Old English #1

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on May 27, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Perramus: Escape From the Past #1-2 (of 4) Q: God, what the hell am I going to do with all these old foreign comics I bought in that April research binge? That was addressed to you, God. A: This is a new series of short posts about old English translations of foreign language comics, probably still obtainable through back-issue and/or used book resources. There will be lots of pictures, as per God’s advice. And we might as well start with a veritable legend of sinking into oblivion, Fantagraphics’ late ’80s/early ’90s magazine-sized pamphlet translations of Euro-by-way-of-South-Americomics. The publisher’s five-issue, 1987-90 take on Carlos Sampayo’s & José Muñoz’s Sinner is probably the most prominent of the bunch, but there was a…  Read More…

In Which Graeme Attempts To Catch Up…

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these, so be prepared for a capsules review of a lot of books, many of which you may have forgotten reading already. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #592 – 594: Part of me is tempted to point to this arc and say “Hey, haters, here‘s a story that couldn’t be done with a married Peter, because there’s no way that Mary Jane would be cool with him only being Spider-Man for days on end just to piss off Jonah,” but that would be both pointless and raising old ghosts. As much as I love the idea behind this story, and as much as I love Mark Waid’s take on the characters, this is…  Read More…

A Last Second Memorial Day Tribute To G.I. Joe

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Posted by: Tucker Stone on May 26, 2009

Categories: Reviews

My relationship with G.I. Joe as a toy, cartoon, enterprise, as an anything extends to one anecdote, which always gets the same reaction, in that the bored listener doesn’t believe it and thinks it is a bad attempt at a tasteless joke. My brother and I had a couple of them until he took a hacksaw and sawed off Scarlet’s breasts while holding the figure in a vice, which is harder than it sounds. Then he tried to flush the remaining carcass and limbs down the toilet. Even my dad, whose interest in children extended to attempting to learn some of our names, felt the need to tell my mother “There’s something wrong with that one.” From then on, we…  Read More…

Arriving THURSDAY 5/28/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 25, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Remember (because I DID forget until today) that new comics are on THURSDAY in the US this week, due to the Memorial Day holiday. ALIENS #1 (OF 4) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #595 DKRARCHIE #597ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN #16AVENGERS INITIATIVE #24 DKRAVENGERS INVADERS #11 (OF 12)BACK TO BROOKLYN #5 (OF 5) BATMAN IN BARCELONA DRAGONS KNIGHTBATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #5BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #171CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #57CROSSED #5 (OF 9) CURSED PIRATE GIRL #1 (OF 3) DARK REIGN ELEKTRA #3 (OF 5) DKRDARK REIGN HOOD #1 (OF 5) DKRDARKNESS #77ENDERS SHADOW BATTLE SCHOOL #5 (OF 5)FALL OF CTHULHU NEMESIS #2 (OF 4)FARSCAPE DARGOS LAMENT #2 (OF 4)FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH INK #1 (OF 6)FUTURAMA COMICS #43GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS TANKIES #2 GHOST…  Read More…

On Marvel’s REBORN #1

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 20, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

The Direct Market is sometimes an awkward beast: publishers solicit books roughly 3 months before publication, which can lead to problems in releasing information in such a way that can spoil those upcoming titles. I am very sympathetic to these concerns. Direct Market retailers, of course, buy comics non-returnable — if we order too many copies, we simply eat them. This means we need as much information as we can possibly get at the time of solicitation so we can make proper, informed judgments of the saleability of a specific work. There’s no doubt this is a substantial conundrum — in this particular aspect the publisher’s best interests are diametrically opposed to the retailer’s. They want to preserve suspense, we…  Read More…

