #3 (OF 4)
JUGHEAD #204
JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST #14 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #45
KEVIN SMITH GREEN HORNET #10
KULL THE HATE WITCH #1 (OF 4) TOM FLEMING CVR
LOCKE & KEY KEYS TO THE KINGDOM #3 (OF 6)
MADAME XANADU #29
MICKEY MOUSE & FRIENDS #302
NAMOR FIRST MUTANT #4
NEW MUTANTS #19
OUTSIDERS #34
RED SONJA #53
ROTTEN #8
ROUTE DES MAISONS ROUGES #2 (OF 4)
SAVAGE DRAGON #166
SCALPED #43
SECRET AVENGERS #7
SECRET WARRIORS #22
SHADOWLAND BLOOD ON STREETS #4 (OF 4) SL
SHADOWLAND POWER MAN #4 (OF 4) SL
SIMPSONS WINTER WINGDING #5
SKULLKICKERS #3
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #219
SPIDER-MAN #8
STAN LEE TRAVELER #1
STAR WARS BLOOD TIES TALE JANGO & BOBA FETT #4 (OF 4)
TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #65
TEEN TITANS #89
TERMINATOR 1984 #3 (OF 3)
THOR MIGHTY AVENGER #6
THUNDERSTRIKE #1 (OF 5)
TRUE BLOOD #5 (OF 6)
ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS 3 #4 (OF 6)
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #150
UNCANNY X-FORCE #2
UNCANNY X-MEN #530
USAGI YOJIMBO #133 TAIKO PT 2 (OF 2)
VAMPIRELLA #1
WALKING DEAD #79
WILDCATS #29
X-MEN FOREVER 2 #12
X-MEN LEGACY #242
YO GABBA GABBA BOARD COMIC GABBA BALL
Books / Mags / Stuff
7 BILLION NEEDLES GN VOL 02
BOY COMMANDOS BY JOE SIMON AND JACK KIRBY HC
CARTOON NETWORK 2 IN 1 BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE SAT TP
CHEW TP VOL 03 JUST DESSERTS
COMPLETE ALS BABY GN (RES)
DARKNESS PITT TP VOL 01
DEADPOOL HC WADE WILSONS WAR
ELEPHANTMEN TP VOL 01 WOUNDED ANIMALS REVISED ED
EX MACHINA TP VOL 10 TERM LIMITS
FRANKLIN RICHARDS TP SON GENIUS ULT COLL GN BK 02
GUILD TP VOL 01
JANET EVANOVICH TROUBLEMAKER HC BOOK 02
JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #304
LENORE COOTIES HC COLOR ED
LUNA PARK TP
MAD SPECIAL SPY VS SPY #1
MISS DONT TOUCH ME GN VOL 02
MMW DOCTOR STRANGE TP VOL 01
NIGHTMARES & FAIRY TALES TP VOL 02 BEAUTIFUL BEASTS (O/A)
PHILIP K DICKS ELECTRIC ANT PREM HC
PREVIEWS #267 DECEMBER 2010 (NET)
ROCK N ROLL COMICS TP LED ZEPPELIN
SGT FROG GN VOL 20 (OF 20)
SIEGE TP BATTLEFIELD
SPECIAL EXITS HC
TEACH ME TOO GN (O/A) (A)
TELENY AND CAMILLE GN (A)
TERRY MOORES ECHO TP VOL 05
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN CHAMELEONS PREM HC VOL 02
WITCHBLADE REDEMPTION TP VOL 01 (DIRECT MARKET ED)
Yeah, I just had to use this image, which I shamelessly ganked from David Uzumeri's awesome annotations over at Comics Alliance to accompany our final installment of episode 17, an hour-long rope-a-dope where Graeme and myself thrash out our thoughts about The Return of Bruce Wayne #6 and Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #17. I don't think I have yet to successfully post one of these bastards the first time out for all of last week, but at some point or other, this ep. made it on to Itunes or will make it on to Itunes and you can also listen to it here...or perhaps you already have listened to it here. (Hey, it's almost like Omega Trap style time travel!)
On the one hand? Graeme and I talk about the recent news/controversy surrounding J. Michael Straczynski's departure from the Superman and Wonder Woman titles in a way I don't think anyone has yet.
On the other hand?
So...maybe it all evens out in the end. It should be up on Itunes shortly and is available for you to listen to right here:
Okay, so we tried for shorter--not that anyone explicitly told us to go short!--and this is the first of several installments that should be hitting your SavageCriticplex this week. In this installment, Graeme and I talk about Netflix Watch Instantly, Iron Man 2, and the recent footage of Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern.
Oh yes, and that guy right up there. We end up in a pretty strange place and I'd like to say that place is Sean Connery in a red diaper but it's not. No, no, Zardoz is discussed at the beginning; it gets much weirder by the end.
Solid week o' comics, under the jump!
