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This is where the link would go, except there was a fire that's conked out Diamond Comics' website. Therefore, until wires are crossed, we can only speculate and imaginize what'll be hitting shelves this coming Wednesday.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 20 September 2004 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Here's hoping they finally ship BAD GNUS: THE VIC FLURO SKETCHBOOK this week.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 20 September 2004 17:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Here's what DC has posted for this week:
        » BATGIRL #56
        » CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #1
        » CATWOMAN #35
        » CHALAND ANTHOLOGY VOL. 1: FREDDY LOMBARD
        » ELRIC: THE MAKING OF A SORCERER #1
        » THE FLASH #214
        » H-E-R-0 #20
        » JLA VOL. 14: TRIAL BY FIRE
        » MANHUNTER #2
        » OUTSIDERS #16
        » PLASTIC MAN #10
        » ROBIN #130
        » SMALLVILLE #10
        » STARMAN: GRAND GUIGNOL
        » TEEN TITANS #16

― Huk-L, Monday, 20 September 2004 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

The Starman trade is supposed to be really good -- at least, the people I knew who were reading Starman when the "Grand Guignol" storyline was running liked it a lot. I've only read one or two issues of the series.

I still can't believe Outsiders is the only DC Universe title I read, and yet it is still true.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Geez, I just BOUGHT the newest Outsiders & Teen Titans last week! I'm thinking I might cut bait on them both (unless YOU can convince me otherwise) - there's an undercurrent of flippant snideness & a smattering of unnecessarily excessive violence in both books that's starting to chafe. Or maybe I'm getting old.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 20 September 2004 17:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Outsiders works for me mostly because it's the only DCU book I read, I think; it's like when the only X-book I read was Gambit, or when I dated Billy Baldwin: I'm aware of a larger world outside what I'm getting because of the book's brushes with it, so there's a greater sense of "something out there" than if it were just any old team book that didn't share continuity with anything. I kind of like that, and the way Winick is reusing old (albeit lame) Titans villains and the like, instead of creating new (and lame) villains named stuff like Thugghammer or Bloodreyne.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Bloodreyne's cruising for a copyright infringement suit...

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 20 September 2004 17:56 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a video game called something like that, isn't there? Damn. I should've gone with Bludhammer and Thugg Reyne.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 17:58 (twenty-one years ago)

But, Tep, do you get a sense that things are unnecessarily "real" & "gritty"? Like that stuff w/ the concubines, or the blood-n-spit splattered sluggofests? Or all the ruthless villain shenanigans? And all the CUSSING - my word! Or is this just the MO for modern spandex heroics and I'm conveniently forgetting this whenever I crack Outsiders open?

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I think a lot of the cussing in Outsiders is just there for the sake of itself. Otherwise, I like the book okay. I'm still buying it.

― Huk-L, Monday, 20 September 2004 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

See, I don't know what's normal for the DCU right now. It seems less violent than in the 90s, but it may be a matter of the type of violence, or I may be letting a few high-profile books spoil the 90s for me in that respect.

The it's-just-casual-sex relationship struck me both as "it's about time" and "this seems a little forced," but that might be unavoidable. I really dig Metamorpho Clone Twin Guy and Indigo, both separately and as a couple (not in a Ross-and-Rachel "oh God they must be together forever" sort of way -- I hope there's never a Wedding Special -- but just because they're funny and a more real-seeming couple than I'm used to seeing in superhero comics).

It's definitely not the Rescue Me of superhero comics, though. (Actually, a Rescue Me for comics -- where 90% of the action takes place off duty or on duty waiting for something to happen -- might be good. Bravo had a sitcom pilot writing contest recently, and if I had time I was going to write a pilot about superheroes where the catch was you never saw them in costume or using their powers.)

(Cussing is also fairly invisible to me, enough so that I'll say fuck and shit in the classroom without taking special notice of it.)

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

The live action Tick was sorta like that, except they were all usually in costume. But they were hardly ever adventuring on-screen. God I loved that show.

