My Comic Book Blog

Last Couple Weeks of Comics

2008-04-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

Comics from the past couple of weeks.

Scalped Vol. 2 Casino Boogie - This started bad and ended good. The cool part about this was how it retold the same day from so many characters points of view. It also made me realize that I don't like the protagonist.
Faker - Pretty random and pretty good. Very dark and cynical.
Powers Annual #1 - I needed my Power's fix and took it. This series also seems to be behind in TPBs, much like Invincible.
Secret Invasion #1 - Not sure why I'm reading this, but I want it to be good. Of course iFanboy spoiled it in a mini so I didn't get too much extra from reading it.
Un-Men Vol. 1 Get Your Freak On - This was fun and dark. I don't know anything about the Swamp Thing background of these characters and this story was so so. I'm not sure if I'll check out the next one.
Palestine - Need to read this. I enjoyed his book about the Balkan war so much I really wanted to check this out.
Serenity #2 - I really really really don't know what this isn't an ongoing series. You can tell there are so many stories still to be told. It isn't boring or lame like the Buffy and Angel series' and t works in comic book form.
Dead Space #2 - The first issue was good, decent story, good art, and a reasonable universe, this one was pretty bland. Oh well.

Arab in America - I finally got around to reading this. I wanted to like this, I wanted to be interested by it, and I wanted to learn something. I was disappointed and felt like all I read was someone rant about how they like no one and everyone is wrong.

Walking Dead

2008-04-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

I just loaned Walking Dead to another zombie fan. So I reread them all. So good. So many things I missed the first time. The introduction in the first volume by Kirkman is rather reveling having read the series up too book seven. It's also so sad reading it knowing a spoiler form the current issues that the group of 13 go down to 5. I also counted all the heads in the force and it looks like there are 40, ie the entire town. I can't wait until volume 8 comes out in the next month or so.

On a related note I'm still waiting for the next Invincible TPB which seem to be behind schedule by a bit.

Comics on Computers

2008-04-11T11:33:00.001-07:00

I like online comics. Easy to read, they fit the screen, etc. I can't stand comic books that are on computers. I have to scroll every which way, zoom in to read, they don't fit the screen, and some idiots also expect you to read both pages at once like a physical book. They are designed for a vertical paper world and computer screens are horizontal. The experience isn't there for me.

Which frustrates me. I wouldn't mind Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited or the Heroes graphic novel except for trying to read them, and well, you have to read a comic book to enjoy them.

2008-04-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

These two comics are by the same creative team.

First Moon - Read this first and started off being annoyed by the dialogue, then was confused by the modern story, but the historical fiction story was decent. Also the artist needs to learn that whitespace is since his drawings have five billion black lines going everywhere right next to each other, way too busy. I think my favorite part was the short essay at the end covering the history.

Continuity - Much better read and art. I think he was trying to make a point about the meaning of live through dreams, but I totally missed it. It was weird that this women had bad things happen and decides never to sleep/dream instead of realizing that dreams are random with the potential for both good and bad things happen in them. She dreams a police state because she's upset and fixates on that instead of thinking calm down and dream something happy. I guess characters are more interesting if they have flaws and make mistakes so they have something to redeem themselves against. Well there is the whole heros quest where bad things happen and the hero has to persevere, but flaws seem to be the current direction of pop culture.

Comics

2008-03-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

Mighty Avengers: Ultron Initiative (vol. 1) - I didn't like the start, it was a little too jumpy, but the story was better as it went. The character thought balloons of people trash talking each other were nice and fun.

New Avengers: The Trust (vol. 7) - This seemed to be all over the place. The story is getting so complex. No one trusts each other, they're on the run, stories go in and out of other comic book series (Doctor Dooms Venom accident) and there is the new villian the hood and Dr. Strange and a mental or meta-physical breakdown as he tries to do too much and gets into trouble and he retreats instead of saying, "I have to do this" which would have been more heroic. Also Cage is acting like the biggest jerk.

Angel #5 - Still can't read this until I get #3 which I need a second printing of.

Speaking of second printings I would n0t mind there being ones for Fear Agent and Scalped. I'm sure there are some other our of print comics I wouldn't mind reading like TMNT.

I really liked and enjoyed Safe Area Gorazde. The characters were intersting the history was great and I learned so many new things. Such a happy (well sad) great read. I didn't know know anything about the war other then it happened and lots of people were slaughtered. I'm most annoyed/frustrated/amazed by the suggestion that the UN would says, lets disarm, only one side would do it and the UN would say too bad when the armed side started killing the unarmed side. I want to read more by Joe Sacco.

Missed Comics

2008-03-19T19:21:00.001-07:00

I missed a couple comics that I've read and not talked about.

