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Delays and other things.

So, hey, we’re skipping The Rack today and you’re all going to suck up and deal because tomorrow’s is going to be completely awesome.

Abbreviated thoughts on comics I read:

• The Flash #231 was pretty good, if not spectacular. I liked the kids quite a lot and Waid caught readers up to speed with the new status quo quickly and neatly. Acuna’s art is growing on me, but there’s a couple of panels that made me go “huh?” Anyway, certainly better than the deck-chair arranging of All-Flash #1 and an indicator that Mark Waid’s intentions are to provide action instead of violence with a dash of light-heartedness.

• I’d like to think that the fact that Booster Gold #1 feels like a comic from 1988 is intentional, considering its premise. It neatly maintains the right balance of exposition balanced with some decently-handled dialogue while avoiding a lot of the screenwriterish tendencies that have crept into modern superhero comics. Geoff Johns, Jeff Katz, and Dan Jurgens aren’t re-inventing the wheel, and they seem to recognize that fact fully. Decent enough if you sort of like that kind of thing, “Good” if you really, really care about Booster Gold and/or DC’s “new” Multiverse.
• Killer Girl #1 was purchased to see if I’ll get the eventual trade, and I liked what I saw. Glen Brunswick’s scripting is more-than-passable, even if I do sort of hate it when a narrative voice disappears after the opening, and Frank Espinosa’s art is Impressionism-meets-EC, with some downright beautifully-rendered scenes of brutal violence.
• Could Gilbert Hernandez please do something I hate so I can feel I’m at least moderately balanced when discussing his work? Chance in Hell is dark, brutal, elegant, and featuring the sort of minimal storytelling that’s much, much harder than it looks. Throw in the fact that this book represents one of Fritz’s b-movies in the Love and Rockets universe and you’ve got something that is essential “art” comics reading.

Relentless Self Promotion: The Rack

This week’s picks from the best little comic shop in SoCal are up at The Rack, so spend a moment with them and make sure you’ve not missed anything for this week.

Comics News Post: August 14, 2007

This week’s episode of the reality program Who Wants To Be A Superhero? features a mission centered around retrieving the pencil that Stan Lee started his comics career with.

So, that’d be Jack Kirby’s then, right?

“I sort of think of this project as putting an ending to Jack’s New Gods’ saga. Since Kirby’s initial run on the characters others have presented them with mixed results. Looking back I’d say at least half of the past New Gods series have done more harm than good. So for me, Death of the New Gods is half honoring Jack Kirby, half mercy killing.”

Once the microphone was turned off, Starlin added “…and half Dan Didio just fuckin’ with you.”

“Working with Marvel was a dream come true for all of us, and we enjoyed the opportunity to learn from the comic book industry’s market leader,” said Ernst Dabel, President of Dabel Brothers Productions. “We’re looking forward to applying those lessons to our business as we resume our status as a self-publisher, and we plan to continue producing top-quality adaptations of best-selling science fiction, fantasy, horror and thriller novels by popular authors.”

Marvel will continue to publish books like Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter as the Dabels work on their next series of projects for their own imprint. In other words, Marvel’s in a bathtub coated with ice and the Dabel Brothers have slunk into the night with the publisher’s kidney in one hand, a sack full of money in the other.

"You can make your own action photos of BATMAN and ROBIN…"

Yup.

Mike Wieringo 1963-2007

Relentless Self Promotion: The Rack

Just read it. If you had difficulty following Friday’s strip, it’s now laid bare.

Happy Birthday, Sims!

(Yes, it’s a rerun from last year.)

In tonight’s presentation, Dr. Doom will be quoting from the collected works of Rudolph Giuliani, Presidential Candidate.

(Yes, Giuliani really said that.)

Friday Night Fights: Whomp That Sucker.

Tell them Bahlactus sent you.

RIP, Tony Wilson.

Despite the man’s controversial nature and any number of debacles involving bands whose material I love, I’d like to thank him for helping push fantastic music forward from one of the least likely places on the planet. My youth (and present) would be much diminished without bands like Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, and Durutti Column. I’m sure he and Ian Curtis are having an interesting conversation as I write this.

