2009 Mid-Point Check-In

/

Here we are in June, which means the year is half over! Holy smokes! It seems like yesterday that I wrote my epic Best of 2008 post. I thought I would do a check-in post to see how some of the best titles of 2008 are faring now.

Action Comics/Supergirl

Action Comics and Superman are now being written by Greg Rucka and James Robinson, with Sterling Gates on Supergirl. Action Comics was number one on my Best Of list last year thanks to the awesome Geoff Johns/Gary Frank Legion and Brainiac stories. Those stories paved the way for the highly entertaining New Krypton/World Without Superman that we are getting now in Superman, Action Comics, Supergirl and World of New Krypton. Despite the absence of my boy Geoff Johns, the story is still one of my favourites happening in comics right now. I think Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle have been doing a great job with Supergirl, and I love Pete Woods' and Renato Guedes' art on the other titles. And I get a taste of Gary Frank with some of the New Krypton covers, so that's nice. The other great thing about this current storyline is that, between the four titles, we are getting a piece of the story every week. If we think back to a couple of years ago, the Superman titles were a scheduling nightmare. Kurt Busiek's Camelot Falls storyline in Superman went on for like a million years, and Geoff John's Last Son story in Action Comics went on for slightly longer, both plagued by crazy delays resulting in way too many fill-in issues. The Superman family of titles is now a well-oiled machine...a machine that makes awesome comics!

Still on the Best Of list? Yes

Tiny Titans

I mentioned in a recent post that I am surprised and delighted that kids love this series so much. I haven't met many people, young or old, who don't love this series. Definitely one of the most fun and innovative superhero comics every created for young children, Tiny Titans is introducing kids to a crazy array of DC characters in the most hilarious ways possible. The art is adorable and can be easily replicated by the kids who read the comics. The jokes work on many levels. The short story format holds the attention of kids and myself alike. I love this book.

Still on the Best Of list? Aw yeah!

Ghost Rider

So Ghost Rider has been completely awesome every since Jason Aaron took over early last year. So Marvel was like "Hmmmm...it's pretty awesome...but what if it was CRAZY AWESOME?!" And thus we now have Tony "Walking Dead" Moore doing the art. To me, Ghost Rider is a perfect example of why comic books need to exist. You just won't get this exact storytelling formula from any other medium. It's insane, violent, hilarious, ridiculous fun. Every issue. Jason Aaron is my pick for best writer of the year so far, because between this, Scalped, Wolverine: Weapon X, and all the single issues of things he's been writing, he's been kicking ass.

Still on the Best Of list? HELL YES


Watchmen Mania!

So the Watchmen movie happened. And it seems like Watchmen Mania has calmed down quite a bit. I no longer work in a comic shop, so I am not on the front lines, but I would say that no one is really talking about this book anymore. But I liked the movie. I really did. I only saw it the once, and I haven't seen the animated Black Freighter yet, but I am planning on watching the long-ass director's cut with the animated bits included when it's released on DVD.

Since this is an abstract phenomenon, and not an actual thing, I am not going to say whether or not it is still on the list. But I will say that I think the movie was good, so my excitement about it last year was not wasted.

I may as well mention the other comic-related movies thus far. Wolverine was a miss. Star Trek was the greatest.

Wonder Woman

We are one issue away from the end of the Rise of the Olympian storyline. Gail Simone is still rocking Wonder Woman like she created her. Aaron Lopresti is still drawing beautiful art in every issue. I feel like Simone's run on Wonder Woman has been an effort to isolate the character from the DCU (ie - the Justice League) so she can be more properly constructed. Wonder Woman has been given the dignity she deserves, and I would say that it's getting near time she was reintegrated back into the larger DCU. I'd like to see her interacting with other characters more.

Still on the Best Of list? YES

The Incredible Herc

I love this comic so much. I have been buying it in trade format, mainly because somewhere way back I missed a couple of issues and then I ended up waiting for the trade and so forth. The same thing happened with Scalped. I am thinking about doing more trade-waiting and less issue-buying because I really do enjoy reading stories when they are all collected. But anyway.

