Obligatory Links To Better Writers- I miss Bill's link blogging thing. Does anyone else? I do. Anyway, here's the Savage Critic's savagely critical analysis of the writing and art on Rucka and Williams Batwoman storyline he would have surely linked to if he hadn't been bored to tears/madness and abandoned the feature like I abandon everything I ever write ever.

Anyway, I appreciate that David "Foul Mouthed Metron" Uzumeri and Jog "Jog is his nickname" have found things in the text and art I never would, and are literary and what not. Even if I'm not sure that makes the comics any better than the really good, but not up to my ridiculously high expectations, reception I've given them. That, and the Alice in Wonderland stuff does nothing for me, but then I don't care about the source material. I did enjoy the Batwoman: Year One story last issue more than the entire first arc, so there's that.

But forget all that. You have to read Jog's piece just for all the pretty art he crams in. Uzumeri's is also pretty good, I guess, even if he doesn't find a way to post excerpts from the JH Williams drawn Wolverine Annual I suddenly need to own.

I Was Never Good At Fractions I was the guy (possibly the only one) that was not particularly fond of Matt Fraction's first Invincible Iron Man arc. It was solid and everything, but not something that made me want to follow the series monthly (I wound up catching up on it via e-bay). I chalked it up to my not being a huge fan of the character. I did like it enough, especially the Spider-Man guest appearance, to at least keep the door open to reading the trades. And my LCS's Halloween Sale gave me an excuse to do that with the new one, which is what I was looking for.

Glad I did. The World's Most Wanted trade is great. It's as much a thriller as it is a superhero comic, with all of the tension and the impending sense of the walls closing in on the three protagonists. It's also the first time I've seen Maria Hill written as a character, and a pretty awesome one at that, since that one part of Secret Invasion Abhay pointed out there.

So, yeah, nice to see this comic live up to the hype, and I look forward to the next volume a whole lot, in the same way I eagerly snap up Ed Brubaker's Captain America.

Oh wait! I forgot the art! Even Salvador Larocca's art worked better for me on that IIM arc than it did in the previous one. It looked less, for lack of a better term, flashy and lifeless. Maybe the coloring helped, too, but it told the story well and was not nearly as unpalpable as I remember it being on the first car, which was in Greg Land/airbrushed/plasticine territory, I thought. Also, he drew Tony Stark with jet sneakers, and that automatically makes him one of my favorite artists ever. That goes for anyone, he just got to it first.*

I Have One Too, Norman and Nick! Here Is A List Of 25 Things I've Forgotten In Other Lists I've Done (Mostly On Facebook Pick Your 5s, but some here, too):

1. The Runaways (superhero team)
2. Hellboy
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
4. Amy Whinehouse
5. Dr. Horrible
6. Chris Claremont and Paul Smith's Uncanny X-Men
7. Wally Wood
8. Dana White
9. Jim Steranko
10. Young Avengers
11. Kofi Kingston
12. The Harlem Boys' Choir
13. The Swedish Bikini Team
14. The Runaways (girl band)
15. Katy Perry
16. Walt Simonson's Thor
17. Red Faction: Guerilla
18. The Punisher
19. Ares
20. A picture of Rob Van Dam pointing at himself
21. Bill Clinton
22. Sublime
23. Fantasy Football
24. Johnny Unitas
25. Dr. Dre

And while I'm already amusing myself, and myself alone, here's this Hernandez. Gordito. Mustache brothers separated at birth?**

Musings Of TERROR! One of the coolest things about Essential Tomb of Dracula vol. 2 is that it reprints a bunch of issues of Giant Sized Dracula. Beyond being pretty good self contained stories, it's pretty awesome to have them around just because it reminds you that there was a time when Marvel published two Dracula comics.

Blatant Marvel Bias Alert! I also picked up a copy of the first Heroes For Hire trade at that Halloween sale that made me go broke for a while. No, not that one that John Ostrander did, the other one. The one that spun out of Civil War? (Which the trade dress certainly wouldn't let you forget.)

So, anyway, I liked this too. A lot more than pretty much anything else I've read from Palmiotti and Gray*** as a writing team. Would have been better with Amanda Conner art, especially given that half the cast is hot women in spandex, but Billy Tucci and Francis Portella will do in a pinch. I just picked it up because Essential Power Man and Iron Fist has given me a new appreciation for the Daughters of the Dragon, so it was nice that I wound up enjoying it as a team book and not just a collection of supporting characters I like. Really though those two things are pretty intertwined. This is a comic that has Paladin and the Black Cat! If it also featured Diamondback and Silver Sable and the Wild Pack, it would include all of my childhood favorite guest stars!

One other thing about this comic; there's a subplot featuring the Skrulls, and when I first started reading those issues, I thought "that sets this up things really well for Secret Invasion!" And then I remembered that it was canceled during World War Hulk. So that creates two questions for me: 1. Were they planning that far in advance for SI, or was it a coincidence? 2. Why do I remember those World War Hulk issues?****

This You know, when he's not talking about how most everything sucks, Dan Apodaca is a man of great worth, which should be publicly acknowledged often. So I'll do that here. If nothing else, he has great taste in Onion editorials and linguistic trivia.

Bah Humbug, Forbush Man! Been seeing the Marvel Holiday Special Magazine in a lot of places that don't usually carry comics lately. Always happy to see comics out in the wider world of grocery stores and whatever you call Wal Mart at this point. And not just because I am close personal friends
sort of know one of the writers!

As far as the actual special goes (which I also bought at that magical, bank account destroying Halloween sale), I've only read bits and pieces of it. Because it's November. I do plan on going back and reading the bulk of the issue, reprints of older Christmas stories, when it's more seasonally appropriate, because there's a Beast and Iceman story by Kurt Busiek and a Spider-Man story scripted by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Lightle in there.

One problem with selling outside of comics shops; despite the fact that it's fairly well packed with content (well, that and ads written "in character" with lunatics like Hank Pym and Deadpool), it is $9.99. Probably a tough sale for an impulse buy. Being honest, I only bought it when I did because of the discount. Well, and I want to support my buddy acquaintance, Morse.

Teaser Ahoy! I've been reading a bit of Showcase Presents Metamorpho, and want to comment on it. Instead of doing that in this already overstuffed venue, I'm gonna make it a separate post. Watch for that, coming soon, ladies and germs!***** It will surely point out things about those comics!

*Well, as far as I know. If Al Milgrom or someone else did it first, please do tell me I forgot something I've never seen before. We bloggers love that!
**It took me so long to get around to making that joke that Hernandez has shaved his mustache off. Still, had to get to it eventually.
***I remember liking the first arc of their short lived Wildstorm series 21 Down a lot. And I haven't read a ton of their Jonah Hex, which is their longest running collaboration and seems to work for a lot of people.
****Just kidding. I totally remember why. You don't have to mention it. At all. Certainly not this. You know the thing I still can't get over about that cover? Why in the hell does Black Cat have a bell on her collar? Or, really, why doesn't she always wear a bell?
(In that I think all of the male posters here are sentient germ clouds. Well, surely at least Funky.)

17 Comments

• At November 12, 2009, Daryll B wrote:

  I agree with you on the Fraction Iron Man. I mentioned to one of my comic book dealers the other ...

• At November 12, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Happy birthday.

  Yes, I do miss Bill Reed's link-blogging thing. It was fun.

  I was totally unimpressed by the first arc ...

• At November 12, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  Invincible Iron Man by Fraction and Larroca is the best the title's ever been. There, I said it.

  * And I ...

• At November 12, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Happy B'day - I'm staring the big two seven in the face myself, when you hear a cry of pain ...

• At November 12, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  And that ridiculous bit where they float the idea of War Machine appearing, and then for no discernible reason, the ...

• At November 12, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  I dunno, why would he presume that A. The armor would fit him and B. That he could operate it?

  Because ...

• At November 12, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Happy birthday, man!

  I, too, miss Bill's Sunday Brunch feature. I feel like I'm missing out on stuff without those links ...

• At November 12, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Sunday Brunch might return, um, one of these days. I got busy, and the internet got a little boring, and ...

• At November 12, 2009, Greg Hatcher wrote:

  One of the coolest things about Essential Tomb of Dracula vol. 2 is that it reprints a bunch of issues ...

• At November 12, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " It put the idea in your head of two Iron Men fighting side by side, and then didn't follow ...

• At November 12, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I bought the first issue of Invincible Iron Man and couldn't see anything good about it, so I didn't buy ...

• At November 12, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Well, that's what sequels are for...

  That might be the case if you raise the idea of two Iron Men just ...

• At November 12, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I didn't (and still don't) really dig on the first arc of Invincible Iron Man -- something I discussed with ...

• At November 12, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  Also, happy birthday. You're slightly older than me (I turned 27 at the end of January).

• At November 12, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  Totally, totally agreed on Invincible Iron Man - Although it didn't feel like it would've read as well in single ...

• At November 13, 2009, Steven E. McDonald wrote:

  Greg Hatcher - indeed you do get the b&w Draculas in Essential TOD4, but they're somewhat edited, with any instance ...

• At November 13, 2009, Luis Dantas wrote:

  I used to like the Daughters of the Dragon, but their miniseries wrote them both SO hopelessly out of character ...

Necrosha-X One Shot- Why did I pay money for this, you ask, despite my noted disdain for DC's similar crossover event? I didn't! A friend purchased it for me at the LCS's Halloween Party, because he wanted someone to talk about it with, and I have never passed up a free comic before. Of course, I had to agree to read some of the story that spun out of it too. I figured if worse came to worse, I'd just give him his $4.

Well, it didn't quite necessitate a refund, but only because I really liked the New Mutants portion of things, with the idea that Doug Ramsey living up to his full potential is the most dangerous mutant ever. Been wanting to see that for a while, and if nothing else, hopefully Zeb Wells gets to keep him for his cast when this thing's over.

The rest was pretty okay. I mean, I'm just committing to following New Mutants as part of my little bargain, but I don't hate where this is going. Like a lot of recent X-stuff, it seems like it could be a solid trade eventually, if nothing else. X-Force seems like the comic where the action will take place, and it seems okay on that level so far (if nothing else, the X-Force portion had more Dr. Nemesis; I'll always mark for that. X-Men: Legacy appears to be focusing on Destiny and her plot device precognition, which involves mentoring one of the New New Mutants I've never heard of. So, if I skip one part, that's the one, right there.

Caveat time; I've wanted an excuse to read New Mutants for a while, and I'm such a huge lapsed X-Men fan (and am totally indifferent to Blackest Night and its principle characters, from Hal and Barry to most of the zombie JLA), so keep those biases in mind. I wouldn't rush out and buy this issue, but if you can get a dude to buy it for you, its not bad!

Uncanny X-Men: First Class #4- After last month's incomprehensible Banshee thing, things return to form with a Storm spotlight issue, guest starring two of my new favorite characters, the Daughters of the Dragon and Power Man and Iron Fist's best villain, Deadly Nightshade, a female blacksploitation mad scientists who wears hot pants. So, it's pretty great.

This is a fun done in one story that really gets why Storm's can be a cool character while still throwing in a cliffhanger that gives you a reason to come back next issue. It also continues Scott Gray's pretty bad ass characterization of Jean Grey. Sure, she's out of character, but in character Jean is so lame she can only get attention by dying. I find the one that rolls her eyes at Cyclops and learns kung fu a marked improvement. If nothing else, the cat fight between this Jean and Emma Frost would be epic.

As long as Banshee is kept to a minimum, I'd love to see this become an ongoing, but it seems like the X-Franchise is so played out that that's unlikely, especially when they could just do a Wolverine and the X-Men tie-in comic instead if they really wanted an all ages X-book.

10 Comments

• At November 9, 2009, Craig wrote:

  X Necrosha was so underwhelming to me, not only because of the close thematic ties to Blackest Night, but also ...

• At November 9, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  "This is a fun done in one story that really gets why Storm's can be a cool character "

  And why ...

• At November 9, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  BANSHEE IS THE BEST CHARACTER ON THE SHOW. HE IS BETTER THAN THE BALONEY AND THE SALAMI COMBINED.

• At November 9, 2009, Andy wrote:

  I also read Necrosha and Astonishing separately, and I wondered briefly why Ellis was participating in crossover, since he's pretty ...

• At November 9, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've only been reading Uncanny and New Mutants, and I haven't got the newest issues yet, so I have no ...

• At November 9, 2009, The Mutt wrote:

  I haven't read an X-book since around the time Psychlocke turned Japanese, so I'm confused. Isn't Doug Ramsey that guy ...

• At November 9, 2009, FuryOfFirestorm wrote:

  Cypher's powers were finally utilized in a way to make him useful in combat. He uses his power to understand ...

• At November 9, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  FofF: Claremont hinted at Cypher's powers heading that way in his final NM storyline (Doug's playing poker at the Hellfire ...

• At November 9, 2009, Mike Blake wrote:

  I agree Cypher has always had untapped potential, but isn't this new power the same one Taskmaster has had all ...

• At November 9, 2009, FuryOfFirestorm wrote:

  @Mike Blake: Taskmaster had "eidetic memory"' ( aka photographic reflexes). He can't read body language, but can copy moves after ...

(Really, if everyone here isn't already reading www.the-isb.com, I have no idea what else I can do.)

7 Comments

• At November 5, 2009, DanLarkin wrote:

  That is pretty darn great.

• At November 5, 2009, DubipR wrote:

  7 kinds of awesome!

• At November 5, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've never read New Gods, so I might be missing some jokes, but I have read a lot of Archie. ...

• At November 5, 2009, Tony wrote:

  This link to Simms is directing to a former pro. football player. :-)

  Funny stuff though.

• At November 5, 2009, Dean wrote:

  That was fantastic.

• At November 5, 2009, chad wrote:

  that thing was hilerious archie as orion fighting reggie who should be darkside. lol

• At November 6, 2009, FuryOfFirestorm wrote:

  This is what happens when you mix NyQuil with DayQuil, kids!

The Best Comic Ever (This Week):

Assault on New Olympus #1 (A.K.A. Incredible Hercules vs. Amazing Spider-Man, A.K.A. Incredible Hercules #137 1/2, A.K.A. Incredible Herc/Agents of Atlas Double Feature With Spider-Man Is Like Nerd Porn For Brad Curran)

So, yeah, this is a comic where Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente writes a fight between Spider-Man and Hercules over a seemingly airhead goddess. It has everything that makes Pak, Van Lente, Incredible Herc, Spider-Man, Marvel Comics, mythological superheroes, and comics in general great. Rodney Buchemi's not too shabby on the art, either. And then there's an Agents of Atlas back up by Jeff Parker and Gabriel Hardman, which is just not fair to other comics that do not have Agents of Atlas backups. Which really oughta be all of them.

And yes, the other comic I considered for this honor was X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas, which really makes me want a Jeff Parker Uncanny X-Men run, even he will probably wind up being as hamstrung by writing Uncanny X-Men as Fraction, Brubaker, and everyone else since... Claremont? The first time? And only like one really good half? Still; Jeff Parker for President of the X-Men is something I'm all for. Can someone start a meaningless petition for that?

