Also, has anyone read the novel? Is it any good?

… And ran into Squirrel Girl on the way.

As a friend put it, the ONLY way it could have been better would have been if they went out for drinks with Fat Cobra afterwards.

The quote at the top is from The Fisher King, one of my favorite movies. John de Lancie (Q from Star Trek) is trying to get Jeff Bridges to star in a show and he uses that pitch.

Dude: I didn’t start getting Anna Mercury when it first came out, so I figured I’d just buy it in trade. I liked the first one, though.

s1rude: Well, I still like The Unwritten, so I didn’t mean to be too hard on it!

Pedro: Good to know about Panicca.

Chad: Ah yes, now I remember. It’s been about four years since I’ve read Automatic Kafka, so I simply forgot about it.

I read somewhere that the editor (Mark Paniccia, if I recall correctly) came up with the “sound effects”. He apparently did similar stuff on other books he edited before, like World War Hulk. Can’t put my finger where I read that, though (I read A LOT about comics!).

S1rude,

The recap pages ARE on the trades. I was buying Herc on premiere HCs, but decided to switch to the monthlies to get the Agents of Atlas backups AND to justify buying the oversized HCs (buying two different HC compilations for the same series was overkill).

Mary,

Hercules is the best Marvel series right now. Moreover, the second best Marvel series, Agents of Atlas, is going to become Hercules backup series. That’s the best deal in comics! Buy it.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

INCREDIBLE HERCULES *is* one of the titles I buy locally, as it happens. I read #136 last night at bedtime & agree with everything you said … & even everything you didn’t say, but merely thought … or even *should’ve* thought, if only to bring your thinking more into line with my obviously godlike perceptions. This one was so entertaining that rather than read the next comic in my stack, PS 238 #41, I just decided that it couldn’t help but be anticlimactic (& mind you, PS 238 is one of my favoritest titles), so I put it down after cracking the cover, turned on the CPAP machine (that’s most night has only marginally improved my horrible sleeping habits since I obtained it 2 1/2 weeks ago after my sleep disorders clinic visit, since I know you were dying for an update) & retired.

Otherwise … yeah. See (b) in the first paragraph when it comes to VEIL & … ummm, that’s it. Well, I do get GODLAND from HeavyInk, too, but for lack-of-money reasons I’ve got that sub on “pause” for a moment — not a particularly hard step to take since I still haven’t read its two immediate predecessors. The beginning of #27 just didn’t grab me, for some reason, & I haven’t gotten back on that horse since, though undoubtedly I will sooner or later.

ANCHOR I’m thinking about, considering my high regard for Hester’s on-hiatus FIREBREATHER & completely awol THE ATHEIST (though I found his GOLLY crashingly unappealing … can’t win ‘em all). I’ll have to glance through the ish at the shop, if they got it in.

Your & Brian Hibbs’ remarks (I hadn’t seen his) about the seeming flimsiness of Boom! titles is something I’d noticed awhile back. Just about a week ago I found myself counting the pages of, probably, UNTHINKABLE or maybe IRREDEEMABLE (which I also brought home yesterday from the LCS but haven’t had a chance to read yet) just to double-check my perception that they had to be shorter than all the other comics in my stack …

House ads I think are a sign of the economy – advertising everywhere is down, as companies look for cheaper outlets to hock their wares. I’d be curious for someone to do a similar column like this for a TV night, and count the promos versus actual product ads…

Cheers,

B

I have also passed on Boom books in part because of bad “hand”. It’s probably only 20% of a formula that includes aversion to all $4 books and past experience with the reading experience feeling slight (can’t remember specifics right now, but Potter’s Field comes to mind as something that felt to me like it read too fast for the price). I like The Anchor okay – I always try to support Phil Hester’s work because I always find something clever in it – but I don’t know if I’ll keep buying it at $4, even if it felt like a good chunk of story. Not sure about opening with the stuff in Hell; that really felt like a lot to slog through to get to the more interesting bits. Nice Hester/Oeming-esque art, though.

I stopped buying Incredible Hercules in singles because I like it enough that I want it on my bookshelf instead of in a closet. But I hadn’t factored in the awesome recap pages which probably don’t make it trade, do they? F you Burgas for making me question my “monthly-serial killing ways”! Works out well for me on G0dland though. I don’t get Alan’s vitriol toward Herc, btw.

Secret Six is awesome. I think you’re being a little hard on The Unwritten. That is all.

I started buying them because of your reviews and now Godland is one of my favourite books around. Like you said it sucks that it doesn’t keep a regular schedule.

I’ll try the Anchor now. The concept seems great.

And again, maybe I missed it (I’m a little buzzed and haven’t been to my LCS this week, so I had to skip a couple reviews to avoid potential spoilers) but what are you getting at with your page/ad count? I know there’s people who really don’t like ads in comics, but theoretically they keep the cost of an issue down, and therefore I have no problem with them. Granted, I don’t know if they actually make enough from ads to keep the price lower. And honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if comics would be the exact same price they are now without ads. But I’ve never had a problem with ads in comics. Just wondering what your angle is here.