HeoresCon 2008


We had a great time there yesterday. I spent most of the day just being in awe of all the incredibly cool stuff everywhere. I browsed around Indie Island and Artists' Alley, and went to the "conversations" panel with Evan Dorkin and Jaime Hernandez. I met the hosts of Indie Spinner Rack. So many nice, friendly creators! I could have bought a print or a mini comic or sketch from practically every table, but of course didn't have that much dough.

Stuff i got:

Signed: Perhapanauts #1 by writer & artist, Scott Pilgrim Vol.1, The Mourning Star Vol.1, Miranda Mercury #296; never found Roy Thomas to get my All-Star Squadron #1 signed.


Prints: Big cover to Miranda Mercury #297 by Lee Ferguson, and a Daybreak print by Brian Ralph


Comics: Chiggers by Hope Larson, Ayaje's Wives and The Ghosts by Matt Wiegle, You Don't Get There From Here #7 by Carrie McNinch, Black Ghost Apple Factory by Jeremy Tinder, Phaze 7 #13 by Alec Longstreth, Breathers #0 by Justin Madson, The Fart Party #5 by Julia Wertz, Danz Comix Digest by Dan Rhett, Papercutter #5 & 6, Nerd Burglar anthology from Tugboat Press, Daybreak vol. 1 & 2 by Brian Ralph, and I Was a Teenage Comic Nerd and Other Stories by Liz Prince.
Whew! All mini-comics and small or self press, except Chiggers which is Simon & friggin' Shuster (go Ms. Larson).


Sketch: i said i wasn't getting any sketches, but i had nothing for Jaime Hernandez to sign, and he had no books to sell, so i bought a sketchbook and got a great Hopey sketch from him. He's a really nice guy, too.

Cool fabric book mark: from My Brain Hurts auteur Liz Bailie


Best Cosplay: Darwyn Cooke-designed Catwoman, looked inCREDible; runner-up: some kinda victorian alternate of Wonder Woman, maybe from an elseworld?


Panel: Tom Spurgeon from the Comics Reporter hosted an informal panel with Jaime Hernandez (Love & Rockets) and Evan Dorkin (Milk & Cheese, Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast). It was cool to hear Hernandez talk about how he constructs a story (considers the needs of the story then kinda intuits it) and Dorkin snarky/bitter/funny. When asked about new creators following in their wake, Dorkin riffed jealously: "i wish they all had one crotch so i could kick it!" It was a fun panel.

Short, Sinus-Problem-Impaired, Reviews for Comics of June 11, 2008


Local #12 - Local reaches its destination at
last, as Megan returns to her deceased mother's house in rural Vermont. At first read this issue didn't work as well for me as previous ones, but that might be the bug i've come down with, so i'll read it again later when my head is clearer. Ryan Kelly's art remains awesome.


Wonder Woman #21 - It dawned on me while reading this one that there was a Beowulf series from DC back in the 70s. That explains why he isn't like the real Beowulf. I'm liking this arc, but i'm a sucker for the sword & sorcery, so YMMV. Wonder Woman has a flying clamshell vehicle? She borrowed it from Venus, i reckon? While it's kinda cool to see a new version of Nemesis, i'm not keen on the DEO portion of WW's current status quo.


Madman Atomic Comics #9 - I think i'll enjoy this series more if i stop expecting it to be the adventures of Madman and friends, and instead accept that it's Mike Allred's Experiments In Making Comics featuring Madman and friends. This entire issue consists of two-page spreads that follow a battle as it moves down a street in Snap City. Imagine a movie filmed entirely with one camera on a track rolling from left to right, and that's a close approximation. It's cool that Allred makes it work, but the story isn't very interesting.


Wildguard Insider #2 - The first story stars Lillyhammer, who has a fun punny name, and i don't generally like puns. I don't know the background referred to here, but it' still fun, and Todd Nauck's art is attractive. Btw the deal here is that the team called Wildguard is the result of an American Idol type TV show for superheroes. I got this series b/c i'd wondered about the previous Wildguard comics but never bought them, and this has turned out to be a good primer/introduction to the characters. There are a handful of short stories here, focusing on different characters. Some of these heroes made the final team, others didn't. Astro-Girl is like a younger, female-r version of Adam Strange. Power Temp superheroes part time. (Joey Mason's art on PT's story is great.)


Green Lantern Corps #25 - Less Mongul = better GLC. The origin of the black mercys is cool. Mother Mercy is all lovecraftian-looking, which is more cool. This story explains why the black mercys' powers are different here. Not a bad issue, at all. Gleason's excellent art makes even the grody bunch-a-corpses scenes engaging. Here's hoping next issue begins with Mongul's head exploding, and a new, interesting villain taking his place.


Trinity #1 & 2 - A promising start to a weekly series that apparently will be thankfully free of constraining continuity concerns. Busiek gets the characters right in every scene, and conveys everything clearly to the reader. Bagley's art looks maybe even better that his Ultimate Spidey stuff.

#1 - Cosmic stuff with screaming faces made out of nebulae: could any of this be related to the JLA/Avengers and Busiek's JLA run that followed it? That face doesn't look like Krona, but you never know.

The lunch scene does a good job of defining these characters vis-a-vis each other, and sets up the mystery that will drive at least the first arc of the series.

A ghostly castle is a cool thing. The choices for the anti-trinity aren't what you'd expect, which makes them interesting. Most folks think this Enigma guy is the Riddler, and he may be, but it doesn't fit IMO. Riddler ain't that technological or spooky. Plus, i like his private eye act in Detective, so i don't want that abandoned. Maybe he's Riddler from the future.

Dig that Ragman in the alternate Gotham scene. It's all Joe Kubert-y. Nice.

Is that yahoo on the last page the same as the nebula-face at the beginning? Probably, but looks a bit different.


#2 - A micro-solar system? Cool. Kinda Silver-Age-y. I wonder why it didn't disappear like the other alternate reality stuff? Hopefully there's really cool and weird stuff on those planets, and we'll see some crazy adventures there.

I think these alternate reality scenes are not multiverse-related. I think they're just brief, alternate timeline or imaginary worlds.

Those insectiod giant robots that Wonder Woman's fighting are cool. They remind me of Bagley's work on Thunderbolts.

Tom Derenick is a really good superhero artist. What's going on with John Stewart's powers here? I've never seen anything like that happen to a GL before.

The two-story structure looks like it will work, especially if they're closely linked like in #2.

Okay, i really don't have a lot to say about this, b/c i enjoyed it and it was pretty uncomplicated. So other than saying "i liked it", that's about all i got.

Comparison to Final Crisis (inevitable, right?) - This doesn't seem to be tied into/tied down by continuity concerns. No other series counted down to it, and it doesn't claim to change the universe. So the stakes and expectations are very different. It's easier to read this as just a good superhero yarn, and i'm happy with that.

Good so far.

Comic Reviews for the Week of June 4th, 2008


Manhunter #31 - This series lands on its feet again. The past is neatly recapped in two pages, then it jumps back into the action with a fight scene, and the rest of the issue gets to the substance of Manhunter's life, her supporting cast, and her newest adventure.

