Alice doesn't SHIP here anymore: April 2, 2008

(still showing last week's comics)

Has everyone given up on "The Spirit"? I got it last week, but it was def. on the meh side.

Midtown's up though.

BUFFY - GIRL ON GIRL ACTION!
COUNTDOWN: KAMANDI SPECIAL - BOY ON DOLPHIN ACTION!
CASANOVA - Zephyr comes back and kills everyone who survived the last issue, presumably.
METAL MEN - Ah...sweet incomprehensible bliss.
OMEGA THE UNKNOWN - It's like that time Bela Tarr directed an episode of HOMICIDE.
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL - These last few Chaykin one-offs have been mighty fine, by my if I may say so.

awesome, it feels like omega is coming out every week (maybe because i only go to the comic store once a month!).

'Tec, Inf-inc, Metalmen, American Splenda, Sure Katmandi Why Not?, Omegahellyeah,

For me:

OMEGA THE UNKNOWN: I think this is the one with Gary Panter!
SECRET INVASION #1: Mmm--viral marketing.

I think that might be it. And I'm a little boggled that the SECRET INVASION INFILTRATION TPB reprints a comic that came out LAST WEEK.

SECRET INVASION #1: Mmm--viral marketing.

lol, marvel_b0y is a cold sore on the lip of the industry

Full body condom, y'all.

I keep hearing about this "marvel_b0y" thing, and I know not what it is.
Does anybody else read 'Walking Dead'? I bet you it craps all over this Secret Invasion/scrotum-chinned-1940s-alien bullshit.

i stopped reading it a long time ago (when they were in the prison) due to taking-itself-too-seriously soapy melodrama.

Marvel_B0y is a blogger who claims to be a low-level production scullery boy at Marvel, who started out all "I've got the coolest job in the world!" and petulantly decided to start throwing out spoilers and industry gossip as he's grown more disenchanted. There's a little bit of speculation that if he really was who he said he was, he'd have been caught by now, so he must be a viral marketing campaign by Marvel to get interest ginned up in Secret Invasion. The parallel does almost seem too good to be true.

ACTION COMICS #863
DETECTIVE COMICS #843
CABLE #2: DWS
KICK ASS #2: Millar gets one more chance from me on this.
LOGAN #2: Hiroshima Now!
NEW EXILES #4: I'm the only person still reading this, right?
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #18: Another one-shot?
SECRET INVASION #1: Shhh.
TWELVE #4: I read all titles starring Members of the Tribe.
YOUNG X-MEN #1: Reboot!
ANNA MERCURY #1: New Warren Ellis.

What is this?
AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO #1

DETECTIVE COMICS #843
ACTION COMICS #863

I'll probably eventually get this one.
BATMAN GRENDEL NEW PTG TP

What is this?

DC Comics pretending that the fifteen years of self-published American Splendour didn't exist, the Tundra American Splendour didn't exist, the Dark Horse American Splendour series and one-shots didn't exist, that all the various American Splendour short stories and graphic novels don't exist and that they're the only game in town.

Yes, because renumbering & rebranding for mini-series only happens with The Big Two.

(And tired sarcasm always works as a rejoinder, too.)

Now that the real list is up, throw Abe Sapien on the pile

ABE SAPIEN THE DROWNING #3 (OF 5)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #13

DETECTIVE COMICS #843
INFINITY INC #8 -- make or break for this thing on my pull list
VINYL UNDERGROUND #7 -- not bad, but not great; might heave-ho this as well

CASANOVA #13
DEAD SPACE #2 (OF 6) -- oh yeah VIDEO GAME TIE-IN (written by the WASTELAND guy & drawed by Mr. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT)
JACK STAFF #15
WALKING DEAD #48 -- this is good enough right now that there's no need to denigrate harmless company-wide crossovers to bolster the hype

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #555 -- I'm the only guy here that's still on board the wheeee train, aren't i?
CABLE #2
CLANDESTINE #3 (OF 5) -- pretty, but super-meh
KICK ASS #2 -- plz plz plz don't become generic Millar slop
LOGAN #2
OMEGA THE UNKNOWN #7 (OF 10) -- YESSSSSSSSS
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #18
SECRET INVASION #1 (OF 8) -- plz plz plz be better than the House of M mini
YOUNG AVENGERS PRESENTS #3 (OF 6)
YOUNG X-MEN #1

ANNA MERCURY #1 (OF 5) -- the heartwarming tale of a young girl exploring the Scottish countryside during the late 19th century, and her Great Dane

AMERICAN SPLENDOR SEASON TWO #1 - Now with 15% more Darwyn Cooke! (not this issue though, I think)
DETECTIVE COMICS #843 - reliable
METAL MEN #7 (OF 8) - reliably INSANE
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #18 - Been watching The Tick Season One (animated), and am coming around to think that the series is an extended Superheroes-as-Being Gay metaphor, especially vis-a-vis Arthur. And in the first episode there's a hilarious Punisher analogue.

ALL NEW ATOM #22
INFINITY INC #8
METAL MEN #7
CASANOVA #13
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #555, although I'm sorely tempted to skip out until that Slott / Marcos Martin arc.

