Best and Worst of Last Week

This week the worst book was acheived by two different books. All in all I'm finding that the independent books are where the bang for the buck really exist. Out of five books this week, the big two scored only one in the best category for me. Even X-Factor was flat last week.

Worst

Supergirl #17 - What the frell is going on in this issue. It feels like a dream sequence or something. Supergirl should have been such a fun character to bring back into the DCU, but she is such a screwed up character and her continuity is already wacky and we are only on issue #17. We get one good issue, then two bad issues. I think it is just time to throw all the creators off this title and let someone who can tell a coherent story get on this book. I guess the occasional good issue has saved it from DC needing to save it as they have Flash and are working on Wonder Woman.

Mighty Avengers #3 - Blechh. Who throw this book up. Flat out Bendis can not write a team book. The thought balloons was nice in issue #1, but instead of really being a thought or character development, it is just inane. The premise sucks, the character development sucks and (as almost always) Bendis has not captured anyone's voice. All of his characters sound similar and if the little arrows did not point to a character we would be unsure as to who was saying what.

Best

Flash #12 - I'm just loving this book. Bart has the speed force ripped out of him and now is powerless and has had a vision of the Black Flash, that foretells a speedster's death. The rumours are Barry Allen is coming back and if true I will be a little disappointed as I want Bart's story. Of course it all depends on how they bring him back as I don't mind Red Hood and Winter Solider floating around in their respective universes. Bad the writing and art have been terrific and each issue has been more exciting then the one before. From worst to best in a year.

Left on Mission #1 (of 5) - I have already covered this book extensively, all I can say is go buy issue #1 and apparently #2 this week. Good read & good art.

Satan’s &$%#$% Baby - Just a flat out funny book. Eric Powell and Dark Horse actually oversold how bad and depraved this book was and while it was certainly not for the faint of heart, it wasn't the total extreme they made it out to be. Which is good, because ultimately it was just another funny and goofy Goon adventure.

What I'm Getting Wednesday

Fourth week of a five week month. With so many independents on my list now days it is a mixed bag as to which week will be the biggest, but normally it is the last week, but in five week months it seems like week four is split over week four and five. Still all weeks I get a fair number of books no matter what week it is.

Action Heroes Archives Volume #2 – This is a mammoth volume of 384 pages. Essentially this is a collection of Steve Ditko’s work from Charlton Comics, containing Captain Atom, Blue Beetle work and some other stories. I am a sucker for Steve Ditko’s work and can’t wait to scan this volume. One day I get around to reading it, but sometimes just scanning these comics is enough.

Birds of Prey #106 – Continuing the Secret Six versus the Birds of Prey story arc. I really love Gail Simone on this book and Gwen and I agree, Gail should give up Gen13 and stay on this book.

Countdown #49 – This is an interesting series as it is developing. Last issue contained two storylines that we have already seen in Flash and JLA. So if you don’t read all the DCU it appears as this book is the place to watch. If you do read more of the DCU then the editor needs to add footnotes to these scenes to place them in continuity with the other titles. I think Countdown will take a few issues to really hit its stride, but so far I like this book.

Robin #162 – Robin’s battle with the Metahuman street gang called Lords of the Avenues continues. Adam Beechen has really done a great job in making this a viable series again and it really is a good series month in and month out right now.

Shadowpact #13 – Zauriel shows up as Shadowpact has a group of foes gathering against them. I have never really like Zauriel, but I’ll give Bill Willingham a chance to make this work.

Spirit #6 – More of Eisner’s Spirit by Darwyn Cooke. I really enjoy this book and felt last issue was not as strong as the first four. The premise for this issue is odd as it is about a meteorite that changes a musician and makes him blue among other issues. Still I trust Cooke to make it fun.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #30 – It is advertised as Waid and Kitson and is supposed to be the last issue for them, but I thought #29 would have been them Waid and Kitson and it wasn’t; so I’m not sure who the creators are on this book. Still this has been a good version of the Legion and I hope it continues for a few more years at least.

Superman / Batman #35 – This book continues underwhelming me. I have to seriously consider cutting this book off my list. Part 2 of the Metal Men story (who are getting a mini-series soon).

Wonder Woman #9 – Continuing the wait until Gail Simone takes over this book. Right now the Amazon Attacks story and Wonder Woman are the focus of the story line. I assume the Amazons attacking the US are going to create some problems for Wonder Woman

Infinite Crisis Series 2 – Action Figures – Yeah, I’m getting the Donna Troy action figure and when I buy a female action figure it is so close to crossing into collecting dolls that I cringe thinking about it. Plus I may get this Wonder Woman figure that is coming out this week. Also a Wonder Girl figure (Donna Troy as Wonder Girl) and another Superman and Batman figure are coming out. How many versions of Batman and Superman have been issued by DC Direct?

