The Sword is Drawn. And Written: Graeme isn’t impressed by this 10/17 book.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on October 20, 2007

Categories: Reviews

After finishing THE SWORD #1, there was something about it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. At first, I thought that it was something to do with the general feeling of unease I get from the Luna brothers for reasons, I admit, that I can’t really explain (It’s got something to do with the “girls are weird other” vibe that I got from Girls, I think, but I couldn’t tell you what, exactly); it definitely wasn’t that the book had particularly impressed me or disappointed me more than I’d expected, because there was nothing about this that was anything more than Eh. But, still, there was something that made the book stick in my head. And then,…  Read More…

The Weird Superheroes of 10/17: Jog put the date on the other side of the colon this time (and more hi-jinx to follow)

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on October 19, 2007

Categories: Reviews

Last night I had a dream that I was reading Dirk Deppey’s blog, and he had a really great turn of phrase involving cats. I can’t remember what it was. Shit, I can always use a good cats phrase… The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite #2 (of 6): The best and most telling part of this issue is when “00.05,” the time-traveling fifth member of the titular superhero family who’s gone way into the future and grown old trying to figure out a way back, suddenly hears the answer to the time-travel formula from a statue he’s had a crush on (no real women left alive, you see), only to dump her and zap back to his youth. It’s a funny…  Read More…

Abhay Thinks Reviewing Comic Books is Really Just a Bad Idea, Period

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on

Categories: Reviews

This is a negative review of Cry Yourself to Sleep, a comic book created by Jeremy Tinder, published by Top Shelf Productions in Augt 6, and received with near unanimous critical acclaim by a comic audience that apparently doesn’t want to “make people feel bad.” Newsarama: “A tiny gem.” Some blog: “required reading for all 20-something girls who are interested in finding out what really lurks in the hearts of their male counterparts.” Some other blog: “easily confuseable for [autobiography].” Everybody has a blog: “Tinder has successfully delivered a graphic novel that makes some readers look back at their youth and some readers to observe what they may face as young adults.” Bloggity-schmog: “Not only does he present readers with…  Read More…

Time for the Fifth World, I guess: Graeme on the Death of The New Gods, 10/17.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on October 18, 2007

Categories: Reviews

To add particular insult to my injury of admitting that Rick Veitch’s Army@Love isn’t necessarily for me, I should also put my hand up right now and admit that I don’t really get Jim Starlin, either. I’m too young and too sober for his 1970s cosmic stuff like Warlock or Captain Marvel, and his DC work in the ‘80s left me somewhat cold. By the time he was back on the Thanos horse on Marvel in the early 90s, being Infinite before Dan Didio even had the idea of redoing the 1980s forever. I’m also a pretty big fan of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World books – the “remastered” Hunger Dogs announced for the fourth hardcover collection pretty much guarantees that…  Read More…

Graeme runs with the dogs tonight in Suburbia(n Glamour): 10/17 begins.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on October 17, 2007

Categories: Reviews

When I was back at home while on vacation, I had the misfortune of hearing the new Manic Street Preachers single, “Wintersong,” which is a pretty embarrassing proposition – Three middle-age men writing and playing a song where the entire point is “You’re young and beautiful, youth of the world, stay crazy,” in this slow, faux-epic manner that the Manics use. Hearing it was a strange experience; it sounds like a parody of the Manics, and came across (at least, to me; I’m sure this’ll get commentary from hardcore Manics fans who’re very, very upset that I don’t get their true majesty or whatever; sorry) as this desperate attempt to reach out to an audience that they know nothing about…  Read More…

One Shot In: Jog on a comic from 10/10 now that 10/17 is tomorrow

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

I got stuck in traffic today while I was driving home from work. Since I was going nowhere I started looking around me, and I noticed movement from car ahead of me. The man behind the wheel was rocking out to some song. Head bobbing, arms flailing, fists pounding on the wheel… the works. It was great! I was transfixed! But suddenly, he started glancing into his mirror, and I think he noticed me looking at him. And he stopped moving. I think he felt self-conscious about the rock. So, if you’re somehow reading this, guy in the vehicle in front of me at 5:20 PM… I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to stop rocking. Never stop rocking. The Punisher…  Read More…

Clap your hands: Graeme finishes up 10/10.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on October 16, 2007

Categories: Reviews

It’s the end of the longest comic week in history! Or, perhaps, just me trying to readjust to non-vacation life and failing. U, as they say, Decide. Anyway, shall we get the rest of this week’s books out the way quickly? BOOSTER GOLD #3: I’m back to the Dan Jurgens distaste again, although in fairness, I think it may be laziness on inker Norm Rapmund’s part that’s making me feel as if a better artist would’ve brought something more to this admittedly throwaway, Okay issue. It’s a fine enough story, although for the second issue in a row, trading a little too much on the fanboy factor instead of trying to be entertaining/funny in its own right. But then again,…  Read More…

