DAS SHIP: August 6th, 2008

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN: When did Larocca get "decent"-ish? I care little for photorealism, particularly the type wherein you wonder "why does Sue look like Jenna Jameson", but he's gotten a lot less cluttered (from what I can remember.
FINAL CRISIS #3: Wherein that ex-monitor gets up to "grammar" in his dictionary.
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #22 (or whatever, I forget the number): I like this.

KEY:
straight-up = I want to be a smart ass about stuff I'm buying
italics = I want to be a smart ass about stuff I'm not buying

AUTHORITY #1 -- oh how this bird has flown
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #17
CABLE #6 MD -- christ the DOUBLE-SIZED carrot is actually tempting me
CRIMINAL 2 #4
CROSSED #0 (OF 9) -- non-war Ennis usually rubs me wrong, but what the hey, maybe it'll keep Avatar from publishing more Lady Death

DETECTIVE COMICS #847 RIP
ETERNALS #3
FINAL CRISIS #3 (OF 7)
HULK #5 -- as long as they have McG or Art Adams on this thing, I'm there
INFINITY INC #12 -- RIP
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #4

JACK OF FABLES #24
JACK STAFF #18
KING SIZE SPIDER-MAN SUMMER SPECIAL -- COLLEEN COOVER ALERT!!!
NIGHTWING #147 RIP -- if only! (I'm totally FIRST on that one)
PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL #22 -- really wish Chaykin wasn't on this book

SECRET INVASION FRONT LINE #2 (OF 5) SI
SPECIAL FORCES #3 (OF 6) -- well hi dere Mr. B
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE SEASON 2 #1 (OF 5) -- well no dere
ULTIMATE ORIGINS #3 (OF 5)
VENOM DARK ORIGIN #1 (OF 5) -- YES I AM BUYING THIS SHUT UP

Final Crisis - happy birthday to me! yay!
Infinity Inc. - the last issue, I've basically been floating along with it out of my increasingly inexplicable loyalty to Peter Milligan
DMZ vol 5
Buffy
Spike
Invincible Iron Man
Cable - one last shot, Cable!

Sal Larocca has been really good for a long time -- always a solid and technically gifted artist, but he's gone through some experimental phases, which I appreciate. I think he's really come into his own in the past few years, and finally getting away from the X-Men has been a good thing for him. Iron Man suits him well.

Oh snap, also giving the new Mary Jane miniseries a shot this week.

My main problem was always the clutter. He's never been a preferred artist for me, but I'm quite liking the elegant feel he brings to Iron Man.

ANYWAY: Happy Birthday, Flux!

Army @ Love: Art of War
Cable (Finally read the first arc. It's not bad. I'll keep a-goin'. For now.)
Final Crisis (And maybe the director's cut of #1. Comics that actively excite me get treats. The rest go to bed without supper.)
Hellblazer Presents Chas the Knowledge (I would be much more interested if that were the actual title.)
Infinity, Inc. (Just filled a gap and completed the set last week! Wait, last issue?!? Say whuuuuuuut!?!)
Secret Invasion Front Line (Seeeeeeriously rethinking this particular investment. Should I unload my SI issues now before it's over and everyone realizes how much it sucked?)
Ultimate Origins

I am hoping that the Foolkiller trade is the Gerber mini from the 90s, but I know better.

(I will probably also get Essential Man-Thing 2 and Showcase Presents House of Secrets from a cheaper source at some point.)

Army@Love
Criminal

Wow, really, that's all?

Oh hey, Final Crisis.

Final Crisis (exciting!), Criminal (excitinger!) and Iron Man (not exciting, but I'm enjoying it a lot).

