Armageddon 2001 - A Story So Good They Had To Screw It Up

Preposterously and against long odds I am an unabashed fan of the DC Comics event ARMAGEDDON 2001.  Way, way, back in the halcyon days of 90-91 Archie Goodwin wrote, what I believe to be, a very clean, direct, and fantastic single issue.  That I think it stands shoulder to shoulder on the myth-making stage with some of the classics is my cross to bear.

Armageddon 2001 #1 sets up a great sci-fi tale. A great superhero story.  A fantastic what-if.  A solid mystery within a mystery.  A believable protagonist.  A tragic, yet menacing antagonist.  What’s more, depending on your perspective, this series even laid out a tolerable and enjoyable format for event comics that might have saved us all a crap load of money and at the same time continued to help retailers sell a ton of books.

Therefore, it is a special tragedy of note that all this fine work would later be undermined and driven into a shallow grave for no less a sin than being a story well told.

Yep, that’s a real problem.  Tell your story too well.

Let me ask, when you set out to tell the story of the fall of a hero what’s the harm in the reader figuring it out slightly before the final reveal?  Doesn’t that point to a story that “makes sense” and “comes together rationally?”

Well, Instead of sticking to that plan and turning a B list (at best) hero into a fantastic modern villain operating from an untouchable fortress in the future DC decided to deliver a useless and complete anticlimax in the hopes that it might “surprise” readers.  So, for those keeping track, instead of giving readers a nice pat on the hind parts for figuring it out and telling the story you set out to tell DC flipped out – changed the ending to a HUGE story – and sabotaged all their plans for the future.

DERP

DERP

DERP

But, through the miracle of the internet and my stupid obsession I’m going to throw up a bunch of content on it and see if you think my radical views have merit.  Why?  Hell, why not?

First, Goodwin’s script is amazing.  This kind of 12 words a page stuff coupled with wide, almost epic panel choices, really only works when you’ve got the annual format to show off with.  The problem with a lot of this stuff is that they try this kind of end run around – I don’t know – WRITING with less than half that page count.  Heroes that behave like it - challenges - choices.  He really knew his way around the format.

Second, The annual format would persist through the entire crossover in giving the 56 page treatment to the bookend issues and the selected characters (those who had annuals – sometimes multiples).  I can’t stress this enough.  EACH issue gave creators the time and space to tell satisfying and full stories.  Because of the unique device of WAVERIDER  each annual was a self-contained exploration of a possible future. Meaning the story could wrap up but the ongoing mystery narrative could proceed unabated.

Third, Jurgens art was at its peak.  This was the pinnacle of late 80’s house style.  Clean, direct, representative of a very specific look and feel.  His renderings had the authority of precision and defined boundaries.  He also had tricks and combined with Goodwin's script delivered on many panel plays (repeating threes, widescreen a decade before The Authority would swoop in and claim credit, descending grids to show focus, etc...)

But, let me show you a little of what I mean...

(Page 1)

THOUGHTS.

TAKES SO LONG FOR THEM TO COME TOGETHER.

ETERNITIES.

BUT THEN…

…I HAVE TIME.

(2)

EVEN AS I THINK IT, I SENSE I’M WRONG

I DON’T HAVE TIME.

TIME HAS ME.

DON’T WORRY, SON.

THOUGHTS.

I’M A LITTLE BOY AGAIN…TRAPPED IN DARKNESS. BURIED BEYOND SAVING.

THEN SUDDENLY…

…BLINDED BY LIGHT

DON’T WORRY –

--IT’S GOING TO BE ALL RIGHT.

BEYOND SAVING BY ANY ORDINARY MEANS.

(3)

PAINED EYES TEARING, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE AS I’M LIFTED UP.

IT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE, WASN’T IT? THE BUILDING…THE WHOLE BUILDING FELL!  I THOUGHT NOTHING COULD HELP…!

SOMETIMES IT SEEMS THAT WAY –

WHICH IS WHY SOMEONE SHOULD BE THERE TO TRY.

STILL BLINDED BY THE LIGHT, I FIT ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES TO THAT VOICE…

BUT THE MOMENT NEVER CHANGES.

(4)

NOT EVEN HERE.

TRAPPED.

WITH TIME.

TIME AND…

THOUGHTS.

IN MY MIND, THEY ARE GIANTS.

AND WHOEVER SAVED ME THAT DAY…

…WAS ONE OF THEM.

(5)

GIANTS.  THEY GREW THAT WAY IN MY THOUGHTS…

…EVEN WHEN IT WAS SAFER THEY NOT BE THERE AT ALL.

NOT THAT THEY WERE PERFECT.

THEY HAD THEIR FAILINGS.  THEY HAD THEIR DIFFERENCES.

I LEARNED THAT.

(6)

LIKE US, THEIR EMOTIONS COULD RUN WILD…

…SEEMINGLY BEYOND CONTROL.

AND YET…

(7)

…SELDOM BEYOND REASON.

…THE NEED TO SERVE A GREATER CAUSE RAN DEEPER.

THIS MADE THEM GIANTS.

THIS UNITED THEM.

IN SPITE OF ALL RISKS…

(8)

HEROES.

PART OF MY CONSCIOUSNESS STILL STIRS UNEASILY AT THINKING THE WORD…

(9)

…BUT THAT IS THE NAME FOR THEM.

WHATEVER THEIR OWN FEARS OR INNER FURIES…

…THEY ROSE TO THE TEST.

THEY DID WHAT HAD TO BE DONE.

AND ULTIMATELY, DESPITE OBSTACLES AND SETBACKS…

THEY DID IT IN TRIUMPH.

(10)

IN THE END, WHAT REALLY HAPPENED MAY NEVER BE KNOWN.  EXCEPT…

IN THE END, IT WAS ONE OF THEIR OWN.

WHAT TRIGGERED IT?

MADNESS? OR COLD CALCULATION?

YEARS OF DECEPTION?

ONE SUDDEN DARK URGE?

(11)

HOWEVER IT HAPPENED, HOWEVER I PLAY IT IN MY MIND…

…THEY WERE TAKEN BY SURPRISE, CAUGHT UNPREPARED.

HOW ELSE TO EXPLAIN…

…ITS SUCCEEDING SO WELL?

(12)

ONE THAT WOULD STRETCH OUT…

…TO GRIP A WORLD.

MY WORLD.

MY TIME.

DARKTIME

WRITER – ARCHIE GOODWIN

PENCILLER - DAN JURGENS

INKER – DICK GIORDANO

LETTERER – ALBERT DE GUZMAN

COLORIST – ANTHONY TOLLIN

ASST. EDITOR – KELLEY PUCKETT

EDITOR – DENNIS O’NEIL

So, that’s the first 12 pages of Armageddon 2001 #1

The whole series, neatly laid out.  Who is the mysterious point of view character?  Who saved him?  Who is the devastating Monarch?  What prompts this awful change and does this new figure have a chance of stopping this from happening?  What follows in the remaining 44 pages will be fodder for next time.  I hope you’ll come along, share your memories and feelings on the series – good and bad, of course – and throw in some suggestions on modern stories that deliver the vibe for yourselves that this series delivered for me.

Arriving 710/13

This week see the release of the second Prophet TP,  as well as the latest issues of Hawkeye, Walking Dead, and East of West. All that and more after the jump! A1 #2 ADVENTURE TIME CANDY CAPERS #1 (OF 6) AMERICAS GOT POWERS #6 (OF 7) ASTONISHING X-MEN #64 ASTRO CITY #2 AVENGERS ARENA #12 NOW BALLISTIC #1 BATGIRL #22 BATMAN #22 BATMAN LIL GOTHAM #4 BLACK BAT #3 CVR A LEE BTVS SEASON 9 FREEFALL #23 NOTO CVR CHEW #35 CROSSED BADLANDS #32 DAREDEVIL #28 DARK SHADOWS #18 DARKNESS #114 DAWN SWORDMASTERS DAUGHTER DEMON KNIGHTS #22 EAST OF WEST #4 EERIE COMICS #3 GEORGE RR MARTIN SKIN TRADE #1 GHOSTED #1 GODZILLA ONGOING #13 GREAT PACIFIC #8 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #22 GREEN LANTERN THE ANIMATED SERIES #14 HAWKEYE #12 HELHEIM #5 INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #10 NOW JENNIFER BLOOD #29 JUDGE DREDD CLASSICS #1 JUSTICE LEAGUE #22  (TRINITY) KATANA #6 MARVELS THOR DARK WORLD PRELUDE #2 (OF 2) MEGA MAN #27 REG CVR MISS FURY #4 CVR A TAN MY LITTLE PONY MICRO SERIES #6 (OF 6) APPLEJACK NIGHTWING #22 PATHFINDER #8 PETER PANZERFAUST #12 PLANET O/T APES CATACLYSM #11 QUANTUM & WOODY #1 RACHEL RISING #18 RED SONJA #79 SAVAGE DRAGON #189 SECRET AVENGERS #6 NOW SHADOW GREEN HORNET DARK NIGHTS #1 (OF 5) SHELTERED #1 SIX GUN GORILLA #2 (OF 6) SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 #15 SOLID STATE TANK GIRL #2 (OF 4) SPONGEBOB COMICS #22 STAR WARS #7 2013 ONGOING STORM DOGS #6 (OF 6) SUICIDE SQUAD #22 SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #13 NOW SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #2 SUPURBIA ONGOING #9 THE LONE RANGER #16 THRESHOLD #7 TMNT NEW ANIMATED ADVENTURES #1 TRUE LIVES O/T FABULOUS KILLJOYS #2 (OF 6) ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #27 UNCANNY X-MEN #8 NOW WALKING DEAD #112 WESTWOOD WITCHES #2 WOLVERINE #6 NOW WORLDS FINEST #14 X-O MANOWAR (VU) #15 YOUNG AVENGERS #7 NOW

Books/Mags/Stuff ABSOLUTE BLACKEST NIGHT HC ALTER EGO #118 AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER TP VOL 05 SEARCH PART 2 AVENGERS PREM HC VOL 02 LAST WHITE EVENT NOW BACK ISSUE #65 BEFORE WATCHMEN COMEDIAN RORSCHACH DLX HC BEFORE WATCHMEN NITE OWL DR MANHATTAN DLX HC BEST OF EC ARTIST ED HC BRAVEST WARRIORS TP VOL 01 BRICKJOURNAL #24 DARK TOWER GUNSLINGER TP WAY STATION ESSENTIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA TP VOL 07 FF TP VOL 01 FANTASTIC FAUX NOW GAMBIT TP VOL 02 TOMBSTONE BLUES GHOSTBUSTERS TP VOL 05 NEW GHOSTBUSTERS HARLAN ELLISONS 7 AGAINST CHAOS HC HAWKEYE TP VOL 02 LITTLE HITS NOW HE MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE TP VOL 01 HEAVY METAL #263 HI FRUCTOSE MAGAZINE QUARTERLY #28 JASON LOST CAT HC JOHN BYRNE FANTASTIC FOUR ARTIST ED HC JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #337 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK TP VOL 02 BOOKS OF MAGIC (N52) LOCKE & KEY TP VOL 05 CLOCKWORKS PROPHET TP VOL 02 BROTHERS SAGA OF THE SWAMP THING TP BOOK 04 SAVAGE DRAGON ON TRIAL TP STAR WARS PURGE TP SUPERGIRL TP VOL 02 GIRL IN THE WORLD (N52) SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TP SUPERIORITY COMPLEX THOR GODS AND GUARDIANS OF GALAXY TP WORKBURGER GN X-FILES CLASSICS HC VOL 01

As always, what do YOU think?

"Choke!", "Gasp!" Not A Podcast! BOOKS! Y'Know, Like In The Long, Long Ago!

This is you, right:

From "The Whipping" by Wallace Wood & Al Feldstein/Jack Oleck from "CAME THE DAWN and other stories illustrated by Wallace Wood" (Fantagraphics, 2012)

And good luck with that because it's a SKIP WEEK! So I have thrown some words into the path of your thwarted desires and curdled expectations. Words about books because it is summer (or so rumour has it) and people like to be told what to read on the beach. Then they ignore it and buy that Dan Brown shit.  I've seen you. I've seen all of you!

