"Funkytown" by SHIPPS, Inc. (9/17/08)

Via the oft reliable Midtown list

Ta da:

ALL STAR SUPERMAN: God – new material from Jaime and Quitely within a one month period. And we’ll probably have to wait another year for another glimpse at either, too.
SECRET INVASION: THOR: I’m amused by the fact that, despite strenuous avoidance, I find myself in possession of about 483 Secret Invasion tie-ins. Resistance is useless, to coin a phrase.

All Star Clark Kent
Billy Batson and the Power of Shazam
Air - the version with Henry Threadgill, not those French techno dudes

ass

whenever I try to pick up ass at my lcs, it turns out the nerdgirlclerks already have boyfriends.

That acronym had so much more to give. ASS RIP. ;_;

For me:

ALL STAR SUPERMAN #12--farewell, my favorite periodical
BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #2--enjoyed the first one enormously
GREATEST HITS #1--Vertigo superheroes-as-Beatles thing, sounds like fun
THE AGE OF THE SENTRY #1--Parker + Tobin = good times
INCREDIBLE HERCULES #121--but what about Kirby? (The pup.)
MIGHTY AVENGERS #18--more flashbacks, I suppose
BURMA CHRONICLES HC--newest in the Pyongyang/Shenzhen series of Guy Delisle "travelogues"
GLAMOURPUSS #3--oh, they're still publishing this?...
LOCAL HC--I want to read the whole thing at once

Action Comics #869
All Star Superman #12
Spirit Vol 6 #21
Billy Batson And The Magic Of SHAZAM #2
Sword #11
Incredible Hercules #121
Uncanny X-Men #502
X-Factor Vol 3 #35

Wait, did Glamourpuss #2 actually come out? I know I saw it listed, but I never actually saw a copy.

Greatest Hits sounds kind of interesting. I'll flip through it and see if it moves me. Otherwise, just ASS and Air.

All Star Superman
Flash
Amazing Spider-Man
Incredible Hercules
Secret Invasion Thor
X-Factor
X-Men First Class - I am literally paying three bucks a month for Coover's one-to-two pages. I know it's dumb but I can't stop.

Glamourpuss #2 came out, my version had a blue cover

the good thing about the elongated schedule on ASS is that it won't feel like so much of a wait for the promised specials with other artists!

was Cooke's Kryptonite worth checking when it hits paperback or is it rubbish?

All Star Supes - because I love life
Billy Batson - because I love fun
Brave & Bold - because I am indifferent
DCU: DECISIONS - because I hate myself

Cooke & Sale's K'nite's pretty good. if it's cheap get it. PLUS, you probably won't turn to the last chapter only to find some shitball filler

I couldn't get to the shop last week, so I probably have that FC Spectre book and a couple of other things waiting. Going by the list, I will be getting these three. I think the Action might be a bit late.

Conan the Cimmerian #3- I liked the first storyline and it had some sharp artwork. I'm through the Busiek and Nord run of Conan and I really liked those comics.
All Star Superman #12- Curious to see how this ties up and kind of suprised that this is it, as wasn't originally there going to be some other Morrison arcs with other artists?
Action #869- The current amalgam of Braniac has all sorts of machine alien things knicked into him, but I think this story like Johns current run on Action has all been pretty cool. I dig it more than Green Lantern.

I think the further adventures of All Star Superman with Other Artists will be done in one-shot special format.

All-Star Superman- like everyone else everywhere ever.
Action Comics- really enjoying Johns' run. It feels weird to say that. Also icky.
*Checkmate- the asterisk means I'm going to shamelessly pirate this in CBR form. Bruce Jones has fucking destroyed this book, and I can't wait to see how low it can sink in its sadly final issue.
*DC Universe Decisions- again, stealin'. If by some chance this turns out to be any good (it will not), I'll pay for it, but man, this is like a trainwreck fucking the Hindenberg as far as ideas go.
Robin- not really liking this a great deal, but the last issue was surprisingly readable and I'll sit it out at least until the end of this story arc, when we probably find out it's Azrael in the Red Robin costume.
Air- giving this four issues.
Godland
Ghost Rider

All Star Superman #12 - because I'm worth it.
Sword #11 - becuase I find myself unable to stop
Air #2 - for no reason that I can think of

Air is something pretty different. It's not great so far, but promising, and different+promising is apparently good enough for me.

