Sickening...

...yes sickening! Sometimes I appall myself. How can a man of 35, with a young family to support possibly consider it right and proper to spend £43.73 on comics?

Seriously, I'm not Paul Gambaccini or Jonathan Ross, I can't justify spending extortionate amounts of dosh on comics every week. Heaven knows I'm rapidly running out of space to store the bloody things. And yet, when I go into Forbidden Planet and see DC Showcase: Wonder Woman volume 1 on "special offer" for a mere £8.99, well let's face it I'm going to buy it. After all, that's a bra-busting 527 pages of black and white Amazonian action, and what red blooded dork can say no to that kind of offer? Not me pal.

Similarly when I see volume 7 of The Walking Dead, I have to buy it. I can't possibly wait on Amazon to deliver me this one, it's going to get read tomorrow and that's that. Walking Dead = best horror comic nay best comic out there. Thankyou Mr spotty goth cashier here's my £8.50.

While we're at it have another £2.99 for 2000AD Extreme, because there is absolutely no fucking way I'm missing out on a magazine that collects the entire run of Mean Team, a future sport spectacular whose roster of characters includes a psychic panther drawn by none other than the mighty Belardinelli. Honestly it's awesome and I would have melted into a pool of man fat had I not come home with this in my grubby little nerd sack.

I probably didn't need to bother with Back Issue #24 or Alter Ego #72 after all they set me back £9.25 for the pair. Really, £9.25 for two magazines? Yes, really, £9.25 to read some fanboy pour his heart out about Amethyst Princess of Gemworld and Captain Carrot. Christ buying that shit officially makes me ill.

No matter, I will make myself better with a fine pile of floppies! Top of the stack and first on the read list is obviously Green Lantern Corps #16 or to give it it's proper title The Sinestro Corps War part 7. It's the best multi-part extravaganza I've read in years, or at least the one which features the most aliens beating shit out of each other in space. I love it, and as soon as I'm finished here I'm going to sit down and read the latest episode.

After that I'll move on to the second of the one shot tie-ins to the series: Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Cyborg Superman. Obviously I realise that the mere sight of me reading a comic with the words Cyborg Superman on the cover is likely to make my girlfriend realise she is living with a deeply unattractive social misfit, but that's a risk I'll just have to take.

Perhaps she will look more fondly on me for reading Action Comics #856: Escape from Bizarro World part two. After all there's nothing childish about reading a comic co-written by the man who directed the Superman films and drawn by adult favourite Eric Powell. Very grown up.

As is Midnighter #12, a comic which features a gay super-hero. Oh yes, nothing frivolous about spending £2 on that, especially when you read it in conjunction with Detective Comics #837.

Mercifully this issue of 'tec sees the return of Paul Dini to writing duties. I can't remember the name of the guy who wrote the last two issues, but after the drivel on offer in #835, I've yet to be able to face #836 and might just leave it to go yellow and unread in the corner.

That's a fate that definitely won't befall either Lobster Johnson #2 or Modok's 11 #4, two titles which pack as much fun as is humanly possible into comic form. I'll be bagging those little beauties up and adding them to the hundreds of other expensive funnybooks which are slowly taking over all the much needed space in our flat.

Huzzah for comics!

Catching up

Greetings. I haven't seen a mouse in almost 24 hours and, as a result, I feel relaxed enough to bring you not one, but two week's worth of comic reviews. You lucky people.

Let's start with the worst stuff first: Thor #1. I was looking forward to this a lot. Sadly it was a let down. That's not to say that it was a terrible comic, just that it was OK, and when you're dealing with something as big as the relaunch of Thor, OK isn't good enough.

A comic about a Norse God turned superhero should be big on WOW! and low on pathos. I accept that the scene needs to be set for the new run, but it would've been nice to have a bit more action and a lot less of Donald Blake chatting to the landlady of a desert motel about nothing. I'll probably pick up issue two, but I'll need to see a major increase in hammer wielding shenanigans to stay on board for the long haul.