Also, it transpires Boisterous Brian Hibbs has done his sales charts for the year thus far and posted them just below this. You are now content rich. Enjoy! Anyway, this...

DIRTY WEEKEND By Helen Zahavi Flamingo (1991) Kindle Edition - £1.99

This was Helen Zahavi’s debut novel and it is VERY GOOD! It’s written in raunchily rhythmic prose delivered by a swaggeringly sarcastic omniscient narrator who takes a sadistic pleasure in every blow our heroine takes, but savours even more every crack she gives back.  Because this is a book about Bella and how Bella woke up one morning to find, as she makes plain, she’d had enough. Had enough of the shit that men give that women are expected to take. Bella works her way through a menagerie of misogyny leaving no doubt as to her feelings on the matter at hand. You could say they asked for it, and Bella thought it rude to refuse. Murder, I’m talking about there. She kills ‘em. You may be thinking that it sounds quite a lot like a female Death Wish. Well, it sounded enough like a female Death Wish for it to be filmed in 1993 by one Michael Winner the director of, yes, Death Wish. 

For those blissfully unaware, Winner is a tireless self-publicist who has had occasional cinematic success with films that ,while derivative, do , at their best, possess an entertainingly  grubby energy  and disarming absence of taste. At their worst, which is most of the time, they are just puzzlingly shit. Basically, Michael Winner is the cinematic equivalent of Mark Millar. Although Millar probably won’t end up trading on his status as national laughing stock and appear in daytime TV Insurance adverts. More’s the pity. Anyway, the movie is precisely as good as you would imagine a feminist fable of retributive violence would be if it were filmed by a man who titled his restaurant review column Winner’s Dinners. Stick with the book is what I’m saying there. Also, be nice to ladies.

THE LAST WEREWOLF By Glen Duncan Canongate (2011) Print - £7.99 (p/b) Kindle Edition - £1.99

The title helpfully cues you into the fact that this is, ostensibly, about the last werewolf. And some vampires with whom he fails to get along with quite violently. Oh, and the human organisation which hunts them both while you doze, sedated by light ale, in front of Mad Men, wishing you too dressed like an adult. Because, as you have known in your bones since birth, there is a supernatural world hidden behind the net curtains of the mundane. It is of course a sexier and more exciting world too. There’s little doubt about this as our narrator takes great pleasure in regaling us at tedious length about the arousing and, yes, rousing existence he has suffered, lo, these two centuries past. And is it all about to end? Is the world to suffer not only the loss of his self-centred self but his very species itself? After a pretty gripping start I soon failed to care, alas.

Duncan’s primarily hobbled himself in presenting the story in the form of a journal written after the fact. This means he’s (mostly; no spoilers!) limited to one POV and all the most interesting shenanigans occur offstage. This does mean the exposition is smoothly delivered but it also means there’s a lot of exposition required, as all manner of shit has a tendency to just suddenly happen out of nowhere. This latter is okay in moderation but it’s taken to excess here. Tension and suspense aren't exactly engendered when a helicopter spraying garlic napalm could burst through the wall at any second to save our lycanthropic lead. Speaking of whom, he sure soon wore out his welcome. Yammer, yammer, yammer, that’s this guy. And it’s all about him, and how hard it is to be a sexy, dangerous and dangerously sexy manly wolf. Wotta maroon, this fella is. The guy’s had two hundred years to get used to the fact that he kills and eats someone once a month. After two centuries of failing to psychologically adapt he comes off as narcissistic nincompoop. People have got used to far worse thing in far less time, like being a Tory.

Oh, it’s OKAY! Duncan can write, and he writes well at that. He’s got an interesting premise and I was, I really was, really into bits of it, but the combination of overly facile plot machinations and self-pitying narration just rubbed me up the wrong way. Seemed to me that the biggest danger of being the last werewolf is you spend far too long sniffing your own arse.

THE UN-DIVIDED SELF By Will Self Bloomsbury (2010) Print - $30.00(h/b)

This is an overseas only selection of Self’s shorter fiction culled from each of his collections existent at the date of publication, together with a brief new piece. As such it’s a VERY GOOD! overview of his work from the early stylistically ostentatious stuff concerned primarily with effect to the more disciplined and, thus, more emotionally affecting later work. Here you can read Self gravitate from the impressively deadpan evocations of drab horror (“Grey Area”) to a tale which quietly allows you a peep at the singular level of Hell which can flare open in a moment of parental inattention (“The Five Swing Walk”). Some of it is quite funny too. Honest.

Um, that's it...Next time - COMICS!!!

Arriving 7/3/13

The penultimate issue of Grant Morrison's eight year run on Batman arrives this week with Batman Inc #12 plus a whole bunch of other great books after the jump! 47 RONIN #5 (OF 5) ABE SAPIEN #4 NEW RACE PT 1 MAX FIUMARA CVR ABSOLUTION RUBICON #1 ACTION COMICS #22 ADVENTURE TIME FIONNA & CAKE #6 (OF 6) AGE OF BRONZE #33 ALIENS VS PARKER #3 (OF 4) AME COMI GIRLS #5 ARCHIE #645 REG CVR AVENGERS #15 INF AVENGERS AI #1 BATMAN INCORPORATED #12 BATWING #22 BLACKACRE #8 CATALYST COMIX #1 (OF 9) CLIVE BARKER NEXT TESTAMENT #2 (OF 12) DAREDEVIL DARK NIGHTS #2 (OF 8) DARK SKULLKICKERS DARK #1 DEADPOOL KILLS DEADPOOL #1 (OF 4) DETECTIVE COMICS #22 DEXTER #1 (OF 5) DIAL H #14 EARTH 2 #14 EMERALD CITY OF OZ #1 (OF 5) EMILY & THE STRANGERS #3 (OF 3) FAIREST #17 FIVE WEAPONS #5 (OF 5) GARFIELD #15 GREEN ARROW #22 GREEN LANTERN #22 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY TOMORROWS AVENGERS #1 INVINCIBLE UNIVERSE #4 IRON MAN #12 NOW JENNIFER BLOOD FIRST BLOOD #6 LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #10 MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS EARTHS HEROES #16 MERCY SPARX #1 MICHAEL AVON OEMINGS VICTORIES #3 (OF 5) TRANSHUMAN MISTER X EVICTION #3 (OF 3) MOVEMENT #3 OWL #1 (OF 4) POLARITY #4 (OF 4) RED SHE-HULK #67 NOW RED SONJA #78 SATELLITE SAM #1 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #35 SHADOW #15 SHADOWMAN (VU) #8 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #250 SPAWN #233 STEAM ENGINES OF OZ #1 STORMWATCH #22 SUICIDE RISK #3 SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN #1 NOW SWAMP THING #22 TEN GRAND #3 THIEF OF THIEVES #15 THUNDERBOLTS #12 NOW TRINITY OF SIN PANDORA #1 TRINITY OF SIN THE PHANTOM STRANGER #10 UBER #3 VENOM #37 WHAT IF AVX #1 (OF 4) X-MEN LEGACY #13 NOW

Books/Mags/Stuff 2000 AD PACK MAY 2013 ABC WARRIORS VOLGAN WAR GN VOL 01 ABC WARRIORS VOLGAN WAR GN VOL 02 AXE COP TP VOL 04 PRESIDENT WORLD BIG PLANS GN BILLY THE KID OLD TIMEY ODDITIES TP VOL 03 ORM OF LOCH NESS BREAD AND WINE HC (A) CHRONICLES OF CONAN TP VOL 24 BLOOD DAWN & OTHER STORIES CINEFEX #134 DAREDEVIL HC END OF DAYS DISNEY MICKEY MOUSE COLOR SUNDAYS HC VOL 01 CALL WILD DOCTOR WHO 3 TP VOL 02 EYE OF ASHAYA GREEN EGGS AND MAAKIES HC GREEN LANTERN CORPS TP VOL 01 FEARSOME (N52) GRENDEL OMNIBUS TP VOL 03 ORIONS REIGN HIGH WAYS TP ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #41 KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE TP VOL 39 MASKS & MOBSTERS HC VOL 01 NEW AVENGERS PREM HC VOL 01 EVERYTHING DIES NOW POKEMON ADVENTURES TP VOL 17 SECRET HISTORY OF DB COOPER HC STAR TREK ONGOING TP VOL 05 TALES OF HOT ROD HORROR TP VOL 02 UGLYDOLLS GOING PLACES GN UNCANNY X-MEN PREM HC VOL 01 REVOLUTION WASTELAND TP VOL 08 LOST I/T OZONE WOLVERINE BY MARK MILLAR OMNIBUS HC WOLVERINE MASKED BUST BANK (O/A) X-FACTOR TP VOL 20 HELL ON EARTH WAR

As always, what do YOU think?

Comix Experience Best Sellers: First half of 2013, Books

Same thing as the previous, just this time focusing on the BOOKS part of the business. This is the list that genuinely excites me, again, under the jump!

Like the other, here we go first by QUANTITY sold.

As you can see, our best sellers are dominated by Image comics -- 6 of the top 10, 10 of the top 20.

I talked before about just how well SAGA is doing -- that number is HUGE, almost triple the sales on HAWKEYE, but even more impressive to me is how SAGA v2 is already our #4 book for the year... with just ELEVEN on-sale days. Wow!

I also want to give Special Note to that HAWKEYE book at #2 -- it has been a while since I've had a Marvel TP perform like that... AVX is the next best-seller, and it is way down at #42.... -- and, again, these are just huge, huge numbers, numbers rivaling any number of periodicals back on that list.

I am really really happy with the breadth and diversity of this list!