Planet Hulk - Read most of this while waiting at jury duty to not be needed. It was good. My main issue was how Hulk always wanted to fight, but then told the bug not to a lot and the other guy was like, yep, Hulks right. I did like the theme of the Hulk generally being good and people always getting mad at him for no reason.

The Escapist was a good read.
Silver Surfer Requiem annoyed me and I don't recall why. Probably because it was all, he's so great and this is so sad.
Animal Man was disjointed, every issue jumped and I felt like things were missing. It sounds like the part I care about it several trades in which is the exploration of the character knowing they are a character.
Cup Noodle rocked. The story was so crazy, what they did and and had to figure out. It was also nice to know the place where the noodles took off because I've been there. I however didn't want to know that ramen noodles are fried, of the fat.
Be a Man and Every Girl is The End the World For Me were both fun light reads. I think I've read Unlikely which I was lukewarm on at the time. I also recently read the Incredible Change-Bots by him which was page after page of silliness.
The Exterminators Vol. 3: Lies of Our Fathers - Still don't like it as much as the first one.
New Avengers: Illuminati - This was a nice read setting up the Skrull invasion that seems to be happening. It feels like a little much and off since there is also this Civil War thing that just happened.

I'm still waiting on Angel #3 to be reprinted so I can get a copy since I missed it. I have #4 and #5 can out today. Must not read until I have #3.

Hopefully that is everything I've missed.

Finally Maybe Keeping Up

2008-03-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Star Wars Dark times was a disappointment. The reviewer said they really liked it, it was dark, depressing, and a good story. I feel none of the above. I was expecting darker, but I guess the Star Wars universe can only be so much since it is such an institution.

DMZ seems to be getting worse. I liked the first one as we explored the city and discovered this dark view of a second US civil war. With each TPB I like it less and less. It is these stories about how f#(%ed up war is and how everyone is trying to win and we have our trusty accidental hero trying to do right by the people of New York. However I feel ike he's doing more showing and things are just implacable like Liberty News still talking to him and him still talking to them. And New York and its people are supposed to be this character, but it doesn't work for me. Plus the stories tell more then show.

Comics

2008-03-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

I really liked Serenity. The story was good and the pacing was nice. So sad that it is only three issues. I wish they were doing more since there are so many stories they never told, compared to Angle and Buffy.

Northwest Passage was a good story too.

I also picked by DMZ volume 4, Star Wars Dark Times and the comic book club comics.

A while back I read Hazed. I felt dirty reading it, the story was really bad, things weren't clear, and the pacing was bad.

Comics

2008-03-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

I'm excited about the Senerity comic which came out yesterday. I will pick it up tonight when I get comic book club comics.

Wasteland I like more then I should since it's not that good. Things are confusing and people are introduced in weird ways and time and sometimes characters look the same.
I enjoyed Lost at Sea, Grey Horses, and Paul Goes Fishing. My fiancee really liked Paul Goes Fishing which was good and also very sad. Time was a little off since things started slow and then at the end of the book everything goes very fast.
Jobnik was amateur self indulgent work. I'd like to know where the story goes since it is autobiographical.
Capote in Kansas was more light hearted then the movie a couple years back and didn't seem to delve into anything.
Age of Bronze was interesting. The story was very comprehensive. The art worked most of the time, but there were a couple times where closeups were done and the art was like learn to draw books. It just doesn't work.

I've picked up the most recent Ultimate SpiderMan TPB. The new artist is fine, it was a little weird to read since I was so used to this entire story being one artist and now there was a new one. Also the jump in stories from the last trade to this one was jarring. I still enjoyed it. Off camera Nick Fury stopped running SHIELD. Not sure if this story will remain off camera or be covered in some other comic or I just missed it, but I thought I was reading all the Ultimate titles.

The most recent Buffy is getting rave reviews from everyone and I just don't see it. I really don't see if for the entire storyline. Maybe I need to go back and read things as if they are tpb and things will fit better, but so far I've been unimpressed. The issues with this comic begin with Buffy being in bed with a women, but she doesn't want to label it, and of course everyone walks in on her, plus there were some wolf vampires that raid the place. I think my reoccurring complaint is the pacing of Buffy stories in comic form just doesn't work.

Another Mouse Guard came out. Again, not much is happening in these.

The comic book club comics are Safe Area Gorazde and Last Day in Vietnam.

Comic Book Haul

2008-02-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

The ones I got:

Wasteland: Cities in Dust
Northwest Passage
Lost at Sea
Arab in America
Jobnik #1
Wasteland: Shades of God - I read the first one, liked it so I picked this up too.
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms
Dead Space #1
Capote In Kansas
Age of Bronze: A Thousand Ships

Fiancee:

Paul goes Fishing
Continuity
First Moon
Grey Horses

Two women I went to the con with said to me, where are the indie books. Hint Hint Hint! One also noted the lack of women as special guests which another friend jumped on before the show. Hint hint hint!!!

