This Week's Haul: Mommy, why is that man licking Batman's skull?

Blackest Night #1

Ok, so I finish reading this week's Wednesday Comics and I am all smiles about Kyle Baker's Hawkman (that thumbs up and smile?! Seriously!). Then I read Blackest Night and...maybe I didn't read these things in the correct order.

Wednesday Comics fills me with love and happiness when I read it. I love those characters, and you can tell that everyone writing or drawing the comics loves them too. And then Blackest Night was just so...messed up.

SPOLIERZZZZZ!!! If you haven't read Blackest Night yet, and don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now.

I have been looking forward to this since it was first announced, and that was like two years ago. I loved The Sinestro Corps War, I love Geoff Johns, I love Ivan Reis and I love Green Lantern comics. I don't want to judge too harshly after one issue, but was very reminiscent of the kind of comics I don't like. It was a lot of over-the-top, nineties-style dark sensationalism. And I know that it's silly to accuse a comic book of being sensationalist, as if they are supposed to be something else, but this just seemed like, y'know, Carnage or Spawn or Knightfall. I felt like it was aimed more at the barbed wire Superman symbol tattoo set, or those who might wear this t-shirt, or this one, than at those of us who love superheroes. I'm not against dark in my comics, or character death. That's not really my problem here. I liked Identity Crisis and Final Crisis, and I am sure that from all the darkness in Blackest Night there will be great moments of heroic triumph in future issues. But isn't there a better way of getting to it than zombie Ralph and Sue Dibny?

Also: skull-licking.

I will doubtlessly be buying and reading the entire series, but for now I am going to say that the beginning was way over-the-top and, for me, disappointing. The whole thing made me want to grab all my Showcase Presents books and hug them.

Wednesday Comics #2

Last week I declared Superman to be the winner, more or less, of the first issue of Wednesday Comics. This week it falls far behind thanks to an abrupt scene change to Superman and Batman engaging in one of their usual rooftop chats about Superman's humanity (or lack of). As much as I love those two hanging out, it was pretty unoriginal. This week I felt the strongest comics were Metamorpho, Supergirl, Hawkman, Batman and Kamandi. The Deadman page was really hot looking, too.

Super Friends #17

DC Kids tries to cash in on the Obama comics craze with a cameo that never really calls the President by name, but you know it's him. Then they go back in time to stop Chronos from turning the nation into the United States of Chronos. Oh, Chronos. It's always something with you.

Hey, the second trade collection of Super Friends came out this week too! Buy it for your kids!

All Select Comics #1

Michael Kupperman does a comic for Marvel! He wrote and drew the back-up in the 70th Anniversary comic that revisits some of Marvel's Golden Age characters. Kupperman does a hilarious short comic about Marvex the Super Robot, which is followed by a couple of Golden Age Marvex reprints (which are no less absurd than Kupperman's parody). Absolutley worth buying for the Kupperman comic alone, All Select also features a pretty neat Blonde Phantom story by Marc Guggenheim that is more like illustrated prose than a comic.

Captain America #601

This was amusingly called a very special issue of Captain America on the cover. It was very special because it is drawn by Gene Colan, but based on these first page panels, I thought it was because Bucky and Nick Fury were finally going to make out:

This issue is sure to be a hit with teen girls because it is jam packed with vampires. Man, as if WWII didn't suck enough, Cap had to fight vampires too?! There must have been times that he wished he didn't volunteer for the experimental super soldier serum.

Rasl #5

I was going to just buy the trades of this, but since the issues are only coming out three times a year I decided I couldn't wait that long. Rasl is awesome. And Jeff Smith seems to getting all of his years of writing PG comics worth of frustrations out by having the characters do it a lot in this series.

Nexus: Space Opera Conclusion

I'd say it's a rare week indeed when we get a new issue of Rasl AND a new issue of Nexus. Sadly, this is the end of the road for Nexus, at least for now. It started with a great first issue a couple of years ago...and then a reprint of Nexus's origin...and then the second issue...and then another reprint of the origin...and then a Manga-sized collection of the first issues of Nexus...and now this double issue that collects the final two issues of what has turned out to be a 4-part mini-series. Oh well. As per usual, this issue of Nexus is beautiful and fun.