Through early morning fog I see: Graeme looks @Love.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

While reading it, I was trying to work out just what it was about ARMY@LOVE: THE HOT ZONE that made me feel as if it was the work of the 1970s, instead of contemporary times. Just what was it that made me think that it belonged to an era of M*A*S*H and Kurt Vonnegut and Terry Southern (As much as I am fans of them all? Well, maybe not a massive fan of M*A*S*H, but once Radar left, it was all downhill for me)? And then I got to the scene where a hippie directs a missile strike by playing his guitar in a suitably virtuoso manner, and I thought, well, yeah. It’s that kind of thing. Not that Rick…  Read More…

Mutatis Mutandis: Diana Talks About X-Books, 10/10

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Posted by: admin on October 15, 2007

Categories: Reviews

With the recent release of X-FACTOR #24, all X-books participating in the upcoming “Messiah Complex” crossover have now wrapped up their pre-existing storylines (with the possible exception of NEW X-MEN, which began a new two-parter last month). I thought this would be a proper time to look at where the line might be headed, and where it’s been – as most of you probably know, this is hardly the first time this particular franchise has been revamped. What can we expect of the post-”Messiah Complex” status quo? Officially, the last X-Men relaunch was May 2004′s “Reload”. Grant Morrison had left NEW X-MEN, and whether you agreed with his creative decisions or not, there’s no question that he had set the…  Read More…

Arriving 10/17/2007

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Posted by: admin on

Categories: Shipping Lists

Working on TILTING today, little time to pontificate… 30 DAYS OF NIGHT SOURCEBOOK ABYSS #1 (OF 4) AQUAMAN SWORD OF ATLANTIS #57 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #183 ARMY @ LOVE #8 AVENGERS CLASSIC #5 AWAKENING #2 (OF 10) BATMAN STRIKES #38 BEOWULF #3 BIRDS OF PREY #111 BOYS #11 BRAVE AND THE BOLD #7 CAPTAIN AMERICA #31 CWI CAPTAIN AMERICA CHOSEN #3 (OF 6) CAPTAIN AMERICA CHOSEN 2ND PTG #1 (OF 6) CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #18 CATWOMAN #72 CHECKMATE #19 CONAN #45 CORY DOCTOROWS FUTURISTIC TALES HERE AND NOW #1 (OF 6) COUNTDOWN 28 DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #1 (OF 8) DEVI #14 DMZ #24 ELEPHANTMEN #11 E-MAN DOLLY EX MACHINA #31 FABLES #66 GRIMM FAIRY TALES RETURN TO…  Read More…

Johanna Has Hope: Preview of Hope Falls #1

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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. I’m looking today at Hope Falls #1 from Markosia. It’s due in November, but I suspect that unless you have an excellent comic store, you’re not likely to see it unless you commit to preordering a copy. It’s written by Tony Lee with art by Dan Boultwood. The plot starts with a home-town girl, gone 20 years,…  Read More…

Johanna Reads Archies: Jughead Enters Our World

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Posted by: admin on October 14, 2007

Categories: Reviews

The new story in Jughead & Friends Digest #23 is odd in an historical way. Dilton’s figured out a way to store stuff in another dimension with his “infinite closet” invention. For most stories, this would be a fruitful premise in itself… but here, it’s just a way to set up the real conflict, when Jughead falls through it and winds up in “our” world. Jughead happens to land in the comic book company that creates his stories. (It’s a lovely fantasy, the idea of writers and artists all in one office, working to create comics, although it’s never been true in the modern age.) The writer winds up showing Jughead how a comic story is created. Given this publisher,…  Read More…

I’m coming your way real soon: Graeme worries about a book from 10/10

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

Maybe I’m just getting softer as I’m getting older, but there’s something about THE NEW AVENGERS #35 that disturbs me. It’s not the gratuitous cover, with Wolverine turning into Venom even though that isn’t what the issue’s about in the slightest – although a second read-through did at least make me realize that there is a WolverVenom in the issue; he’s in the background of the fight scene on the last page – and it’s not the supervillain gathers lots of other supervillains into a giant supervillain army plot that we’ve all seen countless times before (Hell, if you read DC books, you’ve seen it a couple of times in the last three years alone). No, it’s the treatment of…  Read More…

Super, Thanks: 10/10 vs. Douglas

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Posted by: admin on October 13, 2007

Categories: Reviews

The first issue of Steve Niles and Scott Hampton’s SIMON DARK seems weirdly off: it’s an attempt to do a horror/superhero hybrid, but it doesn’t really work as either, because it doesn’t play on any real fears or have any real cultural resonance. The front cover and first page claim it happens in Gotham City, although it doesn’t build on anything we’ve ever seen of Gotham before: the city it’s set in has no particular flavor at all. It’s supposedly a DCU book, although its general style is much more Vertigo-ish–four pages in, the protagonist beheads a bad guy with what I’m guessing is a particularly sharp garrotte. (Actually, it seems even more like a Wildstorm non-Universe book.) And it…  Read More…

