Can anything bring back COTM?

Poll question: COTM: Chillin at the beach, out at Club Med

Poll result (2 votes) Yes. This week's Walking Dead. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEe (1 votes) Vote Yes. The Endless Nation. East of West, WHUT (0 votes) Vote Yes. Dark elves with pretty rings. IRON MAN (0 votes) Vote Yes. DEATH TRIP. Y'all heard? (1 votes) Vote Yes. PtPT(umbler, fools) (0 votes) Vote No. AIN'T NEVER LEFT (0 votes) Vote

Enjoy the concept, enjoy seeing you do your thing free hand, enjoy GHOSTS.

After an unintended hiatus (freelancing you so crazy) I am back on it and working like hell to finish up the 2nd issue. Really happy with how it's developing and excited to show y'all soon!

http://ferrariboyz.talestosuffice.com/?p=176

Their second adventure is underway and in true sequel fashion is bigger and dumber than ever before!

Hilarious, as always, Senor Buck.

... Say, next week in Anaheim???



"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

No table for me this year, got too much going on that weekend.

But – I'll be around on Friday, most likely rolling with K4

And on Saturday I'll be on another hip hop & comics panel at 7pm

Sunday I'll be home eating peeps


I'll try and have some stuff on hand though. Got some proof copies of Rhyme Travelers #2 I'll be showing off. Some of my other stuff will be finished but not printed yet – Gonna have a bunch of shitzles dropping at San Diego

> Got some proof
>copies of Rhyme Travelers #2 I'll be showing off.

had planned to take #1 to the library comics club last wkd. but couldn't find it in my boy's room. Looking forward to #2.

>I knew one of them was going to do that

"yeah, he take it back, he the indian giver" phife on rick

NM

Every week, PREVIEWSworld announces which comics, graphic novels, toys and other pop-culture merchandise will arrive at your local comic shop. The products will be on sale in comic shops on the indicated date. This list is tentative and subject to change. Please check with your retailer for availability.

PREMIER PUBLISHERS

DARK HORSE COMICS

FEB140090 1 FOR $1 EMILY AND STRANGERS #1 $1.00
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DEC130125 CHRONICLES OF CONAN TP VOL 26 LEGION O/T DEAD $19.99
DEC130138 CRIME DOES NOT PAY ARCHIVES HC VOL 07 $49.99
FEB140022 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #35 (MR) $7.99
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NOV130076 ITTY BITTY ABE SAPIEN PLUSH $14.99
NOV130075 ITTY BITTY HELLBOY PLUSH $14.99
DEC130139 ITTY BITTY HELLBOY TP $9.99
FEB140019 SKYMAN #4 $2.99
FEB140063 STAR WARS #7 LUCAS DRAFT $3.99
FEB140064 STAR WARS DARTH VADER & CRY OF SHADOWS #5 $3.50
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FEB140057 TERMINATOR ENEMY OF MY ENEMY #3 $3.99
DEC130105 TREKKER TRAIN TO AVALON BAY TP $9.99
FEB140029 WHITE SUITS #3 $3.99

DC COMICS

JAN140346 ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN TP VOL 01 $14.99
FEB140282 AMERICAN VAMPIRE SECOND CYCLE #2 (MR) $2.99
FEB140198 BATMAN #30 (ZERO YEAR) $3.99
FEB140200 BATMAN #30 COMBO PACK (ZERO YEAR) $4.99
FEB140204 BATMAN AND WONDER WOMAN #30 $2.99
FEB140142 BATMAN ETERNAL #2 $2.99
FEB140206 BATWOMAN #30 $2.99
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DEC130340 DAYTRIPPER DELUXE ED HC (MR) $34.99
JAN140352 FINAL CRISIS TP NEW EDITION $19.99
FEB140225 GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #30 $2.99
FEB140211 HARLEY QUINN #5 $2.99
JAN140340 JOKER DEATH OF THE FAMILY TP (N52) $24.99
JAN140243 JUSTICE LEAGUE #29 (EVIL) $3.99
JAN140245 JUSTICE LEAGUE #29 COMBO PACK (EVIL) $4.99
NOV130241 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA OMNIBUS HC VOL 01 $99.99
FEB140217 RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #30 $2.99
FEB140218 SINESTRO #1 $2.99
FEB140236 SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 LANTERN #1 $3.99
FEB140194 SUPERGIRL #30 $2.99
FEB140170 TRINITY OF SIN PANDORA #10 $2.99
FEB140297 UNWRITTEN VOL 2 APOCALYPSE #4 (MR) $3.99
FEB140179 WONDER WOMAN #30 $2.99

