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Reviews of things: This week I have mostly being reading.......

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  1.  
    Detective Comics: The first arc comes to an end. The art is amazing - lush, inventive, eye-popping even. This latest issue was the best so far, with clever mirroring of the two adversaries foreshading the final reveal. However I've been underwhelmed by the story, espcially the ending which was a bit Hollywood cliche for me. However it's succeeded in making me interested in a chracter I previously had no idea even existed! The"Second Feature" starring The Question is just simply a waste of paper - get rid of it!

    Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe: Noooooooo! It can't end like that - I need the next installment NOW! The series has grown with each volume, and whilst still loads of fun there is also some real emotional depth to this work that belies it's happy-go-lucky artwork.

    Spiderwoman: Reserving judgment on this. The story was pretty dull, but it was a first-issue-set-up-the-whole-premise-of-the-series kind f deal so I'm willing to stick with it to see where it goes. Maleev's artwork is as brilliant as you've come to expect. I've not seen the motion comic (I have no desire to do so either) but I wonder whether a print version of a moving medium (and indeed vice versa) is really going to work as well as just writing it as a paper comic?

    Kick-Ass: Just when I thought Millar had dropped the ball with the last issue, he get's it right back on track this time. Everyone should be reading this. Millar has this popcorn-action-movie tag (and rightly so for most of his work) but there simply isn't anything else out there like Kick Ass or 1985.

    Giant Size Old Man Logan: Yeah it kidn of ended as everyone knew it would, but it was still a blast! I think this has to go down as one of the eminal Wolverine stories [let's forget the getting home in the iron man suit bit!] It was just full of "Hell Yeah!" moments from start to end. I hope they revisit this storyline again with a sequel/prequel.
  2.  
    Detective Comics: What Mike Infinitum said. It does raise an interesting question though: if Greg Rucka is this dull with JH Williams slathering Awesome all over the place how dull would he be without JH Williams?

    Dominic Fortune #2. In which Dominic Fortune (who is Very Jewish) says: “Sorry, I’m off whores for Lent.” Howard Victor Chaykin? Still bringing it. I hear he’s bringing it to Blighty this weekend. Oh my! Howard Victor Chaykin: he gets all the girls. He gets all the girls.

    Wednesday Comics: Lo! There Shall Be An Ending! Well, I had a good time with it. Interestingly Internetz criticism has revolved around how little experimentation occurred within the strips. More interestingly most Internetz criticism has targeted the Wonder Woman strip which was pretty much the most experimental approach in it. How odd. Why it’s almost as if peple just like to kvetch…no…no that couldn’t be true. Oh, and Neal Gaiman? No.

    Love And Rockets New Stories. I am about 20 years late to the L&R Party but I thought, heck what can wrong, let’s give it a go. And? Well that just made everything else look rote and uninspired didn’t it (except Dominic Fortune, natch)? How amazing was this? It was more amazing than you can possibly comprehend. Comic of the year. Really. Game Over. Everybody else: pack up and go home. The Jaime Hernandez super hero wrasslerama was cute and fun but Gilbert Hernandez just totally entertained, mystified and stimulated the holy heck out of my feeble arrested adolescent mind. Beware The Hypnotwist! There’s no going back! Only forward! I think…I think I just grew up. Damn you Gilbert Hernandez! Hypnotwist! If I can figure out if there are more growed up Comics like this and where they are this may mean the end of the capes for me. Hypnotwist: Beyond Awesome! Gilbert Hernandez – he puts Awesome on paper and lets you look at it! Bit of a personal game changer this one, as they say. To reiterate: Comic Of The Year. Love And Rockets New Stories: Bang!
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeSep 28th 2009
     
    Here is what I have been reading:

    Spider-Woman - what Mike said. Problems with the book? Jessica hitching her wagon to ANOTHER spy organisation, yeah, like thats gonna work out well! and surely, if just wants to go and kill skrulls, she could have joined the skrull kill krew..? I think the character has been badly served by being revealed as a skrull after all the good work done over in New Avengers.

    Bat Girl - A new Bat Girl, who used to be Spoiler from the Robin book, who apparently was dead but now isn't. Anyway, its a jolly romp with some good solid art work and all that. best thing? that Stephanie the new bat girl actually wants to go out and be a vigilante. a dash of colour in the grim and gritty world of batman! and oracle's in it too! yay! fun fun fun!

    Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire - Jason Aaron is clearly steering this toward a big volatile conclusion by throwing in all of Marvel's woefully neglected goofball horror characters (Master Pandemonium! Madcap! Janie Cutter!) and having them all have a big fight over the Anti-Christ! Its Carpets! Its Madness! And its smashing. And Danny Ketch has made things worse for himself by selling his soul to Satan! Crikey!
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeSep 28th 2009 edited
     
    Kick Ass - this comes out so rarely, i frequently have to re-read issues to remind myself whats been going on (answer : bloody violence). this issue is probably the best since the first two, having a bit of drive to it as we head towards the conclusion. best bit: kick ass 'singing like a canary' cos his particulars are hooked up to a car battery. nice. is it wrong to laugh?

    X-Force - Bleak X-Men title that I picked up 'cos X-23 is in it and I enjoyed her limited series. It is quite horrific with unpleasant things happening to everyone - Rahne going mental and biting Angel's wings off, him turning into the less than lucid Archangel and X-23 chopped up with a chainsaw! much better than i expect the x-books to be, mainly because it doesn't tie too heavily into whats been going on elsewhere and therefore necessitating purchases of the other 94 X-books! Hooray! and beautiful artwork by the man Choi!

    Batman & Robin - Its Ace. That is all. Mainly 'cos we don't have to listen to Bruce Wayne droning on about his parents and his mission for the first time in about 14 years! hoorah!

    Wednesday Comics - er, I'm a bit behind (only up to #7!) but have really enjoyed it, although wonder Woman has been hard going. My faves: Kamandi, Supergirl (oh yes!) and that one written by Gaiman the shape changey fella. Just 'cos its silly.
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeSep 28th 2009
     
    Oh! And I just finished the second Elephant Man harcover collection. this comic is awesome, witty, moving and thought provoking. who'd a thunk Richard Starkings, who used to the lettering for everything, had work like this inside him? its amazing and if you've not read it than you bally well should!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeSep 28th 2009
     
    I've not really started on last week's pile yet, but I did finish Wednesday comics - I only read Batman, Superman and Supergirl after about number eight, and sorta looked at Flash and Kamandi but didn't care what was happening. I'll not buy if they do it again, even if they do get more AzzaRisso Bat goodness.
  7.  
    I have also been reading volumes of Showcase Presents: Green Lantern for what seems to have been longer than I have been alive.

    My personal highlight so far has been in Vol.2 - Green Lantern#28 (April 1964) by Gardner "Crazy Like A" Fox (writer), Gil "Sugar" Kane (artist) and Joe "Gila Monster" Giella (energy sapping inks). In this story entitled The Shark Goes On The Prowl Again! I have found quite possibly the most surreal panel in the history of Comics.

    It begins sedately enough with Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan relaxing while surfing with his fiance Carol "pretty ladyboss" Ferris, his creepy pal the "loyal Eskimo grease monkey" Thomas "Pieface" Kalmaku and his obvious beard of a wife Terga. Then The Tiger Shark strikes!