AFTER DARK #2 (OF 3)
ANGEL #39
ARTIFACTS #3 (OF 13) CVR A ANDRASOFSZKY
ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #25
AVENGERS #7
AZRAEL #14
BATMAN #704
BATMAN INCORPORATED #1
BATMAN STREETS OF GOTHAM #17
BATMAN THE RETURN #1
BOYS HIGHLAND LADDIE #4 (OF 6)
BRIGHTEST DAY #14
CHAOS WAR CHAOS KING #1
CHAOS WAR DEAD AVENGERS #1 (OF 3)
CLINT #2
DAKEN DARK WOLVERINE #3
DARKWING DUCK #6
DC UNIVERSE LEGACIES #7 (OF 10)
DEADPOOL CORPS #8
DEADPOOLMAX #2
DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #360
ELEPHANTMEN #28
FLASH #6 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
GEORGE RR MARTINS DOORWAYS #1 (OF 4)
GHOST PROJEKT #5 (OF 5)
GREEN HORNET BLOOD TIES #2
GREEN LANTERN #59 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #54 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
HACK SLASH TRAILERS PART 2
HAUNT #11
HELLBLAZER #273
HELLBOY DOUBLE FEATURE OF EVIL ONE SHOT
HONEY WEST #2
HULK #27
IDES OF BLOOD #4 (OF 6)
JIM BUTCHER DRESDEN FILES STORM FRONT VOL 02 #4
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #51
KILL SHAKESPEARE #7 (OF 12)
KILLER MODUS VIVENDI #5 (OF 6)
LAST PHANTOM #3
LAST UNICORN #6 (OF 6)
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #7
MICE TEMPLAR SKETCHBOOK #2
MORNING GLORIES #4
MOTEL HELL #2 (OF 3)
NIGHTMASTER MONSTERS OF ROCK #1
NORTHLANDERS #34
ONE #2 (OF 5)
OSBORN #1 BIG (OF 4)
PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES #4 (OF 4)
POWER GIRL #18
RPM #1 (OF 4)
SIMPSONS COMICS #172
SIXTH GUN #6
SPIDER-GIRL #1 BIG
SPIRIT #8
STAN LEE SOLDIER ZERO #2
STAND HARDCASES #5 (OF 5)
STARGATE VALA MAL DORAN #5
SUPERGIRL #58
SUPERIOR #2 (OF 6)
SUPERMAN #705
SUPERMAN BATMAN #78
THOR FIRST THUNDER #3 (OF 5)
THUNDERBOLTS #150
TINY TITANS #34
VERTIGO RESURRECTED THE EXTREMIST #1
WARLORD OF MARS #2
WARRIORS OFFICIAL MOVIE ADAPTATION #4 (OF 5)
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BARON VON SHOCK #4
WHISPERS IN WALLS #4 (OF 6)
WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #2
WORLD OF WARCRAFT CURSE OF THE WORGEN #1 (OF 5)
X-23 #3
X-FACTOR #211
X-FILES 30 DAYS OF NIGHT #5 (OF 6)
X-MEN #5
ZATANNA #7
Books / Mags / Stuff
ALCHEMIST HC
BATMAN BRAVE AND BOLD FEARSOME FANG STRIKES TP
CASTLE WAITING HC VOL 02
CBGB TP
DAN BRERETON THE GODDESS & THE MONSTER HC
DAREDEVIL BENDIS AND MALEEV ULTIMATE COLL TP BK 03
DEADPOOL TP VOL 04 MONKEY BUSINESS
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID HC VOL 05
ESSENTIAL AVENGERS TP VOL 05 NEW ED
EX MACHINA DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 04
FABLES DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 02
FANTASTIC FOUR BY JONATHAN HICKMAN TP VOL 02
GRANDVILLE MON AMOUR HC
GREEK STREET TP VOL 02 CASSANDRA COMPLEX
GRIMMS FAIRY TALES HC VOL 01
LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME TP
LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES GREAT DARKNESS SAGA DLX HC
LITTLE MAAKIES PRAIRIE HC
LITTLEST PIRATE KING HC
MARIO ACEVADO FELIX GOMEZ CHINATOWN TROLLOP TP
MICKEY MOUSE ON QUANDOMAI ISLAND TP
PEANUT BUTTER GN VOL 04 FULL COLOR (A)
POWERS TP VOL 13 Z
REALM OF KINGS TP
RETURN O/T DAPPER MEN HC
ROCKETEER COMPLETE COLLECTION DLX ED HC VOL 01 (O/A)
SAVAGE SWORD OF KULL TP VOL 01
SHAZAM GOLDEN AGE OF WORLDS MIGHTEST MORTAL HC
SHOCKROCKETS HC
SHOWCASE PRESENTS GREEN LANTERN TP VOL 01 NEW PTG
SIEGE TP X-MEN
STAR WARS DARK TIMES TP VOL 04 BLUE HARVEST
TOMARTS ACTION FIGURE DIGEST #193
WALKING DEAD TP VOL 13 TOO FAR GONE (NOT FOR SALE UNTIL TUE 11/23!)
