Comics I bought This Week: March 29, 2007

Only one of my regulars was in this week but I picked up a first issue too:

Usagi Yojimbo 101

Guy Ritchie's Game Keeper 1

I also grabbed the latest issue of Roy Thomas' Alter Ego (a mag dedicated to Golden Age comics) which features artist Bob Powell. I don't know much about Powell and am looking forward to reading about him and his his art.

So last week I got the collected version of "Edgar Allan Poe's Haunt of Horror" from Marvel's Max line. It's pretty good but limited. It is a collection of stories drawn by Richard Corben that were inspired by Poe's poems and short stories. The original poems and stories are also printed for comparison. The problem is all of the stories are really short and that doesn't leave much room for a lot of tale to tell. Many of Poe's short poems aren't even narratives so there is a completely different narrative going on in the art. I guess it's supposed to capture the flavor of the poem but it fails as often as it succeeds making an uneven read. Corben's storytelling is always on target though so that is a plus but sometimes it seems that the Poe inspired words are superfluous. The whole book, while well done, almost seems like an exercise. For Corben fans only.

Week Fourteen of my reviews of recent DC Comics.

Justice Society Vol 2 TPB - This books surprised the hell out of me with how much I liked it. It had so many strikes against it in my mind that I never even expected to pick it up and read it. It reprints some late 70's JSA stories by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton. That was four strikes right there.

Late 70's DC Comics are not my favorites. I didn't like them when I was 12 (born in '66) and I don't like them much now. Strike one.

I never liked the JSA. Not being a DC Comics fan as a kid they were never relevant to me. They were old fashioned, more boring versions of the Justice League. I mostly read JSA stories in those long winded Roy Thomas written comics from the early eighties so that could be where my JSA bias comes from. Strike two.

I haven't read anything written by Paul Levitz in years. I remember him being a solid if unspectacular writer in the early eighties. He's been the head dude at DC but I haven't heard one positive word about his writing in twenty years. Not many negative words either. His writing has just been forgotten or cast aside. Strike Three.

I like some of Joe Staton's work but this doesn't look like his best stuff. A lot of the drawing is really wonky. Strike four. Or so I thought.

I picked up the book and started reading it a bit and I was captured. Nostalgia had nothing to do with it because I have no nostalgia for late 70's DC books. Marvel yes. DC no.

It had to do with the stories being told really well. The plots were clear and concise while constantly moving forward at a rapid pace. Staton's artwork had some awkward drawing but the storytelling was excellent. I was hooked.

All of the characters were well defined and acted consistently as the large cast moved in and out of the story from issue to issue. Sure there was the internal logic of 70's DC comics that today's fans of super hero "realism" might find quaint but that logic was handled in finely crafted way. It is a fun and entertaining volume full of well told tales. Give it a read.

Ker-Choo!

I've had this head cold/sinus thing going on for the past week and a half. Nothing terrible or life threatening but enough to make my days uncomfortable to miserable (on a sliding scale). It's the kind of thing that wouldn't keep someone from going into work but would slow you down. It doesn't stop you in your tracks like a flu but they'll be no spring in your step.

I actually find it pretty easy to go into work with a cold because what choice would I have? People go into work with mild sicknesses all the time because it's expected of them. Being sick is considered "unproductive" in our "work work work" society unproductive is the ultimate corporate sin. So it ends up that it's the self motivated stuff that suffers with my decline.

Being an artist and working on an endless amount of projects that bring no immediate financial gain means that self motivation is a big factor. Let's face it most people don't do things unless they are getting paid for it. Getting paid is an excellent motivational factor. It might only be beaten out by love, lust, or loyalty but then again for many people money comes in number one.

So I finished up some paying work I was doing earlier in the week. Cold or no cold if I didn't do it I wouldn't get paid for it (there's that money motivation for you). I took it easy and paced myself. When not sick I have a tendency to work long hours on the paying stuff to get it done as soon as possible. That way I can make time for my own self motivated un-paying work. But this week I did a little at a time and rested a lot. I was feeling better and getting stronger with each day of the week. And then Friday came.

