Mis-Ships, Mistakes, Misfits: October 18 2006

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The list is up. Unfortunately, Diet Of Broken Biscuits #5 has been delayed.

I'm getting: Morrison's first issues on Wildcats and The Authority, 52, Runaways, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and X-Factor.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Monday, 16 October 2006 23:42 (twenty years ago)

MAGNUS ROBOT FIGHTER VOL 3 4000 AD HC, only a year and a half late.

― M. V. (M.V.), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 00:50 (twenty years ago)

Just Batman & the Mad Monk and Runaways for me.

Wildcats and Authority might be the first Morrison comics I pass on, never read those books and I don't really care too. And even though I'm a sucker, I'll probably wait for softcover on the Fables book.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 00:51 (twenty years ago)

Madman vs. Batmonk, fiftoo, Chegmeat.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 01:11 (twenty years ago)

For me:
52 WEEK 24--what a great cover
AUTHORITY #1--G. Mo!
BIRDS OF PREY #99--I'm really liking this series lately
WILDCATS #1--Even more G. Mo! Any guesses on what year the second issues will come out?

I think that might be it for me this week, since I spent way way way too much money on comics (and original art) at Small Press Expo this weekend. But I don't know if I can resist the AMY AND JORDAN BENDABLE FIGURE SET.

― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 01:14 (twenty years ago)

I think Grant Morrison writing the Authority is a totally great development. It's kind of a perfect match for him, and I'm a lot more enthusiastic about this than any of his other current projects, though I am enjoying Batman and All Star Superman. That's great goofy fun, but I am thinking that the Authority will allow him be a bit more thoughtful.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 01:28 (twenty years ago)

everyone in my lcs was excited about the john woo garth ennis thing!

― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 05:04 (twenty years ago)

52, Birds of Prey, Deadman, Catwoman, the Creeper, Exterimantors, & Hellblazer.

― christopherscottknudsen (christopherscottknudsen), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 07:17 (twenty years ago)

As much as I like G-Mo, in my experience Jim Lee's art can make any story boring to me with the notable exception of Allstar Batman and Robin. I'm gonna be bummed if Authority is anything less than super hot shit though!

― Adrienne Begley (sparklecock), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 07:54 (twenty years ago)

I need to catch up on both Runaways and 52 and decide whether I'm going to get Cromartie vol 8 or that You Ain't No Dancer thing or a $10 hoagie

― Adrienne Begley (sparklecock), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 07:59 (twenty years ago)

I'm very "wait-and-see" about the Wildcats, but c'mon, Authority is being illustrated by Gene Ha! There's no way that can't rule.

Adrienne, I don't know how far behind you are on Runaways, but the next digest is out next week, covering 13-18.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 08:35 (twenty years ago)

Gene Ha? Shit. I guess it's time I finally figured out what everyone likes aboutt his thing so much.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 10:18 (twenty years ago)

oooooooooooooooooooooh you're in troubullllllllllllllll

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 12:07 (twenty years ago)

Only 52 and X-Factor's on the pull list. I'll probably grab Authority and Wildcats, although I know absolutely nothing whatsoever about those books and characters. And, because it's a slow week, and I'll be able to afford it, that Challengers of the Unknown Showcase, too.

― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 12:09 (twenty years ago)

My "aboutt his thing" for "about this thing" may have obscured my meaning. Gene Ha I understand the excitement about. He's the last straw that's getting me to buy "The Authority" (although G.Mo is a powerful incentive by his lonesome.) It's "The Authority" I've never been able to figure the appeal of.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 12:11 (twenty years ago)

It's the Ultimates.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 12:30 (twenty years ago)

Matthew and your target=_blank skillz!

Authority (even though Gene Ha's promo art looks jank, and even though it'll probably sell out before I can pick it up)
Runaways

― c('°c) (Leee), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 15:24 (twenty years ago)

Picks of the litter:

CASANOVA #5: A gaggle of exclamation marks sums up my attitude toward any given issue of this series. You (whatever your gender/race/creed/religion/socio-economic status) should read this too, if only to tell me how foolish I am.
WILDCATS #1: I am inordinately attracted to shiny objects.
RUNAWAYS #21: Maybe with more giant monsters.
THE AUTHORITY #1: More fun with explosions - but everyone's wearing ridiculous outfits, so that's OKAY.

AND YEAH, DOUG: That 52 cover is amazing.

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 17:59 (twenty years ago)

CASANOVA is awesome. I picked up all four issues in the past few weeks, on the rec's of Chaki, Laura, et al. So, I'm gonna get that and Ultimate FF and that might be it!

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 18:10 (twenty years ago)

niiiice :)

― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 18:11 (twenty years ago)

Is Lil/alt. world Fant. 4 worth picking up? I'm not certain that Reed sans white streaks, no matter how lovely the Ferry porrayal, is a Reed I trust...

