Across the Counter

Brave New World

2008-10-02T01:15:00.004Z

Don't know if anyone is going to read this, don't rightly care. Don't see why anyone would seeing as I haven't touched it for well over a year.

Well things change apparently, and the name for this site couldn't be more apt, as I really have gone across the counter. Yep, I no longer work in a comic shop.

Why?

Well many reasons really, a combination of personal and work related, but over-all I guess I was just ready to get the fuck out of small-town mentality Banbury and all the reasons I had to stay in said town (work, friends, house, gf) all went tits up and were no longer worth the time or effort tbh.

Probably would have stayed for the job, but after three years of being promised partnership into a comic shop I spent 11 years RUNNING (not working in, but running) for minimal wages it really no longer seemed worth it.

Still, I can't complain, been a good year despite its tumultuous start. Done some traveling, got some writing done, still fighting to be published, need a job soon, running short of money etc... etc...

What job do I go for? Tried working in a gym for a while, but fuck me was that a boring job, at least in the comic shop there was always something to be done, someone to talk to or at the very least something to read. At the gym, you had to invent ways to look busy, no point getting all your work done (and more) so you can read a book for half an hour after lunch (no lunch breaks, sit at the counter!), nope, walk around holding a cloth, don't man the counter to serve clients as that would be stupid. Honestly, if you feel you need to film your staff from four different camera angles to check up on them, just get rid of them and hire someone else because for £5.50 an hour to clean toilets, urinals and showers, it really isn't worth it at 28 years of age.

Would it be worth getting another job in a comic shop? Maybe temporarily, the shop in Canterbury (Whatever comics) is a decent shop with really nice owners, and it would definately be the place I'd plunk down my cash if I had to pay for my comics.
Couldn't leave a comic shop for another comic shop though. Too incestuous.

So what to do for a job hmm?

So why am I writing on this again? Don't know really. Kind of need a place to vent as I feel like I'm existing in a vacuum at the moment, I had no illusions that leaving small town mentality behind wouldn't ostracise me from my friends, and I know that leaving a town like that behind means you can never go back as you'll always be resented as "the guy who tried to leave", so you'll either be the guy who failed or the guy who thought he was better than small town.

Maybe I've been stuck indoors writing too much, which really wouldn't be a bad thing if it led to me getting something published. It seems a few of my friends are doing quite well in the industry now and even my ex-girlfriend has just had a book published, which is excellent and all but just highlights my personal failure to do so.

But coming back to the job thing, I worry that if I HAVE to get a job I will be looking for a career as I am too old to be doing the retail thing for minimum wage, and if I get a career I wonder how long my writing will continue, until time becomes a factor and I leave it behind. That would suck.

Pen-ultimate Post (not a new Mark Millar title)

2007-06-06T14:41:00.000Z

I recently stopped writing on this blog after Time magazine voted internet users as the "People of the year", suddenly everyone was too busy writing about nothing to read about something, and it became clear that the time I was spending writing an article wasn't worth the small audience it was recieving.
An average length entry on this site takes about an hour - maybe two - to get right. I didn't want to compromise my writing by getting slack and just throwing articles out, and I feared that towards the end this is what was happening.

It's been fun, but after all it was only a blog.

Greener pastures?!?!

The Hypocritical Avengers

2007-03-27T14:56:00.000Z

by Andy Duncan

This is my first Blog posting for Sid's blog, as he mentioned he wanted some new blood. Actually now I think about it, I'm hoping he meant to make the Blog fresh, and he didn't want me to knock off a blood bank…

I've been racking my brains for the last month or so, trying to think what I can make it about - what is hip, cool and all around a good topic. I found one.
The idea came to me after reading Bendis' Mighty Avengers issue #1. A very funny book, I thought. Though one thing stuck in my craw. The one thing almost EVERY Avenger ever has said is "Avengers don't kill." And in Stark's new Superhero-centric America, surely this will have been hammered into every registered hero.

So what happens in the first issue of the latest Avengers project? The Avengers kill.

I'm not just talking about Ares. The Wasp even kills one of the Mole creatures by flying through it's temples at high speed. So whilst all this killing is happening, what's going through Stark's mind? Surely not "New team of Avengers here, going to keep up the code hammered out by me, the Pym's, Thor and Banner all those years ago.", right? But that's what he wanted the team to do! Ms Marvel being in charge or not - he wanted the Mighty Avengers to uphold the morals and things that the original team did.

But it's not just the Mighty Avengers. How many teams and single heroes have decided they wouldn't kill? Wolverine happens to be on two teams that have a no-killing policy - though one of those teams seems to have killed Jean Grey more than once.
When the Hand ninja's disolve, what's happening to them? Oh, they must be dying. At the hands of the New Avengers - again more than once - loads of the Hand were disolved.
Spider-man himself went and killed Morlun. Sure he was half-posessed at the time, but is that really an excuse?

They have had other killers on Avenger's itterations, too. Ares is the latest, Wolverine was the last - they've had Moon Knight... All have blood on their hands, and still break the 'golden' Avengers rule.

It's not just Marvel. Sure, most of DC's kill-happy "I don't kill." characters were Pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths versions, but it's still something to think on.

I hope this has been thought provoking, and not just ranting and raving. I'd hate to get off to a bad start. Those are my thoughts on the subject, now let's hear yours in the comments

One Year Later almost One Year Later

2007-02-24T01:45:00.000Z

Was DC's One Year Later a success of a failure?

The plan to reinvigorate the entire DC line by moving the entire universe a year forward in time opened up new and exciting ventures, put the characters through various changes of pace and gave newcomers a great jumping on point following the interest surrounding Infinite crisis (IC). It seemed the perfect time to be reading DC, or to start reading DC.

Being the objective optimist I am, I have to say it was one hell of a big failure. But it didn't have to be. Lets look at the titles individually, bear in mind these are the comics that I have read. Aquaman and Manhunter may very well be the best comics in the world but I haven't read them so I couldn't possibly comment.

Batman / Detective Comics: Failure
Why: All the 8 issue "Face the Face" story-arc did was put all the characters in the Batman Universe back in exactly the same place as they were before. The interesting story potential of Two-face being "cured" was rushed as quick as possible, as was the intriguing Hush story-thread of Riddler knowing who Batman was. The only thing sets this into the 1YL sphere is Batman is apparently a bit nicer than the Pre-IC Batman, but in this case it seems "a bit nicer" means "less monologue", and if people didn't like long meaningless exposition in caption form then both Wolverine and Chris Claremont would be on the street looking for jobs, because lets face it now, neither of them are the best there is at what they do.
I digress.
Anyway, Robin has been adopted, because we didn't see that coming and (for now), Riddler is a good guy, or at least an anti-hero merc detective.
Thanks to poor-planning, newcomers to the bat books had to commit to both books immediately after IC, instead of being able to select Detective or Batman. Which I guess would have been fine if they intended to keep the two books crossing over as an ongoing narrative, but straight after the 8 issues they split the books up again. *sighs*
Eventually, it got better. The excellent Paul Dini is crafting some fine, self-contained detective stories in the flagship Bat title, while Grant Morrison and Kubert #1 have taken the helm of Batman and run in an interesting direction, with the introduction of a supposed son and heir to the bat-mantle. Only to be plagued by late shipping and fill-in content (which still beats skip months, at least from a sales perspective).

Superman / Action Comics: Failure
We'll leave the Bat universe to examine the Supes core titles quickly. This is easy, cut and paste the above dissection of the bat books and change a few key words.
Again, the 8 issue story immediately following 1YL shipped in both Supes and Action before the books segregated into their own thing, confusing newcomers who may have wanted to pick up one or the other. When all is said and done, we are back pretty much where we left off pre-1YL, Superman has his powers back but now without much examination of what could have been an interesting chapter of Clarks life (largely skipped over in 52 as well), the only real difference being the public know that Luthor is a bit of a bastard really.
Eventually, it got better. With Kurt Busiek doing some fine stories with Carlos Pacheco in Superman (even if some of them have been a little fill-in feeling) and Richard Donner with Geoff Johns and Kubert #2 running in an interesting direction, with the introduction of a supposed son and heir to the supes-mantle. Only to be plagued by late shipping and fill-in content (which still beats skip months, at least from a sales perspective).

Nightwing: Failure.
What the fuck were they doing hiring Bruce Jones? He bored the fuck out of just about everyone on the Hulk and then they stick him on Nightwing. A fate quite literally worse than death for Dick Grayson. had they killed him in IC (as they were going to) at least it would have had meaning.
I felt consistently embarrassed at stocking this title, never mind selling it to customers whom I consider friends (who surely were only buying it as part of their run and not because they enjoyed it), and the fact that I have them sat in a box, bagged and boarded, in my house because I don't want a gap in my numbers disgusts me to my core. In fact, fuck it, time to sell them if I can.
It got better with the advent of Marv Wolfman (original Crisis writer and Beast Machines story editor), but it was a case of too little too late for the character no-one knew how to use.
While we're here, why the hell did Jason Todd survive IC? That was the perfect chance to un-punch his shitty rebirth.

Robin: Pending
the fact that I've fallen 4 issues behind on this book speaks volumes about its content. So he's got a new, more Bruce Timm-centric costume, okay. That's a change I suppose.
Having just read the newest issue (#159), it's not bad, and certainly not a failure. As well as having a new costume, Tim has also been adopted by Bruce, other than that he has not changed much as a character (seemingly back in Gotham after a stint in Bludhaven, a move which was probably okayed before the powers that be decreed Nightwing would survive IC)).
This lack of change is a good thing, as I wouldn't want to see Tim becoming a brooding bastard after the death of another parent / loved one. This guy has suffered more tragedy than Bruce has, but steadfast refuses to let himself be a victim - except in the contradictory Teen Titans. More on that later.
So all in all, this book can be judged a success, even though it doesn't seem to be on the same quality level as the Bill Willingham run and the sales figures reflect no new readership.

Catwoman: Failure.
Not terrible, but after months of waiting to find out if Bruce was the Father of Selinas child (the daughter in question is even named Helena, like in one of the Pre-crisis (1986 crisis) alternate universes), we find out the father was the now deceased son of slam Bradley. Who? What? Move along.
Yeah, exactly, if you weren't reading Catwoman before 1YL, you'll get nothing out of it now. Also, while I think of it, some of the villains in this book have been just awful, points for trying, but just awful.
The sales figures are worse than before 1YL, I think that's worth noting.

Forgive my excessive use of brackets, but some of this stuff is hard to decipher without footnotes.

Green Arrow: Break even
As with Catwoman, I returned to this title with 1YL. I haven't really clicked with Judd Winnick lately and dumped this book some time back, flitting in and out when the new Speedy turned out to be continuing Pedro's philanthropic AID's awareness legacy.
The allure of Oliver Queen as Mayor coupled with McDaniel artwork got me quite excited about this title...for about 3 issues.
It seems I much prefer Oliver Queen as a bit character, I like how he was used in ID Crisis and on the Justice League unlimited TV series, as I haven't enjoyed his solo book since the vastly underrated "Archers Quest" story-line by Brad Meltzer.
As with Batman, its seems Ollie spent his missing year going back to basics, and spent a year on an island re-honing his skills.
The quality of this title is fine, it certainly doesn't suck and is quite an enjoyable read, but it certainly doesn't warrant me continuing to collect it. The sales levels have held their course since pre-IC, so no harm no foul, it just isn't for me anymore.

Outsiders: failure
The book is, was and probably always will be as average as you can get. If anyone ever asks you to recommend a really average comic, give them Outsiders. Its never really hit a slump because its never had a peak, and you need one to occur for the other to be noticeable. This book had a huge amount of support surrounding IC, including high-scale crossovers with Teen Titans and being re-launched with a new team including a major player from ID Crisis, and still fails to impress.
And Nightwing ALWAYS acts like Batman in this title, not like Nightwing.

Green Lantern: failure
You know all those annoying bastards who'd never shut up about Hal Jordan after they'd killed him off? I'm the same but with Kyle Rayner.
Kyle got me into GL, I find it much easier to relate to a kid who likes NIN and Greenday than a "I know no fear" womanising test pilot. Still, this Geoff Johns title started off okay, certainly not as well as the miniseries that preceded it but solid enough.
The problem is the stories all feel too isolated from the DCU, I know you could say that about any book but this one almost feels off in a universe of its own. Which I suppose is an advantage as well as a disadvantage depending on your POV. The re-absorption of Hal seems a ltitle forced in places, with some characters trusting and forgiven his past transgressions far too quickly whilst other meaningless characters hold a grudge seemingly only to remind the reader about Parallax every few pages.
My other problem with this book is it seems to have an A-list shipping schedule, when the creators on it are far from A-list (and I like Geoff Johns).
Come to think of it did this book even get labelled as 1YL? It had only just got going when the jump occurred. Either way, this title is far from solid.

Supergirl: failure
Because quite simply, no one knows what to do with this book. The character was, as far as I can tell, introduced to serve as a showcase for Michael Turners artwork, and launched into her own title purely because the iron was hot and they wanted to strike.
This book has no aim or long term direction either as part of the DCU as a whole or as a singles title.

But she does wear an incredibly short skirt for a 15 year old, as sales figures reflect. Oh well.

Teen Titans: failure
And I really, really wanted this title to carry on its greatness. I loved this book pre-IC. I loved this books predecessor.
When I got into comics circa '95/'96, Superboy, Impluse and Tim Drake Robin all caught my attention at a time when I was only reading Marvel (and Gen 13 - I was a geek), I loved the interaction between the three and the fact that there was very little back story to any of them. When Young Justice was launched it was one of my favourite titles, and despite the darker turn Titans made I still enjoyed the title as the characters were still written true to form.
Where are they now?
Superboy is dead.
Bart Allen is deader.
Tim Drake is dead on the inside - at least in this title if not in his own.
I'm all for character progression and things changing, but the soul of this book is missing. I will stick with it for a while longer but the new writer after Johns has his work cut out for him if he wants to keep me coming back every month.
Worst of all, this comic was more assessable pre-crisis, now even seasoned DC vet's scratch their heads asking "who's Kid Devil"?

It also seems to have missed a few shipping deadlines. Not good Johns, just because Blade paid you more doesn't mean you can ignore your bread and butter. Or are you the only one of the supposed four writing 52 as I suspect?

Superman / Batman: failure
It was never great but it was always kind of fun, quirky and easy. What the hell is going on it nowadays? Verheiden's run on Superman made me anticipate his arrival on this book, now I am very close to cancelling it. I have also notice a steep drop in sales, this book now sells less units than it did pre-1YL. Bravo DC, bravo.

Birds of Prey: Pass
You know what, thinking about it I haven't read this book since issue #70 which is why I cancelled it last month on issue #100. Anyone reading it got anything to say, good or bad?

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Non 1YL post-crisis books
So what about the books that didn't carry the 1YL gimmick tag? Books which were re-launched, not just repackaged, how have they fared in the new DCU landscape?

Shadowpact / Checkmate / OMAC / Secret Six / Trials of shazam: failures
I haven't bothered reading every issue of these titles. They were all launched on the back of Countdowns success, but the only reason countdown worked was because it was leading somewhere. After IC was all said and done, these books didn't feel like they needed a place in my comic reading pile. The 80 page Brave New World promo from DC was an excellent book, because for just $1 it showed why you didn't need to spend $13 a month.

Ion / GL Corps: failures
Quite simply, I don't need three Green Lantern books a month. Everyone has done their best to turn Kyle Rayner into a whiny cunt since the return of Hal, obviously trying to make Hal look good on a curve. Despite the foreshadowing of the return of the multiverse in 52, Ion has completely failed to keep my attention.
GL Corps was easy maths for me: I didn't enjoy the miniseries + I don't like any of the characters = I don't spend $3 a month on it.

Blue Beetle: failure
Not for me. If I thought the Hispanic lead was done for the sake of storytelling and not to fill a racial quota it would have been a bit better, but as it was it didn't do anything for me that I hadn't seen done before, and it didn't attempt to do anything better.

JLA: Success
Despite the annoying incentive variant ordering scheme, this comic has been most enjoyable. It has its problems: I don't really like the fact that 4 issues in, after we already knew the team roster, we were still being shown flashbacks of the roster meeting between Bats, Supes and Wonder Woman - talk about perfunctory.
Also, for the sake of newcomers it might have made more sense to focus less on a character building story line like with the Red Tornado, it might have been better to hit the ground running with lots of JLAction.
Despite those flaws, its still one of the first comics I read every month so it's doing something right for me.

JSA: Double-success.
Probably the star of the line for me.
I've never read JSA consistently, I read the autopsy issue tying into ID Crisis and most of the key issues tying into IC and decided to check out the re-launch.
Despite not knowing much about any of the characters, I was immediately drawn into the story in the first two issues, and whilst the third issue was a bit slower and wildcats son seemed a little forced, I think great things are in store for this title. Currently our 5th highest selling DC book in store. Not bad for a bunch of octogenarians.

Bats / Supes Confidential: Failure, but only to me.
I don't get it. Diggle and Portacio are hardly the stars you need to launch a new Bats book, and whilst the team of Cooke and Sale intrigues the hell out of me (and a great 2nd issues of Supes Confidential) nothing screams "wait for the HC" more than that creative team. Setting these books on the fringes of continuity are a great way of telling me they are not really needed.
However, sales are fairly strong and response seems positive. So it might just be me trying to save money.

JSA / JLA Calssified: Failures
See above.
I'm still not over the shitty Ellis JLA story either, as far as I know he was contracted to do it and didn't really want to, so I can excuse his failings on this one. I nearly went a column without mentioning Ellis. The last time these books had anything important to say was the four issue Power Girl run that launched the JSA series, because at least that built towards IC.

Flash: Biggest re-launch failure since the clone saga...or maybe Electric powers Superman.
Although the storytelling picked up towards the end of the first arc, I don't think anyone wanted to see Bart Allen used in this way.
Bart was formerly Impulse, and a slight increase in maturity and a bullet wound from Deathstroke caused him to rethink his place in the Flash mythology and repackage himself as Kid Flash. It was a nice advancement for an interesting character which could have led towards years of interesting series, but DC went and pulled the trigger on this re-launch and ruined everything.
The fact is, there were still more Wally West stories to tell, DC knew this and by not killing him off that only made it worse , as its made the entire series seem incredibly transient.
There were plenty more Kid Flash stories to tell, and by prematurely ageing him four years seemed a cheap insult to the people who have watched his progress since his first appearance in the good 'ol Mark Waid Flash run.

The set up for the Flash family at the end of IC was epic. The speed force gone, Wally lost in the future, no-one knew what the future held. If only people knew it was this.

At this point no-one knows if it would be worse if DC carried on and tried to make this work, or if they bit the bullet and admitted this sucked and pulled the plug. I smell a retcon coming.

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Summary: One Year Later = failure

The entire line failed to hold peoples interest and more importantly, dollars and pounds.
Where did One Year Later go wrong?

Its biggest failure is indicative off the times: The problem was quite simply that of not enough lead time.
It's the same thing that has led to delays in Civil War, Astonishing X-men, Ultimates, ASBARTBW, WildCATS, Authority etc...etc...
If the powers that be had organised it so that the core Supes and Bats books had skipped their 8 issue reintroduction arcs and gone straight to the good stuff, with no delays and A-list creators we'd be looking at four very solid titles, both in sales and quality. If DC had the luxury of times to spend the man hours restructuring all the DC books we'd be looking at a line that would outclass Marvel.
As it was, very little lead time and a little weekly event scheduled to begin as soon as IC ended - no doubt to counter Marvels juggernaut Civil War (whom interestingly enough rushed the CW project with very little lead time to compete against DC, go figure) - ended up draining all the vast resources of the DC editors.

52

That's not to say that it was a complete failure, sometimes something good can come from a bad situation. If it wasn't for the nazi's then we wouldn't have fuel efficient cars. The biggest success, arguably of the year was, of course 52.
52 was an excellent experiment of form: Could a weekly comic, which featured no Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman (as a dubious selling point!?!) and no regular art-team, find a foothold in this market of special events, re-launch's and variant covers?

52 was by no means the first weekly comic. Action Comics was weekly for a long time, but struggled to hold its place. Superman was essentially weekly for years, when they had a continual story running through all four monthlies and the quarterly, which meant that 52 issues of Superman comics shipped, 1 a week all year round. Thanks to a numbering triangle it wasn't too difficult to keep track of, but in the long run it led to terrible attrition as newcomers couldn't find an entrance point into the series.
So what made 52 different?
The unique selling point was its allure of "the missing year of DC", which is why One year Later had to happen, but the thing that separated 52 from other weekly series, and the reason why I think it has held its readership so long, was that the end was always in sight. Think about it - it's 42 issues in now, if the next 5 were shit I'd almost certainly stick it out to the end.

So 52 was a blinding success...or was it?

The question with 52 is can the same success be repeated?
Marvel say no, through their lack of competition. Whereas DC say yes with a very clever marketing strategy.
After 52 ends - in fact the week after - countdown starts at issue 51, counting down each week to a somewhat ambiguous "event" at #0. And with the arrival of the name Countdown comes a $3 price tag, gone is the attractive $2.50 price point.
One other thing, DC have changed the goal posts a little in the process, in order to get the full story of 52 you need to buy a four part miniseries entitled World War 3 (obviously discounting the Morrison penned WW3 arc in JLA).

So now we have a new question. Has 52 stumbled at the last hurdle? Or will this 2nd Countdown prove that lightning can strike twice?

-Sid Beckett - thinking that was far too long and someone really should start paying him for this stuff or he'll stop doing it again.

Preacher- 'The Yellow Rose of Texas'?

2007-01-01T16:40:00.000Z

So I guess the end of last year was an important step for a lot of Preacher fans, they’ve had rumours for a long while, the film that never appeared (even if we did get an amazing makeup trial of arseface) and even a disreputed HBO show in the early part of the year. Yet finally it seemed fans were given what they wanted with the news of a confirmed HBO adaptation with Ennis and Dillon involved in the process. So what with the announcement I thought there was no time like the present to actually get around to finishing reading Preacher.

I think Preacher is one of the top 3 three books pimped out of comic connections (if we ignore Glyn and Batman: Hush), along with Transmetropolitan and Scott Pilgrim, well in my experience anyway. All of these are deserving, but in my 3 years of buying at the shop I only had 4 volumes of the Preacher Saga, thankfully I knew a guy who I could borrow my missing volumes off and in a week where I seemed to be actively looking for distractions I read the whole thing, I should of really been preparing for a presentation.

So what did I think of the whole thing?
Well I came away having enjoyed, that’s a given, but I felt it really wasn’t as great as everyone makes out. I tried to explain it to Sid a week or so back but I really couldn’t figure out the specifics of why, all I managed to really verbalise was that it was possibly the best Ennis I have read but not the best Vertigo book I’ve read. So I’ve had a week now over the giftmass period with it in the back of my mind to try and figure out why I didn’t rate it as fantastic and slowly these pieces of understanding have started to piece themselves together in my mind.
Firstly I think the first two thirds of the main series were fantastic, it was gross, funny, and importantly intelligent, all the makings of a book that by rights I should love. But it’s everything else that dragged the book down for me from this.
Firstly the tie ins, I’m sorry but these were a huge waste of time in my opinion, you can argue they added background and you can argue that they weren’t necessary for my reading. The point is they were in the volumes, I read them in order, and each time I reached one I got more frustrated. They just feel like cash ins without the energy behind the main series, never really adding anything, I felt nothing for the Saint of Killers origin, The Good Old Boys was just plain awful and taken as a satire I think it’s even worse, One Man's War and Tall in the Saddle were the indulgent cash ins in my mind, but I will concede to The Story of You-Know-Who, which did raise a lot of smiles from myself.
But if I ignore these, my big problem comes with the run up to the conclusion of the series and the eventual ‘twist’ that came slamming into the narrative like a brick wall that I had seen for the past issues but couldn’t avoid. It was this ending that brought down the series, and as old as the book is, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it, which you all should do, because aside from the problems I have with it, I still think it’s a great read.
I began reading the series feeling as if the whole think was this epic film in my mind, it had these strong characterisations and a fantastic story to tell, volume two’s ‘All in the Family’ is possibly the best character arc of a comic I have ever read, but when the conclusion hit it just left me feeling that the end was just like a badly written episode of Buffy.

I guess I possibly came into it expecting more than I should of, but it was something I couldn’t escape from, everyone seems to love this book and I always have it recommended to me. I think it could also come from the speed I read it, I didn’t want the story to end, and when it did and in the way it did, that could only have increased my negative view of it. If I was to have read it month by month I would have been ultimatley have distanced the story to it’s earlier issues, but when I only read them six days earlier it becomes very easy to draw a comparison.

Even with all my criticism though I can’t figure how it could have been done better, the conclusion is what had to happen, and it’s execution is fine, I just feel that it was on a very different level to the rest of the series. Hopefully when I come back to reading it in a year or so I can approach it again and with all the build up in my mind gone, read it and see how it stands then.

But through my views of its tie in’s and final conclusion I still think it’s a great and crucial read, and of corse it did leave me with a number of thoughts on the HBO project though.

Having had it already said that the whole think was pitched with an almost ‘look here 66 issues and the special tie ins, perfect 7 series structure’ attitude, if it really is taken as an issue an episode, or even the majority of an episode, the adaptation of the The Good Old Boys will be so jarring that it will probably put of a lot of viewers, the only way I can see this working is as a last third added along with some shorter Preacher episodes.

If we ever reach Salvation without it being cancelled, it’s going to make one awesome series, however different it would appear that the show has turned to viewers, with the whole concept changing for a good while.

As most people are already thinking I guess, the projects next hurdle is it’s casting.

And finally, the elitist within me will be really pissed if they start selling ‘Fuck Communism’ lighters so that anyone who likes the show owns one.

So I guess I’m open to any comments you all have, I can’t be the only who had problems with the conclusion can I?

Incidentally these things are starting to turn into my negative view on books and ideas Sid really enjoys looking back at my other posts, this, Kingdom Come, Whedon on Runaways. Thankfully we both agree on Fables.

Where have we been?

2006-11-28T12:04:00.000Z

Crikey, two months can pass pretty quickly these days.

I'm trying to figure out the future direction of this site, in the last few months it started to feel a bit arbitrary. I know what I don't want the site to be. I don't want the site to be a comic-book news site, I don't want it to become a review site, I don't want it to be solely a soap-box site and I don't want it to become a glorified advert for stuff I sell in store.
There are hundreds of comic blogs out there which are called blogs, but could just as easily be entrys on a comic forum.

So, while I ponder the future of www.acrossthecounter.co.uk, I leave you with a comic strip of Scott Pilgrim that you probably wouldn't have found otherwise.

(Click to enlarge obviously, if any one of you leaves a comment saying it was too small to read, then may Matt Fraction turn up at your house and rewrite all the dialogue in your favourite comics in his recently acquired - yet already tired - faux-Ellis style)

Return to Oz

2006-10-09T11:34:00.000Z

Most of this weeks comic reading time has been spent re-reading Preacher. This has always been one of my all time favourite titles, and re-reading it has been an excellent experience as I have noticed so many new things about it. I have changed so much as a person since the last time I read it, it almost reads like a different book in places. Whether it's reading the Bill Hicks tribute which was completely lost on me the first time round, or learning how to read "arse-speak" so I can tell what Arseface is singing (Wonderwall by Oasis incidentally, then later Breakfast at Tiffanys), the book has kept me just as interested - if not even more so - than when I was reading it in monthlies all 5-6 years ago.

So I figured, if I've had this much fun revisiting an old favourite, why not do it with more. Here's how my list is looking.

Grant Morrisons New X-Men - to call it anything less wouldn't do it justice. I wasn't a fan of this when it was coming out, but I have a feeling I am really going to like it second time through as I am less bothered about "what X-Men should be" and more interested in reading a good story.

Transmetroplitan - Because I have only read it the once, shockingly.

Sandman - The new Absolute edition is just around the corner and re-coloured. I don't think I ever finished this series first run through so they'll be some new stuff for me too.

Ennis' Hellblazer - The definitive Contantine to my mind, and Ennis at his absolute finest. Even better than Preacher, but not as accessable to the new reader.

Y The Last Man - only five issues left. When I have the entire run, time to do it all.

Fables - About time I returned to Fables Town, probably the first four Tpbs or so.

Dark Knight Returns - See if I have warmed to it yet, I've never been overly impressed with this groundbreaking series.

Batman No Mans Land - The Tpb exorcised the gumph from this epic series, boiling it down to the essential storylines.

Bendis' Daredevil - Because it was just so, so good.

We3 - Stupid amounts of fun.

So there we have it, what about you people - what have you been meaning to go back to and re-read?

Norwich, my current home of comics

2006-10-06T15:00:00.000Z

Sorry about this coming up later in the week, no one told me how much actual work there is to do at University

Now I’m in Norwich, actually a lot of you probably don’t know who I am, I mean Sid’s the guy you see most days, I was the dirty brown haired teenager you might have seen hanging around.
So now I’m studying Film and English and I’ve left Comic Connections behind (you better be keeping up with my pull list Sid), and I thought that would generally mean the majority of my comic access would be left behind.

Except that’s by far not the case it seems.

Firstly my Campus has a Waterstones, and this shop is filled with a fairly decent variety of trades, from Marvel Zombies to Sandman to Maus to the Acme Novelty Library and a sprinkling of Manga.

Secondly the actual Library of Norwich has a fairly decent variety of trades available.

Thirdly, and while this isn’t actual comics, one of my film lecturers and seminar readers is a big comic/anime fan. I was talking to her when I saw in her office, not only is her room decorated in Studio Ghibli posters, but also Spider man, Paul Dini’s animated Batman, and a big Michael Turner, she even said “He can’t draw feet”. She wrote her Docerterate-? On Princess Mononko.

So from that you could easily come out thinking that Norwich is a fairly decent town to keep up my comic love, and yeah, in those aspects it is I guess, but then this place also has a Local Comic Shop

I really need to get you pictures of this place so you can see what I mean about this place.
I mean there must be like a list of rules a comic shop should abide by
For example
1. The guy working there shouldn’t have that body smell lingering around his counter
2. Make it as bright and accessible as you can
3. Make it inviting, make the issues easy to get at
4. If your going to have back issues, keep your boxes clean and your sections well labelled
5. The guy behind the counter should be friendly, even if it’s just as going as far to say hey when you come in, then if you look a bit lost or out of your depth they should offer some conversation and help.
Ect
Thankfully this shop didn’t break all of these conventions but it didn’t go far.