― Huk-L, Monday, 20 September 2004 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I dunno - I might have a bee in my bonnet re: this stuff, so I'll have to decompress, reboot & have a Diet Coke before I make any lasting, permanent descisions. I am curious about why the silly violence (cf. superfreaks banging the crap out of each other) in _Outsiders_ is buggin' me, while the more realistic violence in _Identity Crisis_ (cf. women getting abused & assailed) just slides off my back. I'll have to think on that.

OTM re: Metamorpho & Indigo, BTW.

If Bravo (or SOMEONE) could bring back The Tick & that short-lived pseudo-improv couples sitcom, I would make sweet love to the TV.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

But I totally agree with you about the casual sex thing. It makes perfect sense for Arsenal (formerly Speedy) to be a playa. Though it makes no sense for me to try to inconspicuously use the word "playa."

― Huk-L, Monday, 20 September 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, not like the Tick. My pitch would have brought that up: the difference between Tep's sitcom and The Tick would be the difference between Cheers and a sitcom about why bars are funny, if you see what I mean. I liked The Tick, but I could never write it.

I am curious about why the silly violence (cf. superfreaks banging the crap out of each other) in _Outsiders_ is buggin' me, while the more realistic violence in _Identity Crisis_ (cf. women getting abused & assailed) just slides off my back.

This makes sense to me, though -- well, as much as it can without reading IC. Cause I see Outsiders as at least more realistic than the violence of those strawman 90s comics, so we're making the same comparison, possibly, with Outsiders in the middle and you looking one way up the spectrum while I look the other.

On the commentary track to Scream, Wes Craven talks about how the ending (when the two guys are stabbing each other), in particular, got him a lot of shit from various people -- but that for him, it was a much more "moral" sort of violence than in Rambo, because a guy gets stabbed and immediately gets lightheaded and can't walk right. Violence with consequences beyond bloodshed.

I think there's something to that, although it might be too simply put: I wouldn't call the violence of Bugs Bunny "less moral" than the violence of Scarface, just because it doesn't show the consequences of that violence. (So it's not really a spectrum. But whatever.)

Anyway, point being, I can understand being bothered by violence of one kind and not by another; Outsiders just doesn't happen to bug me.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

That's one thing about the Outsiders...they get hurt.

― Huk-L, Monday, 20 September 2004 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

And nobody builds a Stark Industries Robofist to make up for having a broken arm! They just fight crime with a broken arm. Or take a break and fight crime later.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

There was a line in a recent Outsiders, I think it was the beginning of the arc that just ended, where it was suggested that Arsenal had been intimate with Huntress and Nightwing asks him if there's anyone he won't sleep with. Arsenal's reply was something along the lines of "You mean from the super-pool of scantily-clad women with Olympian bodies? No."

― Huk-L, Monday, 20 September 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I never bought "playboy Tony Stark" until he hit on the Wasp.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

That sounds like more of a non sequitur now that it's not in my head.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

(ew Billy Baldwin?)

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:22 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=922

Here's the shipping list. I'm looking forward to the final issue of Runaways, Ex Machina, Lucifer, Michael Avon Oeming's Six, and of course Astonishign X-Men.

I just read something the other night that was very blatantly making fun of "grim n' gritty", but I can't remember what it was now. Wanted #5, I think, or maybe Madrox (which I only flipped through in the store, but wish I'd bought).

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I just wanted to steal his video collection because I thought Flatliners was a true story.

Oh dude, Lucifer, Astonishing, Ultimate FF, and Uncle Scrooge. That's a good week.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, pretending to be bi in order to date someone in order to steal their videos of them having sex with other people, THAT's my sitcom pitch.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, Doom Patrol 2, Starman, Lucifer, Tom Strong, Astonishing = cool. No wait, I should stop getting Tom Strong because it hasn't been written by Alan Moore in months.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 20 September 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Not much for me this week, which leaves me cash to get the second DOOM PATROL trade. Huzzah!

