Been drinking

So you get this...

Dennis, come back with my apple pie!

LOL!

PS Musical instruments were really fucking expensive back then eh? That's like 80 grand for a set of drums in today's money.

Shopping List

I'm still feeling bad for knocking Asterios Polyp yesterday. I mean, who the fuck am I to have a pop? Just some spawny fat tosser who hasn't got an ounce of the talent that David Mazzuchelli possesses. Sorry Mazzer. Really I am.

Anyway, on to this week's shopping list...

What have we got? Rare issue of Fear Agent, the last before it goes on "hiatus" I believe. Sad really, I've grooved on all Rick Remender's indie books (Crawlspace, Fear Agent, Gigantic, End League) but have no real interest in picking up a bunch of new Marvel titles just to follow his work. I understand that the man needs to make a living, but his is too inspired a mind to be tied to The Punisher. Ach well.

Marvel Zombies IV wraps up. Not as good as the third installment, but Fred Van Lente still makes me chuckle. I have to think that he's wrung all that he can out of the zombie thing now. As much as I've enjoyed the whole Marvel Zombies trip, it's got to the point where even I'm going to skip Marvel Zombies V (if there is one).

Fallen behind on the whole World of Krypton thing again, not sure I can be arsed to catch up either. This week's Superman takes us up to part 36 or something, and it won't even have Superman in it. A Superman comic without Superman? I ask you.

Similarly behind on both Northlanders and the Final Crisis Aftermath titles, but continue to buy them in anticipation of that far away tomorrow when I can commit an entire uninterrupted weekend to reading. Loser.

Complete Dracula #2 from Dynamite is another Leah Moore and John Reppion collaboration. As with their other Dynamite book, Sherlock Holmes, it's a surprisingly good comic. I remember picking up Moore's Animal Girl a few years ago and thinking that it was a bit pony to be honest, but her and the hubby are really knocking out some good comics now. If you aren't reading them already, I do recommend picking up both the Holmes and Dracula books when they're traded. Both nice, well-paced period pieces with some decent art.

Tales from The Corps continues to scratch my alien itch (urggh). Blackest Night is all very silly I know, but I'm enjoying it thus far. I'll probably make it my last big event in single issue format before switching to trades. Seems like a decent one to go out on.

There you go, I'll also be picking up Darwyn Cooke's Parker from Gosh (with or without bookplate)! receiving the last couple of 100 Bullets trades in the post and vol 1 of The Creepy Archives, a collection which I'd been determined to avoid, given that it's fucking expensive and is going to run to about 40 volumes, but which I cracked on after reading that Alex Toth reprint in the Creepy reboot.

Gaaah, Curse you comics!

more quick reviews

Amazing Spidey #600

Strong start, but that big Spidey story is too long. Nice art and all, but there's a bit of padding going on in there. As for the rest of the stuff - still haven't read it all, but the Stan Lee story is rubbish and a complete waste of Marcos Martin's considerable talents. Soz, but it is. I've taken this issue as a jumping off point.

Asterios Polyp

I realise that a lot of people are pronouncing this one of the finest works of comics genius ever produced, but David Mazzuchelli's graphic novel is a bit poncy for me. Yeah, he's doing lovely things with the medium, It's all very clever, looks absolutely stunning, makes fantastic use of white space etc etc etc, but the story didn't grab me and I didn't understand all the gubbins about philosophy and art.

I prefer Red Hulk.

Yes, I'm a fucking philistine. Please accept my apologies.

Creepy #1

I didn't dislike this reboot of the old horror mag, but it didn't blow me away. The best thing about it was the reprint of the old Toth story. I'll probably be back for more, and it's considerably better than PaperCutz's godawful reboot of Tales From The Crypt.

Christ, that was all a bit negative wasn't it?

Great moments in comic blog comments history

Over on Warren Ellis' blog, Ellis announces some details of a movie script he's been working on...

"On my desk, the treatment is called Untitled Arthurian Project.On their desk (the people in Hollywood) the project is called EXCALIBUR".

Exciting news that prompts one chap to write the following in the comments section...

"sounds really cool. What is the plot?"

Genius

Very short reviews...

So yeah, I was going to write some sort of review of the first two Red Hulk trades wasn't I? No time, no time. Soz. Maybe Tuesday. Put it in your diaries...Tuesday: avoid reading Sutton's bilge on Hulk book that no-one else likes.

Briefly then...

Green Lantern #44: Martian Manhunter comes back from dead. Has fight with Flash and Green Lantern. John Stewart experiences enjoyable "Oh fuck" moment. Terrific fun.

Captain Britain #15: Last issue of cancelled series. Wraps up Dracula story. Features Space SAS who would've been a lot cooler if they didn't look so much like Buzz Lightyear...

Blackest Night Tales of The Corps #2: Throwback to the '80s GL Corps Annuals which Geoff Johns plundered for his run on GL. Nice short stories about aliens, and a bonus hokey explanation of all the various lantern colours and their symbols by Ethan van Bonkers.

Amazing Spidey #600: Read the first few pages before falling asleep. Rest of the comic could be utter pony for all I know, but as a spin on what it means to be a super-villain, this little four pager on Doc Oc is brilliant.

Captain America #601: After some humming and hawing with Mr Salmond, I eventually settled on the black and white variant of this Gene Colan pencilled special. Listen, some of the art is a bit ropey, but equally some of it is utterly glorious. Given the fact that Colan is a half-blind octogenarian, this rates as an absolute triumph.

Watched...The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters: Super documentary film about man-boys and their obsession with old school arcade games. If you haven't seen this, then go grab yourself a torrent, it's a rich study of emotional retardation and the near autistic world of competitive retro gaming. STEVE WIEBE FTW!

KIMOTA!

Blimey!

And so it begins

I suppose we shouldn't get too excited, because as of yet there has been no talk on reprinting the classic Moore/Gaiman stuff. But this is a definite step in the right direction.

Imagine the omnibus.

Mr Wheatley presents...

My good chum Mr Wheatley writes to remind me that some years ago he did his own riff on that 2000AD splash of the Volgs blowing up The Post Office Tower. Here tis...

YOU CLICK! MAKE BIG!