Angel: After the Fall vol 4 HC

Aw man. Like it isn't embarassing enough for me to be buying these hardcovers, they go a slap this cover on the newest one. Gross. I could not get it in my shopping bag and away from judging eyes fast enough.

I haven't read this yet, I just want to point out how bad the cover is.

Wednesday Interview: Curt Franklin and Chris Haley

If you enjoy comic books, and I know some of you do, then you should probably be reading Let's Be Friends Again. Writer Curt Franklin and artist Chris Haley combined forces in October, 2008 to create something awesome, like Voltron, or the Planeteers, or, I suppose, that Transformer that's a big Transformer made out of little Transformers. The strip, a loving parody of the comics characters and creators that we all hold so dear, comes out several times a week. If you haven't yet, take a half hour of your life to read all of them from the beginning. It's one of the best gifts you will ever give yourself. Do it while other people are doing yoga or something.

Not unlike Grant Morrison, Curt and Chris make themselves the star of their own comics, along with a rotating cast of superheroes, television characters, classic cartoon characters, political figures and rap stars.

I let Curt and Chris write my post today interviewed Curt and Chris for this week's Wednesday interview because all of the comic creators in the world are busy getting ready for San Diego I think everyone needs to read their comic. I got their Blackest Night hopes and dreams, and got up close and personal with two of the comic book world's biggest heartthrobs. The interview is helpfully peppered with links to their strips so you can read along.

I'll bet you guys have a pretty awesome origin story. When did you first team up?

Curt:  Like most milestones in my life, our first meeting took place at a karaoke bar. Chris was a friend of a friend and we decided to duet My Sharona.

Chris:  From there we discovered that we were the only two people on Earth who could do Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure" justice besides Freddie Mercury and David Bowie.

Wait, this interview is about our singing isn't it?

Curt:  You wish it was. It's the only thing you're good at.
 
Chris:  I think Nerd Dads would disagree.
 
Curt:  Cool. Get Nerd Dads to write comics for you. Get used to drawing stories about changing diapers and playing Naruto: Evolution.

Chris:  This may be getting away from us.

In your comic you have taken shots at people like John Byrne, Brian Michael Bendis, Jeph Loeb, and Tyler Perry. Do you guys have a hit list that you are working your way through?

Curt:  I'm hoping to get to the point where we're completely unemployable in the comic book industry due to ruined husks of bridges we've burnt, which is when I'll take my mask off and reveal that I've been Chuck Austen all along and I'll welcome Chris into my bunker; my years of work having created the perfect sidekick to aid me in exacting revenge on everybody who hated WorldWatch.

Chris:  That would actually explain a lot about Curt's mysterious secretiveness.

Curt:  Well, to seriously answer the question, there's no agenda to people we make fun of. I really like Bendis. I have never met Tyler Perry though I think a little bit of Tyler Perry exists within all of us. Jeph Loeb has been putting out a terrible product for a while now. And John Byrne is, by any measure, an asshole. Those two, on the hit list.

Chris:  John Byrne's got good qualities too though. And we did that comic about Bendis after Ed Brubaker told me that Bendis had really liked one of our strips, so if anything, I felt like that one was done lovingly.

Curt:  So, it depends. We make fun of the ones we love and the ones we hate. And ourselves. Who we hate.

Chris, you are obviously a giant Superman nerd. What comics are you into, Curt?

Curt:  I'm always drawn more to writers than artists, though after doing Let's Be Friends Again for almost a year I have a much greater respect for artists than before. Having said that, I'll get the predictable Alan Moore and Grant Morrison answers out of the way. All of the ABC comics I think I've gone through at least ten times, and I remember Doom Patrol was one of the first comics where I paid attention to who the writer and artist were. Until then, I didn't think it really mattered. I'm a huge fan of Chris Onstad's Achewood, which has some of the most amazingly developed characters. I re-read Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Sleeper every few months. There are so many that I'm going to forget. Starman. Hitman. Recently, Iron Fist has completely kicked ass.

I just like good comics. Western, kids, super-hero, manga, indie, whatever, if it's good and somebody I respect recommends it, I'll read it.

Chris: I wanted to chime in and say that it's not that I'm a Superman nerd, it's that I'm a Superman some other word I can't think of.. what would the word be?

Curt:  A Superman-phile. Like a pedophile, except instead of children you love Superman.

