Bible Max, no added sugar, the text for a new generation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/4266564.stm
I thought this was piss your pants funny, mixed with a little sadness.

Coming soon: The Old Man and the Pond by Ernie H'way, and Watchmen: 12 page edition (no appendix).

The Stuff I Buy

Every week for the next month I am going to post a full list of comics and stuff I buy.

Okay, bear in mind I work in a comic store, so its very hard not to get caught up and buy tons of stuff. I read roughly 70 comics a month, not including GN's. I consider it to be part of my job. Not just the big two, but everything which sounds good. (Ait/Planetlar, Oni, Top Shelf - whoever).

Yes, I know I buy obscene amounts, but I am in a position to buy at wholesale, and then swap back to the store if I don't like a series, so its a bit non-risk for me. All the following I buy for my personal collection, if I dump a series, I tend to get rid of all the issues I havn't enjoyed. Like Robin 101-120, which were for the most part, fucking shit.

JUL050194 BATGIRL #68 $2.50 - Not read for 6 issues, could be up for the chop.

JUL050192 BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #69 $2.50 - not read for 5 issues. Not that I don't like it, just havn't found the time.

JUL050220 BIRDS OF PREY #86 $2.50 - not read for nine issues, I do want to catch up though.

JUL050221 DAY OF VENGEANCE #6 (OF 6) $2.50 - great series, out of the four Countdown miniseries, this is the one I wasn't looking forward to, yet it is my second favourite behind OMAC Project.

JUL050227 GREEN LANTERN CORPS RECHARGE #1 (OF 6) $3.50 - Still not sure on this, I have not been a fan of Rann / Than war, but I do love Kyle Rayner (someone has too, he used to listen to NIN and Greenday years ago damnit)

JUL050299 HELLBLAZER #212 (MR) $2.75 - not read for ages, but when my girlfriend buys the tpbs I read them. Something about Hellblazer works better in chunks. Too far gone on the series to cancel though.

JUN050351 IDENTITY CRISIS HC DIRECT MARKET VERSION $24.99 - Because I am a sucker for a pretty package, and this way I can lend it out to my peeps, as I refuse to lend out single issues as they always come back damaged.

JUL050239 JSA CLASSIFIED #3 $2.50 - Still not sure about this, its well written but for some reason I keep expecting Power Girl to blow Supes (I think I have read Pro to often, especially with the plane crash scene in issue 2). Might as well wrap us this story.

JUL050196 ROBIN #142 $2.50 - Bill Willingham is great, Scott McDaniel is great, Tim Drake is great.

JUL050209 SUPERGIRL #2 $2.99 - I was nicely surpised by the first issue. I do try and avoid the Turner covers where possible though. See how it goes, it ties into the Superman family so I will keep it going.

JUL051654 GIRLS #5 (MR) $2.99 - The Luna Bros. kick ass, I hope they manage to keep their integrity as creators when they work for Marvel. This series hasn't been as good as Ultra though - to be honest.

JUL051870 BLACK PANTHER #8 $2.99 - Its hyped as being a big deal tie-in to X-Men so I thought I would check it out. If it sucks it sucks. The first four issues diodn't grab me and I canned the series, not because it sucked, but because I get SOOOO much stuff, I am very picky when it comes to picking new series.

JUN051979 CAPTAIN AMERICA #10 $2.99 - This series has been really good, but I am sick of House of M tie-ins.

JUL051874 DAREDEVIL FATHER #3 (OF 5) $2.99 - I hate the art, I think it is a joke. Methinks Joe Q has been reading DKR an awful lot. I am not a particularly big fan of the story so far, the idea that MM used to get beaten by his Dad sucks, I always liked the fact that his Dad did the best he could and told him to study and not be a worhtless bum like he was.

JUL051854 EXILES #70 $2.99 - not read it since issue 49. When the hell am I going to ctach up?

JUN052008 NEW AVENGERS #10 $2.50 - Lovely series, and one of the few books I get where I think the variants are a nice idea, showing the covers as old-school Sentry comics.
APR058336 NEW AVENGERS SAL BUSCEMA VARIANT #10 (PP #681) $2.50

JUL051898 RUNAWAYS #8 $2.99 - Waiting until I have a good chunk of this run before I read it like I did with series 1, it reads so much better that way.