Arriving 5/20/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 18, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Hey look, Kids, Comics! AGENTS OF ATLAS #5 DKRAIR #9 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #594AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #6ANGEL #21ARCHIE DIGEST #254BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL #3 (OF 3)BLACK TERROR #4BOYS HEROGASM #1 BRAVE AND THE BOLD #23CAPTAIN AMERICA #50CARS ROOKIE #2 (OF 4) COMPLETE DRACULA #1 (OF 5)CRIMINAL MACABRE CELL BLOCK 666 #4 (OF 4)DARK REIGN FANTASTIC FOUR #3 (OF 5) DKRDOCTOR WHO TIME MACHINATIONEX MACHINA #42 FANTASTIC FORCE #2 (OF 5)FANTASTIC FOUR #566FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH DANCE #1 (OF 6)GEARS OF WAR #7 GI JOE #5GIGANTIC #4 (OF 5)G-MAN TP VOL 01 LEARNING TO FLYGREAT UNKNOWN #2 (OF 5)GREATEST AMERICAN HERO #3 (OF 3) GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #20GRIMM FAIRY TALES #38HELLBLAZER #255 HOTWIRE #3 (OF 5) PUGH CVR AHULK #12INCREDIBLES FAMILY…  Read More…

May’s Tilting up!

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 16, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Whoops, forgot to mention it earlier in the day: you can find May’s TILTING AT WINDMILLS right here -B

Arriving 5/13/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 11, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Fairly big, if uninspiring, week: A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #104 (A) ACTION COMICS #877ALL NEW SAVAGE SHE-HULK #2 (OF 4) DKRAMAZON #3 (OF 3)ANGEL NOT FADE AWAY #1AZRAEL DEATHS DARK KNIGHT #3 (OF 3)BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #29BATTLESTAR GALACTICA FINAL FIVE #2 (OF 4)BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #194BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #89BLACK PANTHER 2 #4 DKRBOOSTER GOLD #20BPRD BLACK GODDESS #5 (OF 5)CAPTAIN ACTION COMICS #4 GIORDANO MODERN CVR CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #13CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #37CASTLE WAITING VOL II #15 DARK REIGN HAWKEYE #2 (OF 5) DKRDARK REIGN YOUNG AVENGERS #1 (OF 5) DKRDARK TOWER THE FALL OF GILEAD #1 (OF 6)DEADPOOL SUICIDE KINGS #2 (OF 5)DOCTOR WHO CLASSICS SERIES 2 #6ELEPHANTMEN #19 (RES)FABLES #84 FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH…  Read More…

Désastre Hurlant (T18): À Suivre

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

(being the final installment of an 18-part series of posts concerning each and every book released as part of the DC/Humanoids publishing alliance, 2004-05; index of posts here and here) JM: Hello all! This is Jog, speaking in the exotic dialect of italics. TS: I’m Tucker, I roll with No Formatting. This is where Jog and I will talk about the Chaland anthologies, the school of the clean line, diacritical markings, and how it’s fun to google By The Numbers and find out the only other person who talked about online happens to be Evan Dorkin. JM: All right, I’m getting the hang of it. Talking to other people, I mean. TS: Portions of this were written while I was…  Read More…

Hibbs hits 5/5

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 8, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Capsules, everyone loves them, here we go! ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE BOOK THREE #1 (OF 4): I really like ASTRO CITY. I don’t like “The Dark Age” all that much. It might because of the eons between releases (the letter column suggests this problem is solved during this particular run); or it might be because I just don’t find the two brothers to be all that compelling (at least not such much to sustain a 16 issue arc). The idea of a look at a minion training camp in one of those “vast villain groups” is sorta amusing, but I’ll be happy if AC goes back to the done-in-one storylines that characterized much of prior runs. OK. BUFFY THE…  Read More…

Nicely Done, people!

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 6, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Just a quick note, because this one surprised me. Back on April 1, we had our 20th anniversary, and I decided to run a small sale, with a donation to the San Francisco Food Bank. This was a one day, one shot event, and our means of promotion were pretty much just “word of mouth” (and a post here) I just received a letter from the Food Bank’s events co-coordinator which states we ended up with a donation of 130 pounds of food. Da-yum. That’s WAY more than I would have anticipated, so thanks to each and every one of you that stepped up. GREAT JOB, GANG! -B

Of Cabbages & Kings

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 5, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Tom Spurgeon has Yet Another Excellent Essay on Diamond’s new benchmarks. You should go read it. Here’s the thing though: let’s assume that every rational human in the world agrees with the central premises of the argument — every work deserves a chance on the market. I’ll stipulate that; I certainly believe it personally. Now how does that happen? This isn’t just an idle question — the answer to that is, possibly, the most important question you might answer all day. Tom, God love him, doesn’t have any answers. Saying “it shouldn’t be this way” really isn’t enough. Let’s look at the components of the Direct Market, after the jump. CONSUMERS: Honestly, a fair chunk of the issue is your…  Read More…

A Perfect Holiday: Jeff Pulls a Bait & Linkdump.

