T.G.I.F.: December 29, 2006

Everyone and their brother will be handing you Hamburger-Spewing Elvis M.O.D.O.K.s.

I bring you a damn funny character moment.

Have a Happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2007!

From Astonishing X-men #19 by Joss Whedon and John Cassady.

T.G.I.F.: Making Fridays Slightly More Tolerable since August 26, 2005.

52 on 52 #34

---

The cover teases a death, and we get Stupid Axe Guy? (J.G. Jones agrees.)

---

New Year's Eve is December 33rd.

---

Week 29's cover promised "39 Days till the Rain". I assumed this was to be a rain of depowered Luthorheroes falling from the skies.

39 days would put us in Week 35.

*What is this? Each week, I write exactly 52 words on that week's 52. The word count is according to the Word Count Firefox Extension. A picture is not worth a thousand words. For many more words (and excellent ones at that), check out Douglas Wolk's 52 Pickup.

Merry Christmas!

Two thoughts as you enjoy this bit of Holiday Cheer:

1) Wouldn't it be great if DC's whole "Look To The Skies" buildup was leading not to the New Gods, but the Old Ones? Ambush Bug vs. Azathoth would get my money, that's for sure.

2) Be on the lookout for Cthulhu Tales: The Rising.

T.G.I.F.: December 22, 2006

Yes, I know it's not comics. This defines me as a Child Of The Eighties as much as Anatomy Lesson and Ronin: Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Bob Geldof.

Merry Christmas!

Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid.

T.G.I.F.: Making Fridays Slightly More Tolerable since August 26, 2005.

52 on 52 #33

---

Is this supposed to be ... shocking? Titillating? Romantic?

I'm assuming that "stiff", "posed", and "Tussaud-like" wasn't the intention.

---

I'll keep Alfred's words of wisdom in mind on the 25th.

---

OK. I admit it. I choked up.

I'm an easy mark at Christmastime. "It's A Wonderful Life Syndrome" is the medical diagnosis.

*What is this? Each week, I write exactly 52 words on that week's 52. The word count is according to the Word Count Firefox Extension. A picture is not worth a thousand words. For many more words (and excellent ones at that), check out Douglas Wolk's 52 Pickup.

This Week's Releases: December 20, 2006

Brian Hibbs says it's a feast this week ....then why is my list so sparse? I'm not complaining: I still have shopping to do.

Size aside, there are still comics awaiting me at 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics. Among the best are some books I already have in one form or another, and won't be buying again: Action Philosophers Giant-Size Thing Vol. 2, Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade #1, and the trade collection of the excellent Revolutionary War yarn Black Coat: A Call To Arms. Beyond that, I continue to be interested by Civil War and 52, and am really enjoying Criminal. I'm most looking forward to New Avengers, strangely enough. The title perpetually hovers at the cliff's edge of my pull list, but I can't say "no" to Bendis/Maleev ... no matter what words are on the cover.

• 52 #33
• Birds Of Prey #101
• Teen Titans #42
• Civil War: Front Line #9
• Criminal #3
• Iron Man/Captain America: Casualties Of War
• Iron Man #14
• New Avengers #26
• New Avengers: Illuminati #1
• Bakers Meet Jingle Belle

Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade #1

Yes, I played the game. Yes, I painted the little men. Yes, I flocked the hills. I consulted rulebooks and charts and blast templates. ... I pretty much drew the line at fiction, however. It always seemed a step too far. Warhammer 40,000 is a damned interesting universe, though - full of darkness, religion, and Gothic architecture. It's got a lot more grit and conflict than its fantasy counterpart, and I can definitely see the potential for some great fiction from the setting.

Adapting a licensed universe presents a tightrope act for a writer: there's a good chunk of your audience coming to the comic shop specifically for the license, but another set reading it as just another comic. You need to appeal to both worlds, laying out the superstructure while not boring those already familiar with it. Dan Abnett's no stranger to the universe of Warhammer 40K, and he's also written a comic or two. He's the perfect writer for the project, and it shows: he walks that tightrope well, engaging in a lot of world-building while developing a fistful of plots and characters that will carry through the miniseries. With co-writer Ian Edgington, he hits a perfect tone that makes this universe work, a mythic scale that makes sure it doesn't fall into Tom Clancy In Space territory.

