The funniest comic I’ve ever read: Boy’s Club #3

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Posted by: Sean T. Collins on September 30, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Boy’s Club #3 Matt Furie, writer/artist Buenaventura Press, 2009 40 pages $4.95 Buy it from Buenaventura Press It might seem premature to cover a comic I read for the first time a little over a week ago in my “Favorites” series. It might be premature—if that comic weren’t Boy’s Club #3. Find out why I’m breakin’ all the rules after the jump. Two Fridays ago some friends and I gathered ’round the flatscreen for a drunken, junk-food-laden, back-to-back marathon viewing of Crank 2: High Voltage, RoboCop, and Road House. At least, that was the plan. Unfortunately we’re not as young and irresponsible as we once were, so fully half the group punched out after the first (AMAZING, SEE IT RIGHT…  Read More…

Arriving 9/30/2009 Addendum

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 29, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Diamond isn’t the only distributor I buy from, and, most weeks we only get a few minor titles from B&T et al. But this week, there was a pretty large pile of quality stuff we got in outside of Diamond, enough that I thought worth typing it up… AYA THE SECRETS COME OUT HCBALL PEEN HAMMER GNBEST AMERICAN COMICS 2009 HCBOILERPLATE HISTORYS MECHANICAL MARVEL HCLOGICOMIX GNMARVEL COMICS IN THE 1960S TPREFRESH REFRESH GNTALKING LINES HCTINY TYRANT V2 LUCKY WINNER GNTROTSKY HC (Rick Geary!) That’s a number of awesome books!!! (OK, back to copying and folding ONOMATOPOEIA!) -B

Arriving 9/30/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 28, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

I always hate this week of the month — have to finish the new order form AND get ONOMATOPOEIA out the door… back as soon as my dance card empties out… ALIENS #3 (OF 4)AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #607ASTRO CITY ASTRA SPECIAL #1 (OF 2)BAD DOG #3 BAD KIDS GO TO HELL #4 (OF 4) BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #9BATMAN WIDENING GYRE #2 (OF 6)BETTY #182BLACKEST NIGHT TITANS #2 (OF 3)BOMB QUEEN VI #1 (OF 4) BOYS HEROGASM #5 (OF 6) CYBERFORCE HUNTER KILLER #2 (OF 5) ROCAFORT CVR ADARK REIGN HOOD #5 (OF 5)DARK REIGN LETHAL LEGION #3 (OF 3) DKRDARK REIGN SINISTER SPIDER-MAN #4 (OF 4)DARK TOWER THE FALL OF GILEAD #5 (OF 6)DARKNESS #80 HESTER CVR A…  Read More…

It really was a kitten, after all: Douglas vs. 9/23

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Posted by: Douglas Wolk on September 26, 2009

Categories: Reviews

DETECTIVE COMICS #857: The Batwoman serial is my favorite thing happening in superhero comics at the moment, and it keeps getting more luxuriously inventive with each installment. I actually went back and reread all four parts after reading this one, and there are a handful of earlier scenes that open up in the light of later ones. One of those later cues is Alice’s final line of dialogue this issue–I believe it may be the only thing she’s said in four issues that isn’t a quotation from Lewis Carroll’s Alice–which sure makes Kate’s hallucination in #855 a lot more interesting. The Question backups still aren’t clicking at all: I suspect an eight-page story needs to be much more densely packed…  Read More…

Superhero comics worth your time today

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Posted by: Sean T. Collins on September 23, 2009

Categories: Reviews

I haven’t done a quick-hits look at the week’s front-of-Previews-type comics in literally years now. Here’s a look at some books that came out today that I enjoyed. Perhaps you will too. See you after the jump… DARK REIGN: THE LIST—X-MEN While Alan Davis isn’t my cup of tea, I fully support comics in which the Green Goblin unleashes a bioengineered sea monster as a doomsday weapon against the people of Atlantis to get back at Namor (who used to be married to the sea monster), and then Namor and the X-Men beat the sea monster (who used to be married to Namor) to death and toss its giant decapitated head through the Green Goblin’s window. I hope the Green…  Read More…