Other comics I bought this week in brief(-ish):

Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire #4- Now with 99% less Ghost Riders! Kind of an off issue for Aaron and Boschi, but it did at least have a goth spiritual terrorist hottie fighting Madcap. Don't see that every day. I have like negative interest in the back up reprints, for some reason. And that reason is I never wanted to like Ghost Rider before Aaron wrote him, and those things remind me why that is.

Marvel Zombies: Evil Evolution- So, yeah, that's too much zombie viscera in my dopey ape superhero comic. A real sour way for a run of comics I probably liked too much to end (especially with no Peyer back up?!?!?!), but I guess that's what I get for following their attempt to turn a sleeper hit in to a franchise.

Strange Tales #3- A mixed bag, for sure. The highlights for me were: Stan Sakai's Hulk, because it's Stan Sakai drawing the Hulk; the art on Corey Lewis and Dylan McCrae's Longshot story (I mean, it's something that could have been in X-Men Unlimited, and the dialogue almost gave me a seizure, but it looked pretty), Jay Stephens' fun Beast vs. Morbius short (get that guy on a Beast mini/ongoing now!), Jeffrey Brown's "FF are jerks" gag strip (I really like funny Jeffrey Brown), Paul Hornschemeier's downbeat, effecting Nightcrawler Meets the Molecule Man (which features the saddest super villain monologue ever), and Michael Kupperman's Avengers, which is incalculably better than any other Avengers comic ever.

The lows were Peter Bagge's cute but underwhelming Hulk serial (the whole "the story Marvel didn't want you to see until now" aspect of it didn't help at all), Jonathan Jay Lee's trailer for a Punisher revamp we'll never (with art I couldn't get in to at all), Max Cannon's dumb Amazing Fantasy #15 riff, and whatever it is Chris Chua was drawing (that guy works with Khoi Pham? For reals?).

Becky Cloonan's Namor strip was the median. Great art, as you'd expect, but what was with that reveal at the end? (That said, I'd buy the hell out of a Super Villain Team Up revamp with Doom as Namor's deadbeat roomate, so good on Ms. Cloonan there.

I liked Strange Tales overall. People who waited for the trade are in for a nice package, I think, but it was also fun in singles (not $5 fun, each time, but good enough to justify $15 for three issues). Of course, I'm the guy who loved the first Bizarro Comics anthology and have barely read any of the people involved's indie work, so... yeah, I'm that guy. Moving on.

Mighty Avengers Assemble Hardcover- Got this at the LCS's Halloween sale. I really liked the Bendis/Cho arc. The one where Bendis and Bagley team up for the last time, not so much (well, what I've read; haven't finished it, because seriously; Mark Bagley is as not very good at drawing big action comics as Bendis usually is at writing them). But yeah, that Bendis/Cho arc; first Avengers I've ever really liked outside of Kupperman's just now.

I was pretty surprised, since I've always found Bendis's New Avengers (featuring a roster I uniformly like) to be almost good. Mighty (where I like 2 1/2 of the characters, and one (Ms. Marvel) only because she's good in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2) I really dug on a "widescreen comics" level. Also, Cho's actually a pretty good comic book artist, and not just a pin up guy! Who knew? I almost feel bad that they blew up this team for Secret Invasion. And hey, thought balloons! I forgot I missed those!

*Three comics I would have bought on normal weeks were disqualified because I didn't buy them: Buffy because I dropped it (push came to shove, and I was going to just get that Willow one shot and pack it in anyway; now I'll just do that retroactively), Captain America: Reborn because I left it for later (trade if all else comes fails, since I have the rest of Brubaker's run that way), and Deadpool Team Up because I forgot it/didn't get home with it. Also, I only bought Marvel stuff this week, so there's that awful bias going on. Be sure to tell me what else I forgot/why my opinion is wrong, folks!

15 Comments

• At November 4, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  he will probably wind up being as hamstrung by writing Uncanny X-Men as Fraction, Brubaker, and everyone else since... Claremont? ...

• At November 4, 2009, Thok wrote:

  You apparently didn't buy Secret Six this week. You are a horrible, horrible person. (Seriously, it's Ostrander writing ...

• At November 4, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Morrison never wrote Uncanny, though.

  I have to say, Strange Tales #3 was by far the weakest issue of the series. ...

• At November 4, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  (And remember, Casey wasn't hamstrung, he was strung out on coke!)

  I remember Casey's Uncanny got kind of good as he ...

• At November 4, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  I bet Chad will write about it some day. Generic banter about our feud.

• At November 4, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  And yeah, Thok, I really ought to get in on Secret Six/Suicide Squad some day. It's on the list.

• At November 4, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  Morrison never wrote Uncanny, though.

  You think that was his secret?

  Working on 'X-Men' and not Uncanny?

  I remember Casey's Uncanny got kind ...

• At November 5, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  WRT Ghost Rider... I'm still scratching my head over who was behind the decision to rename Dan Ketch "Danny." ...

• At November 5, 2009, Adam wrote:

  Boy, Apes vs. Zombies could have been a thing of beauty. I'm not sure if I was turned off ...

• At November 5, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  NOT SO RANDOM THOUGHT -- "Best comic" sure doesn't mean anything when you admit to flipping a coin.

  Strange Tales #3 ...

• At November 5, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Wow, I read so many comics this week and I totally forgot two really important ones, Assault on New Olympus, ...

• At November 5, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I've bought nothing but Marvels the last couple of years, but I haven't got any of these. And not ...

• At November 5, 2009, Tekende wrote:

  "whatever it is Chris Chua was drawing "

  Yeah, what the F was up with that? It looked like Jackson Pollock ...

• At November 5, 2009, Provolone wrote:

  I'd buy Uncanny X-Men by Jeff Parker... that would be sweet as sweet potato pie. Didn't Parker do a ...

• At November 5, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Secret Six came out this week and I don't yet have it? What the Buddha is wrong with me...

Hey, Summers, You're On Notice! So, yeah; Buffy Season 8. I've decided that it's got one more issue to not tread water. That will be the Willow one shot. That's it. If that thing is mediocre or worse, I'm dropping it. I don't even care about finishing the run at this point, because I can't remember what happened last issue.

I mean, it's not awful, it's just not working for me anymore. Maybe it would read better as trades? Thing is, at one point, I loved it in single issues. That point was when Drew Goddard and Brian Vaughan were writing it, with Whedon's stuff at least maintaining the good will I had for the concept of more Buffy that counts.

It never recovered from his awful time travel Fray crossover that made me hate Fray, time travel, Whedon, and various other things in their orbit, at least a little, though. At this point, I'm thinking maybe they should just take it away from him and let various comics pros and other writers outside the old Buffy staff (except Goddard) have at it. Yes, I want them to take Buffy away from her daddy.

So, yeah, I'm out of the Whedon Fan Club. I'll send for my things, Bill. At least we'll always have Firefly. (By the way, did everyone catch the Firefly reference on Castle this week? If not, you make me sad, not watching Castle like that. Go hit that up online, yo!)

No, Don't! I'm thinking it's time to maybe accept Mark Millar's writing in to my life again. Or at least finish up his Ultimates run with Hitch. Or get Old Man Logan. I should probably not ever get Old Man Logan, should I? Still, I think if I go in expecting nothing but big splasy scenes strung together, and ignore his characterization, I should be okay, right?

But Then Maybe Mark Millar Would Write Him! So, yeah, why has their not at least been a Fantomex mini-series by now? Can someone (preferably Jason Aaron) get on that? If I ran Marvel, Fantomex would be in the X-Men. Hey, wait a minute! That sounds like a list!

It Is A List! X-Men Who Would Be On The X-Men If I Ran Marvel And The X-Men And Also Their Role As X-Men:

1. Nightcrawler (team leader/best character ever/suddenly Errol Flynn Jr. again because Father Kurt is so lame!)
2. Wolverine (is Wolverine)
3. Beast (tech support/wise cracker/does a lot of stuff with his feet)
4. Fantomex (dashing rogue ally who hangs out with the X-Men due to a combination of self interest, payments from Angel, and writer's crush)
5. Rachel Summers/Marvel Girl/Phoenix/Whatever They're Calling Her That Week (is less annoying than her mom, and you need a telekinetic)
6. Kitty Pryde (my theoretical X-Men run would begin with her space bullet landing on the X-Mansion lawn, or what's left of it these days. Then she'd hitch hike across the Marvel Universe and proceed to kick everyone who said "Nah, don't bother to try and save her" in the face. Including Joss Whedon. And then she'd rejoin the team, and we'd never speak of that again.)
7. Spiral (I just think she looks cool, okay?)
8. Armor (Whedon's only decent addition to anything company owned ever, I think. Wolverine's latest teen sidekick)
9. Jubilee (Wolverine's old teen sidekick. Has her powers again. Can blow stuff up good. Is no longer a mall rat)
10. Cypher (Cunning linguist; doesn't go in to battle, but does all the legwork a guy who can read any language (from sarcasm to binary) could do.)
11. Emma Frost (Shows up to get all the good lines every once in a while. I like her a lot, but she's getting overexposed these days, so I'd use her sparingly.)
12. Shatterstar (He's here! He's queer! He'll cut you if you make fun of his pony tail!)
13. Longshot (He'd be rocking a mullet and doing lucky things, just like when I was 12. NOSTALGIA!)
14. Psylocke (for when the artist really wants to draw camel toe and stabbing in the same panel)
15. Warlock (team mascot; can turn in to whatever set piece I feel like writing; can hang out with Cypher again)
16. Molly Hayes/Princess Powerful (would show up to be adorable/punch things at least every other issue)
17. Cannonball (would say "Mah blast field makes me practically invulnerable" once, then laugh, say "nah, really, people don't talk like that, and also, remember that time I beat up Gladiator?" And that would be my and only slam on Chris Claremont's writing.)
18. Siryn (Like Banshee if Banshee didn't suck at everything. Always liked her.)
19. Iceman (I'd take a stab at making him live up to his potential, then probably kill him off in frustration 3 issues in.)
20. Xorn (He was real to me, damn it! Did they ever acknowledge Chuck Austen bringing him back at the end of his run?)

So, yeah, that would probably be as hated as every other X-Men run ever by people who read X-Men and hate it, I bet. I'd love to do it if I could ever be lucky enough to get a job writing comics.

Hey, Jerks, What Do You Think? Would any of these TV Shows I like make good comics?*:

1. Arrested Development
2. Veronica Mars
3. Family Guy
4. TNA Impact (well, I've liked it since Nigel McGuinness showed up and made Kurt Angle his whipping boy. OH NOES HE WROTE ABOUT WRASSLIN' AGAIN! I WANTS MY MONEY BACKS! I will never forgive you for that, Stealthwise. And it wasn't even in response to me! I don't know why that angered me, but it did. Ahem.)
5. Dexter (I don't consider those motion comics actual comics, even if Kyle Baker's doing one. Sorry.)
6. Castle
7. Venture Brothers
8. How I Met Your Mother
9. ECW
10. Attack of the Show
11. Wolverine and the X-Men (why is there not a comic for the cartoon yet? It's a pretty okay cartoon! Are the X-Men that tainted?)
12. Glee
13. The Craig Ferguson Show
14. Burn Notice
15. The Mentalist
16. The Office
17. 30 Rock

I mean, I'd read a Burn Notice: Year One comic, I bet, but I'm seriously not sure on some of these. There was a Family Guy fumetti thing, I know, but I'm wondering if they could do the cutaway thing in comics form effectively. Would the Mentalist work without Simon Baker being so amusing/charming? Would a 30 Rock comic just be Tracy Morgan running around naked while Judah Freidlander changes novelty hats? Would Dwight inevitably have a fight to the death with Wolverine if he existed in comics?

That's It, I Quit, Go Ahead And Pick Your Nits Yeah, I got shit to do. Later, haters! And... indifferenters? Is that a word?

*I preemptively assume Apodaca thinks ever TV show I like sucks and will make a "they are not good TV shows" crack. That makes me sad. You used to not be so much like this when you were Madman Dan, Dan. I'm sure of it! That or I had better taste back then. I dunno. That was a long time ago.

P.S. Stealthwise just annoys me. Alan Coil, too. I can't help it. So, when you both jumped on Chad for daring to write about wrestling (in a post titled "Random Thoughts"), that it was like the Four Horsemen jumping Dusty Rhodes. It made me so angry, and I wanted to see Magnum T.A. and Sting get their revenge on you in a steel cage. So, sorry? Should I apologize? I'll apologize.

19 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  I think it helps to evaluate Buffy Season Eight not as a continuation of the show so much as a ...

• At November 1, 2009, Bryan wrote:

  I like wrestling too, but would you really read a comic about it. I don't think it'd translate well.

• At November 1, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I like all of the following shows:

  Arrested Development

  The Venture Brothers

  The Craig Ferguson Show

  The Office

  30 Rock

  The following shows are terrible:

  Family Guy

  Attack ...

• At November 1, 2009, Ted wrote:

  Glee would not make a good comic. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Glee, but, as you may ...

• At November 1, 2009, Marcus Foote wrote:

  Venture Brothers NEEDS a comic book series as long as it's handled by the creators of the show. It'd ...

• At November 2, 2009, JasonF wrote:

  I hate Joss Whedon. I though Astonishing X-Men was lame and giant space bullets even lamer. Why bring back one ...

• At November 2, 2009, Craig wrote:

  I think if you go into Old Man Logan looking for a summer blockbuster action movie extravaganza like Transformers or ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  "Old Man Logan" started out fun-summer-movie, but ended up depressingly violent. Not just too violent (although it was for my ...

• At November 2, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Buffy didn't get at least a 6-issue reprieve from you with the most recent ish's SGT. FURY cover homage? For ...

• At November 2, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  So, now I've been compared to Edge AND Dusty Rhodes? Brad, you sweet talker you...

  Kind of surprised to see you ...

• At November 2, 2009, Sijo wrote:

  Your X-Men list works for me. Though you might need to change the title to Legion of Mutant Heroes.

  None of ...

• At November 2, 2009, BRIAN wrote:

  i THOUGHT IT WAS JUST KITTY RIDING A GIANT DICK

  MY BAD.

  CHEERS,

  B

• At November 2, 2009, tk. wrote:

  Who Would Be On The X-Men If I Ran Marvel: A steady cast for more than two consecutive issues, dammit. ...

• At November 2, 2009, Tekende wrote:

  Why is Cyclops not on your list of X-Men? What the hell, man. You can't have the X-Men without Cyclops.

• At November 2, 2009, Nitz the Bloody wrote:

  " I hate Joss Whedon. I though Astonishing X-Men was lame and giant space bullets even lamer. Why bring back ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Is Cypher alive now? Or are you resurrecting him? I kind of liked the fact that his death ...

• At November 2, 2009, Dave wrote:

  Cypher popped up just last week: *spoilers*

  He's some sort of zombie in the "X-Necrosha" books.

