Comments on: What I bought - 8 April 2009

By: Fascination Place » This Week’s Haul

Fascination Place » This Week’s Haul — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:39:05 +0000

[...] Greg Burgas covered the issue’s flaws pretty well: Several pages of scatological humor, plus a scene of gratuitous and disgusting violence. This stuff feels completely superfluous; couldn’t we have gotten some more story instead? But Burgas liked the rest of the issue a lot better than I did: I thought it was pretty boilerplate stuff, the hint of some mysteries to be unraveled, but the first issue does nothing more than set the scene and serve up some graphic violence. [...]

By: Alan Coil

Alan Coil — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:01:03 +0000

"I’m sorry you don’t like Young Liars. It makes me sad."

Don't be sad. I love Stray Bullets...even though it is on hiatus/done/to go unfinished.

By: DavidWynne

DavidWynne — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:57:55 +0000

Fair enough... Dok definitely took a little while to get started. I'm one of those people who subscribe to the Bad Signal, follow Ellis on twitter, check the website every day, etcetera ad infinitum; so I was pretty well forewarned that it was going to be a slow burner to begin with. It's certainly getting nice and crazy now, though. The good Doktor himself has barely been in it for a while now- the story seems to be expanding in all directions.

And I can understand the trade impulse with Hellboy. My addiction is too severe, though- I get the singles *and* trades. I like the books for my shelf, but I'm fucked if I'm waiting that long to read it...

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:59:07 +0000

David: I dropped Doktor Sleepless about six issues in, but I hear it's been getting better. I suppose I could get back into it via trade paperbacks. As for BPRD, I automatically get any Hellboy-related material in trade format.

By: DavidWynne

DavidWynne — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:06:43 +0000

As a childhood Excalibur reader, I was an early-adopter for MI:13. But I'm sad to say, I think I'm about a half inch away from dropping it... I'm just really bored with it, and have been since about halfway through the dream corridor arc. The toilet humour in Ignition City felt like it was there to help establish a certain atmosphere, to me. The town feels like it's meant to be dirty and smelly and generally horrible to be out and about in- the kind of place where animals regularly shit in the street, and people empty their bedpans out of the window. If you want to establish that kind of texture to a place, might as well see if you can get a couple of cheap laughs at the same time. That said, I wasn't overly entertained by those scenes either. And II refuse to blame Marvel and DC for you not reading more cool comics, since the coolest comics that I'm aware of you missing this week were Doktor Sleepless and BPRD. And I'm glad for your sake that you skipped Battle For Cowl...

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:58:12 +0000

Also, Greg, it's harder to type with mittens than you think. And I thought infinite Horizon finished months ago. Huh.

Yes, I'm reading your reviews out of order and hours and hours apart. I'm dangerously insane!

By: Brian Wood

Brian Wood — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:52:59 +0000

No, of course I know Rutland is small... I drive through it every time I go to VT. But even at 17k it ain't so bad. Bigger than the capital city. But mostly I'll take any excuse to talk about Vermont!

By: Gail Simone

Gail Simone — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:01:52 +0000

Fair enough about the Wal-Mart, Brian...since the store in the story isn't actually a Wal-mart (but a second rate, faux-cowboy imitator), it wasn't necessary for there to be an actual physical Wal-mart in the same place. And while you're right about it being the second largest city in Vermont, it's still pretty small, by the standards in the story. Wikipedia says the 2000 census had Rutland the TOWN at 4,038 people, and Rutland the CITY at a relatively anemic 17,292. In city terms, that's pretty dinky. More importantly, in DCU continuity, Rutland was presented as a very small place indeed. However, I bow to the native's knowledge and concede utterly that saying it's a 'tiny place' was over-stating. Thanks, Brian. Gail

By: Dan Bailey

Dan Bailey — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:57:29 +0000

Well, y'know, last week I lost out at the last second on an eBay auction that would've brought me up to date on CAPTAIN BRITAIN ... so I'm trying. Sort of. I'm also attempting to accomplish the same with SECRET SIX. *sigh* Even though it's on my pull list, my LCS didn't have THE CLEANERS on hand for me Wednesday. Boooooo. YOUNG LIARS? As I've said before in so many words, that first issue was so vile that I have no interest in ever getting within 10 feet of the series again. So it goes.

By: brian

brian — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:19:23 +0000

CB + MI:13 is certainly one of the best books out there. And after reading this and other reviews, and hearing about Rutland (can't believe Len Wein or Steve Englehart didn't write this issue if that town is being referenced) makes me think Secret Six is going to be added to my pull list. It's really that good?

Cheers,

By: Matthew E

Matthew E — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:50:26 +0000

Yeah, I’ve seen worse too. But there’s just something horribly creepy about FemSkin. It’s not disgusting, just unnerving.

Brings a whole new meaning to the term "uncanny valley".

By: Brian Wood

Brian Wood — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:16:50 +0000

The Vermonter in me is forced to point out that Rutland, while rural to a lot of people's standards, isn't THAT tiny and is an actual city, the second largest in Vermont next to Burlington... and yes, they have a Wal-Mart:

http://business.vermonttoday.com/Wal-Mart.9.17472538p.home.html

By: The Mutt

The Mutt — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:25:24 +0000

Wolverine threatening Tony Stark on the cover of a DC comic?

What's the world coming to?

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:50:39 +0000

Bill: Yeah, I've seen worse too. But there's just something horribly creepy about FemSkin. It's not disgusting, just unnerving.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:48:53 +0000

Actually, it's more that I always have fun reading the mainstream Marvel and DC stuff even if I hate it, because it seems to entertain everyone, good or bad. When I used to read books for free, that was cool, because I could pick up stuff I knew would make people crazy, whether they liked it or not. Take this week: I would have loved to read the latest issue of Green Lantern, not because I think I would have liked it, but because I know it would get a lot of people's blood boiling. I don't want to buy them, but occasionally I like reading them. The Marvel thing a few weeks ago was fun, but I don't want to do that every week! Of course, I do hope that I can convince some people to pick up stuff they might have missed, so I'm perfectly happy with what I buy.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:42:49 +0000

Also, I Googled FemSkin. You know, friends have shown me a lot worse on the internet. And a sample "puss and nipples" for only fifty bucks? I can swing that.

By: Dan Felty

Dan Felty — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:41:18 +0000

I neeeed to catch up on Young Liars.

What's with the apology, Greg? Do you feel guilty for not reading indy stuff, or do you feel bad for not following the main thrusts of Marvel and DC? Don't feel guilty about what you read. If you do, change.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:35:30 +0000

It's not that I can't like Northlanders because it's historical. I just don't care about the history! But I appreciate Brian Wood's terrifying amount of research. I will buy the second trade. Eventually. Because I'm doing the trade thing now. Totally. I'm hip.

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:29:15 +0000

I really didn't want to see a giant lizard taking a S#$% front in center. Thanks warren ellis!

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:27:42 +0000

Omar: Yeah, I'm talking about Green Lantern. I read somewhere that it's Code-approved, but features really inappropriate-for-kids kinds of things. I can't speak to the quality of the book, but it sounds kind of icky. And Irredeemable just doesn't sound like my thing. Alan: I'm sorry you don't like Young Liars. It makes me sad.