Shiny shiny, shiny books of leather: Graeme dominates the comics from 8/29

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on August 31, 2007

Categories: Reviews

I have no idea why I’m so surprised at just how gratuitous and disappointing GENE SIMMONS’ DOMINATRIX #1 is. I mean, if ever there was a book that sounded as if it was going to be gratutous, it would be something called Gene Simmons’ Dominatrix – And am I really the only person who’s both disappointed and relieved that it’s not a comic about Simmons’ actual Dominatrix? Think of the rock star gossip and awkwardness that we’ve all missed out on – that was advertised with the line “T’n’A meets CIA”. The cover art, as well, in its weird air-brushed glory, fit with the idea that this was going to be an entirely tawdry exercise, and yet… somehow, it still…  Read More…

The Amazing World of DC Comics! Hibbs reviews (whaaaaat?!?!)

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on

Categories: Reviews

This week is clearly a Big Win for DC — Marvel barely put out even nine comics this week. AMAZONS ATTACK! #6: There is absolutely positively no way to discuss this issue without being spoilery, so AVERT THINE EYES, MADAME, if you care about not having the ending ruined! I haven’t exactly been thrilled by this series from the start, because while the premise was self-explanatory, I was more interested in WHY the Amazons Attacked (as well as the HOW of it, since last I recall, they’d been sent off forever to be with the Greek Gods). We get a little of that, but none of it was very satisfying for this reader — a bit of hand-waving of “oooh,…  Read More…

See and be Seen: Jeff Looks at Buffy The Vampire Slayer seasons 1-8.

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on August 30, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Back in late April, I bought the Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Collection boxed set off Amazon for a pretty good price. In early May, Edi and I started watching the show (I had seen most of the show when it was first aired, Edi hadn’t seen anything) at the rate of an episode or two (almost) every night, and a few weeks ago we finally came to the end. It happened the same day I read the abridged print version of Joss Whedon’s interview with the Onion A.V. Club, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer #5, and it occurred to me I was pretty well situated to talk about the new comic in relation to the show, and maybe…  Read More…

Playing in the morning as you may need a reminding: Graeme starts off 8/29 late, apologizes.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

Okay, so so much for that “returning and beginning again” thing yesterday – That’s what happens when you suddenly find yourself working a 13-hour day the night before and being unable to get to the store to pick up new books to read, apparently. That’s what I get for letting other people at my company to get sick without my permission, it seems. (Also: People who say that they want me to write more on this site? I’m flattered and all – and ignore any potential snark there, because I genuinely am – but convinced you mean someone else. I already write almost daily on here…) (Also also: Thank you very much to everyone who’s contributed via the Paypal link,…  Read More…

My Life is Choked with Comics #7 – Taboo 2 (YIKES, EXPLICIT CONTENT!!)

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

Infamy is a tricky thing. It has a way of making your work slightly immortal, in that a title’s mention might cause a listener’s ears to perk, and their mind to wander through all the books they’ve ever read, searching for the source of that scratchy feeling they’ve suddenly got. For years, if someone were to utter the words Boiled Angel in front of me at my junior year winter formal or my younger sister’s Holy Confirmation or something, I’d react. Internally, but instantly. They are trigger words. But I’d hardly read ten panels of Mike Diana’s work in those years. It was only the infamy that hit me. Stephen R. Bissette once wrote of his infamous horror anthology, Taboo,…  Read More…

Asshattery, and so forth: Hibbs burbles some

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on August 29, 2007

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Like Jeff said, you being active in some way really DOES matter — whether it is giving us a buck, or even just posting to the comments threads, it keeps us going knowing that people ARE interested. So, since like 25% of the people posting in the shipping list thread asked, let’s talk about Asshats. I like that word, because it’s really only sort of a swear — it sounds dirtier than it really is, I think, because for me it really is more about idiocy than anything else. After all, who needs a hat for one’s ass? It would quickly fall off! (Mechanical) things are the way that they are in the DM for what are usually actually very…  Read More…

In Which Jeff Asks You For Money.

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on

Categories: Site News

Howdy! I’d like to ask you to do something for me. I’d like you to use the little Paypal button below the list of the SavCrits and give us a dollar. (Actually, if you’re reading this on an RSS feed, I’d like you to do two things for me: First, go directly to our site; then, use the little Paypal button below the list of the SavCrits to give us a dollar.) Here’s my thinking on the subject. As of Graeme’s post this morning, there have been approximately 50 posts this month (not counting my garage sale posts or the Douglas Wolk signing pix) and there will doubtlessly be more by the time August ends this Friday. (Maybe 55 posts?)…  Read More…