See that scene with Iron Munro? That's how you work DC continuity, even fairly obscure continuity, into a comic. You name the character. Through natural-sounding dialog, you establish that this guy used to be a superhero. Now i know sometimes characters are just dropped in there, without identifying them or giving any context whatsoever, but for my money, this works better. But i guess i'm just lazy b/c i don't want to wait for the "director's cut" reprint to find out who the folks on the page are.

Back to the story, Iron Munro comes off as a jerk here. No, i don't have much sympathy for the guy who wants to "catch up for lost time" after ignoring his family for decades. Go make up your lost time wherever you were for the last thirty years, jerk. You have no right to ask other people to alter their lives just b/c you suddenly decided it might be nice to "connect" with your grandkids. Jerk.

I liked the phone conversation between Dylan and Chase. That was sweet in that "we're too cynical to be sweet" kinda way.

I'm not happy about the possibility of the Joker showing up, though. Unless Manhunter kills him. Somebody needs to kill that character. I hate him.

Between Director Bones and Atomic Skull, there are two skull-headed guys in this issue! That is cool. Does Atomic Skull have invisible skin and stuff, too, or is he just a skeleton powered by atomic energy magic? Manhunter took him down too easily, too. He didn't even try to hit her, seems. He just seemed confused. It was kind of sad.

I'm really dubious about the "real world issues" thing. It's really hard to do justice to real issues in fiction, and even harder when said issues are background for superhero action and soap operatics. Plus, anything that reminds me of politics is a big minus. However, and perhaps paradoxically, i was excited by the idea of a superhero rescuing a "real" person who was in "real" trouble. That line about "we fight aliens, evil geniuses, you name it...why can't i find one missing girl?" was onto something. It would be cool to see a superhero, especially a "street level" one like Manhunter, rescuing people from man's inhumanity to man instead of fighting fantastic threats all the time.

Blue Beetle shows up at the end, and that's good, and it's enough to convince me to pick up the next issue.



Noble Causes #34 - Talk about your superhero soap operatics, hoo boy does this comic have soap operatics to spare. The Nobles are a serious super team. There's a kaiju-sized pharaoh stomping downtown Cairo, and they don't even send the whole team to deal with it, they just send three people. And those three people p0wn the cyclopean menace. It's all the interpersonal drama and emotional machinations that give them real trouble. This is fun.

I like the world Faerber has built. This, along with Dynamo 5, is a good example of how to build a broader continuity for faithful readers without depending on it too much and alienating newer or more casual readers.

I like how Bonechill is freaking out about the Nobles trying to capture him. Plus, he's the third skull-headed guy this week, so bonus.

This world has a prison for supervillains in orbit? Wow.

I'm not sure what that sentence on the last page means. How do you hire someone to do that? Especially someone who was "an accomplished super-hero in her own right" at the time. But i'll go along with it for now.



Buffy #15 - Mixed are my feelings. This has some of the great Buffy action and snarkiness that i love, but also some of the Buffy cliches that have come to annoy me. No one can be happy for long without Tragedy! stepping onto the stage and randomly killing people. Drac shows admirable concern for Xander, but i'm not buying the Drac/Xander friendship...or whatever it is.

Way to go Dawn with the rallying of the troops! The um, Dawnbot, however, was not so cool. But for an uncool thing, its idea of what makes it a teenaged girl was really funny. "I like blue jeans and irony." That cracks me up.

That discussion between Willow and Buffy, where Willow is saying, in a sarcasm-disguising-honesty-jokey way, that it bugs her that Buffy didn't decide to "experiment" with her, was kinda wierd. Can't two people of the same sex just be friends?

Drac's sword is "one of the ancient relics...like your scythe"? That line begs for a future story to explain/explore it. Maybe i've played too much D&D, but that line implies all sorts of epic backstory and +5 vorpal sword enchanting.

Vlad the Impaler stealing Drac's Big Bad vibe was nicely done, as well. He was just as scary as a human as he is as a vampire. (Though if you like your Europe European and not Turkish, you gotta give the guy his due.) This hits one of the major BtVS themes: we are the monsters! It also once again gives the lie to that malarkey about the human soul being removed when a person gets turned into a vampire. That's Watcher poppycock. And it's a badass scene to boot.

I'm not sure what the "kill every single one of them" page is supposed to make us feel. Sometimes it's necessary or justified to obliterate your foes in a kinda genocidal way? Or, this is Buffy going Too Far, or becoming jaded?

Satsu, you are losing my respect. Buffy used you. She was a huge jerk to you, taking advantage of your genuine feelings for her momentary enjoyment. Do not tell her how great it was. Do not give her one for the road. Tell her to go screw herself next time and stay out of your life.

This issue has a beautiful cover.



Justice Society of America #16 - That was an unexpected twist. It was played well, too. Although of course it's going to end badly, for now i almost believe that it won't. Well done.

Gog's tell is that he repeats the phrase "i made them/him good again." I MADE him GOOD. It's that theme of "trying to make the world the way you think it ought to be is bad" thing that Johns uses so much lately. That was Black Adam's sin, and Sinestro's, and probably some other folks' whom i'm forgetting. He's gone to the well a bit too often on that one, especially since he's never clarified the difference between that villanious motivation and the motivation of our admirable heroes--not to my satisfaction, at least.

And speaking of Black Adam, here he is. I'm going to ignore that retconning rubbish about his powers being inherently evil and the apparently futile diversion of said powers to Mary Marvel (i'm also going to ignore the last year of Mary Marvel stuff while i'm dipping into denial). So Isis may be back, huh? That could be cool. The "Black Marvel Family" is a concept worthy of further exploration.

That double page spread of Gog being "cast out" from "paradise" is awesome. What's that beneath his left hand? Ain't it the same eye-in-a-triangle symbol that's on FDR's grandkid's arm? (That, or the Illuminati goes back even further than i thought.) Interesting...

What happened with Damage was cool. I hope it sticks, b/c angry Damage was becoming too one-note.

Another strong issue for JSA. When's the next one?!

Perhapanauts #2 - This is a pretty packed issue, but it never feels rushed. We get a JLA parody, a good chunck of character background/development for Arisa, Choopie becomes king of some little goat-gremlins, we get a strong hint to Molly's origin, and a surprisingly affecting journal entry from MG about his relationship with Arisa; oh, and the back cover is a funny gag on '50s sci-fi/monster comics. Arisa, the telepath of the group, had been a bit of a cipher up to this point, but this issue gives her new and deeper dimensions. It was a huge leap in character development. If you like adventure comics with good characters, you should read this.

Usagi Yojimbo #112 - Usagi and friends start out helping a young girl escape from a crime boss, and wind up taking out the whole criminal operation in a scene of mad samurai action. UY is a fun, exciting comic. Sakai's cartooning skills are topnotch.