DC COMICS/DC COLLECTIBLES

OCT130312 SCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED BMB MINI FIGURES SER 2 $118.00

IDW PUBLISHING

FEB140374 24 OMNIBUS TP $24.99
FEB140462 7TH SWORD #1 $3.99
JAN140502 ALICE IN COMICLAND HC $29.99
JAN140431 CHARLES SCHULZ PEANUTS ARTIST ED HC PI
JAN148246 DANGER GIRL GI JOE LTD DLX HC PI
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FEB140380 FRANKENSTEIN ALIVE ALIVE REANIMATED ED $5.99
JAN140507 GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ LOCKE & KEY ARTIST ED PORTFOLIO PI
FEB140442 GHOSTBUSTERS ONGOING TP VOL 07 HAPPY HORROR DAYS $17.99
FEB140370 GODZILLA HISTORYS GREATEST MONSTER TP $29.99
FEB140368 GODZILLA RULERS OF EARTH TP VOL 02 $17.99
FEB140445 HAUNTED HORROR #10 $3.99
JAN148247 MARS ATTACKS ATTACK FROM SPACE LTD DLX HC PI
FEB140391 POWERPUFF GIRLS TP VOL 01 $19.99
JAN140496 ROCKETEER SPIRIT PULP FRICTION HC $21.99
FEB140444 STAR MAGE #1 $3.99
FEB140430 STAR SLAMMERS REMASTERED #2 $3.99
JAN140494 SUPERMAN SILVER AGE NEWSPAPER DAILIES HC VOL 02 1961-1963 $49.99
JAN140477 THUNDER AGENTS #7 $3.99
FEB140340 TRANSFORMERS DARK CYBERTRON TP VOL 01 $19.99
FEB140337 TRANSFORMERS WINDBLADE #1 DAWN O/T AUTOBOTS $3.99
FEB140417 X-FILES ANNUAL 2014 $7.99
FEB140419 X-FILES SEASON 10 HC VOL 02 $24.99

IMAGE COMICS

FEB140643 A VOICE IN THE DARK #6 (MR) $3.99
JAN140547 CBLDF PRESENTS LIBERTY HC (MR) $29.99
JAN140550 CRAWL SPACE OVERSIZED OMNIBUS HC $49.99
JAN140589 FIVE WEAPONS #8 $3.50
FEB140504 GENESIS GN $6.99
FEB140610 MERCENARY SEA #3 $2.99
FEB140615 MINIMUM WAGE #4 (MR) $3.50
DEC130584 MORNING GLORIES #38 (MR) $3.50
JAN140558 SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 01 (MR) $9.99
FEB140517 SHOTGUN WEDDING #3 (MR) $3.99
FEB140634 STRAY BULLETS THE KILLERS #2 (MR) $3.50
FEB148000 TALES OF HONOR #1 2ND PTG $2.99
DEC130606 WITCHBLADE #174 CVR A CHRISTOPHER $2.99
DEC130607 WITCHBLADE #174 CVR B BRAGA $2.99