I had the day ahead of me and was caught up on my paying jobs. I wanted to do some work on some prints I've been making and was looking forward to it. But man I couldn't wake up. I got out of bed and got ready for my day but wow my head was cloudy. Even with some more of the medicine that had helped me earlier in the week I lacked clarity. If I had been going into a job that day I would have. What choice would I have had? But a cold completely kills self motivation. There's no energy for it. So I had to just sit around doing nothing.

Some people are good at sitting around and doing nothing. I'm not one of them. I like to do something. I'm not the kind who needs someone or something to entertain me. I also don't need to be going somewhere to be doing something. I'm much more interested in being interested than in being entertained. I like to spend my time painting, drawing, or doing something generally creative. I like to make things. So when I have to sit around and do nothing I get antsy. So Friday I alternately took naps and got antsy. Antsy isn't good. It burns up what little energy I have.

When I'm working I usually have the TV on or some music playing. But when I'm doing nothing I can't concentrate on movies or music. In between my naps I kept trying to find something to watch, since I had no energy, but nothing could hold my interest. Those are days that make life seem empty. Nothing to do no where to go and no energy for anything anyway. Being sick just sucks.

I think that is why I never liked medical dramas. Whether in print or in the moving pictures I've always failed to see any drama in sickness. In my book illness just sucks. Period. I find nothing dramatic about sickness at all. I especially hate when a TV show throws in a character with a terminal illness (Battlestar Galactica I'm talking to you) and you just know that later on in the season they are going to find some magic cure for the illness. And they do.

Sure the excitement for these stories is in the cure but I fail to find any entertainment value because the misery of the sickness distracts me too much. Usually these shows give you the "drama" of the sickness and then the excitement of the cure. I just see fifty minutes of misery and then ten minutes of inevitable pre-programed happiness. The fifty minutes of misery just remind me how cruel and empty life can be when you're sick. People who like medical dramas must like the sense of hope at the end of them. That's not enough for me to sit through all the misery.

So I made it through my sad little minor sickness and day of getting nothing done. I'm glad it doesn't happen often but I gotta get better at doing nothing.

Comics I Bought This Week: March 22 2007

Slow week at Ye Olde Comic Shop. I only picked up one comic:

Walking Dead 36

Since I couldn't get just a single comic I also picked up the collected version of "Edgar Allan Poe's Haunt of Horror". It's from Marvel's Max line. I've been meaning to get it because I think Richard Corben has been doing some really great work lately. When It comes to Marvel I've only been picking up collected volumes so I didn't get this one when it was first published. Ill let you know how it is. And now a review of last weeks Buffy.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight 1 - I've been a Buffy fan since I caught the first episode way back in 1997. I even have some of the issues of the former Buffy series (issues 32-46 to be exact). Not all of the former series was very good which explains why I don't have many of them. But I do recommend the ones I have.

I haven't seen any of the TV episodes since the series went off the air (2003) so I couldn't quite remember how it ended. It took me a few pages to catch up and remember but Buffy saved the world and now there are 1800 slayers all around the world instead of Buffy being the only one. So now Buffy is the head of some big vampire and demon slaying organization. Without the constraints of a TV show budget the scope is much bigger and more "comic booky".

I generally like Buffy: TVSSE 1. The plot and script were smart and snappy as is usual for Josh Whedon and he has set up some interesting things to enrich the Buffyverse.

The art in the issue was a little uneven. This can be a plague on licensed book as capturing a likeness consistently is a tough thing. Strange thing is that wasn't this books problem. The penciler (Georges Jeanty) wasn't really going for a photographic look but captured the actors general types quite nicely with his character designs. My complaint is about the inking.

The inking style seemed to change from page to page. The "no line weight" style pages were okay (seriously how can you mess that up) but blacks were spotted poorly and a lot of the time when line weight was called for it was executed haphazardly. It wasn't the worst inking I've ever seen but it was uneven and distracting.