Abstract Sprocket

Ok so until I can manage to get a few pictures let me set the scene for you, this place is on street level, it’s bright outside, I walk in and the room in essentially a rectangle, but hey it’s not the size of your shop, its what you do with it right?

So the store is set out like a rectangle, you know, with stuff running along side the wall, and an island in the middle, one side had monthly comics on racks along with more recent trades on the wall along with a fairly decent setup on clear plastic shelving for the stores manga. The back wall then had a selection of trades, but then you look down towards the floor, yeah that’s it, ragged brown boxes holding old issues of independent magazines and over sized comics like 2000AD. Then lining the third wall we have the back issues, a fairly decent size, with pegged back issues hanging along the wall, and guess what? That includes one of every issue of 52 so far, sure it looked nice, but isn’t there a better way to use your space, I mean really. And the back issue boxes themselves were a bit damaged, the section dividers must have been written a while back because the black pen was fading. Plus when you run out of issue in the section, why keep a blank section there?
Oh and that island in the middle of the shop? A good portion of it was made with stacked long boxes, classy.

So I glanced around a bit, the selection wasn’t that bad, a nice spread of trades and graphic novels, but by no means the same as CC, but then that’s not the shops fault, I mean if they don’t get enough customers to sell that many there’s no reason to carry that many right? SO I give up looking at some of the trades and back issues and move along to the monthlies just to see what sort of variety they had, I mean I’m not going to buy them, mine are hopefully sat in a pull box under the counter. But guess what, while there is a fairly decent array of comics, they’re all bagged up. That’s really inviting to outside readers that. I mean this shop is shaped like a rectangle for gods sake, you can see everything from the counter (or at least you should) but here’s the big problem with the shop.

The counter, and for a number of reasons too.
First of all, you only have one natural source of light in your shop, what do you do? Well apparently you build your counter in front of it. Not only that put it’s a pretty high counter, Its coming in at chest height, that alone isn’t a bad think really, I mean CC has a high counter, but if someone’s sat behind it they’re sat on a stool, not for this comic shop, as I look around the guy is sat on a chair typing on a computer, he sure as hell can’t see me very well from there.
So I buy a copy of Wizard, yes toilet reading I know, but at least it’s some form of comic stuff to read as I have lunch.

Kulture Shock

As I walk up the street to see where I can get lunch I spot another shop, this time with a just as ‘wacky’ title, Kulture Shock. Now while the place doesn’t deal in monthlies, it does sell a lot of trades, manga, anime and books. And you know what? It’s a fantastic set up for the shop, the whole place has giant windows along one side, and the counter is by no means in the way. There is a clean feel with a nice clean wooden floor, spin racks and universal shelves. Hell I looked in the Neil Gaiman section, not only was there a selection of his comics, but his CD’s too, not just the latest music one, but recordings of his readings. The staff was friendly and chatty and best of all the shop had plenty of space to walk around in.

Borders

And guess what I found today, a very nice book shop, goes by the name of Borders, not only do they have a whole shelving row dedicated to graphic novels, about 2 thirds of the variety of what’s in Comic Connections (A lot less Vertigo complete series runs), they also had spin racks full of the latest monthlies, and while they were bagged and boarded, the top hadn’t been taped down and the guy working there said it was fine to take them out and give them a bit of a read. They had some great variety, they stocked a lot of manga, but then everything from Pyongyang to Runaways digests, to Scott Pilgrim, to Judge Dredd.
Now this is the sort of shop setup that you really hope can attract some readers. Plus as a student, today I got 20% off, I could have bought more, but there are plenty of monthlies I’ll need to pick up when I come back to Banbury for a little bit.
So I walked out with a book of 500 Comic Book Villains and the pocket essential guide to Alan Moore, along with a ton of English literature books.

My conclusion has been drawn I guess, Norwich is certainly not a comic dead end, just stay away from the local comic shop, trust me, just head down to boarders, it’s cheaper, brighter, more accessible, the people working there are a lot more attractive and its a lot more inviting. And most importantly, you can buy your monthlies on the Thursday, just like anywhere else.

I guess I should have been fighting for the little guy, but the little guy dug himself into a hole, the chain store really is the better option.

Why V would never work.

2006-09-29T21:31:00.000Z

Because if you have 163 other channels of sitcom static or sports, who's going to notice the truth being said.

If it is the truth. That's for you to decide, don't spam my blog with pro-Bush or anti-Bush sentiment.
I am merely using life as a metaphor for comic books, no-one should do the opposite (besides, comics are for kids).

The WSU.

2006-09-26T19:46:00.000Z

Do you remember the rebirth of the Wildstorm Universe?

Although nearly everyone missed it when it started, people soon began to take notice of The Authority and Planetary by the (then) still fairly obscure, yet industry-wide respected Warren Ellis (because as a Time survey revealed this week, who you drink with is more likely to advance your career than anything else).
Although neither book hit the crazed inflated sales heights of title's like WildCATs and Gen 13 from the original Wildstorm / Image launch, both books grabbed a load of attention, kicking Ellis' career off to even greater heights, re-establishing Bryan Hitch as an A-list creator and putting John Cassady, Mark Millar and Frank Quietly on the map. So much so that I really don't need to tell you what they've work on since you probably know.
Both book's have re-established the super-hero industry. Some people will disagree with this; but they did. Authority caught everyone's attention, and as Millar says during his bow-out: "even the people who didn't like what we were doing followed suit".
All good things must come to an end. Due to some poor executive decisions, Authority eventually faded away into poor sales and obscurity, although along the way it spawned the succesfull albeit hollow "Kev" spin-off series (how this one-joke, piss-take turned out to be the best thing about the Authority over the last years is anyone's guess).
Planetary of course is still going on, produced by on semi-irregular schedule by it's original creator's, and as we speak is rapidly heading towards it's conclusion. In many ways the title is a victim of it's own success, as both creators became such important players in the industry that they weren't able to produce the book on a regular basis, which in turns has affected sales. Thankfully the integrity of the book has never suffered, and I am sure will be considered one of the classic Tpb collections in the years to come, alongside Preacher and Transmet.

Over the years I have been a massive fan of Wildstorm. Gen 13 was the first non-Star Wars comic I put on my pull list, and both Authority and Planetary pulled my attention back away from the big two, during a period where I was pretty much only reading Marvel and DC it was a breath of fresh air. So it's nice to see the big Worldstorm launch treating the properties the way they should be respected, with some heavy A-list creators coming on board.

The initial line up consists of several titles, these are the ones I've found most interesting.

WildCATS
Jim Lee makes his triumphant return to Wildcats, and he's bringing along an impressive new collaborator: superstar writer Grant Morrison! The man who redefined the JLA and Superman — and created groundbreaking works The Invisibles and WE3 — now brings his considerable talents to the Wildcats.

Authority
The WorldStorm rollout continues with the return of the most dangerous super-group on the planet! Grant Morrison, the universally acclaimed writer of All Star Superman, Seven Soldiers and Wildcats brings his talents to the new bimonthly series THE AUTHORITY, featuring art by Eisner Award-winner Gene Ha (TOP 10)!

Midnighter
Garth Ennis presents The Midnighter, returning from a mission in war-torn Afghanistan, is accosted as he enters the Carrier. Something is terribly wrong; these unseen assailants take him down too easily and then drag him though the teleportation door to an unknown location. After regaining consciousness he is given a cryptic choice: either kill a mass murderer or die! Art by Chris Sprouse.

Not to mention Gen 13, Stormwatch and Deathblow, which all hold varying degree's of interest and at least one selling point each.

So all in all, excellent talent and three books to definitely check out. It looks like someone has really taken the time to make sure this Worldstorm relaunch event is going to be big business, and something that will catch the attention of the entire industry.

With the financial backing and support of DC and Warner Bros, what could go wrong? All they need is a killer title to launch the series, something to hit the ground running and build momentum for the entire line, show people that thing's are going to be done properly this time around, and look at the killer titles above, any of the top 3 could launch this universe and show people what to expect.

Instead, the line was launched this week, with the following:

Wetworks
Fan-favorite artist Whilce Portacio's legendary special forces team returns in classic fashion, aided and abetted by acclaimed writer Mike Carey (HELLBLAZER, LUCIFER)!

This is not a bash on Mike Carey (although I have never been the biggest fan of his work, I know a lot of people are). Just because I don't like a guy, doesn't mean no-one else should.
I've never been a big fan of Whilce Portacio, I remember him doing weird thing's with peoples necks (in his art, not like, in the street), and something about him going mental. He also did fill in's on some of the Heroes Reborn stuff which left me less than enamored. Still, he was one of the early Wildstorm guys, so it's only right that he should be here.
I've never read Wetworks before. Until now:

Reading this was the comic book equivalent of a shrug.
I'm not going to just do a review because there are a million sites and blogs out there who do reviews and I like to think this site is a little more than that. The writing and art were solid enough and the story made sense to a complete novice like me - without having a forced patronising run down of all the characters and their powers - yet was still not enough to warrant be caring enough to pick up issue 2.
To summarise, the comic is alright. You know what though? Marvel Team-Up was alright. Robin is alright. Birds of Prey is alright. The first issue of an entire Universe reboot needs to be a little more than alright.

And thus my point still stands: Why this book? Out of the titles available they decide to start with this? Personally, I would have started the launch with a bang with WildCATs - you can't really get a bigger selling point than those two creators, and from that people might have decided to check out the rest of the line, which is exactly what books like this and Stormwatch need if they are going to break the 30k mark.
I can't see anyone picking this up and thinking "I must get the entire line", I guess most will flick through it at the comic shop and just decide to wait 'till WildCATs.

Anyone have any ideas why this came first?

Frank Miller's 300 Trailer

2006-09-21T17:48:00.000Z

300 Trailer
Edit- Original trailer deleted due to action by Warner Bros, new host. I wonder who let this slip out?

I need to get around to reading this before it comes out, but from the looks of it, this is going to be fantastic. It's been shot again with the 'digital backlot' technique, same as Sin City.

It's a film that is giving life to a fantastic mythology based on History.

Bring on the Spartans

"There were other casualties too"

2006-09-19T10:26:00.000Z

Got to make this quick today, otherwise none of you lot get any comics in November.
Yeah, it's paperwork day.

Morrison on Batman
Sorry Ryan, looks like he is off fairly soon, the Previews for December show Ostranger on the book for at least 4 issues.

Lost Girls
16 chapters out of 30 done and dusted, I only picked this book up yesterday and only meant to flick through it last night, but before I knew what was happening I was engrossed, and not just because there were tits on the page.
I've been really looking forward to this book, it became apparent to me a few weeks ago that the 10 copies we ordered for the store were not going to ship to us. so I paid ACTUAL cash - full price too - out of my pocket. Haven't done that for a while I can tell you.
Glad I did though, as we are already on a third printing of this book with no sign of a UK release, it's always good to have first printings if possible.
So far, it's been an excellent read, albeit one that I won't be able to share with many of my housemates or my friends because 1) it's just porn and 2) there are male gay bit's in it, shock horror (funny how most guy's I know don't consider two women going down on each other to be gay)!
Lot's of things have already been written about this book by people much more eloquent than I, but I would like to comment on the format of the book as it is so interesting, and controls the pace of the story nicely. 30 chapters comprising of 8 pages each, broken down into 10 chapters per hardcover, all collected into one nice big slipcase. A very interesting format which must have been at times bitterly constraining, however it has oft been said that writing within self-imposed boundaries sometimes leads imaginative and freeing writing.
Just a great read.

Pride of Baghdad
Another book I would have quite happily paid full price for (the perks of working for a comic shop mean I didn't have to, but it also means my take home wage is shite, rough with the smooth and all that).
This is definately a book I am going to lend out time and time again, until it comes back to me broken and battered, but loved by all.
I must get this out of the way, when I first started reading I was feeling large levels of parralels to The Lion King, and not just because there are Lions in it either. The cub in the story is drawn so much like Simba on the first few pages it's untrue, and then in a flashback to the jungle we see a character who has remarkable similarities to Scar, down to the fact you could almost hear Jeremy Irons.
However, these fears are unfounded, as all the characters find their own voices before the book is done to become much more whole, complex characters than the two-dimensional morality pawns that Disney created.

Dead Rising
I know, not a comic.
But you know what, this is my site and I have to piss and moan and vent somewhere, today: this is my soapbox.
For a while I couldn't make up my mind whether this was a great game with really shit bits, or a shit game with really shit bits.
After struggling through the entire game, AND overtime mode to get the true ending (shit cut scene where the main character seemingly give's up, followed by white text on a black screen saying "actually, he did get out") I have come to the following conclusion:
This is a shit game with some really shit bits.
Don't get me wrong, there are some great moments, but they are few and far between and you have to face an increasingly more frustrating save system and annoying as fuck boss battles.
The first thing you need to realsie, the threatening army of the un-dead drop like flies. You can dispatch a zombie with a quick smack round the head by a 2" by 4", or a couple of stabs with a knife, one slice of the katana ar by running them over with a trolley.
Any human you encounter in the game though, can survive multiple bullet head shots, a couple of chainsaw slices and several stab wounds before dropping. And I thought zombies were supposed to be the threat.
Case in point: The SWAT team, I shot one in the head 12 times with a sniper rifle befor he dropped. 12. That's amazing. It actually takes less punchs to kill one. In fact, the big end of game boss you have no weapons for and have to dispatch with jumping kicks, which is probably a blessing in disguise, had I had, weapons I know doubt would have shot him oop-side the head 15 times without causing any damage and not known why.

There are some good points to the game, but remember I am telling you these now to ease the blow of the save system which I will recount for you in a paragraph or so's time.

The sheer scale of the game is amazing, I have seen upwards of 150 zombies on screen at the same time. The game has pushed towards 200 zombies at times and I have noticed a bit of slowdown which is discouraging for a next-generation console, but fuck it - the 360 is out now and the PS3 seems to be a fable doomed never to come into fruition.
The other thing to love about the game is "moments", every person playing this game will have a different experience, or will take a certain boss down a different way, or will have a story about saving one of the 64 survivors which is unique. GTA3 was a game built around peoples "moments", it's these non-linear differential's that make the game worth talking about in public.
A great moment for me was when I was fighting Cletus, the psychopath holding the fort at the gun store. As you can imagine, the gunstore is quite a strategic place to have access to, so disopatching Cletus is well worth doing. It took me about 8-9 attempts to kill him; learning his attack pattern, the best way to wear him down, how many times to shoot him etc...etc...
It was becoming quite annoying, and after using 30 sniper bullets I had the guy down to his last bit of energy, coincidentally I was also down to my last piece of energy thanks to his uncanny ability to make his bullets bend around solid objects. Realising I was out of bullets, I picked up the store display I had been hiding behind, ran at Cletus and swung wildly (I may have screamed at the tele too) as a last ditch attempt to kill the fucker. It worked, and saved my cordless pad from flying through the TV in frustration.

Incidentally, the wireless pad is an odd piece of kit. I kind of prefer a wire, and have quite a few times moved the pad in such a way as to free the wire which isn't there from a trapping that didn't hold it.

The game is silly fun, and most things you can use to kill a zombie, golf balls, skateboards, coat hangers, The Golden Axe (good enough for Death-Adder, good enough for you) and footballs. the first time you drive a car through a thpusand odd zombies is gauranteed to make you smile.
If you make it that far.

The main quest is determined by being in certain places at certain times, but thanks to the incredibly simple minded and non-play tested save feature, this can become a chore. It is wholly possible to save your game mid-mission, finish the mission and then be told that you have failed the next mission (it doesn't tell you why, but it's because you weren't in the right palce to activate it at the right time, cheer's Capcom). When this happens, the only option is to start again from the beginning, I know this, because it happened to me.
You only have one save file through the entire game, no staggered saves, no mission selction when you have completed the game, and the saves come few and far between. The amount of times I scraped through a boss battle only to be finished off by a simple, lone zombie.
The simply addition of save's post mission / boss, or even a second save file would have made all the difference in this game.

If you love Zombies and you own a 360, then go for it. If you are thinking or buying a 360 just for this game like I did. Don't.
Hell, at least I am ready for Halo 3.

Pull Spring Clean – (Or at least that’s what I set out to do)

2006-09-17T21:03:00.000Z

So a few weeks ago Sid wrote about how many comics he had, that his crisis was about the amount of issues his house holds. Well I don’t have that many issues; I own two long boxes and one short. One long box is filled with main Marvel and DC titles, whilst the second is filled with cheap, damaged or free issues I’ve picked up. Theshort box is filled with more independent stuff, from the more mainstream Vertigo to Matt Boyce’s latest mini comic. I don’t have a crisis about what to do with the issues I buy; my latest problem was what to keep on my pull list. It’s not down to space or not loving comics any more, it’s down to the simplest factor of comic buying, money.

I’m off to University next week, everything’s slowly getting packed, and everything’s nearly sorted. I’m going to be away a bit over a month at a time; I’ve got to be back every 5-6 weeks or so to see the dentist and importantly to pick up my comics. I could change my shop to one up there, but what’s the point in that? I’ve got great service at Comic Connections, Sid knows my pull list inside out, and I like the shop. What I have done over the past few weeks or so is look over my pull list and see what I’m reading, what can be cut and what I’m reading that I’ve not got around to adding to my pull.

I’ve bought a lot of different comics since I started reading, I started off on videogame and Darkness comics thanks to a friend, then I went through a very much exclusive Superhero phase, where I read and caught up with quite a bit of classic Batman and X-Men, then I hit my ‘I’m so cool and indie phase’ – and if I could I would have a bit of a word with that 15 year old me and tell him to get a grip, I mean I read stuff like factor paradox, have you even heard of that? It wasn’t even any good.
Then I kind of regained myself and I now exist as the reader that followed, my indie taste spread to stuff that was a bit more mainstream and actually good, whilst I kept on reading the superhero titles I liked. That’s the way it should be, read a bit of everything, and don’t confine yourself to a box. So anyway what I was trying to say was that the comics I read have changed a lot over 4 years, that the titles I read now have been reached through a period of deliberation, which has resulted in one final conclusion.

I haven’t got anything I want to cut.

My pull is quite concise really, in comparison to a lot of other readers I’ve seen pick up their books in store. The only removal change to stuff on my pull is dependent on the creative team such as the All Star books, but even then these books are taking that long to come out, it will be a good year or more before they will even come off by the current plans (Actually while I think about it, I have two more to add too my list when I come in next as well).
The changes to my pull were additions, I know, I’m going to be a skint student, but these books are some of the ones I’m enjoying most, some are ‘dirt’ cheap, Fell and Casanova, and some are just a mini series like The Escapist. So I thought I might just do a brief run down of what I’ve now got on my pull and why. Whilst this list hasn’t been reached through a barrage of chops and changes, it’s been reached by subtle changes, additions and the odd removal every now and then over the course of the last year by me, I guess these are the back bone of my comics, the ones I can’t wait for trade on, that I want to read monthly.

DC

52
It really is the must buy DC title for me at the moment, I’ve only been reading comics for a few years now, and as much as I can power through and enjoy a lot of finite stuff, the full scope of the on goings that are the DC and Marvel main Universes have always remained a bit of a mystery to me, I mean there is only so much I can buy and read, but this has introduced me to so many characters. I have to come out and say that I wouldn’t buy an ongoing solos from the main characters after this, the big reason I’m buying this is because it’s giving me a much needed overview of the DCU. As a weekly comic it’s also a very different monster to that of a monthly, making it a bit of a must read just for its difference to the majority of everything else coming out

Batman
Over my time reading I’ve picked up and dropped Batman time and time again, I loved Hush, hated the following arc from Azzarello. I bought some of Winick’s, but then avoided it every time it was just a tie in to the crisis, (which I did enjoy, just that the seemingly random issue tie ins always seemed a bit pointless). Now it has the writer to keep me on board, Grant Morrison, I loved his New X-Men (even if Marvel has seemingly erased all of it from continuity by now), I love the Invisibles and I’m really enjoying the bits of his Doom Patrol and Animal Man I’m picking up. He’s left so many hints of what he’s going to touch on I can’t miss it, and just like all the best creator runs, he isn’t on for just a couple of issues, from the way he’s talked in interviews he seems to want to stay on this for a couple of years (at least)

Detective Comics
Never read it before Dini, now I’m loving it. Done in ones that are really exploring the detective side of Batman, what more is there to say? It’s the other side of the spectrum to the ongoing side of the Batman comic; they balance each other out perfectly. Plus I personally think each of the issues so far have clearly shown how to write done in one superhero comics in the modern state of comics.

Teen Titans
The best book that Geoff Johns is writing in my opinion, it’s been a consistently great look at the teen characters of DC since it rebooted a couple of years back. Now we’ve got a new team with lots of characters to explore in the up coming arc, so again it’s something I’m really enjoying and finding out about lots of characters. It was from a couple of recent issues that I got interested in the Doom Patrol.

All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder
In all likelihood I won’t get a new issue of this while I’m away for the first term, the book is that poorly on a schedule. But this is a beautiful car wreck, you can’t not want to read it, you just want to see what happens next. Plus I love Jim Lee on Batman

All Star Superman
The best Superman I’ve ever read, put Morrison on a book and you pique my interest. Issues that stand alone but tie into a whole, a great format for the book. Plus the art holds so many little clues for those paying attention.

Vertigo

Fables
If I was only buying a comic a month, I think this would be it. I came into this late, but picked up and read everything I could as fast as I could once I read my first issue (37 I think). I’m was a fable fan before this, sitting down and trying to figure out who all the characters are and rereading their fables adds so many layers to this. You can really tell Bill loves this book.

Jack of Fables
Fables got a spin off, now usually this could be seen as a cash in step, and I guess to a certain extent it is, but it has a different feel and largely different fables, plus it’s following one of the most charismatic characters. So far it’s felt like early Fables, an experiment within genre, whilst Fables had the mystery, the revolution and heist, this is the prison break.
(Are me and Sid the only one’s reading this monthly? Well did anyone else catch the St. Ives reference, or the Humpty Dumpy change showing the power of Mr. Revise through just two words last issue?

Exterminators
I’ve reviewed it, I can’t stop singing its praises, and it’s got a Preacher esc feel. Why aren’t you reading it? In the last monthly the grand scheme of things were somewhat laid out, perhaps a little prematurely, but the road it looks to be heading looks to be a fantastic journey. I hate the bugs, I love the characters, it stays like this and I’m with it to the end.

American Virgin
Not actually mine, but Jess’s, but it’s on my pull for her. If she wasn’t buying it I would. I’m not sure where this will head in the future, but it’s not about the story really, it’s about an idea and the characters. And these characters are getting more and more fleshed out with each issue

Marvel

Astonishing X-Men
I love the X-Men, but this is pretty much their only monthly that I’ve been enjoying. Whedon has made this his own. I personally feel to much has happened in the X-Men comics to claim it happened in just 10 years, but this has a strange feel to it, its in continuity but not, and as a third X-Men title its really over kill, but it’s the title that is tackling the core team, the only one I want to read.

Ultimate X-Men
Another of Jess’s, the best think about this book is not the art, nor the current writer (though Kirkman has got better) but that even though the comics are written within ‘arcs’ the stories have existed as more like the old Claremont era, lots of story threads created, left for a bit and then picked up. Making it fun and rewarding to read in issues rather than a block in a collected trade each 6 months or so.

Civil War
I’m not big and buying in all the tie ins, but I’m reading it to keep up to date with the Marvel universe, it even goes in a section in my long box as ‘Main Marvel’, along with stuff like House of M. I like it for its concept, though I wish they would have scheduled it once they had a bit more lead in time

Image

Fell
The best Ellis book of the moment and it’s started the ‘Fell format’. I love my done in ones or stand alones, but unlike others this is very much the stand alone, we’re what 6 issues in and we still know about the same as we did in the first about the characters. But that’s not the thing with fell, the stories are fantastically well written, and while it’s not as regular as I would like, it’s a fantastic book.

Casanova
The second book to use the ‘Fell format’, differently to a lot of people I actually prefer this to Fell. Whilst the end deconstruction and commentary on the book isn’t as good at times, I feel it’s done more with the format, each issue is stand alone, but they all advance the story, and yet you can pick up any issue and start there, thanks to a great introduction catch-up on the inside page. I love my parallel universe and spy stuff, this is a great book, you can read it again and again and each time you get and understand the story more.

Dark Horse

The Escapist
A comic about a group publishing a comic of an old superhero, and they are raising interest in it by getting one of them to dress up as the Escapist and foil some basic crimes. I think this is some of BKV’s best work, well along with Y the last man, and maybe Pride of Baghdad (it kills me that I don’t have the money to read it, hopefully I can find a good paying part time job at uni). I love when we see the comic they are creating within it, especially in the latest issue where the speech of the characters was that of the group talking and inking it, yet it fits wonderfully with the art

Oni Press

Local
Brian Wood, last issue was perhaps better than the best of DEMO, everyone should be reading this. It’s about the character Megan McKeenan, each issue we find her a year later in her life, some times she’s the main character, other times she’ll be in it for a page or less, we are following her grow up and face being an adult. At the issue 6 mark it looks like she has taken her biggest turn ‘This is the last time’. I love Ryan Kelly’s art on the book, just as fitting as Becky Cloonan on DEMO.

---

So I guess that’s about it, I guess it does good to have a look at your pull every now and then, give it a spring clean. I mean what’s the point in buying something if you’re not enjoying it? And why forget to add that title that you’re really enjoying?
So unless any thing major happens with these titles, this is pretty much everything I plan on reading, though I’m sure a lot more will come up in the mean time.

Contact with comic creators

2006-09-17T12:17:00.000Z

So I'm nearly done with my actual post I'm working on at the moment, but I woke up this morning to find a nice pm in my newsarama inbox.

thanks for the support

I lurk the forums here, posting once in a blue moon. I've noticed you frequently talking up The Exterminators, and i just wanted to let you know that i seriously appreciate the support. We're having a blast making this book, so i'm glad that you find it so enjoyable.

thanks, again.
-T
__________________
Tony Moore Illustration:
Don't let the smooth taste fool you.

-----
And before you say it, that is Tony, it came from the user name he writes under and occasionally posts under in the forums. One of the greatest things about comics on the Internet it the connecting you can actually have with creators, I've argued with Brian Wood about him not strictly being an indie creator any more, Warren Ellis has told me he wishes I develop arse cancer and die, and Rich Johnson has read the blog, or a post at least.

But this was the first time I just got a message out of the blue, just a nice thing. Doesn't require much from the creator, but it shows the appreciation they have for their fans.

Free Comics

2006-09-14T14:50:00.000Z

Kinda.

Three Vertigo debut issues - DMZ #1, LOVELESS #1 and AMERICAN VIRGIN #1 - are available now as free downloads from here.

Random Comic News and Reviews

2006-09-12T11:10:00.000Z

QUOTE OF THE WEEK (shamelessly yoinked from Lying in the Gutters, blatantly):
"I am GLAD this asshole is dead. Sorry for his wife and kids, but relieved they are in no further danger from his lunacy!" - John Byrne on the death of Steve Irwin.

How would Bryne like it if I said I wish he'd die so he'd stop making crappy comics? Well there you go, I just said it. No more Blood of the Demon or Atom, and my X-Men / F4 collection might increase in value. I can't see a downside (other than wishing someone was dead). Can anyone?

Anyway, comic goodness.

Thor - confirmed series written by JMS. Obviously I am going to think this is a good thing as I am a JMS whore? Thoughts, people? Artist is yet to be announced, expect to see a return of Don blake and the rebuilding of Asgard after the events of Thor Dissassembled.

Supermarket - Excellent read, Brian Wood does good yet again. For those of you who skipped on Couriers and Cous-cous Express, this is what you were waiting for. More defined and with a stronger protagonist, not to mention a healthy dose of Wood social commentary. Check this out when the Tpb arrives.

Nightwing - Thank christ that was the last issue by Bruce Jones. I know DC originally planned to kill Nightwing during Infinite Crisis, maybe that would have been a mercy killing compared to what we've had instead. Hopefully Marv Wolfman coming onto the book will help lift the character back to where he should be.

Exterminators - Just to reiterate on a review Ryan wrote a month or so back. Exterminators is a fantastic comic, and all fan's of good quality comics (especially Vertigo) should consider this a must have, this means all you Preacher fans.

Grounded - After having heard a few good things about this Image series, I decided to check out the Tpb. Although it wasn't bad I got half way through, and haven't had the drive to pick it up and finish it. The story consists of a kid, whose parents are massive superheroes, being sent of to a school for superheroes in training, but he is the only kid at the school who has no powers.
I'm sure I saw this when it was a Disney flick?!?

Damon Lindeloff / Ult. Wolverine Hulk - Had a lot of people ask about this one lately. No, you haven't missed issue #3, it still hasn't shipped.
However, Marvel and Damon released a press release today explaining and apologising for the delay, but it came with the threat "THE FOLLOWING LETTER IS FOR RETAILERS! ONLY IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE POSTED ON THE INTERNET. Anyone found doing so will be removed from receiving the Marvel Mailer."
Thanks a lot guys, you give us an explanation but we're not allowed to pass it on to the fans, the people who actually make both us and you money.
(The Marvel Mailer is a newsletter where we find out about schedule changes and ordering information for rush release variants and second prints - obviously being excluded from that would not only fuck us over, it would mean you guys miss stuff too).
To summarise, there is no real reason for the book being late other than the writer hasn't done his job yet. Which isn't a massive shock when you think about the track record of people who predominantly work outside the comic industry.
Although he does manage to compare his miniseries to Watchmen. Hmm.

I Might Stick with Runaways a Bit Longer.

2006-09-12T10:04:00.000Z

Might. Might?

Joss Whedon??? - Thank you very much Marvel.