This comic follows the adventures of two delightful characters, Hercules and Amadeus Cho. It's barrels of fun with the best sound effects I have ever read. I love this comic so much that I followed our heroes over to The Mighty Avengers, which is a title I never read before but now I really enjoy. There are three trades of The Incredible Herc out now, and I highly recommend all of them.

Still on the Best Of list? YES

Top Ten Season Two

This has very slowly been coming out. Have we only gotten one new issue this year? Well, that issue was good.

Still on the Best Of list? Sure

The Amazing Spider-Man

We are now a year and a half into the near-weekly Spider-Man series experiment and I would definitely say it is a success. Lately I have felt it is starting to fray at the edges a bit (some fill-in art, some books with several artists, etc), but it's still pretty strong. Even though I hated the last issue, I am very impressed with the overall effort of the Spider-Man team, and it is often one of my favourite comics each week. The 24/7 story, which wrapped up a couple of issues ago, was fantastic.

Still on the Best Of list? YES

Secret Six

For real I love this comic. I am so happy it's an ongoing series. I think it just keeps getting better, too.

Still on the Best Of list? YES

The Age of the Sentry

Sadly, this piece of awesome is over now. While it lasted, it was just an absolutely fantastic and loving tribute to the Silver Age, and featured beautiful art by artists such as Michael Cho and Colleen Coover. The trade is coming out soon, and it should be on a lot of critics' Best of 2009 lists. Fortunately, Jeff Parker is currently writing a lot of other great comics, like Exiles, Agents of Atlas and Mysterius the Unfathomable.

Still on the Best Of list? YES

The Umbrella Academy

I'm not gonna lie to you: I haven't read a single issue of the second Umbrella Academy series. I don't know why. I guess I am waiting for the trade.

Still on the Best Of list? Maybe?

Zorro

Francesco Francavilla took a break from doing the interior art on this series, but Cesar Rezac did a great job in his absence. I see that Francavilla is listed as the artist for the August issue, so that's exciting. I really enjoy this comic a lot. I think it's highly underrated, especially since Matt Wagner is writing it and he only writes things that are great. I think the first trade is finally being released soon.

Still on the Best Of list? YES

Daisy Owl

I read that the creator of Daisy Owl, Ben Driscoll, was recently able to quit his dayjob and focus on Daisy Owl fulltime! This is very exciting news for both him and for us fans. I bought a signed print of one of my favourite Daisy Owl strips, which I received and promptly spilled water on, ruining it forever. Sad face. I really can't wait until there is a book that collects this comic, which is perfect in every way.

Still on the Best Of list? YES

Batman: Brave and the Bold Cartoon

Not only is this still an awesome cartoon show, it is now an awesome comic as well! I am certainly buying the DVD collection of the first season of the show as soon as it drops. It's basically the only way I can get a proper Batman fix these days, too.

Still on the Best Of list? YES

And The Rest...

I want to give a shout out to series that are definitely headed to my Best of 2009 list if they keep up the good work:

Daredevil (a masterpiece of long-format superhero storytelling)
Captain America (Bucky is sexy)
Green Lantern/Blackest Night (This shit is about to jump off for real)
Scalped (I am going to have to do a whole other post about how awesome Scalped is)
Mysterius the Unfathomable (It's new! It's different! It's awesome!)
Batman and Robin (I don't think it's too early to call this one)
Unwritten (One of the most compelling first issues I have read in a long time)
Jersey Gods (I think I owe this series its own blog post as well)
The Muppet Show (Well, I mean, obviously)
Jonah Hex (I feel like they have stepped up the game this year...and the game was already pretty awesome)
Power Girl (I have really high hopes for this)
Wolverine: Weapon X (Jason Aaron and Wolverine is just a great combination)
Exiles (A delightful ragtag group of mutants from various dimensions)

And that's just from what's come out so far! I mean, we still have things like DC's Wednesday Comics and Darwyn Cooke's Parker book to look forward to!

2009 is gonna be a good year!

