Johanna Ponders Conscription: Drafted #1

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Posted by: admin on September 30, 2007

Categories: Reviews

People send me PDFs for review. Here’s my thoughts on one. Bear in mind that I use a laptop, so my screen space is minimal, and by the time I blow up the pages to be able to read the dialogue, I’m looking at individual panels, not full pages. It’s not the most ideal format, but it’s effectively free for both of us. Drafted #1 made me wonder how fair it is to consider the publisher when evaluating a comic. The premise is intriguing — massive earthquakes around the world have killed hundreds of thousands, and as people struggle to cope with the aftermath and the uncertainty of the cause, aliens appear and instruct everyone to work together to go…  Read More…

The World’s Tiniest Giant: Douglas rereads Moore’s WildC.A.T.S.

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Posted by: admin on September 29, 2007

Categories: Reviews

I read Alan Moore’s run on WildC.A.T.S. when it was originally published, between 1995 and 1997, and I don’t think I’d read any of it again since. I remembered it as Moore seriously phoning it in, and I figured the republication a month or two ago of all of it in a single volume, ALAN MOORE’S COMPLETE WILDC.A.T.S., would be a good opportunity to go back to it and see how it’s aged. The answer: it’s still phoned-in, but reasonably Good anyway. The biggest problem Moore was up against is right there in the table of contents: of the 15 “chapters” collected here (#21-34, plus his eight-page wrapup of a couple of loose ends from #50), no two are drawn…  Read More…

Abhay. 9/26/2007. What?

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on September 28, 2007

Categories: Reviews

CABLE AND DEADPOOL #45: They made 45 of these…? Really? This issue is about Deadpool being trapped in a boring comic book. Deadpool and, like, some guy wander around Marvel Comics’ World War 2, and meet Captain America and whoever else. They talk, then that’s followed by another scene of talking. Usually the talking’s just failing to be funny, but at one point, the comic forgets its title and premise and the talking branches out to failing to be serious drama or something. There’s a serious scene of Captain America explaining what it’s like to be Captain America, which is helpful information to … to who exactly? If anyone reading this comic is Captain America in their spare time, boy,…  Read More…

The Return of the Retarded — Hibbs on TV

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 27, 2007

Categories: Reviews

The real problem for me of the NewSavageCritic is when Jog and Abhay and Lester all post these wonderful, thoughtful essays that really get to the core of things, and make you think wise and deep thoughts, and then I have to post something, and I just know it is going to sound like “Dur dur! DUH! Dur dur dur!” I’m still kind of adjusting to the demands of working Every Weekday — oh, I know, “Poor poor miserable you!”, but I spent more than a decade there with a schedule that was, shall we say, relaxed, so to get back into the 5-days-a-week Grind has been an adjustment. Ultimately, its better for the store, to, y’know, have the owner…  Read More…

My Life is Choked with Comics #10 – Starstruck

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

This one’s for Johnny Bacardi, who first told me about this series. And let me tell you, this is the kind of comic you’ll probably need someone to tell you about, because not many other roads lead to it. I’m going to guess that a bunch of you haven’t even heard of Elaine Lee, who wrote the comic; maybe the name’s rattling around in the back of your head, but nothing of use is cohering. Hey, I don’t blame you. Just about every comic she ever wrote is out of print, after all. While I’ll take a little room there to equivocate — she does have a story floating around out there in Charles Vess’ The Book of Ballads collection…  Read More…

Jeff Also Briefly Mentions Doctor 13, then Proceeds to Babble Even More Melodramatically.

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on

Categories: Retailing/Industry , Reviews

This essay is about failure. Specifically, it’s a response to Abhay’s brilliant review of Dr. 13: Architecture & Mortality by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, a review which also–among other things–is about failure: specifically, the failure of the “nostalgicore” genre (Brian Nicholson’s term, not Abhay’s; Abhay just defined the genre and called for a “core” name) to prevent the growing coarseness of the mainstream comics industry; the failure of an online critic to critique a shitty comic without contributing to the buzz behind it; and, most damningly–if I’m interpreting his final paragraphs correctly–the failure of those opposed to current trends in the U.S. to present any sort of dissent worth noticing, and/or the failure of the U.S. media to notice…  Read More…

Hooray: A film and a comic for 9/19. Jog.

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on September 25, 2007

Categories: Reviews

So I did wind up seeing Eastern Promises, the new David Cronenberg thing, and it was good stuff. I liked it more than A History of Violence, which can be considered a companion film of sorts, given that both pictures see Viggo Mortensen as a man of secrets caught up in the world of organized crime, with violence meeting violence and family ties frayed. The prior film struck me as really heavy-handed and sorta banal with its mannered small town American archetypes giving way to bloodletting… it was like a lot of high-fiving and shouting WE HAVE ACHIEVED SUBTEXT without anyone pausing to check if the subtext had much of interest in it. Oh, I enjoyed the contrasting sex scenes…  Read More…

Arriving 9/26/07

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Posted by: admin on September 24, 2007