JUL051939 SPIDER-MAN THE OTHER POSTER $5.99 - Looked a bit classy, I don't usually bother with posters.

JUL051909 SUPREME POWER HYPERION #1 (OF 5) (MR) $2.99 - JMS writes, I buy.

JUL051855 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #23 $2.50 - This has been surpisingly good.

JUN051987 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1 $3.99 - No idea, could go either way, but the other Annuals have all been good.

JUL051858 ULTIMATES 2 #8 $2.99 - I love this series, it is evrything I look for in a comic.

JUL051873 WOLVERINE #32 $2.50 - Fantastic issue, the best in Millars run by far, and deicated to Eisner too.
JUN058214 WOLVERINE BLACK & WHITE VARIANT #32 (PP #683) $2.50

MAY052439 LENORE #12 $2.95 - No longer ships to the UK, which is a real bummer, to be fair, its not been great since issue 8 (which was what? 3 Years ago), but I still check it out.

JUL053572 MALLRATS TP $14.95 - Eeh, might be worth a read, not really sure what it is mind you.

JUN053551 TRANSFORMERS BINALTECH & TF COLL COMP GD $55.99 - Because I am a bigger TF fan than comic fan. I wouldnt have gotten into comics without the Transformers Marvel UK series. And Binaltech toys are sooooooooooooo sweet.

Tom Spockley...when?

A CONTRACT WITH A COMIC GOD
This week, DC are running a Will Eisner sale. Anyone who knows a retailer who doesn't carry Eisner, this is your chance to tell them to. At the very least, check out A Contract with God, the first ever Graphic Novel.

CARTOON BOOKS VIDEO GAME

The Bone video game is out this week, check out Vitriol Gamer's blog, the link is also in the sidebar.

NEW COMICS

Decembers offerings from DC have been posted on CBR. Nothing new to jump out and grab me, but considering the quality of their current monthly stuff this is a good thing, as people can only buy so many comics a month and its Christmas. However, I heard great things about this book and never got around to reading it as monthlies:

VIMANARAMA TP
Written by Grant Morrison
Art and new cover by Philip Bond
From the fertile mind and nimble fingers of writer Grant Morrison and artist Philip Bond comes the latest in multiculturalist spectacle! Color, song and cosmic violence collide in VIMANARAMA, collecting the 3-issue Vertigo miniseries that fuses East and West together into a transcendental delight of romance and danger.
Feel the Earth tremble as 19-year-old grocer's son Ali and his beautiful arranged bride Sofia accidentally unleash an ancient race of unimaginable evil from beneath Bradford, England, then summon the equally powerful Prince Ben Rama and his Ultrahadeen to do battle against them. Shudder as Ben Rama reveals his love for Sofia, the reincarnation of his immortal soul mate, only to lose all his power at her hesitation. And thrill to the final battle between good and evil, played out over the ancient land of Atlantis together with the consummation of the ultimate end-of-the-world love story. All this and more awaits you in VIMANARAMA, the best of all worlds!

IS HE JOKING?

People are all talking about the sequal to Batman Begins: does anyone else think Joker should be played by Marilyn Manson. If he is serious about a future acting career then I think he would be perfect. I know people will say "he'll just play himself", but isn't that what Nicholson did?

TV SNOBBERY?

Saw this advert for Sky + today, just another reminder why I no longer watch TV.
I mean, really. Is TV that important to people's live's that Sky+ could revolutionise it?

NOT REALLY

In the last week I have watched series 4 of 24 and started Series 5 of Angel. 24 had an Indredible Hulk ending and Angel got turned into a puppet for an episode. DVDs rule, its like TV but not toss.

Radio killed the comic book star.

Or helped promote his book.

http://fanboyradio.libsyn.com/

Comic radio. Ooh, I am geeking out.

Thier guests have included Stan Lee, Joe Q, Bendis, Mahfood, Brubaker, Kevin Smith and a gazillion others.