Also donated blood, went to the Comic Legal Defense Fund after party, all there of Isotope's events (iFanboy was co-sponsoring two of these), and picked up the pint glass made of the Darwyn Cooke after New Fontier movie on Saturday.

Fell and Stuff

2008-02-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

I picked up a copy of Fell Feral City to have Ben Templesmith sign tonight and proceeded to read it. I was amazed at how good it was. I might need to read it again to make sure my brain was processing correctly and it wasn't an illusion.

I did notice something about the way Warren Ellis writes. He likes to have characters talk, and by talk I mean tell everyone how it is showing how cool they are and how everyone else is wrong. Of course someone usually smacks them down for some reason, but boy do people like to monologue or show how smart they are in his comics.

Last night Darwyn Cooke signed two of my books. He seemed very social and cool, joking around and talking with everyone. Watching him draw a Batman sketch for someone else was very cool. He drew the Spirit for me (which I didn't ask for he just did) and joked that it always rains on the poor guy while adding rain to the sketch. When I asked him to make one of the signatures out to my fiancee and I he drew a heart around our names.

WonderCon

2008-02-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

I'm so far behind on covering what I've been reading. For example I just finished The Boys volume 2, I've been rereading Invincible volumes 7 and 8, the comic book club is reading The Salon and The Blot and I'm still waiting for my copy of The Blot to arrive.

And WonderCon is this weekend and there are Isotope and iFanboy events to accompany the convention. Speaking up which I should go pick up my three day pass NOW!

Still Behind

2008-01-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

I borrowed comics from a friend and read most of Messiah Complex and Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run. I was also loaned Children of the Atom which I haven't read yet. I've mostly been reading trades. Reading the Astonishing issues was cool because I was able to enjoy the ads. It was an anthropological snapshot of games and movies. Both of the stories I read were interesting. Comparing where Emma Frost was when she first met the group and now was interesting. I like how the Astonishing story is pretty much about Kitty.

I picked up comics last week Bone Vol: 7 Ghost Circles and something else that apparently wasn't that memorable. Nothing much happened in the Bone comic, they all just traveled and talked about nothing.

Last week I also got Ultimate X-Men Vol. 17 Sentinels and Ultimate Fantastic 4 Vol. 9 Silver Surfer. I read X-Men first and I'm so so on the whole direction of this comic and where it is going. The Silver Surfer story seemed all over the place.

Last night I picked up X-Men First Class Vol. 1 Tomorrow's Brightest, Silver Surfer: Requiem, and Animal Man Book 1 Animal Man. I only just started reading First Class and I feel like I'm reading X-Men version 3, with Ultimates being version 2.

From before, I finished Longbow Hunters and thought it was so so. Maybe I don't have enough comparison with the era it came out in, but it just didn't seem that solid on the story. The art was good.

Behind

2008-01-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

I'm so far behind on all the comics I've been reading. I finally finished The Best American Comics 2007 and of all the things I've read The Surrogates was probably the best.

So this weeks purchases:
- Buffy #10 - It was a one shot which was nice, the story was sort of all over, but I liked it.
- Green Arrow The Longbow Hunters - Haven't read it yet.
- Powers Vol 11: Secret Identity - I liked this more then the last one, but I still feel like the stories in a rut. Wow, another bunch of deaths. I mean they are detectives so it makes sense, but at this point things seem recitative.
- The Escapists - Waiting to see if the comic book club picks this book.

Just heard something funny...

2007-12-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

Loki turns Thor into a frog. The frog picks up the hammer and becomes Frog Thor, who teams up with Spider Man to take down Loki. This sounds silly and funny and great.

Last Two

2007-12-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

I finished Scarlet Traces and Channel Zero last night.

I liked this Scarlet Traces more then the first, maybe because it ended on a happier note. I did like the forboading tone of the first one more while the second seemed more linear and look, another crazy coincident. The villians and heroes were less dramatic and more accommodating. As I write this I wonder why I liked the second more. Maybe I should read the first again. Maybe this story was just more accessible and had less random artistic dialog moments even though the actual story was worse.

Channel Zero is good, pessimistic, difficult to read, busy, and different. I could explain each of these adjectives and talk about the book, but it would be better to just read it and come up with your own sentence or list of adjectives to describe it. I'll probably read this again at some point and get something more from it.

The one thing I didn't like was communism played such a strong role as the alternative which annoyed me. I always fell like capitalism verse communism is too confining for any dialog or solutions to be discussed. My favorite moment was the guns on one side and video cameras on the other.