MARVEL COMICS

FEB140808 AMAZING X-MEN #6 $3.99
JAN140794 DAREDEVIL BY MARK WAID PREM HC VOL 07 $24.99
FEB140812 DEADPOOL VS CARNAGE #2 $3.99
FEB140684 HULK #1 ANMN $3.99
JAN148385 MAGNETO #1 2ND PTG RIVERA VAR ANMN $3.99
JAN148386 MOON KNIGHT #1 2ND PTG SHALVEY VAR ANMN $3.99
FEB140723 MS MARVEL #3 ANMN $2.99
JAN148387 NEW WARRIORS #1 2ND PTG TO VAR ANMN $3.99
FEB140795 NOVA #16 $3.99
JAN148389 PUNISHER #3 2ND PTG GERADS VAR ANMN $3.99
JAN148388 SHE-HULK #2 2ND PTG WADA VAR ANMN $2.99
JAN140805 SPIDER-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIPS TP VOL 01 $39.99
FEB140659 SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #31 ANMN $5.99
JAN140804 SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 05 SUPERIOR VENOM $17.99
JAN140812 THOR EPIC COLLECTION TP KINGDOM LOST $34.99
FEB140747 THOR GOD OF THUNDER #21 ANMN $3.99
FEB140778 ULTIMATE FF #1 $3.99
FEB140729 UNCANNY X-MEN #20 ANMN $3.99
NOV130705 UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS HC VOL 02 $99.99
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FEB140814 WOLVERINE #4 $3.99
FEB140739 WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #3 ANMN $3.99
FEB140754 X-FORCE #3 ANMN $3.99
FEB140805 X-MEN #13 $3.99

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

FEB141403 SAN HANNIBAL #1 $2.99

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/10/amazon-acquires-digital-comic-book-service-comixology/


Not sure if it makes financial sense, but I hope Amazon made a dedicated comic reader tablet.

Are Apple devices about to be assed out?

And what of us little fish selling our wares on the platform?

It will be interesting to see what happens next. Crazy to see how far they (and digital comics in general) have come though

All-New X-Factor, not so much.

I really enjoyed this. Thanks to the kind PTP'er that mentioned it last week.

I stared at this one a good long while on the rack, but then I figured I just bought into Silver Surfer, enjoyed it, I didn't see a need for a seemingly similar niche comic chasing right after it. The pain of who gets to market first coming to comics now...

and I've been enjoying the similarly-themed Starlight.

But it felt throwback in a lot of ways but without any *contemporary* elements. *shrug*

I thought that was interesting. It didn't feel intentionally throwbacky... The voice was more or less contemporary. But the character and story elements seemed pulpy as ever. Aside from that commentary-laced opening page, this was a pretty timeless take on things. I think that was smart. I enjoyed it

I didn't really get the throwback, super-fun-time vibe I was looking for until they got to *Spoiler, I guess* the forest planet toward the end. That's when it got swashbucklerish and I was into it then. Like most books, I come for the art and stay for the story - Evan Shaner is pressing my buttons, especially since he's so similar to Samnee (Daredevil) and I always like Bellaire's colors.

Am I missing something on how they got to Mongo? Did that happen in Kings Watch or do you think that will be revealed via flashbacks?

Maybe it's just me and I'm a goofball, but I'll take all the Silver Surfer, Flash Gordon kinda books they want to make. I got enough stress in real life that I can go for some good old fashioned #fun when I'm reading comics before bed!

Just put the old 30s/40s Flash Gordon on hold at the library, I really only know the 80s movie and I think their might have been a cartoon I watched in there once, so this new book has me wanting to know more about the characters - points for them.

It was the art and the adventure element that did it for me

I like Parker's Batman 66 a lot so I have hope that I'll find more to latch onto as it goes on (not that there's much in the way of character development in '66). That said, the art and adventure is so great that for now it's kind of enough for me to look forward to it.

Could absolutely not see this working with any other artist/visual style. I'm reading this one for the vibe/visuals and it's a delicate balance but STILL DIGGING IT

if the kids walking alongside when the Ghost blows past can't feel the rumble in their rib cage as it goes by, CANCEL THAT SHIT!

*spoiler if your subscription copy hasn't arrived yet*

http://marvel.com/news/comics/2014/2/21/21998/burn_up_the_streets_with_all-new_ghost_rider_lowrider_magazine

Flipping switches is the new flaming chains?


Actually...


I can kinda get with that...

>Could absolutely not see this working with any other
>artist/visual style. I'm reading this one for the vibe/visuals
>and it's a delicate balance but STILL DIGGING IT

http://www.humanoids.com/book/280#.U0gCBVcXI0A

The kind of thing I'm glad I read even if I don't go crazy for it... I've never read Heavy Metal (or Metal Hurlant) but assume it was largely filled with this kind of thing. Badass redhead queen undergoes trials physical and metaphysical to become worthy of King Umbral. Filled with magical powers, sex, meditation, rampaging armies, sex with a monkey man, murder, gang rape.