Arriving 9/23/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 21, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

It’s not a large week of comics, but I’m going to hide it under the jump so as to prevent Jog’s excellent post from scrolling down too far… Also, everyone who gets here without reading Spurgeon on a regular basis should check out his excellent essay on how comics have changed over the last half decade. The list is after the jump… AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #606ANITA BLAKE LC NECROMANCER #5 (OF 5) ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #202AVENGERS INITIATIVE #28BART SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #15BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #8BLACKEST NIGHT SUPERMAN #2 (OF 3)BUCK ROGERS #4CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #14DARK REIGN LIST X-MEN ONE SHOTDARK REIGN MADE MENDARK X-MEN CONFESSION ONE-SHOT DAXDARKNESS PITT #2 (OF 3) KEOWN CVR ADETECTIVE COMICS #857DOCTOR…  Read More…

My Life is Choked with Comics #19a: Manga

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on

Categories: Reviews

(Being part 1 of 2 in a series; part 2 is here) *** What is manga? (from Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga; art by Koji Aihara & Kentaro Takekuma) Japanese comics, right? Maybe a collection of recognizable icons – big eyes, speed lines, etc. Flowers in the background, cartoony art. Except when it’s not. How about format? It’s dozens of little books on the shelves of Borders. Naruto. Nana. Death Note. Pluto. A Drifting Life. A different world, an alternate reality – a foreign industry where comics are more popular and more prolific, escapism of an extra-narrative type. More comics for women, more comics for kids, more comics, beholden to their own traditions and biases, maybe intimidating, maybe interesting….  Read More…

Claremont’s X-Men 3: It’s All Downhill From Here, Maybe.

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on September 20, 2009

Categories: Reviews

The Phoenix Saga ruined the X-Men for a few years. I know Jeff Lester disagrees with me on this, but he’s wrong; as exciting and classic comics as it may be, the whole Dark Phoenix thing derailed UNCANNY X-MEN all the way through #175, and I’m blaming it all on Jim Shooter and John Byrne. Okay, that’s maybe not entirely fair – especially Byrne left the book within six months of the end of the storyline, and Shooter probably bears less responsibility than Claremont, who was, y’know, writing the book and all – but while everything from #125 through #137 has become Official Comic Landmark material because Claremont and Byrne are working in such sync and with such success that…  Read More…

Tilting v3 #16 is up

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 18, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Yeah, it hasn’t been a full month, I know, but I wanted to get some thoughts Entered Into The Permanent Record on the Paul Levitz thing. You can read them here. Interested in your thoughts, as always… -B

Tucker Really Hopes You Like His Reviews Of Comics So Much You Guys

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Posted by: Tucker Stone on

Categories: Reviews

Looks like there’s been enough meat-y think posts on here since the last time I checked in. Too bad that they all keep being on comics you cats have all read, right? I thought I’d take a look at some of the 2009 small press stuff, and I totally started on that, and then I got distracted by the fact that a ball of aluminum foil can reflect light. I keep batting it around, but since it’s not really round, I never know what direction it’s going to go in. Here’s three though. They’re all in the Upper Echelon of the Ratings Scale, if you’ve got your computer turned on its side. Jan’s Atomic Heart They’re calling this one a…  Read More…

And Here Are Some Things I Read Recently…

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Posted by: admin on September 17, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Look! I done read some new comics for a change, and here I am talking about them. It’s just like old times, under the jump. ADVENTURE COMICS #2: How to sap a new series of almost all of its excitement, part 23: As soon as #2 comes out, announce that the creative team is being taken off the book before the seventh issue – while pointing out that two of the issues before then are crossovers with the latest event, by a fill-in artist – and then tell everyone that the lead strip is being also being removed so that the new writer can expand the back-up to fill the entire book. On the plus side, I’m as excited about…  Read More…