    For people who are not as old as dirt I will explain that The Tiger shark is an actual Tiger Shark who was caught in an accidental nuclear explosion(!) and "in a matter of minutes traversed evolutionary eons" to become a humanoid being of one million years from now! He is gifted with a yellow aura (which coincidentally prevents Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan's magic wishing ring from acting upon him) and powers that almost seem to have occurred to the writer as he goes along, perhaps sipping from an economy sized bottle of cough syrup at the same time. Things are certainly going to be interesting one million years from now. Anyway when last these formidable foes clashed Green (Hal Jordan) Lantern left the now devolved Tiger Shark swimming in a glass tank as harmless as any mere Tiger Shark...or did he...?

    No. For as an expositionary flashback informs us as The Tiger Shark passed from consciousness he (it?)became his uniform and made his uniform become him. This gifts us all with a panel showing a Tiger shark swimming in a glass tank while a neatly folded costume sits on a nice wooden chair brooding malefically via an attendant thought bubble. And that panel right there is why people have eyes. Fact!
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeOct 10th 2009
     
    I forgot to mention this, but Marvel's Immortal Weapons mini-series has been a cracking little read. An anthology of various Japanese kung fu type stories with Iron Fist as a back up. There's been a good opener by Jason Aaron about an immortal warrior whose legendary exploits turn out to be somewhat less then epic, a recent issue had a genuinely creepy tale about a Spider demon lady, with art by Dan 'One-face-for-all' Brereton and recently a tale of a crusading warrior of vengeance recounted through the eyes of two vagrant kids. good stuff!
  9.  
    I too have been enjoying the Immortal Weapons series although the last one with the urchins must have had some dust in it because my eyesight got a bit misty towards the end there. The Aaron one was great because it was all ho-ho-ho until you paused for a second and then it was all tragic and awful. Nice one. Sadly I imagine the series is selling like flycakes as it is not only done-in-ones but (horrors!) does not "matter" viz Dirty Shame Continuity. So, enjoying it while it lasts.

    Speaking of The Aaron - Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire #3 is awesome. How awesome? If Kenny Powers could be a comic? In his hilariously sick mind he would be Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire.
    "Wait! What are you doing with that tree...?" Indeed.

    Ghost Rider starring Nicolas "My Talent is A" Cage is on Channel 5 at 9:00pm tonight! Dare I? Dare I? Probably not.
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeOct 11th 2009
     
    Do not watch Ghost Rider!!! it is rubbish. Ghost Rider: Heaven's On Fire is all kinds of awesome! Trull The Mighty!!! Brilliant :) Read that instead. Repeatedly.

    immortal weapons is one of those great little series that marvel put out and you wonder why. there's no fanfare, no house ads...no point..? a shame really, as its got me interested in iron fist - a character thats had precisely zero interest from me since, well, ever.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeOct 12th 2009
     
    The Iron Fist series has, mostly, been dead good.

    The Ghost Rider movie is an icky shambles that even Sam Elliott cannot save.
  12.  
    You are both right! I watched Ghost Rider for about half an hour, until I realised the clip of the chimp performing Judo was the highlight so far. I decided to quit while I was ahead and comb my teeth instead. And Iron Fist has indeed mostly been dead good. Although I am a bit tired of the back-up continually ending on the image of a terrified small child trapped in a storm drain.

    I have read Die Hard: Year One #1 which I liked. It was pretty neat if you were looking for a Howard Victor Chaykin scripted comic set in '70s Noo Yawk. It was probably even better if you wanted a spin-off from American Century featuring Harry Kraft's son, Solomon Kraft(?), but with "John McClane" hastily scribbled over the top of his name in the script. However, if you were looking for another exciting episode of John McClane versus an urbane terrorist with a stash of dry one-liners and his monosyllabic gang during a National Holiday, you were probably disappointed.

    The writing is nice and pacy, largely delivered in the usual Howard Victor Chaykin sarcastic and snide omniscient third person narrator stylee. You don't get a lot of that now do you? Narration. That's probably because it requires some facility with language, some degree of familiarity with the literary method. Anyway, I like it. Narration. The art is okay in a sort of young Dave Johnson. I can't google his name at work but he may develop into someone good (I'm seeing (very) early indicators of John Paul Leon maybe? And he uses his PC to replicate that dotty stuff (Craft-tint?) so bonus points there) or he might not. What's on these pages is okay and promising so - hoo-ha you!

    Sadly, as a discrete pamplet delivery system for a chapter in an episodic story it does fail on the most basic level (what are all these people up to?) but that gives me a month to speculate. So I'l have a month in which my empty head rattles with stuff like this:
    Eco terrorists in legwarmers have planted a giant fondue dish at The Mayor's street party that will explode when it reaches a certain temperature - the exact temperature at which cheese melts! But this is just a diversion - in fact they are a bunch of disgruntled 'Nam vets who are really planning to heist the Hope Diamond but, in a Comment On The Times, they do not wish to acquire it for personal gain but, rather, to stick it up Richard "Tricky" Nixon's lying backside(*) during his guest appearance on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (4th of July Special!). The clock is ticking and the cheese is heating! Run, John McClane, Run!


    (*) AKA Henry Kissinger! Ha! That's right, The Man! Out of date political humour! Take that dead powerful white guys in suits!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeOct 12th 2009
     
    I've read about 35 comics in the last 48 hours. Which were best? Ummm... Wow, I really cannot remember. Thor had pretty pictures, and Spider-Man 1602 was better than I expected (which is faint praise). The Boys and Herogasm were as fun/foul as ever.

    Should I go to New York or Tokyo on Wednesday?
  14.  
    Decisions!Decisions! Go to both - you only have one life to live!

    Did you know you can watch The Spiderwoman Motion Comic For FREE! on Youtube for a limited time?

    You can!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAUAC0RzMis

    I only watched it up to "Congratulations, Wolverine!.." and my laughter glands exploded messily everywhere. I hope others enjoy it somewhat more.

    I have seen the future of Comics and it is...
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeOct 12th 2009
     
    I intend to go to both! However, on this occasion I decided on New York. Anyone have the address for Stark Tower?

    I've no real interest in this Motion malarkey, but will have me a looksee...
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeOct 13th 2009
     
    I nor=ticed a guy on the Marvel forums moaning that the material used in Spider Woman #1 had already shown up as a web comic and he felt cheated by this. I, on the other hand, don't really understand the point of Motion Comics. I'd rather either read the comic or watch a cartoon. Not some awkward hybrid of the two.
  17.  
    What Si said.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeOct 13th 2009
     
    What Cap'n Si said and Mr Mikey echoed.
  19.  
    You shut the door on The Future at your own risk!

    I have also been reading Wolverine: Weapon X. I like to think of it more as Jason Aaron Vs. The Corporate Sausage Machine. So far for every bad dumb thing there's been a balancing good dumb thing. In earlier issues I was unconvinced that a group of experienced mercenaries would choose to night fight in the jungle with glowing! green! claws! but then they did have a gun that fired cancer: stalemate! And Wolverine ran away: win!
    The best issue so far was the one where Wolverine and Flawed But Honourable Mercenary stopped fighting to let a school bus go past and then the only regret the dying merc had was that he never finished that short story by Papa Hemingway (it was actually Faulkner - so much for doing this stuff from memory. Apologies. It was still funny though). I don't think I can measure how much that issue made me laugh.
    But in this issue Wolverine surprises a small army of mercs entrenched on an oil rig by turning up in a helicopter. That's right - they are surprised by this. How, pray tell, did they expect him to get there? Post himself? Float gently down in a hot air balloon? Hide in someone's packed lunch? Via the medium of interpretive dance? These are the dumbest mercenaries ever: lose. (Also: you can kill Wolverine by drowning him? Really? I'm running the bath as we speak.) However: Mercenary with glowing green claws versus shark - win!

