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First--Pandora's Box Trilogy! Review it!
by dead youngling
Mar 28th, 2007
02:04:57 PM
DO IT!
The Pandora's Box Trilogy Book One: Into the Void
by dead youngling
Mar 28th, 2007
02:15:08 PM
see myspace for teaser. search the name.
Comics are great and all
by purplemonkeydw
Mar 28th, 2007
02:18:03 PM
but you can make igloos out of DVDs. DVDigloo!
Spirit
by Spaz_Monkey
Mar 28th, 2007
02:18:45 PM
I would LOVE to see Cooke win the Eisner for his take on The Spirit. His love for the character is evident in every word, every panel he puts on the page. Darwyn Cooke is proving himself to be the true heir to Will Eisner, and god damn, i love him for that!........ Oh, and I'm freakin loving Waid & Perez together! The same kind of fun adventure that brought me into comics 30 years ago.
Nasty Bunny
by Matthew Domville
Mar 28th, 2007
02:21:37 PM
That bunny has ill intentions. Also: ALICE spelled sideways is CALIE, though I'm sure most of you already noticed that.
ALICE spelled sideways is CALIE
by Spaz_Monkey
Mar 28th, 2007
02:23:20 PM
I *KNOW*! Can you believe it? If that isn't a bad omen, then nothing is!
That one page from Return To Wonderland is a hoot
by Mr Incredible
Mar 28th, 2007
02:29:32 PM
It looks like the cover of a softcore porn DVD, with bubbles just in all the right places. You really expect me to take this book seriously? Please.
Brave and Bold #2 is the most fun superhero book out no
by Tacom
Mar 28th, 2007
02:30:01 PM
Superhero was right on in his review. What more can be said about George Perez' art? Amazing. Loved GL trying not to think of how hot Kara is "17. 17. 17." Best line: "I have food in my refrigerator older than her! Who am I, Ollie?" The way he let her down was great. Waid's characterization is cool and perfect. I kind of hate is kind of airhead in the DC universe in general but Perez drew her better than anybody has.
Brave and Bold #2 is the most fun superhero book out
by Tacom
Mar 28th, 2007
02:31:01 PM
Superhero was right on in his review. What more can be said about George Perez' art? Amazing. Loved GL trying not to think of how hot Kara is "17. 17. 17." Best line: "I have food in my refrigerator older than her! Who am I, Ollie?" The way he let her down was great. Waid's characterization is cool and perfect. I kind of hate is kind of airhead in the DC universe in general but Perez drew her better than anybody has.
So
by El Vale
Mar 28th, 2007
03:01:26 PM
What seems to be up?
I'm reading Hellblazer in trade...
by rev_skarekroe
Mar 28th, 2007
03:15:39 PM
...so someone tell me, have they picked up on the cliffhanger at the end of Mike Carey's run, or is everyone just ignoring the fact that Constantine's evil mystical offspring are running around loose?
Also, I'm sick to death of Alice reboots
by rev_skarekroe
Mar 28th, 2007
03:18:26 PM
Ooh, let's make Alice in Wonderland all twisted and scary and sexy! It's been done to death, man.
Ambush Bug
by princess Zombielicious
Mar 28th, 2007
03:30:19 PM
I can feel the excitement in Ambush Bug's review. He always does such a great job reviewing comics that thrill him. Ambush Bug, you're an inspiration.
The Spirit & the state of X-Books
by The Heathen
Mar 28th, 2007
03:38:08 PM
Prof, I absolutely agree with everything in your review of The Spirit. I must have looked at the opening spread for ten minutes. I love having those as the opening credits and then the rest of the story too. Dave Stewart on colors is kicking ass. Right on about the desert scenes. He makes it feel not only hot, but dry and unpleasant too while at the same time an absolute joy to look at. I love this book.

Bug! I love X-Factor too, but here's where I disagree:
"the X-books are in such a sad state these days."
AXM may be dreadfully late, but it always delivers when it does arrive. Ed Brubaker is on Uncanny X-Men and it may not be as good as X-Factor (it's not) or AXM, but it's the best that book's been in years. X-Men? Fuck Bachalo or whoever is drawing that book. I don't care for adjective-less X-Men and I don't count New X-Men, Excalibur, Exiles, X-Files or anything else as a 'main' X-Book. Also, Layla Miller is actually kind of really great when not written by Bendis (sorry Bendii). Peter David has really done good with her character. I love how she tells Jamie that they're going to get married. Just thought I'd get all huffy about that. *huff* We good? Good.
Aquaman: Gayer Than Charles Nelson Reilly
by Douche Baggins
Mar 28th, 2007
03:46:07 PM
Never trust a comic written by a guy named Tad. Tad is not a name, it is a unit of measure.
...
by blackthought
Mar 28th, 2007
03:53:56 PM
brave and the bold and the spirit....sweet books. i must read the latest cal story, sounds obviously dope.
Brave and the Bold?
by El Vale
Mar 28th, 2007
04:15:17 PM
Yuck. Seriously, that's like the worst title ever.
But you can make a hat out of a comic...
by superhero
Mar 28th, 2007
04:18:09 PM
So comics are better than DVDigloos...so there...
Vale is smokin' that Columbian weed again...
by superhero
Mar 28th, 2007
04:19:14 PM
C'mon Vale...seriously...are you gonna share or what? Stop Bogartin' that weed son!
touche superhero
by purplemonkeydw
Mar 28th, 2007
04:36:42 PM
well played sir, well played indeed
Buzz Thinks (Ouch!)...
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 28th, 2007
04:45:57 PM
Ambush Bug likes the CAL MCDONALD comic so much because the guy on the cover looks just like Ambush Bug...

Yeah, what is it with ALICE IN WONDERLAND comics(with all due respect to my good friend Vroom Socko who conducted an excellent interview with Mr. Gregory)? I mean, most comic readers are dudes from their teens to their early 1000s these days. Isn't it like:

"Hey, Todd, whatcha readin'? Some cool, twisted Vertigo thing? The Punisher? CIVIL WAR: DAMNED YANKEES or what?"

"It's a new take on ALICE IN WONDERLAND about her daughter."

"I am now going to hurt you badly, Todd."

DD #95 review from IGN.com
by nofate
Mar 28th, 2007
04:53:27 PM
"There's nothing in this issue that would really make me want to come back, making me believe that all is not what it seems. If I'm a new reader, why should I sit around saying, "Well maybe it will get better?" There are too many good books out there to really sit around with material that isn't eliciting a decent reaction. For me, this issue just didn't cut it."

And there you have it. Yes it's IGN so take it for what it's worth but still. Thanks a lot Brubaker, it took you less than a year to fuck up the best five years of DD stories since Frank Miller's. FUCK YOU!
Aquaman doesn't resonate because....
by CarmillaVonDoom
Mar 28th, 2007
05:05:42 PM
...humans never lived under the sea. That's my opinion...just not a lot of history to delve into down in the briny deep...and Bug, how can X-Factor be the best...wouldn't that be Astonishing??? Oh, and you got anyone reading any of the Virgin line??
It would not be ironic...
by DukeOfSpiders
Mar 28th, 2007
05:31:15 PM
...for Darwin Cooke's SPIRIT series to win the Eisner Award. Irony is when you expect the exact opposite... like if everyone in the comic-reading world expected Darwin Cooke's SPIRIT to win an Eisner and then instead some crap by Rob Liefeld did. THAT would be irony. Cook's SPIRIT winning the Eisner would be more like poetic justice.
You mean Columbian
by El Vale
Mar 28th, 2007
05:36:46 PM
As in from the district of Columbia?
Irony
by Prof Challenger
Mar 28th, 2007
05:44:10 PM
I agree that it would be poetic justice. However, I also think it could be construed as "ironic" at the same time simply because of the perceived incongruity of an award named for Eisner presenting an award to a series entitled "Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT." Sweet poetic justice. Everyone fill out their ballot boxes accordingly this year!!!
X-Factor and the Virgin Line
by Ambush Bug
Mar 28th, 2007
06:35:59 PM
I'll be reviewing the new GATEKEEPER series from Virgin next week. It's Guy Richie and Diggle...haven't read it yet, but I'm thinking I'll probably like it.

