nu52 - wk 3: Girls, Girls, Girls!

Mm-hm I'm sure you've already read Laura Hudson's piece, because I'm hardly the first person to link to it, but just in case.... go read it.

BIRDS OF PREY #1: Hrm. Well, it didn't totally suck, to be certain, but I also didn't feel it at all. There's a lot of talking about stuff, but little of it made a ton of sense to me. Canary's wanted for murder? Who is this Starling girl? Why is Poison Ivy on the cover of this comic? Isn't BC still a JLer? Or not? Was she ever even seeing Ollie Queen, ever? If not, then what was her original motivation for joining BoP, then? Why did Barbara hand BC a photo of Katana? No, seriously, why didn't she email it? For that matter, why isn't she over the moon interested in joining BC's team?

This was like stepping into a theater 20 minutes after a movie began, then having to leave 40 minutes before it ended. And I don't think I care enough to figure it all out. EH.

CATWOMAN #1: Hrm.

OK, well, let's deal with the sex thing first: I don't care if Bruce and Selina have sex... and I generally expect that they do quite often. I don't really need to see it, though, and if I do, I really don't need to see it in all of it's stroky, frotagey, half-costumed glory.

My functional problem with this is that not only are ratings CLEARLY being applied inconsistently cross-line, but they are in no way clearly labeled on the outside of the book, either. You look at the cover of Catwoman #1 and can you immediately discern that, maybe, 8-point type "+" symbol? Now pretend you haven't read a comic book in years, would you even know to look for it?

But here you go: would DC editorial EVER let the reverse of that scene happen in a comic book featuring Batman's name on the cover? Especially in the first issue of a major repositioning? And since that answer is almost certainly "no", this automatically becomes an inappropriate scene.

Honestly, these characters are children's characters, and the fact that we, as mature adults can find enjoyable things about them, it really kind of bugs me how much we making adults-only things that should be accessible to children. More of that a bit later, me thinketh.

Now, having said all of THAT, otherwise I kind of LOVED this comic book -- because I thought the places where it was being sexy (instead of sexual) were just terrific. Recasting Selina as almost a James Bond scenario worked very well, and Guillem March's artwork? Damn, it's nice. Sleek, sensual, dynamic, wow, brother can draw. If it wasn't for nearly the descent into FanFic right there on the last few pages, I'd probably be saying this comic was GOOD. Possibly even VERY GOOD.  But FanFic it became there at the end, and that's just not right for Batman of all characters, and it makes me say instead the whole thing became AWFUL.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1:  So, take all of that dialogue read by Starfire in this, and picture it coming from the mouth of this:

Mm.

TINY TITANS comes out the same week as RED HOOD, ironically.

Starfire is not, I don't think, so robust a character as to be able to hang on to two such disparate versions at the same time.

More generally, the rebooting done for Kori here is kind of insane -- she doesn't remember her time on the titans at all? WTF? This Roy Harper is not the robot-armed dead-cat swinger with a mass-murdering terrorist for a babymama? I'm assuming he can't be Ollie Queen's ward any longer, since Ollie appears to be dramatically re-aged. This Red Hood? Who is he? I mean, yes "Jason Todd", but not one we know, since he seems to have all of these connections to some mysterious society of some kind? This is why you need to have origin stories, damn it!

I think that what the JSA was to DC after CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS ("Well, we have one world now, but that makes these guys WAY TOO OLD to fight crime now, plus Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman  [among many others touched by JSA] can't have ever been involved in the past, oh my god none of our continuity can make sense any more!") is what the Teen Titans are to post-FLASHPOINT DC continuity. You simply can't have multiple groups  of kid sidekick teams if you're trying to de-age everyone... but those characters are also fairly popular, so they're trying to keep the viable somehow... it's a real knot of a problem, and it's really on display here.

I loathed the continuity changes on display here, and don't find them in service of creating more appealing characters or more interesting situations. The "hey my head looks like a penis" jokes were amusing, I guess, but other than that, nothing here that I'd want to read. Sadly AWFUL.

SUPERGIRL #1: This one is an origin, at least, but frustratingly decompressed, so that really "she lands and beats on some guys in robot suits" is really the sum of your $3 purchase. Not poorly done, but less than I wanted for my ducats. EH.

WONDER WOMAN #1: Right, so I have a fellow member of Ben's school PTA who got sucked into the DC relaunch, probably because he's on the PTA with me, y'know? Long-ago lapsed reader (like from when he was a teenager), and today he's a tech geek with disposable income, kind of the perfect demographic they're aiming at. Anyway, he's been excited for weeks for Wonder Woman #1, because he was really really looking forward to sharing it with his eight year old daughter.

So, it really kind of killed me when I had to inform him that, in no way, could WW even slightly be considered appropriate for his daughter. Not with graphic on-camera beheading of a horse, where a new creature claws it's way out of the horse's fountaining neck.

Just what girls like!

The thing is? That scene, IMO, could have happened exactly as written, yet been drawn in such a way that it didn't immediately make itself inaccessible to the nation's 8 year olds.

You may certainly call me an old grandmother, but I firmly am of the opinion that monthly ongoing comics featuring Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman should be freely no-hesitation accessible by imagery for eight year olds and younger. That doesn't mean the stories have to be WRITTEN FOR an eight year old -- few of the comics *I* was reading in 1975 were -- but a kid should be able to LOOK at them without having nightmares (well...), or offending their parents.

Having said that, I really loved WW #1 -- great strong script from Brian Azzarello, loverly art by Cliff Chiang, and what appears to be an interesting contemporary direction. As a comic for ME? An easy VERY GOOD.

But I'd like my PTA cohort's daughter, and, hell, everyone's daughter, also be able to look at the comic too. That isn't too much to ask, is it?

As always, what do YOU think?

-B

nu52 - wk 3: Three that pleasently surprised me

Remember what I said last week about sometimes the most interesting stuff in the DCU was sitting at the fringes? Yeah, that.

BLUE BEETLE #1: as far as I am concerned, this is the first "proper" first issue of the entire bunch released so far. It's an origin story. It clearly sets up the protagonist and who he is and what he wants, as well as doing so for at least one antagonist (the suit, itself), AND an entire supporting cast! It made me want to see more when I got to the last page. Yeah, yeah, this was EXCELLENT and exactly what every one of these 52 should have been like: a complete "you've never seen this before" reboot that establishes the character completely on their own -- neither of the two prior versions appear to have "ever happened". That's clear, that's understandable, completely straight forward, and pretty fun. My one quibble is the constant switching between spanish and english -- it doesn't really work on the page for me. But, yeah, really a perfect first issue of a superhero comic. A pleasant surprise for Tony Bedard, a write who has not made me enthusiastic in the past.

CAPTAIN ATOM #1: Basically it is more DOCTOR MANHATTAN: THE COMIC BOOK (which is really kind of funny, considering), but yeah I liked this just fine, too. There's no origin here, we're eight months into his career here, if I'm reading that clock thing correctly, and I'm still not entirely sure the who and the what of everything -- there's the Doctor Megala from the Cary Bates run, but there isn't any General Eiling that I noticed, is he "Captain Adam", then? Or is it something else entirely? I couldn't quite get why the clock did what it did (it wasn't always forward counting), and I don't necessarily feel for the protagonist yet, but yeah it was different in tone and mood and style than anything else in the 52 so far. There was also an intermittent effect (that I'm not 100% sure was intentional?) from Freddie Williams II, where CA himself is the only thing at times that looks "solid" while all the normal people have kind of hazy outlines. If it WAS intentional, then good job and nice counterpoint, but maybe make it a little more explicit. I want to rate this stronger than just GOOD, but I can't quite make the leap to add the "very", but either way I thought it worth a sample, at least.

DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #1: Or what it should really be called: DEADMAN #1. This is only on for six or something? Well, I'm there for this run. It's an interesting piece -- it goes straight back to the original story, but leaves nicely ambiguous what might or might not have happened in the meantime. My reading of the story says probably BRIGHTEST DAY didn't occur for this character, and he's certainly not dating Dove. We've talked before about how, in some ways, these books are a series of of cheap R&D "and here's how this can be a TV show", and DEADMAN scores wonderfully on that front, going straight for a "Quantum Leap meets Medium" (Maybe? I've never seen the latter?) high concept that is wonderfully additive to any story that came before, yet while honoring them as possible any way. Excellent excellent job of threading that particular needle, Paul Jenkins! This was a VERY GOOD comic, I thought.

That's me... what did YOU think?

-B

Wait, What? Ep. 57.2: Playing the Dozens

Behind the non-Clowesian eightball again, so this will have to be short and sweet.