    Y'know in Flesh when Earl Regan is trapped in the jaws of Old One Eye with only his electro-prod keeping the slavering she-b1tch's jaws from mincing him and his relief patterned cowboy boots - that's how I picture Jason Aaron working at Marvel. Your grip's slipping a bit Mr. Aaron but I'm still rooting for ya!
  20.  
    I also read Dead by Gary Simpson and Lee O'Connor from Starscape Comics which cost £2.99 and was a right decent read.

    I like cowboys and I like zombies real good. But you best believe you can have all the cowboys and zombies in Hell and all its prairies but if you don't hitch em up to a decent comic...well, let's just say the woodshed's out back and leave it at that. Word from the Preacherman is Dead has cowboys and zombies and is a decent comic.

    Gary Simpson tells a straightforward but eventful and entertaining tale of a quaint Western town threatened by a small army of the undead. It builds nicely with some basic but decent characterisation towards a quite exciting and, maybe, surprising conclusion. If anything the comic is a little too packed and would have benefited from more room to breathe, but, it is what it is and it's pretty neat. It's also nice too have too much and not too little in a comic for once.

    Lee O'connor's art is clear and professional resembling a more coherent John Hickleton or a really loose Peter Doherty. There's unfussy and unobtrusive storytelling, varied layouts and a nice sense of icky to the gooshy stuff. O'Connor also impressed me by bothering to draw someone dismounting from a horse like a real person would rather than having them standing next to the horse having already dismounted. It's little things like that that go a long way to helping the suspension of disbelief ease in. Zombies and cowboys pretty much demand some suspension of disbelief so I appreciated the extra effort there.

    It's fast, pulpy fun and at least tries to start saying something about something within its limited confines. So, if you see Dead on the shelves and you fancy your chances on something a bit different, heed The Duke and "fill your hands you s&*%$£$"&*h!"
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeOct 21st 2009
     
    This week I got to see this week's comics before OK did via the expedient of being in New York. However, I bought nothing! None shall doubt my OK loyalty! This does mean I'll have to buy two weeks worth at once in the next two days. My bank account is scared.
  22.  
    Scared or scarred?
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeOct 21st 2009
     
    Scared of the imminent scarring.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeNov 11th 2009
     
    This week I've been reading some of my massive pile of the last few week's comics. Is it just me, or have the Spider-Man books been rubbish for the last few? The last arc of Amazing was awful, and the first issue of Web of... reminded me of Rampaging Hulk and Sentinel of Liberty - which is to say I'd be surprised it it makes it to #13.
  25.  
    Sorry, I didn't read them so I dunno. I liked Sentinel of Liberty, I think. That was the Cappy off shoot, yes?
    Here's what I did read -

    Detective Comics #858
    If David Lynch directed Columbo, it would be the best episode of Columbo ever but it would still just be an episode of Columbo, y'know? I like Columbo, it's well done and comforting in its inevitability, but it's a bit too predictable for me usually and I'll tend to tune in because of The Special Guest Star. So JH Williams III is Ricardo Montalban. Or something. Basically, if Tony Daniel was drawing this comic, nobody would care about it.

    Dominic Fortune #3
    In this issue there is a scene where DF has a cracking contretemps with some Gestapo agents. It's a good scene because as well as fulfilling the issue's action quota it demonstrates the fact that DF has basically had just about e-damn-nuff of all this anti-semitism that he's been witness and subject to for the last three issues. He never actually says, that, mind, because this is a case of Showing Not Telling. The actions illustrate and define the character. You don't get too much of that now. Oh, and the fight scene is overlaid by a narration which has a totally breezy and sarcastic bent that works at once both against and with the action. Howard Victor Chaykin - his fight scenes are better than most people's whole comics.

    Captain America: Reborn #4
    OMG! WTF! Did you see that ending! How unexpected was that! Brubaker's Cap run truly is shaping up to be one of The Greats! Nah, not in my eyes. This is predictable, padded and plodding stuff. Remember Show Not Tell up above in DF #3? This is all Tell not Show. Remember how the narration seemed to undermine but in fact supported the images in DF #3? Here the narration sits blandly noncomittal on the adequate but unthrilling images. Bucky runs around and punches someone for information. The Vision becomes a conduit for a hoary time travelling cliche. Doctor Doom shows up so we can all wonder why the Romany Rascal is even speaking to a big red Nazi (due to that whole thing with the Nazis and the Gypsys, but I suppose it was a while ago and hey! he told Normy he'd help! That's okay then). It goes from A to B to C but so,so, sooooo slowly. "This endless skipping through time...wearing me down" says Cap at one point and I'm right there with him. As for the art, I don't know how you actually define "Hubris" but "Hitchy" aping Kirby, Adams and Steranko, that's probably pretty close.

    Deathlok #1
    Like going down the viddy cum offy circa some sleepy Sunday in 1998, picking up your bottle of peach Thunderbird and intending to rent Starship Troopers but accidentally taking out Spaceship Shooters . And watching it anyway. This comic was derivative, humourless and wholly ####. Even the lettering was ugly and obtrusive. That's some achievement when even the lettering stinks.

    The Eternal Conflicts of The Cosmic Warrior #1
    This comic is by Paul Grist it is therefore entertaining and very, very well done. There's not a lot more you need from a comic really. Solid funny, action-packed stuff from soup to nuts.

    Starr The Slayer #3
    Richard Corben drew this/of that I am sure/Otherwise I would/deem it /exceedingly poor.

    Greek Street #5
    I don't really have any idea what's going on in this even after 5 issues. That's alright though, I don't have much of a clue of what's going on in real life after nearly four decades. My favourite thing is that Gianfelice draws people's hair like it is trying to escape from their heads. But there's a real variety to it. Some hair seems to be slyly sliding down the back of heads while other hair seems to be leaping full bore from its owner's scalp. Lots of different characters doing lost of different things and, um, Greek mythology? Jason and The Soap Opera-nauts? One thing: less T&A, more weirdness. Thanks.
  26.  
    It was the Time of Pygmies but one man at Jack's House stood tall in the Past Times of Long Long Ago and some speak of him still, his name was...Aaron!

    Wolverine: Weapon X #6
    So, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest directed by Tobe Hooper on one of his good days? Fine by me, pal. Just peachy. Some might say that it's a little belittling to constantly, as I do, reduce Jason Aaron's work to a "this thing" and "that thing" formula. But since he wears his (ahem) influences so clearly and the formula has never yet been "cynical contempt for the audience" and "lazy bullsh1t times a billion" I think it's fair enough. Sure it's trash but it's good trash and believe you me the "good" is more important than the "trash". Also it takes a bit of thought this stuff. This wasn't just whipped up while waiting for the next level of Halo3 to load, mind thee nor is it the culmination of decades of research. He just bothered to think about it a bit and I thank him for that.
    The thought is primarily present in the really nice sense of sinister menace that permeates this issue. Probably due to the fact that while we can see the reality of the situation the characters are obviously experiencing a somewhat different version of reality and the resulting disconnect is quite tasty indeed. I wouldn't say it was subtle exactly but it works right nicely. I really liked the art by Paquette and Lacombe which seems to echo this disconnect. The backgrounds are messy and kind of loose while the main figures are tightly delineated, almost harshly so in fact. It's like JG Jones characters standing in Duncan Fegredo scenes. They kind of fit but kind of don't too, hence - the creepiness. It's kind of subtle after all. Wow! Words and pictures working together towards a common narrative goal, that could catch on that could.