Hibbs quick hits 9/16

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 16, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Just a quick in and out to hit a few books from this week… after the jump! ARCHIE #601: Wow, that’s seriously weird for an Archie comic — there’s a shout-out reference to Kurtzman/Elder “Starchie” story (!); there’s a titty joke (“Oh, you must be Juggie!”) (!!); and there’s even a hint of pre-marital sex (!!!). Don’t get me wrong, it is all extremely mild, and a 8 year old girl isn’t going to read it the same way I did, but still, none of that’s what I would have expected in an Archie comic. Other than that, I enjoyed this just fine — but I thought the resolution of the Betty story was a bit… mm, shoehorned, maybe? It’s…  Read More…

Some Indie Shit and Manga David Done Read

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Posted by: David Uzumeri on

Categories: Reviews

Yeah, so I haven’t written about superhero comics for a while largely because – not to go all David Brothers in this piece – while I’ve been enjoying a lot of stuff coming out, I haven’t been driven to write much about a lot of it. So instead, I’ve been dipping my uncultured, pervert-suit-loving self into the world of INDEPENDENT SMALL PRESS COMICS, not to mention the dangerous and exotic Orient of sequential art they call “man-ga.” Joking aside, here’s some pretty great shit I read recently, and what I thought about it. (Obviously, there is more after the jump.) Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli, Pantheon Press Yeah, I’m hardly the first person to come out and say that this…  Read More…

Arriving 9/16/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 14, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Wouldn’t it have been awesome if that Pop-up Dracula book was a pop-up version of Abhay Kholsa’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula? I’d pay good money for that, yes. 28 DAYS LATER #2ACTION COMICS #881AGENTS OF ATLAS #11AIR #13 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #605AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS ANTI VENOM #1 (OF 3)ANGEL #25AOD ASH SAVES OBAMA #2 (OF 4)ARCHIE #601ATHENA #1 W/ OBAMA FLIP CVRATOMIC ROBO SHADOW FROM BEYOND TIME #5 (OF 5)BATGIRL #2BATMAN AND ROBIN #4BATMAN STREETS OF GOTHAM #4BEASTS OF BURDEN #1 (OF 4)BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #174BLACKEST NIGHT #3 (OF 8)BRAVE AND THE BOLD #27CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #3 (OF 5)CAVEWOMAN RED MENACE ONE-SHOTCITIZEN REX #3 (OF 6)DARK AVENGERS #9DARK REIGN LIST DAREDEVIL ONE SHOTDARK WOLVERINE #78DEADPOOL MERC WITH A MOUTH #3DOMINIC…  Read More…

Abhay Re: Crime Novels.

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on September 13, 2009

Categories: Reviews

COMICS: All blow. Instead, I’ve been reading CRIME NOVELS. I turned my attention to the girl beside me. She was a reasonably sized, well-proportioned, dark-haired, basically sound specimen of human female, but she was doing her best to hide the fact, at least the female fact. She had a boy’s haircut, or what used to be a boy’s haircut before they all started letting it grow. She also had a boy’s pants on, complete with fly—pretty soon nothing will be safe from women’s lib, not even our jock-straps. – from MATT HELM: THE INTRIGUERS, by Donald Hamilton. SEVERANCE PACKAGE by Duane Swiercynski: The back cover promised action: a group of office drones show up for a meeting at corporate headquarters,…  Read More…

Giant-Sized Wait, What? #1 Now Available For Your Ears….