Fables #73 - I was thinking about how epics and Events in comics used to happen in the regular series (i.e., The Great Darkness Saga, the Dark Phoenix Saga, Judas Contract, etc.) and how much better they were back then, b/c they got the proper amount of build-up, the story stayed focused b/c it was in one title and not difused over multiple minis, etc. etc. Well, that's what's happening in Fables right now. Fabletown's attack on the Advesary's empire has been building for the last 72 issues. While telling us lots of entertaining stories over the past six years, Willingham & Buckingham have put everything into place, strategically, emotionally, dramatically, to deliver a truly epic-level action story. This is incredible stuff. This is one of those series that you look back on and realize that you've really been reading something special.
The preview of Madame Xanadu in the back was very cool, and confirmed my decision to add that one to my sublist. :)

Firebreather #1 - A strong first issue. The character and his world are set up, we get a feel for who everybody is and the tone of the series, and we get ominous hints of big doin's to come. I'm intriqued by Firebreather's father. I had assumed he'd be some kind of kaiju, dumb and lumbering but awesome by sheer audacity, but it turns out he's more like a great wyrm of the D&D variety, all ancient and scheming. Kuhn's art is expressive, attractive, and has the storytelling chops. I'm digging this.

Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men - FINALLY. This qualifies as a good epic comic story, too. I like the sections with the other MU heroes, and especially how they were taken out of the fight (though, cool as it was, we don't find out how it was done, do we?). I would say i'd like to see Whedon write more MU characters, but i know it'd take a hundred million years for the stuff to come out, so i'll settle for this. Lots of big action and badassery here. Collossus and Kitty Pryde are the stars, with Spidey ably playing Special Guest Star. I suspected that the giant missle threat might be solved the way it was solved, which was depicted very cool by Cassaday. This series has convinced me that Cassaday isn't just an over-rendering "realist", but is actually a top-tier comic book artist. He tells the story, his characters emote, his characters all have individual faces (even the attractive women), and his tech designs are unusual and cool. Good stuff.

Blue Beetle #27 - It's a testament to the character, supporting cast, and situation that these fill-in issues while waiting for a the next creative team are still more entertaining that your average superhero comic. The last page felt a little arbitrary, but otherwise a solid and fun issue. One of my favorite series.

Shadowpact #25 - If it's gotta end, at least it ends well. And hey, here's another smackdown that gains significance and entertainment value by having been set up over the past 24 issues. The Shadowpact, with help from their time-displaced allies, take on the Sun King and all his nigh-unstoppable power. Blue Devil gets his groove back, and the Phantom Stranger lets his hair down a bit. Blue Devil is the character that gets a real boost out of this series, at least potentially. He faced off an entire eldritch army by himself, faced down the legal department of Hell, and showed his leadership mettle. I'd like to see more of this team, but honestly i don't expect to. It was good while it lasted.

Final Crisis #1

SPOILERS

I felt very little about this comic. I read it and thought, "I'm not sure what that was about." Then i waited a while, read it a second time, and i still didn't know what it was about.

Anthro (who isn't identified, and neither is his setting) is met by Metron. (It's neat that Morrison combines the image of the burning bush from the Old Testament with the Prometheus story from Greek mythology, but it doesn't add to the story.)

Dan Turpin (who isn't identified, and neither is his history with the New Gods) finds the expiring Orion. We get the hint that the New Gods have been reincarnated somehow (as we've seen in Seven Soldiers and Birds of Prey).

John Stewart investigates. The Black Racer is floating in the background. I guess that's the new Black Racer. The New Gods reconstituted themselves really quickly. They're already online before the last of their old forms has completely croaked.

I like Mirror Master's accent.

Why would those supervillains stage a protest march? Aren't they all wanted for multiple felonies? Shouldn't they be hiding out instead of marching down the street in costume? And why is that lone panel in the middle of the "League of Titans" bit?

It's good to see that Luthor, etc. aren't simply accepting Libra as the new boss. And Libra's dig at Vandal Savage was funny.

The cell phone bit confused me. I thought that maybe the Human Flame was watching something he'd recorded earlier. So i thought maybe he was watching the execution of Martian Manhunter on his phone. Something about that scene didn't flow well for me. That might just be me.

I kind of like the New Gods being in human forms. Of course it will depend on what sort of role they play, but it could be cool. I suspect that Darkseid's machinations have somehow fused the New Gods' essence with humanity, which is fitting since all of his plans seemed to involve Earth anyway, and "New Earth" is the "foundation stone of all existence."

Is it me, or are the Leaguers talking about the New Gods as if they don't know them? As if Orion, Lightray, Big Barda and Mister Miracle weren't members of the League? Has that bit of history been changed, or has the reincarnation of the New Gods somehow caused amnesia?

I don't know what the Monitors are here for. Thematically, they're another level of cosmic power and mythology; they're like another pantheon of gods who may be higher than or in competition with the New Gods. How does their story relate to the others? The other stuff all ties to Darkseid's plans, but i don't see how this one does.

Then Anthro meets Kamandi. Apparently Anthro is either transported to another Earth (if this is the Countdown version of Kamandi) or the distant future (if this is the old school Kamandi). Kamandi is not identified, and neither is his setting. But we do learn that Metron set his own plan into motion before he croaked, and this is the good guys' Last Best Hope.

The monitor who was "exiled" wakes up in his new, human form (more gods becoming men, soon to strive towards godhood again; Morrison's working his literary themes) for i guess the first time.

This issue was set up, as you'd presume a #1 to be, but while it put the pieces into place, it didn't give us any indication of what kind of game is about to be played. Any thread between these various plots has to be deduced by the reader. That's not necessarily bad, but it's not Summer Event Series storytelling. The stakes are unclear.

It was odd.

Readers not already familiar with DC's superhero universe will have a lot of questions. Characters and concepts are not introduced in several instances, as i noted. If you haven't read Seven Soldiers, you might scratch your head about the Dark Side Club. This is a big minus for an Event comic, which is intended (or so i always thought) to sell to a lot of people, not just faithful DC fans who follow their "universe" as a whole. Something as simple as caption boxes, or a couple editorial pages, would have helped.

Son of Short Comic Reviews


Birds of Prey #118 – So this takes place after Final Crisis, looks like. At least, it has the new version of the New Gods that we saw in Seven Soldiers. Interesting. We've seen this superpeople fight club thing several times recently. Are all the Apokalipsians black? That's not...y'know...kinda racist? To make all the bad guys black? I'm not accusing anybody of being racist, i'm just dumbfounded that the folks at DC wouldn't see the implication, and diversify accordingly. Nicola Scott is really good. I like her style. This issue is mostly about Misfit and Black Alice, both of whom are cool. They both learn something surprising here. It's good to see some fairly new characters getting page time and development.

Dynamo 5 #13 – D5 tries to recover from getting their butts kicked last issue. There's a revelation about one of the characters which was totally unexpected, but works very well. It fits with everything that had already been established. It looks like next issue we'll see a slightly different version of the team, which should be fun. Thumbs up.











JSA #15 – I enjoyed this, but there's not much to say about it. It's all Fighty McPunchkick, in a good way.