Licensed To Ill

/

    The latest issue of Previews contained a solicitation that caught me off guard; coming this August, Boom! Studios will be releasing a Die Hard prequel comic, set in 1976 and featuring the exploits of a rookie cop named John McClane in New York. Seeing as how Die Hard is one of my all-time favourite films, and a must-watch holiday standard in my household, I was certainly intrigued, but cautiously so—licensed books like this are usually something of a crapshoot, with the emphasis heavily on the crap. So, in the interest of keeping everything in perspective, I thought I’d examine the idea of licensed properties from other media coming to comics with two recent examples in mind—Dynamite Entertainment’s The Man With No Name series, and Boom! Studios’ The Muppet Show. These two examples are polar opposites in terms of subject matter and, some might say, quality, but I believe that between them, they highlight some of the specific challenges creators face when asked to adapt a popular movie or TV show to the comic format.


    The Man With No Name comic series, written by Christos Gage and illustrated by Wellington Diaz, debuted in 2008 from Dynamite, following the continuing adventures of Clint Eastwood’s poncho-wearing, cheroot-puffing hero from Sergio Leone’s famous “Dollars” trilogy—A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. This concept appealed to me even more than Die Hard does; while Die Hard is one of my favourite movies, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is my all-time favourite movie. However, the initial concept of a series based on Eastwood’s legendary gunslinger had me scratching my head a bit—I mean, technically, the whole “Man With No Name” thing was essentially a marketing gimmick that MGM struck upon when importing the Spaghetti Western series to the States. Eastwood is credited as playing “Joe” in A Fistful of Dollars, “Monco” in For A Few Dollars More, and “Blondie” in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, so you can’t really say that he has no name. In fact, with that in mind, you could even argue that he’s not even really playing the same guy in all three films. So, producing a book “starring” that character is a bit of a cheat, since he amounts to little more than a wardrobe, some props, and a predilection for stony silence.


    My initial misgivings proved to be correct, as The Man With No Name is merely a western comic featuring a guy who dresses sort of like Clint Eastwood in need of a serious haircut. However, he’s far more of a modern action hero, with lots more running, jumping, and firing of multiple rounds of ammunition than Eastwood ever did back in the day. It might have been wrong of me to expect the crazy-long stretches of silence, the intense staredowns that seemingly go on forever, and the decisive, expertly-placed single shots that end the showdowns in all the Leone pictures, but that’s what I expect from a story based on that property.  The reason to watch those films isn’t Eastwood’s character (he’s a bit thin, after all), it’s the gallows humour, the eerie build-up to lightning-quick violence, the sardonic emphasis on greed and its inevitable consequences, and, of course, the unforgettable Ennio Morricone music. The Man With No Name (which, I understand, is soon being retitled as The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) fails because it tries to sell a character when it should be selling an overall mood (as an aside, for a much better example of the genre being translated to comic form, check out Scott Morse’s 2004 graphic novel from Oni Press, the somewhat lazily-titled Spaghetti Western).


      On the other hand, there’s The Muppet Show comic from Boom! Studios’ new Boom! Kids line. Written and illustrated by Roger Langridge, this four-issue series is an outstanding example of a licensed property making the leap to comics. Each issue manages the Herculean task of actually feeling like an episode of the original Muppet Show, combining backstage shenanigans with familiar sketches like Pigs In Space and The Swedish Chef (and, of course, copious heckling from Statler and Waldorf). Additionally, this title features possibly the best incorporation of original song lyrics in comics since Alan Moore’s use of music in titles like V For Vendetta and Top Ten. Langridge’s dialogue is sharp and funny and totally true to the Muppet characters, his stories manage to be both humourous and touching without being schmaltzy, and his artwork is at once simple, textured, and expressive. Additionally, it’s a suitable read for both kids and nostalgic grown-ups. This is a textbook example of how to do a licensed property justice—the final product feels like The Muppet Show, only being read instead of watched.
      I am somewhat encouraged by the fact that The Muppet Show is being produced by the same publisher that will be bringing us Die Hard Year One this summer, but I still worry that this will just be a generic action comic featuring a guy named John McClane who kinda-sorta looks like a young Bruce Willis (I haven’t seen the interior art yet, so I might be way off). Maybe he’ll meet a young Holly Gennaro and they’ll talk about how they always wanted to go to L.A., or he’ll pass by a young, well-dressed Eurothug named Hans Gruber on the streets of New York and have a shiver of premonition. In any event, I strangely find myself hoping that the final result is more Kermit the Frog than Clint Eastwood. 
 