First? Graeme and I love you all. Awwww. (See? Sweet.)

Second, the above illustration is from Uncanny X-Force #15, by the astonishingly great Jerome Opena. (I think the whole book is pretty great, because Remender is doing his best to crank things up to 11, but ooo mama that art....)

Third, this installment is approximately eighty minutes long and we talk about a dozen-plus books, including Batwoman #1, Mr. Terrific #1, Legion Lost #1, Superboy #1, Uncanny X-Force #15, PunisherMAX #17, Criminal: Last of the Innocent #4, Journey Into Mystery #627, Drifting Classroom, Bakuman, and, as you'd probably expect, Fear Itself #6.

Fourth, I think our review of Fear Itself is relatively non-skeevy or stalkery, although a bit outraged. (Not as much as perhaps it should be, maybe).

Fifth, my Wordpress interface is really slow and a bit screwy--especially when it comes to backspacing which is something sloppy typist does A LOT--and so I apologize if this entry is both too long and too short, simulatenously.

Sixth, this installment should be up on iTunes and of course it is also hear for you to listen to, comment upon, or even ignore:

Wait, What? Ep. 57.2: Playing the Dozens

Seventh, I go now to prep for our next thrilling episode by reading a metric shit-ton of comics. As always, thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy!

7 Questions about Images On the Internet of the Final Pages of Catwoman #1

SPOILER WARNING.

According to the internet, the final pages of CATWOMAN #1 by Judd Winick and Guillem March focus upon a tenderly erotic scene of The Batman and Catwoman having aggressive sex, which is apparently a thing that they show in the comics these days.

So, after looking at these images-- and/or having stared longingly, however you want to phrase it... (and not having read any other comics lately to write about for this site since I'm not really reading comics at the moment, for various my-time-is-limited reasons not worth getting into here)... but so, yeah:   I have questions.

Here's an image of one panel, courtesy of Scans_Daily--

Question One.  When Catwoman says "Still... it doesn't take long...", what does that line mean exactly?  Is she... Is she implying that The Batman orgasms really fast, like right away, like maybe even in his bat-underwear?

I don't know-- on the one hand, I'd like to think that The Batman would have more control than that because ... because he's super-aware of his body or he has super-discipline over his body, after being trained by ninjas and Liam Neeson.

On the other hand, The Batman's a regular guy and maybe we should all accept that, you know, that's a thing that happens to regular guys, especially if they've had a couple Zima's, and they're young and they're not really sure what's going on, and they don't really like the Daves Matthews Band but one of their songs is playing and why am I crying?

My point is The Batman's not Superman-- the very fact he's not invincible  is what makes him The Batman instead of  Superman, right?  So if we agree that's the fundamental appeal of The Batman is his inherent vulnerability, then maybe The Batman having a problem with premature ejaculation, maybe that makes him ever more The Batman.

Question Two.  Why is Catwoman tweaking his Bat-ears with her hands?  Does she think he can feel that?  What is going on there? Do people who live in the DCU think The Batman has a deformed skull or...?  What is that?

And since this is a thing that happens in real life-- since you know and I know that people have definitely, definitely, definitely dressed up in those costumes and had sex in the bathroom of comic conventions, at least Dragon*Con because that one's in Hotlanta and the heat and the sweat and the Bat-a-rangs, it's probably just like that movie Body Heat except ever so slightly more Batmanish... when that happens in real life,  do you think teasing the Bat-ears is a thing that, like, the guy actively requests?  "Play with the Bat-ears."  Am I the only one who hears that in their head when they look at that image?  And also: how do I stop hearing that oh god how do i stop hearing it?

Question Three.  Here we have the cliffhanger of the comic, which is The Batman having his nipples played with.  Why are people who create Bat-comics so fixated on his nipples?

The classic Neal Adams shot-- The Batman, shirtless, nipples surrounded by thick swaths of chest hair...

... to the present, with Chris Sprouse and Grant Morrison, and nipples.  At the outset of his run, Morrison promised fans a return to the "hairy-chested love god" years of Adams, Bat-nipples thus pivotal to the early promotional efforts for his run...

Can you think of any major film franchise that has ever been as defined by its main character's nipples as Batman has?  Think of poor Joel Schumacher.  If you google "Schumacher" and "Batman" and "nipple," you get 241,000 results.  If you google "Schumacher" and "Tigerland" (i.e. the Veitnam-era drama that Schumacher directed, in which he arguably discovered Colin Farrell)... I only get 140,000 results.  Joel Schumacher's entire film career has Batman's nipples inexorably at its center, like a tittified Scylla and Charybdis. (If Joel Schumacher has a third nipple, let's agree to call it Rudolph).

At what point when you're deep in the Batman mythology, deep in the lore, at what point does the siren song of The Batman's nipples drag you to a watery grave? I ask you.

I note here, for the record, that when The Batman was defeated by Bane in the 90's, the Knightfall creators were certain to show you Bane's nipples on the comics' cover, as if to suggest that only a villain with larger nipples than Batman was man enough to defeat The Batman.

Question Four. If you have a problem with this scene, if you're not a fan of this scene-- if this were drawn better and written better, would this have worked for you?  Is the problem for you one of CONCEPT or EXECUTION?  In the words of Val Kilmer in the Oscar-winning film Real Genius, "would you qualify that as a launch problem or a design problem?"

(My pet theory is that for a sex scene in comics, you want to go with smaller panels.  See, Chaykin's work in American Flagg #3, your better scenes from Guido Crepax, Fantastic Four #23, the Steranko Nick Fury/Contessa scene, etc.  Pet theory.  Creepy, creepy pet theory.)

Question Five. As part of this whole DC-Nu 52, whatever this is called, this is probably one of the most  heavily advertised and promoted comics that Judd Winick has written in recent memory, since at least 2000's Pedro & Me. Every  issue of the DC-Nu launch titles is being reviewed a million times over, by every comic site under the sun, this one included.  Plus, video interviews on MTV's website ("We're getting back to the essence of what Catwoman is")(?).  Plus, TV commercials, media coverage, etc.  And yet, in response to that opportunity, this is the direction Winick went in-- exploitation fare that might get a certain kind of fan talking, rather than attempting to sell himself as a writer of any substance.

Question: if Winick tomorrow were to try to launch a serious, artistic series, after his career at DC, after material like the foregoing, an original series which he tried to sell as the effort of a quote-unquote "real" writer, would you be willing to ... to "believe" him?

You know, Winick's doing his job.  This will probably sell some comics-- it's my recollection that there was a decent-sized audience in the 90's for sexy crap, and since most of the DC relaunch is rooted in the 90's aesthetic... Heck, might work; might work.  But can you put your name on this kind of thing and remain untainted by it?  A lot of people in comics-- they're doing the jobs of selling comics. Sometimes, maybe that job's not so pretty.  To be honest, I think of Judd Winick as being a joke... but maybe I think that based upon material that to some extent calls for him to be a joke...? Are you able to separate that out when-- when they ask you to?  I know with other people, I've struggled with that; I've had that reaction of "Oh, now you really mean it; well, ain't I lucky", and so.

But this is how the guy used this bigger stage he's on, so maybe any ambition in Winick died a long time ago; maybe the question is moot.  On the other hand, he states in interviews that the defining characteristic of his writing is "edginess" (!), so maybe hope springs eternal.

Related: when you imagine them creating this scene, do you imagine those inset panels zooming in on Batman's hand were in some kind of script, all typed out, or added in by an artist trying to find ways to "spice up" the scene?  Which is worse?  Is there any way to say that one of those things is worse than the other in this particular case?

Question Six.  Why does the Batman have to be such a shitty fuck-buddy to Catwoman?  "Angry" and "gives in"--?  Why can't the Batman just be a fucking cool bro, like Ashton Kutcher in that one movie, instead of hate-fucking broken girls?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbDEconEcAM

Is it that fans want The Batman to, like, punish crime with his cock?

Question Seven.  So, we have some images that seem to have been designed to "get people talking", and here I am talking about them.  To what extent am I complicit? To what extent have I tainted myself by association?  With every "you're wasting all of our time creating worthless shit" greeted with "the fact you care we make terrible shit incessantly is proof that we've done the job of making you care," how much am I myself guilty of distracting you from your life?

nu52 - Week 2: Tights

Last one for week 2! Just in time for week three!

LEGION LOST #1: Wow, didn't work on any level. Wretchedly bad, and not clear as to who was what and which was who. The only New 52 book so far that I've actually REDUCED my order for #2, because #1 flopped. It didn't even sell as well as the last regular issue of Levitz's LSH.  AWFUL.