    Don't worry though despite any subtlety Wolverine: Weapon X #6 also features a man with a sack of fresh human brains and a close up of a lobotomy scar. Hopefully this arc will finish with Wolverine hefting a water fountain out of the floor and smashing it into an Elder God's brain pan while yelling about Juicy Fruit. Good comic.

    Punishermax #1 is out today. It's by Jason Aaron & Steve Dillon. It's probably good.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeNov 12th 2009
     
    Lamont, your fine reviews of Detective Comics, Greek Street and the works of Jason Aaron could scarcely be more accurate if they tried.
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeNov 12th 2009 edited
     
    Except I liked Deathlok. It made me chuckle. But then I went to the cinema and paid good money to see Starship Troopers (which also made me laugh). I like slightly good but equally massively rubbish fun stuff like this. Nice pictures, too. Its certainly more interesting than the terrible arse of the '90s series and that weird 'Marvel Tech' make over they did not so long ago which Leonardo Manco drew nicely but someone coloured in with their own sick.

    Other silly nonsense that I, with my slightly lower quality barometer have being enjoying:

    Batgirl #4 - Oh I love love love this comic. The new Batgirl is all kinds of fun. The only bad thing is a dull but worthy sub plot with Oracle helping out a recently disabled member of new titans. Best scene this issue - Batgirl shouting 'Hey you!' to a young Detective she met a couple of issues back, to which Gordon retorts " 'Hey You' ?" and the Detective says "You speak to Batman all the time.", and Gordon does go "Batman's legal." Humour in a bat title - RESULT!

    Spider Woman # 1 & 2 - Still early days, and Bendis does seem to be on autopilot and reheating some Alias leftovers, but we'll see where it goes. It can't be worse than the last time Marvel gave her an ongoing. Alex Maleev's art is good, but he seems to have gone for a slightly sickly colour palete, which is a bit off putting.

    Black Widow : deadly origin #1 - I bought this 'cos Paul Cornell's writing it. Its great fun. The use of two artists to cover the present and past is nice, but I much prefer John Paul Leon's work over Tom Raney's cleaner style. Has one of the funniest opening salvo's i've read in comics. reminded me of what Garth Ennis tried to do in that allegedly 'funny' Preacher spin-off Good Ole Boys (just the opening bit, not the rest, which is about crazy russians).

    La LA laa .. what else... ooh! yes,

    Federal Vampire And Zombie Agency #1 - i was impressed by radical's Hotwire mini, so thought i would see if their other stuff was up to much. it is! hooray. Its David Hine adapting a website (!) that purports to tell the true history of vampires and stuff. its good fun, and i do like roy allan martinez' work, even though its a bit like clayton crain's.

    Ghost Rider I'll not talk about, 'cos Lamont does that better than me and I blither on about GR too much at the best of times.

    I am still enjoying Batman & Robin, but the pink fella who turned up this issue was a bit pants. But at least Scarlett got a happy ending when her pig face fell off like a big scab. awww.
  29.  
    Thanks, Lee (I think...).

    I'd just like to say r.e. Deathlok that I like Starship Troopers very much indeed and this would have benefited from being more like that. I mean it's 2009 now and since 1977 2000AD alone has been doing this idea almost uninterruptedly (Harlem Heroes, Inferno, Mean Team, Deathbowl etc.) so if you're going to do the whole Sport is War/War Is Sport thing do it and do it to The Max! Gore? Fling it at me, rub my face in it, make me wear their intestines like a scarf, wash my hair with their blood, make me cheer as they flop about screaming! Make me complicit! Force me to ask hard questions about myself by giving me everything I think I want and making me realise that, no, I don't want that, I don't want to be like that, take it away, I've changed my mind, stop it! Not this coy nutless stuff. It just wasn't awful enough, not stupid enough, not funny enough, not bad enough, it just wasn't nearly enough. I was really disappointed. I expected The Colosseum and got croquet. Probably just me though.

    Say, maybe if Jason Aaron wrote Deathlok...oh yes, it is coming, I have read Wolverine: Dark reign - The List and the signs are there if only you have the eyes to see them. Jason Aaron. Deathlok. The spheres are aligning and mortal man is powerless to halt it...there will be blood!

    (I don't think Garth Ennis is funny when he is being funny either (oh, except Hitman), but shhhhh.....)

    I'll not be doing Ghost Riders in deference to our own Midnight Son - Cap'n Si! With the last issue I was going to go snidely on about how the terrible reprint had Ghosto "squinting" against oncoming lights, the guy has a skull and he's squinting (?!?), then I thought "Wait! Maybe my Ghost Rider-fu is weak perhaps he has a Penance Squint?" and I realised that only the good Captain has the requisite lore to do the subject justice. Burn rubber Cap'n Si! By all means burn rubber...
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeNov 13th 2009 edited
     
    Do you know, I was going to pick up the Ketch reprint...but I didn't like the paper they've used. I think I'm wrong in the head, but it feels like they've printed it on that horrible waxy tracing paper they used to pass off as toilet rolls in schools. I'm sticking with my '91 Resurrected Trade that is printed on nicer paper. And yes! '90s Rider had a very expressive Skull... he looks like he's crying in a scene in issue 14 or so after Blaze has been shooting at him with his hellfire shotgun! Squints, frowns, Shock - its a very expressive skull!

    That collection does contain Howard Mackie's bestest Ghost Rider story which was Obsession in #7 with the Scarecrow. Dark, creepy, unsettling and quite horrible throughout. A shame the rest of the title didn't follow in this vein (well, it kind of got there again by the late teens with Reverend Styge and Blackout). Following that up with the ill-fitting Morlocks and X-Factor and the terrible, terrible H.E.A.R.T. agents was a bad move.

    I get your point about Deathlok, but maybe Huston wanted to do something a little straighter than the insane bloodbath that he revived Moon Knight with - which wasn't funny or horrific with its violence...just unnecessary.
  31.  
    PunisherMax #1 - Great start to the new series by the ever reliable Jason Aaron. Some good Frank violence and an interesting set-up. I was slightly confused by the introduction of Wilson Fisk as a "pretend" kingpin becuase I hadn't read any thing about the series before I bought it and it wasn't made clear that it was out of continuity. I think the best stories work like that but it threw me a bit to start with. My major gripe was Dillon's art though. It was great as always but just didn't fit the tone of the comic at all, I feel they need someone darker to fit with Aaron's writing. I just kept expecting some slapstick joke, simply because of the art, but unlike Ennis' work with Dillon, this was played straight without any real laughs.


    Batman/Doc Davage - Put it down and walk away. What a dissapointment from the usually top notch Azzarello. The art work it fine but the whole story is just bland and pointless. Again I didn't read anything about this comic prior to it's purchase, but I assume it's kind of an introduction to the "universe" DC has put these old pulp characters in, but that's all it really is - it just says "Hey here's a pulpy kind of Batman and and he lives in a Gotham where there's also a Doc Savage". But that's all it does. Nice art though.

