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AICN COMICS REVIEWS FABLES' CINDERELLA! STUMPTOWN! DOOM PATOL! dot.comics! & MUCH MORE!
| #26 | 11/4/09 | #8 |
(Click title to go directly to the review)
CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #1
DEATHLOK #1
STUMPTOWN #1
STARR THE SLAYER #3
DOOM PATROL #4
THE COMPLETE BATTLEFIELDS Vol. 1 HC
Big Eyes For the Cape Guy presents JORMUNGAND Vol.1
dot.comics presents…
CHEAP SHOTS!
CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #1
Writer: Chris Roberson
Artists: Shawn McManus
Publisher: DC Vertigo
Reviewer: Optimous Douche
Spinoffs can be very dangerous ground. For every success like “The Jeffersons,” there’s infinitely more failures like “Archie Bunker’s Place,” “Joey” and “Flo.” Willingham’s take on Grimm’s fairytale characters in a modern day world is rife with limitless possibilities for side story treatment, but thankfully greed has not gotten the better of this creative team and forays outside the main FABLES book have been warranted and added to the overall richness of Willingham’s universe.
While I’ve enjoyed brief flirtations with certain JACK OF FABLES storylines, I could never get fully into it as an on-going series (despite my zealot adoration of FABLES). I don’t fault the existence of the book, I just personally have a low threshold for someone who is perpetually (irony alert) a douche. CINDERELLA, though, is the FABLES spinoff I’ve been waiting for. A cross between a socialite and James Bond, she is a femme fatale that has captured my imagination with story possibilities since her brilliant solo outing in FABLES 71. And the first issue of this six part miniseries far exceeds my earlier unimaginative expectations.
The story and formula are simple, but as with all things FABLES the genius lies in the execution. Set somewhere just after the end of the Great War and prior to the destruction of Fabletown, the time period this tale takes place in was my only real “problem” with the book. After the breathtaking opening atop Big Ben, where we learn that this version of Cinderella is in fact a spy, we are immediately whisked away to a completely intact Fabletown and it’s clearly stated that this all taking place post Great War. Any fan of FABLES knows first-hand that the destruction of Fabletown occurred almost instantly after the end of the Great War. If someone was keeping a careful eye on things (like some middle-aged comic geek whose pen name rhymes with Hippopotamus Smooch), Cindy’s miniseries really only has a week or two to unfold. I have to admit my geek rage started to rise when I thought this was going to be an ongoing series. However, since this a mini, it’s entirely plausible that a week is all that’s necessary. Moving on…
Since there’s only a select few that know of Cindy’s true super spy mandate, her secret identity is appropriately set as a mild mannered shoe store owner. Her sole employee is rightfully disgruntled since he believes Cindy is shirking her shoe store responsibilities to simply gallivant across the globe. While the interchange was brief between Cindy and her slave with a wage, the seeds of a future coup were deeply sowed.
Cindy is given a mission to head towards the Middle East to recover magical items that are being illegally transported into the mundy world from the Fable Homelands. Before heading out, though, she needs to equip herself with allies and gear. Here is where Roberson’s creativity truly shines. Cindy’s gets her “gadgetry” from Fabletown’s very own Q — Frau Totenkinder. However, unlike Q’s freebies to James Bond, Cindy must pay a price for every magical bauble Totenkinder bestows upon her. The only thing we ever learn about the price is that it involves a favor. What the favor is, we don’t know, but it does plant some nice seeds for later mystery.
Cindy’s field agents come in the form of Puss in Boots, played with more than enough snobbery and aristocracy to make me seriously regret the donation I gave to my local animal shelter last week. The ever present surveillance mechanism Jenny Wren steps up to bat to be Cindy’s eye in the sky. I was also a fan of the brief back-story between Jenny and Cindy. It was simple and brief, but it just felt right. And finally and probably the most original of the bunch was the little mouse Dickory, who is able to move between minutes of the clock — that’s super-speed for anyone that requires a translation (or it could be time travel – only time will tell).
While I will always miss Buckingham’s signature artistic panel breaks and margins, McManus does a fine job of penciling within the tonality of this series. For those that will remember Mike Allred’s ill fated turn at guest penciling FABLES after the Great War, yes FABLES does have a tonality and it needs to be adhered to (love you Mike, just not within this universe – more X-STATIX please).
Steeped in back-story, Cindy’s actual mission time is fairly short in this issue, but there’s enough danger set in place to definitely put issue 2 on next month’s pull list. If issue 2 keeps up with the great characterization (a strong independent woman who is not immediately labeled or comes across as a bitch), a great story and some sweet eye candy I can say with certainty I’m in for the long haul of this series.
When Optimous Douche isn’t reading comics and misspelling the names of 80’s icons, he “transforms” into a corporate communications guru. "What if the whole world had superpowers? Find out in the pages of Optimous’ original book AVERAGE JOE. Read the first full issue on Optimous’ New Blog and see original sketches by fellow @$$hole Bottleimp. If you are a publisher or can help these guys get AVERAGE JOE up, up, and on the shelves in any way, drop Optimous a line."
DEATHLOK #1 (of 7)
Writer: Charlie Huston
Art: Lan Medina
Publisher: Marvel Knights
Reviewer: Ambush Bug
What's wrong with this comic? Ohhh, my friends, let me count the ways.
Before I get into this, I must say I was really excited to see Deathlok was getting a new lease on life when it was announced at this year's SDCC. The battlefield berserker was always one of my favorites mainly because he looks cool as hell and also because of those awesome issues of CAPTAIN AMERICA he starred in during the eighties. I also liked the 90's version of the character, though the "pacifist in a warrior's body" was somewhat played out and overshadowed by the million and one other half-man/half-machine characters of the time (I'm talking to you ColdBlood, Cable, Death's Head, Digitek, Robocop, Kaine, etc., etc., etc...). A new version of the old character was definitely needed, and since Deathlok showed up as a rampaging killing machine recently in NEW AVENGERS, I was hoping for something interesting with this new incarnation.
What I got out of this first issue was...well, let me just say it was very disappointing.
At play here in this first issue of DEATHLOK (a seven issue series I won't be purchasing the other six of) are some of my least favorite trends in modern comics. First and foremost, someone needs to get a muzzle for writer Charlie Huston. Man, the guy likes to fill each and every panel with gigantic word balloons filled with copious amounts of gab. I'm not talking annoying Bendis-speak filled with repeated sentence fragments and "uhms" and "ohs" and "the hells". I'm talking about tween-girl chatter filling up every panel. This book took twice as long as your normal comic to read, which sometimes I'm grateful for, but here, I'm pissed because with that many word balloons, you'd think you'd get a textured and rich story. No, it's just chatter. You can tell Huston was a prose writer here due to the sheer amount of story reliant on people talking or description reliant on some kind of verbiage. Had Huston embraced the visual medium and maybe let ONE PANEL speak for itself rather than use every inch of this book to hang another descriptor or nonsensical word balloon over, this may have been a somewhat interesting read.
Granted, I know what Huston was going for here. The story is set in the future as battlefield war zones are the next arenas for big time entertainment. The endless chatter, for the most part, comes from a trio of announcers who do color commentary as the generic battlefield firefights take place. Not only is this some of the most uninteresting chatter I've read, it's utterly pointless and redundant as what they are saying either has nothing to do with the action taking place OR it is describing the action taking place. Even outside of the commentator-speak, characters discourse freely to one another in word balloons the size of She-Hulk's sweater-steaks.
On top of a severe case of the talksies, did you notice something about this review so far? Did you notice I didn’t even mention Deathlok?
Well, this book suffers from one of my biggest pet peeves--a peeve I thought was on the down slide in recent history at Marvel, but apparently Huston never got the memo.
Bare with me...(deep breath)...
If the comic says DEATHLOK on the cover...
And has a picture of Deathlok on the cover...
Don't you think Deathlok should show up in the book?
Hell, at the turn of the century (I find it weird to say that), when Marvel was putting out Hulk books sans Hulk and Silver Surfer books where Silver Surfer shows up only on the last page reveal as if it were supposed to be a big surprise for the reader, AT LEAST THEY HAD THE TITLE CHARACTER IN THE BOOK FOR ONE PAGE!!!
Here, nary a page (hell, not even a panel) has Deathlok in it.
Who is the guy at Marvel telling writers this is a good way to do comics? I can see the pitch meeting in Joey the Q’s office right now as if it were a badly written piece of fan fic by a comic book reviewer…
“Come into my office, Huston. Have a seat. I hear you’ve got big ideas for me!”
“Thanks, Mr. Q. I sure do got a good one brewing. Here goes. I’m going to call this book DEATHLOK, but…wait for it…we won’t even see Deathlok until maybe issue two!!!!”
“Hold on just one minute, Huston.” Joey Q reaches for his phone, “Gladys, can you order me a new pair of socks…BECAUSE THEY WERE JUST KNOCKED CLEAN OFF!!! GET THIS MAN ON DEATHLOK, PRONTO-SQUANTO!!!”
“Hot-diggity!!!” shouts Huston in triumph.
Aaaaannnd scene.
It didn’t work with Hulk, it didn’t work with Hawkeye, it didn’t work with Silver Surfer, Devil-Slayer, or the million other title-character-missing first issues I’m forgetting because they were so horribly, horribly bad and not worth the memory space in my brain pan.
Sure there is foreshadowing. Luther Manning is the name of one of the soldiers on the battlefield. But in this issue, hotshot superstar soldier Mike Travers is the star of the book. There is a set up for Deathlok maybe to appear in the final panel of next issue, I guess with Manning and Travers being caught in an explosion, but still, if you're buying this book to...I don't know...maybe see Deathlok, well, my friends, you're going to be sorely disappointed.
What you do get is pretty cool art by Lan Medina. The painterly style is solid and definitely reminds me of Ariel Olivetti's painterly line work in INCREDIBLE HULK. But Medina's art doesn't save this stinker, a throwback to the worst of Marvel in the last ten years. Wanting to like this book, I was doubly disappointed in it once it was in my hands.
Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, reviewer and co-editor of AICN Comics for over eight years and one of the original @$$holes. Check out his comic book shorts from Cream City Comics’ MUSCLES & FIGHTS VOL.3 and MUSCLES & FRIGHTS VOL.1 on his ComicSpace page. Bug was interviewed here and here at Cream City Comics and here and here about his latest comic from Bluewater Comics, VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS: THE TINGLER #1-2. Look for more comics from Bug in 2010 from Bluewater, including VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS WITCHFINDER GENERAL, ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS DEATHSPORT, and the just announced vampire miniseries NANNY & HANK.
