Talking of The Twelve...

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I wouldn't say that my batteries are recharged, but I thought that I'd better give the old blog a bit of a stroke before it slinks off to die. So what to say? Well, I went to the Isle of Man for an interview for a job as Social Media Community Manager for a big poker website. Grand old job title, eh? Basically it involved looking after their presence on blogs, forums, Twitter, Facebook etc. I suppose I should be happy that I made the second round of interviews, sadly I just ended up gutted that I didn't go all the way and get the job. I've never mentioned it on here before, but I like a game of cards. Poker's actually a fairly easy game to become half competent at, and when you do it's entirely possible to make a small amount of money at it. People find that hard to believe, but it's true. Honestly, I could teach anyone to nick a few quid playing low stakes poker. For several years I paid for my comics habit by grinding out profit on a number of online cardrooms. The money I was making was roughly equivalent to what I could've earned working at McDonalds, but playing poker can be fun, whereas flipping burgers and spitting in milkshakes is, well, not. Anyway, I digress, having spent a large whack of the last ten years at the card table I was well up for the idea of working in the industry. It wasn't to be, and while I'm not about to top myself, I didn't feel much like writing anything about comics for a few days after failing to land the job. Sometimes it goes like that.

I'm over the blues now though, so it seems like a good time to resume the old spandex related blathering. Trouble is I haven't got much to say today. Of the stuff I've read lately I can heartily recommend The Twelve: Spearhead, a one-shot drawn and written by Chris Weston. We all know the sad story of The Twelve - great series that just stopped coming out four issues from the end. Well, this isn't issue #9, but it is a fantastic World War II superhero caper featuring all your favourites from The Twelve, plus some special guest stars. The story is a pleasing wee romp, but it's the art that makes this one worth a punt. Weston's one of the best in the biz and he's on fire here. After seeing him draw Nazis, secret bases and WWII tanks I can only say that, even if The Twelve never finishes up, this man needs to draw an Invaders book.

I'm buying this

It's costing me $200, and will be my last extravagant purchase for a long time, but I like this Chris Weston page from The Twelve a lot, so I'm buying it goddamn you!

This will bring my original art collection up to two. I already have a nice Sean Phillips page from Marvel Zombies hanging on my wall...

Shitty camera phone pic, but you get the idea.

Shopping List

No visit to London's magical West End last week as I only had one title on the old shopping list. My brain barely survived the disruption to its weekly routine of course, but I felt better about myself for not dropping a wad of cash. Still, one week without new comics is enough for any emotionally retarded man to bear, and I'm straining at the leash to lash the cash on some overpriced funny books. Here's what I'll be picking up this week...

The End League #5
Relentlessly depressing, deliberately derivative superhero team book by Rick Remender. The End League gets darker and more difficult to follow with every passing issue, but it's well written, cool stuff and I'm a big fan.

Action Comics #870
Geoff Johns' mission to clean up any discrepancies in DC continuity continues apace with part four of his Braniac story, and very well done it is too. He's successfully managed to build a new Braniac out of all the old versions of the character while still telling a rollicking good Superman yarn.

Final Crisis: Revelations #3
Oh dear which one is this again? I'm getting a bit confused by all the tie-ins that I swore I wasn't going to buy but in fact am. Ah yes, the Spectre threatening to kill the Question at some indeterminate point in the Final Crisis timeline, lots of quotes from the bible and some horrible art from Philip Tan. Still, I enjoyed the bit where Dr Light got turned into a candle and I'm now irreversibly locked into buying everything related to Final Crisis so...

Green Lantern #35
More house cleaning from Johns as he retells the origin of Green Lantern. This arc was obviously designed to be a bit of a filler while Hal Jordan gets on with all the Final Crisis stuff elsewhere, but it's turned out to be one of Johns' finest moments on the book. Lots of Sinestro, plenty of Hector Hammond and a plausible fusion of current events in the GL universe and the original Silver Age origin of the character.

Green Lantern Corps #39
How do you follow up the last story where a bunch of evil alien insectoid types dumped a truckload of eyeballs on the Green Lanterns for a laugh? Answer: You can't. What you can do is whet the appetites of your slavering audience for the upcoming Blackest Night story with an origin story for one of the multitude of new Lantern Corps. Yay!

Wonder Woman #25
Hmmm. I'm getting closer and closer to dropping this. The first few issues of Gail Simone's run were really strong, but the glory days of talking apes v techno Nazis on the beach are long gone and let's be honest, it's been downhill since then. Last chance to get good or it's off the list.

Avengers Invaders #5
Yeah, this is shit awful but I've bought four issues already so what are you gonna do? Ahh the mindset of the comic fan.

Invincible Iron Man #6
Eziekel Stane is the best NEW villain to hit the Marvel U for a long time and Invincible Iron Man is as good a reboot of a Marvel property as there's been in recent years. Can't say much more about this book than that. A gem.

Marvel Zombies III #1
Really? It's by Fred van Lente though, so it's might be OK.

The Twelve #8
Given that we're eight issues in and the Twelve still haven't done anything but moan about how shit modern life is, I should be hating this, but for some reason it works. Not only that, it's spawned a fine Big Dave F impression. Really, you should see his Mastermind Excello, it's uncanny.

Rockman vs The Pixies

My apologies imaginary web chums, I realise it's been a few days since I updated you on the contents of my nerd sack, but let me assure you, I haven't jacked this narcissistic blogfoolery in. No, no I've just been so busy with babies and work that I've hardly had time to look at any comics let alone write about them. Never fear though, in the words of Pearl Jam: "Hey, I, oh, Iiiiiii, I'm still alive!"

Word.

I actually missed new comics day this week, but did make it down to the West End on very little sleep for Friday. Picked up a stack of new stuff too, including the latest Hellblazer trade, (which has me all tingly with excitement), and monthly favourites Green Lantern, House of Mystery and Storming Paradise.

My absolute favourite book this week though has to be The Twelve 1/2. This one shot isn't the latest installment in the excellent Marvel series, but it does reprint several golden age rarities starring the cast of The Twelve. And very fine stories they are too, particularly the Rockman v Pixies effort from 1942, which is written by none other than Stan Lee and features a fight which ends with Rockman administering some old school punishment...

Mwahahaha! God Bless you young Stan Lee!

Webwise I've added Ande Parks' blog to my list of Inter-stops. Recommended on the 11 o'clock comics podcast, Parks' blog is a daily look at original art in the author's own collection. The scans of the art are worth visiting for alone, but Parks' commentary is what makes the site a must see. Brilliant stuff, check it out HERE

I also looked in on the new Phonogram site after picking up a natty flyer for December's Phonogram: The Singles Club. Nice to see some new Jamie McKelvie art, and I like that Gillen and McKelvie are promoting the new comic with club style flyers...

Click to enlarge

Can't wait for it. The website is HERE

A couple of things from The Twelve #5

If you're going to get hit by a bus...

...you might as well make it a Marvel bus

This...

...is The Blue Blade's best fuck face.

Seriously, I think Chris Weston is doing a great job on pencils, but that my friends is the face of a man being sucked off.