More Comics

I was in Santa Cruz so I stopped by Joe's or Atlantis to see what I was missing. I picked up Angel: After the Fall #1 and The Goon Chinatown. I really liked The Goon comic. We find out what happened in Chinatown, the dame that messed him up, all told while facing a new villian, and finished with superb artwork. I found myself looking at one of the pages enjoying the pencils, ink, computer coloring, and watercoloring all complementing each other on one page. Angel was disappointing. I always felt let down by the ending of the TV show the silly line about wanting to fight the dragon.

It's been some months since I finished the Angle TV show on DVD so I couldn't quiet place who everyone was, like I couldn't recall who Gwen and Nina were on my first read. Yes I've read it twice. We haven't seen what everyone else is up to, but it seems like the gang has completely fallen apart. I think its a wait and see in this comic. I mostly read it twice because it seemed like I missed something and I couldn't decide if I like it or not. I'm sticking with disappointing.

I think I feel that way about Buffy season 8 too. These are characters and stories that we're used to in 44 minute format. Comics are typically 22 pages. Not enough space to tell a story so the pacing and timing is off as they break these longer stories into smaller chunks. I know you collect issues in TPB to get the complete story, but its still not the same type of story in the end.

One more note on Angel. On first read I thought it was Wesley having the end internal thought or monologue. This suggests the first story or the overall arc will be about him, but then I thought it might be Gunn during the second read. This is because of the way it ends on Gunn showing how he has changed. Going back to the start of the monologue I'm pretty sure it belongs to Wesley and ending on Gunn was revealing a twist and making the point of how things have changed. As if moving LA to a hell dimension and having everyone running around on there own wasn't enough. But this goes back to my point above. The comic was rushing around setting the tone of this new place trying to visit all the characters which it still missed some and it revealed something that in TV format would have been a secret for longer.

More Comics This Week

The Exterminators Vol 1 TPB
I like Tony Moore's art. The story is stilling setting the scene. We have super cockroaches, a corporation doing unknown experiments, cockroaches, a parolee hero/narrator, lots of references to the line between nature and man, and allusions to some greater scheme. It is good enough to keep reading, but I haven't decided if its good enough to recommend to others.

I Am Legend
I've seen the ads for the Will Smith movie coming out and it seems like an alien bump in the night horror thing or some other device like that. I'm in the store I see this book, it claims it is related to the movie, it's thick, Steve Niles of 30 Days of Night is involved and it is about vampires. So confused. I pick it up. I find out it is an adaptation of a novel by Richard Matherson. Wikipedia says this is the third movie adaptation of it.

I haven't finished it yet. So far I like it. I'm getting into the story and don't want to put it down to eat dinner and watch Smallville season 6 on DVD. I've thumbed ahead and it seems to have a lot of places to still go. It's mostly in the guys head because there is no one to talk to. That part is a little rough becuase it feels to literal of a novel and not a graphic novel.

I see some parallels to the scenes in the trailer. I noticed the movie relocated the story from the LA region to NY. I have yet to see jets or people feeling anything yet so I'm expected a flashback or movie liberty.

This Weeks Purchases

Went to Isotope yesterday to pick up my comics. It has been a couple weeks since my last visit there. Ron from iFanboy was there. And James had a Twitter about someone new working there... it was Matt Silady creator of Homeless Channel. When I purchased my comics Matt remembered me from a couple months back when James gave me a copy of Homeless Channel and Matt was in the store so he signed it. It was a great trip

--- Purchases ---

Ex Machina Vol 6 TPB
Mostly just a story alluding to where the powers come from and dark twists and forboading to come. The political side falls short. Overall so so.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 4 TPB
More fun with Scott Pilgrim. There is some silliness like all the lesbianism, but the storry is over the top and I like it that way. Typical Scott Pilgrim which means pretty good.

Mouse Gaurd Winter 1152 #2
The art is amazing and the story is still building. Most of the story is the mice traveling. My issue is that these are good, but David Petersen just hasn't become a master comic craftsmen yet.

Buffy Season 8 #8
More about the Faith story. Things seem to jump around and the story didn't advance as much as it could have. I'm not sure why Buffy is still mad at Faith, seemed like the two heroes meet and fight comic cliche. Eh.

Lower Regions
Wordless dungeon crawl with monsters doing all kinds of morphing. So so.

Top Shelf Season Sampler Sale

I've heard that Top Shelf has these sales where they clear out inventory and give good discounts. Now they are having one. So many books so little money.