For me:

ARMY @ LOVE THE ART OF WAR #1--I always blow hot & cold on Veitch, but I did like the start of the first series
FINAL CRISIS #1 DIRECTOR'S CUT SPECIAL--because I gotta
FINAL CRISIS #3--and also because I wanna--I am painfully excited about this
HAWKMAN SPECIAL #1--looks like Starlin at his Starliniest
SHOWCASE PRESENTS HOUSE OF SECRETS VOL. 1--it's not all about "Swamp Thing," y'know
SPECIAL FORCES #3--it's been rather a while, hasn't it?
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1--you know, I do like these big anthology titles, I admit it
CRIMINAL 2 #4--boiled until it's rocklike
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #4--why do I like this series so much? But I do!
KING SIZE SPIDER-MAN SUMMER SPECIAL--see three lines above

Indies? What are those?

TERRY MOORES ECHO #5

lolz

CRIMINAL 2 #4
FINAL CRISIS #1 DIRECTORS CUT SPECIAL
FINAL CRISIS #3 (OF 7)
PATSY WALKER HELLCAT #2 (OF 5) (Seriously, this is kinda sorta good. Overly precious, but it's decently funny, 100% angst-free and looks fantastic.)

No trades this week, for once.

BOYS #21
CABLE #6
DETECTIVE COMICS #847
FINAL CRISIS #3
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #4
JACK OF FABLES #24
SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE SEASON 2 #1: WOOHOO!!!!!!!
SWORD #10
TERRY MOORES ECHO #5
TWELVE #7 (OF 12)

okay wait, someone is actually buying the Terry Moore thing????

Yes. And the SM<3MJ thing. Mock away.

I'm not mocking, just surprised. I thought we'd (accidentally) scared away all the pro-TM people.

I thought everyone liked TM. :P

haha I was going to link the SiP thread for you but you already posted on it

It's even worse than that. You already responded over there.

Haha. AND David made a SM<3MJ joke.

SiP is one of those things I kind of liked the first time I read it and then kind of loathed the second time I read it. Like a Kevin Smith movie or Scrubs.

DETECTIVE COMICS #847 RIP
FINAL CRISIS #3
ROBIN #176 RIP
NIGHTWING #147 RIP

I'm curious to see how RIP is going to fit together. The previews down the line give the idea what is going to happen, but the how and why is really yet to be determined.

I got that black and white trade of the original Kirby New Gods series a couple of weeks back. I had read some of the original Mister Miracle issues, which I thought were cool and some of the Forever People issues, which at least at the time I thought were kind of goofy. Getting into Final Crisis and reading through the first five issues of the New Gods has been interesting to see some parallels, which are there.

UNIVERSAL WAR ONE #1 - I got a preview issue of some of these EU comics that Marvel is putting out. The artwork looked really amazing on this one.

I'll eventually read the Criminal and Crossed issues in a trade.

oh man I'm still missing one issue of Army @ War so haven't read it since issue #5

yay Final Crisis #3
boo Final Crisis Who Is The Director's Cut #1

wish I'd jumped to issues on Jack Staff long ago, the last TPB was one of the worst print jobs I've seen outside of Checker

I will not sit here and listen to you criticize Checker's decision to photograph comics pages with a digital camera and then print those pages out on a $25 printer. It's called thrift, mister.

I totally forgot about Hellcat. Really enjoyed the first issue!

Hot damn, Final Crisis #3! Old school Superfriends Legion of Doom headquarters! "Streaks" the cat! Tawky Tawny! Überfrau! Motherfucking Frankenstein! Grant Morrison has made me very happy this day.

Hot damn, Special Forces #3! Kyle Baker has made me very happy this day.

(NB - I haven't actually read any of my pull yet.)

Final Crisis was fucking frightening. It filled me with unease and dread, but I guess that's the point. I wish I could sleep six months and wake up to read it in its entirety!

Damn you comic delaying Canadian holiday

Yeah, Final Crisis was amazing and scary and just right.

Also, that issue contains the what may be the single best line of Green Arrow dialogue ever.

"Cancel my fight with Killotron, I'm on a mission from the Gods" is so far the best line of comics dialog this week.