1	SAGA TP VOL 01 (BKV)
2	HAWKEYE TP VOL 01 MY LIFE AS A WEAPON
3	LOEG NEMO HEART OF ICE HC
4	SAGA TP VOL 02 (BKV)
5	PROPHET TP VOL 01 REMISSION
6	MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 01 SCIENCE BAD
7	FABLES TP VOL 18 CUBS IN TOYLAND
8	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 18 WHAT COMES AFTER
10	ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 02
11	ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 01
	CURSED PIRATE GIRL HC VOL 01
	DARTH VADER AND SON HC
	VADERS LITTLE PRINCESS HC
15	ALAN MOORE NEONOMICON TP
	MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 02
17	FATALE TP VOL 02 DEVILS BUSINESS
18	CHEW TP VOL 06 SPACE CAKES
	OGLAF BOOK ONE
	SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 17 SOMETHING TO FEAR
22	HARK A VAGRANT HC
	NINJAGO GN VOL 06
	WARREN ELLIS GUN MACHINE HC
	Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED
26	AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER TP VOL 04 SEARCH PART 1
	FATALE TP VOL 01 DEATH CHASES ME
	OATMEAL HOW TO TELL IF YOUR CAT IS PLOTTING TO KILL YOU
	ONE TRICK RIP OFF DEEP CUTS HC
	PROMETHEA TP BOOK 01
31	ADVENTURE TIME ORIGINAL GN VOL 01 PLAYING FIRE
	ECONOMIX HOW & WHY OUR ECONOMY WORKS & DOESNT WORK GN
33	HAPPY TP
34	MASSIVE TP VOL 01 BLACK PACIFIC
	NINJAGO GN VOL 01 CHALLENGE OF SAMUKAI
	NINJAGO GN VOL 02 MASK OF THE SENSEI
	NINJAGO GN VOL 05 KINGDOM O/T SNAKES
	PREACHER TP VOL 01 GONE TO TEXAS NEW EDITION (MAR050489) (MR
	TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET
	V FOR VENDETTA NEW EDITION TP (MR)
	WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM TP VOL 02
42	AMULET SC VOL 01 STONEKEEPER
	AVENGERS VS X-MEN TP
	FABLES TP VOL 01 LEGENDS IN EXILE NEW ED
	FABLES TP VOL 17 INHERIT THE WIND
	INVINCIBLE TP VOL 17 WHATS HAPPENING
	KICK-ASS 2 PRELUDE HIT-GIRL PREM HC
	LOEG III CENTURY #3 2009
	MIND MGMT HC VOL 01
	NORTHLANDERS TP VOL 07 THE ICELANDIC TRILOGY
51	BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP (new $19.99 printing)
	BATMAN HUSH COMPLETE TP
	BLACK HOLE COLLECTED SC NEW PTG
	BTVS SEASON 9 TP VOL 02 ON YOUR OWN
	CHEW TP VOL 01
	CHEW TP VOL 05 MAJOR LEAGUE CHEW
	CRIMINAL TP VOL 01 COWARD (MR)
	DRINKING AT THE MOVIES SC
	FLEX MENTALLO MAN OF MUSCLE MYSTERY DLX HC
	JULIOS DAY HC
	MARBLE SEASON HC
	ORC STAIN TP VOL 01
	PREACHER TP VOL 02 UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD NEW EDITION (M
	SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE NEW ED
	SILVER SURFER BY STAN LEE AND MOEBIUS #1
	UNDERWATER WELDER GN
	UNWRITTEN TP VOL 06 TOMMY TAYLOR  WAR OF WORDS
	UNWRITTEN TP VOL 07 THE WOUND
	WATCHMEN TP
70	BATMAN INCORPORATED TP
	BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC
	BATMAN TP VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS
	BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC
	BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 01 OUT FROM BONEVILLE
	CHEW TP VOL 03 JUST DESSERTS
	CHI SWEET HOME GN VOL 01
	GLOBAL FREQUENCY TP
	GODZILLA HALF CENTURY WAR TP
	KINGDOM COME TP NEW EDITION
	LEGEND OF ZELDA HYRULE HISTORIA HC
	LOEG III CENTURY #1 1910
	LOEG III CENTURY #2 1969
	LOEG VOL TWO TP (FEB058407)
	MY FRIEND DAHMER SC
	NAO OF BROWN GN
	R CRUMBS HEROES OF BLUES JAZZ & COUNTRY WITH CD HC
	SANDMAN TP VOL 04 SEASON OF MISTS NEW ED
	SOLO DELUXE ED HC
	THE INFINITE WAIT
	WALKING DEAD NOVEL SC VOL 01 RISE OF GOVERNOR
	WRINKLE IN TIME GN
	Y THE LAST MAN DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 01
	Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 02 CYCLES (OCT058281) (MR)
	Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 03 ONE SMALL STEP (MAR068027) (MR)
95	ARKHAM ASYLUM ANNIVERSARY ED SC
	ASTERIX WHERES ASTERIX HC
	AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER TP VOL 01 PROMISE PART 1
	BATMAN HC VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS
	BEST AMERICAN COMICS HC 2012
	CHEW TP VOL 04 FLAMBE
	DIAL H TP VOL 01 INTO YOU
	DRAMA GN
	FABLES TP VOL 02 ANIMAL FARM
	FATALE TP VOL 03
	KICK-ASS 2 TP
	KOKO BE GOOD GN
	LOGICOMIX GN
	PARKER THE HUNTER SC
	PRISON PIT GN VOL 04
	PUNK ROCK JESUS TP
	PYONGYANG A JOURNEY IN NORTH KOREA TP
	RELISH MY LIFE IN KITCHEN GN
	SCOTT PILGRIM GN VOL 01 PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE
	SHARAZ DE HC
	STAR TREK COUNTDOWN TO DARKNESS TP

And here is the chart, sorted instead by DOLLARS SOLD.  Not a TON of changes, the most obvious might be WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM v2 rising up so strong, but again, it shows you just how important price points become to the profitability of a store. Hardcovers, Artist Editions, that Disney Animation box set, and so on -- A dolla makes me holla!

1	SAGA TP VOL 01 (BKV)
2	HAWKEYE TP VOL 01 MY LIFE AS A WEAPON
3	LOEG NEMO HEART OF ICE HC
4	SAGA TP VOL 02 (BKV)
5	WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM TP VOL 02
6	MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 01 SCIENCE BAD
7	CURSED PIRATE GIRL HC VOL 01
8	PROPHET TP VOL 01 REMISSION
9	FABLES TP VOL 18 CUBS IN TOYLAND
10	ALAN MOORE NEONOMICON TP
11	WARREN ELLIS GUN MACHINE HC
12	AVENGERS VS X-MEN TP
13	ONE TRICK RIP OFF DEEP CUTS HC
14	ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 02
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 18 WHAT COMES AFTER
16	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE
17	WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM TP VOL 01
18	SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES NEW ED
19	ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 01
20	METABARONS ULTIMATE COLL ED
21	DARTH VADER AND SON HC
22	SOLO DELUXE ED HC
23	OGLAF BOOK ONE
24	AVENGERS VS X-MEN CHEUNG HC
25	VADERS LITTLE PRINCESS HC
26	HARK A VAGRANT HC
27	MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 02
28	ABSOLUTE SANDMAN HC VOL 01
29	KICK-ASS 2 PRELUDE HIT-GIRL PREM HC
30	ABSOLUTE SANDMAN HC VOL 04 (JUL080211) (MR)
31	LEGEND OF ZELDA HYRULE HISTORIA HC
32	MAD ARTIST ED HC
33	INVINCIBLE COMPENDIUM TP VOL 01
34	FATALE TP VOL 02 DEVILS BUSINESS
35	Y THE LAST MAN DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 01
36	MASSIVE TP VOL 01 BLACK PACIFIC
	V FOR VENDETTA NEW EDITION TP (MR)
38	CHEW TP VOL 06 SPACE CAKES
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 17 SOMETHING TO FEAR
40	PROMETHEA TP BOOK 01 (APR068028)
41	ECONOMIX HOW & WHY OUR ECONOMY WORKS & DOESNT WORK GN
42	WILL EISNER SPIRIT ARTIST ED HC
43	WALKING DEAD HC VOL 01 NEW PTG
44	BATMAN HUSH COMPLETE TP
45	ABSOLUTE BATMAN & ROBIN HC BATMAN REBORN
46	Y THE LAST MAN TP VOL 01 UNMANNED
47	PREACHER TP VOL 01 GONE TO TEXAS NEW EDITION (MAR050489) (MR
48	FLEX MENTALLO MAN OF MUSCLE MYSTERY DLX HC
49	MARBLE SEASON HC
50	INVISIBLES OMNIBUS HC
51	FATALE TP VOL 01 DEATH CHASES ME
52	SHARAZ DE HC
53	NAO OF BROWN GN
54	OATMEAL HOW TO TELL IF YOUR CAT IS PLOTTING TO KILL YOU
55	HABIBI GN
56	BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP (new $19.99 printing)
	JULIOS DAY HC
	MIND MGMT HC VOL 01
	SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE NEW ED
	WATCHMEN TP
61	BLACK HOLE COLLECTED SC NEW PTG
	UNDERWATER WELDER GN
63	INVINCIBLE TP VOL 17 WHATS HAPPENING
	NORTHLANDERS TP VOL 07 THE ICELANDIC TRILOGY
65	TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET
66	BLACK INCAL DLX HC VOL 01
67	R CRUMBS HEROES OF BLUES JAZZ & COUNTRY WITH CD HC
68	BTVS SEASON 9 TP VOL 02 ON YOUR OWN
	ORC STAIN TP VOL 01
70	BEST AMERICAN COMICS HC 2012
71	BATMAN HC VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS
72	HOUSE OF SECRETS OMNIBUS HC
73	DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS ARCHIVES BK 05 9 OLD MEN FLIPBOOK
74	DOOM 2099 COMPLETE COLLECTION BY WARREN ELLIS TP
	MAGE HC VOL 01 THE HERO DISCOVERED
76	CREEPY PRESENTS RICHARD CORBEN HC
	LUCIFER TP VOL 01
78	BATMAN INCORPORATED TP
	SANDMAN TP VOL 04 SEASON OF MISTS NEW ED
	WRINKLE IN TIME GN
81	BONE ONE VOL ED SC
82	UNWRITTEN TP VOL 06 TOMMY TAYLOR  WAR OF WORDS
83	HAPPY TP
84	TECHNOPRIESTS SUPREME COLL OMNIBUS
85	LOGICOMIX GN
86	FABLES TP VOL 17 INHERIT THE WIND
87	GLOBAL FREQUENCY TP
88	STAR WARS MILLENNIUM FALCON OWNERS WORKSHOP MANUAL
89	WEIRD HORRORS & DARING ADV JOE KUBERT ARCHIVES HC VOL 01
90	AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER TP VOL 04 SEARCH PART 1
91	WOODWORK WALLACE WOOD 1927-1981 HC
92	BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC
	KINGDOM COME TP NEW EDITION
94	ADVENTURE TIME ORIGINAL GN VOL 01 PLAYING FIRE
95	MY FRIEND DAHMER SC
96	DRINKING AT THE MOVIES SC
	FROM HELL TP
	MAUS SURVIVORS TALE COMPLETE HC
99	CHEW OMNIVORE ED HC VOL 03
100	JOHN K PRESENTS SPUMCO COMIC BOOK HC
	WALKING DEAD HC VOL 08

And that wraps this up.  Always interested in your thoughts on anything you see here!

-B

Comix Experience Best Sellers: First half of 2013, Comics

Hey, hey, that time of the year again, where we peek in and see what is doing well at Comix Experience.  Find it down below the jump, if you are interested!

As usual, I'm scrubbing out any back issue related sale here -- including quarter and dollar books, starter sets, and single back issues.  This first list is presented in QUANTITY SOLD -- these are actual sales to actual consumers, NOT just my orders or the like.

If Image had gone back to press on SAGA #9, all issues would have charted even higher -- hard to max sales when part 3 of 6 is OOP.... #7 & 8 would have also been in top 10, I think, if we could have got more 9s.

What's so striking about these sales for SAGA is just how well the book is ALSO doing (next post!) -- it is selling spiffy in EVERY format.  I sure hope there is a v1+v2 combined HC coming for Christmas.....

1	SAGA #11
2	SAGA #10
3	SAGA #9
4	SAGA #12
5	BATMAN #17
	JUPITERS LEGACY #1
7	BATMAN #16
8	BATMAN INCORPORATED #8
	SAGA #8
10	EAST OF WEST #1
11	UNCANNY X-MEN #1 NOW
	WALKING DEAD #106
13	WALKING DEAD #108
14	BATMAN #18
15	EAST OF WEST #2
	WALKING DEAD #107
17	BATMAN #20
	HELLBOY IN HELL #2
19	BATMAN #19
	HELLBOY IN HELL #3
	WALKING DEAD #109
22	AGE OF ULTRON #1 (OF 10)
23	BATMAN INCORPORATED #9
24	ACTION COMICS #16
25	HAWKEYE #8
	SAGA #7
27	BATMAN #21
	HELLBOY IN HELL #4
	WALKING DEAD #110
30	BATMAN INCORPORATED #6
	HAWKEYE #7
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #16
33	BATMAN INCORPORATED #10
	GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #1 NOW
35	ALL NEW X-MEN #5
	AVENGERS #3 NOW
37	ACTION COMICS #17
38	AGE OF ULTRON #2 (OF 10)
	AGE OF ULTRON #3 (OF 10)
	BATMAN INCORPORATED #7
	STAR WARS #1
	UNCANNY X-MEN #3 NOW
43	ALL NEW X-MEN #6 NOW2
	AVENGERS #4 NOW2
	AVENGERS #6 NOW2
	EAST OF WEST #3
	GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #2 NOW
	JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1
	STAR WARS #2
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #4 NOW
51	BATMAN AND ROBIN #16
	DETECTIVE COMICS #18
	HAWKEYE #9
	SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1
55	ACTION COMICS #18
	ALL NEW X-MEN #7 NOW2
	ALL NEW X-MEN #9 NOW
	DETECTIVE COMICS #16
	GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #0.1 NOW
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #3 NOW
61	ALL NEW X-MEN #10 NOW
	AVENGERS #5 NOW2
	DETECTIVE COMICS #17
	DETECTIVE COMICS #19
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #18
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #19
67	BATMAN AND ROBIN #18
	HAPPY #4 (OF 4)
	HAWKEYE #10
	JUPITERS LEGACY #2
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #17
	JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #2
	NEW AVENGERS #1 NOW
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #5 NOW2
	WALKING DEAD #111
76	AGE OF ULTRON #4 (OF 10)
	AVENGERS #8 NOW
	FATALE #12
	PROPHET #32
	SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1 NOW
	UNCANNY X-MEN #2 NOW
82	AGE OF ULTRON #5 (OF 10)
	ALL NEW X-MEN #11 NOW
	FATALE #11
	X-MEN #1 NOW
	YOUNG AVENGERS #2 NOW
87	ADVENTURE TIME FIONNA & CAKE #1 (OF 6)
	AGE OF ULTRON #8 (OF 10)
	ALL NEW X-MEN #8 NOW2
	AVENGERS #10 NOW
	AVENGERS #7 NOW
	BATMAN INCORPORATED #11
	FATALE #13
	MARA #1 (OF 6)
	NOWHERE MEN #3
	STAR WARS #3
97	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700
	AVENGERS #9 NOW
	BATMAN AND ROBIN #17
	DETECTIVE COMICS #20
	PROPHET #33
	SEX #1
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #8 NOW2
	UNCANNY X-MEN #5 NOW
	WALKING DEAD THE GOVERNOR SPECIAL

Let's also present the same data, except sorted by DOLLARS SOLD.  Not a lot of changes here, but you can see some shifts, like how AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700 soars way up the list. SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1 suddenly becomes a Top 20 book (I ordered too many, though, and are not yet where I want to be with profit on that one...)

