Kevin Reviews His Weekly Singles For The Past Two Weeks #Whatever It Should Be.

1 Comment | Posted: July 31st, 2008 | Filed under: Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Black Summer #7

Well, that was nasty.

DMZ #33

My, how time has flown on this title. Matty Roth’s recent brattiness could certainly be seen has having some kind of analogue to the more enthusiastic Obama supporters, and the way he’s crossing any number of ethical lines provides for great story fodder. It feels like Wood’s definitely very aware of what he’s doing with the character, and Riccardo Burchielli makes this title one of the most dynamic-looking Vertigo titles in a long, long time.

Fantastic Four: True Story #1

After hearing the good buzz Paul Cornell has received with his MI-13 related books, I thought I’d check this out, without knowing the premise. While “The Fantastic Four travel into the realm of fiction” sounds like an awfully good time, I was left pretty cold by the entire thing. The dialogue (particularly Sue’s, who was the focus of the issue) is clumsy when it’s not being a bit too-cute and even if I like the idea of Of Mice And Men being Ben Grimm’s favorite book, I don’t think I’ll bother with further issues. However, Horacio Domingues’s art is very, very attractive, reminding me a bit of Seth Fisher mixed in with a bit of Linda Medley, and I am certainly going to look out for his work in the future.

Justice League Unlimited #46

I’m going to miss this tie-in comic that was frequently better than it needed to be. The last issue sees John Stewart leading a group of recent Green Lantern recruits (including G’nort)(!!!) against the weaponeers of Qward, who are working with Sinestro to break the universe. So, yeah, that was a lot of fun thanks to Matt Wayne and Carlo Barberi, even if it didn’t feel quite like a JLU comic, instead coming off like a test for an in-universe Green Lantern ongoing.

Liberty Comics

While it’s generally a good idea to pick up these CBLDF books, this one’s a really solid reader value for $4. The Boys, Darwyn Cooke telling the story of a cursed book, a short Criminal story, and some Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier? Everything else here is gravy. Tasty, tasty gravy.

newuniversal 1959

As I posted on my Twitter feed while reading it, I may have to use my hate rays to murder Kieron Gillen in his sleep. His script is tight and blackly funny in the same way that Ellroy frequently is and while it builds nicely on what Ellis has laid down before, I think this stands up as a nice little slice of a differently paranoid time. I was glad to see that Greg Scott and Kody Chamberlain worked on this – they’ve both done some nice work for BOOM! and I was hoping they’d get a wide audience soon.

Super Friends #5

So, Gorilla Grodd turned every human on the planet into some form of ape or monkey and the Super Friends have to undo the damage he’s done without punching or anything like that because this is a kid’s comic, goddammit. Put in my box by Mike, who knows how I feel about simians, this was one of the better surprises I’ve had from DC in some time. It didn’t feel dumbed down, just a bit “safer” than the usual titles and the restrictions on the creators means that they have to be a bit more creative. While this isn’t going to replace JLU in my pull, I’d not be adverse to reading any further issues.

Better Living With The B&J Supersquad

7 Comments | Posted: July 31st, 2008 | Filed under: Video | Tags:




















Thanks, Metafilter‘s spec80!

I’m finally watching this.

3 Comments | Posted: July 31st, 2008 | Filed under: Video


You know, I’m a fairly cynical bastard, but my heart grew like thirty sizes watching this. It’s a great reminder that we’re all on the same damn planet, so let’s try to suck just a little less and give just a little bit more.

Promotional Comics by Rex The Dog

2 Comments | Posted: July 30th, 2008 | Filed under: Outbound Linkage | Tags:


Rex the Dog has done neat comics that promote their first album and new single.

J Jonah Jameson, by Jaime Hernandez

2 Comments | Posted: July 30th, 2008 | Filed under: Art Appreciation, SDCC2008 | Tags: ,

“Perhaps he will succeed where I have failed,” Gore said.

1 Comment | Posted: July 30th, 2008 | Filed under: Outbound Linkage

The Onion: Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet

“I tried to warn them, but the Elders of this planet would not listen,” said Gore, who in 2000 was nearly banished to a featureless realm of nonexistence for promoting his unpopular message. “They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold. Fools! Why didn’t they heed me before it was too late?”

“#11 top right corner curled a bit, all the way through the comic, otherwise immaculate”

15 Comments | Posted: July 30th, 2008 | Filed under: Outbound Linkage, Think About It Won't You


What.

The Rack | Waiting (Is The Hardest Part)

Comments Off | Posted: July 30th, 2008 | Filed under: Shameless Self-Promotion | Tags:

Sometimes, even the most cynical readers are excited about something.

