Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Since Tony asked, here’s a look at the newer books I’m actually digging these days. It may be a sign of the end times, but I’m actually finding more books that I really like in recent months than I have in the past decade, and many of them are the rebooted DC titles. Given the amount of curmudgeonly bitching I’ve done in the past regarding the quality of the books I had been finding, I figure it’s only fair I give credit where credit’s due when I’m actually feeling enthusiastic about many of the titles I’m finding on the shelves of the comic store again.
Starting with the titles from the DC reboot, since we discussed them at length before they were ever released but only Tony has weighed in with reviews of three series’ so far: I picked up somewhere around twenty of the first issues, and only found a couple of them to be duds. My favorites among them:
OMAC: a big, loud, bombastic, fun comic to read. Besides Keith Giffen returning to his Kirby Klone roots for the series, Dan Didio shows he gets how to write Kirby characters, unlike whoever wrote that Eternals mini a few years ago. There’s a big difference between giving the readers a mystery, and giving them a series of revelations– Kirby did the latter, and Didio brings the same to OMAC while at the same time throwing in giant robot sewer gators. He also uses expository captions in this book! I almost cried when I saw them exhumed, and I may cry again now that I’ve seen this book is among the first on the chopping block of failed New 52 titles. Hopefully Didio and Giffen have a Kamandi book up their sleeves at some point.
Batwoman: As mentioned before, I am breaking my grilled cheese rule for this book. Let it be known that J.H. Williams III made me eat crow with this gorgeous comic. I really like the supernatural angle the series seems to focus on and hope they make it a regular theme; it really separates the series from the gazillion Bat-spinoffs. My only concern is that they keep the book all-ages accessible since it is part of the Bat-family; I don’t see Bruce Wayne in his underwear as much as the protagonist of this series.
Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.: I’ve taken to this book a lot better than Tony, apparently. It delivers for me all the science weirdness and idiosyncrasy I hoped for from Mister Terrific. I was surprised this one survived when OMAC didn’t, so here’s hoping it gets a long, healthy run.
All Star Western: I have a huge pile of books in my pull which the kind folks at the Ogre are being very patient with me for slowly chipping away at week by week. As a result, some titles might wait a while before I get around to picking them up and reading them. All Star Western sat in my pull for four months before I picked it up, and I’m kicking myself for waiting. Love this book, love the characters, love the mystery story, love the atmosphere, love the very simple line work of the art and muted coloring. I wish this were simply a Jonah Hex ongoing, but I’m guessing it will rotate several lead characters and creative teams.
Action Comics: Breaking another of my personal rules here– “avoid Grant Morrison superhero books.” Nevertheless, I’ve always liked comics that reflect the times they were made in, and the writer does a great job of reaching back to Superman’s roots as a depression-era crusader for the everyman and make him part of the 99% of today. Well done, but I expect it will be tough to maintain in the long run. Here’s hoping we don’t get a new world war to recast Superman in a more nationalistic image, anyway. Love the artwork, too– like Superman with a Mort Drucker influence. In a good way.
Superman/Batman/Justice League: Good, shallow, pulpy superhero fun. George Perez writes the densest comic I’ve read since, well, he wrote Wonder Woman. Mostly self-contained episodes, at that. I’m looking forward to Dan Jurgens returning to Superman in the next couple months, also. I’m surprised to be enjoying a Batman comic for the first time since Kelly Jones was drawing it; Batman is a detective again, Bruce Wayne has a role to play, and there is a civilian supporting cast. Good stuff, as long as no one uses the word “incorporated.” As for the Justice League… okay, lightweight story, but I have a soft spot for team books, and some of these characters were introduced better here than in their own books (I’m looking at you, Azzarello). Also, it’s always funny when they occasionally try to make Aquaman seem impressive. Darkseid happens to materialize his base in the ocean, huh? Okay, next issue a bunch of bank robbers try to escape by boat… And the next…
I, Vampire: This one tenuously hangs onto the top tier, as it’s horribly decompressed and the artist is a Jae Lee clone. But I need a horror comic since they decided not to give Swamp Thing the reboot he needs and put John Constantine on a super-team, and it does feature Andy… excuse me, Andrew Bennett in the title role. I’m listing it as an enjoyable read, provisionally.