I'm not sure how someone who's never seen Buffy will like this book. There is a lot to catch up with and the end reveal will be meaningless to those unfamiliar with the TV show but it is a quality comic. I'll be buying some more issues.

Week Thirteen of my reviews of recent DC Comics.

JLA Classified 29 - The JLA as an undercover black leather jumpsuit wearing team of spies? Not in their masks and costumes and barely using their super powers? It has something to do with world politics and a Latin American country being used as a testing ground for super soldiers. I fail to see the point of this book. It is a story that would be much better told if it didn't star Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern. But they sell comics so that's who we get. It's a well crafted comic. The art and script are okay. It's the plot that left me out in the cold. Covert ops and the JLA don't mix well. I have two more issues of this story (30-31) but I'm not going to even bother with them.

JLA Classified 32-33 - Ahhh... a change of writers and a change of opinion. Dan Slott writes these two issues and they are much more to my liking. They are the first two parts of a story about a loser who gains power and takes on the JLA. That is far too simple of an explanation because the plot is really more clever than that and involves dreamscapes and the laws of probability. This is a good JLA story though it focuses more on the loser guy's tale. Dan Jurgens and Trevor Scott provide the art. I want to see what happens next. Check it out.

Martian Manhunter 1,4 - Another super-powerful DC character with a goofy weakness. Martians are vulnerable to fire. Like everybody else isn't? Anyway, there is not much to like in these two issues. The art is only so-so and the story telling worse plus the script has a lot of whining. Oh those poor Martians; humans hate them because they're different but still Martian Manhunter will protect the humans because deep down inside they have good hearts. Yawn.
There is also some kind of mystery going on with evil government experiments on Martians, super weapons being made because of said experiments, and oh yeah, did I mention all the evil government people? Yawn. I still have another two issues of this book (5-6) but have no plans to ever read them.

Little Things

A few short things for you today. After last week's waxing poetic about springtime we got a seven or so inches of the heaviest snow and ice mixture I've ever seen (or shoveled!). This puts off my getting onto the road bike for a week or so. Now I really want spring to get here. I hate big March snowstorms. They're fine in December, January, or February but mid March? That steps on my tail.

I ordered a new bag for carrying art supplies and stuff. I've needed a new one for a while now but haven't seen anything I really liked. This one is "designed by artists for artists" and has lots of pockets for little stuff, a padded center section for a laptop, and it can fit a 14x17 inch pad of paper. That last bit is the hard part. Most medium size attache/messenger type bags end at about sixteen inches long. The next size up is usually huge, cumbersome, and not made for the purpose of carrying about comfortably. I remember searching for a bag with my friend Ed many years ago. He wanted one that could hold 11x17 inch paper and you wouldn't believe how many bags he looked at that were just a little short. The one I ordered might be a little tall but what the hell, I took a chance. I'll let you know how it is.

I'm trying to decide whether to get an XBox 360 or a Wii. I want the XBox just to play live games (those are the games played over the internet with friends or strangers in different locations) with my friends who I used to play regular XBox live games with. They all got 360s now and I don't. Of course when we all still had just regular Xbox we weren't playing as much as we once did so there is no guarantee that my getting a 360 will recapture the glory days. The Wii hasn't any good live games but has a really cool motion sensitive controller that is revolutionizing game play. Plus the Wii is cheaper. With no money to spare at the moment it's really all academic. I'll just continue with my regular old Xbox (and Sega Dreamcast!) because I don't want to pay $50 and up for new games anyway. I like ten to twenty dollar clearance sale games.

Book TV rocks! Book TV is what C-Span 2 runs on weekends and other days when Congress is not in session. Book TV broadcasts lectures by non-fiction authors on whatever subject their book happens to be about. History, politics, biography, or whatever is covered. Usually the lectures are about forty five minutes long with a Q and A at the end. The authors know their subjects well and most can speak entertainingly about them. Those who speak in sound bites need not apply.