If you are going to do a superhero comic with a low violence quota, you better make sure it's heavy on ideas. Thor doesn't do that, but All Star Superman does.

Grant Morrison is an ideas man of course, and that makes him the perfect writer for a book which owes a lot to the whacked out world of silver age Supes. His vision is only part of the story though. The book wouldn't succeed half as well as it does were it not for the art.

I'm not just talking about Frank Quitely's drawing either. It's Jamie Grant's colours that really make the book sing. From the blood red skies of Bizarro world to the greeny grey skins of the Bizarros themselves, every panel of this book has been coloured to perfection. It looks like a multi-million dollar cartoon and is truly different to anything else in mainstream comics. Take it from me, this comic is a real pleasure.

As is Green Lantern #21, a book which I mentioned earlier this week because of the fact that it referenced a 1980's Alan Moore story. Stuff like that is automatically going to get me onside, but the truth is I would have enjoyed this even without the 80's fan boy moment.

I'm as tired of event driven crossover comics as the next nerd, but this Sinestro Corps storyline seems to be a big excuse for lots of cool looking aliens to fight each other to the death in space, and if you can't enjoy that then superhero comics really aren't for you.

This issue wasn't as good as the King size Sinestro Corps special which kicked the whole thing off (not enough of Sinestro himself and I miss the Ethan Van Sciver art that made the special look so errr SPECIAL), but there were still enough big moments to get me exited about the next chapter.

I also enjoyed Detective Comics #834, (although not quite as much as the first part of this two-parter which featured a nice little surprise ending), and Outsiders #49 which wraps up the recent crossover with Checkmate.

Checkout (see what they did there?) was an exciting story which I hope will see a few Outsiders readers coming on board Checkmate fulltime.

Best thing about the crossover? The sadistic Doctor Chang, a cyber Humpty Dumpty who feels a bit like a DC version of MODOK.

Look forward to seeing him again. We need more malevolent eggs in comics...

Mwahahahahahaha!

Other than the DC stuff, I've been enjoying Robert Kirkman's work for Image comics this week. The good folk at Amazon were kind enough to ship me out the latest Invincible trade: My Favourite Martian, and I was delighted to see that issue #2 of The Astounding Wolf-Man had also hit the shops.

Invincible is as slick and well paced as the previous seven volumes in the series. Still poking gentle fun at the superhero genre and all it's cliches while revelling in the things that make American comics such fun to read when they're done well.

I'm pleased to say that Astounding Wolf-Man looks like it will be similarly enjoyable. There's a nice little twist at the end of the latest issue and a natty little cameo from one of the minor characters from Invincible which was a nice touch.

Given that another of Kirkman's creations Brit also pops up in the Invincible trade, it's becoming clear that he's building his own Universe over at Image. That's just as well, because (with the exception of The Irredeemable Ant-Man) he's more comfortable when he's working outside the confines of the Marvel U.

While Marvel aren't going to let him invent a raft of new characters, I can't help feeling that Kirkman is wasted trotting out Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Team-Up stories which don't allow him the freedom which is so evident in his creator owned Image books. He clearly isn't going to be leaving Marvel anytime soon, but long term I think we'll continue to see his best work in his own comics.

Elsewhere this week I enjoyed Midnighter #9, the last of an impressive series of fill-in issues penned and pencilled by some of the industries top creators before Keith Giffen and Chris Sprouse take over permanently next month.

I thought that maybe Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti didn't quite capture The Midnighter's voice as well as some of their predecessors on the title, but they still managed to produce a decent short story.

Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #3 was excellent, Omega Flight #4 is average and The Transformations of Jimmy Olsen trade which I mentioned yesterday is AWESOME. I'm still reading it and I'm sure I'll post something else about it soon.

The Weekly Shop #14

It's weeks like this that tempt me to start downloading my comics illegally. I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there who think that buying seven comics and two trades doesn't really constitute a heavy week, but believe, me when you buy your comics in England that's an expensive little shop right there.