Wetworks #9 – I hear this book is cancelled and I understand why. It took way too long for this book to come together. It needed a strong first two issues and the book did not gel until issue #4 and it was too late.

American Virgin #15 – The continuing saga of Lee’s college years. Adam has found his “true love” Vanessa and following her as she travels. We start out in Rio De Janeiro – tough place to hang onto your virginity.

Hellblazer #232 – Constantine starts to re-assert himself. Diggle has a tough act to follow after the last two issues – himself. Looking forward to this issue.

Testament #18 – From the official hype it appears that the central characters may become aware of the connection to biblical times. This series has always been interesting because of the structure of the stories (intermingling a biblical times story and playing a similar story in a future context), but the thrill is gone at this point and I’m looking to possible drop this title.

Criminal #6 – A new story arc and a new person is featured. The abbreviated official hype “Twenty years ago, Tracy Lawless traded the crime-ridden streets of the city for a life in the military, and it’s a decision he’s rarely regretted. But now he’s walking out of the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq and back into the world he grew up in, to find out who killed his brother Rick, and why.” This is Brubaker best work and Sean Phillips is doing a terrific job as artist.

Captain America #26 – About time. I have been tired of wading through the “Fallen Son” stuff (although the Hawkeye issue was enjoyable), but I really want to see what is happening in Cap’s own book. I so do not buy him being dead.

Fantastic Four #546 – More of the FF with the Black Panther and Storm replacing Reed and Sue. Apparently the other Cosmic Comic panelists are enjoying this book and I’m barely hanging onto reading it. Definitely on my cut list and would be off my list if I ever go hard core on my list.

Ant-Man #8 – This is a book I got talked back into after I cancelled it and now I find it a really stupid little book that I enjoy only somewhat and I wonder if it is worth my $3. Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady) really is a jerk of a person and I find it hard to want to read his continuing adventures.

Heroes for Hire #10 – The Heroes for Hire are running around in the Savage Land. Zeb Wells has done a good job on making me stay on a book that I was about to drop until he took it over. Still if he could do away with Humbug I would be more appreciative.

New Universal #6 – Concluding the first arc of this series. Warren Ellis has done a great job with these concepts and Larocca does a nice job on the art (when I can ignore the game of what actor is he photo referencing).

She-Hulk #18 – This concludes She-Hulk’s time with SHEILD and this book has been already ruined as we know what happens if you read the Hulk. Now I hear Slott is off this book, looks like a book to cut soon.

Wisdom #6 (of 6) – Pete Wisdom and crew versus the multiple Jack the Rippers. This has been a fun little mini-series, but I would not sign up for a second one.

X-Men #199 – Wrapping up a three part story where Cable and Rogue are supposed to have to make life altering decisions (sure, sure, sure). Really just a build up to issue #200.

Legends of Grimjack #7 – Continuing the trade paperback reprints of the Grimjack series from first comics. A fun book by one of my favorite creators John Ostrander (w) and we may still be in the Tom Mandrake (very good and underrated artist) era.

Dynamo 5 #3 – Love this new series and look forward to each issue already. A great new team series and I have been told to read Noble Causes as it is as good and I have been told that Noble Causes is not that good by another person. Still Jay Faberer has done such a nice job with this book I should consider looking into Noble Causes again. Someone tell me the order of the trades and I’ll pick up the first two.

Fell #1 – Volume 1 – Hardcover and trade. A no brainer, a book that belongs on my shelf. Ellis and Templesmith at their best.

Gutsville #1 – The official hype “Written by Simon Spurrier, art and cover Frazer Irving. Gutsville is a town living in the belly of the beast, literally. 150 years after the ocean liner HMS Daphne was swallowed at sea, its passengers' descendants cling to life in Gutsville.” Frazer Irving art and a great premise, easy choice to try this book out.

Unique #3 (of 3) – Concluding the parallel universe story. This has been okay, but feels like a story pitch and commissioned story boards.

Cover Girl #2 (of 5) – Wow the last issue was only a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed issue #1 and look forward to issue #2.

Fall of Cthulhu #3 (of 5) – Double WOW, issue #2 was last week. I have enjoyed this tale of a man being drawn into a mystical world of horror and trying to make sense oif what is happening.

Left on Mission #2 (of 5) – TRIPLE WOW – Issue #1 was only last week. If this is a weekly series that would be amazing, but even if it is just two quick issues that is fine by me. I’m anxious to read issue #2, issue #1 was a great start and I was pulled into the story and can’t wait to see what happens next. From Chip Mosher’s (writer) comments I’m guessing the book doesn’t go where I think it was going.