Should be a new number 1 really, but as long as it doesn't take six months between issues as happened with Fray and Astonishing X-Men I will be a happy man, we all know Whedon can work to a tight schedule after his work on Roseanne, Buffy and Angel, so let's hope this monthly series remains a monthly series.

I'd better reorder the digests so all the Serenity crowd can get up to date.

Art by Michael Ryan, presumably not the UK-based mass murderer.

Big Runaways creative shake up

2006-09-05T23:09:00.000Z

We’ve had characters die, sexual preferences revealed and above all a second series when a lot of people were afraid it had finished for good. But now it’s hit its biggest shake up yet. The creator and writer is leaving
along with it's artist
---

After working together on the series for more than four years, Adrian Alphona and I will be leaving Runaways with Issue #24.

And no, this is absolutely not because of creative differences. I love editor Nick Lowe like a kid brother, and Joe Quesada and everyone at Marvel have obviously been nothing short of insanely supportive of our little book since the first page of the first issue.

This was entirely my idea. While Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina have planned endings, I've always said that I hoped Runaways would last forever, long after I left the series. I never wanted Runaways to become a vanity book that was dependent on its original creators' involvement; I wanted our kids to be able to eventually run away from us, and find new life apart from their "parents."

I can say with a great deal of confidence that these next five issues are the pinnacle of the series, and Adrian and I decided that the best thing for the Runaways would be to hand them off to new creators on this high note, rather than risk overstaying our welcome until we ran ourselves--and the book--into the ground.

I love these characters more than you can possibly imagine, and I swear I wouldn't abandon them unless I knew for a fact that they were going to end up with the very best creative team possible. Marvel will be announcing that new team in about a week, and to say that you guys will be thrilled is probably an understatement.

As for Adrian and me, we've already started talking about possible new projects to work on together. I'd really like to take time to give birth to a few more creator-owned books, and I hope you Runners will follow us wherever we end up next.

No one thought Runaways would last six months, but after nearly forty issues and a few Eisner nominations, our sales are still going up (especially with the digest collections in bookstores), making our series one of the most successful comics starring all-new characters to be launched by any major company in recent memory. I'm extremely proud of the entire Runaways team, some of whom will definitely be sticking with our kids, and I'm so grateful to all the undyingly loyal readers out there, the best group of friends a comic book could hope for.

Keep running,
BKV
---

This series has been exceptional in places, the first 18 issue series alone tells a fantastic contained story (well minus the vampire). This is sad news; I’ve been picking this up in digest form, which has really helped the series, so I guess I only have two volumes to go till its all change.

I’m not sure if I want it to continue straight of the bat with an issue twenty five, I think it would be much more in suit to the series to give this chapter of the story an ending, not definitive, just something like we got with the first 18. Then let a new team pick it up in 6 months or so, give it time to breath. I mean sooner or later you have to face what you’re running away from

I mean don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the book should die when it’s creators leave, just let it carry on a little while after. Let the current team go out on top. Then start it all up again as the third series.

Now as for the new team? Well there’s a certain Mark Bagley finishing with Ultimate Spider man soon, matching him up with a writer like Sean McKeever or even Zeb Wells. I think Joss Weadon would be a good writing fit, and he’s gone on record saying he loves the characters and series, but this books reputation really doesn’t need a writer who’ll get it out bi monthly. The digests for this have done so well, they were even in my old sixth forms library. It needs a creative team who can keep the ball rolling, and for art Bagley is certainly a good fit.

Guess I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the new creative team reveal.

And in case you missed it, I want Bagley to draw it

I just don't Carey.

2006-09-05T21:17:00.000Z

Wow, just wow! What a comic. I am talking about last week's All-star Superman, utterly fantastic.
I am slowly crawling through last weeks comics after spending the weekend at a party, wherin I got to talk to Liam Sharp about when he met Stan Lee and other geeky things like that. Lot's of fun and I found out lot's of juicy thing's about the industry and people working in it that I can't repeat here because, well, I'm not Rich Johnston. But I am falling dangerously behind on my comics, which hasn't been helped by the fact after reading ASS (hah! ass.) #5 I feel like leaving it a few hours because whatever I read next will invariably feel shit.

And it did.

Luckily it was probably always going to feel poo because it's written by Mike Carey.
I am talking about ult. F4 #33 (? I think?)
I know that may be generalising a little, but I am strugling to think of a Mike Carey project I have enjoyed.
Hellblazer = better than Azzarello, but still weak.
Ult. F4 / X-Men = I couldn't be arsed to finish reading.
Lucifer = didn't read.
Ult DD / Elektra = arse, where was greg Ruck? Damn exclusivity contracts.

Am I missing soemthing? Because Marvel are treating him like royalty using him to take over from Mark Millar on Ult. F4, after a truly excellent and very underated run on the title.

What title was the break-out work for Mike Carey? What title of his do I absolutely HAVE to read? Does anyone know? There has to be a reason for him to be so high up that he can join the elite of Bendis, Millar and Ellis on the Ultimate titles.

Does anyone have the answer?

Also, has anyone out there read Losers? As it's one of the few vertigo comic's I haven't read.

When did you read Kingdom Come?

2006-09-02T18:48:00.000Z

There are a number of ‘Superhero’ comics that people have placed on the pedestal as ‘classic reading’, and I usually pride myself on the fact that I have read these and can offer my opinion in a conversation. I read Watchmen, V for Vendetta, The Dark Knight Returns and loved them, but there is a forth that is usually placed in this categories that I have avoided for a long time, and it’s Kingdom Come.

What do you mean how could I have not read it?

It’s not due to the writing I can tell you that, I love me some Mark Waid, I’m a lover of his Impulse, I enjoyed all of his fantastic four run that have filtered through to me over the years. It’s not down to the writer that I avoided it; it’s been down to Alex Ross. I know a lot of people out there love him, but to me I have always seen his art as a lot of lifeless wax work models

I mean I see no difference between this, and this

Note: That’s a wax work of Williams there, that was not a general statement about my opinion of his music, thought in that respect it wasn’t far off

I know I shouldn’t let it, but Ross’s art has put me off reading a few comics. But it really is about time I sat and read Kingdom Come; I mean the medium may be a joint work but a generalised look at an artists work shouldn’t put me off reading a ‘must read’. And it’s got that fact that this is supposed to be some of Ross’s best work going for it too; maybe the art’s better in this than the bits I’ve seen so far.

As of right now I know nothing about what its really about except for the vague fact that it was an Elseworld set in the future of the DC universe.

-------

And three hours later (with time used for snacking and making notes) after I started I’m done.
So what did I think of it?

I’m not completely sure, bear with me and I’ll try to explain as best I can, there’s a lot of thoughts swimming around my head about it.

I really should have gotten around to reading this sooner you know, not that this is ‘so fantastic how could I not of read it?’, but that in this story Ross’s art isn’t that bad. There I said it. It fits the story, this higher concept story with its religious imagery and parallels. In that respect it’s just like Arkham Asylum, the style of the images enhances the content.

And I do have a couple of favourite scenes due to Ross’s art, but these fall in two categories, scenes in the dinner, where we see that superhero costumes really don’t work, hardly anyone can wear a lycra suit and make it work, and the scenes in the Batcave –who doesn’t want to see a painted Batcave?

The layout of the pages? Now they were fantastic, with lots of ironic moments with its juxtaposition against the words. I mean we have the sentence ‘They are after all our protectors’ Placed between a superhero with nipple piercings connected to chains, and a crying child. This comic is fantastic in places, just looking back through pages you pick up visual references you missed.

On the whole the piece is well dialogued, we have plenty of hooks for you to try and figure out before we are told explicitly, and I really enjoyed that. Like the death of Lois and trying to figure out how it had happened, then never being told but hinted at through the Joker’s murderous killings of 92 men and 1 woman at the daily planet.

As for the story? Well I think I could possibly have appreciated this more if I had known all the characters, sure I’m a big DC fan, but I’m learning all the time, how the hell do I know who most of these people are. And due to the style and changes in costumes I often got characters confused, but then I guess a few years down the line I’ll come back and a lot of these characters will click. The first time I read the Dark Knight Returns I didn’t know who the Green Arrow was, no doubt when I come back to read this again in a few years, which I plan on doing, some of it will make a lot more sense.

In the story itself we have this whole Superman making up for the damage his self imposed exile had done thing going on, and that was great. Hell the thing was so good that it’s being done again at the moment in sorts by Black Adam in 52 ( hopefully it turns out better this time. I mean Black Adam’s jumped up to step 5, no prison for the remedial violent super folks for him, just a good tearing in half) I can follow that, this whole thing is supposed to be about the Super folks who’ve either over stepped the mark, or abandoned what they should have been enforcing.

And I know I probably wasn’t supposed to, but I spent my time siding with Luther in the whole scale of this. I mean when you think about it he really was fighting the human fight, the classic superheroes had failed people for 10 years. And now they come back and try to put everything right in a matter of days? Humanity really was depicted as being too reliant on these ‘gods’.

In fact the only character I was on side totally with was Batman, this guy stayed to fight the good fight, and sure Gotham was blown up, but it got rebuilt, and in its rebuilding Batman has become the protector he always should have been. I really wanted Batman and Luther to win. I guess they did in sorts, but certainly not the way I wanted. I really wanted to see the end of the superhero, is it to cynical to think that the whole thing was written with a sequel in mind?

But then we get Luther’s big evil reveal, but I was still with him on it, maybe not through his actions but through his intentions. It may be because I don’t like Captain Marvel that much, he’s never clicked with me, but his superhero form left him as a grown man child. I think without Luther’s help he would have become resentful of Superman. This man could fly with the gods, but now it’s been taken away due to big blue’s cowardice at a changing humanity. Luther was an idiot, I think he could have done what he did without putting Yeerks in Captain Marvels ear, or did I miss interpret that?

I hated the point where Batman double crossed him, but at least Waid made me care, even though I seemed to be caring for the wrong side. And that’s the most important think with reading this, it made me want to read on, the first time I felt like that in a while with a Superhero comic.

I can understand why this is seen as a classic story, I mean we have your background imagery, along with your whole host of characters fitted into the weaving plot and on top of this we have some high concept religious ideas but I don’t know, it’s probably due to the age I am and where I came into reading comics.

When this came out it could possibly have been this whole new spin on an idea, Superman isn’t infallible. Yet with any good idea it’s imitated and its aspects are found in the many stories that come after. I mean this came out in the mid nineties, and placed in that context this is a miraculous story, and if I had read it then this would probably be one of my favourite team stories. I mean place this alongside the X-Men titles of the time and this was a gift from up on high.
I read this 10 years later though. I can recognise it for the originality it must have had, but the ideas are not as fresh to me due to it. This shaped the modern status of DC’s superheroes and was present even a year and a half ago, we had a Superman who wimped out on his responsibility to man kind, a bit of a paranoid asshole of a Batman and a violent Wonder woman willing to take the fight that extra step, the characterisations found in a lot of the build up in the first 3 parts became the main aspects of characters in stories I was only reading a year and a bit ago.

Kingdom Come is a good comic, I have no issues with that, it’s the origin of the genre change over the past 10 years. But I think I would have appreciated it so much more if I had read it then first hand, this wasn’t a breath of fresh air to me, it just showed the origin of the changes that it introduced.
When did you read it?

But at least now I can say, Alex Ross was alright on Kingdom Come, but I find that in the main, he draws lifeless wax work models, well maybe until I get around to reading Marvels.

Long live the King.

2006-08-18T10:32:00.000Z

Confession time - I have never been a huge Jack Kirby fan. I guess mainly because when I got into comics, the King was dead, and like most things the work that impresses most is the first work you come across.
Heck, I have always been a bigger follower of writer's than artist's, there are only a handfull of artist's whose work I follow religously. Mike Weiringo, Gary Frank, Humberto Ramos, JrJr, and Steve Dillon to count a few. It's a different industry now, people are reluctant to follow artists after the whole Image / McFarlane / Cliffhanger debacle of the '90's.
But I digress, I've never been a fan of the Kirby. The picture above however, has somewhat changed my opinion. Enjoy.

A crisis of faith.

2006-08-17T22:38:00.000Z

So here's the thing...
I need to cut down my comic collection.
I don't HAVE to, and I suppose I don't really NEED to, but I should.
I am NOT getting married, I DON'T have a nuerotic bitch girlfriend forcing me to sell, I DON'T have a kid on the way or any of the usual crap that comes with people cutting down on their comic collection. Nor is this a knee-jerk reaction to a Marvel and DC publicity stunt. Let me try and explain.
I love my comics, I really do, maybe a little too much. No, really, it's gotten crazy and I'm trying to cage the beast, the problem is the beast has been free for too long.
But the question I ask myself is; Do I really need 3 copies of Kingdom Come or The Authority? Do I really need a full set of Preacher first prints when I have access to my Tpbs, not to mention my girlfriends copies of said Tpbs? Not to mention the the fact that I can always read shop stock.
What's doing it is that my weekly comic bill has reached the £50-£60 retail mark, obviously I get stuff wholesale, but still, we're talking £2,500 a year of stuff that could sell in the store. But I could live with that bill if it wasn't for the fact that so much of the stuff I buy is superfluous, I mean I have at least 5 Absolute edition HC's coming in the next six months, and all but one of them are stuff I already own in one format or another.
It's hardly like I'm talking about stopping comics, they are a huge part of my life and will always be, but christ I have 2 BOXES of Iron Man comics - that's not sane.
You may have noticed this is very much train of thought ranting, indeed at this point I have no idea if this is a ramble to myself or something that I intend to post on the site - after all, I don't want to come across really negative and put people off buying comics as that's a Gerald Ratner approach to business (you're all too young for that obscure reference).

I am more split over what to do with this than Spidey is in civil War (see, always the geek).

The other thing which is contributing to this is the sheer volume of variant covers I have dropped into the bad habit of buying again. No matter what I will always buy Spider-man variants as that is my mainstay superhero (most of the old breed of comic collectors have a mainstay, whether it be Daredevil, Superman or Batman, that they stay with through thick and thin, it's an oldskool way of thinking but one I have always loved. Bear in mind 10-20 years ago very few people followed creators), but I have to get out of the habit of buying HC reprints as well.
Those of you have seen my tattoo's know I love The Transformers (they're more than meets the eye you know), but this latest IDW run has really killed it for me. Thankfully they've calmed it with the variants now, but some of the comics I have 8 different variant covers for, ranging from £2.20 up to £100 in some cases. Very few comics in my collection are worth £100 to me except early Spidey's, and to be fair I'd rather have the cash than every cover of Prime looking pretty much the same as he always does.

More cases for the prosecution:
*I just bought the variant cover box set for Gen 13 Issue #1 (10 years old!!!! Shit) for the bargain price of £21 - but do I really need another 14 Gen 13 comics.
Fucking Michael Turner Civil War covers, I don't even like him anyway so why have I got them???
*I like Fables. I want to re-read Fables. I want to lend Fables to my comic buddies but I can't, because they are all buried in coffin boxes trapped behind a mountain of plastic robots in my toy room. If I sold the originals I could buy the tpbs, and probably have a bit left over.
*Street Fighter? Why the fuck do I buy Street Fighter? Sure, it's a well done title and a lot of fun, but I'm not really that big a fan of Street Fighter to warrant buying it every month.
*It's not like I am going to cut down on my reading, I have access to everything I want through the store, so why not buy the things I really want and get rid of the things I am NEVER going to re-read (like electric-era Superman for example).
*I can't move in my house anymore. I have 24 boxes in my toy room, 20 boxes in my attic, 8 boxes waiting to be sorted and another 3 boxes waiting to be read. It's long past the point where I've worried over the structural integrity of the house under the weight of all the comics. I've only been collecting 10 years, imagine what my house will be like in another ten if I don't do something about it now.

Cases for the defence:
*What if the comics rocket through the roof in price and I regret selling them? The Iron Man movie might make my 2 boxes of comics hot shit (yeah, right). What if HBO get a Preacher series and the first prints go through the roof? But it's not like I was buying the comics for speculative reasons was it? Well, no, but there has always been a part of me that has considered my comics a retirement plan, but over the years they have bcome more of a ball and chain than anything else.
*Get real man, no-one will want to buy your electric-era Superman comics, they were shite. Might as well keep them for all the money you'd get.
*eBay is a pain, takes ages and you have to pay a percentage.

Gah!!!

I don't know what to do, obviously it makes more reason to streamline than to keep going like I am. Hell, if I keep going like this I am going to end up resenting the comics I love.

Advice people, I need your two cents here.

CIVIL WAR DELAYED

2006-08-16T11:42:00.000Z

In information released to comic book retailers Tuesday {I never fucking got anything}, Marvel has {surely that should be have?} announced that issue #4 and 5 of their hugely successful Civil War series are being delayed.

Civil War #4, originally scheduled to be released tomorrow, is now scheduled for September 20th. Issue #5 and all its variants, originally scheduled for next month, is now scheduled for November 15th.

And because of the nature of the storyline, the delays in the main series will affect the related and tie-in titles, like Civil War: Front Line.

In the announcement, Marvel wrote:

“Over the next few weeks, the Civil War proper title and a few of the tie in books that are closely related to the story in the main book will be shipping later than originally planned. In an attempt to accommodate the creative team of Millar and McNiven and keep the artistic integrity and high standards of the event, we will be shifting the following titles:
CLICK HERE
“The need for these shifts came about as the September [for November shipping product] Marvel Previews #37 was going to press and we were not able to make adjustments,” reads Marvel’s explanation to retailers. “The December Marvel Previews will reflect the changes and additions. At this point we do not anticipate further changes to the schedule. We apologize for the inconvenience but feel that this is in the best interest of the quality of the event and for retailers to continue to realize the immense sales for these books. We are announcing these shifts early enough in the hopes that retailers can adjust their buying patterns for the next few months. Also, we hope the addition of a few more key Civil War titles will make up for any lost sales that result from these moves.”

Look for more information regarding these changes as it becomes available.

----------------------------------------------------------

From a retailers point of view.

I'm just glad we got so many people into DC and Tpb's over the last two years, a few years back we were depending on Marvel solely and this kind of mess could have put us under, thankfully our customers have broadened their outlooks and we sell as many copies of Scott Pilgrim and Fables Tpbs as we do most Marvel titles.

But...we are still going to feel the sting on this big time, we had 104 copies of Civil War #3 in total, which is the most we have every ordered on a Marvel title, a lot of people have been reticent to add the newer titles like Moonknight, Ms Marvel, Martian Manhunter, Creeper etc... because all their comic money is going into Civil War.
And I don't even mind waiting for Civil War if we HAVE to, but its how this is going to affect the Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-man titles which is going to piss me off the most, these titles are our bread and butter titles.
But what really pisses me off is that I have to find out about this through Newsarama, no e-mail sent via Diamond explaining the situation. If I was an internet retard I would have no idea about this, I'm sure many retailers are hearing about this through there younger internet going customers. How do you think that makes them feel Marvel? Like idiots maybe?

And how does it make you, the consumer feel?

Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls

2006-08-15T10:29:00.000Z

"In countries like the U.S. and Great Britain, we exist in a wholly sexualized culture, where everything from cars to snack food are sold with a healthy slathering of sex to make them more commercially appealing. But if you're using sex to sell sneakers, then you're not just selling sneakers, you're selling sex as well, and you're contributing to the sexual temperature of society. You're going to get people who, unsurprisingly, become overheated in that kind of sexual environment, and if they attempt to assuage their desires by resorting to the widely available medium of pornography, they're going to have their moment of gratification, and then they're going to have a much longer period of self-loathing, disgust, shame and embarrassment. It's almost like a kind of a reverse Skinner-box experiment, where once the rat has pushed the lever and successfully received the food, then he gets the electric shock." - Alan Moore

God damnit I am really looking forward to the Lost Girls HC. In the last year I have become a real big fan of Alan Moore, this weekend I (finally) read the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen SC's and was very impressed by the quality of the work, all of the characters have real fucking character and serve a real purpose to the story. I can see the LOEG joining the hallowed ranks of Watchmen, V for Vendetta and Promethea as books I always come back to.

Obviously, an awful lot has already been said on the subject of Lost Girls, and I am not going to add to it until I have sat down and read said title, instead I will point to a few places that cover it quite well.

HERE

AND HERE

MORE HERE

AND FINALLY HERE

Teenagers From Mars

2006-08-14T12:05:00.000Z

Not the Misfits song
Not a piece of Science Fiction
And definitely not those teenagers from Dawson’s Creek/OC/One Tree Hill

It’s about the essentials, youth, rebellion, free expression and anti-commercialist anarchy.

Any interest?

We want, we need it, we’ll take it, baby

There are a number of comics out there that readers consider to be perfect books to introduce a girlfriend or non superhero fan. Among them we’ve got Fables (Possibly the most consistently intelligent and entertaining title Vertigo is publishing, and as Sid pointed out a number of months back, smells great), Scott Pilgrim (The best humour comic of the moment, containing so many imaginative pop culture references along with an expressive yet simple original sudo manga style), and to this list I think that Teenagers From Mars is a natural addition.

It’s not that these comics contain some miraculous ingredient missing in other titles; they just show that comics can be original, intelligent, and down right funny but also that the world of comics doesn’t stop with the Superhero genre.

The story concerns the town of Mars, Macon Blair is an 18 year old slacker with punk sensibilities in his blood, ending his work at the local Mallmart with a black eye from his boss, he takes on the town with the help of Madison and his almost sidekick Max. Leaving the tag of the then imaginary CBLA ( Comic Book Liberation Army) he unwittingly starts an uprising in the town, but he has his own revolution in mind to answer to this. He’s going to stop at nothing to get back his comic so that it can be finished and he can carry on with the girl Madison in peace. The character of Macon is so fleshed out that his story is almost guarantied to hook and pull you in.
And there’s a group of younger teens, including the character of Max, who are grave robbing to find bits to sell to fund their purchase of the rare comic ‘Beyond Adventure #75’, this is far from that early Simpson’s episode. But beyond these two major points telling you anymore about the book would ruin your reading, so rather than revealing more certain plot points I thought I would compile a list of things that the comics includes.
Here goes

Rebellion
Zombie House Party
Grave Robbing
Punks
Violence
Indecent exposure
Piercings
The Comic Book Liberation Army
Fast Cars
Over Bearing Parents
True Teenage Language and Expressive Art – As simple as this sounds, they work fantastically together. The characters aren’t over wordy and true emotion and feeling is shown brilliantly through the art, leaving us with panels where the art is allowed to breath. Rick Spears and Rob G are a pair of fantastic collaborators.

Rob G’s art really does lift the book to great heights, often fitting 8 and even 9 panels to a page in a similar style to Fell, but with his pen and brush style showing so much more detail in the panels. Looking back through you can read the titles of the comics and videos on the shelves, along with t-shirt designs that most pop culture fans will recognise ( thankfully no Franki Say Relax to be seen though).

He’s given room to really show himself on a number of full pages too, giving us crowds and intimate scenes which really do show off how perfect his style was. Another important note is that he often blurs the background to draw attention to an aspect of a panel, sure it has been done before, but here it looks natural, often working to give a very real depiction of how we often look at real life scenes.
While I’m talking about style I think it’s important to include the fact that thought balloons are only used twice in the whole story. In the same panel no less, this comic doesn’t want you to follow inner thoughts, you're there to follow and judge the characters on their actions. It’s all about what you do people, not what you contemplate doing.

Teenagers from Mars almost didn’t happen, due to bad timing this title was almost destroyed under the weight of a bad shipping schedule after 9/11, thankfully through some very good reviews word spread and the 8 issues sold as well as any true indie comic book can.

It’s film like in its structure, not a bad aspect as this comic really does present its ideas with imagination and intelligence with a climaxing story, its hard to see it as separate comics now, when reading through there are no end of issue bangs, the story works through them, infact if they were never published in the back along with a couple of extras you would swear it was an original graphic novel. It’s a complete story, no other arcs or issues needed to read here.
If you read it and enjoy it, just hold onto the hope that they get around to producing the 2 and 3 parts that Rick Spears has mentioned off hand ever since it was first published.

Give it a chance, you almost certainly won’t regret it, and if you do, well there’s always a comments section for you to give your 2 cents in, or next time I’m in the shop.

So you get in fights a lot?

Yeah.

You always get your ass kicked?

Yeah.

Aren’t you ever afraid?

No.

ASTRO CITY

2006-08-11T13:13:00.000Z

ASTRO CITY - there's a book that not enough people read. The premise sounds done to death: A city filled with super-heroes and super-villains playing out power fantasies and morality tails. Hardly original is it?
Well thats because we are just looking at the surface of the book, if we scratch a little deeper we will see the real purpose of the book, and the pitch becomes this: Imagine you are Kurt Busiek, life-time comicbook fan and succesful longterm creator. For all your earnt respect in the industry, you are not going to get the chance to write long, defining runs on EVERY comic-book character (the way he did with Avengers for example), and even if you could pick and choose a different title every month there are some stories that the powers-that-be wouldn't - or should I say couldn't - let you do.

The solution? Create your own 'verse.

"Astro City is set in a world where superheroes have existed since at least the 19th century: the first public hero, Air Ace, appeared during World War I. Busiek, Anderson and Ross have crafted a complex world with a huge cast of characters, many of whom have extensive backstories sketched out which are revealed as the series progresses. Some characters somewhat resemble characters from DC Comics or Marvel Comics universes, though the link tends to be inspirational only, revisiting archetypes common to many characters from comics, pulp fiction and myth, rather than any one-to-one correspondence.

The series is an anthology that focuses on different characters living within Astro City and the stories are usually narrated from a first person perspective from the story's protagonist. Some issues of the series are one- or two-part stories, while others run as many as seven issues in an extended arc.

The essential hook of Astro City is that it explores the reactions that people - both ordinary people and the heroes and villains themselves - have to living in their world. For example, in the first story, the character Samaritan (who resembles Superman) reflects on his life during a typical day, in which he spends almost all of his waking hours flying around the world to help people, and never has any time to enjoy the sheer physical sensation of flight. Other stories involve a date between two high-profile heroes, the initiation of a "kid sidekick" hero, the efforts of a reformed supervillain to find a life outside of prison, a superhero being driven away from Earth by his "love's" attempts to expose him, and the life of an innocent bystander in the days after having been held hostage by a supervillain." (sourced from Wiki for expediency)

Through this universe, Kurt Busiek has an outlet for all the loose story ideas that just wouldn't fit into a Marvel or DC universe. Sometimes focusing on the big boys of the superhero universe, who are little more than metaphors of existing characters (First Family = Fantastic Four), and sometimes focusing on how the big cosmic events affect the little people (you imagien being a shop-keeper in the middle of Infinite Crisis).

Time was, this title was a multiple Harvey and Eisner award winner, so why don't we hear high praise about the title anymore?

Is the book still relevant? Is the book still needed? I sat down to read the latest 5 issues to find out (and to catch up, boy am I behind on some of my reading).

Astro city: The Dark Age Vol. 1 # 1-4

The Dark Age is a 12 or 16 issue Maxi series (Sue me, I can't remember), split up into three (or four) 4 issue arc's, purely to give the creators chance to get all the issues out on time with a regular artist and without intermitent shipping - two things that destroyed Rising Stars and stopped it being heralded a classic.
The first volume of "The Dark Ages" focuses on two brothers (racist!) who have both grown up to resent super-heroes, but while one has turned to a life of petty crime, the other one has the opposing view of "we don't need them" and has joined law enforcement as a police officer.
The story is nicely paced - with lovely art by regular artist Brent Anderson - with plenty of twists and revelations to keep the reader turning one page to the next, the cameos by established Astro City regulars help keep the story grounded and an interesting sub-plot add's to the history of the First Family, but seen through the eyes of regular folk.
The way the story is constructed in this first arc is fairly reminiscent of "Marvels", which I'm sure many of you remembered was written by Kurt Busiek. All in all this was good, solid story-telling, but didn't really show us anything we haven't seen before.

Astro city Special: Samaritan

A complete juxtapose for "The Dark Ages", this completely self-contained interlude / special focuses on two men: Superman allegory "Samaritan" and his arch-nemesis "Infidel", which is slightly akin to you or I renaming ourselves "Fucking Wanker" but roll's of the tongue better and contains a dose of irony.
Infidel hit's all the major cliff notes of being a major super villain: Self made millionaire, off the chart intelligence, a somewhat cavalier approach to life and has grown accustomed to a somewhat debonair lifestyle. And of course he wants to rule the world or destroy it, delete as appropriate.
What is unusual avbout this book is the hero and the villain have stopped fighting. After their cross purpose fighting had played out across all of time, space and reality causing the end of the world and beyond, the two realise a stalemate has been met and set about recreating the universe together (otherwise, what the hell are they fighting for).
As the story is told, the stalemate is still in place and the two characters meet up once a year to check in and keep an eye on each other, as each one hopes to convert the other to their way of thinking, so together they can change the world the way they see fit.
Intelligent, fun, crazed superheroic goodness, this is the kind of story I have come to expect from Astro City.

To Conclude:

Is Astro city still cutting edge and relevant? Yes and no.
The thing is, when Astro city was first printed, comics were in a bad way. The speculator craze had super-inflated the industry putting valiant and Image in an elevated position of power and Marvel and DC were lagging behind. Variant covers, foil embossing, re-launchs and hot artwork were the emphasis for the entire industry, and as supply and demand has it marvel and Dc tried to match suit with the latest stupid gimmick or headline grabbing idea. Spider-man was a clone, Captain America got a metal costume, Batman was replaced by Azrael, Superman died, wolverine went feral and all the while story-telling and chaaarcter values dropped to one side, out of view of comic book professionals.
So it's no wonder when Astro City (curiously printed by Image) came along, and did what everyone else USED to do, only better and intelligently, it's no surprise that industry professionals stood up and took notice, garnering the attention of Wizard magazne and the various award commitees.
Fast forward to present day. Thanks to books like Astro city, Planetary and Authority paving the way, super-hero comics are better than they have ever been, with even the most basic super-hero premise being re-invigorated with fresh ideas and ground-breaking storylines. The emphasis in the industry - for the first time I've ever known it to be - is on the writer.

So while Astro City is no longer the cutting edge book it used to be, the final statement is simply: "Astro City, your work here is done...but feel free to stick around and enjoy the party".