Never mind, you can't take it with you right? And gratifyingly enough there were NO duds on this week's list, making me feel slightly less guilty about bringing more stuff home to horde.

The best book of the week, Black Summer #0, only cost 65p anyway! Can't feel guilty about that. Alright the story is only eight pages long, but it features a superhero murdering the President. 65p to read about a superhero doing in George Bush. Bargain! And you get a nice little text piece thrown in at the end.

Given the subject matter you don't need me to tell you that this book is written by Warren Ellis. He's covering similar themes in Thunderbolts, but he obviously has to tone things down in a mainstream Marvel book. It's clear that this won't be the case with Black summer, you only have to look at the cover to see that...

Yup that's George Bush's body on the floor

I like this intro, it feels a lot like Ellis's early work on The Authority, a title that I loved when it first came out. My only concern, apart from some government employed spook assassinating the writer, is that this might end up being another heavily delayed book. I'm a big fan of Juan Jose Ryp's incredibly detailed artwork, but I'm guessing it 's going to take him a long time to produce the pages for this. I'll stick with it whatever the delays though because I admire Ellis for putting out politically relevant books like this.

Detective Comics #833 is an entirely different comic, but no less enjoyable. Paul Dini returns to writing duties this issue and produces another great Batman story. If you haven't already, give this issue a try. It's just a great Batman comic.

If you've read some of my previous bilge then you know I'm a big EC fan. That makes Rick Remender and Tony Moore's Fear Agent an easy pick for me. It' would be doing the book a disservice to call it a homage to Weird Science (The EC book not the 80's film) but Remender's love for that title is writ large over this tale of alien invaders.

I borrowed the first trade from the library and will get round to the second at some point. In the meantime the new mini-series Fear Agent The Last Goodbye which focuses on the back story behind the ongoing series is a great place to hop on and get a flavour of the story.

When I was picking up my week's stash, the chap behind the counter paused as he ticked off Irredeemable Ant-Man #9 and said: "Everyone is buying this". I can only hope he's right because this book is really starting to hit its stride and it would be a shame to see it cancelled now that Robert Kirkman's groundwork is starting to pay dividends.

Be it Invincible, Walking Dead or Ant-Man, Kirkman's stories all reward the patient reader. The first few months are spent carefully setting up a multitude of plotlines which gradually start to intertwine as the story gathers pace.

I remember starting the first trade of Invincible and thinking it was nothing special, and then Kirkman dropped the Viltrumite bomb and suddenly the book took off. It hasn't touched down since. Walking Dead was the same and there are signs that Ant-Man is just about to get a real head of steam on.

Having a disagreeable character as the lead is potentially problematic, (Eric O'Grady isn't a guy the reader can empathise with and he's certainly no hero), but these are exactly the reasons this book stands out from the crowd. Like Black Summer it's a fresh take on the superhero genre and all the more welcome for that.

Outsiders #48 and Omega Flight #3 both offer more standard superhero fare. Nothing wrong with that and I enjoyed them both in a forgettable sort of way. Not sure about Scott Kolins' art on the latest Omega Flight though, looks a bit hurried to me. And I'm still not convinced that Beta Ray Bill would struggle to beat the Wrecking crew...but I'm glad to see Alpha Flight back even if they are called Omega Flight.

It seems Garth Ennis has left Midnighter. Issue #8 is written by Christos Gage. Enjoyable story with some laughs along the way. Not as good or sick as Ennis, but still worth picking up - a tongue in cheek version of Detective comics (sort of).

The Weekly Shop #9

None of the shops I checked yesterday had Ninjas v Pirates. No matter, I still managed to pick up a shitload of other titles on Free Comic Book day including Gumby, who (while not quite as awesome as a ninja) does take on some pirates...

I'll be passing Gumby and the other kid friendly comics onto a pal with children. Hopefully they'll hook his nippers on comics, thereby allowing me to feel I've done my little bit to ensure the survival of the medium.