BOOM! Studios has done it again, pairing a top-notch writer who brings experience to the table with an unknown artist bursting with potential: Lui Antonio. Though his faces feel a bit too over-drawn, too controlled, his sense of scale and composition is a perfect match for the legendary tone Abnett and Edgington bring to the comic. There's violence and action aplenty, and and multiple plots and characters ... Antonio never gets overwhelmed, and keeps the storytelling both clear and beautiful. He's also helped immensely by his ability to stay on-model, as the Warhammer universe has always has utterly fantastic visuals to play with.

Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade is a hell of an opportunity for a small publisher, and BOOM! is capitalizing on it. This is a great debut issue, one that will satisfy both Games Workshop die-hards and newcomers to the universe. It hits store shelves tomorrow, December 20th.

T.G.I.F.: December 15, 2006

Not much in this week's books that qualifies for the stringent requirements placed upon the T.G.I.F.: an image that made me smile.

Hence, an image from a book that's new to me: Absolute New Frontier. This was my first time reading it, and while my reaction was tempered by the outsized hype ... I still loved it. This image is just one of many that blew off the page, exploding a sense of time and place and boundless optimism. New Frontier has some storytelling deficiencies, but is an unparalleled period piece and a work of tone. A month of Fridays, and I couldn't get to all the images I loved in here.

From Absolute New Frontier By Darwyn Cooke.

T.G.I.F.: Making Fridays Better since August 26, 2005.

52 on 52 #32

---

"My Earth"?

"My Earth"?

Either someone needs to learn a lesson about sharing, or the Multiverse is back.

---

What a great week for character: Osiris, Buddy, Ralph, and Accomplished Physician all get nice moments explaining who they are and why we should care.

---

But she didn't say that.

Clue, compression, or sloppiness?

*What is this? Each week, I write exactly 52 words on that week's 52. The word count is according to the Word Count Firefox Extension. A picture is not worth a thousand words. For many more words (and excellent ones at that), check out Douglas Wolk's 52 Pickup.

This Week's Releases: December 13, 2006

I love Christmas Specials.

Keep your snark to yourselves: they fill me with nostalgia and happiness.

I don't care if I'm killing comics - DCU Infinite Christmas Special will sit at the top of the stack as I hot the register at 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics.

There's also some Holiday fun coming from Marvel tomorrow. I've been reading Wolverine through the Civil War tie-ins, because the Guggenheim/Ramos collaboration has been quite a bit of fun. I'll be dropping the title like a really hot thing that was burning my hands as of next month, when Loeb/Bianchi begin their run. In the interim, however, comes a Christmas tale by the 2000 A.D. team of Rob Williams and Lawrence Campbell which will keep me reading the title for one more double-sized issue.

Fresh off my first reading of New Frontier, I'm also pretty excited about The Spirit. It won't be Eisner, but that doesn't mean it can't be damn good. I'm certainly hoping that Clark, Diana, and Bruce get up and stretch during Justice League Of America, and also hoping that The Escapists does something in it's last issue to redeem a disappointing run.

I desperately want Curses, but need to hold off until after the 25th. I don't much like waiting.

• 52 #32
• Batman #660
• DCU Infinite Christmas Special
• Gen 13 #3
• Justice League Of America #4
• Spirit #1
• Stormwatch: PHD #2
• Fantastic Four: The End #3
• Wolverine #49
• X-Factor #14
• Escapists #6
• Curses

Focused Linkblogging

It's been awhile, hasn't it?

• Johanna does a good roundup of the Chuck Dixon Midnighter situation. I commented there, and now am paralyzed with fear that I can't write well enough to make my point and will become a target of WeboComicsBlogoNet derision. It goes a little something like this: I still find myself thinking of Midnighter as "the gay Batman", and it seems I'm not the only one. I don't think anything long-term is achieved by keeping all gay characters as one-note representations of an entire demographic, and if a few issues go by that focus on some other aspect of the character it can only help to flesh Midnighter out. Apollo and Midnighter still feel like gaysploitation, played for shock and edge. I want to get to the point where their sexuality is one trait amongst many.


• Dirk Deppey deconstructs Howard Chaykin's current work. This is as excellent a piece of comics writing as I've read in a while, and puts a historical perspective on Chaykin that's too easily forgotten. Those late Eighties are my personal Golden Age, and Chaykin was one of its luminaries. Deppey understands that and asks what's happened since?


• Something magical is happening with Punks. Please report back, because it's behind the MySpace Curtain, and as much as I love Punks ... I don't love it that much.


• ... And since I have resisted MySpace so far, I sincerely doubt my interest in signing up for ComicSpace. I know I'm alone here ... y'all have fun.