I just watched the latest James Bond movie "Casino Royale". I generally liked it. The "on foot" chase scene at the beginning was spectacular. Impossible but spectacular. Most of the fighting was well done. Short, brutal, and scary. Unfortunately the movie lost focus around the million dollar card game and it was down hill from there. Not terribly down hill but not as interesting. Villains started moving in and out of the plot and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. Even worse I didn't care who was who. None of them were interesting. They were cardboard cut out evil characters. The "Bond in love" part came out of nowhere too. That part was the least convincing. But overall it is worth a look because a lot of it is well done. Just expect to be a little bored at the end.

Here's to hoping it warms up and melts the snow this week.

Comics I Bought: March 15, 2007

Despite being slowed by some sinus stuffiness I managed to make it over to my local comic shop and pick up three new comics:

Lone Ranger 5

StormWatch Post Human Division 5

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight 1

Plus I picked up the latest issue of Back Issue. This one takes a look at Daredevil plus other "devil" characters. I'll hit you with a review of Buffy next week. Meanwhile here is Week Twelve of my reviews of recent DC Comics.

Batman 660-662 - The first thing I have to say is about the art. Tom Mandrake drew these issues and they look a bit like Gene Colan's art. I say that only because you hardly ever see artists influenced by Colan's unique style.

The story by John Ostrander is nothing to write home about. It's a straight forward fast moving story of Batman tracking down some criminals and trying to prevent their crimes.

Overall the comics didn't make much of an impression on me but a least it looks like the creative team was trying. I've never found Batman to be an interesting character and there is nothing here to change my mind. But if you are a Batman fan you can do a lot worse than these three issues.

Batman/The Spirit 1 - This is a double sized one shot story and I have to admit that I only read half of it. I flipped through the second half to see what happened but my interest wasn't held. The plot wasn't very good as it tried to cram every Batman and Spirit villain and supporting character into the story. Actually there barely was a plot.

Darwyn Cooke is a good artist and just flipping through the book it's damn pretty. But there is a difference between looking at and reading a comic. The problem is that he tries to do it in a Will Eisner storytelling style (the Spirit's creator) and Cooke is just no Eisner. That's not Cooke's fault because Eisner is one of the all time greats but I winced at some of his storytelling choices. I think he missed the point a lot. It's worth getting if you want a book to flip through. Just don't read it.

Skye Runner 5-6 - Wow. Despite three pages of exposition at the beginning of issue six I have no idea what is going on in these comics. It takes place in some magical world where a bunch of people are running around doing magical things. It's done in an American Manga style which holds no appeal for me. The storytelling and script are both choppy and hard to follow. I have no idea what the plot is or what the point is. Stay away.

Spring Fever

I'm tired of the winter and I'm ready for the spring. So it's time to wax a little poetic. I'm not a winter hater; after all it's the only time I get to wear my long coats. I dig a good long coat. They're so much cooler than short coats. But every year come the beginning of March I get tired of the cold, ice, and snow. This year is no exception especially after the extra cold weather of the last two weeks when we should have been inching towards warmer temperatures.

I'm also tired of riding a stationary bike and want to get out on the road and ride a real bike. There is hardly a more boring form of exercise than pedaling a mock bicycle that goes nowhere. Sure you can have the TV on, listen to the radio, or even read a book (if you don't ride too energetically) but that barley cuts down on the tedium. Outside on a real bike with the world flying by is a more fun. Even if I do ride the same route almost every time. And nothing beats powering up a hill and then breathlessly flying down the other side. A hill is hard work followed by the satisfaction of a reward. The only reward on a stationary bike is not falling completely out of shape.

I do want a new short coat for the springtime. I usually wear a sport coat as my spring and fall jacket. I had one I liked and wore for years until the lining wore down to nothing. It was some lightweight poly blend that held up well and was a great green color. Last year I got a wool sport coat. Turns out I'm not that fond of wool for a light weight coat. It's too warm and the color isn't a good as the old one. Still, I wear it. Maybe I can get the lining fixed in my old one.