RESURRECTION MAN #1: OK, so maybe not "tights", but I didn't know where else to put this one. Didn't care much, anyway -- very EH, but, then, so was the original series.

SUPERBOY #1: Well, way way better than I could have possibly expected, but still ultimately not something that I'm going to care about too much -- this kind of setup might be good for 4-6 issues, maybe, but I wonder what the actual comic book could possibly be like, like by issue #12. I probably won't be staying along long enough to find out though... OK.

OK, done -- I know I rushed here at the end, but what's to say about stuff you don't care about, so much?

Come back Thursday for the start of week 3!

As always, what did YOU think?

-B

nu52 - Wk 2: Men and Other Monsters

Four this time: Death, Demons, Original Monsters, and Suicide.

(man, this commitment to review all 52 of these is really a slog! Not quite halfway!)

DEATHSTROKE #1: I don't think it will be much of a surprise to say "I didn't like that", but I guess I'm not certain who a TITANS-less Deathstroke is for?

Actually, no, let me amend that, because Deathstroke tied to the Titans was always somewhat sad -- he's supposed to be a major bad-ass, master strategist, and so on, and a kid in red hot pants always lead his defeat. Sad, really.

But, Deathstroke without the Titans is kinda "just" a "bad-ass mercenary", and those are kind of a dime a dozen. Especially in comics. So, for me, this needs something to clearly separate it from that pack -- a visual, a sensahumor, dunno, something. Didn't find anything like that here, just an amorality contest, which had the impact of rendering the character thoroughly unlikely (especially with that punchline) -- interestingly, this is the first of the 52 I've read that doesn't even try for a cliffhanger ending.

As a comic, I thought it was pretty AWFUL. As part of a linewide rebranding effort to create pitches for adaptation into TV shows, I thought it was OK.

  DEMON KNIGHTS #1: This one, on the other hand, I thought worked admirably -- disparate pre-gunpowder heroes thrown together as a team with plenty of funny and action, and I thought the "here's who I am and where's my power set" stuff all worked here in a way it simply didn't in Cornell's STORMWATCH. Probably because of the time period. Anyway, yeah, liked it a lot, it's in my personal top three so far. A solid VERY GOOD.

FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #1: Loved the setup, the idea machine, the worldbuilding, the characters, but I was very very iffy on the art. I want to see more of this book, but I'd like to see it with a cleaner and sleeker style Overall however: GOOD stuff, Maynard.

SUICIDE SQUAD #1: But we have to end this patch on a down note: ew.

The original (well, OK, the second version -- the Ostrander version) Suicide Squad worked so well because of character interaction. I, for one, never really cared about the specifics of the missions or the plot -- it was all about broken broken people rattling around in a barrel half-filled with napalm or some other metaphor there I'm not getting quite right. I guess I mean that they were at least as dangerous to each other as they were threatened by the storyteller. That's a kind of magic of good writing, when the characters can kind of write themselves.

I don't want to totally write this off with JUST the first issue, but judging  from this one, no, this is all about the plothammer. Before I had turned to page two I had guessed what the twist was going to be. I don't mind brutality and torture in my comics, but I'm not a big fan of gratuitous brutality and torture.

Plus when I got to that last page shot of Amanda Waller? I threw up a little in my mouth. So, yeah, AWFUL from me.

Whew, just one more to go.... and then I'm just at the halfway point? *moan*

As always, what did YOU think?

-B

HABIBI is on sale TODAY

Well, at least at Comix Experience. It is a stunningly gorgeous monster of a book, and we are, as far as I know, the only comics store in San Francisco with copies on sale until at least next week. (Diamond isn't shipping it yet)

Please don't forget that we have Craig Thompson IN PERSON next Wednesday, the 28th, from 2-4 PM. You can read more about that right here.

I'd rush in for a copy of this -- just on the flip through test it really looks like the graphic novel of the year -- be the first person in San Francisco to buy a copy!

-B

Wait, What? 57.1: Ones Divided by Two

Howdy, everyone. My apologies in advance for such a rushed entry, but I'm actually taking a break from editing 57.2 and my concentration is a little bit on the "shot" side of things. Although I'm very happy San Francisco has decided to grace us with some lovely, lovely weather, my apartment is too hot in a "why doesn't my brain work?" kind of way. (Now I know how the rest of the U.S. felt this summer...)

Anyhoo, Wait, What? 57.1! It's very nearly an hour, and Graeme McMillan and I discussing not only the Miles Morales-based Ultimate Spider-Man #1 and the subime Daredevil #3, but also New 52 books like Deathstroke #1 ( with some spoilers), Red Lantern #1, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1, Demon Knights #1, Suicide Squad #1, Green Arrow #1 and Justice League International #1, as well as discussion about the August estimated sales numbers from ICV2.  Also! A delicious waffles update!

[I feel like I should cue the Entertainment Tonight theme music here.]

Sensible lads and lasses undoubtedly uncovered this installment already on iTunes, but the rest of us can listen right here, right now:

Wait, What? Ep. 57.1: Ones Divided by Two

You'll be happy to now the gripping finale is right around the corner, and, as always, we thank you for listening!

Arriving 9/21/11

Pretty big week -- not at all reduced by the fact that we've also received HABIBI direct from Random House (We've got a Craig Thompson signing on 9/28, remember?), that will be on sale on TUESDAY.

(This is a good place to remind you that this list only lists stuff we're receiving from Diamond -- direct buys like HABIBI or stuff from other wholesalers like Baker & Taylor don't appear here.. mostly because I don't have an easy way to cut and paste from any other source)

(There are a RAPIDLY INCREASING amount of books I'm not buying from Diamond, and one day I really need to figure out a solution to that problem, because it's now like 8-10 books a week.... sometimes pretty big ones!)

ALL NIGHTER #4 (OF 5) ANITA BLAKE CIRCUS DAMNED SCOUNDREL #1 (OF 5) ANNE RICE SERVANT OF THE BONES #2 (OF 6) ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #222 AVENGERS #17 FEAR AVENGERS CHILDRENS CRUSADE #7 (OF 9) BART SIMPSON COMICS #63 BATMAN #1 BIRDS OF PREY #1 BLUE BEETLE #1 BOYS BUTCHER BAKER CANDLESTICKMAKER #3 BPRD HELL ON EARTH RUSSIA #1 CAPTAIN AMERICA #3 CAPTAIN AMERICA CORPS #4 (OF 5) CAPTAIN ATOM #1 CATWOMAN #1 CONAN ROAD OF KINGS #8 (OF 8) DAMAGED #2 (OF 6) DAREDEVIL #4 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #4 FIONA STAPLES CVR DARKNESS #93 DARKWING DUCK #16 DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #1 DMZ #69 FABLES #109 FEAR ITSELF FEARSOME FOUR #4 (OF 4) FEAR FEAR ITSELF HOME FRONT #6 (OF 7) FEAR FEAR ITSELF UNCANNY X-FORCE #3 (OF 3) FEAR FEAR ITSELF YOUTH IN REVOLT #5 (OF 6) FEAR GAME OF THRONES #1 GENERATION HOPE #11 SCHISM GOBS #2 (OF 4) GREEN HORNET #18 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1 HELLBLAZER #283 HEROES FOR HIRE #12 HULK #41 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #508 FEAR KEVIN SMITH BIONIC MAN #2 LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #1 MARVEL UNIVERSE VS WOLVERINE #4 (OF 4) NEAR DEATH #1 NIGHTWING #1 NORTHLANDERS #44 PLANET OF THE APES #6 RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1 RED WING #3 (OF 4) RICHIE RICH #4 (OF 4) SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #17 SONIC UNIVERSE #32 SPIDER-ISLAND CLOAK AND DAGGER #2 (OF 3) SPI SPIDER-ISLAND SPIDER-WOMAN #1 SPI SPONTANEOUS #4 (OF 5) STAN LEE SOLDIER ZERO #12 STAR TREK ONGOING #1 STAR WARS JEDI DARK SIDE #5 (OF 5) STAR WARS KNIGHT ERRANT DELUGE #2 (OF 5) STUFF OF LEGEND JESTERS TALE #2 (OF 4) SUPERGIRL #1 TEEN WOLF BITE ME #1 (OF 3) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ONGOING #2 THE GUILD CLARA CHAYKIN CVR (ONE SHOT) THOR GOES HOLLYWOOD #1 THUNDERBOLTS #163 POINT ONE TINY TITANS #44 ULTIMATE COMICS HAWKEYE #2 (OF 4) ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #1 UNCANNY X-MEN #543 FEAR VENGEANCE #3 (OF 6) WITCH DOCTOR #3 (OF 4) WOLVERINE AND BLACK CAT CLAWS 2 #3 (OF 3) WONDER WOMAN #1 X-FACTOR #225 X-MEN #18 X-MEN SCHISM #4 (OF 5) YOUNG JUSTICE #8 ZORRO RIDES AGAIN #3