• Resplendent Beard goes off. Read it, it's a treat.


• Waaaaaay too late to write about Minx, isn't it? I just would say - on the name itself - that I regularly have to explain to my two girls that we will not be buying them Bratz. "Bratz" and "Minx" seem to flow along a similar continuum that while not empowering, is certainly successful. I suspect DC is more interested in making money by selling these books to tweeners by hook or by crook than they are in Advancing The Cause Of Womanhood. "Minx" is a name that - for good or bad - will sell. As for the creators' genitalia? I'd need to see the submissions pile to really make a judgement there - I'd hope that it was simply the strongest proposals available.


• If the Update-A-Tron 3000 is permanently down, how will we survive?

T.G.I.F.: December 8, 2006

Because nothing says "Christmas" like fascism.


From Marvel Holiday Special 2006.

T.G.I.F.: Making Fridays Better since August 26, 2005.

52 on 52 #31

---

Did M3G themselves compile the continuity nitpicks driving this scene, or did an intern do the actual Newsarama surfing?

---

Dr. Fate? Ahead? BWA-HA-HA!

---

The close connection of "Key" and "Superman" leads me to this key.

... I'm grasping at straws, hoping for something more interesting than the obvious answer of "Booster Gold".

*What is this? Each week, I write exactly 52 words on that week's 52. The word count is according to the Word Count Firefox Extension. A picture is not worth a thousand words. For many more words (and excellent ones at that), check out Douglas Wolk's 52 Pickup.

Raised By Squirrels

You know what I love about Raised By Squirrels, by Brad and Monica Banko Meehan? Actually there's more than one thing - we'll get to that later. What I love, at least initially, is that it reminds me that "Indie Comics" is about as useful a term as "Cable TV". It's a business term, and exists only by ceding the central ground to the industry titans, lumping the rest together as a fringe. Though we'd like to cobble it all together in generic terms: a reviled Big Two providing slick entertainment and everything else as soulfelt art.

It's bullshit. Comics is about people wanting to tell stories, some of whom have marketing dollars behind them, and some who don't. Though they dominate the market, it's not like two Manhattan publishers own the exclusive patent on action thrillers. Many readers of Checkmate, The Ultimates, Chase, or Sleeper might turn their nose up at Raised By Squirrels because anything not coming from the offices of Joe Quesada or Dan DiDio is "artsy indy comix", but would do well to remember that publishing models do not define content. Though disguised as a black-and-white book from an unknown publisher, Raised by Squirrels is as slick and engaging a superhero espionage thriller as you'd find in any "mainstream" book.

The "squirrels" of the title refers to the "S.Q.R.L.", a shadowy security agency that employs metanormal agents to protect national interests. There are hierarchies of power within the agency, and it's near impossible to "retire". Noir backstabbing, betrayals and conspiracies litter the scene, but the Meehans keep the plot and action at the forefront without letting the book degenerate into an atmosphere piece or a chunk of world-building. The story is told through short, titled sequences that are driven by the book's online origins but also serve a as sharp, staccato rhythm to keep the story moving without much pause.

The biggest stumbling block that a Big Two reader might find here is the art. It's certainly not that the art is bad: the composition is excellent, and though the characters are a bit stiff and mannered, there's also a tremendous amount of emotion in the faces and body language. It just feels "off" a bit, the script and art seeming to belong to two different comics. The art feels like a rough draft, a storyboard of what the book would look like with the clean finish the snappy script seems to call for: the naturalistic cinematography of a Sean Phillips or a John Cassady. On the flip side of that, I feel like the art is straining against the heavy plotting of the script, desperately wanting the space to explore fall trees and expressionist cityscapes. I can't say that the friction doesn't have it's merits, however ... the pull between art and story may be the very tension that keeps this from becoming too slick, polished and commercial.

This trade paperback is available for a very value-packed $4.95 at the excellent Raised By Squirrels Website, with a second volume soon to follow. If you're still not sure, you can also download the all the issues in PDF format for the low, low cost of completely free. If a crackling tale of superheroes and espionage gone bad sounds worthwhile, give it a try ... regardless of publisher.

The Penultimate Elk's Run Post?

Since I returned to comics, nothing has excited me as much as Elk's Run. That's why I'm thrilled I'll finally get to read the whole thing! Josh breaks the good news ....

Don't know about Elk's Run? Well, you could start here. Then go here. And read this. And follow up with this.

