Speaking of Turkeys, Here’s Abhay’s FOURTH Blue Beetle Essay.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on November 28, 2008

Categories: Retailing/Industry , Reviews

I. Starting in April 2008, the SAVAGE CRITIC website began to bring you a five-part series on the cancellation of BLUE BEETLE. It “technically” hadn’t “happened” yet. “Technically”, BLUE BEETLE was only canceled on November 12th, but… It wasn’t exactly difficult to predict. And suddenly, last week: our little corner of the internet spasmed. Suddenly: I’m not alone. All sorts of people were asking themselves: “Why didn’t BLUE BEETLE succeed?” And their answers involved things being shoved into asses! I’m not alone, universe! I’m not alone! So… This one’s going to be extra ramble-y. Sorry. II. Before the blog post which received some attention last week, the book’s author, John Rogers posted an earlier statement to his (actually, otherwise quite…  Read More…

And the chorus goes bang: Douglas briefly surfaces to gasp for air

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Posted by: Douglas Wolk on November 26, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Yes, I’ve been gone for a bit–working on some stuff that’s top secret, yet boring! FIGHT OR RUN: SHADOW OF THE CHOPPER: This might be my favorite comics pamphlet of the year so far; it’s on this week’s Diamond list, and if your local store doesn’t carry it it’s available from Buenaventura Press. It’s a trifle of a thing, but so perfectly executed that I keep coming back to it with renewed pleasure. A bunch of “Fight or Run” shorts have appeared in Kevin Huizenga’s other comics over the last few years, although I don’t think this duplicates any of those. The premise couldn’t be simpler (Huizenga describes it as “an open source comics game”): two characters (from a stable…  Read More…

Arriving 11/26/2008

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 24, 2008

Categories: Shipping Lists

BUFFY finally ships. I hope it doesn’t kill the momentum the book had… 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS ADVENTURES OF SINBAD #52000 AD #1611 2000 AD #1612 ARCHIE #591ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES #1 (OF 3)BATMAN #681 RIP (NOTE PRICE)BATMAN GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT #7 (OF 12)BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #166BIRDS OF PREY #124BLUE BEETLE #33BODY BAGS (ONE SHOT) BOYS CLUB #2 BRIT #10BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #19CAPTAIN AMERICA #44CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #51CHRONICLES OF DR HERBERT WEST #2 (OF 6)DAREDEVIL #113DJUSTINES SLASHER GIRLZ #1 (A) DMZ #36 DOG EATERS #1 DRAFTED #12END LEAGUE #6FERRYMAN #3 (OF 5)FIGHT OR RUN #1FUTURAMA COMICS #40GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS NIGHT WITCHES #2 (OF 3)GHOST RIDER DANNY KETCH #2 (OF 5)GLAMOURPUSS #4GOLLY #3 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #7HOW…  Read More…

Sometimes coming up with titles is the hardest part

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 18, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Just a couple quickie reviews so I don’t feel bad…! AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #577: I quite liked this issue as a done-in-one Spidey/Punisher team-up. Zeb Wells turns in an amusing script, and the art by Paolo Rivera is a really nice style seldom seen in mainstream comics — kind of a bit like Paul Pope, really. I especially like his hand-drawn sound effects: check those “thwip”s on the cover! All in all a solid GOOD issue. ASM is in such a weird place right now, generally, though: it’s not that it isn’t basically decent readable comics (it is!), but with the rush of publication and the rotating creative teams, it doesn’t feel like it has the “throughline” that an ongoing title…  Read More…

Arriving 11/19/2008

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 17, 2008

Categories: Shipping Lists

A surprisingly small week this close to the Holidays: publishers do understand that we need comics to sell in order to make money, don’t they? A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #93 (A) AGE OF SENTRY #3 (OF 6)AIR #4 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #578AMBUSH BUG YEAR NONE #4 (OF 6)ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #14ARCHIE DIGEST #249ATOMIC ROBO DOGS OF WAR #4 (OF 5)AVENGERS INVADERS #6 (OF 12)BAD PLANET #6 (OF 12) BATGIRL #5 (OF 6)BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #13 RIPBETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #86BRAVE AND THE BOLD #19CASTLE WAITING VOL II #13CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #5DEADPOOL #4DOCTOR WHO FORGOTTEN #3DYNAMO 5 #18ENDERS GAME BATTLE SCHOOL #2 (OF 5)EX MACHINA #39 (RES) FANTASTIC FOUR #561FIREBREATHER SERIES #3FLASH #246FOOLKILLER WHITE ANGELS #5 (OF 5) GHOST…  Read More…

Tilting v3 #7 is up

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 15, 2008

Categories: Retailing/Industry

You can find it right here, if you haven’t stumbled upon it already -B

The Funk of Forty Thousand Years: Diana is Back, 11/12

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Posted by: admin on November 14, 2008

Categories: Reviews

Obligatory ‘splanation for my month-long imitation of Susan Richards: I’m writing my graduate thesis, which means less Ed Brubaker on my desk and more Jack Kerouac. And while there’s probably some merit to comparing ON THE ROAD to SECRET INVASION/FINAL CRISIS, I’d much rather keep my studies and my fun-time separate. Anyway, I finally clawed my way out of Limbo, though it seems I may have accidentally unleashed a great evil back into the world: So, you know, sorry about that. And before I get to reviewing: House to Astonish. Why? Because Paul O’Brien and Alistair Kennedy, that’s why. I laughed, I cried, it was better than Katz. Comics time! There’s really no way I can talk about BATMAN: CACOPHONY…  Read More…