• At November 2, 2009, JasonF wrote:

  "So, because he killed off a character you like, he's a terrible writer. Does that mean Chris Claremont sucks for ...

• At November 2, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Why would Fantomex need to be on X-Men when he is such an amazing solo character? He could be Marvel's ...

Top 21 Essential Marvel Runs I've Read:*
1. Wolfman and Colan Tomb Of Dracula
2. Lee, Kirby, and Sinnot Fantastic Four
3. Gerber, Brunner, Colan, and Infantino Howard the Duck
4. Lee and Romita, and friends Amazing Spider-Man
5. Lee and Ditko Dr. Strange
6. Lee and Ditko Amazing Spider-Man
7. Claremont and Smith Uncanny X-Men
8. Claremont, Cockrum, and Byrne Uncanny X-Men**
9. Duffy and Gammil Power Man/Iron Fist
10. Gerber and Sal Buscema Defenders
11. Lee and John Buscema Silver Surfer
12. Gerber, Kane, Sal Buscema, and friends Marvel Two In One
13. Lee, Kirby, Steranko, Colan Captain America
14. Lee, Kirby, Ditko, Severin; just the whole bullpen, okay? Hulk
15. Thomas and Windsor-Smith Conan
16. Lee, Severin, and Everrett Dr. Strange
17. Fleisher and Leialoha Spider Woman
18. Thomas, Colan, and friends Dr. Strange***
19. Lee, Thomas, Kirby, Toth, Roth X-Men****
20. Monech and Trempe Godzilla
21. Lee, Kirby, Heck Ant Man*****

Top 21 Characters I'd Pay For As DLC In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
1. Hercules
2. She-Hulk
3. The Falcon
4. Blade******
5. Molly Hayes/Princess Powerful
6. Beast
7. Nightcrawler
8. Black Widow
9. Captain Britain
10. War Machine
11. Namor
12. Bullseye
13. Stan Lee
14. Beta Ray Bill
15. Machine Man
16. Sleepwalker
17. Gorrila Man
18. Shadowcat
19. Amadeus Cho
20. Daken*******
21. Cannonball

15 Favorite DC Comics Runs By Writer
1. JLA by Morrison
2. Batman by Miller
3. Batman by O'Neil
4. All Star Superman by Grant Morrison
5. Fourth World by Kirby
6. Manhunter by Goodwin
7. Batman by Morrison
8. The Flash by Waid
9. Justice League International/Europe by Giffen and DeMatties
10. Robin by Dixon
11. 52 by Johns, Rucka, Morrison, and Waid
12. Orion by Simonson
13. Batman by Wolfman***********************************
14. Animal Man by Morrison
15. Detective Comics by Grant

11 Favorite Indie/Non-Superhero/Slice of Life Graphic Novels
1. Locas by Jaime Hernandez
2. Ice Haven by Dan Clowes
3. 32 Stories by Adrian Tomine
4. American Splendor by Harvey Pekar and friends (the one with Paul Giamatti on the cover that tied in to the movies and was like a greatest hits; I was bitterly disappointed with "the Quitter")
5. Ghost World by Dan Clowes
6. From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
7. Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim
8. Stagger Lee by by Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix
9. The Eternal Smile by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim
10. Jimmy Corrigan by Chris Ware*x/2
11. Louis Riel by Chester Brown*V*

*Do not say "You forgot!" Just don't. These are all the Essentials I've ever read. If it's not here, I either read it in another format, don't have it yet, or don't care.
**Yes, I consider this all one run.
***I don't like this run at all, but I consider it just not for me.
****I count this all as one (crappy) run. The only redeeming quality of this collection is the Bruce Timm cover. The X-Men didn't get good until Thomas and Adams got a hold of them. Unless Arnold Drake's run was better than I expect. That's my big hole in the X-Men. Yes, I've read the '90s. I grew up then. In theory.
*****I read Ant Man's origin and realized I never wanted to read another Hank Pym Ant Man story ever again, so this really shouldn't count, and is also why I hate Hank Pym (so much!) and think he should die in a fire.
******Only if his costumes are from Captain Britain and MI-13 and Tomb of Dracula, though.
*******So I could send him charging to his death while I laugh. Or, as I call it, "the Gambit Method"
*********************************** I forgot that Marv wrote Batman when I was a youngin', and introduced one of my childhood faves, Tim Drake. Man, I'm kind of sad with what they've done to poor Tim Drake, even if I like Damien as Robin a lot. So, anyway, something else of his I like besides ToD.
*x/2 I mean, it leaves me cold and I will never read it again, but it is a technical marvel. I will never doubt that Ware's a master craftsman, I just don't enjoy his work. Craft only goes so far in my book if I wish your lead characters would all be eaten by Devil Dinosaur.
*V* I stopped reading it before the end, but what I read was great!

18 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, regardless of whether it's right or wrong, good or bad, is what I say.

  You ...

• At November 1, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I didn't think Stan did Doctor Strange with anybody besides Ditko. You didn't accidentally write Lee instead of say, ...

• At November 1, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  You can't be all bad if'n you rate Simonson's Orion, which all right-thinking individuals do.

• At November 1, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  I think he wrote Doc until the end of Essential Strange, but that's off the top of my head. Maybe ...

• At November 2, 2009, Brian wrote:

  Glad to see some love for Stagger Lee, one of the best works in years.

• At November 2, 2009, Adam Kirby wrote:

  Man, I like Ice Haven too, but #2? That seems really high, unless you just haven't read many " Indie/Non-Superhero/Slice ...

• At November 2, 2009, Craig wrote:

  I can't help but think that the "Indie/Non-Superhero/Slice of Life Graphic Novels" list is missing a few things:

  - Elk's Run

  - ...

• At November 2, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  Which Captain Britain costume would you want to download, though??

• At November 2, 2009, Darren K wrote:

  Wait, for your 11 Favorite Indie/Non-Superhero/Slice of Life Graphic Novels, one of them you don't like and another you didn't ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Have you read any Gilbert Hernandez stuff? Jaime's work is great, and Beto's work is great in a very different ...

• At November 2, 2009, Ed Buskirk wrote:

  Wanting Chris Ware's characters to be eaten by Devil Dinosaur is one of the things I love about his work ...

• At November 2, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  I'm really confused about which Ant-Man origin story you read, as he sort of has two: "The Man in the ...

• At November 2, 2009, Andy wrote:

  Are you saying that Pym has a dead wife? Because that seems odd, as he never mentions it again, ...

• At November 2, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Pym's first wife, Maria, was mentioned in Avengers #227, when he gave his life history to some guy while he ...

• At November 2, 2009, Andy wrote:

  Heh, that's almost funny. It's gotta be one of the fastest "...And I'm over it" s in the history ...

• At November 2, 2009, Pedro Bouça wrote:

  Sooooo, why didn't you read Louis Riel to the end if yu were enjoying it?

  (I've yet to read it myself, ...

• At November 3, 2009, Leeatard wrote:

  If Herc DOES make it to MUA2, I hope all his attacks are just sound effects.

• At November 3, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  I really need to read more Essentials. I've only read the first four volumes of Claremont's X-Men and the first ...

What I liked best about this issue, beyond John Romita Jr. rendering Dokken Daken slicing Frank's arms off in cutlets, was that the Punisher finally met a super being who he couldn't cheat to win against. He fought dirty, but Wolverine's bastard son was not playing. I almost don't want Frank to steam roll him flat like he did his dad in that one Ennis comic now. Almost.

So, yeah, mark me down for Frankencastle, Marvel and Rick Remender. Angel Punisher comparisons will be ignored. Well, all your comments will be ignored; not out of spite, I'm just gonna not read the internet tomorrow if I can help it.

5 Comments

• At November 1, 2009, Nawid A wrote:

  Lot of people talking about this but I hear no mentions of Punisher #10 which, in my opinion, was almost ...

• At November 1, 2009, Punchy wrote:

  Punisher #10 was fucked up too, I can't believe Remender is getting away with some of this stuff.

• At November 1, 2009, Scavenger wrote:

  I agree..it was kinda nice seeing what would happen if he fought one of these super powered killing machines and ...

• At November 1, 2009, JPop wrote:

  crap. Now I gotta go read both of these comics.

• At November 1, 2009, Sherman Stang wrote:

  I'm sorry, but I think it's crap. I'll just save these dollars until they fix what they screwed up here. ...

Brad's Best Comic EVER (This Week) Of The Week: Dark Reign: The List: Wolverine: One-Shot :Crap, I'm Addicted To Colons Now! I Expect You To Pay For My Rehab, Quesada!

This thing was a blast. Sure, it was false advertising, but I can't fault Marvel for not calling it what it was: Grant Morrison Presents: Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic's Marvel Boy and Fantomex Team-Up: With Wolverine Too, I Guess: And Also Aaron's First Wolverine Story Too: That Will Be Four Dollars. That would sell less copies and a hassle to make a logo of, so I don't blame them for going with the shorter, more fiscally lucrative title.

I guess I should do a half assed review/plot synopsis. Okay, but I don't have to like it (and neither do you, to be fair. You're off the hook, haters)!

Long story short, I loved this comic like a fat kid (okay, me) loves cake, but then again, any comic where Grant Morrison's best Marvel creations trade bon mots and face kicks, and then one of them has to make out with something disgusting, to save the World from Norman Osborn and his team of the lamest zombie cyborgs ever is basically being written for me. And I am nothing if not excessively flattered and grateful when I'm pandered to.

I don't want to jinx this, but I'm hoping this will finally be the weekly feature that will stick for me. We'll see.

20 Comments

• At October 29, 2009, Jeremy wrote:

  I knew it was gonna be Wolverine: The List. The best Grant Morrison Marvel characters teaming up with Wolverine in ...

• At October 29, 2009, Daniel O' Dreams wrote:

  LOL for a minute there I thought you were saying Marvel Boy and Fantomex had to make out.... I was ...

• At October 29, 2009, CF wrote:

  "Crap! I'm addicted to colons now!"

  That's what he said.

• At October 29, 2009, Dan Fleming wrote:

  Picking this up solely for Fantomex. It's a shame so much of Grants X-men run has been ignored. ...

• At October 29, 2009, Brian Cronin wrote:

  Also, this is far from Aaron's first time writing Wolverine >_>

  The issue contained a reprint of Aaron's first Wolverine story.

• At October 29, 2009, Punchy wrote:

  This was indeed awesome, as anything with Fantomex in is bound to be.

  #6 of the regular Wolvy book was good ...

• At October 29, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Coming in the mail from my supplier and I'm looking forward to it.

• At October 29, 2009, agent_torpor wrote:

  Secret Warriors was one big boring fight scene. Far from Hickman's best.

• At October 29, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  While I really liked the writing, Esad Ribic's art blew me away -- why does this man not do more ...

• At October 29, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Secret Warriors was one big boring fight scene. Far from Hickman's best."

  I thought SW was one good ling fight ...

• At October 29, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Also, this is far from Aaron's first time writing Wolverine >_>"

  Yes. I have "Get Mystique" and "Manifest Destiny." They're really ...

• At October 29, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Ehhh... I was actually disappointed by Wolverine: The List, probably because I had astronomically high expectations for it, 'cause I ...

• At October 30, 2009, Rusty Priske wrote:

  WIth all due respect to your choice, I thought Detective Comics was the best book this week... or month.

• At October 30, 2009, Pink Lantern wrote:

  Brad, ask your doctor if you can have a colonoscopy. That will help you with your colon problem.

  "The Best Comic ...

• At October 30, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  "The Best Comic Ever (This Week)" is a poor title for your column. Because most weeks there simply isn't a ...

• At October 30, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Somebody's a Web Soup fan, eh?

• At October 30, 2009, Dalarsco wrote:

  I demand a Cable and Deadpool style team-up book!

• At October 30, 2009, Monica Dickey wrote:

  I love team up books, although they're often goofy.

• At October 30, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  Is the reprint the Wolverine in the pit story? Great story, if so.

• At November 14, 2009, Hack Slash Omnibus Volume 2 Good clean campy read « Alternating Reality Books wrote:

  [...] The Best Comic EVER (This Week)! (goodcomics.comicbookresources.com) Filed under: Comic Books Tags: Comic ...

Cultural Deficiency Alert!

I was originally going to dismiss this collection of Wolverine variant covers as a shameless cash grab, until I read the solicits. Then I realized that if my Art Appreciation class in college had been based on Wolverine cover homages, I'd probably remember something from it. So, got me there, Marvel.

I Bet Old Jim's Rolling Over In His Grave Right Now This is the most adorable Steranko homage I've ever seen. To be fair, I don't think I've ever seen another Steranko homage that registered on the cute scale, but still; that's just below a Lego Rock Band consisting of a puppy, a kitten, a baby, and this lady on the cute scale. And that's pretty damn cute, in case you didn't catch that.

Like dorky transportation for security guards, it's a segue!

And speaking of cute, there's Beasts of Burden. Sure, it's a creepy horror comic, but it also has a pug, so I think that transition was valid. Anyway, that was the best comic I read last week, against not very much competition. I picked up the new Vigilante and Conan issues because they had art from the tag teams of Walt Simonson and John Paul Leon and Tim Truman and Joe Kubert. So I definitely got my $3 worth there. But both stories weren't much more than solid. Sort of like how I feel about Rucka and William's Batwoman, really (even if I am apparently very wrong about that one).

Another book I picked up last week, Power Girl, also falls in to that category for me. Really like the art, but the story didn't do much for me. I'd leave it at that, but I have a slogan to really express how I feel about it!

Power Girl: The Best Perfectly Acceptable Superhero Comic I Don't Care About At All.

And this is why I'd never make it in advertising. That and my lack of interest in Mad Men. You should probably want to watch Mad Men if you're going to get in to advertising. Also, if you're not a mouth breather, appparently.**

I'd Like Marv Wolfman's Comics If Not For All The Marv Wolfman My apathy toward the story in Vigilante reminds me that, aside from Tomb of Dracula (which I've been reading a ton of lately), I don't care for Marv Wolfman's writing too much. I haven't read a lot of it, but I'm not that in to his superhero work. I've never really had that reaction to a writer before. Even writers I find hit and miss, like Bendis and Millar, have more than one than one "hit" in my book.

To be fair, I haven't read a ton of his superhero stuff outside of some scattered Superman and Spider-Man issues and Titans (and even that was in a format that didn't really do the work justice, the Judas Contract TPB). So, like Geoff Johns, I should probably give him a fair chance to win me over and not base my opinion on a small sample size. Especially since I'm ripping off the guys who brought that phrase to my attention.

Hey, now he's talking about wrestling, too! Again! I will surely make a comment about how I do not appreciate this! Or I could just skip it until the next random thought, I guess.

