Anything you can do: Graeme gets started on this week’s books.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on May 31, 2007

Categories: Reviews

When I say that the best example of the current state of DC’s superhero comics available this week is Marvel’s NEW AVENGERS: ILLUMINATI #3, I hope you’ll all understand that it’s not really a compliment. I know that Brad Meltzer and Brian Bendis are fans of each others’ work – I remember reading an interview between the two where they were comparing notes on Justice League and Mighty Avengers with something approaching glee – but it’s a really strange thing to read a comic that so clearly embodies the worst attributes of each of them. On the one hand, I almost want to congratulate Bendis on his incredible ability to write (or co-write; Brian Reed is responsible for some of…  Read More…

Little Short One, Pt. 1: Graeme rushes in, tells you to buy Gloom.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on May 30, 2007

Categories: Reviews

I was explaining PERCY GLOOM to someone the other day, and the best I could come up with was that it was a philosophical story done by David Lynch and Walt Disney (but without the Nazi thing) in a beautiful, somewhat retro pencil style but with a depressed, disassociative voice similar to Chris Ware’s stuff. The person I was talking to looked as if I was insane, and then walked away wondering what I was on about. The last comic that they’d read was Mike Zeck’s Punisher in the ’80s, and I think they probably regretted asking what I was reading these days. Nonetheless, Percy Gloom is a wonderful book, a fairy tale for grown-ups who’ve lost their faith in…  Read More…

This is astonishingly freaky!

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Posted by: admin on May 29, 2007

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Thanks to Dan Shahin to pointing this out to me: You can even zoom in and see the comics on display in the window! -B

Ugh, Sick Again: Shipping 5/31

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Posted by: admin on

Categories: Shipping Lists

rassen frassen plague carrying children… Been asleep most of the last 48 hours, that’s why this is late. REMEMBER: due to Memorial Day, comics are THURSDAY this week. DO NOT go to your Local Comics Shop on Wednesday, or they will laugh at you behind your back! ACTION COMICS #850 (NOTE PRICE) AMAZONS ATTACK #2 (OF 6) ANITA BLAKE VAMPIRE HUNTER GUILTY PLEASURES HANDBOOK BETTY #165 BLACK COAT OR GIVE ME DEATH #1 (OF 4) BLUE BEETLE #15 BOYS #7 (RES) CHUCKY MEDORS CVR A #2 (OF 5) COUNTDOWN 48 CROSSING MIDNIGHT #7 CTHULHU TALES RISING ONE SHOT (O/A) DAREDEVIL #97 DARK XENA #2 DEADMAN #10 DEATHBLOW #5 DRAWING FROM LIFE #1 FALLEN ANGEL IDW #16 FRESHMEN VOL 2 SCOTT…  Read More…

Of our elaborate plans, the end: Graeme wonders what could’ve been of Waid’s and Kitson’s Legion.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

I don’t think that it’s the greatest secret that I love the Legion of Super-Heroes. Besides Green Lantern, I think it’s my favorite superhero high concept (As cool as “It’s an army of teenaged super-heroes! In the future!” is, “He’s a space cop with a magic wishing ring!” is very hard to beat, let’s face it), and you pretty much have to have a heart of whimsiless stone not to find the original 1950s stories featuring the characters charming at the very least. My favorite era of the characters – because everyone who loves the Legion has their own era, I think, usually corresponding to when they first found the characters, just like everyone’s favorite Doctor Who – is easily…  Read More…

Where did it all go wrong?: Graeme returns, again.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on May 28, 2007

Categories: Reviews

I’m desperately trying to catch up on reviews, after this weekend being much busier than I’d expected – Chopping up Jeff Lester’s body takes time, after all – so excuse the rushing through the following books… Luckily, none of them are really worth paying that much time on… BIRDS OF PREY #106: Gail Simone’s heading towards the end of her run with something resembling abandon; this issue’s essentially entirely all fight scene as opposed to plot development, and really enjoyable because of that – It’s just banter and violence all the way. I’m not sure whether Gail’s defined her characters (outside of Barbara and Huntress) enough for them to survive her when she leaves the book, but for this issue…  Read More…

Hibbs continues on 5/25

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Posted by: admin on May 25, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Best laid plans, and all that — forgot about CEO, forgot the POS computer was arriving, forgot that the order form better get done, forgot that… well, lots of stuff this week, darn it. About a half hour here before Tzipora gets home with my Fast Pass, and I can go in (early!) to the store (Jeff’s Last Day!) (FOO!), so bang some out quickly here: SATAN’S SODOMY BABY: I don’t really get it — this is selling for $20 on eBay already? Apparently part of it is that the east coast got it before the west (Didn’t retailers make it clear to Diamond this is Bad Juju? RE: CIVIL WAR #6); part of it is there apparently aren’t any…  Read More…

See that cat? Yeah, I do mean you: Graeme ignores the comics.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