Books / Mags / Stuff A ZOO IN WINTER HC ARCHIES JOKE BOOK HC VOL 01 BOB MONTANA ARMED GARDEN & OTHER STORIES HC ART OF JOE KUBERT HC ASTONISHING SECRET OF AWESOME MAN YR GN BACK ISSUE #51 BORIS VALLEJO JULIE BELL FANTASY 2012 WALL CAL BREED COL VOL 02 BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES S&N HC CAPTAIN AMERICA BUST BANK CHEW TP VOL 04 FLAMBE DONE TO DEATH GN DRACULA GN TP ESSENTIAL SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 04 NEW ED EVELYN EVELYN HC (RES) GODZILLA KINGDOM OF MONSTERS TP VOL 01 GREEN WAKE TP VOL 01 HALO FALL OF REACH TP BOOT CAMP HELLBOY TP VOL 11 BRIDE OF HELL & OTHERS JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA OMEGA HC MAN WHO GREW HIS BEARD GN MARK TWAINS AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1910-2010 HC MORNING GLORIES TP VOL 02 NEW MUTANTS TP VOL 03 FALL OF NEW MUTANTS NEW TEEN TITANS GAMES HC (RES) NEW YORK FIVE TP PRISON PIT GN BOOK 03 RUSE TP VICTORIAN GUIDE TO MURDER SHADOWLAND MOON KNIGHT TP SHOWCASE PRESENTS ALL STAR COMICS TP VOL 01 SPIDER MAN BUST BANK SPIDER-MAN VENGEANCE OF VENOM TP STAR WARS OMNIBUS EPISODES I-VI COMP SAGA TP ULTIMATE COMICS THOR TP VENOM BY RICK REMENDER PREM HC VOL 01 VIDEO WATCHDOG #164 X-MEN FIRST TO LAST PREM HC X-MEN ORIGINS II TP

What looks good to YOU?

-B

nu52 - wk 2: The Self-Made

All the super-power-less characters -- two Bats, a grifter, and the terrific.

BATMAN & ROBIN #1: Much like the Lantern books, this really read to me like "the next issue of B&R". I did like the impatient Damien scenes while Bruce explains how his message should be about life and not death, but other than that, this was a pretty standard-form bat-comic. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But I have very little to say, other than... OK.

BATWOMAN #1: I had a real shudder of pure joy upon reading this. Man, is it agonizingly beautiful! It also felt to me just packed fulla content, but maybe that's because I was lingering so long with so many of the pages. J. H. Williams is an incredibly exceptional artist, and his writing is perfectly fine as well. Either way, this is the second of the nu52 which I loved loved loved -- this was purely EXCELLENT win, all the way, through and through, and we hope for a long long life for this title.

GRIFTER #1: "It's THEY LIVE starring 'Sawyer' from LOST!" was probably the pitch? Though, actually, when I heard the premise the first time, MY flash was to ROM, SPACE-KNIGHT, because what are these mark-2 Daemonites except for effectively being Dire Wraiths? Not to keep harping on the continuity thing, but I have a pretty hard time understanding how a "timeline merge" transforms the very fundamental nature of an entire species? Annnnnnyway, as a way of preserving a trademark, when you can't keep any of the individual bits of that trademark other than (I guess) the mask and the name, I thought this did a perfectly adequate job. But, this doesn't feel like a "comic" to me -- it feels like a pitch for a weekly TV show that just happens to be in comic form. None of that is bad, per se, nor is the comic bad, but I'm not so sure this one can or will sustain itself past twelve issues or so? All in all, I thought it was perfectly EH.

MISTER TERRIFIC #1: I am, for the life of me, wondering just what the hell this was all about. The meta stuff, I mean. Did someone already have a MT pitch in hand that the serial numbers could be filled off of easily? Was it 4 am in the last days before they had to announce the books, and they were at book #51, and no one could come up with any better, so they just said "sure, sounds great!" Was it that someone argued there had to be a JSA-connection somewhere, even though there couldn't be an actual JSA?

MT *is* certainly an unique character -- a smart, technologically-competent black man who is also an atheist -- that's cool, not something you really see in media anywhere is it? But once you remove the legacy aspects of the JSA connection, I think the seams really start to show. Seriously, what grown man (seriously, especially a black man) is going to call himself "Mister Terrific", without it being a legacy name? Same thing with the "Fair Play" : I liked that on a Golden Age character, just the same way I liked Ma Hunkle with the souppot on her head becoming "the Red Tornado", but that's seriously NOT a c21 name.

Even putting that all aside, I really didn't like this comic very much -- I thought "The third smartest man" (who, um, is actually Amadeus Cho) was written pretty dumb -- in a way that a lack of specificity there wouldn't have bothered me; and a non-visual power for your antagonist like the mind or emotion control here is largely anti-superhero comics. Lots and lots of set-up, no real payoffs, I was pretty disapointed.

What's... well not funny, but not really ironic either, dunno the right term really... is that I was opining to several customers, in the weeks before any of these books coming out, that I was holding out the most hope for the "odd" books like GRIFTER or MISTER TERRIFIC because, historically, the best comics DC publishes tend to come from the fringes where you didn't expect anything whatsoever. Things like Morrison's ANIMAL MAN, or Ostrander's SUICIDE SQUAD, or the Cary Bates CAPTAIN ATOM (seriously? Those first three years? What a great run!), or even why-do-people-forget-it-started-firmly-in-the-DCU Gaiman's SANDMAN were all more vital, and transformative to the greater-DCU, then any monthly-ongoing run of Superman or Batman comics. So, yeah, all the more disappointing that this comic didn't elevate itself out above the pack.

Of what I have read so far, I am thinking this will be the first one cancelled. I may have hated HAWK & DOVE, but there are a contingent of people who like Rob Liefeld to pieces, enough to maybe get that title past year 1. MT, on the other hand, has to solely last on its own merits, of which I find few. It was an AWFUL comic.

As always: what do YOU think?

-B

"...only a fool goes huntin' GHOSTS." Comics! Sometimes They Judge You!

So, yeah, I read something and then I went and wrote about it all half-assed like and if you aren't doing the chores you might want to hunker down a spell and take a look. Might not as well. Ain't no skin off mine.

Ah, there's just nothing like a merciless black-hearted look at human nature to lift your spirits is there? EL DIABLO By Danijel Zezelj (a), Brian Azzarello (w), Kevin Sommers (c), Clem Robbins (l) and Tim Sale (covers) Vertigo/DC Comics, $12.99

 The peace in Bollas Raton is kept by Sheriff Moses Stone. Stone was a mean man once upon a poisoned water hole, a bounty hunter by trade, but now he's turned his back on the whole sorry man hunting deal. These days he's a good man, with a good wife in a good town. Enter El Diablo! The peace of the town is shattered, men die, flesh is scarred and Moses Stone leads a posse after El Diablo into the badlands towards a town called Halo; where the stage is set for a showdown between The Past and The Present, but identities and alignments shift like the dunes and reckonings for the wrongs of The Past must be paid in full. El Diablo is about to show Moses Stone that a man can have secrets even from himself.

To say any more would spoil the plot as it has a couple of big reveals that to do more than allude to would strip a whole chunk of pleasure out of the book. Sure, one of these reveals requires a pretty big suspension of disbelief but if you aren't willing to go the extra inch on this one while reading about a supernatural incarnation of vengeance then I don’t know. I just don’t know. It’s a fine plot, tight as a nut; one that barrels right along with a convincing cast of characters, crackling and layered dialogue, moments of hideous psychological and physical horror (and indeed both in one darling scene involving an ant hill) and leaves you feeling a bit unsettled and nauseous. Like when your boozy Auntie slipped you the tongue that time.

It’s pretty fitting that I can only lift up my skirts and dance around the content as Azzarello is a very literary writer one whose work can irritate and confound on occasion with its elliptical and stubbornly obtuse approach. He seems to operate on the assumption that his work will be read and re-read, that some effort will be made by the reader to pierce the layers of obfuscation in order to ascertain his true meaning. He seems not to think his comics are just mental screensavers for readers waiting for the menu on their new DVD box set to load up. Which is admirable but intermittently his very specific methodology can work against him to produce comics that are baffling and incoherent. Which is when you end up with a cancery priest fighting a big robot man name after a Peter Shaffer play on a tropical island. Forever. But that doesn't happen here because when he marries it with the right subject the results are delightfully intelligent and reward close attention. El Diablo is one such marriage and you are cordially invited to attend.