Two very talented artists.

A few people have expressed interest in my comic work (not publishers or anything, just peeps), and while I have no finished product to show you - and reams of script would just be dull - I have shanghaied some artwork from two of my friends whose work I really admire.

The first one is by a guy called Matt Boyce, he has been studying artwork for years both foreign and domestic and is steadily cultivating his own style, a blend of mainstream/animation/indy/european/ashleytemplewoodsmith ( a style which I like to call proto-ART-prog...bwah hah hah).



Anyway, he is a great guy and lots of fun to work with as he has crazy assed ideas.

Mat Boyces blog: I am the Monkey God I will bite your eyes!











The second artist I really like is Stuart Cattell, I think he has all the skills it takes to make it in the mainstream comic world (Marvel and DC), except the time to draw and someone paying him to do so.
This is page 3 of a comic we created called Dates for Capes, about a Superhero dating agency, it follows our protagonist who fights crime whilst searching for a date. Its quirky, campy and doesn't take itself too seriously. This unlettered, uncoloured page highlights an oh-so-brief battle between our hero, and two villains called Loan Shark and City Hall. (I'm sure you can figure out which is which).

Stuart doesn't have any website, until he finishs drawing this issue. When he does (and not a minute before), I will get a website up and running showcasing the entire first issue of Dates For Capes, and his other artwork.

It's Blog, it's Blog, It's big - its heavy - its wood, its blog, blog, its better than bad its good.

Hey,

I've been on holiday, tremendously busy at the shop, not updated the blog for those reasons. No Glyn for 2 weeks. Rejoice. All you customers Glyn drove away - come back into the light, I will save you.

So, reading the always interesting Rich Johnstons Lying in the Gutters column and came across the following image.


Amazing, this image is going to be considered controversial when all it is is two women kissing. In other country's they have comics about full-on sexual relationships - both hetero and homo, in the US they are sure to get in a tiz-woz about 2 women kissing, they did it on Star Trek and it offended nuff-people.
But will it be banned?

This was:


The above is taken from the then best selling Gen 13 ongoing. Issue 5 to be exact. Gen 13 was the first comic I ever had on Standing Order all those years ago (and yes, I still miss it, especially those Ellis annuals - they were ace).

The powers that be at Image (then publisher of all things Wildstorm) felt the need to change the image so as not to offend the oft-sensitive American public. Looking at the issue now, I cannot see a Comicode approval stamp anywhere on the cover so it couldn't have been done to appease them.
Anyway, it was changed to this:

Oh, what a weird industry this is, anyway, it will be interesting to see if 10 years has made any difference to the acceptance of (shock horror!) gay imagery.
Probably not: Republicans will be offended, straight people will be threatened, gay people will think its a cheap sales tactic, and 15 year old boys will buy it.

Meanwhile, Strangers in Paradise will carry on doing clever intelligent stories about mixed / same gender relationships inside it's pages, but as its not all over the covers people won't mind.
After all, it's not like people who take offence at this type of thing think to check the content of anything. Just the packaging.

Maybe because the literacy rate is so low in the US, it's easier to just look at covers and shout your disgust at this affront to a god-fearing populace.

ULTIMATE LOEB

This is a transcript, opinions have not been changed to suit the mood, what follows is about as honest a response as you are likely to garner from me.

It concerns the new Ultimates 3 creative team of jeph Loeb and Joe Madueira.

Pete is my mate, JIN IS A PUSSY is me:

Pete (thats a Latin name you know!) says:
have you seen who the new Ultimates creative team is?

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
not yet, it (it being AOL) won't open cbr, hang on

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
oh christ

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
should have been ennis and dillon

Pete (thats a Latin name you know!) says:
ha ha, exactly!

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
thats going to be wank

Pete (thats a Latin name you know!) says:
talk about going in a different direction!