"When too much of a good thing is a bad thing" or "How I learnt to stop worrying and love multiple genres."

2006-08-04T11:28:00.000Z

If Hollywood is the barometer of success for the western world then super-heroes couldn't be much hotter. Comic books, despite selling in much less quantity then in previous years is still near enough a 400 million dollar industry, and that's not counting the movie / DVD side of things. Super-heroes are hot right now, it's a fact.
Unfortunately, with that simple truth comes another one: supply and demand. If people think they can turn a buck by simply copying the current trend rather than trying to do something new and original, they will - of course - follow the path of least resistance. That's why 1977-1985 saw lot's of Sci-fi flicks like "Flight of the navigator" and "Last Starfighter", and why "American Pie" triggered a slew of like-minded clones.

Case in point: "Sky High" and "My Super Ex-girlfriend".
All films like this do is dilute the pond as they try to grasp onto the succesfull "formula" of comic book movies.
Let's be fair, for every Spider-man, Batman Begins or Ghost World there is a Catwoman, Elektra or Man-thing. Our soda is being watered down but we are expected to keep drinking it.

As long as money is being made, our comic films will keep getting made. But like the 1987-1995 Batman film franchise proved, it can all go wrong far too quickly. We are only ever one "Waterworld" comic book equivalent away from it all going to shit.

Unless...
...is it possible? Could Hollywood have stopped looking at comic book movies as genre pieces? Surely by now Spider-man and the Batman Begins movie franchises are judged by there own merits and not just lumped into the same stock as The Hulk? Sam Raimi and Chris Nolan are both making intelligent, thoughtful movies that the mainstream AND comic puritans can both appreciate, rather than the smash / crash / pow affair of Schumachers campy Bat-romps.
We all know Cronenbergs ignorance about the existence of "A History of Violence", and I find it hard to believe that "Constantine" was green-lighted because Spider-man 2 took £200 million on its opening week.

When you look at the great comic book movies of the last decade, you have your Blade Trilogy, Road to Perdition, Mystery Men, V for Vendetta, Oldboy, Men in Black, X-Men, Battle Royale, and Superman. Over the next few years we have Iron Man, Sin City 2, 30 Days of Night, Torso, Spidey and Bat's sequels, Scott Pilgrim, and Ghost Rider all to look forward to.
The only discernible pattern is that people in Hollywood are paying attention to the old funny-books, judging each one by it's own merits regardless of genre or subject matter, publisher or country of origin, language or creator.

So if Hollywood - with one of the most inbred, blinkered, backward looking, keeping-up-with-the-Jonesses, pathetic money grabbing viewpoints of anyplace, anywhere on the planet - can judge comics individually...

...why can't most comic fans?

It's all about Scott.

2006-08-03T16:11:00.000Z

I post this at the risk of us looking like a comic movie site.

Scott Pilgrim: The Movie?

And of course, if you haven't read SP yet, then why not?

Heath Ledger is The Joker.

2006-08-01T10:49:00.000Z

Official Press Release

BURBANK, CA, 31 July 2006 - As a follow up to last year's blockbuster Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan is set to direct Warner Bros. Pictures' The Dark Knight, written by Jonathan Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer. The film will be produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan. Additionally, Christian Bale will resume his role as Bruce Wayne and Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger has been cast as The Joker. The announcements were made today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Christopher Nolan revamped the Batman franchise in 2005 with the immensely successful Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale in the title role, which chronicled the early years of the superhero. Nolan first garnered attention from critics and fans in 2000 with the groundbreaking drama Memento, which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct the thriller Insomnia, starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, and recently wrapped production on The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman and Bale.

Bale was most recently seen in the ensemble cast of Terrence Malick's The New World. His other credits include Little Women, Portrait of a Lady, Metroland, American Psycho, Laurel Canyon and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, which was his first starring role.

Ledger most recently earned Oscar Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG Award nominations and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in the award-winning drama Brokeback Mountain. His other credits include Casanova, Monster's Ball, Lords of Dogtown, The Brothers Grimm and The Patriot.

"Chris' unique vision is what made Batman Begins such an outstanding film and we could not imagine anyone else at the helm of The Dark Knight," said Robinov. "We also can't wait to see two such formidable actors as Christian and Heath face off with each other as Batman and The Joker."

"I'm excited to continue the story we started with Batman Begins," added Nolan. "Our challenge in casting The Joker was to find an actor who is not just extraordinarily talented but fearless. Watching Heath Ledger's interpretation of this iconic character taking on Christian Bale's Batman is going to be incredible."

Production is set to begin on The Dark Knight in early 2007.

Nolan and Ledger are represented by CAA.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments and thoughts people?
My thinking is simply that I have faith in Nolan and the production team, and the best thing we can do is wait and see. Having said that, Heath Ledger doesn't seem the most obvious choice.
But neither did Reeve, Rourke, Routh or Keaton for there respective comic movie roles, as long as Heath doesn't have Cesar Romero's fucking moustache I will be happy.

-------------

Ryan - Just thought I would add this from the Newsarama Blog, gotta love Photoshop

American Splendor – The Film

2006-07-27T08:49:00.000Z

“You might as well know right off the bat, I had a vasectomy”

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I have a mental list of stuff that people consider great, recommendations I’ve been given, things I want to get round to reading, listening to or seeing at some point. And this list never seems to get any shorter, it took me nigh on four years to get around to reading Arkham Asylum after first venturing into comics and being recommended it – sure it got heavy in its religious imagery, but it was certainly a worthwhile read that I wish I had gotten to sooner.

I picked up American Splendor for less than a fiver in the wonder that is HMV last week, it’s a film I had been meaning to watch for a long time, but no one will ever get me to pay £20 for a film, so how could I resist when it was reduced by that much?
And sure I didn’t get around to watching it right away, it’s taken me a week, but today I finally found the time to slip it into the DVD player.

What can I say about it? This film is fantastic, possibly one of my most favourite films I’ve seen this year.

For those not in the know, American Splendor was a comic series written by Harvey Pekar, who wrote about his life, depressing at times as it was, about being an obsessive-compulsive collector, jazz lover, hospital clerk and friend of Robert Crumb among other things – Robert Crumb? You know the underground comic extraordinaire? Created Fritz the Cat? Look him up on a wiki if your still in the dark.

It’s kind of like Ghost World in a respect, in that it’s based on the original comics, but is so much more when stitched together, this isn’t the filmed adaptation of the comics, but rather a look at Pekar, a comment on what he thought his life was then and what it is to him now.

The format of the film is unique, it involves your basic film plot narrative, this adapted from the American Splendor comics and his wife’s ‘Our Cancer Year’ these are the foundation of the film. Yet on top of this we have the inter-cut ‘white room’ interview and conversations with the real Pekar, with him providing the narrative voice over the whole thing. Producing such wonderful dialogue as...

If you think reading comics about your life seems strange, try watching a play about it. God only knows how I'll feel when I see this movie.

And it’s not just Pekar, we see his wife and friends, not just as actors, but in the real people who were them, and I’m telling you some of these actors are so close to the actual people it’s unreal.

Then woven through this are not only the comics he wrote, with us seeing important panels and sequences but also the old recorded interviews of Pekar when he was trying to promote his comic on the talk show circuit.
This postmodernist style really sets up American Splendor epitomising its originality and holding the narrative and commentary together into a very worthwhile film. The filmed footage itself is even blurred into that of a typical Pekar comic, often using captions to set the scene and the time it takes place in, along with depicting Joyce’s uncertainty of what Pekar looks like through the many different artistic representations of him present in the comics.

Reading this through you could perhaps see this as sounding pretentious, and if it does that’s my own fault, it’s not a quality found in a film which simply works so well.

It’s not like the film never received awards either, with it being nominated for an Oscar, winning 27 awards – ranging from characters performances, adapted screen play, director and best feature. It won awards in Cannes, Edinbrough and Sundance.

Don’t be like me, don’t wait on this film, go out and buy it, it really is that good, it’s fresh, touching, tragic and unique. I only got to it three years late this time.

I’ll be buying and reading the comic once I have the money to, but as of right now, I have a cheaply bought DVD that gave me one of the most entertaining film experiences of the year. So the collections on the list, and I’m certainly not waiting 3 years to buy that.

Joyce Brabner: I find most American cities to be depressing in the same way.

Harvey Pekar: And you're OK with the vasectomy thing?

GENERAL COMIC + LIFE UPDATE -WHAT I'M READING WATCHING AND ENJOYING

2006-07-20T22:51:00.000Z

GENERAL COMIC + LIFE UPDATE -WHAT I'M READING WATCHING AND ENJOYING

Thunderbolts - I stopped getting this comic when they re-booted it as a "Marvel fight club" circa #76 - I didn't even read it during that period. when the title re-started I was curious but the title didn't hold my attention. I am reading it now purely for the civil war tie-in (as I am a completist whore like that) and it's reminded me how much I used to enjoy the characters, but no matter what they do with this title I know it will never reach the peak it did during those first 25 issues.

Books of Doom - Not so much of a re-telling of Dr Doom's origin more of an expanding and clarification of what is actually continuity canon and what isn't. It focuses more on his tie's with the gypsy community, Latveria and his Oedipus motivations. Reminscent in style of JMS's Stange miniseries, as Brubaker continues to impress at Marvel.
Almost enough to make me want to catch up with my x-Men.

Persepolis ; The complete edition - Both parts (or all four parts if you collected the original French editions) of this excellent bio-mic chronicalling the authors upbringing in war-torn Iran have now been collected into one handy-dandy package. The small touches and off-beat focus is what makes this story great, my attention was drawn less to the rapes, bombings and deaths and more to the Kim Wilde western obsession and the fact her friends had all the Star Wars figures - it's a side of Iran you never think existed and shows starkly how things have changed in the last 25 years. enlightening stuff.

Scott Pilgrim vol. 3 - More of the same, with a book of this quality that's never a bad thing.

Superman Returns - fucking ace movie although I didn't aprove of Jimmy Olsen swearing (hypocrite!). I will get into a review of it soon, but I don't want to spoil it, and lets face it everywhere has their two cents on this movie. I liked it, you might not. But I don't understand why the hardcore comic frat whinge about it.

Deadwood - Only three episodes in and this show inspires me to write better villains. Just a solidly written show by the guys who bought us Sopranos. Very much recommended.

Lost - And I wish I'd never found it. Big pile of balls, but what do you expect but an idiot-fest from the peep's who bought us Alias?

24 series 5 - yeah, now this is how I like my crap TV shows. It is shit, but I love it.

The Amazing Spider-Girl - great to see it has anpother series and all as I really love this book, but I have a pile of the last 26 issues to get through before the relaunch. Better get reading.

Civil War - I love this series to pieces. Okay, I thought some of Spidey's dialogue was a little off in Issue #3, but that can be explained as his nervousness. It's handling a series that very easily could fall flat on its face with enough rteverance to pull it off, and pull it off fucking well. Hat's off to Millar.
Cheap Plug time: We still have some of the Ed McGuiness variants left at £2.50 each, but they are only available to our Standing Order customers on a first come first served basis.

52 - Another great series. I know a lot of friends in other comic stores have a hard time selling this, but its one of our best ever selling books when you consider its a weekly title. No Superman, bats or WW and still our customers buy it. Good work guys - you have better taste than most.

Transformers comics - As with everything TF related, over-exposure is killing it. Some issues have 7 issues, forcing me to order silly amounts just so I can get variants, which is detrimental to the store. And with 4 different monthlies thats a lot of fucking unsold copies. Fuck IDW and fuck their variant cover ploicy for breaking my complete TF run, but I cannot justify 75 copies of a mediocre book for a shit variant cover.

Reprints - Three months ago it was DC, now its Marvel turns. Regular priced variant reprint covers are the name of the day for all the titles that have sold out. Civil War, Wolverine origins, She-Hulk and more - reprints that make sense enabling fans to join in the hype and not wait six months for a tpb - good work Marvel.

Tpbs - Bad work Marvel. Not only are some titles coming out far too quickly (a week after the comic in some cases); Marvel are killing interest with shit "Premiere edition" Hardcovers featuring a measly 6 issues for £18 - this puts the customer off as they know it will be in Tpb in 6 months for £5 less, and by the time the six months have passed, its been so long since the issues were talked about on the 'net and in Wizard, people have forgotten and no longer care. At least when DC do a Hardcover like Infinite Crisis it looks damn impressive, means a lot to the DCU as a whole, and they keep it in print for a year or so before swapping out to Tpb.
Of course, DC aren't perfect, £18 for the Jim lee Superman and Green Lantern Rebirth (6 issues each) was a bit much.
While on the subject of Tpbs, Marvel are seriously overcharging again. £18 for six issues of Excalibur which shouldn't set you back more than £7-8 in back issue form? £14 for a six issue mini that would have cost £13.20 in 1st prints. Reel it in Marvel, or Tpb will never be a viable market..

Green Lantern spin-offs - I don't know if I can be arsed to be honest. They seem to be gathering in a pile of un-read-ness. I don't mind the ongoing, I wouldn't say I love it, but I'll stick with it for the foreseeable, but Ion and GL Corps? They might go the way of the following pretty soon...

Ms Marvel - Stopped getting. There's nothing wrong with it, it sell's well, reads good and is a hell of a lot better than it has ANY right to be but I get enough stuff and something had to give. Maybe its just me, but I can't get my head around the concept of a Ms. Marvel ongoing.

The New DC / One Year Later - stop with the fucking branding already! Oh, they have. well stop with the new titles. IMHO Shadowpact, OMAC, Secret Six, Blue Beetle and Checkmate are all a bit lacking. I guess for a lot of guys who are new to the DCU they are wicked, (and with Infinite crisis we gained a LOT of new DC readers) because the newcomers feel like they are getting in on the ground-floor and something they know a little about through IC, but for an old-school DC fan like me, they don't do much. put it this way: When Spectre is your best new launch and its a 3-issue mini you are doing something wrong.
Even WW and Flash feel lacking compared to pre-1YL. But for every poor title there is an excellent title, like the new JLA or Superman.

That's enough for today. More soon and I will add pictures tomorrow.

Another look at Spiderman: - The Other

2006-07-18T11:52:00.000Z

Was there anything good in this?

So I’m given the task by Sid of reading Spiderman: The Other and finding the good aspects within it. And I couldn’t come into this without preconceptions because I knew most of the story through either Sid’s sarcastic breakdowns of the issues from a few months back or other fans on the internet waxing lyrically for nigh on 4 months. So with the copy in my hands I casually ask if he thought there was anything good in it, and Sid tells me maybe a bit of dialogue and some of the art, which I guess stems from his enjoyment of JMS’s and Peter David’s writing along with Mike Weiringo’s artwork. I on the other hand am not a massive fan of any member of the creative team working on this, sure I read comics written by some of them, but I don’t follow them book to book, they just happen to write some of the comics I like at the moment.

I tried to dig deep with it, I really wanted to find some nugget of gold, I really did.

First things first, I don’t follow Spiderman monthlies religiously; in fact the only ‘Spider’ book I really enjoy is Spidergirl. So I’m not up to date on all the recent changes before and after this, with the exception of the general gist of the Other, Parkers costume reveal and JMS’s alternative ‘origin’ of powers (I’m not really sure how to refer to it so that’s the way I’ll be doing it from here on in)

I had a very negative perception of the comic before I had even read an issue, if not from what has been written about the story in reviews, but from Joe Q himself who went to say that the other ‘…didn't flow. Let's be honest. When you have that many creators in the room, things are gonna change.’

A really positive start to reading it, right?

Well I did read it, over the course of a couple of days on a canal boat in the middle of nowhere. And while I won’t say I enjoyed it, it wasn’t the worst thing I have ever taken the time to read, in fact I think the story works on an almost so bad it’s good level. I mean we have MJ and Aunt May in Iron Man’s old suits, Time Travel for the emotional sake of it, Tony Stark revealing how great he is at implementing fail safes in his technology, Peter Parker using his Spider senses to win at black jack, Wolverine whining about having to wear socks, Jarvis complaining about cleaning up Spiderman’s Webs and MJ seemingly giving the finger to JJJ in a panel (with the offensive finger being conveniently covered by a birds wing).

So what did I find that I thought was good, well to me it would be some choice pieces of dialogue that stood out most. The majority of which coming from Wolverine, even if it was spoilt in one instance by an over explanation of why he acted to MJ in the way he did. I mean sure, give new readers a hint as to what he’s doing if you want, but don’t dedicate a page to over explaining it; thereby destroying any effect it had. JMS for the larger part, though no way near completely, nailed the balance between the sombre tone often used in this story and the quipping side of Spiderman. As for the art? To me there was nothing that really stuck out, but I didn’t like the mash of the artistic styles, which worked as a constant reminder that this wasn’t a cohesive vision.

So while the actual parts of the whole weren’t fantastic, was what the story attempted to reach for a good aim?

Well here is, what I saw, that we exactly got out of the story

Spiderman’s need for a new costume

Nothing that was really needed, but it may play a larger role in Civil War yet, I’ll reserve judgment on this, I mean we all know that at some point the classic costume will be reverted to, but I’ll see if this one has a significant part to play. Just looking at all those alternative covers we know how much a change of costume tends to stick. I don't think a change of costume can be considered a high point of a story, well unless the costume was awful to begin with, and even then that's a pretty bad story.

Spiderman’s aquiration of new powers

(Apparently aquiration isn't a word according to spell checker, but you get what I mean)
So now he can see in the dark, redundant with his Spider sense right? Well at least in a danger sense, but it doesn’t really add anything new to the character. He can now sense vibrations through a spun web, as much as this was portrayed as new when I read it, it just niggles in the back of my mind that it was probably been done before, as with him carrying the girl on his back through his Spider ‘clinging hairs’. He now has stingers, because in the future that’s what spiders have? Are we seriously meant to think that Spiderman will use these in a fight against his usual rouges? It just seems a little to violent for Peter. It’s a power I would only expect to see used against ‘Spider’ villains, along with an inner monologue about how much more evolved he has become.
I hate the stingers.
In fact the issue where all these new powers were shown off one by one and helped him out of that building to save the girl was cringe worthy to read. One of the many low points of the story in my opinion.

The ‘healing’ also healed his mind so that old problems no longer really bother him

So I guess that sorts out personal continuity, all this old stuff doesn’t bother me anymore so I won’t talk about it? Perhaps it was a needed aspect, I don’t know, but there could have easily been a much more organic way to reach it rather than saying in effect that ‘my mind healed itself’.

It lead into civil war, through a nice bit of dialogue from Spidey about Tony and Cap, with it also showing how much Peter is now connecting with Tony

Possibly my favourite snippet of dialogue in the whole 12 issues

Iron Man:- We’re not blaming you, Peter. We’re just trying to figure out what just went on here today. Our security camera captured the action, but we still don’t have the full picture. Until then, we’re going to have to—

Spiderman:- I know, I know. More tests.

Captain America:- I have to agree with Tony.

Then we wait a beat, they leave and we hear Spiderman’s quiet sarcastic dialogue to himself

Spiderman:- Big surprise

Really not connected to The Other though, just the parts that shadowed what is now current, and probably only mean more now in retrospect. But these I enjoyed --And while I’m on dialogue, it was obvious at one point someone came up with the notion that when someone dies, sometimes you turn to talk to them but their gone. Sure that’s fine and soppy on its own, but it was used repeatedly in issues 7 and 8, now whilst I thought this would be put down to the collaborative effect of the writers, this was in fact in two of JMS’s issues. Great way to destroy a piece of dialogue/thought that.

It tied the ‘alternative’ possible source of his powers more closely to Spiderman

I don’t mind these ideas of ‘two’ origins, I like the juxtaposition of whether Spiderman was a result of science or an ‘endowed by the gods’ power type of thing. But here I feel the two didn’t mesh, seeming more to be a push by JMS to tie his possible alternative ‘origin’ even more closely to the character .

Introduced two new villains, The Tracer and The Spider

Neither were that memorable, but I liked the idea behind The Tracer, god of technology, though the name is a current day rival to that of Paste Pot Pete. The Spider just read as a generic spider themed villain, nothing more to it than that, an arch enemy based around an opposing concept of the hero.

It has a built in story factor that can be used to negate everything that follows

Something that really did grate on me, it’s made clear that Spiderman is possibly not who he was. Possibly not just in his new powers
Wolverine:- ‘Something doesn’t smell right…I mean something’s changed in you’
And whilst we reach a little conclusion of sorts in the last page with Tony saying ‘Yep, it’s him, all right’, we all know how right he generally tends to be in this story. Leaving a perfect opportunity for the events which have followed it to be explained away with the simple excuse of this wasn’t the real Peter if they prove unpopular. That he was something else when he came out of the cocoon. Seems far to contrived to actually be used, but its there ready and waiting if Marvel decide to pick up its reins.

So did I find anything good with in Spiderman: The Other? Just a couple of bits of dialogue, whilst the art didn’t do much for me. Sure there might have been some good aims within this, but the majority of the time it got tangled in its on web (See what I did there? I could write for Wizard with cheesy review dialogue like that) or fell flat on its face.

So in my opinion, Spiderman: The Other is just as worthless as everyone makes out, it’s just that as a whole it’s not across the board consistently awful. This perhaps being the only saving grace of having 3 writers attacking the story, some writers manage to hit at least some of the beats that they were aiming for.

--
A couple of notes

Thinking back I’m not that sure on the whole Spider god JMS thing, I can’t remember the story that well, so excuse my rambling if it was never meant as a possible alternative origin.

What bugged me about the Hardcover- While this isn’t the story itself, for a hardback complete copy with all the variant covers in the back, you would really think that they would include the sketchbook as well, just a stupid thing which bugged me, that’s all.

I need to figure out how to add images to blog posts again

HTML PROBLEMS

2006-07-07T00:36:00.000Z

It might be apparent to many that I have NO idea what I am doing with HTML, so in the course of re-designing this site, it might go a bit funny for some site visitors.

As it stands, the page is fine if viewed using Mozilla Firefox - and to be fair if you don't use firefox; why not?

But the site looks quite gammy if viewed with Internet Explorer. Bear with me, it will get better.

Variant Covers - a discussion.

2006-07-04T14:59:00.000Z

So, what do you people think of Variant Covers?

Personally, I have no problem with them. If a variant cover is a nice image and it's of Spider-man or Transformers, then 9/10 times I'll be a sucker and go for it.

Professionally? I fucking hate them. I can see they are an underhanded sales trick with nothing more in mind than inflating sales, and I am quite happy to make my money with them. But they are a real headache. Espceially as Marvel don't list them during the initial ordering phase.

Case in point: Neil Gaimans revisioning of "The Eternals".

Neil Gaiman can sell a book, DC know this, Marvel know this, we know this. This book was always going to sell in good numbers, but more improtantly for Neil's work, this will have a long, healthy book-shelf lifespan with mass-market appeal. The comic will pay for itself, the Tpb however, will be a nice cash-cow for Marvel.

I was initially going to order about 15 copies of this title, as I thought a lot of people (myself included) will wait for the Tpb. So I went with 15.
Then a few weeks later I got a Marvel mailer, and it said "John Romita Jr Variant cover for the Eternals. 1:20". Meaning in order to receive 1 variant I have to order 20 regular. What the hell, its only 5 more than I was going to get, and one of our customers is a MAJOR JRJR fan so it was a guaranteed sale.
Then a week or so later, they anounce that a "super limited John romita Jr Variant Cover Sketch Edition, 1:50". Quite a leap, but the JRJR fan will most likely want it so it keeps a regular happy, and this way we can order another of the 1:20 covers anyway, so what the heck.

Weeks pass, then the order comes through. We have about 30 copies sat on the shelf not doing much, except gathering dust and making it look like I don't know what I'm doing. I've always wondered if customers see a lot of copies of a book, do they wonder "Ah, the retailer has faith in this book. This must be a good book." or do they say "Ah. A turkey, this book must be a turkey. It's just sat there not being bought."
In truth, the customer is probably happy shoping for the things they know they want, and are quite happy to ignore quantity.

So the book sells fairly well, the regular JRJR fan buys the variant covers, we put one on the wall at a reasonable rate all is good.
And then we notice there is a third variant (or a fourth cover), which I had better get for the regular. Even though the cover isn't by JRJR it's become a completist thing now, so I contact the old distributors hoping to order at least one copy.
Andy at Diamond: "Ah, the Coipel Variant. Limited to only 10 per account".
Now remember, I only want one...
..but only ten per account! I must be able to sell all them and make a profit, surely. I place the order, it seems silly not to take full advantage, after all, it's an incentive, right?

So, that's a total of 63 copies of Eternals #1, a title that I had only intended to order 15 copies of.

I'm sure there is a point, or a moral to this. Somewhere.

ALL-STAR COMICS; HIT OR MISS: OPPOSING VIEWS.

2006-07-01T10:06:00.000Z

Ryan Says:

So the All Star line has been with us for almost a year now, well nearly past a year, meaning that All Star Batman And Robin The Boy wonder is possibly the slowest comic I’ve ever read, 4 comics over a year. Yet they both sell well, regardless of release, but does commercial success mean critical success?

The whole premise was never aimed to be the ‘ultimate’ DC line, I’m not even sure if DC would ever need it. I mean we have a crisis of some kind every 10 or so years, retconing elements of the past and starting again, while not at the beginning, at an easy place to jump on. I think an ‘Ultimate’ line could be done, and well too, but this was never meant to be it

So what is the All Star line?

Essentially it’s where DC can pair up some of it’s ‘A list’ creators with the icons of DC, without them having to abide by the laws on continuity.

We’ve got Jim Lee and Frank Millar on All Star Batman And Robin The Boy Wonder. Hit or miss?

Well in terms of actual story, we’ve really got no where. Batman has kidnapped Robin after his parents we’re murdered, and then left him to eat rats in the Batcave like a good little sidekick.

But is it entertaining? No question, we have been given some of the funniest dialogue from a Batman comic in an age, with characterisations that really play on the reader’s perceptions of the Batman history along with fantastic art. I’m still undecided if my love of this book comes from me wanting to witness the train wreck if Millar ever meant this to be a serious comic, or if Frank is writing it as a critique on the Batman people thought he was writing in The Dark Knight Strikes Back, as in a this is the Batman you were reading, he was not the Batman I was writing.

Either way it’s a fun comic in my book.

And we’ve got Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely on All Star Superman. Hit or miss?

Hit all the way and there is no doubting it, again a comic plagued by delays, but in far less time it has hit the 4 issue mark. As we looked at a few blog posts ago, Morrison is paying tribute to the Silver age, it’s not a parody like Batman, but rather a homage to all the ‘wacky’ stuff that came out of the 60’s and 70’s. The story itself is shaping up nicely, written in a way that every issue can be appreciated singularly, but even more when read together. Were being told the story of the Death of Superman, but through the issues we are touching on seemingly ever aspect of Superman’s History, so far, his relationship with Lex, the man he is, his love of Lois and his friendship with Jimmy. I think when this is over we’re going to be left with a comic that touched on everything important to a Superman comic, but in a very fun and enjoyable light hearted way.

The arts pretty fantastic to, with careful attention paying off when you see all of the Easter eggs that have been laid out for the observant.

This book is no doubt a success, with it allowing any reader to come in and enjoy Superman effortlessly.

Line wide have the All Star books been a success?

To me, certainly. They’ve offered things that couldn’t be found in the DC line before them. And while ASBARTBW may have its faults, I believe that it’s a highly enjoyable read that may perhaps read better in trade. Whilst ASS, has proven that a mainstream Superhero book can offer a complete story each issue in the current comic medium. But they’ve both offered reads that don’t require the reader to know the past of these two Icons, something that whilst not completely the ‘Ultimate’ line, embodies the reasoning behind it.

Personally I can’t wait for the next All Star book to launch

Sid Says:

When DC first announced the All-star line, it was in answer to Marvels Ultimate line. They stated it categorically, and even though since then they have said that its meant to be different than the Ultimate line, only an idiot wouldn't want to recreate the success of the Ultimate line.
If there are four marketable icons in the history of comics, they are Spider-man, Batman, Superman and (loath as I am to admit it) Wolverine. Followed very closely by Wonder Woman and The Hulk, if only for their TV shows.
The question has always been: "How do we make these characters appeal to the masses, not just 60,000 core fans?" The answer from Marvel was easy: make them more assessable by starting again, make them easy to find, easy to read and with a branding that people can trust. After all, there really isn't much difference between any brand of Corn Flakes, yet Kellogg's far outsell there closest competitor due to one thing: branding. Like it or not, advertising and marketing are the defining parts of our culture today.

Within a year of the Ultimate line up starting, there was an Ultimate Spider-man graphic novel in every comic store, every Borders, every Ottakers, on Amazon, in Wallmart, just about everywhere you would expect to find reading material. With a second volume just around the corner and an imminent Ultimate X-Men Tpb due.
Comics shops had thirteen issues of Ultimate Spider-man, all written and drawn by the same creative team, whom are still on the book even, 98 issues in. Ultimate Spider-man was a vastly different character with today's ideologies but the same core values that always made him a hero. We saw firsthand why Uncle Ben was a great guy, Osborn was his first super-villain Spidey faced - not the Chameleon and Peter even sat down and revealed his identity to Mary Jane, his high-school sweetheart.
These new tales of Spider-man were perfectly crafted to fit in with the forthcoming "Spider-man" live action film, giving casual fans a place to continue the story without having to learn 40 years of convoluted back story.

Within a year, we were six issues into a tight X-Men run by legend in the making Mark Millar, where he had established a core team with a bad-ass attitude, perfect for fans of the previous years X-Men movie, which was becoming a bankable franchise in the making.
By the time Spider-man and X-Men 2 hit the cinemas, there was quite a selection of Ultimate novels on the market for the discernible comic reader.

I guess one of my main points is that any fuck in a suit can throw a load of money at Frank Miller and make a "best-selling" comic appear. But it takes someone who really gives a shit about the industry to recognise talent in Mark Millar - who at the time was working on Superman Adventures and Avengers-bashing on the Authority- and Brian Michael Bendis - who was infamous for his work on Torso and Goldfish. Marvel used unbankable creators, taking a risk and making stars with their own voices for a new generation rather than using pre-established creators. Imagine if Marvel had gone with the All-star creators of John Bryne and Chris Claremont?