Categories: Shipping Lists

That’s a pretty respectable week, it looks like… 52 AFTERMATH THE FOUR HORSEMEN #2 (OF 6) ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER #7 AMERICAN VIRGIN #19 ANNIHILATION CONQUEST STAR LORD #3 (OF 4) ARCHIE DIGEST #238 ARMY OF DARKNESS FROM ASHES #2 ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #3 ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE BOOK TWO #4 AVENGERS INITIATIVE #6 CWI BART SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #13 BATMAN #669 BETTY & VERONICA #230 BLUE BEETLE #19 BONEYARD #26 BRIT #2 CABLE DEADPOOL #45 CAPTAIN AMERICA CHOSEN #2 (OF 6) CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #37 COUNTDOWN 31 COUNTDOWN TO ADVENTURE #2 (OF 8) CRIMINAL #9 CROSSING MIDNIGHT #11 DEATHBLOW #7 FRANKLIN RICHARDS MONSTER MASH GREEN ARROW YEAR ONE #5 (OF 6) HIGHLANDER #11…  Read More…

Abhay Briefly Mentions Doctor 13, then Babbles Melodramatically

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on

Categories: Reviews

“Don’t Tase Me, Bro.” You know that video, right? John Kerry gets asked three pretty reasonable questions by some obnoxious shithead kid, yaddah yaddah yaddah, and the kid’s getting an assful of taser despite saying quite clearly “Don’t tase me, Bro.” Which– this is Dissent in America right now. We’re in the middle of losing two completely shitty wars; the country’s being run by these psychopathic incompetents; almost every single person I know for the last 7 years has been saying, “Where’s the dissent? Why aren’t there riots? Where are the student activists?” And we got our answer: we got some shitty hippie yelling “Don’t Tase Me, Bro.” Last week, DC released a book called DOCTOR 13: ARCHITECTURE AND MORTALITY…  Read More…

Bring Me More Pretty: Jog and the unique artists of 9/19

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on September 23, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Man, I had no idea the new David Cronenberg movie (Eastern Promises) was already out. I’ll have to attend the hell out of that tomorrow. But now… 30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow #1 (of 3): In which writer Steve Niles returns once again to this movie-bound franchise, now with Bill Sienkiewicz on art. Just look at this. All throughout the issue, there’s a good deal of variation packed into page after page of snowy landscapes and backgrounds: bright icy blues and whites interspersed with rolling nighttime clouds, veins of color and light pulsing in the sky, and snowy flecks of paint whipped against the page while digital blur effects swirl. It’s a very sumptuous comic, and it knows it…  Read More…

Abhay Says: "Here’s Part Two of a Review of Runoff, and Part Two of an Interview with Runoff creator Tom Manning"

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on September 22, 2007

Categories: Interviews , Reviews

This is part two of a two-part review of Runoff, a graphic novel created by Tom Manning that’s been published by OddGod Press and was created over the course of the last 8-ish years; plus part two of a bonus interview with Mr. Manning is featured at the end of the review. It was suggested to me last week in the comment section (thank you!) that I begin this week by noting the following: Guillermo Del Toro (director of Pan’s Labyrinth, the Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy, etc.) is a fan of the comic, has in some capacity expressed “interest” in Runoff’s cinematic potential, and provided the following quote for the back of the third “Chapter”: “Tom Manning has created a world…  Read More…

One foot out the door, the other in the grave: Graeme signs off, talks up 9/19.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on September 21, 2007

Categories: Reviews

I’m literally tying up loose ends before thinking about packing – well, okay, I have the rest of the work day to get through as well, but you know what I mean. My thoughts are of holidays and two weeks away from everything… so let’s get through this quickly, okay? CAPTAIN AMERICA #30: Something I genuinely love about the post-Civil War, post-Cap’s death era of this series is that Tony Stark is probably as much of a good guy here as he is in any Marvel book of the moment, despite having been on the other side of that old Civil War from the eponymous hero; seeing him solve the murder of Cap this issue was a surprisingly uplifting moment…  Read More…

New TILTING up

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Posted by: admin on

Categories: Retailing/Industry

I’ve been writing these things for 15 years, or something, so its really easy for me to get jaded. But I will modestly say that I think I did a really terrific job this month. Go Read Here -B

I Wanna Heal, I Wanna Feel: 9/19 Just Doesn’t UNDERSTAND Diana’s PAIN

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Posted by: admin on

Categories: Reviews

You know how people sometimes laugh uncontrollably at inappropriate moments? And then there’s that awkward feeling because they really should be taking things seriously? That’s pretty much how I felt about PENANCE: RELENTLESS #1. It’s so self-important (the title page proudly announces “From the pages of CIVIL WAR”), so… well, relentless in its dark and faux-meaningful atmosphere, and yet my only response was to giggle like a Japanese schoolgirl. That reaction largely stems from Paul Jenkins’ total lack of self-awareness: you can almost hear the entire Linkin Park discography playing in the background as Robbie Baldwin, nee Speedball, shows off his nipple rings (?), watches Marquis de Sade biographies (?!), writes tortured and cryptic entries in his journal (?!?!) and…  Read More…