Project Superpowers #3 – I got lost reading this. It felt like i'd missed an issue. There were too many indistinct scene changes, too much first-person narrative from too many characters. This ain't a movie. We can't automatically tell that a new person has started talking in the narrative boxes like we can tell when a different voice starts doing a voice-over in film. A different colored bar beside the box doesn't help that much, either. How about a different font, or a differently shaped box, a different manner of speech? Look at pages 8 and 9: Samson and the Scarab are talking. Then half of page 9 cuts to Shangri-La, where the Black Terror is tearing through some bad guys. Why does this bit with Black Terror interrupt the Samson/Scarab scene? Are they supposed to be linked, or somehow comment on one another? I can't see how. It's confusing. And on page 10, what's going on there? Was this thread introduced previously? Is it referring to the FCBD issue? Who is this person 'Devil is talking to? Why put only one page of this in the issue? Where are Pyro and Hydroman? Can't they spare a box saying “Coney Island” or something? This was just confusing.

Wonder Woman #20 – This felt kinda like an episode of Xena, with its use of not-quite-right mythology. (Beowulf died fighting that dragon, and he didn't have to chase Grendel, he killed him in Hrothgar's mead hall, etc.) Xena bit Wonder Woman's style, not the other way around. Never forget that. It's still a fun issue, though, b/c it's really hard for Gail Simone to write a bad comic. There's the unexpected appearance of Stalker, an obscure character from the 70s. (No prior knowledge necessary, however.) I'm not sure if that's actually cool, or just a bit of trivia.






Green Lantern Corps #24 – I loved last issue, i didn't like this one. Mongul is boring. Boring boring boring. What's his deal? Does he have a motivation? Oh, he's psychotic. Yawn. All the dead bodies orbiting that planet was kind of dumb. Why couldn't the lanterns fly around it? Or was it supposed to encase the entire planet? It would take trillions and gajillions of bodies to surround a planet, even a small one. And why did it stink? There's no atmosphere in space, thus no medium for the smell to travel through. If the lantern rings let in smells, wouldn't they let in poison gases? Aren't the black mercies supposed to show you your fondest dreams, thus lulling you into a fantasy world you don't want to leave, while it slowly kills you? Isn't that what makes them cool and memorable? But here, they're showing Ion and Arisa their fears. (And some future stuff, like the multi-colored rings killing Ion?) What gives?

The Comics of Free Comic Book Day
Brief reviews

I've read most of them by now. With this weekend's nice weather, i've sat in the backyard reading, which is cool. The only ones i haven't read yet are the EC sampler and some of the kid-oriented stuff.

Broken Trinity Prelude - I knew next to nothing about these characters (Witchblade, Darkness, Angelus). The opening story here is an introduction via a story being written by a reporter for an alternative weekly paper. It was informative. Definitely i know more about these characters than i did before. I'm not rushing out to buy the trades, but i'm slightly intrigued.

Amelia Rules - All four of these stories are very good. The first one, "The Things I Cannot Change" really impressed me. It could have been cheesey or maudlin, instead it was emotional and smart. This is good stuff. Obviously it's aimed at kids, but it's intelligent an nuanced enough for grown ups.

Hero By Night/Gunplay - HBN is pretty cool. It's old school superheroics. There seems to be a lot of story potential built into the set-up. The Gunplay half of the book looked kind of cool, but it seems like they pulled pages from various issues, and they didn't flow well at all, so it was hard to tell quite what was going on.

X-Men - This was a good read. It felt a lot like a Buffy episode, including the depiction of the demons as simultaneously very nasty and chuckleheaded. Pixie is cool, even if she's a bit munchkined out (she can fly, teleport, throw pixie dust, detect magic, and has a demon-killing soulknife? c'mon...). What does a Welsh accent sound like? Is this the creative team that will be taking over the regular comic? Is Pixie from the Morrison run?

Shonen Jump Special - Not bad, but these selections are too short to give much of an idea of the series. I can fill in some gaps b/c i know enough of the "shonen" tropes that these things usually follow. I didn't read the one about basketball.

Marvel's Best-Selling Authors - Meh.

Kid Houdini and the Silver-Dollar Misfits - I like some of the art, but the book didn't hold my interest. Why Houdini?

The Moth - The art here is awesome--design, layout, linework, it's all stupid good. The Moth is a likable character, too. I just might pick up the regular series when it starts.

Del Ray & Dabel Brothers 2008 Preview - The Dresden Files bit could have told us a lot more about the main character, but it made me wonder about it, so it did what a preview is supposed to, i reckon. Wild Cards is actually very interesting. Are the novels in print? I haven't seen them, even at Ed McKay's. Frankenstein i didn't read. The monster should not look like Fabio's prettiers, skinnier son. In Odd We Trust might be a good read, but i'm not sold on it.

Avengers/Invaders Sketchbook - It's got some sketches in it. That's it. That "previously unknown" Golden Age team looks kinda cool. But what's up with that guy having a star over his nose?

Ignatz - Some of this stuff is too "heavy" for me--life provides enough problems on its own, thanks. Baobab has a cool setting and strong art, but if it's all as laconic as the pages here, it could be hard to read. Grotesque: i like the art a lot, but i'm not sure what it's about. Interiorae: why do these women want drugs, apparently whatever drugs they can get? i'd like to read this just to see what's going on. Delphine: this looks cool. Remember Sala's cartoons on "Liquid Television"? Those never made sense to me, but this thing looks cool. Reflections: There's no story here, but the character drawings are great. Ganges: I liked this. I'll have to look for it at the store. It's funny. It's accessible. The art is sharp. What makes me hesitant about getting into these Ignatz book is the price. A while back i got the first issue of New Tales from Old Palomar, and it was 7.95. They're bigger and have more pages than a regular comic, but it might make more sense to buy them when they're collected.

Dan Dare/The Stranded - Dan Dare is fun. The Stranded seems complicated. Ramayan 3392 A.D. looks fairly kickass, but that little snippet didn't tell me much.

The Death-Defying 'Devil - Here's some background on 'Devil and superbaddie the Claw. The Claw is crazy pulpy badguy fun. So, are the people in the story calling 'Devil "Devil" or are they calling him "Daredevil" but we just read it as "devil" b/c of copyright issues?

Atomic Robo - This is the best FCBD offering. It's high-octane action with humor, and it stars a robot built by Tesla. It's really good. Neozoic is cool, too. I want to read that trade when it comes out.

Bongo Comics Free-For-All! - This was funny. I dug it. Way funnier than that not funny movie they made.

Drafted - That was really good. The ads and solicits didn't make it look this good. I can see how it might devolve into a shoot-em-up/bad video game type of thing, but it seems smarter than that. Now i want to read this series.

Owly And Friends! - It's very, very cute. Johnny Boo made me laugh. Yam: an enjoyable read.

Comic Book Diner - Nothing here did anything for me, but the character design of Buzzboy is cool, and the colors on Tbyrd Fearlessness are awesome.

Hellboy - Best FCBD offering next to Atomic Robo. "The Mole" is creepy and surreal, and a nice character study. I really need to start reading those B.P.R.D. trades, b/c Guy Davis rocks. "Bishop Olek's Devil" has a great lovecraftian monster.