This Week's Releases: December 6, 2006

I'd like to join the bandwagon and throw all the promotional weight of the Focused Totality Most Anticipated Book Award behind the "relaunch" of the incredicool Manhunter. I'd like to reward Marc Andreyko for creating such a complex character, and Dan DiDio for giving the title a second lease on life. I really hope that this second chance is all the book needs.

I'd like to ... but I won't. The book I most want to get my hands on when I head down to 2005 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award Winning Night Flight Comics is newuniversal, Warren Ellis' reimagining of the New Universe. It's not due to some deep seated love of Kickers, Inc., either. It's Warren Ellis let loose in a sci-fi universe with only minimal attention paid to servicing trademarks ... that usually works out pretty damn well.

Those that care will note that Agents of Atlas and Beyond! are both missing from my list ... having missed issues of both while I was away a few weeks due to employment shenanigans, I've decided to "wait for the trade" (as the cognoscenti term it). I find I'm skipping more miniseries lately as they tend to read better in their intended trade paperback format. Brian K. Vaughan's fantastic Doctor Strange: Oath is the exception the proves the rule.

• 52 #31
• Batman Confidential #1
• Desolation Jones #8
• Detective Comics #826
• Justice Society Of America #1
• Manhunter #26
• Midnighter #2
• Superman Confidential #2
• Tranquility #1
• Doctor Strange: Oath #3
• Incredible Hulk #101
• Marvel Holiday Special 2006
• newuniversal #1
• Uncanny X-Men #481

ScatterThoughts: Some November Books

It's Giffen and DeMatteis and wacky superhero hijinks ... you know what to expect, right? Planetary Brigade: Origins #1 covers the formation of a league dedicated to justice, with familiar character types from the warrior woman to the curious alien (whose Oreo opinion is still unrevealed) to the millionaire-by-day/dark-avenger-by-night. It's also home to Captain Valor of Hero Squared, and this three issue miniseries will act as prequel to that BOOM! Studios smash hit. It's a funny book with some great lines, but it's a significant departure from both Justice League and Hero Squared. Whereas both of those books were truly sitcoms, Planetary Brigade: Origins bleeds more toward satire, sending up heroes we know and love. It's a delicate balance, and when the Batman analogue says his old sidekick is "dead as a boot" it starts to go off the rails. Sitcom is about situation and character, but this is mere parody ... and not very clever parody, at that. Since I know these characters exist solely as commentary on other characters, I never feel fully invested in them or in their story. Planetary Brigade: Origins sure delivers on the hijinks that Giffen and DeMatteis are famous for, but it falls short of their best work by not offering much behind the hijinks.

---

I think Talent #4 is the fourth issue of a four-issue miniseries. The last panel says "The End", and no fifth issue has been solicited. However, when the next to last panel includes the lead character saying "the first thing I'm going to do is find the man at the center of this conspiracy" ... I'm sure you can forgive my confusion. Talent's an interesting book with beautiful art, but it's feeling of "pitch on paper" has bugged me from the start and this "ending" only reinforces that feeling. I really wonder how this would have turned out without the five studio bidding war. Would the series have had a true ending, instead of just a slight pause before the next installment?

---

Wha-huh? Deathblow #2 is among my favorite books of the week? I vacillated before buying this, as the first issue's darker-than-dark paramilitary/conspiracy/superhero vibe did nothing for me other than trigger flashbacks to the nineties. This second issue starts off in the same vein, then takes a left turn into birthday parties and talking dogs and opposing spy organizations called "U.S." and "T.H.E.M.". Though Carlos D'Anda's art remains solidly in the hyper-macho genre, Azzarello's script is starting to flirt with the madness of Matt Fraction's excellent Casanova, and could easily become one of the surprises in this Wildstorm relaunch.

---

Oh! Hey! Speaking of Matt Fraction and "darker-than-dark paramilitary/conspiracy/superhero vibe", along comes Punisher War Journal #1. Punisher's a character that I've never had much use for: having read many a Mack Bolan adventure back in the day, I can't help but see Frank Castle as a pale knockoff of something without much substance to start with. Matt Fraction's the draw here, and he delivers what is easily the best comicbookery to arise out of Marvel's Civil War shenanigans. This is a very different take than the grim-n-gritty killer that personified the Chromium Age Of Comics, and reads as the diary of a madman. There's no mistake: Frank Castle is bugshit nuts, and Ariel Olivetti's off-kilter perspectives only heighten the feeling that we're seeing the world through crazy eyes.