I haven't really been astonished by Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. I like the Kitty and Colossus stuff, but the intergalactic stuff is played and I guess I'm just sick of all of the main X-Men at this point no matter how well they are written. They need to disappear for a while before they become interesting for me again. And to me, they have since I'm not picking up any x-book but Astonishing and X-Factor. David just does a great job with the characters and is actually doing interesting things with Madrox's powers.
finish The Gift
by v1cious
Mar 28th, 2007
06:57:51 PM
that's all i ask damnit.
I'm a Kyle lover too.
by SleazyG.
Mar 28th, 2007
07:04:58 PM
I'm sick to fuckin' death of Hal Jordan. Dude shoulda stayed dead. First a shitty run as a pussy-assed Spectre, then yet another goddamned resurrection of a character that shoulda never happened. Fuckin' Alex Ross and all the other fuckin' whiny-assed Jordan-lovers can go screw. Kyle was a better character from the beginning, and he got to have an actual character arc where he grew as a Lantern and as a person. Hal, meanwhile? "Hey, look at me! I'm still a cocky dickwad fighter pilot, only with a heavy concience now!" Whoopedeedoo. Not knockin' the job Johns is doing with the book--it's just that it's a weaker character. Better costume? No question. But Kyle's the better character. Always has been.
i dunno about vale but i'm sick
by blackthought
Mar 28th, 2007
07:31:17 PM
of ppl spelling COLOMBIA wrong...seriously, where do you get the u's? though i agree the district of columbia does have some good weeds. all over the place...i think. shrugs*
What? No Marshall Rogers Tribute?
by the G-man
Mar 28th, 2007
08:26:37 PM
One of the definitive bat-artists dies and no mention?
In any event, yeah, Perez is now officially the best
by the G-man
Mar 28th, 2007
08:28:12 PM
Seriously. The guy's one of, if not the, only artists to actually get better over a thirty year career.
Marshall who?
by El Vale
Mar 28th, 2007
09:13:15 PM
Seriously, stop making up definitive Bat-artists
Marshall Rogers..
by Thalya
Mar 28th, 2007
10:11:57 PM
Cut his teeth on the very first Calculator story/arc in 'Tec #463-468. This makes him perfect, dontcha know, Vale? He was only 57, too. May he rest in peace.


*sighs and goes and hides under the hamster wheel* I've had enough of death these past few months to last me a long while... *reads bright and shiny Brave and the Bold and BoP*
Can Disney sue?
by Brand Echh
Mar 29th, 2007
02:10:04 AM
Aside from the fact that all the art I've seen from this thing so far looks like some of the lower quality soft core commissions from Al Rio's website ... nothing wrong with cheesecake when done right, but Cavewoman this isn't ... the writer doesn't seem to have read Alice in Wonderland or done much research. Now, that doesn't mean the writer NEEDS to do research to write about Alice, but having read the various versions of Alice (Wonderland, Underground, Looking Glass) and owning the Annotated version, it seems pretty clear this version has nothing to do with the original and more to do with the Disney version. What makes me say that? The quote is lifted directly from Disney's cartoon and appears no where in that order (or from Alice) in the book(s). It's not like there are any shortage of good quotes that could have fit the situation...
whoa
by blackthought
Mar 29th, 2007
08:47:08 AM
marshall died? not cool...march is not a good month. too many dead i say...too many.
Quote whores...
by loodabagel
Mar 29th, 2007
09:56:43 AM
Surprisingly, it seems that both Peter Travers and Leonard Maltin are currently far behind Maxim's Pete Hammond, who already has about 35 quotes in various ads for various (sucky) movies. Just thought you'd like to know. Also, Thunderbolts is indeed a damn cool comic, having recently read issue 3.
See what just the NAME "Aquaman" does in a title?
by CarmillaVonDoom
Mar 29th, 2007
09:59:27 AM
This is the least amount of talk-backing for AICN comics in weeks! ;^)
Nosferatu is in Criminal Macrabe!
by loodabagel
Mar 29th, 2007
10:03:49 AM
To alla those who skimmed ober that review, you should know that. I'll try to pick this up sometime. I freakin' order you to do the same.
curse Aquaman…
by The Heathen
Mar 29th, 2007
10:13:36 AM
Aquaf@g or whatever on the other hand is talkback gold apparently.
Whoulda thunk?
by loodabagel
Mar 29th, 2007
10:28:12 AM
That's quite the point you've got there Heathen. Might I also add that the only comic I'm really ashamed to own is an Aquaman one? It's that bad. Aquaman should be cool. Aquaman should be cool. Aquaman should be cool. Maybe if everyone says t three times and clicks their heels together it'll work.
Since when..
by Thalya
Mar 29th, 2007
10:40:47 AM
..is a guy whose only powers are that he can TALK TO FISH supposed to be cool?
I'm ashamed to own…
by The Heathen
Mar 29th, 2007
10:47:24 AM
four issues of The CW, some of Chuck Austen's X-Men run, Peter Milligan's X-Men run, an issue of Daredevil: Father and I'm embarrassed to own the past 7 or 8 issues of Aquaman, although I've dropped it (thought I'd give it to #50 to see if it'd turn around - nope). I mean, there's no way you can explain to someone who see's that you have an Aquaman comic that it is cool. You should just admit defeat.
T…
by The Heathen
Mar 29th, 2007
10:50:52 AM
Yeah! Animal Man can talk to ALL animals, even alien ones and use their abilities. He should kick Aquaman's ass.

I never got why their was a new Aquaman either? I know that the Dweller is supposedly the OG Arthur/Aquaman, but who is the new Arthur Curry and why is he named Arthur Curry? Wha???
He's Earth-22 or something Aquaman, H..
by Thalya
Mar 29th, 2007
11:03:58 AM
yawn
by Shigeru
Mar 29th, 2007
11:27:47 AM
Am I bad person because I don't like both The Bold and the Beautiful and The Spirit?
I got the first 2 issues of the Spirit and it left me completely cold. I mean, it was alright storytelling but a terrible introduction to the character.
Oh yeah...
by The Heathen
Mar 29th, 2007
11:32:30 AM
Forgot about how *NON SPOILER SINCE DIDIO, MELTZER, ETC. SPOILED IT* there was a multiverse again, err, still. Even if he is, how is his Dad and whatever still on 'this' DC verse? They better give me something better than wall punching. I don't really see the need for Aquaman to be from another Earth-? unless DC specifically wanted to use the title to do so because they think that it stinks too or something.
Aquaman's response to all of you...
by superhero
Mar 29th, 2007
11:43:03 AM
http://tinyurl.com/2qhnn9 Courtesy of Squash or Bug or one of the @-holes...I can't remember which one...
I think the point was...
by Thalya
Mar 29th, 2007
11:43:50 AM
Regular old Aquaman was boring because all he ever did was lose his kingdom and his wife and kept having to win them back again. A new character at least wouldn't be bound by the role of royalty like Orin was. And dude, the only way someone from another earth is on New Earth is because Alex Luthor shuffled the bag and most likely brought in pieces, not just people from alternate earths. It explains how the JSA had their original brownstone post-COIE when it was nowhere to be found on Earth-1. We're talking about WORLDS merging here.
The Spirit: my only monthly book
by teethgnasher
Mar 29th, 2007
11:50:55 AM
I can wait for the others to be collected in a trade. Does DC have any other books that ship on time? Just curious. It seems that The Spirit comes out on a regular basis and others don't. I could be wrong. What happened to All-Star Batman, Superman and WonderWoman books?
but now…
by The Heathen
Mar 29th, 2007
12:03:31 PM
the 'new' Aquaman is going to be just as boring AND twice as confusing. What about the original Brownstone? 'Splain please.