WHAT I DID HC
CAUTIONARY NOTE: First of all, for those of you reading this on the 11th of November, Happy Veteran's Day, and thanks to our nation's veterans for the sacrifices they've made. This essay... wasn't written with Veteran's Day in mind-- it just happened that I got this done this evening. It's not really ABOUT the sacrifices veterans have made but World War II does come up in a fashion, so... If you're especially sensitive about veteran's issues today, you know-- put this one away for a day, and come back to it later. I apologize at the outset if anyone who's served finds this in bad taste. But enjoy your day and sincerely, we all thank you again for your service.
Okay. So.
MOVING PICTURES by Kathryn & Stuart Immonen was published by Top Shelf earlier this year and has been nagging at me since I read it back when. That book is a starting point for, you know, some chit-chat which you can find under the jump.
*1: The "Review"*
Initially released as a webcomic, MOVING PICTURES is a slim novel about a Canadian woman in Nazi occupied Paris, being interrogated by a Nazi officer with whom she is having a sexual relationship in order to survive. The interrogation, in part, touches upon the true story of efforts to hide significant art from the Nazis, who intended to loot Paris of its artistic treasures. The story is about gradually understanding the motivations of this woman and her struggle to remain emotionally alive in the midst of this historic turbulence. The characters are depicted with hard angular lines, anything soft about them having been scraped away by historical events, leaving dot eyes, ruler-straight noses; bleak backgrounds are frequently rendered in silhouette, a Paris so drained of life that all artistic detail has been stripped away.
It's a pleasant enough book, if you haven't read it. I don't know if I'd go much beyond pleasant. It's a classy book, is what it is, classy enough to like, but maybe too classy to actually love...? It's more character study, than drama, more focused on Betrayal and People Using One Another, than in explaining any details of the war or the occupation-- it may be the case that I just tend to be more interested in the latter. Also, by design, the frigid main character doesn't make it easy for the reader to make a real emotional connection with the material-- though I will say that it was a much more interesting book after a re-read, once I'd understood the character's motivations, if that helps, if you're the sort of reader inclined to re-read.
An argument could be made, though, that its "classiness" betrays the subject matter. Other than heavy blacks on a few of the drawings, the occupied Paris depicted in MOVING PICTURES ... It doesn't seem an especially rough place to live. The main character references a missing man-- "Things just seem to dissappear. Even the man I used to buy bread from every morning. Just gone."-- but... That's it? I suppose I always imagined the Holocaust being a terrible experience for more reasons other than it making it difficult to obtain a decent quantity of gluten in my diet. Shit: I need to cut down on my carbs. I'm trying to diet. Fewer carbs? Sign me up for Nazi Occupied Paris. As long as there are almonds. I'm on the Miss Eating Shitty Food and Pretend To Not Miss It by Eating Almonds like a Goddamned Nitwit diet. It's fantastic. Loving life.
Who knows, though? There was a famous, somewhat controversial photography exhibit a few years ago of the good times the French had in occupied France-- women in bikinis, shopping customers, crowded nightclubs. I doubt that's any more "true" than any relentlessly bleak portrayal either, but...
For those more interested in the visceral pleasures of genre, there's not much here to derange the senses. With the story being presented in a stripped down cinematic style (i.e.all anyone is doing right now!!!), the book occasionally does resemble a movie you'd stumble across on TCM-- but the TCM version would have had some rewarding thrill to it somewhere. Did you ever see GREEN FOR DANGER? It's a British thriller set during the V-1 bombing attack on Britain, made in 1946-- pretty much with the war still as a fresh wound, and yet that movie had comedy, mystery, romance, this terrific jump scare. I don't know. There's a sort of Romantacizing of Tragedy that the privileged sometimes indulge in, the relentless bleak depiction of poverty being a classic example-- "We were too poor to purchase senses of humor." That can be kind of its own dishonest flattery of the upper class audiences that tend to patronize that sort of entertainment, maybe. Maybe.
All that being said, MOVING PICTURES is still an entirely pleasant book-- a sincere effort at adult work by comic creators usually working on much less interesting mainstream books. I enjoyed how the book doles out information, bit by bit, how story information unravels as the main character's composure unravels. And it's slim enough that it does manage to maintain some suspense for its entire duration. I actually think it's a book that will end up being kind of a reference point for me in the future in a very unhealthy way, for arguments about webcomic release formats, or "Why can't other mainstream creators work in a book like MOVING PICTURES every couple years, in the middle of their non-stop onslaughts of mediocrity?" That sort of thing. Gasoline for arguments I shouldn't be making, but will anyways on account of being an ass. Merry Christmas to me.
*2: War-- What Is It Good For?*
But gosh: World War II. You know? World War II and comic books.
As early as 1941, Captain America is punching out Hitler...
The Joe Kubert collection-- "The Unknown Soldier is not dead-- He is one of us!"
