Fall of Cthulhu #0 - Boom Studios (2007)

I'm a big Lovecraft fan. I also like a lot of the Cthulhu Mythos writings by other authors over the years. This comic goes in my "like" list. It also goes in my hold box. Here's why:

First off, the art. A good Mythos tale is about atmosphere. Cthulhu stories aren't always scary, as such, but they should always be eldritch and creepy. Jean Dzialowski's art conveys the proper atmosphere. There were a couple of frames where it was difficult to figure out what was going on but nothing that ruined the story.

Dzialowski switches styles a couple of times to show that the action has literally moved into a different realm. The majority of the book has a painterly, stylized look to it which is enhanced by the dark, narrow palette. The art in the Dreamlands sequence is more traditionally comicky and reminds me of Watchmen-era Dave Gibbons.

One of the advantages of writing a Cthulhu story is that there are libraries full evocative, creepy lines from earlier stories in the Mythos. Michael Alan Nelson uses these previous writings to great effect. The story features Abdul Alhazred, the Mad Arab who wrote the Necronomicon. When your main character is the batshit-craziest dude who ever lived you've gotta try hard not to get a good story out of him.

Some knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos is useful for full enjoyment of this sequential-art product but not essential. Nelson does a good job of filling in the blank spots and Dzialowski draws the hell out of it.

In a time where Cthulhu is the punchline of jokes made by people who have never actually read Lovecraft, it's nice to see someone bringing the creepy back to it.

Lancelot Link

(see what I did, there?)

Students in Indiana create a comic book to combat bullies. 'Cause nothing keeps the bullies away like being a comic-book geek.

FirstShowing.net just posted a pretty-good article which touches on what makes a good comic movie and what doesn't. I didn't like the Sin City movie but I agree that it's as if the graphic novels jumped up on screen and started talking to me.

The Toronto Star shows off their up-to-the-decade reportage with this May 8th piece on the Dark Tower comic.

Quick Thoughts on New Comics

Well, mostly new. Two of these are from last week's pull but they're still on the shelves.

Helmet of Fate: Zauriel #1 - DC (2007)


I've always had trouble reconciling the Christian mythos with the DC Universe. Apparently, so does Steve Gerber. It's like he can't decide whether to play it straight or to camp it up or to make a statement about faith, dogma and reality. There are elements of all these things in this issue and they add up to a diffuse mess. Peter Snejbjerg is a good artist but his work on this book isn't helping Gerber's script. It doesn't seem to fit with any of the attempted tones and, in fact, confuses things further. The horror elements did not come off as scary and the "people exploding messily" section had no emotional impact. I liked all the other Helmet books but this one felt empty.

X-Factor #16 - Marvel (2007)


This one deals with Christianity, too. Sort of. It has a tense, touching story about Madrox retrieving one of his duplicates. Also, Siryn and Monet blow up big chunks of Paris. You could read the Madrox part of this without having read the previous issue. Good stuff from Peter David and Pablo Raimondi

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #27 - DC (2007)


This title seems to have lost its focus since Supergirl showed up but it's still a fun read. This issue has more superpowered beings than you can shake a Durlan in the form of a stick at. Lots of stuff blows up and robots turn on their fleshy masters.

Newuniversal #4 - Marvel (2007)


Holy crap, this title is good. Warren Ellis is at his best when writing science fiction. This is an epic tale of people suddenly burdened with powers and technology beyond their current understanding. I know that's also the plot of countless superhero stories back to the beginning of time but this one leans heavily toward the SF end of the spectrum. They have let Ellis run with this storyline and it kicks ass.

This issue moved more slowly than I wanted it to, however. Some of the scenes could have been compressed. I have no complaints about the story itself. I am intrigued and entertained.

And Salvador Larroca's art! It is so beautiful and it fits the story so well that I can't say anything more. It's simply beautiful. Check it out below. Larroca's just painting a bedroom there. A goddamn bedroom! And it's one of the finest pages I've ever seen in a comic book.

3 X-Men Covers of Yore

That's right, I said "yore". I'm gonna go all "I Love the '80s" on you and talk about three nearly-consecutive Uncanny X-Men covers from 1981. I don't have much in the way of commentary other than to say that when I saw each of these covers on the stand back in the day I said, "Holy Crap! What's gonna happen in there?" I then probably put my velcro wallet in my parachute pants and adjusted the epaulets on my Members Only jacket because, y'know, it was the '80s.

Each of these issues lived up to what was on its cover. The "Everybody Dies" one followed one of the most famous X-Men covers ever and had a badass story. The Kitty vs. Alien was thrilling and the Everybody vs. Doom was a study in why you don't go up against a smart, ruthless zillionaire. Also, Storm totally got turned into a statue and she made this super hurricane and it blew up Latveria!

Enjoy the covers. They did what covers were meant to do.

Linkin' Park

Kevin Church has reminded me of The Comics Curmudgeon's existence. I had the site in the sidebar for a long time but he must have moved. Glad to have it back on board. Now I have some catching up to do.

I added Bill's House O' Comics to the list a while back but forgot to mention it here. Sorry, Bill. This image (scroll down) from his site reminds me how much I Want Forge's House!!!

Enter TangognaT's Super Happy Fun Manga Giveaway!

Heidi Meeley lays down the Comic-Customer-Service Manifesto! Preach it! The discussion in the comments is good, too.

And now, a totally rad picture of Blastarr:

Blogging The Crisis #1

First off, Crisis #1 has a hell of a cover. Click on the image above to see an enlarged version. That's awesome. I use "awesome" in the sense of "actually awe inspiring". I mean, look at that! You've got a sampling of 1985's finest super-beings floating around The Earth as it gets TORN ASUNDER BY ENORMOUS PINK LIGHTNING BOLTS!

But wait! It's not just one Earth. It's, like, a zillion of them! Holy monkeys! Those Earths just go on forever (one might even say, "infinitely") and they're all getting the crap kicked out of them.

The foldout cover has nice design. You've got Harbinger in one corner and cosmic sad sack Pariah in the other. In the middle youve got some of the most powerful beings in the multiverse being tossed around like leaves in a hurricane. This cover lets you know that DC's not pussyfooting around.

The first few pages live up to the cover's promise. After a "First, The Multiverse Cooled" beginning Wolfman starts right in on wiping out huge swaths of it. In fact, it looks like everything's being erased. As if each universe is part of a comic book or something and the Great Artist is rubbing it out bit by bit. I bet no one has ever pointed that out before. I am a genius.