So yeah, I feel obligated to provide my version of Chad's version of 411's (no link because I blog for their competition) list of five wrestlers you'd build a promotion around. And here it is:

1. Bryan Danielson- He lives up to that "Best In the World" tag from what I've seen, and you need a guy who can get a good match out of anyone on your roster. Can work as a face or a heel, and has underrated personality. (In that many people don't think he has one.)
2. A.J. Styles- He can do everything well in the ring, has become serviceable on the mic, and really, I'd just like to book him and Danielson in a feud for months on end, especially since that's a pretty untapped match. Can also work face or heel.
3. Evan Bourne- My favorite high flier to come down the pike in years, and since that's my favorite style of wrasslin', I'd want him around. He doesn't have mic skills to speak of, but he's been able to get over in giant obsessed WWE based on his ring work. Seems like the perfect underdog.
4. Motor City Machine Guns- For my "tag team I count as one entity." Because they are awesome and I'd love to be able to book them as a dominant team.
5. Samoa Joe- I wanted to be a contrarian and not have any overlap with any of Chad's picks, but I fell just short, especially because Joe could fill the "monster" spot on my undersized roster. This does mean that my dream promotion is pretty much a greatest hits version of ROH, but there it is.

He's done with that juvenile, homoerotic wrestling crap! Now he's going to talk about superheroes instead. Thank god!

I read the penultimate issue of Essential Power Man and Iron Fist Volume 1 the other day. It left me with a dilemma.

You see, I'm not the most culturally sensitive guy in the world. I know, what a shock, coming from the guy that said that thing about Dan Didio that one time.

But anyway, I don't always catch racism/sexism unless it's pointed out to me. So, when it kind of bugged me that a supporting character, District Attorney William Hao, is Chinese and happens to know kung fu, I wasn't sure if it should or not. It's a shame that more bloggers don't read Essential PM/IF so I can get a proper outrage barometer and react accordingly.

But really, should I find that iffy at all? I was able to justify it enough to finish the story and like it (it would be kind of hard not to, really, since it opens with Fist and Cage beating up an entire New York cowboy bar), but should it bother me that a Chinese D.A. knows how to handle himself in a karate fight? Is that reverse racism? Would it not at all if I had read his earlier appearances? Also, should I make even a minor stink about this when I give comics from the Spirit to Silver Age Marvel and DC a pass on way more egregious things?

And wait, I just looked at that profile page I linked to again; he went by the name Chaka Khan at some point? Really? And I didn't notice this at all in the comics, or in that profile at first? Was I skimming that much of one/both? Okay, that bothers me more than the whole racism angle. Time to move on.

Consensus with a Canuck I also liked Switchblade Honey. It's one of the few things of Ellis's that I've read that wasn't published by DC or Marvel, actually.

The Anticlimatic Ending Those magazines I need to get rid of are stubbornly refusing to fling themselves in the trash. Better get on that, so that brings this installment of everyone's second favorite collection of loosely connected thoughts on comics here at CBR to a close. You can ask for a refund if you don't find that satisfying enough, and I'll see what I can do about getting your time back.

*That was a preemptive pro wrestling reference.
** Am I going to get in trouble for using mouth breather, too? I'm kind of excited to find out, really.

11 Comments

• At October 27, 2009, Matt Bird wrote:

  You do know that Jim Steranko is still alive, right?

• At October 27, 2009, Matt Bird wrote:

  Oh, and strangely enough, just today, on the subway, I was wondering "Would someone with a deviated nasal septum get ...

• At October 27, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I'm not familiar with Danielson really, having little to no experience with ROH (sadly). But, I can't really argue with ...

• At October 28, 2009, Michael wrote:

  You seem to have forgotten to link to the Steranko homage of cuteness.

• At October 28, 2009, sgt pepper wrote:

  "He's done with that juvenile, homoerotic wrestling crap! Now he's going to talk about superheroes instead. Thank god! "

  I've got ...

• At October 28, 2009, brian wrote:

  Crecy was awesome.

  And Wolfman's run on Green Lantern wasn't bad.

  Cheers,

  B

• At October 28, 2009, Wesley Smith wrote:

  If you thought that Chaka Khan was offensive, you must have forgotten about Cage's pal DW Griffith, the manager (projectionist?) ...

• At October 28, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  An Asian kung-fu fighter is hardly racist in a book where one of the two stars is a white kung-fu ...

• At October 28, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Steranko's not dead, no, but maybe he sleeps in a grave anyway. Because he is that metal.

• At October 28, 2009, Alexa wrote:

  Yeah, Steranko is definitely alive. Unless he's a vampire. Because he is far to suave and cool to ...

• At October 29, 2009, Coca-Cola Kid wrote:

  http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EverybodyWasKungFuFighting

Fanboy talks about indie cartoonists on superheroes; makes it about himself/superheroes: I was excited about Strange Tales when I remembered it existed and was being published imminently last month. Then I remembered this post from my old nemesis and became less so, because he pretty well says you're a jerk if you only want to see talented creators do corporate superheroes. And he's Canadian, so he's extra scathing when he makes that kind of proclamation. Just like Edge! Hopefully Nevett won't be doing any live blogging sex celebrations to up his hits.

So, yeah, I was wondering why I was so happy to see a gaggle of indie creators whose work I by and large will probably go on to ignore after they're done doing gag strips about MODOK (except Paul Pope, but does he even count as an indie creator anymore? When was the last time he did anything outside of Marvel and DC's confines? If he did do some creator owned stuff lately (since Batman: Year 100) do call me on it, because I need to read more of his non-superhero stuff).

After writing that absurd parenthetical paragraph, I've come to a conclusion: I like superheroes so much that I want to see as many different takes on them as possible. I'm the guy that likes it when Jim Mahfood draws Spider-Man. I loved all the indie/alternative/not the usual suspects involved in the Jemas/Quesada-era Marvel. I also like that the creators on ST are getting to put their own spin on the characters. I seriously doubt anyone but Tony Millionaire could ever write that Iron Man story, for instance. Also; whatever it was that Junko Mizuno did (which was charming and all, but still).

And hey, I am more inclined to check out, say, Jason's work now that I've had a taste of it in one of my comfort zones. The Bizarro Comics anthology did the same kind of thing; it at least made me aware of a lot of creators I may not have heard of otherwise, even if I haven't followed a lot of their work.

Me am love Brad's Transitions! Speaking of Bizarro Comics, my only real complaint about Strange Tales so far is that it would be much better as an OGN. Maybe it's just my wallet stinging from paying $5 for a single issue talking, though. I could swear last issue was $4, but then, I was so excited about it that I may not have even looked at the price. Thanks for ruining my enthusiasm retroactively, Nevett!

Pot shots at the Rated R Reviewing Star aside, I have to say that I'd be willing to buy a Strange Tales anthology monthly. Either as an ongoing showcase for that one story with a Marvel character a given cartoonist wants to do, or just for offbeat stories from any creator, or as a Nick Fury/Dr. Strange double feature like God (or at least Stan) intended. I'm down with any of that, really.

That's Fantastic, I guess I wish I could get more excited about Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham's run on Fantastic Four. I enjoy it, but I'm not as crazy about it as I wish I was (or at least, as much I was about Hickman's Dark Reign: FF mini with Sean Chen, which was just released in a collected edition and is worth checking out if you missed the singles). It strikes me as the flip side of the Rucka/Williams III Batwoman run: I find the art to be solid if not spectacular, but the story's holding my interest enough to keep me from dropping it in singles and waiting for the trade. Because I'm more in to story than art (and Marvel than DC, before someone in the comments calls me on my bias), I'm more likely to stay with Hickman's FF.

Well, that and I like Hickman more as a writer than Rucka. Sure, Rucka wrote Whiteout, but he's never done anything I've enjoyed as much as that Shang Chi/Deadpool team up. Or the really bad ass parts of Secret Warriors.

Hey look, another transition! This isn't that random at all! I demand a refund Which brings me to this week's Secret Warriors: The List one shot. I'd love to bitch about how it's Secret Warriors 9 1/2, or Secret Warriors: You Just Paid An Extra Dollar For A Regular Issue And A Reprint, Sucker!. But I can't. Because the main story was your daily requirement of great Nick Fury moments and the reprint was drawn by Steranko. Even though I already own said Steranko story, how can you snark on Hickman and Steranko Fury in one comic? I sure can't.

Essentially Random I've been alternating between Essential Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 and Essential Spider-Woman vol. 2 in my trade reading lately. I'm enjoying both more than I expected to, given that I more or less sprung for them because they were cheap. Jo Duffy and Kerry Gammill's run on PM&IF has been a lot more fun than I expected. After years of reading epic, cosmic superhero stories by people like Morrison and Kirby, it's nice to read something as down to Earth as two guys trying to eke out a living working at car shows and occasionally running afoul of the Living Monolith. This practically Harvey Pekar compared to what I've been reading in the past couple of years.

Meanwhile, Michael Fleisher's Spider-Woman (while not nearly as grotesque or lawsuit spawning as his Spectre run), is pretty solid work. Jessica Drew can't help but feel slightly generic, and the captions can get pretty hilarious in their attempts to combine descriptions of how hot she is with tradition Marvel purple prose, but it's all as readable as everything else I've read from Fleisher. I also really like Steve Leialoha's art. Considering that I mainly know him as an inker (and the guy that worked on that wordless G.I. Joe comic), it's interesting to see his pencils here. Also, I'm pretty sure one of the villains is a Rupert Murdoch analogue, so that's pretty cool.

And now he's gonna shoe horn in the video games. You can go to bed now, Dan Bailey! As much as I can agree with certain people from South Carolina I used to link to obligatorily that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 isn't as good as the first one, I still enjoy it a lot and play it pretty often. While it's nowhere near as great as this year's other big licensed superhero game,
Batman: Arkham Asylum, I also see myself playing it more than I did that one. Well, partially because I traded Arkham Asylum in, but also because I just really enjoy action/RPGs, especially ones that are more action (this game is practically a modern version of the '90s X-Men Arcade Game in some ways) and that is certainly MUA 2. Also, can you make a fire tornado in that Batman game? Sadly, no.

There's also that Marvel fanboy thing; there's a lot of servicing of that here. Of course, I'm a huge Batman fan, and there's a lot of fan service in that game, too (not in the way Danielle talks about, though, although Harley Quinn's skanky nurse outfit comes close); I just had my fill of it (I found every damn thing Riddler hid on that island) and couldn't imagine playing through it again (well, maybe if I get a PS3 and really want to play the Joker maps). Well, that and I needed to pay off my Brutal Legend pre-order somehow.

Anyway, I'm thinking of doing a big post on MUA 1 vs. 2. So, fair warning, old man video game haters. I may not do it, but the mere thought may annoy the crap out of you curmudgeons. The fact that I once had a series about comics and video games planned should also cause y'all some psychic pain.

Did You Know There's A Geek Dating Site? That's not a new category for me to pontificate on. I'm just saying there is, and that's why I have to go now. Well, that and it's 2:17 and look at all these words! I really have to re-evaluate my life.

7 Comments

• At October 11, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  "Rated R Reviewing Star"? Really? Edge still calls himself that? Or are you referencing when he first ...

• At October 11, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>You can go to bed now, Dan Bailey!

  And yet, *if* this entry hadn't still been leading to a Page Error ...

• At October 11, 2009, Eliot Johnson wrote:

  There was this Paul Pope release from AdHouse, http://www.adhousebooks.com/comics/thbcfm1.html .

  Probably some other stuff too.

• At October 11, 2009, Julian wrote:

  Paul Pope also did new THB, but good luck getting your hands on it now.

• At October 11, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  For me, the appeal of something like Strange Tales is the old "peanut butter in my chocolate" effect.

  Superheroes AND awesome ...

• At October 12, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Strange Tales rules, because it's characters that you know and love having the piss taken out of them by cool ...

• At October 13, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I have no problem with indie creators doing work for Marvel or DC if they want -- whatever makes people ...

Bomb Queen vs. Obama #1- Yeah, I know, I know. It's a <a href="Boob War comic and an Obama cash grab guest appearance comic, and I'm an awful person for buying it. That said, this is suitably shameless about mocking all his cash grab guest appearances while still being an Obama cash grab guest appearance (that's four parts long), so there's at least some self awareness (which makes sense, since this is also a superhero parody comic).

While I have nothing against Boob War (or superhero parody*) as a genre, this particular entrant in it is just not my thing. In that I kind of hate the titular character and want her to die and be replaced by Editor Girl, a character who appears in this issue and defeats villains with the power of magical copy editing. I think the exact opposite of that will happen, so I'm not stick around for next issue. I am all over an Editor Girl mini-series if you want to ever do it, former contributor Jim Robinson. Just putting that out there. I think we could both help comics with that.

JLA 80 Page Giant- So, I bought this based on the solicit, because it's structured like an old JSA/JLA team up, with the JLA splitting in to smaller groups (in this case, duos) to defeat a huge enemy, and I love that trope to death. So, I can not be even slightly objective about this, which makes any praise I give it even more suspect than usual. I can admit it has some major flaws: the art quality peaks at okay and dips well below that a couple of times (especially in the Superman/Dr. Light chapter), Steel is randomly comes and goes, and it's got a framing story with an obnoxious open ending.

But, well, I love these kinds of stories, and this was one of them. If you do too, you probably already own this. If you don't yet, well, I thought it was worth my $6, but your mileage may vary.

Simpsons Treehouse of Horror #15- Or, Homer's Ergot, as Sammy Harkham and a bevy of indie boys run wild on Matt Groening's creations. Jog did it, but I'm giving my rundown anyway, because my perspective (Simpsons fanatic not in to alternative comics scene) is the flip side of his, so it will be like reading the Bizarro version.

The highlights to me were the Tim May/Harkham Moe story, Ben Jones' "Boo-tleg", and Jeffrey Brown's "Bad Milhouse", because they all seem like actual "Treehouse of Horror" stories. That's one of my major criteria for judging licensed comics. Well, pretty much my only one.

The other stories work pretty well in their own way, and as Jog pointed out, everybody here seems to have some familiarity with the Simpsons that might be lacking in similar anthologies from Marvel and DC. Some get laughs ("C.H.U.M.", especially its resolution), some impress me with their art (have to find more of Will Sweeney's work), some are just interesting takes on the characters (Thurber and Huizenga's "Call of Vegulu").

Throw in a couch gag and only one strip that didn't work for me (C.F.'s bat shit closer, and that's a damn good strike rate for any anthology, I'd say. So, what Jog said, and I'll throw in my own recommendation for any stragglers.

Secret Warriors #8- Loved that reveal, and most of the rest of the issue. For once, the kids get the good moments and Fury's left with the scraps, but it works. Getting this one two extra times this month may be a bit of overkill, but I'm not complaining, especially with Ed McGuinness drawing a comic I want to read for once.

Shang Chi, Master Of Kung Fu- Don't have much to add that I (or Sims) didn't say previously. This is a nice pastiche/homage/parody of the old MOKF material, and worth your time if that's even remotely your thing.

Spider-Man Supplemental (Wherein I review four Spider-Man comics I bought this week):

Amazing Spider-Man 606-607- The dialogue occasionally grated (quoting Tommy Boy? Really? In 2009? Is that a classical allusion now?), I really enjoyed Joe Kelly and Mike McKone's two part "Return of the Black Cat" storyline, and will read more from them if they collaborate again.