My Life is Choked with Things Other Than Comics Too: Jog begins the 9/19 reviews

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

Gah! It looks like the column’s gonna have to wait until Wednesday. I can only hope the fever for expansive Marvel Graphic Novel sci-fi featuring outer space girl scouts hasn’t cooled by then. For now, I’ll begin a chain of reviews. Gutsville #2 (of 6): I liked the first issue of this Image miniseries from writer Simon Spurrier and artist Frazer Irving, even though the plot seemed kinda rote and the characters stock. I liked this issue a lot more, and not because much depth has been added – rather, the creative team focuses on drawing so much joy out of their puritan-society-in-the-belly-of-a-giant-monster concept that the old tropes almost glow. I cannot emphasize enough how vital Irving’s visuals are to…  Read More…

You better leave that kitten all alone: Graeme gets Presented from 9/19

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on September 20, 2007

Categories: Reviews

It’s rare for a comic to live up (down?) to expectations as much as MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS #1. Which I first saw the line-up of the book, I wasn’t reminded of the 1990s version of the title (which started with the optimism that maybe characters like Cyclops and Colossus could be the tentpole characters for the book, before realism set in and we got Wolverine and Venom over and over and over again. Ah, such happier days) as much as I was left thinking “So, it’s the Immonen’s Hellcat and lots of filler, I guess.” It’s not to say that the other strips are bad, per se – although the Vanguard and Weapon Omega efforts come close, if only for…  Read More…

To Have and To Hold: Hibbs on The Wedding

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Posted by: admin on September 19, 2007

Categories: Reviews

GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY WEDDING SPECIAL: It takes THREE different specials to get there (two of them oversized at $3.99), as well as an issue of COUNTDOWN, but what drove me more crazy than the last 4 pages is that we never actually get to see the wedding itself… except in a photograph. *sigh* As for the last 4 pages, it seems pretty unlikely that’s how they’ve going to leave it, given the monthly comic coming up (BC *can’t* carry a solo comic, and Connor probably can’t either), so this is probably false jeopardy, but it is so completely left field both from the light and breezy tone of the earlier pages, but also from the “where did that…  Read More…

We’ll never be lonely anymore: Graeme thinks about Wedding Specials from 9/19.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

The interesting thing about the cover blurb from GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY WEDDING SPECIAL #1 is that it’s more true than was probably intended: “Everyone who’s anyone in the DCU will be there! (And you won’t BELIEVE this WEDDING NIGHT!)” it says, and it’s entirely right; by the end of the book, I didn’t believe the wedding night at all. Immediately, I just assumed that there was going to be some kind of out within six months or so, some way of undoing what just happened – Not because I am such a Green Arrow fan that I’m that upset over the end result, but because it not only came from nowhere, but came from nowhere right in an…  Read More…

Johanna Liked Toupydoops #6, But…

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Posted by: admin on

Categories: Reviews

People send me PDFs for review. Here’s my thoughts on one. Bear in mind that I use a laptop, so my screen space is minimal, and by the time I blow up the pages to be able to read the dialogue, I’m looking at individual panels, not full pages. It’s not the most ideal format, but it’s effectively free for both of us. Toupydoops #6 is the best issue yet. Kevin McShane’s characters are as distinctively animated as ever, but new co-writer CJ Julian brings extra snap to the proceedings. Toupy’s an alien-looking aspiring actor in a Hollywood based around comic books instead of movies. Teetereater is still his slick best friend, a hit with women and a conman player….  Read More…

I was told a million times of all the trouble in my way: Graeme finishes off 9/12

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on September 18, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Another round-up. BOOSTER GOLD #2: DC’s new “fun” comic – which is probably the death knell for the book right there – has a second issue filled with fun, frolic and continuity injokes and overload; not as enjoyable or open to new readers as the first, it was still pretty Good nonetheless. It really feels like it wants to be a TV show, all the way down to the sentimental meeting between Guy Gardner and Booster at the end. If you listen closely, you can hear the faux strings of a 1980s soundtrack. CASANOVA #9: That blue’s still distracting, but a much more balanced and complete second chapter to the second volume than the first – Maybe I’m just easily…  Read More…

Arriving 9/19/07

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Posted by: admin on September 17, 2007

Categories: Shipping Lists

30 DAYS OF NIGHT BEYOND BARROW #1 30 DAYS OF NIGHT RED SNOW #2 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #66 (A) ANNIHILATION CONQUEST QUASAR #3 (OF 4) APOCALYPSE NERD #5 (OF 6) AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #56 ARMY @ LOVE #7 AVENGERS CLASSIC #4 BATMAN LOBO DEADLY SERIOUS #2 (OF 2) BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #178 BIRDS OF PREY #110 CAPTAIN AMERICA #30 CWI CATWOMAN #71 CHECKMATE #18 COUNTDOWN 32 COUNTDOWN TO MYSTERY #1 (OF 8) CRIMINAL MACABRE MY DEMON BABY #1 (OF 4) CYBLADE PILOT SEASON #1 DISTANT #1 (OF 4) DYNAMO 5 #7 EX MACHINA #30 FLASH #232 GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY WEDDING SPECIAL #1 GUTSVILLE #2 (OF 6) HELLBLAZER #236 HIGHWAYMEN #4 (OF 5) IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #12…  Read More…