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on September 10, 2009

Categories: Podcasts

Like a time traveler arriving to warn us all from the long-forgotten bygone era of Sunday, Giant-Sized Wait, What? #1 is available for your listening pleasure. In it, Graeme and I talk, approximately a week late at the time, about the announced purchase of Marvel by Disney. (Sure. See if we do that shit again. We emailed each other just yesterday about discussing the recent DC restructuring, but decided to do so would only invite further seismic activity along Ye Olde Direct Marketplace Fault Line.) Seriously, though, you may find some enjoyment in this–it’s like, um, steampunk comic market analysis! Or…something. It’s also long (hence the name, but also to distinguish it from the other episode of Wait, What? we…  Read More…

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 9, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

[ONE EDIT: 9/9/09 9:54 PM, scroll to the next brackets] As you may have now heard, Paul Levitz is now out at DC, and DC Comics will now become “DC Entertainment”, headed by Diane Nelson. This is, I think, much bigger news than the Disney/Marvel thing from last week. Paul certainly has his shares of detractors, but I’ve always thought of him as the Smartest Man in Comics, and absolutely one of the key Architects and Protectors of the DM. Rich Johnston (of all people) has probably the best “eulogy” for Paul over on Bleeding Cool. [HERE'S THE EDIT: Kurt Busiek nails it even better than Rich] I think Paul is a Class Act, and there’s nothing more that I…  Read More…

STRANGEly fascinating

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 8, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Wow, I really loved Marvel’s STRANGE TALES #1. If this was an attempt to “counter-program” DC’s WEDNESDAY COMICS, it’s a pretty solid drubbing — there’s a tremendous amount of energy and passion on display on most of the strips here that I’m finding lacking from WC (which is beautiful, and all, but I found myself suddenly stopping reading WC at around week 3, saying I’ll read again when the whole thing is complete, which I guess will get me there around 9/23) Like with most anthologies, there’s not a lot here of real lasting and permanent value, but even the slightest pieces are inventive and fun — for example, Paul Pope’s “Inhumans” story is nearly an episode of Seinfeld on…  Read More…

Arriving THURSDAY 9/10/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 7, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Please do not forget that, thanks to Labor Day, New Comics Day in the US is not until THURSDAY this week! 2000 AD PACK AUG 2009 2000 AD PACK JUL 2009 ADVENTURE COMICS #2AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #604ANGEL ONLY HUMAN #2 (OF 4)ARCHIE & FRIENDS #135ARCHIE DIGEST #257BLACKEST NIGHT BATMAN #2 (OF 3)BOOSTER GOLD #24BPRD 1947 #3 (OF 5)CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #41COMPLETE DRACULA #3 (OF 5)DARK AVENGERS/UNCANNY X-MEN EXODUS DAXDARK REIGN LIST AVENGERS ONE SHOTDARK REIGN YOUNG AVENGERS #4 (OF 5) DKRDEAD #4 KINGDOM OF FLIES DEAD AT 17 AFTERBIRTH #4 (OF 4)DEAD SPACE EXTRACTION (ONE SHOT)DESCENDANT #3 (OF 3)DMZ #45 DOCTOR WHO ONGOING #3DOOM PATROL #2ELEPHANTMEN #21 (RES)ENDERS GAME COMMAND SCHOOL #1 (OF 5)FALLEN ANGEL REBORN #3FARSCAPE DARGOS TRIAL #2FINDING…  Read More…

TITLTING #184 is up: An Open Letter to the Disney co.

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on September 4, 2009

Categories: Retailing/Industry

The newest column is up at Comic Book Resources. Go give it a read! Always happy for opinions, whether there, or in a comments thread here. -B

Abhay: "3 Jacks" by Ann Nocenti, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, and Chris Eliopoulos

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Posted by: Abhay Khosla on

Categories: Reviews

So, “3 Jacks”—pretty much the best Marvel comic of the year so far, right? Tim O’Neil agrees; I agree; I don’t know who else has weighed in. “3 Jacks” is a 13-page back-up feature in DAREDEVIL #500, created by Ann Nocenti, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth and Chris Eliopoulos. The rest of the comic is inert; not worth anyone’s time. But: “3 Jacks,” everybody! Where do we start? Well, let’s start with the first page. The opening panel: buildings in silhouette, with the Coney Island Parachute Jump tower above the skyline. I don’t know much about the Parachute Jump tower, but: at the angle chosen, the way Aja draws it, does it resembles a cross to you? Our metal-crucifix is located…  Read More…