That's a wrap for this week.

The Meaning of Life

This is just a rant that is an ongoing theme in my life. I have always wondered as to what is the meaning of life.

On one level I understand that life is meant to be lived and imposing more meaning to it then that is a method of building my own self importance.

Is life the quest for genetic immortality? if so I need to really get busy because my genetic offspring have not yet continued that quest, which means I need to get cracking and the wife would not like that. Honey - it is a biological imperative. Nope - that would be a quick end to my quest as life would be much shorter.

Is there a higher purpose to life? I feel that those who have strong religious beliefs are perhaps buoyed by those beliefs and it helps them to make sense out of a non-sensical world. My own path has been one of rejection of all organized beliefs and I believe in spirituality without a need for anything else. I also belief that morality is situational and that there maybe a time where it is okay to kill or steal based on the circumstances. A lot of my feelings and beliefs were crystallized when I read a book call Buddhism: Plan and Simple by Steve Hagen. Many of my other beliefs have been shattered by reading anything by Garth Ennis.

Is life just meant to be a relatively hedonist approach? I have often said that the meaning of life is to enjoy yourself as much as possible and do as little harm to others. It is clean and simple, but ultimately self-centered. In that thought where is duty to family, friends, country or humanity to play a role. Of course if I was rich the hedonistic approach would be damn tempting.

Then many of my thoughts also centered on what the hell have I done with my life? Have I done enough to make a difference in the world? Have I made every effort to leave a better place then I inherited? The headache here is that no matter what I have done, I could always have done more. I had a boss tell me I had unlimited potential and I said I guess that means I could always have done the job better.

My intense dissatisfaction and questioning the meaning of life is only fueled by the lack of leadership we have in this world. The Globalism that we are moving to may ultimately lead us to a better place, but right now I do not see the Star Trek future or Legion of Super Heroes (first series) future that I want to be moving towards. Right now I see our government (especially the Senate and the Presidency) all being a bunch of globalists, believing in one world order. This is being driven by the multi-national corporations who believe that by having cheap and free flowing labor they can make enormous profits and draw more wealth and control to themselves. The future that I see us building is a group of elites (maybe 10%-15%) ruling over a group of working poor. Now the trick will be to make sure the masses have enough bread and circuses to keep them from revolting, but otherwise a large peasant class. Corporations are soulless entities that are driven by profit motives and group decision making. The group decision making allows no responsibility to fall to any individual member making the decision and therefore the moral consequences of any action is not considered. I believe the corporate structure as it exist today controls much of the political system and needs to be overhauled. Corporations as they exist today are essentially anti-people.

A large digression from the beginning of this rant, but it is part of what fuels my dissatisfaction for what our world has become.

Still I will remain active in fighting to change the world and my backing of Ron Paul is one element of that fight.

The good thing to know is that right now the internet is the freest voice and most independent and open forum left to the world and hopefully we will find a way to join enough like minded people to take back our government and work to build Metropolis and start up the Federation.

Of course this post points out the danger of having a blog and it probably as introspective a post as you will see from me. Tomorrow back to our regularly scheduled discussion of the true meaning of life - comic books.

Ron Paul - Presidential Candidate for 2008

A terrific commentary by talk show radio host Ron Smith on Ron Paul.

http://wbal.com/shows/smith/commentary/story.asp?articleid=57997

This is a really light blog as today has been comics reading, running household errands and then a keno/poker evening. So very little time to do anything justice, so I just direct you to Ron Smith's commentary on Ron Paul.

It is funny how he is almost ignored by the media because he is an unknown - it is a dilemma for many politicians - how do you get noticed if you are not a billionaire. Running a normal campaign you get ignored and then when they do polling no one knows you because the major media have ignored you.

Our system is severely broken.

Left on Mission #1 - A Review

Writer: Chip Mosher Artist : Francesco Francavilla
Premise - A recently retired covert operative is called back into service. He has to leave her his wife and child for one more mission. Another agent has gone rogue and is selling secrets to our enemies. The other agent is his former lover and partner. Check out the link for a preview http://www.boom-studios.com/leftonmission/LOM/index.html

What I liked:
1) The artwork. A really nice job. The art reflect the mood of the story very well, a nice sense of realism (a more cartoony style would have been wrong and a super-hero style would not have worked). Terrific pacing, the change up in the layouts was great. Multiple panels, multiple layouts, single panels, each page fit the story.
2) The story. It has the feeling of a movie script, but if it is, it has been ably adapted to the comic book format. For a first issue in a five issue mini-series the book really pulled me in and made me look forward to the next issue.