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 18:20 (twenty years ago)

YES IT IS! It's not really your adolescence's FF, but Warren Ellis' run (specifically the Annihilus arc) & Mike Carey's work (especially the recent Annual w/ the Mole Man) are GREAT! And (it goes w/out saying, but I heart redundancy) it's loads better than the Civil-War-wounded FF.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 18:41 (twenty years ago)

Wait, am I really the only person here who is very fond of the Authority? The only Authority run I'm not into is the one by Robbie Morrison which is just blah whatever, but Ellis, Millar, and Brubaker did fun work on that title, and I quite like those characters.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:03 (twenty years ago)

And Mike Carey's Ultimate FF is quite good, in spite of the Lil' Reed Richards thing, which I find incredibly difficult to embrace.

I bought the most recent issue of regular FF and I thought it was pretty good consider it was JMS and all. I get why people might not like the Civil War story, but I feel like at least Reed Richards is being portrayed intelligently in that, and the basic appeal of the character isn't being thrown out as in the Ultimate Teen Reed version. Mike McKone's skills have really improved, he's getting more like John Cassaday and Frank Quitely.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:06 (twenty years ago)

Matthew, for shame!! !

Did you not see me reviving the Authority thread with my findings on Jenny/Engineer slash?

― c('°c) (Leee), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:21 (twenty years ago)

I was completely out of comics during The Authority's prime. Maybe I would've been into it back then, but who knows. Even today, the fact that it is in any way even remotely related to early '90's Image kinda turns me off.

― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 20:38 (twenty years ago)

Authority, Desolation Jones, Casanova, Ms Marvel, Runaways and X-Factor. I haven't added Wildcats but I'll likely grab it, though I have no attachment to that team (unlike the Authority, which is one of the titles that got me back into comics and I'm looking forward to what GM does with it).

― Oblivious Lad. (Oblivious Lad), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 07:58 (twenty years ago)

he does NOTHING with it, a guy gets dressed and someone says something in an office and then there's pages and pages on a submarine and EVERY SINGLE PAGE is half-unreadable because they've tried to make fake cinematic focus effects (ie foreground objects are visible, everything else is out of focus) all through the thing. and then the underwater shit just makes everything blurry so it looks underwater-y.

something might happen next issue though. Wildcats wasn't out on the shelf yet so I didn't get to be put off by Jim Lee and not buy that either.

― occasional mongrel (kit brash), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 09:13 (twenty years ago)

Ahhhhh someone needs to tell comic artists that rack focus is totally lame when applied to comic books!

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 13:19 (twenty years ago)

I'm not sure I believe that, it's just that when I've seen it work it was done by hand and not photoshop.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 13:26 (twenty years ago)

Well, yeah.

There's a couple panels in the most recent issue of Astonishing X-Men that tries for that and it's very ridiculous, especially with the knowledge that Joss Whedon has been writing for the camera for the majority of his career. I wonder if he gets upset by the impossibility of replicating a "one-er" on a comic page.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 13:39 (twenty years ago)

Dude, shut up! The Wolverine/beercan shot is fantastic!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 13:50 (twenty years ago)

Wow, that issue of The Authority was just terrible, just a textbook example of how not to write a debut issue of anything, much less a franchise series. And to top it off, what a horrible cover! I mean, why is it only Midnighter and the Engineer, especially since they don't appear in the issue at all? None of the Authority appear, so really it should've been a picture of some dude waking up or a submarine or a cell phone or something. I will give the next issue a shot, but only because I have 17 years of goodwill going for Grant Morrison.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 19:03 (twenty years ago)

So I did pick up the Teenbeat FF Annual enjoyed myself heartily. Gracias, Perpetua et David R.

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 19:08 (twenty years ago)

I kinda wish Mike Carey would bring it to the Ult FF series as well as he did in that annual -- it's been alright so far, but as with his current X-Men story, it suffers a little bit for its charisma-free tossed-off late-period Claremontian team of villains clogging up the issues and taking the focus off the leads.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 19:41 (twenty years ago)

fuck a "franchise series"

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 20:23 (twenty years ago)

Fuck a "contempt for people who buy an issue of an established series expecting any of its characters to appear in it at all whatsoever."

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 20:37 (twenty years ago)

Or, more succinctly, fuck a bait and switch.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 20:38 (twenty years ago)

Matthew yr aesthetics of 'sensible stewardship' wld never have given us a 'I am Curious (Black)' or whatevs - unless you've got shares in marvel or dc or image, why give a flying fuck abt 'franchise' (ugh) management - half the pleasure of serial superhero comics is the way they can be manipulated/re-directed/re-written according to the whim of the writer/editor etc

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 21:35 (twenty years ago)

ie the idea that comics have 'responsibilities' to their readers is childish

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 21:38 (twenty years ago)

Ward, I'm speaking as a person who spent three dollars on a comic that said it was going to be the Authority as written by Grant Morrison and Gene Ha, but um, it didn't actually have the Authority in it. I'm personally annoyed about that, and I can't imagine that anyone else who liked the Authority and was hoping that they'd actually be in the first issue of their new series would feel much different.

Now if this Authority-less debut issue of the Authority had something compelling or amusing going in its pages, I may feel a bit more charitable, but there was just nothing at all going on in this issue to attract my attention. No interesting new characters, no drama, no mystery, no excitement. It's barely five pages of story stretched out over 20something pages, and it gives us barely any reason to want to read the next issue, aside from the faint hope that at least one of the series' seven regular characters might turn up.

