My reaction to the trailer for The Dark Knight

The Rack: Staff Picks for the week of December 19, 2007

Staff picks? Staff picks. Soon all the pickery will be over and we’ll return to regular service, maybe even slightly improved service considering the discussions we’ve had around the boardroom.

The Probably Not Quite Definitive Year End List Part Two: 60 (plus 2) Trade Paperbacks and Reprint Collections That I Read In 2007 And Recommend.

1. Age Of Bronze Volume 3: Betrayal (Part 1) by Eric Shanower. I’ve not even read it yet (probably this weekend,) but I’m 96% sure this continues the qualilty I’ve come to expect from Shanower’s aiming-for-the-fences approach to retelling the Trojan War.
2. Agents of Atlas by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk. A comic that celebrates and explores the dusty corners of Marvel’s past without feeling like a continuity wankathon, with lots of warmth and humor? Why, that sounds right up my alley. Parker’s writing is clever without being cute and Leonard Kirk turns in the best work of his career.
3. All-Star Superman Volume 1 by Grant Morrison, Frank Quietly, and Jamie Grant. If somebody told me that Superman sucked and they don’t understand why anyone would want to read about him, I would hand them this book. Then I would ask for my $20.
4. Amazing Fantasy Omnibus by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Various. The sort of collection that could never be justified by Marvel until the advent of $75 Omnibus books, and the sort of thing that justifies buying a $75 book. Funny how that works out.
5. The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen by Various. The comics blogosphere finally gets the sourcebook it was begging for.
6. Annihilation: Books 1-3 by Various. I freakin’ loved this large-scale story that was semi-ignored while Civil War was screwing up the heroes I liked so much back on earth.
7. Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope. Paul Pope’s dark, relentless story of a future dark knight is refreshingly straightforward and managed to surprise me on more than one occasion.
8. Betsy and Me by Jack Cole. Even with the pall cast over this book by Cole’s depression and subsequent suicide, it’s hard not to marvel at the cartooning within.
9. Beyond! by Dwayne McDuffie and Scott Kolins. Beyond! harkens back to those kitchen-sink team-up books of the 70s and serves as a quasi-sequel to Secret Wars but – get this – doesn’t feel hopelessly retro or mired in minutiae. (Exception: maybe Xemnu, but he’s been around the Marvel Universe since before there was such a place, so I’m giving it a pass.)
10. Blade: Sins of the Father by Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin. I’d say this was a guilty pleasure, but I feel no guilt at all about enjoying this sharp, frequently hilarious series that managed to make Blade more interesting than three movies and a short-lived, slightly horrible television show.
11. Captain America: War and Remembrance by Roger Stern and John Byrne. I’ve got empirical evidence that this run is among the three or four best the character’s had. Sadly, that’s not saying too much, is it?
12. Carl Is The Awesome! by Marcos Perez. No lie, this is the greatest comic known to man. Not loving Carl is not loving the medium.
13. Casanova Volume 1: Luxuria by Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba. I probably should have also included in my recommended titles, but I discovered that, even with the lack of backmatter, the collected edition for this title is a much more rewarding reading experience.
14. The Claws Come Out by Pat Lewis. Pat is one of my favorite cartoonists and this collection of his minicomics is a treat. In a couple of years, he’s going to blow up and I’ll be able to pull the “I knew him when…” card.
15. Comic Book Holocaust by Johnny Ryan. Do you whining comics fans bitching about editorial at the big two want to know what it’s like to really have your childhood raped? Pick this up and open it to a random page.
16. The Complete Peanuts by Charles Schulz. I can’t imagine making a list like this for at least the next decade without including these.
17. Devil Dinosaur Omnibus by Jack Kirby. There’s an odd earnestness to this series that sells its high concept much better than expected. I only hope we see more of these Kirby-centric collections. (Yes, I want an Inhumans one.)
18. Dr 13: Architecture and Morality by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. I’m always up for a good Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark reference and thankfully, the surreal adventure within lives up to its ambitious title. This is probably my favorite thing Brian Azzarello’s written, and Cliff Chiang should draw every comic ever, if only for one issue. Honestly, I’d not be surprised if this were mentioned in the same breath as Watchmen in a few years – it’s that smart.