Also: to anyone wondering about what RIP tie-ins are worth picking up, Dini's Detective is tenuously connected but still surprisingly entertaining despite being saddled with Hush, Robin is taking a really literal "HAY SPOILER I THINK TEH BATMAN R CRAZEE" tack that may end up going somewhere but isn't terribly promising, and Nightwing- or at least this week's issue, the first of Nicieza's RIP tie-in- is fucking awful. And interestingly enough, contains the worst line of dialog in this week's comics, or possibly this year's comics. Quoth the Two-Face:

"She's been a witness to a powerful individual's action that incriminates him in a rather horrific little moment that can destabilize a large body of people who would rather not be compromised by her testimony in an open federal court."

I have kept the original's punctuation: none whatsoever. I challenge you to say all of that in one breath without a pause.

And I'm not letting Dini off the hook either, at least until he shows he can write a single damn issue of Detective without Zatanna. Yes Paul, fishnets get you off. We know.

Er, Tomasi, not Nicieza. Nicieza's on Robin and I apologize for associating him with that quote in any way.

Um, yeah. Final Crisis might wind up being the most perfect thing that Morrison's ever done. It is doing absolutely everything he's trying to make it do. Usually, there are all of these Morrison moments where you can see what he was aiming for but where he doesn't quite hit the mark. This shit, though, is one well-oiled doomsday machine, and if he keeps it up it might just turn out to be my favorite of all time. Which, when we're talking Morrison, is really saying something. In short: I love Final Crisis a lot, and I feel super-sorry for all of those comics fans who don't know what reading is.

Also on the Morrison tip: after I finished my Seven Soldiers re-read, I started buying up the 52 trades. I'm on V3 now and...I remember griping week-to-week when the series was coming out, but I'm having trouble seeing what caused the gripes. There are flaws, to be sure, but that was really some surprisingly solid fun on the whole, wasn't it? Maybe it just reads better in trades, but I'm loving it at least twice as much as I did on first read-through.

(I went a bit Moz-crazy this week: still have the FC director's cut to read, and I bought up 52 V4 and a JLA trade, as well. That should make up for what's sure to be revealed as yet another lousy week for the Big Two.)

What's the difference between the FC Director's Cut and the original FC 1?

"Yes Paul, fishnets get you off. We know."

The dude is literally married to Zatanna. Once I saw a picture, it made complete sense to me.

Final Crisis is something else. The thing that Grant Morrison is nailing in a modern way as the original Wolfman/Perez Crisis did in the 80s is that there is a "holy s##t" moment in nearly every panel. The comic is probably way too much for any new comic reader to appreciate, but for people that have been following the stuff forever, this is the primo stuff.

What's the difference between the FC Director's Cut and the original FC 1?

It contains a black and white, dialogue-free reprint of FC 1, followed by the complete script for the first issue, followed by page-by-page commentary from Morrison and Jones. I've read that first issue at least three or four times and, apparently, there's stuff that I never picked up on before. I never buy this kind of (usually overtly crass) stuff, but I'd highly recommend picking this up. Definitely more essential than any of the secondary FC issues released thus far.

Actually. I was a little disappointed with this issue, but that's my fault for reading too many spoiler-iffic previews. I'll stop that now. Still, v. impressive. The economy! He sets up the Draft X in what, two pages?. Wow.

Green Arrow line seconded, if I think it's the one you mean.

Also: Supergirl has a guitar!

...huh. According to this week's Robin, the knight-looking guy in the Club of Villains I and many others on The Internets have been assuming is Springheeled Jack is in fact named "Swagman." Hokay.

It occurs to me that my love for Final Crisis may be colored somewhat by the fact that I read ASS and Seven Soldiers (and Batman, which I'm less wild about) in a very short span of time, immediately followed by 52, and I'm realizing the extent to which Morrison's DC work (excepting possibly Doom Patrol) functions as one continuous thread. A thread that can be read and mostly understood with very little knowledge of what's going on in the rest of the DCU. FC is like the hyper-dense deneument of the thread, and it is awesome.