Then there's a nice scene where the Luthor of Earth-3 sends his son off in a spaceship before everything's destroyed. See, Earth-3 is where the Crime Syndicate live and they're evil versions of the Justice League. So, since everything's wacky, Luthor is the only superhero on the planet and he sends his son away just like... you get the picture. Anyway, it's actually quite well-written and touching interspersed as it is with images of the Bizarro League trying to save the world they have kept under their bootheels all this time.

Next we meet Lyla who is about to undergo a transformation sequence which rivals Sailor Moon. She turns into Harbinger who has the ability to split herself into many copies each of which is able to travel through space and time. Handy! The Monitor (who is just a shadowy figure and a voice at this point) sends her all over the multiverse to get the people he needs to help him save the few earths that are left.

So, where's the first place she goes on her recruitment trip?

Gorilla City

That's right! Talking gorillas, baby! If I had the power to go anywhere I'd hit the enlightened apes first, too. They are shown to be wiser than man. For example, King Solovar sentences a convicted murderer-gorilla not to death (as the barbaric men would do) but to "convesion". I don't know what "conversion" involves but it sounds about as scary as death, to me.

Anyway, Harbinger freaks out the gorillas and grabs the simian monarch while one of her replicants goes to the 31st century to pick up Dawnstar of the Legion of Super-Heroes in a place called Suicide Slum. Cheery! Also collected are Firebrand from 1942, Psycho Pirate from the nuthouse and Blue Beetle from Charlton Comics.

Some creepy-ass shadow creature infects one of Harbinger's replicants right before she collects Arion who looks like one lonely dude. He's pretty much just wandering around the Ice Age casting spells and stuff. Anyway, the shadow thing can't be good. Mark my words.

Speaking of bad omens, Harbinger uses Psycho Pirate (man, I can't express the pleasure I get just from typing "Psycho Pirate") to turn Killer Frost from Firestorm's deadliest enemy into his love slave. Morally questionable!! And she had to browbeat Psycho Pirate into it. I guess Monitor's philosophy is that to save the multiverse you've gotta break a few wills.

There's a beautifully-drawn one-page interlude during which The Monitor drops a little bombshell: Lyla's gonna kill him. So, he probably knows about the little shadow thing back in the Ice Age. I'm sure it's all going to work out fine.

The next scene is the kind of thing people read these big crossover events for. Lots of superheroes who aren't supposed to be together all in the same place. We've got all of the ones mentioned above along with Psimon the telepathic asshole, Dr. Polaris the magnetic asshole, Geoforce, Cyborg, John Stewart, and Obsidian. Oh, and the old, fat Superman. I know all their names because this is a comic book and they spend the entire two-page spread calling each other by name or thinking about themselves in the third person.

So, everyone gets to wander around a bit before they are attacked by a pile of those shadow guys. They discover that they can't do jack against them. My favorite line from Superman: "Punching them doesn't stop them!" Dawnstar, at one point, is shocked, SHOCKED! to discover that King Solovar is a talking gorilla. I've read a lot of Legion of Super-Heroes and I'm pretty sure they've got whole planets full of sentient refrigerators so I call bullshit on her freaking out about a super-intelligent ape.

Monitor shows up and dispels the shadow guys with a blast of light (their natural enemy) and then tells the assembled superheroes that the end is Extremely Fucking Nigh.

And that's the end of issue #1. Damn good start. It establishes the events, kills billions of people and lets us know the stakes are unbelievably high. Nice stuff.

See also: The pulse-pounding Introduction

(Too much) Fun with action figures!

swampfan87 has already blogged about this (scroll down a bit) but I am compelled to post yet another picture from the shapeshifting experiment:



Um...

More pictures at Chris Karath's blog (if you dare).

A little bit of Helmet, a whole lotta Fate

It turns out that despite its title Helmet of Fate isn't porn. Who knew?

DC's launching a new Dr. Fate monthly and his helmet is zinging around the DC Universe looking for a head to land on. This "event" is a series of one-shots featuring many of the Universe's magic-wielding people as they come in contact with the helmet.

I am a sucker for DC's old-school magic characters. This is one of the reasons I liked Morrison's Zatanna so much. Dr. Fate is among my favorites so I picked up three of the titles:

Sargon The Sorcerer #1 - DC (2007)


Nice work from Steve Niles (writing) and Scott Hampton (arting). There's nothing senses-shattering, here but it's a good story well told. The art and story mesh well. Much like Ibis below, this is an origin story. The original Sargon's grandson takes on the mantle and gets a spiffy new character design for his troubles. A good read with the best final page (in terms of art as well as writing) I have seen in a long time.

Black Alice #1 - DC (2007)


This one has my favorite cover. No, that's not Frazer Irving's work it's Duncan Rouleau's. The character design for Alice is very Klarion-like but she's a goth chick so that works. Alice has the power to steal (or copy) magic from other magicians and use it to her own ends. The Helmet shows up and teaches her a lesson. Good story, good characters and Gail Simone. WooHoo!

Ibis the Invincible - DC (2007)


Ibis was the weakest of the three but it was still enjoyable. The main character is Danny Khalifa, an Egyptian-American teenager who keeps getting the crap kicked out of him by some freelance Homeland Security officers in the form of high-school bullies. It's another origin story but not as well done as Sargon. It was written by Tad Williams whose novels I have enjoyed. The writing's not actually weak, it just comes in third when it's up against the others I bought.

The art by Phil Winslade bothered me at first but once he started drawing Egyptian gods he really kicked ass. If you need a huge, tired, smartass baboon deity in your comic, Winslade's your man!

I'm a hard sell when it comes to origin stories where the protagonist has to learn everything as he goes and he's all "Woah! Yikes! I'm in over my head, dude!" Therefore, I am being harder on thiis than I otherwise would have. Also, I was hoping to learn more about the original Ibis since he's one of the magic guys I haven't seen much.

Last criticism: This story suffers from Too Many Words. Comics are a visual medium. You don't have to literally write everything out. Even Kevin Smith figured that out eventually.

Having said all that, this issue does everything a one-shot should. It tells an interesting, self-contained story and it ties up all of the loose ends.

Plus, big baboon god!

The Brave and the Bold #1 - DC (2007)

Hooboy! A superhero comic. With superheroes doing superhero stuff. I like Mark Waid and George Pérez which is good because they are the real team-up, here. The Brave and the Bold is a resurrection of one of DC's biggest hits. It was best known as a team-up title which introduced lots of new characters. More information can be found here. WARNING: The preceding link goes to Wikipedia so by the time you click on it the article may have been replaced by Alan Greenspan porn or something.

