Meme-Tastic

Yeah, so by the time I got home to my photoshop, all the good jokes were taken. So I just had to go with a lame Animal House joke.

Enjoy!

NEWSFLASH!

Your kid is an asshole.

This is why I'm raising my boys to be comic geeks. That guarantees no high-self-esteem or inflated ego issues.

What I Forgot I Got - 2.21.07

This is what happens when I write a post at work, when I don't have my stuff in front of me. Maybe it's the bad taste left by the one-two punch of Civil War #7 and the "Woo-hoo, wasn't that the bestest comic ever" rants by Millar and Quesada that made me forget I even buy any Marvel product anymore. Here's the leftovers:

Punisher War Journal #4

This book was a lot of fun and it really illustrates what I like about about the Marvel Universe (ie. lame villians and continuity-porn). Essentially it's super-villian funeral for Stilit-Man (killed in issue #1) featuring a lot of the worst villians of the MU (although I didn't see Paste-Pot-Pete). The mourn, they get drunk, they laugh, they krump with the widow, and they fight. Of course, since this is a Punisher book, they also die horribly.

Fun for all ages. Seriously though, this is a great book and now that Nextwave is gone, it remains as one of only two on-goings I will be reading regularly from Marvel (the other being X-Factor). Here's hoping they let Fraction do his thing for some time (and don't turn Punisher into the new Captain America, as was kinda teased in CW #7).


Immortal Iron Fist #3

This series is humming along nicely, but there's not much to say. It's the third issue, so there's not much here but stuff to racap where we've been and set up the finale in the next two issues. Though I did like the fight at the end between the past and present Iron Fists.

See, Marvel CAN still publish good comics, just as long as they're on the fringes of continuity.

What I Got - 2.21.07

Here's what I got:

Brave & The Bold #1

Man is this good stuff. Pure old school team-up super-heroing, no ifs, ands or buts.

The book starts with a murder mystery involving both Green Lantern & Batman, which leads to them fighting a Kirby-esque energy monster in the Batcave. Then they go to Vegas. I really can't say too much more than this: it's good very good. Mark Waid's writing plays to all of George Perez's strengths and it looks fantastic. I have high hopes for this series and I really think the only way they'll be dashed is if they can't keep to the schedule they've set for themselves (3 monthly issues, one month break, then three more).

The only thing I wonder is that there really doesn't seem to be a lot of press for this series. My shop was down to it's last two copies when I got there at 5:30, so I think this may be a quick sell-out all around.

52: Week 42



***SPOILERS***




Really there's not much to say, pretty much pitch-perfect with good (not great) art from Darrik Robertson.



Happy trails Ralph, you've always been a favorite character. It's sounds weird to say, but I'm happy that I know for sure that there's a Heaven in the DC Universe, because Ralph is now certainly there with his Sue.

The Spirit #3

Not alot to say about this one either, darn good origin issue with shifting narration. It's a good way to get everyone involved with the story, since, well, the supporting cast really doesn't have a lot to do in The Spirit's origin.

TRADES

Checkmate Volume 1

I picked up the first issue of this series and liked it, but I was cutting back my single issues at the time, so I went to the trade for this one. It's good, really good, but i think I'm missing something because I never read the 80's Suicide Squad series. I'd like to, but unless it's in trades, I really don't like hunting for single issues. I'm lazy, really lazy.

Back to Checkmate. Minus the continuity porn, this is good stuff. Hard-core spy stuff shoe-horned into the DCU, and it's not a bad fit. I'm also happy to see the Chinese Great 10 hanging around after 52. There's alot to be done with those guys.

Overall, if you want your DCU a little harder-edged, this is the place to be. If you want some good super-hero-as-spy-stuff, here you go.

COMICS I DIDN'T ACTUALLY BUY

Civil War #7

Since I recently received my 15 year chip from my comic shop, I now pretty much have the right read anything on the shelf without having to buy it (at 20 years, I'll get a bathroom key!). Mind you, Idon't really do this often, just when I feel like I need to read something in order to justify my dislike. ( if not my abject hatred).

I can't bring myself to completely hate this book, it was just so underwhelming. Not the art, mind you, McNiven's stuff is great, but he's not given a lot of story here. It all ends up feeling like a giant set-up to WWHulk in a few months. At least with Infinite Crisis, there was a set end with some type of resolution. All we get here is a giant "to be continued". It's a lot like House of M, but at least with that one, most of the regular books were able to just ignore it. I feel bad for Brubaker, I hope his great run on Captain America isn't completely derailed having to deal with the left-over BS from this debacle.