Oooh forgot about METAL MEN #7 (OF 8), as that will end up on my doorstep as well.

I would probably get ASS2 (ooooh!) just for the Darwyn Cooke story (it's in #2, I think), but my interest in Pekar's type of quotidian ruminations was sated (and then some) by the first mini.

NOT ON DIAMOND (FUCK 'EM) BUT:

RABBI'S CAT 2 - OUT TODAY! GIT!

tired sarcasm always

Would have worked better if I hadn't been citing heaps of renumbering and rebranding in my post! (It's the "Season Two" that rankles - instead of giving it an overall title, as they did when collecting the first Vertigo mini, it positions the first Vertigo mini as the be-all and end-all. (When in fact it's pretty far from Pekar's best....])

RABBI'S CAT 2 - OUT TODAY! GIT!

Already got!

WALKING DEAD #48 -- this is good enough right now that there's no need to denigrate harmless company-wide crossovers to bolster the hype

Yes, but it's always fun.

I'm still puzzled by last week's Countdown (I know, I know) -- it's the only one I've read since about week 4 or 5, and it appeared to end the (DC universe) world, which obviously didn't happen, so what's going on? Was it one of the parallel earths? An imaginary story? Wikipedia is no help to me here. And why do I care?

parallel earth - i (for some reason) started reading countdown a few weeks ago. i'm not completely sure what's going on (which has to be like 80% of why i've been enjoying it basically) BUT short version is some universes version of karate kid had this super evolved (when they describe how evolved in one of the previous issues it's pretty funny) virus that turns man into beast and beast into man and everybody crazy. the previous issue was all 'voiceover' narration also. i've been reading for maybe six weeks and superboyman prime was prominent at one point in the old way they were destroying universes but now it's sorta lurched into this. beyond the handful of protagonists i don't think there's a high level of consistency in terms of what's going on, i don't get a sense of a cohesive narrative, the thing definitely lurches around, esp in comparison to 52 where obviously where they ended up wasn't maybe exactly . countdown's still considerably worse than 52, it's still an awful comic, but it's not as dull as it was the first weeks when i opted out. the last two issues i especially enjoyed for their ridiculous portent and tacky horror touches - the grandson's dog running in w/ a carving knife, the superheroine who'd been saving the scientist the past two issues being devoured alive slowly by a swarm of mutant rats - if i'm 9 years old last week's countdown is my fave single issue of the year.

Ah, thank you for that. Yes, the bit with the dog was ridiculous but arresting in a stupid sort of way.

It's official. Boys is to Ennis as Sleepless in Seattle is to Nora Ephron.

Re Walking Dead 48: and people are saying nothing happens in this comic??????

JM, I think even hardcore WD fanzies will admit there was a brief sub-Bendisy "talky talk why fite?" phase a year or so ago.

Keep going back, David... I felt that way before WD reached the twenties, like when they first hit the prison, all the life got sucked out of the book.

Can someone explain Secret Invasion to me? I'm not sure I can... be bothered.

In other news, excited about seeing this tonight.

The Skrulls have been quietly infiltrating the Marvel Universe for a few years (how long is TBA). When Iron Man realizes it, the Skrulls kick the takeover plans into high gear. Crossover mayhem ensues, mainly involving Avengers and FF books, but a few others as well. It's a pretty good plot, I think, considering they're using a race that's been established as shapeshifters for 45+ years.

I wish they'd have left out the skrull-religion holy-war motivation, though.

Actually it doesn't include the Millar-Hitch FF, but a new miniseries concocted for the blessed event.

Yes, there's a spinoff FF mini (featuring Lyja Lazerfist!!!), a spinoff Runaways mini-series (written by one-half of the underwhelming old New X-Men / new X-Force team), and one or two others, and maybe a one-shot or 20.

It also involves a new series that I will go out of my way to preemptively praise even if it involves Captain Britain because it's written by the guy (Paul Cornell) who was behind the little-read yet much-loved Wisdom Marvel MAX mini. If you don't believe me, believe this guy (but watch out for spoilers).

The Skrulls have been quietly infiltrating the Marvel Universe

wtf, I just read my own post. Skrulls infiltrate Earth, not the MU.

I'm looking forward to the Captain Britain miniseries because I don't know the first thing about the character.

Don't jinx it -- it's a regular series.

The Captain Britain paperback in print has some very good Alan Moore/Alan Davis stories from the early 80s, marred by overenthusiastic coloring--they were originally drawn for black and white, and it shows. But the whole business with the regular Marvel universe being "616"? That's where it's from.

2nding the Captain Britain collection. If that doesn't sate yr thirst for muscled dudes sporting the Union Jack, any issue of Excalibur drawn by Alan Davis is worth a look-see, tho the ones AD writes are much better than the ones written by Chris Claremont.

I also ended up getting the first two trades of The Boys this week. The first one was a hoot. Darick Robertson can draw some stuff that just makes me laugh like every time that bulldog is in the scene. I also read an issue of Punisher Marvel Knights that he did with Garth Ennis a week that features about the best guest appearance by Wolverine ever.

Yeah, I'm really enjoying The Boys. Seems like it just started, and they're already up to #17, like it's coming out every three weeks or so.