Jughead - Now i want to visit that museum. But watching "The Wire" has made me afraid to go to Baltimore. Wouldn't it have been crazy if Bubbles had walked in there and tried to con Archie out of some money for smack? Or, is Jughead's food problem a metaphor for drug use? Hmmm...

I volunteered at the local store. I got there a few minutes after they opened at 10:00, and there was a very long line outside the store. That line did not let up for over three hours. That's not b/c we were slow, either. We were stuffing bags with free comics like we had tapped into the Speed Force. We made three types of bags: kid, teen, and adult. It was a lot of work, but worth it.

Maggie the Mechanic
by Jaime Hernandez


The earlier stories in this collection don't feel very focused, but they are still fun, and by the end of this book the world and characters are in sharp relief. Even secondary characters get fleshed out with backgrounds, complex motivations, etc.

Maggie and Hopey are two young women living in Southern California. In many ways their world reflects the real world of the early/mid eighties, when these stories were created. Mexican-American and punk/hardcore elements are most evident. There are also many invented and fantastic elements, too. There are countries like Zymbodia, there are dinosaurs, rocketships, etc. These elements never take the focus off the characters.

Maggie is a mechanic. Having grown bored with fixing cars and such, she's landed a job fixing rockets and robots. She's the assistant to famed "prosolar mechanic" Rand Race, for whom she quickly falls. (These stories originally appeared in the periodical "Love & Rockets", which Jaime shared with his brothers, and here we've got both love and rockets.) This job takes her to exotic foreign lands and introduces her to many strange and entertaining individuals.

Hopey plays bass in a punk band. Physically she's the "pixie" type, tiny and pretty, but she's the biggest hellraiser of her circle, and the most emotionally jaded/guarded. She'll tell off people several times her size or throw a bottle at a cop, but she keeps most non-violent feelings close to her chest.

Other characters include Hopey's bandmates, their older and disturbed friend Izzy, Daffy the flighty Japanese girl, Izzy's brother and Maggie's crush Speedy, bombshell Penny Century, horned billionaire H.R. Costigan, and many many more. In fact, one of the back pages has a cast of characters with 63 portraits.

The stories range from short, comedic slice-of-life vignettes to adventure yarns to intimate character portraits. Jaime Hernandez does all of these well, and you reading them you understand why this series has remained popular and influential for decades.

Jaime's art style is clean and smooth, though he sometimes uses a lot of fine lines and crosshatching, esp. to convey grittiness. I can see the influence of Ditko and Mobius, which are both good things IMO. He draws a wide variety of people. Most of his women are attractive, but they're different. He also draws places and things very well. You have no problem recognizing Maggie & Hopey's neighborhood as a sunny, urban, aging locale. The level of detail is just right.

Serenity: Those Left Behind
By Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad, Laura Martin


This story takes place between the TV series and the movie. It feels much like an episode of the show, maybe a two-parter. The dialog and story beats fit. Will Conrad and Laura Martin make the characters look like the actors.

The art is strong. It conveys the same world, the same "look" as the show. Martin's colors are an equal part of the equation with Conrad's pencils/inks. The lighting effects add to the dramatic quality, and some of the space scenes would be hard to follow without the colors to distinguish and shape the objects on the page.

I liked the story, but it wasn't quite like the show. Some film properties translate well to books. (I've enjoyed several Star Wars novels.) I'm not sure that Firefly is one of them. I didn't like the movie b/c i felt it departed too much from the show, thematically and stylistically. This comic matches the show better, but the intangibles added by the cast are missing. A new Firefly comics series has begun recently. I'll try it and see if this trend continues.

The detail and "realism" of the art detracts from the storytelling, IMO. The characters look mostly like the people from the show, the sets look like the sets, etc., but there isn't much sense of movement. I don't know why not b/c i'm not sure what makes static images in panels convey motion in the first place. It happens in lots of comics, but it doesn't happen here, or it doesn't happen often enough that it stood out to me. Or maybe it's just that no drawing of Inara can ever be as gorgeous as the "real" Inara

Short Reviews for the Week of April 25th, 2008 A.D.

Number of the Beast #2 - It starts with two superheroes having sex in a cheap motel room. Turns out Honeybee has a real stinger, and it freaks Aeronaut out. How very naughty. I am shocked and/or impressed at this comic's flaunting of convention. It would have been funnier if it had turned him on. Basically, the heroes get more of a clue re: they're living in a VR program. Great art and character designs from Chris Sprouse. A "dramatis personae" page or "handbook"-type backup would be appreciated.







Fables #72 - Cinderella can kick all kinds of ass. I love how Willingham makes his characters very capable, without turning them into Mary Sues. Now that they've told us the war has started, the next issue better be about the war, or this book will officially be an annoying tease.











Birds of Prey #117 - I'm just a mark for these characters. I can't explain why. Even for Misfit. All Zinda has to do is show up and i'm like "Zinda is awesome." The bad guys in this issue look goofy (pinstripes? spiky mohawk? lizardman with suspenders?) but they still come off as legit. That's no mean feat. What happened with Superman? This was a fun comic.









The Spirit #16 - It's definitely a different comic now. I'm not sure if i dig it. It's still done-in-ones, which is good, but they're kinda generic. They could happen to just about any superhero; they don't feel particularly Spirit-y. The art is great.












Dynamo 5 #12 - This one picks up directly from #11 and it's all action, baby. It's a freightload of fistacuffs. There's a villain with a skull head here. That is always cool. On the last page we have an unexpected and nicely bizarre twist. I really like this comic.












Shadowpact #24 - Generally i think the "legacy" thing is played out, but sometimes it works, like this issue and JSA. But i could be prejudiced b/c these other Shadowpacts look really cool. There's a 19th century pugilist, complete with twirly mustache, and some dudes who look like they 'ported over from Marvel 2099. Phil Winslade is awesome. The Sun King is a great idea for a villain. He's come off consistently creepy throughout the series. He could work in a D&D campaign. Blue Devil's "brother" looks totally sickass without his scarf-deal. Another good issue.

Week of April 9th Short Reviews

Wonder Woman #19

Pretty durn good. I'm not familiar with this Bernard Chang, but he's really good. I like how he gets more crosshatchy on the Green Lantern in this issue; tells me this guy is more ragged than your average big-eyed blue alien. Not sure about Wonder Woman's decision at the end re: the Khund princess; a lot of potential bad there. And if i read this right, it's now kinda WW's job to pacify the Khunds?







Green Lantern Corps #23

I said this one was on the bubble for me, and this issue keeps it on my list at least another month. Mongul's monologues are boring, but his machinations are interesting. The assembling of the "team" took a bit too long. Did the Guy Gardner gag need a whole page? I love Stel. There is something about a partially disassembled, sentient, 1950s-looking robot that appeals directly to the little fanboy in me. Nice MST3K reference, too. I like all the characters on this mission. These are the folks i want to see in this book, and the types of adventures. (Kyle Raynor i could take or leave.) Gleason's art is great as always. I like his alien people & tech designs.