Because you kind of demanded it – Well, “Viewer” did, even if he’s apparently part of BBC Canada and therefore may be biased! No comics! Just season (and series) finales of TV shows! GILMORE GIRLS: I have to admit, I kind of stopped caring about halfway through the season, and kept watching mostly out of apathetic momentum. I found myself in love with this show thanks to a combination of ABC Family reruns of the entire series and being home sick one afternoon, so perhaps I was spoiled by the idea of daily episodes and wittier writing, but too much of this last season seemed to be slow and often nonsensical; you could tell that the writers really didn’t know…  Read More…

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad… Oh, never mind: Graeme continues 5/23.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on May 24, 2007

Categories: Reviews

I can’t tell if this week is going quickly, or if I’m just getting old and forgetting what’s happening each day. Nonetheless, I’m tried and it’s almost the weekend, and one of those things is definitely good. So, let’s move on from there, shall we? MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #2: In which we discover that last issue’s everything you know is wrong cliffhanger is, in fact, wrong in and of itself – So everything you know is wrong again! Ha! Sucks to be you! Sadly, the “you” in this case turns out in a very real sense to be “everyone who’s reading the book,” and this turns out to be a second Crap issue in a row. It’s not even that…  Read More…

Hibbs wobbles into 5/23

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Posted by: admin on May 23, 2007

Categories: Reviews

It seems like I keep starting each week’s set of reviews, but never quite finishing them lately? Gonna try (since it is such a small week) to get through virtually everything by this time next week… COUNTDOWN #49: 52 was always, always, without fail the first comic I read each week. And, three weeks in, its the same with COUNTDOWN. But, I’m reasonably confident that won’t be the case a month from now — I’m really not feeling it. (You know there’s something wrong when Doug Wolk’s chosen successor starts his second issue review with “Well, that wasn’t very good at all, was it?”) I may need to go back and look at the start of 52 again, but it…  Read More…

Bryan Lee O’Spidey!

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on

Categories: Uncategorized

At first, I really wanted to tease the hell out of this, and say stuff like “Wow, I’ve seen preview pages of Scott Pilgrim 4 and they go in a totally new direction” or “Hey, I just got the cover to the new Scott Pilgrim; check it out.” But I felt like a tool every time I sat down to write it. The fact is, I was having lunch with my friend John yesterday and we went to this Crown Books clearance center and John, having a three year old, was perusing the children’s books section while we gabbed. He was the one who held this book up to me and made some sort of wisecrack about Spider-Man’s changing status…  Read More…

Oh, if he is dead…: Graeme looks past the veil at the first 5/23 book.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

It’s completely irrational, I know, but I can’t tell you how much that I almost wanted to hate CAPTAIN AMERICA #26. If nothing else, I wanted to at least start this review with some kind of joke about it having been so long since the last issue came out, I wish I could remember what had happened in it. None of this is in any way fair, because none of it actually has anything to do with the book itself; it’s all everything else, all the surrounding noise, that had turned me against the possibilities that Ed Brubaker, Mike Perkins and Steve Epting had something good to offer. By this point, you see, I’ve started to settle into a slight…  Read More…

Spoilers! Graeme talks about last night’s Heroes, plus some comics.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on May 22, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Well, at least they didn’t kill Ando (What, you thought I was joking with that spoilers thing?). That was actually one of the few things that I outright really liked about last night’s Heroes finale – After last week’s semi-cliffhanger of Ando setting out on his own to take care of Sylar once and for all, coming on the heels of all the talk of sacrifice and everything else, I was pretty convinced that Ando was a goner, setting Hiro on the road to being a true hero who has known loss, etc. etc. Almost everything else, however, seemed just slightly off, as if the writers knew where they wanted to go but just couldn’t work out how to get…  Read More…

I look up and smile, a picture of dissatisfaction: Graeme returns from the wilderness.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on May 21, 2007

Categories: Reviews

It’s time to start the music! It’s time to light the lights! It’s time to get things started again after a weekend where Kate and I went camping with “hilarious” results (Read, wow, I’m not the biggest fan of that whole “sleeping bag in a tent” schtick). So, as sultry songstress P!nk once said, let’s get this party started. BATMAN #665: It’s the real All-Star Batman, as Grant Morrison gives us a Batman that doesn’t give up in his fight against injustice, a Robin that does stupid things like riding his motorbike into supervillains, along with romance! hookers with hearts of gold! and the promise of crazy science-fiction adventures yet to come! It’s pretty much an antidote to Frank Miller’s…  Read More…

Arriving 5/23

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Posted by: admin on May 20, 2007