This Week's Haul: Blame The Wire

/

Two things:

1. I am watching The Wire for the first time and it is preventing me from reading my comics in a timely manner.

2. Tiina is away on tour with her band for the next month or so.

Late reviews that are very short!!!

Amazing Spider-Man #596

I had to figure that EVENTUALLY, after a year and a half of printing an almost weekly Spider-Man comic, there would have to be one issue that was just terrible. This was that issue. I don't even know where to start. Between the booger and diarrhea-related gags, the fact that EVERYONE was talking like a 21-year-old idiot, and the prostitutes, this was probably the most painful comic I have read since...I dunno. Has Jeph Loeb ever written Witchblade?

BRUTAL, Marvel. BRUTAL. For the first time since Brand New Day started, I don't feel like reading the rest of this storyline.

The one good thing I will say about it is that I noticed that the artist, Paulo Siqueira, draws anatomy really well. Like, the prostitutes had realistic bodies. So, that was good, I guess.

World of New Krypton #4

Three of the most attractive Green Lanterns take an impossible break from the events that are going on in their own comic books to show up for a tour of New Krypton, and they aren't impressed. Hal regards the place like I do an American city that doesn't have a Target: it sucks and it needs to be destroyed. After they douchily hover all over the planet and decide it blows, they basically tell New Krypton to watch its back. By the way, have I mentioned how hot Superman looks in that Kryptonian military uniform? Rrrrao!

Batman & Robin #1

As if there is a single comic fan who hasn't read this. It's awesome. It will continue to be awesome.

The Muppet Show #3

Man, seriously. SERIOUSLY. This is just such an incredible comic book accomplishment. Roger Langridge is now topping my list of people I am excited to meet at this year's HeroesCon (only two weeks away!).

Jonah Hex #44

This is the first of a six-part Jonah Hex storyline, which is a completely new format for the comic. I hope it works and gets a lot more people to buy this comic every month. My girl Tallulah Black is a part of this storyline, so that makes me happy. Also making me happy are the first images of Josh Brolin from the set of the Jonah Hex movie!

Secret Six #10

I think Deadshot is going to have to be rated as a super hunk soon. This would make him the first villain (or villain-esque character) to be rated.

Henchman Fashion File: The Monarch of Menace's Serfs

/

Happy Saturday, all youse folks. It's rainy here in John-Land, but I'm snug and warm in my new Orange Lantern shirt, thanks to a birthday sale-abration at Strange Adventures, the bestest comic store ever. Larfleeze would be proud, i think. No, wait. Larfleeze would kill me and take the shirt for his own.

Today we're going to be looking at the Monarch of Menace, a jaunty fellow who bedeviled Batman way back in Detective Comics No. 350.

 The Villain:

The Monarch was a Batman villain in the classic "costumed thief" mode, except where, say, the Riddler spent his time working on death traps and ways to stick rebuses to downtown billboards, he put all of his energy into the fine art of getting away from the scene of the crime. This is actually a pretty good strategy, I reckon. Why risk Arkham for the fleeting joy of seeing Batman almost get squashed by a giant rubber duck when you can escape to the jungles of South America with millions of dollars and have trained monkeys act it out for you every night before you go to your extremely occupied bed?

And sure enough, just having escaped from Batman was enough to make the Monarch's name. Batman just stared sadly at his portrait every night, saying "Sigh... sigh..."