STUMPTOWN #1
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Matthew Southworth
Publisher: Oni Press
Reviewed by Humphrey Lee
If there is anything that STUMPTOWN does, and does well, it is that it reaffirms my more-or-less Gay Man Crush on one Mr. Greg Rucka. There’s something about the detective genre – more on that later – that really just brings out the best the best in him. It really is his sweet spot for character building, as we have been seeing for several months with his run on DETECTIVE COMICS where he as been fleshing out his Batwoman creation. And following in the fine tradition he has set for himself with these types of books and with a strong, female lead, STUMPTOWN is already looking to be another feather in the cap of a man with many well-deserved accolades in his comic writing career.
Now, getting back to that detective genre comment, it seems to me looking around the internet’s comic book haunts, that this book seems to be getting a “yet another noir” book label on it. Firstly, how is that a bad thing, if it were true? There’s maybe, what, a half dozen books comics out there you could label “noir” on the shelves, and somehow this is overkill when there’s literally a hundred standard capes and tights books right next to it? Sometimes I really wonder about comics fans. But, secondly, I don’t get this as a noir book. Within one issue of it riding with our lead, Dex, this comic shows us a bit more of an emotional depth but simultaneous light-heartedness that you don’t normally see in your more hard-boiled detective noir stories. Yes, there is a bit of a hard edge to it, but it doesn’t overwhelm all the other elements that are looking to make this book, and Dex, special.
Dex, short for Dexedrine – and that right there will kind of give an indication of how messed up this girl’s life is – is already a pretty engaging lead. Yes, she’s a bit Jessica Jones, that is a bit of a given, but like I said before already she has shown a bit more emotional stability that Jessica did in her debut. Honestly, Jessica was a bit of a fuck up and a whiner for a good bit of the ALIAS run and it actually kind of annoyed me more than intrigued me for the most part, even though I still really love that particular work. Dex, though, seems to have a lot of turmoil in her life and is brushing it off relatively well. She’s got a gambling problem, which is the lead in to the case that will make up this first arc, she has younger brother with an apparent mental handicap that she has to look after, there seems to be no parents in her life to help her with this (as much help as you could expect from people who would name their child after a narcotic) and on and on. Oh, and she might be a lesbian too. Oh, that Greg Rucka and his lesbians. He gives his leads a taste for the fairer sex more than Judd Winick gives them AIDS. Anyways…
The actual overlaying story itself is a solid one, even if it is a little derivative. Dex has a big gambling debt and she is given a way out by taking on a case: finding a runaway grandchild of her debtors. Along her line of inquiries some very bad men try and threaten her off the case while another very rich and powerful man makes her a counter offer as well. And at some point in it all she gets two bullets put in her Kevlar armored chest. It’s all extremely well-executed of course, but a little conventional. Execution means a damn lot though, and with all the character foibles and whatnot I mentioned above, it makes an excellent overall package and has already made STUMPTOWN one of the titles I am looking forward to reading the most each and hopefully every month. But, speaking of the overall package…
I do not know who Matthew Southworth is, but he reminds me a lot of Michael Lark and that is no way a bad thing. Much as I hate to compare a guy I just got acquainted with to the skills of someone else, it’s the best I have and am rolling with it. There is a great deal of similarity in their styles, though. Lots of darks and shading, lot of detail in the lines but also a bit of sketchiness to them as well. It’s very polished but a little raw at the same time, a great compliment to the story being told as Mr. Lark’s was in the heyday of GOTHAM CENTRAL. Kudos to colorist Lee Louthridge who was able to help made all the black ink on this pop with some really light shades of color. It really puts all the proper emphasis where it needed to be.
STUMPTOWN is another one of those examples of what happens when you let a person with a true gift for a kind of storytelling do just that: tell their story. Just like with Brubaker on CRIMINAL, or Bendis in his prime with POWERS and ALIAS, almost any of the regulars working in the Vertigo imprint, etc., this is a great talent working with other highly talented people completely unfettered, and it is already paying off wonderfully. I am already looking very forward to getting more into the every day life of Dex and how she survives it and her profession. And hopefully the case she is currently working on takes some interesting turns and becomes a little livelier. Not that it isn’t already pretty damn lively to Dex herself, but as far as detective conventions go, it’s a little standard so far. But, as mentioned before, while great execution on even these more fundamental types of stories can go a long way, it’s the overall package that will make me come back each time. And this, this is a book that already has me riding shotgun along with it.
Humphrey Lee has been an avid comic book reader going on fifteen years now and a contributor to Ain't It Cool comics for quite a few as well. In fact, reading comics is about all he does in his free time and where all the money from his day job wages goes to - funding his comic book habit so he can talk about them to you, our loyal readers (lucky you). He's a bit of a social networking whore, so you can find him all over the Interwebs on sites like Twitter, The MySpaces, Facebookand a Blogger Account where he also mostly talks about comics with his free time because he hasn't the slightest semblance of a life. Sad but true, and he gladly encourages you to add, read, and comment as you will.
STARR THE SLAYER #3
Writer: Daniel Way
Art: Richard Corben
Publisher: Marvel MAX
Reviewer: Mr. Pasty
Originally created in 1970, STARR THE SLAYER was recently resurrected under the Marvel MAX line of comics. Perhaps it was to give the book an updated, edgier feel. Or perhaps it was to simply cash in on an existing template by peppering the narrative with the word “fuck” every few panels amidst some random beheadings. I’m kind of leaning towards the latter, for no other reason than this story feels like it hasn’t changed a lot since the series was first created. I’m sure STARR was hot in 1970. Then again, so were corduroys.
One of my biggest gripes about this book is the art. Aside from looking like it got peeled off the walls inside a time capsule, it’s just downright ugly. Technically proficient? Of course--it’s Richard Corben. But my first reaction to the antagonist was that he’d been drawn in an overtly racist manner. Even if it wasn’t intentional, the fact that it prompted that kind of response is a detriment to this book. Facial features are exaggerated and deformed, as if jungle pygmies had sprung to life to wreak havoc on hapless villagers. As for STARR himself, he’s not seen much throughout the book, but his eventual appearance is simply disastrous. That whole Johnny Weissmuller look, with the loin cloth and the bare chest – it’s over. It’s been over for a long time. And what’s with the teased blonde hair? Hey kids! Who wants to be an effeminate He-Man for Halloween?
It’s one thing to look silly, as many characters do. It’s another thing to look dated. Unfortunately, STARR is both. The knee-jerk reaction to this book is a comparison to Conan, also debuting for Marvel in 1970. Roy Thomas was a driving force behind both books and what’s ironic is the first run for STARR would have probably fit in better in this day and age than its eventual remake. I know it’s unpopular to criticize someone with Corben’s accolades, especially since his work on HEAVY METAL and MEATLOAF’S BAT OUT OF HELL album are legendary, but I found this to be a rare misstep. Even Michael Jordan missed a buzzer-beater in his career, just as Tiger Woods has missed a tournament winning putt at one time or another.
Not helping matters any is the inconsistency in the dialogue. One panel they’re speaking like ancient prophets, the next panel like THE WARRIORS coming out to play. It’s hard to get into a story like this because it’s all over the map, and that’s frustrating because I was happy with the pacing and enjoyed the depth of the supporting characters. Having said that, this book lives and dies on the merits of its title character -- and he disappoints with his underdeveloped look and the robotic delivery of his dialogue.
Final word: STARR THE SLAYER is based on a series that was created in 1970. That gave Marvel forty years to improve it. Were they successful? Well, let’s just say that if this book had been published in ancient Sparta, it would have been hurled off a cliff with the rest of the uglies.
Web heads who can’t get enough of Mr. Pasty’s word vomit are encouraged to watch him operate as Nostradumbass over at here. MMAmania.com. Love, hate and Mafia Wars requests should be directed here.
DOOM PATROL #4
Writer: Keith Giffen
Artists: Justiniano, Livesay
METAL MEN Backup
Writers: Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis
Artist: Kevin Maguire
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Squashua
Fucked up my car last week. Backed my Toyota out of the garage and ripped the driver's side mirror clean off. Toyota side-views don't bend backwards, they just break. Dealership would have repaired it for $400, but I lined up my usual mechanic to do it for $250 with an hour's wait time. The part arrived Wednesday, and on the way to the garage, I pass my local comic store, so I picked up the week's stash to read. Only four books this week though, DOOM PATROL among them. Sat my ass down in the garage office to wait for the repair, and expected to finish the books before the hour passed. I was wrong.
It took me forty minutes to read DOOM PATROL.
Forty. Minutes.
In a day and age where publishers can get away with charging four bucks for a comic consisting of a single fight scene taking several splash pages with little to no actual content or story progress several issues in a row *cough*NEWAVENGERS*cough*, DOOM PATROL not only delivered an extremely engrossing story requiring no prior knowledge of the team in question, but consumed almost three quarters of an hour of my time. And the story isn't even finished. Oh, no. It continued from a prior issue you didn't even need to read, and continues on to the next issue. And both this issue and the next are “Blackest Night” tie-ins with a "Holy shit, I totally didn't even see that coming even though it was totally telegraphed earlier" end-page gotcha. An engrossing, editorially-mandated tie-in issue with what appears to be true ramifications for the team.
The story is wordy and engrossing; it grabbed not only my attention, but my concentration. And it ties in cleanly with “Blackest Night”, respecting the tie in without selling out. And the art is excellent. What, I wasn't an art major at school; I liked what I saw and you will too. The METAL MEN second feature focused more on a new menace than the featured characters, had some excellent call-backs to the Giffen / DeMatteis JLI run, and was fun enough overall.
DOOM PATROL earned my money this issue, and my loyalty going forward. It'll earn yours too.
Squashua only comes out of the woodwork now and then when he really feels passionate about an issue that you need to know about, or if he's just procrastinating from doing actual work elsewhere. Also his creative writing teacher in high school told him he had to write a few paragraphs a day in order to maintain any sort of a groove. His teacher never indicated to Squashua whether the writing actually had to be good.
THE COMPLETE BATTLEFIELDS Vol. 1 HC
Written by: Garth Ennis
Art by: Russ Braun, Peter Snejbjerg, Carlos Ezquerra
Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Reviewed by: Baytor
Whatever misgivings I might have about the quality of THE BOYS, I know that there’s one arena where Garth Ennis will rarely disappoint and that’s with his excellent war comics. Continuing in the tradition of the WAR STORY series at Vertigo, Ennis is teaming up with some top-notch (if not widely known) artists to bring us three tales in the three theaters of World War II.
On the Eastern Front, he tells the story of a group of courageous female pilots who earned the nickname of “The Night Witches” for their daring bombing raids on German troops while gliding in with antique bi-planes. It’s the sort of story that should be the basis of a major motion picture, regrettably starring Drew Barrymore doing an awful Russian accent, but because the Soviet government did as little as possible to tell the world of their exploits, their contribution remains fairly unknown.