What has the All-star line done in a year. 8 issues between two series? That's pathetic.
What was there in book stores for newcomers when Batman Begins hit? What can we, the retailers, recommend to fans of Superman Returns? Man of Steel? Birthright? And then what? What do they lead into?

And what is All-star anyway?

What's All-star if its not Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert on Batman? Or Geoff Johns and Richard Donner on Superman? And these examples are both core universe DC titles. How can All-star Wonder Woman compare against the current creative team?
And All-star to whom exactly? Non-comic readers? Of course not. The entire line is built of the premise that pre-existing fans will want to read these comics because we are selling them on the names of creators they already know. Kids and new readers will not check the creators names on a Tpb in Borders, because the name will have no real relevance to them. At best, the All-star line could be great for bringing back some older comic fans who haven't read anything in a while.

So the question is, will newcomers come to trust the brand All-star? Probably not, and here's why.
When they finally get into Tpb, neither book will feel like you are getting in on the ground floor of something amazing and revolutionary the way the Ultimate line did. Okay, its a tough call on whether or not to start at the beginning, and everyone on the planet has a vague idea of both Supes and Bats respective origins, so do you need to start with the origins? Probably not. Yet the All-star line feels pre-established, like you are coming into a story halfway through, always missing that all important first chapter, which isn't so much of a problem if you are an established comic reader, but if you're a newcomer - kind of important.
The other thing that will affect quality is the changing of creative teams. Frank Miller and Jim Lee are only confirmed for a measly six issues, and by the time that's happened what will have progressed in the story? At best, they have driven from a circus to the Batcave, talked a bit, and Robin will get a costume. Mark Millar stayed on X-Men for 32 issues (with the exception of 2 fill-in issues), and really helped establish the universe before he left to do another Ultimate title, and its very like Bendis and Bagley will break Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's record for consecutive issues on a mainstream superhero title.

So the next question is "Why do I hate the All-star line so much?" The answer is: I really don't. I love the line even if it has been marred by variant covers and retailer incentives to inflate numbers (something that the Ultimate line has really downplayed) and despite not knowing if they are in a shared universe or not.
Sure it's flawed, but the stories keep me interested, and as mentioned earlier on my site: AS Superman is a fantastic read. But are they GAINING new readers on comics the way Marvel acheived it on the back their movies?

I think not.

All-star Comics. Not a hit, but certainly not shit.

These are all my opinions based on the facts as I know them. The proof of the pudding will be - of course - in the long term Tpb sales.

Transformers The Movie Teaser Trailer

2006-06-30T13:40:00.000Z

Who is this Transformer???

GO HERE

Spider-Man Unmasking - Good or Bad?

2006-06-29T21:42:00.000Z

If only the answer was as black and white as Venom's costume.

Like so many things in life, the true answer lies somewhere in the gray.
While I love Civil War and all its tie-in's, and can easily say just two issues in that I much prefer it to last years "House of M", and while I can honestly say I am really enjoying the concept of Spider-man unmasking for the new story line possibilities it opens up, I have to go against the idea if only for one simple reason:

It won't last.

Whether it takes one year or ten years, this will be undone. Even if they have to wait till Joe Q's dead (and no offence to the guy, but he's not looking like a candidate for "healthiest guy of the year"), someone will undo it.
You name one thing that has happened in Spider-man that has stuck which wasn't the status quo when the series began?
The Death of Gwen.
The death of Norman Osborn.
The black costume.
The "return" of Peter's parents.
Spider-man being the clone.
Peter Parker losing his powers and retiring.
The Spider-baby.
Aunt May dying.
MJ dying.

What's next? Spider-mans marriage??? According to Joe Q this will be going the way of the dodo soon. Most people didn't like the Gwen / Norman affair, will that suffer a Superboy punch too?

Even the little things like the end of MJ's modelling career, Sandman reforming into a hero (and Avenger no less) or Peter's job at the school seem to be ignored / retconned eventually.

So here we see the deep-seated problem with Marvel, and in many respects DC too. They refuse to let their characters progress. If Marvel had their way Peter would still be unmarried, working for the bugle (or attending school) trapped in a frustrating love-life as the little geek that sometimes can.

Now the argument has been made that as the characters are ICONS, they belong to every generation so it is unfair for the characters to evolve, as it denies the next generation of these icons. Which leads us into another massive flaw of American comics, but also their greatest quality.
In any other country, the guys who create the characters tell the story, and when they die, the stories die with them. Sounds great in theory as it means the purity of the characters is dictated by their creators throughout the years, and as the creators grow and evolve so can the characters (Cerebus the Mysoganystic rant) or they can press a status quo reset button at the end of every issue (like Tin Tin or Asterix).
But to do that would be to deny the world Dark Knight Returns, Mark Waid's Fantastic Four, Ultimate Spider-man, Joe Kelly's What's So funny about truth, justice and the American way?", Ennis' Hellblazer run. Hell, even the irreverent Nextwave wouldn't exist.

So what is the solution?
The only way I can see it is separate continuities with an eventual end.
Think about it. It's not too dissimilar to what DC do with there Crises every 20 years or so. There is what Alan Moore thinks of as Superman (crazy zany silver age stuff), our generations Superman (for arguments sake, the John Brynes Supes) and now we are seeing the start of this eras Supes as part of One year Later.
Why not let Spider-man evolve, have kids and eventually turn the series into Spider-girl. If you want to read the adventures of Spider-man in school, there are hundreds of back issues and the Ultimate series to get through. Wouldn't it be nice to see the conclusive tale of "your" Spider-man before you die? Because lets face it, when I am dead and gone, Spider-mans stories will still be continuing, which is great and all, but I have put a lot of time and money into Spider-man, I would like to see how it all works out for him. Its why I like "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" even though I hate silver age Superman.
Wouldn't it be cool to see the DCU head towards Kingdom come before a reboot? Wouldn't it be nice to see Nightwing take over as Bats, even if its only for ten twenty years and then a new Batman series starts for the next generation, maybe even lead it into Batman Beyond

Would it make any less sense having two different continuity running then having all the What Ifs, Elseworlds, LOTDK, Unlimiteds, Ultimate, All-star, Classifieds and the core universe's running concurrently?
It would take a little getting used to to start, and without the right labelling it would be a bitch for newcomers to the industry, but you only have to look at the branding of the Ultimate books to see that it can work, if approached properly.

With this idea, its not so much a retcon as a newcon.

See, and you thought the question of Spidey's unmasking was a simple one.

At the end of the day, I will keep reading Spider-man regardless if his identity is public knowledge or not, because I love Spider-man and I love comics. But every time we make fake promises to the non-comic world, like we did with the Death of Superman it causes mistrust. 1 million people bought the Death of Supes in Superman #75, and 95% of them thought the ending was a cop-out.
I still get people coming into the shop seeing Superman comics and proclaiming "isn't he dead", only to see their interest and sanity drain away as I try to explain how "he wasn't really dead...".

Of course, this separate continuity thing wouldn't work for everything. I can't imagine a Preacher or Watchmen reboot every 20 years without tasting vomit at the back of my mouth. But for the more Iconic characters, it would be a way of taking risks and keeping the characters iconic for every generation. Its exactly what Chris Nolan did with the Batman film franchise, or what Bendis did with the Ultimate series.

So, although a lot of people would hate the idea initially, historically, its already been proven to work.

So, in conclusion: If Marvel keep Spider-mans identity revealed for the rest of this versions life span, without it being a dream, hoax or imaginary tale; I will be a happy man. But it they just retcon with a random issue (say Amazing Spider-man #587) just because a new writer doesn't like it; then its shit and flawed.

But having said that, a good story is a good story, right? Marvel have publicly stated that they won't let continuity get in the way of a good story.
Wasn't that DC's policy in the '70s and 80's? And didn't that lead to a crisis?

No-one said the solution would be easy.

Spider-man 3 Trailer

2006-06-27T19:37:00.000Z

CLICK HERE FOR THE TRAILER

In other news, Superman returns opens in about 3 and a half hours, here in the UK though, we have to wait another two weeks.

Comics you should be reading - The Exterminators

2006-06-24T19:56:00.000Z

Writer: Simon Oliver
Artist: Tony Moore
Cover: Philip Bond

Officially the Vertigo imprint has been running for 13 years and we’ve had some fantastic comics including Sandman, Transmetropolitan and Preacher. Still running, we have Y the Last man and Fables, but recently Vertigo launched a new set of titles, DMZ, American Virgin, Testament and most importantly to this blog entry, The Exterminators.

It’s an intelligently dark and very funny story about the dysfunctional bug killers of Bug-Bee-Gone Co. and the filth they're up against. We’re not talking regular filth here, sure we have the usual finds of rabid rats and racoons, but here we meet the mother of all pests.
The cockroach, and they’re not what you expect.

We’ve long thought that the cockroach will be last thing left on earth when we eventually suffer that nuclear war, but these cockroaches aren’t the kind to sit and wait for this to eventually happen. These guys are proactive bugs, adapting to the methods we use in extermination, mutating from the use of a new chemical to a new height of survival, they're working together.
And now they’re coming after us.

But to say ‘The Exterminators’ is just about pest control, would be like saying 'Watchmen' was just about Superheroes.

As with every successful story there is so much more going on in its underbelly, we have an ancient mystery, shady pasts, a sacred scarab and an ominous box yet to be opened. More importantly it’s being handled in an effective way, giving us plenty of new information and twists each issue to make sure we come back for more.

It’s fantastically off the wall, reaching new heights of grossness every couple of issues. With us so far witnessing a man rip the heart from a rat in pure rage, maggots feeding on a bed tied OAP, and most importantly, exploding people, all drawn with the fantastic pencils of Tony Moore.

We’ve just passed the first arc and we have been set up with a great premise, which is already expanding well in issue 6, with the introduction of the most bizarre library/brothel in history.
And if that doesn’t draw at least some enthusiasm, nothing will.

So for a preview of the first few pages follow the link
http://popcultureshock.com/first-looks.php?id=5339&p=1
And if you like it, make sure to pick up the singles, Vertigo titles always need single support in their beginnings.
Or at least try the first trade collecting the first 5 issues, Bug Brothers.
On sale the beginning of August

Who needs a mark scheme.
Just an honest opinion that whilst this may be one of the most vulgar comics I’ve read under the Vertigo imprint in a while, it’s also one of the freshest, funniest and well written comics that I've had the pleasure to read.

It’s a bug’s world. We just live in it.

Superman / Batman compared to All Star Superman: The similaritys and differences.

2006-06-23T21:21:00.000Z

Ryan Says:

So originally I sat down to comment on both of these articles of yours and then it slowly dawned on me that actually they're kind of linked, not just through inclusion of the man in red and blue.

I read Superman/Batman for 8 issues total, the best thing that came out of it in those issues? The Robin and Superboy team up and saying that it wasn't fantastic, it had Superman and Robin fighting in battle suits, enough said. It gave us a better look into the new Toyman (how many of these guys are hanging around now, it must be a least three), I think this incarnation has only been brought up again in Sam Loeb's 1 issue. Then I read the first issue with Supergirl, and then I dropped it like a rock, missing all of these subsequent issues you've been talking about. Though I have scanned through a copy every now and then, just to see what was happening.

But here's where it gets interesting, I'm sat here with my all star #4, and reading it, it is clearly a silver age homage, no getting away from that, it takes these old concepts and then just makes them readable. From reading this we know that this comes from Morrison's writing rather than the reintroduction of the idea, because as you said Loeb did it in Superman/Batman, and it just wasn't any good.

Superman/Batman
'Along the way, Jeph Loeb reintroduced another un-missed silver age facet of Superman lore: multiple colour Kryptonite with there own effects on Supes. great.'

All Star Superman
'It's fantastic fun isn't it? I mean, really? There are just tons of ideas, and its all filled with a sense of wonder and freshness that hasn't been seen in comics since, well, the silver age when it was all new and fresh'

-For anyone who's yet to read ASS#4, the issue was based around Superman being exposed to black kryptonite which made him all evil and junk.

So in your opinion is the concept of multicoloured Kryptonite just plain bad, or does it rely on the writer?
Are silver age concepts to far out to ever be used seriously now?

I'm thinking at the moment that it relies on the book, the all star line is a ramped up action film in every way, it's a line where you can get away with these concepts, just look at 'All Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder'- and that's a mouth full.
But then again wasn't that what Superman/Batman was originally meant to be? It should never have been in continuity, which would have helped it no end.

I think that Superman/Batman has been the inferior predecessor to All Star Superman, it had all the concepts, these big ideas, but when tied into continuity and an arced story structure it fell flat on its face. Jeph should have written an Elseworlds tale and left it at that.
All Star Superman manages to soar with these silver age ideas, and I think a large part of this comes through the format of the book. It's almost the fell format again really (well slightly), you can read any issue and get a complete story out of it, but there are elements we learn in each issue which build towards the end of the story. So as wacky as any of these issues are, the pay off comes in the book you buy, not in a 6 issue arc, and I think it's that which makes the All Star Superman the comic it is.

Other notes
I might take a look at Superman/Batman #27 next time I'm in.
I can't remember which colour eyes were which Luther
Looking at one of those covers it really dawns that Turner can't draw feet.

As for any thing that I noticed in this weeks comics I bought, after only reading a couple the big thing that stuck out again was 52, not in a good way. Well if you're really anal anyway.
Start Rant
In the last few issues the 52 letterers have been working their socks off, and as have the writers, giving little newspaper clippings significance with real text. But with this issue we are again back to the 'hg hjg jhvbiuag oiuywe ihirug iugqu' text below the headline. It probably doesn't bother anyone else, but I think that if the 52 writers (or shadow writers) are working on a website full of new articles each week, they could at least write some main body text for a newspaper featured in the actual comic.
End Rant

Sid Says:

"So in your opinion is the concept of multicoloured Kryptonite just plain bad, or does it rely on the writer?
Are silver age concepts to far out to ever be used seriously now?"

Excellent question, and straight away on your first post you have nailed an inconsistency in my text. Way to make me look shit.

Well, a big fat "no prize" goes to you for answering the query yourself. The thing that makes the quirky nature of AS Superman work is the freedom that comes with a non-continuity title. It has a wonderful way of taking all the really shit silver age concepts which didn't work well in the basis of a shared universe, and making them work.
In one self contained issue Grant Morrison has proven that multi-colored Kryptonite can be used to good effect, much like Mark Waid proved with synthetic red (or crimson) Kryptonite way back in JLA.
Grant Morrisons approach to the sillyness of the silver age Supes is miles apart from the Jeph Loeb approach, because Morrison's knows its being silly, wearing its campness on its sleeve for the entire world to see. A far juxtaposition from the riddled with in jokes, Bat-mite / Bizarro action / adventure romp which is Superman / Batman, which is supposed to be set in the DC universe. Are we really believing these are the same characters who've been put through the emotional ringer in Infinite Crisis? You absolutely nailed it when you said that Supes / Bats should have been out of continuity, but wasn't the whole point of (both) Crises to stop multiple world and dimension hopping stories?
Good comparison with AS Superman to Fell, they are very similar but at the same time completely different.

Onto your other points:

"Looking at one of those covers it really dawns that Turner can't draw feet." - You could have omited the word "feet" and had just as accurate a sentence.

52 Newspaper text - You know, I am just so impressed with the quality of 52 I can live without reams of prose, if only to speed up my reading time. It looks like the 52 series is going to be broken into kind of mini-story arcs liek 24, each interlacing and leading into the next issue. Textbook "How to Write the DC way" - Denny O Neil would be proud (the big racist).

And now my rant, also about textual inaccuracies. Does anyone else think its odd - or at least a tiny bit convenient - that a race as advanced as the Kryptonians used the same base concept of a 26 letter structured alphabet? Wow, how geeky a question was that?

New Site Contributor

2006-06-23T21:16:00.000Z

I said changes would be-a-coming, and it helps the continual evolvement of this site and to keep me on my toes. So with great pleasure I introduce you to new site writer Ryan Grant.
Ryan has been a frequent commenter, someone who has his own strong tastes and opinions on comics, many of which contradict my own. So it should keep things interesting, and in many ways its taking a step backwards to what the site was when Sam and I first formed it: A place to talk about comics and to have intelligent discussions about them.

Welcome aboard Ryan!

Superman / Batman? Superman / Shat-man more like.

2006-06-23T02:50:00.000Z

You know what you never hear people talking about? How shit the Superman / Batman team-up title is.
It is though. The reason people don't mention it is because it sells so well. I might be hurting my pocket here because its one of our biggest DC sellers, but you know what? It needs to be said.
Lets look at the facts. (I say facts, these are from memory so don't quote me)

Issues 1-6
The best run on the title. Superman and Batman team up in the first of 25 tiring dual-monologue issues to fight the combined evils of Kingdom Come Superman (albeit for altruistic purposes) and a mad, bad Luthor. Nothing much really happens for a six issue story except pointless exposition, but the striking bold art from Ed McGuiness, and the fact that he's finally doing a monthly title again keeps people from noticing the lacklustre story contained within as people are too busy grinning like fools at Batman's swirly elbows. After all, people have been waiting AGES to see E=MC2 draw Batman after his appearances in the Emporer Joker storyline, another pointless and shit "is it elseworlds or not" story written by Jeph Loeb that people mistakenly confused for a good story due to the pretty pretty art and the fact that Joker was in it.
The story ends with a crazed Luthor announcing a crisis is coming. A great cliffhanger, but is this our Lex, or is it Alexander? Hang on, which one has what colour eyes? I've got confused. Still, nice battle suit Luthor, haven't seen that since...oh, the last Crisis.

Issue 7
Fun romp with the late Superboy and Robin as they battle against the evil forces of Pat Lee's poor artwork.

Issue 8 -13
Another in a long line of Jeph Loeb "I miss the silver age" ret-con. Supergirl returns, the original; Kara. she is from Krypton, from Argo city, related to Superman, just like the dead pre-crisis one. The story limps from a to b with shitty Michael Turner artwork and cover, as Supergirl struggles with her dark side and its revealed that she is somehow more powerful than Superman. Then Darkseid kills her, then brings her back. Superman is possessive, Batman disagrees with his handling of the situation, Wonder Woman shows up and takes her to an island full of lesbians, who all appreciate her mini-skirt just as much as anyone else but are less likely to date-rape a (pre-legal) teen.
And just having the words pre-legal teen in a sentence will do wonders with my sites search engine ratings.
Along the way, Jeph Loeb reintroduced another un-missed silver age facet of Superman lore: multiple colour Kryptonite with there own effects on Supes. great.

Issues 14 - 19
Another great artist wasted on a piss poor story. Carlos Pacheco struggles to tell the convoluted story of another dimensions superman and Batman, who kill people for fun. You know what? this story line made no sense to me at the time and I know if I reread it, it wouldn't be any clearer to me, so I am just going to skip the entire thing and focus on the fact that a) it's 4 am, b) I should be asleep, c) I probably won't sleep, I'll probably just read some comics instead and d) when it gets this late I forget how to use capitals.
To summarise, nice art. What story?

Issues 20 - 25
Wtf? Why are the Ultimates in this? Is this supposed to be funny?
The idea of any comic using an alternate world equivalent of the JLA or Avengers is so overused, and just doing another world version of the Ultimates is THE SAME FUCKING THING. Learn a new trick.
The story is so pointless, it actually makes the art quite forgettable.
I think Myxlzptlk is in it, and it references Emporer Joker, an unsubtle nod that only really meant anything to Jeph Loeb.
Is this a way to end your career at a company or what? And frankly, it doesn't bode well for the Ultimates 3 series, if the first story he used those characters in was a shitty story for a different company.
Maybe I'm wrong? did anyone get anything from the first 25 issues of this series?

Issues 26
Pretty decent single issue to be fair. It's a hard one for anyone to slate because it's in memory of Sam Loeb, Jeph's son who died of cancer far too young. It touched nicely on the Superboy / Robin dynamic which was nice to see, as it almost got lost in the shuffle of Crisis and OYL.
A veritable smorgasbord of artists save this book from its original plan of using Pat Lee for the entire thing. Thank god that didn't happen.

----------------------------------------------

So, I've done something different here. I try not to just openly slate anything without putting a positive spin on things (except spider-man The Other, but fuck them, they did that to themselves), as I really hate to be another negative comic fan.
As tempting as it is to leave this as a hate filled rant, here comes the positive spin.

NEW CREATIVE TEAM! See ya Jeph.

Issue #27 shipped today, with the new creative team of Mark Verheiden and Kevin Maguire. Maguire is a competent artist when given half a chance (despite having to redraw one Wizard cover like, 13 times) and I think all he needs is a book to really showcase his work. Mark Verheiden came from nowhere (okay, a little place called Hollywood where he worked on Smallville) to do a small, and excellent run on thepre-Johns/Busiek relaunch Superman.
Their work on Supes / Batman could be brilliant, but I've spent so long typing I'm too tired to read now, we'll have to see tomorrow.

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.

2006-06-23T02:00:00.000Z

I was never a massive fan of Grant Morrison, I have read his two previous Batman stories (Arkham Asylum and the LOTDK 5 issue storyline I was talking about recently) and they were okay. I missed his Swamp thing run with Millar completely, The Invisibles never held my attention enough for me to warrant reading the second volume and his long running JLA stint left me less than enamoured contrary to most peoples opinion of the JLA holy grail. I don't know what it is about the guys work but it never clicked with me, none more so than his New X-men run, which did NOTHING for me.
At the time.

I actually look back on that period of X-men with quite a lot of affection, despite my qualms at the time. It was different to a lot of X-men stuff I have read and it did a few things which didn't agree with me, such as Magneto taking drugs to become more powerful (how much power does one guy need), the whole "kick" thing, secondary mutations and the emergence of millions of mutants, most of whom had outward mutations (he looks like a fish, he has crocodile skin etc...).
But despite the "flaws" in story, the series was a hell of a lot of fun, and nostalgia has done it a lot of favours in my mind as somethign I take with a pinch of salt almost outside of X continuity. I have always thought of Grant Morrison as an ideas machine, someone who is great at coming up with plot ideas and high concept, but someone who falls short on execution.
This is something that has changed over the last few years.

More and more "short" story ideas of his caught my eye. WE3 and Vinarama are good examples, similar to his earlier work in the long-and curiously-out of print "Kill your Boyfriend" GN, featuring self contained short stories, with no pre-estasblished characters. I hear Flex Mentallo fits this role too, but will I ever get to read it???
Not everything he does works for me. Seven Soldiers for example just didn't grab me. Maybe it was the length, the format or the use of characters I just didn't give two shits about, but something made me say "wait for trade", and something since then has made me think "the trade can wait too".

By and large I find his work with Frank Quitely to be his best. I find him to be an incredibly quirky artist, none too perfect either, but when it all clicks into place it all clicks into place. Don't believe me? His first Authority run with Millar, Bite Club covers,WE3 and the more recent All Star Superman are all proof.

To be fair, AS Supes is the reason I wrote this column, having just read issue #4. It's fantastic fun isn't it? I mean, really? There are just tons of ideas, and its all filled with a sense of wonder and freshness that hasn't been seen in comics since, well, the silver age when it was all new and fresh (and Planetary).

I don't really have much to say about the book, and I try not to gush if I don't have something interesting to say. But yeah, it's just sooo good. A Superman book that you wouldn't be embarassed to lend to your non-comic reading mates...they don't come around often so enjoy it.

RE: Launch

2006-06-20T15:16:00.000Z

Hey everyone and welcome to the new and improved Across the Counter.

What's improved?

Well, the links to my right are ALL fixed for one. There's a lot of good stuff out there and these are just some of the sites I use / visit often.

What, you want more? Fine.

The new URL is www.acrossthecounter.co.uk, this means you will never have to type in blogspot again (unless you really want to, in which case you still can. See, choices, it's what life is all about).

So what's new?

The header up above was designed by top-notch graphic illustrator Matt Boyce, as I'm sure you could tell from his previous comic work he has quite an eye for design and sequential story-telling. So, three cheers for Boyce.

But these are all just surface changes surely?

Yes, they are. For if it's not broke, don't fix it. But that's hardly the same thing as never evolving is it ;) Watch this space.

Superman Returns

2006-06-20T10:07:00.000Z

Last year; Batman Begun. Next year; Spider-man runs three. This year? Superman Returns.

Early reviews are coming in already on the comic websites, and according to one review over at Newsarama, its not going to be one for comic purists.

"Bottom line, if you love the first two Superman movies and like the idea of a tribute to those movies with new actors, go see Superman Returns, you'll love it. Otherwise, Superman fans beware - put a DVD of the animated series in and wait for the fuss to pass."

The article gives away minor details but holds off on the BIG spoiler. Time magazine - owned by Timer Warner who also own DC and the inclusive rights to all characters within - were not so generous with the BIG one. And neither am I. The following text needs to be highlighted to be read.

Lois' son, Jason, is Supes' kid.

No big secret really, if you really wanted to know I'm sure you could have read the novel (available for two weeks or so now) or the forthcoming comic adaption (available in the UK before the film release in mid-July). Having said that I'm sure it'll be all over the 'net soon anyway.

Either way, expect Son of Superman to remain in print for the foreseeable.

However, with these things, the proof will be in the pudding. Until I see the movie, I reserve judgement. But the important question to ask is: how will the BIG spoiler affect the comic? Wolverines Origin was revealed because Marvel were scared that if they didn't do it, the movie franchise would. Spider-man was married off in a knee-jerk reaction to the newspaper strip version of Peter Parker getting married.

Lets hope that DC remembers what works in one medium doesn't work in all mediums.

The end of Civil War #2

2006-06-15T11:05:00.000Z

Fuck.

I mean, I kind of saw it coming, but not really.

Fuck.

Inane Comic Moments #6,782

2006-06-13T15:21:00.000Z

Somedays I really sympathise with Wonder Woman, the other day I was in a situation where I needed to dress up as a baby elephant, but I didn't go through with it and I let everyone down. I guess thats what seperates us mortals from Themyscrian legends.

I wish I was Wonder Woman.

So, just what have I been up to for the last few weeks.

2006-06-10T22:23:00.000Z

Busy busy.

But here a few things that I have managed to enjoy with my rapidly diminishing spare time.

Punisher: The Tyger

It's a fact that I haven't really enjoyed the Garth Ennis run of Punisher for some time now. I loved the 12 issue Knights miniseries, and I got some good cheap laughs from the 37 issue follow on run, despite the fact that Dillon only drew a handful of the stories. I know that Ennis was keen to make it mature readers so he could play the character more realistically, but for the most part it just hasn't worked for me, especially with the often throwaway art team and the super-deconstructed-intended-for-trade-isn't-it-convenient-6-issues-to-a-story-format.
So it was with surprise that I enjoyed this one-shot after the lacklustre Christmas and valentine one-shots. It was a good solid tale, reminiscent of Heartland (the Hellblazer spin-off with Kit back in Ireland) which added another layer to the increasingly-less likely vietnam vet's back story. Recomended for oldskool Ennis fans (HB and Preacher) rather than his comedy fans (Pro, Hitman).

Sopranos

Easily the best written TV show of all time, I'm surprised I haven't waxed on about this on this blog more often. I first watched this show after hearing Straczynski describe it as his favourite TV show. If it was good enough for the creator of my then-favouriote TV show, it would good enough for me. And it was.
The layer of depth to the characters and story, not to mention its incredible level of detail in continuity make this an absolute joy to watch, even on the second run through (and given how much time I put into TV shows, a second run through is fucking rare). The subtext and subtleties in the dialogue will make this series go down in history as the text gets analysed over the next 50 years. Awesome show. Just watch it.

Story by Robert McKee

An excellent book detailing the do's and do-not's of writing for Hollywood. Primarily a book for screen-writing, but its lessons on creating characters and storys can be applied to any medium of story-telling (just ask Bendis, who swears by this book). Any encapsulating review would fail to do this justice, if you've ever entertained thoughts about being a writer, just hit amazon and invest £20.

Auto Assembly

I thought comic fans were weird, but after spending a few hours with rabid Transformer fans I've been introduced to a whole new world. I feel sorry for the girls who got dragged along by their boyfriends. All in all a good show, as I picked up some new toys, traded some old ones, hung out with David Kaye (Beast Wars Megatron) and generally networked. Have to make this about comics...Furman and Wildman were there too.

Warren Ellis

People still always ask me what I think of his recent work, so in a nutshell, here are some very quick reviews which I hope don't expand beyond all control as soon as I start thinking about them too much.

Fell - just brilliant, and #5 is partly inspired by 12 Angry Men, which you should ALL watch. Play.com or something.
Nextwave - yeah, okay. He is capable of so much more and at times it reeks of Warren Ellis parodying Warren Ellis, but its still good fun. Immomens artwork has changed though, and although it suits this title, I already miss his old style.
Wolfskin - A Conan book, with lots of blood. Ehhh. Wait for the tpb.
Black Gas - More Zombies. Great. Bored. Walking dead is ace. Marvel Zombies was fucking fun. This was lacking.
Ultimate Extinction - Like, 15 issues in and finally we have a good issue. This is the one I am liable to go on and on about, so feel free to skip to the next paragraph if I bore you. Fun, Ellis dialogue "Your thoughts and creativity are bullets, and I've got the gun" and the master stroke of Reed Richards birthing a baby universe to destroy Galactus's (Galacti??? As there were more than one?) advancing hive was genius, but stolen from Superman: Our Worlds At War. - which is now avilable in one Tpb and well worth it, Ed McGuiness and Weiringo on one story!!! Anyway, UE; Couldn't care less for the characters like the Silver men, the shitty clones and the new wank Captain Marvel. You know, this is probably the big pay cheque for Mr. Ellis, and if a series like this enables him to keep writing Fell and Apparat stuff then yay, way to go Joe Q.
Planetary - Just my favourite comic. Quite good.
Desolation Jones - I should have waited for tpb, good artist for the next series though, although I forget who now.

52

It works for me, B through to Z list DC characters farting around in shared universe. What can I say, I love superhero comics.