Also? #46.

Either way, you can see just how much an impact $3.99 price points can have on the bottom line, and it isn't like there's any real market resistance (on an individual book level!) to the price point.

I'm always interested in your thoughts on any of this....

1	SAGA #11
2	SAGA #10
3	SAGA #9
4	SAGA #12
5	BATMAN #17
6	DETECTIVE COMICS #19
7	BATMAN #16
8	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #700
9	UNCANNY X-MEN #1 NOW
10	BATMAN #18
11	EAST OF WEST #1
12	JUPITERS LEGACY #1
13	BATMAN #20
14	BATMAN #19
15	SAGA #8
16	BATMAN INCORPORATED #8
17	AGE OF ULTRON #1 (OF 10)
18	SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1
19	EAST OF WEST #2
20	ACTION COMICS #18
21	GREEN LANTERN #20
22	BATMAN #21
23	WALKING DEAD #106
24	GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #1 NOW
25	COPRA COMPENDIUM
26	WALKING DEAD #108
27	ACTION COMICS #16
	AGE OF ULTRON #3 (OF 10)
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #16
30	AGE OF ULTRON #2 (OF 10)
	AVENGERS #3 NOW
32	UNCANNY X-MEN #3 NOW
33	WALKING DEAD #107
34	ALL NEW X-MEN #6 NOW2
	GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #2 NOW
36	ALL NEW X-MEN #5
37	JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1
38	HELLBOY IN HELL #2
39	DETECTIVE COMICS #18
40	HELLBOY IN HELL #3
41	WALKING DEAD #109
42	ALL NEW X-MEN #7 NOW2
	ALL NEW X-MEN #9 NOW
	DETECTIVE COMICS #16
	GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #0.1 NOW
46	JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 COMPLETE PACK (*sigh*)
47	ALL NEW X-MEN #10 NOW
	DETECTIVE COMICS #17
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #18
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #19
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #4 NOW
52	AVENGERS #4 NOW2
53	BATMAN INCORPORATED #9
54	ACTION COMICS #17
	AVENGERS #5 NOW2
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #17
	NEW AVENGERS #1 NOW
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #3 NOW
59	JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #2
60	HAWKEYE #8
	SAGA #7
62	AGE OF ULTRON #4 (OF 10)
	UNCANNY X-MEN #2 NOW
64	EAST OF WEST #3
65	AVENGERS #8 NOW
66	PROPHET #32
67	HELLBOY IN HELL #4
68	HAWKEYE #7
69	WALKING DEAD #110
70	AGE OF ULTRON #5 (OF 10)
	ALL NEW X-MEN #11 NOW
	AVENGERS #6 NOW2
	X-MEN #1 NOW
74	ADVENTURE TIME FIONNA & CAKE #1 (OF 6)
75	SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1 NOW
76	AGE OF ULTRON #8 (OF 10)
	ALL NEW X-MEN #8 NOW2
	AVENGERS #10 NOW
	AVENGERS #7 NOW
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #5 NOW2
81	BATMAN INCORPORATED #10
82	BATMAN INCORPORATED #6
83	AVENGERS #9 NOW
	DETECTIVE COMICS #20
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #8 NOW2
	UNCANNY X-MEN #5 NOW
87	PROPHET #33
88	GARTH ENNIS RED TEAM #1
89	STAR WARS #1
90	PROPHET #34
91	BATMAN INCORPORATED #7
92	FATALE #12
93	BATMAN AND ROBIN ANNUAL #1
94	ADVENTURE TIME FIONNA & CAKE #2 (OF 6)
	BATMAN SUPERMAN #1
96	AGE OF ULTRON #6 (OF 10)
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #6 NOW2
	UNCANNY X-MEN #4 NOW
	UNCANNY X-MEN #6 NOW
100	STAR WARS #2

You wouldn't like Smitty when he's...grossly disappointed (Reviews 6/26 comics)

So, anybody "reading" this?

Follow me into the largely NEGATIVE zone after the jump...

So Nice I posted it twice.  Take that, free version of F0toshap!

JUPITER'S LEGACY #2

$2.99 IMAGE COMICS

MILLAR / QUITELY

Well, the above image really says it all for me.  Millar continues to prove himself the world's most accomplished checkers player when it comes to comic scripting.  The sole positive here is that he's playing this game with a really sweet set of pieces courtesy of Quitely.  If you don't know where this is going after the end of issue #2 by all means, keep plowing away.  The subtle master that is Millar is sure to keep you "guessing."  This would probably get my standard - "Professionals doing professional work, art is nice, $2.99 price point, blah blah" but when you put on the back of your crap comic that it's the "GREATEST SUPERHERO EPIC OF THIS GENERATION" you are inviting a more critical eye.  It pains me...literally PAINS me to give anything drawn by Quitely this much scorn but...AWFUL.

PROPHET #36

$3.99 IMAGE COMICS

GRAHAM / ROY / MILONOGIANNIS / BERGIN III

Still a complete serving of FULL GUT VISUALS but I can't help but notice we're starting to drift into a referencing wasteland.  Characters and imagery from 90's Liefeld comics is coming to dominate the course charting for this series and I think it's a little lesser for it.  When we were adrift in the "post everything" world Prophet initially set out for us I was much more at ease with the feel of the series.  Now Graham is racing us towards a conflict that has everything to do with the past and nothing to do with the future.  I could really see this current arc being wrapped up with nice bit of anti-climax and then moving on to more open fields of conquest.  This world is just sooooo rich and cultivated.  I hate to see it dominated by the flat 2d reproductions in the "IMAGE CRYSTALLINE BALL"  Still as with almost all issues in this run I'm opening it up again and again.  Flip.  Flip.  Flip.  GOOD.

BATMAN SUPERMAN #1

$3.99 DC ENTERTAINMENT

PAK / LEE / OLIVER

First, Batman Superman?  Not cool.  Anyhow, check it out everybody.  Jae Lee got a case of JH Williams and he got it BAD.

The storytelling in this is rough.  Rough, rough.  Colin Smith once pointed out to me that he enjoyed Jae Lee's figures but was bothered by his lack of backgrounds.  Boy, I wish I could get some of that "lack of background."   Here they are so over the top they wind up being the foreground if you know what I mean.  Sure, there's a scene early where Clark confronts an in disguise Bruce on a park bench and we more than get the gist that Gotham is an eery place.  What we also get is the idea that Gotham's parks administrators are diseased maniacs.  There's setting the emotional context of the scene via place details and then there's fever dream.   As the show goes on we're treated to so many tight panels I was reasonably sure I was watching the new version of Les Miserables.  TONSILS!

There are way too many of this form of composition used to be effective.  What is supposed to be a kinetic and over the top brawl between an out of control / disoriented Superman and (future? alternate?) Batman is depicted as "FACES IN DISTRESS."  Also, figures in action are frequently cut off by panel borders to a laughable degree.  Call me old school but that is annoying and looks crappy as hell.

Another YMMV choice is the big, splashy computer graphic sound FX move.  It just seems like a wrong / terrible choice tonally speaking for this style of line work.  It took me out of almost every scene it appeared in but what do I know?  I'm no comics pro.

Finally, for the coup de grace, Clark calls Pa Kent "Dad" on the last page.  BLASPHEMY!  C'mon Greg Pak!  Don't do me like that!

Do better at your job, comics.  Jae Lee you did some amazing work with Morrison on Fantastic Four and you draw my second favorite version of the Inhumans but let's get it going here, ok?  (Yes, I know the second half of the book is not drawn by Lee.)  ((Yes, that's its own damning statement.)) (((Three?  No, not three.))) (((())))

I'll stick for a couple more but this was pretty damn close to another AWFUL and a disappointing EH at best for a much heralded opener.

LAZARUS #1

$2.99 IMAGE COMICS

RUCKA / LARK / ARCAS

So, it's DALLAS with souped up engineered killing machines and higher stakes.  I haven't figured out who plays Larry Hagman yet but we're getting there.

The world has proceeded to fall to shit, as it tends to do, and warring families of incredible wealth are all that remains of genteel society.  Each family has one - and apparently only one - NEO-esque hyper killing machine to do it's most glamorous dirty work.  The one we meet here, Forever Carlyle (Oy...) is the avatar for House Carlyle.  Eh, I'll take the Lannisters.  Anyway, the back matter does an excellent job of explaining what got Rucka's gears turning on making this story and - if I'm honest - was as good or better than the comic that preceded it.

I mean, light switches you guys.  LIGHT SWITCHES!  AWESOME!

Still, it means that they care and that...that is important.  In a world scary enough to contain Jupiter's Legacy that is VERY important.

GOOD

Wait, What? Ep. 128: Radical Cheek

Giffen doing Kirby in the amazing MOTU: Origin of Hordak one-shot.

Delays, delays, delays!  Sorry for 'em--I was out of town for a few days losing money at "The World's Biggest Little Slot Machine Gouge."  No complaints on that front, actually -- I spent much more time lying by the pool and eating cinnamon rolls the size of my head than I did setting my money on fire and throwing it in the air (metaphorically, mind you: it only felt like that because of the speed with which it disappeared out of my hands) and had really a fine old time overall -- but it did get in the way of timely posting of this, our 128th podcast and the one right before we take a week off.

Join me after the link, won't you, for some hasty show notes as I get ready to hustle my butt out the door?  (Hey, it is New Comics Day, you know!)

0:00-60:35: It's a new record: we go from complaining about the Internet to Age of Ultron #10 in under two minutes!  Yes, if you like hearing Graeme and Jeff wax rhapsodic about the possibilities of comics, this most certainly is not the segment for you.  I wish I could summarize everything said in this segment for you but let's just say -- if you had a complaint about Age of Ultron #10, we probably cover it in here. 60:35-1:06:41: Graeme was also non-pleased with a recent scene in Uncanny Avengers in which Rick Remender discusses his earlier controversial scene with a certain degree of, um, straw-mannishness, shall we say? I have a helpful image to illustrate! 1:06:41-1:16:59:  In the "stuff we need to talk about but have no idea how to actually talk about" department, we spend far too few minutes discussing Kim Thompson's passing and how much the contemporary comic market owes to him. 1:16:59-1:27:51: And then after contemplating comics and mortality, it's time to discuss the first six issues of Superman/Batman by Loeb and McGuinness. Graeme's version of Jeph Loeb's storytelling is actually better than the last three Loeb stories Jeff has read. 1:27:51-end: Other comics:  Masters of the Universe The Origin of Hordak one shot by Keith Giffen; Shade The Changing Man #2 by Steve Ditko and Michael Fleisher (see photo below of page discussed in the segment); The Ditko Public Service Package by Steve Ditko; Empowered Deluxe Edition Vol. 2 by Adam Warren; Batman & Batgirl #21; the currently gorgeous looking Judge Dredd story by John Wagner and Dave Taylor currently running in 2000 A.D.; and a Best of 2000 A.D. reprint I sprung on Graeme to see if he knew it:

(Do you think he'll be able to identify it? Tune and in see!)