Ennis’ treatment is slightly clunky, as he keeps shifting the focus away from the Russian pilots to a group of German soldiers raping and killing their way across Russia. Eventually the two stories merge to a satisfying (and slightly unexpected) conclusion, but until then you really want to spend more time with the Russians, as the women quickly prove themselves to be more than the novelty act that their male counterparts feared they were. Although the biggest lost opportunity of the story is recounted in the afterword in which Ennis tells of a photo of elderly women, some with so many medals they seem on the verge of toppling over. Still, it plays to his strong suit of war stories by shining a much-deserved spotlight on a little-known aspect of the war.
“Dear Billy” is next up and as I stated in my review of the trade paperback release, I think this is one of the best war stories Ennis has ever penned. For the first time in his writing career, he shifts focus to the Pacific War to tell the story of a nurse who is raped and left for dead. Stories from behind the front are a tricky beast, because no matter how dramatic the tale, it pales by comparison to what is happening on the front. Ennis nimbly side-steps this by never allowing our heroine to wallow in self-pity, a trait that ultimately dooms her, because she is slowly, but surely, turning into something of a monster as she takes out her murderous rage on defenseless Japanese prisoners.
One of my favorite aspects of the story is that Ennis doesn’t attempt to portray the conflict through modern eyes and never attempts to soft-pedal the attitudes or behaviors of the time. Only at the very end does he strike a reconciliatory note and it is that very attitude that finally pushes our heroine over the edge.
Lastly Ennis returns to the Western Front in “The Tankies”, which is the only real disappointment of the bunch. Lacking any real emotional center, it tells the tale of a Churchill tank crew as they race to catch up with the rest of their unit. Lacking any real emotional center, it reads as part buddy movie (will the Cockney & Geordie learn to respect one another?) and part history lecture as Ennis strings together a bunch of real-life anecdotes which tell of the dangers Allied tank crews faced under the might of German tanks.
“Johann’s Tiger” (from the aforementioned WAR STORY anthology) proved that a tanker’s life is fertile ground for a story, but Ennis never does find a proper hook to hang the story on and it ends up being about a bunch of Southern English guys mocking the accent of a Northern English guy for most of its run.
For those of you who bought these three stories in their individual collections, there’s not much in the way of extras in the hard cover. Ennis, as he did in WAR STORY, provides some notes about how these stories came to be and which elements are based on reality and which he made up, while Braun, Snejbjerg, and Ezquerra (who Ennis is quick to point out did the lion’s share of research) provide some of their character sketches. But if you’re like me, you’ll have a hard time passing up a deluxe collection of these (save one) fine stories.
JORMUNGAND Vol.1
By Keitaro Takahashi
Released by Viz Media
Reviewer: Scott Green
My initial impressions of JORMUNGAND rapidly shifted going into the manga. First, I was cautiously optimistic about the prospects of an older audience action title from Viz's strong Signature label. Then, I caught the hints of an irksome, self serious story of a child-assassin.
Having read the first volume, I ultimately found JORMUNGAND to be neither what I hoped for, nor what I feared. While I'm not ready to adopt it as a new favorite in a manga genre to which I'm inclined to cling, I did enjoy it more than I thought I might. I developed a genuine affection for some of its sloppiness and spirit, especially in retrospect. However, every refreshing or daring move made by Keitaro Takashi is offset by a move back into familiar territory or undercut by differences in tone or intention that fail to complement each other.
JORMUNGAND originates from the anthology Sunday GX, home to a few other gun blazing works, most notably BLACK LAGOON. Like BLACK LAGOON, this is an adventure concerning colorful people with firearms operating in a lawless zone. The difference is that while BLACK LAGOON declares itself a blustering COMMANDO/RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD 2 80's action movie, with a modern subtext concerning the pathology of its participants slid in underneath, JORMUNGAND is a 00's action flick with its social conscience a super-text rather than a subtext.
The first thing spotted when opening JORMUNGAND is the author's note "my first story is about arms dealers. It's a rather serious topic, but while I draw I'm always smiling and having a lot of fun." Keitaro Takahashi is true to those words. The manga pins itself to the gravity of real issues, then ignores that poignancy in a manner that is more unrestrained than it is irreverent. Humorous digressions are more whim than knowing subversion. Nor is there an apparent awareness of the contradiction between the hang-wringing about armed conflict's human cost, then indulging in military porn, with loving martial expertise, knowing detail on guns, terminology, procedures and so on.
Takahashi is in good company in this regard. Hideo Kojima arguably falls victim in his METAL GEAR games - similarly Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL, PATLABOR, JIN-ROH) both decries militarism and is evidently fascinated by the trappings of military organization. He's just a bit more haphazard in his evocation of "serious topics."
The manga commences with the background of Jonah, a boy orphaned by a "prototype fighter jet and a new type of bomb," employed in a West Asian war. The child soldier turned mercenary embarks on a career of vengeance against the "ones who designed, build and sold the weapons, and the ones who used them." In that pursuit, he signs on with eccentric arms dealer Koko Hekmatya - a rich girl surrounded by exotic mercs, traveling into war zones to make a buck.
Jonah slabs in the "serious topic" note of the manga with an unmoving thud. This is a now standard anime/manga character type: sullen kid who has seen and done too much. As in works like LEON/THE PROFESSIONAL, this works when it is a difficult concept. The anime series NOW AND THEN, HERE AND THERE could be pointed to as an illustration of how soul crushing the notion of a child soldier can be, but if it is just presented rather than developed, familiarity has robbed the idea in and of itself of power.
In contrast to Jonah, the Evangelion's Misato meets the Joker chief of the arms dealing enterprise points to what is more distinctive and successful in JORMUNGAND. Koko is an arms dealer looking to solve the death dealing problem from within. Maybe not the best idea, but one JORMUNGAND makes interesting to watch. While "maverick" might have come out of the last American election with some divisive connotations, this exercise demonstrates some of the magnetism to the personality type.
JORMUNGAND gets there by both trading in and distinctively twisting manga tropes. Koko evokes the "genki" energetic charter model. She might as well have one of those cute little fangs jutting over a lip. She flails, skips, hollers and otherwise acts like a child who has consumed too much sugar. When the character is not barking, growling, or casting a feral eye over underlings and adversaries alike, she's hamming it up - traipsing around in fuzzy slippers or reacting to a shallow scalp wound by wrapping herself in bandages and stalking around like a mummy. Yet, despite her appearance and behavior, Koko is notably older than many of the manga characters in this sort of action story. While her morality is being questioned, its asked "didn't they teach you ethics in your fancy private college?" Her response... "College? ha! I was too busy working the Balkans!"
The manga commenced in 2006. Assuming it takes place around that time and assuming that Koko was involved in the tail end of the Yugoslav Wars, she'd probably be in her mid-late 20's at the youngest, which would make her the "old woman" in plenty of manga.
Regardless of whether or not her mission to reform the arms trade from within is a quixotic task, she proves to be canny, with method to her madness. More than the childish adult supervision in the venture, she proves to be a woman with expertise, authority and purpose. And, with Jonah providing some of the muscle, at least for now, Koko's arms deals and plots are driving the manga.
JORMUNGAND has its own look and feel. In terms of the narrative, the arms deal based stories place the manga into particular territory. They match Koko's personality; planned, and farsighted, but also audacious, and dynamic in their reactions to adversarial counter-moves. I can't say if the manga's going to transition into more long form stories. I wouldn't be surprised if it did. And, maybe it's a function of lack of faith, but I'd prefer it to say with these tight, quick ventures.
In terms of the manga's aesthetic, Takashi gives the manga a rushed look that emanates creative energy. Ferociously jagged lines are more suggestions shaped definitions. The carpet bombed zip tone patterns extend in halos beyond the inked borders. Facial features are shaded over or omitted. Takahashi does not have extemporary judgment in balancing the tones of the manga; that its contrasting elements often weaken each other. The judgment for breaking the rules of manga illustration does seem to be better. The purposefully flawed approach lends JORMUNGAND a quick and rough spirit that is elaborated upon by the impression of fast cut editing. The manga is mostly compressed of large panels that transition from one angle to the next. While most of JORMUNGAND is aspect to aspect, direction to direction cuts, step by step sequences are reservedly used in action scenes like the knife fight in the volume's finale.
I'm not entirely sure that I should accuse JORMUNGAND of being in love with the short hand of manga and its sibling medium, anime, but it certainly does seem to gravitate towards it. Whether it is scenes, such as a group around a dinner table keeling over as result of bad cooking, or designs, such as the post-Evangelion girl with eye patch, familiar touch points are leaned up to establish and develop characters.
Scott Green has been writing for AICN ANIME for over eight years. If you like what you see here and love anime & manga, be sure to check out his latest AICN ANIME column every week on AICN.
Ambush Bug here. Times are tough. Don’t I know it. The amount of money in my “Bad Muther Fucker” wallet never seems to match up to the sum total of all of those overpriced books on the stands. So what’s the alternative? Well, there is a magical place where comics are free and this section is dedicated just to that genre of comics. What comics, you may be asking? Why, dot.comics. That’s what comics. Check out these winners of the online webcomic variety.
If you’re looking for quality online comics, look no further than DC’s Zuda website, which hosts an online contest every month to pick an online book worthy of publication. Just a few clicks through the site and you will see the variety of talented individuals vying for the top spot. A while back I touted GOLDILOCKE as something pretty damn special and it turns out Zuda fans agreed. This surreal sci fi joint is epic in both story and artistic scope, offering breathtaking imagery and an out of this world storyline. You can check out this fantastic strip on its own website here. 
SHOCK, POP, TERROR! Pandora and Nemesis Bane are two fit and foxy chicks just moseying along the bayou like many fit and foxy chicks do. How were they to know that their bouncy little trip would take them face to face with inbred swamp hicks and bog monsters? Luckily they’ve packed the tire iron and the chainsaw. Only a few pages of this one have been released yet on Zuda, but Jean Michael Ringuet offers a fun romp and worth a click or two for fans of light hearted horror such as EVIL DEAD II, BUFFY, and SCOOBY DOO. Check out more from JM Ringuet here at his blog.
MODEL STUDENT by Joe Bowen is not your typical comic strip. You’ve seen the scenario a million times. New kid in town. Trying to fit into a new school. Gaining the attention of teachers, the cute girl, and of course the school bullies. But Kevin is no normal student. He’s trying to be a model student, but doing that is proving tougher than it seems. Not with Kevin’s rage issues. I like this story because it’s kind of like the Hulk without the muscles and the green and the radiation. He’s just a kid with anger problems constantly being tested and pushed to the breaking point. This is a fun story that’ll be running on Zuda through November.
But it’s not just Zuda making cool webcomics these days. The first chapter of Tim Seeley’s COLT NOBLE & THE MEGALORDS just wrapped up and if you had that unposable Battle Cat “action” figure and know what Battle Damaged Skeletor looks like, then this is the strip for you. This strip is funny and fun. It takes everything you loved from THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE and gives it a self aware kick to the He-Nuts. I especially love the way the main bad guy keeps ripping on the witch who brought him to life and her horribly messy apartment. This is a great riff on some old toys written by the warped mind behind HACK/SLASH.