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on May 4, 2009

Categories: Uncategorized

Ooo, so far behind. On my comics reading, on my comics Internet reading, on my writing, you name it. But! I did think I’d pass along two links that made my morning a little merrier. They’re behind the link, just because the images might be big enough to screw up the template… I’m sure you already know–and have known since February–that Paul Grist has been serializing his Eternal Warrior comic online. I found out about over the weekend thanks to an old post on Shane Oakley’s blog. There’s about 28 pages there, which puts some meat on its bones, and it’s fun looking at Grist take Moorcock ideas and Barry Windsor-Smith visuals and make them his own. And, of course,…  Read More…

Arriving 5/6/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on

Categories: Shipping Lists

Now THIS is what a week full of comicy goodness is supposed to look like! AGENTS OF ATLAS #4 DKRAMAZING SPIDER-MAN #593ANGEL BLOOD AND TRENCHES #3ARCHIE & FRIENDS #131ASTONISHING TALES #4ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE BOOK THREE #1 (OF 4)AUTHORITY #10BANG TANGO #4 (OF 6) BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL THE NETWORK #1BOYS #30 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #25 CHEN CVRCABLE #14 XMWCEREBUS ARCHIVE #1DAREDEVIL NOIR #2 (OF 4)DEADPOOL #10 DKRDESTROYER #2 (OF 5) EXILES #2FARSCAPE STRANGE DETRACTORS #2 (OF 4) CVR AFIN FANG FOUR RETURN #1FINAL CRISIS AFTERMATH RUN #1 (OF 6)FLASH REBIRTH #2 (OF 5)GRAVEL TP VOL 01 BLOODY LIARS GRIMM FAIRY TALES RETURN TO WONDERLAND ANNUAL #1GROOM LAKE #2HULK BROKEN WORLDS #2 (OF 2)HUMAN TORCH COMICS #1…  Read More…

Diana Goes Digital #600: The Water’s Rising But I Know The Course

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Posted by: admin on

Categories: Reviews

Are you still trying to figure out how a man who once tried to sacrifice his nemesis to Magical Goblin People now seems to control the American government? Have you been stunned speechless at the sight of Bat-Signal Jazz Hands? Do you have the distinct impression that this is your daddy’s Flash? If the answer to any of the above is “YES MY GOD MAKE THE HURTING STOP”, then you probably understand my current near-total apathy towards mainstream comics. And that’s really why I haven’t been as active here as I should be: every week I take home a bunch of comics, and I read them, and I find myself with absolutely nothing to say. We’ve even passed the point…  Read More…

All Hail Saint Joe!

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on May 2, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Today is, of course, Free Comic Book Day, which is, despite what any Decemberist might say, The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year! I was at the store for about 2 hours this morning (hey, I like having my weekends off, thenkyewveddymuch), and I’m always impressed by doing like 60% of a normal Saturday in the first 90 minutes of the day. That is, as the kidz say, “Teh aw3s0m3″ I really really love FCBD — sure *I* have to pay for the comics to give away, but for the amount of business it drives, it is more than worth it; and the best thing is that, really, that’s all I *have* to do. I know some people go nuts…  Read More…

The Best He Is At What He Does, As Long As That Isn’t Preventing Rampant Piracy

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Posted by: Tucker Stone on May 1, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Mr. Claremont, you’re a man of strong opinions. Who would you say your favorite Wolverine writers are, besides you? “Len Wein. Archie Goodwin…[long pause]…well, he isn’t a writer, but a creative force: Hugh Jackman.” [8 second pause at least, give or take when I actually started counting out of confusion at whether he was done talking] “Oh! Larry Hama.” So I watched that X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, and while I have to admit to being impressed that the popularity of overly wordy titles with colons has made their way from Batman Battle For The Cowl: Holy God In Heaven You People Will Learn To Like Hush to the feature film marquee–although I think we should still give credit to Ballistic:…  Read More…