Comic Book Resources

According to Scott Allie at DragonCon, Buffy: Season 8 will be much like any (non-Babylon 5) season of television, where the lead writer turns the reigns over to different individual writers for individual episodes, an “episode” in this context being a few issues. BKV is writing a few issues about Faith, and then former Buffy writer Drew Goddard will take on a few issues. Jane Espenson should also be scripting a few issues in the 20s.

For all of these stories, Joss will be overseeing the general direction of the storyarc.

Here’s a pertinent question, Greg, before I take you up on your exhortation to be a good consumer: That collection of Welcome to Tranquility — is it a complete arc? Will it have a satisfying ending? It’s kind of OK if it doesn’t, as far as the monthly is concerned — it’s an ongoing book, after all, so I can imagine they want to keep you buying it. But before I shell out my bucks for a trade paperback, I want to know: Will it leave me hanging like so many other TPs of ongoing series?

Same question applies to Oni and Rucka’s Queen & Country. Thanks!

Rebis: The Welcome to Tranquility trade tells a complete story. One of the town’s residents is murdered, and the sheriff investigates. It’s a nice story, and it allows you to make up your mind about the series without worrying about reading the next trade (if and when it comes out).

Queen & Country collects three separate story arcs, and each one is pretty much independent. They’re all missions to various places, and although some things carry over, it’s not like there’s a big cliffhanger at the end of issue #12. During the course of the series, things happen that have repercussions down the road, but that’s going to happen with any ongoing. The missions themselves are self-contained.

I hope this helps you make your decisions.

Thanks for the info, James. I wondered if it was something like that.

“It’s The Atheist #4, offered by Desperado Publishing! It no longer has Phil Hester on art”

I thought Hester wasn’t doing the art in the first place, but writing it? I only ever managed to pick up the first issue, but it was great.

It’s your lucky day: Action Philosophers #9 is out tomorrow!

Harley Quinn was a slightly odd series - one of those ones that nods to mainstream continuity, but seems to exist in its own slightly different universe. It was, at least to start with, fun and had some good characters. It had slipped a little by the end, but it was still pretty well-written.

It won’t change your life or anything, but if you’ve got the cash to spare I’d recommend you give it a try.

Actually yeah, I did read Pantheon. It was pretty good; clever, a little depressing. Worth 20 bucks? Well, that’s only a little more than the original issues cost, as I recall, and they were in black-and-white (I think the trade will be in color).

If you enjoy Willingham’s inventiveness and rather sardonic writing style, then you’ll probably enjoy it. (Keep in mind that there will be a second trade collecting the second half of the series, so you’re not getting the full story here.)

I’m going to buy it.

In reference to an Atlas for DC: They did one, it came out 15 years ago. It was for the RPG but still a good source. It would be nice if they updated it though.

http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-DC-Universe-Heroes-RPG/dp/0923763198

From what I’ve read, the current team on Supergirl was always intended to be temporary, though DC didn’t exactly trumpet that fact. Tony Bedard seems to be the go-to guy for this sort of thing, which is irritating, because I’ve read two recent issued (Supergirl and Birds of Prey) where I’ve said “Hey, this new team looks pretty good! I think I’ll be happy with Bedard on this title!” But it turns out he’s just a temp on both….

Darn it, Dave T. Game, I meant McCrea. I don’t know why I got fixated on Hester as the artist when I knew he was the writer. I think it was because I asked him about it in February, and his name was stuck in my head. It no longer has McCrea on art, anyway, so I won’t have to change too much!

Thanks Greg. It’s nice to know some things have reasonable conclusions.

Bwa-ha-ha…that is a good line about cancer. Bravo Ellis.

I am buying that X-Men: Die By The Sword comic just for the promise of seeing Longshot and Dazzler back together. Even if it sucks, I like that Jo Chen cover.

And while I did my best to defend the Mary Jane statue’s right to exist, even I’ll admit that Psylocke is atrocious. It just looks bad and I don’t find it appealing or titillating (or whatever they’re going for) at all…

And yes, Nexus: The Origin is definitely the best place to start if you’re new to Nexus. I have the Dark Horse release and it is one of the best “origin comics” I’ve ever read, covering all the bases and key points of the series while also providing an entertaining read by itself. It’s cheaper than picking up the Nexus Archives, that’s for sure, but I highly recommend those too. The most recent Archive volume not only featured art from Rude, but also Mike Mignola, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Jackson Guice, and Rick Vietch! You can’t go wrong with that…

I hate video games (yes, I admit it).

This just seems like a weird sentiment. It’s too general, for one thing. It’s like saying you hate all TV, or all movies, or all animation. That’s either ignorance, or extreme close-mindedness.