I just wish they were releasing the other ones in as exeditious a manner.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there going to be a gap of ten years like for the Animal Man TPBs?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I was planning on waiting to buy the DP trades until Christmas, to read em all at once as my little break thing between books -- but I sold a story yesterday, it turns out, so am actually debating between whether to buy Doom Patrol or a suckling pig, and am probably the only one confronting that particular TS.

I'll admit it's also partly because I don't remember which of the original issues I still have (vs which ones the ex kept), and my back issues are difficult to get to.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I re-read the Morrison DP run recently and didn't enjoy it half as much as I used to. I was shaken to my very core by this as it was always near the top of my favourite comics EVAH lists. In fact on several occasions I found myself thinking the dread thought "this is just weirdness for weirdness sake, innit".

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know about British readers, but for Americans whose first real exposure to Morrison was through DP, I'd think some of the novelty would have worn off; it isn't that Morrison is unable to surprise anymore, but it's a different kind of surprise now. If you gave me Seaguy to read 15 years ago, I would have responded to it much differently.

What I'm expecting when I reread DP is to be more interested in the characters and weird little bits -- Danny the Street, etc -- than the plots, but I don't know if that matches how you felt or not.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 15:19 (twenty-one years ago)

It was more that with the element of surprise (!) gone I was expecting to enjoy Morrison's revelling in ideas and language more but somehow the stories seemed more forced than they used to and now I know more about his conceptual source materials the 'wires' were more visible somehow. Also I get the impression GM would be quite a bad poet.

I still loved a lot of it - the pacing, lots of the ideas, lots of the little scenes, the character stuff w/Cliff and Jane works better for me now than it did, back then I just wanted to get to the next beast with the head of a clock. And I'm really fond of the whole thing.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

The TomTep construct is OTM. I re-read "Crawling From the Wreckage" / "The Butterfly Collector" & his _Animal Man_, & it suffered from lots of the stuff the construct mentions (&, yeah, the tiny character bits are still sterling). Not that it'll keep me from ponying up for his entire _DP_ run, tho.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

[sigh] The Witching #4 is the only thing on the list for me. Please, don't make fun...

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 16:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you buying it for more than the covers? I haven't had much of a problem w/ the first two issues, but it's not really grabbing me (outside of the covers) (& have I mentioned the covers?) (they're sweeet).

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Straight up cut-n-pastery!

DC COMICS

JUL040581 CATWOMAN #35 $2.50 (Mr. Brubaker will be missed tons)
JUL040674 EX MACHINA #4 (MR) $2.95
JUL040699 LUCIFER #54 (MR) $2.50
JUL040640 PLASTIC MAN #10 $2.95 (GOTTA CATCH UP!)
JUL040676 SLEEPER SEASON TWO #4 (Of 12) (MR) $2.95
JUL040683 TOM STRONG #28 $2.95 (But I believe Mr. Brubaker is hopping over here for a spell...)
JUL040705 WITCHING #4 (MR) $2.95

IMAGE
JUN041372 SIX GN $5.95 (mmmmmaybe)

MARVEL
JUL041987 ASTONISHING X-MEN #5 $2.99
JUL042020 AVENGERS #502 (#87) $2.25
JUL041957 BLACK WIDOW #1 (Of 6) $2.99 (the Ninth Art column convinced me)
JUL042002 MYSTIQUE #19 $2.99
JUL041994 NIGHTCRAWLER #1 $2.99 (my love of Darick Robertson is warring with my love of spending cash)
JUN041621 RUNAWAYS #18 $2.99
JUL041985 ULTIMATE ELEKTRA #2 (Of 5) $2.25
JUL041983 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #11 $2.25

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

You buy everything!

Is Plastic Man good? It's one of those series that would be terrific if written right, but so easy to get wrong. (I keep thinking Judd Winick would be perfect for it, but that's partly because I'm a big Judd Winick fan, which in turn might be partly because I didn't read his Green Lantern and only a few issues of his Exiles.)

