Yes, Me Too: Jeff Also Talks about Final Crisis #7 (and Superman Beyond #2)

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Posted by: admin on January 31, 2009

Categories: Reviews

For those of you keeping track, I wasn’t that big a fan of SUPERMAN BEYOND #1: I admired it, but didn’t like it very much and spent a lot of time thinking about why. So when issue #2 came in, I didn’t exactly break down the doors of my comic shop to pick it up: I ended up reading it, in fact, right before FINAL CRISIS #7 on Wednesday. And so, for better or for worse, I’ve got to review the two books together, because my experience of one is hopelessly tied up in the other. Check it out, if you want, after the jump. To put it plainly, Superman Beyond #2 is really, really clever. I mean, it’s absurdly…  Read More…

Why I loved Final Crisis

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Posted by: admin on January 30, 2009

Categories: Reviews

I’ve been enjoying the online discussion of Final Crisis, especially as the last three parts have been coming out over the last three weeks. But one thing I think is particularly interesting about the reaction to the series is that a number of people who disliked it seem angry about it, or convinced that people who “actually enjoyed” it have somehow been duped. And even though I’ve been posting notes on every issue, I realized that I haven’t actually said much about what I thought of the series since the first issue. I really did enjoy it enormously–as much as I’ve liked any superhero comic in the last few years. I thought it was problematic in a lot of ways,…  Read More…

The End Of The End

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

So, I’m kind of conflicted about FINAL CRISIS #7. As the last issue of a company-wide “event” – Hell, even as a narrative – it feels like a failure, with lots of important plot points either muddy or entirely screwed-up in one way or another. But on an emotional level, as a shameless love letter to superhero comics, it was wonderful; moving, bold and purposeful and entirely successful. Maybe I should call this post “Crisis On Infinite Viewpoints” and get it over with. To admit my bias early; I love Grant Morrison’s superhero work. It’s almost always flawed in one way or another, and sometimes to the extent that it’s a terrible mess, but it’s almost never a boring mess,…  Read More…

I’m not afraid of the dark!

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 27, 2009

Categories: Reviews

DARK AVENGERS #1: So this is my theory, and it may be wrong. Marvel has been very good, maybe especially amazingly good about judging the zeitgeist when it comes to their recent big events. CIVIL WAR and SECRET INVASION were both pretty prefect distillations of the nation’s feelings at the time of their initial publication, and that’s why they resonated so well with the comics audience, and sold so well. That’s what pop comics are supposed to do, of course: reflect ourselves back at us so we can know ourselves better. One can argue this is a tradition that goes back to the start of Marvel, as well: what else are most of the original Marvel characters but perfect pictures…  Read More…

Arriving 1/28/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 26, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Just let me finish the order form and ONOMATOPOEIA (both due tomorrow), and I’ll get a review up — tomorrow latest. Meantime, here’s what is arriving this week… A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #97 (A) (C: 1-0-0)AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EXTRA #2ARCHIE #593ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #12 (RES)AVENGERS INITIATIVE #21 DKRBATMAN #685 (FOE)BATMAN GOTHAM AFTER MIDNIGHT #9 (OF 12)BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #191BLUE BEETLE #35BUCKAROO BANZAI BIG SIZE #1CAPTAIN ACTION COMICS #2 SPARACIO CVR CAPTAIN AMERICA #46CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #53CITY OF DUST #4 A CVR LANGLEYCROSSED #3 (OF 9) DAREDEVIL #115DARK TOWER TREACHERY #5 (OF 6)DEAD AHEAD #2 (OF 3)DRAGON PRINCE #4 JOHNSON CVR AENDERS SHADOW BATTLE SCHOOL #2 (OF 5)FACES OF EVIL KOBRA #1 (FOE)FANTASTIC FOUR…  Read More…

A long, long time ago…

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Posted by: admin on January 23, 2009