19. Dr Strange: The Oath by Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin. Better than I expected, this was a Dr. Strange comic that made me remember why I liked him so much.
20. Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 2 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Various. Man alive, these are some fantastic comics.
21. Fell Volume 1 by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith. I bought the hardcover because I’m like that, but I can’t imagine the softcover has any less impact. In a lot of ways, this seems like the series Ellis has been wanting to write for the last few years, where he gets to use the bits of reality that hove into his view.
22. GØDLAND: The Celestial Edition by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli. Bigger! More Cosmic! Weirder!
23. Gotham Central: Dead Robin by Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Kano, and Stegfane Gaudiano. You know, if it weren’t for the (frankly, idiotic) decision to tie this comic into the events of Infinite Crisis, I’d place this in my all-time top ten DCU titles. But, you know, they had to make sure that every corner of their universe got a bit dirty. (Seriously, Spectre with a goatee? C’mon!)
24. I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets by Fletcher Hanks. It’s hard to imagine that a year that saw Fantagraphics reprinting Peanuts and Popeye could reprint something that would get more attention, but here it is. Delightfully stupid superheroics from the Golden Age, featuring visuals that I will take to the grave.
25. The Immortal Iron Fist: The Last Iron Fist Story by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and David Aja. Everybody on the planet praised this book, and for good reason – a fun romp in the pulpier ends of a shared superhero universe with a breakneck pace and dialogue and visuals that only made things better.
26. Invaders Classic Volume 1 by Roy Thomas and Various. I like it when superheroes fuck up things that belong to Hitler.
27. It Rhymes with Lust by Arnold Drake, Leslie Waller, and Matt Baker. Dark Horse’s digest-sized reprint of this pictonovel was something I picked up on a whim. Reading it on the train the other day, I was stricken with how it’s a thematic cousin to Ace In The Hole, something I’d not think comics at the time could manage.
28. Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus Volumes 1-3 by Jack Kirby and Various. My favorite comics that Jack Kirby did, finally in a bookshelf format that shows off their gloriousness. I initially bitched about the paper stock chosen, but have since recanted this after some consideration – it nicely shows how the art would look on a fresh-off-the-press copy of the original comics.
29. Jack Kirby’s Silver Star by Jack Kirby. You know, it’s not very good, but it’s great. So many weird Kirby ideas piled on top of each other.
30. Kamandi Archives Volume 2 by Jack Kirby and Various. Honestly, I would have preferred a Showcase with this material, but I’m a bit of a sucker for Kirby reprints.
31. Kane Volume 6: Partners by Paul Grist. The better-than-Sin City crime series had another excellent installment this year.
32. Krazy & Ignatz: The Kat Who Walked in Beauty by George Herriman. Gorgeous. That’s the word.
33. The new Love and Rockets Bookshelf Collection or whatever Fantagraphics is calling it. I tried to pick just one and couldn’t, so fuck it. They’re affordable and beautiful and and and…just buy them.
34. Madman Gargantua by Mike Allred. A completely unneccessary oversized reprint project that smacks of vanity, yet I couldn’t help but buy it and love it.
35. Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Various. About damn time.
36. Mean by Steven Weissman. Pal Sarah introduced me to Weissman’s work when I was at a weird point in my life and it was the perfect antidote to idiotic relationship problems. Weissman’s early work shows that his vision was pure from the onset: cute and horrific combined to delightful effect.
37. The Middleman Volume 3: The Third Volume Inescapability by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine. Not only is this a fun, exciting comic book, it’s a good comic book, the sort you want to show off to prove that it’s not always about grotesque violence and over the top “sexiness” that seems as cold as a German porn film shot in an operating room.
38. Misery Loves Comedy by Ivan Brunetti. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll mutter “down the stream, not across the river” as you lie in a bathtub filled with warm water.
39. Nextwave Volume 2: I Kick Your Face by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen. Marvel will probably put these in one of those oversized hardcovers and I’ll buy it and only very slightly miffed that it’s the third time I’ve paid for this fun, over-the-top series that showed that sometimes, Marvel knows what they’re doing.
