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Weekly Comic Shopping List 12/3/09


  • Larry Marders Beanworld Vol 3 Remember Here When You Are There HC-- I'll have to get this and devote a whole week to just reading Beanworld.  Maybe I'll try to do that the last week of December when there's supposedly no new comics being shipped.  When I've read Beanworld in the past, there's a certain state of mind that you have to be open to, whether you start out with it or are open to achieving it.  That's a lot to put on a comic book but, then again, Larry Marder has always billed Beanworld as “a most peculiar comic book experience.”

  • Star Wars Legacy Vol 7 Storms TP-- Legacy has been one of the best Star Wars comic series ever.  Ostrander and Duursema have been truly trailblazing new ground with this series.  With anything that's gone to the past, you always knew that the story ended up with Vader versus Luke.  With anything that's followed Luke, Leia and Han after RotJ, it felt like fan fiction, unable to let go of their favorite characters.  With Legacy, Ostrander and Duursema are able to play around with the toys but tell their own stories that have almost nothing to do with anything else. 

  • Jonah Hex Vol 2 #50 --  There's only three artists who have gotten me to pick up this series:  J.H. Williams III, Jordi Bernet (where's my Torpedo, IDW?) and Darwyn Cooke.  With this issue, Cooke returns to Jonah Hex and I don't really care what the story is.  This could be the 80s Hex, where he's stuck in the future, and I'd still buy it for Cooke's artwork.

  • Sweet Tooth #4-- I really tried to write about this book after the third issue and couldn't come up with much more than "it's good."  It is good.  Any hesitation I had about this series after the first issue is pretty much gone and I can't wait to see what Jeff Lemire ends up doing with this story.

  • Grimjack Manx Cat #5--  It's Grimjack so I'm going to say it's good even if it isnt.  Luckily it is good and the artwork by Truman is gorgeous. 

  • King City #3-- This is one of those series that I'm letting pile up so I can read a bunch of them at one.

  • Hulk Winter Guard--  From the High Moon/Box 13 team.  I've enjoyed both of those stories so far and I've always kind of liked the Winter Guard so this story has me pretty psyched.

  • Slam Dunk Vol 7 GN-- This is a fun series even if the pacing of it is kind of slow.  It's amazing how Inoue can take so much time (almost 2 volumes) to depict one basketball game, capturing the speed and energy of the game, while slowing down everything outside of the game.  I'm caught up on this and Real.  Now I need to start reading those VizBig volumes of Vagabond.

  • Comics Journal #300-- I have TCJ #301 ordered already.  I wonder if I'll ever see it.

@ Pop Syndicate-- Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Box (tpb)

"X-Men stories live or die based on their relationship to the past and continuity, both cruel mistresses to all comic book writers.  But, looking at his first Astonishing X-Men story, that’s not a mistress that Ellis seems at all interested in."

You can read the full review at Pop Syndicate

Like so many stories nowadays, this is one of those that reads much better as a collection than it did as individual issues.  The combination of Ellis & Bianchi produce a fairly fun story actually, more of a pop story that Ellis used to claim that superhero comics could and should be. 

@ Pop Syndicate-- Dominic Fortune #4

"Howard Chaykin writes a fantastic neo-pulp adventure, combining the World War II love of Roy Thomas with the hyper-storytelling sensibilities of Quentin Tarantino to create a pre-war story that holds nothing sacred except for trying to create an entertaining story."
 
You can read the full review at Pop Syndicate
 
This is a review I wish I had a second chance at.  Maybe I'll try to do something more when the collected version of this book comes out.  It's when Chaykin does action/adventure like this or even the 90s Midnight Men where I think his true pulpy roots and even his comic roots come out.  Sure I'd love to see another American Flagg! or even Time2 out of Chaykin but those may be the works of a younger, hungerier artist.  Maybe there's not the same drive behind Chaykin to tell a story now as there was back in the 80s when he was first able to dabble in pure self expression.

Weekly Comic Shopping List 11/25/09

I didn't realize that dropping the Amazing Spider-Man collections was only going to be the beginning.  But I'm looking at my shelf and realize that while the past 5-8 years have delivered some good superhero stories, I've had enough.  Eleven Spider-Man collections in the past 2 years?  Probably as many Green Lantern related books and Avengers related books?  That's enough for me right now.  I'm closing out the latest overarching stories (Blackest Night and possibly Siege) and then bowing out.  It seems like a lot of major storylines are being wrapped up and that's the perfect time to clear some decks.