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #55- Wait, 55? Really? Wow, that's more longevity than I thought this line had. At any rate, this is as good an all ages Spider-Man comic as has been advertised.

I'm not really the audience for that, despite Paul Tobin's considerable skill. This is a pleasant comic (and a team up with Captain America, too, so it's in MarkAndrew's wheelhouse), and I enjoyed reading it, but I'm just not in to it enough to buy it every month, I don't think. Also, I do wonder if some of the jokes will mean anything to the youngsters this is aimed at, since a lot of teenagers I deal with have no idea what culinary means.

So, I like this but I don't love it. If you want your Spidey as a teenager and can't stand Bendis, or if all that casual sex and satanic marriage annulment in ASM is not your cup of tea, or whatever reason adults (and whatever John Seavey is) have for buying this comic written for younger audiences and raving about it, then have at it. I do hope some actual kids get a hold of it (I think the digests help in that regard; I've seen a lot of them in English classes in my travels), but hey, if you desperately need an all ages Spidey comic (or two) this is one of them, and it is good.

Spider-Man: Clone Saga #1- Look, Todd Nauck's my Facebook friend, all right? I felt obligated. And I have a little nostalgia for this era of Spider-Man, even if it helped nudge me out of comics (along with puberty). And I'm hoping it will turn out like this, but in comic form.

All those justifications aside, all I have to say about this that, the American Idol reference aside, it could very easily pass for a comic written in 1994. Which is the point and part of its strange charm for weirdies like me, but is also what makes it very uninspiring once that charm where off. There's not much else to say. I can see why Hibbs gave it the rating he did. I wouldn't compare it to fecal matter, but it is a very bizarre niche product, coming as it does after years of everyone cheerfully ignoring how this storyline almost destroyed the franchise (except DeFalco in Spider-Girl). I'm sort of bewildered that I spent $4 on in at this point, but may very well wind up reading the whole thing one day anyway (see also, X-Men: Forever**).

Sweet Tooth #1- So, yeah, the quirky Vertigo thing follows the Clone Saga. Sorry about the whiplash in content. And this is a quirky Vertigo thing, boy howdy! I love post apocalyptia, and this certainly is a new take on it, as Lemire promised in his editorial in Vertigo's Bullpen Bulletins equivalent. That said, it's pretty necessary to read that editorial after the story to have any idea where the story's meant to be going.

It's quirky enough to be interesting, and not enough to be annoying, but also not enough to make me desperately want to follow it. A lot of Vertigo stuff strikes me that way these days. In one ear, out the other. That said, I'll keep sampling their first issues as long as they keep giving them away dirt cheap, and given their trade program, I'm sure I'll be able to catch up on all this stuff someday, long after it ends prematurely. Despite the cynicism, I'm pulling for this one more than, say Air or Greek Street, due to the premise and sub genre. I'm just not invested in it enough to try and keep it from tanking.

*Well, I sort of do, especially with the way Robinson executes it here. It reads like all over Garth Ennis's work in the sub genre done by a guy who isn't Ennis and hasn't earned the same benefit of the doubt I give him, and who also doesn't draw as well as any of Ennis's good collaborators. But maybe it just hits to close to home. I'd still buy an Editor Girl comic, though!

**I am wondering if those two series are part of a trend, and we'll eventually see what, I dunno, Kurt Busiek meant to do with Night Thrasher had it not been canceled, or if they were just published as a practical joke that got out of hand. Well, at least the Clone Saga one. It seems like Chris Claremont can basically write whatever he wants in his own corner of the X-Men franchise and get it printed up.

6 Comments

• At October 3, 2009, Joseph wrote:

  People (usually with a Q in their name) say the Clone Saga or the marriage ruined Spider-man. Which wasn't true ...

• At October 3, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  I miss Dave's Long Box. I know he has a new blog, but damn, I miss Dave's Long Box.

• At October 3, 2009, Marianne Farleybaconcheeseburgercombo wrote:

  These days almost anything with the words DC or Marvel printed on the cover is a non-starter for me. Luckily ...

• At October 4, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  So, why did you buy Bomb Queen, again...? You kind of lost me on that.

  Personally I thought the concept seemed ...

• At October 4, 2009, Michael wrote:

  Quoting Tommy Boy will never be a classical allusion.

• At October 4, 2009, Jace Mace wrote:

  I don't read Spider-Man, but I'm interested in this Tommy Boy allusion. Anyone care to fill me in?

I hope you can overlook my past indiscretions and find it in your heart to give this one a shot, if not because of me, than in spite of me, because it really will improve your life. Or just follow the King's advice when it comes to things you might not totally understand but still desperately need in your life.

11 Comments

• At October 1, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  Brad, you had me at "Shang-Chi and Deadpool bond over hot dogs".

• At October 1, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Already ordered, though thanks to being a cheapskate & putting myself on a 2-week shipping schedule with HeavyInk after going ...

• At October 1, 2009, Richard J. Marcej wrote:

  I'm a big fan of the entire original Shang-Chi series and would love to read a new series featuring him ...

• At October 1, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  Because Deadpool rocks.

  Yeah, he's being overexposed these days but so far I'm liking the comics he's been recently.

• At October 1, 2009, Vincent Paul Bartilucci wrote:

  I'm with Richard J. Marcej. Despite my love for Shang Chi I'll be passing on this.

  Deadpool. God, I ...

• At October 2, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  I thought this said "Master of Kung Flu Shot."

• At October 2, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>I thought this said "Master of Kung Flu Shot."

  Damn -- that should've been my line, since I just got a ...

• At October 2, 2009, Mario wrote:

  I actualy picked up this issue and it turns out the only good part of the issue was the story ...

• At October 2, 2009, Mario wrote:

  Now that i think about it, the story with Deadpool is a Deadpool story. It just so happens Shang-Chi is ...

• At October 2, 2009, Ted wrote:

  I just got a flu shot for the first time since Jimmy Carter was still getting used to the White ...

• At October 3, 2009, Sam Kess wrote:

  @Mario: I felt the exact opposite way.

  The first story had its fun moments, but it just wasn't Shang-Chi story. ...

21 Comments

• At September 26, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  That was absolutely terrible. And not terrible in a good, lame, funny way, but terrible in a lame, poorly ...

• At September 26, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I was too young when Ultimate Warrior was in his prime so I missed the hype but I've seen some ...

• At September 26, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  Oh, and the video is pretty cool! Wrestling posts are always welcome in this blog as far as I'm concerned.

  Which ...

• At September 26, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "That was absolutely terrible. And not terrible in a good, lame, funny way, but terrible in a lame, poorly constructed, ...

• At September 26, 2009, Gavin wrote:

  Well, that was just terrible.

• At September 26, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  Are all of us seeing the same video? I thought it was really funny.

  You need to have a bit ...

• At September 26, 2009, Jakub wrote:

  yeah, that was dumb as shit.

• At September 26, 2009, chad wrote:

  felt sorry for the storm troopers who wound up on the receiving end of the warrior for even animated he ...

• At September 26, 2009, steve wrote:

  That was better than every comic ever? A 2 minute cartoon with shit production values about the ultimate warrior fighting ...

• At September 26, 2009, Mecha-Shiva wrote:

  I don't remember if I imagined it or not, but I think they once did one of those interviews where ...

• At September 26, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  Brad, you've obviously never seen Billy Madison. Most of stealthwise's comment is a quote from that movie.

• At September 26, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Holy fuck, there are some serious as all hell comic fanboys posting here. Well, Brad it appears you're the Anti-Christ ...

• At September 26, 2009, spectreguy wrote:

  Dude!! Ultimate Warrior! Stormtroopers! This IS better then at least 3 of the Star Wars movies and the Mona Lisa! ...

• At September 26, 2009, Luke wrote:

  Nice to see some idiots took this post way too seriously.

• At September 26, 2009, Fletch Skillroy wrote:

  the fact that brad responded to a billy madison quote is fucking hilarious. Dude got pissed and brought up ...

• At September 26, 2009, GC wrote:

  I wouldn't say it was terrible but there are better ways to make fun of him, like at least making ...

• At September 26, 2009, spectreguy wrote:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-uIs1LU9dg

• At September 27, 2009, Felicity wrote:

  Not so much funny as pointlessly gory, like a bad Robot Chicken skit.

• At September 27, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  Heh, yeah, Brad, I thought you'd have seen Billy Madison. I didn't really care that much about the video, ...

• At September 28, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Looks like everybody's got a bit too much sand in their vaginas.

• At September 29, 2009, MC DEATH BEAR wrote:

  I'm the guy who made this flash cartoon.

  Glad some of you liked it.... sorry some of you got your panties ...

Detective Comics #857- I wish I liked this more. You're certainly not going to get a comic that looks better than this too often, especially not from DC. Williams's work really ought to be enough to earn my $3.99. And it's not like Rucka's story is bad; it works perfectly well. It hits all its beats, there some characterization, a twist or two. What you'd expect from Rucka and no less.

But that's the problem. It's a perfectly acceptable superhero comic with spectacularly gorgeous packaging. I normally hate this criticism, but if anyone but Williams drew this, it would just be another comic. And for once, the Question back up (which, in a hypothetical world of no Williams on the main series, would be the draw for me) didn't do much for me, either. If not for the fact that I don't want to buy a trade to read each story that I'm moderately interested in (but still don't want to miss out on), I could easily see dropping this.

That said, I feel like a jerk for whining about this well made comic. You don't get many of those ever, so I hate to mildly prod it because it does not live up to my expectations/features too much Batwoman in a Batwoman story. I wish I could gush about this like I could Slott's She Hulk. So I'll move on to another comic. Maybe that will lead to a fresh opinion.

Power Girl #5- Aw crap, I feel the same way about this thing! I liked the last issue a lot, and certainly this one was about as good. The art's exceptional, the story's okay but nothing I feel I have to read, and hey, no rape, zombies, or angst! That said, I could really take or leave this. I was the same way about Blue Beetle, really. This is the kind of comic I buy off the rack at the LCS for a couple months and then drop when I lose interest or need room in my budget for more or less comics.

Still, it's pleasant superhero comics with a strong female lead, and if that's all you're looking for, have at it. But on that front, it's certainly no Dan Slott She Hulk (even if Palmiotti and Grey's set up is pretty close, without the awesome supporting cast). So hey, it's much better than I expected a Power Girl ongoing to be, but without Amanda Conner, I'd never give it another look. It's slight, which is no bad thing, I just don't need another lighthearted superhero book. I'm okay on those. That said, I do hope someone gives Conner an award for "Best Depiction of Cats In A Female Superman Derivative Comic Published By DC." Between this and Supergirl in Wednesday Comics, she totally deserves it.

Spider Woman #1- I went in to this with the lowest expectations of the three comics, because I find Bendis hit and miss, and count his Daredevil run with this book's artist, Alex Maleev, as one of his misses. (Or, at least, I was as fond of it as I was of the Flash in Wednesday Comics; I can see why people love it, and think it's solid, I'm just not crazy about it). I bought it because it was a new number one and I do have a little fondness for the character.

So, I'll be damned if it wasn't my favorite of the three. Of course, expectations influenced this a lot, and I'm not saying it's any better than 'Tec. It's certainly not as spirited as PG, either. The plot sees Jessica Drew (understandably) at rock bottom following Secret Invasion, with the requisite world weariness and self loathing involved in that. So, the fun comics coalition can go ahead and sit this one out, I'm thinking. Since they were waiting for me to tell them that they wouldn't like a Bendis comic.

While it reminds me of Alias a bit, this does not look like it's shaping up to be another Bendis street level noir tinged story (which I happen to think is his milieu, as my favorite Bendis comics fit that bill). Well, okay, it is tinged with noir. Jessica is hanging out in a seedy place. But that place happens to be Madripoor, home to such realistic characters as Razorfist and Sapphire Styx, vampire bar skank.* Given all the sci fi and Skrull imposters in this one, it seems like it's going to be a balance between Bendis's wheelhouse a sci-fi/superhero/espionage comic that someone like Matt Fraction or Warren Ellis would be more ideal for.

Still, I liked this enough to at least consider getting the trade, if not keep buying it in single issues (the $4 will probably force my hand on that decision, although I've noticed trades are not as cumulatively cheaper than singles than they used to be). The setup is interesting; SWORD gives Drew a chance to tie up the loose ends of the Skrull Invasion and other alien incursions on Earth on her off time from the Avengers. Seems like there's legs there, which is nice; this could last for a while and have a purpose beyond "Bendis really liked this character when he was 12."

You've also got a fine team in Bendis and Maleev here. While I was pretty underwhelmed by their DD, I'm not contending that they aren't one of the better creative partnerships in mainstream comics. They're not on a Brubaker/Phillips or Morrison/Quitely level, at least in my pantheon of great modern comics duos, but they're not too far off either. I mean, they're no Slott and Bobillo on She Hulk, but they'll do.

In summary, of these three solid comics featuring female protagonists, I liked Spider Woman the best, but I like none of them as much as Dan Slott's She Hulk, my gold standard for female superheroes (because it is the only run of its kind I own). That it took me over 1,000 words to say that is a portent of bad omens, I think. You may want to find a bomb shelter.

36 Comments

• At September 25, 2009, Wraith wrote:

  FWIW: I say don't apologize for Detective Comics.

  I bought the first two issues, and Williams' art IS outstanding. A ...

• At September 25, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Apparently, your opinion of the Slott/Bobillo SHE-HULK is at least as high as my own, which is saying something.

  Only SPIDER-WOMAN ...

• At September 25, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I'm on the oposite end when it comes to Bendis: I generally dislike his stuff but I love his Daredevil ...

• At September 25, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  (Why did so many people seem to hate Bobillo's art on SHE-HULK? Were they all insane? Or were you & ...

• At September 25, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  (Ack! "you & ME")

• At September 25, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  (I meant "you & IIIIIIII")

  (Oh my god, I AM insane! Which means I'm starting to worry about you as well!)

• At September 25, 2009, T. wrote:

  Your writing style really improved with this piece. Usually it has this forced quality where it's trying too hard ...

• At September 25, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  The mood is definitely more ... subdued.

  I liked the old Brad Curran too, though.

  Whatever happened to that guy?

• At September 25, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  T. stands for teacher. And now T. has given Brad a Gold Star.

• At September 25, 2009, bebopeva88 wrote:

  Spider-Woman is a $2.99 book; #1 is the only issue that will be $3.99.

  Also, your She-Hulk love is disturbing, heh.

• At September 25, 2009, T. wrote:

  I liked the old Brad Curran too, though.

  Whatever happened to that guy?

  For me the old Brad Curran had the ...

• At September 25, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  But that place happens to be Madripoor, home to such realistic characters as Razorfist and Sapphire Styx, vampire bar skank.*

  There ...

• At September 25, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  I have tried SO HARD to like Greg Rucka's writing, but to no avail. It's not even something like Geoff ...