Enjoyable and very impressive, though I wouldn't want to read this kind of thing too often.

Very dry espionage story set in Berlin around the fall of Communism. Quintessential library comic read: I enjoyed it but had it not been free, well...

Will return with thoughts

(Am I crazy for noticing a Manhattan Projects-esque color scheme in the cover design?)

http://www.amazon.com/Feynman-Jim-Ottaviani/dp/1596438274

I come from a complete disadvantage here, as I know nothing about Halo or modern video games in general. Apparently it's a pretty big deal.

The graphic novel is an anthology of 4 shorts. They're okay, for the most part. I picked up the book because Moebius did the art for the final story, and I'd never read anything from him. That was easily the best story.

Can't grade it or even really give it a great review b/c it's not designed as an introduction to the world, rather a fleshing-out of the world for fans of the game. So if that's you, give it a shot and let us know what you think.

His stuff is woefully underprinted these days... There was a re-packaging of The Incal not too long ago and I don't think a copy exists in the entire LAPL system. That's the only thing I own of his, which I was prompted to buy after reading The Airtight Garage through... illicit means.

I played the original Halo but I'd still be lost, I'm sure. I didn't realize there was a "world" there to be fleshed out beyond just shooting the shit out of everything

http://www.amazon.com/Halo-Fall-Reach-Eric-Nylund/dp/0765367297/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397448244&sr=1-1&keywords=halo+fall+of+reach

I'm sure it bites the life outta Ender's Game in some aspects, but man. It's so sad and badass at the same time.

That Halo has not yet succeeded as a show or movie is a major fucking failing.

Except, like, it pays to save your power weapons for the big enemies and little guys are for scoring headshots with a single fire gun

Speeding down that final corridor you have to go down at the end of the first game. Twas a humbling victory

Nope.

No way have you beat every Halo game and not dig the story.

The story is ridiculously nonsensical. Me and a friend co-op every campaign together, and we both talk about how the cutscenes don't make any sense to us. In one game it's the Flood. In the newest games there's like light weapons. One of the games I died at the end or something? Seriously, no clue...

Picked up the New Ultimates (Miles Morale's Spidey, Cloak n' Dagger, Kitty Pryde, Black Widow and Bombshell)....

decent start, but I hope they are patient and let individual storylines breath instead of trying to cram all of them into each issue.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=52143

EEEEEEEEEEE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM&feature=kp

Captain America #6 (hottest comic book out right now). Either cover, but Bucky cover goes for more. $20-25 for Cap cover, $30-40 for Bucky cover. Cap #14 is also heating up.

Invincible #110. Just came out and already sold out everywhere. $18-20 already.

...i copped Invincy yesterday, just off what you said here...craziness...there were a few copies left

and online it was completely sold out.

he comes up with stuff that seems so simple but no one has quite done before. like, has anyone made bruce dumb before?

and that's not a real compliment....Jones' run was cool, but really too dark and conspiracy laden for a mainstream Hulk book, and later got retconned... i wanna see where this goes, but i'm not too optimistic..."slow" Bruce should be interesting to see though.....i think when David wrote Hulk he had Bruce be kind of mindless rage while the Hulk was calmer and more intelligent....

all that said, i don't think i buy the whole "Bruce got shot" thing a good story period, since we've seen that it's supposedly impossible to do....yeah, i'm not not buying it, just based off the Hulk history i know off hand

.i think when David wrote Hulk he
>had Bruce be kind of mindless rage while the Hulk was calmer
>and more intelligent....
>

That Savage Banner development had a young Afron ready to proclaim Peter David as the GOAT.

his run on Hulk has few rivals considering how long it was....and to write hulk well is tougher than it looks...in the last 20 years, only Pak and David have done it really well..... Waid is cool, but he ain't writing the hulk like them boys did....