Oh dear god. This cover, it is a real cover:

http://i34.tinypic.com/28letud.jpg

wow

Also, DCU: Decisions is every bit as bad as you would expect. But, in a nod to the endlessly fantastic possibilities of the DC Universe, a place where magic is real and pixies fart unicorn-shaped gumdrops, the Republicans are running a black woman for POTUS and there are four viable candidates. Four! WINICK AND WILLINGHAM, YOU HAVE DONE IT AGAIN

(EVEN THOUGH I POLITELY ASKED YOU NOT TO)

Ah, never mind, a line of dialogue later on reveals this is set during the primary season. MY DISBELIEF IS ONCE AGAIN ADEQUATELY SUSPENDED!

Diamond sent my shop's entire shipment to a different continent :(

Wow, that Brave and Bold cover is right on the border of awful and awesome.

You know, I'm really sick of seeing people who are just coming around to Geoff Johns feel "icky" or still cling to some old disdain from a few years ago. What does it say about comic books that we collectively never expect any of the writers or artists to actually improve over time? I mean, it's understandable, most of the industry is driven by people who seldom change and hacks who find their thing and stick with it, but you know, give someone credit for figuring out how to do their work better! It's some hope, you know? Maybe some other writers will improve in the way Johns has, rather than have their quirks ossify into some grotesque, cynical shtick like, say, Brian Bendis or Frank Miller or Warren Ellis.

Because he's still only alright? In an ideal world, he'd be a good base writer - a solid minimum that you'd expect when you went to the comic store.

(also he is clearly on a twelve-step program regarding his continuity and violence addictions, and could snap at any moment)

rather than have their quirks ossify into some grotesque, cynical shtick like, say, Brian Bendis or Frank Miller or Warren Ellis.

Um, what were you just saying about clinging to years-old disdain?

Perpetua, I'll admit the "icky" thing was a bit too dismissive and flippant. I'd hardly say I'm hanging onto my Johns-hate of old- hell, I'm reading everything he's currently writing except for JSA. But it really does feel weird to see a best-selling but mediocre comics writer actually take the time to improve his/her game because it's sadly rare. Compare Johns, who's gone from the wretched Infinite Crisis to some of DC's most solidly entertaining comics in years, to somebody like Jeph Loeb, who if anything is getting worse.

Johns has basically started treating every comic as if it's an WORLD-SHATTERING! EVENT! issue. And why not? Twelve comics a year isn't much -- why shouldn't every issue be an event? Plus (despite the gore-fests) there's this pleasurable naivete and enthusiasm in his work, and an unusual lack of cynicism -- he never seems like he's going through the motions. Admittedly, he's not always good, and sometimes he's bloody awful, but I think merely saying he's "alright" or "competent" isn't quite right, either.

Incidentally, let's do a count of who's not a total hack at DC at the moment:

Grant Morrison
Geoff Johns
Greg Rucka

Er...

The only Gail Simone book I read is not hackery! (WW)

Whoops! True. Never read her run on WW till last week -- loved the first half of the last issue (straight men monkey characters = gold). The last half kind of lost the plot though?

Me at comic shop when dude hands me my pile with Brave & Bold on top: "Okay, that's enough for me."

I was this close to dropping EVERY SINGLE DC on my pull list, esp now that ASS is over. But, um, I still like Batman and FC. AND WINTER MEN IN DECEMBER!!!

Other non-hacky DC writers of the moment:
Kurt Busiek (I'm looking forward to reading Trinity in trades--it seems to have gotten more interesting since I stopped reading it weekly)
Ivory Madison (her Huntress: Year One thing was bumpy but pretty promising)
Brian K. Vaughan (still writing Ex Machina)
Zander Cannon (looking forward to his Top 10 mini)
Brian Wood (DMZ!!!)

Plus: Dennis O'Neil returning to Batman for two issues! And China Mieville writes Hellblazer! (Well, one story, anyway.)

