Saturday, January 07, 2006
 "Eyes gleaming, untouched by love or joy or sorrow...breath hot with the taste of fallen foes...the stench of dead things, damned things...  "Surely the fiercest survivor..the purest warrior...glaring, hating...  "...Claiming me as your own." dialogue from The Dark Knight Returns (1986) by Frank MillerFriday, January 06, 2006Batman, BWS, Comic Books, and You.
 One of my favorite parts of the '60s Batman was when the Dynamic Duo enlisted poor Alfred to take a more active part in their crime-fighting. Please note that Alfred is wearing his glasses over his mask. Combined with the hat and tie, that's one natty crime fighter...kinda like an older version of this fella. Comic Book Galaxy has an exclusive preview of Barry Windsor-Smith's long-awaited Thing graphic novel. The preview is a multi-page extravaganza, with art a'plenty (including some heretofore unseen pieces) and several appreciations of BWS and Ben Grimm by such writers as Steve Bissette, Jog, and somehow I managed to sneak one of my own in too. Go, check it out, demand its release. New comics day: Astonishing X-Men Saga - Oh, look, it's Marvel Saga, with pasted-up excerpted panels and text summaries. Who is this aimed at, exactly? Most X-fans will already have it, and those who don't would probably just buy the trade paperbacks. For completists, and X-fans who don't look closely at what they're buying, only. So the new issue of Witchblade (#93) has a great quote on the cover: "Yes, this is an 'A+' comic. It has it all and then some." It has it all...everything you could ever possibly need, it's in each and every issue of Witchblade. I guess I should have bought it, then. When pal Dorian dropped by the store to pick up his weekly funnybooks, he started poking through the new Teen Titans (#31), and wanted to talk to me about a certain plot point in the story. I said sure, go ahead, which is unusual since I prefer to avoid any spoilers until I go home that evening and read the comic myself. However, when Dor starting laughing at something in the Captain Carrot pages in that same comic, I refused to ask what he was laughing at. I took the spoiler on the main story, avoided the spoiler on the Captain Carrot story...kinda tells me something about how I'm feeling about this comic, I think. Interiorae by Gabriella Giandelli, from Fantagraphics, features a ghostly rabbit floating through an apartment building, observing and commenting on the lives of the people who live there. It's moody, and spooky, and it's the beginning of an ongoing series, apparently, though it works as a stand-alone graphic novel as well. It's an impressive physical object as well...it's a staplebound magazine, printed on very heavy stock (with a dustjacket!) for $7.95, easily half the price of what it would have been had it been released as a squarebound book, I think. That low price point will make me more likely to follow the series, which is good as this opening has me intrigued. Looney Tunes #134: Naked Tweety...I may never recover. Thursday, January 05, 2006Bat-words of wisdom.
 "Of what use is a dream, if not a blueprint for courageous action?" Cleansing the palate.
Something we can all agree on...the best Batman ever:
   Wednesday, January 04, 2006The last word.
Me: "Hey, Kid Chris, you like All-Star Batman and Robin, don't you?"
KC: "Sure do...why?" Me: "Because some folks think we're dumb for liking it." KC: "Then I'll see them...IN HELL!" Okay, okay, enough of that. Though Kid Chris did drop another funny comment while he was visting the shop today: "Hey, these Ultimate comics sure are extreme!" Look, new comics-less Wednesdays are a drag, I'll take entertainment where I can get it. Another thing that came by the store was a brochure for a comics convention taking place next month. As I was flipping through it, I noticed that some of the bios for the media guests were a little out of date...one notes that a particular actress can be seen in a movie premiering in April 2004, another contains the line "now in its fourth season, Smallville airs Wednesdays at 8:00 PM," and yet another refers to the forthcoming release of Club Dread (which came out two years ago). And one of the bios lists the credits for the actress in one paragraph, then repeats the exact same information in a slightly more wordy second paragraph. Oops. Eh, no big deal, really...just found it amusing. "Pseuds ahoy!" -- or, "I'm apparently going to be defending my enjoyment of ASB&R for the rest of my life" -- or, "I'm too nice, sometimes."