Ha, great link superhero.

"It's all good. Somehow I manage to suffer through it. I soldier bravely the fuck on, comforted only by the small but telling fact that I'm absolute goddamn ruler of—what was it again?—oh, yeah: the EARTH."

Good stuff.

Shig, yes, you are a bad person. Nah, not really, but I can't believe you don't like The Spirit. I'm loving it. Even the damn cover stock is perfect to me. I didn't know anything about The Spirit besides that Will Eisner created him of course, but I'm digging this book. I took the introduction to the character to be something like watching Batman: The Animated series from the beginning. Meaning that you're not going to get 'THE' origin opening episode, but they fill you in along the way. That's how I've taken it so far. Issue three did something like that, check that out and see if it changes your opinion maybe?
Vote for the Eagle Awards
by The Heathen
Mar 29th, 2007
12:27:49 PM
http://tinyurl.com/ywm6ng

My votes went like this: Bru, Cooke, Quitely, Palmiotti, Ross, Martin, Starkings, Wacker, DC, All Star Supes, Event Horizon???, The Walking Dead, How To Date A Girl In Ten Days???, JSA, Battle Royale???, The Killer???, All Star Supes, 52, Pride of Baghdad, Absolute New Frontier, Daredevil, Black Adam, Comics Journal, The Art of Brian Bolland, Justice League Unlimited, Newsarama, Penny Arcade???, and BKV. *whew*
you didn't vote for Alex Toth?? (last category)
by Shigeru
Mar 29th, 2007
12:38:58 PM
You are evil. EEEEEEEEEEEEVIL. Nigga died this year.
I think I was slightly mistaken, actually..
by Thalya
Mar 29th, 2007
12:38:59 PM
My point was that it wasn't just people but buildings and businesses (Sundollars Coffee that just started popping up overnight after IC?) that crossed over. The JSA brownstone, while not in existence as JSA HQ immediately after COIE, was Wesley Dodds' (the original Sandman) old brownstone, which got converted to museum and HQ at the start of the new JSA team from one volume ago. That points to Wes' brownstone having gotten carried over from Earth-2, so..
I am.
by The Heathen
Mar 29th, 2007
12:45:55 PM
Evil. Figured that list would get some talk a backin goin! Yeehah!

T, I read about the Sundollars Coffee thing, but I'm honestly confused even more now about the Brownstone. Abuh???
H..
by Thalya
Mar 29th, 2007
01:00:02 PM
I was off when I first spoke. I originally thought that JSA HQ must've transferred whole right after COIE, but then when fact-checking I remembered what was what RE: the brownstone becoming HQ, instead of already being HQ. Really, just the way Sundollers just popped up literally overnight, undoubtedly from alternate earths, so the same sort of thing happened with the brownstone.
I Sorta Agree With Sleazy About Hal Jordan.
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
01:01:40 PM
The Hal Jordan characterization was what stopped me dead in my tracks with NEW FRONTIER. I reviewed the first issue here and stopped after that. People have fucking begged me to "give it a try, please, Buzz". I'm like, "What? Are you Darwyn Cooke's Mom? Do you get money?" I'm sorry, the leftie Canadian can't have a hero who kills in military combat, because his hero can't do something the writer doesn't approve of? PC-leeze! Fighter pilots are warriors, bay-bee. Single combat warriors in many cases. They are tough and they are lethal. You can see me on a guy getting a space ring and making things out of light to fight evil, but ya can't sell me on a pacifist, conscientious objector fighter pilot who -- and this is the really stupid part -- is such a great pilot that he can fly successful missions without shooting down enemy planes. Dig it. I'll buy the flying rodent guy out of avenge Mommy and Daddy. I'll buy the indestructible space orphan. The web shooting nerd. The radioactive, green body builder. The rock, flame on, stretch and the chick. But sell stupid somewhere else. I wouldn't mind reading about an utterly confident, reckless superhero who believes he's the complete master of any situation he's in and strikes with steel nerves and battle trained ruthlessness, while cracking jokes about it. But that's just me, yewseewhutImsayin'?
Stupid Lack Of Edit Feature...
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
01:06:35 PM
..."you can see me on a guy getting a space ring..."

"Yes, we can, Buzz, and not to be homophobic, but in yer case it's damned sickening!"

Sell. I meant sell. Really. Sell.

Marshall Rogers...
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
01:12:32 PM
...was an exceptionally talented artist. He drew, sharp, clear realistic comics. He's probably best known for a short run on Batman, partnered with writer Steve Engelhart, collected in a trade called STRANGE APPARITIONS. Really fine stuff. He teamed again with Mr. Engelhart on the first several issues of the 1980s SILVER SURFER to produce some beautiful work. They reteamed for a sequel to STRANGE APPARITIONS, which, in my opinion fell short in terms of story (I hate to admit it because Engelhart is a great, underrated comic writer) but not in the art. I'm sure Marshall Rogers did a lot of other fine work, of which I'm not so familiar.
The Laughing Fish story by Marshall Rogers...
by stones_throw
Mar 29th, 2007
02:16:33 PM
and Steve Englehart is probably my favourite Batman story that I've read.
Buzz, re: Hal in New Frontier
by Shigeru
Mar 29th, 2007
02:19:33 PM
That really stuck in my craw, too. Other than that great read, tho.
The Spirit
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
02:57:54 PM
Actually, The Spirit really got going with issue 3. It's still not the greatest thing ever, but it's pretty solid.
Yeah, I'd Looked Forward To NEW FRONTIER...
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
02:59:13 PM
...but I had a so many problems with that first issue. The now cliched Batman vs. Superman, even though it was staged. I can't remember if the Wonder Woman scene in the bar in Viet Nam was in the first or second issue. I may have checked out the second issue in the shop. I was thinking,"Okay, Batman vs. Superman. DARK KNIGHT and KINGDOM COME, bay-bee. Now, this bar scene reminds me an awful lot of Dr. Manhattan confronting the Comedian in the Viet Nam bar." Mainly, while I'm not a big fan of grim and gritty comics, I'm often suspicious of a writer who won't go to what James Ellroy would call the character's dark places, in any medium. And I'm all for fantasy and suspension of disbelief, but it's taking PC too far when you can't have your fighter pilot hero killing in aerial combat. Nobody is going to accuse the writer of war crimes, ya know? And nobody is going to confuse the writer with the character (if anybody makes that mistake, it usually the writers themselves). Guess what? The Korean War happened. Wars happen. People kill in wars and sometimes it's necessary. My neo-hippie niece, Star Maverik, was going on and on about how horrible SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was and why do we have to have wars and armies, etc. I'm by no means a hawk, myself, but I finally got fed up and put in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. At the end, my niece was like, "Oh. That's why they had to invade Normandy." I agree that Cooke completely blew it with Hal Jordan. He had a few choices. The best choice would have been to accept a character who does things and has viewpoints that Cooke himself would never have. Another choice would have been to not use Green Lantern. Still another, would have been to start with Jordan after the war, messed up from all the killing he's done. Garth Ennis dealt with themes of war and its' effects in his WW II comics for DC a few years back. Those were both superb and smart. I will say that NEW FRONTIER was glorious to look at.
NEW FRONTIER
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
03:17:00 PM
All those reasons for walking away from the series are what made me quite buying it with issue #1, too. But I went and bought the Absolute edition only for the art and after I finished READING the story, I hereby declare it one of the best comic books/graphic novels ever published starring super-heroes.

