The List - July 2011

Ah, a breather. Gotta like those months when Sunday is the last day. A little vacation didn't hurt, either. So, here we go.

1. American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest 2 - Much as I like Pearl and Skinner in the main book, I'm liking Felicia and Cash so much more. Felicia is total bad ass. Even in her nightmares, she's bad ass. The book opens with her taking a bath when she hears a noise, gets out and grabs a gun. Naked but for a towel realistically held, which is to say, to little effect, considering she was holding a gun with the other hand, she checks her windows, only to turn and find Skinner, who grabs her by the throat. She shoots him in the head, but that doesn't even slow him down. He tells her she can't stop him and is connected to him by blood from before she was born. She agrees and shoots herself in the head. Totally a dream and just an opening sequence, but hard core through and through is Felicia. The book only gets better with the arrival in Romania to find the cure for vampirism they think the Nazis have. Cash shows himself to be just as tough, yet both are not above feeling. Felicia feels bad that she didn't stop Skinner from infecting Cash's son while Cash is concerned about Felicia's nightmare. And then, we get a brigade of Nazi vampires! Excellent.

Daryl Gregory Interview -- Writer of BOOM! Studios' Planet of the Apes Part 1 of 2

SURPRISE!!! I've been keeping this one underwraps for a month now, but I e-mailed Daryl some (re: a LOT of) questions before leaving for vacation and I just got his responses this week -- just in time to coincide with the opening of Rise of the Planet of the Apes yesterday. I hope to actually see the film today myself. (I'm working on my Aunt's AOL dial-up in Kansas right now, so I may be a little lite on accompanying images. Actually, I'm going to have to move the images above later -- they just won't cut and paste right now.)

Image Preview Review for October

Lee: Image is really cranking out the series this year. This month has another big batch of new stuff to check out.

Thomm: See, aren’t you glad I bugged you about bringing Image back to its own post?

The Strange Talent Of Luther Strode #1 (of 6)

(W) Justin Jordan (A/C) Tradd Moore

Luther Strode is just your average nerd until he sends away for a bodybuilding course from an old comic book, one that works a whole lot better than he ever imagined. His newfound strength and strange talents make school a lot easier, but they’ve also caused some very, very bad people to take a very, very keen interest in him. Things will never be the same for Luther Strode…if he survives. 32 Pages / FC / $2.99. Visit Tradd Moore here and see sample pages. http://traddblog.blogspot.com/

Lee: This looks, and sounds, really cool. I really like the idea of gaining superpowers from the old “gain muscles” ads. Moore’s art looks solid enough to try to the first issue.

Thomm: Excellent premise. Image is killing me with good looking books to check out.

Marvel Comics Presents ... Glenn Beck's Ultimate Nightmare!

I hope you like the witty title. I know. It's horribly clever. So, right then. Ultimate Fallout #4. It’s been getting a bit of media attention, hasn’t it?

I figure since I’ve got the Wednesday night slot, I’ll get my two thoughts in before someone on here says something stupid. Like that’s it underwhelming. Or how Flashpoint is a better comic. Both of those things would be wrong, wrong, wrong.

Simply put, Ultimate Fallout #4 is an extremely good comic, but not for the reasons you may think.

Dark Horse Preview Review for October

Lee: A wide range of offerings from DH this month. Maybe they heard us complaining and upped the ante. Could be!
Thomm: The voice of the people has been heard! All two of us.

Aliens: Fast Track To Heaven HC

Liam Sharp (W/A)

FC, 40 pages, $10.99

Beneath the ice of Jupiter's moon, life teems in lightless oceans. But more spectacular discoveries elsewhere in the cosmos have left Europa's research facilities underfunded and ignored, a lonely wayside with an orbital station and a decaying space elevator. When one of the elevators stops midway, the rescue team discovers a deadly cargo that threatens life on Europa and on Earth.

Lee: I’ve always had a soft spot for the Aliens franchise. I wonder when DH is going to put some of these series in a deluxe hc edition. Liam Sharp is an excellent artist and perfectly suited for the material. A little pricey but I bet it will be worth the money.

Thomm: Eleven bucks for 40 pages is quite pricey. I checked out of this franchise after Aliens, so no interest for me.

Hard Cover Addiction

Hi, I’m Jim Martin and I’m an addict. Not an alcoholic, although there were a few years there where I was drinking too much, not smoking as I quit that about 15 or more years ago, and not regular comic books as I now mail those away to family and friends after I read them. It is hard cover collections and their sibling trades which I can’t seem to kick.

Over the next few months I have ordered way too many of these things and worse is I have just recently been involved in packing my collection for an impending move and I have a ton of books already. Heck I have stopped getting Creepy Archives at Volume 10, stop getting most of the Marvel Masterworks as Marvel is very thin on material that I care to see in a hard cover and I have slowed down on DC, if Vertigo doesn’t count.

In an effort to shame myself I will now justify why I want all of these collections I have ordered that are due between now and October.

Blackjacked & Pistol Whipped: A Crime Does Not Pay Primer. First off it is from Dark Horse and they are usually one of the highest quality producers of reprints. Second it is only $20, so you can’t go too far wrong. Plus it is a bit of comics’ history as it collects some of the “best” from a comic that inspired EC Comics and was a target of Frederic Wertham in the witch hunt from the fifties.

The Week of July 27 in Review

What a week it has been, madness at work, packing up our house for an impending move, loss of a pet for my one daughter, impending motherhood for another daughter so stuff is going on everywhere. A mad week, so I was almost hoping there would not be too many books I wanted to talk about, I was wrong. It was a great week with lots of good stuff, so let’s get into it.

Criminal The Last of the Innocent #2 was another great issue. Archie’s plan to kill Veronica was so well done, I’m sorry I mean Riley’s plan to kill Felix was amazing. Not only are we getting the story of how he is planning the murder and his alibi we are getting the emotional content of what is in Riley’s head. Mapping this story on top of the old Archie stories allows Brubaker to play with what we know and at the same time make those stories have vibrancy and a reality bent to them like never before.