El Diablo is soaked in the supernatural and the enemy of effectively conveying the uncanny is specificity. Now, since specificity isn't exactly one of the problems Azzarello has as a writer this works to his advantage here. He manages to stop the sense of the supernatural slipping into nonsense by giving it some ground rules. But he doesn't do it where you’d expect. In the second chapter Moses Stone and his ill-fated posse sit around a camp fire jawing about El Diablo. This allows Azzarello to present the reader with several options regarding the nature of El Diablo. Noah gives the basic outline of the original character (created by Robert Kanigher and Gray Morrow in 1970), Honus sees it as a vengeful force seeking retribution on its own killers, Paw Paw tells of how the Apaches basically view it as a being allocated by The Great Spirit with enacting revenge for the restless dead (I believe that's The Spectre and I believe that's an in-joke.). This is pretty interesting as each man has heard of El Diablo and each man has a different explanation but they can only agree on one thing; you do bad and El Diablo’s gonna even the score. So, while apparently explaining El Diablo to the reader Azzarello has in fact done no such thing but the reader feels that he has.

It’s an even neater piece of misdirection in that the real key to El Diablo’s motivation is presented early in the book during an exchange between Paw Paw and Moses Stone. The two are watching two Indians being hung for the murder of a little girl. Stone reckons they deserve their fate due to their awful crime but Paw Paw, who tracked and caught them, thinks they are innocent of the stated crime but still deserve to swing because they killed his horse. The nature and severity of the transgression isn't important merely the fact that an offence has been committed is enough for the most severe of penalties. There’s also another layer here. Paw Paw’s horse wouldn't have been shot had he not been tracking the Indians. He has basically contributed to event that have resulted in the offenders being, in his eyes, justly rewarded. This is, in actual fact, how El Diablo works on the characters, particularly Moses Stone. Only once does El Diablo directly visit his judgement, when a poor sap foolishly makes fun of him, on all other occasions he herds his victims into situations where their own actions doom them. And since actions are indicative of intent and intent is indicative of character their doom is deserved. In the world of El Diablo good men are just bad men waiting to happen. And when they do happen El Diablo will be there. The best weapon in El Diablo’s arsenal is man’s nature. And man’s nature being what it is, in this book anyway, it’s the only weapon El Diablo really needs.

The atmospheric success of the whole moody enterprise is due in no small part to the magnificently dusty efforts of Danijel Zezelj whose art is, naturally, more European in approach (and origin) than the usual North American Genre Comics artists. His diverse and atypical storytelling sensibilities give the pages an unsettling feel all by themselves and when added to the oblique air Azzarello gives everything succeed in saturating the book in the uncanny so necessary for it to work. The use of overhead shots of scenes give  a creepy sense of an omnipresent viewer that works to build the impression that nothing is hidden from El Diablo. Zezelj’s frequent use of overlapping panels makes the characters seem trapped in the book and in the books events, which of course they are. There’s also a lot of blank space within the panels but rather than suggesting freedom and wide open spaces, because they are largely enclosed by strict panel borders, these spaces seem to suggest instead a void; a true and terrible emptiness that everyone in the book is just slightly ahead of. Until, of course, they aren't.

Kevin Somers colours are also noteworthy. Working with a pastelly palette of muted tones applied with few, if any, tonal variations, these colours not only help induce mood but are valuable storytelling tools. Oft times the colour of characters will be used to highlight and centre the reader’s attention on the focal point of a scene. It’s a simple but effective trick that I liked and if the colourist has done something I noted he must be doing a good job because, brothers and sisters, what I know about comic book colouring wouldn't fill a pint pot already half full with piss. The TPB is also really nicely designed by Amelia Grohman. Now this is only a 4 issue series so I guess there’s some padding going on here but if you’re going to pad this is the way to do it. Certain of  Zezelj’s images are cropped out of the book and dropped on full pages of colour as spot illos to striking effect and each issue is preceded by a full page consisting of a panel containing significant dialogue blown up to fill a page. Like the colouring it’s simple but effective stuff and worth a shot of old rotgut should I ever meet the individuals involved.

El Diablo is a weird western. A very weird western indeed. It is also Very Good!

nu52 - Wk 2: Red & Green

Lanterns, that is.

GREEN LANTERN #1: There are a few books in this "relaunch" which CLEARLY were written (or at least conceived of) before the relaunch plan. GL certainly feels like one of those -- this is pretty much exactly what I expected from GREEN LANTERN #68. There are some small concessions to nu-ness -- it was interesting to see a comic called "Green Lantern" that only had ONE of them in an entire issue, for example -- but, yeah, not very much, it's simply the next issue.

This is weird to me, in a lot of ways, because there's really no way that Hal could be exactly the same person. Liiiike... without Ollie Queen (who clearly HAS been 100% rebooted), how did Hal ever learn to speak up for the Black Skins, y'know?

Bah, anyway, despite that, I thought this was an adequate "first" issue -- not something that will ever win an Eisner, but adequate pop comic. Strongly OK, but I really did expect more from one of the main architects of the current DCU.

RED LANTERNS #1: This book, too, would have existed with or without the nu, and so I think it is weaker for that. I don't understand the market for this comic. A blood vomiting team led by a guy named "Atrocitus" for God's sake? I had the teeny tiniest hope that Pete Milligan (of all people) might maybe be able to come up with some sort of adequate spin... but no, not really.

These are ugly characters, with really nothing compelling to offer from them, and is pretty astoundingly AWFUL.

What did YOU think?

-B

Wait, What? 56.2: Let's Go Backwards When Forward Fails

As our old pal Reid Fleming used to say: "Ungawa!"

We've got the gripping ninety-two minute finale of Ep. 56 available for you, with Graeme and I talking Action Comics #1, G. Willow Wilson's Mystic, the Wolverine: Debt of Death one-shot, IDW's G.I. Joe: Cobra series, Kirby Genesis #3, our worries about the conclusion to X-Men: Schism, and a pretty sustained discussion (which will come as no surprise to long-time listeners) of Casanova #3 by Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba.

In case you have no need for this thing puny hu-mans call "iTunes," you are hereby formally invited to listen to our fine audio programme right here, should you so choose:

Wait, What? Ep. 56.2: Lets Go Backwards When Forward Fails

And as ever, we thank you not just for listening, but also for the fine comments you contribute here at the website and at waitwhatpodcast [AT] gmail.com.  It is greatly appreciated!

nu52: "...and the rest, here on Gilligan's Isle."

Wrapping up week one, here's the Professor and Mary Anne of the way I chose to survey this: Green Arrow, Hawk & Dove, and JLI. (Seriously, it's 9:30 on Wednesday, and I haven't yet cracked a week 2 book! I'm really wildly behind this week!)

GREEN ARROW #1:  Complete and total reboot here. Absolutely nothing in common, besides name, of the old version. Really, this is confusing! There's a journeyman level of craft going on here, but there's nothing that actually thrilled me, or made me want to read another one ever. Pretty much a perfect definition of an EH comic book.

HAWK & DOVE #1: Meanwhile this is "just" a continuation of the "old" DCU -- with Deadman as Dove's "boyfriend" and everything (which is, like: WHAT?! in the first place) -- this shit really is crazy confusing. I mean, like, without the "old" Green Arrow, then who or what was in forest protecting the tree during Brightest Day, in the first place? Ugh, it makes my head hurt to think about the continuity here.

Maybe not as much as this comic hurt my head, though. Ew. Ugly, rambling, and confusing as heck (I think that was meant to be Kestral on the last page? But since he looks nearly exactly like Hawk, who can be sure? And, like Kestral hasn't been seen in a comic in... 15 years? More?) Either way, I truly thought this one was AWFUL.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL: Mm, yeah, that was alright, but nothing exciting; much like STORMWATCH, it's still in "getting to know you" mode, so everyone shuffles in, says their line of dialogue, and moves on. Generic, but competent, once again: EH.

As always: what did YOU think?

-B

nu52: The Belfry

Damn it, the NEW ones are already out? Better write fast, then! Bats, and more bats below!

BATGIRL #1:  If there is one critical mistake that I believe the relaunch made, it is that some books fully rebooted, while others are trying to say that everything that happened, happened. I find this even odder in the face of the Didio interview where he asserts that Julie Schwartz told him continuity needs to reboot every decade. The bat-family has, certainly, had many changes in directions over the decades, but the one thing it never did was actually reboot.