Justice Society of America #14

This was superhero slugfest goodness. It was deftly done. It's a simple, classic way to structure a superbrawl: hey reader, here's all these characters you like, here's a bit of interaction to remind you why you like them so much. wait, what's that? oh shit, some big dude's beating them up! they have to rally against this big guy, and several of the good guys get their individual bad-ass moments. Good stuff. My only real criticism is that they spent four pages explaining that Gog ain't the same guy blowing hearts out of folks in Countdown & Pissing on Jack Kirby's Legacy, i mean, Death of the New Gods. saying "that's the only way to kill a god" was a neat and effective way of explaining the coincidence.


This was a DC-heavy week for me; three DCs, one DC imprint, and an Image.

Week of April 9th Short Reviews

Number of the Beast #1
Usually i'm not one for comics by WildStorm, or comics with Biblical allusions in their titles (especially allusions from Revelations), but all the previews of Chris Sprouse's character designs on newsarama hooked me. Sprouse is awesome.

The story begins at some sort of high-tech gov'mint facility, where a couple of schlubs are wheeling in a vat filled with red stuff. On their sleeves is modified American flag, with a "666" design where the stars ought to be. So right off the bat we know this series will feature Irony and at least oblique Political Commentary. (Personally, i think the altered flag should be an image of a donkey and an elephant, surrounded by bags of money and making out while pissing on the Constitution.)

It turns out this red stuff is actually the remains of a superhero, and the poor bastard is still alive. He's somehow connected to a sort of alternate reality, wherein sits a city, wherein dwell several superheroes.

Presumably all the characters in this artificial world are in virtual representations of people held in the high-tech gov'mint facility from page one. Everyone seems to believe that they are living in the real world, although some cracks are starting to show. The bad guys recur a bit too often, the normal citizens don't elicit real empathy, etc. Still, the only guy who seems truly to suspect that something is fundamentally wrong is a feller called Eidolon (that's Greek for ghost or phantom, with more specific meaning in Theosophy).

This world is called "The City" (if there's another name for it, i missed it). Yup, just like the Tick's hangout. And like the Tick's City, it also has a diner where superheroes hang out. It's a mythical 1950s/early 1960s type of setting. You know, the 1950s that's the subject of parodies and paeans in art, but never existed in reality. It's actually treated kind of neutrally here, it's just a sort of generically idyllic Americana place to keep these heroes virtually busy.

We don't know why these people are being put through this exercise. But since the guys who run the place use "666" as part of their logo, we know it's nefarious.

Our heroes here are the Paladins, a large team of (mostly) veteran superfolk. They all have a retro look and feel (which of course will be contrasted with the modern world before series end). We've got Engine Joe, who's either a cyborg or a guy in armor (he sleeps in his armor); the Trush and Falconette, classic winged adventurers; rocket guy Aeronaut, metal-skinned Black Anvil, etc. They fight such threats as the Saucerlings From Saturn's Moons (who are awesome, btw).

In one sense this is similar to Project Superpowers, where we have a lot of characters who fit various superhero types, and the thrust of the series is what's happening in and to their world more than the heroes themselves. It's the kind of thing you do if you want to write another Kingdom Come or Marvels, but you can't get access to the big marquee characters.

I'm not marked out for this, but it was fun, and i dig these characters. The designs of course are great, as is the art in general. The story is well structured (no mean feat in the 22-page format) and proceeds quickly while still giving us constructive character moments. According to the blurb on the last page, the next issue is only two weeks away, which is a big plus. I'm definitely intrigued enough to pick up the next issue. I wonder if there is a future for any of these characters beyond this series?

I don't normally do negative reviews, but i had high hopes for this one. My problems with this one are philosophical, really. The skill and craft of the people involved are not in question. They're good.

Aqua Leung
volume one
by Mark Smith and Paul Maybury
published by Image Comics


For this one i've got mixed feelings. It's an imaginative world. I read it straight through without setting it down once, so it drew me in. There are definitely some cool moments. I like the one arrow in the middle of a white page to signify the start of one huge battle. The art--brushwork and colors--are quite good.

What i didn't like was the sense of destiny. I really don't like destiny. It's very unheroic. Aqua, the titular character here, doesn't make any decisions. He's essentially kidnapped and taken to Atlantis, then trained against his will to fulfill a prophecy he knows nothing about. At some point he gives in and goes along with it. He never chooses anything for himself. What's his motivation? Why should i root for this guy?

The narrative is told to us by the Millennium Turtle. But first he needs to introduce himself, and tell us that he knows everything that ever has happened and everything that ever will happen, and nothing can change what will happen. So the dramatic tension is cut out from under us before the story even gets started. Everything is going to work out the way it's supposed to, b/c it has to happen that way. Again, that is entirely unheroic. What's heroic about being a cog in some cosmic machine? If that's how this universe works, then tell me about who/whatever wrote Fate, because they're the only real person in the story.

Apparently Aqua is going to get a series of mentors to help him prepare for each of his successive conquests. So he won't even be learning his own lessons, he'll have them handed to him. Now he's even less heroic.

And we aren't even told why it's a good thing that Aqua will conquer and "unite" all the kingdoms of the sea (that's the prophecy). Are they all ruled by bad guys, but he's gonna be a good guy? We might assume this, but he's told that his growing power will corrupt him (and since we know we're in a deterministic universe here, there's no reason not to believe it). So he'll be a corrupt ruler of all he surveys. Why should i root for that?

One last peeve. Aqua, though scion of Atlantis, is sent, Moses-style, to live in another land (ours), and raised by a kindly couple named Leung. They get killed early on and forgotten about. Later, Aqua kneels at the tomb of his Atlantean father, and says how much he misses him and wishes he had been able to know him. You see, that's his "real" dad, not the guy who raised him. That's malarkey. The one who raises you is your real parent. The other one is just a genetic contributor. Oh wait, this is all about destiny, so i guess that includes genetic destiny. So love and caring aren't important, it's all in the legacy. Gotcha. (We don't see his genetic mom's tomb, so i guess the moms don't matter when you're a predestined conqueror.)

Another Great Comic by Sfar

Klezmer
by Joann Sfar
published by :01 First Second

These characters--all itinerant musicians--live in a world that is openly hostile to them, yet also offers opportunities and a vagabond type of freedom. It's set in Eastern Europe in the nineteenth (?) century. Our lead characters are four Jews and one Gypsy. Both of those peoples were numerous and well established in the region, but definitely oppressed minorities.

There's something about the tragic religiosity of some Jewish traditions that really appeals to me. It doesn't avoid or whitewash the ugliness of life, nor does it wallow in it and thereby miss the beauty. It is deeply confident because it allows for so much doubt. There's something comforting about the idea that, when your faith is tested, you can say "this makes no sense, and pisses me off, but i still believe." It's more honest than pretending that we always understand everything and don't worry that things won't work out.

Sfar says in the essay at the end of the book that he purposefully made all of the characters un-religious. One of the two main protagonists, Yaacov, claims he's actually rejected God, though i wonder how sincere he is in that. Sfar does this to explore what it is to be Jewish apart from the religious practices. (Read the essay to get his take on this.) But i think it can apply in part to any faith: what is the essence of living life in light of deeply held beliefs? How much is dogma and how much is experience? Anyway, it seems like there's something "deep" here, or maybe i'm just taken in by the mystery of it. I am a sucker for paradoxes.