Every problem that I had with the first issue was addressed and handled creatively and excellently. NEW FRONTIER blew away everything else I read last year.

My votes
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
03:34:52 PM
Favourite Comics Writer: Surprisingly, i have to go with Warren Ellis. I looked at the books he's nominated for and i have to say i enjoyed his work a lot more than i did anyone else's...and Alan Moore doesn't count because he only wrote the one thing and he probably finished his part like 8 years ago
Favourite Comics Writer/Artist: Cooke...Solo
Favourite Comics Artist: Pencils: Quitely, duh
Favourite Comics Artist: Inks: Ultimates 2 guy
Favourite Artist: Fully-Painted Artwork: HA! I went with Maleev for that gorgeous NA issue. In your face
Favourite Colourist: Dave Stewart of course
Favourite Letterer: Todd Klein
Favourite Editor: Axel Alonso. You guys think i'm doing it just to spite you, but check out that book he's nominated for...see? Yes, MAX Punisher
Favourite Publisher: Marvel
Favourite Colour Comicbook - American: All Star Superman
Favourite Colour Comicbook - British: 200AD?
Favourite Black and White Comicbook - American: The Walking Dead
Favourite Black and White Comicbook - British: How to date a girl in 10 days (I like the publisher's name)
Favourite New Comicbook: Nextwave i guess
Favourite Manga: Battle Royale. It sounds cool?
Favourite European Comics: The Killer. Guys, you have to trust me on this one, it's one of the best books being published today. Read it
Favourite Comics Story published during 2006: All Star Supes Ongoing
Favourite Comics Cover published during 2006: Nextwave #11
Favourite Original Graphic Novel: Lost Girls (And everyone's jaw drops to the floor...no way did Vale just pick that!)
Favourite Reprint Compilation: Absolute New Frontier, because it's the one i would've bought had i been able to
Favourite Comics Character: Batman, i guess, because i really like Batman today
Favourite Comics Villain: Dirk Anger
Favourite Magazine About Comics: The Comics Journal, because i've always wanted to read it and feel cultured
Favourite Comics-Related Book: The Art of Brian Bolland, because how cool would it be if i'd actually read it?!
Favourite Comics-Based Movie Or TV: I can't believe i fucking have to pick V for Vendetta. You know what? Fuck it, i'm going with JLU
Favourite Comics Related Website: CBR
Favourite Web-Based Comic: PVP?
Roll of Honour: Alex Toth
New Frontier
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
03:43:22 PM
I agree with the Prof. That fucking book is glorious. Cooke did go to Hal Jordan's dark places, in my opinion, because here's a guy who's fighting a war but thinks he doesn't have to kill anyone in order to live through it, and then it turns out he did have to kill a frightened little boy in order to survive...because that's war. And it messes him up.

Ennis' War stories? Fucking amazing. What ennis does with 50 pages is just brilliant.
Cooke Should Have Done Better Research.
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
04:00:35 PM
That scenario would work better for an infantry man. The key word in "fighter pilot" is "fight". He'd have been court marshalled and sent to Lebonworth, or if he was lucky, put in the infantry as a conscientous objector and maybe made a corpman. That is if his buddies didn't kill him first. I mean, FULL METAL JACKET had a far better take on the same scenario. Sgt. Joker is a badass Marine but he's also full of shit. He and Pvt. Rafterman are attached to a field unit and sent into the city of Hue where the only door to door fighting took place during the Viet Nam war. Joker has "Born To Kill" magic markered on his helmet, but also wears a peace sign ("I wanted to make a statement about the duality of man, sir!" "Fuck the duality of man, Sergeant. All I ask of my marines is that they obey me as they would the word of God."). A sniper starts picking apart the squad from inside a building. Joker and Rafterman get inside and Joker discovers the shooter is a young girl. She's about to blow him away when Rafterman nails her. The rest of the squad converges. The girl is suffering. The others are going to leave her, but Joker delivers a mercy shot. The Marines misinterpret, thinking that Joker is a stone cold killer, admiring him for it. Animal Mother (a great, scary, psycho performance by Adam Baldwin), Joker's rival for badassdom, tries to one up Joker by cutting off her head. This works, first and foremost because Joker is by no means a pacifist. He's just conflicted.
Yeah
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
04:13:04 PM
I guess that's the difference between DC New Frontier and Full Metal Jacket.
Yeah, but...
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
04:17:11 PM
This ain't FULL METAL JACKET. FMJ works because it is set within a realistic environment. NF, while initially a turn-off, came together to work within the fictional world it set forth for itself. In the real world, a fighter pilot deciding he can get away without killing anyone is a dead man. In the world of Silver Age super-heroes, where a Martian can somehow become a police detective, with no birth certificate or education, or where a Superman can be somehow nationally deputized by the President as a law-enforcer, or where a spotlight with a bat-silhouette ALWAYS has something solid to project itself onto in the sky -- it works.

I don't think it would work within DC continuity as it stands now, but I would say that it wound up ultimately working within the world of NF. And the main reason it worked is because it set up extreme audacity on the part of pilot Jordan and projected him into a situation where he had to violate his flippant ultimatum. And that transition of his character, from cocky youth who thinks he can get away with fighting war but not killing, to realizing that this ain't the way the world works -- especially in war time. Turn-off at first until I read it on through in context and in light of the world Cooke was establishing.

I'm with Buzz
by rev_skarekroe
Mar 29th, 2007
04:30:54 PM
Pacifist warriors never works. Didn't somebody recently retcon it so that Captain America never killed anyone in WW2? Please. Captain America once killed one-million Japanese soldiers all by himself. I am not making this up.
That was Cooke's point
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
04:38:08 PM
Go read the story. He uses the Hal Jordan story specifically to address that point. It's not possible to be both. You don't have to embrace killing, but you can't be a warrior and be a pacifist at the same time. That was the point. But you had to read the entire story to see that unfold.
Yup
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
04:42:48 PM
Can't say a character arc sucks if you haven't actually read the character arc.
It sucks as a premise.
by rev_skarekroe
Mar 29th, 2007
04:45:52 PM
You wouldn't get past basic training. Sorry. Nope.
DD #95 review from CBR.com
by nofate
Mar 29th, 2007
05:00:48 PM
Honorable Mentions: Stuff worth noting, even if it's not good enough to buy

"Daredevil" #95 (yadda yadda yadda)

DAMN YOU BRUUUBAAAKERRR!!!
Rev Is Right. They'd Screen Out A Pacifist.
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
05:22:26 PM
Actually, my brother Spook Maverik, who has done much killing in the name of Lyndon B. Johnson and the United States of America, said that even at the height of the Viet Nam war, a guy like Pyle in FULL METAL JACKET wouldn't have been accepted into the Marines. The Army, yes, the Marines, no. Not that he was a pacifist but they'd know who'd cut it.

And I don't read arcs, story arcs or character arcs. I read stories about characters. And when something is presented to me to buy in installments, installment number one better work for me if they expect my money for installment two. And I can judge if something is stupid. However pretty NF was, stupid is stupid.

NF # 1 didn't read as a particuarily fanciful, Silver Age type story even though chronologically it was set in the Silver Age. If that's the argument, there'd be no mention of the war, HUAC, etc. This was superheroes in history, which means that rules apply.

All Cooke would have had to do was to read Tom Wolfe's book THE RIGHT STUFF (even better than the movie, which I love). Fighter pilots are highly aggressive individuals. They'd know instinctively if a recruit lacked killer instinct. Hell, he could have watched some movies. Even OFFICER & A GENTLEMEN or TOP GUN. I believe Cooke was unable to properly reconcile his political agenda with the times and the profession of his character.