Jack Kirby and Sgt. Fury; Kirby and the Losers. Wikipedia: "Kirby recalled that a lieutenant, learning that comics artist Kirby was in his command, made him a scout who would advance into towns and draw reconnaissance maps and pictures." Jack Kirby comics killed fascists.
Into the 60's-- Warren's BLAZING COMBAT, say. And on and on from there.
Factor all of that in, and then reconsider MOVING PICTURES, a serious character drama... but one set during a war that's been turned into a cartoon.
Just think about Hitler. Hitler went from being one of history's all-time crappiest guys to, per Godwin's Law, a Bogeyman of Conversations on the Internet. "Hitler basically murdered the entire gypsy population of Eastern Europe, plus also, he's a good sign that the Television Without Pity thread for the latest episode of BLEEP MY DAD SAYS is headed South...?" STRIKE TWO, HITLER!
I've killed roughly 5.2 zillion videogame Nazis over the years. I've seen Nazis stabbed with knives and flags, exploded by grenades, rockets, and mortars, shot by pistols, machine guns, and tanks, melted by Arks of the Covenant. I've watched Jim Brown pour gasoline and grenades onto Nazis while Telly Savalas butchered Nazi hookers. If you include Illinois Nazis, I've also seen Nazis get into some pretty damn hilarious car accidents.
How much of my reaction to MOVING PICTURES was tainted by that? Can I still have a reasonable reaction to a serious drama with Nazis in it? Can I take those characters as characters, instead of just signifiers of Ultimate Evil?
Dress someone up in one of those fancy-schmancy costumes and can you want anything for them but death?
There's a quote in that Greil Marcus book LIPSTICK TRACES, if you want to go there-- a quote from Michael Ventura:
"Entertainment isn't a suspension of belief, but a suspension of values. It may even be said that this is the meaning of 'entertainment' as it is practiced among us: the relief of suspending values with which we are tired of living and frightened of living without."
It's a little disconcerting, the World War II thrill-power, if you stop to think that people actually died or whatever. But that particular war, particularly World War II, is just so effective as this guilt-free playground for our own fantasies of violence. Regular fantasies of violence aren't really a relief, or at least we would normatively say that they shouldn't be. But violence against the Nazis? That does seem somehow more legitimate. Who's rooting for Nazis to live? Oh, there may be some that would say, "Well, dehumanizing anybody tends to be bad news, and that's sort of one of the big lessons you really should try to take away from that particular conflict." But I think mainstream thought is quite justifiably closer to: Fuck Nazis. I think that's honestly where I come out. Consider the words of Albert Einstein: "I loathe all armies and any kind of violence; yet I'm firmly convinced that at present these hateful weapons offer the only effective protection." Or Mike Tyson: "I want to kill people. I want to rip their stomachs out and eat their children."
I don't know, though. Does it interfere with your ability to appreciate what war actually is? Compare our entertainment that concerns WWII to entertainment that concerns the prequel, WWI. Think for a second about Jacques Tardi's IT WAS THE WAR OF THE TRENCHES. Now, let's note from the outset what an unfair comparison this is-- IT WAS THE WAR OF THE TRENCHES is a long-recognized masterpiece, just this year translated and released in Fantagraphics lavish hardcover Tardi line. And it lives up to the hype-- even setting aside it's strengths as a story, man, the mud in that book: Has mud ever looked quite so muddy in comics? But setting all that aside, any sort of qualitative judgments, the presentation of war in TRENCHES is unmistakable: Tardi's World War I is an indefensible crime, a cruel waste, the worst insanity of man regardless of which side of the conflict you were born on.
How do you wrap your arms around that? War is war is war, but one remains horrifying while the other is the setting for HOGAN'S HEROES. How did that happen, exactly?
If WWI were The War to End All Wars, is World War II the War That Guarantees War for the Rest of Human Life? Maybe more than any other, that was the war with BAD GUYS, which ... This being Veteran's Day, let's not get too political, so... That's maybe not always the case. And so, games, movies, comics-- sure, of course, we want to never forget the sacrifices that were made, but... At least one way of looking at any depiction of World War II in those media is that they're arguably inherently good news for those interested in persuading future generations to risk life and limb for causes where it's much, much harder to understand the right and wrong, and where the causes advanced may not be quite as worthy of the great sacrifice which is being asked.
*3: The Creepy Part*
But MOVING PICTURES is not a violent comic-- there's not a drop of violence in the piece to be seen. So "World War II as playground for violence fantasies"-- you might argue maybe that discussion isn't germane to MOVING PICTURES. Okay, fine. But if not violence, is there some other fantasy whose existence we might want to note in connection with this book?
Well.
The main character is a graceful woman with earnest goals forced into a sexual relationship with a Nazi.
So...
I mean-- look, I don't invent other people's fetishes, but... That kind-of is one for people out there. And Nazi sex fantasies do kind-of seem to have a place in pop culture. I didn't see it, but that Kate Winslet Nazi-Titty movie THE READER, that was nominated for an Oscar, what, two-three years ago? Was that good? I didn't see it but I saw that movie PRIVATE LESSONS once, which sounded similar, and hell, PRIVATE LESSONS was bad enough WITHOUT throwing the Holocaust in there, anywhere so....