40. The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman. I dismissed this as being a knockoff of Brian Wood’s Channel Zero, which was really idiotic of me. Hickman’s graphic design sensibility and well-crafted story were only undermined by his constant reminders that the viewpoints represented by the characters are not necessarily his own. I’m sure it seemed funny on paper.
41. Palestine: The Special Edition by Joe Sacco. An almost too-beautiful presentation of one of the defining pieces of comics journalistm – it’s easy to get distracted from the ugliness that Sacco exposes within.
42. Paris by Andi Watson and Simon Gane. Easily the best romance I read this year.
43. Phonogram by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. Yes, again, friends of mine, but I don’t care. I recommend this comic to people by saying “Hellblazer, but with music, and slightly sexier.” This works remarkably well.
44. Popeye Volume 2: I Yam What I Yam by E.C. Segar. Better than even the most enthusiatic strip fiends can prepare you for.
45. The Punisher: Barracuda by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov. You know, it’s nice to see that even when he’s doing a MAX series, Ennis takes time out for his classics.
46. The Punisher: Man of Stone by Garth Ennis and Leandro Fernandez. Goddamn, Garth Ennis.
47. The Punisher: Widowmaker by Garth Ennis, Lan Medina, and Bill Reinhold. See above.
48. Runaways Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughn, Adrian Alphona, and Mike Norton. While the third volume seemed a bit less fun, Runaways sets a reliable benchmark for “new-user friendly Marvel comics that you can hand a kid without expecting their mother to try to tear your face off later.” Unless, of course, they’re some sort of right-winger that would hate the whole alien-who-can-become-a-woman-for-the-lesbian-character angle and the questions it raises. Those people don’t deserve good comics anyway.
49. Sandman Mystery Theater: Dr. Death and the Night of the Butcher by Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, Guy Davis, and Vince Locke. Another reprint volume from my favorite Vertigo series with “Sandman” in the title. This is probably what primed me for my later-than-normal discovery of pulp characters. Funny how a derivative can clear the path for one’s appreciation of its predecessors.
50. Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine. I was hard-pressed not to put this on the previous “Graphic Novels” list because this collection of three issues of Optic Nerve works brilliantly as a graphic novel, but, you know, I had to have some sort of standards applied to the process.
51. Showcase Presents: Adam Strange by Various. I love the fact that the average human intelligence of Adam Strange makes him look like a genius on Raan.
52. Showcase Presents: Legion of Super-Heroes by Various. The Silver Ageiest of Silver Age comics, finally available in a format that I’m fine with leaving in the bathroom.
53. Showcase Presents: The Flash by Various. Oh man, I love how beautifully Fox and company twisted science to meet whatever perverted story needs were on the table. Also: one of my five favorite superhero costumes ever.
54. Showcase Presents: The War That Time Forgot by Various. I have sung the praises of this work before, and for good reason. “Dinosaurs versus soldiers” is the purest logline ever.
55. Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane: Volume 1 by Sean McKeever, Takeshi Miyazawa, and various. This is the only Spider-Man comic I’m reading anymore outside of glancing at Immonen’s work on Ultimate Spider-Man. The fact it’s aimed at preteen girls bothers me not at all.
56. Superman: The Bottle City of Kandor by Various. See: The Amazing Transformations of Jimmy Olsen.
57. The Three Paradoxes by Paul Hornschemeier. While not Hornschemeier’s best work (that’d be Mother Come Home), there’s a lot to admire in this.
58. Thor: The Eternals Saga Volume 2 by Roy Thomas and Various. I came close to filing this under Roy Thomas Is Compulsive because of it features a heavier-than-usual dose of the writer having to make sure all the dots connect, but then I met El Vampiro and El Toro Rojo, a Deviant and Eternal who operated as Mexican wrestlers.
59. The Ultimates Volume 2 by Mark Millar and Brian Hitch. About as subtle (and intelligent) as a pickaxe to the crotch, but so, so pretty. Other people watch Michael Bay movies, I read stuff like this.
60. Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse Volume 1 by Ben Templesmith. I picked this up because I enjoyed Templesmith’s work on Fell so much, and this turned out to be much smarter and funnier than I expected.
61. X-Men: First Class by Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz. Thankfully, the only new X-Men comics I read in 2007 were contained within.
62. Zombies vs Robots by Ashley Wood and Chris Ryall. No lie, this was easily among the ten “most fun” comics I read this year. No, I didn’t expect that either.