What I didn't like:
1) I wanted a little more background on the main guy so that the impending conflict that he will have dealing with a former love and being currently married would have more weight. I understand this maybe resolved in future issues and getting to the story is important in a first issue, but one page one more page on backstory I think in issue number one would have been good.

Grade B

Things to Come

I'm always enjoying reading the news of what is coming next and I'm anxious to read about the next big thing, but I also try to forget that type of news because I want to judge what is coming next on its own merits when it arrives. Still movies and comics start to let out news so early that by the time it actually hits I have usually heard too much about it.

Part of the price of paying attention and following stuff on the internet.

Some really cool comic collections I'm looking forward to are Action Heroes Archives Volume #2 (which should be due next week that contains a lot of Ditko work on the Charlton heroes), the Jack Kirby Fourth World Omnibus (4 volumes from DC that starts this month) , the 2nd FF Omnibus by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (which covers I believe from issue #31 to around issue #60) and the Darwyn Cooke hardcover (that has Batman:Ego and some other great work in it). What I'm missing is a nice SHEILD Masterworks, the final Doom Patrol and Adam Strange Archives and a Martian Manhunter Archives.

In the regular comic world the Countdown to Adventure mini-series I'm looking forward to seeing, Doktor Sleepless and Black Summer from Warren Ellis, the new Mouse Guard series, Captain America story line, the rest of Killer, North Wind from Boom, how Countdown will work out, Teen Titans with its newest writer, the 2008 cross-over from DC by Grant Morrison and a ton of really interesting project from IDW, BOOM, Image, Dark Horse and others. I have to say that the independent comics have the most exciting new projects coming out. My friend Shawn recently said it in his news column (http://www.cosmiccomix.com/news/index.htm) and I agree that the best stuff coming out is not from the big two. I think DC has a lot of interesting things and that most of Marvel's stuff is flat (the new status quo sucks) , but for excitement and innovation the independents are really doing great stuff right now. Wasteland, Dynamo 5, Walking Dead, Fear Agent, Hero Squared, Cover Girl, Invincible, Wormwood Gentleman's Corpse, Local, Breathe, Two Guns, Nightly News and more are some examples of excellence in the independents.

Back on my original point movies coming out Shrek III, Die Hard IV, Harry Potter, Batman, FF, Iron Man, Bourne Ultimatum, Good Luck Chuck, Stardust and many others look to be some really good movies.

Plus I'm always looking ahead to next week comics and I'm checking out next week before I finish reading this week.

I just find it amusing that many of us become so interested in what is coming we sometimes have to stop and see what actually just came out. The internet has just made it easier for me to give in to this passion of looking forward.

Chicken Wings!

This week I realized that even though my life is typically one big explosion, sometimes it's a small series of events.

For example, Event #1 occured on the comic book geek front, I was wondering about Mastermind Excello. OOOOksay. For non-comic geeks, (1) don’t ask about the name, (2) Yes, even I, as a comic geek; think the name is stupid; (3) He’s the seventh smartest person in the Marvel Universe.

BUT, as a comic geek this made me wonder… If M.E. is the seventh smartest, who are the six smartest people in the Marvel U.

I think, in no order,
(1) Reed Richards
(2) Tony Stark
(3) Dr. Doom
(4) The Leader
(5) The Mad Thinker
(6) Hank Pym? Except for that split personality issue he’s pretty smart. Isn’t he?

Then, in a double geek move, who are the six smartest people in the DCU?
I think, in no order,
(1) Lex Luthor
(2) Batman
(3) Doc Magnus
(4) …ummm… Brother Power the Geek?
(5) … Sivana?
(6) …Mr. Mind?

I don’t know. It seems to me that DC has a stake of muscle bound heroes and a stack of smart villains.

So, as you can see, there was an important comic book lesson this week. Well, maybe not so much a lesson as a stop-n-ponder. But, there were important life lessons to be learned too.

For instance, I learned that women should never talk to men when they are reading a book. ESPECIALLY, if they aren’t looking at you and just giving you the “Un-hun” and “Sure, why not” answers. Because, most importantly, you will get half answers.

Conversely for men, if you aren’t listening, don’t hazard a guess or make answers up. It's better to completely ignore the question.

Let's clarify this with a hypothetical situation. Let's say your wife, girlfriend, or significant other has been working out lately and are very proud of her new look. Flexing her arms, and doing her best Louy Ferrigno, she turns to her husband, who happens to be fully engrossed in the book he is reading, and says “Check out these things!"

In this situation, there are several possible correct answers including the aforementioned silence. BUT, the completely wrong answer is “Wha? Chicken Wings?”

It’s just bad all the way around… not that I know, but a friend… of a friend, told me that such statements can get you in trouble.



As I learn.. I mean hear of these life lessons I feel it best to pass them along.