Of course, for the more exploitative-minded, there are the nazi sexploitation epics, the Il Sadiconazista movies, which...
There was SALON KITTY, also known as MADAME KITTY: "Tinto Brass' opulent epic film about a Nazi commander who overtakes the famous Salon Kitty brothel and packs it with new girls of good Aryan stock and impeccable National Socialist credentials. Their mission is to spy on their military officer clients and report back to their controllers about anyone who seems to be wavering from the Party line. The pubic-hair eating mutant from SS HELL CAMP also makes a surprise appearance in this film. [...] This was the second most successful of the Nazi Sexploitation films."
Or there's FRAULEINS IN UNIFORM, also conveniently known under the title FRAULEIN WITHOUT A UNIFORM, for audiences unappreciative of any subtlety in the titling of their Nazi smut: "Swiss master of erotica, Erwin C. Deitrich presented this exploiter ... about women being recruited for "special assignment" by the Gestapo. ... [This] one goes light on the violence, but delivers plenty of naked chicks running around in battlefields as live shells explode around them. This bizarre flick is more offensive than other genre entries because the happy young recruits don't really get punished, and the Nazis aren't portrayed as bad guys! They just love sex and their Fuhrer!"
For more literate audiences, Taschen released a book of covers for post-war men's adventure fiction, MEN'S ADVENTURE MAGAZINES-- men's pulps mostly from the 50's and 60's. Here are just a small selection of the cover-blurbs from the magazines featured:
"HELPLESS MAIDENS OF THE NAZIS' TIMELESS CASTLES OF MADNESS AND HORROR"
"TORTURED BEAUTIES OF HITLER'S PRINCE OF PAIN"
"HELPLESS VIRGINS IN THE NAZIS' HARNESS OF TERROR"
"A CRYPT IN HELL FOR HITLER'S PASSION SLAVES"
"I DISCOVERED HITLER'S SECRET SIN GIRL CASTLE"
"SOFT NUDES FOR HITLER'S DOCTOR HORROR"
"STRIPPED VIRGINS FOR THE NAZIS' TORCH OF TORMENT"
"TORTURED BEAUTIES FOR THE NAZI BLOOD CULT"
"SOFT BODIES FOR THE NAZIS' HALL OF THE LIVING DEAD"
"FETTERED NUDES FOR THE MONSTER'S COLLAR OF AGONY"
"DAMNED BEAUTIES FOR THE NAZI HORROR MUSEUM"
"SOFT FLESH FOR THE NAZIS' FANGED DOOM"
"HITLER'S HIDEOUS HAREM OF AGONY"
"THE TEENAGE NAZI SHE-WOLVES OF BERLIN"
"YVONNE'S ORDEAL UNDER THE S.S. FLESH"
"THE BELGIAN BEAUTIES IN THE NAZI MAD DOG PIT OF TERROR"
"HOW THE NAZIS FED TANYA SEX DRUGS"
Those are only from a couple pages of this book, which is hundreds of pages long. Who was reading these stories? The book suggests Ex-GIs, which is difficult to fathom. But if not them, who-- their kids? "What was it like for dad in the war? I know-- I'll read I DISCOVERED HITLER'S SECRET SIN GIRL CASTLE, and find out. BEVERLY HILLS 90210 was right about you, library card!"
Oh, and of course, more recently, there was reality television star Jesse James, and the hysteria that ensued concerning (apparently false) rumors that he had, among his various well-publicized extra-curricular activities, made a dozen sex tapes with a "Nazi theme." Which sort of rhymes in a George Lucas kind of way with HOGAN'S HEROES star Bob Crane and his whole AUTOFOCUS party thing, those sex parties he filmed. There was a time in this country when being the funniest guy in a concentration camp on television was a one-way ticket to Skank City. That's just historical fact.
Personally, I suppose that I don't really get that connection, between Nazis and sex. Who looks at an S.S. uniform and thinks, "Oh that reminds me... OF MY DICK"--? Or I guess the more pertinent question it raises: are there people fucking in Franco-Prussian War uniforms? Why World War II and not any of the other conflicts in recorded history? Vietnam, say: Have you ever heard of pasty GOP dudes dressing up like Viet Cong? Why have I never heard of Man in Black Pajamas erotic Republican cosplay parties?
But I guess it's just the usual character failing on my part. I always want an explanation for other people's fetishes, even when the only explanation for my own weird shit is WHY WOULDN'T YOU LIKE THAT?? "Girl, dressed up like Huckleberry Hound, rolling around in spaghetti-- she knees me in the groin, cue me touching myself in a gentle but erotically insistent way. Who wouldn't be super into that? It's self-explanatory And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free, and I'd gladly STAND UP--" Oh, Lee Greenwood-- you understand that boners are truly organs of mystery as much as organs of romance. Only you and Angela Lansbury walk between those two worlds.