  • Blackest Night #5 -- I honestly don't care about the bad guy here and I ended up dropping the main Green Lantern titles so I'm wanting to see how well this reads without caring or seeing half of the story.  Let's be honest, what's happening in Green Lantern is a big part of Blackest Night.  Like so much else, this series started off strong but I think it's just my own enthusiasm for this that has fallen off.  Part of me feels like I just need to detox off of Geoff Johns after this and that's probably a good thing.  After last week's amusing but labored Adventure Comics #4, I can't tell if Geoff Johns likes the people who read his comics, puts up with them or detests them.  Any way, I honestly don't care.  The art sure is pretty though.  I'm still enjoying Reis's Alan Davis/Neal Adams mashup style and love the way that the Flash is drawn in this book.

  • Detective Comics #859--  This book continues to impress me.  Rucka's lean writing and J.H. Williams III's chameleon-like approach to this book are creating an interesting read that's got me more enthralled than Morrison's Batman and Robin right now.  Morrison's take is clever and grand but I prefer the smaller, more character driven story by Rucka right now. 

  • Shade The Changing Man Vol 2 Edge Of Vision TP-- I want to pick this one up at some point because I like both Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo.  For some reason, when this was originally coming out, I never got into it but I'm curious to go back and look at these early Vertigo books that featured British writers exploring the concept of America.  From Moore to Milligan to Morrison, there was a theme of trying to find meaning in America in Vertigo back in the day.  That's shifted a bit now where you have American writers like Brian Wood doing the same thing.

  • Winter Men TP-- This is one of those series that I've heard a lot about but never read.  I'm actually a bit surprised that DC/Wildstorm got the collection of this out as quickly as they did.  I'm looking forward to reading it.

  • Criminal The Sinners #2
  • Incognito TP-- I didn't care as much about Incognito as I do about Criminal but where ever the artistic pair of Sean Phillips and Val Staples show up, I'll be there.  But I'm looking forward to reading Incognito all in one sitting, to see if it flows any better or if it's still just a second-hand Sleeper.  Criminal, on the other hand, continues to be one of the best comics around

  • Ganges Vol 3 TP-- Someday soon, I have to sit down with a lot of Kevin Huizenga's work.  I like the individual pieces but haven't felt a connection to his larger body of comics.  Weird, eh? 

@ Pop Syndicate-- War Of Kings (hardcover)

"In War of Kings, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Marvel’s current space-tale architects, muddy up the conflict as the Shi’ar and the Kree, led by the Inhumans, face off over empire boundaries and which race should rule the heavens.  The battles over invasion in Annihilation has been replaced by the politics of borders in War of Kings and that’s just not as much fun."

You can read the full read the full review at Pop Syndicate.

I don't know whether I was too harsh or too easy on this book with this review.  The main part of the Shi'ar/Kree was was just long and drawn out.  It was more of a war drama than a war story, if that makes any sense.  I can't believe that my favorite part of this book was the Darkhawk story.  Up until a few weeks ago when my son pulled a Darkhawk book out of a 25 cent box, I don't think I had ever bought or read a Darkhawk story.  With the few issues that Abnett and Lanning had, they gave the character a decent background and make him at least an interesting character.

Art Appreciation-- David Mazzucchelli's Batman #407

My copies of the original issues of Batman Year One are buried in a long box somewhere and I haven't really looked at them in years.  If I want to read Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's story, I usually grab my 1st printing hardcover off the shelf (yes, I am bragging a bit) and look through it, much like I did this weekend.  I grabbed it after seeing a message board thread about favorite covers where someone posted the cover to Batman #407, the final part of Year One. 

The problem with the first collected editions of Year One is that the covers aren't fully reprinted.  They're used more as spot illustrations with large portions of those covers obscured.  Which is a true shame because after being reminded of the cover for Batman #407, it may be one of my favorite covers.