    Batman & Robin #6 - Sounds like I'm on a downer this week, but this was the first issue of B&R that left me dissapointed. The artwork was terrible from Billy Tan, to the point where you just can't really figure out what's going on. The Red Hood story line just kind of fizzles out and the major villain that was built up last issue just gets his ass kicked and neither Morrison or Tan bring any kind of identity to him - he's just a generic bad guy. The last couple of pages set up an interesting scenario though. At least next issue won't have Billy Tan involved!

    I also borrowed some Dark Reign stuff from a friend an it was almost all very very bad. A couple of comics in particular (I think they were "The List- X-Men" and "X-Men: The Confession" or some such) were just devoid of any merit. Just badly done comics. However I must give a big shout out for Invincible Iron Man which was great. A brilliant idea brilliantly executed. Makes me want to check out more of Fraction's work.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeNov 14th 2009
     
    Invincible Iron Man has been awesome for the last year.

    Cap'n Si mentioning H.E.A.R.T. reminded me of the awful V.I.G.I.L. stories at the tail-end of the old school three monthly Punisher books. They were terrible. But not as terrible as when Frank turned into a black guy, which may be one of the most lame story arcs in my collection (and I have Loeb and Liefeld works).
  33.  
    But was it as terrible as Frankencastle?
    •  
      CommentAuthorOK Comics
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2009
     
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2009
     
    ooh pretty pictures.
    • CommentAuthorsmiggy3000
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2009
     
    reminds me of Grandville...
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2009
     
    Doesn't remind me of why does Larry Stroman always draw people with fat legs. But, why does he?
    •  
      CommentAuthorOK Comics
    • CommentTimeNov 30th 2009
     
    Cos he loves big butts?
  39.  
    Picked up Creepy 1 & 2 last week (as well as the much needed Goon 33). a lot better than I originally thought they would be.

    And the Goon..... well it's indispensible reading. Even when there's no words to go with the pictures.
  40.  
    I was a bit let down by Creepy #1. The fact that there was a Toth reprint made it worthwhile. (Which is no shocker as Alexander Toth reprints make life itself worthwhile).

    Creepy #2 was much better. There was a horrible bit involving some flowers and children that was so understated and foul I mentally applauded, Joe R Lansdale did his gross-out thang real gooshy like, and there was a totally awesome/stupid tale with incredible art from Nathan Fox. So, good pickings for us ghouls overall. And the whole fetid mess came wrapped in the usual genius Eric Powell cover.
    Again, though, it was the reprint that staked it through the heart. Dave Sim wrote it when he was about 6 or something and it was pretty neat'n'nasty stuff (but not as nasty as the fact they spelled his name wrong in the credits "Sim!" not "Sims!". Geeze! I need an editor - stat!). Russ Heath drew it and I think it is worth noting that Russ Heath is Awesome. He's one of those Quiet Giants of Comics History. You don't know Russ Heath? Take a looky-loo, you might like Russ Heath. I do.

    Oh yeah. Batman and Robin #6
    In which that Tan Man outdoes Wally "Dead But still Awesome" Wood. Wally Wood famously gave us "22 Panels That Always Work". Rising to the challenge The Tan Man generously gives us "22 Pages That Don't Work". Christ, this is a disgrace. I think the "best" bit is when the backgrounds are sloppily drawn to suggest tiled walls until Batman falls off a roof, at which point The Tan Man realises the action is occurring on a roof and not in a tiled room. Professional to a tee he simply doctors the backgrounds (sloppily) to resemble badly drawn skyscrapers (in fact they resemble sloppily drawn tiled walls with some thick lines here and there to suggest building "shapes"). Or it might be the bit where the instructions to the colourist are visible just behind Batman's head. You decide! What a crock-o-poo!
  41.  
    I decided it was a big fight in a bow of grits. what are grits anyway? answer: a bowl of billy tan. grey, sludgey goo.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2009
     
    I had grits just recently! I was very excited, but I'm still not actually sure what they were - it was a sort of lumpy slop. Nice though.
  43.  
    I bet Trace Adkins knows what grits are. Annnnnnd cue the music...

    Trace Adkins is...Luke McBain #1 (12 Gauge Comics) by David Tischman (w) and Kody Chamberlain (a) £2.99

    This is one of those weird comics where a celebrity uses their cachet to fulfil the childhood dream of being portrayed in a comic book. (Personally I'm looking forward to the day when I can have my face drawn into Police Action Featuring Lomax (Atlas Comics). Yes, really.) Anyway I assume nostalgia's the reason, it's not like there's big money in comics...I suppose it could get turned into a film. Oops getting cynical there and Luke McBain looks like he's a bit handy with the axe handle he's toting on the Brian Steelfreeze cover. Moving on then...

    Trace Adkins a C&W star of some renown whose popular platters include "(This Ain't No) Thinking Thing" and "Hot Mama". According to his Wikipedia page that is, it also informs me he appears quite blue collar, has beaten the bottle and does a lot of work for charity as well as voice-overs for KFC. His ultimate achievement is the fact that he beat Piers "Roast Beef Face" Morgan on the US Celebrity Apprentice. (Alas, he didn't physically beat him with that axe handle).
    I was going to be a bit British and jocular but then two things happened. First: I read the comments threads on the posts related to his comic debut, these were quite scary. Second: I read the following on Wiki: "Trace Adkins...had the pinky finger on his left hand partially severed and surgically re-attached. He was involved in a number of bar room incidents, and was also shot in the heart and lungs by his second wife."

    After that I decided that Luke McBain #1 is absolutley fantastic!

    "This is Luke McBain. He's coming home." That's how the whole thing is written. Terse and butch to the max. Luke McBain's coming home to a place called "Eden". Luke McBain has a bad seed brother. Luke McBain is polite but Luke McBain is not weak. Luke McBain has what women need. Two women come on to Luke McBain in the course of this comic. Luke McBain thinks my jealousy is unmanly. Luke McBain's body bears the scars of his Past. Luke McBain updates the old "your shoelaces are untied" schtick but with p!ss. Luke McBain is stern but loving to children. Luke McBain is a man slow to anger but quick to act. Luke McBain is a man's man. But Luke McBain is not that kind of man's man. Luke McBain regrets that technology has not advanced to the point where his comic can be printed on raw meat.

    Luke McBain #1 is pretty bad but it is really well executed and not unenjoyable. It's a lizard brain thing. See, nobody thinks Road House is a good movie but we all watch Road House when it's on. Am I right? Damn straight. The Stars and Stripes are practically written into the DNA of this comic. You don't love this comic? Then...leave it! It's a teeny weeny bit conservative, contains no surprises but is efficiently and convincingly delivered for all that. A bit like mainstream C&W music, eh? <KraK!> Aaaiiiiiiieeeeeee...<Krak!><Krak!>
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeDec 3rd 2009
     
    I think Road House is a good movie! Sort of, anyway. I mean, it is obviously bad, but also brilliant! You're gonna be my regular Saturday night thing, baby! Awesome!