So, for a hypothetical new reader (and while we're getting a LOT of the "lapsed" coming back, I think there are vanishingly few truly new readers coming through), I think that BATGIRL #1 largely fails because it is absolutely predicated on a whole bunch of stuff that happened in the "old" DCU, and it spends a big chunk of its run time referencing "The Killing Joke"

While the IDEA of a superhero with (a narrow form of) Post-Traumatic Syndrome is pretty swell, I think it (you're forgive the expression) cripples Barbara out of the gate in the "I like this character" sweepstakes. I don't want to read about a character who flinches, y'know?

The funny thing is I largely enjoyed this comic, otherwise -- it's reasonably dense, and story is borne out of character, rather than the plothammer. It's well written, and the art was just fine. But the whole time while reading it, I was thinking, "I'd rather be reading a just-post-origin story with a teenage Babs instead".

(Its kind of like how, despite how much I love the new DAREDEVIL, "Shadowland" still "happening" kind of taints the entire character for me. I may suck, however)

So, yeah, I liked it as a read, as an "old" DC universe comic, but the fact that it isn't a reboot really really turns me off. So: a completely unfair OK, to reflect my turmoil.

BATWING #1: For some of the same reasons, this one didn't work for me either -- there's no "origin" here, there's no explanation of why he looks like Batman, or any real comment from Batman whatsoever about the situation... I really had no idea what was going on. (yes, yes, "Batman, Inc." -- but how would a new reader know a thing about any of that?)

Then there's the weird flashback structure, which left me really really confused about when the cliffhanger at the end happened -- are we still in "six weeks ago" there? And, if so, then how is he superheroing there at the front of the book?

I also thought the art was really stiff and muddy.

In short, I did not care for this comic, although I thought the setting was an interesting change, and there's certainly story possibility here for the character. For now, though, I'll give this issue an AWFUL.

DETECTIVE COMICS #1: I'm confused when this takes place -- is this "five years ago" like ACTION and JL was? It can't be because it opens with narration about the Joker killing people for the last 6 years, but, then, why are the cops still shooting at Batman? No other (contemporary-set) DCnu hero is hunted by police, and, hell, in JLI the UN is at least considering Batman to lead the team! Except for that very first caption, I think the book reads like a "Year Two" Batman comic (Which I'm fine with, certainly)

That aside, I thought this was a professionally done Batman comic book. And it had what was a potentially interesting cliffhanger. However, I did feel like I was reading a distant echo of other Batman comics I've read before -- all of those 16 panel laid out pages had a whole lot of Miller on them, for example. So, while I'm (just) willing to give this a GOOD, it's a very very mild one.

What did YOU think?

-B

nu52: Above and Below (and side to side)

Watching over the rest is STORMWATCH, down in the streets is STATIC, with OMAC and MEN OF WAR lurking around the sides... STORMWATCH #1: I probably had the highest hopes of all the DCnu books for this one -- oh, I was anticipating ACTION more, but this was the one that I was hoping might be the best: wide-screen action like THE AUTHORITY, but firmly in the DCU. It also makes it, perhaps, the most problematic of the books, because that kind of world-changing action really doesn't work with a shared universe in a lot of ways (witness how no WS book every dealt with the notion that a corporate controlled version of The Authority took over the world for a period. as one of many examples) -- you really can't do "The Moon is a Hatching Egg!" and not have it impact a jillion other books.

There's also the notion that as appealing I find The Engineer, and Jack and Jenny and Midnighter and Apollo... well, they can't be The Authority is a world with a JL, because the JL is better... they have to be.

I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into it, or not, but STORMWATCH also appeared to be adding in Milestone concepts in the mix, with the mention of a "Shadow Cabinet" that runs it all? And which "Big Bang" are they referencing at the end of the issue? (Nah, that one is probably reaching)

I had a problem with STORMWATCH #1's dialogue -- yikes, pretty overly "comic-booky" with everyone reciting their names and powers and off-screen plot points left and right. I'm not sure there was a "normal" line of dialogue in the entire book -- I'm hoping this is purely an artifact of being a character/location/conflict-rich first issue, and this will settle down tout-suite.

Overall, I liked the character concepts and the setups and what appeared to be the remit, but I thought the dialogue was far too "old school" to enjoy it. I'd stick through the first arc, but it's pretty iffy if I'd want to go past that. A mild OK.

STATIC SHOCK #1: This may be the one book that would have most benefited from a "traditional first issue" -- that is an origin story. Starting in the middle for a character that much of the audience doesn't really know that well seemed a little weak to me. I didn't know how to root for the character! Like: is Hardware the old Hardware from Dakota, or is he like a hologram butler or something? Either way, what's he doing working with Static (or is his name now Static SHOCK like the cover says)?

The art was nice, and there was a density to the book that I liked, but I'm not feeling that crucial sympathy I need. I'd probably not bother to pick up the next issue (though the final page cliffhanger was slightly intriguing) -- overall, I thought it was pretty EH.

MEN OF WAR #1: The one book I had no expectations of of any kind going in, and it's a solid little war book (albeit one with superhumans involved). Well-written, fairly gripping, and well-illustrated. But, also one that I really didn't care too much for. I'm not very interested in war stories, and while the superhuman involvement could bring me back to flip through #2, this isn't something I would like to spend my personal money on. Ditto for the backup tale. Very solidly OK, just not my cuppa at all.

OMAC #1: Big, frenetic, dumb, fun destruction.  It's probably the speediest read of week 1, but I liked it a lot! In fact, I only have one criticism about it whatsoever, and that is that there is not "Omac created by Jack Kirby" credit. Even STATIC SHOCK had *that*. Anyway, I'd call OMAC #1 a solid (if lower) GOOD.

What did YOU think?

-B

Wait, What? 56.1: The Loneliest Number Since...

We are back!  With absolutely 100% less whining!  Well, 90%.  Actually, let's call it 85--no, 82, 82% less whining!

Yes, with 82% less whining, here comes Wait, What? Episode 56.1, roaring around the bend, with Graeme McMillan and myself discussing strange and unexpected topics--topics like OMAC #1, Batgirl #1, Animal Man #1, Detective Comics #1, Swamp Thing #1, Stormwatch #1 and, of course... X-Men #17. (That really should have a '?!!?' at end of that sentence, but you get the idea.) It's one hour and one second of two-fisted soft reboot action!

Wise souls have perhaps already encountered this podcast on iTunes (in which case, I hope they were struck it down and achieved instant enlightenment) but you can, of course, listen to it here through the moderns of magic science:

Wait, What? Ep. 556.1: The Loneliest Number Since...

As always, we hope you and enjoy and appreciate your continuing patronage!

nu52: Meat & Wood

Shouldn't be any surprise we're still organizing in the store, so trying to dance amongst the raindrops to review books while I also do that (AND writing a Tilting this week, sheesh!) Here's your next two books: ANIMAL MAN and SWAMP THING

ANIMAL MAN #1: I'm of the opinion that no one other than Grant Morrison ever "got" Animal Man, and that was more of the fourth wall-breaking action than anything else. Buddy is just (sorry!) not that compelling of a character in the first place. The real value he has is of being one of the rare family men in comics, or of being the "everyman" who is probably a lot like you and me -- he isn't perfect like a Superman, he feels vaguely uncomfortable in his costume, he's not really all that very good at "stopping crime", but his heart is utterly in the right place.

Jeff Lemire seems to embrace all of that here, and also does a few things to shake up expectations (opening with a magazine-style interview piece, for example, or the hallucinatory dream sequence), and while I liked it, I didn't really love it. Travel Foreman's art is excellent in places, but also pretty awful in a few others (Ew, some of those faces, yikes!). I'd certainly give it an arc to see where it might be going, but my overall reaction was really not much more than a very very low GOOD.

ANIMAL MAN is the one and only book of the 14 released so far that I have sold out of so far -- and that's on a fairly solid number of copies.

SWAMP THING #1: If AM covers "the red", this one here is "the green", but apart from some REALLY lovely art by Yanick Paquette, I'm not really feeling this one yet.

That may be because "Swampy" really doesn't appear in the issue until the last page, or maybe that I have no (NONE!) affinity for "Alec Holland", a character who, over the last 40-ish years had maybe 10 words of dialogue? (Among them: "Oh, look... a bom-" or something to that effect) -- so, I kind of don't care if he has his sad little Doctor David Banner moments.