And so, that's the ep! It'll probably be available on iTunes by the time you check this out, but it should also be available to you right here, right below:

Wait, What? Ep. 128: Radical Cheek

Remember, Graeme and I won't be recording this week, so there'll be no podcast next week, but we should be back after that to begin the whole cycle anew.  As always, we hope you enjoy, and thanks for listening!

Arriving 6/26/13

It's a HUUUUGE week of comics, with some of the best books currently on the stands out on the same day. Check out what we're talking about after the break! ADVENTURE TIME #17 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #2 AGE OF ULTRON #10AI AKANEIRO #2 (OF 3) ALL NEW X-MEN #13 NOW ALL STAR WESTERN #21 ALTERNATIVE COMICS #4 AMALAS BLADE #3 (OF 4) ANGEL & FAITH #23 STEVE MORRIS CVR AQUAMAN #21 ATOMIC ROBO SAVAGE SWORD OF DR DINOSAUR #1 (OF 5) AVENGERS ARENA #11 NOW BART SIMPSON COMICS #84 BATMAN SUPERMAN #1 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #21 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #2 BODIE TROLL #2 (OF 4) BOUNCE #2 BPRD VAMPIRE #4 (OF 5) CAPTAIN AMERICA #8 NOW CATWOMAN #21 CLONE #8 CROSSED BADLANDS #31 DAREDEVIL #27 DEADPOOL #12 NOW DJANGO UNCHAINED #5 (OF 7) DMC DEVIL MAY CRY VERGIL CHRONICLES #2 (OF 2) DOCTOR WHO PRISONERS OF TIME #6 (OF 12) ELEPHANTMEN #49 FATALE #15 FF #8 NOW FIVE GHOSTS HAUNTING OF FABIAN GRAY #4 (OF 5) FLASH #21 FURY MAX #13 GAMBIT #14 GHOSTBUSTERS #5 GODZILLA RULERS OF THE EARTH #1 GREEN TEAM TEEN TRILLIONAIRES #2 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #4 NOW HAWKEYE #11 HE MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #3 JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #653 NOW JUDGE DREDD #8 JUPITERS LEGACY #2 JUSTICE LEAGUE #21 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #21 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #5 KING CONAN HOUR O/T DRAGON #2 (OF 6) KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #199 LARFLEEZE #1 LAST OF US AMERICAN DREAMS #3 (OF 4) LAZARUS #1 MALEVOLENT MR BURNS #1 MARS ATTACKS CLASSICS OBLITERATED (ONE SHOT) MARVEL UNIVERSE ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #15 MASKS #8 MASSIVE #13 MIND MGMT #12 MORNING GLORIES #28 CVR A ESQUEJO MOUSE GUARD LEGENDS O/T GUARD VOL 2 #1 NOVA #5 NOW POWERS BUREAU #5 PROPHET #36 RED LANTERNS #21 RED SONJA #77 RED SONJA UNCHAINED #3 (OF 4) REGULAR SHOW #2 SCARLET SPIDER #18 SECRET AVENGERS #5 NOW SEX #4 STAR TREK ONGOING #22 AFTER DARKNESS PT 2 STAR WARS LEGACY II #4 STEED AND MRS PEEL ONGOING #9 SUPERMAN #21 TALON #9 TEEN TITANS #21 THINK TANK #8 TMNT ONGOING #23 TRUE BLOOD ONGOING #14 ULTIMATE COMICS X-MEN #28 UNCANNY #1 UNCANNY X-FORCE #7 NOW UNCANNY X-MEN #7 NOW UNWRITTEN #50 WAKE #2 (OF 10) WOLVERINE #5 NOW WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #32 X-MEN #2 NOW X-O MANOWAR (VU) #14 YOUNG AVENGERS #6 NOW

Books/Mags/Stuff AVALON CHRONICLES HC VOL 02 BEFORE WATCHMEN MINUTEMEN SILK SPECTRE DLX HC BEFORE WATCHMEN OZYMANDIAS CRIMSON CORSAIR DLX HC BLOODSHOT (VU) TP VOL 02 RISE AND THE FALL BOYS DEFINITIVE EDITION HC VOL 05 CHANGE TP CLOCKWERX HC EYES O/T CAT YELLOW ED HC FATALE TP VOL 03 G FAN #101 HELLBLAZER DEATH AND CIGARETTES TP HOMESICK GN HULK TP FROM MARVEL UK VAULTS JOHN BYRNE FANTASTIC FOUR ARTIST ED HC LOVE INFUSION GN MMW AVENGERS TP VOL 05 NEW SCHOOL HC OUTLAW TERRITORY GN VOL 03 PREVIEWS #298 JULY 2013 SHADOW TP VOL 02 REVOLUTION STAR-LORD HOLLOW CROWN TP SUPERMAN FAMILY ADVENTURES TP VOL 01 SUPERMAN TP VOL 01 WHAT PRICE TOMORROW (N52) USAGI YOJIMBO TP VOL 27 TOWN CALLED HELL WAR MACHINE GN WOLVERINE AND X-MEN BY JASON AARON TP VOL 05 WOLVERINE BY HAMA AND SILVESTRI TP VOL 01 ZIPPY DINGBURG DIARIES TP

As usual, what do YOU think?

Putting the "Wait" back in "Wait, What?"

Visual in no way pertinent to the post--I just always appreciate a bit of color on the page...

Hey, everyone!   Just a quick note to let you know that, although Graeme and I did record the next Wait, What? in a timely and accomplished fashion, I am currently trapped in a world I never made, a world with brutally tight slots and cinnamon rolls the size of very obese babies.   So instead of getting posted on its semi-regular Monday evening, it'll instead probably be more like... Wednesday afternoon.

The management apologizes for any inconvenience, and thanks you for your patience.

TIlting at Windmills #224 is up : on DC's Villain Month

You can always find it over at Comic Book Resources I really think I killed on this one, BTW -- let me know what you think.

J_Smitty Gets it Together (6/19 Reviews!)

Still stinging with shame over his balky pull list J_Smitty gets it together, remembers his password and partially rights the ship.  

Wonder Woman #21

Azzarello / Chiang / Wilson

DC Comics $2.99

This issue heralds the return of Cliff Chiang and it’s not a moment too soon. Or, maybe it is too soon. Chiang will undoubtedly keep me on this read where I would have otherwise fallen off by now. Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. Azzarello feels to me as though he’s embracing a new supporting cast; largely leaving the gods (both G and demi) behind - or at least fallow – and moving in the direction of Kirby’s Fourth World “modern” pantheon. Orion seems to be a semi regular at this point and we get our first glimpse of New Genesis so we’re definitely trafficking in that vein.

Chiang is a lush stylist and among other gems here really lays on some impressive boom tube effects (though that may be a collaboration between himself and colorist Matt Wilson) and – as usual with Cliff – the EYES have it! Ah, see what I…anyway to the pretty!

Also of note, one character dies while defiantly chanting the lyrics to Millwall FC’s ode to hooliganism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millwall_F.C.#Supporters_and_hooliganism

Good job this year, Millwall, you lost to Wigan in the FA semis. Maybe (snicker) next year.

Conan the Barbarian #17

Wood / Gianfelice / Stewart

Dark Horse Comics $3.50

Conan’s bad acid trip continues in part two of three in The Nightmare of Shallows arc. A LOT happens in this so allow me to jump off a bit here.

After doing a brief run through of a fantasy version of his earlier imprisonment (Hint: It could be titled “How to Kill with Loose Masonry,”) Conan and Belit soldier on through their shared Yellow Lotus induced dream state.

Relaxing on a sedan chair in an air pocket of a sunken Khitai treasure ship (how cool is that, by the way?) Conan and Belit espouse their world views in a single exchange of dialogue:

Wood is at his best (for me) working through interpersonal dynamics. He has an ability to populate his characters with consistent viewpoints that don't just sound one note or as an echo of an overall writer’s voice. Belit’s presence throughout the series has put Conan on backfoot in an exploration of young love and how the immediacy, ferocity and depth of passion can be a simultaneously thrilling and blinding experience. Sure, it’s Romeo and Juliet dynamics but consider this:

In Conan’s savage history you get the sense that Belit was either the right woman at the wrong time (tragic, to be sure) or perhaps even more painfully the right woman at the right time. Wood is willing to travel that awkward road of hopes, weaknesses, fears and confusion in the midst of killing giant snakes and dropping acid.

For that brave dare alone, for allowing Conan’s new iteration a modicum of psychological flexibility, he should be lauded.

Davide Gianfelice works in the bold, minimal line style I enjoy for its representational flexibility (meaning it is recognizable and clear at any depth of scale) and despite the occasional tendency to oversexualize Belit (I preferred Cloonan’s weird Banshee) he is a VERY capable artist that works at a high level in what Dark Horse would do well to make their default “house style.”

Lastly, it would be CRIMINAL to undersell Dave Stewart’s coloring work. It delivers so much of the mood, sense of place and emotional context. The slightest bloom of a cheek as Conan and Belit embrace is a detail that is neither over or underplayed. Note perfect.

He is truly a super power in his world and a driving force of the Dark Horse look. If you need further evidence…

B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth # 108

Mignola & Arcudi / Campbell / Stewart

Dark Horse Comics $3.50

They say when you become a parent your whole life changes.

This…F#$%ing…Comic.

I’ve enjoyed the weird super spooky creepshow that has been B.P.R.D. and I will continue to buy it but this one finally put me over my comfort line for what horror really is and illuminated why I’ve always had such a difficult time processing it. It’s the destruction of innocence that really gets me. The awful fall of the unprotected and the gentle that makes me rage and have a fit.

All of this is done capably and horribly. It is a wrenching experience and all the determined semi-photo linework and deep, blazing color do their job very well indeed. You pained me this month, B.P.R.D. and you showed me something scary. Thank you and damn you. Also, Johann is well hard.

Invincible #103

Kirkman / Ottley / Rathburn / Rauch

Image Comics $2.99

Look, can we talk for a second? You need to start buying this book. It’s Spider-Man, all right? Great Cast, Great Action, Great Narrative. Kirkman goes to great pains to make sure each issue is accessible and comprehensible as a unit and as a whole. Ottley never met or imagined a thing he couldn’t draw free hand. Just do it as a favor to me. Ok? I don’t have much to say on it except it has held my attention for over a hundred issues and that’s not an accident.

Also, Twitter rec’d by Rob Liefeld! Err…

Batman Beyond Unlimited #17

Beechen

Archer

Fridolfs

Caldwell

Krul

Porter

Livesay

DC Comics $3.99

Whoa, that’s a lot of people.

In Brief:

JT Krul, not bad on the Superman peace pitch. Truth!

Howard Porter, your line has thinned somewhat! A positive change.

Adam Archer, you have a wonderful – WONDERFUL manga-esque Darwyn Cookery about you, sir. Also, you learned how to make that Batman “Oh sh!t” face from Norm Breyfogle. I know it. Good on you.

You uncredited guys at the back outdid the Geoff Johns version of the Shazam / Captain Marvel yearlong thing by about a million miles in two panels. That deserves a donut! Let me know where to mail it.

That’s the great thing about charting the world of the future in comics. No one gives a damn about it. Isn’t that weird?

Till next time when I make my case that ARMAGEDDON 2001 WAS THIIIIIIIIIS CLOSE TO BEING THE GREATEST EVENT CROSSOVER EVER CREATED.

Signing off in the Signature Savage Style:

BYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYE!

"Aimed Like A Spear-Head At Your VITALS!!" COMICS! Sometimes They Beggar Belief!!

Did the Pharaohs crave eggnog? The riddle of children and adults – could “aging” hold the answer? Revealed – The Treasure Map of The Cosbys!!! Disease – Could it be caused by creatures too small to see!!! Are “facts” just very popular lies?!? Did YOU man the concessionary stand at Ford’s theatre that fateful April Friday in 1865?!? The Bermuda Triangle – what if you did look at it from Barry Manilow’s angle? Even on its best day Science will be helpless to explain how in 1971 Jack Kirby predicted Jeff Lester's beard of 2013:

Who's laughing now, Science! WHO IS "LAUGHING" NOW?!? Anyway, this...