    Trace Adkins. Hmm. He's just not got the rugged good looks of Billy Curringham or the scary polish of Tim McGraw...
  45.  
    Pain don't hurt.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeDec 4th 2009
     
    I thought you'd be bigger.
  47.  
    Nobody puts Luke McBain in a corner.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeDec 6th 2009 edited
     
    Is Captain Si aware that Death's Head is in the first issue of SWORD?
  49.  
  50.  
    No I wasn't. Are there any left? SWORD looked at bit, well... cack so I gave it wide berth. am i wrong?
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeDec 8th 2009
     
    I'm sure it won't last past 12 issues, but it was fun enough. And, you know: Desth's Head, yes?
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeDec 8th 2009
     
    Well I made a big mistake with my comics buying in October.I went to the Nottingham Comic Mart which is a lot better now its venue is the Comfort Hotel.I bought the whole run of Blood and something or other...that ran through Silver Surfer,Warlock Chronicles,Warlock and the Infinity Watch and Thor for £2.There I was happily reading through Chapters 1 to 11,then it said to be continued in Warlock 25...HMM.i didn't have that one.Oh dear I had chapter 11 and then the end.So I now have to try and find chapter 12 on saturday at the nottingham mart.Are there any Iron Man fans out there?And also does anyone else like me save money by borrowing graphic novels from libraries?I'm a member of FOUR libraries and I have had hundreds of marvel and dc graphics in fact getting up to 24 books out at a time.
  53.  
    I do that Mr greg75, i'm walking distance from two libraries, then I use the one near my uni, read some quite good Batman GNs from libraries...
  54.  
    i bought sword issue one today from lovely OK. i liked it. the cover is turd though. it looks really dull and doesn't do the book much favour. anyway, Death's Head's appearance is interesting. he's been potrayed as a transformer sized mechanoid as he originally was (albeit with a slight redesign), and if i put my anal fanboy hat on, it really b*ggers with the character's continutiy! (Oh. My. God. We are all going to die!), as its 2009 now and by this point, Death's Head had already disappeared from our 'present' in search of Galvatron (time jumping two years ago from 2007 to 1987, fact fans).

    Anyway, SWORD is half decent as it is written by that Kieron thingy who did Phonogram. And the art is better than the cover would have you believe.

    I have also read and enjoyed Black Widow and The Marvel Girls. Lightweight fun adventure. Worth a look! Anita Blake is bloody awful. God knows why I bought it, but its like Image comics never happened and this is filling the void.
  55.  
    Detective Comics - The latest issue has already got me more interested in the character than the whole of the last arc did. It's not you usual super-hero origin story and it's all the better for it. Weaving the origin story in with the ongoing storyline is a nice touch as well. The art by Williams III is spectacular as usual - the origin sequences drawn in Mauzachelli Batman Year One style which lends helps link the to the whole affair into the Batman mythos. But yet again the "second feature" with The Question does absolutely nothing for me.

    Die Hard: Year One - I'm loving this! Don't let the title fool you, other than having a character with the same name this has so far been quite unlike any Die Hard movie. It's a gritty 70's cops and robbers tale. I think it benefits greatly from the fact that CHAYKIN! hasn't done the art as the story doesn't have the humour and the irony that his own pencils bring to the fore.

    Dark Avengers Annual - Having stayed away from Dark Reign I picked this up because it starred Marvel Boy and was drawn by Chris Bachalo. The art was great as usual - I don't understand why this guy isn't on a major title. The story less so. It was entertaining enough, if a tad predictable. It's just a shame that all the great ideas Morrison introduced in the original Marvel Boy series have been discarded and he's been made into essentiality the new Captain Marvel and lost a lot of his edge that made him unique.
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeDec 10th 2009
     
    I'm trying to currently read Onslaught x-men graphic novels.I've managed to get 1 and 2 and 4 but still need to read 3.Does anyone else have that same problem?Whereby you get a load of comics and if you've got chapters 1-3 and then part 5,you won't read part 5 until you've managed to buy or read chapter 4?

    Also what are the chances of there being a secret wars 3?Or have marvel done as much as they can with the beyonder?Can anyone tell me whats happened to the ORIGINAL guardians of the galaxy in today's continuity.I really hate the new team.
    • CommentAuthorsmiggy3000
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009
     
    and i'm like that with all my comics, which is anoying when i'm at a comics mart and can only get random issues of some thing like #7, #13, #27
    i'm quite cureous what you'd imagine a third secret wars to play out as Mr greg75?

    I have currently been reading the Black Panthers civil war world tour, havn't got very far yet, but Doom Bots are always fun...
  58.  
    R.e. SWORD. Mr. Gillen commented on a thread that:

    "Death's Head's continuity is an enormous glorious mess, so I'm very much treating him as a new character in SWORD - though people who are fans will be able to absolutely work out where in his timeline he's from."

    Can Captain Si rise to the challenge? Can he? Do you doubt him still? Show them Captain Si!

    Captain Si said:
    "its 2009 now and by this point, Death's Head had already disappeared from our 'present' in search of Galvatron (time jumping two years ago from 2007 to 1987, fact fans."

    Truly his knowledge is vast. I think Marvel should have him on retainer as Continuity Guru or something.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009
     
    I'm not bothering with any DC back-up strips, though I am reading the awful She-Hulk one.

    The Beyonder is great and Secret Wars III would also be great. Or awful. Probably awful, actually...
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009 edited
     
    See, Death's Head does return to our present (2008) following the conclusion of ''Fire On High' in Transformers Uk #120. However, he disappears before we reach 2009 following the destruction of Unicron in Transformers UK # 151 which happens in 2008, whereby he ends runs into The Doctor (Doctor Who Magazine #135) who shrinks him to human size and blasts him through time to the year 8162 where he encounters Dragons Claws (Dragons Claws #5), following which he needs a complete rebuild for his own series. In Death's Head #8, he runs into the Doctor again, who strands him 1989 atop Four Freedoms Plaza, and after a confrontation with the Fantastic Four is transported again through time to 2020 where he encounters the Iron Man of 2020 and gets his head ripped off.

    Death's Head remains active in 2020, despite the odd jaunt through time to encounter his 'parents', the Fantastic Four and She Hulk, before the Minion construct assimilates him and becomes Death's Head II.

    Death's Head II's timeline is all over the shop. Following a battle with Charnel, he ends up in the 'present day' 1992 and remains there until a run with the Sapphire Lotus sees his new partner Tuck transported back to her homeworld in the 23rd century. He follows her there, rescues her, returns briefly to 2020 where he tries meddling with his own origin and is returned to 1993. After a run in with Dr Evelyn Necker (who built the minion prototype) and Charnel (again), he ends up on Mars in 2020 before shunted off to an unspecified future in Death's Head II #16. Death's Head II Gold #1 then has Tuck trapped on the present day Earth of 1994 and Death's Head is stuck on the dead world of Catspur under control of the scientist Noon. As Tuck joins him there after being transported across space by the mage Phaedra and no mention of the date being mentioned on this world, I can only assume that Death's Head IIs adventure here takes place during the same Earthdate: 1994.

    Death's Head II then crops up in two issues of 1996s Excalibur run and isn't seen again until 2009s Captain Britain & MI13 #15.

    This of course, leaves out Death's Head IIs other adventures as part of the galaxy spanning Dark Guard and during the two Battle Tide mini-series. But as most of his other appearances involve interacting with other Marvel UK and US characters, these must take place in and around the years 1992 - 1994, with the exception of Death 3, which sees Death's Head II and his prototype brethern blasted to an alternate 2020.

    Given Death's Head's size and general appearance in SWORD, its fair to assume that the intention is to see this as Death's Head prior to his adventures with the Transformers (or even during - he is hired on three occasions, twice by the Autobots and once by the Decepticons). However, the mechaniods overall rough appearance in SWORD and different colouration seems to suggest that these events are occuring before he runs into a certain Wanted poster on Scarvix in (which happens in 2007 - Transformers UK #113).

