Archive for June, 2005


Reviews of 6/22 books

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OK, Jeff sent me an email that he doesn’t have time for reviews this week… and oddly, I don’t either (Both ONOMATOPOEIA and having to finish this month’s Diamond order put a serious crimp on my weekend — it REALLY sucks when the next PREVIEWS ships the same week the order is due!) Having said that, there’s not much point in this site if at least ONE of us isn’t doing our thing, so let me do what I can, and see if I can do some short reviews… maybe “old school” Savage Critic short, even. ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE #1: A VERY GOOD issue, not that we’d expect less from KB and co. I don’t like the trade…  Read More…

Shipping 6/29, and a Mea Culpa (or Hima Culpa, I guess)

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Of course, Jeff posts his reviews, despite telling me he wouldn’t, JUST WHILE I’m writing mine, making me look the Asshat. I will get you, Jeff Lester, be assured of that, yes. 10TH MUSE VOL 2 #2 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #15 ALBION #1 (OF 6) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #521 ANGEL THE CURSE #1 (OF 5) ARANA HEART OF THE SPIDER #5 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #162 AUTHORITY LOBO SPRING BREAK MASSACRE BART SIMPSON COMICS #24 BATGIRL #65 BATMAN #641 BATMAN ALLIES SECRET FILES 2005 BETTY #148 BILLY THE KIDS OLD TIME ODDITIES #3 (OF 4) BLACKLIGHT #1 BRIAN PULIDOS MEDIEVAL LADY DEATH #4 BRIAN PULIDOS WAR ANGEL #3 (OF 3) BURING SANDWICHES CITY OF TOMORROW #3 (OF 6) ELKS RUN…  Read More…

A Glimpse of the 6/22 Books

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Between last week’s reviews and the CE newsletter, I wrote close to 9,000 words–I’m pretty burnt out, to be honest. So there aren’t going to be a lot of reviews from me this week, they’re not going to going into a lot of depth, and they’re going to be crankier than the books probably deserve. I felt it only fair to warn you. CAPTAIN AMERICA #7: A reasonably enjoyable game of cat and mouse being played with the reader’s expectations here, but that runs the risk of losing readers altogether if that gets played out too long (I believe they call this “Howard Mackie Syndrome”). Good, I thought. DOC FRANKENSTEIN #3: The part of my brain that read past page…  Read More…

Comics Shipping 6/22

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Jeff’s right, as always — my ass is kicked this week, and I can;t write reviews until I clear off this OLD plate of work… Thankfully I checked the site before posting the shipping list, I was going to lead with something like “See, neither were able to review this week” Here, though: My PICK OF THE WEEK was POWERS #11, and my BOOK/TP OF THE WEEK is either SADNMAN MYSTERY THEATRE V3 or WARS END PROFILES FROM BOSNIA HC. Haven’t read Scott Pilgrim yet, since I was dumb and ordered too few, and have to wait until this week. Gonna be BURIED in comics this week, look at this INSANE list of shipping! 2000 AD #1441 2000 AD #1442…  Read More…

More Excuses than Reviews: Jeff and the 6/15 Books

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Right. Well, not only was it Father’s Day yesterday, but Hibbs had the start of an impressive cold on Friday. I’m assuming he’ll be down for the count this week, but I’m hoping I’ll be as off with this prediction as I was with the last one. As for me, the CE newsletter is on my plate and I spent most of the weekend working on that, but since this week has a little bit of everything (at least in the trades), I thought I would dash off some very quick comments while I can. Oh, and Batman Begins: pretty good, huh? I thought Hibbs’ review was spot on, so I won’t add anything. Also, last week saw the release…  Read More…

TILTING AT WINDMILLS up at Newsarma

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For whatever reason, Opera and Blogger don’t let me make easy links, so do the ol’ cut and paste to: http://www.newsarama.com/Tilting2_0/Tiltingv2_18.htm to read the latest TILTING AT WINDMILLS. This one is called “Lifers” -B

6/15 comics

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It’s daddy’s birthday today — I’m 38! Got to work on finishing my TILTING though :( Here’s what CE got this week: 2000 AD #1439 2000 AD #1440 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #11 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #641 ARCHIE & FRIENDS #92 ARCHIE DIGEST #217 AUTHORITY REVOLUTION #9 (OF 12) BATMAN BEGINS MOVIE ADAPTATION BATMAN DARK DETECTIVE #4 (OF 6) BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #66 BATTLE HYMN #3 (OF 5) BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #134 BIGFOOT #4 (OF 4) BIRDS OF PREY #83 BLACK DIAMOND ON RAMP BRIAN PULIDOS BELLADONNA #5 (OF 5) BRIAN PULIDOS MEDIEVAL LADY DEATH #3 BRIAN PULIDOS WAR ANGEL #2 (OF 3) CABLE DEADPOOL #16 CAPTAIN GRAVITY AND POWER OF THE VRIL #5 CONAN & THE…  Read More…

Reviews for some 6/8 Books.