I may pick up Widow, if it's about Natasha and not the other one. (I don't even know if the other one's around anymore.) I'll go read the Ninth Art column.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I need to stop buying everything!

I only read the first 3 issues of PM, but I really liked it - it's a throwback / homage to a more innocent time, and Kyle Baker's art is appropriately (and gloriously) goofy. Unfortunately, my local store is butt when it comes to getting extra stock in certain titles, and I took it off my pull list, so I haven't kept track. Huck, step up & represent!

(Holy shit, I've been spelling represent wrong for so long I almost forgot how to spell it right.)

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, wait - I mistook Huck's posting of the DC solicits as his list o' goodies. My bad.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

But let me post one more time, so as to secure my place atop the ILC Cock Du Stats. I've only read / skimmed a few old Jack Cole stories, but Kyle Baker's PM seems to be right in line w/ JC's, albeit with a more knowing winky sense of humor (cf. #1, where there's a cute reference made to an LSD trip during a flashback to PM's origin) (don't hold me to that). Also, Baker's on record (in at least one internet interview prior to the series' debut) as wanting to keep PM outside of actual continuity (or, at the very least, keep him apart from the general tone & timber of the DCverse & create a whole encapsulated world for PM; possibly similar to how James Robinson handled Starman & Opal City), which I think is the best way to approach PM as a solo book star.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I got the first three or four issues of Plastic Man. It's very good fun, the art is fab, but I just couldn't justify it. And now I can't justify buying the trade since I already have half the issues contained within. Oh, woe is I!

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

INDUSTRY KILLAH

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh! Re: Jordan's "grim & gritty" comment up thread - I imagine Madrox is the one making the fun, as Wanted seemingly embodies THE REASON to make the fun (even if it's a hyper-satire of that stuff).

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

The problem I had with it, and I know now that the first arc was originally intended to just be a graphic novel or something, but a humour comic should be more episodic. There, I said it. If I'm gonna laugh, I want everything tied up by the last panel. That's a deal-breaker for me, and I'm not sorry.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, the Jack Cole Plastic Man (which is worth picking up if they come out with a reasonably-priced collection) didn't really seem like part of the DC Universe to me, what I've read of it -- I could be remembering wrong, but it strikes me as one of those titles that was only considered part of the DCU by virtue of sharing a publisher (as opposed to the way Marvel made it immediately clear the FF and Spidey were part of the same world, which must have been deliberate). He was never even part of the JSA, was he?

A Plastic Man cartoon would be a nice addition to the Cartoon Network (as the old one would be to Boomerang, and Boomerang in turn would be a nice addition to my cable company's lineup).

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Plastic Man was published not by DC, but DC eventually bought the publisher, the name of which I can't remember right now. He first appeared in Police Comics, which maybe was the name of the company, just like Detective Comics (even though they were then called National Periodicals). Plastic Man was eventually worked into Earth-2 history, via Roy Thomas's All-Star Squadron.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I was just wondering if that might be the case -- that "separate" feel is the way I feel about the Shazam stuff, too, even though that's been folded into DC now. Okay, that explains it, if so.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

The Charlton stuff (Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, the Question, etc) has been assimilated very tidily.
In an old JLofA I was reading last night, Crisis On Tomorrow or something, featuring "THE BATTLE YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR, Superman VS The Big Red Cheese!!!", the artist, Dick Dillin I think, goes so far as to give Captain Marvel the Little Orphan Annie style eye-dots!

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:22 (twenty-one years ago)

ihttp://admin.comics.org/graphics/covers/1449/400/1449_4_137.jpg

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Sweet crap can't SOMEONE design a good Robin costume?

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Wouldn't that defeat the purpose?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Ka-Zar! You put that red Kryptonite down right now!

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Who's that insidious turban-wearing rapscallion next to Blue Marvel Boy? Is he the mastermind behind this unexpected turn of events?

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to be confused with Sargon the Sorcerer, that's Ibis, wielder of the Ibistick!

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

The Ibistick!

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

That's not Ka-Zar! That's Thor dressed as Kamandi! (Ibistick?)