I made an omission in yesterday’s list that is really, really bothering me. Please go buy The Aviary by Jamie Tanner. It’s published by AdHouse and actually made me have to get up and go pee, I was holding back my laughter from reading it so hard. (I hate being seen laughing in public from something nobody else can see. I really hate the taste of the blue pills and the nurses are never as nice as the ones you see on TV.)

Posted without commentary.

Here’s what BostonNow’s Comics Editor Jesse O’Brien thinks are the best comics-related items, events, and stories for the year.

Overdrift: Stage 2 Teaser.

Ho-Ho-Hulk.

Bahlactus wants you to have a green Christmas.

The Rack: Rick’s Picks

Oh, yeah, Birdie and I still do a comic strip. In this penultimate holiday picks strip, you can find out what the youngest and freshest member of the Yavin IV family thinks you should look for.

The Probably Not Quite Definitive Year End List Part One: 75 Comics and Graphic Novels That I Read In 2007 And Recommend.

1. Acme Novelty Datebook Volume 2: 1995-2002 by Chris Ware. Part of me wants to tuck this into the next list, dedicated to reprint collections, but any new Ware should be celebrated as quickly as possible.
2. All-Star Batman And Robin, The Boy Wonder by Frank Miller, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams. The comic that gave us Batman asking if Robin was a retard got more entertaining this year.
3. All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison, Frank Quietly, and Jamie Grant. The best superhero comic being published now.
4. Angry Youth Comix by Johnny Ryan. America’s premiere gross-out gag cartoonist hit new lows with the latest issue of this series.
5. Apollo’s Song by Osamu Tezuka. While not Tezuka’s best work, the brutal imagery and inventive storytelling showed exactly why he’s so revered.
6. Army@Love by Rick Veitch and Gary Erskine. Blackly hilarious with the same sledgehammer satire that made me love Catch 22 and Dr. Strangelove. Veitch’s art has never looked better thanks to Gary Erskine’s inks.
7. Ask For Janice by Jim Mahfood. The comics artist most associated with hip-hop made this little minicomic about the recording of Paul’s Boutique. I think it’s probably sold out by now. Sorry.
8. Atomic Robo by Brian Clevenger and Scott Wegener. Pure fun that uses the same playbook as Hellboy without slavishly imitating Mignola’s series.
9. Awesome: The Indie Spinner Rack Anthology by Various. Some very strong entries (and the beautiful Jonathan Adams cover) lifted this mishmash into “recommended” territory.
10. Batman by Grant Morrison and Various. Even with the spotty art choices – Tony Daniel, really? – Morrison made the Batman comic I’ve been wanting to read: global adventure similar to the 70s Adams-drawn peak that doesn’t slavishly imitate what’s happened before.
11. Biff Bam Pow by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer. Worth the wait, actually.
12. Black Metal by Rick Spears and Chuck BB. I don’t like metal at all. I mean at all. This comic made me want to go on an orgiastic Goatwhore downloading spree and slather myself in black face paint.
13. Black Summer by Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp. While “Warren Ellis writes superheroes that take it to the max” is about as tried and true a motif as there is in comics, Black Summer manages to offer something new by showing the political consequences in tandem with the ultraviolence.
14. Blue Beetle by John Rogers and Raphael Albuquerque. The DCU comic I most recommend to people who are wanting to dip their toes in without being buried in Countdown-related mire. Rogers has deftly handled his editorially-mandated crossover moments.
15. The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson. Profane, disturbing, and the perfect antidote to the frequently-too-serious superheroics being tossed around by the big two.
16. Captain America by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and Various. I’ve actually just been reading this in trade, but I can’t imagine there being a higher-quality Marvel comic on the stands right now. If asked what I want from a Captain America comic, you’d get something that sounded like the exact opposite of this, but everyone involved has been firing on all cylinders.
17. Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. I just wish each issue were longer. Or that it came out bi-weekly.
18. Chance in Hell by Gilbert Hernandez. You know how in DC comics in 1989, they’d refer to the Batman movie that was being made? This is sort of like that Batman movie, but in the Love and Rockets universe, so it doesn’t have any superheroes in it at all. But otherwise, it’s a perfect analogy, except not.
19. Crecy by Warren Ellis, Raul Cacares. History made awesome.
20. Criminal by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips. A series I loved in single issues thanks to copious backmatter and Brubaker’s easy use of the sequential format.
21. Cromartie High School by Eiji Nonaka. My favorite manga, bar none.
22. Daredevil by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, and Various. Again with Ed Brubaker, I know. I had some sort of note here about Brubaker being the Ann Nocenti to Bendis’s Frank Miller, but that doesn’t work at all, does it?