(P.S. As I wrap up 52, I wonder: were any of the spin-off minis worth seeking out?)

I didn't read most of them (if any), but I can imagine the safe answer is HELL NO.

Deric, "Crime Bible" was definitely the best, and the first storyline of Booster Gold was pretty good too; "The Four Horsemen" was in some ways the most 52-flavored, although it falls off a bit after the first couple of issues.

Also, the store I went to yesterday had exactly four of the things on my list above, but the Colleen Coover-drawn story in KING-SIZE SPIDER-MAN SUMMER SPECIAL is a total joy. I will just say that the plot revolves around magic shampoo.

Hey, ESSENTIAL MAN THING VOL 2 was out today, rounding up the last of the Gerber stories inc. GIANT-SIZE MAN THING NO. 4, one of his v. greatest scripts ("The Kid's Night Out") complete w/ five page text interlude

Was also pretty tempted by that CREEPY H/C but the price was just a bit too rich for my blood

I'd be more interested in a Skywald anthology, maybe.

"We waited and waited DAYS for your autograph, Super Sumo San! FINALLY WE COULD WAIT NO MORE!"

I am loving this series so much.

I loved Lex's "a-HEM!"

huh. According to this week's Robin, the knight-looking guy in the Club of Villains I and many others on The Internets have been assuming is Springheeled Jack is in fact named "Swagman." Hokay.

Is this the guy dressed as bushranger Ned Kelly (big inverted bucket helmet, long coat)? If so, that name makes sense as the Australian baddie opposite the Australian Batman--"swagman" being from 'Waltzing Matilda' (and other places), as a description of the song's thieving anti-hero.

q.: what is this 'crime bible' thing and is it important to know what it is?

lots of cheesecake this issue and another splash cliffhanger which draws a little too much weight from assumed knowledge, still fantastic though, i might buy some other comics at some point, who knows

Near as I can tell, the Crime Bible is Darkseid's ideology spelled out in religious terms. There are a few different versions of it floating around, according to Rucka's mini of the same name.

Is this the guy dressed as bushranger Ned Kelly (big inverted bucket helmet, long coat)?.

That's the one. And he's definitely (supposed to be) speaking with an Australian accent in Robin. I didn't catch the visual reference, I assumed the bucket was a sort of knight-helmet type thing and the duster coat et al were to make him look a bit more grubby and dirty opposite the Knight. "Springheeled Jack" got attached more or less because it was the only loose name we had left from the Island of Mr. Mayhew arc, never mind that it was another name for Jack the Ripper and as such didn't make a great deal of sense for someone in a knight helmet anyway. Eh well, live and learn.

Greg Rucka's Question mini-series is pretty good and has some nice artwork. What is kind of cool is that each of the issues is a self contained story with a different artist each issues that ties together on a theme.

The two mini-series that I just read that I thought were a lot of fun was the Villains United and Secret Six mini-series. Villains United is way better than the Omac series that led up to Infinite Crisis and it actually has an ending, which I don't think any of the other lead-in series had. While the artwork wasn't as sharp on the Secret Six follow up, it was a whole lot of fun.

Gail Simone really had some fun and put some personality into some long standing DC Villains like Vandal Savage, Dr. Psycho (who about steals every panel he is in) and the Mad Hatter. She pretty much re-creates Catman and makes him cool, which is quite a feat and she creates a couple of interesting characters. The series also really uses Deadshot in the same good way that Ostrander did back in the old Suicide Squad.

If you liked how Dr. Psycho was used in 52 in the mad scientist parts, check out both of those series. They are going to be making a new Secret Six series in the next few months and after reading these two mini-series, I am game. These comics were fun.

You might want to hunt down that Birds of Prey crossover just so you know what happened in the meantime. It's not as good as the two minis, but still fun.

Greg Rucka's Question mini-series is pretty good and has some nice artwork. What is kind of cool is that each of the issues is a self contained story with a different artist each issues that ties together on a theme.