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

The Ibistick. I nearly fell off my chair laughing when I read it.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

http://shazam.imginc.com/media/images/WhosWho/Ibis/Panels/Ibistick.jpg

http://shazam.imginc.com/WhosWho/IbisTheInvincible.asp

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Sienkiewicz is drawing Widow! Okay, this is going in the pull list. Anyone read anything by this Richard Morgan guy? I recognize the name.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't read a legit book in nearly a year, I think, and now I believe I'm physically incapable of doing so. Damn you, funny books, damn you all & shit!

Re: IBIS THE INVICIBLE - that's really more like an Ibispoon or Ibispatula than an Ibistick.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Plastic Man really hit its stride with issues 8 and 9. You're missing out, Huk.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 01:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Agreed, Plastic Man is an awful lot of fun. Fake baby Abraham Lincoln hijinks? Wowza!

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 08:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Agreed, Plastic Man is an awful lot of fun. Fake baby Abraham Licoln hijinks? Wowza!

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 08:44 (twenty-one years ago)

(I do buy The Witching for more than the covers. #3 was quite good, I thought.)

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 11:01 (twenty-one years ago)

VG, I hope you didn't take offense at my flip li'l comment - I was hoping you'd expound on your enjoyment of the series. Like I alluded to before, #1 was OK, but #2 didn't do much for me. In general, I like the off-kilter mix of flippant silliness and cuddly Vertigo gothitude (embodied by the asides to the wank-happy cult leader), though I find the actual story to be lacking in personal points of interest.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

In general, I like Lil' Flip's off-kilter mix of flippant silliness and cuddly Vertigo gothitude (embodied by the asides to the wank-happy cult leader), though I find the actual story to be lacking in personal points of interest.

David, I hope you didn't take offense at my Lil' Flip comment.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Wishbone formation coming at ya! ZONE DOG!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

No sweat, I don't take offense at much of anything around here. Unless someone starts talking shit about Sandman, then heads are gonna roll...

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Sandman is shit. Discuss.

/me ducks the hail of very heavy objects thrown my way by VG.

Actually I quite like Sandman. Though it ran a bit long and the ending wasn't all that, or the bag of chips.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Well well... well.............. ha. That's funny, Matt. Yes... funny. C'mere for a second, I want to whisper something in your ear... No, c'mon I'm not going to hit you, I just... have to tell you something...

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 15:55 (twenty-one years ago)

/me runs as fast as my geek legs will carry me.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

[sits, places fingers into steeple] Run, little man, I am patient...

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

And this is the thread where I have IRC flashbacks re: the #truthordate channel. Jinkies!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I now have a mental image of VG as Morpheus and Matt as Azazel.

― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Astonishing #5 = CLASSIC

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 22 September 2004 22:24 (twenty-one years ago)

It's really pretty fucking good, yeah.

― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Thursday, 23 September 2004 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

/me slaps VG and Matt around a bit with a large trout.

I finally got to a store today and the only stuff I got was Rucka, which made me feel kind of dopey like I'm not really a comics fan, so I got the first Humang Target trade.

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Thursday, 23 September 2004 01:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Missed, Lee. I'm very slippery like that.

Doom Patrol trade, Plastic Man, Sleeper, Walking Dead, Mr. Monster and Tom Strong.

Only read Walking Dead so far. Contemplating shifting over to trades, just weeks after saying I could never do it.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Thursday, 23 September 2004 02:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I got Astonishing, Ex Machina, Runaways, Nightcrawler #1, and the first Doom Patrol trade (they were out of Walking Dead).

Runaways was okay, just a happy-go-lucky epilogue and setup for the eventual restart next year (it's an odd way to do things, but it makes sense I think).

Astonishing, on the other hand, is off the hook! The best mix yet of stuff happening, out-of-nowhere action (seriously, they love doing that thing where there is absolutely no setup and the next panel some character is jumping on someone else like a rabid monkey), and Whedon one-liners. Is it just me, though, or is Cassaday scaling back on the lavish realism a little more with every issue? Not that I blame him, and his 'rushed' work is still way above par.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 23 September 2004 02:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Witching #4 was... I dunno. Sex rituals, pushing handicapped people into rivers, etc. Not too much going on that made sense. I, uh, hope it gets better again.

