My Life is Choked with Comics #19b: Manga

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on November 30, 2009

Categories: Reviews

(Being part 2 of 2 in a series; part 1 is here) *** III. JAPAN, HIDE YOUR WOMEN! I’ll ask it again, this time with feeling – what the hell is manga? Or more specifically, what the hell is manga today, in comparison to Western professional print comics? (from Hanshin, as presented in The Comics Journal #269; art by Moto Hagio) There’s matters of presentation and distribution, of course. I’ve mentioned that before. Manga is digest-sized paperback books, usually serialized far away from Western eyes in terms of venue — anthology magazines, usually — and often time, in that even the most popular current series have to wait several months for translations to finish or licensing terms to play out….  Read More…

Arriving THURSDAY 12/3/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on

Categories: Shipping Lists

Getting down to the last few shipping weeks of the year, but don’t forget this week’s books arrive on THURSDAY. 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS ADVENTURES OF SINBAD #1028 DAYS LATER #4A VERY ZOMBIE CHRISTMASABSOLUTION #4 (OF 6) ALIENS #4 (OF 4)ANITA BLAKE LC EXECUTIONER #2 (OF 5) ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #204ATHENA #3AUTHORITY #17BARACK THE BARBARIAN #3 (OF 4)BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #38BATMAN THE UNSEEN #5 (OF 5)BETTY #183BLACK WIDOW AND MARVEL GIRLS #1 (OF 4)BLACKEST NIGHT THE FLASH #1 (OF 3)BLACKEST NIGHT WONDER WOMAN #1 (OF 3)BOYS #37 CAPTAIN AMERICA THEATER OF WAR PRISONERS OF DUTYCAPTAIN BLOOD ODYSSEY #2 (OF 5) (NOTE PRICE)CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK #44CINDERELLA FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #2 (OF 6) DARK AVENGERS ANNUAL #1DARK TOWER BATTLE OF JERICHO HILL…  Read More…

Hibbs Returns

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 28, 2009

Categories: Reviews

I spent almost all of last week sick and in bed — damn the plague bearing children! But I owe you some reviews, I think, let’s see what I can do, in that Old School format… BLACKEST NIGHT #5: Really all that one wants out of a big Comics Event (well, or any comic for that matter) is to be surprised a little, to have that “Neat, I didn’t see THAT coming!” moment. And this issue of BN certainly gave me that pretty substantially. I also liked that the Rainbow Squad did exactly nothing. I’m going to go with VERY GOOD here, especially given that this is the issue a lot more people are likely to buy because of the…  Read More…

Arriving 11/25/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 23, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Ugh, I’m very very sick… shouldn’t even be ehre, but someone had to do the invoicing and reordering and all of that… 2000 AD PACK OCT 2009 A G SUPER EROTIC ANTHOLOGY #108 (A) AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #613 GNTLTANGEL #27ARCHIE #603ARKHAM REBORN #2 (OF 3)AVENGERS INITIATIVE #30BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #11BEASTS OF BURDEN #3 (OF 4)BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #176BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #10BLACKEST NIGHT #5 (OF 8)BUCK ROGERS #6CHEW #6 CREEPY COMICS #2CRIMINAL SINNERS #2 DARK AVENGERS ARES #2 (OF 3)DARK TOWER FALL OF GILEAD #6 (OF 6)DARK WOLVERINE #80DARKNESS #81 DAYS MISSING #4 (OF 5)DETECTIVE COMICS #859DEVILS HANDSHAKEDIE HARD YEAR ONE #3DOMINO LADY #3 ENDERS SHADOW COMMAND SCHOOL #3 (OF 5)FANTASTIC FOUR #573FUTURAMA…  Read More…

In Single Issues, In Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps BN Crossover Issues

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on

Categories: Reviews

I fall behind in a lot of reading, and then I have more to read to catch up. Case in point: I picked up GREEN LANTERN CORPS #42, got about three pages into it, and realized that I had no idea what was going on apart from it tying in with Blackest Night and the plot being essentially “Bad Things Happen On Oa.” So I stopped reading, went back and re-read GLC #39-41 first, then #42, straight-through and realized: Hey! This’ll make a great trade. Here’s the thing, though; I’m conflicted whether or not that makes it a good comic. Don’t get me wrong: Taken as a whole, the four issues so far of Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason’s “Black…  Read More…

Arriving 11/18/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 16, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

A fairly low key week. ADVENTURE COMICS #4 (BLACKEST NIGHT)AIR #15 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #612ANGEL ONLY HUMAN #4 (OF 4)ARCHIE DIGEST #259AUTHORITY THE LOST YEAR #3 (OF 12)AZRAEL #2BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #37BATMAN STREETS OF GOTHAM #6BATMAN THE UNSEEN #4 (OF 5)BLACK KNIGHT #1BRAVE AND THE BOLD #29CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #16COWBOY NINJA VIKING #2 CYBERFORCE HUNTER KILLER #3 (OF 5) ROCAFORT CVR ADARK AVENGERS #11DARK REIGN LIST AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ONE-SHOTDEADLOCKE ONE SHOTDEADPOOL MERC WITH A MOUTH #5DOMINIC FORTUNE #4 (OF 4) DR HORRIBLE ONE SHOT (OSW)FALL OUT TOY WORKS #2 (OF 5)FAR WEST BADDER MOJO #1 ONE SHOTFARSCAPE ONGOING #1FLASH REBIRTH #5 (OF 6)G-MAN CAPE CRISIS #4 (OF 5)HELLBLAZER #261 INCREDIBLE HULK #604INVINCIBLE #68IRREDEEMABLE #8JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA 80 PAGE GIANT #1KOOKABURRA K…  Read More…