NF is a true example of the pitfalls of realistic comics. Very few have the skill to have it both ways. Like I said, I'm with ya on flying cars, death rays, time travel and Cyclopean sea monsters. And I'd have been with ya if Hal had refused to fly. But a bunch of macho fighter jocks aren't going to fly with a guy who thinks he's a better person than they are and they're not going to risk their lives, their missions and their careers on a pilot who won't kill. A mistake like that is terrible writing because it takes the reader (me) out of the story and expecting me to come back for more is merely relying on the addictive nature of comics, not much better than something like CIVIL WAR.

Also, I Use FULL METAL JACKET..
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
05:31:44 PM
...because it's a similar scenario but one done realistically and intelligently. Plus, I figured we all saw it. Joker, unlike Hal Jordan, doesn't say,"I'm going out on these missions but I'm not going to kill." Animal Mother would have given him two in the back of the head faster than he fragged Lt. Short Round (in Gustav Halsford's book, Joker loses his Stars & Stripes assignment and ends up leading the squad in the boonies. He always makes Animal Mother walk in front of him). We see the evolution from macho smartass to a man who is only doing what he has to do. That's good story and good character. Because Kurbrick was Kubrick, and a guy like Joker would never let the other guys know what he was going through, the film ends with Joker, Animal Mother, Rafterman etc. "happily" singing the theme to the 1950s Mickey Mouse Club as they tramp back to base.

El, I'm surprised at you. Text to text comparisan is the sign of a sophisticated reader.

I agree
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
05:49:00 PM
If a first installment doesn't work for me, I'm gone. Which is what I did for NF. This is one of those times, though, when I went back after the whole thing was done and read the entire thing from start to finish and it was balls-to-the-wall good and the set-up in the first installment paid off later. This is one of those times where I publicly and loudly bitched like...well...like Buzz about that first issue. This time, I was very wrong.
"I believe Cooke was unable to properly reconcile...
by rev_skarekroe
Mar 29th, 2007
05:56:44 PM
...I believe Cooke was unable to properly reconcile his political agenda with the times and the profession of his character." Precisely! You know, what I love about Millar's Ultimate Captain America is that he's politically and ideologically the opposite of Mark Millar himself and Millar makes him the good guy anyway. 'Cause he could've made Cap represent his own beliefs (like Cooke with Hal or whoever made 616 Cap a pacifist) or he could've made him a parody (like the Cap analogue from Authority) but instead he decided to do a guy who's still a hero even though he's not much like the writer. Anyway, what was my point? I gotta go home...
I have no idea...
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
06:05:39 PM
what Cooke's political perspectives are based on his work (which is all I know about him).
I can't believe this shit
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
06:11:31 PM
I mean for one thing, i can't believe i'm actually defending a writer for seriously unrealistic and somewhat stupid portrayals of character motivation in superhero comics, cause any other day of the week i'd be all over it piss and vinegar style, but i just can't hold it against Cooke. Becuase unlike Buzz, it didn't take me out of the story. In fact, the moment Hal kills the Korean boy, that's one of my fave parts. The look on the kid's face is amazing...he's so scared. Normally, this being comics, there would be a caption explaining how oh my god...he's just a frightened little boy, what did i do? But Cooke took the high road and it paid off spectacularly. I mean first of all, who the fuck cares if it's completely unrealistic? Didn't The Losers die fighting dinosaurs in the South Pacific a few pages back? I know NF is grounded in reality and stuff, but in my expert opinion there wouldn't have been any dinosaurs left by 1945 because of extinction etc.

This sort of reminds me of Alan Moore discussing From Hell with Dave Sim:

"Basically, [Eddie Campbell] said he felt that I was being historically speaking, a little unfair and unnecessarily harsh in my portrayal of Queen Victoria and that reality flew out of the window whenever Fat Vicky made an appearance. For my part I was surprised, since I thought reality had flown out of the window with the giant three-headed goat-god in chapter two. Anyway, as far as I remember, I said that he was probably right, but that I didn't much care because I thought that the Hanoverians could pretty much look after themselves and that having one's descendants own roughly a third of all property in the British Isles might go some small way to providing solace for being portrayed as a miserable old cow in From Hell. Also, I promised that I wouldn't be having any more appearances from Victoria, so Eddie needn't worry himself, and then threw in a couple more scenes with her anyway, just for the sheer heck of it. So, yeah, that's both our OBEs down the shitter really. Ah well"

By the way, the part where the guy throws himself into the T-Rex's mouth, granades in hand, was worth it all by itself. Quit bitching.
If they had just gone with my Lobster Men,
by superninja
Mar 29th, 2007
06:19:16 PM
Conan of the Sea idea, they would be making bank. But, no....
Man, am i cranky today or what?
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
06:21:28 PM
Sorry. I stand by my comments nonetheless.
I can't believe
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
06:31:29 PM
I'm agreeing with El Vale.

Damn. I think the river Styx just froze over.

Conan of the Sea
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
06:32:54 PM
is what I THINK they were trying to do. I SWEAR something has gone on behind the scenes with Busiek and Guice but nobody's talking public about it. It just smacked of something happening offstage resulting in crap that makes other crap taste good.
You Can Have T-Rexes & Goat Gods...
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
06:36:16 PM
T-rexes and goat gods are easy. People are complicated. We know what people are like. We can read up on Queen Victoria and US fighter pilots. People know about them.

Didja see THE GREAT SANTINI? What the hell do you think Robert Duvall would have done to one of his men who refused to shoot down the enemy? After the asskicking, the guy certainly wouldn't be getting into a US Marine fighter plane any time soon.

Good fantasy has rules. Bad fantasy ignores human nature, for one thing. In other words, you can have a bunch of grunts battling dinosaurs and that's great...but the grunts better behave like grunts.

This reminds me of film school. I was in an argument like this in a screenwriting class, although it was more twisted. I'd written a screenplay about a pair of LRRP soldiers who are assigned to escort a five man CIA team into Cambodia. They could only travel at night. The team carried bodybags with them...yes, they were vampires. Our two young heroes ended up fighting alongside villagers to stop them. Because I was young and stupid, it had a downer ending where one of the heroes was a vampire operating for Reagan in then-present day El Salvadore. The stupid thing was the class started telling me what vampires would or wouldn't do. Not the military. Not the intelligence community. Vampires. "You can't kill a vampire that way." "Why doesn't the vampire just bite the soldier when he's sleeping?" (okay that one was easy: like vampires, LRRPS slept in the daytime and killed at night). They couldn't believe that I'd just made up my own vampire shit. Finally, some guy in the class shouted to everybody else:"He can do that because VAMPIRES DON'T FUCKING EXIST!" My feeling is that you can play fast and loose with vampires, T-rexes, robots, caped vigilantes, etc. but when ignoring the character of a profession or a class of people is either self-serving or lazy. Like I said, if it'd been, "Okay, Jordan, you fucking pussy, you won't kill and you won't fly, we're putting your ass in the infantry. Get used to hearing 'em yell medic because that's one of yer names from now on and the rest of 'em are gutless, pantywaist..." And then had Hal have to end up killing, because a lot of the c.o. medics really did end up packing and having to kill.

Comic book readers are too forgiving. In any other medium, you lose the reader, you've lost. Or the viewer. Let's just say that, for me, NF had it's Jump The Shark moment far too early. I mean, nobody was saying,"I know it was stupid to have Fonzie waterskiing in his leather jacket, but maybe the show'll be better next week."

Jump the Shark
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
06:49:42 PM
Buzz said "nobody was saying,'I know it was stupid to have Fonzie waterskiing in his leather jacket, but maybe the show'll be better next week.'"

*choke*

I did.