BICYCLE COP DAVE doesn’t have too many pages yet, but the few pages that are up on the website are pretty fun. Bicycle Cop Dave wakes up to find a playful and curvy-licious babe in his bed. Thus is the exciting life of Bicycle Cop Dave. So even though there isn’t much content yet, I can comment on the fantastic art by Manoel Magalhaes, whose expressive faces speak volumes. This black and white webseries looks to have a good sense of humor and writer Gary Phillips sure knows how to open a story.So if you’re sick of spending all of your lunch money on comics, fret not. Good free comics are just a click away.
AMBUSH BUG: YEAR NONE #7 (of 6)
DC Comics
My store sold out of this book a few weeks ago when it came out. Turns out they didn’t order that many issues of it since it wasn’t selling all that well. And that’s too bad. I fear comics creators and fans aren’t really comfortable making fun of themselves these days (and if what I hear is true, comic book companies aren’t too comfy with it either given this comics’ delayed shipping due to “unfavorable content”), which is a prerequisite for reading any AMBUSH BUG book. AMBUSH BUG was one of the ballsiest comics to hit the stands in its heyday, making fun of “grim and gritty” before it became a catch phrase and teasing just about every other comic book trend sometimes before it was even noticed as a trend. Sure the humor in this issue is broad at times and occasionally misses the mark, but the line about the turtleneck sweater cracked my @$$ up. And the additional art by TINY TITANS’ Baltazar and Franco made this issue a winner in my book. Some may not like this book because they think it’s juvenile and trying too hard to be funny. Others may feel uncomfortable being made fun of. But I liked it. Ambush Bug has always been creator Keith Giffen’s alter ego. Once again, Giffen plays the master ventriloquist speaking undeniable truths about the comic book industry through jokes and parody via a green, antennaed puppet. So as Ambush Bug once again walks into limbo in the final panels of this book, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad for a genius creator who is censored by a company who used to be able to laugh at itself, but can’t anymore and whose logic falls on deaf ears. - Bug
AGE OF REPTILES: THE JOURNEY #1
Dark Horse Comics
This silent book may be a quick read, but it is the only book week that I read twice: once to absorb the fascinating story of migrating dinosaurs, secondly to take in the impeccable detail Ricardo Delgado put into each wide-scoped panel. Each and every dinosaur on the page has a different attitude, walk, posture, and intent. There’s something simple and innocent about this story. It’s a truly unique reading experience and one you shouldn’t miss. - Bug
FEMALE FORCE: J.K. ROWLING #1
Bluewater Comics
By now, you know whether or not you’re going to want to check out one of Bluewater’s biography books. If you poo-pooed the others, then you’ll probably do the same for this one. But fans of the HARRY POTTER-verse will eat this book up. This one especially goes into some really cool detail of how Rowling came up with some of Hogwart’s most creative imaginings. This book has a good balance of exposition vs. scene which is often a problem with bio books. As a fan of the books and of writers’ bios in general, I found this book informative and entertaining. - Bug
TRACKER #1
Top Cow
It’s a police procedural. It’s a werewolf story. It’s two, Two, TWO stories in one! I really liked TRACKER, a surprisingly unconventional werewolf story that is steeped in police jargon. This is a fun whodunit where a cop is the lone survivor from a bloody rampage left by a serial killer. When he wakes in his hospital bed, he first notices strange smells and it ain’t the bedpan of the old guy next to him. Soon our bitten cop starts feeling other strange urges of the wolfish variety. This seems like a great start to a cool series. Nice to see another monster on the shelves other than zombies and vampires. - Bug
LOBO: HIGHWAY TO HELL #1 (of 2)
DC Comics
When you’re reviewing something like Lobo, you have to go down a checklist of stuff you normally wouldn’t have to go down with other comics: multiple homicides-check, eviscerations-check, intergalactic swears like frag-check, space dolphin love-check. This book has all of that. Writer Scott Ian is usually thrashing his guitar with Anthrax, but here he seems to be just as comfortable filling the word balloons ‘sploding from Lobo’s lips and giving him stuff to kill. The plot is pretty straightforward: the Devil kills Lobo’s space dolphins and Lobo goes to hell to kill him. But the straightforward plot gives artist Sam Keith a whole lot of room to shine here. Keith’s art, though not as crisp as his MAXX stuff, is loose and fun. There’s a grittiness about this book that comes from both the words Ian’s written and the panels Keith has drawn. This was a fun read and even more enjoyable if you are as big of a metal fan as I am. This ain’t Shakespeare, but you already knew that. The best compliment I can give this book is that it stays in the same brutally fun vein as Giffen and Bisley started with the character all those years ago. Reckless, rowdy fun. - BugProofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
Remember, if you have a comic book you’d like one of the @$$holes to take a look at, click on your favorite reviewer’s link and drop us an email.
Check out the @$$oles’ ComicSpace AICN Comics page here for an archive and more @$$y goodness.
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...before I realized I wasn't reading a review of a Metalocalypse comic.
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I liked his Caught Stealing series, not so much when it came to the Joe Pitt stuff or his Moon Knight.
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But is Archie Bunker's Place a spin-off. It was what the show morphed into after Jean Stapleton left, but I always considered it a continuation since it still focused on the main character. I can see the argument. It's just not one I would have included. Perhaps the Ropers instead.
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Nov 11, 2009 10:26:17 AM CST
Was there really a Marvel Zombies/Apes cross over last week?
by series7
My fucking store KNOWS to get every Ape title for me. I'm pissed. Marvel Apes is the best thing Marvel has done in a while.
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(Murderface voice) 'Id rather die than go to heaven'
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Flashing neon every trucker knows, the door is always open and the beer is always cold, at Flo's Yellow Rose.
(those might not be the right lyrics, as I'm reciting from memory. Even if it's 50% accurate, that's just sad.) -
Nov 11, 2009 10:53:29 AM CST
The same issue of TRACKER was featured in the previous AICN comi
by snookeroo
And several days later, it's still just as shitty.
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It was pretty awesome. Ran into the animation guy from Newsarama (Steve Fritz) too.
Hey Steve, the Marv Wolfman thing I couldn't remember turned out to be the recent animated Superman DVD release. -
A strong idea for a comic. The writing was sharp and the art is top notch.
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Another Fables wait.
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I hope Eric Powell does another Dethklok comic. The Goon crossover was great.
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Yayyy for Lobo!
A truly hilarious character when handled properly.
.....Not so much for Deathlok.
In fact, I think you were a bit too lenient on the Deathlok book if anything Bug. I still have my signed copies of the original 70s'series by Buckler. It's a damn shame to see that no one can seem to get it right. The last really good attempt was the 4 ish Mini-series with art by Butch Guice.(At least the first half was.) I liked Huston's Moonknight issues okay, but the first issue of Deathlok was painful to read. Perhaps the 2nd will be better...that is if Deathlok actually shows up inside the book. The cover for the second issue does indeed stomp on yer wad! Hopefully so will the interiors. -
I guess ABP was a continuation. I was only 4 at the time though, so please at least give some points for appreciating Carol O'Conner at such a young age ;-)
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Just startin' the meme here too.
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felt pretty uninspired and meaningless. Some lines were funny, but many were not.
I was sorely dissappointed. -
HE draws all his characters, who are usually white, with those exaggerated broad features.
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This reminds me of that scene in Southpark where the already dead Saddam Hussein gets killed and winds up right back in hell - "Where am I gonna go anyway?".
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I wanted to argue about shit!
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That's fine. I was 8 or 9 myself. I just was a 50 hour/week TV junkie growing up. In fact I used to read any comics I got while watching TV.
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I saw them in Portland in the Fall of '08. It was awesome. Although the continuous inter-song cartoons made it difficult to use the bathroom after three beers.
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I don't know if we're all generally on the same page or if the assholes are avoiding the more controversial titles, but I've noticed a distinct lack of good, meaty debatable topics lately. I mean sure, we argued about Loeb, but I think only We_Pray and maybe Laserhead were serious about that.You want debates? We need more Dark reign stuff covered.
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I went with a guy who also saw them in 2008. He said the concert was the same. Still awesome, but no difference in the animation / act. Mastodon and 2 other bands that I didn't watch opened for them.
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I think we just need more titles covered period and love them or hate them I think most of us read a lot of the big two. I know the @$$holes have lives outside of this but it the reviews have seemed a little sparse this week and last.
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I am sometimes concerned why @$$holes cover some or the more mainstream titles or not. About the Dark Riegn stuff...well, it's been in a lull for some time now. What's more to say about it? Norman was crazy and needs to be taken down in this title. Man, Norman is crazy and needs to be taken down in that title. Norman was as crazy here as in here. Not much to debate about.
When I see the week's content and don't see much by way of Dark Reign or Blackest Night stuff, I don't make an editorial call and ask for more mainstream content from the holes. It just makes me think that this is a clear indication that either the mainstream stuff is stagnant and less interesting at the moment OR the @$$holes have said what they wanted to say about said title a couple of times already and don't feel the need to repeat it over a six-month stall until the next big event.
To me the lack of coverage speaks just as much volume as coverage sometimes. -
...is when Kevin Smith finally decided to finish SPIDEY/BLACK CAT. He got the issues out and some folks gave it coverage as news. Me, I could give a shit and neither did many of the @$$Holes. The lack of coverage was the clear indication of lack of interest. Hell, we gave the comic the old Roundtable review when it first came out. By the time the final issue was released, it was barely even mentioned in the talkbacks. So we may not cover every book and non coverage/non interest may not apply to every book, but really until something happens, I really have said my peace about Blackest Night and Dark Reign.
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Right away, we have a debate. Not about editorial calls or anything like that, but about the content of Marvel's big books. I think there is plenty to say.
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Like I said, I get that you guys have live outside of this and I’m sure you get your fill of Dark Reign and Blackest Night at your local comic shop, with your in the flesh friends and each other and when it comes to the column you want to explore something a little different. Just like I’m sure there are tons of people who like reading about and getting turned onto the smaller and lesser known stuff. But let’s face it at the end of the day what most people care about are Marvel and DC and it’s just nice to get some info and perspective about the big two.
Just like the rest of AICN people come to this site and this column in part for the information and in part for the personality. There is still tons of stuff in each of the big two houses that tie into or don’t tie into the events. But as a suggestion maybe someone could tackle minis inside of the events occasionally. Now that BN: Batman, Superman and Titans are over someone could give their opinion on those minis as wholes as opposed to single issues and which they thought worked as stories on their own merit, which didn’t and which contributed to the event and which ones could be passed up. Same thing with Dark Reign. Or things like World’s Finest or the Clone Saga.