SPIRIT WORLD Art by JACK KIRBY with Mike Royer & Sergio Aragones Inked by Vince Colletta & Mike Royer Written by Jack Kirby, Mark Evanier, Steve Sherman and Sergio Aragones Cover by Neal Adams Originally published in Spirit World, Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #6 and Weird Mystery Tales #1-3 (1971,1972) DC Comics, $39.99 (2012)

"AND LIKE SOME UNNAMED PSYCHIC ANIMAL WHICH HAS BEEN LURKING JUST BEYOND SIGHT- -"

In Comics Publishing the greatest spur to innovation is, it seems, low sales, and by innovation I mean running around throwing faeces at walls and seeing if you have captured that lucrative Brown Dollar ( See: The NU52.) Low sales in the early ‘70s led to DC actually implementing some of Jack Kirby’s ideas for more mature magazine format product. (Jack Kirby was a visionary in content and format. He was The King). There were to be three initial titles; IN THE DAYS OF THE MOB (soon to be collected), SOUL ROMANCES (too awesome to ever be seen by human eyes) and SPIRIT WORLD (here in my hands). According to the informative text piece by Mark Evanier (a living witness; a gentleman) the SPIRIT WORLD magazine was intended to be a bold new approach to newsstand bedazzlement in the brash and bombastic 1970s Kirby style.

"COULD THAT BE THE FANTASTIC ANSWER??"

By the time it saw print though the process of whittling and denuding the initial concept endured resulted in a much diluted product. This slim, costly volume reprints the single published instance of SPIRIT WORLD magazine, together with content intended for the second issue which later appeared in other places. You don’t physically get a lot for your money but creatively you get something wonderful. Because most of what’s on these pages is by 1970s Jack Kirby. What isn't by 1970s Jack Kirby is - the cover by Neal Adams, a page of Aragones funnies, one story with Royer working over Kirby backgrounds and a fumetti by Evanier & Sherman.

"The President Must Die!" by Kirby & Colletta

The level of DC’s faith in The King can be seen in the fact that they got Adams to redo Kirby’s cover, dropped the intended colour and went with a weird blue wash effect and, best of all, cancelled the book before sales on the first issue were in, not that they had adequately distributed the issue in the first place. As bold new thrusts into the heart of the marketplace go it was a bit feeble and lacked conviction. The premise of SPIRIT WORLD is basically a magazine version of THIS. Now a lot of people have a lot of time for the supernatural, and I think one of the reasons for this is they have all my time, because I haven’t any time for it so it must have gone somewhere. So, for me, this book is basically a load of preposterous balderdash. It is, however, EXCELLENT! Because, well, because 1970s Jack Kirby. If you aren't keen on 1970s Jack Kirby then take it down to OKAY! because of the price gouge.

"YOU'RE IN POSSESSION OF MEMORIES THAT YOU COULDN'T POSSIBLY OWN!"

Yes, it’s 1970s Jack Kirby! Hawt Cawfee and Bagels!!! I don’t know if you’ve picked up on this yet but I’m quite partial to 1970s Jack Kirby. Like anyone sane I like all the Jack Kirbys but 1970s Jack Kirby is the Jack Kirby I like da mostest! Obviously, all the Jack Kirbys have something going for them and I don’t wish to denigrate any of the Jack Kirbys by my personal bias. Some folks go for 1940s Jack Kirby. Who, after all, worked with Joe Simon creating (or at least promulgating) the Child Endangerment genre of comics exemplified by The Boy Commandos and The Newsboy Legion and, also, a certain Captain America. He did a lot more of course, in fact he did so much more that he was able to stockpile enough pages that he could go off and give that paper hanger in Berlin a shiner without Comics noticing he’d even left.

"Children Of The Flaming Wheel" by Evanier & Sherman

People still argue about whether the Allies were justified in dropping Jack Kirby on the Axis. Ha, ha, ha! Just joking! It’s okay, don’t worry, he had a terrible time, nearly losing his extremities to frostbite and generally seeing enough of War’s horrors that some of the starch got knocked right out of him. 1950s Jack Kirby dusted himself down split from Joe Simon and headed out solo for pastures new. These being, unusually for pastures, located in the offices of DC Comics where he seemed (judging bythe JACK KIRBY OMNIBUS Vol.1)  a bit lost really with his most significant creation being, with Dave Wood, The Challengers of The Unknown.

"The Lorca File" by Kirby & Colletta

Then 1950s Jack Kirby jumped to Marvel. Initially, he seems to have been roped in to draw mostly tales in which ludicrous monsters were defeated by pipe smoking men with unconvincing science. It’s possible that this entertaining but basically repetitive fare primed ‘50s Jack Kirby for his transformation into 1960s Jack Kirby who… unleashed a colossal quantity of creative energy and unprecedented innovation resulting in the co-creation (with Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Bill Everett. Larry Lieber et al and etc) of the keystones of the Marvel universe. Keystones which continue to provide employment for thousands and earn hundreds of billions of dollars across a wide range of media platforms…did some Work-For-Hire for Marvel. Having (apparently) given his imagination the 1960s off to act as the facilitator for Stan Lee’s singular creative visions Jack Kirby’s mind was wide open and fresh as a baby wipe, ready for new challenges. Certainly after his treatment by Marvel 1970s Jack Kirby was willing to entertain any notion, no matter how outlandish. But then again he always had been. This natural enthusiasm for the offbeat came in handy when The King produced SPIRIT WORLD, which contains some world class baloney. Hokum for the ages!

"THE DEAD ARE EVERYWHERE! THE BLOOD IS NOT YET DRY!"

Kirby envisioned it as a colour magazine rather than the blue wash on the pages reprinted here. Perhaps that’s why the best stuff here is from the aborted second issue, printed at the back in B&W. Kirby’s ‘70s artistic apex is on full show in “Toxl” and “Horoscope Phenomenon or Witch Queen of Ancient Sumeria”. It’s on these pages, of all the pages in the book, that the bizarre glamour of ‘70s Jack Kirby shines most clearly. In comparison the previously published Kirby pages are (dis) graced by the inking of Vince Colletta.  Kirby’s dynamism is sapped softly by the apathy Colletta’s powdery finishes always evoke. Even allowing for that there’s something subdued about the layouts, as though Kirby is restraining himself; more intimidated by the maturity of the intended audience than invigorated by the immaturity of the subject matter. It’s wonky stuff but it mostly works, and it mostly works because of the dynamism of the delivery.

"Toxl" by Kirby, Royer & Evanier

In the ‘70s even calmer Kirby work moved like a beast in heat. In a strange act of balance the text takes up the unaccustomed artistic slack in impact. I understand people have been prone to mock the words of Jack Kirby, I believe such people to be in error. Some sophisticated individuals have been known to criticise Jack Kirby in that his work was a bit too on the nose sometimes. Perhaps, but then a pivotal figure in the life of Jack Kirby was a man called Goodman who didn't behave like one. Sometimes life can be a little on the nose too, is what I’m saying there. I think perhaps the accessibility of Kirby’s work post '60s Marvel is more of an assumption than a fact. Because most comic readers are so familiar, so early with Kirby there’s a tendency for his work to be taken as the norm; a tendency to be inoculated to the very eccentric complexity of his work. Take KAMANDI; why, land sakes, that’s just the hi-energy adventures of a cute lil cut-up in cute lil cut-offs in a wacky anthropomorphic world of stirring adventure. Okay, but it is also at one and the same time savagely violent and bleak; as much Hanna Barbaric as it is Hanna Barbera. By the 1970s Jack Kirby had found his definitive voice. It was a very strange voice but it was very definitely a LOUD voice. A BIG voice because 1970s Jack Kirby was telling BIG stories.

"YET IN SOME UNCANNY WAY - - THEY FIT!!"

From JACK KIRBY'S FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS Vol.3

In SPIRIT WORLD Kirby takes this operatic bombast and turns it down a notch, but not by much. And it works like GANGBUSTERS!!! Here Kirby’s dealing with Joe Soap rather than Gods but all the same these pieces posit that people are at the mercy of forces beyond anyone's comprehension; forces which at any moment could pick them up and throw them around like mad dog with a rag doll. The clinical detachment of the paranormalist Alden Mass who presents each episode is just a feint; swamping both he and his rational accoutrements of pipe and beard is a tsunami of tintinnabulation; beyond his elbow patches a tone of almost hysterical mania practically punches you in the face on nearly every page turn. Kirby blares these tales at your slack face in the manner of Coney Island barker! Inducing the screaming meemies in all but the most inert of minds!! And why not! A woman who knows the President will die but NONE WILL BELIEVE!?! A woman re-visiting a past life, in a time before bras, where she is BURNT AS A WITCH!!! People who combust SPONTANEOUSLY!?! Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances!?! Science become LIES!?!? Nonsense become SENSE?!? OF COURSE HE’S SHOUTING!!!

We hear him still.

If you like 1970s Jack Kirby you’ll like this, is what I’m saying. Otherwise it's very expensive and you're best off getting it from the library. But I'm glad I got it because, for me, 1970s Jack Kirby is – COMICS!!!

And, yes, there are Kirby collages:

I Am Truly Happy That SAGA v2 is Being Released Tomorrow

This is partly twitter-bait (since the headline's here auto-post under my "personal" Twitter account), but man I really owe you a full post of just how well SAGA v1 sells for us.  I was sorta holding out for the end of the month, where I'll have the half-year of what's selling at CE, but I'll spoil the big reveal to note that v1 is now my second-best selling title in the store's history of point-of-sale.  Nearly seven years. It just passed into that spot a few days ago, where it passed the previous #2, THE WALKING DEAD v1.  Understand, that is for sales of TWD v1 OVER THE LAST SEVEN YEARS. Uh, yeah.

What's the most remarkable about SAGA is that it steadily sells even at this point.  When it crossed into #2 position, it was something like 243 copies sold in 248 days -- even at this point, months and months after it first came out, we're still selling 5+ copies a week.

Let me put this in perspective: this simply doesn't happen, normally.  We're generally selling less than 5 copies of TWD v1 or WATCHMEN (our #1 of all time) a month.

It really is the perfect "go to" book of the moment: there's not a person, male or female, older or younger, that's come back to me and said "that sucked!" -- usually it is them coming back and begging for v2!

So, yeah, Thanks so very much to Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples for giving me a comic that I can sell so well!! That's rare these days.

-B

Wait, What? Ep. 127: Capers

Welcome to my nightmare, ladies and gentlemen.  My terrifying longbox filled nightmare.

After the jump: very quick shownotes because I am running behind, and I have a tummy ache! (And I am apparently eight!)

(Oh, and check out those John K(UK) posts below, would you?  They're very good -- I'm not even a father but I felt a special paternal glow from having all those 2001 covers and splash pages reprinted.  The perfect gift!

So, yes.  I may punk out shownotes-wise, but the podcast itself does not--Two hours! No intermission!  As many exclamation points as a Steve Englehart comic!

0:00-11:48: Opening comments; the longbox project; steampunk; the search for comic book cockery. 11:48-28:23: Kick-Ass 2 Prelude: Hit-Girl.  One of us read it.  Who? And, more importantly: Why? 28:23-45:58: Also discussed:  Superman: The Secrets of the Fortress of Solitude trade paperback, with a discussion of Superman and his fortress through the years; Superman painting; Superman's friendships; Superman's robot; Superman's thong; and more. 45:58-51:48: Graeme has read Action Comics #21, and Superman #20, and has things to say about both. 51:48-1:04:48: And we both picked up Superman Unchained #1 by Scott Snyder and Jim Lee, so there's some talk about that, too. 1:04:48-1:11:28: Pleased with his experience reading 2000AD digitally, Jeff has subscribed to Judge Dredd Megazine digitally.  Sadly, there's a whole weird intermission where Jeff goes off to find out what the digital graphic novel packed in with the Megazine is…and fails.  Enjoy, everybody!  (Turns out it was Downlode Tales Vol. 3 for 335 Black Light Vol. 1 for 336). 1:11:28-1:32:48: Batman: Zero Year (or Batman #21 as it's known in the colonies) by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo--also read by both Graeme and Jeff! We squabble, we tussle, we disagree about The Riddler. Sadly, Jeff brings up a potentially great topic--our five favorite Batman villains--and derails it just seconds later due to his befuddlement about Forever Evil.  Oh, Jeff. 1:32:48-end: Graeme has reread Brightest Day (because apparently this is our DC books from the library week).  We talk about whether or not the New 52 helped or hindered Johns' Aquaman pitch, whether the New 52 is stabilizing or destabilizing, and other delightful topics.  Also discussed:  Suicide Squad #21 by Ales Kot and Patrick Zircher; Supermag by Jim Rugg; Empowered Animal Style by Adam Warren and John Staton; Relish by Lucy Knisley; Jennifer Blood #28 by Mike Carroll & Kewber Baal ; Star Wars #6 by Brian Wood and Carlos D'Anda; the saddest afterword in the world; and more.  And then it is done!

