AUGUST 2009: This SHIP is all month long.

THIS IS WHERE WE KEEP THE COMICS EVERY WEEK

Comics last month really petered out. What happened to big exciting summer events? (I'm looking at you, Marvel.)

War of Kings is the best event either company has going right now. The resurgence of Marvel Cosmic under Abnett & Lanning is really special.

I tried to get into War of Kings (really, I did), but the obscurity of narrative/characters + Rocket Raccoon turned me off.

I dunno, a millenia-old conflict between the Inhumans and Shi'ar (did I get that right? haven't been reading it) seems really pulled out of some mid-level editor's behind at a Marvel retreat to me. (xpost)

I'm enjoying Dark Reign, esp. since there's not an actual DARK REIGN ZOMG miniseries (yet).

I'll take obscure characters rising to new relevance over the Lucky Charms & Zombies DC event. The biggest difference between the two is one depends on the tie-in with core Universe characters and the other is trying to do something on its own.

I think good writing can make one care about characters/events that you might otherwise discount (like Rocket Raccoon and Star Lord); Abnett & Lanning have done this for me with Nova, their work on Annihilation (though Conquest was a bit of a crap shoot), and Guardians of the Galaxy. Looks like they've rescued Dark Hawk this time 'round.

Dark Reign is an interesting idea, though played off far too slowly and too long, much as the Skrull non-event.

Bendis is hot or miss with me in general, though many more misses than hits lately. Geoff Johns has yet to really connect with me, aside from bits and pieces of JSA and the Superman & LoSH run in Action. I like some of his ideas but dislike his scripting immensely.

I gave in and and have been getting caught up on Green Lantern. That origin of Black Hand issue #43 was violent as hell for a comic without your usual 'mature audiences' label. I don't think even Ennis has written a page like the full one right before Black Hand 'becomes' a black lantern. Mahnke's artwork worked well on the story, but criminy...

"I think good writing can make one care about characters/events that you might otherwise discount"

Bingo. I finally found a used copy of the first Annihilation trade paperback and thought it was some pretty fun stuff with plenty of big comic action. Cool thing is that it has some continuity play (like some of the stuff with Drax), but it doesn't really matter to someone reading it all for the first time. I'm hooked at least to read the other two parts of the original series.

"there's not an actual DARK REIGN ZOMG miniseries (yet)"

I pretty much think Dark Avengers is a mini-series, just not called one. Marvel isn't doing subs for the title. I think the zombies are getting a bit tired of Dark Reign, but I think it is a way better story plot hook than either the Civil War or the Secret Invasion. That being said, as much as I have liked the Dark Avengers title, as it has been cool and creepy, I'm skipping the crossover with the x-men or at least trade-waiting on that one.

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #16
WEDNESDAY COMICS #5

And maybe that cheap IRREDEEMABLE trade, but I suspect it won't carry as much "limbs raining on London/human skin hanging on the clothesline" action as I desire.

Oh and that LOCAS 2 thing, eventually - if you're really my friend you'd buy it for me.

Cap Reborn, Wednesdae.

Luke Cage Noir?

Just looked it up. I think the best thing about it will probably be the name.

I'd buy Locas 2, but I kinda prefer the new smaller digest format. And so does my back.

Apart from that: Iron Man (still, somehow, quite good!), the Irredeemable TPB (which looks kinda terrible, but I feel a bizarre sense of customer loyalty to Mark Waid after 52 and B&TB ), Secret Six (which I'll probably drop soon) and Wednesday Comics (which I'll probably drop next week).

Did sadface fans catch Ultimatum last week? What a horrendous, horrible comic.

Also, incidentally, does anyone find Wednesday Comics an unexpected chore to read? Putting the text-heavy Kamandi on Page 2 (although it's quite good) is a bit of a speedbump, too.

Did sadface fans catch Ultimatum last week?

Nah. I hate myself at least a little bit less than Jeph Loeb hates the centuries-long tradition of competent storytelling.

Can i just say that I need to be slapped for buying floppies? I just want to trade them in for bound editions when they inevitably come out anyway...