This is especially worrying coming from Grant Morrison - he's done such great things avoiding the pitfalls of "decompression" in his material from the past few years, and here he is putting out possibly the worst example of it in a comic series so far in this decade.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 21:49 (twenty years ago)

Irrelevant of anything, there is a cartoon of Captain Jack from Doctor Who/Torchwood in this week's London Time Out -- and it's drawn by... Norm Breyfogle?

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 22:21 (twenty years ago)

Oh right, Grant Morrison.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 22:24 (twenty years ago)

The coloring effects in Authority were so bad

― Adrienne Begley (sparklecock), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 22:46 (twenty years ago)

I haven't read anything Authority related besides the first couple issues of the first series and the censored panels Mark Millar pitched a bitch about and I was bored with this issue

― Adrienne Begley (sparklecock), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 22:48 (twenty years ago)

Gen 13 and Wetwerks were both pretty awful, I thought.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 22:49 (twenty years ago)

Perpetua OTM. I want my two dollars back.

― J (Jay), Thursday, 19 October 2006 00:06 (twenty years ago)

Both Authority and Wildcats are really pretty unimpressive. I mean, Morrison's usually so good at hitting the ground running, and here I have no sense that he even has any idea what he's got in mind.

The Gene Ha art on Authority is pretty, though.

And this week's 52 is terrific--Phil Jimenez! Ambush Bug!!

― Douglas (Douglas), Thursday, 19 October 2006 00:54 (twenty years ago)

The art in Authority matched the dialogue in that it was full of little bits of verisimiltude for no discernable reason.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 19 October 2006 11:47 (twenty years ago)

At least I have some idea that he's doing something in Wildcats. I have a hard time thinking of what the situation might be with Authority that isn't just a variation on one of his other comics - the guy is a superhero unbeknownst to himself (The Filth), or is going to be killed in a single panel of issue #2 (The Invisibles). But then Morrison has always been worth a bit of faith..

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 19 October 2006 11:52 (twenty years ago)

That really should have been The Authority #0.

Also I'd forgotten that I find the WildCATS characters cool in concept but horrible in execution (except for the dude with the razor fingers). Voodoo always bugs the shit out of me.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 19 October 2006 13:12 (twenty years ago)

TS: not buying a good #0 vs. buying a crappy #1
subquestion: any good #0?!?!?!

― disappointing goth fest line-up (orion), Thursday, 19 October 2006 13:22 (twenty years ago)

Seven Soldiers #0!

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 19 October 2006 13:33 (twenty years ago)

How about not doing #0, compressing this issue into five or six extra pages, and doing a double sized #1 instead?

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Thursday, 19 October 2006 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Maybe Robbie Morrison has pulled a fast one on everyone?

Should I buy the new Authority #1 on the assumption that I will buy all the rest because it will get better and I would therefore like to have a complete set, or is it bad enough that see bee are is the way to go?

― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 19 October 2006 15:22 (twenty years ago)

Seeby Yarr it or read it in the shop (should take all of 3 minutes, I promise), and maybe buy #2 if the characters turn up.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Thursday, 19 October 2006 15:35 (twenty years ago)

So the Completist Route is a big NOT WORTH IT?

― c('°c) (Leee), Thursday, 19 October 2006 15:37 (twenty years ago)

Basically, the issue is one of those blah intro sequences that establish some plot elements for when the story gets going that you'd read very quickly to get to the part with the characters and the action (literal or otherwise), but extended to a full issue and the parts you paid for never come around.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Thursday, 19 October 2006 15:38 (twenty years ago)

I'm envious of people that lack the ObCom Completist gene.

― lumberingwoodsman (Chris Hill), Thursday, 19 October 2006 16:03 (twenty years ago)

I thought the route the story in The Authority took was really well done but, unless dude introduced in this issue is going to be the reader's proxy into the lives of TEH AUTHORITY, there was no need for this issue.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 19 October 2006 16:40 (twenty years ago)

The pessimist in me expected the CASANOVA quality streak to skip a few beats this ish, but it didn't - my what fun! It's the gift that keeps on giving - a sugar rush on the first frenzied perusal followed by numerous hours of it laying claim to my every nonworking minute.

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Thursday, 19 October 2006 18:15 (twenty years ago)

subquestion: any good #0?!?!?!

uh ZAP #0

― occasional mongrel (kit brash), Thursday, 19 October 2006 20:26 (twenty years ago)

Hey! How's BoP? The Jerry Ordway covers are too ugly for me to open them and not have to look at them anymore.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Sunday, 22 October 2006 05:09 (twenty years ago)

That's a good point - Ordway is such a ridiculously unfashionable artist, why would any sane person give him a cover art gig?

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Sunday, 22 October 2006 15:35 (twenty years ago)

uh ZAP #0

also BIOLOGIC SHOW #0

― occasional mongrel (kit brash), Monday, 23 October 2006 06:54 (twenty years ago)

I think Ordway is fine for drawing dudes, but his lantern-jawed ladies creep me out.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 06:24 (twenty years ago)

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