Arriving 8/29

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on August 28, 2007

Categories: Shipping Lists

I’ve been sorta blaise about posting the shipping list (I missed 2 of the last 3 weeks), partly because I’m not sure how it really fits the NEW Savage Critic(s), and I wanted to see who might say “hey, where is it?” Not that many people mentioned its absence, but one of them was a Professor of Marketing, and I figure one should listen to professional educators if you’re going to listen to ANYone. So, here’s the list: 2000 AD #1549 2000 AD #1550 30 DAYS OF NIGHT EBEN & STELLA #4 52 AFTERMATH THE FOUR HORSEMEN #1 (OF 6)ACTION COMICS #855AMAZONS ATTACK #6 (OF 6)AMERICAN VIRGIN #18 AMORY WARS #3 (OF 5)AUNTS IN YOUR PANTS (A) AVENGERS INITIATIVE #5…  Read More…

I’m tired and I’m sick: Graeme makes it to the end of the week, just, 8/22.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

Goddamn, but my ass is getting kicked by this week already. Is this some kind of weird karma for the fact that there’s a holiday weekend coming up, or am I just cursed? BATMAN #668: More than anything else, this three-parter that JH Williams is illustrating makes me very excited for the rumored Morrison/Williams creator-owned book that the two are apparently planning – What makes this Very Good has nothing to do with Batman whatsoever, and everything to do with the way the two creators play around with the comic format and visual identities of different parts of comic history. Which isn’t to say that I’m not into this particularly-Avengers-esque (that’s Steed and Mrs. Peel Avengers, not the Iron Man…  Read More…

My I don’t have to runday: Graeme bemoans where the time goes, from 8/22.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on August 27, 2007

Categories: Reviews

And, of course, after taking two days out for the weekend to get caught up on other writing I had to do, I have two days left and all manner of books from this week to review. So let’s get all of the Marvel ones out of the way first, shall we? AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #543: I love the fake-out on the cover of this book – “Oh no! Peter is covering his face while pulling cloth over a body on a hospital gurney! Aunt May must be dead!” even though the entire issue is essentially one big piece of filler because JMS can’t quite finish off his “Aunt May has been hanging onto dear life” plot until, what, November now,…  Read More…

Another Random Selection: Just a few 8/22 reviews from lovable, furry old Jog

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

The weekends go fast. Lots of reading. Today, I spent a good chunk of time with an old issue of The Comics Journal I picked up for two bucks – it’s #202, from March of 1998, and no less than 62 pages of it are devoted to Gary Groth’s career-spanning interview with Kevin Eastman, with a special emphasis on the life of Tundra, the infamous alternative comics publisher that he founded, and ultimately blew $14 million of his Ninja Turtles fortune on. Detail after absurd detail piles up – you can hardly believe it all really happened, the circumstances are so surreal. Really one of the classic Journal interviews. Oh, last week. Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious #1 (of 2): Remember in…  Read More…

Weekend’s End: Jeff Gabs About Manga and Movies.

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on August 26, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Howdy. Here’s what I’ve been reading and watching lately. God help me, I’m still so trained to write reviews in old school SavCrit style, you get it all in one big glop. I’d like to do something similar about the comics I’ve been reading, but can’t quite tell yet if my week is going to open up enough to let me do so. Anyway, for now, here’s what’s what. CEMETERY MAN: Cinematically, I’ve been in search of some satisfying lowbrow thrills and it really seemed like this cult favorite was gonna do the trick: after all, it’s an Italian horror comedy based on a graphic novel by the creator Dylan Dog about a morose gravedigger who must not only bury…  Read More…

Abhay Reviews the Comic Books that Make the Whole World Sing!

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on August 25, 2007

Categories: Reviews

I was planning on skipping this week, but I’d like to write briefly about one of the most interesting comics that came out this month. Maybe not THE single most interesting, but … Top 5. If it were my Myspace friend, I’d put in my Top 8. Its Myspace song would be Okkervil River‘s Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe. Later: I’d discover it was a 40 year old police officer, and I’d inadvertently been caught in an elaborate sting operation to track down internet pedophiles. The regret, the horrible, horrible regret. All because of this comic. It’s that interesting. I’m of course talking about the two-page Honda Elements SC Advertisement fumetti in this week’s Marvel comics. THE…  Read More…

World War Wolk! Jeff brings you the photos!

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on August 24, 2007

Categories: Retailing/Industry

(The nerd conundrum for the new millennium: who’s stronger, Annalee or Graeme?) Sorry these took so long to post; Douglas’s signing is at the start of my workweek and was followed immediately by my garage sale (which turned out great, by the way), and after the last nine weeks or so of six day workweeks when I finally got time off, I totally slacked. Of course, I’ve got no right to bitch after meeting Douglas Wolk–not only had the guy only been home 22 hours in the last month (the way he put it was, “22 hours total,” which leads me to infer they were non-contiguous hours), but he still had something like 11,000 words to write before(?) he left…  Read More…

They Have a Plan: Graeme may have to wait two years to find out what it is, though: 8/22.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