Chris:  Come on, dude, don't make it that way. I'm trying to say that it's like he's what I believe in.

Curt:  Like a religion.

Chris:  ... yeah, but not like a dick about it just you know, he is like the dude I look up to
 
Curt:  Yeah. I get that. People believe way more cruel and hurtful things than any Superman comic would ever teach you. Not to get too personal, but I know Chris had a tough childhood, and sometimes Superman was the only constant thing in it. Growing up in a non-stable environment, moving around a lot, never having the same friends, I'd feel lucky to have my kid turn to Superman for life lessons in that situation. And it's turned him into a pretty alright guy for the most part, so you'll never hear me make fun of the Superman nerdiness. Too bad Superman can't help him draw any better.

So how about those Harvey Award nominations? Do you think NASCAR Heroes #5 will sweep?
 
Chris:  Imagine us both answering 'Yes' in unison.

Curt:  YES. If it wins, I think we deserve full credit. That whole thing is ridiculous, but if everybody was working within the system I can't see anybody blaming a publisher for trying their best to get awareness of their comic out.

I hear rumours that you guys are planning on collecting your strips in a book. That would be awesome. How's that going?

Curt:  It's challenging doing it by ourselves. We're still trying to determine exactly how and what to collect. We looked at sites that some of our friends have used, but the cost for doing a color book is very prohibitive. We looked at some of the strips in B&W and it doesn't seem like it would be worth it to go that way. So, we're definitely planning on having something ready for SPX in September, but, right now, we're still not exactly sure what. But we need to hurry.
 

Probably the most intriguing thing about you, Chris, is your love of 90s-era Halifax, Nova Scotia indie rock. Especially since you live in Memphis or somewhere. Can you please explain this to me?

Curt: Smoke break.

Chris:  Comics, music, and cereal are really the only chapter headings in the book of my "background", so I don't really know how to obsess over much else. Ages ago, one of my best friends and former bandmates, Edward Stanley, let me hear "Coax Me" from Sloan's "Twice Removed". As is my way, I spent the next several years scouring used CD shops for their back catalog. By the time "Action Pact" came out they were well on their way to becoming my favorite band. Being a huge fan of theirs has led me to meeting other people who like them who have then told me to check out Thrush Hermit and Joel Plaskett Emergency and so on.
Plus it always gives Bryan Lee O'Malley and I something to talk about at conventions so it's not just me gushing over how much I love him.

Curt:  You worked in your O'Malley love, impressive.

Chris:  :)

In the interest of balance, what kind of music are you into, Curt?

Curt:  I'm listening to The Flaming Lips right now, but I usually listen to older classic rock and hip hop. Queen bonded Chris and I in a lot of ways, most non-sexual. I have a history with Elvis and classic country and blues. The Elvis stuff comes partly from growing up in Memphis, but mostly from working at the largest annual Elvis impersonator's contest that my parents started a long, long time ago. They also owned a country-western bar, so the first few notes of any Garth Brooks tune trigger a childhood urge to flee to my dad's office where I can watch cartoons and look at my dad's Playboys that he thinks are hidden.

What are each of your top five favourite ongoing series right now?

Curt:  I'm a wait-for-the-trade heathen, but I have the luxury of reading everything that comes out because the guys at the local comics shack, Comics & Collectibles, owe me a blood debt. I'd go with RASL, Green Lantern, Incognito, 20th Century Boys, Young Liars.

Curt:  And I know it's not an ongoing series, but I read the first two issues of Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers today, and I love them. No joke, it's genuinely funny and surprisingly well drawn.

Chris:  I'm scared to answer this question, because every time I start telling people how much I like some book, it seems to get cancelled. I know it just started, but I'm really excited about Wednesday Comics. Doug Mahnke and Patrick Gleason on the Green Lantern books makes them must reads. Anything Grant Morrison does is must read for me, so Batman & Robin has made an All Star Superman-less world a little more liveable. Up until the last issue, I was a huge Invincible fan.

Chris:  Agents of Atlas is taking the place of Captain Britain & MI13 on this list since it just got cancelled. God, I'm leaving so many out. Captain America! Iron Fist! The Unwritten! Anything Stuart Immonen draws!
 

Who do you hope comes back from the dead in Blackest Night? And do you think your White Lantern vision will come true?