But just how did the Monarch achieve these goals? How did he evade the Dark Knight Detective where so many others had failed? Well, first off he had glue-dispensing shoes, to trip up pursuers, then a gas-dispensing cloak to sap their strength, a shock-dispensing scepter to stun them and finally a hypnotic lights-dispensing crown to keep them down. Here's an illustrated cheat sheet for you:

 The Henchmen:

I'm calling these guys the Serfs, due to their lack of an actual name. Unlike poor deluded Birdmaster, the Monarch seems to have skipped the fanatical cultists and gone straight for the standard DC Comics Thug, of the kind that, throughout the Forties, Fifties and Sixties, infested every remotely urban area from Smallville to Star City - note, for instance, the accent. This makes sense: even though there is no actual evidence that a DC Thug ever got away with committing a crime more serious than jaywalking from the advent of Superman onward, they at least know how costumed law-enforcement operates due to having been socked inna labonza by it so many times. Of course, the Monarch of Menace is a theme-driven man, so he outfits them all in lime-green tunics, laced sandals and flowing wigs. I'm guessing that it's only his successful track record that keeps him from being force-fed his own crown by his loyal goons.

Attractiveness of Costume:

This is not a very nice-looking costume. The Medieval serf, hard worker though he might have been, has never been looked upon as history's fashion plate. These guys are probably dressed in material a hundred times better than any serf ever even saw, let alone wore, but there's no helping some outfits. Plus, taken out of context like this, it kind of looks like Batman is being attacked by a gang of poorly-dressed transvestites - I'm sure that there was a lot of confusion on the streets of Gotham.

Why the Monarch chose to go with a serf theme over, say, a gang of dukes or courtiers or something is a mystery to me - a sadistic streak, perhaps? He does gain some credit for letting his guys wear sweatpants and ditch the wigs while hanging around the jungle headquarters, but  that doesn't absolve him of his design sins.

2/5

 Utility of Costume:

While it's not really adding anything to these guys' job performance, this costume is certainly not holding them back: no long sleeves to get in the way when they go to pick something up, no binding at the crotch when they run, no splitting at the seams when they bend over... it's not losing any points here.

It's not really gaining any, either. About the only really useful descision that the Monarch made about this whole getup was to assign his guys pistols instead of training them all in the use of the polearm or something. Admittedly, they have to carry their guns in-hand all the time, unless there's some sort of highly-disturbing inner-thigh holster that I don't know about, but just think of the time he saved! While the Baron of Burglary is holding a two-week intensive course in how to deflect a Batarang with a glaive-guisarme, the Monarch of Menace has probably robbed five or six banks, slight thematic anachronism be damned.

3/5

Budget for Costumes:

I want to say that the Monarch of Menace just made a quick stop at a factory outlet for half a dozen surplus XXL green t-shirts, then robbed a discount wig store, but when I look at these outfits I actually think that they might be a cut above that. Oh, they're ugly, but they're so... uniform! I can't believe that the Monarch didn't have them tailored. Likewise, the wigs are meticulously if questionably styled, and where the hell are you going to get sandals like that nowadays? I'll bet that he had them custom-made.

Technically, I should give him some points here for budgeting his costumes so well, but I just can't get past how bad they are. One point off for not using the wig fund to hire some sort of fashion consultant.

2/5

Chance for Bonus Points: Does the Villain Have a Lieutenant With a Marginally Cooler Costume and Possibly a Name?

Well, kind of.

See, the Monarch has a son, a disappointing son. A son who he dresses up like a court jester and makes fun of with the help of his hired goons (quote: "You're th' greatest! And your son's the worst! HO - HO - HO!"). I'm not too sure what the kid did to draw such mockery - from the context of the story it might just be that he's a clumsy guy.

So no bonus points for you, Monarch of Menace. You could have made your kid the Pilfering Prince of the Dauphin of Distress but you just had to act like a jerk instead. That's no way to parent.

Don't worry, though, it all comes back to bite him in the ass. The son is so desperate to impress/show up the father that he heads to Gotham in a spare Monarch of Menace suit to prove that he's got the chops. He gets captured by Robin in about fiive minutes of course, but that's still showing some cojones. Seeing how Batman and Robin get along and don't constantly make fun of one another and Batman only sometimes forces Robin to dress in humiliating outfits, Monarch of Menace, fils throws in with the Dynamic Duo to help lure his father back to Gotham for capture.

Well, the Monarch rated slightly higher than the Birdmaster with a 7/15. Let's look at his final fate:

Well, I guess it beats getting torn apart by giant eagles. Any last thoughts, Batman and Robin?

There are reasons that people make jokes about you, guys.

Good day!