Problem is, Buzz
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
06:52:16 PM
I don't think anyone would put the words jumped the shark and New Frontier in the same sentence, except for you of course. It's widely regarded as a masterpiece, and you make it seem like wait a minute...this is total bullshit, having a fighter pilot be a liberal pussy who doesn't believe in killing, that shit don't fly (get it?) son. I shall have none of this New Frontier business, i mean it's pretty obvious anyone who likes it is into bad writing and poorly thought out comics.
What's so bad about Saving Private Ryan?
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
07:11:25 PM
I actually like that movie.
Conan of the Sea needs to be divorced from
by superninja
Mar 29th, 2007
07:15:30 PM
continuity issues is what it sounds like to me. Just tell a story.
Buzz, such an excellent point it should be made again:
by superninja
Mar 29th, 2007
07:29:22 PM
"Good fantasy has rules. Bad fantasy ignores human nature, for one thing."
Except that...
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
07:53:46 PM
the criticisms above don't address "human nature" within the story so much as address and criticize elements outside of the story itself (such as what "should" have happened to the character earlier in his life. Fantasy (hell, just any sort of fiction), requires the reader to jump into a situation and either buy into the premise and ride it on through to the conclusion. If the reader throws up a roadblock because he (1) has a previous dislike of the character, or (2) brings in a preconception about how things are handled in the military (which is not a human nature thing and does not take into account that the fantasy world of the story may reflect a different military reality), or (3) any number of other reader biases. If the reader can't buy into it, then the writer has lost the reader. But it's not necessarily a criticism of the writer that not every reader is able to buy into his story. Sometimes it's simply a discontinuity between the writer and some readers. The problem is when the reader turns around and makes his personal take into a generalized and blanket dismissal of the entire work. Especially when the reader chose to step away and not finish it.
Prof...
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
08:15:18 PM
I could kiss you right now.
huh..
by Thalya
Mar 29th, 2007
08:18:39 PM
*is at this moment glad she was born in 1981 and thus never saw any bit of Happy Days pre-syndication*

Oh, and at this point, is it essentially Conan of the Sea = Turkey of the Sea?
Vale..
by Thalya
Mar 29th, 2007
08:20:29 PM
Wait for Squashua to get here with the popcorn. ;)
Conan of the Sea
by El Vale
Mar 29th, 2007
08:28:43 PM
I just got it. I honestly thought it had something to do with Jessica Simpson and Conan O'Brien.
What's the best Tuna?
by Prof Challenger
Mar 29th, 2007
08:55:29 PM
Conan of the Sea.

*mwhah*

Now, that's as far as you get with me, El. I'm strictly hetero.

THE GREAT SANTINI
by the G-man
Mar 29th, 2007
10:43:34 PM
I love that movie. Its a wonderful rumination on what it means to be a real dad.
I'm Not Big On What's "Widely Regarded", El...
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
11:00:08 PM
Hell, CIVIL WAR is widely regarded. I'm into the whole, thinkin' for myself thang. And I don't think people are stupid for liking NEW FRONTIER. I think NEW FRONTIER is stupid for this preposterous premise. Better to have started Hal as a stone cold killer who saw the light. I think Cooke wasn't brave enough, or couldn't bear to dislike his character enough. A lot of writers and readers and critics have trouble with multi-layered characters. I always site one of my all time favorite novelists, Mr. James Ellroy who has been criticized because his LA cops from the 40s through the 70s are often racist or do racist things. First of all, gee, racism in the LAPD. Don't tell Mark Fuhrman. Secondly, the liberal (and I'm considered liberal myself) assumption that if a character is something bad, that's all he or she is. Frankly, whatever anybody thinks of the politics involved, the characterization of Hal Jordan in NEW FRONTIER is a mess (which, in many ways, the character always was). Like I said, I can suspend disbelief about the whole cosmic policeman schtick and the little blue guys, etc. far easier than I can that this guy wouldn't be headed for the stockade.

I, too, love THE GREAT SANTINI. For one thing, Pa Maverik was a Duvall look-a-like. I'm just an Andy Kaufman look-a-like (when he was alive, not now).

re. Saving Private Ryan, El...
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 29th, 2007
11:04:24 PM
Young Star Maverik is a hippie. They are into peace no matter what. It's admirable, but it ain't gonna happen, and in some cases (fewer and fewer) it shouldn't happen. SPR just seemed like bad war to her, but ya watch SCHINDLER'S LIST or ya talk to my buddy's mom, a Fillipina who was on the Bataan Death March as a child, and you realize that you don't wanna fight but sometimes you gotta.
I said widely regarded
by El Vale
Mar 30th, 2007
12:05:31 AM
And somehow it came off as "i like it because people like it yaaay...what is this thinking for yourself you speak of?". Sorry about that. If ya ask me -and you'd know i'm not too far off the mark if you've read the internets lately- Civil War is widely regarded as a piece of shit. A giant mess at best.

New Frontier, however, is widely regarded as a masterpiece for a reason. I don't think all the people who claim so (like for example...oh i don't know...me) sat around and said "Alright listen: There's some people out there saying this book is amazing. Now, i haven't read it myself because i'm too busy being an idiot to actually form an educated opinion on my own based on my personal reading experience, but i say we just go with the flow. If anyone asks why you like the damn thing just tell them someone said it was really good"

In fact, i'm pretty sure you can find a couple reviews written by someone who actually managed (bothered) to read the whole thing that'll clarify just why people seem to fall for this book the way they do.
Aquaman: Ruler of 70 fucking % of the fucking Earth...
by loodabagel
Mar 30th, 2007
10:10:12 AM
Please Aquaman, can you try to be cooler? One of the few comics I have and am ashamed to won is one of yours, so kick it into high gear buddy.
Other comics I am ashamed of...
by loodabagel
Mar 30th, 2007
10:17:48 AM
Every issue of Howard Mackie's Spider-Man run, All Star Batman 1, various issues of X-Men written by Chuck Aushten and Peter Milligan and every issue of Spawn, Lady Death, Witchblade and every comic ever drawn by Michael Turner, including sketch variants, foil variants, hologram variants and wood engraving variants.
Wow this whole New Frontier thing is crazy...
by superhero
Mar 30th, 2007
11:44:45 AM
I gotta say, like Buzz I picked up the first issue and hated it because of that silly Hal won't kill even though he's flying a plane that has guns and is in the Big War. I dropped New Frontier right away because of it...that and the cover price. But then I got Absolute New Frontier for X-Mas (I asked for it because I love Cooke's art) and read the whole thing and really, really enjoyed it. It surprized me because just getting through that Hal stuff was cringe inducing but once I got through chapter two it really kicked in for me. But either way...Cooke as an artist=awesomeness. Cooke as a writer=so-so. Oh, yeah...and I hated that Superman/Batman fight too...can't these two goons just get along? Seriously!
Comics I am ashamed of...
by superhero
Mar 30th, 2007
11:46:17 AM
OK I'll play...I used to LOVE Marvel's US 1 back in the day. Beat that comic goons!
Let Me Get This Straight...
by Buzz Maverik
Mar 30th, 2007
12:41:43 PM
...People, like you guys who know comics well, don't care for an issue but either buying it for yourself or getting it as a gift, money is spent on a big, expensive, probably hardcover volume? I think we all believe that everyone should do what they want, of course, but there's too many things I LIKE for me to spend my money on. I did like the art and I agree with Superhero about Cooke being a superior artist and a so-so writer. But I didn't like the art enough to make the difference.

For me, the whole "you gotta read the whole comic to have an opinion" thing doesn't hold up. I know that NF was intended to be a graphic novel rather than serialized, but it WAS serialized and sold that way. Sorry, but it's a comic book. What do I owe a comic book or its' publisher or Creator Who Didn't Really Create Anything that I need to read the whole thing if I didn't like an issue or it was bungled? That's just addiction and programming. I mean, El, how can you say you didn't like Rob Liefeld's YOUNGBLOOD if you haven't read every single issue? I'm being rhetorical here because anybody can say they didn't like anything, especially YB, if they look at it and see that it sucks.