"inevitably"

well just about everything comes out in trade eventually don't it?

not if it doesn't sell well enough in floppies etc etc

feels like anything I'm ever interested does.

Today I was half tempted to read 'Blackest Night' for some mad reason, sought out the first issue, saw it was 1 of EIGHT, with numerous spin-offs suddenly lost interest and came to my senses.

Not a very interesting story, I know.

Oh, there's no way I'd be jumping on the Blackest Night train if I wasn't already reading and invested in the GL titles. I don't think it's something that will reward a cold reading. It remains to be seen if it's something that will reward a reading, perios.

Or 'period', if you will.

I just felt the need for a big fun epic, having just reread Morrison's X-Men run.

Well, Doom Patrol/Metal Men seemed pretty flat, unfortunately.

Metal Man is the worst comic property ever.

bprd 1947, hellboy wild hunt, woopsday omics

hahaha I just read the plot description of Ultimatum and holy shit that's bad

However, the two of them soon find the Blob eating the Wasp's corpse while remarking, "Tastes like chicken."

...

Hank Pym, furious at the death of Janet, bites the Blob's head off of his body...

Jeph Loeb is the Rob Liefeld of comics writing.

I'm sorry. That was a little unfair to Rob Liefeld.

TS - Jeph Loeb vs Mark Millar

TS - Anal hemorrhaging vs cookies

we are clearly not going to agree on the topic of Mark Millar.

Mark Millar may have written "Wanted" but it's not like that's the only thing he's ever written and that everything has been that terrible!

I mean, Loeb managed to get fired from "HEROES"; that takes talent.

Fo realz. I could name probably a half dozen Millar stories/books that I've liked a lot. I can't name a single Loeb comic I've read that didn't touch me wrong.

I liked Red Son, but otherwise Millarworld & Loebville are very close neighbors.

ok ok

I'll take a look at this Red Son. Anything else you defenders would like to recommend?

The only thing of his that I super-enjoyed was his Authority run. Everything else has been kind of Ellis-wannabe.

I'm not much of a defender - it is literally the only thing that doesn't make me want to punch him immediately. Loeb is shoot on sight.

x-post

Hmm - I always thought the Authority was his most Ellis-esque, him taking over an Ellis created thing and all.

perhaps I should have said UNSUCCESSFUL Ellis-wannabe

although I did like his Ultimate X-Men run, too

and the first issue of Kick-Ass was okay, although not compelling enough to make me want to read the rest

bah, millar is a much better writer of superhero comics than Ellis. one of the things I really like about millar is that, unlike most of his contemporaries (esp mark fuckin DC waid) he TOTALLY understands the Marvel Universe in a way that Roy Thomas might dig/recognise - he knows the characters, the continuity etc - but he also has that kind of zeitgeist-sucking cynicism that stan 'pop art productions' lee was also totally abt. best millar imho is the wolverine run he did w/ jrjr a few years back (i hear from martin skidmore that the more recent 'old man wolverine' storyline by millar is gd too, but that has yet to be collected) - the first series of the ultimates runs it pretty close, and i enjoyed CIVIL WAR too

loeb has to be the worst mainstream comics hack since gerry conway, w/out any of conway's redeeming qualities

oh yeah I heard GREAT things about that but I do not read/buy solo Wolverine

and YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS someone else thinks Waid sucks, yay

Big name superhero writers I now avoid because they make me very, very unhappy (in order, greatest offender first):

Loeb
Waid
Johns
Millar
Busiek

and sadly, because I liked some of his earlier stuff: Bendis

Millar's sadism squicks me out, and there were a few stylistic tics in the first Ultimates series that felt like laziness to me.

I'm not hella Captain Save-a-Millar, either, but...well, Ward pretty much said it. Loeb is hands-down the worst current mainstream comics writer whose work I am aware of and have read.