> his run on Hulk has few rivals considering how long it
>was....and to write hulk well is tougher than it looks...in
>the last 20 years, only Pak and David have done it really
>well..... Waid is cool, but he ain't writing the hulk like
>them boys did....

IMO, a lot of the problem certain writers have when it comes to writing the character well, comes from the revisionist view that the book has always been about Banner's struggle with his dark side. They aggressively refuse to deal with the Hulk as a character in his own right. It's also the reason that the movie version never pops off like they want it to. Pak and Aye-Aye-Ron are the only ones I can think of post-PAD who even tried, and only one was successful.

Waid is easily one of the best to ever do it in this medium, aside from all of 3 issues, his run has been powerfully mediocre. I don't know whether he's hamstrung by the success of the Avengers movie or if it's just his disinterest in the character. Probably a combination of both.

>Waid is easily one of the best to ever do it in this medium,
>aside from all of 3 issues, his run has been powerfully
>mediocre. I don't know whether he's hamstrung by the success
>of the Avengers movie or if it's just his disinterest in the
>character. Probably a combination of both.
>
>

the funny thing is, people not really familiar with the Hulk are eating it up....i'm not mad at the guy, but i've just seen Big Green be alot better....concepts he's done are variations of stuff older hulk fans have already seen...

The boldest moves in Hulk history the past few years were all Pak...kicking him off Earth, giving him a "from the bottom" Gladiator esque story, giving him a family, putting him at war with Earth's heroes.....i think Waid is trying, but he doesn't care for the character like he does DD, and it shows...

>
>the funny thing is, people not really familiar with the Hulk
>are eating it up....i'm not mad at the guy, but i've just seen
>Big Green be alot better....concepts he's done are variations
>of stuff older hulk fans have already seen...
>

That's why I thought your Bruce Jones comparison was on point. During his run I used to tell people "if you really hate the Hulk you should pick it up" since he was such a non-factor.
When everyone was going crazy after the Avengers talking about how they finally "got Hulk right," I would assumed they meant that they got Banner right. Hulk was still a cipher.

>The boldest moves in Hulk history the past few years were all
>Pak...kicking him off Earth, giving him a "from the bottom"
>Gladiator esque story, giving him a family, putting him at war
>with Earth's heroes.....i think Waid is trying, but he doesn't
>care for the character like he does DD, and it shows...
>

A the time the idea of isolating Hulk in a remote portion of space for 14(!) issues was insane. Looking at how comics are right now, it's even crazier that an idea like that could fly.

There was some interview Waid gave where he was asked what Hulk thought about Banner's deal with Shield. Waid's response was that Hulk probably didn't have an opinion on it.
It pretty much showed where he was at with the character.

>There was some interview Waid gave where he was asked what
>Hulk thought about Banner's deal with Shield. Waid's response
>was that Hulk probably didn't have an opinion on it.
>It pretty much showed where he was at with the character.
>

damn, that's kinda dissapointing...just reading that makes me not wanna check for any more of Waid's hulk...

I've been curious about getting into the BPRD books (I've read most of Hellboy but never any BPRD) but there's so much of it I have no idea if I should just start with #1 or if there's storylines that are gonna grab me more. Any thoughts?

I've not been a particularly avid reader but my main impression is that the BPRD books make up an ongoing story, with each arc building... I've tried jumping around in it but that usually left me kind of lost.

I decided eventually that I tend to like the minis or one-shots that aren't part of the main story better than the main books...

.....but i was jonesing for a fix after not reading for awhile...

anyway, comics are $4 now? jeez...and they got for $6-7 for that final Superior Spidey....i'm happy Pete is back although i thought the story resolution was weak....

any great DC books i should be reading??

...about how much I'm spending on comics every month.

Leaving the country for a month and then picking up my subscriptions from the comic shop showed me that this might be a problem.

For someone who doesn't have an Uatu poster on their wall, what's the point of this event?

I normally avoid the big crossovers anyway.

...when was the last great event series?? WHAT was the last great "event"

...i liked the one Hickman did, but i wouldn't call it great...

but I would have preferred them to just continue the main New Avengers, convergence story. I only got Infinity because I was already reading New Avengers. But I didn't buy Civil War, Invasion, Age of Ultron, etc.