J Jonah Jameson by Cliff Chiang

3 Comments | Posted: July 29th, 2008 | Filed under: Art Appreciation, SDCC2008 | Tags: ,

So, over in Mike Rosenzweig’s Half-Assed…

Comments Off | Posted: July 29th, 2008 | Filed under: Meta, Outbound Linkage

…I now run a video game store. Or assistant-run it. Or whatever. Anyway. I’m part of the cast now.

Yes, it’s bending my brainpan, too.

Go read it. I’m doing guest strips soon, too, so there’s that to look forward to.

I was too busy having fun to be too much of a shutterbug.

4 Comments | Posted: July 29th, 2008 | Filed under: Outbound Linkage, SDCC2008


67 San Diego photos are up.

“Love! It’s all love! I’m Captain James T. Kirk!”

2 Comments | Posted: July 29th, 2008 | Filed under: Video

The Rack | Staff Picks For The Week Of July 30, 2008

3 Comments | Posted: July 29th, 2008 | Filed under: Shameless Self-Promotion | Tags:

Picks! Picks! Get ya picks right here, mistah!

I only do this out of love.

6 Comments | Posted: July 29th, 2008 | Filed under: SDCC2008



Heh.

2 Comments | Posted: July 28th, 2008 | Filed under: Meta, SDCC2008

You know, when you come back from San Diego having spent no small amount of money on comics and comics-related accessories, it’s really amusing to have a DCBService box sitting on the kitchen counter that contains:

  • Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg! Volume 1
  • The Complete Popbot
  • That new ZOT! book
  • Scud The Disposable Assassin: The Whole Shebang!

More tomorrow, ok? Maybe after all this stuff falls on me and snaps my spine.

SDCC Day Seventeen.

3 Comments | Posted: July 27th, 2008 | Filed under: SDCC2008 | Tags: ,

1.
Can’t write good. Brainleeches. I require victuals and coffee like you have read about on the internet.

2.
Finally saw some of the people I’d been meaning to, including Cliff Chiang (oh he drew a lovely thing for me) and Wil Wheaton (who I know through a mutual friend and who is as nice as the day is long and may or may not suspect that pal Josh and I are a couple and I’m pretty sure I insulted him within the first minute) and the Hernandez Brothers (oh Jaime drew a lovely thing for me) and the internet’s very own Carla Hoffman, who came with her husband Lance, who I thought was named Dennis for some reason or another.

The flip side of this is that you never get enough time with a lot of the people you want to see, which is a damned shame because it’s not like they’ve done anything wrong; it’s just too rush-rush-rush. On top of this, my Blackberry was being a total dick and I wasn’t able to turn the damned thing on for a good two-hour stretch. I suspect this may have been because I wanted to see if it would float in a pint glass full of hefeweizen. This was done in the name of science, dammit. Science.

3.
The secret to enjoying SDCC if you’re not tied down to a booth? Long lunches with a friend and his wife and their too-cute toddler son. You relax, enjoy some conversation, and let the din of the con floor fade completely from your ears for a while. Then you go back into the madness and can play “Count The People Costumed Inappropriately For Their Body Type.” I won with 87!

4.
Seriously, what the fuck is up with the goddamn furries? Your miserable, semen-stained costumes make me want to eat a gun each and every time I see one of you. Stop breaking my faith in humanity!

5.
There must be something wrong with me: I am thinking about getting a Small Press table next year and doing some things for the show with both The Rack and BeaucoupKevin.com branded merchandise, such as polo shirts, golf head covers, and an exclusive line of scents for the discerning oh am I just pulling your leg. Probably a mini and some swag for the strip.

6.
Thank god today’s the last day and I can just sort of chill and sleep early tonight. I can’t imagine being in the airport for the great Nerd Exodus like my writing partner Josh is going to be. Honestly, though, waiting in line for some guy with a Death Note costume to explain that no, he’s really not really a death god and the plane won’t go down in flames because of him? Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

7.
I’m probably not going to update until I’m back in Boston, tomorrow night. Remember to check out The Rack on Monday morning for an all-new strip featuring a slightly recycled gag. If the news from San Diego has proven anything to me, it’s that nerds love the same thing over and over and over with minor variations. Hooray comics!

SDCC Day Three: I’m Boring.

3 Comments | Posted: July 26th, 2008 | Filed under: SDCC2008 | Tags: ,

1.
I ended up going down the floor late, kind of wandering around, talking to people I know, and having long, leisurely lunches with friends from LA, before going back just in time to leave again for dinner with some fantastic creators, like Adam Shaw. I then crashed out early because Thursday’s evening excursion left me drained of my victuals in a manner most disturbing. Also, there were massive fuck-off blisters on my feet that had me soaking them for an hour while reading the new Love and Rockets book. I was asleep by 11:30 or so, and I’m OK with that.