Categories: Reviews

I can still remember, how the comics used to make me smile… These days it’s mostly just yawns or facepalms (or, in the case of FINAL CRISIS #6, both at the same time). I promised Brian I’d step up my contributions to the Savage Critics, which, given that I’ve had the consistency of Damon Lindelof lately, that’s totally fair. Except I then spent two weeks scouring the new releases, looking for anything interesting enough to talk about; hell, I’d settle for some controversial news items, but all I’ve got is JEFF PARKER’S ON EXILES:     And I seriously doubt anyone cares about that except me. It may just be that January’s a slow month, and the only noteworthy new…  Read More…

Graeme Finds Out That Some Wars Are, In Fact, Good For Absolutely Somethin’. Huh.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on January 22, 2009

Categories: Reviews

THE WAR AT ELLSMERE is the kind of book that makes you wonder why its author – in this case, Faith Erin Hicks, who did Zombies Calling a couple of years ago for SLG, which was also a lot of fun – isn’t much better known and feted as a “meteoric talent” or “one to watch” or something similar by a hundred bloggers. To spoil the review, let’s start with me telling you that it’s Very Good, and go from there. It’s a tough book to talk about, because what makes it work so well is the execution as much as anything else; to talk about the plot could make it sound a little too like a less magical, less…  Read More…

Graeme’s 10 Thoughts About Showcase Presents: Brave And Bold Volume 3

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on January 21, 2009

Categories: Reviews

1. The title – SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD BATMAN TEAM-UPS VOLUME 3 – feels as if DC was trying to win some kind of award for longwindedness; would it have killed them to just call it SHOWCASE PRESENTS: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD VOLUME 3 instead? I know, they’re probably trying to plan ahead for when they do Showcases of the non-Haney/Aparo issues, but still. 2. If, like me, you’ve been following the series eagerly up until this point, Bob Haney’s weird and poetic way with words has not only become normal by now, but also comforting in a way. “The Brave and Bold Beat continues! Miss it never!” Miss it never? It’s like Bizarro Stan Lee,…  Read More…

Arriving 1/21/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 20, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

I’m nearly undrowned, but not quite… Here’s what is shipping this week (And, he said, editing the original post, while Monday WAS a holiday, it was not a UPS holiday, so comics are WEDNESDAY, per usual: 100 BULLETS #99 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS ADVENTURES OF SINBAD #72000 AD #1617 3 GEEKS SLAB MADNESS #1 (OF 3)AIR #6 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #584ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #16ASTONISHING X-MEN #28BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #87BIRDS OF PREY #126 (FOE)BLACK LIGHTNING YEAR ONE #2 (OF 6)BRAVE AND THE BOLD #21CAPTAIN AMERICA THEATER OF WAR AMERICA THE BEAUTIFULCONAN THE CIMMERIAN #7DARK AVENGERS #1 DKRDARK DELICACIES #1DARKNESS #74 KEOWN CVR ADOCTOR WHO FORGOTTEN #6 DR DOOM MASTERS OF EVIL #1ELEPHANTMEN #15EPILOGUE #4FACES OF EVIL DEATHSTROKE #1 (FOE)FALLEN ANGEL IDW…  Read More…

The New TILTING is up!

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 16, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Personally, I think I did a really good job this month. You can judge for yourself, by going here. Dirk Deppey calls the beginning A “feelgood throat-clearing”, and I know why he does, but, honestly, a lot of that is the great feelings that Ben’s school instills in me for the Future and America. Like I JUST got back this morning from the school, and Jazz musician Marcus Shelby (who is one of the “Artists in Residence” there) just performed a concert for the kids. In between songs he talked about Obama’s presidency, and MLK and Rosa Parks, and all of the first graders and Kinders got up to sing “We Shall Overcome”, and I had a genuine lump in…  Read More…

You already know what happens, right?