But I like to make up my own mind, especially about comics. I don't need to know what a bunch of other people thought about a comic book, which is why I wrote my reviews the way I did. I'd write ABOUT a comic, how it made me feel or what it made me think but I always tried to not tell other people what to think or what was in the comic. One of my pet theories about fandom is that we seek the consensus. We do have our sacred cows and our scapegoats. Usually, our sacred cows deserve the accolades but as fanboys (another pet theory) we either worship or despise and nothing can live up to that. KINGDOM COME showed holes first and THE DARK KNIGHT isn't aging so well. WATCHMEN holds up because of the care put into each panel, but as it goes mainstream with the movie it's at risk because nothing can live up to that much worship. Flawless writing, perfect art but the degree of nihilism and negativity are slightly undergrad, for example. That's fine if yer an undergrad but that's a few short, meaningless years of our lives. Put down the torches, pitchforks and nooses, I still love WATCHMEN but I'm just sayin'...

I think a lot of the regard NEW FRONTIER has received is that it reconfirmed the visual power of comics in what has become, overall in the mainstream, a wordy, writer's medium. The premise, superheroes in 20th century history, was great. I mean, Byrne did it first with that Batman/ Superman thing where they aged like real people, but I think he did that too late in his career. Fans, numbed by slow, overwritten comics, were enraptured by the art. I know I was. But when I get a derivative Batman/ Superman clash (in my review, I cracked myself up by speculating that, since Batman carries a chemical in case he has to fight Superman, maybe he carries around a vial of semen in case he has to fight Wonder Woman)and you can't have two heroes arguing in a bar during the Viet Nam War without WATCHMEN being invoked. I'm all for swinging for the fence, but don't telegraph your shot. Don't tell me it's going to be DKR or WATCHMEN. And yeah, if it's a pure fantasy world, say an Old West where the gunfighter hero only shoots the guns out of people's hands or Zorro cuts Zs into people's asses but never runs them through, no problem. But if you're saying something about American history, you have to say it in a way that makes sense. It's just too convoluted and what yer telling me doesn't make it any better. You're telling me that Hal doesn't go anywhere. Dig it: he starts out a pilot who won't kill (does he have a brother who's a sniper? Cal Jordan, the sniper who won't shoot anybody) and some how he encounters a Korean boy and has to kill him...to confirm that killing is bad, which he believed in the first place. That's not development. That's poor writing. For me, I hate when I can see the writer involved and I think that, as many of our friends from the Great White North are (and I'm with ya politically guys, it's just bad writing I can't stand), Mr. Cooke leans to the left and couldn't bear to have a hero doing something that he personally doesn't approve of. Forget the stupid comic by this title, but hawk to dove is interesting. Dove to hawk is also interesting. Dove to dove is staying the same. Good fantasy involves change. The characters may return to the Shire, may return to peace, but Frodo is never the same short furball he was when he left. Even Conan may be the same Hyborian killing machine he always when when he seizes the throne of Aquilonia, but he rules as a wiser, more troubled man.

too much reading
by Shigeru
Mar 30th, 2007
01:19:55 PM
brain hurt
Yeah, I basically hate Watchmen. Not because
by superninja
Mar 30th, 2007
01:39:29 PM
it's not well written, Moore's stuff almost always is, but because of the impact it had on superheroes. Still tend to agree with Buzz, New Frontier was ambitious in a good way but Cooke does not have the chops to back it up, seemed kind of fluffy or really that he lacks depth to understand the time in which the characters were created or just frankly really doesn't care and wanted to do his own thing. It is a masterpiece from an art perspective.
Conan of the Sea, Flash Gordon of the Sea,
by superninja
Mar 30th, 2007
01:41:02 PM
take your pick, but it sounds like Chicken of the Sea is kind of where the character is at now. Maybe it is too much to focus on the character in relation to the rest of the DCU they should just leave him out of it for awhile.
If you wanna READ some fantastic Darwin Cooke comics
by El Vale
Mar 30th, 2007
02:55:07 PM
Check out his Solo issue. Great stuff.
You know…
by The Heathen
Mar 30th, 2007
04:38:00 PM
SOLO #5 is one of the only issues of that wonderful series I missed. Along with Darwyn Cooke's issue I missed Chaykin's, but I'm honestly way over Chaykin. Oh, and saying Cooke doesn't have the chops is one of the more intellectually retarded things I've read in a while. No offense personally superninja, but I think the guy deserves a lot more credit. Also, you need more than art for anything to be a masterpiece in comics. It's like a good music video, it can be the coolest looking thing ever, but if the song sucks so fails the project in it's entirety. By that regard, Civil War would be a masterpiece because of it's art and by no means should that be called anything above 'really bad' even with McNiven's work. New Frontier is considered a masterpiece by so many now because it is the whole package. I fear that anyone who says they like it only for the art is taking an apologist route like a fan of the Star Wars prequels would. "I like it because of the visuals, c'mon!!!" Only thing is, New Frontier is waaaay better than the prequels. Be proud of it. I agree with Elvis Vale here (besides that whole Axel Alonso thing... pfft).
Axel Alonso
by El Vale
Mar 31st, 2007
01:14:25 AM
Here's what Garth Ennis had to say after Preacher was over:

"If there's one man without whom we definitely couldn't have done this, it has to be our pal Axel Alonso. He fought tooth and nail for us so many times, he struggled so hard against the forces of darkness -- oh, i can't begin to tell you how much stuff we'd have lost if he weren't there. It was this devotion to duty, along with his excellence as an editor, that made Axel this book's best friend"

And now the guy edits my favorite monthly book. Oh i've got the guy's back, alright!
oh god
by blackthought
Mar 31st, 2007
10:48:52 AM
help us all.
Great!
by The Heathen
Mar 31st, 2007
12:04:02 PM
Continue to bob his knob then!!! He also edits Amazing Spider-Man, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and Punisher War Journal and the other MAX titles (is there any other MAX titles?), all of which are such high quality books. I mean, they're awesome. Like the best books out there and you can bet your ass Axel is the reason for it. 'The Other' storyline in Spider-Man? Hell yeah my man Axel green lit that shit because he's so awesome! Oh, and he really respects his readers too. He's a nice guy all around. He even talked to Stan Lee one time and said that he was cool with Spidey unmasking. I'm sure Sleazy can vouch for how great of a guy Axel is. I mean, Axel even sang that one song 'Paradise City' and who doesn't like that? Nobody. Why? Axel Alonso is the greatest human being known to man. I hear he's getting Alan Moore to write every book at Marvel because he's so fucking great and he's not even going to screw Alan the way Alan normally gets screwed by the big two publishers because Axel Alonso makes Jesus Christ look like a dick with all of his glory. Axel Alonso.
Okay, fair enough. I accept my intellectual
by superninja
Mar 31st, 2007
12:42:33 PM
retardation with pride. I'm pretty sure it is a masterpiece from an art perspective, and people would agree on that whether or not they enjoyed the story. Which I did not because it lacked some weight to me.
Hahaha wow Heath
by El Vale
Mar 31st, 2007
01:46:05 PM
That was an angry rant if i ever saw one. You probably should calm down, or else...
wait...i'm confused...
by blackthought
Mar 31st, 2007
06:40:58 PM
axel alonso is jesus? probably why i'm atheist.
I for one loved Army@Love
by Homer Sexual
Mar 31st, 2007
09:32:33 PM
However, my onlyinto-the -rare comic s.o., who not so coincidentally loved Preacher and Transmetropolitan, didn't think it was so great. I thought it was edgy entertaining satire, but wasn't really cruel or hypermacho. But I think the relative lack of dick swinging is why many people are disappointed.
ashamed of..
by Homer Sexual
Mar 31st, 2007
09:38:41 PM
Ashamed of owning Evil Ernie and Lady Death. However, not ashamed of owning Purgatori. Ashamed of liking: Chuck Austen's run on EXiles.
On second thought...
by loodabagel
Apr 1st, 2007
01:18:28 AM
I'm really not that ashamed of Howard Mackie's Spider-Man run since it attributes to me owning like 120 consecutive issues. Did I mention that Back in Black is worse than those other two stories I pretend don't exist? Well it is worse, just for the record.
Hey @ssholes...
by loodabagel
Apr 1st, 2007
01:21:42 AM
A while ago I think someone complained how you never review any Ninja Turtles comics and the other day I found this cool one drawn by Richard Corben, so I think it's about time you reviewed a Ninja Turtle comic.
Blue Beetle anagrams...
by Thalya
Apr 1st, 2007
12:18:34 PM
Did you know that Ted Kord anagrams to "Det. Dork"? Batman-lite if ever I saw it. I was also going to say that Ted Kord anagrams to something like "re-Ditko" or "Ditko-er" ('cause Ditko created Kord after he created Spider-Man), but then I was hazy and still waking up and didn't realize that there was an extra D instead of an I.