There are a few the jury is still out on: Batgirl, Swamp Thing, Justice League Dark (which should have been called Night Force, dammit), Flash, all need a little more oomph if they’re going to stay on my reading list more than another month. The first issue of Hawkman didn’t tickle my fancy, but I see my favorite DC villain (I can’t believe I just wrote that), the Gentleman Ghost, will be appearing soon, so I might check back in. As for the duds… Catwoman and Red Hood never appeared on my reading list, so I missed some I apparently would have found outright insulting. Detective was too gory for a superhero book, Wonder Woman and Supergirl were overly decompressed fight scenes which told me nothing about the characters. Men of War was just an all-around failure (seriously, we can’t have a regular war comic set in modern times?). Firestorm was the biggest disappointment, my favorite old DC character recast in a tepid book.
The continuity-lite accessibility of most of these books, coupled with the lower price tag, has actually sucked my comic buying dollar away from most of the Marvel books that would normally have my loyalty. A few gems I’m sticking with: Daredevil has been pure joy, as Mark Waid takes the character back to his pre-Frank Miller laughing swashbuckler days. Frank’s run was great but everyone that followed (Nocenti/Romita Jr. excepted) was just imitation. DD needed a change of pace, and the character is back to being as fun as he was in the Lee/Colan days. I just wish Marcos Martin would settle into a book, any book, for the long haul.
I enjoyed Marvel’s short lived Atlas series enough to follow the creative team over to the Red Hulk’s comic, and was rewarded with a series of very compressed and winding adventure stories with a cosmic scope that hearkened back to the old Tales to Astonish days. I’d put this series in a care package for Kish, believe it or not, even if Red Hulk doesn’t keep T-Bolt Ross’ mustache. The latest plotline, however, was an unnecessarily long 5-parter, so I’m waiting to see if the series’ best days are over. Hopefully not.
Spider-Man: I was hooked on this character when I was five, and only the bad old days of the 1990’s clone story have ever kept me away from the character. This is one I’ll stick with through peaks and valleys, but the post-MJ days have been mostly peaks, and being able to subscribe to the series directly from Marvel for less then $1.50 per issue will keep it on my reading list for a while.
I would enjoy Marvel’s frequent “event” miniseries’ if they didn’t mostly flow from overly long, convoluted storylines in other books. Secret Invasion and Siege suffered from this (the latter I didn’t bother checking out), but Fear Itself I really enjoyed. Great Avengers story with a gazillion defining character moments, my favorite being Cap making a desperate last stand against the forces of evil with a militia of farmers and store clerks whom he deputizes as Avengers. Brought a tear to my eye, that did. If only they didn’t have all the crossovers from that series, especially the ones that immediately followed the “.1” issues that were allegedly designed to attract new readers.
Speaking of brand loyalty… I wrote a few years ago lamenting John Byrne’s work appearing in pro wrestling mags, but he’s rebounded quite well in my eyes. I’d been enjoying his licensed books at IDW (assorted Star Trek series’, Jurassic Park, and particularly the Angel vs. Frankenstein Halloween specials), but this past year he’s revisited his Next Men series and promised a sequel to follow, gave us the Ian Fleming-flavored Cold War spy series, and he even has an original superhero book in the works. That’s a lot of projects in an industry where most artists can’t handle a single monthly. Show those kids how it’s done, JB.
So there, I said some nice things just to prove I’m not a total grouch. I haven’t been visited by three ghosts, though, my heart is still in the same place it was six months ago. I’m well aware that DC has gone five months now without any rape in their stories, and that must be killing them. We’ll see how long they can hold out. Until then, I haven’t liked this many new comics since 1999.
Man, if I could combine Mr. Terrific and Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE into one book, I’d really have something.
When I last spoke about those books, I’d just read Frankenstein 1 and Mr. Terrific 1. With Mr. Terrific 1-5 and Frankenstein 1-4 safely in my files, it’s time for a fuller judgment.
Frankenstein had the more promising start, but pretty much held the same note through the whole first arc. In Issue 1, Frankenstein & Co. went to a small town that was being invaded by monsters. In Issue 2, they stepped through a dimensional portal to a planet full of monsters. Back on Earth, their boss Father Time and Ray Palmer were monitoring things from SHADE HQ. In issues 2-4, Frankenstein & Co. killed monsters and the monster titans.
The team never found out anything about the monsters, Father Time and Palmer somehow deduced there were end-bosses from Earth. I enjoyed the book, but it felt like three issues of watching someone else play a video game. I think I’m skipping Issue 5.
Here’s what’s been happening in Mr. Terrific (SPOILERS!)