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

Final Crisis #6 (of 7): Oh no, he’s come for my interest in this series! Hang on – let me run for a bit. Get that blood flowing. A little Speed Force never hurt! If there’s one thing about this issue that really stands out to me, a Grant Morrison tragic, it’s how the Doomsday Singularity and its accordant collapse of Earthly reality has resulted in a quantity of infinite Morrisons. Look! The Atoms are shoving off on an emergency trip to a new reality not unlike the Atom 1,000,000 story in the old DC One Million 80-Page Giant, and the Marvel family is pulling off a depowering stunt not unlike that from the Black Adam climax of 52! You…  Read More…

Arriving 1/13/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 12, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Yay, ANOTHER week with very little different comics. Y’know, it is a lot harder to prevent “January is dead” from coming true when publishers don’t send us much to sell! This is my smallest invoice in a really really long time… ACTION COMICS #873 (FOE)AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #28AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #583ANGEL AFTER THE FALL CVR GALLERYANITA BLAKE VH LAUGHING CORPSE #4 (OF 5) ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #195ARMY @ LOVE THE ART OF WAR #6 (OF 6) BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #25BIG HERO 6 #5 (OF 5)BOOSTER GOLD #16 (FOE)BPRD BLACK GODDESS #1 (OF 5)CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #9CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #33CIVIL WAR HOUSE OF M #5 (OF 5)CLEANERS #2 (OF 4)DEADPOOL #6 DKRDEATH DEFYING DEVIL #2 DMZ #38 DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS SERIES…  Read More…

I’m going to tell you some things I’ve thought about saying to several Americans, and various foreigners too: And I didn’t think I’d get the chance

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on January 11, 2009

Categories: Reviews

The Winter Men Winter Special God, The Winter Men. Where did this thing start publishing? Atlas/Seaboard? Was issue #1 published on the date of my birth? Be this my destiny to write a spoiler-packed internet review of the final issue? Is this really the final issue? Two and a quarter years after the last one? I mean, that’s pretty remarkable. That it’s here, I mean. A lot of things happen in 27 months – plans change, publishers shift gears. The WildStorm of 2009 is very different from the WildStorm of 2006, far less inclined toward supporting a self-contained quasi-superhero book, or really much of anything that isn’t a shared-universe title or some media tie-in thing. Oddly enough, one of the…  Read More…

A preview of 2009

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Posted by: Douglas Wolk on

Categories: Retailing/Industry

I’ve put together a list of some interesting-looking comics-related books that are scheduled to come out this year, and figured other people might find it useful too. DISCLAIMER: This list is mostly ganked from Amazon listings, which is why it’s heavy on a few publishers–notably Fantagraphics, DC and Top Shelf, which list things way, way in advance. It is not anywhere close to comprehensive. It is not anywhere close to reliable. The entire publishing industry could crumble in the next week, in which case none of this stuff might come out at all. JANUARY: Lewis Trondheim: Little Nothings: The Prisoner Syndrome (NBM) William Messner-Loebs: Journey vol. 2 (IDM) FEBRUARY: Boulet/Joann Sfar/Lewis Trondheim: Dungeon Zenith vol. 3: Back in Style (NBM)…  Read More…

Hey, Didja Hear About This Movie Frank Miller Directed? Jeff Watches The Spirit

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on January 9, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Frank Miller has a small role in The Spirit, the movie he wrote and directed, playing a cop by the name of Liebowitz. Miller’s character dies about ten minutes into the picture; his directing career follows suit ninety-five minutes later. Counting me, there were twelve people in the showing I attended and four of them walked out before the movie ended. (Another one snored audibly when I passed him on the way to the head.) Since Miller considers himself a provocateur in the comics world, I wish I could say the four that left stormed out furious, but no: they left with the resigned air of people cutting bait, already figuring which multiplex theater they’d stop by next. Me, I…  Read More…