Gail Simone's Secret Six is also pretty fun read.

Not exactly "of the moment" (tho maybe he's doing that Batgirl mini???) but Adam Beechen had a very, very good run on Robin not too long ago--and before that, a great run on the Justice League book for kids. Fab Nicienza seems tobe doing okay on Robin right now and it's got great art, which helps.

Anyone wanna rep for Matt Sturges?

I'm not calling Johns cynical - I think that like Mark Waid before him he's just got it into his head that it's not important unless someone dies - I've just never read anything by him with an interesting idea in it*.

I'd rate Gail Simone second on the totem pole to be honest, what with her writing on the Atom, Birds of Prey, and the Villains United/Secret Six, and her Marvel (Deadpool/Agent X!) and Wildstorm (Welcome to Tranquility/Gen 13) work. At least three times I've gone "This is good, who wrote it? Oh, it's Gail Simone!"

*Okay, the Action/Legion had one good idea (Superman reclaimed for Earth-firsters) over six comics, and a brutally unsubtle scene where said idea was pounded into us.

I'm enjoying Air, so if Vertigo counts I'll say Willow Wilson, and also Rick Veitch.

and maybe Jason Aaron? I liked the first Scalped trade enough to want to read the second, but not enough to immediately run out and do so.

I'll rep for Sturges on Jack of Fables, and Dini on DC, though whether those are hacky or not are a matter of debate. John Rogers RIP ;_;

Granted, I assume that both Wildstorm & Vertigo are under different editorial umbrellas, and while they obviously answer to the DC bigwigs (cf. the RIDICULOUSLY STUPID decision to cut bait on The Boys, which outsells the majority of DC's output, and nearly all of their Vertigo / Wildstorm books), I don't really think of the creative talent outside of the spandex world as "DC writers." But as far as DC proper, I'd just as soon lay the blame for most of the bullshit at Dan Didio's feet (before I go off on another tangent about how Johns bloody-minded faith in humanity destroyed my childhood).

Zander Cannon (looking forward to his Top 10 mini)

?

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/09/new_alan_moore_documentary_pro.html

Sean McKeever isn't a hack. He's still kinda learning on the job with Titans, though.

One of the big things that Morrison and Johns have in common is an understanding that the villain is often more important to the story to the hero, and that it is essential to fix up the villains while reestablishing what is good and interesting about the heroes. It's surprising how much this eludes a lot of contemporary comics writers.

David, can you possibly make a case for contemporary MIller, Bendis, and Ellis being something other than a collection of tics tacked on to extremely cynical stories?

Ellis produces a lot of stuff, and his quality control is terrible, but NextWave! And the early bits of Doctor Sleepless! Where by "the early bits" I may mean "the solicits and interviews before any of the issues came out".

can you possibly make a case for contemporary MIller, Bendis, and Ellis being something other than a collection of tics tacked on to extremely cynical stories?

If GJ = optimism (w/ his own handy collection of obnoxious tics aside from his love of bloodSPLORT, BTW), then I'll gladly stick w/ Ellis' unabashed and cultivated cynicism (even if, as Andrew noted, he could stand to hit the breaks every so often). Frank Miller (or Mark Millar, who'd be a much better example in all this) I won't defend, even if I still read books by the latter (when the stories / ideas trump his tics). And I'm not sure now BMB qualifies as cynical by any definition of the word, especially when compared to Ellis & Millar, and especially regarding his ongoing work on Ultimate Spider-Man.

Yeah--Ultimate Spider-Man is just a pleasure, through-and-through. Bendis's three Avengers books (counting Secret Invasion) are a weird mixture of succumbing to his tics and extreme formal audacity--structurally, he's pushing really hard, and even though the SI stuff doesn't work a lot of the time, he's trying to do things he hasn't done before.

I really miss the Millar of SUPERMAN ADVENTURES.