Sfar's drawing style is looser here than in anything else i've read by him. There are some elements that would be indecipherable without context. Those are rare, though. The watercolors add loads of mood, and give great impressions of light. It's not my favorite of his styles, but i enjoyed it.

Have i mentioned that Joann Sfar is the best comics discovery i've made in years? It's like when i found Paul Pope's THB at that store in Springdale: a whole new world of something different and inventive that clicks with me. That's the fangasm for me.

I guess i'll read The Rabbi's Cat next, and after that more Dungeon, which Sfar does with Lewis Trondheim.

Splinter of the Mind's Eye
by Alan Dean Foster

I wonder why i didn't read this as a kid? I remember seeing this and the Han Solo books, but didn't read them.

The copy i have says "copyright 1978 by The Star Wars Corporation." That puts it right after "Star Wars". So it's a more raw interpretation, without the further refinements of the later movies and novels.

Luke is a lot smarter here than he is in the movies. At times i wondered if this story wasn't intended for Han Solo at some point in its development. He not only seems more streetwise than his character on screen, but more than any farmboy ought to be. There's a scene in which Luke and Leia are trying to pass for manual laborers, and Luke knows exactly what parts of the Princess' demeanor to criticize. Sure growing up on a farm would give him appropriate mannerisms for such a task (speaking broadly), but it wouldn't make him conscious of those mannerisms, or teach him how to teach those mannerisms to someone else. (This is not a criticism of the book, just an observation.)

This resonates with the pulp sci-fi (space opera, planetary romance, etc.) that inspired the movies. That is very much a strength, IMO. That's where Star Wars gets the bulk of its appeal. That's where the fun and excitement come from. We could use more of that, done with honesty and joy.

On my goodreads pages, i put the Star Wars novels on my "fantasy" shelf b/c i think they're closer to heroic fantasy than science fiction, b/c there's loads of heroic fantasy stuff going on, and practically no science. Maybe instead i should make a shelf for things that use the trappings of sci-fi to tell fantastic stories? The Barsoom books would go there, too (big influence on SW)

The Things That Are Not There
a novel by C. J. Henderson

I bought this from the author at Stellarcon, in High Point. It combines hardboiled fiction with a horror mythology much like the Cthulhu mythos.

What i liked: The lead character, Theodore London, his sidekick Paul, and his weapons supplier, Pa'cha. I might like reading another story with those guys. Also, Lai Wan was cool. I think she was in a comic from Moonstone?

What i didn't like: I wanted a lot more atmosphere and sense of place. I wasn't sure at first if this story was taking ...more I bought this from the author at Stellarcon, in High Point. It combines hardboiled fiction with a horror mythology much like the Cthulhu mythos.

What i liked: The lead character, Theodore London, his sidekick Paul, and his weapons supplier, Pa'cha. I might like reading another story with those guys. Also, Lai Wan was cool. I think she was in a comic from Moonstone?

What i didn't like: I wanted a lot more atmosphere and sense of place. I wasn't sure at first if this story was taking place in the past or the present. Since both hardboiled and Lovecraftian stories often take place in the 20s/30s, that was the setting i assumed. It becomes clear, however, that the setting is actually the present day. (The weapons and the whole foods restaurant clinched it.) The lovecraftian elements made me expect more mood.

Give this one a try if you're a fan of fantastic horror or modern private detective tales.

Quick Reviews

Justice Society of America #13
I've got mixed feeling on the series right now. I don't like that it's focused on the KC Superman instead of the JSA, and this issue we have elements that tie into some of DC's meta-arcs, which takes even more time away from the titular characters. So i'm not happy with that. At least the current story is starting to move now. It's not bad, it's just not focused on the characters for which i buy the book. I'm just holding out until this story is over. If the next arc isn't about the JSA, i'll drop it.

Blue Beetle #24
AWESOME. This book is so very good. I can't say much about it without spoiling things, but there are more yahoo moments in this issue than in months and months worth of other comics.

Green Lantern Corps #21
This comic feels very different since SCW. Before that, it felt like it had its own identity: it's own stories, characters, subplots, etc. A lot of that climaxed in SCW (and it was cool to watch things like Ranx work into that story). It now feels like GLC is an annex to [i]Green Lantern[/i]. The only thread left over is the gradual change of the Guardians, and the larger prophecy, which i reckon will culminate in the Black Lantern story. I'm not sure if i like this book anymore.

Project Superpowers #1
I'm intrigued by this series. It's more the exploration of these characters than the story at this point. What i really want out of it is a cool new set of superheroes (new to me anyway), more than another [i]Kingdom Come[/i]/[i]Marvels[/i] -style Epic of Grand Import. There's something very appealing about these Golden Age characters, though whether it's something inherent, or something i'm projecting onto them (thinking maybe they could be as iconic/cool as their more successful GA peers) i'm not sure. The Green Lama has developed further powers over the decades. I like his setting; it's very pulpish in the [i]Lost Horizons[/i] tradition. I guess this Dynamic Man guy was a Superman/Capt. Marvel type of guy in the original comics?

Fables #70
Niko Henrichon provides fantastic fill-in art. There's a lot of great dialog here, as well as smart, fun character moments as the fables at the Farm have to make a decision about their futures. Little Boy Blue and Rose Red have some strong moments, too but i can't talk about them without spoiling them.

Atomic Robo #5
This is the best new series of the past year. It is so much fun, so well done, with sharp writing and very cool, stylized art that perfectly fits the tone. I've loved every issue of this series. This issue features some dungeon delving, and as RPGers know, that always ends in a big fight. In this case, it's a fight with evil combat cyborgs. Highly recommended.

Shadowpact #22
Phil Winslade's art is amazing. It works very well in the fantasy milieu of this issue. Nightmaster's story takes an unexpected turn at the end, but with the knowledge that the series is ending soon, it feels like a proper way of winding things down. I'll miss this book, since it's been fun and featured some characters i really liked.

Perhapanauts Annual #1
There are a handful of "paranormal" comics out there right now that combine various creatures from cryptozoology and weird folklore. This is the one that clicks for me. It feels like a lot of planning and "preproduction" went into it. The characters have multiple dimensions, the setting is fairly deep, and you can hear the gears of a larger story grinding away in the background without distracting from the here and now. This time our team of investigators--MG, a man who can move between worlds; Choopie the chupacabra; Arisa the telepath, Molly the girl ghost, and Big the Buddhist bigfoot--take on the legendary Jersey Devil.

Miranda Mercury #295
This comic manages to be both rollicking and thoughtful, which is a neat trick in and of itself. This does everything a first issue should do (the numbering is kind of a gag). It introduces the lead, her immediate supporting cast/sidekick, the world in which she operates, and the tone of the series. It's also a fun read. Miranda is "the greatest adventurer in this or any other galaxy", who has made a career out of doing the impossible. This time out she's trying to solve the puzzle that will free the legendary hero Rebel Ronin. The story starts in media res on two levels: first, by pretending that this is the 295th issue of an ongoing series, and secondly by starting this issue's story in the middle of a huge fight between Miranda and a gang of thugs. The narrative begins on the cover, in fact. Peaks of the next covers imply that this will continue throughout the series. Recommended.