23. DMZ by Brian Wood, Riccardo Burchielli, and Various. While the Friendly Fire story that took up a big chunk of this year was engrossing, Wood’s single-issue stories featuring individual characters were my favorite.
24. Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow by Anders Nilsen. One of the single most devastating things I’ve ever read.
25. Empowered by Adam Warren. The two volumes of this series that came out in 2007 made me hope it lasts a long, long time.
26. Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan. Judging from what Tom Spurgeon and others have collected from media outlets, I think this is going to be on everybody’s “End Of The Year” lists, and it really deserves to be. Simple, plaintive storytelling that builds to one of my favorite final sequences in a long, long time.
27. Garage Band by Gipi. It’s extremely difficult to capture music on the comics page, but Gipi makes it look so, so simple. Bonus points for the fact he’s unafraid to make a protagonist unlikeable for the sake of a story.
28. Geraniums and Bacon #4 by Cathy Leamy. And no, it’s not just because she’s a good friend. Cathy’s minicomics are always quite nice, but I loved seeing her take on the venerable tradition that is the European travelogue. Now, to convince her to hurry up and do one about her trip to Japan.
29. GØDLAND by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli. Each issue of this Kirby-as-genre comic makes me feel like a 9-year-old. Hooray!
30. Good as Lily by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm. The most satisfying of the Minx releases for this year by a long stretch.
31. The Goon: Chinatown by Eric Powell. “This ain’t funny,” Powell warns on the first page of this, the long-hinted-at backstory for his Working Class Hellboy, and it isn’t. At all. But it is very very good and shows off Powell’s skills as more than a guy that knows how to show a dude beatin’ up some zombies.
32. Guardians of the Kingdom by Tom Gauld. This may be a 2006 or earlier comic; I have no idea and I really don’t care. One of the funniest books I’ve had the joy of reading in a long time. It’s nice to see someone with Gauld’s aesthetic doing humor.
33. Gyakushu! Volume One by Dan Hipp. What can I say? I’m a sucker for ultra-stylized samurai comics.
34. The Homeless Channel by Matt Silady. The best book put out by AiT/Planetlar this year and a fascinating look at how the media operates.
35. House by Josh Simmons. A brilliant little piece of horror: wordless, evocative, and one of the strongest professional debuts I saw this year.
36. House of Sugar by Rebecca Kraatz. If Diamond hadn’t been what they were, this would have come out in 2006. A fine collection of introspective single-page strips by a creator I want to see more from.
37. I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason. Jason + Time Travel + Hitler = An unexpectedly poignant, cautionary tale about temporal hijinks.
38. Johnny Hiro by Fred Chiang. Despite the pun-heavy name, this Adhouse-released book is one of my top ten for the year – it’s sweet, humorous, and full of high adventure with fine, fine art from the creator.
39. Justice League Unlimited #36 by Simon Spurrier, Min S Ku and Jeff Albrecht. A standout issue focusing on The Question that made me wonder at the ease with which he’s used in the animated materials while they had to kill him off in the “regular” universe.
40. King City by Brandon Graham. A high-concept delight.
41. Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki. I just plain enjoy this comic. Otsuka’s cast is great fun to watch, and Yamazaki’s art balances the creepy and the humorous very nicely.
42. Laika by Nick Abadzis. If I had my way, this would be on the 6th-grade reading curriculum in every school system in America.
43. The Last Call by Vasilis Lolos. This made the delay in Pirates of Coney Island worth it. You know that feeling you get when you see Tim Burton visuals without having to deal with his actual movies? This is like that, but the end product lives up to your hopes. A perfect young adult fantasy work; I only hope the subsequent chapters are as good.
44. The Living And The Dead by Jason. Jason makes zombies cool again.
45. Lower Regions by Alex Robinson. Yes, it’s just a D+D session transcribed to comics form, but I found it to be a lot of fun and I don’t like RPGs at all.
46. Lucha Libre by a whole mess of Belgians. One of the comics that made me laugh out loud this year, and beautifully rendered, at that.
47. Madman Atomic Comics by Mike Allred. Instead of going the “golly gee, isn’t this swell?” route previous iterations of Madman have used, Allred challenged himself and the readers this year, managing to make a metaphysical romp that still has its feet firmly planted on the ground.
48. Mail by Housui Yamazaki. Another supernatural manga series, from the artist of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. This one’s usually more about the twist than the actual story, but when they’re rendered as well as this, that seems almost negligible.
49. Marvel Adventures: Avengers by Jeff Parker and Various. The only Avengers comic I’m reading at present.
