WORK IN PROGRESS...

A picture's worth 10,000+ "words"...NUFF SAID!  For now...

Help me downsize and save all of us on your ebay seller lists! 

Here's Jim's ebay page and I don't remember Lee's.

Click Away and Some Information

I think this will be my last post here, even to do a link to the Why Comic Books sucks site. I will still do posts on occasion over there.

I spoke to Lee, Thomm and Matthew about this blog and I think that it will be updated less and less but I leave it for them to let you know what their plans are for this website.

It will not be deleted so all of our opinions can live forever.

My reasons for switching sites are because I believed we had established this blog as a daily site and once it was not I wanted to do something less formal and regimented, therefore I moved onto the other blog.

http://whycomicbookssuck.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-looks-cool-for-october.html

Jim neglected to mention that he spoke with us in person about the blog.  Although I missed the lunch (and the chance to actually meet Thomm) with the rest of the guys while I was waiting to get some stuff signed by the legendary Sal Buscema!) 

Click Away for More Awesome Commentary

http://whycomicbookssuck.blogspot.com/2013/09/why-marvel-and-dc-are-stale.html

Hey Another Post on Why Comics Suck

http://whycomicbookssuck.blogspot.com/2013/09/marvel-you-are-boring-me.html

Click and Enjoy

The Goon in Those That is Damned TPB

Yep. Time for another Good trade.

At this point Labrazio (who can't possibly be Labrazio) has gathered together an all-star team of subordinates who have previously tried to kill Goon.  The harpies, Mr Wicker, and the blinded Zombie Priest are all here, though the last is more entertainment for the others than anything else. 

Their opening attack on Goon kills one of his lackies and severely wounds another.  After exacting a small revenge and hunting down the source who betrayed them to Labrazio (who can't possibly be Labrazio), Goon and Frankie prepare for a larger battle.

There's not a lot of plot development in this trade, but it does have two interesting things relevant to the plot.  First, the opening chapter explains why the town is such a cursed cesspool.  Think Donner Party but worse.  Buzzard learns all of this and relays it to Goon, giving him the option of leaving town to pursue a happy life or stay and fight an unwinnable war.  No surprise which Goon chooses. 

Second, there's a final scene with the mother of all the little zombie babies being carried away from the danger of a fire by someone who refers to her as mother.  Not one of the zombie babies but a full size adult male someone.  Got me who it is.

A large portion of the trade is a collection of short stories about Goon done by other creators.  We have The Fillbach Brothers, Kyle Hotz, Rebecca Sugar, Bob Fingerman, and John Arcudi.  Most of those did the art for their stories, too, but Herb Trimpe did the art for the Arcudi story (a little something for Matthew).  These are all good stories in keeping with the characters of the book but unrelated to the main story.  I particularly like "Dr. Alloy in For the Benefit of Underprivileged Inmates" by Sugar.  Altogether there are 7 short stories in this section, which is nearly half the book.  I would have liked to see a bit more of the main arc of the Goon, but with this good quality work I can't say I was unfairly deprived.

September New Series to Check Out

http://whycomicbookssuck.blogspot.com/2013/08/september-new-series-to-check-out.html

Click Away to see what it is all about - Alfie.

The Stuff of Legend: Book 3: A Jester's Tale

This really is mostly Jester's story.  At the end of the second book he had gone his own way.  This volume follows his trail more than anything else.  Jester finds his way back to where he left Princess with Arctic and the trussed up Mayor Filmore.  The Mayor's still hanging there but Arctic has taken Princess.  Jester frees Filmore and the two set off to the Indian Lands to find Princess.

But to open the story we see a naval battle between a ship of the Boogeyman's navy and a pirate called the Laughing Ghost who looks like the anti-Jester.  Just like the classic Star Trek episode where two men chased each other to their deaths because one

was black on the left and white on the right while the other was white on the left and black on the right, the Laughing Ghost is black while Jester is white.  The back story is that they were purchased together and given to The Boy and his brother as gifts by an aunt, but the brother broke his toy as soon as they got it.  That half of the pair disappeared into the Dark and became the Laughing Ghost, terror of the seas.  The Laughing Ghost steals a box from the Boogeyman's ship and sinks the ship.

Harmony, Percy and Quackers are still trying to find The Boy (though Percy continues to undermine the effort) and their quest leads them to the Indian Lands, too.  The Boy and his unnamed companion are also headed to the Indian Lands, having escaped the town where they were held and, after some misadventures spurred by the unnamed's risky behavior, found passage on a train, which happens to then be commandeered by a contingent of the Boogeyman's troops.

Most of the adventure is Jester and Filmore's search for Princess.  They obtain money for a boat to sail there when Filmore bets on a fight between Jester and a guy named Anchor.  He carries one around, so you get the idea of his size.  Jester wins the fight and off they go, but don't get too far before their boat is sunk by a sea creature during a storm.  Jester and Filmore wash ashore on Doll Island, ruled by Rebecca, once the property of a girl named Alice.  Most of the occupants of the island are dolls, though there's a foppishly clad badger, too.  In time Jester convinces Rebecca to sail to the Indian Lands where things come to a head.  Princess rejects Jester and his love.  Laughing Ghost sinks Rebecca's ship, killing most of her crew.  Boogeyman shows up to kill Laughing Ghost and retrieve the box and the very important item therein that was stolen from him. 

A lot happens in this book and there's a lot more yet to come.  Maxwell and Scout don't even appear

this time around, so there's obviously more to resolve there. 

Of course, the Wilson art remains stellar and evocative both the era (WWII) and Dark where it takes place.  Raicht and Smith continue to keep the reader wanting more in this very engaging story.  It's no wonder it's a New York Times best seller.