Let’s get ready to r.. um… Brawl?: Graeme punches up from 10/10.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

It’s a cheap and unnecessary joke to say that BRAWL #1 is a book of two halves. I mean, it’s true, of course; this is a anthology of two stories that once spent time as part of the Activate webcomic portal, so it’s literally got that “two halves” thing going on. But the problem is that it’s true of the two strips, so different in terms of style and substance as to make the book’s quality uneven and somewhat distracting. The star of the book, for me, is Dean Haspiel’s Billy Dogma. I admit relative unfamiliarity with Haspiel’s writing, but the overall effect of the strip is Jack Kirby and Damon Runyon teaming up with to do a special romantic…  Read More…

Sha-Zam! Hibbs in Advance, for once

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Posted by: admin on October 11, 2007

Categories: Reviews

We’ve gotten on the DC press list (hey thanks!), but most of the time it is a little silly — generally they’re sending out just the periodical comics; and because of the efficiency of DM distribution (not kidding on that one), that generally means I’m getting comics to review a few days after I already have them. Heh. BUT, this week, we got a package with two things that won’t be out until (I guess?) next week — the ARMY @ LOVE TP (nice design, intro by Peter Kuper (!)) and the hardcover of SHAZAM: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL What a nice looking package! What’s especially nice is that it is both a dustjacketed AND laminated HC — the…  Read More…

Not-So-Funny Animals: Graeme goes to the Zoo (Crew) from 10/10

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

Maybe I’m missing something, but I can’t tell if CAPTAIN CARROT AND THE FINAL ARK #1 is a bad comic or a parody of a bad comic that’s way too close to the real thing. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have its good points, of course, primary among which is the art by Scott Shaw and Al Gordon, which is both appropriately cartoony and chunky, clear enough to follow the action but not enough to be bland. Visually, it’s a well-done funny animal book, and there are points where you think that the story’s trying to go in the same direction (Mostly, when there are innumerable animal-related puns on the names of people and places: At the Sandy-Eggo…  Read More…

Exile From Yaoiville: Jeff Looks at Flower of Life.

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on

Categories: Reviews

Flower of Life is one god-damned strange little book, let me tell you that. I picked it up based on the strength of Shaenon Gaerity’s review, but by the time I’d gotten my hands on a copy I’d long forgotten nearly every particular of that fine review. In the store, looking at the cover, which features tousled-hair young men behind a foreground of brightly colored sunflowers, I was positive I was about to cross the border into Yaoiville, a hamlet that only a few years previous was little known but had now become a popular destination spot for peripatetic manga readers. Not only had I never read yaoi, I had read next to nothing about yaoi, and so my depth…  Read More…

Does Whatever A Parasite Can: Jeff Reviews HItoshi Iwaaki’s Parasite

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on October 10, 2007

Categories: Reviews

To say I’m on the late freight with regards to Hitshi Iwaaki’s Parasyte is to drastically understate things: the Del Rey volume I’m reading shows the first Japanese volume was printed ’round 1990. And this isn’t even the book’s first go-round in the U.S., either: according to Wikipedia, the book was published by Tokyopop back when the company was known as Mixx. I can see why American publishers keep making a go of it. Although the protagonist doesn’t dress up in a costume and go out to fight crime, Parasyte is the closest thing to a manga superhero book I can remember reading. The story is about a teenager, Shinichi, whose right arm is replaced by a shape-changing intelligent parasite…  Read More…

Green meaning "New", apparently: Graeme returns for 10/10.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

The first thing you notice about GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY #1 is how pretty it is. Cliff Chiang’s artwork has a weird quality to it; it’s very easy on the eye, with the characters acting well despite some awkward anatomy (occasionally the characters seem too thick, if that makes sense), but the simple linework of the whole thing somehow seems very solid, as if the drawings were originally a mass of ’90s-Image-style crosshatching and papercut muscles that have been massively cleaned up before making it to the page. Nonetheless, the team of Chiang and Trish Mulvihill on colors makes this a book that’s lovely to look at from the get-go. Which, really, is probably a good thing considering the…  Read More…

Gerber, Gerber everywhere, and not a drop to drink (and more TV)

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Posted by: admin on October 9, 2007

Categories: Reviews

On the original schedule, THREE new takes of made-Famous-by-Steve-Gerber titles were to have shipped last week — the new version of FOOLKILLER didn’t make it — but even the fact that two of them came out makes me feel a little odd. OMEGA THE UNKNOWN #1: Given how much of the plot (and dialog!) of this first issue is Straight-Outta-Gerber, it’s pretty hard to judge at this point just what Jonathan Lethem is actually bringing to the proceedings. What I did very much love was Farel Dalrymple’s art (and lettering). It is a fine looking book, but not something that I expect the “typical” Marvel fan would have much interest in whatsoever. The DYI aesthetic is appealing to me, but…  Read More…