Throw in a ugly cameo from Superman (how is THAT guy the one in JL or Action?), where he seems to reference the Death of Superman (Again: how did that story happen... especially without a married Lois?), and something that looks a bit like a rip on the invunche, and I found myself missing Moore's prose (there's monologue, but not a single descriptive caption on display), and, I don't know -- I don't "get" this book, I think.

I'm willing to give it another issue, but I thought it was merely OK.

That's me: What did YOU think?

-B

Arriving 9/14/11

A new Optic Nerve?!?! Plus the new "season" of Buffy, Batwoman #1, Pigs #1... I think there's something for just about everyone in this week's shipment! 27 SECOND SET #1 (OF 4) ALL NEW BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #11 ALL WINNERS SQUAD BAND OF HEROES #4 (OF 8) ALPHA FLIGHT #4 (OF 8) FEAR AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #669 SPI AMERICAN VAMPIRE SURVIVAL OT FITTEST #4 (OF 5) BALTIMORE CURSE BELLS #2 BATMAN AND ROBIN #1 BATWOMAN #1 BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #194 BLACK PANTHER MAN WITHOUT FEAR #523 FEAR BONNIE LASS #1 (OF 4) BTVS SEASON 9 FREEFALL #1 CAVEWOMAN ALL NATURAL PINUP ONE SHOT CRIMINAL LAST OF INNOCENT #4 (OF 4) CRIMINAL MACABRE NO PEACE FOR DEAD MEN (ONE SHOT) DAKEN DARK WOLVERINE #14 DAREDEVIL #3 DEADPOOL #43 DEATHSTROKE #1 DEMON KNIGHTS #1 DOCTOR SOLAR MAN OF ATOM #8 DOLLHOUSE EPITAPHS #3 (OF 5) PHIL NOTO CVR DUCKTALES #4 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS DRIZZT #2 (OF 5) FEAR ITSELF #6 (OF 7) FEAR FEAR ITSELF HULK VS DRACULA #1 (OF 3) FEAR FEAR ITSELF MONKEY KING #1 FEAR FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #1 GHOST RIDER #3 FEAR GLADSTONES SCHOOL FOR WORLD CONQUERORS #5 GREEN HORNET YEAR ONE #12 GREEN LANTERN #1 GRIFTER #1 HELLRAISER #5 HERC #7 SPI INFINITE #2 JOHN CARTER A PRINCESS OF MARS #1 (OF 5) JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #627 FEAR JUGHEAD #209 JURASSIC PARK DANGEROUS GAMES #1 (OF 5) LADY DEATH ORIGINS ANNUAL #1 LEGION LOST #1 LIFE WITH ARCHIE #13 LIL DEPRESSED BOY #6 MICE TEMPLAR VOL 3 #5 MICHAEL AVON OEMING CVR MISTER TERRIFIC #1 MYSTERY MEN #5 (OF 5) NEW AVENGERS #16 FEAR NIGHT O/T LIVING DEAD DEATH VALLEY #4 (OF 5) OPTIC NERVE #12 PIGS #1 PUNISHERMAX #17 RED LANTERNS #1 RESURRECTION MAN #1 ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #12 SCALPED #52 SERGIO ARAGONES FUNNIES #3 SEVERED #2 SHERLOCK HOLMES YEAR ONE #6 SIMPSONS COMICS #182 SPACE WARPED #3 (OF 6) SPIDER-ISLAND AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #2 (OF 3) SPI STAN LEE STARBORN #10 STAND NIGHT HAS COME #2 (OF 6) STAR WARS INVASION REVELATIONS #3 (OF 5) STAR WARS OLD REPUBLIC #4 (OF 5) LOST SUNS SUICIDE SQUAD #1 SUPER DINOSAUR #4 SUPER HEROES #18 SUPERBOY #1 SUPREME POWER #4 (OF 4) TUROK SON OF STONE #3 ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #1 UNCANNY X-FORCE #15 UNWRITTEN #29 WARLORD OF MARS #9 X-MEN LEGACY #255

Books / Mags / Stuff HEAVY METAL NOVEMBER 2011 ARCHIE THE MARRIED LIFE TP VOL 01 ASTONISHING X-MEN TP XENOGENESIS BARKS BEAR BOOK HC BLUE ESTATE TP VOL 01 CARBON GREY VOL 01 SISTERS AT WAR TP COMPLETE MAJOR BUMMER SUPER SLACKTACULAR TP CROSSED HC SGN ED VOL 02 FAMILY VALUES CROSSED TP VOL 02 FAMILY VALUES ESSENTIAL SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 03 NEW ED GOD SOMEWHERE TP NEW ED GREEK STREET TP VOL 03 MEDEAS LUCK GREEN LANTERN SINESTRO CORPS WAR TP INFINITY GAUNTLET TP NEW PTG MARVEL ADV AVENGERS THOR CAPTAIN AMERICA DIGEST TP MARVEL ZOMBIES SUPREME HC PENNY FOR YOUR SOUL TP VOL 01 WAR PHERONE TP PUNISHER CIRCLE OF BLOOD TP NEW PTG SECRET WARRIORS PREM HC VOL 06 WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR TP VOL 06 BEYOND THE GRAVE SUGAR AND SPIKE ARCHIVES HC VOL 01 SUPERGOD TP VOL 01 SUPERMAN THE BLACK RING HC VOL 02 SWEETS NEW ORLEANS CRIME STORY TP THANOS IMPERATIVE TP UNCANNY X-MEN TP BREAKING POINT ALEX TOTH LAST CHANCE ONE SHOT KEEPING THE WORLD STRANGE PLANETARY GUIDE SC YIDDISHKEIT JEWISH VERNACULAR & THE NEW LAND HC

What looks good to YOU?

-B

"Assholes, Assemble!" Comics! Barbed Wire Laffs Inside!

Before I start blabbing about a guy who hunts heroes but hasn't found any yet here’s some advice I know wish I’d had when I was a teenager:

Wise words there, kids. Some not so wise ones after the break… You know who hates super-heroes? No, not Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis! Their hatred of super-heroes is more like when you you’re 15 and you see your best mate down the shops with his girlfriend and when she’s looking in a window he rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue out before snapping to attention and putting his arm back around her when she turns round. It’s more like irritation that they have to write these capes things to pay for their more personal masterpieces consisting as they do of New Scientist articles espoused by the same snippy character in a number of different wigs or rape and dismemberment jokes legitimized by industrial levels of sentimentality. No, that’s less like hatred than the low level resentment of any thermo-dynamic miracle who spends their life behind a desk having to actually work for a living. Pat Mills, however, Pat Mills has a hard-on for super-heroes as big as a Riot Squad Cop’s night stick and he knows how to swing that sucker to inflict maximum dental reconstructive surgery. Swing away, Pat Mills. Swing away!

MARSHAL LAW: FEAR ASYLUM

By Kevin O’Neill/Mark A. Nelson (a), Pat Mills (w), Mark Chiarello, Dave Stewart(c), Phil Felix, Bill Oakley & Elli DeVille(l)

(2003,Titan Books, £14.99/£24.95)

Marshal Law was created by Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill in 1987 for an Epic (Marvel) Comics series which has been much discussed by many great minds. The character then ping-ponged around various publishers teaming up with various characters retaining its relentless signature mix of super-hero satire, socio-political commentary and good crude fun. The latter volumes don’t get nearly as much attention as it’s generally agreed that they slide into formula and become one-note one-joke (like me!) affairs with decreasing returns. So rather than dissect the first far more seriously intentioned volume I’ll be turning my watery eye on the final collection. Because that’s where I swim, pal, in the shallows. Also, I just happened to pick it up while I was rearranging the deceased goldfishes’ bowl in The Archive. Anyway the good news is there’s still meat on the bone although it does get a bit grey and gristly towards the end. But, hey, maybe that’s to be expected given how ML comics work? Let’s me and you have a looky loo!

MARSHAL LAW TAKES MANHATTAN (1989) has many notable aspects but none, I think, more notable than the fact that it was initially published by the now entirely humourless Marvel Comics. Almost entirely humourless, I guess, since Marvel has given us the joy of the Marvel Architects photoshoot:

"Blue Steel!"

In this one-shot Pat Mills explicitly recasts super-heroes as products of metal illness. Having already steamrollered over the heroes of The Golden Age in the previous volume (SUPER BABYLON, Dark Horse, 1992) this story focuses more on the Silver and Bronze Age heroes. All your Mighty Marvel favourites are here with the dysfunctions and disabilities inherent in their origins made plain. The whole thing has the air of an issue of NOT BRAND ECCH that has spent a traumatic time in borstal and returned to wreak revenge armed with a ball peen hammer and a roll of duct tape.