I like the formal experiment of the individual New and Mighty issues, but I really can't think of the actual story of Secret Invasion as being anything other than this horrible mixture of cynicism and idiocy. Bendis is the guy who is writing more or less the same exact comic 40+ times, the same goddamn talking point over and over with the most incremental plot development he can muster. It's really sad! It's spoon-feeding. It's an insult to the audience.

u mad, dogg

I approve of what he's doing here -- every big story is made up of as many little stories as there are characters. Some of them are more interesting than others, but they come together and really give a sense of grand scale to something that, in other decades and in the hands of Roy Thomas or Jim Shooter or even Peter David, would have come out "Hey! I've got a planet and you've got an alien armada -- let's put on a show! SOCK! POW! BAM!"

Ellis definitely has his tics, and in his worst work (which is a distressingly large percentage of it these days now that he's a big enough name that he doesn't get much editorial interference or exert quality control) it totally overwhelms the point he's trying to make, but in stuff like Planetary (at least the first two trades and the Batman crossover, I haven't gotten through the rest yet) and Nextwave and the good bits of Transmet, he can be quite fun and surprisingly humanist- yes, I know that's not the meaning of "cynical" you were getting at, and like 80% of his output nowadays is pretty rote and hacky, but with his good stuff you can get the sense that he really loves comics and not the latest stupid shit he read about in Wired.

I haven't read the superhero books that Ellis has done for Marvel except the Iron Man story arc, so maybe that is what you guys don't like, but I think Doktor Sleepless is a pretty good read. It probably isn't a book for everyone, as it is kind of dense and slow by comparison to some books he has done, but I think it is paying off in the end of the first 'arc'. The only thing that is sad is that the stuff I really like by Warren Ellis is the stuff that doesn't really sell, I'd much rather read some more Fell or Desolation Jones than any super hero book he might do. If Ellis were to do a Batman story with JH Williams it would sell a gazillion copies.

The thing is for any of the comic book writers that haven't hit some kind of jackpot that makes them immune, for them to make a bunch of cash, they have to turn out scripts. For those pros that can turn out the scripts, even with the guys that are good, they do so much stuff that they end up putting some stuff that doesn't work or on titles that don't really suit their style. I think a big reason they get the work is that they get it done and turned in. What you are saying of these modern guys is no more true than any of the older writers that worked in comics or scifi or crime writing. When you get paid by the pound some of it is bound to get a bit mailed in at times.

How many books is Bendis going to publish this year anyway? I think the dude still is not about in the John Ostrander late 80s level. I swear Ostrander used to put out 8 comics a month at one point (and I probably read all of them).

I've read a few issues of Doktor Sleepless, but my enthusiasm was a bit dampened when I got halfway through issue 2 and realized it was made almost entirely of short fictions from his livejournal slapped together. I'll probably check it out once it's in trade.

Can't believe I forgot about Fell and Desolation Jones; they're the best things the guy's got going and they've been left by the wayside. Fell for its atypical Ellis protagonist (though not as much of a stretch from his comfort zone as I'd like to see) and Desolation Jones for the fairly tight plotting and gorgeous art. But the delays- argh! Dude finds an artist who can fill the boots of JH Williams III, teases us with a storyline that looks like some kind of conspiracy spun out from Philip K Dick's life in California, and leaves us hanging for what, near on two years now? The prick.

How many books is Bendis going to publish this year anyway?

I'd settle for Powers 30. Five months between issues is a little rough.

Ha, but Earl, Warren Ellis is notorious for turning in scripts in late. In fact, virtually all of the popular writers have major issues with deadlines. They get the work because they sell, and they overcommit because the money is good.

Is Fraction slipping on deadlines yet? I've only recently gotten into his stuff with the first Casanova collection and a few of the things he's written for Marvel. I think I wrote him off originally for some reason but I'm coming around.

I wish I could find the bit of wisdom from some Silver Age guy to the effect of "to make it in this business, you have to be any two of: brilliant; the nicest guy in the world; on time every single time. Any two of those."

Actually, that applies to most businesses. (I can think of a few examples of "second-rater who's really nice and immaculate with deadlines," a few of "wildly creative, punctual jerk" and a bunch more "super-talented, super-nice, can't make deadlines to save his life.")

Occasionally, when you're very lucky, you get all three.

Oh boy, that just screams "list thread".