John Buys Comics

/

I’m a bit out of sorts today, so forgive any lameness in the ol’ writing.

Chew No. 1

They had me at the house ad. A couple of weeks ago, Image slapped an ad for Chew on the back of… something, probably Invincible, and I knew that I’d be buying it. Standard detective fare doesn’t generally turn my crank, but show me a book where the investigative role is filled by something oddball (a dinosaur in a human suit, a fictional character who has emerged from a historical novel, a gang of computer nerds in a camper van, etc.) and I’m a pretty easy sell. There’s something about the mystery genre that benefits from the addition of strangeness. This is probably why I like Detective Chimp so much.

In Chew, the oddball investigator is one Tony Chu, who is ‘cibopathic’, meaning that he receives psychic impressions from virtually anything that he eats and therefore that he doesn’t eat much of anything at all. Tony’s world is slightly different from our own (outside of the psychic power thing) in that the US government’s response to the non-starting bird flu epidemic was to ban chicken. So: the story opens with hungry vice cop Tony Chu staking out a chicken speakeasy. I would be sold on this book already, so if you’re not, I don’t know what else to say.

This is another one of those terrific creator-owned books from Image that I’ve been loving so much recently. John Layman’s written a pretty great intro to the setting and characters here, with a throwaway mystery to showcase the amazing gustatory detection of Mr. Chu. Nice pacing, good characterization - heck, you really get a sense for the plight of a justice-seeking, eternally-hungry grump. Rob Guillory’s the guy on art and colour and is extremely well-suited to the book, particularly in his command of facial expression and body language. Likewise, he lays down some highly appropriate and super evocative colours. See? This is the lame writing thing kicking in. It was great: the art was great, the colours were great. The story was great. The premise is great.

Great!

Secret Six No. 10

Woo! Now this is what I am talking about. The past nine issues of Secret Six have been great and all but have featured the Six in what is basically a heroic role - they’re after the Get Out of Hell Free Card but so are a lot of much less savory people, or they’re killing potential child-killers or whatever. The point is that they weren’t doing anything that, say, the Outsiders wouldn’t get up to but the methods and dynamics that came into play were different because the people that were doing it were amoral villain types. Now, not that I had anything wrong with that setup - I’d be pleased to read more adventures of the Semi-heroic Six - but it’s really quite refreshing that this storyline revolves around the team signing up with what are very clearly some bad bad dudes and that the choice is not how they will go about achieving their reasonably good ends but exactly how evil they are prepared to be; how compromised they are going to allow themselves to become for the sake of a job. Moral ambiguity, yeah!

Superman: World of New Krypton No. 4

Heh, I just noticed that this sucker doesn’t have an “of 8” or what have you after the issue number. Clever ploy to obfuscate the exact length of this “World Without a Superman” dooflappy? Don’t worry: even if it is, Dan Didio will spill the beans on Superman’s return to Earth well in advance (if he hasn’t already, that is). As with Jersey Gods, I’m really enjoying this ongoing look at the workings of an alien society, all stitched together out of the Kryptonian history that’s built up over the last seventy years (“Ooo, a Byrne-style Kryptonian! And an allusion to the old story about all of the black people on Krypton living on an island!”). Seeing the Green Lanterns interacting with this new society was a good time, though I’m a bit confused - over in Strange Adventures folks are having a hard time raising Oa on the space radio due to all of the craziness happening with “Prelude to Blackest Night” stuff. Is this happening before that? After? I’m normally pretty willing to look the other way on minor continuity gaffes but if this book synchs up with that crossover just in time for a bunch of Black Lanterns to show up I may slowly raise one eyebrow.

You know, just this week I was talking about Mon-El’s space-explorin’ Daxam vs. Sodam Yat’s xenophobic Daxam and wondering which one Mon-El came from in current continuity. Like, is he a sociological anomaly or did someone forget to recon him? Judging by Yat’s reaction to hearing about him, my questions may soon be answered. Yay, closure!

Batman and Robin No. 1

Terrific! New Batman! Basic Batman! Fighting guys, detecting, gadgets! Sure the team is Dick Grayson and Damien but so what? Batman and Robin chase down a guy named Mr. Toad in their flying Batmobile - this is enough for me.