*4: The Grand Finale!*
A final thing, perhaps worth noting... again, at some risk-- welcome to my all flop sweat essay!... is how MOVING PICTURES feels sort of timely for geeks at the moment. There is an aspect to MOVING PICTURES which is that... How much of the horror in MOVING PICTURES is the horror of woman forced to put up with sexual interest from a man she is not interested in? As mentioned above, the horror of that situation is expressed in MOVING PICTURES perhaps to a greater degree even than the horror of being in Nazi-occupied Paris. It's as palpable if not moreso a presence than the Holocaust.
And that horror feels sort of right now, sort of this year.
In comics, there was a recent flap where a webcomic creator politely expressed a distaste for creepy dudes telling her they wanted to put their creep-babies inside of her after one of her comics is released. That itself echoed an earlier controversy this year in the videogame space, triggered by early reactions to the HEY BABY videogame, a third-person shooter that allowed women to murder men who cat-called to them on the street. In each case the reaction of a particular sort of gentleman has been angrily flipping out so hard that multiple comment sections discussing the topics have had to be closed.
It's a very peculiar, kind of sad anger-- I guess because it always seems so wildly disproportionate to what actually is being said. But it's also a very specific anger, and one I do have some sympathy to, one I'd suggest we're all probably equally susceptible to. That anger the world is somehow lying by not conforming to our personal truth...? The anger when our fantasies of reality are shown to be untrue bullshit. Whether it's a false understanding of reality based upon male privilege, or based upon some other fantasy-- Captain America punching Hitler, romantic love doomed by Nazi lust, that one about the pubic-hair eating monster (???), I suppose it is angering. Sure, it is. What an awful thing it is to wake up in a world where women identify you as a creep, Hitler went tragically un-punched, and where our great romantic loves as often as not reveal themselves to be ... uh, pubic-hair eating monsters (???). And maybe that same anger lies, at least in some small part, at the root of any of the great conflicts worth talking about, whether wars between nations, class wars, wars of the sexes, or wars on carbs, all the endless wars that will always be fought and will never be won.
Six books from last week which I have something to say about (though, maybe nothing interesting!), below the jump!
BATMAN AND ROBIN #16: Say what you want about Morrison's Batman (some find it confusing), but he's pulled a very neat trick here at the end in adding to the character, expanding the possibilities of the franchise, and doing so in a way that doesn't invalidate anything before or (hopefully) after. I'm not sure that I can think of another run of a superhero book that so radically reinvents the premise of a character while zeroing-in on the core of the character so successfully. Well, no, maybe I can: Morrison's own DOOM PATROL run, maybe, or Moore's SWAMP THING (though that really isn't superhero, per se) -- I probably wouldn't put Morrison's ANIMAL MAN in that category though, because that was more about the meta, then Buddy Baker himself, per se. Either way, that little bombshell at the end of #16, which, presumably will be much expanded upon in the upcoming BATMAN, INC., is potentially a pretty big sea change for the Batman Mythos, and can, I suspect help keep the character relevant for a really long time.
The bigger question is how writers who don't have the initials "G.M." will fare with the concept. One thing that seems to happen with these kind of "sea changes" of the quo is that really only the originator knows just what do with it -- witness, say, post-Moore SWAMP THING. Veitch's run was terrific (but he was a Moore collaborator before that), but after that? No one whatsoever had a clue as to what to do with the "Earth Elemental" concept, and the grafting of the broader idea upon characters like Firestorm and Red Tornado turned out to have no legs whatsoever.
The difference, perhaps, in this case might lay in the "it's ALL true" framework Morrison has been constructing -- this move lets there be multiple versions and styles of Batman (I like Dick's "laughing Batman", personally), but if they each get as dull as the "average" Bruce-is story has been over the years, it isn't going to help very much.
Either way, this direction is fairly genius, and gives me more hope for the future of the character than anything, really, ever. EXCELLENT stuff.
DOOM PATROL #16: I think it might be worth noting that Keith Giffen actually illustrated this issue (is he the new ongoing penciller?), and that's just terrific. I'd pretty much forgotten how much I love his art. The story, with something or other about alternate universe versions of the DP wasn't anything special, but at least it was a pretty and compelling nothing special. I do want to note that I'm not so sure that the idea of writing out the Chief, after he'd just be written back in, was anything better than a meandering diversion (See? Kind of the Morrison problem, again), but I think this issue is well worth seeking out -- VERY GOOD.
GENERATION HOPE #1: Meh, I guess I get the desire to create the next new generation of X, but it strikes me that this worked much better as a background thread than as a premise for its own book. Plus, WTF was up with the completely blatant AKIRA rip-off? That made me want to never read this book again... EH.
SCARLET #3: the first two issues were fairly morally questionable (which is fine, seriously), but this one takes a sharp hard turn that veers closely into "repugnant". The measure of craft on display here means that I still liked it, but I'm questioning, in my own head, if this can go anywhere that I want to follow. Questioning is good, sometimes, though -- a solidly GOOD comic.