And finally got part 2 of Fables Dog Company. I thought this was going to be the issue White gives birth but I guess I'll just have to wait for that. It was an interesting story none the less.

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Friday, 24 September 2004 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to the comic shop yesterday and all I bought was the new Flash (and it's really, really good, and Identity Crisis tie-in that might be better than any of the IC issues except the first). I got change from a five dollar bill. I haven't spent so little money in a comic shop in 15 years.

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

And apparently there's a reference to the now-retconned Grant Morrison run on DOOM PATROL in that issue of THE FLASH as well. Holy Hypertime, Batman!

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe everyone's just working under the assumption that Byrne's will be declared an unmitigated failure and that Kurt Busiek will explain that this new Doom Patrol is really just the Earth-2 Crime Syndicate version.

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 14:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Wahey!

Nightcrawler report plz! I need to keep up w/ all extraneous X-spinoffs, and, like I said, DR's my boy. He's got great initials, too.

Huk-L as DC EIC!

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Is that the first in-continuity reference to the GM Doom Patrol since it ended? When it was first rumoured (aaaaaaages ago) that they'd retcon it I kept hoping that somebody would think "fuck that" and put a trapezoid-headed cobweb alien into Adventures Of Superman as a supporting character, or something.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Tom as Superman EIC & writer of ACTION COMICS!

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

The Doom Patrol reference was Mallah & the Brain, right?

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Vertigoizing it pretty much pushed aside any need to retcon it or temptation to reference it, I think -- there's that whole "complicated but only because there is no answer" question of continuity with stuff that started in DC (which, for starters, still has San Francisco) but ended up in the Vertigo imprint (which does not).

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Where did San Fran go?

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

They destroyed it in Shade -- I don't remember how anymore (probably a mutant jazz explosion). There was a lot of stuff in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, too, that you'd really have to stretch to include in the DCU -- but at the same time, of course, Animal Man used to be in the Justice League, and Swamp Thing's been to Gotham and Metropolis.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Animal Man is the problem w/Tep's theory in that he's appeared several times since being kidnapped and taken to Earth-Goth.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Also SF got destroyed by a mutant jazz explosion before Shade went Vertigo! The plot thickens!

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Have Swamp Thing and Plastic Man ever teamed up? That would be awesome!

Crap, where did I just see Animal Man (other than the Funeral Shot in Id. Cri.)? Did he show up in a GM JLA story?

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, right at the end. It's not like there's a general Vertigo continuity, though. Despite the children's crusade crossover.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

And of course Sandman in GM's JLA run as well.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, and then there's the first Books of Magic story...weren't all the DC spooks in that one?

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

And the JLA in Sandman, for that matter, and Element Chick, and etc. That's what I'm saying, I don't have a theory: the continuity is fucked up no matter which end you pick.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 September 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

If it works, it works, if it doesn't, who cares?

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, right, but ... remember that I brought this up to point out why most of the DC-to-Vertigo stuff ends up not being touched again once it's put down (Swamp Thing wasn't put down long enough). If no one is clear exactly where it fits in, they're less likely to use it casually because there's a greater chance they're screwing up someone's future project.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 September 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I was being more shruggish than dismissive.

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't actually read the FLASH issue in question, but yes, Mallah and The Brain were featured in an amazing single-issue DOOM PATROL story (one that appears at the end of the PAINTING THAT ATE PARIS collection).

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Friday, 24 September 2004 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

A touching love story. "Kiss me, Mallah."

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 September 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

They are in love!

xpost

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

It generated a letter of complaint because their brain-gorilla love was gayist.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 24 September 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Has a gender ever been specifically assigned to either of them, though?

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Well "Monsieur" suggests so. The Brain I am unsure of.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 24 September 2004 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yeah, Monsieur. Heh. I am stupid.