50. Mister Wonderful by Dan Clowes. I’m pretty sure this is going to be the next issue of Eightball.
51. MOME by Various. Very hit and miss with me, but I always make time for new comics from Paul Hornschemeier.
52. Moving Pictures by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen. This webcomic by the Immonens is always rewarding: Kathryn’s dialogue is finely-hewn and Stuart’s art is, as usual, sublime.
53. MPD Psycho by Eiji Otsuka and Sho-U Tajima. This compelling horror manga will give you nightmares. I mean that. (And yes, that Eiji Otsuka again on this list. I may have a thing.)
54. Multiple Warheads by Brandon Graham. Brandon Graham’s second entry on this list, this time with a book about a dude with an extra penis and the girl that loves him.
55. New Tales of Old Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez. This may be Gilbert Hernandez’s best work so far. Minimal without seeming spare and a huge argument for the “comics as literature” thing having some traction.
56. Notes From A War Story by Gipi. The other Gipi book put out by FirstSecond this year and while it has shares the theme of aimless youth making poor decisions, it’s a different beast in tone and intent.
57. Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian. What I thought Percy Gloom was going to be: too cute, saccharine, fluff disguised under a veneer of false gravitas. What it turned out to be: amazing, smart, heartbreaking, and beautiful.
58. Pirates of Coney Island by Rick Spears and Vasilis Lolos. A lurid, technicolor romp that I could most easily describe at The Warriors: The Next Generation.
59. The Professor’s Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert. Sfar’s spry, witty, romantic script required a superior artist to step up to the task, and thankfully Emmanuel Guibert was on-hand. I may have gotten a bit misty and the end. Maybe.
60. The Salon by Nick Bertozzi. A graphic novel I enjoyed so much I gave away three copies.
61. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Brian Lee O’Malley. Yes, he did. And there was much rejoicing. Worth the delay? Oh, yes.
62. Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith. I wish I could go back in time to meet my seven-year-old self and give him this book. The first comic in a long, long time to capture the magic and wish fulfillment of the original Captain Marvel comics.
63. Silverfish by David Lapham. I don’t care what anyone says: this is a missing Stray Bullets chapter.
64. Skyscrapers of the Midwest #4 by Josh Cotter. See what I wrote up there about Percy Gloom? Same thing for me and this series, which came out far too rarely but will soon have a bookshelf format.
65. Speak of the Devil by Gilbert Hernandez. Yes, Gilbert Hernandez again. I initially described this as being delightfully Corman-esque and stick by this assessment. The latest issue had my skin crawling with its depraved eroticism.
66. Special Forces by Kyle Baker. Yeah, I just said how wonderful this was a couple weeks back. Razor-sharp and beautifully drawn, this is a war satire that’s sadly backed by hard data concerning recruitment for the Iraq War.
67. The Spirit by Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, and Dave Stewart. The most stylish comic being put out by either of the big two companies, and it happens to be eminently readable as well. Was that so hard, DC?
68. Suburban Glamor by Jamie McKelvie. Another comic by someone that I know and actually quite like. McKelvie’s matter-of-fact take on the “young person discovers their connection to the fantastic” is not just nicely drawn – his dialogue and sense of story are firmly in place.
69. Super Spy by Matt Kindt. I will always be a rabid fan of Matt Kindt’s work, and this deeply rewarding look at espionage during the Second World War is a perfect example why.
70. Superman #666 by Kurt Busiek and Walt Simonson. A well-done DC superhero story that fits into a single issue and doesn’t require knowledge of every little thing happening in the DCU? The deuce, you say!
71. Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK’s 11 by Fred Van Lente and Francis Portela. – A mirthful tale of espionage, double-crosses, triple-crosses, all held together by a hyperencephalitic genius.
72. Tales From The Farm: Ghost Stories by Jeff Lemire. I’ve sung Lemire’s praises time and time again, so I’ll just link to my boosterism post for the book.
73. The End by Anders Nilsen. I’m fond of tossing around the comics-as-jazz analogy, but seriously, Anders Nilsen’s The End is like Coltrane’s Ascension. 99% of the comics audience won’t get it (or want to, really,) but the 1% that do will likely rave until you want to punch them in the face.
74. Wonton Soup by James Stokoe. I read it twice in rapid succession and really enjoyed this science fiction/food battle story. You can tell Stokoe, Brandon Graham, and Corey Lewis share a studio and cross-pollinate each other with ideas and techniques, something I love to see happen.
75. Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma. This manga makes me want to have a kid, something I’m normally very averse to. (Plus, it’s finally back on some sort of schedule! Yay!)