As for Millar's ace work? His Ultimates and Ultimate X-Men stuff, his Swamp Thing run (probably my favorite, even though [or perhaps because] the Rumor Mill would have you believe that Morrison was ghostin'), his Superman Adventures run... I remember his Authority being pretty good stuff (which I definitely enjoyed more than the Ellis run). The recent 1985 was fun. His co-scripting joints with Morrison (Aztek, The Flash) were pretty good, too.

That said, I do agree with WmC. I really don't bother with any Millar stuff that seems as if it focuses largely on the brutal evisceration of its cast.

Millar's "Superman Adventures" run is a delight, and can usually be picked up for pennies. Try #41 for starters.

More good Millar: Saviour, the Flash run with Morrison (esp try the three one-shots after their first three-parter).

Greatest Millar ever: Big Dave (also with Morrison. Parkouse eps only, the replacement dude [Anthony Williams?] didn't get it. Really, you can just stick to the b&w Summer Offensive stories.)

I also really loved Ultimates vol 1, and loathed vol 2 by the end.

By an odd coincidence -- the likes of which COULD ONLY HAPPEN IN A COMIC BOOK -- Millar's Ultimates 3 was released this week. I can only conclude that no one has mentioned it on ILC thus far because the comic itself is, unfortunately, pretty weak piss.

I'm staying away because it has the potential to be the most horrific thing ever - Millar writing in the fetid wake left by Loeb's Ultimates & Ultimatum.

It's not horrific at all, actually, but it has to be one of the most generic comics of Millar's I've ever read. Even his bad stuff tends to be recognisably Millar-ish. This just seems pretty hacky.

(Which is a shame! I really wanted to like it -- the Ultimates was pretty terrific up until the last few issues.)

Glad to hear it's mediocre. That's a huge step up from Loeb's run.

Yeah, it's really not much of a competition, what with Ultimates 3 #1 being one of the absolute worst comics things I've ever read experienced.

Loeb is the Liefeld of comics writers maybe. How does he get work -- pity?

Batman/Superman was partially entertaining, part of the time. Aren't some of his Batman comics (with Tim Sale) sort of okay?

Ultimates 3 #1 still (unbelievably) >>>> the last issue of Ultimatum.

He and Tim Sale did a couple of passable things - the first Batman Halloween special, Hulk:Gray and Challengers of the Unknown. But those were mainly a long, long time ago.

Yeah, the Ed McGuinness stuff on Superman/Batman is pretty wild fun. The first arc is fucking great, the last one is so-so, but at least has Batzarro for a couple of great laffs. The 20 or so issues in between suck dog balls.

Air, FCA:D, DD, Wimpsday

(Incidentally, thanks for being nice about my workplace in Pra1r1e Dawg, Mr Fox TV Executive)

(no prob! had honestly been neglecting it until you announced yr blog for them on ILC, and rediscovered/rekindled/blah/blah. have pitches nearly ready to pitch to miscellany)

(also, I always kinda thought I disguised my secret ID better. I feel like Green Arrow.)

Just Wednesday Comics. Would love to read the Bob Levin article in TCJ, but neither the comic shop nor the bookshop get shelf copies anymore.

I am apparently still buying the Final Crisis follow-ups. I think I read the first issue of RUN. It was kinda fucking nuts, but not in a very entertaining way. I thought it might be an interesting exercise to read them all. I don't know, maybe when they're all over?
Bought Blackest NIght #2. Was sure it was drawn by Rags Morales for the first four pages. THen I was, wait, isn't he still drawing NIghtwing? GOD. Who's drawing Nightwing then? I'll probably buy #3, because now that I've bought two, I mean, that's it, right? Also, WHERE IS VIBE? If you can put FIrestorm in there, you can put Vibe.
Also bought The Marvels Project, because of goodwill toward Brubaker (despite not really liking the first issue of Criminal) & Epting. Is this good comics now? Fuck, it has the same plot as Kingdom Come. Only instead of the future, it takes place in the past! Does Mark Waid know?

Sigh...
Blackest Night Superman
Dark Entries
Final Crisis Aftermath Dance
Hellblazer
Supergirl
Superman Annual
Wednesday Comics
Genext United
X-Factor
X-Men Legacy

FYI, y'all: Dark Entries is the long-delayed Ian Rankin Hellblazer graphic novel.

comic book store dudes, just curious, what are the sellthru rates on these?