Pérez's art is spectacular in this issue. It's easy not to notice Pérez's stuff because his style is (to me) What Comics Look Like. People throw around the phrase "visual storytelling" a lot (well, people like me) but this issue is a textbook example of how it should be done. Pérez uses the whole damn page to convey the information. He overlaps panels and puts stuff in the gutters. It's artistic without being distracting.

Waid's script is excellent, as well. Batman and the Green Lantern are doing the things I read comics to see those characters doing. Each one gets to shine and the fact that they've known each other for a long time really comes through. Also, their banter during a fight for their lives says a lot about them.

I won't go into the story in great detail other than to say that there are some aliens involved in a murder mystery and it's off to a great start. The next issue has Green Lantern on his way to a planet called Ventura. Aren't Mike and Dorian from there? They'd better watch out.

Free Beer Tomorrow

I'm slowly making it through my latest (big) haul of comics. I've got some stuff to say about them but until that happens enjoy these piping-hot links.

New Hampshire Magazine interviews Jodi Picoult about her Wonder Woman run. It's a good interview when they let her talk and once they get past "Why in the world are you writing a comic book? You have so much to do."

The lovely and talented Comics Should Be Good continues its Comic-Book Urban Legends series with information about Namor, The FF and T.M. Maple

NBC Universal and Virgin say, "Hey, that Heroes sure is popular with the hepcat set. Let's make a bunch of pilot pitches comic books and see what happens." Yeah, copying the Latest Big Thing worked so well for those volcano movies. And the asteroid movies.

Heroes is popular because its well-written and cool not because it has people with kewl powerz. It's possible that these comics could yield something just as good but if the story's not there we just get another Matrix III.

Here's the last line from the NBC/Virgin story:

"Sci fi is a very underserved niche in comic books. There are plenty of superhero [books] and a thriving horror business. But there isn't a strong publisher focused on the sci fi genre."

That's pretty much true. There's Sci-fi stuff around but no imprint dedicated to it. I'm interested to see what comes of this. People like Warren Ellis, Brian Wood and Alan Moore write excellent SF. Maybe this thing will produce more like that.

Freaky Friday

Headed to a cocktail party this weekend? Impress your friends with your knowledge of the Korean comic scene.

Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times blows the lid off wacky super-heroes of the past. He also reveals that there wasn't a great deal of continuity control back in the day. My, I did not know that.

For your viewing pleasure: Stills from the Spider-Man 3 game.

Gone and Forgotten brings us a blow-by-blow review of Super Boxers. Spoiler Alert: It's about "boxers" and they're "super".


And because I love you, here's a snow sculpture of Super-Grover:

Linkin' Like A Sausage Factory

Added to the sidebar: Let's You And Him Fight

This post from Laura Gjovaag talks about Rick Olney who is the kind of person who would show up on Bullshit right before Penn Jilette would say, "And then there's this asshole".
More details on Unscrewed's Home Page.

In other news: Christ! What the hell is up with this cover?

Heroes for Hire #7 - Marvel (2007)

I'm gonna get all "reviewery" in a minute but first I want to say a couple of things:

DOOMBOT!

HEADMEN!

SHANG CHI!

If someone had asked me for a list of things I wanted to see in a comic book at the same time, well, I would have said Monica Rambeau, Machine Man and Boom Boom. But if someone had asked me what else I'd like to see in a comic book I would have listed the three things with the exclamation points above.

Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray are rapidly becoming my favorite writing team. They're doing Jonah Hex now, too. Seeing The Headmen at the end of issue #6 made me happier than anything in comics since Thor's unfettered might attack back in Secret Wars.

For those of you with social lives, The Headmen are evil science geniuses who are so evil and science-y that they have all replaced their bodies or heads with other things. Seriously. They consist of:

1. A woman with the body of a porn star and a head made out of one of those reflective balls people put in their gardens

2. Professor Gorilla-For-A-Body

3. Chondu The Mystic (who will put his head on anything)

4. A guy whose skeleton is too small for the rest of his body. OK, he didn't do anything with his head but that's because they couldn't figure out how to work with his little, tiny skull.

And these people are supposed to be intimidating. Well, I guess they are intimidating in an "I will do anything for world domination including cut off my own head" sort of way but they were just asking to be put in a humor title. Ellis was busy finding new, horrible things to do with MODOK so Gray & Palmiotti grabbed The Headmen and put them up against Humbug. Yes, the guy who can control roaches and stuff. This shit just writes itself!

There's another story involving Man-Ape, The Grim Reaper and Grindhouse which yielded the following line:

"We're villains...we don't roll over on each other like Captain America and Iron Man."

Ohh! Burn! Man-Ape vs. Mark Millar! Flawless Victory!

The art is nearly up to the writing on this issue. Alvaro Rio's pencils are spot on but the inking was better in #6. The credits list the inkers for #7 as "Tom Palmer & Terry Pallot" whereas #6 was inked by "Scott Koblish with Tom Palmer". There's some quality of the inking in this issue which is not as good as it was in the last; things look flatter. It didn't knock me out of the story or anything but I noticed it and it was a minor speedbump. The action scenes are well done and the "visual storytelling" (as the kids call it) is effective.

This one stays in my hold box. It's fun, cool and well done.

Nextwave #12 - Marvel (2007)

It says something about the current state of Marvel that the titles I like the most are the ones which make fun of current events. Nextwave doesn't just make fun of Marvel continuity it takes it into the alley and puts a bullet through its neck. You know all that stuff from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe that made you slightly insane when you read it? Warren Ellis takes all of that, throws it in a blender and gives it a bottle of tequila. Then he makes it fight all the other weird stuff. He made Forbush Man sinister, for God's sake!

Stuart Immonen. Damn. His art is always good but he knocks this out of the park. He doesn't just draw Nextwave he designs it. Check out this page. Immonen (bless his li'l Canadian heart) is the perfect choice for Ellis's fucked-up script. The action and character design both have the right combination of cool and wacky. There is no disconnect between word and picture here and that's the highest praise I can give to a creative team.

This is the last issue of the run but there are solid rumors that Nextwave will live on as several miniseries. It ends the way it began: with explosions and expletives and other things that begin with "ex". The first trade is out and the last six issues should end up between two covers in the near future. If you didn't read the singles on this (shame on you!) pick up the trades. Unless you're, y'know, allergic to fun.

New Comic Day Links

Jeff Wikstrom reads the daily newspaper comics so you don't have to! Here are some of his comments. But wait, here are some more: Click! Click, I tell you!


Mark Fossen says goodbye. Mark's blog is one of my favorites. If you haven't read it before take a trip through his archives.

I just found out about John Seavey's Fraggmented site. A couple of weeks ago he talked about Jonah Hex (one of my favorite characters in any medium) in his "Storytelling Engines" series.