Big events are more likely to get me to drop titles than pick up new ones. Another thing I really liked about Captain America and Daredevil when Brubaker was on them.

That's all I got.

of course I'm a Langridge fan from the Muppets and Snarked!, but I rather suspected I'd be turned off by his work in the MU. Couldn't have been more wrong... it's throwbacky in all the right ways, and contemporary in the same. Streamlined origin story, wacky fun and silliness but with an oh-so-slight edge.

I'd recommend this to b.touch for his intro to/pitch for the Marvel U. that he was asking about last week.

I'd gotten some of Langridge's Muppets comics for my son and loved them. When I heard he did a Thor story and I thought the art was cool I picked up vol. 1 from the library and was knocked out. I've since picked up the full collection for my shelf and Samnee's become an artist that I'll pick up just about anything he does just based on his work in Thor.

One more thing, Thor's never been a go to character for me. Like everyone, I can get into the Simonson stuff but I was still more drawn to the story/art vs. character. This story made me give a crap about that character for the first time. Just wish they could've finished off the story.

worst single Warren Ellis thing I ever read, I would say... even worse than that 'mutant shaman' bullshit I read a while back

I checked it out about two months ago after a friend gave it a glowing recommendation. I told him to check out Loeb's Wolverine run for revenge.

>I checked it out about two months ago after a friend gave it
>a glowing recommendation. I told him to check out Loeb's
>Wolverine run for revenge.


"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

www.twitter.com/lexlamont

in reality I'm not mad at anything I can read a hard copy of for nothing than my tax dollars at work, but it was so bad I had to will myself to finish it and only could do that because it was relatively short, esp. for a hardback.

Dialog-wise he seemed to be trying to imitate Bendis, which was as bad as it sounds. And the Big Idea at teh story's core was just terrible, the action was hard to understand, the entire motivation was ass, the 'reveal' meant nothing. etc. etc.

I couldn't get through Feynman

I thought it did a good job of showing his humanity and humor, but I can see how it could bog one down.

A somewhat related book (in that it's non-fiction and basically about mathematicians, even though logic is more philosophy) I actually liked and STILL couldn't get through b/c it just kept going and going: http://www.amazon.com/Logicomix-An-Epic-Search-Truth/dp/1596914521

And the weird thing was, despite actually liking the art, I still found myself thinking, 'y'know I think I'd rather just listen to the lecture'

So yeah there was just a dryness to the narration/storytelling that I couldn't connect with. The humor and humanity did squeak through from time to time but at around 150 pages I was still waiting for the story to take hold and it just didn't.

>Dialog-wise he seemed to be trying to imitate Bendis, which
>was as bad as it sounds. And the Big Idea at teh story's core
>was just terrible, the action was hard to understand, the
>entire motivation was ass, the 'reveal' meant nothing. etc.
>etc.

Co-sign on all of that. Plus, the art seemed very rough throughout it all. It just comes off as something that had a whole turnaround of a couple of weeks, which seems to be a trend with Marvel's recent OGNs.

https://www.humblebundle.com/

I haven't bought anything in AWHILE because i'm trying to save but I've been meaning to check out Chew, Morning Glories, East of West

Lots of books out. Gt a good nights rest. You have reading to do tomorrow.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2014/04/bon_jovi_comic.php

that really was just awesomely terrible.

and considering i've already read each about ten times, i stand by my earlier statement. holy shit.

Will report back!

.

IIRC it's called Killable by Paul Cornell. If it's not that one, then it was the one immediately preceding it.

Okay, so I'm reading the whole thing with Keatinge and Vertigo: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/04/30/joe-keatinge-on-the-vertigo-comic-he-didnt-write/
Which leads to a similar article on CBR where one of the comments mentions the changes in the Batman - Death of the Family trade. Google, being my friend, leads me to this: http://imgur.com/a/2NLIJ

That's...pretty fucking extensive. Is this just this particular trade or do they slice up all of them to this extent?

Given the nature of how crazy it must be to get an issue out every month, I can sort of understand why there might be a desire - even a good reason - to fix things in the trades for posterity. Without more information, I might even be hesitant to say which version was "correct", you know?