Until I have money to get more comics I'm reading Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall. This is my second time through and I loved every second the first time through. I enjoyed it adding stories and fleshing out the characters combined with the different art. I do wonder how accessible it is to a non-Fables reader or if it would be a good way to introduce someone to the books since I don't think the Fables story gets really good until about the forth TPB.

Ultimates 3 Issue 1

2007-12-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

Fresh Ink and iFanboy both pretty much panned this issue. I picked it up, looked at a couple pages, went blah and walked away. The art was too dark, it started off talking about porn of Iron Man and Black Widow then Venom jumps in and attacks, blah. Totally random and weird and dark. Apparently it also has incest.

This is just weird and random.

But my real issue is, didn't Spider-Man in the Ultimates universe kill or destroy Venom? I'm not current on Ultimate Spider-Man and this story will probably explain why Venom exists and attacks, but my two cents is lame. Create a new villain rather then use a dead Sider-Man Venom.

Marvel should kill the title now and try again.

A Number of Them

2007-12-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

I've been working on Volume 4 of 52 for a couple days. Yesterday I bought 4 more things to read.

Buffy Issue #9 - I know I didn't like the last issue, but I figured it would be a short read so stopped reading 52 and read this. The conclusion of this story was actually pretty good. I'm a little confused on why Giles has no interest in involving Buffy and why they aren't talking, but whatever. The whole Faith trying to connect with the psycho misled slayer was pretty cool. I'm a little disappointed that the plot is another lets get rid of all the slayers. If I think about the show the season plots were mostly hell on earth and now they are end all the slayers. Oh well.

The Exterminator Vol. 2 :Insurgency - This was the book I wanted to read. I little disappointed. The transition from volume 1 to 2 was rough. I'm sick of all the evil lesbian executive stuff going on at Ocran. Maybe its so we won't care that we know there is a character working there, but the readers know nothing about the company or its mission other then its sinister; and there are lesbians. Quick summary, this most mostly fast moving sequence of events. AJ seems to be back from the dead, but isn't AJ rather someone else. There is a new love interest and the possible love interest saved in the first volume becomes the company book keeper. The coach roaches are organized and waging warfare against the city. The Bug-Bee-Gone crew seem to be the only exterminators for all of LA. And the police lieutenant keeps getting mysterious injuries. The pacing just didn't match the first book and it seems like the interesting dialog is disappearing. Lastly I was really taken out of the story when it took a couple hours to get from LA to Berkeley and the welcome to Berkeley sign showed this nice hill instead of dense suburban bay city.

After that I went back and finished 52 since I was mostly done with 52 Volume 4. Reading the conclusion was interesting. Time went forward backwards and all around. Most of the story lines were wrapped up. Still confused on why a few things happened, like why Dingby was after the person who was controlling the person impersonating Dr. Fate. It seems like we know why Wonder Woman and Batman are okay, but no clue why or when Superman got his powers back. Also why did Wonder Woman need a new identity? Bascially Booster Gold saves the day and there is lots of time traveling. Black Adam take on the entire world because he's killing millions of innocents because Intergang went after him and there is a new Question. Intergang mostly seems to be getting out of this scott free. Stupid. I'm not sure how people stayed intereested in this as a weekly comic, it was confusing enough reading in four volumes over a few months.

I'm currently reading Scarlet Traces: The Great Game. The art seems slightly better then the first book, but I havne't directly compared them. This story seems more interesting so far, but maybe it's that I know the world better so I got into it faster. We'll see.

And the last thing to read is Channel Zero which is Brian Wood's first work. James from Isotope had interesting things to say about it since it was the first work, mostly that its obvious that his background is illustration and he hasn't quite figured out comic book story telling, but he still thought it was fantastic.

I'm still working on America's Best Comics.

The Best American Comics 2007

2007-12-05T14:07:00.001-08:00

I've been reading The Best American Comics 2007 which I purchased . It will take me a while to finish since there is so much. The artwork all over the cover is nice. The comics so far mostly fall in the range of stuff I don't read which is why I read the book. Most of it is good.

It's interesting to see the except of Fun Home by Alison Bechdel at a larger size because watercoloring over lines became very obvious on some pages. I also need to reread it. It's so pleasant to read and look at.

The Jeffrey Brown stuff is also good, I need to read more.

The parents visiting their child in New York was fun for the commentary about families and economics. It was by R. and Aline Crumb.

I just read something where it started with a wall, then went into randomness then relationships. That comic was too all over the place for me. It was by Ron Rege.

The Ivan Brunetti stuff is simple artwork and quite fun.

More Comics

2007-11-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

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.