• At September 25, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  Err..."writers who have Something to Convey." Fingers moving faster than brain. Move along.

• At September 25, 2009, Ethan Shuster wrote:

  Random Power Girl question... Is that cat the same cat that has been around since the Justice League Europe days? ...

• At September 25, 2009, Joe wrote:

  William's name on a book definitely means I'll be buying it. Even if the story is merely "competent."

• At September 26, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  Spider-Woman IS going to be $2.99? Maybe I will buy it, then. (I can't afford any more $3.99 ...

• At September 26, 2009, Fiedling wrote:

  What a surprise. The Marvel book turns out to be his favourite.

• At September 26, 2009, Joe wrote:

  Mary:

  I'm in the same boat as you concerning Slott's and David's She-Hulk. Only read one or two of them, didn't ...

• At September 26, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  "It's a perfectly acceptable superhero comic with spectacularly gorgeous packaging."

  I think this sums up a lot of today's comics in ...

• At September 26, 2009, Gary wrote:

  Juan Bobillo's art on Dan Slott's She-Hulk, was, for me, an acquired taste. I did not like it, but as ...

• At September 26, 2009, Joe wrote:

  And Gary just proved my point. Peter David got slammed for his work on She-Hulk, because it wasn't like Slott's. ...

• At September 26, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  That asterisk was going to be something about "Save The Tiger" from Marvel Comics Presents that I just finished reading. ...

• At September 26, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Also, I will display T.'s gold star proudly.

• At September 26, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "And Gary just proved my point. Peter David got slammed for his work on She-Hulk, because it wasn't like Slott's. ...

• At September 26, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Bobillo's art on She-Hulk had real personality. It didn't have 80 million lines per square inch, though, which may be ...

• At September 26, 2009, Rob Schmidt wrote:

  "FWIW: I say don't apologize for Detective Comics."

  I say don't waste your money on mediocre comics. You're only encouraging ...

• At September 26, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Usually it has this forced quality where it's trying too hard to be too cool for school and create an ...

• At September 27, 2009, Gary wrote:

  "But since then, there's been something about She-Hulk that prompted creators to haul out their Indelible Stamp from their desk ...

• At September 28, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Gary, Joe didn't say you made anything up. He just pointed out that you proved his point that people apparently ...

• At September 28, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  I was among those who dropped SHE-HULK a couple of issues into Peter David's run because I wasn't at all ...

• At September 28, 2009, Blackjak wrote:

  Count me in on the Dan Slott Shulkie.

  I stayed on with Peter David's run right to the end, ...

• At September 28, 2009, Gary wrote:

  "Gary, Joe didn't say you made anything up."

  I suppose I took issue with the "intimidated" in quotes coupled with the ...

• At September 28, 2009, s1rude wrote:

  I think it is interesting that the assumption is that everything "good" about 'Tec is attributable to JHWIII. His ...

• At September 28, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  Even if that's the case, he's still majorly dropping the ball on writing an interesting story, emotionally connecting characters, or ...

• At September 30, 2009, Christian A. Dumais wrote:

  I'm surprised by the criticism regarding Detective Comics. I have some observations of my own:

  http://www.emptyroomslonelycountries.com/comics/favorite-comic-book-pages-detective-comics-857-pages-18-19/

So, yeah, that sure was the end of Wednesday Comics. Every strip had a conclusion. Well, I assume that Titans did. I barely even skimmed that thing. And what I could decipher from Wonder Woman was that she was dreaming after all. I think. That sure was a lot of panels again.

But the readable strips, those all finished this week. Even though really, most of them finished last week. Notable exceptions were Supergirl, Kamandi, and Hawkman, which all added something noteworthy to the narrative (and at least one featured a T Rex fighting a seahorse). But really, did we need Batman kissing/suffocating a dying woman to save his secret identity? Superman calling Lois collect? That last page of Strange Adventures, beautiful as it was?

And don't get me started on the Flash! Seriously, don't. It was perfectly okay, no better. I will not back down from that assessment. I don't know why everyone is so crazy about it. We will never be able to reconcile this.

The Metal Men story pretty well ended like all Metal Men stories do. But hey, good on Dan Didio for writing that story and overcoming the rep he's earned for his editorial decisions. So, having negated most of the discussion below, will it disappear?

The Demon/Catwoman ending made me want to see a Simonson written team up comic starring them, even if the serial itself was underwhelming.

I may literally be the only one, but I could stand to read more New Frontier GL by Busiek.

So, now that I'm done talking about the actual comics that DC published, it's time to move on to something of much greater worth; the theoretical comics I demand DC publish to pander to me! Brad Curran's Dream Wednesday Comics II would include the return of the Kamandi and Strange Adventures, plus:

OMAC by Mike Mignola
Mister Miracle by Jim Steranko
Zatanna by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm
Plastic Man by Evan Dorkin and Dean Haspiel
Wildcat by Frank Miller
Superman/Batman by Mark Waid and Frank Quitely
The Spirit by Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, and Dave Stewart
Ambush Bug Funnies by Keith Giffen and and Robert Fleming
Mary Marvel by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner*
Enemy Ace by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
Jimmy Olsen by Chris Sims and Rusty Shackles
Black Canary by Gail Simone and Terry Dodson
Dr. Fate by Dan Curtis Johnson and JH Williams III
Swamp Thing by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson
Human Target by Grant Morrison and Cliff Chiang
Static by Dwayne McDuffie and Chris Sprouse
Death by Neil Gaiman and Amy Reeder Hadley
Warlord by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord

So yeah, some Vertigo characters, although I'd expect it to be as general audience friendly as volume 1. Also, if I was running Wednesday Comics II, strips would not all be 12 weeks long. Mix things up a little. Use the format to tell some done in ones or do gag strips, as well as six part long stories. Or, if I wanted that coveted MarkAndrew dollar, I'd smush all of these together and make them team ups. So that's why all the strips that wouldn't fit in the original.

And now I will shut right the hell up about Wednesday Comics.

*Yeah, this would just be their Supergirl with guest appearances by Captain Marvel and Tawky Tawny.**
**Or I guess maybe Jeff Smith could do the strip with his Mary, if Conner and Palmiotti are busy.***
***Now I'll shut up with the Wednesday Comics talk.

58 Comments

• At September 24, 2009, Dalarsco wrote:

  As poor an EiC as he may be, Didio is a solid writer. Watch some ReBoot. He wrote ...

• At September 24, 2009, Cisco Kid wrote:

  Dr Fate by JHW3 blows my mind!

• At September 24, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Dude, you totally should've tossed in a hyperlink on Sims' name.

• At September 24, 2009, Aaron Poehler wrote:

  Reading this was painful, and thinking you're edgy and cool for calling someone a "functional retard" just shows you're a ...

• At September 24, 2009, Keith wrote:

  But unlike Unreadable Wonder Woman®, at least this was readable.

  I'm not sure what happened with Flash either but at least ...

• At September 24, 2009, Matt Little wrote:

  Yeah, agreed. You're writing is easily the most painful writer to read on this site (I mistakenly didn't check ...

• At September 24, 2009, Billy wrote:

  If there was a Giffen Ambush Bug strip there would need to be a one page fill in by another ...

• At September 24, 2009, geoff wrote:

  functional retard is pretty offensive. would you have used a racial slur for a cheap joke?

• At September 24, 2009, T. wrote:

  i think you guys should lighten up. It wasn't most tasteful way to put it but I don't think ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  I like Brad's stuff a lot (& not just because he's started dropping my name fairly frequently!) -- his first ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  (And if the previous "retarded" offender was someone else, I of course hereby apologize. I don't think it was, though.)

• At September 24, 2009, Richard J. Marcej wrote:

  If they (DC) really wanted to get the large Sunday Newspaper Funnies page feel why not approach a second Wednesdays ...

• At September 24, 2009, Jacob wrote:

  The Metal Men story pretty well ended like all Metal Men stories do. But hey, good on functional retard Dan ...

• At September 24, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  I would understand if the "functional retard" comment came from T, he's the one that hates DiDio with a vengeance ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>He has trouble tying his shoes/running a publishing company

  In fairness, with that phrase Brad is referring to a long thread ...

• At September 24, 2009, Fan4Fan wrote:

  Of those listed, these would make it an automatic buy:

  Zatanna by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm

  Black Canary by Gail Simone ...

• At September 24, 2009, Cass wrote:

  You're writing is easily the most painful writer to read on this site

  Why does nobody ever proof read when ...

• At September 24, 2009, T. wrote:

  I actually don't *hate* Didio, I just don't think he's good at his job. I'm sure he's a pleasant ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>Sometimes I wonder where you guys come from where the word "retard" gets you up in arms.

  Quasi-civilized society?

  As ...

• At September 24, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  @ T: sure,I understand and obviously share your opinion. You'd have to be blind not to see the terrible job ...

• At September 24, 2009, Cass wrote:

  So Dan, you're basically conceding that you have no argument?

• At September 24, 2009, Fred wrote:

  Wow. You called Dido a "functional retard"? Mr.Curren, its moments like this where everything that is negative about critics is ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Cass --

  No, I'm conceding that you're apparently incapable of basic senstivity, or at least are adopting such a persona for ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Just as I am apparently incapable of basic typing skills.

• At September 24, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  Cass, the word "retard" in the second disparaging sense clearly derives from its use in the first such sense. ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  How long till Cass enlightens us about the problem of Dagoes controlling comics? I mean, it was bad enough when ...

• At September 24, 2009, bongoes wrote:

  I'm going to ignore the talk about retards and talk about what really matters.

  "Superman/Batman by Mark Waid and Frank ...

• At September 24, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  *sigh* I got it, Brad.

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Hmm. Yeah. This is just lovely.

  First: Would you all have been okay if I'd called Didio "functionally stupid", or "differently ...

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Oh! Functional illiterate! That's what I should have said, I bet! Unless that would be a whole thing with illiterates, ...

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Also, I encourage people to start a "fire Brad Curran" petition, because if it worked, then they'd have to ...

• At September 24, 2009, Cass wrote:

  For a guy who's so keen on sensitivity, Dan, you seem to have no problem insinuating that I'm both an ...

• At September 24, 2009, T. wrote:

  I'm pretty sure I was defending you and your right to call him a retard Brad, so I'm not sure ...

• At September 24, 2009, T. wrote:

  I also admitted I've called him names in this thread too.

• At September 24, 2009, Cass wrote:

  Also, fwiw, looking at it now, "functional retard" does cross the line over to offensive since it implies a stronger ...

• At September 24, 2009, danjack wrote:

  just want to remind people that i like comics.

  Thanks,

  DFTBA

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Cass --

  I don't think you're an idiot at all. (If I said as much, please point it out to me, ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Group hug?

  Or at least handshakes?

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>Of course, I don't have a family member who has mental problems like Dan Bailey, so fair enough.

  No, no, young ...

• At September 24, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  As far as I'm concerned, you can call Didio or anybody whatever you want. I hate this "be careful what ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>I find this whole "stop the r word" campaign intolerably PC,

  Whereas in my estimation, "intolerably PC" would be crap ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>so as not to offend the eight people who did not post here to tell me they'd quit reading me ...

• At September 24, 2009, funkmasterdre wrote:

  What a retarded discussion.

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  We would expect nothing better from you.

• At September 24, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  But really, did we need Batman kissing/suffocating a dying woman to save his secret identity?

  Pretty sure that was motivated by ...

• At September 24, 2009, Nate wrote:

  Here's a litmus test for racism that my mom laid on me as a child.

  Would you say it ...

• At September 24, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  Brad, thank you for making the effort to not use "retarded" again, even if you disagree with those of us ...

• At September 24, 2009, Fred wrote:

  Brad Curran,

  Sorry about the getting riled up about the Dido comment. I know you did not mean it as how ...

• At September 24, 2009, tony wrote:

  Wow, there's more crying in this thread than theater full of people watching the end of Terms of Endearment

• At September 24, 2009, Cass wrote:

  @Dan: I appreciate you taking the time out to respond fully to my arguments (with compliments, no less, that always ...

• At September 24, 2009, Mike Blake wrote:

  Wow, I was wondering when I saw on the CSBG front page this had fifty comments already what was going ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Cass --

  Thanks for the background. I can certainly see where you're coming from. (I'm from rural southwest Arkansas -- my ...

• At September 24, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  Thank you, Mike Loughlin. That was very nice to read.

  If you think OMAC is cool and you loved Strange ...

• At September 25, 2009, mike wrote:

  the fact that this guy needs to post a dictionary definition to prove his case is pathetic. the truth ...

• At September 25, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  mike --

  For me, at least (one of the original Indignant Eight ! can we get costumes & go fight the ...

• At September 25, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  "at least as LONG AS truly stupid people ...", that is. (Speaking of truly stupid people.)

• At September 25, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  I agree that you shouldn't use that word on that blog.

  I also agree that Brad is, overall, the worst writer ...

• At September 25, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>I also agree that Brad is, overall, the worst writer on this blog,

  I disagree. Or maybe I agree, but only ...

Really enjoyed the two part story in Brave and the Bold 14 and 15. Hawkman was used perfectly, in my opinion; he used his archeology background, hit things with a mace, and did nothing else. Also, any comic where Deadman and Dick Grayson talk about their history in the circus gives my heart many boners. So I'm gonna have to get Blackest Night: Batman, aren't I? Damn.

Also read some more Wolverine Omnibus. It's always fun to remember that, no matter how big a geek you are, there will always be some X-Men continuity so convoluted you will forget it ever happened for your sanity. Like why Wolverine had to wear panty hose over his face and not use his claws for a while. Also; John Buscema. He was the man. He could make Razorfist not entirely laughable. Razorfist! He has razors for fists! How does he eat/poop/anything but stab people? John Buscema probably saw that, whinced, rolled his eyes at Claremont's script, and still drew the hell out of Razorfist anyway. Because he was a real man, that's why.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 remains awesome. Even Penance (who I will remind you is Emo Speedball and literally has armor that cuts him) is fun to play as. Especially when Deadpool's on his team, because the hack writer in me imagines the conversations those two would have.

Does anyone else think the reason that Static Shock was not a springboard to more Milestone cartoons was Static Shock being an awful cartoon? I dunno, I could never get in to it, because Static's voice bugged me. And I'm part of DC's stupid, racist conspiracy of racist stupidity (or NAMBLA), but I was only ever there for that one meeting where they had free pizza. I was in college. I sat through worse things for free food.

One day, I'm going to collect all of my missing *s for an epic post, explaining where they all went. I'm hoping to bring on Geoff Johns to plot it, just so everything ties together in excruciating detail.

Does the Falcon count as a sidekick, or was he more of a co-star? Black Widow? Amadeus Cho? Some lists I made on Facebook depend on knowing these answers!

I can't wait to hear what Dan Bailey thinks of Facebook. Really can't.

I guess I have to suffer whatever Apodaca thinks, too. Oh well.

Does Cronin force some of you to comment on every single post, or are your jobs that shitty, or do you all have OCD, or what?