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No clever opening for me, I’m afraid. I didn’t see the preview of Batman Begins, probably because my luck with movies have been so bad lately: this week I finally got around to seeing Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (dull, cliched, frustratingly inept), Butterfly Effect (hey, I liked Final Destination 2 so I thought it was worth a shot. Boy was I wrong) and Electra Glide in Blue (starts off as an exemplar of everything great about ’70s Hollywood before becoming everything terrible about ’70s Hollywood). Thank God, I guess, for HBO on video: just finished watching Season Two of The Wire and loved it: different from Season One, but still great. Oh, and thank god for comix, too….  Read More…

Want to see BATMAN BEGINS for free?

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We duly handled our first batch of tickets for Tuesday’s showing as the promotions compnay asked us to… but today we got in multiple envelopes of tickets for a showing on MONDAY JUNE 13th at 7:30 PM (at the Metreon), and we have no instructions on these. Therefore, I exercise executive privilege, and will give first crack to those of you reading this website. Here’s what you have to do: come into the store while *I* am working (Friday 2-7, Saturday 2-4 or thereabouts) and ask *me* for one. DO NOT ask Rob or Jeff about them, that will get you automagically disqualified. Now I will probably ask you a question or two to prove you actually READ this blog,…  Read More…

Hibbs’ earlyreview of BATMAN BEGINS

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Just got back from a preview screening of BATMAN BEGINS. (and how cool is this? I went with my Dad.) Let’s get some initial thoughts down while everything is fairly fresh in me head. I’m going to try to be as spoiler-free as I can, because, y’know, the thing don’t come out for 10 days or whatever, but this is a review, and I might let something slip. You have been warned. It’s a very good movie, but it’s not like the second coming of superhero films, or anything like that. Several reviewers are way overselling it, man. It’s got a brilliant first act, it has a very solid second act — the third act though, eh, didn’t work too…  Read More…

Reviews of 6/2 books

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Right, so, as always very little time – Ben and Tzipora are out at the playground, so we do this in what would be, in any decent and just universe, my videogame time. But it’s not a just universe, so how about some reviews, instead? FIRESTORM #14: I know they put the “America’s #1 Nuclear Powered Hero!” on the cover as code that this was a good “jumping on” point, as Stuart Moore’s first issue, but god, how tacky was that? Also, it was on the wrong side of the cover. Most stores either rack left-to-right overlapping, or top-to-bottom overlapping, and the blurb is barely visible from the latter and INvisible from the former. Ah, well, that’s what the ivory…  Read More…

Groggy Morning Breakdown: A Few Reviews from 6/1 Comics.

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Guh. I’d planned to wait one more week before diving back into the funnybook game but since Hibbs is apparently an even lazier bastard than me, lemme eke out just a review or two…. AQUAMAN #31: I flipped through this pretty fast, but I get the sense the writer wrote it slightly faster. We get flashbacks to Aquagirl getting her ass beat by the serial killer and then disappearing (thus creating whatever actual tension the issue has) and then at the end of the comic she just pops up, safe and unharmed. Why and how? Oh, because the issue’s over? Oh, okay. Awful. EMO BOY #1: Wrong cover if you ask me, because it suggests we should take Emo Boy…  Read More…

Shipping 6/8

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Not all that exciting of a week, really. Should be back in a few hours with at least some reviews, so check back…. -B A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #14 ACTION COMICS #828 ACTION PHILOSOPHERS ALL SEX SPECIAL AGE OF BRONZE #20 ARMY OF DARKNESS SHOP TIL YOUDROP DEAD #3 BATMAN DARK DETECTIVE #3 (OF 6) BATMAN LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #192 BATMAN STRIKES #10 BETE NOIRE #1 (OF 4) BETTY & VERONICA #209 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #157 BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL #102 BREACH #6 CITY OF HEROES #2 DUTCH TREAT FABLES #38 FATHOM #1 FLAK RIOT #1 FUTURAMA COMICS #20 GOTHAM CENTRAL #32 GRAVITY #1 (OF 5) GREEN ARROW #51 HOAX #2 HOLMES PERIPHERY FLIP BOOK JLA…  Read More…

Ennis meets Ben

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As promised: a picture of Garth Ennis holding Ben Hibbs hostage for pints of Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. My understanding is the ransom was delivered promptly and Ben was returned without incident.