Tomorrow, I’ll be covering reprint collections, trade paperbacks, and the like. Do come back, please.

Kirby Saturday: From Masters Of Comic-Book Art

I may have posted this before.

I don’t care, really, as it’s still good viewing.

Friday Night Fights: Somebody Better Call Norm Abram

From Daring Mystery Comics #3, reprinted in The Twelve #0.
Art by Sam Cooper.

Bahlactus has one eye on you, the other on the ring.

"Testarossa Autodrive," Kavinsky

New New Frontier !

The special will be a special in that old school way. It will have a small connecting story and the conceit is that these are untold events that the government classified back in the early sixties. There are three stories in the special. The main story is something I call Chapter X, and it is the story behind the big Batman/Superman fight hoax referred to in New Frontier. In the book we only deal with that event as a squib in a magazine article along with on shot of them brawling. This 22 page story will tell about what leads up to the two fighting, and how they choose to resolve it. A host of our Frontier cast are in this story, from King Faraday and the Suicide Squad through to Wonder Woman and Hourman. We also get to meet the New Frontier Alfred.

Imagine the thrills!

By the way, for anyone who may be out there rolling their eyes about a Superman Batman punch up, all I can say is suck it up. I am going to kick the hell out of those two. There is a major surprise in the story, and an element to their fight that hasn’t been alluded to in any form. The story twist and climax will add to any New Frontier fan’s appreciation of the main story. I’ll be writing and drawing this one.

Following that will be two short stories written by myself and featuring art by two of New Frontier’s alumni. J. Bone and I are tackling Wonder Woman, Black Canary and old school chauvinism in an New Frontier parody along the lines of the old Kurtzman/Wood Mad satires. The director of the New Frontier DVD is a talented young man named David Bullock. He and I are tackling a short that features Robin and Kid Flash up against Red saboteurs. Of course my men Dave Stewart and Jared Fletcher will also be on board for color and lettering.

Mind you, I’m still working up exactly nil enthusiasm when it comes to the upcoming DVD itself. Yes, Cooke keeps saying they’ve managed to fold the story nicely to work in a 90-minute frame, but I think he may be biased on that particular matter. So much of what makes me love the original book is the detail work, and taking 400-something pages of comics and performing origami to get the big points across is just going to annoy me.

Of course, this probably connects to my general annoyance at filmed adaptations of comics stories. Just do a new story with these franchise characters instead of hacking up something that worked really well on paper and pushing it into a box that’s not quite designed for it, y’know? Expect me to bitch more about that as Watchmen looms.

The Rack: Fortunate Dad

Our latest strip is up and you can click on it and junk if you want. I think Birdie did a bangup job on the first and last panels, but I don’t want to tell him that to his face.

Nerrrrrrrrrrds!

So there’s a new Knight Rider telemovie in the can (Only part I care about: Will Arnett as the voice of KITT. Genius.) and it’s nice to see that fandom gets retarded for shows based on even the most idiotic concepts.

TheMatrixhasu is not happy:

I say we boycott this show. Im a number one knight rider fan and they have disgrace the name KITT. A mustang has the aerodynamics of a brick and its a mustang boring brickish not sleek at all and its a ford. NBC has F**KED this one up badly I hope this show gets the lowest ratings of the season, even lower than reruns of infomorcials. Unless they change the car to one of the following, Corvette Z06 Dodge viper Chrysler ME412 Cadillac Sixteen, Something that says i can cut through the wind and get your A$$ not, I cant start becasue my ignition went bad and i got to make a stop at the nearest pepboys.

len geisler said:

WHY DOSE IT HAVE TO BE A PRODUCTION CAR? I KNOW ONLY ONE REASON! INCREASE THE SALES OF FORD CARS! WHY CAN’T THEY BUILD A CAR FOR THE SERIES. THE NEW BATMAN MOVIES HAVE THERE OWN UNIQUE DESIGNED CAR.

Over at Jalopnik, there’s even more.

ElHigh predicts the death of Ford with this tie-in:

I think this might sink Ford. As if they hadn’t lost enough credibility, now they attach one of their strongest sellers to a cargasmic nerdfest SEQUEL show. FOMOCO is FUBAR.

Type3Notchback seems to be working from some sort of nerdrage cliché checklist:

Phoned in.

What’s next, they plan of having McGuyver using NASA equipment to disarm a mousetrap?

My memory of all things “wicked” from my childhood is in total jeopardy of turning into something I might *meh* about.

I’m done.

Let’s see: accusations of the creators not caring, invocation of a completely unrelated show in an attempt to prove something that only makes sense to him, complaining about things he likes being ruined, using *meh*, and then declaring he’s completely done with the subject at hand? 1…2…3…4…5…THAT’S A BINGO.

I felt there was something missing while I was sniffing around for this post. Something that’s essential to nerd whining in all its myriad forms and I found it over at Autoblog where Yar declared:

Thats the gayest thing I’ve ever seen, and I just saw two guys making out in a Mini Cooper.

Ah, there you are, mindless homophobia buried under “humor!” Good to see you!