Mr. Terrific defeats Brainstorm with a standard overclocking attack, then finds out the villain was indirectly responsible for the death of Mr. Terrific’s wife’s. Mr. Terrific beats the villain to within an inch of his life, then is sickened by what he’s just done (because he’s a man of reason, right?). Mr. T exiles himself to space, where he gets shanghaied by alien slavers. He beats the slavers by convincing an alien hermaphrodite to use his/her energy absorption and projection powers to destroy the alien ship. Meanwhile, back on Earth, some douchey businessman tempts that one chick to sell out Mr. Terrific’s company.
Here are the rough edges: Mr. Terrific probably doesn’t need to feel so bad about beating up the villain, but it is a nice piece of characterization. The slavery bit isn’t subtext, Wallace hits it pretty hard. Mr. Terrific never sees the alien hermaphrodite’s power before she saves the day, so it’s not clear why chooses him/her as the solution. And that one chick is still pretty undefined.
Still, it’s the first NuDC title I’ve read to wrap a storyline. Heck, we’re two arcs in already. I feel like writer Eric Wallace has a point of view, and is taking me somewhere. I’m going to miss this series when it’s gone.
I was waiting for the No. 1 bus the other day, and I saw where someone’s keys had been left hanging on the fence. They were gone the next day, so I like to think the rightful owners came back and got them.
You might expect a random set of keys, laying out on Cleveland Avenue, to get stolen or tossed away. But really, there’s no need for that. I like to think that someone just decided to be nice and put the keys where they could be more easily found.
And it give me hope that someday I’ll find my keys, too.
Cleveland & Fifth avenues, 7:37 a.m.
In a surprise email I got the other day, it looks like Paul Hornschemeier is to receive a Graphic Novel Residency honor. A new venture created by the Thurber House & the Columbus Museum of Art. While Paul stays in here in town, he will be researching and creating new work on site in the boyhood home of James Thurber. Wow. They’re scheduling a series of events through late March and early April including workshops, and a talk at the museum with Paul. Below is a provided list of events from the Thurber House. A sincere congrats to Paul. It’s been a thrill watching his career. Looking forward to the next book.
@ the Thurber House
The Graphic Novel
Adult Writing Workshop
Monday, March 26, 6:00-8:00 pm
Instructor: Paul Hornschemeier.
DEADLINE TO REGISTER: March 16
Young Writers’ Studio
Wednesday, March 28, 6:00-8:00 pm
Led by Paul Hornschemeier
@the Columbus Art Museum
Big Picture Lecture
Saturday, March 31, 2:00 pm
Otterbein professor of philosophy Andrew Mills will speak about Hornschemeier’s work in a philosophical context. Hornschemeier majored in philosophy at The Ohio State University and often addresses philosophical issues in his books, most notably in his 2007 work The Three Paradoxes.
Presented in collaboration with The OSU Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities.
Admission to the lecture is free.
Artist’s Talk and Interview
Thursday, April 5, 7:00 pm
Paul Hornschemeier speaks about his creative process with interviewer, comics writer, and blogger Jared Gardner, a professor of English and Film Studies at OSU. In conjunction with his talk, CMA will display a selection of Hornschemeier’s scripts, storyboards, and sketches highlighting his creative process.
Free with museum admission.
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Garth Ennis, apparently.
Via Comics Alliance (by way of Caleb Mozzocco) comes news that Garth Ennis, writer of Preacher, Hitman, Constantine and Punisher, is taking on the Shadow. It’s coming in April from Dynamite Comics, and it’s supposedly ongoing.
Ennis can certainly do the two-gun action bit, as befits the Master of Men. I don’t know how he’s going to work in blasphemy and anal rape, though. Put me down as optimistic.
As you may remember, the Shadow is my all-time favorite character, and the 90s Shadow Strikes (Gerard Jones & Eduardo Barretto) was one of the series that got me into comics. Also, it taught me how to do the scary laugh.
We did a gallery of The Shadow as part of Character Wednesday a few years ago.
I was in Packrat Comics last week and the shop owner pointed out the new website. I was pretty impressed by it. Very clean wordpress layout with that not only gives you the usual info (hours, upcoming events, etc.), they produce and post up video blogs and other content. (The video clips were well edited for what they were). They recently started to do video spotlights featuring local creators.
The Laughing Ogre’s improved their site as well from the last time I visited it. Also featuring regular blog posts and content.