First off, Mazzucchelli's style on Year One is phenomenal.  By this time, he had developed such a stark and bare style where no brush stroke or line is unnecessary.  His minimalistic style had started to appear by the end of Daredevil: Born Again but it is fully developed by the time he got to Year One.  There's a fantastic precision to each and every line in his art and it's also on display in the covers.  After Year One, I always appreciated the "clean" and simple look to Batman.  The only artist after Mazzucchelli who ever really replicated this style is Matt Wagner.  

The cover to #407 is the yin and yang of Batman and Jim Gordon, the circular design that keeps the two figures forever connected and part of the same whole.  From Batman's flowing cape that brings you in on the left side of the cover and then wraps you around Batman, flowing into Jim Gordon's leg and then following up the figure, you can't escape this cover.  You can't look away as you're trapped going around and around until you get trapped by Gordon's gun but even that leads you back to Batman and the whole visual cycle continues again. 

There's also the great tension in this cover if you take the logo into account.  The giant bat nicely throws off the balance of Batman and Gordon.  It's a basic part of every issue but here it throws everything off.  It creates more conflict in the cover by flowing against the circle formed by the two figures. 

Batman407

Weekly Comic Shopping List 11/18/09

So next week I'm traveling to Michigan for the holiday, planning on packing away a couple of books to take with me to read on a mini vacation.  Pluto and Wasteland are both on my list of possible traveling books but unfortunately, I probably won't have my copies of these newest collections until after I get home.

  • Adventure Comics Vol 2 #4-- My first Blackest Night ring.  I can't believe we're only on the fourth issue and I feel like the book is being horribly interrupted by a cross over. It barely feels like this story has found out what it wants to be and now it's being put on hold.  The big Legion story that I think is coming up can't happen fast enough for me at this point.

  • Flash Rebirth #5-- I think I've liked the individual issues of this miniseries much more than I like it as a whole.  A couple of weeks ago, I pulled out the first four issues and whatever story Johns and Van Sciver are trying to tell barely hangs together from issue to issue.  Maybe it's the lousy schedule of this book but it's feeling very fractured right now.  The pieces are good but there's nothing yet bringing it all together.  At this point, I'm looking forward to Flash: Blackest Night just to see more Scott Kolins artwork.

  • Green Lantern Corps Emerald Eclipse HC--Chaos.  Destruction.  Mortality.  And Blackest Night hasn't even begun yet. 

  • Phonogram 2 Singles Club #5-- I've already talked about this book here and here.  I like it.  It's good.

  • Dominic Fortune #4-- Nothing that Chaykin has written in the past 10 years has felt nearly as strong as his work during his 1980's heyday but Dominic Fortune comes close.  This book may actually be a bit of a departure for Chaykin as his leading character isn't as wishy-washy as a lot of his leads are.  This has actually been a fantastic pulpy adventure and one of the most enjoyable stories Chaykin has written since the days of Blackhawk and The Shadow.

  • Wasteland Book 5 Tales Of The Uninvited TP--  I really need to catch up on my post-apocalyptic reading.  This collection reprints a number of the side stories that Johnston has done between the larger stories, with a number of different artists.  These stories have given Johnston the room to build a larger world for Wasteland than he's done in the main story. 

  • Tezukas Black Jack Vol 8--Black Jack is Tezuka's medical procedural story even if most of the medicine practiced is fiction.  This is another one of those series that aren't being collected in any kind of chronological order so you don't get a lot of character development but you do get strong characters.  Tezuka's Black Jack is a renegade, a rogue and a man with his own, oddly just moral code.  He's part Quincy, part Indiana Jones and part The Man With No Name. 

  • GoGo Monster-- I'm not too sure when this book comes out.  Viz says it's 11/17.  Amazon lists sometime in December and I haven't seen it on any comic shop list yet. 

  • Oishinbo A La Carte Vol 6 The Joy Of Rice TP--  Here's another series that I really need to catch up with. Since this is a collection of related stories rather than one, continuous ongoing narrative, I haven't felt the need to read this one every time a volume comes out.  Unfortunately, that means I haven't read much since the second volume.  The artwork isn't the greatest but it's wonderful to read a great story about food.  All I know is that after the first volume, I was in a mood for Japanese food for a good, long time.