Oh, and my FLCS was shorted on the last issue of Nextwave. If it's not waiting for me tonight I shall become rather cross. I may need herbal tea and a great deal of cushions to soothe my nerves.

Blogging the Crisis Introduction

David Plotz's Blogging The Bible has inspired me to give the same treatment to some of comicdom's holy texts. I'm going to start with Crisis On Infinite Earths.

A little background: Crisis came out when I was 15. I was reading comics heavily at the time but it was nearly all Marvel. Therefore, I was entirely unaware of the series when it was originally published. I didn't start reading mainstream DC regularly until Byrne's Superman revamp. I consider myself to be a C-student of DC continuity. I know the broad strokes but I couldn't tell you everyone who's ever been in the JLA. I have an embarassing amount of information in my head about the Green Lantern Corps but I am an ignoramus when it comes to Haunted Tank or The Crime Syndicate.

This will be my first time reading Crisis even though I know the general storyline. It's kind of hard to hang around other comic geeks without learning about Crisis through osmosis. I'm going in with no preconceptions. I have heard the series called everything from "masterpiece" to "clusterfuck" so I think it's time to form my own opinion.

And to inflict it upon you.

I'll do one post per issue. I've got the 1998 trade-paperback edition and for this post I'll talk about Marv Wolfman's Introduction:

Marv starts out by giving us a little history on himself. Like most comic creators, Marv started out as a fan and he tells a story about a very Monitor-like character he dreamed up as a kid. His excitement about getting to write the story that had been in his head is obvious even 13 years after the fact. He heaps well-deserved praise on George Pérez and then he goes into their motivations for the project and whether they achieved them. His opinion: Pretty much. Well, it got at least one new reader for DC. I didn't even know about Crisis but the reset on the DC Universe got me to pick up some of their titles (see Byrne's Superman, above).

Also, he says something I want to highlight:

"In many ways, I fear, the annual stunt has taken over comics publishing. If it isn't big, if heroes don't die, if worlds don't change, then, many feel the stories aren't worth reading."

A-freaking-men! Wolfman wrote that in 1998! I'll bet he's still saying it. Even louder. This whole Civil War/Identity Crisis thing is like what Hollywood does when a movie makes a surprising amount of money. They keep making it again and again but each generation is weaker than the one before it.

Wolfman then goes on to address the "Why did you kill X?" questions he gets every time he leaves the house. His answer: "Lay off! We didn't kill that many specific characters. We had good story and continuity reasons for the ones we did kill." Of course, he said it more politely than that. Marv's that kinda guy.

One last thing: Wolfman decided not to kill any character who had been created before he was born. Still that left him with a bunch of opportunities to cull the herd. I wonder if he had a hit list of characters he hated like all those lame-ass villains Scourge killed back in the day.

(Dr.) Strange things are afoot

Happy Seventh Blogday to Neilalien!

Spirits In The Material World

There are a few things in this report from NYCC that do not fill me with hope regarding the proposed Spirit movie. Chief among them: Frank Miller's involvement. I am really enjoying Darwyn Cook's comic and I adore Eisner's work but it looks like they might Sin City-ize this film and that would not be a good thing. Denny Colt does not need to be played by Bruce Willis.

Although the possibility of an animated version makes me feel a bit better.

One more thing

Mike Richardson-Bryan reveals Batman's Five Stages of Grief

Brad Pitt to play Owly (That can't be right)

I loves me some Owly. Owly for president! Andy Runton talks about the li'l feller.



"Make your own comic" contest.

This article about Wondercon has a nice bit in the middle about Al Feldstein, the editor of MAD

Not entirely comics-related but nearly so: Straczynski develops "World War Z for Brad Pitt.

CBR has a fairly long piece about DC's Minx line.

Civil War is teh suk

Jim Roeg actually read all the Civil War issues! Not only that, he wrote an excellent essay about them which echoes (and expands upon) my thoughts about Mark Millar's writing.

The Immortal Iron Fist #3 - Marvel (2007)

There were 1652 artists involved in this issue. OK, four but they sure do take up a lot of real estate on the credits page. David Aja, as the guy drawing the modern-day stuff, did the vast majority of the art. Travel Foreman, Derek Fridolfs and Russ Heath contributed some brief "Iron Fists of Yore" inserts. They're all good but Aja's work is outstanding. From close-ups to sweeping cityscapes, every panel of his is gorgeous and evocative. Helping out all the artists is Matt Hollingsworth on colors. His palette is mostly muted which works perfectly with the story and setting. The art is the star of this show.

The story is good. There's nothing ground-breaking, just a good, solid "Iron Fist vs. Hydra" tale. It's possible to write Hydra for laughs, not as easy as it is to do that with A.I.M., but the jokes tell themselves what with the pajamas and the Nazis and such. Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction did not go that route. Their Hydra is full of scary, brainwashed badasses you don't want to end up on the wrong side of. Iron Fist's opponents in this story are drawn from every cool Hong Kong movie out there. It's even got twins who turn into cranes! That right there was worth the price of admission.

The Civil War storyline creeps its way into the title here and there but for the most part it stays in the background where it belongs.

Excellent art + good story + cool bad guys = This stays in my hold box.

Local #8 - Oni (2007)

Looking for a non-superhero comic? Local may be the one for you. It sure is for me. The series follows Megan, a sort of indie everywoman, as she moves from city to city. She was 18 in the first issue and each subsequent story moves forward about a year so the final issue (#12) will wrap up when she's 30. Megan is truly dynamic. She is not only in a different city each issue she is a different person. We watch her grow and change and while the process is bumpy at times it's an enjoyable ride.

There are no superpowers or supernatural elements, here. Megan runs into the same situations the reader might. She makes mistakes, she sometimes learns from them and things don't always get wrapped up neatly. The issues have been presented in various manners. One of them juxtaposed a letter from Megan to her cousin with that cousin's daily life. This issue finds Megan waitressing in Chicago. She's 26 now and starting to grow out of a lot of the behaviors of her youth. Both the writer, Brian Wood, and the artist, Ryan Kelly, refer to this issue as a "Love Story" (quotes included) and it certainly is that. It's not a romantic comedy. In fact, it's almost not romantic at all and that is a refreshing change from the Official Hollywood Version.

The interiors are black-and-white which gives it a Cinéma Vérité feel. It's as if we're getting to see more than was intended which adds an extra thrill to the stories. The back issues should still be around and since each story is self-contained it doesn't really matter where you start. It's nice to see Megan's progression from place to place but the chronology is not vital to enjoyment of the series.

I'll be sad to see this one end and I'd like to see Wood and Kelly team up again.