I’ve stuck “Atmosphere” by Joy Division in the box.net application on the right side of my blog in some sort of clumsy tribute. Cue it up and spend a moment or two savoring it, would you?

Five Thoughts About Recentish Comics-Related Matters With One Longish Aside.

1. Why didn’t I review Batman #667? Because words can not contain its pure beauty and majesty. Gaze at Morrison doing what he does so beautifully with Williams unveiling a style that’s so perfect for the material.

2. Notes from a War Story, the new Gipi book from :01 First Second? Yes, you rather need to get that. Gipi’s stupidly talented as a storyteller and the translation staff capture character nuances perfectly. Probably my favorite out of the recent batch, closely followed by Laika.
3. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer thinks that Gaiman’s done a graphic novel of Beowulf, instead of just providing the screenplay. I feel sorry for the people at comics shops there that have to deal with someone that heard a thing from a guy who read an article while waiting to get his hair cut.

   (An aside: While filling in at the local shop, I had to deal with a Gaiman fan that turned into Frank Nelson when he saw that the shop had a copy of Black Orchid in trade paperback. “Oh my GOOOOOD. I didn’t even know this EXISTED.”

   I mentioned it was out of print and they’d recently found a that copy used in great shape and his response: “Why would ANYONE give up a comic by NEIL GAIMAN?” I was amused and slightly horrified at the Whedonite response, something I don’t normally see with Gaiman fans, who tend to be the quiet sorts who are proud of their preferred writer’s literary bent.)

4. Speaking of Whedon: not even Gabriel Ba Fabio Moon can make me read his stuff without twitching a bit. There’s something about his comic dialogue that sets me off and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Others can say they get why it sets me off, but they can’t quantify it either. It’s an ethereal thing, I suppose, difficult to grasp (outside of saying something like “It seems written,”) but present nonetheless. (And I know you’re going to show up and bitch me out, people that call him “Joss,” so I’ll point out that I’m not some sort of super-snob (as the next item indicates) – I just don’t like his writing.)
5. I bought Essential Dazzler. I’m about 90% sure I’ll very much enjoy the entirety of the contents. Yes, I’m aware there’s something wrong with me.

Relentless Self-Promotion: The Rack

This is the true story of six friends who went out to get pizza and had their lives drawn by Benjamin Birdie to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real. The Real World: Yavin IV!

I don’t like physics, either.

(Via.)

A Public Service Announcement

A Cheap Shot.

You know, while Black Adam #1 contains brutal violence, cannibalism, and our titular character (who’s a mass murderer, don’t forget) informing someone their mom should have aborted them in the womb (see previous entry,) it’s nice to see that DC knows where to draw the line in a superhero comic that’s not labeled as a Mature Readers product.

Hyperbrief Review-Type Things.

These are the single issues I read last night. Guess which two were sent to me by DC! (Hint: it’s the first two.)

Black Adam #1 – Blech. I don’t need Black Adam to tell someone they should have been aborted in the womb to know he’s the fucking bad guy. Inessential at best, turgid and uninspired at its core.

Metal Men #1 – Yay, and I’m sort of surprised. It’s a bit overcomplicated for no good reason, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Criminal #8 – This may be my favorite comic on the stands right now. Brubaker’s doing exactly what I want in a noir story: making me care about what happens to bad people. His crisp dialogue is either taken for granted by everyone or completely underappreciated.

Daredevil #99 – I should wait for the trade, but I can’t. I just…I can’t. It’s that good. Shame I had no idea who the bad guy at the end was. (No, don’t tell me in comments. I’ll sort it out.)

Casanova #8 – There’s a very, very clever linguistic/pronunciation pun in this one that made me cackle, but even more interesting than the comic itself was Matt Fraction’s essay at the end, discussing the story’s inspirations.

The Boys #9 – I really, really like how Ennis played with reader expectations set up by his tropes. Incredibly entertaining, at least for me. I understand it’s unpopular with many superhero comics fans.

Relentless Self-Promotion: The Rack

Pulse-pounding, gripping, high-impact medical drama takes center stage in the latest edition of The Rack.

I’ve come to a decision.

DC doesn’t deserve my money unless they commission Europe to remake their biggest single as a tie-in to Final Crisis.