And the sunshine. I can really use some of that. Sitting out in the spring sunshine and drawing. That sounds like a good time.

This is the time of year I wish I were a baseball fan. Springtime goes hand in hand with the start of a new season. I think that's why baseball fans are the most hopeful and poetic of all sports fans when a new season starts. They look forward to a nice spring day to sit in the sunshine and watch their team play. It's not until the hot sun of summer and many losses that a baseball fan gets despondent. The August sun and a losing team does not a happy marriage make.

I do like going out on a cold winter night though. As long as I'm all bundled up with hat, gloves, scarf, boots, and a nice warm coat. Keeping warm is a lot easier than keeping cool. Plus the world empties when it gets too cold out so there is more room in the world for me. Still I'm tired of the whole freezing cold thing for this year. And a warm spring night can bring out the people and make you feel like you're part of something. There is a lot more sense of community in the spring. Winter is every man for himself.

And there is a little glimpse into anticipating the springtime me.

Comics I Bought: March 8, 2007

I'm back from the comic shop with only two new comics.

Age of Bronze 25

Strangers in Paradise 88 (only two issues left!)

I'm ambivalent about City of Others 1 that I picked up last week. About half of it was good and about half of it was mediocre. It started slowly and the artwork was not involving. Then it picked up and Wrightson's storytelling got more involving. It ended pretty well. Overall I really wasn't a fan of the plot but I still might give it one more issue to see if they can build on the good stuff.

Week Twelve of my reviews of recent DC Comics.

Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 2-3 - I actually have two more issues of these series (4 & 6) but I could barely make it through the two I am reviewing. It's not a terrible comic it's just something I've read many times before. Uncle Sam is the spirit of the USA and someone in the government is corrupt, trying to take over the world, and using officially sanctioned government super heroes to do it. Uncle Sam convinces some of those heroes to fight with him against the government.

In the last ten or fifteen years there have been a lot of comics trying to mix super heroes and politics together in a sophisticated way. Some have succeeded and some haven't but this series mixes politics and super heroes in an old fashioned unsophisticated way. Yet Uncle Sam contains a lot of death and violence so it's not old fashioned enough to have any charm. It's yet another well crafted comic without anything to interest me in it. Check it out only if you haven't read a thousand "the government is corrupt and we have to patriotically stop them" comics.

Welcome to Tranquility 1-2 - I liked these two issues despite the goofy premise. Tranquility is a town of retired super heroes and villains. This story is about the town's sheriff as she tries to keep order in this generally sleepy retirement village. Then a murder occurs and it turns into a mystery.
It's goofy and annoying in that the story could easily be told without the super hero elements. They seem shoe horned in at times. But it has a charm that outweighs the goofiness and the storytelling is good. Check it out for a fun little story.

Thinner

Recently I was watching a documentary on HBO called "Thin". It's about four women who are at a clinic for eating disorders. All the women are too thin. Hence the title of the film.

I know all about how "the media" gives young girls visions of unrealistic body types i.e. almost everyone on TV and in the movies is young, pretty, tall and thin but I still find this "thin" disorder baffling. I don't fit the demographic model for those who have the disorder but I should be able to relate to it on a human level. Yet it's tough with this one.

I find other common disorders much less baffling and and more easily explainable.

Overeating: food tastes good and it makes people feel good to eat. When people don't have a lot in their life to make them feel good they can eat to feel good. There is tons of food around so it's an easy temptation. I've overeaten at times and have eaten because something tastes good rather than because I'm hungry. I can relate. That's an easy one.

Alcohol: Feeling bad? Have a drink and you'll feel better. That's why the stuff was invented. Drink too much and it will make you feel bad all of the time and then you need some hair of the dog. Then you have a problem. I am not nor never have been a drinker but I understand wanting to feel good, wanting change your mindset, or escaping from the everyday. I can relate.