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
anyway, isnt Loeb writing Ultimates at the minute anyway, just in the pages of Supes / Bats

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
oh for fucks sake

Pete (thats a Latin name you know!) says:
at least it will keep its sporadic shipping schedule

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
fucking hell

Pete (thats a Latin name you know!) says:
I really can't see how Mad's style will suit the book

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
have to wait and see, it will sell well

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
for a few months

JIN IS A PUSSY says:
hype being what it is

So what does everyone else think? Do you agree with me, or with Marvel. I could be wrong, this book could be great. Who knows

[Sam shamelessly adding 2 cents]

The general fury/confusion is being felt on the Millarworld board, but I think that there's an unhealthy tendency to overreact when creative teams switch like this.

Personally, I can't think of any writer or artist who came on a book intending to mimic or replicate the style of their predecessor who made a success of the book. People rave about Millar's contribution to comics, but his approach is pretty revolutionary - he changes shit around and makes things noticably different.

Loeb and Mad are going to make the book COMPLETELY different, without question. If The Ultimates as it stands is, in your opinion, the only direction that's valid, then absolutely, this is terrible, shocking, heart-rending news. But I think that people forget that what made books like JLA, The Authority and The Ultimates exciting was that they were nothing like what had come before. And It sounds like Ult. v3 is going to be... nothing like what came before.

Plus:

I love 2001. People tell me that the sequel, 2010, isn't as good. I've never watched the sequel. I still love the original.

Magic!



Yeah, like I said; this was purely my guttural reaction to hearing the enws, it was never planned out to be a blog, but in the end, I thought it was a different approach to it.

Hindsight being what it is, yeah, I realise the post looks fairly damning. I have not been a fan of Loeb since he left the core Superman books. His joint FF run was wank, his Marvel work has all seemed amazingly perfunctory (Spidey Blue, DD Yellow and Hulk Gray).
And I'm sorry, best selling DC ongoing or not, Superman / Batman has been for the most part incredibly lame. The first six issues were fun, issue 7 wore its heart on its sleeves and the latest arc is a shameless self-parody of almost Marilyn Manson proportions.

Joe MADS!, interesting one to talk about. I loved his X-Men when I was 14, and looking back I still like that work (Age of Apocalypse and all that), I think with Battle Chasers he shot himself in the foot and became his own worst enemy.

But all in all, lets wait and see, it could be great. It has an awful lot to live up to from the first two series, but I will definately buy it and hopefully; I will be proved wrong on my original sentiments.
Nothing makes me happier than being proved wrong in a situation like this.

Except maybe porn.
!

Place your bets.

Sam said:

Anyone willing to lay money on how the end of the Black Cat mini sells compared to the original 3 issues? Issue 2 at least hit around 100,000 copies.

10,000 for the reprint, 50,000 for the final issues.

Place your bets...

Sid says:

I reckon orders for the fourth issue will tally about 85,000, even though this series is astonishingly late, people have never stopped talking about it. Lets face it, Black cat has been in potential rape limbo for a few years now, people are going to want to see how it turns out and retailers will buy into the hype.

But I reckon retailers will get stuck with a fair few, like with DK2 #3.

Liefeld is Wrong, Erik Larsen is great and in other news...

Marvels Ultimate line

Has just reached the landmark 5 year anniversary, this is a major achievement for an "alternate-reality" Universe that many people condemned to an untimely demise. Many internet activists and comic experts predicted six months until the project failure:

Rob Liefeld – "I will tell you that for me this line holds very little interest. I was approached about doing some work on these titles but I resisted because of the fact that they were alternate continuity concepts.
"I believe that these titles are a great opportunity to expand Marvels awareness and I believe they will be met with a modicum of success. But for my time and effort, I enjoy the real deal."

I really can't believe Marvel would approach Mr. Liefeld for this project, after the bad press surrounding the "Heroes Reborn" debacle, but I could be wrong. Either way, doesn't look like Liefeld was right with this opinion. Which leads nicely into my next piece.

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

ERIK LARSEN RULES

I don't have the exact quote, but in the last few months Rob Liefeld (the very same) went on record as saying (something along the lines of): I hope Todd McFarlane wakes up and takes control of Image back from Erik Larsen, so something can be done with the failing company.
Wrong again bucko.