Meet the New Joker, Same as the Old Joker

So I finally got around to reading Batman 663 last night. Overall, kinda "meh". There was a lot of Morrisonian mumbo-jumbo about the Joker being re-born into his latest incarnation. While I like the idea of using the Joker as a serial-murdering David Bowie to explain his changes in pathology over his career, I just don't think that the "new" Joker wasn't very clearly defined (which seemed to be the point of the story), except for a rather grotesque new smile cut into his face.

On another note, I've finally realized why Harley Quinn just doesn't work for me in print. It's her accent. In the animated series it's perfect, but, when written, it's kind of stupid.

What I Got - 2.14.07

Aw crap, since Jake at Ye Olde gave me a shout out for my comment about "The Mighty Skull-Boy Army", I feel that I need to post something. Anyhoo, I'm going to give a try at posting my weekly purchases. So here's what I got:

52: Week 41

So yeah, this was kind of a transitional issue. Getting the space heroes to Mogo (a lot of Mogo love in the last year or so), getting Montoya to finally face her fear/grief/guilt, and getting Ralph, hopefully, to the point when he'll reveal what the devil he's up to (but after Chris mentioned it, his nose was definitely doin' its thing). The thing I love most about this series is that even if there's an iffy or slow issue, another one will be on the way next week. That said, the Starfire origin was weak, I mean, couldn't they get one of the Titan's many great artist's to do two pages for her? It looked like a rush job.


Nextwave: 12

What more can be said about the passing of this great series? Oh man, what a wealth of riches we have been given over these twelve issues. I only pray that Ellis comes through on his promise of more in the future.

***SPOILERS*** (as if you could actually spoil this book)

So, to the issue at hand. We've got a baby MODOK, Devil Dinosaur and the final triumph of the Nextwave crew. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed. There weren't any of the wonderful character moments I've come to love ("Special-Bear is dead.") and no final threat from (now zombified) Dirk Anger. But still, I tend to find every "last issue" disappointing. It took me months to admit that Preacher had a perfectly excellent ending, so maybe it's just me. I can't wait for the hardcover, and damn them to Hell if they dare to produce an over-sized HC to collect the whole series, because I'll have to pony up the cash for that as well. But then again, if me buying the same issues over and over again will convince them to make new issues, well then, it's only money. Put plainly, this is probably one of my top three favorite series ever.

Astonishing X-Men : 20

Another excellent issue from Whedon and Cassaday. After a slow first six issues to their second run, they've really lit a fire with their six-issue finale. There's more action and clever dialog than three issues worth of just about any other series. This is easily the best run on X-Men by any creative team since Claremont and Byrne.

One quick thing: I do hope the concept of S.W.O.R.D. sticks around. I like the idea of an off-world S.H.I.E.L.D. Knowing Quesada and Co. they'll probably have them fighting with each other before 2008.

Godland: 16

Haven't gotten around to this one yet. I picked up the first trade and love, love, loved it. Bought the second trade a few months ago, and truth be told, I can't remember if I've even read it. I mean, I'm sure I at least tried, but either I couldn't get into it, or it wasn't that memorable. I'll try to play catch up with the special 60-cent issue. I'll update if and when I actually read the issue. I'll try to find an image of the cover, cause we all need pretty pictures.

Batman: 663

Haven't gotten around to this one either. There's a lot of words there. For those of you not in the know, this is a prose story with illustrations rather than a proper-comic, so I'll get back tomorrow or Sunday with a review.

As a side-bar, was I the only one who was caught flat-footed when the solicitations came out? Batman #666 is coming? Written by Morrison, with an issue-number-appropriate theme? How excellent! Talk about your once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I'm positively giddy. Yes...I said I was giddy, get over it.

Overall: a good, light week. I don't pick up a lot of monthlies (lesser still, not that Nextwave is over). No new trades of note. I want to pick up the Spider-Man: Death of the Stacys HC, but that'll have to wait for some time when I have more cash. Thanks for coming, hopefully you'll keep coming!

American Dreamz....

So that was it? Really....um...er, that could have been a lot better. So anyway, I rented this movie since I kinda wanted to watch it and I knew the wife would as well (y'know, rather than say, The Marine). But, she ends up heading out of town for the weekend and it's either return it unwatched or watch it alone (I DID want to watch it). It's just a shame to waste my alone viewing time on it. I mean, I could've been emptying the faux-vo (our word for the awful Directv DVR, ug) of all of the adult swim crap I had on it. I guess I should protest them for trying to blow up Boston, but well, bean town had it coming anyway.

ANYWAY...the movie, as you may know it's kind of like American Idol, with a half-assed political commentary stapled onto it. So yeah, long story short, I guess it's worth seeing, but they never really went for the throat, and if you're going to make fun of the President, just do it, don't try to make him likable. You can't, God knows they've been trying to six years now and it ain't gonna happen.