This and that

As some of the more grizzled old hacks in my office say when they fancy a trip to the pub: "Much to discuss!"

So where to begin? Well, how about we take a look at what Mr Robert Kirkman has to say about the current state of the ultimate universe...

"I feel compelled to admit that I'm really enjoying ULTIMATE HUMAN. It's a series by Warren Ellis, Cary Nord and Dave Stewart. The art is superb and for a book that's really only about Iron Man and Hulk fighting--and done only to play off the two movies being released this year--it's really just written superbly. The characters are so well defined and well acted it's just a joy to watch Tony Stark and Bruce Banner react. I can only hope that after Jeph Loeb is done with THE ULTIMATES, Warren Ellis is given a shot on the book... he really does get the characters and the tone of the book. I recommend it to anyone who's not thrilled with Ultimates 3"

Now you may think it's pretty rich of Kirkman to be taking a swipe (all be it a veiled one) at Loeb's Ultimates when his own tenure on Ultimate X-Men has been such a let down, but he's right about Warren Ellis getting the tone of the Ultimates. I said so HERE!

If you want to read more of Kirkman's thoughts on comics and pop culture then I suggest you subscribe to his KIRKSPAM mailing list HERE

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Talking of Warren Ellis, the third part of his webcomic FREAKANGELS has just gone up. It's been interesting so far. Nice art and subdued colours from Paul Duffield too. I like the little rainbow in the water coming out of the hosepipe in this panel...

Very pretty.

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Finally got round to reading Crawl Space XXX Zombies #3 and errrm well, shit, I don't want to sound like Mary Whitehouse or anything but it was all rather nasty.

Zombie porn stars biting off cocks I can take, but splash pages of zombie nurses eating newborn babies!?! Whoa there! That's a step too far for my tastes, and one that felt out of place with the humour which ran so strongly through the first couple of issues.

Shame really as up until that point I'd been enjoying Crawl Space a lot. I won't be dropping it (hey I'm not that much of a prude) but I really hope we don't see any more baby munching in issue #4.

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I was tempted to give Kick-Ass a miss, but the lure of a new Mark Millar/John Romita JR. book sitting on the comic shop shelf was just to great to resist. And, you know, it's not half bad. As with most of Millar's work we're on familiar ground: the cult of instant celebrity, alienation, violence, sexual frustration etc etc. We've seen it all before in The Chosen, Wanted and The Ultimates.

As such, reading Kick-Ass you feel that Millar isn't really extending himself here. But, you know he still knows how to write a funny superhero comic even if he is basically writing the same one over and over again.

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Sad news re Checkmate; Marvel bound Greg Rucka is leaving as of issue #25.

I think it's safe to say that the book will be canceled soon after. Sales on the title are poor and DC were probably only keeping it going because binning it would have pissed Rucka off BIG TIME.

Whatever, I'd be shocked if it makes issue 40 now that Rucka's going, which is a bummer as it's one of the best books on the stand.

Boo-hoo.

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I've just realised, I've been writing this bollocks for over a year now. Ha Ha. I never thought I'd manage that when I sat down and spewed out a pissed rant about Ultimate X-Men.

I'm not sure why I'm still doing it given that the only people who seem to read it are blokes who accidentally stumble on THIS and THIS while googling for spandex based wank sites and huge cock comics.

Oh well, happy birthday to my blog!