Civil War

Shaping up quite nicely, I think it will be a lot better than House of M when all is said and done. Having said that, this IS an internet column so I feel obliged to point out that they already did this in the Incredibles movie. Although that didn't have cap or Iron Man in an ongoing story narrative which will have lasting consequences lasting well outside its 2 hours time frame. Unless that shitty looking Cars film is set in the same universe, which I doubt.
The Amazing spider-man issues are very important to the whole thing so far, so I recommend you check them out too.

Battlestar Galactica

No, I don't watch this. Yes, I hear that its very good. Fine, I'll start watching it over the next few weeks then.

DMZ Tpb

This is like $10, you have no excuse.

And a big FUCK OFF goes to: Big Brother, the Da Vinci Code, X-Men 3, footballers doing the "robot" and the human interest stories which are supposed to be light-hearted and funny at the end of the news.

I might add pictures to this tomorrow, at the moment my computer is slower than Hitch's drawing hand.

To Afghanistan and Back by Ted Rall

2006-06-09T12:17:00.000Z

I’m just over half way through this book, interesting stuff. Like many people, he too suspected that the "war" was more about the price of oil than stopping terrorists, and he had his doubts about the "pinpoint accuracy" of American bombs So the award winning reporter and cartoonist decided to fly over to Afghanistan at the start of the US bombing to see what life was really like over there.

Informative and cynical, let at the same time there is a sense of the author distancing himself from the whole situation despite the fact that he lived through the harrowing tale. He approaches the material with an unbiased view of affairs, never latching on to the current trend for anti-American sentiment but never blindly touting patriotism. He reports on the facts as and how they come to him, never dwelling on finding the altruistic holy grail of journalism: the urban myth that is the "truth".

The interesting thing about this book is its format. It literally is a blend of graphic novella and factual reporting. Its also an incredibly hard book to display. What section of the shop does it go in? It’s easy for me as I store it in the independent comics section, but lets face it most comic stores are going to be more interested in Wonder Woman relaunchs than this comic, so for the most part this is going to do better in the bookstores than speciality stores. I wonder: will it be displayed in the War section, the News Section, the Comic section? If its anything like my local library it will be in the kids section because its "Full of cartoons".
Its hardly current affairs anymore, as this book was first printed in 2002, but it is still an interesting look at the effect that the US’s oil war had on the people that live with the unimaginable every day, where the line between ally and Taliban can be blurred with little more than a pay check or a bribe.

There is little in this book that hasn’t been said elsewhere, on the Internet or other non-biased news sources, but what this book does with the facts it does well, confirming suspicions and fears about the US war machine. The underlying point of this book isn’t that any one side is right or wrong, but that at the end of the day, it’s all so pointless.

Available in all good bookstores and up-their-own-arse elitist comic shops like mine for $10.

Bristol Follow-up: Shit Spider-man

2006-06-01T14:56:00.000Z

Here he is: Shit Spider-man!

The guy who is stood to his left (our right), was the guy who was dressed as maybe Blade the day before. So, I guess he is Batman here.

I don't understand cosplay.

Except of course, in wrestling.

Thoughts and Portents

2006-05-28T17:33:00.000Z

Alex Toth died yesterday, at his drawing board no less (which is kind of inspirational, and brought a smile to my face). Alex was a professional cartoonist. He began his career in comic strips and comic books but is best known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work with Iwao Takamot o included Superfriends, Jonny Quest and Space Ghost. Toth's work has been resurrected in the late-night, adult-themed spinoffs on Cartoon Network: Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Sealab 2021. (sourced from Wikipedia)
Alex Toth has never been a creator I have followed that closely, but I have a few friends whom have really been influenced by his work over the years, especially his material on Space Ghost. I wish I knew more about his work so I could give you an honest appraisal, but alas I cannot read everything, and I would rather be honest and say I don't know enough about the guys work.
If you want to leave condolences to the family, you can here

Just about to read Grant Morrison's early batman story "Gothic", it's 16 years old now and it will be interesting to see how it holds up. I thought I should check this out before his forthcoming run on Batman, see how his grasp on the character has varied over the years from this, to Arkham Asylum and his JLA run.
Sometimes you get a clearer idea where artists are going to go if you see where they've been.

"52" is good, 3 issues in now and I am really enjoying it. I know a few comic shops are struggling to shift the book, with its curious marketing strategy / selling point being "No Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman" - who are the three DC characters that most people want to read about. thankfully, our customers and quite clued in to good creators and the DCU. So cheers guys for having good taste.

"Scott Pilgrim" vol. 2 was ace, just read it this morning and it had me laughing out loud at some points, which is very rare, it never ceases to impress me how much I have grown to like this book.
If you still havn't read this book, let me know and I will try to get some more of the FCBD specials in store.

Curious selling point (for me anyway) on the new "Family Guy" comic series from Devils Due, the art is partly handled by one of my all-time favourite indie creators: Rich Koslowski, who you should all remember from "3 Fingers" and "The King" (both available fromTop Shelf). Just thought it warranted mentioning.

More indie comics spotlight. Matt Boyces second book "More Humiliation / Robots in Love" is avilable in store now, kind of a double A side this one. Featuring more stories from the "Man wih the hole in the head" and "Dave Nosferatu escargo". Check out www.mattboyce.com for more details.

"Monkeys Might Puke" is another of my favouriote indie books, a small humour anthology published fairly sporadically by some UK creators. In many ways its shit, but they know its shit, which is why it works and tit makes it kind of endearing. The creators really can't draw, and there is no thought behind each issues design WHATSOEVER, but the humour in it is good, offbeat and fairly original.
£1 an issue buys you "Junkies in space", a strange ongoing tale abouts lamps and cheese and in more recent issues the Itchy and Scratchy parody "Einstein vs. That Danish Guy". Good fun stuff.

And finally, time to pimp my own stuff, I have been going on about my writing on the site for some time now but haven't really offered any for people to read. Until now. So, if you are at all interested, check out my three-part prose short "Horrorscope", by clicking here.

Neil Gaiman Superman Article

2006-05-26T12:19:00.000Z

If you're like me, you probably think everything Neil Gaiman writes is worth reading, so here you go:

Find It Here

It's a love / hate thing.

2006-05-23T12:28:00.000Z

So what do Transmetropolitan, Planetary and Authority all have in common?
Other than Ellis?

The common link is the first time I read any of them I didn't like them. In fact, Authority I downright hated, finding it irreverant to my superhero sensibilities. I thought Planetary was insipid and found Transmet to be irrelevant gibberish.
But then again, there was a time I didn't like the band Faith No More, so what do I know?

Yet these three books I now look upon as being books that changed the industry. Transmet was an important socio-political cautionary tale which (along with Ennis' Preacher) set the tone for finite series in an ongoing market, with emphasis on long-term bookshelf sales rather than single issue market dominance. Authority was two fingers up to the establishment, putting the spotlight on everything right and wrong about superhero comics in a way which made the entire industry stand up and pay attention (even the cynics, as Millar pointed out in the final issue). Wheras Planetary is the subtle rediscovery of the superhero idiosyncrasy, putting the wonder and marvel back into comics after generations of pointless watered down "super"-hero spin-offs have slowly diluted the pond.
I mean, whats so Super about believing a man can fly if everyone in the entire shared universe can? A point which Earth X and Kingdom Come hypothesised.

Scott Pilgrim is a book which has the capacity to change the industry, and I already know some comic shops to whom it's there best seller. Not best-selling quirky indie title, but best selling comic. Ever. Above 52, Civil War, Age of Apocalypse, Spawn, Malibu, Valiant variants, Watchmen, V for Vendetta or Dark Knight Returns. Yet in my shop its an incredibly hard sell. Why is this?
Partly because we are so crammed with stock its difficult to make little Scott Pilgrim stand out, needing a case of less is more to focus peoples attention on this great little gem.
Partly because its not super-hero, yet its definatly quirky and its anything but dull. To coin an already out-dated phrase, it's part Fight Comics (TM Warren Ellis) part romance comic, with a healthy dose of pop-culture adrenalyn injected directly into its heart.
Scott Pilgrim has the capacity to change the industry because it IS bringing in new readers, whom are both young and of mixed gender. No industry can survive without new blood which is something that mainstream comics and video games are feeling the sting of, by refusing to cater to anyone other than the hardcore established niche.
It's a small, attractively priced package yet dense with material and re-readability. It has a clear cut purpose with Scott's mission being to fight all his girlfriends evil ex's, one of whom it has been implied was a girl.
Its the perfect size to lend to a mate without it coming back trashed, you can read it on a train, slip it in your pocket, hell...it will even survive a hardcore gig.

Like any industry, the real progressive changes in comics are made in the dark corners where the consumers aren't looking. But you know who is looking? The industry professionals, many of whom will try to emulate Bryan Lee O'Malley's stylistic content to lesser effect in there own books, but it will come off cheap and stilted. Why settle for the rip-offs when you can be there at the begining? You might think you don't like it at first, but I guarantee in time you will see why its such a great book.
And you know what, if you don't like it straight away that's fine, because you know you wish your mates read comics but you're too embarrassed to lend your mate the X-Men or Teen Titans? You can bet they'd get a chuckle from Scott Pilgrim. If they have a soul.

You know what comic I've just started reading? Howard Chaykins American Flagg,
it was a comic being made in the dark corners of the insutry during the birth of the direct market that no-one noticed, no-one except all of todays most prolific creators.
Although, to be honest so far I can't say I've overly impressed.
I can't wait to tell you how much I love it in a few months.

Silver Surfer Week

2006-05-23T11:51:00.000Z

How dissapointed was I?

Brokeback Mutant

2006-05-22T23:50:00.000Z

My weekend has been spent on/with:

Absolute Batman hush - A silly, action packed Bruckheimer paced Batman story, good fun.
Samurai Jack Series 3 - Samurai Jack, Yes!
Every Time I Die Live - Crazy Hardcore Mosh fun.
New Super Mario Bros. - A new 2D Mario game, this is truly the best Mario game ever, the true sequal to Mario World is here after 14 years

Daredevil - again

2006-05-19T13:14:00.000Z

Seriously, I don't care if you can't afford any more comics, cancel all of them if you have to, just start getting Brubaker's Daredevil run. It's so, so good.

MM/DD is still in prison, and so is Kingpin, and the two of them in a prison together create a powder-ked just waiting to explode. So what happens when the Punisher turns himself in to get inside the prison?
Featuring an excellent supporting cast of Ben Urich, JJJ and Turk, with some excellent characterisation, dialogue and continuity which makes this isolated prison drama feel part of an entire comic universe.

This is comics at there very best people.

Bristol Comic Expo - The closest I will ever get to winning an Eagle award.

2006-05-16T13:14:00.000Z

We had an unnoficial Guitar Hero tournament in the same room as Mark Millar's various Ultimates volume 2 awards. These fine people write on this website.

This is me winning at Guitar Hero against Carlos.

And this guy actually beat me. The only person who beat me at anything all night. No-one could touch me for the rest of the night though, on this or Thumb Wars. I was ace. I even beat two people at the same time at thumb wars.

And this is the recreation that Carlos and friend did using V masks, presenting "B for Brokeback".

Bristol Comic Expo - People Who Dress Up

2006-05-16T12:18:00.000Z

It's been a long standing comic convention tradition that if you dress up, you get in free. So, in a desperate bid to save £12, some people do indeed dress up.
But not many.

You had a group of people dressed as Manga lolita's as part of a promotion for one of the manga companys that isn't Tokyopop, so they don't really count. [Incidentally, the head of Tokyopop sales department fears me, I asked him what's happened to Battle Royale shipments lately and he shat himself and started acting really defensive and submissive, whether he has been beaten up by a rabid Battle Royale fan before or not, I have no idea. And people say violence in comics doesn't affect people].

I really need pictures of Bristol.

The Best 3 people who dressed up at Bristol were:

3, Bloke - Actually, I have no idea who this guy was supposed to be. He was about 6 feet tall and 100lbs of boney aenemic skin, topless (which was disgusting) wearing a long black trenchcoat and cowboy hat. Anyone got any ideas? The only reason I think he was dressed up was because he was hanging out with #1 all weekend. Maybe he was a really bad white Blade?!?

2, Ash from Army of Darkness - Another 1oolb bag of flesh. But at least this guy made the effort and came both days in full get up. Including ripped shirt (featuring exposed white-milk Cadburys Button nipple), blood splatter, cardboard chainsaw, shotgun back-pack (boom-stick) and glasses. Amazing.

And the Winner...
1, Shit Spider-man. God, I wish I had taken photos of this guy. He was fat and mental looking, wearing: faded blue pyjama bottoms; a red pillow case over his head with shades underneath the cut-out eye holes (reflective shades, just like Spidey's mask); a homemade top with a homemade Spider-man logo redesign (I have recreated it, and it is scarily accurate, pictured below);
and because he couln't find the appropriate footwear, he wore bandages over his feet, you know, like the ninja do.
But the best thing about shit Spider-man? The walk. Man you could tell he'd practiced that, it was a half lean forward stomp, almost as if every pace he took could be the one were he fell over, but he just manages to stomp the foot in front of himself to regain balance.
It has just occured to me this could be his ACTUAL WALK, which is so much funnier.

If anyone, anywhere has pictures of shit Spider-man, I want them.

Bristol Comic Expo - MAM TOR

2006-05-16T11:48:00.000Z

Like last time, most of my time at the Comic Expo was spent hanging out with the fine folks at Mamtor. If you don't have at least one Mam tor book in your collection I am shocked, because as well as the excellent Event Horizon anthology series (the Award winning series none the less) Matt Boyces Humiliation series is part of the group.

The ethos of Mam tor and Event Horizon is a noble one: "We're dedicated to producing creator driven works that might not ordinarily find a home on the bookshelf - their being too niche, radical or unquantifiable - despite the evident quality and commitment they display. Mam Tor™ has not been created as a commercial venture, but as a forum for subcultural, underground, science fiction, horror or fantasy artists. There are no fees for the work produced, nor are there the usual editorial restrictions."
Not to mention the even more noble goal of "Have fun". And that's why I like these people, they are creative, indipendant thinkers who arn't afriad to think outside the box (or in the case of Ali Pow3rs, don't realise there is a box) and have a good time. Most of Friday night was spent in the bar watching the Mam tor crew get hideously drunk, and Saturday night, and I imagine this trend continued throughout Sunday after I left too.
And yet in the day they still had time to sit at a table and sketch for fans [completely free sketches I might add]. Examples of all their work can be found at www.mamtor.com, i recomend you check them all out.

I didn't meet Geoff Johns, I missed all the important panels and juicy news and I was elsewhere during the ill-fated Fastball special attempt. But what I did do was have a really fun time with some increibly talented people, many of whoms work not only caught my eye, but also the eye of DC's Vertigo imprint.
Good luck guys... ...and MAM TOR!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing to do with Bristol

2006-05-16T11:36:00.000Z

AMERICAN VIRGIN VOL. 1: HEAD TP
Scheduled to reach stores in October
Writer: Steven T. Seagle
Artists: Becky Cloonan; original cover artists: Frank Quitely and Joshua Middleton
Collects AMERICAN VIRGIN #1-5
$9.99, 112 pages

Bristol Comic Expo - Bob Wayne Hates Me

2006-05-16T10:24:00.000Z

3 reasons why Bob Wayne Hates Me (or "Why DC will never, ever hire me")

1 - The first time I met him I told him Catwoman and Constantine [movies] looked God awful.

2 - Then I told him that DC's Free Comic Book Day offerings were balls.

3 - This weekend, a drunk Simon Bisley and I asked if we could do a new Lobo series, where Lobo is a rapist.
He didn't say no. He just walked away.

If you don't know who Bob Wayne is, he's like the third most important person in the DC heirarchy.

More to come from Bristol. In the meantime, check out Rich Johnston's column for a video file off two comic fans trying to perform a Fastball special.

Internet Bastards

2006-05-10T13:37:00.000Z

Well annoyed.

I wrote a massive blog yesterday, and when i went to upload it blogger wasn't working, so I left it. Turns out we had a power cut in the night and I hadn't saved it, and timesave didn't work either, so I lost everything. Damnit. So, to summarise:

FCBD = Great

Comics
Batman Thrillkiller: Shit
A History of Violence = Great
Scarlet Traces = Great

Movies
Casino = Average
Mean Shit = Shit
Final Fantasy Advent Children = Average
Spirited Away = Great

Video games
Gradius V: Great
Guitar Hero: Great

And Comic Showcase in London is closing.

The importance of FCBD.

2006-05-06T09:53:00.000Z

A Profile of IDW's FCBD offering. Red bits are by me.

NAME: IDW Publishing http://www.idwpublishing.com
FCBD BOOK: The Transformers / Beast Wars Special – FCBD 2006 Edition
What's Included in your FCBD 2006 comic?

By Simon Furman, EJ Su, & Don Figueroa. This special Free Comic Book Day issue celebrates the return of the Transformers! Fans can get a look at the Transformers revival, "Infiltration," courtesy of writer Simon Furman and artist E.J. Su. Then, on the flip-side, experience Transformers: Beast Wars—"The Gathering," also written by Furman and featuring the art of Don Figueroa. This special flip-book also includes sneak peeks at the upcoming The Transformers: Stormbringer and Transformers Evolutions: Hearts of Steel.

Why is it important for you to participate in FCBD?

This year it is important for IDW to provide potential readers a look at what we are offering with our Transformers titles – including our current running titles and our up and coming titles such as Transformers Evolutions: Hearts of Steel and The Transformers Stormbringer.

Why do you think FCBD is beneficial to the industry?

There are a lot of different titles out there competing for the comic book readers’ hard-earned cash. With publishers offering samples of their titles in the form of free comic books it gives readers an opportunity to perhaps try something different that they normally would not.

So, Why didn't you bother to ship the book, knowing how important it was and how many fans would come out for it, seeing as you've been advertising it since like, February and this was one book with mass-market appeal outsiode of the comic-book field, y'know, hitting the disposable income bracket age group?
Especially since we went to the trouble of getting Transformers scribe Simon Furman signing in our store on the day.
I mean, Jesus, this was essentially just a reprint book anyone, featuring nothing that wasn't going to be available anywhere else, so it wasn't going to be too much hard work was it?

Well, c'mon IDW, we are waiting for an answer.

Superman Returns Trailer - At your convenience

2006-05-06T09:44:00.000Z

Me of little faith.

2006-05-05T02:16:00.000Z

I should never have doubted.

About six months back the first issue of "Book of Lost souls" shipped from the Marvel Icon line. As far as I can tell this line of comics is purely Marvel printing comics that they don't want to print, that way no-one else can print them. It's a way of keeping excluisve freelancers happy such as Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack. The line flies in the face of everything Marvel as a company produce.

"Book of Lost Souls" was a no-brainer for me, it's written by J. Michael Straczynski - whom I'm sure you know is one of my many heroes and influences - with art by Coleen (A Distant Soil) Doran, an artist whose work I wasn't too familiar with. Still, I bought it because I buy many comics as is my want, and promptly filed it away in one of my many coffin boxes marked "to be read".
Six months pass, and with it six issues, which usually means a good chunk of comic to be read. I didn't really know what to expect from the book to be honest as I have adopted a trend of avoiding all publicity for books that I am definitely going to buy, but if I had really been looking forward to it like I did Rising Stars or Midnight Nation, I would have read it straight away. So I guess it was with a slight amount of trepidation that I sat down to read it.

Its amazing. The only comparison I can really make is with the early Neil Gaiman material, where you weren't quite sure why the writing was so important, but you ultimately knew it was. This is good stuff people.
The concept is purely a quiet battle between good and evil, where its not the Saints and Demons who are the deciding factor, but the people inbetween who have the real power, for they are the people who can sway the tides. It's an allegory for the voting system in a way, any American politician can quantify the votes of the public, x amount of people will go Republican, x amount of people will go with the Democrats, but the new voters or people who don't usually vote have all the power, if only they would step up to the plate and choose - it doesn't matter what they choose; as long as it's not apathy.

Its a book full of great questions, moments of choice and brilliant metaphors. This is everything I know JMS to be capable of as a writer, but unfortunately some people write him off as "that sci-fi TV show guy" or "the dude who made Gwen Stacy a whore".
There is a quiet power inherant in the man JMS (I had the good fortune to meet him, over ten years ago now), and it's that same quiet power I see in this book.
This could be the Sandman for the 21st century, it could be the flagship for a line to rival Vertigo, or it could be our dirty little secret. You can help decide.

Faith manages.

2006-05-04T15:12:00.000Z

COMICS!!!!!!!!!!

2006-05-04T13:21:00.000Z

You know what really sucks, fucking bank holidays. If it wasn't for the bank holiday I would have been able to read Infinite Crisis #7 and Civil War #1. IC is one of the best crossovers I have ever read, and Civil War has had one of the most intriguing build ups to a crossover ever.
Then just one week later, we have DC's "real-time" epic 52. It's a good time to like comics.

I Love Comics

Okay, yeah, you may have already realised that, but I havn't been as excited about comics as I am right now in a long time.

Its not just Marvel and DC either, there are some great books on the indie scene too. Titles like American Virgin, DMZ, Local, Mouse Guard, Beast Wars, Fell and Planetary offer up a variety of alternate genres to this once blinkered industry.

Even kid's seem to find a way into this industry lately, with sales of Sonic and Simpsons way up. And Free Comic Book Day won't do anything to hurt this progress either.

We are spoilt rotten ourtside of comics too, with movies like Superman Returns and X-Men Last Stand right around the corner and the release of nearly every WB animated series like Batman Beyond and Justice League Unlimited and the new Marvel animated movies.

Despite a lot of faults, such as overpriced Tpbs, late-shipping titles, the fatalistic approach to back issues some shops employ and constant re-boots and ret-cons, its a fantastic time to be reading comics.

Just thought it would be nice to hear someone say that, rather than constant bitching.

Spider-Man: The Other is a Big Piece of Shit - Officially.

2006-04-29T09:07:00.000Z

Hah! I was right.

Wizard #176.

Are you happy with The Other?
Quesada: No, it didn't flow. Let's be honest. When you have that many creators in the room, things are gonna change.
Straczynski: Yeah, it was trial and error. Every so often, I would see huge divergences from what we had discussed. Had there been better communication during the writing process, I think it would have ebeen a much smoother experience.

Translated: It's crap.

Funny, DC don't have a problem with multiple creators on a series, but then again they don't use Reginald "Shit" Hudlin.
So The Other is a big piece of shit. But it might seem like heaven compared to whats to come, it looks like Marvel want to retcon Spider-man back to his roots. So end of marriage and back to working at the Bugle for the character then. 12 years of character growth down the toilet.
If you want to read "back-to-roots" Spider-man, that's what Ultimate Spider-man is for, or Spider-man Loves Mary-Jane, or Spider-man Adventures, or the plethora of graphic novels re-printing the classic stories, or the movies, or the cartoons. Its hardly like Classic Spider-man is an under-fed market.

I would rather take Spidey as he is now, the good and the bad, than have the character regress as if everything else didn't matter. Maybe they are right, maybe Spider-girl if the only pure Spider-man title left. Enjoy the last few issues while you can.

Right Up YourSpace

2006-04-25T13:21:00.000Z

Make with the clicky click.

See Sid Here.

Add me and stuff.

The Best He Is At What He Does?

2006-04-23T19:09:00.000Z

Wolverines been a busy boy. Not only is he star of all the core X-books (last time I checked anyway, I havn't read X-Men and Uncanny for two/three years, but I do own them) and New Avengers, he now has two ongoing solo titles. The long running Wolverine and the newly released Wolverine: Origins.

It has been much lamented that the greatest thing about Marvel characters is that they are all flawed in some way, even the most altruistic of beings have a weakness or imperfection. Iron Man is a recovering alchoholic. The most powerful mutant in the world, Professor Xavier, is wheelchair-bound. Captian America is a man out of his time. Spider-man can never go back and erase the one mistake that cost him his Uncle.
This formula has proven most effective in the forty-five years Marvel since the dawn of the Silver Age of comics, out of the thousands of characters created since Stan Lee passed the torch to other creators, the only new creations who have really caught the publics attention have been flawed characters such as Gambit and Wolverine, Wolverine with his dark hidden past and berserker rage and Gambit with his, er, dark hidden past.
Its a formula that other creators have picked up on, such as Todd McFarlanes Spawn whose protagonist was so flawed he ended up in hell; where he sold his soul. Even iconic characters such as Supes and Batman have benefitted from this flawed formula, with Superman being ret-conned as a somewhat naive character at times and Batman being, well; a dick.

So it was with much trepidation that I awaited the first issue of Wolverine Origins (out now, with two covers, incuding one by Michael Turner - the most over-rated artist in comic). Daniel Way and Steve Dillon are a creative team that have really caught my eye lately, I have of course been a Steve Dillon fan dating back years to Hellblazer and the essential epic Preacher, liking his work so much that I have even bought two issues of WildCATs with his name on. Daniel Way I find to be somewhat hit and miss, but he knows how to write for his artists and as such, on all the collaborations with Dillon (Bullseye, Punisher Vs Bullseye) he has created brilliant moments for Steve Dillons art to shine. Catching the little minutae of details in facial expressions is Mr Dillons strong points, as he has one of the most versatile arrays of expressions of any artist I can think of (tied with Gary Frank).
So what could have put me off Wolverine Origins?
The thing that makes Wolverine work for me is that he has the dark past shrouded in mystery. Fuck the claws, ciagarettes and bad-boy attitude, it's dated and fucking stupid. Wolvie is a nomadic soul, wandering from place to place growing and evolving as he goes, making mistakes and learning from them - which has always been at odd's with the amount of team books he features in, but by giving him a family in the X-Men it has helped the character grow. Besides which - as the movie will attest to - Wolverine makes money.
So my thing is, if you erase the mystery surrounding his past, you'll lose a lot of his mistique (not the blue skinned shape-shifter). It would be like bringing Uncle Ben back, or Cap buying an I-pod or Superboy Prime punching on the walls of reality until Tony Stark's alchoholism was completely erased. The six issue Origin series was brilliantly crafted (by Paul Jenkins) as it added to the character, building another layer of intrigue to his past, but without the character having to confront his old demons. We know his origin, but he doesn't, so the character remains the same at the core, yet somehow more interesting.
However, with this new story-arc and the aftermath of "House of M", Wolverine knows everything. EVERYTHING. And we don't. But we can for £2.20 a month. This is the complete opposite of Origin and in my opinion is detrimental to Wolverine.

Wolverine Origins is a fairly fun book, like I said, it's got Dillon drawing it so I'm sold. However, I found his art lacking for the first time ever in this book, though the face detail and expressions on "Dum-Dum" Duggan and the SHIELD agents was brilliant, it could have been anyone in the Wolverine costume. He looked neither short, nor feral. After the good fun titles that Way and Dillon ahev put out before I was also expecting the book to be funnier, not slapstick and still serious, but with the occasional funny moment, but for the most part the book was flacid and insipid.
Wolverine is one of Marvels top-tier characters and a lot of eyes are going to be looking at the launch figures, as this is Marvels big book launch this month and so the pressure is really on for Way and Dillon, hopefully the title will pick up in a few months and find a stable selling ground which isn't inflated with variant cover gimmicks.
So what happens with the regular Wolverine title? Well, starting with Volume 2 #42 (#231 for numeric puritans like myself), the new creative team of Mark Guggenheim and Humberto Ramos debut.
I absolutely love Humberto Ramos, he is one of about only five artists that will actually inspire me to pick up a comic. Over the last few years his work has evolved more and more to the point where his work is more cartoony that main stream superhero art usually allows, but I love it to bits. From his early guest spot on Superboy, his run on Impulse, his self-published Cliffhanger title Crimson, through Spider-man and his more recent Revelations I have read it all and will quite happily follow him onto Wolverine.
Mark Guggenheim is a relative new-comer to comics, according to a quick google, he started out as an intern at Marvel before studying to be an attorney and writing for television, his first comics work was a fill-in stint on DC's Aquaman, he is a long-term comic fan contracted to stay with Wolverine for the 7 issue duration of Civil War, so it's quite a high profile first project gig.

But before we get to that, we have nexts weeks shipping Wolverine #41, a double sized fill-in issue which thankfully isn't double the price, a book which I just finished reading which prompted me to write this column.
Wow. Just wow.
This is what I want my Wolverine to be like. No Sabretooth this issue, no cigar's, no "Patch", no cussing, no whining about his lost past, no mention of dead ex-grilfriends (he is worse than Kyle Rayner on that front) and it doesn't matter what costume he is in. This is just Wolverine doing a job as a favour to a friend.
Now don't get me wrong, I like all the things I mentioned above, but the last few years they have overshadowed the rest of the character, the little bits of charecterisation that make Logan / James / Wolverine unique. His code of honour.
Most people forget how much time Wolverine spent travelling around the world, training as a Samurai. Logan is certainly not a man without morals, albeit a slightly twisted eye-for-an-eye sense of morals. This is the side of Wolverine that is seldom seen these days (if David Hayter and Bryan Singer don't show it, why should anyone else?) and made for a welcome change in this issue.
I feel like I should say what happens in this issue, but seeing the plot unfold is part of the joy of reading this issue by Stuart Morre and C P Smith, so I am going to resist the urge to gush and spill the beans. All I will say is, it was nice to see Wolverine fight down the berserker rage rather than welcoming it, and having an inner monlogue that wasn't just meaningless cliche.
This issue has reminded me why Wolverine is still a relevant character in modern fables despite all the shit surrounding his very convoluted origins. Wolverine is the best there is at what he does, and what he does isn't black and white.