Curt:  I hope Sue and Ralph Dibney come back and can enjoy whatever brief respite from evil and danger and madness fictional characters can. And if the rumors are true and Hal Jordan becomes a White Lantern at some point, I'll be disappointed if John Stewart doesn't at least raise an eyebrow or something.

Chris:  I'm really not that interested in seeing characters I love (Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Firestorm, Ted Kord, blah blah blah) come back as monstrous bad guys, and I can't really think of any characters that I didn't like that are dead, so I'm just kind of along for the ride.

Chris: If the White Lantern thing does happen, I just hope they ask me to do an alternate cover.
 

For real, guys, Let's Be Friends Again is the most consistently hilarious web comic that I read. Will you do it forever?

Curt: We'll do it 'til we're bloody well dead. Or until we split up over a woman's love.

Chris:  Unless he dies before me and I get the map and keys to the Scrooge McFranklin Money Vault, my plan is to be drawing Curt and I being friends (again.. and again) forever.

Asterios Polyp

To say that David Mazzuchelli’s new graphic novel Asterios Polyp is, at times, a highly experimental narrative that explores how our own self-perceptions affect and are affected by those around us makes it sound like an impenetrably abstract chore, when it is most certainly not. Conversely, describing it as a story about an big-city intellectual who begins a new life in a small town and is forever changed by the people he meets there makes it sound like quirky, shallow, feel-good junk food, when it’s not that either. Somehow, Asterios Polyp straddles these two extremes masterfully, and the result is a book that works like a charm on two simultaneous levels; Mazzuchelli plays with the cartoon form in several unexpectedly thrilling and ingenious ways, challenging himself and the reader, while delivering a fully fleshed-out narrative filled with memorable characters and episodes that answers all our questions while leaving us wanting more.

Mazzuchelli, best known as Frank Miller’s artistic collaborator on Daredevil: Born Again and Batman: Year One, abandoned the capes-and-tights scene as the 1980s ended and reinvented himself as an alternative comics artist, sporadically appearing to adapt Paul Auster’s novel City of Glass to comics and to self-publish the anthology Rubber Blanket. With Asterios Polyp, Mazzuchelli seems to have taken what he learned from both alternative and mainstream comics and fused them together into an invigorating new style. Polyp begins as the title character, a renowned professor of architecture whose acclaimed designs have never actually been built, loses everything he owns in an apartment fire on his fiftieth birthday. On a whim, he leaves New York with only the clothes on his back, finally ending up in a rural town called Apogee. As he begins a new life as an auto mechanic, Polyp’s history is filled in with a series of flashbacks detailing his academic career and failed marriage to Hana, an abstract sculptress. As Polyp reconstructs himself as a person, he eventually realizes he needs to leave Apogee behind and return to his old life to address his past mistakes.

Most fans remember Mazzuchelli for the gritty, realistic style he employed in Batman and Daredevil, but that was two decades ago. These days, his sparse linework is more reminiscent of Al Hirschfeld or Chester Gould. The muted, often symbolic colour palette of Asterios Polyp adds further layers of meaning. However, for all of the high-art trappings on display, there is plenty of perfectly relatable relationship drama and lowbrow jokes too. Characters have names like Willy Illium and Lotta Latte, Polyp’s employer mangles countless phrases (he admits that his wife wants him to do more “male bondage” stuff), and there’s even a fart joke at one point. Mazzuchelli’s story is so thoroughly planned out and delicately constructed, you’ll find yourself flipping back through it to glean the significance of various items, like the three things Polyp rescues before his apartment burns down. Mazzuchelli melds mainstream and alternative storytelling in a way that’s more successful than I’ve ever seen, and the result is challenging yet accessible, intellectual yet emotional, highbrow yet lowbrow. I read all 344 pages in one sitting, and I wanted to read it again almost as soon as I was done, knowing that there were tons of details and nuances that I wouldn’t appreciate until a second reading. Mazzuchelli might well disappear for another decade now, but if he does, I sincerely hope he brings another book like Asterios Polyp with him when he returns.