    All this is moot anyway, as Death's Head's original adventures take place now in an alternate Marvel timeline (Earth 616, I believe is the one where he enters the Marvel Universe proper - which begins at the point he is shrunk to human size). Either way, what's interesting now (er, to me anyway!) is that both versions of Death's Head have been shown to be active in the present Marvel Universe. Confusing, yes?

    I have left out Death's Head 3.0 as that takes place later and separately to these events!
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009
     
    Also, (and with further pedantry) Death's Head is shown to be detatching his left hand and reattaching weaponary to his wrist. It is his right hand which he is able to detacth, not the left. But who cares? Its Death's Head! Back in comics! Hooray!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009
     
    Anyone else scared of Cap'n Si today?
    • CommentAuthorsmiggy3000
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009
     
    Captain Si is Death's Head... also, what does Death do without his Head, will he come back to reclain it one day?
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009
     
    Hmm..Secret Wars 3 should involve all the heroes and villains should go through all the marvel titles for a whole year,and it should be against the beyonder and whoever wins inherits the earth.By the way something's really peed me off in superman final battle graphic novel where amongst other villains supes fights a female galactus????can anyone confirm who this villainess is???
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009
     
    and bring back zsaji (was that her name the healer from the first secret wars)
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeDec 11th 2009
     
    The one who fancied Colossus? Wow, flashback... She wore a little purple outfit, didn't she?
    • CommentAuthorsmiggy3000
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2009
     
    closest we're getting to a Secret Wars 3 for now, http://comicbookresources.com/?page=user_review&id=1652
    • CommentAuthorgreg75
    • CommentTimeDec 12th 2009
     
    thats correct lee wasn't the human torch in love with her too?
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJan 1st 2010
     
    Fantastic Four #574 and X-Factor #200 are both great reads, and raise the possibility that Valeria Richards is one of my fave characters.
    •  
      CommentAuthorOK Comics
    • CommentTimeJan 2nd 2010
     
    Having a week off from NEW comics has been a bit weird, but I've found myself re-reading Ex Machina and totally, totally loving it. Loads of subtle clues dropped early on leading to what's happening in the final storyline...
    Loving it.
  71.  
    I have been mostly reading Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot.
    It is at once rubbish and genius. It exists in both states at the same time. G.I.s vs. dinosaurs! What could be better? G.I. Robot vs. dinosaurs? Done! Khaki clad acrobatic troupes vs. dinosaurs! Done again! 500 pages of absolute madness. I might say more about this once my head has stopped vibrating at the speed of awesome. Yes. I might very well do that.

    "...And what they saw should have been in a book! But it wasn't!" (p.7 Army of Armoured Giants!)
    Well it is now.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJan 2nd 2010
     
    I've caught up! For the first time in about six months, I have no comics to read and can now try to read a few books by Thursday to get the book-pile down too!
  73.  
    I also have been reading Bernet (which is a book about and featuring the work of Jordi Bernet, hence the title - Bernet).
    It's a gorgeous book but I wanted to point out this particular thing regarding the contents. In one story there's this one panel; and in this panel there's a cowboy sat at a campfire with a bear sitting next to him. The expression on the bear's face is actually the funniest thing I've seen in ages and is a shining example of the "picture", "worth" "1000 words" thing. Good Gravy, it's funny. People who can draw as good as this are miracles. I believe this. This book should have been called BERNET! Straight up. BERNET!
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2010
     
    Dunno who Rob Williams is, other than the writer of Punisher Max: Get Castle. Anyway, if you like your Punisher psychotically terrifying rather than Frankencastley, buy and read Punisher Max: Get Castle - nasty. In a good way.

    Anyone else know who this Williams chap is? Based purely on one story, he delivers an Ennis/Aaron level of badass Frank.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2010
     
    And, whilst I'm being all up-to-date and actually reading this week's comics for a change, can I just say that I'd happily read a Peter David penned X-Factor every single day and it is just a shame that he only writes one per month.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2010
     
    And, finally, Siege had better ship on time. Or I'll sulk. By Fafnir's teeth.
    •  
      CommentAuthorOK Comics
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2010
     
    I think it's the same Rob Williams who wrote Cla$$war, drawn by Trevor Hairsine.
    He currently writes Star Wars Rebellion, which may find it's way into the OK Lending Library, and he's doing the upcoming Robocop series, which, based on how awesome Get Castle is, could be great...!
    • CommentAuthorMidnighter
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2010
     
    Late to the party I have mostly been reading the Final Crisis hardcover. As a life-long Marvel Zombie and not much of a DCU fan outside of Batman I can safely say I'm loving this. Superman Beyond blew my mind and I'm just about to start Final Crisis part 5.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2010
     
    I've never read any of the various Crises. Should I?
  80.  
    I'd say just Final Crisis, but I think you might enjoy the original.
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2010
     
    Is Streaky the Supercat in it? I know Krypto is in continuity, but what happened to Streaky?
    • CommentAuthorMidnighter
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2010
     
    Streaky is in it but I don't know if it's the same cat with powers or just a similar looking normal cat that belongs to Supergirl. Ace the Bathound is in it as well, trapped in limbo.

    I've never read any of the Crisis before but I'm liking this one. I've got Infinite Crisis and a load of tie-in collections to read which I picked up dirt cheap when Borders went under, but I decided to read Final Crisis first as I'd finally caught up on my Batman trades and just read RIP.
    • CommentAuthorMidnighter
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2010
     
    One question: When did/does Darkseid fire the bullet back in time to kill Orion? Is that later on in the book? Or something that happens off panel or in another book?
    •  
      CommentAuthorOK Comics
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2010
     
    He hasn't done it yet?
    • CommentAuthorMidnighter
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2010
     
    He hasn't been seen doing it in any DC book or it's revealed he does it some time in the future?
    •  
      CommentAuthorOK Comics
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2010
     
    Don't know.
    • CommentAuthorMidnighter
    • CommentTimeJan 15th 2010
     
    Finished Final Crisis last night (Darseid does indeed fire the bullet near the end, I so hope he took the bullet out of himself, rather than got a new one, fired it back in time, which then found it's way to Batman who then shot Darseid, then the bullet would constantly be going back and forth in time, seems the kind of thing Morrison would do).