Orbital had the free comic book day titles prominently displayed, but I was disappointed to see that the other three West End comic shops (Forbidden Planet, Gosh and Comicana) weren't making a big deal of the event.

Forbidden Planet's lack of publicity was particularly galling. The shop was full of kids buying Doctor Who goodies, yet no-one was handing out free comics. In fact I had to go to the comic book counter and ask if they were participating in Free Comic Book Day at all.

They were, but NONE of the free stuff had been put on display and only those people who asked for free comics got them. How stupid. Think how many of those kids buying their Cyber helmets and remote controlled daleks could've been plugged into comics with just a little bit of proactivity.

Gosh also had a box behind the counter. To be fair to them they don't have the floorspace that FP have so their lack of a display was more understandable.

At least they had some of the official free comics which is more than can be said for Comicana who had just put together some bags of shitty old stuff, one of which was being given to every customer who bought something. I got some tatty 90's crap and a four year old copy of Wizard. Woo fucking hoo. That little lot would be enough to turn any kid off comics for life.

Anyway forget the kids, what about me? Well Comicana's crappy offering aside, I managed to get myself a sweeeeeet free stash of funny books.

Haven't made much headway with it yet, but did read Kirkman's Wolf-Man straight off the bat. It's a solid first issue with some dynamic looking art from Jason Howard who has penciled, inked and coloured the book. Looks a lot like Invincible and, in common with that book, I get the feeling that it might take a little while to get going. It has potential though.

As nice as the free stuff is, the kids will eventually have to learn that real comic goodness still costs money. Of the stuff I bought one book stands head and shoulders above the rest: Midnighter #7

Finding out that Garth Ennis wasn't writing this issue was a bit of a shock, but hey if you're going to get a fill-in writer I suppose there are shabbier choices out there than Brian K Vaughan.

Ably assisted by Darick Robertson, Vaughan has penned a high octane one off story which gives us a glimpse into the world of The Midnighter (a man who knows what's coming next) by running his latest adventure backwards.

What we get is a cross between Time's Arrow and Die Hard. It works well and rewards a rapid reread from back to front.

Love Robertson's cyber goons, he's clearly used some of the early Dave Gibbons art from 2000AD's Harlem Heroes as an inspiration...


As a Harlem Heroes nut I appreciated the nod.

Detective comics #832 also has a fill-in writer on duty this month.

The oddly named Royal McGraw might not have the reputation of Vaughan or indeed the man he's covering for, Paul Dini. But I enjoyed his Return of Doctor Phosphorus story in #825 and his latest outing, (which has Batman hunting down a killer who has targeted old school villains and Dini favourites The Terrible Trio), is a a tightly wrapped little story from a writer who I'd be happy to see getting more regular work.

Checkmate#13 was another great issue. I listened to Greg Rucka being interviewed by John Siuntres on the excellent Wordballoon podcast the other night, a show in which Rucka revealed he doesn't bother looking at the falling sales figures on Checkmate anymore for fear that they would depress him into giving up.

While the crossover with the Outsiders which begins this issue is hardly likely to bring many new readers on board, I prey that something changes, because I'd be gutted to lose this book from my monthly shop.

As I've said before though, the fact that Forbidden Planet had knocked £2 off the price of the first trade within a week of its release does not bode well for the future.

Its doubtful whether the market could sustain a regular monthly Omega Flight book either, but I'm sure we'll make it to the end of the current five part mini-series. Issue 2 came out this week and must rank as one of the most sound-effect laden comics of all time. That's not a bad thing, it gives the comic a nice knockabout feel. There's nothing heavy or adult about this book, it's just an enjoyable piece of B list Superhero fun and I like it a lot.

Which is more than can be said for the latest issue of Ultimate Fantastic Four. I'm still struggling to enjoy this book since Mark Millar finished with it.

While the latest three part arc started off promisingly enough, it fizzled out pretty quickly and I speed read this month's conclusion. I'll probably pick up the next arc to see what Carey and Kolins do with the Ultimate Silver Surfer, but I might be dropping this book soon after.