Archie Sunday: Betty and Veronica get Hosed

I know that I said I was going to write about the Norm Breyfogle-drawn story in this week's Archie Double Digest #200, but honestly I have nothing interesting to say about it after reading it. Unlike the other "New Look" Archie comics, it wasn't embarassingly shitty, but it also wasn't awesome. Once I got past the fact that Breyfogle, who drew many of my favourite 1980s issues of Batman and Detective Comics, drew this story, it was really just a pretty ok Archie story with unusual art. I have nothing entertaining to say about it.

So instead I am going to post this panel, also in Archie's Double Digest #200, of Betty and Veronica spraying each other with hoses. So don't say I never did anything for you, Chris Sims.

Back Issue Roulette: Wonder Woman No. 248

Well, I may be older but I am certainly no wiser. This week contained exactly zero post-related thought on my behalf, so today I wandered down to my friendly neighborhood comic shoppe and rifled through the back issues until I found the most interesting-looking one I could, so that I could glean wisdom from it. The winner:

Wonder Woman No. 248, "Crypt of the Dark Commander!" How, I ask you, could I resist the sight of a member of the US Armed Forces siccing a giant barbarian zombie on everyone's favourite princess? Plus! Battling Amazons!

Understand that I took a lot of this from context, but as far as I can tell Steve Trevor has died and then been brought back to life by Aphrodite. In a brilliant bit of subterfuge, Steve and Wonder Woman dyed his hair black, changed his name to Steve Trevor Howard and gotten him a job at the UN in the... let me check to make sure... yes, the security department.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Steve has been picked up by some intelligence types from the Army, who want to know just what his deal is. They take him to a top-secret base below a car wash and subject him to the most advanced of interrogation techniques:

Yes kids, the secret is to shout "WHO? WHERE? WHO? WHERE?" at them for four or five hours. But by all means: mix it up a bit if you want to know a "why" or "how" question.

In any case, this is all fairly reasonable: a man you think is dead, working at the UN with a cheap dye job? That spells "International Incident Waiting to Happen" six ways to Sunday! Military Authority Figure is merely looking out for the security of the US and the world at large, right? So he had to pick him up!

I know what you're thinking. Consider, though, that just because a man has a crazy giant skeleton warrior that he apparently worships squirreled away under his secret military base doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't love his country. It could just be a hobby, or a coincidence. He works toward national security from 9-5 and then tinkers away in his crypt until bedtime. You have to keep busy, after all.

Once more I am disappointed by a comic book character.

All I'll say about this scheme is that I know plenty of military types and not one of them would get excited by the thought of perpetual war. You want to get the Lieutenant on your side, buddy? Promise him perpetual, glorious beer. And barbeque.

Anyway, the Major manages to hook Steve up to a machine that transfers his not-being-dead energies into the Dark Commander - who at some point led demons in constant battle somewhere in the vicinity of prehistoric New York, remember - and the big guy comes back to life!

It was a low trick, what the Major done, but I guess I can understand his excitement - it's always a thrill when a big project comes together. Resurrecting an ancient embodiment of evil combat must have really put the fizz in his whiskers.

But of course nothing ever goes according to plan: the glue melts on your matchstick Eiffel Tower or the ant colony springs a leak or the tropical fish you were going to breed turn out to be gay... in the Major's case he just didn't consider that a demon with a sword might just go ahead and stab him. In all fairness: he was an idiot.

Never fear, though, as Wonder Woman soon shows up and wrecks the Dark Commander. Sadly, Steve Trevor Howard dies a second time as a result of the whole ordeal. We are left with this oddly dichotomous final panel:

I mean, isn't that little yellow box incongruously cheerful? It reads like Wonder Woman maybe took five minutes to grieve, then slung Steve into a dumpster and went out for ice cream and some time with the Sinister Seeker of Secrets (I looked ahead and it's crazy. Maybe I bought the wrong issue...)

BONUS: Just in case you were wondering, the Battling Amazons promised on the cover are from a series of tales about the history of WW's people and their voyage to Themiscyra, kind of like the backups in old Thor comics about what the Norse gods got up to back in the day. It's, well...

Well, I'd have to say that it's pretty T&A-riffic. I have no clue how fun or interesting the rest of this backup was, but one thing's for sure and that's that this installment contains what is hands down the best giant talking spider ever:

That's right, it's a super-depressed talking spider! It lives in a strange void between the worlds, spinning webs to capture its prey and have a good chat with them. This is possibly the most horrific thing I have ever read of - it's still going to eat you but first you have to listen to it tell you about how lonely is is and how it wishes that it had gone to business school while it could still get in on a football scholarship... Pure terror.