If you haven’t checked out the Trip City site, you must. Besides some cool podcasts (Jonathan Lethem, Henry Rollins, etc.), there’s essays, comics and more from some of the same conspirators that formed Act-I-Vate. Dean Haspiel posted a essay today that has some interesting back and forth in the comments. Regarding the new reality in the industry: how do I get my comics ‘out there’? Things have gotten to the point for me where I’m leaning toward focusing on my stuff for a change. I’ve hit some of the same conclusions in the article but I’m at a loss as to how to best distribute this stuff out there… and turn some kind of a profit. Something. Kyle Baker chimes in a lot in the comments so it’s worth a read.
The Onion AV Club today releases its list of The best comics of 2011: Graphic novels & art comics.
As usual, I have heard of maybe 1/3 of them, and not read any. I need to get cracking.
It’s good to see local boy and friend-of-Panel Paul Hornschemeier represented for his new joint, Life With Mr. Dangerous.
… and I don’t mean the ones we always have in a bunch.
I’m not sure what the redshirt reference means in this context, and I’m not sure I want to know. My general feeling is that you don’t need to work this hard to snag a geeky dude.
(In the spirit of Dara’s Underoos for Adults post from the other day.)
Over at NPR, they have a discussion of Superman’s face over the years, starting with his Shuster smirk, detouring through the achy-breaky 90s, and ending with the new Jim Lee version. Here’s what they say about the new one:
The image that tops this post, by artist Jim Lee, was the reader’s first look at the Man of Steel that, the company believes, is ideally suited to our modern age. He’s younger, angrier and more introspective, we are told. He’s ditched the tights for a kind of armor. He’s lost the red trunks.
But there, on that blank, unremarkably handsome face, is Shuster’s iconic and ironic smirk. We haven’t seen it since World War II smoothed down his rough edges in an effort to transform him from a wry crusader into a patriotic symbol — but there it is, back in force.
I don’t know that I agree with all of that, but it’s interesting to hear what they were going for.
If you’re a comic book fan, then odds are you have thousands upon thousands of comics in your house. And there’s probably quite a few that you can easily part with. Like that issue #1 of a series you decided not to follow, books from Free Comics Book Day, old series you’ll never re-read, and miscellaneous mini-series or one-shots you have no idea why you picked up in the first place. I certainly had a bunch.
Over the years I’ve managed to thin out my collection a bit by giving out comics at Halloween, offering freebies at my booth at Comfest, and at other events. I was also aware of charities that donated comics to a good cause, like Operation Comix Relief, which sends them to troops overseas. However, when I contacted the organizer recently he informed me that he is not accepting donations at the moment, as he has a major backstock of donated books he still needs to process.
So after a bit of Googling, I came across a similar effort called Operation Gratitude, which is much larger in scope. From their website:
“Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000 care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in Transition Units. Our mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member’s face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people.”
Since I had plenty of comics I no longer read or felt the need to keep, I decided to gather them up and send them off to a good cause via Operation Gratitude. I tried to get a good and varied mix of books: superheroes, indie books, color, black & white, fantasy, sci-fi, Marvel, DC, etc. And just for good measure I included a few of my own comics as well, plus some PANEL anthologies. All in all, I ended up with a box full of about 150 comics.
The box was is currently on its way to the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California, where Operation Gratitude sorts and assembles all the donated items into standard care packages for shipping all over the country, and the world.
So if you’re anything like me, I’m sure you have plenty of comic books that you can easily part with from your collection. Please consider donating them to this great cause. For storage purposes, they prefer that donations of goods be made during the following date ranges: March 15 to May 5 & September 15 to December 5. So as of today, you have a week to get your goods shipped to them.
However, they accept letters and financial donations anytime. Drop by their informative website and see how you can help.
(originally posted on my personal blog here)
Fairly balanced article on the demise of Borders. As far as big box chains go, I preferred Borders over Barnes & Noble. I catch myself sighing every time I drive by the old carcass that was the Borders on Kenny Road. Loved that store but at the same time never really bought much of anything there. (The cd’s and dvd’s were always $5 to $10 more than I wanted to pay for.) Yeah, I was part of the ‘problem’ I guess. Scouting out what I want to get then either waiting for it to show up at Half Price Books or Amazon to buy it on the cheap. Last book I almost bought at Borders was the David Choe art book. I saw it for 25% off at their liquidation ‘sale’. Opted to buy it on Amazon for half off cover.
If you’ll pardon the commerce plug, I’ve got some comics up on ebay that you may be interested in. Some cheap Marvel and DC sets, including:
and a few more…
Plus a couple of very rare, signed books for the hardcore collector:
You can see all the auctions here.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.