So I Was Reading Fate No. 3 the Other Day…

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And I do declare that in a book absolutely [[filled with 90s character archetypes (Fate himself, for example), this lady:

… is the best example of the breed that I have encountered in a long time. Bathing suit with shoulder pads, gigantic armoured boots, crazy weapons, incredibly bombastic speech patterns? Checkity-check check check.

Oh, damn. I just realized exactly how 90s her origin is, too. See, she’s the last member of a race of ladies (?) with incredible magical powers, only when they were all wiped out by evil types(natch) she was the only one who hadn’t yet learned how to use those powers. So she made pacts with crazy creatures to get herself a house and train for, like, ever to make herself a complete martial badass. She has at least two unnecessary layers in her origin! Astonishing.

 

The Unfunnies: Tricksy, World's Greatest Stunt Man

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In honour of tomorrow, the most difficult Monday of the year (not the one after a [hopefully] nice long holiday break, as you might think, but the one after that, as it comes after a weekend that is a pale shadow of the break you just had), I broke open the "Jobs" subfolder of my Unfunnies archive:

Not only is this unfunny on the face of it, but I'm not entirely sure where the humour is supposed to be coming from. Is Tricksy legitimately able to hold his breath for an hour and just a bit of a nitwit? Is the comic revealing this stunt as a scam by implying that he's been perfectly dry the whole time, like that naked lady on the Chris Isaak Show? Whichever is the case, I laugh not.

From Lois Lane No. 25.

John Buys Comics: The Hunt For the Best of 2011 Begins

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This is going to be intensely abbreviated, as I can imagine that  reading my thoughts on comics is beginning to pall. After this, you get a week off.

New:

Hellboy: the Sleeping and the Dead, which is a two-parter set in 1966 and features Hellboy vs. vampires, one of my favourite situations. This is supposed to be a very big year for Hellboy, and this is a very good start. 

Meanwhile, I haven't been paying attention again. I expected Batman Inc. No. 2, and it was as entertaining as its predecessor, but this Batman: The Dark Knight yangle caught me off-guard. I almost rolled my eyes and skipped it in protest of over-saturation but two things stopped me: firstly my crippling Batman addiction and secondly Dave offhandedly mentioning that the series was supposedly going to feature Batman tackling some more supernatural threats, which hits my other major weakness for comics where big dudes punch monsters. And then it turned out to be a decent read, which is nice.

And finally Weird Worlds, which I got because I'm finally ready to admit that I like reading comics with Lobo in them. Plus, see above reference to liking monster-punching. Hmm. Maybe I should have picked up Steel as well.

Ongoing:

How weird is it that I forgot that Keith Giffen had created some characters based on the movie The Aristocrats for Doom Patrol?Because that was one of my favourite things of all time and now that storyline is done and I'm still very glad I put this on the extended best-of list.

Ending:

The Bulletproof Coffin finished this week with No. 6 and caught me completely off-guard. What a weird, bleak, wonderful ending. Definitely would have bumped something out of the Top Ten if this had come out earlier.

BOOP!

Oh Yes, It's the End of the Best of 2010

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I will be brief.

Here are the new series that wowed me in the dearly departed 2010.

Age of Reptiles - Is it wrong that I weigh the amazing panoramic vistas and incredibly rendered herds of multiple dinosaur species and the wordless drama of predator v. prey as highly as the puerile giggles I get whenever I spot a dinosaur taking a whizz?

Beasts of Burden - Okay, so the only new thing to come out this year was the Hellboy crossover. I don't care - I love this comic. Plus, the trade that came out a few months ago is a joy to behold.

Bulletproof Coffin - An amazingly weird series with beautiful, vibrantly-coloured art. If the last issue had come out before today it might have made the big list (closure is important, dammit).

Culture Corner - Basil Wolverton doesn't get anywhere near the recognition that he deserves nowadays, so it was wonderful to see this collection of his typically bizarre advice comics.

Gorilla Man - I am a connoisseur of great big smart-mouth heros who end up punching their way out of trouble a lot and let me tell you, Ken Hale is one of the best.

Justice League: Generation Lost - Possibly the best super-hero comic to come out this year. Definitely the best thing to come out of Brightest Day.

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour - So obvious I almost forgot to include it.

Skullkickers - I get the feeling that if one more issue had come out before the year ended it'd have been in the top ten. Another comic that pushes a lot of my Dungeon Master buttons - Shorty and Baldy have that special combination of ingenuity and complete insanity that marks all of my players' characters.

Strange Science Fantasy - Pretty sure this is going to be on Dave's list, and it deserves to be. Personally, I was sold the instant that the Shogunaut showed up.

Strange Tales II - All the joy of Strange Tales, with a far more consistent level of quality! Whee!

Stumptown - Take the classic noir detective and his drunken, big-mouth, getting-roughed-up all the time ways and now make him a lady and put him in the present day. That is this comic and it is a treat.

Superf*ckers - Kochalka's off-colour spin on the teen super-team, collected at last!

Super Pro KO - Any comic that captures the late 80s/early 90s insanity that was professional wrestling gets my vote.

Tick New Series - It's been almost exactly a year and Benito Cereno has been knocking this comic out of the park consistently. I can't imagine that the Tick is a character that just anyone can write - you need to hit just the right notes to make him work. Applause!

Turf - Gangsters, vampires, aliens and plucky girl reporters. It was either going to be awful or amazing. Hooray!

Underground - A comic that was mostly about people trying to kill other people deep under the earth, which makes me uncomfortable like little else can. Quiet down, nascent claustrophobia.

Xenozoic - Another collected edition rather than new material, but one that was overdue. 

And that, as they say, is that. Brevity, thy name is Johnathan.

Good night!