Sure, when McFarlane left Amazing Spider-man, Erik Larsen took over but never recieved quite as much accolade as Todd and his amazing balls. History repeated itself a few years later when Toddy quit Spider-man only to be superseded by Mr. Larsen. And when Image Central opened its doors, it was Todd's creation which became an overnight multi-million, multi-media franchise success, not Savage Dragon.

But when it comes to comic publishing, Larsen is the genius, look at some of the great stuff we've had from the Larsen era of Image:

Walking Dead
Invincible
Girls
Sea of Red
Mage Tpbs Back in Print
The Complete Hellshock Tpbs
Flight OGNs

And from TMP:
Spawn
Hellspawn
Curse of Spawn
Spawn WildCATS
Sam and Twitch (from the pages of Spawn)
Spawn The Undead
Spawn the Impaler

Erik Larsen is great, his columns on CBR are well worth cheking out.
Yet I have never been a fan of his art or writing, but publishing seems to be his true calling.

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

SPIDER-BABY?

Quoted by a Marvel employee / freelancer; I forget whom, on the subject of Spider-man about 5 years ago:
"He is currently homeless and unemployed. His baby daughter, that he believes was stillborn, was kidnapped and is in the hands of an unknown enemy. His supermodel wife is missing and is believed to have been killed in an airplane crash, but since her body was never found, you can bet your web she's alive somewhere.

Will they ever follow this storyline up, not just in the pages of Spider-girl? It grew out of the clone saga which many people read and enjoyed (myself included), a series that needs to be republished as a TPB of some description.
Its the stuff of legend, even the comic readers who never read the clone saga know of it, it really has become infamous in the pantheons of comicdom.

Now the last two or three times I have whinged about a GN or TPB being out of print, its been announced a few months later, so fingers crossed.

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

Death's Head Wins!

From Marvel.com: You, the users of Marvel.com, have overwhelmingly voted to give the cybernetic assasin a massive Marvel makeover. Look for the newest version of Death's Head in Amazing Fantasy #16, in stores in December!

Will they destroy this once classic Marvel UK character? Will Simon Furman pen the character again? Are they fast tracking the story for early release?

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

And finally...

Dogwitch wraps up very soon with #18, meaning the 3rd and final Tpb is available first quarter 2006.
I recomend this series to anyone who likes good stories, lovely artwork, cute women, quirky comedies like Army of Darkness, and definately to all the people who say comics are too inbred and samey.
I recently had the pleasure of talking to Dan Schaffer, he's a nice British chap who seems genuinely willing to help the small independant comic store. C'mon people, check out his stuff.
If your retailer doesn't stock it, then give them the following Diamond ordering codes:

DEC032630 DOGWITCH VOL 1 DIRECT TO VIDEO TP (MR) RT £9.99
JUL043117 DOGWITCH VOL 2 TWISTED TP (MR) RT £9.99

And be sure to check out Indigo Vertigo, his collaboration with Queen Adreena vocalist Katie-Jane Garside, coming soon from Image (nice one Larsen - see, its all connected).

PIMP MY ELLIS

Or a review of Jack Cross #1.

After years of obscure Wildstorm miniseries and "House-style" Marvel series, we get blessed with 3 new ongoing Warren Ellis series in just 4 months.
Jack Cross is the second of such series (the first being Wildstorms Desolation Jones, you know, the one with Hitlers homemade porn), drawn by Gary Erskine (The Filth, City of Silence).

Jack Cross is not a hero, he is a freelancer for the US government who knows how the (ironically named) intelligence agencies work - or fail to. He also seems to be trained in interrogation and can recognise when someone has been trained to resist, he notices the little things, the details.
Kind of a bad-ass Columbo, dressed to blend into a Reservoir Dog landscape, mixed in with a little bit of Crying Freeman.

As with most Ellis books, the joy is in the reading, and this series isn't as easily summarised as Transmetropolitan or Authority. This book has the potential to subtlely build towards something great, like Planetary.
Or it could just be loud mouth and obnoxious, its too early to tell. All I know is I will be there following it.

Jack Cross #1 goes on sale next Wednesday in the US, and the day after in the UK, and is priced $2.50 (around £2).