Strangeways, Here We Come: Part 2 of A Talk With Matt Maxwell

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on

Categories: Interviews

Yesterday, in Part One of ‘Jeff Lester Talks Too Much,’ I occasionally let Strangeways writer Matt Maxwell get a word in edgewise, and talk about his book Strangeways: Murder Moon, the current serialization of the second book, Strangeways: The Thirsty, on Blog@Newsarama, and writing for comics. Today, in Part Two, Matt talks about writing for comics, rewriting, self-editing, bad comics that are awesome, and awesome comics that are awesome. Like Part One, I talk too much, and the article should be cut into more than two parts. But I wanted to make sure this all went up before the weekend and not lose the momentum. Behind the jump: Part Two. JL: So, Strangeways. Where is it going, generally? The first…  Read More…

Strangeways, Here We Come: Part 1 of A Talk With Matt Maxwell

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on November 13, 2008

Categories: Interviews

I like Matt Maxwell. He strikes me as a good egg. He’s a little on the Eeyore-ish side of things–a bit dour, almost glum, without seeming unfriendly–which I also like. And when I finally sat down and read Strangeways: Murder Moon, the OGN that Matt wrote and published, I liked it, too. It wasn’t perfect, but I thought not only did it avoid a lot of rookie mistakes, it had a definite tone of voice to it–an understated one, which isn’t what one would expect to find in a horror western. Anyways. About a week-and-a-half ago, on the morning of APE, I sat down with Matt in a dim sum restaurant and tried to interview him about the evolution of…  Read More…

Bye bye Johnny!

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 11, 2008

Categories: Reviews

No time for this, but since it seems like everyone else is busier than me (ha, not possible, except maybe for Graeme, but that’s his news, not mine), let me get in for at least one book from this week… ULTIMATUM #1: Well, you have to give them points for actually DOING something — there are several significant deaths here — at least as significant as not the “real” Marvel U can be; and we’re assuming there won’t be any tap-backs on this. But, on reading this, I WAS genuinely surprised about what was going on, which is way way more than one normally expects from a superhero comic. The big problem is there isn’t a lot of story here…  Read More…

Arriving 11/12/2008

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 10, 2008

Categories: Shipping Lists

Veteran’s Day will NOT affect shipping of books this week — Wednesday is New Comics Day, just as normal… 100 BULLETS #97 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS ADVENTURES OF SINBAD #42000 AD #1609 2000 AD #1610 ACTION COMICS #871 NEW KRYPTONAMAZING SPIDER-MAN #577ANNA MERCURY #4 (OF 5) ARCHIE & FRIENDS #125AVENGERS FAIRY TALES #4 (OF 4)BARTHOLOMEW OF THE SCISSORS #2BATMAN CACOPHONY #1 (OF 3)BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #23BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #189BIG HERO 6 #3 (OF 5)BIG QUESTIONS #11 BLACK TERROR #1BOOSTER GOLD #14BPRD THE WARNING #5 (OF 5)BRIT #9BROKEN TRINITY #3 CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #7CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #31CITY OF DUST #2CLEANERS #1 (OF 4)CTHULHU TALES #8 DARK TOWER TREACHERY #3 (OF 6)DARKNESS #7DEAD OF NIGHT DEVIL SLAYER #3 (OF 4)…  Read More…

Apocalypso!

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 4, 2008

Categories: Reviews

An hour to vote, yeesh! Note to self: do early voting next year!! BUT, if you get a long line, wait in it anyway. You would at Disneyland, and voting is way more important! What I don’t get is the most recent polls that show like 4-5% of people are still “undecided”? Who ARE these people? Whichever side you are on, it seems like these are pretty clear choices — are they just randomly marking things off once they get into the balloting area? I literally don’t understand! If I were King, I’d want to make participating in Democracy a requirement of citizenship. If you don’t vote, your taxes get tripled or something. Of course, I’d also give a “None…  Read More…

Arriving 11/5/2008

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 3, 2008

Categories: Shipping Lists

Another week, another pile of comics (sorry, swamped this morning… should have some reviews tomorrow, though!) 2000 AD #1607 2000 AD #1608 ADVENTURE COMICS SPECIAL GUARDIAN #1 NEW KRYPTONAMAZING SPIDER-MAN #576ANITA BLAKE VH LAUGHING CORPSE #2 (OF 5) ARMY @ LOVE THE ART OF WAR #4 (OF 6) AUTHORITY #4AVENGERS INITIATIVE SPECIALBACK TO BROOKLYN #2 (OF 5) CABLE #8CIVIL WAR HOUSE OF M #3 (OF 5)DAREDEVIL & CAPTAIN AMERICA DEAD ON ARRIVAL DEAD #2 KINGDOM OF FLIES EL DIABLO #3 (OF 6)FINAL CRISIS RESIST #1FRANKLIN RICHARDS SONS OF GENIUSESFREEDOM FORMULA #3 A CVR PUGHGIGANTIC #1 (OF 5)GRANT MORRISONS DOCTOR WHO #2 HAYSEED #1 HELLBLAZER PRESENTS CHAS THE KNOWLEDGE #5 (OF 5) HOUSE OF MYSTERY #7 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #7IRON MAN…  Read More…