Categories: Shipping Lists

Small week! A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #58 (A) AMERICAN VIRGIN #15 ARCHIE #575 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #179 BIRDS OF PREY #106 CAPTAIN AMERICA #26 CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #33 COUNTDOWN 49 COVER GIRL #2 CRIMINAL #6 DEVI #11 DYNAMO 5 #3 ELEPHANTMEN #9 FALL OF CTHULHU MAVILLAIN CVR A #3 FANTASTIC FOUR #546 CWI FINAL GIRL #1 (OF 5) FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #1 FUTURAMA COMICS #31 GODLAND #18 GUTSVILLE #1 (OF 6) HELLBLAZER #232 HEROES FOR HIRE #10 IRON MAN HYPERVELOCITY #5 (OF 6) IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #8 LEFT ON MISSION #2 (OF 5) LOADED BIBLE 2 BLOOD OF CHRIST (ONE SHOT) MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #2 MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #1 MARVEL SPOTLIGHT FANTASTIC FOUR SILVER SURFER NEWUNIVERSAL #6…  Read More…

Not Gone Yet: A Few Reviews from Jeff of 05/16 Books…

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on

Categories: Reviews

As Hibbs pointed out at the store yesterday, despite giving my notice, I’m not outta here yet. Speaking of yesterday, my thanks to special guest star Ed “The Happy Clown” Brubaker for stopping by. As Hibbs mentioned, it’s great seeing The Brube in a good place–Christ knows he deserves it (and worked his ass off for it)–and taking the time to drop by on my next-to-last Friday and shoot the shit with us was really above and beyond. Thanks, Ed. Thanks also to Mojo of the mighty Poor Mojo website for stopping by with Red Stripes. Some of you may have noticed that I recently added the Poor Mojo Newswire to the sidebar over there. I was reluctant to add…  Read More…

Brube in da house, and more of Hibbs’ blabbing

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Posted by: admin on May 19, 2007

Categories: Retailing/Industry , Reviews , Site News

It was a painfully slow day at the ol’ CE today — there were points I expected tumbleweeds to start rolling through. Thankfully, things were deeply enlivened when Evil Ed Brubaker did the surprise pop-in around 3 PM, which nicely helped us kill 3 hours, hooray! Ed, once a long time ago, lived in San Francisco, and was a CE customer. Back in the days before he became a Corporate Sell-Out, Working For The Man, Ed used to come around and be a Little Black Rain Cloud, always moaning about how much the comics business sucked, and how he got no respect, and yadda yadda. Don’t get me wrong, we loved it, because, yeah the comics business can and does…  Read More…

Alan Coil will be happy: Graeme likes something from 5/16.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on May 18, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Have I told you that I hated the movie Garden State? I really didn’t want to; I like Zack Braff – well, I like Scrubs, at least – and I’m an indie kid who’s all about the emotional sentimentality, so I felt as if I was the target market for it; I even like Simon and Garfunkel’s soundtrack for The Graduate! But when I saw it, it was an awkward and uncomfortable movie that was emo in all the worst ways, the cinematic equivalent of putting on your sister’s eyeliner and sitting in a corner telling yourself that no-one understands your pain, man. Even “The Only Living Boy In New York” can only help so much. The worst part of…  Read More…

Jeff Gives Notice…

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on May 17, 2007

Categories: Retailing/Industry , Site News

I’ve been putting this off for a couple of days now, hoping to at least piggy-back it on some genuine content, but things have been harried this month and if I don’t do this now, I may not ever. My last day at Comix Experience is Friday, May 25th, and this month is going to be my last contribution to the store newsletter as well. My first column for the newsletter was issue #37–exactly a hundred issues ago–so that and the big signing last month seemed like perfect high notes to go out on. This also means I won’t be contributing to this blog after the end of the month as well. Now, comics bloggers retire in the same way…  Read More…

Better Late Than Whatever: Graeme blows the schedule.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

Dear MUNI – It really shouldn’t take that long to get from the Sunset to downtown first thing in the morning. Seriously, please sort your shit out so that I don’t have to wait 20 minutes in the tunnel between stops again. Thank you. Appropriately, on the day I’m spectacularly late for work, reviews of a couple of spectacularly late books. ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #5:Hibbs is right – At this point, Frank Miller is clearly just taking the piss and trying to see how far he can push things. You know that as soon as you see the first page, which has Wonder Woman in a cleavage-displaying trenchcoat (and with an impossibly-thin waist – Jim Lee,…  Read More…

All-WHAT?! — Hibbs continues 5/16

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Posted by: admin on

Categories: Reviews

ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #5: Paul Levitz apparently thinks that DC’s publication of THE BOYS could do some theoretical harm to their core superhero business, or taint the icons, or something. This makes me wonder what Paul made of THIS. Since it is the ACTUAL icons. The strangest thing is that, had Frank Miller been drawing this, I’d probably have found it amusing and satirical and maybe even a little funny. But with Jim Lee? Lee is THE mainstream superhero comic book artist, so it adds a layer of weight and Importance to it all that just absolutely demands it be taken Seriously, and, thus, renders any satire as stone-faced earnestness. But, really, REALLY, Levitz cancelled THE…  Read More…