Oh shit, new comics are out today! Why am I even here right now? Later, jerkasses!

37 Comments

• At September 23, 2009, The Dude wrote:

  No Chris Sims mention?Are you sick?

• At September 23, 2009, Neal K wrote:

  I just picked up the Wolvie Omnibus this weekend. Looks like I am in for some good stabbing-related times. ...

• At September 23, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  >>I can't wait to hear what Dan Bailey thinks of Facebook. Really can't.

  I just got through responding to an old ...

• At September 23, 2009, 616 Matt wrote:

  Is Ultimate Alliance 2 good? I was actually too much of a nerd for the first one. If I'm playing ...

• At September 23, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Meanwhile, being old & easily confused, I would like to formally protest the similarity between your name & that other ...

• At September 23, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Also, I see that you at least spell your name right. NevItt can't be arsed to, as the Brits might ...

• At September 23, 2009, Snapper wrote:

  There's not that much Dick n' Boston interaction in Blackest Night Batman so far, surprisingly.. Which is a damn shame.

• At September 23, 2009, Jeff R. wrote:

  If we don't comment on each Cronin post, he might turn the CSBG Time Warp engine into overdrive. Then, ...

• At September 23, 2009, Eric wrote:

  The Falcon is a man-kick. Black Widow is what we call a "girlfriend." Hercules is Cho's sidekick.

• At September 23, 2009, Scott Harris wrote:

  Falcon is a tough one; he's either a co-star or a sidekick depending on who is writing him at the ...

• At September 23, 2009, Andy wrote:

  These responses are interesting, given the varied nature of the responses and the fact that my instincts concur with none ...

• At September 23, 2009, Andy wrote:

  Come to think of it, the mere fact that you know which one of a pair to ask the question ...

• At September 23, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  No Chris Sims mention?Are you sick?

  And no footnotes! He must be on his deathbed.

• At September 23, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  The Falcon wasn't a huge sales draw, but he had his own subplots, supporting cast, and (well one) unique villain. ...

• At September 23, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I am actually every single commenter on this blog. If it weren't for my commenting on every post, this place ...

• At September 23, 2009, FunkyGreenJerusalem wrote:

  The "T." personality is the most difficult to maintain. I keep expecting it to be too obvious that I'm making ...

• At September 23, 2009, Aaron Glazer wrote:

  Actually, he is, in fact, quite sick. How appropriate.

• At September 23, 2009, Joe wrote:

  I didn't like Static Shock much either. When I first heard of him I thought he was a crappy teen ...

• At September 23, 2009, Wesley Smith wrote:

  Somebody please explain the NAMBLA reference for me, please. I don't get what NAMBLA (the North American Man Boy Love ...

• At September 23, 2009, Greg Burgas wrote:

  Wesley: On Jon Stewart's Daily Show, whenever he gives the name of an organization he doesn't like, he summarizes with, ...

• At September 23, 2009, Black Manta wrote:

  Hmmmm....Falc's definitely a partner. Cho's a sidekick. Black Widow was a sidekick in Daredevil. I remember her getting captured and ...

• At September 23, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  Actually, yes. He won a soap box prize contest.

• At September 23, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  So who are the five smartest? Banner claimed he was probably the 8th, right?, and in the latest issue ...

• At September 24, 2009, Bright-Raven wrote:

  "Does anyone else think the reason that Static Shock was not a springboard to more Milestone cartoons was Static Shock ...

• At September 24, 2009, The Mutt wrote:

  Falcon and Black Widow both got their names on the cover, so I'd say they were co-stars, but Falcon was ...

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Surfing Batman opens a health food store!"

  I miss that show that never existed.

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Also, I'm feeling better; I just think the Sims links and footnotes are so played out that I'm only bringing ...

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Plus, I would like your permission to create a dramatic monologue depicting John Buscema's reaction to Razorfist based on your ...

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Ultimate Alliance 2 is cool, and Thor is quite powerful in it. Probably too powerful, to be honest, I found ...

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  And now I'm just going to pretend he's Ben Franklin anyway.

• At September 24, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Yeah, you really stretched it with linking Greg's daughter picking up a ninja into an attack/praise of DC/Dragonball.

  It's only funny ...

• At September 24, 2009, Scott Harris wrote:

  I know this is nitpicking at this point, but I wanted to respond to something Andy said:

  "I'd call both the ...

• At September 24, 2009, danjack wrote:

  Co-Kick will work to describe Falcon

  DFTBA

• At September 24, 2009, danjack wrote:

  although maybe side-star would be better?

  DFTBA

• At September 24, 2009, danjack wrote:

  man-crush?

• At September 24, 2009, danjack wrote:

  bro-mance?

• At September 24, 2009, danjack wrote:

  i've got to get a life and get back to work

  DFTBA

I read #2 first, because Joe Rice freaked out over all the flirting between Supergirl and Hal Jordan that one time 2 years ago (no links!). That seems pretty dumb in retrospect. I think it's all really Chris Hanson's fault. I mean, yes, Hal did lay it on a little thick, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been or really that bad at all. Although Supergirl's decoy outfit? That kind of was. Maybe someone should talk to George about that some day. All that said, I find Hal tolerable when you write him, so thanks for that!

The issue where Batman and Jay Garrick fight the Penguin and T.O. Morrow's Samurai Assassain Bots? That was pretty awesome. How do you plot a story like that? Do you work really hard, or do you just fill in a mad lib and awesome team up stories come out?

Also, why have you not written more Batman? I like your Batman.

Speaking of which, Batman giving that condescending prick Braniac 5 an MMA elbow and stealing his flight ring in issue #5 is one of my biggest "Fuck yeah!" moments in comics in years. I kept thinking "Surely, Batman will give that condescending prick Braniac 5 an MMA elbow for his insolence at some point and steal his flight ring." And then he did!

On the other hand, did you know there were pages in this comic where Batman was not kicking the crap out of future teens? How did that happen? Did you write those pages with other characters and exposition**, or did someone else insert them later, or what? How did that happen?

I would seriously read an ongoing where Batman beats up random groups of teenagers. You would start with superhero teams (remember when Gen13 was popular? They deserve to be kicked for that still, even though I have affection for them) and then move on to boy bands and end with just random shiftless teens, and then do it all over again. That shit would be on my pull list for life. Just throwing that out there.

I have a bag full of these things more to read, including one where Green Arrow and Deadman have the greatest team up of the '60s in 2008. I'm looking forward to that more than I should.

*I wonder how Sims felt about that panel, giving his conflicting loves of the Legion, Batman, and face kicks. Somehow, it's never come up the two times he's talked to me.

**Now that I've finally accepted Tales Designed To Thrizzle in my life, I can not read exposition in superhero comics without remembering that strip with the two superheroes where one goes "tell us some exposition" to the other and she does. That was funny.

14 Comments

• At September 22, 2009, Debaser wrote:

  "Also, why have you not written more Batman? I like your Batman. "

  He wrote a Batman one-shot recently that wasn't ...

• At September 22, 2009, Rob Bass wrote:

  The BARCELONA one? I found it to be an enjoyable done-in-one with Wayne, and the Spanish (I think?) artist was ...

• At September 22, 2009, Mark Black wrote:

  I'd find yours posts a little more informative if there was a little more use of relevant graphics/images as a ...

• At September 22, 2009, Mike Loughlin wrote:

  I bought the Green Arrow/ Deadman issue. It didn't care for it; the story was continued with other characters, I'm ...

• At September 22, 2009, Aaron Poehler wrote:

  Trying a bit hard with this style of piece and not really hitting the mark.

• At September 22, 2009, Edward Liu wrote:

  Where's the first footnote in the main text?

• At September 22, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  "The issue where Batman and Jay Garrick fight the Penguin and T.O. Morrow's Samurai Assassin Bots? That was pretty awesome."

  It ...

• At September 22, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  But totally a mad-lib.

  (Which is a perfectly acceptable way to write team-up books.)

  I dug all the ...

• At September 23, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  What MarkAndrew said about #8 -- if THAT rendition of Doom Patrol was the one in the new comic, you ...

• At September 23, 2009, nikki wrote:

  urgh I hated the Batman/legion issue. So Batman can outsmart Brainiac 5, that's ridiculous. Fanboy-ism gone too far. I don't ...

• At September 23, 2009, MarkAndrew wrote:

  I wasn't a huge fan of the Legion issue either. I'm all for Batman punching teenagers all the time ...

• At September 23, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Well, what doesn't need more Jim Aparo, Mark? Huh? Answer that!

• At September 23, 2009, EJ wrote:

  it's a damn shame that Mark isn't writting for DC at the moment he's always had a great grasp on ...

• At September 23, 2009, moon wrote:

  The Deadman arc with Nightwing and Green Arrow was awesome.

Anyway, here are all the comics I buy monthly(-ish), and why I should or shouldn't do that:

Agents of Atlas- Will buy whatever comic they show up in until they relaunch as Secret Dark Avengers With Zombie Wolverine #1, and then buy that too. I love AoA.

Amazing Spider-Man- I'll keep buying it as long as I have the cash, because I only get the issues with creative teams I like.

Batman and Robin- On board as long as Morrison is, no matter who's drawing it. That means more Tony Daniel, doesn't it? I just did that. I'm so sorry, folks. (I really don't get what was wrong with Tan, also. I liked his weird Penguin.)

Beasts of Burden- This is pretty much my new favorite comic after one issue. I always did think Lovecraft and James Jean should have done a funny animal comic, and this is close enough.

Buffy Season 8- Really ought to drop this, but I want a full run. Yeah. I'm that guy now. And I hate that guy. But here we are. I'm sitting out Season 9 unless they kill Buffy and replace her with Faith. And then kill Faith because Dollhouse is pretty blah and someone needs to pay for that. And then kill Andrew, just because, and make it about Willow, Giles, Xander, and Dawn just hanging out. For 30 issues.

Captain America: Reborn- I read Brubaker's Cap in trade form, but decided not to wait for this. The latest issue rewarded that decision nicely.

Casanova- It's on my pull list. It will stay there as long as I have a say in it.

Detective Comics- On the chopping block because of all the Batwoman. Like it except for all the Batwoman. Don't even dislike Batwoman, but $4 is just too much for all this Batwoman.

Doom Patrol- Yeah, no more for me. 10 pages of Kevin Maguire art is not enough to put up with Keith Giffen flagrantly breaking one of Brian's rules about how Keith Giffen should write. It's like he doesn't read them or something.

Fantastic Four- Big Hickman fan, but this is bound for trades, I think. Last issue didn't work for me nearly as well as his beautifully insane Dark Reign FF mini. If Ben starts wearing a monocle, though, guess what I'm buying eight copies of a month?!

Ghost Rider by Jason Aaron and some guy- As long as Ghost Rider is by Jason Aaron and some guy, I'll pick it up if I have the cash.

Immortal Weapons- I'll probably pick the whole run up, just not the day it comes out. Is there another hobby besides comics where buying things on the first day of release is such a big deal? Or is it only a big deal to a small subset of comics aficionados? Also, can I blame it all on Diamond, or is Paul Levitz also at fault? Help me, Chris Butcher/Dirk Deppey/Indie Strawman!

Incredible Hercules- I'm on board as long as Pak and Van Lente are.

Love and Rockets: New Stories- Might as well. Only comes out once a year, and that's always a pleasant surprise. "Hey, it's a new Love and Rockets!" Still, that I have yet to feel like reading this since it came out is a bad sign. That could be because when I opened it, it had the stuff that was in the FCBD book and I was like "Didn't I not pay for that in May?" I dunno.

Secret Warriors- As long as Nick Fury+Hickman=awesome, I'll keep buying this.

Umbrella Academy- I'm there when it comes back.

Uncanny X-Men- I may jump back on now that the crossover's done. I feel like I ought to buy some Fraction comics if Fraction's one of my favorite writers.

Uncanny X-Men: First Class- I find the Marvel Adventures stuff really easy to come and go from, due to the whole done in one nature. That's an unintended consequence for them; it's hard to keep readership without cliffhangers and other things that make you go "OMG I WANT NEXT ISSUE NOW!"

Viking- My shop just stopped getting it. I'm okay with that, even though it's a very impressive package. That said, I sort of feel like it's just an impressive package, as my life is not considerably worse for not having read the last issue.

Wednesday Comics- After this week's issue, I'm dropping this!

What's sad is, I'm not sure that's everything I get in a given month, I just can't remember the other stuff I pick up on a regular basis if it exists. It'll come to me. First person to say "You forgot _" can go swimming Georgia.

57 Comments

• At September 22, 2009, T. wrote:

  Doom Patrol- Yeah, no more for me. 10 pages of Kevin Maguire art is not enough to put up with ...

• At September 22, 2009, stealthwise wrote:

  I too would like to know what the rules for Giffen's writing are.

  Please.

• At September 22, 2009, Gabe wrote:

  Casanova should be on everyones pull list.

• At September 22, 2009, Squashua wrote:

  I agree with T.

  Also, I've dropped both New and Mighty Avengers from my lists. Too slow.

• At September 22, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  I keep wondering what the response to Buffy season 8 would be like if they hadn't had 6 months of ...

• At September 22, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Yeah, T, Stealthwise; you two have been commenting here since we were on Word Press. No explanations for you. For ...

• At September 22, 2009, Doron wrote:

  I'd say the Fraction book to buy because you love Fraction (I'm assuming because of Casanova and his other Indie ...

• At September 22, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Yeah, Iron Man did little for me in the first arc, and since the new one's at part 11, I'm ...

• At September 22, 2009, pmpknface wrote:

  That's not that big of a list. A bunch of those aren't even monthly. You should see what ...

• At September 22, 2009, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  The current Iron Man arc is substantially better than the initial one. That said I might be forced to ...

• At September 22, 2009, Stephane Savoie wrote:

  Also, just read your list of Giffen's good/not good, and I disagree with most. I'd be more inclined to ...

• At September 22, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Batman and Robin- On board as long as Morrison is, no matter who's drawing it. That means more Tony Daniel, ...

• At September 22, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Dollhouse is pretty awesome, actually, once you get to episode six and beyond. That unaired finale? Brilliant.

• At September 22, 2009, joecab wrote:

  I love lists like this. It makes me feel justified in my own decisions. So long Doom Patrol... sure wish ...

• At September 22, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "Dollhouse is pretty awesome, actually, once you get to episode six and beyond. That unaired finale? Brilliant."

  Yeah, I love Joss ...

• At September 22, 2009, Andrew Collins wrote:

  sure wish I could get Metal Men another way, though. (As long as it's not like either of the last ...

• At September 22, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "sure wish I could get Metal Men another way, though"

  Me too, although the "who are you?" jokes about the new ...

• At September 22, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  So I used to buy just about everything, and then I spent years buying just about nothing. A few ...

• At September 22, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  er, re: Legacy, that should read "...my return to reading comics regularly a few *years* ago," not weeks, if it ...

