A brief and frankly not very well written review of a bad comic

Oh man I'm tired. Really, really fucking tired. It's not a state that makes for easy reading and consequently my "to read" pile is getting perilously close to ceiling height. Gaaah! Curse you real life, how dare you interfere with my comic habit!

I can just about stave off sleep long enough to concentrate on one comic a day at the moment, which makes it vital that I pick a good one. Imagine my pain then when I pulled DC's Last Will and Testament from the stack last night. Groan.

Allegedly a Final Crisis tie-in, this one shot follows several heroes as they contemplate their last night before earth is destroyed. It's a comic that reads like the first draft for a 1980s made for TV melodrama...only worse. In amidst the angst you get to follow Brion Markov as he tracks down Deathstroke and attempts to take revenge for the death of Tara (Terra) Markov back in the 80s.

It's a slow and tedious ride. BUT it does have several pages of fantastic Joe Kubert art that make me wish he was still drawing comics on a regular basis. He packs a lot of weary resignation into the faces of his characters and almost saves what is essentially a pretty bad comic. Almost.

So there you go, I'll try and pick a better comic off the pile tonight. For now I need to get shifting to work. I leave you with a nice link to near-miss heroes and villains.

For everyone who complains that Grant Morrison comics are too difficult to understand...

...go read this seven-year old's review of Batman RIP and hang your dumb heads in shame!

Cap date raped!

And with that I've just guaranteed my blog a heap of hits from some very sick Google searches.

Scan taken from Essential Captain America vol #1. Originally from Tales of Suspense #82

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

Watchmen memorabilia

Going through a cupboard full of my old junk, I found this...

I've no recollection of buying it, but I presume it was purchased at the time of Watchmen's original release. I wonder if I ever intended to sew it onto an item of clothing. Probably. However, by the time Watchmen came out I'd already experienced the dangerous derision that nerdy clothing can provoke, and this almost certainly led me to consign the patch to the box of old tat where it has resided to this day.

That FF incident was the first of two fashion based attacks which I can remember. The second came after I decided to write THE SMITHS in biro on the back of an old parka jacket. This provoked several Morrissey hating toughs into punching me in the back of the head while chanting "gay songs, gay songs" at the top of their voices.

Happy days.

I cannot suspend my disbelief that much

I can buy into the whole 9-year old girl as psychopathic superhero thing. And the fact that the main character has survived all the way to issue #4 despite sustaining a beating that should have killed him back in issue #1, doesn't bother me. BUT the latest issue of Kick-Ass goes too far...

Perrrlease, kids buying comics!?! Pffar. Get real Millar.

The Dark Side of the Triangle