The Weekly Shop #8

I feel very virtuous for resisting the temptation to buy any of those expensive trades that I mentioned yesterday. On the other hand it makes this week's shop quite difficult to talk about because I only bought two comics which I actually read today.

The ones in my shopping basket which will remain bagged and boarded for the moment are Justice #11 and The Nightly News #5.

I think most comic book fans fall into the trap that has me buying these titles: You pick up the first issue and like it, ditto #2. Then, either through the book being constantly delayed or lack of time on your part, you stop reading it, yet continue to buy the issues with the intention of reading the entire run at some later date.

I'm doing this with Justice, The Nightly News, The Astonishing X-Men and The Ultimates. I also did it with Seven Soldiers and The Eternals. Guess what they're still in the "read later" pile. Stoopid.

Really it would make a lot more financial sense to wait for the trades on all these titles, but once you get locked into the cycle of buying a comic you've started reading, it's hard to break free.

So uhm anyway where was I? Ah yes the two comics I did read.

First up: Amazons Attack #1.

I have no idea what's happening in 52 or Wonder Woman, so it's probably pointless me buying Amazons Attack which is intricately linked with both those comics and is itself going to cross over into various other DC books which I have no intention of reading.

Then again it's about Amazons attacking America and beating people up, so I stuck it in my bag.

As luck would have it, it's a very interesting little comic. A lot like an old B movie where the aliens doubled for Commies in fact. Yup you can't hide from it, those marauding Amazons are clearly stand-ins for Al-Quaeda.

Honestly.

They blow up landmarks

Decapitate men


and in one superb moment even chop off the head of Lincoln

(Click to supersize)

Yes they're women, but if you're in any doubt that this comic is really about America's Islamic bogeymen, take a sneak peak at the cover to issue #3...

I think you know what we're looking at here.


2000AD also goes for some metaphorical beat 'em up action with the start of a new weekly story Detonator X.


I've been looking forward to this one because its being drawn by Steve Yeowell.

His work on The Invisibles and Sebastian O goes down as some of my favourite art of recent years, and while Detonator X is a bit of a departure from the stuff he did in those books, he still produces some beautiful looking pages here.

The story, by Ian Edgington, is promising. Perhaps the anti global capitalist message is laid on a bit thick, but I can live with that. I'm all for global capitalist bashing in comics anyway, especially when it involves 100 ton robots fighting interstellar dinosaurs!

Looking forward to part two.

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Warning: non-comics related footnote approaching.

This flashed up on my screen the other day and struck me as being quite sinister...

Jesus, that sends shivers down my spine.