I'm just talkin' 'bout linkblogging

Chris Sims saves you twenty five bucks.

Roman Dirge (of Lenore and other projects) has this to say after a piece of his ceiling fell on him: "You can't conquer the world by feeling bad for yourself and playing Warcraft all day." Good advice for us all.

IGN reports that Edgar Wright is set to adapt Ant Man and Scott Pilgrim as movies. Weird combination.

21 Demons is either going to be made of pure awesome or it will make me feel older just for opening it. I'll let this description speak for itself:

"Merged with the power of a dragon , elf and angel the lead character, Neil Smithers - a British fire-fighter - finds himself caught in the immortal war between heaven and hell."

Oh, and don't forget about Free Comic Book Day!

The Spirit #3 - DC (2007)

The first two issues of Darwyn Cooke's resurrection of The Spirit were outstanding but issue #3 is the first one that felt like the Eisner comics. This is not to say that Cooke (who is writing as well as drawing) is doing Eisner all over again. With this issue, Cooke has made the character his own while building on the original material. It's like a cover of a jazz standard. The same melody is there but the new performer makes it different with his voice and interpretation. The words and images mesh so smoothly that I actually heard voices in my head during the voiceover panels.

J. Bone (inks) and Dave Stewart (colors) build on Cooke's pencils to turn each issue into a travelogue of The Spirit's world. Said world owes as much to Bruce Timm's Gotham City and psychedelia as it does to Eisner. It's a cool, scary, dangerous-looking place. You can keep your Sin Cities, I want to move next door to The Spirit.

The Spirit is the kind of guy who just doesn't get down. Bad things happen to him on a regular basis but he continues to leap into danger with a grin and a wink. The story in this issue is my favorite so far. Issue #2 gave it some stiff competition but I'm a sucker for "Secret Origin" stories. The characters are well-developed and interesting. Even the "Central-Casting" mad scientist has some entertaining quirks.

If you like things that are cool, check out The Spirit.

Also, check out the cover for issue #2. This is one of my favorite covers ever. It's an excellent shorthand for the tone of the series. Other cover artists should pay attention to how effective Cooke's images are. You know what you're getting into but it leaves all kinds of room for surprises.

Support Your FLCS

This week's haul was light again. What is up with that? I don't have any Civil War or 52-related titles on my pull list (well, except for Iron Fist which acknowledges CW as little as it can get away with) so that shouldn't be slowing them down. I guess I've just managed to spread my titles evenly over the release schedule. Financially it's a boon, though, since I'm spending far less per week at the FLCS than I am used to.

Speaking of comic shops, I urge you to go to a funnybook store near you and, y'know, buy some comics. Better yet, bring a friend or relative along! If you know of a good store, tell your friends. Set up a pull list if you can. Buy some trades. Look through their back issues for Silver-Age stories you can make fun of in your blog.

Finally, Warren Ellis asked the following question in the latest BAD SIGNAL:

"Is 'Nurse Igor' a bad name for a female character?"

Why would he even ask such a question? The universal answer can only be a resounding "No". "Nurse Igor" is quite possibly the best name for any sort of character ever.

Although, Captain Satan is certainly high on the list.

New (to me) blogs and 300

Added to the sidebar: The Illest Integer, Ye Olde Comick Booke Blogge, BibliOdyssey.

Oh, and Again with the comics.

Every trailer I see for 300 makes me want to see it more. I liked the graphic novel and it looks like this movie will work really well on screen. I thought Sin City didn't translate well. Well, actually, I thought it translated too well. Those testosterone-filled stories worked remarkably well in book form but when they were put through the 3-D photocopy effect of the movie they came off as a weird mix of tedious and disgusting.

300 looks like it's going to be the sort of testosterone-filled story that will really kick ass as a movie. Oh, and it's gonna be on IMAX. Dang.

Things I Wish I'd Thought Of

Original content tomorrow. Until then, enjoy this comment from Kin Leung on Comic Geek Speak's Quarters In The Jar section.

If the Illuminati ever becomes a movie, may I suggest:

Reed Richards =Anthony Michael Hall =the Brain
Black Bolt =Ally Sheedy =the Quiet One
Doctor Strange =Judd Nelson =the Stoner
Iron Man =Emilio Estevez =the Jock
Namor =Molly Ringwald =the Princess
Professor X =Paul Gleason =the Principal

I would call it "Michael Bendis Ultimate Breakfast Club"

Post-day-off Linkblogging

Todd Alcott and Chris Sims each show us that nothing says "Presidents Day" like comics!

MySpace opens comics hub. Now comic geeks can hang out online with all the bands and sluts.

Check out this Comic Book Exhibit at FSU. Nothing senses-shattering for your average comic geek but there are some cool comments throughout.

And finally: The Complete Pogo is coming!

Gødland #16 - Image (2007)

What can you get for 60 cents these days? A kick in the head, sure, but even that's not as much fun as Gødland! This issue is really cheap in order to serve as a jumping-on point for Gødland.

It's a recap of the series' previous events and, boy, a lot has happened since issue #1. Speaking of #1, you can view the whole thing online at this Newsarama page. It'll make a nice companion to the recap issue.

As recaps go, this one is pretty good. It's not quite the comic version of a clip show but it's close. It has all original art and it wraps it in a discussion among America's military dudes about how to handle the "Adam Archer Problem". There's even a little bit of new story in this issue and a fun ending.

So, go ahead, plunk down a little change, check out the first-issue link above (or the one for #8 right here) and see if Gødland's totally your bag, baby.

It's totally mine!

Quick Link

Brian Cronin at Comics Should Be Good is doing an excellent series on Comic Book Urban Legends. Here's the latest installment.

Stormwatch: Post Human Division #4 - Wildstorm (2007)

I really liked Warren Ellis's run on Stormwatch. Apparently, Christos Gage did too. This issue of Stormwatch: PHD makes several references to that era. It even has a "ladies' night out" scene reminiscent of one of Ellis's own. This is not to say that Gage is aping Ellis; he has made Stormwatch his own. The collection of characters looks kind of like "Sidekick Squad meets the Legion of Substitute Heroes" but each of them kicks ass in his or her own way. Their abilities are cool as are their personalities. There's the usual couple of ex-bad guys to keep things interesting but the nominal good guys are just as messed up.

Given that we're only two or three months away from issue #6 there may be a trade out soon but this book reads quite well as individual issues. Each one has been fairly self-contained with the occasional reference to earlier issues.

Doug Mahnke's art is squiggly and weird-looking and it works beautifully with this book. He really plays up the weirdness factor of non-powered guys fighting super villains. Also, there's a short scene between Jackson King and the leader of the PHD which I'm still laughing about and it's largely due to Mahnke's art.