With the event love the big two have these days combined with the price hike I’m sure there are also lots of people who have had to be more selective in what they buy (you guys included) and say guys like Joe who read mostly Marvel might want to come here and be kept up to date on multiple colored giant boxing gloves and guys like me that read mostly DC would like to come here and stay up to date on whether Osborn finally gets what is coming to him.
I know not everything on the shelves can be covered each week and I don’t think anyone expects that, just vocalizing ideas and opinions.
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The reviewer's comments on Richard Corben's artwork are bullshit. Racist? Dated? Are you kidding me? Two trademarks of his artwork are that his characters are exaggerated and his approach to fantasy is archaic (stripped down heroes, barren landscapes,etc). If you feel like his art is particularly sloppy or lazy, that would be one thing, but to criticize the aesthetic of a comic book legend is a little goofy. I guess Eisner's character types are played out as well.
The fact that the reviewer refers to an album cover and "his Heavy Metal work" makes me suspect that he isn't exactly up on Corben's catalog. This reminds me of the AICN review of "Sloth" that starts out with the reviewer saying that he had never read anything by Gilbert Hernandez before!
Nonetheless, I agree with the criticisms of the writing in Starr. It's very uneven and immature... -
And while he does bring up some nice points, IMHO there wasn't nearly enough swearing or implied name-calling. However, I do enjoy reading his posts as if in the voice of Kenneth from 30 Rock. Try it, it's fun!
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A little tired of EVENT shit right now.
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At least, Dark Reign : New Avengers.
Comment used in my review also applies to Dark Reign : Dark Avengers. -
As soon as we cover mainstream, the indie folks start screaming. Too much indie, the mainstreamers spring a leak. That's why, I'm sorry folks, but, you're just going to have to be surprised at what get covered from one week to the next.
Eventually if it's good it'll be covered here. If it's bad, it will too. If it's indie or mainstream or webcomic or manga, it'll be covered here. We're not going to stop covering one area because a few people don't like it. Sorry, but our choice of reviewing ain't a democracy. It's the reviewers choice; one of the attractors of being a reviewer here at AICN and one of the points I like to stress to our reviewers because as soon as something is assigned to someone, out goes the passion and guess what, that means a shittily written, boring review. I think mainstream or otherwise, a consistent column full of examples of all forms of comics and a forum for you guys to gab about whatever we covered or didn't cover is pretty damn good.
And Series 7 is right, redundant and overblown events have really soured a lot of readers and while they may be buying them, is anyone really talking about them? I don't see it here.
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leprechaun comic series (based on the movie) the other week. And can't wait to read them.
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I love Events. Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! See the Dark Avengers take on the New Avengers! $5 gets you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge! Be there!
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because discussion topics are determined by the week's reviews. No need to be purposefully obtuse, my friend.
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This is a retelling/reboot of Deathlok so the first issue is basically all setup for his eventual appearance. But the reviewer was right on the money with writer Huston overdoing it with dialog. You might have to question how much dialog you are cramming into your book when you have to start color coding your word balloons so people can make sense of what they are reading.
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Right hereya...
Titans -- Fookin Rocked
Batman -- interesting, not great, but interesting -- and it helped propel the event forward
Superman -- Sucked more balls than Harvey Firestein and Madonna in a ball sucking contest. Seriously that was just painful and....who cares about the Earth 2 characters anymore? -
Looks like the only person who can't be happy is Bug. I don't recall asking or seeing anyone ask for things to be dropped or for things to be replaced. I was just saying more but conceeding to tge fact you don't want to buy tons of stuff for tge column. I knowTBers can be brash and rude at times but that dorsnt mean you have to. Why even bother jumping in the talkback if you're just going to be hostile. I often times enjoy your reviews and comentarty but I've noticed that ever since Liam the Kid you've been an ass in the TBs. With your "this isn't a democracy", we do what we want nobody tells us what to do attitude why even both participating in a public forum? You talk about people whining, bitching, pissing and moaning and you're right it does happen but in this particular instance the only person doing it is you, chill out man. I was only offering up ideas and sugestions.
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I've barely posted in here over the past month because I just up and realized one morning that there is barely anything I like at this point. Cap went completely off the rails seemingly overnight (although the clues of a slow decline were there for years). Thor has been and will probably continue to be awesome, but it comes out seemingly once every 6 months. Ex Machina is wrapping up. Incognito was just a mini. War of Kings is over and was kind of weak anyway, and Nova/Guardians of the Galaxy are amazing but no one reads them. Walking Dead is impossible to discuss without going so spoiler heavy that it ruins it for people who havent read it. I cant deal with "Dystopian Future #3,459: Mutants Too Electric Boogaloo" in X-Factor. Conan I dropped 6 months back or so, for the same reason I always drop Conan sooner or later: he is invincible and seeing him never in any real danger gets tedious. Planetary #27 came out and not many people really cared, as it was kind of anti-climatic. Blackest Night, just one mans opinion, is completely tedious: invincible zombies rise from the grave and use really harsh language on their victims. Meh. I collect about maybe 10 books at most right now, and am just waiting to be blown away.
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the A$$hole participation in the TBs is a fraction of what it was 2 years ago, and most of them are actually pretty much gone at this point. I think crap storylines and price hikes have forced most of the A$$holes and the original TBers out of business.
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Anyone still reading? I thought last weeks (or the week before, can't remember) picked up. However there is still a slowness to it, that I can't put my finger on. Perhaps it's just that I'm digging BuckyCap and I am not sure why the rush towards Steve coming back. Although I am hoping he puts the hurt on Osborne. The thought of Bendis writing Cap again in New Avengers leaves my pretty cold. Amy non Bendis Avengers fan's coming around, or is it same old same old?
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Anyone see this? Came across it on HULU, and I am not sure what I thought. Wasn't blown away or anything, but it was pretty enjoyable. If it's big enough, I would be behind Marvel hitting the archives and doing Motion Comics for some of their greatest hits. I'm thinking Avengers: Masters of Evil/Mansion storyline would be the shit.
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I read the first issue, decided that it completely sucked, dropped it, and havent looked back since. I'm pretty cold blooded when a title starts to irritate me.
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Nov 11, 2009 8:05:12 PM CST
I've always been a bit averse to the idea of the motion comic...
by loodabagel
But seeing as this is free on the internet right now, I think I'll go check it out. I shall return soon with my report.
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I'll be picking it up when I get home this weekend. Now if he could just get Queen and Country fired back up. God I love that book.
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While I don't follow Doom Patrol, I'm with you on the comments you made about comics being one fight scene, or not even trying to be self-contained. I liked back when I read comics as youngster, and you could actually READ comics. I agree that in many ways, the art these days is often better then years ago, but I don't like how the art has completely stolen the show.
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As much as I love Tom Goes to the Mayor, I cannot get into this. Guess I'm old fashioned.
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This last issue (and prior issues too) of the latest iteration of Doom Patrol reflect the past READABLE/CRUNCHY comics. I'd ALMOST say R.E.B.E.L.S. did too, but it drags out a bit more than it deserves to. Pretty much anything written by Dan Slott is also quite crunchy, but Mighty Avengers drags a bit.
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The column has never been a democracy. That's just a fact. In my post, I said the reason why we don't take requests is because it often leads to bland reviews. Since reviewers aren't paid, they review what they want and feel passionately about. I also said we can’t please everyone. If we covered every book on the shelves but THE ASTONISHING X-CREMENT. The first post in the column would be “What, no ASTONISHING X-CREMENT review? U guys aren’t as good as you used to be.” Just stating facts. Sounds like you're the one being sensitive, dude.
And Joenat, the reviews often spark comments in the TBs, but they often take a life of their own and go in places that aren’t even covered in the column. You’ve been around long enough to know that. You’re the one being obtuse just to start an argument.
And sure from time to time the column is light, but right now we have more Holes reviewing than ever with a few returning (look for the return of the Kid soon, so I’m sure that’ll spark up the TBs) and a few new folks being initiated as I write this, so fear not, I’ll keep the column running even through the lulls in inspiration to review and even inspiration to buy.
I also agree that the lull in reviews and participation in the talkbacks has to do with both the stands being oversaturated with event books and the wallets being overcome with a case of the empties to due high prices. another reason for less mainsteam reviews could be just what happens with reviewers over time. I don’t claim to know everything about comics, but if you look across the board in this crew of @$$Holes, there’s a good representation of the comic book reading community. I’ve been doing this long enough to recognize a few trends though, the most prominent being that the longer one reviews, the less mainstream books one reads and the more they are likely to go outside of the mainstream for quality books or wait for trades for bigger books. It happens almost like clockwork. Doesn't really explain me though because I like both indies and mainstream and try to review both as much and as evenly as possible.
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The motion comic, I don't feel strongly one way or the other. I do like they are trying it - I would like it more if they did original content. As it is, it's pretty slow, especially since it's pretty much the same as a book that I've already read.
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I wish I could say that it gets awesome, although it does get better it really plods along. The art is top-notch however. In the end the whole 'unstuck' in time bit, just doesn't fire up the imagination.
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To me, it came across as a relatively pointless endeavor. The crude animation is more distracting than anything else and the timing and delivery of the dialogue seems a touch stiff and drawn out. But would it still be a comic with better animation? I think I'd prefer some Reading Rainbow style exposition, but then it wouldn't have any motion... Ugh. Still, if this is getting kids into comics, I can't hate it, but even that seems unlikely. Astonishing X-Men is really not a good introductory comic considering it's origins as a love letter to old-school Claremont. Your average reader is not going to appreciate (or understand) Collosus's resurrection.
Also, I stopped reading Daredevil because they hiked its price and I refuse to pay 4$ for a comic. There's one more comic I'll be trade-waiting now. -
It sucks, apparently there isnt any reason for the increase but we are going to have to live with it. Ed B. is done on daredevil so i don't feel as bad putting this one down, but DD is the leader of the hand, so that's interesting enough to probly make me continue to buy it.
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If he draws all his characters that way, then why the disparity between Starr, who looks like Captain Anglo and Trull, who looks like a stunted ape?
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Taking bets.
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Haven't read the comic. I assumed you were making the usual generalized statements about Corben's art. However, if there is indeed some outlandish Sambo shit going on, then go ahead and call him racist. I'll have to find the art in question sometime so I can see where you're coming from. I'd hate to have to stop liking Richard Corben, as racism isn't something I can take lightly.
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(No discredit to your writing) and I read "antagonist" as "protagonist." Guess I'll double check next time I blow my horn.
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Did I read that Mastodon opened for them? I'd think it woulda been the other way around.
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His Lesbian fetish is hilarious.
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I would sayb on average mainstream comics are much more readable today than in the 90's. That was the true reign of art over writing.