STRANGE TALES 2 #2: My first thought: if it didn't get in the way of his doing his "real" work, I'd be way way down with a monthly Marvel comic by the Hernandez brothers. I loved each and every inch of both Jaime and Gilbert's stories.
My second thought: WTF was up with that "Ghost Badge" story? I literally couldn't figure out why it was being published in this anthology, or what it had to do with Marvel comics. The fact it wasn't very good didn't help matters.
My third thought: isn't it really really deeply weird that "Alternative" cartoonists do a better job presenting a pretty much "all ages" Marvel comic than the "real" Marvel creators do?
Either way: this is some fine comics -- except for the Ghost Badge story, which drags the whole thing down to a mere VERY GOOD.
SUPERBOY #1: I don't know that I need or want a "Superboy" comic, but if we're going to have one, this would seem to be the way to do it -- Smallville-based, pretty fun, relatively teen-angsty. I thought this was a GOOD solid start.
So, now we're past the halfway point of BRIGHTEST DAY (#13 came out last week, and it's a 27 issue series, I think - That'll be the 26 announced issues, plus the #0 launch), and I feel like I'm less sure about what the series is actually about than I was three months ago.
Okay, that's not exactly true; it's become clearer, over the last few issues, that the series is on some meta level, about rebuilding each of the leads as a viable character to be spun off after the series ends - Firestorm and Aquaman in particular, I think, have had scenes where a character almost says "So this is your new status quo, now," and Hawkman and the Martian Manhunter are both in the middle of storylines clearly designed to give them more urgency and, potentially, new arch-villains - but as fun as that is, it doesn't necessarily help Brightest Day feel any more coherent. With the recent change in pacing - characters now disappear for issues at a time, letting those remaining have more space for their stories to advance, something that I think is working out better than the initial "everyone is in every issue" approach - the series is starting to feel more and more like multiple different series pushed together without a throughline to connect them all.
Part of that, perhaps, is that the throughline - What, most likely, is the Brightest Day storyline when all is said and done - has been pushed out by all the other bells and whistles (J'Onn isn't the last green martian alive! Aquaman's wife was originally out to kill him and by the way, the new Aqualad is Black Manta's son! Firestorm has somehow vomited out Deathstorm, the hopefully sarcastically-named Black Lantern Firestorm, who's recreated all the Black Lanterns! Hawkman is, oh holy crap, I'm not even sure I understand anymore or care!). What I loved so much about the series' quarter-way mark, was that Geoff Johns and Pete Tomasi seemed to explain why the characters had come back to life and give the series a point... and then the following six issues have pretty much backed away from that, with the exception of the barely-there (and pretty wasted) Deadman arc that gets a couple of pages every couple of issues.
Don't get me wrong, I'm actually enjoying the series for the most part - Hawkman storyline aside, and Firestorm is beginning to lose me, too - but the further we get into the run, the more and more it feels like things are beginning to slip out of control in terms of the writing, and the more I begin to worry that the end of the series will either be rushed, completely unsatisfying, or less of an end than a "To Be Continued In All of These Awesome New Series." For now, though, Brightest Day gets an uneven Good.
Hey, everyone. Jeff here, and I bring with me a new episode of Wait, What?
Our schedule got a bit off-track, what with my time in New York and all, but we should (fingers crossed) be getting back into the rhythm of more episodes (and maybe slightly shorter ones? This one is a horse-choking 87 minutes, as it turns out) shortly. We hope.
But for now, sit back and listen to the masterly Graeme McMillan and myself talk Judge Dredd, Tucker Stone, and--at almost terrifying length--Matt Fraction. You should be able to cop it on iTunes, or listen to it here:
About the same number of comics as last week...