To answer a question posed elsewhere: I enjoyed All-Star Batman and Robin because...
1) It's Frank Miller clearly having a good time with the character 2) Like the majority of Miller's recent work, its tongue is firmly in cheek... 2 1/2) ...though not all the time, since, also like the majority of Miller's recent work, there can be tone shifts throughout the story -- not so much in this work, so far, but I think that's what bothered people about Dark Knight Strikes Again 3) It's written like a Big Hollywood Summer Action Movie (with the attendant chase scenes, dialogue, gorgeous dames*, etc.), freeing up the character from the "Dark Avenger of the Night" straightjacket that's been making the Bat-books so (yawn) terribly exciting over the last two decades 4) I'm not the world's biggest Jim Lee fan, but the art in this series has kind of grown on me, particularly in the facial expression department...Robin's reaction to the Batmobile is priceless 5) Miller also seems to be deliberately tweaking the too-serious fans who don't want to see these kinds of shenanigans in their caped crusader comics, what with his dialogue ("I'm the g--" well, you know) and staging choices 6) The overall over-the-top outrageousness of the comic...there've been a couple scenes in each issue that just plain make me laugh out loud. I can't remember the last time a Batman comic made me laugh. I mean, with it, not at it. Okay, to be fair, I do understand that this comic isn't to everyone's taste. No comic ever is, nor should it be. And it's not perfect...again, few comics are. I wasn't even sold on it at first, but upon reading the second issue, something clicked and I just fell into its groove. I like this comic because, to me, it's just plain wacky fun...not because I'm trying to be contrary, not because I'm trying to be pretentious, but because I'm getting my money's worth out of it. Believe you me, the last thing I wanted to do is add yet another comic book to the (semi-)monthly pile, but, well, there you go. But if you like Batman, but don't like this comic, it's not as if there aren't a half-dozen or so different Bat-books on the shelves at any given time. You're spoilt for choice, you are. I'll just be over here, reading my ASB&R and laughing my darn fool head off. (First person to say "emphasis on 'fool'" will get such a pinch....)** Additional linkage: The mighty Jog has a good review of the second issue. * To reiterate a comment I've made before about this comic...it's by Frank Miller and Jim Lee. If having scantily-clad beautiful women in the comic came as a surprise, you just haven't been paying attention.Tuesday, January 03, 2006Tuesday night.
Ken Lowery, America's only comics weblogger, has finally returned...go read, learn.
Anyway, sorry for dipping into the message board well twice in succession, but really, it's hard to resist. These things write themselves...well, literally, I suppose. Hmmm...a weblog that takes the silliest stuff from comic book message boards and posts it for all to see...if only someone out there would do such a thing on a regular basis.... But, seriously, those DC Comics message boards are something else, aren't they? I thought the Mr. Cranky and Ain't It Cool boards were bad. Phew. My earliest experience with a comic book message board (outside of my local BBS scene, where I tended to be in charge of the comic boards, anyway) was on America Online. This was back in the early '90s, when the comic speculator boom was still in full flower, and the AOL boards reflected that. My three primary memories of those days: 1) that one guy who kept hyping up Zen: Intergalactic Ninja as the greatest comic ever, and we all suspected was on the Zen payroll. 2) that one retailer who kept going on about investing in this, investing in that...oh, what, people actually read these things? 3) that ongoing discussion about a plot point at the end of a months-old Superman comic, which everyone thought was going to play into the then-current death/return of Supes storyline, thus making that comic a "Hot Collectible." Then I, as someone who actually read Superman comics, pointed out that plot point had fully played out in the very next issue and had nothing to do with the death/return stuff, which went over about as well as if I had pooped in the punchbowl. I really wished I had kept logs of all the nonsense that was going on there...though, come to think of it, I may have archived some stuff on an old floppy disk somewhere...I'll get back to you on that. Because I'm
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