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Weren't those old Marvel Super-hero 'cartoons' from the 60s motion comics? They just took Kirby drawings and made the mouths move. Weirdly, I liked those a lot more than the Watchmen and Spider-Woman motion comics.I have to cop to a lack of posting inspiration myself. Mostly what I've been getting excited about lately is old stuff in new collections (Marshall Law Omnibus later this month). There's nothing new I'm really into, except Batman and Robin and, I guess, Invincible.I liked the Old Man Logan hardcover-- I'd skipped the story after disliking the first issue, but it's dumb fun and McNiven's art is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen in a comic, but that's old news by now.That's all I got.
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Could someone tell me why this isn't called a cartoon?
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You're right about the slowness of Cap Reborn. The art is incredible, but I think the biggest fault lies in the story. Sometimes I feel i'm the only person out here in comic book land that just doesn't get Brubaker??? I wonder if it's just me or if his stuff is always a little dull and drawn out? Even when there's action in the story, it just doesn't grab my attention. Ah well, the art on Reborn tho is pretty killer.
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Bite your tongue! Richard Corben is a god among artists. I think Starr is just a meh kinda book, not nearly as entertaining as Den. If you really want your Corben fix look at the 3 part Hellboy story he just did for Dark Horse. Also seek out his Cage book, and Banner book for Marvel. As well as his Bigfoot mini, Werewolf stuff, and Poe stories.
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Read Incognito, not only is it awesome as balls, but it moves so fast you will find yourself backtracking to re-read parts you might have missed the first time
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One of my biggest recent comics frustrations is Cap going to utter dogshit overnight. Some cimcs, like X Factor, seem to trend downward slowly but remain pretty good. Cap went from amazing to terrible literally overnight. She
Hulk did the same thing, back when that book was really clicking on all cylinders. -
The thing is, in hindsight, Sinestro Corps was the highlight of the recent Green Lantern revival. No one knew it at the time, but that was as good as it gets. Pretty much everyone has been a bit dissatisfied with the drawn out buildup to Blackest Night, but assumed "Hey, when BN gets here, its gonna be AWESOME!!" The only problem: its not really that awesome. Sure, its fine, its not terrible, but I have yet to meet anyone in this TB or the LCS who seems to be inspired in any way by that storyline. Its perfectly adequate, and....thats about it. Given the fact that the BN arc is dominating every title in the DCU, you going to see a dropoff in comments on here, because no one really feels like talking about it.
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Here’s the thing with Blackest Night and Events in general.
The “event” is not the majesty of these books — it’s the repercussions of the event.
What was so great about Crisis on Infinite Earths? Was it the individual battles or the ultimate truncating of all the disparate universes? For me it was all the things that happened afterwards.
No matter what your feelings are on the FINAL CRISIS books themselves, I think we can all agree that the repercussions were lackluster.
Sure Batman died, but we all know that was a ruse. (SPOLIER ALERT) And if the events on the closing page of yesterday’s Batman and Robin is any indicator — it was a short lived ruse.
Sinestro Corps War fundamentally changed the Green Lantern universe and you knew all along that it was going to be a game changer going forward. Blackest Night has still yet to reveal how it will fundamentally change things when it closes out. That’s the problem IMHO.
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The Guardians are eliminated (please, just kill 'em all. Fascists.)Aquaman is back and is just Aquaman, not some new interpretation.Death means 'gone for good' in the DC Universe, at least for a little while, but of course what's the point of that-- 'hey, for the next three years we won't resurrect anybody' (but we won't have to because we're resurrecting them all with Blackest Night first).
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@looda - Mastodon was pretty generic sound, but I don't know from metal. More people seemed to be there for Dethklok and they stuck around through everyone else to see them. Concert started at 6:30; Klok started at around 10. Many people were hanging in the lobby for the first two acts; most came up for Mastodon; not many left when Dethklok took the stage. Brendan Smalls knows how to put on a show.
Meanwhile, for those of you who sat through my Mastodon first paragraph, here is the Dethklok paragraph.
One of the reasons I praised Doom Patrol was because of HOW it integrated Blackest Night (so far). It seems to have maintained it's continuing story thread and seamlessly brought in BN and made BN the focal point of the issue, staying exacting to the source material and not making additional lore up, with what looks to be true ramifications going forward. I was impressed. -
Cue completely unrelated Ambush Bug post in 3... 2...
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Who likes these? Spider-woamn was alright, but that was in spite of the motion comic aspect, not because of. Why is Marvel spending money on that crap instead of establishing a direct to DVD adult-fan-aimed animation department?
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The book is slow, that is very true, but I don't know if it's fair to blame the story. I think the story is good. I think the slowness may be because this time in particular, what with the movie on the horizon and all, we are, more than usual, hyper-aware of the fact that Steve is coming back. I mean, that's always the case,, we always know that eventually the status quo will win out, but I think this time in particular, we just know it too well and so the book is saturated with this feeling of: "Come on, just get to it." That last shot, in the last issue, I caught myself thinking: "Oh, so now we have an issue or two of this before we get to have the actual return... ugh... alright..." I think that is what is getting in the way, at least in my case.
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I've only read the first three issues. The first two were great, but the third one was a little drawn out, and yet another colored corps based on some abstract "emotion" was hard to take seriously.
Squashua, in regards to Mastodon, check out there album "Leviathan." Their stuff has been getting continually more bizarre and prog-y as they've gone on, but I'd say that they're considered the definitive metal band these days. Leviathan is not only their most accessible album, but probably their best too. -
Bummer!
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I can't do it and not just because I don't really get into Johns work. No, it's more due to three things.1. I hate Aliens. If life were the Star Wars Universe, I would live to decimate entire planets of Gungens and Ewoks and what-the-fucks all in the name of the glorious Empire.2. I get that Green Lanterns can make pockets to carry their stuff with their rings, but they're Space Cops... How much respect could a Space Cop possiblly receive in skin tight spandex? They're outfits are too silly, and that's saying a lot coming from a die-hard super hero fan. And speaking of silly...3. I understand the "how" of the rings. I get that. What I don't get is the WHY. Why do you have to visualize and create a light construct of a sniper rifle? It just seems like an unnessecary flourish, because in the end, you're still just shooting a beam of light. Why make a fanciful drawing, why can't you just cut out the middle man and shoot the beam of light. I get that comics are a visual medium, ok? I'm talking about the reality of the green lantern world and in that reality, the constructs just seem unnessecary.Also, The Blackest Night Zombies justr seem dumb. "I'm gonna show up and talk about how crappy you are.... Remember the time you borrowed my copy of Every which way but loose? You said you'd rturn it... BUT YOU DIDN'T!... ooooh...I bet you feel bad now, don't you... hahahahaha! Rotting boxing glove! Hi-yah! Remember the time you ate my last pudding out of the fridge? Jerk! Rusty old Bulldozer! KA-smack-o! Hahaha! EVIL ZOMBIE!"
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Goddamnit, I made a mistake.
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Fantastic Book. Just fantastic. Also, Hickman's first arc with the FF was brilliant. Who wants to fight me about it?
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Hickman can certainly write Reed. Let's see what he does with the Thing and the Torch because in Dark Reign: FF they were just filler.
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I think what he did with Reed is a good sign though, as Johnny and Ben are somewhat broader of personality types, and easier to hit in a satisfying way, at least, in comparison to Reed and Sue, who I think are bit more subtle.
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The comic book industry desperately needs to change it's business model. They are still operating under the rules of the business established almost 80 years ago -- and the entertainment world has changed.Comic companies still think of their product as an entertainment DESTINATION. That model worked when comics were a mainstay of entertainment -- for 10¢, 12¢, 20¢ (pick your era)a reader could be entertained for (however long they wanted to read and re-read a comic). The only way to get more Superman was to buy the Aurora model kit and build it yourself.More importantly, the VARIETY of entertainment choices were much, much more narrow. Cartoons were relegated to Saturday morning. There was no cable television with 24 hour content. No internet. No DVD. No video games. The entertainment choices for that demographic of customer was slim. And in that environment, a comic book was a viable value -- and, it was readily accessible; you could buy one off the rack at any pharmacy or grocery store.The advent of all the myriad different forms of entertainment has changed the comic market environment. Comic book companies keep trying to increase sales by events and cross overs, namebrand writers, etc. This is merely shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. A fundamental paradigm shift has to occur within the industry if it is to survive. Comic books can no longer be considered an entertainment DESTINATION purchase. Rather, comics must now become a AUGMENTATION of a destination purchase. In short, comics must become a marketing vehicle for other much more profitable products -- movies, video games, toys, etc.Comic companies must stop trying to make a comic book, per se, a profitable item -- it needs to become a company expense that promotes the bigger picture. If this vehicle is to survive in it's current form, then the companies need to do these things:• Slash the price to merely the cost of production -- stop thinking of the comic book as a profit item; it's not•Change the distribution system -- comics as an advertising vehicle need to be readily accessible again to a broad audience. Right now the comic book demo is 40 year old guys who are willing to drive to the seedy part of town to shell out $40 every month to an overweight goateed asshole with a mustard-stained t-shirt stretched over his man-boobs. That's not really the best strategy if you want to expand your audience.•Quit spending so much money on producing this product; comics are WAAAY over-produced. TOO much effort is being spent on drawing and inking these things. Why do you think deadlines keep getting missed? It's because today's comic book artists are trying to create the Sistine Chapel every month. If the art is so complex that you can't tell what's going on in the feature, that's too much damn pencil work -- pencil work that is adding time and production costs.Quit using expensive paper and cardboard covers -- which doesn't mean "print on toilet paper"; how many of us would complain if comics were printed on the same materials that were used 20 years ago, if it meant that the cost was significantly lowered?My 2¢, anyways. Now get off my lawn.
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I think part of your model has already started to transpire though, specifically the part where they need to tie-in with movies etc...
I know first-hand that upstart companies don't want a piece that will just live as a comic, they all want to leverage the books into some other medium.
As for being over produced, I don't think I want to sacrifice where the artistry and writing has evolved to. However, I would gladly take a lesser quality paper for a price cut. -
Comics will die eventually. If I had to guess it will be when today's Genx and Y are getting into their golden years and millenials rule the Earth.
It's the sam ething as kids not reading books anymore. There's just way more shitout there to grab their attention. -
How did you do those dots? Do you know the secret of BOLD?
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For the heads up on Incognito, I will look for it. Perhaps it will change my opinion on Brubaker, perhaps not. I guess I just felt that the Cap story should have been bigger. But the stuck in time thing is not very impressive so far.
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They don't read comics. That's just a fact, which is why Comics need to stop pretending. This mythical "new reader" is just the big two wasting time and money. We all know who frequents comic shops and it's not some dewy eyed little kid, with a brand new balloon tied to his wrist, a slingshot in his back pocket and a propellor beanie on his head, ready to be swept away into a world of pure imagination! Kid-centric is, at best, an ancillary branch. If they want to make money, they need to focus on their real main demographic now, while they still have a chance, because I think Optimus is right: We're the last generation who are interested in the monthly pamphlets.