Douglas looks at some latter-day Dredd

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Posted by: Douglas Wolk on

Categories: Reviews

JUDGE DREDD: ORIGINS: I picked up this 2007 paperback from a half-off bin a little while back, noting that the front cover misspells artist Carlos Ezquerra’s name. One of my minor New Year’s resolutions is to read more of John Wagner’s future-cop Judge Dredd stories; I’ve actually been batting around the idea of working my way through the twelve “Complete Case Files” volumes that are sitting on my shelf and reviewing them all here. (If Laura and Leigh can do it with Cerebus, I can do it with Dredd, right?) I like the fact that Dredd is an American character whose stories are almost always by British writers, for a British audience–he’s a European nightmare of what an American hero…  Read More…

Reign Down, Reign Down, Come On, Reign Down On Meeeeee

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on January 8, 2009

Categories: Reviews

I have to admit, I’m not sure I get Dark Reign. I mean, on the one hand, I get why Marvel are doing it; The Initiative branding gave the post-Civil War books a feeling of importance and consistency that they wouldn’t really have had otherwise, so why not do the same thing for the post-Secret Invasion books? (And to take a detour for a second, I may have missed the last couple of issues of Secret Invasion because of the move and the citizenship thing and everything else, but still: What happened? As much as the entire series was kind of playing for time and everything, what with nothing actually happening for most of it and all, the last couple…  Read More…

What doesn’t make the cut

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 6, 2009

Categories: Uncategorized

I’m nearly done with organizing my year-end figures for the accountant (should be done next week, I think), and I’m prepping to sit down with the 2008 BookScan numbers as soon as I get my hands on them. So I figure I’m still… 2 weeks? from doing regular review posting again. I’ve just paid the Critics for the last six months of advertising (thanks for clicking through to our advertisers!), as well as the direct donations since June (Thank you to Evan D, Steven D, Ralph M, and Sandy M!), and everyone gets a cheeseburger! If you like what you read here, that’s always a great way to show your support. Just sayin’. But, I thought I should post something…  Read More…

Arriving 1/7/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 5, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Here’s what is coming this week — and note, I WAS WRONG two weeks ago… comics ARE on WEDNESDAY this week… Of SUPER-SPECIAL note is CTHULHU TALES #10, featuring the scripting debut of the sensational comics find of 2009: Mister JEFF LESTER. Buy a copy, and let Boom! know that they (and every other publisher!) should hire him immediately!! If your local store doesn’t HAVE a copy in stock, tell them to order one using OCT083937. 2000 AD #1615 2000 AD #1616 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #96 (A) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #582ANNA MERCURY #5 (OF 5) PAINTED CVR AUTHORITY #6BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #167BLACK LIGHTNING YEAR ONE #1 (OF 6)BLUE MONDAY THIEVES LIKE US #1 (OF 5) BOMB QUEEN…  Read More…

A Flock of Reviews: Jog struggles to keep the short stuff short in re 1/2

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

Final Crisis: Secret Files: Ha ha, well, turns out the real secret here has been ‘what the hell is in this thing?’ And anyone trusting in DC’s original solicitation for “Art by Frank Quitely and various” are gonna be pretty steamed when they notice it’s all various, no Quitely on the inside. Nor is alleged co-writer Peter Tomasi anywhere to be found, although there is some interior content by Greg Rucka & Steve Lieber, who are not credited on the cover. The best I can say is that it all somehow seems too bona fide haphazard to qualify as a bait ‘n switch – I really do wonder what the original idea for this thing was. Anyhow, the vast majority…  Read More…

Comix Experience Top Sellers 2008: Comics

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on January 4, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Here is the same exercise, but this time with periodical comics. It, too, is under the cut. Comics were slightly over 41% of my gross sales. This is a list of SALES, not of orders — though there are a few places where those numbers were exactly the same (there’s one little really obvious clump of that in the 50s) In reality, my #1 best selling “comic” was “Quarter Book – 10 for a buck”, while #2 was “dollar book”, and #3 was “Quarter book – single”. That looked really weird and awful on the resulting chart, however. You can see that, especially in the first half of the chart the watchwords are “Whedon, Morrison, Bendis” 1 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE…  Read More…