What the Hell Con 2008

Friday night and all day Saturday i spent at What The Hell Con '08, hosted by Guilford College's Yachting Club. As those names would suggest, it's a rather wacky con, which is all good.

I spent part of my time there volunteering at my LCS's table in the dealers' room. There was a dad and a couple of small kids who were fun to talk to. The kids were so psyched to recognize characters they'd seen on TV. It's always great to see kids get excited about something that you liked as a kid. I also got to play a game of HeroClix with a guy who's a real enthusiast for the game. That was fun. It had been a long time since i'd played HC.

On Friday night they showed "Night of the Living Dead" on a big screen in the auditorium. A friend and i remarked on how much that movie nailed the zombie genre. They got everything right, and it established so much of what had been developed in later zombie stories. It's not like the movie just set a mood or a few conventions that were later improved. It's more like all the zombie stuff that has come out since that movie has been variations and extensions on the themes it set forth.

Later that night i watched more movies (it had been a long work week) in the Bad Movie Room. "The Patriot" fit that bill too well.

Saturday i worked at the LCS's table and played that game of HeroClix. I also spent some more time in Artists' Alley. More artists had set up, and more friends were there. This is where i spent my con money. (It's ramen noodles for supper this week!) I got a deck of cards from The Devil's Panties artist Jennie Breeden. (Hopefully she'll be at StellarCon too so i can buy one of her comic collections, too.) We plan to use that in our Savage Worlds game. I also got a print from Kel McDonald, the force behind Sorcery 101. I got some other things, which i'll try to review in a reasonable amount of time.

We played a game of Monsters Menance America that afternoon. That's a fun game. The folks at the table next to us were playing Red Neck Life, and that sounded like a hoot. I really want to play that game! Saturday was fun because a lot of friends showed up and i got to talk to them and hang out. We had lunch at Jam's Deli across the street.

That night was the Geek Auction. It wasn't as wild as previous years, but was still rather outre. This is where geek guys auction off their first dance at the shindig that closes out Saturday night. The money goes to charity. The guys try to be funny or sexy, and the girls in the audience really egg them on. The biggest bids went to a guy who was dressed as a gothy/s&m-ish girl and two guys who did a yaoi Harry Potter/Malfoy act.

Unfortunately i had to work some on Sunday so i didn't go back that day. Maybe next year. It was a fun con.

The next con around here is StellarCon in March. It's less wacky, but there's a bigger crowd, more gaming, and some literary guests. That one should be fun, too.

Two Reviews
I'm kinda grumpy this morning.


Green Lantern Corps #20

Last issue was slow, but that was okay, because it was about how the Corps were recovering from the Sinestro War, and the character vignettes were effective. This issue is also slow, but it doesn't work. Guy and Kyle decide that they're moving to Oa for the foreseeable future. That's pretty much the whole issue. They talk about moving, they move, they make Salaak laugh. Oh, and at the end Mongul talks smack to his dead sister's grody corpse. This was a boring issue.

The Spirit #12

It's a good, complete story, with beautiful art as usual. The subject is kinda depressing, though. It's all about Sand Saref, Denny Colt's real true love, who, after childhood trauma, turned evil and so they can never be together. This is a bum deal for Ellen, Denny's fiance, b/c it puts her in an eternal second place in Denny's heart. Then there are all those femme fatales that the Spirit dallies with...Ellen, your devotion is misplaced. Still, it's a better fate than Batman's love interests. Bruce Wayne can't wink at a girl without her being murdered by one of Gotham's many psychos.

My Latest Trip to The Comic Shop

I hadn't been to the LCS for a while, so on Friday i picked up three weeks' worth of comics, including a few i hadn't planned on, so it was a lot.

Jonah Hex #27
I got this one because of the gorgeous art by Jordi Bernet and Rob Schwager, which was previewed online. I love the mix of line weights: fine for details, thicker shading and hatching, and chunky inks for deep shadows. It was big in the old Western comics, which of course had far simpler coloring techniques. It works very well with today's colors, too. The scene where this issue's "star man" (no relation to the guy with the cosmic rod) shows off his collection of badges demonstrates how well the techniques can compliment each other. It really looks like those badges are blindingly reflecting the sunlight.

The story was engaging, too. A young man is inspired to take vengeance on corrupt lawmen. I've been in a particularly anti-authoritarian mood lately, probably b/c of all the political news, and a stupid and inaccurate "what's your politics survey" i took that pegged me as slightly authoritarian. (No way!) Hex is kind of along for the ride in this story, but it works. If this issue is the norm for this series, i need to start picking it up.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer #10
The "season" arc is picking up a lot of steam now. We find out a bit of what Buffy and Willow were separately up to between the TV finale and this comic season, and it's scandalous, for different reasons.
The Buffyverse shows its lovecraftian side again as Buffy and Willow seek information from an elder horror demon thing. In the same sequence, another Buffian trope (one i like) returns, as the bad guy forces the good guys to face some uncomfortable truths. (The best instance of this from the TV show was when Spike told Buffy and Angel, in no uncertain terms, that they would never be friends.)

I'm running out of time for this, so i'll do this quickly now and go more in depth later.

Blue Beetle #22 - More cool stuff with the Peacemaker and Jaime's dad (separately); there's some stuff about an underground society that could be completely ridiculous (in a bad way, not the good way) if not for John Rogers' deft writing. Albuquerque's art has such personality; it gives the characters personality, too.

Metal Men #5 - This issue was easier to follow than previous issues. If i had it to do over again, i'd read this one in a collected version. I'm still digging on all the great design work, though.

Dynamo 5 #10 - Lots of good character stuff in this issue, and a little more about the cabal of villains who are plotting to take down D5. Great superteam stuff here.

Birds of Prey #112 - I dropped this series when Gail Simone left, but picked this one up b/c it focuses on Zinda, aka Lady Blackhawk, who is supercool. In this story she moxies and drinks her way across the US while being chased by a pair of super-assassins. Caps off to Tony Bedard (who's one of those writers i like, but isn't on projects that interest me at the moment) for finding just the right tone and characterization.

The End League #1 - Remender's columns on newsarama (i think that's where it is) intrigued me enough to try this one out. The character concepts he posted were especially cool. I'm not sold on this one. The ideas are interesting, but the story didn't really grab me. This one probably needs a real review.

Shadowpact #20 - This one also needs a full review...Blue Devil runs into an old ally while continuing to fight the legions of the homo magi. Ragman, Nightshade, and Nightmaster (they always just call him "Jim", so i always forget his not so good superhero name) trek across the shade dimension, and find out it's also a place with which Jim is familiar. (Yeah, that last sentence was bad...i'm trying to hint without spoiling.)

Jack of Fables #18 - Jack and company finally arrive in Americana, the land of American fables, and it's awesome. I didn't expect some of the stuff that's there, b/c it's more recent than what i tend to think of as fable material, but it's very cool.