Civil War Checklist

2006-04-19T11:39:00.000Z

Okay, y'know how Civil War didn't look too bad as a crossover, just a few tie-ins here and there? Its grown. A lot. The following is a complete checklist for Civil War including known variants. If you buy every single issue from my store I will buy you a mint Cornetto.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #529
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2ND PTG #529
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 3RD PTG #529
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #530
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #531
CIVIL WAR OPENING SHOT SPECIAL PROMO SKETCHBOOK
FANTASTIC FOUR #536
FANTASTIC FOUR 2ND PTG HITCH VAR #536
FANTASTIC FOUR #537
NEW AVENGERS ILLUMINATI SPECIAL
CIVIL WAR #1 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR TURNER VARIANT #1 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR TURNER SKETCH VARIANT #1 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR #2 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR TURNER VARIANT #2 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR #3 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR TURNER VARIANT #3 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR #4 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR TURNER VARIANT #4 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR #5 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR TURNER VARIANT #5 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR #6 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR TURNER VARIANT #6 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR #7 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR TURNER VARIANT #7 (OF 7)
CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #1 (OF 10)
CIVIL WAR FRONT LINE #2
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #532
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #533
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #534
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #535
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #536
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #537
BLACK PANTHER #18
CABLE DEADPOOL #30
CABLE DEADPOOL #31
CABLE DEADPOOL #32
CAPTAIN AMERICA #22
CAPTAIN AMERICA #23
CAPTAIN AMERICA #24
CIVIL WAR YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #1
CIVIL WAR YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #2
CIVIL WAR YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #3
CIVIL WAR YOUNG AVENGERS & RUNAWAYS #4
CIVIL WAR X-MEN #1
CIVIL WAR X-MEN #2
CIVIL WAR X-MEN #3
CIVIL WAR X-MEN #4
DAILY BUGLE CIVIL WAR EDITION
FANTASTIC FOUR #538
FANTASTIC FOUR #539
FANTASTIC FOUR #540
FANTASTIC FOUR #541
FANTASTIC FOUR #542
FANTASTIC FOUR #543
HEROES FOR HIRE #1
HEROES FOR HIRE #2
HEROES FOR HIRE #3
IRON MAN #13
IRON MAN #14
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT MARK MILLAR STEVE MCNIVEN
MS MARVEL #6
MS MARVEL #7
MS MARVEL #8
NEW AVENGERS #21
NEW AVENGERS #22
NEW AVENGERS #23
NEW AVENGERS #24
NEW AVENGERS #25
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #1
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #2
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #3
SHE-HULK 2 #8
THUNDERBOLTS #103
THUNDERBOLTS #104
THUNDERBOLTS #105
WOLVERINE #42
WOLVERINE #43
WOLVERINE #44
WOLVERINE #45
WOLVERINE #46
WOLVERINE #47
X-FACTOR #8
X-FACTOR #9

DAREDEVIL

2006-04-19T10:37:00.000Z

Going onto Daredevil as the new ongoing writer after Kevin Smiths run must have been very hard on the then rising star Brian Michael Bendis, but he really got his hooks into the character, came up with an new-direction for the title and replaced the formulaic superhero artwork for the grim "used" artwork of Alex Maleev. Throughout his near 50 issue run, Bendis exposed Matt Murdock as Daredevil, married the characeter off, gave Bullseye the shitty movie target engraved on his head but in a way that really worked, arranged a massive internal coup that nearly killed Kingpin, had DD fight an entire ninja clan on the streets of Hells Kitchen, killed off Kingpins wife (his only stabalising influence and weakness), declared Matt the new Kingpin of NY and eventually imprisoned him. My only fear throughout the entire run was what would the replacement writer do once Bendis left?

Going onto Daredevil as the new ongoing writer after Brian Michael Bendis must have been almost impossible for Ed Brubaker.

A lesser writer would have found a loophole to pull DD out of prison, or written off the last 5 years as a dream, hoax or imaginary tale (even better, he could have shed his skin, gone into a cocoon and developed stabby wrist things). In the Marvel Universe it wouldn't be impossible for the Avengers to act as character witnesses to free DD, but then that would have rendered the entire Bendis run obsolete. Instead, Ed Brubaker has picked up the ball exactly where BMB left it and is running with it.
Only a few issues in, and we have already seen all the movers and shakers in Rikers prison attempt to kill Matt (lets face it, a good chunk of them are in there because of DD or people like him) and the death of long-term Matt confidant Foggy Nelson. An excellent supporting cast keep the story moving outside of prison with Ben Urich attempting to clear Matt's name, and the apperance of a new DD on the streets of Hells Kitchen means we also get superhero bang for our buck in this prison drama. And wait 'till you see Frank Castles reaction to the violent outbursts in Rikers Prison.

After the last few years of DD's life, he has lost everything, the inmates of Rikers are about to find out that a man with nothing to lose is truly a Man Without Fear.

A Tale of One Good Comic

2006-04-19T10:18:00.000Z

I'll never know why Beatrix Potter, Roger Hargreaves and Raymond Briggs are considered to be excellent childrens story-tellers whilst the rest of the comic book medium gets written off as a low-brow form of illiterate story-telling by the mass media.
Indeed, the parables and cautionary tales of titles such as "When the Wind Blows" are just as relevant to adults as they are to children, yet by being listed as childrens books in librarys they are often shunned by the elder reader.

When Will Eisner coined the phrase "Graphic Novel", few realised what an important name it was, as it describes itself to a wide audience, free of ageist stigma or even class snobbism of "comic-books" being for the uneducated.
There is some argument as to what defines the term "graphic novel", too many; it is any comic with a spine, to most; it is any comic presented for the first time in its original format as a complete collection (such as the ground-breaking "A Contract With God"). To me, a graphic novel can be anything that feels like it is a complete story, novel or novella presented as one volume. Maus is a graphic novel. The Dark Knight Returns is a graphic novel. Watchmen is a graphic novel. Ultimate Spider-man volume 7 is a Trade Paperback.
Then there are phonebooks like Cerebus, buts that's a different column altogether.

This column is about the amazing graphic novel: Tale of One Bad Rat by Brian Talbot.
Despite being printed originally as a mini-series, it is undoubtably a comic meant for GN. I would like to guess that every School and Library would have a copy of this book in stock, but alas, I doubt that to be true.
Although this book came out around the same time I was getting into comics, I only recently got around to reading it after Glyn put me onto it (see, he has some good points) - although I have no idea if he has read it or just read about it in the pages of Comics International.

This book deals with the subject of child abuse, and the effects it has on the victims. Incredibly heavily researched, Brian Talbot read as many books as he could find on the subject matter and talked to many victims, and the one thing that was parralelled in all accounts was that the victim feels like they are the ones in the wrong.
Coupled together with the protagonists journey retracing the steps of Beatrix Potter throughout the Lake District, it makes for a compelling read, with many clever touches and symbolism spread throughout this beautifully crafted graphic novel.

Fables Vol. 1 - The Greatest Smelling Read in Comics

2006-04-15T15:40:00.000Z

Why do Comics smell so good?
Possibly my geekiest column entry ever.

Long term comic fans will know what I mean, there is a certain smell about comics, especially '70's / '80's comics with there newspaper quality stock. Comics these days don't smell as good as they used to.
In fact, Top Cow comics smell downright awful, which is another reason not to read them.

This column was sparked after I was flicking through the Fables vol. 1 tpb, which as well as being a great read smells awesome.

Or maybe only sleeping 4 hours a night for the last few nights is starting to get to me.

Those who do, do. Those who don't, talk about it.

2006-04-13T01:43:00.000Z

So, I'm not saying a thing, other than for the first time in a little while my writing is going really well, and despite all my other commitments I am going to try my damn hardest to get things moving along.

Even if I don't get anything published, I want a nice collection of rejection letters, because at the end of the day, that's further than most people will get.

"I tried didn't I? At least I did that."

In other news, Marvel are publishing a new Heroes for Hire series, because they figured they didn't have enough books selling below 20k.

Awesome.

SUPERBOY

2006-04-09T19:19:00.000Z

Superboy means different things to different people. If you are the Seigal heirs, it means a pay check. If you are a teen girl, it probably means Smallville. If you a long term Superman fan, it means the adventures of Superman as a child. But to me, it means Conner Kent, the Clone of Superman.

On a recent column, Erik Larsen discussed why the character Nova was so important to him: it was the one character that felt like his. Superman, Batman, Spider-man and the Fantastic Four had all been established super heroes by the time a young Erik larsen found his way into comic stores, but Nova was new to his generation and he was in at entry level for better of for worse. This is how I feel about Superboy and the Teen Titans.

I started reading comics more recent than most people think: 1996.
Don't get me wrong, growing up I had always read the UK Transformers comic, and being British, every now and then I recieved a Superman or Fantastic Four annual for Christmas. I had borrowed from my brothers friend "Batman: A Death in the Family" and sat and read the entire "Death of Superman" Tpb in WH Smiths, and even though I didn't keep up with DC or fully understand the "shared universe" concept, I knew these two books were important.
But it was only when a small comic shop opened in my home town and I went in looking for Star Wars figures and I reached disposable income age that I really found out what comics really were.

At the time I found the comic store, my parents had just gone through a massive, incredibly nasty and not at all amicable divorce which left my Mother, Brother and I penniless and I had to start working on top of GCSE's just to help my mother pay the mortgage, which then after reposesion became rent money. So the spare bit of money I had was very important to me.
In fact, friends dating back to that time can still recollect my enviable wish of: "If I won the lottery, I'd put Spider-man on standing order", a wish which bought a wry smile to my face this week when a fairly new comic customer said the same thing about buying graphic novels.
Through that comic shop I found a lot of friends, many of whom I still know now and indeed, it is the very shop that I work now and can call, at least in part, mine.

One of the first comics I was put onto was Superboy, my friend Pete loved the character and indeed all things Superman related, but we both got caught up in the hype of things like Age of Apocalypse, Maximum Clonage and Gen 13 (which I still love, so shut up) and Superboy initally had to wait in the wake of massive crossovers and variant covers (the past is the present is the past).
Still, eventually I got into the adventures of Superboy, Impulse and Robin. Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman and all the big DC players held little interest to me as I was after all a Marvellite through and through, but the three minor players with their recent launches and issue #1's seemed a whole lot more accessable.
Unfortunately, I had got into comics in one of the bleakest periods of comic history. Marvel had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and comic shops and companys were closing down left right and center; a few times it seemed like the comic shop I frequented would follow the fate of so many others, and many new Marvel characters never got of the ground, facing poor sales and cancellation . But DC, subsidised by their parent company Warner Bros. kept newer titles like Superboy afloat.

Superboy was ace in the early days, a clone of Superman with substituted powers to emulate the Man of Steels ability, such as tactile telekenesis. Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett handled the character, with a couple of fill-in issues by Humberto Ramos which led to me buying the Impulse title. The entire storyline with Superboy and Knockouts relationship was brilliantly handled, and was a portent of things to come for the choices Superboy would later have to make in Teen Titans.
For a time, Superboy even had a spin-off title, the ill-fated "Superboy and the Ravers", things seemed bright for the kid of Steel, and I still remember the wave of excitement I felt when DC announced "Young Justice", an ongoing team-up book starring S'Boy, Robin and Impulse.

As I grew up, comics grew up with me. My comic hobby became my job and I started reading more and more comics, for a comic sales clerk is only as good as his recomendations, and eventually Superboy fell to the wayside. Robin had started to grow up, taking responsibility and becoming a natural leader. Impulse had a few times hinted to greater things and maturity. But Superboy just seemed to limp from one set of creators to another never growing or evolving. True, he always had to battle with the fact he was living in the greatest shadow ever cast in the DCU, which anyone with an older sibling can tell you is not an easy thing to have to do, and it seemed obvious to anyone that Superboy would never go anywhere as long as Superman was around, and let's face it DC are never going to rid themselves of such an icon.
The character had lost all direction, the fun-loving-sun-drenched-Calafornia-mallrat-generation x- surfer-image had reached its limits, dying a death along with Pauly Shore and Superboy was "re-invented" many times, as a modern day Kamandi, then he lost his powers, eventually becoming a tenement building super-intendant and - unless you are Will Eisner - it's not easy to tell tenement building stories.
Superboy was cancelled unsurprisingly at issue 100, and faded into brief obscurity after the cancellation of Young Justice.

Gone, but not forgotten.

Marvels market dominance, after their financial and creative post-bankruptcy reshuffle, had established them as major players and each and every month, DC watched as Marvels unit and dollar ahare increased. Out there in comicbook fandom world we had no idea, but the wheels at DC started to turn again.

With the combined forces of Judd Winnick and Geoff Johns, the DCU had a massive shake up, re-creating Young Justice as The (new-new-new) Teen Titans.
Superboy was back, and this time, he had a purpose. He struggled with his heritage after finding out his DNA was part Superman and Luthor, and he started to ignore his friends and deny his heroism.

I have always said that the greatest comic characters are those who are flawed, as any story in about conflict, resolution and the choices the characters make along the way. If any character is too pure or altruistic, the suspense and choice is diminished, that's why Batman and Spider-man are the two greatest known heroes in the world, they both are inherantly flawed (Bat's is an oedopeidic nut-ball whose childhood was ripped from him, and Spider-man can never atone for that one mistake).

The perfect clone that was Superboy, was now flawed. And thus, became a character, not just a characterisation.

Now if you have not read the Geoff Johns Teen Titans run, you really have no excuse, they are all available in Tpb (dirt cheap too). EVERYONE who reads Infinite Crisis should read these titles, and after the events of Infinite Crisis #6, we all know what choices Superboy made.

Superboy is dead, and has done more in his death than most comic characters have in their entire 40-60 year heritage. Be thankful for characters that are more than just profit making icons.

Sid's Massive In-depth Review of Marvels Next-big-thing: Moon Knight #1

2006-04-01T10:44:00.000Z

Eh, it's alright...

Marvel Zombies

2006-03-31T13:41:00.000Z

Do you like Zombies?
Do you like Comics?
If the answer to these is yes then you are probably familiar with Robert Kirkmans work on Walking Dead, and the fun 5-issue mini from Marvel that is Marvel Zombies.
The series wraps up next week, so the graphic novel can't be far behind. I emplore you all to read it as it is a heck of a lot of fun, and a nice break from the death/disease/famine/we're-all-going-to-die-horribly pace of titles like Infinite Crisis and Civil War.

But that's not what this column is about.

Dear Marvel,

Thank you very much for the fun that was the recent 5-issue Robert Kirkman penned mini which was Marvel Zombies. It was a heck of a lot of fun. Cap with his brains hanging out, the Iron Torso Man, Wasp; the zombie head and the Silver Dinnerware Surfer. You can't beat that.

Let it end at that.

Everytime you have a series which recieves a modicum of success, you run it into the ground. Fact.
So many great things have started at Marvel, and you havn't known when to stop and it has ruined them.
Marvel Mangaverse. Dead from over-exposure.
MC2. Dead from early over-exposure, killed the "line" before it got going.
The second wave of recent What If's. With the exception of the Thor title; pointless.
Avengers Disassembled. Yes, Avengers 500-503 were great, but watered down due to pointless supposed "tie-ins" in F4, Iron Man and Spidey.
The "Tsunami" line of comics. WTF? Does anyone remember this launch. Namor??? at least it bought us Runaways.
Infinity gauntlet was ace. Did we need War, Crusade and Abyss?
Hulk The End one-shot was awesome. The same can't be said for the 18 issues of X-Men The End can it?

Stop flogging the dead horse! Let Marvel Zombies rot in peace.

Yours faithfully,
A Fan.

Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats - NOOOO!

2006-03-26T02:31:00.000Z

So I recently bought the ThunderCats DVD's, all 68 episodes of season 1 over 2 huge DVD box sets. Quite a lot to get through really. I never saw much ThunderCats as a kid, nor any cartoon, but those I did see I enjoyed. I never collected the toys either, my Mum had a weird thing about toys; whereas most kids had a little bit of each product, a mixed bag such as Lion-O, Prowl, Princess Leia and Skeletor, my Mum had this thing that we collected one thing. From birth to '85 it was Star Wars for me, and then when Star Wars went the way of the dodo it became Transformers. It was good really, because it meant I had a shitload of Star Wars and TFs as a kid and I really looked after them, I still have many of my boxed Transformers from when I was a kid, still with weapons.
So it was with a mixture of nostalgia and apprehension I inserted the ThunderCats DVD.
Now the intro sequence is still the best intro from any kids cartoon ever, better than He-Man, Bucky O Hare and even the Transformers (Ghostbusters was a close second though, for the music alone). And then the episode began.
It sucked.
They all sucked.

I managed to force myself through the first boxset, nearly inflicting a mental breakdown upon my girlfriend whom detests the shows voice-acting. I use the term "acting" very loosely.
Now Transformers wasn't the best cartoon ever but at least The Movie kicked ass, He-Man has aged really badly since its early-80's release, a lot of cartoons from the eighties look and feel dated for the very same reason 50's Superman comics seem so kooky: no-one expected people to still be analysing / reading / veiwing the material 20-50 years later. they were meant as nothing more than disposable kids entertainment, occasionally with a forced morality tale thrown in for good measure as our modern day Mount Olympian equivalents.
But seriously, ThunderCats is by far the worse. When you look at great voice-artists such as David Kaye, Gary Chalk, David Hayter, Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, you realise what a talent the profession takes, but the horrible voices in ThunderCats stagger belief.

Except this line from Mumm-ra.

The stories never seem to be thought out ahead of time, limping weakly from one scene to another without and thought to structure or plot cohesion, the rules of physics seem to change by the minute and THERE ARE SO MANY FUCKING UNICORNS IN ONE POXY UNIVERSE.
At least the villain was kind of cool, despite the use of such clever aliases as "Pumm-Ra".

Anyway, I am not here just to debunk T'Cats believe it or not, I actually have a point.

A lot of people remember ThunderCats with a lot of reverence. You go into any college in this country or America, you are pretty much likely to find some dude wearing the Thundercat logo as a T-shirt, beanie, hoodie or tattoo. Why? Why would they do this?

Simply because the product has remained nostalgic, and not been rehashed time and time again. Wildstorm recently published 5 Thundercat miniseries, 4 of the 5 were great, with brilliant writing and art by some of the top names in the industry (J. Scott Campbell, Ed McGuiness!!!, Ed Benes - read 'em and weep Marvel). DC told 5 short concise stories with a lot of reverence to the TV show, which actually progressed the characters and Universe, and then got out. Brilliant strategy.
That is it, as far as the great ThunderCats revival.

Compare that to Transformers. 3 ongoing Dreamwave series which contradicted the TV show, Movie and US and UK comic books , 4 or 5 miniseries, all of which got cancelled mid-story with no resolution due to Dreamwave's bankruptcy. New, watered down T series such as Energon and Armada which are playing to the Pokemon, Mighty Morphin power rangers crowd, not to its own pre-existing audience. More toy lines than you can possible hope to purchase even after two re-mortgages and a bank loan thank you very much Takara / Hasbro. T-shirts, posters, lunchboxes, stickers. A new comic series released by IDW, all of which seem to have a choice of anything from 3- 8 covers ranging from £1.60 to £100. Re-issues of expensive toys, which then affect the market price on the older toys. Annuals. Reprints of old comics. A sticker album?!? Cardboard cut-outs, statues from 3 different companys. Busts. Jigsaws. A live action movie. Complete DVD box sets of obscure Japanese episodes with really bad dubs. The list goes on and on almost as much as I do.
The same thing happened with Masters of the Universe, and Battle of the Planets, with new action figures, comics or TV shows which failed to capture the attention of today's "fast-edit" audiences or yesterdays nostalgia junkies (which is a shame because the new "Masters" show kicked ass, and the comic was written by Kirkman).

Yet people still talk about how great ThunderCats is. Because there has been no market saturation. No new action figures, no film, no soundtrack CD, no old comic reprints, no statues, no busts, no playsets.

So, like the last minute morals added on at the end of episodes of ThunderCats, we have learnt two things from this:

1, Never trust nostalgia, feel free to leave some things in the past. Like pogs.

2, More importantly, learn the error of market saturation. This is something Marvel have been seriously lacking with lately (see, it all comes back to comics in the end).

But that's a subject for another day...

Snakes on a Plane

2006-03-24T14:57:00.000Z

http://www.tagworld.com/snakesonaplane

Are we a Slave to Format?

2006-03-24T14:00:00.000Z

Format. It's all important to a comic. Should it be a two parter, six-issue mini, self contained one-shot, ongoing, finite or original graphic novel? It's nice to see that the powers that be at Marvel and DC have remembered that format is a choice, because for a while there, everything was getting a little convoluted as people "deconstructed" the story for the sake of a six issue story-line that fitted nicely into a Tpb format, and therefore a bookstore.

Avoiding the obvious like Fell and Local, more and more comics are seeing the occasional self-contained story, or as they used to be known; "filler" issue. These days, filler issues do more than fill space before the next big crossover, in a lot of cases, they are being used to further characterisation and story-line in a calm before the storm kind of way, like the recent Teen Titans annual.
Interestingly, more and more comic one-shots have been released lately, almost harkening back to the days of fifth week events (back in the day, comics shipped on a tighter monthly schedule, and in months with 5 Wednesdays, we used to see DC or Marvel offer a fifth week event to make up for the lack of core Superman or Batman titles. More often than not these so-called events were anything but). Titles like the "I Heart Marvel" range and the "What If" line-up.
Strangely though, I know a lot of people whom wait for single issues to be collected in Tpb format, such as the much lamented "Demo" or the Ellis Apparet collection.
Titles such as Infinite Crisis or Identity Crisis may well be written with the Tpb format in mind eventually, but neither do so at the expense of the single issue. Both are written with the cliff-hanger format in mind and offer a satisfying read in one issue, but as something that fits into a bigger picture. Lets face it, would the shock end to American Virgin have been half as good if there were another 5 issues ready to read straight away? Sometimes, the necessary 4 week wait between titles gives you time to think "Fucking hell, I wonder what's going to happen in the next issue?".

Sometimes though, that four week wait can generate into "What happened in the last issue, my god, it's too insipid to remember. I'm sure Wolverine said he was the best he is and what he did, but who was he speaking to, and why?". Especially, I find, when dealing with marvel miniseries. A lot of the time, they don't tie directly into any of the ongoing series, and in the case of something like "X-Men Phoenix Endsong", you really are better off waiting for the Tpb. . Even a title as good as Runaways reads better in six issue chunks than it does as single issues, and my theory on that is this: When you see Batman on a page you have a certain notion of how the character is going to act, but in a layered book like Runaways, the characters grow and evolve issue by issue, mainly because the characters are characters and not characterisations, because they are not as important as Icons like Superman, they free the writer more, enabling him to take more chances as the characters find their own voices. In a comic like this, the choices affect the narrative and the narrative affects the choices, the status quo is a lot more fragile and therefore is harder to access, so reading in complete chunks of issues helps keep you in pace with the story.
Of course, that's not to say that Runaways is better than Batman or vice-versa, they are just juxtapositions of the super-hero anatomy.
Recent Ellis comics, such as Desolation Jones, really haven't lent themselves well to the single issue format. The series is great, but out of all his work I have read (which is nearly everything), this series lends itself to the Tpb format more than any.

Nextwave is an interesting one, seeming to deal in two issue story-arcs. I had a good friend who irrationally hated two-parters in comics, but for the most part I think they are worthwhile. Especially when you are dealing with essentially fun, irreverent, throwaway story-lines such as in Nextwave or the two-part Ultimate Spider-man story "Jump the Shark" - a story in which Spider-man and Wolverine swapped bodies for a day, it may sound kooky, but it didn't take 6 issues to tell, was a hell of a lot of fun, and no-one died for an entire story, which is a Bendis first.

Of course, the most popular format in comics is, has always been, but might not always be, the soap-opera.
Whether its a newer title like Walking Dead or an older title like Spider-man of the Fantastic Four, they are undoubtedly the soap-opera format. Same core week-in, week-out, familiar surroundings (Metropolis, Gotham, New York, Rovers Return), revolving supporting characters (Aztek in JLA, Betty Brant in Spidey) a continual narrative dating back forty years for Marvel, 20 years for DC (using the original Crisis as a restart point), featuring multiple story-threads.
There was a saying a group of friends and I had about X-Men, they never finish a story without starting a new one. The sure-fire mark of a soap-opera. But as more and more people come into the Tpb format looking for a quick hit, will this trend continue, or will it fizzle out to be replaced by complete reads such as Preacher or V for Vendetta?

The anthology series has seen more success lately, like the award winning "Flight" from Image Comics, which has sold far more in bookstores than it has in comic stores, or the "Rising Stars of Manga" range from Tokyopop. The problem with anthologies has always been the sheer disparity in the quality of the work, this is the reason why titles like negative Burn weren't as successful as they deserved to be, for every Bendis or Jenkins script, you had some real crap.

An interesting, and much more recent format has arisen: the "complete". As more and more people have gone capitalist completist crazy with series box-sets on DVD, the same thing has started to happen with comics.
The Complete Bone has reportable sold over 50,000 copies, with all fifty-five issues in one volume for the bargain price of £27 (pictured to the right, versus the original Tpb collection). Bone - the little indie-press book that could - has sold nearly a million Tpb copies in total with its various printings including its full-color Schoolastics printings. What Spider-Man Tpb can claim to have sold that many? Maybe Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1. Do you think the Alias Omnibus will shift these numbers at £45 for 29 issues?
And who can forget the massive "Complete Calvin and Hobbes", an odyssey in comic panel storytelling for £85, every C+H strip ever.

As with most things in the comic industry, there is no perfect answer. In a lot of cases, story dictates format, but with a few products the format has come first and the story comes later. The important thing though is the choice, and the fact that there are all these different formats to play with, and even more that no-one is using: the widescreen format, the vertical format, not to mention the every growing in popularity mini-comic.
Format is a tool, not the end product, and like all tools for creativity, they need to be played with. I like to think there is a new format out there waiting to be discovered that no-one has even thought of yet, which may even revolutionise comic-books. If there is, the depressing thing is: if people couldn't bag, board it and file it away with the rest of their collection, would anyone even care?

Remember, Remember the 17th of March.

2006-03-19T23:59:00.000Z

Not wanting to upset people too much, the distributors of the "V for Vendetta" movie rescheduled the release date from the relevant 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes gunpowder and treason plot, to March the 17th, which is about as relevant to anything as a wasp passing wind.
The only way any relevance can be drawn to this film, is on this day in history 2003, Bush Jr. gave Saddam Hussain a 48 hour ultimatum: "leave Iraq, or be attacked", which people might look back on in the future as the beginning of totaliterian opression in the "free" world (in a capitalist society, is anything free?).
But before we get too pretentious, let's review a comic book movie shall we?

Lot's of things have already been said about this movie. It's spiritual father Alan Moore divorced himself from the project, leaving it to grow up to be the little bastard child it is. Fortunately, the metaphorical apple did not fall far from the tree.
The movie is a great comic-book adaptation, because that's all its trying to be. No-one is trying to replace or rewrite the original, that is still perfectly fine sat on its shelf with both author's names displayed prominently on its spine, thank you very much, so we are not going to dissect the inherant differences between the two too much, as most changes are made with the genre swap and fresh audience in mind.

V tries to find a middle ground between political cautionary tale and Wachowski visual feast. The director James McTeigue was an excellent refresher for the tired Wachowski Bros., who avoided "pulling a Lucas" by trying to do both screenplay and directing.
The film is superbly stylish, with the look of V and all attached symbolism used enough to get the message across but never so much that it appears tacky.

The two main actors, Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman are on fire in this film, with Mr Weaving conveying more emotion and expression with a head tilt than most actor's can with their entire array of facial nuances. Hugo Weaving was a 13th hour replacement for the original actor, who is too unconsequential for me too even bother to IMDB, but you'd think Hugo was born to play the role, sans the pomp and granduer most actors would have bought. And, of course, he keeps the fucking mask on.
As one journalist wrote: "Natalie Portman comes dangerously close to acting", which is a lovely back-handed compliment fully expected from the smart-ass critics of the world. Natalie Portman's acting has never been in question, it's her choice in movies I find dubious, with Mars attacks and Star Wars undoing the head-start she got over most Hollywood wannabes from her fine performance in "Leon". As Evey Hammond, Ms. Portman pulled out, in my opinion, the performance of her career.
John Hurt requires a mention here as well, as I am sure he will be overlooked by most people as he is not exactly marketable Hollywood fare these days. A role reversal here as he changes from his victimised protagonist lead in 1984, to the patriachal antagoniser of the piece. Freedom is being able to say 2+2=V.

As mentioned above, the plot differs here and there between the souce material, but never to the detriment of the story. Yes, they whole knife-trail special effect is a little in-your-face, but the entire "V cuts loose, slicey stabby" scene is there for the people in the cinema sat behind you, who utter a bewildered "What?" as response to the verbal alliterations of V. However, the film is set in London which puts it one up on Constantine, and key scenes such as the interogation of Evey are wholesale inclusive, a scene which for many people, will make or break the flick.

The one major complaint I would have: the film was far too well-lit for my liking, the grim and gritty street level filth prevailant in most early Vertigo titles and depicted so well by David Lloyd to showcase Thatcher-era "used London", replaced with an almost Communist starkness.
But that's it for complaints. V for Vendetta is one of my favourite comic-books, and it makes me happy to say its also one of my favourite movies of all time as well. This is a movie made for movie fans, but certainly not at the detriment of comic-book fans.

1 Year and 100 Posts Later...

2006-03-17T10:54:00.000Z

...and thing's remain largely the same.

March the 8th marked the one year anniversary of this site, which is somewhat of a milestone I guess as most blogs tend to go inactive after about two months as most people realise they didn't have as much to say as they thought they did . Personally, I have always found the best blog's to be something-centric, like this site talks about comics, FALISV talks (somewhat sporadicaly) about video games, Matt Boyce's blog revolves around his art, Tagrope about wrestling etc...
I suppose an even bigger milestone is 100 posts, that averages out at just under two a week, but I also deleted 2 or 3 which I didn't like after posting, these include the famous "Bob Geldof please fuck off" post and the famed "Valentines Day WPO shooting", both funny, but didn't serve any purpose or fit into the tone of the website. Just because I have a sick sense of humour, doesn't mean I have the right to drag you all down with me.
Speaking of which, I was in Sainsburys a few weeks ago...

So what has changed in the last year, well, our founding father and co-writer Sam Pay had left for greener pastures. Okay, maybe not greener, he was in London last I heard, and I am sure whatever he is doing he is putting his absolute all into because he is that kind of guy, whatever he turns his hand too, I am sure he will suceed.