FYI number 2: this week's issue of Brave and the Bold features the return of XOMBI!!1!!1!!! Or his introduction to the DCU proper, I guess. And it's written by Rozum. Can collections be far behind...?

Loved the writing on that series, but the art looked like a four year old did it.

Yeeeeaaaaahh... A lot of that Milestone artwork was pretty bad, if memory serves. It was the mid-90s, though. So, y'know...shockah.

Xombi really was one of the best and most underrated series of the 90s, for sure. Such bizarre stuff. I liked it enough that I was almost tempted to check out Rozum's extremely long run on the Scooby Doo comic. Almost.

BLOOD SYNDICATE 4 LIEF

Big fan of Static as well.
Hardware sucked btw.

Yeah, Hardware was actively awful.

Icon was also pretty dope.

The Static cartoon is most best. I hope the character hits it big in the DCU so we can get some DVDs of that shit already.

Ha, I remember catching some episodes of Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force and being really shocked at how good they were, then learning they were done by McDuffie/Joe Kelly/Duncan Rouleau/Joe Casey/Steven T. Seagle and not being that surprised.

Also this week, a collected edition of some of the latter Archie Comics TMNT storylines, prior to the continuation of that series. I'm fairly certain that I am one of approximately eleven people (sadly) excited about this development.

Some of those were good! Didn't Mike Kazaleh and Freddy Milton do some of those?

Kazaleh at least, yeah. Some of his stuff is in that TPB. And it was good! I mean, it was a kids comic, but it seems more and more that kids comics are some of the better and more fun stuff out there.

The collection comprises two storylines where the Turtles meet their future selves and this mutated shark who travels through time via a machine that's hooked up to Hitler's brain...or something? It's kind of insane, I guess.

Alright, sold.

Looking at this list, I realize that I haven't had a good comics cull in a while. And also that Diamond needs to look into punctuation.

Batman & Robin
Blackest Night Titans
Detective Comics
Flash Rebirth
Green Lantern
Madame Xanadu
Superman
Supermans Pal Jimmy Olsen Special
Wednesday Comics

Dark Avengers
Dark X-Men Beginning
New Mutants
X-Force
X-Men Forever

Muppet Show

Also:
JUN090076 I HEART CREEPY MENS T/S LG $19.99

Because I heart creepy mens.

Madame Xanadu?

Ha ha, yes. If you're asking in a puzzled, "I didn't know that existed" fashion, then Vertigo is seriously falling down on the job. It's an ongoing series that's been running for over a year now, written by Matt Wagner. Soon to feature a Sandman Mystery Theater x-over, of sorts.

Oh, also: the new Citizen Rex is out. The Hernandez brothers really should've thought of a title that my eye wouldn't glaze right over.

X-Factor has been pretty reasonable, right? I feel like there's still enough character stuff going on even though the last couple issues seem to be a lot of fighting interspersed with parts catching up with the future x-posse

Yeah, still like X-Factor. Although it took the last-issue recap to make sense of some things not actually mentioned in the comic, plus the final page reveal wasn't well-enough drawn for you to realise for sure what was happening (it was only a mention in the letter column that confirmed what I thought it might mean).

Went to get the latest three Wednesday Comics but the shop was shut. Bookstore had one copy of TCJ #299 with the Bob Levin story on "How Michael Choquette (Almost) Assembled the Most Stupendous Comic Book in the World," though - HUZZAH

this week I have bought:

Citizen Rex
Sherlock Holmes
Batman & Robin

If you're asking in a puzzled, "I didn't know that existed" fashion, then Vertigo is seriously falling down on the job.

I'm more surprised you're buying it. Once the Amy Reeder Hadley art stopped I could not really see any point to it.

Er... perhaps the Michael Wm. Kaluta art from the current storyline?!

KING CITY #1: Picked up on a whim and a blurb. 32 whole pages for $2.99. Probably worth your while.