And in a strange bit of synchronicity, in the same week that I was talking about the Battlestar Galactica comics (Hi, Annalee), Dynamite Entertainment’s BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON ZERO #1 presents itself for abuse. Looking at it one way, I can see the draw of doing a Season Zero for Dynamite; the show itself has such tight continuity that it’s hard (if not impossible) to be able to do any meaningful stories during that time frame – It’s something that completely destroyed any sense of tension in Greg Pak’s twelve issue run, as you knew constantly that everything had to work out in the end because the characters were just about to meet the Pegasus and you’d already seen that –…  Read More…

A great shape for the shape they’re in: Graeme gets surprised, 4/5 of the way through from 8/22.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on August 23, 2007

Categories: Reviews

And this is where I surprise many of you by saying the following: OUTSIDERS: FIVE OF A KIND: METAMORPHO/AQUAMAN #1? You should really go out and pick it up. I’m not changing my tune on the entire “Five Of A Kind” event, I have to point out. It’s an entirely unnecessary series of books that almost works against the stated intent – I don’t feel that anything I’ve read in the first three books (Nightwing/Captain Boomerang Jr., Katana/Shazam! and Thunder/Martian Manhunter, for those of you with a short memory) has done anything whatsoever to promote the new Batman And The Outsiders series, and may even have done the opposite and made the series seem less attractive with each successive issue…  Read More…

My Life is Choked with Comics #6 – Soldier X #1-8 (and surroundings)

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

It was the day of Jemas. A lot of things had happened to various Marvel comics since Bill Jemas had become president of consumer products, publishing and new media, with Joe Quesada as editor in chief. Reader attention had been mobilized, and several noteworthy projects had begun. Not every effort initiated in that time would be successful, nor would all of even be noteworthy, but in retrospect one can sense an atmosphere of relative experimentation, albeit one formed from financial strife. And nothing screamed ‘relative experimentation’ like the extended X-Men line. I’ve heard some call this period of X-history a ‘progressive’ era, one that extended roughly from writer Grant Morrison’s debut on the freshly re-branded New X-Men in July 2001…  Read More…

I’m orbiting Pluto, drawn in by its groovitational pull: Graeme uprises into 8/22.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on August 22, 2007

Categories: Reviews

It’s both a complement and an insult to say that HALO: UPRISING #1 reminded me of some old European Heavy Metal-type comic, I guess. Visually, at least, it’s all complementary. Alex Maleev’s art has never really fit the American superhero market to my mind – not that that’s a bad thing – and his recent work for things like Illuminati or Civil War: The Confession have seemed pretty but out of place, some awkward attempt to give those books gravitas that they didn’t really deserve. Here, however, his photo-referenced, John Van Fleet-lite, work makes more sense; I’m not familiar with Halo at all – I’ve never played the game (Games? Is there more than one?), and I didn’t look at…  Read More…

Sick, tired and sober: Graeme finishes up 8/15.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on August 21, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Ah, starting off the week with a sick day is either (a) a good way to have a three day weekend, or (b) a really, really bad way to make a busy week just that little bit busier. You be the judge, but I’m leaning towards the latter option. For now, have a round-up written in a state of belly-churning haze. I’m pre-emptively apologetic about it, if that helps… ACTION COMICS #854: If there was any doubt in my mind that Final Crisis was going to involve some kind of continuity reboot yet again, this issue – or maybe COUNTDOWN #37, which really started the whole “Jimmy Olsen knows Superman’s secret identity now” thing – removed it entirely. Much more…  Read More…

No new mysteries: Graeme listens, chum, to 8/15.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on August 20, 2007

Categories: Reviews

I missed the boat on Ultimate Spider-Man. I’m big enough to admit that. I read, what, maybe the first four or five issues or so, and thought “Eh, that’s pretty good, but do I need to be reading Spider-Man for?” Cut to, what, six or seven years later and I’ve devoured all of the Essential Spider-Man, Essential Peter Parker, and Essential Marvel Team-Up books and – finding the current Spider-books lacking – find myself on the lookout for something to provide those old-school Spider-thrills. Cue ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #112. I’d been hiding from this book for awhile now, despite suspecting that I’d like it a lot. The idea of catching up with a book that had 100+ issues of tight continuity…  Read More…

I Didn’t Buy a Lot of Comics This Week: Jog is quick with the 8/15 review, since it’s now 8/20

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

But then, I didn’t get to review issue #1 of this over here. Also: this series reminds me so much of The Winter Men, which was a really nice series, and still has a long-lost final issue to go, and I wish it’d be out soon. The Programme #2 (of 12): Well, I suppose you can tell whether an issue of soap opera is for you by your reaction to “Get out of my sight before I tell daddy to load his shotgun and blow your lousy Jew-loving head off!” Which is an actual line uttered by a jilted lover to her formerly straight-arrow boyfriend, who met a pretty Jewish girl, got called a fascist, dropped acid and woke him…  Read More…