What else? Have I had anything published? No. Have I written much? Yeah, got some great stuff down on hard-drive, not quantity but I like to think quality, I just need time to develop these ideas. I have taken a break from writing to read a shed-load of theory books and study the structure of writing more, I am currently annotating "Story" and will go onto "hero with a thousand Faces" next, which is all about cultural ideology and shared consciousness.
The shop is doing well, as is I think the entire comic industry. Every year both seem to do slightly better, with some absolutely cracking reads being released last year. And with the advent of Superman and X-Men 3 movies, things can only get better (note to self, never, ever quote D:REAM again).

So I guess I better write something of interest otherwise the 100th post will be about absolutely nothing.

Cool as fuck, this means I have uploaded the entire story and the cover to the much-lamented missing issue of "Hellblazer", print it out, distribute it for free, remind people what Constantine can be when he gets the chance. This issue got banned becasue they (DC / Warner Bros.) didn't want it to piss people off, thing is,
most thing's worth saying usually do.
I know I whinge about Hellblazer being broken, and I probably will until Ellis goes back to it.

Speaking of free-speach, the "V for Vendetta" movie launchs today, I will check it out tonight and let you all know what its like (in my humble opinion) as soon as possible. Just remember, despite what they say in the film, it's set in Thatchers Britain.

just a quick note to apologise for my spelling in todays entry, I am having contact lense problems and can barely see out of my left eye so it hurts to look at the screen, I have my head down and I am just typing. Let the fates fall where they may.

DMZ

DMZ is fucking excellent, I didn't want to read it issue by issue, so I waited until I had the first 5 issues so I could read a whole chunk at once. As usual, Brian Wood has me hooked with a great concept and lots of off-beat ideas, lots of fun and as with a lot of media products these days, it is very much anti-bush regime but without saying it, kind of like the Ultimates series from Marvel.
I am not completely sold on the artist, although there is a great level of detail in the art and some amazing grafity ideas (most of which I would hazard a guess as saying were Wood's idea), he often fails to draw your eye to the key part of the panel and I am left with an in-distinct idea of what the lead character looks like.

DC Comics

This really needs an entire post sometime next week, but DC continue to entertain me week in and week out, being a true Marvelite, I never thought I would be behind DC like I am now.
The internet "fans" piss and moan about DC and johns, but they so wanted this massive "Infinite Crisis" crossover, I think they just like having something to moan about. Cunts.

Ultimate Avengers

Yeah, pretty good movie all in all. It's a ronseal movie because it pretty much does what it say's it will on the can: Ultimate Avengers. Not quite "The Ultimates", but not just "The Avengers". It follows the plot of the first Ultimates series fairly closely, combining the Skrull story with that of the Hulk rampage, but don't expect to see Hulk eat anyone, try to kill Freddie Prince Jr. or fuck Betty Ross. worse than that, they've gotten rid of Thor's beard!!! Bastards.
The extras are pretty good, you can select an option so that fun facts pop up on the screen, such as "in the comic book, this sceen led to actual domestic violence", fun for all the family.
All in all though, lots of fun and worth checking out, especially with a sequal on the way.

More blog later in the week.

Bristol International Comics Expo

2006-03-10T14:24:00.000Z

THE MAJOR COMIC EVENT IN THE UK!
13th - 14th MAY 2006
AT THE BRITISH EMPIRE &
COMMONWEALTH EXHIBITION HALL
AND THE RAMADA PLAZA HOTEL BRISTOL

Should be good fun this one, I will be up there the entire weekend, Friday - Sunday. I'm sure I will probably be seen hanging around the Mamtor area, and generally mingling with the creators and dealers.
Originally I wanted to actually hire a stall up there, spread the word about Comic Connections and maybe sell a few comics, but as far as things involving Glyn making a decision go, it looks like it won't be happening.

CLICK HERE TO EXLORE REASONS TO GO

There will be a plethora of Comic creators there, as well as more back issue comics than you can shake a pointy stick at (not that you can't find most of what you are looking for in store mind you :).
You have lots of great creators attending such as Andi Watson, ex-Marvel EIC Roy Thomas and loads more. But most impressive is DC Golden-boy: Geoff Johns.

UK Web and Mini-Comics Thing

2006-03-10T11:42:00.000Z

http://www.ukwebcomixthing.co.uk/

If you are in London this weekend, go to the UK web and mini-comics thing, all the details are on the poster above.
I am unable to go, so if you can, do so. Make sure to say hello to Matt Boyce whilst you are there, he will be signing copies of his debut book "Life is Humiliation" and pimipng Mamtor's "Event Horizon" vol 1 and 2.

Nu-Vertigo

2006-03-06T01:47:00.000Z

DMZ, Exterminators, Testament and Loveless all have one thing in common, they are all new Vertigo number ones, each of which are getting attention from a variety of sources.
Indeed, when you look at the past history of the Vertigo line, Alan Moores Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, Ennis and Dillons Preacher, Neil Gaimans Sandman and the reprint of V for Vendetta, you look at one of the most prolific comic lines of all time with some Triple-A creators, and recent additions Fables and Y The Last Man certainly havn't come as a dissapointment to anyone, or harmed people like Brian K Vaughan's career or Eisner winning chances. Anyone hoping to launch a new series for Vertigo is facing some stiff competetion and scrutiny.

Get ready to add some new names to the Vertigo Hall of Fame, courtesy of American Virgin. A book which in my opinion - if it continues this strongly throughout - is deserving of an Eisner award.
Created by writer Steven T Seagle (Its a Bird) and indie-sensation Becky Cloonan (Demo), with covers by fan favourite Frank Quitely, the first issue of American Virgin - released this Wednesday coming - pulls no punches, with excellent characters and dialogue straight away, which really help set the scene and bring you into the world in a meagre 22 pages.
This book charts the life of Adam Chamberlain, 21 year old Virgin and spokes-person for Virginity Pledge Cards, trying to get young American's to save themselves by saving themselves. Riding dangerously close to stardom and with corrupt and corrupting family members at all sides, all Adam want's to do is keep himself pure until his girlfriend returns from Aid Working in Africa, upon whence they will be married. But Adam is about to learn that what we want and what we get really are two different things.

Look, I know a lot of people are going to be watiing for the trade on this and thats fine - especially with Vertigo titles, but if we don't support the single issues we might never get a trade release (Outlaw Nation anybody?). I implore you to check this series out, and maybe, just maybe Steven T Seagle will get the Eisner award he so-deserved for "It's a Bird".

Who is Brian Wood?

2006-03-01T22:25:00.000Z

According to Google Image search, all these lovely lovely people, none of whom look at all like rapists.

Anyway, this was going to be a column about Brian Wood, but in my medicinally induced headfuck state, I forgot that Wizard had recently done this (just with less potential rapists). So, to reiterate quickly, if you are going to read any Brian Wood, make sure you read:

Pounded.
Demo.
Channel Zero / CZ Jennie One
Local.
DMZ.

And if you own "Fight for Tomorrow" by Brian Wood, send it to me care of Comic Connections, 4a Parsons Street, Banbury, Oxon. If you do I will send you a tube of Smarties, with all the blue ones taken out, like when you were a kid and they didn't make blue ones and you couldn't get M+M's in the UK yet and the concept of a blue Smartie was like, out there.

Bird Flu, Walking Stick, Red Bull. Kick = Splode.

2006-03-01T14:41:00.000Z

Fuck, I feel like crap.

This is Sid being ill Day #9. It doesn't get better, it gets worse. Still, to celebrate hitting ill double digits, I actually have an NHS GP appointment tomorrow (and who said the system was failing?!?).

However, never being one to let a bad situation get me down too much, I have used this time off work as an excuse to catch up on my reading and viewing somewhat.

The biggest achievement is finally reading the original Crisis. Yep, that's right:

Crisis on Infinite Earths Absolute Edition.

I first tried to read this book about 7 or 8 years ago, when lot's of people heralded it as a classic but couldn't tell me why. Sure it was a big crossover and it streamlined continuity, but now that continuity had been streamlined why would I want to go back and read a book with 700 characters who were about to become obsolete? Surely I was better of with Brynes "Man of Steel" and Millers "Batman: Year One"? Surely the mainly prose History of the DCU would suffice if I craved the information?
Fast-forward to todays comic book marketplace where DC is leading the way in superhero fiction (as opposed to what exactly?), where the majority of the last three years worth of stories - although self-contained - have all been building to the current, and most excellent, Infinte Crisis.
If you really want to get the most out of Infinite Crisis, it really does help to go back and read the original Crisis. And if you want to get the best out of the original Crisis, it really does help to read the current Crisis. The two work so well off of each other, for instance: If I had just read the original Crisis, I wouldn't have a clue who Pyscho Pirate is or what he is doing there. If I just read the current storyline (see the upcoming Powergirl Tpb), I get a hint that Pyscho Pirate ties into something bigger than this but I don't know why. But when you read both, even in the wrong order (and I read Crisis inbetween issues 4 and 5 of Infinite Crisis, you can't get much more arse about face than that), it really helps to bring the story arcs together.
And with the excellent back up material (a bit like the special features on a 2 Disc DVD set), this Absolute Edition looks heavily behind the scenes into the making of Crisis. An excellent purchase.

Scott Pilgrim

I have heard nothing but good things about this book all over the internet, and I have always enjoyed offerings from Oni Press, but it took Stephen Holland from Page 45 telling me in what quantities he sold the book (a lot) to make me actually move it higher up my to-read pile.
I can certainly see the appeal here, it is a good fun book, attractively put together in an easy to transport, fits in the pocket format not all to disimilar from most Manga digests. The page count is high for what is a £8 book, you definately feel like you are getting a lot of story for your money (the whole "bang in relation to buck" theorum).
The book starts out simple enough, with Scott Pilgrim as your average everyday 23 year old prot*. All he wants to do is hang out with his mates, play his guitar and date his high-school girlfriend. Everything is going well until a girl called Ramona skates into his life. The usual trials and tribulations occur until towards the end of the book, when her evil ex-boyfriend shows up and threatens to fight Scott, but this isn't a bottle of Newcastle Brown over the head type fight, this is Space Channel 5 meets Parappa the Rapper, with the odd Street Fighter 2 special move thrown in for good measure and an impressive 64 hit combo.
The future of the series is then laid out for us, if Scott wants to continue dating Ramona, he will have to over time, fight all seven of her evil ex-boyfriends.
If you're over thirty-five, you might be hard pushed to understand some of the subtler references which are deeply mired in pop-culture, but even then you should still get a kick out of this book. A whole lot of fun for the MP3 generation from creator Bryan Lee O'Malley.

*prot = protagonist

Complete Calvin and Hobbes

The most impressive thing for me isn't the price (£85 for every C+H ever), the weight of the item (bloody heavy) or even the contents (see above), but reading the discourse at the front by creator Bill Watterson explaining how he almost walked away from Calvin and Hobbes just as it was starting to get popular because he didn't want to cheapen the strip by licensing the characters to plush toys and underpants. Thats a level of integrity practically unheard of by most creators, especially with a character as potentially marketable as Hobbes. The other interesting thing is hearing about his reasons for quiting the strip after only ten years; so as not to water down the end product. A level of reasoning that one wishes the Wachowski Bros., George Lucas, Chris Claremont and The Simpsns crew had thought about.
I know a lot of people don't see the association with comic-strips and comic-books, but as far as I am concerned they are all as valid as each other. I think Asterix, Tin-Tin, Garfield, Dilbert, Blankets, Soulwind, Superman and Spider-man all deserve to be represented, and respected as strongly as each other.

Battle Hymn

From Image Comics, a re-invention of the Marvel Invaders series, but with bitter real-world politics and relationships. The superhero team are drawn together and we see them go on one mission which is a failure before the group start to fall apart. Great characterisation carry this somewhat substandard retelling through to its dark ending.
This book is worth every penny just to see Proud American beat the shit out of the Defender of Liberty. All in all its very good fun, but it doesn't really do asnything you havn't seen done before, an average story with some good moments.

That's enough from me for now, I am forgetting how to type and need medicine.

Crazy Comic Covers #4

2006-02-25T09:37:00.000Z

Oh look, another kooky Superman cover.

Internet Comic Sees Print as Holdable Comic

2006-02-23T21:20:00.000Z

One of my favourite online comics ever (no, not Teenboat) has finally seen printing press', shop shelves and hopefully, your book shelf.

Yes, the Eisner Award Winning "Mom's Cancer" by Brian Fies, which started life out as a somewhat cathartic internet comic has been printed by Abrams Image Press.
The comic, which once again proves the versatility of the comic book medium and it's viability as a source of important literary material, is a graphic novel showing one family's true life struggle against metastatic lung cancer.

This is truly one of my favourite online comics, and breaks the mold as most online comics to print success stories are comical strip series such as "PVP" or "Penny Arcade". Whilst this novel should be available in all good comic stores, (priced £8 / $13), it probably won't be despite the fact it is available from their comic distributor.
Still, the good news is this book will be available from book stores everywhere in the world, and they tend to have a greater readership and catchment audience than your average comic-shop, so hopefully this book will far outsell the pithy 30,000 copies most comics sell on a monthly basis.

Of course, my shop Comic Connections will keep the book in stock for the remainder of its print run. But if you can't get to us, won't use our mail-order service or plain hate myself and Glyn, do yourself a favour and grab a copy from Amazon.

Thoughts and Homework

2006-02-18T15:13:00.000Z

Although I have not been posting much the last week, rest assurred my head is absolutely swimming in comic theory and supposition at the moment. Too much in fact, my head is moving faster than the ideas can be written. I would imagine sometime next week we will see a series of column entrys, but for me, the rest of the weekend is taken.
My weekend is full. Tonight I am trying to squeeze the Ultimate Avengers movie in before heading out to Oxford, for the awesome "Mighty Boosh" live. Tomorrow is wrestling day, with the biggest BAWA show to date planned with me taking part in 3 of the 6 matchs. If I get through all that in one piece I am off to Nottingham to visit the excellent Page 45 (the most important, pioneering comic shop in the country) as a precursor to seeing the Darkness live.
Yeah, I know: Darkness are hardly my idea of a great band either, but my best mate loves them and if you can't support a mate what can you do, besides, the posse going pretty much guarantee's a bloody good laugh.

But comics are going great at the minute, the May Previews releases are all up now at www.comicbookresources.com, and except for the usual run of the mill Marvel / DC stuff, we have the forthcoming "Civil War" crossover, a brainchild of Mark Millar, not to mention the all important 52 from DC Comics.
For those of you not familiar with 52, stay tuned. I have been meaning to post an essay about why DC kick ass at the moment for the last few weeks which will showcase 52 in all its glory.

If any of you out there in comic reading land have a PS2 in your house, do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of "Shadow of the Collossus", its an amazing game visually and a delight to play. I would mention its by the people who made "Ico", but most people ignored that upon release. Still, Ico has been re-released as a budget title (£20) to conincide with the release of Collossus, which is way cheaper than the £70 the original goes for on eBay.

And starting this week, I am setting you all homework. Read (or re-read) "V for Vendetta", I will open a post in two weeks time (the 3rd of March to be precise) for people to discuss their thoughts and feelings on the book and forthcoming film.
Of course, I will probably end up deleting the post after peoples lack of comments, but its worth a try.
So what's your incentive to read "V for Vendetta"? Howsabout a money-back guarantee? Yeah, you heard me. If you buy V for Vendetta in the next 2 weeks from Comic Connections, Banbury any unsatisfied customers can return the book for a full refund, providing the book has not been damaged in any way.

And to conclude, I am rapidly heading towards 100 posts on this website, which is quite a milestone, as most people cannot rack up 12 posts on their blogs without running out of things to say or posting a picture of their cat.

Free Comic Book Day is 87 days away!

2006-02-10T11:47:00.000Z

--------------------
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2006 IS SATURDAY, MAY 6th!
--------------------

For the fifth consecutive year, comic shops worldwide are joining with
publishers to promote the comic medium and stores everywhere by giving
away FREE COMICS!

This annual event gives you the perfect opportunity to sample the worlds
of wonder available at your local comic book store. From super-heroes to
slice-of-life to action/adventure and beyond, Free Comic Book Day has a
comic book for everyone!

***** FREE? WHAT COMIC BOOKS ARE FREE?

There is a vast array of great comic books this year--something for all
tastes and ages! Visit our website at www.FreeComicBookDay.com to see the
complete list of free books offered on May 6th. Make sure that you
bookmark the website and check it regularly. In the coming weeks, we’ll
keep you updated on who is promoting Free Comic Book Day and how.

***** SO WHERE DO I GET THESE FREE COMIC BOOKS?

COMIC CONNECTIONS
4a PARSONS STREET
BANBURY
OXON
01295 268989
Comicconnections@aol.com

--------------------
SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!
--------------------

Show your enthusiasm for Free Comic Book Day with baseball caps, polo
shirts, t-shirts, baby doll T-shirts, wristbands, and Free Comic Book Day
postage stamps! Order at your favorite comics shop!

Want to link to us on your own website? Click on
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/links.asp to find nifty Free Comic Book
Day logos.

There are lots of ways to become a Free Comic Book Day evangelist. You can
mention Free Comic Book Day in your e-mail signature. Feature the FCBD
logo at the bottom of eBay auctions. Give the www.FreeComicBookDay.com
address to sites looking for cool links.

Additionally, feel free to download the Free Comic Book Day mini-poster
from our site at http://www.freecomicbookday.com/download/FCBDposter.pdf.

Print it out and hang it on grocery store bulletin boards, college
campuses, and anywhere else you see fit. Tell your friends. Tell your
family. Tell your loved ones. Tell your only-know-by-a-first-name
acquaintances.

--------------------
Remember: Saturday, May 6th is Free Comic Book Day!
--------------------

Please check out the Free Comic Book Day website regularly for updated
information at http://www.FreeComicBookDay.com and if you have any
questions please feel free to contact info@freecomicbookday.com.

Which Superhero Are You?

2006-02-07T20:36:00.000Z

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern		80%
Iron Man		70%
The Flash		70%
Spider-Man		65%
Catwoman		60%
Wonder Woman		55%
Supergirl		55%
Robin		50%
Hulk		50%
Batman		45%
Superman		40%

Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

But I hate Hal Jordan??? Classic self-loathing, I'm living in denial and suppressing rage.

Crazy Comic Covers #3

2006-02-07T16:57:00.000Z

Something about Superman and Trickster always makes me laugh.

A Harsh Contrast

2006-02-07T13:50:00.000Z

As part of my recent excessive reading, I have been going through a load of old school sci-fi novels. One that really stuck out in my mind was "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson, the interesting thing about the book is that it makes the list on most Top 100 horror novels, as well as the Top 100 Sci-fi novels.
It's a very cleverly thought out look at the Vampire mythos, taking a scientific approach to the blood disease that causes vampirism. As well as that, its a very visual novel with lot's of nice imagery which should translate well to film, and has some interesting social commentary laced into it.

So what went wrong with the 1970's movie adaptation "The Omega Man"?

Well, for a start it would have helped if they have used the source material in the film. The opening credits hint towards disaster, citing the film as being adapted from "A novel by Richard Matheson" not, "The Novel" or "The Novel: I am Legend by...", nope, just "a novel".
And then of course there is the second problem...Charlton Heston.
Regardless of whether or not you think the man can act, the man is an arse. he play's Charlton heston in everything I have ever seen and I place him next to Marlon "Cadaver" Brando in my list of over-rated actors. (And while we're on the subject, who want's to start a deadpool on Charlton Heston? C'mon, surely he has to go this year).

So with CH in the lead role, we forego the pistol for survival purposes and replace it with a semi-automatic machine gun (I don't know what type, nor do I care), which he is quick to use at the drop of the hat, for he is after all a full, card carrying member and (president?) spokesperson for the NRA.
They also forget a few more points.
Like Vampires.
And the fact that he is the last man alive (apparently this Greek alhabet goes up to P).
And a plot.
And the fact that the love interest isn't suppose to be a gun-weilding Blaxploitation cast-off.
The movie reaches the forty minute mark and manages to reach the end of the novel whilst deftly avoiding all the points that made the novel so good, like issolation, mans struggles to survive against insurmountable odds - you know what they say about the little things.

So the next 50 minutes is a free-for-all, unexplored territory, the undiscovered country, the final frontier, a blank slate, anything can happen.
Yet nothing does, the movie plods on at its lacklustre pace until it's seemingly made up on the fly ending, which is ultimately meaningless because he isn't the last person alive and it leaves you with the feeling that, somehow, someway, mankind will perservere and reclaim the day.

Great.

So what does all this have to do with you, the comic reader?

V for Vendetta is but a couple of months away, and to be fair, it could go either way. We have been spoiled of late with the amount of reverence shown to comic book adaptations: Sin City; Batman Begins; Spider-man and X-Men. But this was not always the case: Batman and Robin; Nick Fury; the original Fantastic Four.
Before we remember, remember the fifth of November, we better hope they remember, remember the source material.

-Sid Beckett

Also, I think adaptation is a shit word. Adaption is a much better word, and will be used hereforth. Say it a few times, Comic book adaption - sounds better doesn't it?
Newspeak here we come.

SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER More whinging

2006-02-04T15:05:00.000Z

The Other Part 9: Amazing Spider-Man #527

Well, there's less adverts in these issues, so that's a start.

The first half of this issue recaps the last issue and then goes into a well-executed, but ultimately superfluous dream sequence, where absolutely nothing is seen or realised that hasn't been said or done before. It gets better though, with a very JMS diatribe: "We take that which is inside...and move it outside...and then it is safe", meaning that Peter dressed himself up as Spider-man, because that way he can undress the Spider to be Peter, instead of fully embracing his Spider powers. Got that? No? Oh.

It does make sense if you reread it, it's just a little contrived.

So to summarise, the Spider has refused to die where the Man accepted death, therefore Spider-man is reborn with an even more dominant spider aspect. A slight scientific explanation is given as to the rebirth of the spider, apparently once in a spiders life cycle they can shed their skin and be figuratively reborn, but obviously there is a very mystical quality to the whole totemistic theme to Spider-mans powers. Which is an interesting route to take with a character very much born of science in the nuclear age.

So yeah, Peter is reborn, and Tony and Cap reveal they thought he might be regenerating but didn't want to say anything in front of MJ or Aunt May in case they were wrong, which is great, because all the shit they've seen over the years you would have thought they could make the leap upon finding his withered corpse (the one from last issue which was drawn badly).
But what does the future hold for a man who may be more Spider now than man. keep reading.

The Other Part 10: Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-man #4

I love Mike Wieringo's artwork, check out his blog here for some awesome sketches.
It's a health check for the recently reborn. A veritable cornucopia of the brainiacs of the Marvel universe: Tony Stark, Reed Richards (does he ever change his clothes?, Wife Beater (Hank Pym), all we really need is hank Mccoy to complete the set. It's nice to see this, Spidey has always been a bit detached from the core of the MU and since joining the New Avengers he has been able to make use of other peoples talents.

We take a break from the Spider-man The Other story-arc to come back to an old Paul Jenkins plot-thread, Eugene "Flash" Thompson. Apparently out of his dribbling vegetative state and applying for a job at his old high-school as Gym teacher, he seems undamaged from the coma until the last panel, where it appears he is pulling a "Memento", having no memories of Peter Parker since they were at high School together (so he's just glossing over the whole Vietnamese bride / hobgoblin debacle - we all should).
Back to Avengers tower, we see Peter's spider-sense is even more heightened as he instinctually overreacts to a friendly gesture from Tony Stark, before Peter and his wife go out for a night on the town (who would have thought they were Swingers?*).

Not a bad issue in all, we have a JJJ cameo, a handbag theft scuppered and then Peter's spider sense goes off big time and he fall's out of the air, coming to moments before impact, he realises there is something wrong at Avengers tower.
Avengers mansion is covered in webs, and after Spidey has investigated he finds that cannibal spiders have eaten his body (sounds like an emo band). Upon facing his feminine-esque arachnid-powered spare reanimated corpse (again, sounds like an emo band), the thing I was hoping wouldn't happen happened. He produces his stingers. His foe - hereafter known as The Other - runs off out of the mansion, hoping to fight again another day.

I hate the stingers.

The Other Part 11: Marvel Knights Spider-man #22

It's contrast time again. From the smooth, fluid grace of Wieringo's subtle pencils to the studio finished, computer enhanced balls imagery of Pat Lee. Oh well, let's get on with it.

Chase time, annoying villain, clichéd dialogue, and that's the first three pages. It seems the body has come back to life because Spidey has, with a very limited, primitive brain. A sparse explanation of the Stingers fobs them off as "In the future, spider's will have stingers, you are the future", it's all a bit self-perpetuating really, but on with the show.
Oh look, the Spiders have dissolved and gone down the drain, along with my interest in the issue.
You see, the thing that really pisses me off with this character is that Garth Ennis already did it in "Tangled web #1-3", and it wasn't good then, so why bother again? (Available in back issue if you want it?).

On with the issue. Ooh, Jarvis with a strop on (I said strop, not strap, this is the Avengers not the Ultimates remember), nothing happens for three or four pages and then it's revealed that Peter doesn't remember eating Morlun's head and MJ decides to let it go for a while (got to have the hanging plot thread).
In another interesting use of his extended contacts, Spidey goes to see one Doctor he hasn't seen yet. The Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange. He explains to Peter that "The Other" is a cosmic corrective response to the disturbance in the force that Pete made by coming back from the dead. And that his eye has grown back. See, 6 years of schooling wasn't wasted on Stevie.
We all know that Spider-man and Peter Parker are driven by guilt, so it seems only
fitting that he is feeling survivors guilt over coming back from the dead, but a good old chit chat with Aunt May pulls him out of his funk. In a way I miss the good ol' days where Peter and Aunt May would have exactly the save conversation, but without her knowing he is Spider-man, and she would still say exactly what he needed to hear.

And then we see another fucking cocoon.

The Other Part 12: Amazing Spider-Man #528

More test's with Tony Stark greet us on the first few pages, I suppose they wish they'd done all this with the symbiote way back in the day, so it's best to be safe, and Tony isn't completely convinced that it is Peter back from the dead.
After seeing an image of "The Spider" in a mirror, Spidey goes out webslinging to ponder, as he does. JMS throws in a few nice pages of comic relief, which is one of my favourite thing's about his writing on Spidey, he is good at balancing the character with comedy.

The comic really kicks after this, with a minor scale emergency for the super-hero which can really help showcase his new-found abilities, because apparently spider-man didn't have enough strength, speed and ability before.
A building has fallen down and Spidey ventures into the rubble to look for survivors, it is here that his first new power is made clear: his ability to see in the dark. I hate this power, it is utterly redundant. His spider-sense is more than sufficient to help Spidey through any situation, I remember an awesome Avengers annual in the '70's or '80's where Black Panther and Spidey are getting their respective asses handed to them, and then they take out the lights, what with Black Panthers heightened senses and the spider-sense, they work effortlessly in silent communion to beat the shit out of the foe that was troubling them mere moments before.
Still, his other newly acquired power is very cool. For those of you not in the know, Spidey now produces his webbing organically (no, not like Tesco organic cucumbers, he make's it himself), but with his new power he can now sense vibrations through the webs, like a spider can with trapped prey. so in a search attempt for an injured girl in a collapsed building say, he can fill the area with webs and then follow any vibrations to there source (although, who's to say that Spidey couldn't have done this before anyway, it all depends on how sensitive the respective writer makes his spider-sense).
Of course, Spidey finds the injured girl in question and escapes moments before the building collapses, happy ending...of sorts.

As "The Other" draws to a close, we then get an introspective monologue from Peter to MJ, explaining when he got his powers he never looked at them too closely for fear of finding something he didn't like "The child never asked and the man never returned to the question: what happens when you merge a man with a spider".
Of course, we then get a shot of Tony working on that new bloody costume.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So all in all, was "Spider-man: The Other" any good?
You know, some of it was inoffensive, but for the most part I could have lived without it. Some superfluous changes have been made to his powers, it's set the stage for a new costume and introduced a new villain who seems to offer nothing unique to Spider-mans excellent rogues gallery. But this is all from a crossover which got more press attention for its variant covers than it did its storyline.
Thankfully, I don't work for a magazine so I don't have to rate this story line. Read the descriptions of the issues, if you think it sounds good, it might do it for you. But for me; if the choice is "Evolve or Die", I'll pick the latter.

*So sorry.

The Missing Hellblazer

2006-02-02T16:13:00.000Z

Do you remember when Hellblazer used to be good? I do.

It was 1999, and we were all getting ready for the promising new millenium. Hellblazer was coasting along just fine with Warren Ellis as new ongoing writer, the book was set in England and selling reasonably well without any thoughts of Keanu Reeve's or American.

And then suddenly, Ellis was gone.
Then came the dark times, then came Azzarello.

60 issues later and Hellblazer has still yet to recover, admitadly the Mike Carey run wasn't as poor as the Azzarello, but it was no where near the heights of Ennis or Ellis.

So what prompted Ellis to leave?

The Columbine Shootings.

The story created for Hellblazer #141 I am about to show you. It was due for release just a few weeks after the Columbine Highschool Shootings but DC got cold feet (understandably so) and pulled it.

It is one of the single best issues of a comic I have ever read, it is a cautionary tale for all generations and could stand tall as one of the best pieces of modern literature the comic medium has ever produced, yet it has never been released.

CLICK HERE FOR "SHOOT"

Comedy Comic Panel #2

2006-02-01T15:03:00.000Z

Words? Where we're going we don't need words.

Metal Gear Solid Digital Comic

2006-02-01T12:39:00.000Z

Check it out here.

Devised and created by Kojima Productions, Metal Gear Solid Digital Comic is based on the existing IDW Metal Gear Solid comic book drawn by Ashely Wood, but has been digitally edited into a 3D medium and now features sound effects, animations and music to bring it to life. This innovative title uses the new medium to tell the full story of the first Metal Gear Solid adventure.

As viewers progress through the story, they can zoom in and out of the images using the analogue stick and scan specific points of interest. These scanned images are then stored in a library of 100s of similarly noteworthy elements, adding replay value to the story.

But will the format catch on? And will it sell more than the comic? Only time will tell.