Very much agreed. DC did a shameful job of promoting it, though, with horrible John Van Fleet covers and a ludicrous title ("Hi, I'd like to buy a copy of 52 Aftermath: The Crime Bible: Five Lessons of Blood featuring The Question, please").

You know what I love in Final Crisis? Libra. Libra is so terrifically creepy and cruel and unsettling. Most of it is in his words, but Jones does great work with his body language -- he's always got this look of being way ahead of everyone else, this smugness that comes through even though you can only see his eyes. I love the panel when he forces the helmet on to Mike's head -- it's exactly as scary and uncomfortable as it ought to feel.

Also just read and loved this week's INVINCIBLE IRON MAN--Fraction is technically writing the secondary Iron Man book, I guess, but he's treating it like he personally owns the franchise and can do whatever the hell he likes with it. This issue: Tony Stark buys Coca-Cola so he can have supply lines to distribute antiretrovirals in sub-Saharan Africa! And a Tony/Maria Hill scene that clarifies/mystifies the Tony/Pepper relationship brilliantly!

Actually, if the solicits for October (already! god what have I done w/ this year angst etc) are any indication, Fraction IS writing the flagship book -- the IM title w/ tenure is becoming a War Machine book.

Funniest part of Final Crisis:
They've hacked the interwebz. We have to turn it off.
But which one?
All of them.

Also, that issue contains the what may be the single best line of Green Arrow dialogue ever.

This is the first time I've agreed with you in forever (people), Mr. Perpetua.

My favourite line of the issue, however, is Libra's "Lex Luthor! What a time for you to spring up out of nowhere."

I'm half sure Libra will be revealed to be someone we know, but I have no idea who that might end up being.

"I'm half sure Libra will be revealed to be someone we know, but I have no idea who that might end up being."

We have seen human versions of a few of Darkseid's gang, but Desaad seems to be MIA so far.

I dunno, I thought we'd seen Desaad...someone on Douglas's blog (maybe DW himself?) suggested Metron, which makes a lot of sense with the reason given.

Glorious Godfrey is the Reverend in Bludhaven

Granny is with Darkseid in both the Mister Miracle 7 Soldiers series and is getting ready to have some fun with Batman.

I know Kalibak is shown as muscle in 7 Soldiers and in the background of Final Crisis. I think Kalibak is one of the guys that is just beating the crap out of Shilo in 7 Soldiers.

I don't recall seeing Desaad.

Metron played between both sides, but I cannot see him being Libra or at least not willingly. I think Metron is the one that is leaving the weapon to defeat Darkseid planting it all over time with Anthro and Kamandi. Notice that the symbol that Anthro was drawing showed up again with Cave Carson in that one panel in #3.

Desaad cropped up in Seven Soldiers as Shilo's psychiatrist. Dunno if he's shown up since, though.

from Wolk: The "cave art" is the Metron design, and doesn't it look like the scales of justice too?

from Renegade Photography (in the comments): I find it interesting that Libra tells Lex to "Abandon Science and worship Darkseid."

Metron is the God of Science, and we know that he plays a fairly vital role in taking down Darkseid.

I think that "Abandon Science" is a pretty potent line for FC, in that its mission seems at least partly to tear Silver Age DC asunder --there's a line, Libra again, in FC: Req approx. "Now we've killed the first of them", ie Martian Manhunter was the first of DC Silver Age Superheroes (Captain Comet never joined the JLA, so forget him); if Barry Allen is the great martyr of the Silver Age who gave his life that everyone else could live, what else could his return mean but a coming Rapture???--and the Silver Age DC heroes were quite uniformly SCIENCE heroes (though Mad Scientist villains like Luthor go back way further)--and (discounting Zatanna as a fluke) Kirby's Fourth World was the first major introduction of new characters to the DCU not from the Schwartz/Science/Silver mold---I lost my point.