My favorite part of this comic is how non-freaked-out the members of this team are when faced with something like the guy on the cover up there. Their lack of powers is more than made up for by their experience. If you like to see well-rounded characters kick ass, this may be the book for you.

Green Lantern Corps #9 - DC (2007)

The "Green Lantern Corpse" storyline is over and the ending was pretty cool. Keith Champagne writes Guy Gardner as a better-rounded character than others have. Gardner takes his role as a Green Lantern seriously even if he's the "rogue cop nobody wants to partner with". This storyline has Gardner mixed up with the GLC's black ops division. They're so secret they don't even know they're in it. It's a "plausible deniability" outfit for the Guardians of the Galaxy and you'd think that it would be right up Gardner's alley.

Not entirely.

That conflict is a lot of fun to read and Champagne never lets it get tedious.

Also, we get to see what a badass Durlan can do. For those of you with more of a life than I have, Durlans are shapeshifters. You see, Chameleon from the Legion of Super-Heroes is a Durlan and... Never mind. This Durlan subscribes to the "Disney Magicians' Duel" school of fighting and he kicks ass.

The art (Patrick Gleason on pencils, Prentiss Rollins & Ray Snyder on inks) is not spectacular but it works with the story. There were a couple of action scenes I had to look at twice to get what was going on but there were no major visual hurdles. Moose Baumann did an excellent job on the colors, as usual. The explosions and energy blasts really popped.

I don't care much for the current Green Lantern title but that's because it's not "Corps"-y enough for me. These guys are doing great things with the Corps and I'm looking forward to issue #10.

Astonishing X-Men #20 - Marvel (2007)

Joss Whedon did a great job revealing Astonishing X-Men's big surprise (i.e. bringing Colossus back). This issue is full of little surprises. I like pleasant surprises. They help alleviate the crushing pressure of existence and keep me from curling up in a corner and weeping all day.

Woah. Sorry about that.

But seriously, folks, Whedon gets the X-Men. He groks what makes them cool and he does interesting things with their relationships. There are a couple of panels which show how comfortable Emma is with her powers as well as her attitude towards the world. Much like his TV shows and movies Whedon balances the funny with the deep, the contemplative with the ass kicking.

The only speedbump in this storyline for me is the storyline itself. I find the whole interstellar prophecy thing a bit silly but I am enjoying the stuff that's happening because of it. If you haven't picked up the issues leading up to this one you're probably better off waiting for the trade. It should be a really good read all at once.

John Cassaday's art has been consistently good since issue #1 but this time he gets some really big things to draw. If Planetary has taught us anything it's that Cassaday excels at drawing big things in space. When I become a famous comic writer I'm gonna write a comic which features Mogo and The Celestials as a crossover team. They'll fly around the universe fighting crime. The entire series will have four enormous panels that you'll have to assemble after you've bought all the issues and Cassaday will draw it. After that I'll retire to my island and eat nutella all day.

JLA: The "L" is for Love

Todd Alcott brings us some Love: JLA Style just in time for Significant-Other-Guilt-Trip Day.

Webcomics are people, too

Shortpacked takes on the Secret origins of the Justice League

Watchmen News

Hmmm.

Yesterday's Comics Today!

Here's a quick rundown of my opinions on my latest haul. It was a light week so there aren't many.

New Universal #3 - Marvel (2007)

Salvador Larroca's art continues to blow me away. Warren Ellis is giving Larroca some really good things to draw. This issue establishes more of the history of the world and makes it even cooler than the first two issues did. The extended infodump/argument partway through the book was the only speedbump.

Behold the art!



Johah Hex #16 - DC (2007)


Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are the new Giffen and DeMatteis. They are an awesome writing team with incredible range. They are this close to being on my "I will buy anything by these guys" list. This new story is your typical "woman with incredibly bad life becomes a one-eyed badass" tale and it's off to a damn good start. The art is spectacular, as well. The only thing that keeps me from completely enjoying this book is the way they write western accents. I have no problem with dropping all the final g's but the frequent use of "yore" for "your" is getting on my nerves.


Fell #7 - Image (2007)

This issue has Ben Templesmith's best art yet. Check out the cover:



The interior has more of the same.

Speaking of more of the same, Warren Ellis's writing on this issue is just that. Which is to say it's good. We learn a little more about Snowtown, a little more about Fell and we get to see him out-clever himself. Good stuff all for a buck 99!


Astro City: The Dark Age Book 2 #2 - Wildstorm (2007)


This book gets better with every page. The Apollo Eleven show up and everyone freaks out. Well, as much as anyone in Astro City is able to freak out anymore.

"Another giant spectral figure, you say? Is this one setting anything on fire? Then let it be."

The "everyman" reaction to superhero antics has been done many times but the way the two main characters are hooked into the action makes for a compelling read. Excellent art, too.

A few more links

Real content later today but check out the stuff below.

Mike Sterling brings us a Green Arrow distillation. If Kevin Smith's run had looked more like this I would have kept reading.

Todd Alcott adds to the ongoing goo vs. radiation discussion.

Amanda Waller was on my list for an upcoming installment of the "Badass Files" but Tom Foss beat me to the punch. Get it? Badass? Punch? Oh, I kill me.

Comic Update-A-Tron Lives!

This has been covered elsewhere but I want to shout it from the rooftops. Tales From The Longbox has come up with a replacement for the defunct Comics-Weblog-Update-A-Tron.

Here it is!

Check it out and click on a few blogs you don't recognize. If you want to view multiple entries from the updater open each one in a different tab or window, otherwise you'll only get one of them in window within the main page.

A few links before I go

I'm headed to Chattacon in a few minutes but I wanted to throw some links your way first.

WikiProject: Comics needs your help. Each of us has an obscure comic or artist that we know way too much about. Here's your chance to write about it.

RIP, Drew Posada

Dashing Dave Campbell publishes the post I wish I had about Civil War.

Heidi Meeley from Comics Fairplay goes out on a limb to say that buying crappy comics sucks. Let's all join her in the fight against hold-box inertia.

Scott from Polite Dissent reviews another PSA comic and throws in a little Civil War bashing, too!

Finally, I've been reading Sequentially Speaking a lot lately. It possesses a high degree of excellence.

La'ers!

Oh...crap

The images above are from recent covers of Ultimate Vision and Mighty Avengers.

Just when I think comics can't surprise me someone uses "Frank Cho" and "Ultron" in the same sentence and they're not being ironic. There's a strong tradition of cheesecake in comics. I have no problem with it in general but come on! Did Ultron wake up one morning and say, "It's not enough to crush Dr. Pym beneath my adamantium heel; I need to look smokin' hot while doing so!"?