I'll leave you with a few final words from the spider, after having its head set on fire during a daring rescue. Good evening, folks.

This Week's Haul: Wednesday Comics Forever!

Wednesday Comics #1

This is one of the most creative and ingenious ideas DC has had since their short-lived Solo series (which, by the way, should be collected in trade format please). You take a bunch of the coolest comic creators and pair them up with a bunch of DC's coolest characters (many of which are underused usually) and print it in an awkward-yet-fun-to-read giant newspaper format. I am having a hard time choosing my favourite strip, but the Superman one was absolutely beautiful to look at, and probably had the best cliffhanger.

Amanda Conner obviously draws an awesome-looking Supergirl (and Super-pets!). I also really liked the Catwoman and Demon comic because it's nice to see Selina Kyle being Selina Kyle again. Man I miss that Catwoman series.

Green Lantern #43

I'll say this: Doug Mahnke was the perfect artist choice for this issue. If you need something gross and scary drawn, call up Doug Mahnke. We get a background story for the Black Lantern, who will be playing the part of our villain in the upcoming Blackest Night summer blockbuster event. We're gonna see a bunch of dead DC characters (heroes and villains) rise from the dead, and this issue gave us a refresher on who those characters might be. Dr Light might live to rape again!

I hope I won't have to see some sort of evil zombie Johnathan Kent. That would be terrible.

Uncanny X-Men First Class #1

This is the first issue of a new series that continues Jeff Parker's X-Men First Class series. This time it's written by Scott Gray. Where the first series was about the very first X-Men team, this series is about the dawn of the Uncanny X-Men era, with the expanded line-up of Cyclops, Wolverine, Banshee, Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus. I really like this idea for a series because it serves as an updated introduction to this era of X-Men for new/young readers. It's all-ages appropriate, and the stories are fairly simple and funny. The characters are introduced and explained in very clear ways without being boring (I was impressed with the introduction of the Inhumans in this issue). Roger Cruz, who drew most of the issues of X-Men First Class, is the artist on this series as well, so that helps tie it all together.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36

In this issue Peter Parker goes to Boston for Aunt May's engagement dinner. He gets to meet May's extended family and immediately gets the hots for his female cousins.

Really?

I like to think that Peter Parker would be more happy for his aunt being reunited with her estranged family than being all "Hot cousins! Boiiiiing!" The joke goes on for pages. It's disappointing.

The rest of this comic is ok. That's the best I can do.

Superman: World of New Krypton #5

I know that I am not stupid, or inexperienced at reading comics, so I am not embarrassed to say this: did anyone else have a hard time reading the panels of this comic in the correct order? It was all double-page spreads but none of the pages looked like double-page spreads. It was weird. But that doesn't take away from the fact that I am enjoying this comic a lot. I love Pete Woods' art and I am a big Superman movies/Zod nerd. The Gary Frank cover for this issue is absolutely beautiful.

The Nobody

I haven't had time to read this yet, and I really want to savour it. I will say that it is probably the nicest-looking Vertigo book I have seen. I flipped through it and got excited and had to put it down because I knew I didn't have time to read it. My Friday night plans include reading this and maybe watching a bunch of Mary Tyler Moore Show episodes. And ignoring the fact that my beloved Saku Koivu just joined the Anaheim Mighty Ducks (more like the Mighty SUCKS!). I mean really, Montreal, he buys cancer treatment equipment for your hospital and you let him go?

But I digress. The Nobody looks amazing.

Archie Double Digest #200

What's this? A gripping epic Archie storyline about our teen hero having to move away from Riverdale? And it's drawn by Norm Breyfogle?! Stay tuned for more details in this week's Archie Sunday post...

Showcase Presents Bat Lash vol 1

Judging from the size of this thing, I am gonna say that there won't be any further Showcase volumes of Bat Lash. This Showcase is about half the size of a regular one (and $7 cheaper). I'm kind of into that. It gives me hope that more characters with limited runs will get Showcases. Maybe I'll get my I...Vampire or Scalphunter Showcase. Or Rose and Thorn. At any rate, Bat Lash is awesome and this is going to be a fun read.