"But, but whatever can you mean?!?"

Captain America sucks his thumb while holding the flag and conducting interminable monologues before occasionally leaping into action and describing his actions (“Aiee! Now we are going up the stairs!”), Mister Fantastic talks to his invisible wife (who is patently a delusion), Doctor Strange is a hebephrenic and Daredevil wanders about in the background bumping into things. It’s obvious, brutal, funny and all the more obvious, brutal and funny since Pat Mills is also, in his patented Pat Mills-y way making a point.

"Better than the wink at the end of WHTTMOT anyday!"

This Millsian point is embodied by The Persecutor (remarkably similar to The Punisher) who the good Marshal has been dispatched to bring in by his odious boss McGland. A former CIA Specialist in Enhanced Interrogation Techniques The Persecutor is a wholly unsympathetic turd. He’s used by Mills as an example of where the psychosis of super heroes leads a society. Mills argues that the acceptance of such practices is only possible in a society which holds the default position that it is The Good Guy. Because if you are The Good Guy then nothing you do is wrong.

Interestingly, at least to me, Pat Mills maintains that the concept of the super-hero has been absorbed into Western culture in a damaging way as it, along with numerous other factors, allows the West to casts itself as The Good Guy in an internal cartoon narrative that reduces complex and dangerous real world issues into ones of childish simplicity. If only there were some recent examples of that. If only there weren't. If only there were not. And so, for Mr. Mills, super-heroes are fully worthy of the shock treatment he is dispensing.

Which is okay as far as it goes. I mean I’m a long time cape fan so I’m not unaware that the first response to this is that, yeah, but, super heroes embody all the good qualities in humanity, “With great power must come responsibility” and all that trad jazz, dad. Which is true but I think it’s also true that the tendency is to ignore the “responsibility” bit and just focus on the “powers” bit and I think that’s where Mills has a point. But that was a long time ago when people read cape comics in their hundreds of thousands and the heroes actually meant something other than a stepping stone into TV.

Okay. So it kind of yells at you like an angry hobo but it’s a hobo with a point and also a hobo with a killer sick sense of humour and, since the hobo has been designed by the Gaudi of the Grotesque Mr. Kevin O’Neill, the whole thing ends up being diagnosed as VERY GOOD!

The second story collected here is SECRET TRIBUNAL (1993) which basically takes the Legion of Super Heroes and feeds them to the movie Alien while pausing to spit on the excesses of the Nineties. A case of, “In space no one can hear your voice break, dude!”

"BLIP!"

Now, Pat Mills’ work probably gets called a lot of things but it’s probably rarely called sweet and touching. That’s “touching” in the nice sense, not the one that  involves years of therapy and mental anguish. Despite the body horror, gore, expletives, pouch festooned bosoms, crude innuendo and typical strident delivery SECRET TRIBUNAL manages to actually be both sweet and touching. The focus of the story is Growing Boy who is seeking entry into the League of Heroes but fears that when the time comes he will fail to perform, he will fail to, um, grow. This is really quite a clever way of addressing teenage fears and insecurities while at the same time appearing to mock them. It’s all the cleverer for combining it with the gyno-horror of the Alien movies. Of course you may think this is just stone obvious in which case you are not me, and that, pal, is your reward; not being me. Trust me, that's better than diamonds. There’s also another layer of intelligence since quite early on Growing Boy becomes experienced at the fluttering lips and silky limbs of Super Sensitive Girl.

"Hands above the covers, Paul Levitz! Hands ABOVE the covers!"

He recalls that “I can still see her face now…congested, panting like an animal…making suggestions I never expected to be uttered from female lips” and I’m pretty sure they aren't things like: “Why don’t you go down the pub and have some time to yourself.” so where the beast with two backs is concerned Growing Boy is sorted for “Eee!”s and jizz but still he fears being unable to “perform”. This of course is, I believe, because in cape comics the fight scenes are analogous to the fuck scenes in a porno. And since Growing Boy’s money shot is illustrated by Kevin O’Neill it looks like this:

"Do you remember the first time...?"

Ah, yes, the aliens. Obviously the League of Heroes, being as they are a bunch of peer pressurized hormone crazed teens, are outmatched from the off and even the venerable Marshal might not tip the scales in their favour. Luckily our beleaguered heroes are powered up by the presence of The Secret Tribunal! Oh my, what a lovely distillation of Nineties nonsense they are too. Here are their names: Lichenstein, Anti-Man, Vrilla, Ragnarok, Breathless and Rune! The ridiculousness of the time when people who drew like disturbed 8 year olds ruled the roost is channeled to fine effect by Kevin O’Neill. A more garish collection of pouches, shoulder-pads, wasp-waists, big honkers, cigars and headscarves can rarely have been seen. Well, outside of the original travesties, natch.

"Audacious!"

The dialogue these badly designed buffoons spout is delightfully stilted. Breathless, who is basically a male sex-fetish with pouches for nipples, delivers the following wonder, “It’s so hard to find men to help me gain my explosive energy. They find me repulsive…”. It’s the seamless combination of these high-impact idiots with the more restrained old school stylings of the League together with the warped and turbulent textures of the Aliens which is Kevin O’Neill’s greatest achievement here. Not once do the differing styles chafe against each other and not once do they lose their distinctiveness. Also the League’s spaceship looks like a cock with four balls. That’s never not funny in fact it’s VERY GOOD!

"Cliches unbound! Well, bound with barbed wire but still cliches!"

Alas, things take a bit of a stumble with THE MASK/MARSHAL LAW (1998) on the second page of which the sweet Marshal declares “I’m just going through the motions.” It’s hard not to take this literally as Mills and O’Neill struggle to bring some of the old magic back in a tale in which the charming Marshal goes on One Lat Mission against his original nemesis The Sleepman who is now ridiculously over-powered due to his wearing The Mask. Oh, it’s fun enough stuff but nowhere near as psychotically entertaining as its predecessors. Mills struggles to make a Mills-y statement with the material falling back on the old stand by of masks allow people to behave without inhibitions which isn't original or terribly interesting but does allow Kevin O’Neill to bust his nuts all over the pages in a series of flagrantly unsettling S/M scenarios.

"It isn't THAT bad!"

The biggest problem for the series is the very nature of the series. Due to its parasitic nature Marshal Law only really works when it has something of substance to nail to a cross. By this time Mills and O’Neill have eviscerated all the old familiar favourites and are having to hunt and peck the sterile ground of modern comics for sustenance. Marshal Law’s catch-phrase is “I’m a hero hunter. I haven’t found any yet.” Judging by the much remarked upon lack of invention and creativity in the modern North American Super-Hero genre he’s got no chance once he hits the noughties. But there is hope in the last page that ML will find cape comics worthy of hating again. When the book ends they aren't even worthy of that. Because they don’t mean anything now, not even anything bad, just…nothing. Even Marshal Law can’t fight nothing. But he tries and God loves a trier (also keen on: sacrifices) so in my book this one was GOOD!

I just love this panel, thats all.

So the scores on the doors seem to indicate that MARSHAL LAW: FEAR ASYLUM is VERY GOOD!

JACK KIRBY IS CALLING YOU WITH HIS MIND, MY FRIEND!!!

Hey, I’m looking for a few good people. Well, actually I’m looking for about 5000 people with more money than sense and a retailer with no sense of self-preservation. I think that’s doable. I've seen the sales figures for NEW AVENGERS so there’s way more than 5000 people out there drunk in charge of 5 dollar bills. What we do, right, is take up Marvel on their “Order 5,000 copies of this dreadful ULTIMATE FALL-OUT comic we can’t shift and you can have a free advert in a Marvel comic guaranteed not to reach any new customers.” Yup, in times of economic hardship Marvel are always there for the retailers. I’m sure you can see where this is going: we order the copies via our retailer and send in an advert consisting of this:

We might also put some words on it. We could put “Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994). The Original Marvel Architect.” Or “The man who paid for everybody involved in this comic to go to Hooters on expenses.” Or Stan Lee got his, where’s Jack’s?” Or “Those mediocre movies whose box office performance and merchandising revenue you’re all so puffed up about? Totally down to this pipe smoking high-waisters wearing dude. His name’s JACK KIRBY in case you forgot!” I don’t know, we could work on it a bit. What? Oh, what do we do with 5000 bad ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN comics? Build a career, baby. Build a career and then go into TV! Sheesh! Tough crowd!

Have a nice weekend all and if you go into your LCS buy some COMICS!!!