Morrison’s doing a helluva job here: he’s unleashing some of his trademark weirdness but it’s focused and channeled into making the bad guys suitably freakishly weird for a Batman yarn. Meanwhile, Dick Grayson is easing into the Bat-role and Damien is happily not just a one-note spoiled brat. He’s a good addition to the Bat-team, that Damien. I’m sure that Tim Drake would have fit quite snugly into the role of Robin in this series but there have been a veritable legion of stories featuring Nightwing and Robin palling around. I certainly hope that Tim has some role in the Bat-books but this Damien thing is definitely pregnant with story potential.

Good job, DC. I was extraordinarily skeptical at first but it looks like you pulled it off: you broke down Batman and then killed him off in a very heroic manner while still leaving open the possibility of his return, you churned up Gotham and established the status quo with the whole Battle for the Cowl brouhaha and you started fresh with a new Batman and Robin without having to resort to retcon or reboot. I mean, if any character needed some sort of massive change and was more resistant to it thanks to the baggage surrounding him then I can’t name ‘em, and only one really shitty series in the bunch!

Oh, and Quitely’s art is both great and very much contributing to the fresh feeling of the whole thing. I’m foregoing my normal cautious optimism for the full-blown, rose-coloured, glass-half-full, uncut real stuff. Don’t break my heart, guys.

Jersey Gods No. 5 - I like this comic so much - I wish I had new good things to say about it. It’s still astonishingly fun epic/cosmic Kirby-esque but not Kirby-derivative stuff, full of action and fun. Much like the best Kirby stuff, I want to find out more of the history of the gods of Neboron, so I’m happy to see that the historical backup story is returning next issue, especially as the story looks to be moving to Earth for a time. Important Question: when Fusion and Union join… what the heck do they call themself?

Strange Adventures No. 4 (of 8) - Nothing new to say, really. Still a fun comic; still all spacey. The most impressive thing about this issue was the backup story, which supplied Lady Styx with an origin and thus made it possible for me to give two craps about her. Seriously, she was almost painfully generic before. Is there hope for her now? Possibly.

Irredeemable No. 3 - We get a little closer to the reasons for The Plutonian’s breakdown and turn to wicked evil. There’s no sign of this comic losing momentum, folks. Now: can I figure out what’s going on before it’s explicitly spelled out for me?

Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! No 2 (of 6) - Well well well… I was liking this before and I like it even more now. I was expecting a steady slide into desperation and hardship for old Mr. Human Flame but it looks like he’s in for more a roller coaster ride, which is great! ZOOM! The depths of degradation! ZOOM! The heights of joy! ZOOM! Back down again! Plus (and he’s on the cover so it’s only a semi-spoiler) General Immortus, who doesn’t get used enough, and Condiment King, who definitely doesn’t get used enough. It absolutely makes sense for a world full of superhumans to have super-losers, and Condiment King is possibly my fav’rit.

Okay, I have company so this is it. I might write more about this stuff later so I'll list what else I bought this week. If you really care what I think, come back in a day or so. Maybe.

I did it! Compulsive behavior, yay!

Captain Blood No. 1

It’s a good sign when an adaptation makes me want to read the original work. Okay, I guess sometimes it’s because the adaptation is so bad - Postman the movie, I’m looking at you - but in this case I just want to check out the aspects of the story that had to be left out in order to fit the comic book format.

If you have an irrational fear of black and white comics, I guess that you should avoid this one, but I also thumb my nose at you. Michael Shoyket is the man on art here and his style is looking goooooood sans colour. Actually, this might be one of those “sketch variants” that I hear so much about nowadays (uh, that Tiina mentioned that one time last week, rather), as the art is uninked as well, so don’t blame me if you buy a copy and it’s all colourful and stuff.

Issue numba one deals with the rise of Captain Blood, from soldier to doctor to slave to pirate. Blood is an interesting figure, a learned and complex man who doesn’t look like he’ll be ravishing wenches any time soon. Matthew Shepherd does a fine job on the writing/adapting front - another reason that I want to check out the original: to check out which of those two arts he is practicing more. Neal Stephenson fans take note that the events of Captain Blood take place at about the same time as the Baroque Trilogy. Look, it’s Jefferys, the hanging judge! Anyone? Am I the only one who’s read that damn series?