Choosy mothers who choose Jif know that four out of five dentists listen to Wait, What? on iTunes, but the podcast is certainly available for you right here and  right now right below:

Wait, What? Ep. 127: Capers

As always, we hope you enjoy, and thank you for listening!

Arriving 6/19/13

Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso return to the world of 100 Bullets with the new "Brother Lono" mini-series! That and more after the jump! 100 BULLETS BROTHER LONO #1 (OF 8) A PLUS X #9 NOW AGE OF ULTRON #10 (OF 10) ANIMAL MAN #21 AVENGERS #14 INF BALTIMORE THE INQUISITOR ONE SHOT BATMAN AND BATGIRL #21 BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #17 BATWOMAN #21 BETTY & VERONICA #266 REG CVR BIRDS OF PREY #21 BLOODSHOT (VU) #12 HARBINGER WARS BPRD HELL ON EARTH #108 WASTELAND #2 (OF 3) CABLE AND X-FORCE #10 NOW CAPTAIN MARVEL #13 CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT #0 CONAN THE BARBARIAN #17 DANGER GIRL TRINITY #3 (OF 4) DARK HORSE PRESENTS #25 DARK SHADOWS YEAR ONE #3 DOCTOR WHO VOL 3 #10 DREAM THIEF #2 (OF 5) EDGAR ALLAN POES FALL O/T HOUSE OF USHER #2 (OF 2) EVIL ERNIE #6 EXTINCTION PARADE #1 FABLES #130 FANTASTIC FOUR #9 NOW GAME OF THRONES #15 GI JOE #5 GI JOE COBRA FILES #3 GREEN HORNET LEGACY #38 GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #21 HARBINGER (VU) #13 HARBINGER WARS HELLRAISER DARK WATCH #5 HOUSE OF GOLD & BONES #3 (OF 4) INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #9 NOW INVINCIBLE #103 IT GIRL & THE ATOMICS #11 JUDGE DREDD YEAR ONE #3 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICAS VIBE #5 LAST ZOMBIE #2 (OF 5) THE END LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #21 LIBERATOR #1 LIFE WITH ARCHIE #30 REG CVR MARA #5 (OF 6) MIND THE GAP #11 MINIATURE JESUS #3 (OF 5) MORBIUS LIVING VAMPIRE #6 NOW MY LITTLE PONY MICRO SERIES #5 (OF 6) PINKIE PIE NEW AVENGERS #7 NOW OCCUPY COMICS #2 RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #21 REVIVAL #11 ROBERT JORDAN WHEEL OF TIME EYE O/T WORLD #35 SERGIO ARAGONES FUNNIES #8 SIMPSONS COMICS #203 SIXTH GUN #32 SIXTH GUN SONS O/T GUN #4 (OF 5) SONIC UNIVERSE #53 REG CVR SPONGEBOB COMICS ANNUAL GIANT SWIMTACULAR #1 STAR WARS DARTH VADER & NINTH ASSASSIN #3 (OF 5) SUPERGIRL #21 SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #12 NOW THUNDERBOLTS #11 NOW TMNT VILLAIN MICROSERIES #3 OLD HOB ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #24 ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #26 UNCANNY AVENGERS #9 NOW WILD BLUE YONDER #1 (OF 5) WITCHBLADE #167 WOLVERINE MAX #8 WONDER WOMAN #21 X-FACTOR #258 X-FILES SEASON 10 #1 X-MEN LEGACY #12 NOW

Books/Mags/Stuff 2000 AD PACK MAY 2013 ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 03 ALAN ROBERT KILLOGY TP AVENGERS BY BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS TP VOL 04 AVX BARNABY HC VOL 01 BATGIRL ROBIN YEAR ONE TP BATWOMAN TP VOL 01 ELEGY BLOODHOUND TP BURNING BUILDING COMIX HC CONAN TP VOL 13 QUEEN O/T BLACK COAST DOMOVI GN EDISON REX TP FAILURE GN INVINCIBLE IRON MAN TP VOL 11 FUTURE MIND THE GAP TP VOL 02 WISH YOU WERE HERE PRIMATES FEARLESS SCIENCE OF GOODALL FOSSEY & GALDIKAS HC SAGA TP VOL 02 SONIC SAGA TP VOL 03 EGGMAN EMPIRE STAR WARS CLONE WARS SMUGGLERS CODE TP STAR WARS LOST TRIBE O/T SITH SPIRAL TP SWEET TOOTH TP VOL 06 WILD GAME TEEN TITANS TP VOL 02 THE CULLING (N52) WITCH DOCTOR TP VOL 02 MAL PRACTICE

As always, what do YOU think?

"...I Won't Insult You By Quoting Neitzsche." COMICS! Sometimes Chaykin Is Your Higher Power!

Hey, it's another version of Iron Man's origin but with a more realistic approach to booze abusing! So it's over to the Master of The Mai-Tai hissownself Mr. Howard Victor Chaykin, with an assist from Mr. Gerald Parel, to bring all the short term memory loss, vomiting, visuo-spatial impairments, erectile dysfunction and renal failure fans of The Inebriated Iron Man demand! Anyway, this...

IRON MAN: SEASON ONE Art by Gerald Parel Written by Howard Victor Chaykin Lettered by VC's Clayton Cowles Cover art by Julian Totino Tedesco Marvel, $24.99 (2013) Iron Man created by Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee

Here we have what I like to call Iron Man: Season of Pissed. I guess an editorially assigned OGN about Iron Man is to a Creative like HVC as a grey day at the office is for an Uncreative like me. Rather than just leadenly type out another lump of chump bait Chaykin's enough of a professional to want to do a decent job. Faced with the umpty umpth (already superceded) origin of the drunk in the metal trunks Chaykin manfully tries to find enough nooks and crannies in between the editorial requirements to make it interesting; interesting for both himself and the reader. He succeeds to the extent that my mind never quite glazed over, as sudden flares of Chaykin burst through frequently enough to keep me on my toes. Heartbreakingly , for me, he can’t go Full Chaykin as this is intended for all those New Readers who want to read Iron Man’s origin after watching those movies. One of which was Iron Man’s origin. Of course HVC’s Iron Man origin is quite similar but also quite different from the movie origin because confusing your audience makes sense. And it does make sense, the only sense that matters; financial sense. Because this “OGN” was originally a 6 six issue mini-series, but you probably missed this when it first came out in pamphlet form, because it never came out in pamphlet form. These contents preceded even the 2008 Iron Man movie and have only now been released, because, hey, it’s been paid for! I hear a cleaner recently found some sketches Jack Kirby did on the back of the cubicle door in the Gent’s which Brian Bendis will dialogue for Christmas release. Early indications are that it seems to involve Stan Lee being attacked by a donkey with five legs or something. Anyway, there’s been no attempt to reconfigure this work for release as an OGN and since Marvel don’t even spring for chapter breaks the narrative doubles back on itself at least once; unjustly making Chaykin appear possessed of short term memory loss much like the loveable liquid fuelled lothario, Tony Stark.

"Every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you!"

Of course dynamic tights and fights action isn't really HVC’s main area of interest so he provides himself metaphorical matchsticks under his eyes by breaking out his classic Hero’s Journey narrative. It works pretty well too, since Tony Stark is a self-involved pisshead. Nowadays of course Tony starts off as a cheeky tippler rather than the owner of a dodgy ticker. Heart problems were okay for the ‘60s, but clutching your chest and grimacing is what old people do and lacks the sexy glamour of staring into a mirror with a big sad stubbly face. By the end of course Tony’s still a dipsomaniacal dickhead but a teeny bit less self-involved since he has had a Moment of Clarity. A couple of such Moments actually because drink really does a number on those brain cells so it can take a bit for stuff to sink in. HVC gets to do a slightly more realistic drunk than that of old ‘80s comics with Tony doing a little bit of sick on some fit girl’s feet and blacking out but, alas, Tony never wets himself so badly his suit shorts out leading to a thrilling incontinence inspired brush with death. Nor does his Moment of Clarity involve waking up pantsless on a strange couch bleeding from a scalp wound with his thighs caked with his own shit. Hey, we’ve all been there.

In reality Tony is being rolled for his wallet in an alleyway redolent of dog piss.

It’s a book about Iron Man’s origin updated to the deserts of today’s Terrorist Bad Guys, with a twin set of foes to provide contrast to our hiccuping hero. First up there's HVC's reliable doppleganger who made the wrong choices in the form of The Fundamentalist Ex-Friend. He, in his jerry-rigged suit and certainty of purpose, provides the stark (!) contrast with our more equivocal but better equipped bottle suckler. Because he had 6 theoretical issues HVC doubles down and throws in his usual White Collar Wankers as well. This is a pretty generous allotment of threats to throw at someone who has trouble finishing a sentence so there's certainly some suspense. Luckily Pepper Potts is around in strong ,but definitely, supporting role. Mind you, the white collar bunch’s plan basically amounts to little more than skimming off the top of a budget. The fact that HVC sees this as a cunning plan suggests HVC has never dealt with builders. I bet he has people to do that for him. It all builds nicely with the various threads and threats converging into one big climactic confrontation. It's professional stuff by a professional man. Mind you, HVC does fluff the action finale (if something very (very!) big falls on the villain while he is astride Iron Man then doesn't Iron Man get crushed also?) Actually, that could be a failure of staging on the part of the artist, Gerald Parel. This was his first work for Marvel but clearly isn't his first work ever as he's quite accomplished. Yeah, I like Parel’s work here; work which has a painted look but a soft and flowing aspect as opposed to, say Alex Ross’ doggedly defined offerings. In contrast, Parel’s approach provides rich textures which suggest detail and thus avoid slowing the eye down. Also, Parel is very keen on placing a young lady’s bottom in the panel foreground. Maybe he is just a frisky young man bursting with the sap of Spring or maybe he’s trying to stay awake as he draws another warehouse; one of the many through which our white collar villains persistently stroll practically rubbing their hands together as they explain their complex embezzlement plot very vaguely. It’s attractive stuff and cinematically framed throughout but except for the odd burst it’s hardly dynamic, and sometimes there's a kind of flaky effect like the image has degraded. Ironically much as the titanic talent set of Iron Man’s original artist Dashing Don Heck was ill served by flights and tights these pages suggest Parel might shine brighter in a different genre.

"What you gon' do with all that junk?"

Oh, it’s an Iron Man OGN detailing a more up to date origin written with facility and not a little flair, illustrated pleasingly if slightly passively. Overall it suffers because I judge everything Iron Man by the Gold standard of that time he went back in time to Camelot and punched Doctor Doom in his metal tits. Compared to that this is, like much else in life, just GOOD!

Of course Marvel have endearingly neglected to credit the creators of Iron Man without whom this book, those films and all those billions of Hollywood dollars wouldn't exist. That’s okay because I’ve nothing but time. So yet again; decency costs nothing.

Iron Man was created by Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

Those being the men without whose efforts Robert Downey Jnr would be charismatically portraying nothing. I understand they even get mentioned at the end of an acre of credit crawl on the Iron Man movies or something, but this isn't a movie it’s  - COMICS!!!

"...Not As A Mystery--But As A MAN!" COMICS! Sometimes The King Knew The Score!

Celebrate your Dad, come on! (Let's Celebrate!). Smooth segues be damned on this, The Day of The Father; didjya know that Jack Kirby was also a Father? Like all Fathers Jack Kirby knew of "The Task" but only Jack Kirby dared speak of it. The final, greatest "task" of any Father; when he must remove the bomb from his child's head while waving him or her off into "The Future", remaining behind to be blown up in their stead. Wait, maybe it was a metaphor! Or maybe I just wanted to post some Jack Kirby covers because, hey, today I get celebrated (COME ON!!!) so bit busy, yeah?  Maybe more substantial content later? J_Smitty did some reviews one post down and they're good eating! Yammer, yammer; look, here's some 1970s Jack Kirby magic...