    Anyhoo, even though I'm not a huge DC fan I found this FAR more satisfying than the terrible Secret Invasion. And it's got me even more interested in DC stuff as I've sat on various sites reading up on characters and events that I now want to read about properly.
  88.  
    I agree exactly with your second paragraph.
  89.  
    My eyes have been grazing like sleepy cows on the following:

    Jonah Hex #52: This issue Dick "Giddy" Giordano does the etchings. Mr. G. is in the region of 80 years old and he can still draw! Heck, when I'm 80 I'll probably have been dead for 20 years or at least be mistaking furniture for family members. I've never been a great fan of The G-ster, he's always been a bit scritchy-scratchy for me, but he can still draw like Dick Giordano that's fer sure, and surely that's the point of getting The G-Man out of from in front of Murder She Wrote and sticking a brush in his liver spotted fist? Yes it is. Hey, Dick Giordano - respect and snuggles! That's one of the many cool things about Jonah Hex; no one buys it so occasionally they can smuggle in some of the Old Guys, and y'know what? They still got their chops. Age shall not wither them!
    Oh, the story? It's real neat this ish. Old Jonah basically sits in a chair acting like a stubborn Sherlock Holmes with piles until someone cracks and tells him what's going on. Then he goes off and sorts it out. Lead flies, folk die and a lot fewer people than you might expect end up happy in the end. Nice work by Palmiotti and Gray on "words" there. There's a beautiful scene in which a pining Preacher man reveals his hidden love to the object of his repressed affections. The lady in question has quite a surprising reaction, f'sure. It's a heart warming, and tender moment of human beauty in the midst of all the horror and degradation that surrounds them. Ah, Jonah Hex, the best comic no one reads. I'll ride with you Mr. Hex, till we run out of road, and then on and beyond...
  90.  
    Battlefields: Happy Valley #1
    All Garth Ennis war comics are the same - great! This one's about an Australian bomber crew who get a new skipper. He's never flown proper ops before! They've got a handful of missions to fly before they go back to Oz! He writes letters to his dad! Will they survive? Will he be accepted? These are of course entirely familiar ingredients but Ennis manages to mix 'em up and cook 'em so that they seem entirely fresh and new. That's a rubbish metaphor. It's a comic about pilots not cooks. Forget it, I'll talk about the art while I regroup. P J Holden does a good job here. The double splash of the bombers in a flak and searchlight stripped night sky is neat, but he really earns his stripes in a tight and claustrophobic sequence where the crate has do some fancy shimmying to avoid a Hun who has latched onto their tail. The confined panels and jarring angles suddenly burst open into a 4/5 splash quite effectively. Extra mash for you tonight, P J Holden.
    Oh yeah, anyway, what Ennis does is manage to convey his enormous respect (and love, why not love eh, why not?) for the Greatest Generation through Blitz Spirit solid crafstmanship without ever once sliding into the pit of sentimentality or the foul slough of glorification. These are human beings. This was their War. This was their Hell. And these are their stories. It is an entirely convincing and entirely honourable performance. Good comics with heart.
    According to the lettercol, Mr. Ennis, states the market for his excellent war comics isn't all it could be. Why not give one a go and perhaps we could all muck in and change that, eh chaps?
  91.  
    Captain America: Who Will Wield The shield?
    SPOILERS!
    SteveCap: You wield it, Bucky.
    BuckyCap: No, you wield it!
    SteveCap: You!
    BuckyCap: You! I'm <choke!> not good enough!
    SteveCap: Are too!
    Sharon Carter agent of W.E.E.P: I haz emotions. They are sad.
    BuckyCap: Wield the shield!
    SteveCap: You wield the shield! Look, Bucky, I 'll be honest. That stuff the Red Skull just put me through? All that page filling stuff with the big splash pages of flashbacks? And that obvious bit of business with the pages by Butch Guice that had been already drawn for when the story was going to appear in the regular title but then they heard the cash cows lowing over yonder? And they got Bryan Hitch in? And the price went up? And it was now an Event? And then they added an issue? All that and more? I'm just tired. Just too damned tired and too damned old for this bullhockey. I just want to watch the last season of the The Wire I missed and maybe finally read that Against The Day by Pynchon, I've heard it's apesh1t. Go to the beach. Watch girls. Drink beer. scratch my nuts. Maybe open a tackle shop. Please...
    Buckycap: No.
    SteveCap: Too late, I retired! Ha! Commie fink!
    Barack Obama: That's what you think!
    To Be Continued in Siege! (I rather think not.)
  92.  
    Chimichanga #1 by Eric Powell.
    Reasons to buy:
    1) It's an Eric Powell comic! So you now know it is beautiful.
    2) It's #1. So you now know can get in on the ground floor, no fuss, no bother. All you need is here.
    3) It's an Eric Powell comic! So you now know it is amusing.
    4) It has a depressed boy-faced fish! So you now know it is set in a carny.
    5) It's £2.25.
    6) Goto 1)

    BONUS!
    Unknown Soldier #15
    is it just me or is it really hard to read this comic? I don't mean in a "OMG! Final Crisis WTF?!?!?" kind of "hard to read", I mean "hard to read" in the same way that "Funny Games" is "hard to watch". It's just bleak and really, really depressing, so depressing and bleak that you have to think about what exactly is the value of putting yourself through it. Actually, the most depressing thing is that when Jack Howl crops up I feel like hugging him. I'm just that darn glad to have some comforting genre stereotype to cushion the blow of the horrors this comic throws in my face every month. These horrors are of course based on documented historical fact and the realisation that I am unable to cope with them without some kind of cliche buffer doesn't really speak well of me, I think. Uncomfortable truths aren't called "comfortable" truths for a reason I guess. i feel bad for flinching in the face of Truth, I guess. Say, what if The Hulk was, like, blue? Wouldn't that be the best? Ah, that's better.
  93.  
    I read Cap:WWWTS last night.

    It was bad. I think Lamont's summary of the plot is, if anything, over the top. It's more like:-

    Bucky: Well I guess now Steve's back he should be Cap, I don't deserve it anyway.
    Cap: Yes you do!
    Bucky: OK.

    How come in CA:WWWTS the Predident is Barak Obama, but in Siege #1 it's some white dude?

    I'm really enjoying Unknown Soldier, but I do find the politics behind it pretty poorly explained. After 15 issues all I could tell you is that some rebels are fighting the government. The rebels seem to be bad, but then sometimes so is the government.
  94.  
    "over the top"! Moi! Actually, if I was anymore over the top Sylvester Stallone would be starring in me and there would be a lot of truckers, child bonding and arm wrassling.

    Mike, if I may, the politics in UnKSold are explained in those text pieces that appear sometimes and also on the writer's bloggy thing. It is all very complicated and convoluted and I can't understand it really but I would summarise it as "This a country controlled by lunatics who are opposed by lunatics and the West is just making it worse. The people? Stuffed."
    Although "The rebels seem to be bad, but then sometimes so is the government." is pretty succint. So you've got as good a grasp as I have really. Sigh, things were much simpler when there were just Nazis. I still don't want them back though.
  95.  
    Hey Mike you should know by now that that was one of LC's more reserved summaries. Just thank your lucky stars that there was nothing CHAYKIN! this week.
  96.  
    A week without CHAYKIN! is like a Day without Doris, I'm sure everyone will agree. Where is he? Is he allright do you think? Has anyone checked on him? Did someone leave the liqour cabinet unlocked again?
    Also: what happened to that Blackhawk TPB? Did that ever happen? Will it ever happen? If it did happen how come no one tried to sell it to me?
    Say now, The Blackhawks are coming back in that First Wave thing DC are doing aren't they? You know who else is?
    (you'll like this, Nimbus)
    ........The
    ........Spirit!
    (But not a lot!)
    Get back everyone, he's gonna blow! Get the women and children to the shelters!
    ARROOOOOGAA! ARROOOOGAAA!
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2010
     
    ...I bet you don't have a warning siren and are making that noise with your mouth. whilst wearing some kind of military uniform with shiny buttons. and a very important looking hat. i bet you are!
  98.  
    Don't you judge me!
    • CommentAuthorCaptain Si
    • CommentTimeJan 23rd 2010
     
    ha ha! you are aren't you? XD only joking Lamont :)
    • CommentAuthorLee
    • CommentTimeJan 23rd 2010
     
    I wish I had an important looking hat...

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