There are so many different kinds of video games, I don’t see how you could possibly know that you hate them all.

Ugh. Sorry.

“There’s a huge section on McFarlane Toys. The Toddster just opened an entire store in Glendale, AZ, devoted to his toys. Man, that guy can just print money, can’t he?”

Actually, that’s his second store. He’s had one in Tempe, AZ for years already. I’ve always gotten a kick out of the fact that the real version of Spawn’s Al Simmons works there.

I’ve been waiting ages for the new Action Philosophers trade. I assume this contains the 9th and final issue?

I’ve never read Grendel. I feel like I am missing out. Looks interesting. I’ve never read Hellboy either so I guess I am just a bad person. I did buy both the Middleman trades that one of the Greg’s reccomended. Redemption!

Elseworlds were my favorite DC books. I don’t generally follow a lot of DC heroes so I always snapped these up. So if Elseworlds are being folded into the multiverse will there be new Elseworlds “worlds,” or just new stories set in the old Elseworlds universes?

Finally, I saw one of the middle school kids where I work reading “American Born Chinese” today. I think he must have bought the copy I had my eye on.

Sorry for being retarded, Brian.

FD - I didn’t realize the Tempe store was an actual store. I have seen signs for it, and I thought he just brought all his toys to a location and had kind of a flea market going on. The Glendale store looks pretty cool, though.

I can hate video games all I want, Dan! It’s certainly general, but it’s just because I have never liked playing any of them. I guess it’s close-mindedness, but I don’t like the CONCEPT of video games! It’s easy - try it!

Yes, Lucion, the trade collects issues #7-9. And you should at least try Grendel. Did you enjoy The Middleman, since I recommended it?

Red Seas is cracking stuff, starts out with pirates fighting zombies but each subsequent story piles on the madness as the crew get attacked by the Colossus of Rhodes on the way to lead an army of dinosaurs into battle at the centre of the earth while Sir Isaac Newton hunts a lycanthropic Roman Centurion through the streets of London.

It’s got the best art Yeowell’s done since Zenith too.

Greg, I did enjoy The Middleman. My only complaint is that there isn’t more of it. The first trade did a good job of setting everything up and the second had a fun adventure and great shorts, but unfortunately that’s all there is! There is a lot of imagination in the second story in particular and I’d like to see more adventures. The author really seemed to come to grips with where he wanted to take the characters and felt at home with them, then it’s over. I guess that’s not much of a complaint, wanting more.

Thanks for the info on Action Philosophers. Great stuff that I’m glad is finally collected. And I will try Grendel when the new stuff hits. I’ve always liked the covers even if I didn’t know what it was about beyond sharing a name with a character from an old poem.

There’s supposed to be a third Middleman trade out soon. It was going to come out at San Diego, but got delayed. They’re skipping the single issues and going straight for the trade format, which is pretty cool. I hope it will be out soon. That would be nice.

I hate video games too.

Well, not all video games. Video games published since 1985.

I liked the idea of Red Seas, but I thought the art was kind of hard to follow and eventually dropped it.)

(Unless I’m thinking of something else. Which is absolutely possible.)

I don’t care for video games either, but in fairness, it’s been some years since I bothered with one.

I understand that they are infinitely more complex and story-driven and so on… but I dunno, I think I’m more of an audience guy than a participant guy. I don’t want to be IN the movie, I just enjoy watching it. It may well be a generationsl thing… especailly since my 6th and 7th-grade students who are deeply, DEEPLY into them tend to annoy me in lots of other ways too.

But not every video game has a story. Some are just electronic puzzle games.

I can’t understand hating a certain use of technology in a game.

It’s just too broad. It’s not that it displays ignorance or anything, it’s that it’s really hard to say something like that without being a hypocrite.

Surely, you can’t hate the idea of getting to play scrabble against people from all over the world?

Do board games adapted for computer technology count? Arrrrggghhhh, maybe I AM a hypocrite!!!! (Even though I don’t play games on-line, but I don’t have a problem with those sorts of things.) Damn you, Dan!!!!!

“It’s a collection of Comics Greatest World and Will to Power, both of which I missed. Are they any good?”

Heh heh heh…

Well, I’ve never read Will to Power, because I read Comics Greatest World. Which may answer your question.

The quality of CGW was just EXTREMELY variable. Put it this way: it featured the work of people like Adam Hughes (IIRC), Paul Galucy, and the fantastic Chris Warner…

…and it also featured the debut of Barb Wire. Which was every bit as bad as the resulting film.

I liked the idea of Red Seas, but I thought the art was kind of hard to follow and eventually dropped it.)

Are you thinking of The Red Star? Red Seas appears irregularly in 2000AD.