Werewolves on the Moon (versus Vampires) No. 1 (of 3) - I passed up a zombie western genre-mash comic this week because it didn’t look entertaining enough to justify the six dollar price tag, so how could I pass up a comic about Werewolves vs. Vampires on the Moon for only three-fifty?

This is a pretty great comic. The jokes are good, the drawings are suitably amusing without being flat-out goofy and everyone involved is absolutely unapologetic about the premise. Of course werewolves want to get to the moon. Of course the vampires that are already up there aren't too happy about it. Yay!

Dead Run No. 1 (of 4) - Not that this isn’t a tremendously lazy way to describe things, but this is like Transporter plus Mad Max. You’ve got a tough-as-nails, cool-as-ice courier saddled with an unwanted female companion and attempting a nigh-impossible task in a post-apocalyptic wasteland while being stalked by deformed thugs in jury-rigged vehicles. It’s exactly as good as it sounds. Uh, which is pretty darn good, if you’re me. And I am.

Astro City: the Dark Age Book Three No. 2

Man, Astro City. I didn’t really get to say too much about this when the last issue came out due to, you know, life (my girlfriend is wonderful and tolerant and never gives me grief about my hobby or the time I spend on the blog, but there’s only so much reading and writing about comics that I can do in an evening without feeling like a big dumb neglector. Someday I will get a big grant and spend all day doing this stuff, if I can finally catch that dang leprechaun). I love Astro City, unconditionally. I love the Alex Ross covers (Alex Ross plus new characters equals great) and the extensive and eternally-unfolding history and all that. The only time that I was ever glad to hear about someone getting mercury poisoning was in the context of that being the reason for the long hiatus in this comic. Man, that sounds bad. Okay, I wasn’t glad that Kurt Busiek was poisoned so much as that there was an external reason for the disappearance of Astro City and that it would return. Maybe I should edit out the poison part of this review.

Astro City: The Dark Age has been a damn good time - as I mentioned last week, it’s both a trip through a portion of the history of Astro City and an examination of themes and trends in the comics industry itself, as the innocence of the Silver Age(nt) gives way to the darker, more violent days of the late Seventies/early Eighties. Busiek’s been focusing on the people on the street rather than the heroes and villains for a while now, so you get to piece together the histories of fascinating characters like the Apollo Eleven bits and pieces at a time while following the perilous history of brothers Charles and Royal as they seek vengeance for their parents’ deaths. Blah blah blah. It's good! I want to convey that it's good and I'm just running my mouth (fingers) off. Rah rah rah!

Atomic Robo: the Shadow from Beyond Time No. 2 (of 5) - Remember how happy I was about this comic the last time? It’s still just as great as I said in every way, except that HP Lovecraft’s head is now a giant monster, so he’s not babbling so much. IN ADDITION: these great things occur: a) since Lovecraft’s head is now a giant monster there is a giant monster running around wearing a human body like a little hat. b) While fighting the Lovecraft-beast, Robo has a highly entertaining father/son-style phone call with Nicola Tesla. c) Lightning guns. d) A backup feature that takes the form of a fairly hostile article about Robo and that I hope continues in a future issue. May Atomic Robo have a long and glorious life.

The Muppet Show No. 3 (of 4) - Man, this just keeps on being great. A Gonzo-centric issue, with a couple of decent songs and the usual high joke quality. This is the issue that really underlines the love that Roger Langridge has for these durned puppets, which is probably a big contributing factor to the quality of this series. Also: there’s a Generic Pig Muppet on the cover, near Gonzo’s cape on the left. I have an irrational fondness for Generic Pig Muppets, so hooray.

Seaguy No. 3 (of 3) - This is where Grant Morrison is putting all of the weirdness that he’s not using in Batman and Robin. Is it confirmed that he planned Seaguy as a three-part tale? I mean, it could easily end here but I can definitely stand to have more of this. What the heck is going on? What’s with Mickey Eye? Wait and see, I guess.