• At September 22, 2009, Ricardo wrote:

  Still think Doom Patrol is on my top reading. True his "script" work tends to be better, but Trencher and ...

• At September 22, 2009, Wesley Smith wrote:

  Normally I'd agree with you about Giffen. I hadn't realized it before, but in most cases on Brian's list, I ...

• At September 22, 2009, Mike Klander wrote:

  Ummm..Kick Ass Anybody? I'm loving that story now from Millar and recommend it for anybody into comic books period. ...

• At September 22, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  Based on the general response to Fraction's X-Men, I wasn't expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised when I read ...

• At September 22, 2009, Mary Warner wrote:

  I don't have a pull list. I never know for sure when I'll be able to get to the ...

• At September 22, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  "Based on the general response to Fraction's X-Men"

  You can't ever really judge Uncanny by the fan reaction, because the base ...

• At September 22, 2009, Jeff Holland wrote:

  That is a very good point, Michael.

• At September 22, 2009, "O" the Humanatee! wrote:

  I assume the absence of Scalped* from anyone's list is because you're buying it in the trades.

  * Also strangely lacking ...

• At September 22, 2009, acespot wrote:

  Stamp Collecting (Philately) is the only other hobby where buying something on the first day of release is a big ...

• At September 22, 2009, Michael P. wrote:

  Video games see a lot of release-day movement too. Especially new consoles, which I never got, since the launch games ...

• At September 22, 2009, Adebisi wrote:

  "Runaways - Was so disappointed by Joss Whedon and Terry Moore, I was shocked when Kathryn Immomen came on board ...

• At September 22, 2009, Adebisi wrote:

  oh.

  I also dropped Buffy a while ago and i've never regretted it. it makes zero sense way too often.

• At September 22, 2009, Capt USA(Jim) wrote:

  I've just finally decided to start buying trades to save some money (a $40 a week comic habit is not ...

• At September 22, 2009, Omega wrote:

  It's strange Brad we have alot of the same books on our pull lists(To be fair I read ALOT of ...

• At September 22, 2009, Dan Felty wrote:

  "Buffy Season 8- Really ought to drop this, but I want a full run. Yeah. I'm that guy now. And ...

• At September 22, 2009, spectreguy wrote:

  No Secret Six?

• At September 22, 2009, PookDogg wrote:

  DC - Batman & Robin, Blackest Night, Green Lantern, Superman, Adventure Comics, Action Comics & Batman, PowerGirl are all my ...

• At September 22, 2009, cashtotrash wrote:

  Chew should be on everybodys pull list.

• At September 22, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Mary - Franklin and Valeria are one of the best parts about Hickman's FF. He's really showcasing them as ...

• At September 22, 2009, Stefan Wenger wrote:

  Incidentally Brad, I admire your selectivity with Amazing Spider-Man. I'm too much of a completist to do that - ...

• At September 23, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  "I'll start picking up Fraction's Marvel work when Marvel starts pairing him with better artists. So, probably never."

  The Uncanny issues ...

• At September 23, 2009, Scott! wrote:

  Your LCS is no longer carrying Atomic Robo!?! FUCK.

  Thank god for HeavyInk.com. =S

• At September 23, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Seconding the HeavyInk love here. That's how the latest Atomic Robo (&, ummm, a couple of other dozen new comics ...

• At September 23, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Pretty cool list all in all, Brad. A few things on there that I've never read, though I know I ...

• At September 23, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Omega:

  "...can you imagine Williams and Morrision together?"

  No need to imagine. They did a few issues of Batman together, and those ...

• At September 23, 2009, BDaly wrote:

  Forgot Wednesday Comics and Strange Tales.

  Also forgot X-Factor. Hope that's it.

• At September 23, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Pull lists? Mine is officially insane (unlike me; I'm *un*officially insane). It goes something like this --

  DC(/WILDSTORM/VERTIGO)–

  JSA

  JSA vs. Kobra

  Jonah Hex

  Power ...

• At September 23, 2009, Brian @ Work wrote:

  Are pull lists really that good of a business practice for comic store owners? How many customers just grab whatevers ...

• At September 23, 2009, wwk5d wrote:

  Brian @ Work, I have to disagree with that. if anything, having a pull list gives you even more time ...

• At September 23, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Oh yeah, Fell's still on mine! That's right.

• At September 23, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  I don't get Scalped because I'm not THAT crazy about crime fiction and thus the transitive property of "you like ...

• At September 23, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  And I don't get Chew because I decided to wait for the trade once the insane feeding frenzy over it ...

• At September 23, 2009, Brian @ Work wrote:

  @wwk5d

  That works for me. I was curious as to how many comic readers just pick up their pull list items ...

• At September 23, 2009, "O" the Humanatee! wrote:

  I enjoy both Scalped and Criminal, but IMO the former is richer, both in its characters and its setting; Brubaker ...

• At September 23, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  I did read the first issue in that Vertigo First Cuts things. It earned the series a shot in collections, ...

• At September 23, 2009, "O" the Humanatee! wrote:

  Darn - I was thinking of mentioning that the first issue is not a particularly strong introduction/setup for Scalped, as ...

• At September 23, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Whereas I don't read any of the crime comics. I don't think I ever have, except for Ms. Tree.

  My thinking, ...

• At September 23, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Brian @ Work --

  Dunno where you buy your comics, but the shops I'm familiar with offer discounts ONLY to customers ...

Pretty much everything looks to be ending obviously. That doesn't bother me too much; I'm not Nevett, I just steal his gimmick. Still, it's a bit disappointing, even in the strips I love like Kamandi and Deadman, where the obvious twists or flat out cliches rear their ugly heads. The ones I'm indifferent to, like Batman, just bemuse me. When it's the universally loathed Titans junk, it's just more to loathe. (OMG it was their one recurring villain all along!)

Superman's twist/justification for mopey Clark has made it pretty okay. Still not great, but not as bad as I made it out to be. And better than Flash!

Yeah, I remain not crazy about the Flash. I'm sorry, internet. Maybe it's the time travel, maybe it's Barry Allen. I'm not saying it's bad, it will just never be my favorite strip in the package. There are parts that feel like I should love them; it's certainly formally ambitious, but so is Wonder Woman, and that's unreadable.

Wait! Wonder Woman was readable this week! There's another strip I liked better than Flash! I really do plan on reading the strip as a whole when it's done.

Yeah, I would read a Kyle Baker Hawkman ongoing, and I loathe Hawkman usually. It helps that Baker has been using guest stars.

I'd also read a Supergirl ongoing by Palmiotti and Conner. I don't loathe Supergirl, but I've never bought one of her solo comics before.

I'd buy Paul Pope Adam Strange without WC, but I really hope the Wednesday Comics serial winds up leading in to him continuing this story in an ongoing (or at least the next WC. It Kamandi are the only strips I want to see continue with the same creative team if/when they do a sequel).

Gaiman and Allred's Metamorpho has alternated between being inspired and disappointing, but one constant has been how awesome Java is.

I may prefer Didio's Metal Men to Giffen and DeMatties's. Of course, Didio doesn't expect me to buy a crappy Doom Patrol comic to read 10 pages of his Metal Men. Wonder how he managed to get his dream project surrounded by this much talent? Dude must be connected.

This week's installment of Green Lantern is exactly the kind of thing I want to see Hal Jordan do. Well, the only thing I want to see Hal Jordan do, really.

Deadman and Catwoman remains not as good as I'd hope given the characters and creative team, but it's okay. If nothing else, I loved that last line about the Demon's rhyming from Selina.

I'm not really that excited about this project anymore, but I still think it's been worth the money to follow weekly, and just appreciate that DC did something so outside the box for instead for one of these projects instead of another DCU wankfest like 52 or Trinity (I don't have an insult crude enough for Countdown). I've heard some people say they were ripping of Kramers Ergot, but really, those people need to die in a fire (or at least lend me their copy of that absurdly expensive giant Kramers Ergot).

24 Comments

• At September 21, 2009, Ultimate Matt wrote:

  Thank god I'm not the only person on the internet who doesn't think this thing is the second coming of ...

• At September 21, 2009, Terrence wrote:

  BTW Paul Pope posted on his twitter that he actually has a 13th strip (and a write-up) that'll go up ...

• At September 21, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Forget it, Matt; it's internet town.

• At September 21, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  The reason you're always so mean is because you're "Ultimate" Matt. Which is basically just 616 Matt, but an asshole. ...

• At September 21, 2009, Jorell wrote:

  I would love to see Wednesday Comics become a yearly tradition. Even though the writing has been hit or miss, ...

• At September 21, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  Damnation. Something *else* about which I'm not even the slightest bit curmudgeonly -- WEDNESDAY COMICS. Of course, that's probably the ...

• At September 21, 2009, 616 Matt wrote:

  Good call, jazzbo. I turned myself into a snarky Millar character. let's see if the name change makes me more ...

• At September 21, 2009, sebastian wrote:

  I tried to read the first Wednesday Comics and never got into it. I really really wanted to, but I ...

• At September 21, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  Face it: most of you guys hate comics. And you'd be crew members on Captain Hook's ship if you went ...

• At September 21, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Face it: most of you guys hate comics. And you'd be crew members on Captain Hook's ship if you went ...

• At September 21, 2009, Julian wrote:

  Between Flash, Strange Adventures, Kamandi, and Deadman I found enough to justify my purchase every issue. Strange Adventures is now ...

• At September 21, 2009, Julian wrote:

  Oh, and in the end? I think Wonder Woman did more right than wrong. The only strip that was entirely ...

• At September 21, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  I like you better already, Matt.

• At September 21, 2009, Capt USA(Jim) wrote:

  If they try to do this again, every future writer should read the Metamorpho strip to get an idea of ...

• At September 21, 2009, Julian wrote:

  Oh, forgot about Sgt Rock. That one was awful.

• At September 21, 2009, jazzbo wrote:

  Sgt Rock was probably the most disappointing to me. You've got Joe Kubert drawing Rock, on these huge pages. We ...

• At September 21, 2009, Apodaca wrote:

  I was massively disappointed by Metamorpho. It was tedious and it tried to hard to be clever, while just making ...

• At September 22, 2009, Rusty Priske wrote:

  Some of Wednesday Comics is great (Supergirl, Flash, Metal Men, Metamorpho), some of it is awful (Wonder Woman, Titans), the ...

• At September 22, 2009, Chad Nevett wrote:

  I've enjoyed the project even for the bad strips. Interesting to see how different creators approached this different format.

  And how ...

• At September 22, 2009, Dean wrote:

  Like everyone, I loved some of it.

  After seeing both WEDNESDAY COMICS and FLASH: REBIRTH, I would be a ...

• At September 22, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  "And how you don't love "The Flash" is beyond me, Brad."

  I really wish I could so you people would stop ...

• At September 22, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Also, people who don't like the Sgt. Rock strip are some hyperbolic thing or another. I've enjoyed it despite the ...

• At September 22, 2009, Capt USA(Jim) wrote:

  When I made my comment about Sgt Rock, that is what I meant, it should have been better, it's pedigree ...

• At September 22, 2009, Stony wrote:

  Let's talk about chicks, man!

  "Chicks... Man...."

Agents of Atlas #11- All right!

Amazing Spider-Man #605- MJ: Fuck Yeah!

Batman and Robin #4- Yup.

Beasts of Burden #1- Aww!*

Blackest Night #3- Meh.**

Brave and the Bold #27- Wow, this is good. Wait; why? Batman, stop! Don't speak!

Citizen Rex #3- Dropped! Trade maybe.

Dead Space: Extraction- Yeah, okay.

MODOK: Reign Delay- Marry me!

Uncanny X-Men First Class #3- Blarrgh!***

Wedensday Comics #11- Eh. Later.****

*This may finally make me drop stupid ass Buffy, as its all the paranormal comics I need.

**I just... I don't care! I'm trying! At least trying to try! But I was flipping through it and there's bit where old Firestorm is menacing new Firestorm's girlfriend or whatever and I'm thinking "Yeah, Geoff Johns, I get it. I'm not needed here. You're doing okay without pandering to me. You could have just sent me an e-mail."

***Involuntary response to Banshee speaking. Funny, it never bothered me in the Claremont stuff, but it's been so long since I've read it that I don't know if it's Gray or me. I literally can not read this comic, and I liked the first two issues. Of course, I could read years worth of stories of cultural relativism involving Nightcrawler and the Inhumans.

****Sure did lose enthusiasm for that at the end. At this point, all I can be bothered to want to read are Kamandi, Adam Strange, and Supergirl. See, I find Hawkman so lame that not even Kyle Baker and a T Rex can hold my interest for long. Well, I'm also looking forward to how quickly I can skim Titans. That's fun. But Batman? Superman? Flash? Green Lantern? Zangief? Chun Li? Blanka? Hot Rod? Superfly? Dirty Sanchez? All of these serials are just playing out the string. The sooner this ends, the sooner we get the theoretically commissioned and awesomer WC 2, with Jim Steranko's Mr. Miracle, Bruce Timm's OMAC, Frank Miller's Orion, and Adam Warren's Zatanna. I wish they'd go ahead and just get that one out. That's gonna happen, right?

17 Comments

• At September 20, 2009, David Uzumeri wrote:

  I've been pretty disappointed in WC as a whole, but if you think Flash is "just playing out the string", ...

• At September 20, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Well, thanks. I just don't care for it as much as you and the rest of the internet.

• At September 20, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  But hey, full stop! Classy!

• At September 20, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Also; weren't you the guy who was all "fuck you if you don't get the Vonnegut references in Captain America" ...

• At September 20, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Furthermore! Why did you not come to the defense of Dirty Sanchez and Hot Rod? Huh? I'm disappointed in you, ...

• At September 20, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  And!!!! You are ignoring me, but no "oh yeah, that Timm OMAC, I want that too." From anyone? How did ...

• At September 20, 2009, Ian A. wrote:

  Brad - Wow.

• At September 20, 2009, Mike Blake wrote:

  Ditto. Is the message that we're not needed here?

• At September 20, 2009, Tom Fitzpatrick wrote:

  Short and to the point.

  ALL reviews should be like this! ;-)

• At September 20, 2009, Alan Coil wrote:

  "At least trying to try!"

  Do or do not. There is no try.

• At September 20, 2009, Omar Karindu, with the power of SUPER-hypocrisy! wrote:

  You're a real pither, Brad.

• At September 20, 2009, Bill Reed wrote:

  Where's your pith helmet?

• At September 20, 2009, David Uzumeri wrote:

  I thought Dirty Sanchez really dropped off after week six, when it hit a bathroom wall and accidentally turned into ...

• At September 21, 2009, acespot wrote:

  Uzumeri for the win!

• At September 21, 2009, Dan Bailey wrote:

  I hereby demand that Uzumeri get his own column -- "Filthiest Reivews Ever."

• At September 21, 2009, Brad Curran wrote:

  Okay. You win, Metron.

• At September 22, 2009, Cheeris wrote:

  I've stopped reading Flash also.

  I might go back once all the issues are out and reread it to see if ...