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Implied that they were both male.

So, folks were bothered by teh gay, but not the trans-gorilla trans-robot love? Uhm, whatever.

And not only is it a touching love story, but a humourous examination of the brain/body duality. It even ends with a joke. It's perfect.

"I want to do everything I've ever seen in the movies!"

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Friday, 24 September 2004 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

He's not a robot, he's just a brain.

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

He is a DISEMBODIED BRANE propped up by MECHANICAL GEEGAWS = he is an QUADRAPALEGIC ANDROID = he is, in LAYMAN'S TERMS, a ROBOT.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 September 2004 16:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I ENJOY TYPING in the tried & true COMIC BOOK MANNER. Perhaps I will be DOING THIS more OFTEN.

(Ever notice when writers fall on their ass trying to write like this? It's funny shit.)

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 September 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

They didn't enjoy the man-love until the Brain was in the robot body, ergo ROBOT.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Friday, 24 September 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

What is the issue # on this, I must have.

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"I'm just not enjoying this man-love, Brain. It seems to be lacking something."
"Hmmm. I have an idea, Mallah..."

*time passes*

"A robot body! Quick, make the gay with me!"
"How you like them apples?"
"Oooooh, applesauce..."

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 24 September 2004 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I want to say #36, but it's probably before that. Look for the Simon Bisley cover w/ a gorilla pushing a baby carriage (or a pram, if you prefer).

Wasn't Robotman given a souped-up robot body (by Doc Magnus) (BRING BACK THE METAL MEN!) (and don't modernize that shit, people!) that turned out to be a piece of junk?

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 September 2004 16:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Morrison should write the Metal Men.

Actually, Matt should, or at least be assistant editor, so that the letters page could be Mighty Matt Maxwell's Metal Men Mail.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 24 September 2004 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Marvelous! Though there should be a "Mania" added to the end. And Doramammu should answer all the mail.

Actually, given that _Seven Soldiers_ thing GM is working on, perhaps one of the things he's tackling is the Metal Men... Hmm...

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 24 September 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

GENIUS.

I'd kill to write a crazy Metal Men book.

Huk, just buy the goddamn DOOM PATROL trades. Even at inflated Canadian prices, they're so totally worth it.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Friday, 24 September 2004 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Even though I wasn't reading DP, the DP entries in the loose-leaf Who's Who were the best part of that terrible idea.

― Huk-L, Friday, 24 September 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I just read Astonishing X-Men 5, and am now officially PSYCHO. I didn't believe that Whedon could do this stuff, but man was that ever good. And don't even fucking get me started about the art.

― J (Jay), Friday, 24 September 2004 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

The cyborg brain gay sex is in #34. You sicko.

― Tom (Groke), Saturday, 25 September 2004 10:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Astonishing: Sweet.

Lucifer: Cool, but like I said last month I think, this storyline isn't exciting me.

Plastic Man: Fun! Kyle Baker's art will ALWAYS, though, remind me of his famous Superbaby story.

Black Widow: I like it, but I really hope Morgan tones down the "Black Widow is a FEMALE crimefighter and she cares about FEMALE things" angle.

Doom Patrol: Sold out. I haven't got my check yet anyway, but I asked cause I was curious.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 25 September 2004 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Have you read any other Kyle Baker stuff? There's a new edition out of Why I Hate Saturn, the funniest book in the world.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 27 September 2004 09:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there any new material in the new edition of Why I Hate Saturn?

It's only marginally funnier than The Cowboy Wally Show. You Are Here and I Die At Midnight are very good, but not all out comedy and King David doesn't have that much humour in it at all. His two volumes (so far) of Kyle Baker: Cartoonist are superb though.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Monday, 27 September 2004 11:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I've read a lot of Why I Hate Saturn, but I think the first thing I saw from him must have been that Superbaby story, and it's just always going to stick. It's not a bad thing, though.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 27 September 2004 11:47 (twenty-one years ago)

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