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My only concern if larger companies were using comics as "incentives" for the bigger picture would be..."How would they afford to attract talent and pay them for services rendered?" Part of that huge price hike in comics goes to pay the top tier artists and writers. But if they lowered the price, I guess they'd lower their page rates as well.
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I'm not defending what the writers have wrought, but I do need to correct you. The BN Corps members come to someone they know and destabilize their target(s) emotionally in order to ripen their heart for harvesting. Their consolidated power comes from emotion; the how and the why isn't well explained, but that's comics and space zombies for you.
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The movies are mining the comics character troves, but the comics are not taking advantage of the movie audiences. You should get a free comic with your Spider-Man movie ticket. There should be a free comic book in the clamshell with your Batman action figure. And there should be a comic rack in the Wal-Mart toy aisle (yes, I know it's been tried, but it didn't work because the product was too expensive -- see my previous post).The point is, the comics industry needs to make the public AWARE of it's product. For far too long, it's been a closed eco-system. That's why it's consumer is dying off.As for sacrificing artistry -- two things:• Denny O'Neill and Neal Adams were paid with animal crackers, and their work endures. It's what the market is willing to pay -- if comic companies pay ridiculous amounts of money for their content, artists and writers aren't going to say "no, no, I can't take that much -- it just wouldn't be right".• You're not the target audience for expansion -- you're already a consumer. The companies have to figure out how much production they can pare down to cut the price of their product -- enough to entice new shoppers without losing the existing core customer.Dr. ZeusThere are always good artists and writers looking for work. Always.JoenathanPart of the comics industry's current predicament is that they have focused far too much on a narrow market segment for far too long. A small audience only has finite resources -- you can only shill the fanboys for so much cash. After that, you have to expand the market -- if you don't, your market will die off; you have to bring new consumers into the fold. Whether that's kids, women, pygmies, or Jehovah's Witnesses, it doesn't matter. Advertising is not effective if people don't see it, and in the current distribution system, people aren't aware of the medium. If they continue to focus only on their current demographic, you are correct -- this will be the last generation for comic books.
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"The BN Corps members come to someone they know and destabilize their target(s) emotionally in order to ripen their heart for harvesting"Thank you. It's all so clear now...
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That's just it. There is no new comic reader market. There isn't. It's sad, but we're the end. Graphic novels will probably endure, the characters will definately endure, but the week pamphlets are quickly going the way of the Dodo. I'm sad about this, but frankly, I think switching to GNs will only improve story focus... but that's not the point of this post. My point is: Opening a small Video Rental Store these days is an asinine, destined to fail move. Why? Because that markets days are numbered and no amount of advertising will change that. The same applies to the weekly pamphlets. The times they are a'changing.
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Actually there is a new comic reader market. A few years back, I worked for a major retailer (ok, it was the Wal-Mart Evil Empire) as a marketing manager. Books, magazines, collectibles, etc. was one of my categories. We conducted a lot of market research -- being a comic geek, I was able to put a lot more emphasis on the medium than would have otherwise been invested. That's why I can tell you with some authority that there IS a market there -- but price and distribution (i.e., awareness of the medium) are killing the business.By the way, trades are not the salvation -- those just appeal to the same demo and are inaccessible for the same reasons (granted, the distribution is better -- Barnes & Noble, etc. but the pricing is ridiculous.)
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BTW, just because it's not being plumbed doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
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Being a marketing/comm guy myself this intrigues me.
Would an awareness campaign be warrented with a medium so old?
The only way I could say emphatically yes, would be an advertising focus more on the stories within the medium than the medium it self.
Because right now it is a closed eco-system. The only place you see story advertisements is within the comics themselves. Instead of say on popular kids Websites or in other kid focsed magazines and books.
Not having kids I simply believe they don't read anymore except for school or when a phenomenon like Harry Potter hits.
I remember when Entertainment Weekly was covering comics for a good clip and I had a lot of non-comic fans ask me questions (older folks, but still non-comic readers). Where have the reviews gone within other entertainment publications.
OK, I'm rambling now high off the thrill of my two loves marketing and comics coming together. -
You're full of great ideas today. I think there are plenty of new readers out there and your marketing strategies are a hell of a lot more convincing than what's been going on. One can look at the comic book industry in a doom and gloom (I'm a special flower/last of a generation of comic book readers) manner, but what's the point of that? Adding comics to movie tickets, video game tie ins, making them more accessible, and the like are the way to get these things selling.
A question for the talkbackers, how did you discover comics?
My answer; there was a 7-11 type store called the Short Stop down the street from me when I was a kid that had a squeaky spinner rack. I used to go there with my dad to get food, candy, whatever. I remember seeing STAR WARS in the theater a few months prior, then seeing the STAR WARS comic with Luke, Leia, and a green rabbit on the cover in that squeaky spinner rack and had to have it. A comic book reader was born that day and it was the fact that it was a movie tie in and at a convenient location that made it all possible. -
My dad brought me home a Richie Rich because I looked exactly like him.
I devoured it. Then when I was 13 for some reason out of the clear blue the whole Robin death thing piqued my curosity and jumped ship from Harvey to DC.
So in short, I looked like a homo in short pants at first and turned into a morbid teenager. -
My Dad brought me home the Richie Rich because my school was all Jewish, Asian and Middle Easterners and I felt really out of place being the lone toe head.
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I agree that the comic industry business model sucks, but I doubt that the answer is to turn comics completely into a medium of "AUGMENTATION" for other products like movies video games, etc.
I think the problem facing the comics are the arbitrary lines within the industry between "mainstream" and "independent" comics. I remember growing up in a small town and my comic retailer literally making fun of me for ordering Jim Woodring comics, which he otherwise would never carry. "How do you read this crap?", he'd say. While his racks of X-Men comics gathered dust...
Lenil Yu is an amazing draftsman but his talents are wasted doing poorly written bullshit for Marvel. While the independent comics market is over run with self-involved hipsters who can't draw themselves out of a paper bag.
People in the independent camp complain about mainstream comics, but I'd rather look at Lenil Yu's artwork in some stupid superhero book than read Adrian Tomine's poorly drawn bullshit about breaking up with a girlfriend.
That maybe oversimplifying but that's what it feels like when I browsing thorough whats out there.
I agree that the industry needs to do some public outreach because a lot of people just don't understand comics, even things as simple as how to read them... -
I am always amazed at how many noobs struggle with just reading a comic.
"Do I read this balloon first?" Left to right with a little up and down is it really that hard?
Apparently yes it is. -
My older brother and his best friend brought comics home weekly from the local 5-and-10 store (this was the sixties). I loved the bright colors, the colorful characters, and the intriguing situations -- this was during the era of those fantastic Carmine Infantino (and later Neil Adams covers)from '66 - '70. Which is probably why I rail so much about today's non-descript covers.Consequently, I wanted my own comics; I had a weekly allowance of 25¢ - which was enough to buy two issues (plus sales tax). I wanted to draw like the artists in those comics -- in fact, comic books were a huge factor in steering me into a career in art; which developed into graphic design/advertising/marketing.And, I might add, I still have quite a collection of those original Silver Age issues that I've held onto all these years.BTW, thanks, Bug.
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I hope the kids are out there, but I haven't really seen them. I come from a town with no comic book shop. The only place to buy them is at Hastings, this Borders type multimedia chain that sells music, movies, videogames, books and the usual useless garbage you usually find in places like that. The store is notoriously bad at ordering their comics and will often skip them for a week or two. Once, I've seen a kid buying comics. He was getting Deadpool and some other X-Men related book. I told him that he should check out Batman and Robin, but he said he didn't like Batman. I see teenage girls buying manga, and sometimes I see teenage boys buying Watchmen, V For Vendetta, or a Batman trade. I can usually read an entire issue of something there without being bothered. Rarely does somebody else show up to look at comics. Most of the people who do read them are old, ugly fat guys and their white trash girlfriends who like Deadpool.
I've tried and tried to get my friends to read comics, but most of them don't feel as passionately about them as I do. I even gave a girlfriend my copy of Ghost World! I loved that comic, man! But it's not because they don't like comics that they don't buy them. They just don't want to spend the money. It hasn't been a total failure though. One friend has been really getting into Garth Ennis, Batman and Geoff Johns. Another's always eager to read my Grant Morrison and will occasionally buy something himself.
From my personal experience, it looks like this-If you want people to pay 3 or 4 dollars for a comic, you have to get them young. Comics are so overpriced, few people will be willing to pay much for them once they understand the concept of money. Trades and graphic novels are helping the industry because people are holding onto comics more so than they used to. I think that today's generation of Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns and Hush owning people will let their kids read them in the future. Hopefully those guys will be the ones who really bring it back, because the amount of kids reading comics today is abysmal.
I think my first comic book was a Scrooge McDuck comic. There were Vikings involved. I'm glad to see that Disney comics are being published again in America. I'll elaborate on this later, because I've got to go to class in a few minutes. -
I believe kids read, I just think they have "better" options for super heroes, or, at least, the type of options they prefer. Really, the omic form is pretty archaic. It's just a tough sell and I have a hard time believing that there are large sustainable demographics out there for the weekly pamphlets that is currently untouched.
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between a $4 comic and a $4 action figure, it's no contest. Comics don't represent a value to the average customer. Hells bells, you can buy a 100-page glossy magazine (Men's Health, Glamour, you name it) for roughly $4 -- why would you pay $4 for a super-thin comic that's half public service advertisements? You HAVE to reduce the price to make it equitable.
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We all have the same "getting into comics" story. Those days are gone, folks. The spinner racks are all melted down and the shelves in the backs of the Hallmark shops and Walgreens have nothing but gamer and car magazines. The business model for the weekly pamphlet is done. Comic companies need to stop looking at how to salvage them and start looking at what the next evolution will be (GNs, Kindles, motion comics) so that, at least a piece of what we loves survives.
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but is it worth it to the companies at such a reduced margin? Woul they branch out? Give unusual titles a chance? Dip into the D-listers occasionally?
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If I was in charge of Warner's entertainment, I'd pull D.C. under the advertising/marketing umbrella and count the whole damn enterprise as cost of business.Forget trying to make it a profitable enterprise -- give 'em away if you have to, just so people get hooked on Superman. Remember, comics may make millions of dollars (as a whole), but merchandising makes BILLIONS. The money spent on producing a comic is nothing in that context.
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I was just updating my comic database with this week's stuff and had an epiphany.
As I was putting away the last of teh Blackest Night Titans I started going back through some of older issues from the 80s.