What's next? Greg Land's sexy reinterpretation of Nimrod?

Thunderbolts #110 - Marvel (2007)

I will pick up the first issue of anything Warren Ellis writes. Usually, I pick up all of the following issues (see Nextwave and New Universal). Other times I only pick up a few and then I decide it's not for me (see Jack Cross).

This time, I'm not even going to buy #111.

It's not all Ellis' fault. He wasn't given much to work with, here, given that this title is forced to be mired in the Civil War storyline. I got this issue because I was interested to see what Ellis does with this group of characters but I'm not impressed with this introduction. I read Ellis books because I really like his take on what people with superpowers are like. I also like the way he writes dialogue and action scenes. I don't like Thunderbolts #110 because it's like there's no Ellis in it.

Sure, Norman Osborne starts the issue off by "having a talk" with Bullseye in a darkened room and he goes all "I am the closest thing to God" on him but even that doesn't have the right feel. Ellis gets in a couple of digs at popular culture and what a bunch of sheep the general public is, but there isn't any bite to it.

I don't know. Maybe my distatse for the whole Civil War: Frontline thing has soured me on anything it touches but this book doesn't interest me at all. I liked the idea of Thunderbolts back when Kurt Busiek created them. I also liked Suicide Squad a lot when Ostrander was writing it. I bring up Suicide Squad because that's closer to what we have in this T-Bolts incarnation. Except Amanda Waller never put on a green suit and lobbed explosive pumpkins at people.

Or, did she?

Anyway, this isn't so much a review as a reaction. If you are into the Civil War, this is an excellent continuation of the story. If you don't like it, stick with New Universal or one of the other books that has yet to be infected by this meta story.

In related news: Noetic Concordance's own Chuck W pointed me towards this parody of Civil War from the excellent Scans Daily LJ community.

Civil War Gives Me Such Schfvilkus

This post from The Fortress of Soliloquy goes into the level of detail about the recent Civil War dumbassery that I wish I could.

The Badass Files #2 - Nathan Kane

(I couldn't find a good portrait shot of Nathan Kane online and my scanner's not cooperating with me right now so here's a picture of Avery Brooks. )

Nathan Kane appears in the miniseries Ocean and he is a badass. Unlike many other badasses, Kane beats people up WITH HIS BRAIN! That's right. Nathan Kane is a Warren Ellis protagonist which means that he is smarter than those around him and he uses those smarts to obliterate his opposition.

Kane doesn't go looking for trouble but he's not afraid to mix it up when people screw with his stuff. Therefore he has a rating of .74 Waynes*.

First off, he has a badass name. Nathan Kane.

Second, he's a U.N. Weapons Inspector. That's a pretty badass job. You know what makes it even more badass? He's a space-faring U.N. Weapons Inspector! He gets to go to Jupiter!

Finally, he's not afraid to use anything as a weapon. A gun, an orbital lander,

or

the gravity generators on a spaceship!! ZOMG!!!!

I'm just going to let the following pages do the talking for the remainder of the post. Click the thumbnails for readable versions.


Badass.

*The Official Unit of the Badass Scale

I Have No Pull List.

I have no pull list.

I love comics. Comics are poems of movies, or dreams of novels. They are one of the biggest--if not the single biggest--inspiration for my art. But I had to let them go.

...well, the monthly issues anyway. I'm a trade paperback guy now. I suspect I will remain one. When my wife and I moved this year, one of the things I had to lug were some longboxes. Now, granted, I don't have nearly as many as some of my friends, but still--there's nothing like lugging heavy-ass longboxes up flights of narrow stairs to get you thinking about this hobby.

Sure, I pull out issues every now and then. I do. My comics are not hermetically sealed. I do not buy them as a collector--they're there to be read. The only reason they're in longboxes is because there's no other way to store them effectively without destroying them.

But you can put a trade paperback on a shelf. On a shelf! How sweet is that? Easier to sneak on business trips too. Much easier to loan out.

Have you ever tried loaning a non-comics friend a set of individual issues to read, hoping to engage them in the hobby? Yeah, how'd that work out? In my experience, trade paperbacks convert the non-believer more often then a slick stack of plastic-wrapped individual issues.

Downsides: I miss the monthly drip-drip of comics goodness, I cannot find a good source that shows me the release schedules of trades ONLY (without also listing every individual title coming out), and then there's the whole "paced for trades" problem afflicting the industry.

So...how does everyone feel about trades versus monthly issues? Does anybody know of a real easy way for me to stay on top of the release schedules of trades? How do people feel about how trades have affected the pace of storytelling in the industry?

Ringing in 2007

Hey there!

I'm Chuck, one of the new kids on this blog. I'd like to thank Vaklam for inviting me to participate. I grew up on DC Comics, and jumped over to the X-Men and other Marvel comics later on, but I enjoy books from both, as well as some independent and manga titles.

For my first post here, I thought I'd identify some comic-related things I'm looking forward to in 2007.

1. More books by Doug TenNapel. I remember when I first played Earthworm Jim and wondered who was coming up with the crazy, cartoony designs in it. TenNapel has produced several graphic novels that I've greatly enjoyed (Creature Tech, Tommysaurus Rex, Earthboy Jacobus, and Iron West). This year will see the re-release of his first comics work, Gear (which was adapted for animation as Nickelodeon's series Catscratch), as well as a new work, Black Cherry. This is a good thing.

2. Jeff Smith's Shazam project. I've been a fan of Jeff Smith's Bone series for some time, and my appreciation for the Golden Age Captain Marvel goes back even farther, so I've been anticipating Smith's take on the character since this project was announced a few years ago. Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil will be coming out as a Prestige Format mini-series beginning this February.

3. The finale to Planetary. It's hard to believe that I've been reading Planetary for this long, and there's only one issue to go. I had already enjoyed the work of Warren Ellis (including his work on Stormwatch and Authority that directly preceded this), but this title introduced me to John Cassaday's pencils.

4. More Essentials and Showcase volumes. I've really been enjoying the "phone books" that Marvel and DC have been producing. I cannot rationally explain the enjoyment I get from the reprinted Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, but the feeling is genuine. Upcoming highlights (for me, anyway) include the first Legion of Super-Heroes Showcase, and the second Luke Cage: Power Man Essential.

5. The Sinestro Corps. I'm not even going to try to explain this one. The potential for awesomeness is high; we'll see how the execution is before the end of the year.