British comics purchased this week (other than that huge and unnecessary run of 80's Eagle I mentioned yesterday) were 2000AD #1535 and Judge Dredd megazine #258.

Was somewhat baffled by the second parts of the Blood of Satanus and Judge Anderson stories in the megazine, but enjoyed Robbie Morrison's Judge Dredd meets The Wire story "Streetfighting man".

I'm a bit scared of artist Henry Flint's take on Judge Dredd's chin though...

Come on, that's not a chin its a goitre

The best thing about the megazine is the inclusion of two Angel Gang stories, the second of which features Mean Machine headbutting a surprised triceratops...

what with this and another alien dinosaur packed episode of Detonator X in 2000AD, I've had my fill of man v dinosaur action for the week, which is just as well as I was SORELY tempted to lash more of my hard earned on this...


"On an unnamed, uncharted Pacific island, dinosaurs continued to thrive while World War II raged across the globe. It's there that members of the U.S. Military found themselves armed only with standard-issue weapons against the deadliest predators ever to roam the Earth"

It's only a matter of time before I cave in on this one folks, only a matter of time.

The Weekly Shop #5

Violence. There's a lot of it about. Especially in this week's comics.

Yes sir, we've got

Throat slitting

disembowelment (kung fu style)

cat fighting

good old fashioned punching

and of course...

What a week. A week that gave us Wolfskin #3 and Midnighter #6. Two comics, 1,000 gory deaths and a whole heap of fun.

Wolfskin is, I understand, over and done with. Warren Ellis only wrote the thing for a bet. He won and so did the handful of people who picked up these three nasty little comics. Not much to say really, apart from the fact that its Conan ramped up to the power of 10.

The lovely art by Juan Jose Ryp looks like something straight out of a 1980's Fighting Fantasy book and to British men of a certain age (such as my sad self) that can only be a good thing.

A mucky little gem.

Midnighter goes on though. Glenn Fabry takes over pencilling duties from Chris Sprouse this issue, but Garth Ennis hangs around to do the writing and produces something quite brilliant.

I don't want to spoil the issue by talking too much about the plot, but know this fan boys its got ninjas and kung fu and..and...if like me you have the DVD box set of The Water Margin and still go apeshit for Monkey then you are going to love this comic.

As they say on E-Bay: Speedy delivery, excellent packaging, will use again. A+++!

You know what? If I see a comic with Guy Ritchie's name on the cover I'm probably not going to buy it. Except I did. I bought it expecting it to be awful, but Guy Ritchie's Gamekeeper is really very good.

The fact that it has nothing to do with Guy Ritchie or his gamekeeper helps. There's some bullshit in the back about how the whole thing was his idea and how he looks closely at all the scripts, but clearly he's just been paid a shitload of money by Virgin to put his name to the thing. It's actually written by Andy Diggle and he knocks out a damn fine comic which plays out like an X-Box 360 shooter and is strong enough to make me want to pick up issue 2 when it comes out.

I didn't pick up the Alpha Flight Classic trade which came out this week. I don't need to because I own all the originals. It's not very cool to admit it, but Alpha Flight was my favourite Marvel title as a kid so obviously I'm going to be one of the first in the admittedly short queue for any new Alpha Flight comic even if it is called Omega Flight.

Enjoyed issue one a lot. Some nice art from Scott Kolins and a fantastic seven page fight between Sasquatch and the Wrecking Crew which continues next issue. I'll be there.

Ant-Man was excellent as per usual. More perving over girls in the shower from our erstwhile anti-hero and an overload of thought bubbles just to piss off everyone who's been moaning about their re-emergence in Bendis's Mighty Avengers.

Even with the aforementioned Mighty Avengers all over the front it's doubtful whether Ant Man is going to attract enough new readers to keep it going for much longer, but never mind I'm enjoying it while I can.

Other stuff I bought this week: Alter Ego #67, The Batman Detective trade by Paul Dini, Elk's Run trade and last but not least 2000AD which gave me something enjoyable to read on the loo.