2.
The new Love And Rockets book is so, so, so good.

3.
The Eisners. Congratulations to everybody that won, with one notable exception.

I don’t want to be that guy, but why the hell did my guy Fred Chao get blanked while Buffy The Vampire Slayer walked away with a goddamn Eisner for “Best New Series”? A tie-in (no matter how high-quality it is now or how many copies it sold) shouldn’t beat material created for the native medium in this category, particularly when the competition was so strong.

4.
Jason Ho gave me the best idea for a thing that I am now seriously considering doing. It’d be my first work in video, but the majority work required is well within my skill sets and the end result could be…hilarity.

5.
I need to find some goddamn coffee. It’s 9:30 and I should think about starting my day.

Oh hey, there’s only a few so far but…

3 Comments | Posted: July 26th, 2008 | Filed under: Uncategorized


…there’s photos from San Diego Comic-Con here; it will grow quite a bit,
possibly upon my return instead of while I’m here.

SDCC 2008: Day Two of Twelve

1 Comment | Posted: July 25th, 2008 | Filed under: SDCC2008 | Tags: , ,

1.
Fucking hell, my fucking feet. Next time, remind me that I should be gellin’ from the begellin’. (No, that makes no sense to me, either. Ignore the crazy old man, kids.)

2.
The crowd seemed to move in surges and actually flattened out around 5pm or so and started to diminish. That’s what I thought, of course, until I walked out around 6:30 and suddenly found myself in a scene akin to the end of Soylent Green with bodies pressed against each other all moving in a shuffle-step that may become the next great dance craze for those that want to appear to be zombified.

3.
If BOOM!’s preview for The Muppet Show comic book is any indication, there’s going to be some happy kids in spring of next year. Myself, I am not a fan of Muppets (as they are a form of puppet and I hate puppets like Hitler hated…everything) but I think the property could do a lot for BOOM! if they move out of the direct market with it and into other venues. This appears to be the intention of everybody working there.

4.
I got to catch up with Jeff Lemire over lunch yesterday, and that was just terrific. He’s got some news coming up soonish that makes me very, very, very, very happy.

5.
I’ve not kept track of one single piece of news from this show, and neither has anyone else working in booths, etc., but there’s a great rundown over at Blog@Newsarama. I’m most excited about Agents of Atlas as an ongoing and Cooke’s Parker adaptations and Kevin Smith’s Batman miniseries featuring a character that speaks in sound effects. (One of those may be a lie. I’ll let the regular readers suss out which one it is.)

The best comments about the show, though, belong to a little stuffed bull. I honestly have no idea how he types as much as he does with those hooves, but I presume that his friend John got him a special keyboard.

6.
Today, I gotta buy some minis and pick up a piece of art I’ve been longing for. Longing, I tell you, and avoid spending much more money on things that aren’t alcohol or alcohol accessories. More on that later.

SDCC 2008: Preview Night (Or: The Madness, It Begins)

8 Comments | Posted: July 24th, 2008 | Filed under: SDCC2008

1.
Arrived safe and sound, where I immediately shuttled to an In-n-Out Burger, a chain that simply will never come to the East Coast in an attempt to drive me stark raving mad. You may have heard of them before and thought their reputation was exaggerated; you would be wrong.

2.
I’ve not had a chance to hook the camera up to the computer, but will likely do that tonight or tomorrow. Took just a few photos of people. I think that’s what I’m more interested in: portraiture of people I know during Comic-Con, not Oh Hey There’s The Nite Owl’s Ship because, you know, there’s going to be quite enough of that.

3.
Preview Night crowds may be big, but they’re bearable. I have no idea how Saturday, with its estimated 125,000 people dressed like Naruto (seriously, how is that still a thing?,) is going to shake down unless there’s going to be swat teams and riot control police on site. I may just choose to hide under one of the multiple tables framing BOOM!’s booth and whimper on occasion.

4.
My purchases for the night were copies of the Scott Pilgrim color special, the New Love And Rockets Stories #1 and Tales Designed To Thrizzle #4. Jeff Lemire was kind enough to ensure I got a copy of the new Essex County Tales book, but I think that may be because I’m buying him lunch today.

5.
If I listed the freaks I’ve already seen, you wouldn’t believe me. The worst may have been the mentally-ill fellow working his way rapidly through the small-press section while rubbing his toy raccoon in a manner that I’ll say was sensual.

6.
I’m part of the CBR Live Blog for the event. I may well be uploading photos from the Blackberry to that along with pithy updates.

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