There are also some items that have not been announced, but I'd love to see this year:

1. A series for Doctor Thirteen. DC's mini-series focusing on the Spectre, Tales of the Unexpected, is not hitting on as many cylinders for me as I had hoped; it's too bad, since I'm a fan of both Crispus Allen and the Spectre. However, the backup story in this mini-series featuring Doctor Thirteen has been excellent. Take a man who steadfastly refuses to believe in the supernatural--which can be hard to do in the DC Universe--and his teenage daughter, and throw them in with a frozen caveman, ghost pirates, and Nazi gorilla commandos, and you've got instant entertainment. More, please.

2. More Carl Barks collections. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa reignited my interest in Scrooge, and I remembered some of those great duck stories I read as a kid, some of which were included in the Carl Barks Duck Tales collections that came out this year. This age of Peanuts reprints has inspired the collection of other material, such as IDW's Dick Tracy collection; this might be the time to compile an archive of the work of Carl Barks.

3. The original Monster Society of Evil. Captain Marvel's first encounter back in the Golden Age was a serial that ran in 25 installments, and I believe it was the first lengthy, extended comics story of its kind. (I'm sure some comics historian can correct me if that's not the case.) With a Shazam film in development, it might be good to get some more classic work in print. I appreciate the DC Archives series, but not everyone can afford to pick those up. I really just want the Monster Society of Evil story in one trade paperback.

4. More of The Spirit. I liked the first issue of Darwyn Cooke's new series, and I enjoyed the trade paperback collecting the best Spirit stories, but there's one more thing I want. Over a decade ago, there was a Spirit series done by rotating creators that paid homage to the original series. I can remember stories by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman off the top of my head. The Spirit: New Adventures was never collected into trade form, and I think there's a prime audience for it now.

Finally, there's one other thing I'm looking forward to this year, and that's the discovery of new books through the comics blogosphere. There are a number of comics that I never would have known about if I hadn't read about them on blogs, books like Street Angel, Iron Wok Jan, Smoke, Hikaru No Go, and Scott Pilgrim, to name a few, and I can't wait to read more.

This isn't everything I want to see this year (there's more Young Avengers, a third season of Venture Bros., and more), but it's a good start. Is there anything coming out this year that I missed? What are you looking forward to?

New Universal #2 - Marvel (2007)

When I think "comics" the first thing that springs to my mind is the feeling I got reading them in the '80s. That was the time that comics felt like mine. Like I was discovering something that was written for me. A big part of that was Marvel's New Universe line which was Jim Shooter's project to celebrate Marvel's 25th anniversary. The setting was a "world like our own" which got superpowers dropped into it overnight when the "White Event" (literally an enormous white light which filled the sky) happened. I was aware of some of the faults even at the time (Kickers Inc., anyone?) but I thought it was awesome.

Warren Ellis continues his "screwing-with-marvel-tropes" kick with New Universal and it feels every bit as awesome as the first go 'round. The first issue started off with a bang (get it, "White Event"? "Bang"? Oh, I kill me!) and #2 just adds to the awesome.

So far, Ellis has taken Justice, Nightmask, Spitfire and Star Brand and he's done some cool stuff with them. Ellis is in "serious" mode on this one (think Ocean) rather than wacky, Nextwave mode. The interpretations are darker and better fleshed out than the first batch and my favorite part of this is that Ellis is weaving all the stories together.

If you like other stuff by Ellis you will probably like this one but it's not without its faults. There are a couple of wordless action sequences in issue #2 which are confusing and there's the patented Ellis Infodump part of the way through but as long as the story remains compelling and as long as it's accompanied by beautiful Salvador Larroca art like the example from #1 below, it will stay in my hold box.

New Year, New Members

I have invited some comic-geek friends of mine to help me out with this blog. Melissa has been a member for a while now but the others (see their names over there on the right) are brand new. I'll let them introduce themselves as they begin posting.

The metamorphosis of Noetic Concordance into a group blog came from several really good discussions I have had with each of these people about comics and other geeky things. Now I am inflicting them on you. So, you threes of readers, welcome the new gang!

Happy Freakin' New Year

Noetic Concordance is like a Marvel character. Just when you thought it was dead it comes back with a new costume and a half-assed explanation for its resurrection.

I am blowing the dust off this blog and I intend to post regularly once again. Since it's been a while I'm going to start out easy and list my favorite comics from 2006.

Nextwave: This is at the top of my list because it's at the TOP OF MY LIST!!! It is the most fun I have had reading a comic in years. I'll be sorry to see it go with #12 but it's been a great ride. Also, the cover image below sums up my opinion of the whole Civil War thing:



Local: There were only a couple of missteps in this title by Oni Press and those were still really good reads. Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly worked beautifully together. If you're looking for a non-superhero book this may be the one for you. I don't know if there are any plans for a trade once the last two issues hit the stands but there are probably some back issues of the early ones around by now.

Young Avengers: This is what I read comics for. OK, most of the storyline was released in 2005 but just thinking about Young Avengers made 2006 better.

Ultimate Extinction: An excellent twist on the Galactus story. I still hope the Galactus in the Fantastic Four sequel is a big, freakin' guy, though.

The Return of the GLC: When I have superhero fantasies I imagine myself as a Green Lantern. 'Nuff said.

Owly: The best thing about Free Comic Book Day last year was that it reminded me of Owly's existence. If you are not familiar with Owly, gaze upon Andy Runton's website, ye mighty, and despair.

Astonishing X-Men: Joss Whedon's writing ability is what mine wants to be when it grows up. He groks the X-Men and John Cassaday makes this a joy to stare at as well as to read.

X-factor: Peter David, ladies and gentlemen. This is one of those House of M fallout moments that nearly made that whole tedious event worth it.

Gødland: Dang! Gødland is crazy! I like it for the same reasons I love Nextwave. It's a fun ride and the story is exactly the right kind of absurd. The art really makes this book, though. This is the case with a lot of comics but if Gødland didn't have the whole Kirby-on-acid thing going for it, it wouldn't have nearly as much praise heaped on it.



I pretty much ignored both Civil War and 52 so I can't comment about them except where they showed up in the regular titles I was reading.

I will now comment on one of the things I said I wouldn't comment on: Frankly, I find the whole Civil War storyline to be tedious. They did something kind of cool with it in the new Heroes For Hire series but that's chiefly because Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray are writing it. It's getting in the way of some other potentially cool stories such as the new Iron Fist monthly. Here's Danny Rand in the middle of fighting the entirety of Hydra and he has to take a break to whine about the No-Secret-Identities Act.

I thought the House of M fallout had its moments but I was unimpressed with the big storyline. I am obviously not the target audience for these meta-events.