None of it matters anymore. What got me collecting was the fact i had to constantly go back becasue new issues referenced things from a few issues or few years prior, with all of the reboots, redoes and perpetual resetting of age, most of those past issues are now moot. Why bother to collect them at all? -
The professor got snowed in. And so continues the saga of me getting comics...
I think the Scrooge McDuck was a Christmas present. Later, I got some Spider-Man and Captain America comics. I thought Cap was a boring dork, but Spidey was really cool. I couldn't afford the new issues, but there were a few used book stores around town and they all had a bunch of back issues for only a dollar, so I tried to get those when I could. They had comics at the grocery store too. I'd always go read them while my mom bought groceries. They don't carry comics there anymore and I don't see them at the gas stations they used to be in. Goddamnit, this is depressing. -
Nov 12, 2009 3:51:55 PM CST
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by internet_chat_helper
We hope that you will chose to support the Internet Chat Association of your choice, online!
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Get working on your resume. Your talents are being put to ill use.
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Get the hell out of here robot!
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If I had a dollar for every time I said that...
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"chose to support." Whatta cheap robot.
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Average $9 these days for a minimal figure with no additional add-ons. Per Wal-Mart. FYI, I just raided the Big Bad Toystore clearance sale 2 weeks back and scored a ton of figures for my kid at $3 a pop, averaged out.
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But the Short Stop, along with other at least one other local convenience store, was the place I stopped at when I was a kid in upstate NY.
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Was what we called the place where the short bus picked up its passengers.
I've always bought my books from an LCS. Nice thing about growing up in Jersey == lots of business diversity. -
would be 80¢ today, adjusted for inflation -- which gives some indication (though not wholly a fair comparison) of how relatively expensive comics have become.
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We used to have TBs on the comic post and it would stay up on the right for days with so many new posts in it daily.
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When niggas had waves, gazelle shades and corn braids
Pitchin pennies honeys had the high top jellys
Shootin skelly motherfuckers was all friendly
Loungin at the barbecues drinkin brews with the neighrborhood crews, hangin on the avenues. Turn your pagers to 1993. Niggas is gettin smoked G, beleive me. -
At least the first two books. The third was pretty limp. And like Joenathan, I didn't care for the Pitt series. Haven't read MOON KNIGHT, but his most recent novels SHOTGUN RULE and THE MYSTIC ART OF ERASING ALL SIGNS OF DEATH are worthy reads. Nothing ever quite as good as CAUGHT STEALING though, which is fan-fucking-tastic in how it puts its main character (and, vicariously, the reader) through the shit-wringer.
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Ma Maverik made Pa Maverik take pre-school Me along on errands so she could drink in peace. I remember being at this old fashioned butcher shop with saw dust on the floor and only a few groceries around the single check out counter. They have a rack that always held approximately five comics. I think I asked for a CASPER or ARCHIE, but since the Old Man knew he'd have to read it to me he got the one where Bruce Banner is hitch hiking and gets a ride from Sam Sterns. I recognized the LA freeway cloverleaf which was not too far from our home in Maverikalto, CA. Bruce didn't Hulk out but Sam Leadered-out and sicked the Glob on the Hulk. Just a few years later, the old man brought home a MASTER OF KUNG FU and CONAN THE BARBARIAN and said, "Some weirdo left these in the shitter at work." I was both vaguely grossed out, hooked and guilty about the weird having nothing to read next time he needed to lay a log. Comics became a permanent addiction just a few years after that when I was heavily into monster movies and the Marvel's Bronze age horror wave was in full swing. WEREWOLF BY NIGHT. ADVENTURES INTO FEAR WITH MORBRIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE. TOMB O' DRACULA. Switched to superheroes after the MARVEL TEAM UP one-two of SPIDER-MAN and THE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER! TOGETHER! followed by SPIDER-MAN and MAN WOLF! TOGETHER!
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when niggaz had waves
Gazelle shades, and corn braids
Pitchin pennies, honies had the high top jellies
Shootin skelly, motherfuckers was all friendly
Loungin at the barbeques, drinkin brews
with the neighborhood crews, hangin on the avenues
Turn your pagers, to nineteen ninety three
Niggaz is gettin smoked G, believe me
Talk slick, you get your neck slit quick
Cause real street niggaz ain't havin that shit
Totin techs for rep, smokin blunts in the project
hallways, shootin dice all day
Wait for niggaz to step up on some fightin shit
We get hype and shit and start lifin shit
So step away with your fist fight ways
Motherfucker this ain't back in the days, but you don't hear me though
[Verse Two]
No more cocoa leave-io, one two three
One two three, all of this to me, is a mystery
I hear you motherfuckers talk about it
But I stay seein bodies with the motherfuckin chalk around it
And I'm down with the shit too
For the stupid motherfuckers wanna try to use Kung-Fu
Instead of a Mac-10 he tried scrappin
Slugs in his back and, that's what the fucks happenin
when you sleep on the street
Little motherfuckers with heat, want ta leave a nigga six feet deep
And we comin to the wake
To make sure the cryin and commotion ain't a motherfuckin fake
Back in the days, our parents used to take care of us
Look at em now, they even fuckin scared of us
Callin the city for help because they can't maintain
Damn, shit done changed
[Verse Three]
If I wasn't in the rap game
I'd probably have a key knee deep in the crack game
Because the streets is a short stop
Either you're slingin crack rock or you got a wicked jumpshot
Shit, it's hard being young from the slums
eatin five cent gums not knowin where your meals comin from
And now the shit's gettin crazier and major
Kids younger than me, they got the Sky grand Pagers
Goin outta town, blowin up
Six months later all the dead bodies showin up
It make me wanna grab the nine and the shottie
But I gotta go identify the body
Damn, what happened to the summertime cookouts?
Everytime I turn around a nigga gettin took out
Shit, my momma got cancer in her breast
Don't ask me why I'm motherfuckin stressed, things done changed -
ESSENTIAL DEATHLOK VOL. 1. We got Killraven, which was cool when Don McGregor was writing him. Now, we need Deathlok.Bug, my theory about comics with the title character appearing is that these clowns have read about the old time Spirit comics without actually reading them and they're playing Will Eisner.I don't mind a story in a series with a cameo by the title character ... if it works. They should try to make their stories ... what's the word I'm looking for ... good ... yeah, good!For instance, we got any Robert E. Howard fans here? Everybody? Cool. So you've all read the THE BLACK STRANGER and you'll agree that despite the storiy's acclaim, Conan in that much of a supporting role, basically just there for the action, was hard to read, unlike, say RED NAILS or THE PEOPLE OF THE BLACK CIRCLE.Any way, get me ESSENTIAL DEATHLOK and that's a comic I'll buy and re-read.
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5th Grade, Columbus, Ohio: I walked into the Tremont Pharmacy one day after school to buy a candy bar – and noticed this freaky-ass monster with a carrot nose that look insanely cool reaching out from the cover on the spinner rack. It was Marvel’s FEAR magazine, featuring Man-Thing on the cover – and I picked it up, browsed thru it…and it blew my mind! (I was heavily into all things monsters at the time, and obsessed over all those cool Aurora monster models) I bought that issue and read it over and over – then the next week or so, picked up TOMB OF DRACULA and WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, and I was hooked. And yes, like Buzz Maverik, I picked up issue #12 of MARVEL TEAM-UP (with Spidey & Werewolf by Night) – and that launched me down the superhero trail. Silver Age 70s was a great time to get on the comics wave – I jumped on just as Wolverine, Punisher, all the new X-Men made their debuts. And loved Daredevil, X-Men – and really really dug The Defenders. Good times….
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Uncanny X-Men #186: Life death. Storm minus powers, hanging out with Forge. #198: Life Death 2: Storm minus powers, hanging out in Africa. #205: Wounded Wolf - Wolverine vs. cyborgs in a blizzard. Great Barry Windsor-Smith art. Miles away from the other crap out there. I used to go to a local video store (the first in Michigan, and still the best) and stare at all the cool covers. I believe it was GI Joe of all things that got me into actually collecting comics, right around the time when Ripcord and Candy Appel and Billy and the Soft Master got stuck in an exploding car.
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Content. It's gets down to content. Marvel and DC (but mostly Marvel)have been preaching to the choir for over a decade now. Superhero comics for their aging fanbase. Us. Pretty much anybody over 21.If you read these "how I got into comics" posts, you see that a lot of people were interested in a genre, another medium and picked up comic for that reason. That lead them into the superhero stuff.Someone smart in comics should be rushing out a series about a girl and her teen dream vampire boyfriend and call it NIGHTFALL or something. Or...judging by some recent horror movies, a comic about some evil ghost/spirit character who torments people lives with some high tech investigators following it from haunting to abduction to haunting. Probably wouldn't be blockbusters, but if it were marketed outside the comic shops where the ... well, let's stop disrespecting zombies by calling mindless superhero-only fans zombies, let's call 'em sheep, shop, might bring in some new readers.
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Well said Buzz. It seems like there's a lot of smaller companies that've figured this out and are publishing a lot of stuff to attract new readers. Take, for example, IDW's proliferation of Transformers, various video-games and the last week's "Jennifer Love Hewitt's Magical Music Box." The only problem is that most of this crap isn't widely distributed enough to make it to the non-comic buying market and they end up in the Comic shop dollar bin. The behemoths of Marvel and DC are financially well-off enough that they can focus on their core fanbase. Even DC relegates their videogame and shit tie-ins to the WIldstorm line so they don't sully their brand (or something.)
And even though comics supposedly went mainstream in a big way with the Iron Man, Dark Knight and Watchmen movies over the past year or so, I haven't seen any signs that this is true. I've seen a more comics related merchandising than I have since the first Spider-Man movie, but no whole-hearted embrace of comic book culture. If anythings, there's only been a gradual acknowledgment of it's existence. -
Too many typos for me to want to clarify in this post.
However, I will go on the record in saying that the new Clipse video has me stoked for Till the Casket Drops. The video itself is the usual generic club/crack bullshit, but the song is the best I've heard from them this year. -
The old time comic book hustlers would have looked at a show like LOST a few years back and we would have had a comic book called WEIRD ISLAND. Today, they pay big-money-for-comics-but-chump-change-for-a-TV-producer to get LOST creator Desmond Lindberger to do something strikingly original like Wolverine vs. Hulk. Well, as much as I've always wanted to see those two fight (second only to a Thing/Hulk battle), I think a LOST comic or a comic with LOST brand weirdness would have helped the industry better in LOST'S heyday. They hire Joss Whedon to do X-MEN when we've got X-MEN already. What they need to do is hire some comic writer for a fraction of the cost, but whom the money will mean something to, to do, I dunno, MOLLY THE MONSTER HUNTER. Where are the Pokemon and Bakugon rip offs, etc...
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(on a Tuesday night, no less) I just saw a Blackest Night add on a rap mixtape site, so way to go on that cross-marketing, DC.
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