Also, calling together the villains could be a callback to the OG Crisis, where, um, the nasties united to, y'know, attack something. Krona maybe? Qward's moon? SO, Metron-as-Libra could be deep cover assembling the villains to act as a resistance to Anti-Life. I'm stretching here.

Final Crisis is really so great. I just wanted to chime in, since I've now read #3 4 times since I got it. Not too many comics come out with that much rereadability.

"Desaad cropped up in Seven Soldiers as Shilo's psychiatrist. Dunno if he's shown up since, though."

Oh yeah...forgot about that one. I plowed through 7 Soldiers a few weeks back, I should go back and just read the Mister Miracles issues again. I'm reading though that black and white reprint of the original New Gods series right now. I never read those before but there are some interesting parallels.

Oh man, I looked up what Desaad has been up to since 7S, and now I wish I hadn't:

At the end of issue #25 of Countdown to Final Crisis Desaad, who had captured and tortured Professor Martin Stein, is able to take over the mantle and the power of Firestorm for himself. He is defeated and separated from the Firestorm matrix by the Atomic Knights, but flees before he could be captured. After disrupting a battle between Darkseid and Mary Marvel, Desaad gives Darkseid a compound that was unsuccessfully used to access the Anti-Life Equation. Desaad is then released from Darkseid's service. However, Desaad has transported the Pied Piper to Apokolips as Brother Eye arrives. Desaad claims the Piper can channel the Anti-Life Equation and control the planet. Before the Piper can do so, Brother Eye finishes assimilating Apokolips. After recovering, Desaad confesses to masterminding Trickster and Piper's ordeal. However, they are attacked by an OMAC and Piper is captured. Desaad continues to pursue Piper and convinces him to finally play. However, Piper's first act is to kill Desaad.

In Salvation Run, it is revealed that Desaad oversees the training of the New Gods of Apokolips on a planet where Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad had dumped the exiled villains. When he discovers them on this planet, he arranges for the Parademons to eliminate the least powerful villains so that he can train the stronger ones for an unknown goal.

GAH

Also, Jesus, has anyone seen the <a href="http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=20624";>first five pages</a> of next week's Batman? The Batcrack has taken full effect and it is fucking magnificent.

http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?aid=20624

that is

Man, that really looks like it would be fantastic with a competent artist/letterer/colourist (<- one person for preference)

Agreed. It chaps my ass to no end that Tony Daniel is penciling this. If only JHW3 were still on the book...

woah shit what the hell

J.H. Williams III is far too slow for a monthly comic book. It's astonishing that dude could even handle those three issues last year. Any more realistic wishes?

I'm not a big Tony Daniel fan either, but I think it should be taken into account that the dude is busting his ass to get this out on time.

Tony Daniel: the Igor Kordey of BATMAN.

This is the kind of conversation that says to me: get your ass in GEAR, Austin!

Norm Breyfogle, clearly

Tony Daniel: the Igor Kordey of BATMAN.

Except that Tony Daniel sucks all the time, not just when he's in a rush.

Any more realistic wishes?

While I'm at it, I suppose Frank Quitely would be nice, or Brian Bolland, or a pony.

What books has A. Pony worked on?

colour scheme aside, it's hard to resist thinking that's the Goddamn Batman in the preview

What books has A. Pony worked on?

Oh, you know, Big Numbers, Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine, the third issue of Ministry of Space, that kind of thing.

The Buy Pile guy said he hated FC#3. I always knew he was wrong, but I never realized how RONG he could be. I'm done reading that column.

For sheer obstinate thickness, nothing beats these guys:
http://www.doomkopf.com/2008/08/09/book-of-doom-final-crisis-3/

I think Bruce isn't channeling the Goddamn Batman there so much as the Goddamn Cockroach!

Or Jules Feiffer's Hostileman, which is who the Cockroach got his "hsssss" from...

I mean seriously, this is just so stupid. Let’s say I have the resources to engineer an auto-opening email that will do something super bad. Would I probably not have the intelligence to realize 1) not everyone uses email, 2) there are spam filters, and... [etc.]