Great, now that’s going to be stuck in my head all day

The main reason I’m commenting, though, is Criminal. As close to a perfect comic book as I think I’ll ever see, at least for my sensibilities. My only knock is that I thought we were promised “expanded backmatter” with the re-launch? Maybe I read the PR wrong, but I thought this was going to mean multiple articles/essays per issue? Those are so useful; not only from an educational standpoint, but also in setting a tone about the importance of noir fiction and creating a sense that the reader is part of a community of intelligent folks who love and think about the genre. What we do get is great, but I’m greedy.

Case in point, I too couldn’t wait to see The Yakuza, which I had never even heard of prior to last Wednesday. If you’re a NetFlix’er, it’s available to watch online (I normally hate watching movies on my computer, but in addition to being greedy, I’m also impatient). It. Is. Really. Freakin’. Good. Another thing that’s cool about it, and I can’t remember if this is in the essay from Criminal or if I read it online, is that it’s Paul Schrader’s first produced screenplay. If you like noir, 70s cinema, Mitchum or just good movies, you should definitely check it out. NetFlix lists it as a “Forgotten Classic”, which is exactly and sadly what it is.

Oh, and I like whatever mood you were in Brian. The one-two punch of “the safeword is Claremont” and the Yankee Candle party as torture aside was pure comedy gold.

The US has been involved to a certain extent over the years because Ciudad Juarez is right on the border (and at least one person implicated in some of the murders was a US national) , but, as you suggest, it’s been treated as primarily a Mexican problem. Most of the calls for increased US involvment have been made because of the corruption and incompetence of the Mexican authorites. In response, I’m guessing that some people would like to see the investigation become a joint US-Mexican venture, similar to the drug enforcement that happens near the border

(Only thing missing from Nightwing was him setting up a pay webcam site to really rub it in against Talia.)

Did you intend for the innuendo there, Stephen, or is that just a bonus?

Also:

It’s like delicious torture, and the safe word is “Claremont!”

Masterful, Greg. I’m definitely using that at my next Yankee Candle party!

Invincible Iron Man was all kinds of suck. After such an amazing (and accessible) first issue, it’s a massive let-down that this one devolves into corny Marvel Universe in-jokes (MODOG? Really?), Civil War references and the author being way too pleased with himself for coming up with the whole ‘Advanced Genocide Mechanics’ thing. Sweet cliffhanger, though.

Having said that, I disagree that Ezekiel’s weapons are stupid. One of the great things about the first issue was that rather than coming up with a bigger, more expensive weapon, Stane went smaller and cheaper, because that’s how things tend to work in the real world. I thought it was established in-story that it was a heck of a lot more powerful and undetectable than regular bombs, too.

(I feel old…)

As you wish ….

Everything’s wrong with your reviews.
You didn’t buy a single thing!!!

NONE of the books you’ve reviewed is on my pull list.

Besides that, you wuz jus’ one fine bad motha-fragga-geek.

Maybe it was just a weird ref from Nguyen, but while it sure looked like her… didn’t feel right, did it?

Then again, since DC and Bats knew who each other are, presumably they each know the other chatter’s Oracle. So Nigma (whose character is more “amateur in over his head”, which is fine by me since he’s doing the detective thing more as a scam than out of any desire to do good or be good at it).

Grabbed Nightwing (excellent again, not much more needs to be said), Manhunter (good return, but not a blow away issue), the Robin / Spoiler special (clunky and pointless main story, but the backup was pretty good as a way of getting further away from the mess that was the original death) and JSA.

(Only thing missing from Nightwing was him setting up a pay webcam site to really rub it in against Talia.)

Criminal is too freaking cool, and Manhunter’s back. Yay.

Gotta catch up with Godland and Casey’s already teasing with what looks like another awesome series in the form of Charlatan Ball. More Joe Casey always equals good comics.