  • Pluto Urasawa x Tezuka Vol 6 TP-- Quoting David Brothers from Twitter:  "It's impossible to oversell how good Pluto is, because Pluto is better than your favorite comic."  Unlike Monster or 20th Century Boys, there's a fantastic calmness to this book.  Actually, "calmness" may be the wrong word.  There's a reserved energy in this series as Urasawa patiently doles out the story. 

@ Pop Syndicate-- Phonogram: The Singles Club #5

"None of the characters in Phonogram: The Single Club are necessarily what you’d call completely emotionally healthy but issue #5 opens with a cringe-worthy scene as Laura slashes small cuts into her arms with a razor blade.  There are numerous cuts on both arms so you know she’s done this before even as she protests “I’m just me.  And I’m working on that.”  Laura is a work in progress, a little girl who tries to be tough and hard but has no idea how to do that other than by trying to inflict pain on herself or on the people around her."

You can read the full review at Pop Syndicate.

Over the weekend, I watched Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco and it reminded me of The Singles Club in many ways, particularly how both are using music as an entry point into their character's lives.  I think it's fair to say that one of the struggles with Phonogram: Rue Brittania was with just how rooted it was in Brit Pop music, or even music in general, that made the book a bit impenetrable.  Rue Brittania is about music as much as it's about David Kohl.

The Singles Club is a completely different beast.  Sure there's the music references (this issue alone is peppered with Long Blondes quotes,) but Gillen and McKelvie are telling stories about people here.  The music colors the story much in the same was as Matthew Wilson's fantastic hues do.  But this is about more than just the music.  I reread all of the issues of The Singles Club quickly before writing this review and I found I really liked spending time with these characters in a way that I didn't like spending time with David Kohl.  I may not like the characters but I like hanging out with them for this night.

I'm thinking when the series is done and the collection is out, I want to write a bit about the structure of this comic.  Until this weekend, I was thinking about Robert Altman and the way he used ensembles, comparing it in my mind to the way that Gillen and McKelvie have created a wonderful cast here.  But now I'm thinking about Stillman and how he was using his cast and commenting about a certain period in time in their lives.  The Singles Club is much more focused timewise than Stillman's movie but I think there's something as interesting going on in the comic as there is in Stillman's movie.

Art Appreciation-- Marcos Martin's Amazing Spider-Man #620 cover

One of the pure delights during the past few years has been seeing Marcos Martin draw The Amazing Spider-Man on a sporadic basis. While I'm still planning on dropping the Amazing Spider-Man collections, I may end up picking up Martin's issues, such as the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man #620.

Personally, I think there are only two Spider-Man artists-- Steve Ditko and John Romita.  Everyone else is some combination of those two.  While I like the Romita school (Romita Jr., Bagley, McKone, Andru, etc...) I get excited by the Ditko school of artists.  They bend the characters into near impossible poses, use the positive and negative space of the costume to great effect and make Peter Parker a still scrawny kid rather than a super-hero. 

Martin here uses the coloring and shapes in Spidey's costume perfectly.  I also really like Mysterio's cape, more reminiscent of flowing lava than the folds of a cape.  It all adds to the fiery and smokey feel of the cover.  There's true danger here, no matter how understated it may be.

The early success of Amazing Spider-Man and Brand New Day was the strength of the varying talent it had. No two artists were alike but they were all strong and drew a different but near perfect version of the character.  At this point, I'd love to see Martin get a long arc of the title to draw.  I'd love to have just one solid collection of Spider-Man stories, filled with his artwork.

Amzspidman620

@Pop Syndicate-- Getting Ready for the Prisoner

" The new village looks more normal than I would have expected. When I think of the original Village, it seems small and self-contained to me. It was an artificial environment that didn’t try to be anything but that. It was a prison and still maintained some aspects of that. The new Village looks too normal to me. It looks like it’s trying to be a small town and have a relatively normal environment. From the clips I’ve seen, the new Village doesn’t feel as alien or foreign as the original feels to me.

"The new Village feels like something out of The Truman Show."

Over at Pop Syndicate, David Rasmussen and I kicked off our look at AMC's new The Prisoner with a little bit of back and forth article talking about the original Prisoner and what we expect from the ongoing series.

David already has reviews for the first two episodes up here and here.  I'll probably try to get something up about the opening two episodes today.