Just Yield Already, Star-Spangled Shield: Graeme on Reborn

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on November 13, 2009

Categories: Reviews

CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN has the odd distinction of being one of the most dull event books in recent memory. I realized that when, less than a day after re-reading the most recent issue (#4, if you’re curious), I couldn’t remember what had actually happened in it, and felt compelled to re-read the entire thing from the beginning to see what I’d missed. What I’d missed, apparently, was the Summer Blockbusterization of something that didn’t need that kind of treatment. Let me preface this by saying: Brubaker’s Cap run in general is, according to our regular SavCritic scale, Very Good bordering on Excellent, with the eighteen-part story that started with Steve Rogers’ death being the kind of longform superhero story that…  Read More…

From Today, Four Publishers

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Posted by: Joe McCulloch on November 11, 2009

Categories: Reviews

Batman and Robin #6: Oh yes, I’m feeling like an old-fashioned omnibus review post tonight. It’s entirely possible the above image might just say it all, but I still feel obliged to point out that the image of Batman & Robin to the right is supposed to be what the people in the inset panel to the left are watching on their monitor. I haven’t been quite as upset with penciller Philip Tan’s work this storyline as some folks — his shortcomings are roughly similar to those of Tony Daniel, who didn’t attract half as much disapprobation with his Grant Morrison collaborations, despite something like R.I.P. needing a steadier visual approach far worse than this thing — but there’s no…  Read More…

#23 In An Increasingly Irregular Series: Graeme Lives, Reviews

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Posted by: Graeme McMillan on November 10, 2009

Categories: Reviews

It’s been an insanely long time since I last posted, but let’s just chalk that up to being very busy and move on quickly, shall we? Here’re some things that I’ve been reading recently. Some you may even remember! BATMAN/DOC SAVAGE SPECIAL #1: It’s very nice to look at, but very slight. Basically, Doc Savage thinks Batman is up to no good, then then have a fight and he realizes his mistake. Phil Noto’s art – always bordering on both the sterile and the overly-pretty – is the best thing about what, otherwise, is a standard Marvel Team-Up plot without much flair from Brian Azzarello’s bland script. Eh, and not boding too well for the mini-series spin-off from this. CINDERELLA:…  Read More…

Arriving 11/11/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 9, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

Despite the Wednesday holiday, there’s still a regular Wednesday shipment this week (well, unless you’re in Canada, I think?) It *looks* like the major work on Divisadero St. is done — at least we have all of our lanes back open, and most of the neighborhood parking again — so if you’ve been avoiding us because of the hassle, come on in! Here’s this week’s shipping list… ACTION COMICS #883AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #611ANCHOR #2ARCHIE & FRIENDS #137AUTHORITY THE LOST YEAR READERBATGIRL #4BATMAN #693BATMAN AND ROBIN #6BATMAN DOC SAVAGE SPECIAL #1BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #199BLACK PANTHER 2 #10BLACK TERROR #5BLACKBEARD LEGEND OF THE PYRATE KING #2BOOSTER GOLD #26 (BLACKEST NIGHT)BPRD 1947 #5 (OF 5)CABLE #20CARS RADIATOR SPRINGS #3 CARTOON NETWORK ACTION PACK…  Read More…

Arriving 11/4/2009

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on November 2, 2009

Categories: Shipping Lists

BEHOLD: Comics! ABSOLUTION #3 (OF 6) AGE OF BRONZE #29 AGE OF REPTILES JOURNEY #1AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #610AOD ASH SAVES OBAMA #3 (OF 4)ASSAULT ON NEW OLYMPUSASTONISHING X-MEN #32ATHENA #2ATOMIKA #11 (OF 12)AUTHORITY #16BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #36BATMAN THE UNSEEN #3 (OF 5)BATMAN WIDENING GYRE #3 (OF 6)BLACK WIDOW DEADLY ORIGIN #1 (OF 4)BOYS #36 BOYS HEROGASM #6 (OF 6) BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #30 ADAM HUGHES CVRCAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN #4 (OF 6)CINDERELLA FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE #1 (OF 6) CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #15DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #899DEATHLOK #1 (OF 7)DOCTOR VOODOO AVENGER OF SUPERNATURAL #2DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #347 DOOM PATROL #4 (BLACKEST NIGHT)END LEAGUE #9 (OF 9)FINDING NEMO REEF RESCUE #4 (OF 4) FROM THE ASHES #6GEARS OF WAR #10 GHOST RIDERS HEAVENS…  Read More…