Gambling: It gives people a rush (so I'm told I get no rush) and makes them feel alive. When it's someone's only way to feel alive life gets crazy. Math, numbers, and odds are real to me in such a way that I know the house will always win in the long run. I can't get past that and as a result have no interest in gambling but I understand wanting to get rich quick. And thrills. Who doesn't understand being hook on a thrill?

Sure those explanations don't take into account the complexities of any given individual's life and they may be simplistic but at least the allow me to relate on some level to those who suffer from those problems.

Undereating I don't easily relate too. It really looks to me that it should be mostly an emotional problem. I think overeating is mostly an emotional problem. Eat to fill an emotional void and it becomes a habit. Fix the underlying emotional problem and the habit of overeating can be fixed easier. Undereating (in the program I was watching I know no undereaters myself) doesn't seem to have an underlying emotional problem. At least not one I could see. Don't get me wrong, the women all seemed to have emotional problems just none that I could see obviously linked to the undereating. I can usually see the emotional problems liked to overeating. Especially in TV documentaries where they spell things out for you.

Maybe undereating baffles me because these women seem to be getting nothing out of it. They are all unhealthy and miserable yet want to be thin so badly that they are perfectly willing to continue not eating. One even said that if death was the price of being thin then she was willing to pay it. Ouch.

To further confuse me the women don't even know that they are thin. They think they are fat. Overeaters know that they are fat. How come undereaters don't know they are thin? It's a whole different ballgame. It's like their brains are wired in a completely upside down way. This disorder passes my comprehension by. But I do feel for them. Underweight is even more dangerous than overweight and the women's suffering in this documentary is clear. I think I need a cookie.

Comics I bought: March 1, 2007

A good week for buying comics this week I got six new ones.

Jack Staff 13

Samurai Heaven and Earth Vol 2 No 3

Fear Agent 11

Walking Dead 35

True Story Swear To God 4 which will now be a regular. I'll put it on my pull list.

City of Others 1

That last one I picked up because it is drawn by Bernie Wrightson. It's from Dark Horse Comics ans is the first issue in a four issue mini series. I'll let you know how it is.

And now week eleven of my reviews of recent DC Comics.

Blue Beetle 2,3,5,10 - Now there's an odd assortment of issue numbers to read. Issue three even takes place one year after issue two. But hey, they were given to me and beggars can't be choosers and all that. Even with no two issues really in a row I enjoyed this book. It takes place on the US/Mexican border. A place that never sees super heroes. The new Blue Beetle has a "Greatest American Hero" thing going on in that he has a suit of armor and doesn't know where it came from or what it can do. But the suit can communicate with him. Except not in a language we as readers can understand. It all make for a rather unique super hero comic. The book is more about the characters, Mexicans, Americans, and Mexican Americans. Though there is no real distinction between the three as everyone mixes together in this border town.

The plot, as far as I can tell from my assortment of issues, has something to do with a local criminal kidnapping and somehow utilizing super powered people ("Extras" they're called). A gang of "Extras" called "The Posse" has formed to protect themselves from the head criminal. And there's some magical stuff going on too. And then in issue ten a Mother Box transports Blue Beetle to some planet out of Jack Kirby's "New Gods". All in all I want to track down some more issues of this comic. But be warned: being that it is a DC comic there are four different artists drawing the four issues. Cully Hammer draws issue 2 and most of issue ten so maybe it's three and a quarter artists. Check it out for some different sorta super hero action.

Green Lantern 11, 13 - This is the best of the Green Lantern stuff I've reviewed so far. The art is nice, the coloring is good, and the writing is solid. I just have a hard time swallowing all the basic Green Lantern Corps stuff. Green Lantern on his own is fine. Add in all that GLC back story and it's basic nonsensical nature drives me to distraction. In these issues Hal Jordan is, once again, defying the Guardians orders. The Guardians, once again, have a secret agenda that they are not telling. I won't even go into why the Guardians need all those Green Lanterns in the first place. This stuff baffles me. Check it out if you're a Green Lantern though.