Sure, every Dad'll tell you how he  dreams of the day his spawn will leave home so he can actually watch, oh, that three and a half hour David Lynch film with the rabbit sitcom in it all in one go, or just get so drunk he pukes so hard he turns inside out in his own home. But it's all a bluff facade; they all know deep inside that when it happens it'll be like being kicked in the heart by a Shire horse. Jack Kirby knew that and Jack Kirby drew that. Empty Nest Syndrome but with robots and shouting and stuff. Because Jack Kirby was complex. Jack Kirby was The King:

Of course we all know he won't ring unless he needs money.

And now in a futile attempt to satiate your cavernous need for content here be the covers and splash pages to the short-lived, but EXCELLENT!, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY series published by Marvel Comics. A company for whom Jack Kirby famously did some "work for hire"!!! The series was written and drawn by the ceaselessly astounding Mr. Jack Kirby and inked by his finest facilitator Mr. Mike Royer. If you find these issues in a back-issue box pick 'em up because, due to some Rights business, it's unlikely to be reprinted anytime soon. Advice that is, you know, like your Dad gives you. But more fun. Anyway, this...

Sup your micro-brews while you can, Fathers of The World.

Well, okay, there may not actually be a party goin' on right here but at least there's always - COMICS!!! Happy "Father's" Day!!!

Smitty Gets in with Four Comics from 6/12

(Knock, Knock) Hello friend.  I represent the universal church of Cyber Terrorist Group, Ascension.  Perhaps you've heard of us?  Though rumours abound regarding our lack of resources - I assure you - we will play a role in the new Superman Unchained comic pamphlet!

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1

Snyder / Lee

DC COMICS $4.99

QUICK, TO THE JUMP FOR ---------

EASY there Mr. "heir to the throne."  Lord and master of DC Comics for the forseeable future...we get it.  Sheesh.

LOW OK, mostly for the handling of the supporting cast. Although, personally, I’ve had it up to my neck with their choice for puppet master villain / hate monger. Since when did this guy enter the pantheon of “worthy adversaries?”

SUPERBOY #21

Jordan / Silva

DC COMICS $2.99

Justin Jordan is in and I’m curious to see him moving forward. Here he’s using the secret organization that spawned Superboy to deliver a little one-off. Hopefully, that puts the character on the path to tying up that nagging entity. Hell, it’s only been 21 issues, right?

Maybe Lobdell was writing for the Omnibus?

Anyhow, Jordan’s pretty good right out of the gate with the quippy quippy but I wish they had worked harder to play up the lost and unfocused Stranger in a Strange Land aspect of Superboy as he was constituted in the Nu52. Now he seems poised to be yet another teen loudmouth – JOY!

I was and sketchily remain a big proponent of RB Silva’s work. However, either his pencils are becoming erratically loose or the Rob Lean inks are going over the top in a lot of unnecessary ways. If you look back on the work this pair did for the Jimmy Olsen special with Nick Spencer you find a much cleaner, balanced, and altogether more pleasing look. Now it’s going for a basement version of a Joe Mad and Chris Bachalo aesthetic and I am not enamored. More Maguire faces, please. Less squished figures and overwrought inks. My overall read is of a thoroughly EH comic but it’s had pleasures throughout.

WORLD’S FINEST #13

Levitz / Rocha

DC COMICS $2.99

Robson Rocha’s opening splash is classically exploitative in its contortions of Power Girl but his depictions of Huntress are really quite nice. Come to think of it, I think Power Girl’s costume just changed back to old DC between issues with no explanation? I'll have to look it up… Oh, yeah, editorial mandate to be sure. Occurred in the last 1/3rd of #12 with little reason. Anywho, the juxtaposition of the two leads– one with powers beyond belief and the other merely human have been played throughout the series to good effect by “old reliable” Paul Levitz. That aspect continues here as Karen and Helena are haunted by what looks like an amped up version of a member of the Apokolips Dog Cavalry. Levitz, and I mean this as a compliment, is workmanlike in his development and execution. We get a chase, a fight, a little info dump, and a partial resolution. All appreciated. Still, I was fairly disappointed we didn’t get at least half of the Maguire / Perez art squad.  OK

BATMAN #21

YEAR ZERO

Snyder / Capullo

DC COMICS $3.99

Great. We’ve run through his “definitive” Joker story so now we get his definitive “Origin” story. Father, I shall become a Bat…MAN ON A BAT DIRTBIKE WITH A CROSSBOW AND SLEEVELESS BATSUIT COWL COMBO?!?!

Alright, sign me up. Batman running around in a post trauma flooded out Gotham fighting weird street gangs? Batman as KAMANDI?!?! Jesus, just take all my mo…AHHH, CRAP. Of course that only lasted for 3 pages…

Wait, 5 months prior to six years ago? Now we’re back before Batman as Kamandi, which was technically before the Batman we see in Justice League #1?

Excuse me, but what the shit?  A TIMELINE SO STREAMLINED AND EFFICIENT IT MAKES NO SENSE.  We are on the bleeding edge, people.

Anyway, Capullo’s stuff looks great and Bruce Wayne is written as having some real brass balls here as he goes up against the human size and shaped lipstick that is called Red Hood. Seriously, the dude looks more like a walking cherry push-pop than anything else. I dunno. It fits with the “Batman fights weirdos” motif but the look is really pushing it. Still, the introduction of a few key faces, some people I’m totally unfamiliar with and an inciting incident that bares no resemblance to the origin myth I know is definitely going to keep me around. All I ask is that we get to eventually spend some quality time with Batmandi and I am ON BOARD….(BWWWWWAAAHHHM)

GOOD!

So, all in all, a deeply troubling haul from DC Entertainment this week. Here’s hoping Man of Steel is a smart enough movie to swipe liberally from Mark Waid’s Superman work without giving him any kind of credit!

Bustin' on the ones -- Hibbs duz 6/12/2013

ON New Comics Day? What? Well, don't get used to it, but I felt bad about skipping last week, that I thought I'd get way ahead on this one.  Below the jump, and all.

A1 #1 (of 6): I'm certain I have mentioned this before, but anthologies are a wicked hard sell for American audiences -- despite being essentially the "default" option for other comics markets internationally (UK and Japan in particular) -- and I suspect someone much cleverer than I could figure out something about the Essential National Character of each culture based upon their comic markets. But that isn't me.

I will note that I think we don't like anthologies in the US because I believe we judge the entire package by the WEAKEST contribution, and that we want comics to Get To The Point a little more than others. a1 is a British production -- and, in fact, is the second go 'round at least for the name, as there was a pretty nice set of thick squarebound black & white comics also from packager Dave Elliot.

THAT set was a solid mix of "big names" with people I'd never heard of (back then), and, if you can find those original six, you might be surprised how much formative work there was on display there.

In this batch, however, I don't think we're going to look back at in two decades later with a "Wow!", because, if anything, this is kind of merely a comics-formatted 2000 AD, without the "boy's action!" angle. Plus? 2 of the three serials are written by Elliot.

The problem with those two is that (and this is often a problem with both anthologies AND, I would argue, UK creators specifically) that their premises are not explicit in the first chapter. "The Weirding Willows" seems like some sort of semi-LOEG literary mash-up, but there's no real reason to be interested in the protagonist, Alice,  other than "cute blonde" -- she walks through a bunch of supporting characters, but engages with virtually none of them and there's no narrative thrust on display. You can't spend your page count "world building" in 8 page installments until AFTER you've earned your audience's interest.

Elliot's  second serial, "Odyssey", doesn't even bother trying to provide a protagonist, just showing us a bunch of scientists and dire results in its WW2 milieu. Ugh, not THAT hoary chestnut again. Maybe maybe maybe I could deal with it if there was a single sympathetic character on display, but, literally, every character in this opening is loathsome.

In the hammock is "carpediem" by W.H. Rauf and Rhoald Marcellius which is much more palatable, introducing 7+ new characters AND giving them a complete adventure at the same time, while really having some very nice cartoony art attached to it, but too much of the heavy lifting is done by punning and British humor. Still, it's the one serial in the book I'd actually be willing to read more of.

So, overall, that's a pretty textbook EH.

SIX-GUN GORILLA #1 (of 6): See, you have a comic book called "Six-gun Gorilla" that stars a pistol-wielding gorilla, I am of the mind that you start and finish every damn page with the ape, and you don't wait until the last page or three to have the critter show up. It's that UK  world-building thing again (the world in question is, hm, a reality show of an eternal war, and it's rich enough) -- any 'murican should be able to tell ya you start with the explosion, and only ramp it up from there. In media res, byee-otch!

The shame of it is, I really did like this adequately, but who wants to wait for the second issue until the title character is a real presence? that makes this just OK.

SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1: I wanted to like this, but I think that the reason I'm merely ambivalent is the Jim Lee art. He's simply not a Superman artist. That's not to say he can't draw Superman -- he does just fine -- but his line-style just really doesn't work on an ongoing Superman comic.  Oh, and the coloring? Too too too dark for the character (that cover, especially, doesn't scream "buy me!")

This also also features a fold out poster (though that's not cover-blurbed, go figure), which raises the price to a massive $4.99, but it's so awkward and stops the story cold (on page 5, to boot!) and it's not something that I see anyone hanging on their wall (Wow, Superman is fighting some wires!), so I really don't get the point (other than, y'know, market share games)

I liked Scott Snyder's story just fine (and that's the majority of the basis of my final grade), but, I just feel like the art is working against the story in every place. I sort of hope, kind of, that Jim stays on for just the first arc, and then they hand it off to someone with a REALLY clean style.

Anyway, I liked the writing enough to give a very low GOOD.

(Joe Hill's) THUMBPRINT #1 (of  3): Liked this.  Based on a novella by Hill (which I've never read), and it does a good job presenting a sympathetic protagonist, who could be an antagonist as well. The art by Vic Malhotra has a nice Aja / Samnee thing going on and was much of the drawing point for me (because at just three issues, this seems like it will read better in collection).  I really don't have much more to say, but I was trying to hit all of the #1s this week, so.... GOOD.

THE TRUE LIVES OF THE FABULOUS KILLJOYS #1 (of 6): Gerard Way's new comic (co-written with Shaun Simon) is pretty pants-shittingly terrific. This is a rich sci-fi world -- and one that I'm not entirely sure that I followed with each and every jump. But it didn't really matter, because I look forward to finding out the details.  It has backstory text pages and everything. I liked the characters, I liked the setup, and I especially liked some of the poetry of the writing ("One day... our bodies will only belong to each other, and the streets will be for shopping, not working" says one sex android to the other).

There is a crazy density to the world, which is so supremely helped by the fabulous artwork of Beck Cloonan. This is awesome comic which probably couldn't have been done in any other media, and my only regret about it is that it is only 6 issues. EXCELLENT.

A USERS GUIDE TO NEGLECTFUL PARENTING GN: I think Guy Delisle is a splendid cartoonist -- he's got a strong line, and his timing is perfect and impeccable. The stories in this book are hysterical and universal and absolutely heart-felt and True. And yet, for all of that, I'm ultimately going to pan this book. Why?

Format.

This is presented as a paperback sized package with two panels per page. 192 pages, with a $12.95 cover price (which is much much better than the original solicited $16.95 cover price -- it has a sticker over the original price, yikes, so I don't know whether it was an exchange rate thing, or that someone got it in their hand, and realized they couldn't possibly charge that much). And I, no shit, TORE through this on a single bus ride home. Under 13 minutes from cover to cover, even stopping and going back a few times to admire his pacing on the jokes. Ow.  That makes the $5 SUPERMAN UNCHAINED look like a friggin' bargain.  It is simply 2-3 times what this should cost for the actual density of the content.

Again: that content is GREAT, and would rate a VERY GOOD, at least, on its own (I only wish that the [few] "Shit" and "Fuck"s had been dropped, otherwise this would be a GREAT all-ages title.. my 9 year old woulda loved reading these, and laughing at old dad commonalities), but the package is so criminally egregious that I have to drag it all the way down to EH. *sad panda*

Right, that's me for today at least.... what did YOU think?

-B