In other news, first half of issue #2, "Waking Up" is up: http://tinyurl.com/2kyrpp

As par for the course as any DC book these days: shit blows up (and Grant Morrison discovers the other side of Space B).
JSA: CLASSIFIED 23/24
by dregmobile
Apr 2nd, 2007
01:27:33 AM
it was a slow week for me last week so i picked up jsa: classified 23-4, the first jsa books i have ever bought, based on the slick covers, the nice interior art, the look of dr. mid-nite, who i know nothing about, and the promise of a 'the end' after the second part. so i learned a little about him and it was a great couple of issues. reminded me of another vampire two-parter i bought a long time ago when robin was in metropolis and helped superman beat up a bunch of them. i won't be collecting any more jsa, but i hope they do more with dr. mid-nite - a great character.
Hey dreg..
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
08:32:33 AM
There was also another Dr. Midnite story a couple of months ago in issues #19 and 20 of JSA:C, that dealt with blackmarket metahuman appendages. I remember that at a Blade/Geoff Johns panel at a con I went to last year, it devolved into JSA talk and Johns mentioned that he thought Midnite would be a good character to center a show around ("House" with superheroes). If sales are good enough I bet we could get a comic series at least.. And if nothing else, if you avoided the pair of needless crossovers with JLA: Classified and Hawkgirl, JSA: Classified has been great for short self-contained character arcs if that's your thing. There's a great Injustice Society story from issues #5-7 that really rocked my socks (and can also be found in the Honor Among Thieves TPB, along with an ok Flash/Wildcat story that was notable for Jay Garrick beating Ted Grant to death for all but his last of nine lives).
Justice Society of America #4…
by The Heathen
Apr 2nd, 2007
09:15:28 AM
is where it's at people! Awesome issue. Dreg, pick up the first four issues of that before any of those JSA: Classified things man. The first four Justice Society's are an arc and waaaay better than the Classified stuff. Issue #4 was especially good.

Dr. Midnite ongoing? You're more likely to get a Dr. Fate or Booster Gold ongoing -- WHAT? But, seriously, no way in hell he gets an ongoing. He'd sooner get that television show than an ongoing comic.
And funny no review of JSA #4...
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
10:29:58 AM
That was nigh on two weeks ago now. Johns finally got his JSA groove on like nobody's business in that issue. I guess he just needs a lot of things in motion for that book to really feel on. We're out of exposition-ville, and full steam ahead now, w00t w00t!

And H, didja see that Alex Ross cover? Love that they hid that spoiler!
Which cover?
by The Heathen
Apr 2nd, 2007
10:51:06 AM
The noogy-noogy one or another?
noogy-noogy!
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
11:02:22 AM
Like father like son!
Heh, but…
by The Heathen
Apr 2nd, 2007
11:37:50 AM
I thought we knew that Tom was Wildcats kid? What *SPOILER* do you speak of miss T? Note, that I'm ultra dense on this Monday afternoon. ; )
Right, H..
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:04:32 PM
But we didn't know that when the solicit for #4 came out, which is why they used the Eaglesham cover instead. :)
Ohhhhh!!!
by The Heathen
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:16:56 PM
NOW I got ya. Yeah, I like that they hid it that way too then. I was confused for a minute there. How about the ending to that issue 4 though? Man, good stuff, great arc. Eaglesham btw, has really upped his game. Check out Villains United and his stuff on Justice Society and there's a nice improvement.
also...
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:29:34 PM
I'm considering being obnoxious 'til I get one iota of feedback from somewhere.. anywhere.. (and the easy part is, I wrote it so you wouldn't have to read the first issue again in order to get things)

Cogs! Fight that Rogue Monday, fight I say!
You're...
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:33:33 PM
..absitively, posilutely right, H. To quote Peeg, "Hell yeah!" And nice that they visited Philly for a battle. I wonder what other Philly-isms will pop up (like Morimoto's in issue #1).
You're...
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:33:34 PM
..absitively, posilutely right, H. To quote Peeg, "Hell yeah!" And nice that they visited Philly for a battle. I wonder what other Philly-isms will pop up (like Morimoto's in issue #1).
Participation delayed by house fire...
by Squashua
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:39:27 PM
...that is the absolute LAST time I microwave popcorn.
Oh, and it looks like
by Squashua
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:40:09 PM
Thalya enjoys DP.



Double Posting.
:p Squashua..
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:46:58 PM
And y'know, I never really tried it til now, but I think I really like it.. >:D

And while I'm at it, you never got back to me with comments! [/obnoxious]
Aha..
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:48:41 PM
Now I know how to do that.. And Squash, that popcorn was too hot to handle, huh? It was getting all Brokeback in here.. I coulda used the popcorn, I swear..
When I microwave popcorn…
by The Heathen
Apr 2nd, 2007
12:57:34 PM
I press the 'Popcorn' button on the 'ol microwave. Does the trick every time. Hope the fire wasn't a huge one or anything Squash.

I'll get to issue #2 soon, T. Promise. ; )
Don't worry, H
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
01:05:15 PM
I know you're constantly mega-busy. On the plus side, you may get to read the whole thing instead of just the first half when you find the time (which means infamous page 13).

And y'know, you can make your own logs of charcoal if you zap the popcorn long enough. mmm.. big black logs of buttery hard charcoal....
"That's not real butter!!!"
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
01:26:32 PM
He said.
What are you on Squash?
by Psynapse
Apr 2nd, 2007
01:57:42 PM
'Cuz, Hell, if you were able to get an actual house fire out of microwaving popcorn you must be REALLY high or drunk(or brain dead).
Guys..
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
02:01:41 PM
*points upwards in the thread to Vale's post "Prof..." and Prof. Challenger's post "What's the best Tuna?" and all in between*
Reading between calls T....
by Psynapse
Apr 2nd, 2007
02:44:00 PM
Will need to absorb and formulate a proper response. Just one question: Are "you" and Noah gonna bump uglies?
Mm...maybe, maybe not in this arc, Psy..
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
02:47:14 PM
Besides, DC doesn't have a MAX line so it'd all be off-camera anyway. And btw, *banana nut bread smoochies!* (I actually baked some IRL for once!)
At the same time though..
by Thalya
Apr 2nd, 2007
03:40:34 PM
This is just the first half of the issue. You would not guess what the second half holds in a million years.
Metaphorical
by Squashua
Apr 6th, 2007
11:10:48 AM
Someone go read all of Thalya's posts, then mine.
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