Special Bonus Nerditry
I also spied this lovely bit over at TrekMovie.com, where people decided to bash their least favorite movie in the franchise while waiting for J.J. Abrams to make the public at large care. Here’s what phlox…bone’s mentor had to say about Star Trek V: The Final Frontier:

biggest stv problem: how the hell could they warp from earth to the center of the galaxy, a 40-year trip at Voyager-level maximum warp, which would probably be more like a 60-year trip for kirks era, in a couple of days with no engine modifications? did scotty use the excelsior transwarp control crystals he gave to bones on st3? and wtf was with that planet of galactic peace crap and now that we know george takei is gay wtf were sulu and chekov doing in the woods on their shore leave…reenacting brokeback mountain?

Have you ever wished someone you didn’t even know would die in a fire?

I have.

I never noticed this bit in 300 before.

Behold!

The Rack: Staff Picks for the week of December 12, 2007

The Rack: Danny’s Holiday Picks.

Review: Punisher War Journal: Goin’ Out West.

After re-reading the second trade in the series, I came to a slightly sad conclusion: I always end up wanting to like Punisher War Journal more than I actually do. Matt Fraction’s writing is affable – it’s obvious he’s having a lot of fun with it and Ariel Olivetti’s take on Frank Castle is rapidly becoming one of the definitive versions in my mind, along with Ross Andru’s from Amazing Spider-Man #129 and Steve Dillon’s deadpan take in the first Ennis-written miniseries, but the end result in this collection rings a bit hollow.

The biggest problem with this book lies firmly with the writer and editor: Matt Fraction and Axel Alonso assume that the readers have an intimate relationship with the title and the world it’s set in, leading to writing that’s threadbare for those who just occasionally wander in. In this book, several sticking points emerge: The Punisher’s partner is not addressed by name until eight pages into the second issue featuring the character; Bushwhacker appears and his powers are never explained; Hatemonger just sort of shows up with no background given and not a bit of dialogue or narration occurs to cover who G.W. Bridge is or why he’s chasing Frank Castle. Considering that all of these characters are essential to the story, the omission of some of this seems just plain odd.

For all the benefits that reading stories in the trade paperback offers, the gap between books means that readers will most likely need a bit more than a tongue-in-cheek description of who the Punisher is before wading in, and the paucity of narration in Goin’ Out Westonly exacerbates this condition. I do understand wanting to write “cinematically,” but comics are a different narrative medium entirely and Fraction and Alonso (of all people) should know that and keep it in mind.

Despite my overwhelmingly negative feelings about the construction, Fraction’s detail work is among mainstream comics’ best. His dialogue is frequently very funny – The Punisher calmly announcing “I’m going to Mexico, and I’m gonna shoot that guy in the face,” had me in stitches – and provides a nice counterpoint to the heavier story elements, furthering the title’s contrast to the Ennis MAX series featuring the character. Fraction’s also willing to let the readers draw their own conclusions about some things, which may well be directly tied to the script problems discussed – it’s possible that Fraction places too much trust in the reader. Even if that’s the case, this ability, which is something I associate with talents as bright as Grant Morrison and Gilbert Hernandez, is one to be envied when applied properly.

Another positive for this series, as mentioned above, is Ariel Olivetti’s art – most of the time. Olivetti’s character designs are always top-notch, reminding me of Frank Quitely in his ability to create powerful, imposing figures that still have some sense of grace and his facial expressions and panel compositions are nicely done. Olivetti’s digital work method however, has its disadvantages. There’s a few too many shots of cars and the like that are obviously models and the “real” skies and New York streets used as a backdrop sucked me out of the story on more than one occasion.

There’s so much on the surface that I find appealing about Punisher War Journal, but the writing and art come just shy of making me really able to recommend the series unless you’re already thoroughly indoctrinated in the Marvel Universe’s intricacies and, unlike me, can remember details of a comic book you read months ago after reading many, many other things in the intervening period.

We listen to our readers.

Daniel Mata wrote this in comments:

Who would buy shirts like these? No one gives a damn if you read comics or blog comics or not. And if you need to tell the world from the get go, then there’s really not much to you.

You can do better than this, Mr. Church. I advise you do so pronto.

You know, Daniel, you’re right. I can do better.

And here it is.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to point out three things:

1. On the internet, every day, I see literally hundreds of things that leave me cold and you know what? I move on. If I ever had it, I long ago lost the impulse to lecture people about what they do in their spare time. People can and do like different things and while I may be a bit bemused by somebody’s outright devotion to Joss Whedon’s ouvre, I won’t get snippy with them unless they continue proselytizing to me after I’ve said “No, I don’t really care for Buffy. Could you pass the syrah?” Daniel Mata, I advise you to move on, preferably far, far away.
2. Some of you have already bought shirts. Thank you.
3. Don’t fuck with me before I’ve had coffee.