(and below the jump)
2000 AD PACK OCT 2010
ALL NEW BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #648 BIG
AMERICAN VAMPIRE #8
ANGEL ILLYRIA #1 (OF 4)
ANGELUS #6 (OF 6)
ANT-MAN & WASP #1 (OF 3)
ARCHIE & FRIENDS #149
ASSASSINS CREED THE FALL #1 (OF 3)
ATOMIC ROBO DEADLY ART OF SCIENCE #1 (OF 5)
AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE #3 (OF 9)
AVENGERS EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES #1 (OF 4)
AVENGERS PRIME #4 (OF 5)
B & V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #209
BATGIRL #15
BATMAN RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #6 (OF 6)
BIRDS OF PREY #6
BOOSTER GOLD #38
BPRD HELL ON EARTH NEW WORLD #4 (OF 5)
CHAOS WAR THOR #1 (OF 2)
CHEW #15
CHRONICLES OF WORMWOOD LAST BATTLE #5 (OF 6) (RES)
COMIC BOOK GUY THE COMIC BOOK #5 (OF 5)
CONSTANTINE HELLBLAZER CITY OF DEMONS #3 (OF 5)
COWBOY NINJA VIKING #10
DEAN KOONTZ FRANKENSTEIN PRODIGAL SON VOL 2 #2
DOC SAVAGE #8
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS #1
FORGETLESS TP
GLAMOURPUSS #16
GREEN LANTERN EMERALD WARRIORS #4 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
HALCYON #1
I AM AN AVENGER #3 (OF 5)
INCREDIBLE HULKS #616
INVADERS NOW #3 (OF 5)
JURASSIC PARK REDEMPTION #5
JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST #13 (BRIGHTEST DAY)
KATO ORIGINS WAY O/T NINJA #5
KEVIN SMITH GREEN HORNET #9
KNIGHT & SQUIRE #2 (OF 6)
KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #168
LUCID #2 (OF 4)
MIGHTY CRUSADERS #5 (OF 6)
MUPPET SHERLOCK HOLMES #3 (OF 4)
NANCY IN HELL #4 (OF 4)
NEW AVENGERS #6
NEW MUTANTS FOREVER #4 (OF 5)
REBELS #22
RED ROBIN #17
ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #6
SHADOWLAND DAUGHTERS OF SHADOW #3 (OF 3) SL
SHE-HULKS #1 (OF 4)
SONIC UNIVERSE #22
SPIKE #2 (OF 8)
STAR TREK KHAN RULING IN HELL #2 (OF 4)
STAR WARS KNIGHT ERRANT AFLAME #2 (OF 5)
SUPER HERO SQUAD #11
SUPER HEROES #8
THANOS IMPERATIVE #6 (OF 6)
THOR #617
THOR FOR ASGARD #4 (OF 6)
THUNDER AGENTS #1
TINY TITANS LITTLE ARCHIE #2 (OF 3)
TITANS #29
TOY STORY TALES FROM TOY CHEST #2
ULTIMATE COMICS THOR #2 (OF 4)
UNCLE SCROOGE #397
UNWRITTEN #19
VICTORIAN UNDEAD II HOLMES VS DRACULA #1 (OF 5)
WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY ONE FOOT GRAVE #5 (OF 6)
WITCHBLADE #139
X-MEN FOREVER 2 #11
Books / Mags / Staff
ARCHIE AMERICANA SER TP VOL 11 BEST OF 80S BOOK 2
ARCHIE FIRSTS HC VOL 01
AWAKENING HC VOL 02
BACK ISSUE #45
CALL OF THE WILD CAMPFIRE GN
CAPTAIN AMERICA BLOODSTONE HUNT TP NEW PTG
CAPTAIN AMERICA TWO AMERICAS TP
CLASSICS ILLUS HC VOL 11 DEVIL DICTIONARY
DARKWING DUCK TP VOL 01 DUCK KNIGHT RETURNS
ELMER GN
EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF ADELE BLANC SEC HC VOL 01
GI JOE HEARTS AND MINDS HC VOL 01
GRANT MORRISON 18 DAYS
GRAVEL TP VOL 03 LAST KING OF ENGLAND
GREEN LANTERN CORPS EMERALD ECLIPSE TP
HATTER M HC VOL 01 FAR FROM WONDER (NEW PRINTING)
HATTER M TP VOL 03 THE NATURE OF WONDER
HEWLIGANS HAIRCUT GN S&S ED
JLA CLASSIFIED CLASSIC SER 3 ONE THIRD INNER CASE (NET)
JLA DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 04
JUXTAPOZ VOL 17 #11 NOV 2010
LIKE THAT GN
LOUIS NIGHT SALAD HC
MAGE HC VOL 01 THE HERO DISCOVERED (NEW PTG)
MICE TEMPLAR TP VOL 02 .2 DESTINY PT 2
MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT 12 ESSAYS ON WATCHMEN SC
MOUSE GUARD LEGENDS O/T GUARD HC
NORTH 40 TP
R CRUMB HEROES O/T BLUES TC SET
RED MASS FOR MARS TP VOL 01
SIEGE TP EMBEDDED
SIN CITY NEW MILLER CVR TP VOL 04 THAT YELLOW BASTARD
SIN CITY NEW MILLER CVR TP VOL 05 FAMILY VALUES
SLAINE WARRIORS DAWN GN S&S ED
SMURFS GN VOL 03 SMURF KING
SUPERMAN VS MUHAMMAD ALI DELUXE HC
SUPERMAN VS MUHAMMAD ALI FACSIMILE EDITION HC
THOR SIEGE AFTERMATH TP
TOYFARE #161
TOYS I/T BASEMENT HC
TRON BETRAYAL GN
TWO GENERALS GN
ULTIMATUM HC MADUREIRA CVR
UNKNOWN SOLDIER TP VOL 03 DRY SEASON
VAMPIRE BOY TP
VAMPIRELLA MASTERS SERIES TP VOL 01 GRANT MORRISON SC
Yes, Graeme went on a cleanse and we talked about it at the start of the podcast. And left it in. And decided to warn you about it. You're welcome.