But this is wild. Takes retconning to a whole new level.

It's pretty mild, but... dang. Definitely how not how I would have handled it. On either side.

>Given the nature of how crazy it must be to get an issue out
>every month, I can sort of understand why there might be a
>desire - even a good reason - to fix things in the trades for
>posterity. Without more information, I might even be hesitant
>to say which version was "correct", you know?
>

Yeah, since it seems like half the PTP checks out this joints from the library, I feel like there's a chance we're truly reading two different stories.

I don't know how to judge which is the correct version, if there is one, but the edits in the trade don't read like something Snyder would write (less words? Preposterous!) so I'd lean toward the original.


>But this is wild. Takes retconning to a whole new level.

Reminds me of the glory days of Infinite Crisis when the only difference was half inked pages.

Of course Aaron gets the tone and texture of the south, at least a particular kind of south, just right. The idea of the high school football team hits pretty close to home with the town I went to hs in. Even the mascots are the same!

And Latour just kills it. The characters all have a distinct look, the action is so natural and dynamic. Have I ever seen a tree-chopping scene in a comic before? This felt like the first and only one that matters. Coloring was amazing too.

Filling issue, too. Felt like a short graphic novel unto itself. No real cliffhanger for me honestly, just a world and characters I want to see more of.

Yo. COTW.

That original Rai tpb was one of my favorite Valiant things back in the day, so I was kinda eager to get into this.

Art was real interesting to me. Atmospheric, painterly, but the details were soft and the action more or less felt pretty kinetic. At first glance it's not the type of look I go for, but I dug it. Japan in 4001 A.D. looks balllllller as fuck, too. That last page was incredible.

The story was fun in a nostalgic kinda way, much in the same vein as the rest of the Valiant stuff I've read. I think it stands on its own even if you never read the original, but there's something about these titles that feels disconnected from modern comics in some way. I can't quite pinpoint it, and it's not so much a gripe as it is a general observations. Pros and cons.

B+

this was interesting to me from that regard. While the all-powerful AI conceit is a pretty good sci-fi Japan Big Idea, nothing else about the book felt Japanese, except for the sushi restaurant. But it's 2000 years in the future so I'm not going to complain.

The book as a whole was okay, didn't blow me away, but it was not bad at all. I think B+ is a pretty good grade for it.

That time difference should give you some safe distance to detach yourself from any weird discrepancies you come across. Assuming you stick with it. I'm not sure I will.

The biggest anachronism I found was that in panel 1 someone actually says "cease your incessant prattle" - it's reassuring to know that over the top supervillain dialogue hasn't changed much in 4001.

http://thenerdsofcolor.org/2014/02/14/japanese-war-flags-and-comic-publishers-lack-of-creativity/

but didn't think as hard about it as those guys have.

I doubt any Japanese nationals would be offended by it or pick up on that significance; I'm sure you're aware that the Japanese in general are woefully undereducated about the particular ways in which they waged war, though they are very well educated on the difficulties their own militarism caused for themselves. That flag design is typically displayed by right-wingers, for sports events (usually by right-wingers), or in product logos that want to establish their Japanese identity with a specific sort of BANZAI aesthetic.

I can't speak for other countries within the Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere but I'd guess they'll (rightfully) be the one with bigger issues. The Japanese did a lot of foul shit. (As did we all, of course.)

HOWEVER

Bernard and co. don't seem to realize that that same flag is being used by today's 'Self-Defense Force' which has only ever done limited peacekeeping operations; it's not inconceivable that at some point in the future the anti-militaristic mindset which has been so deeply ingrained in the Japanese psyche (except for nut-jobs on the opposite extremes of the political spectrum, plus a few cultist types) since WWII could co-opt that particular design as emblematic of a pacifistic society rather than a militaristic one. We are talking about 2000 years from now here.


Funny story: back in college I ran into a large group of recruuits for the SDF who were on a training trip. I was hitchhiking around SHikoku with a buddy and we were at this shrine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotohira-g%C5%AB - which is like the Stairmaster of Japanese tourism. Anyhow, we caught up to these guys at the landing (785 steps) and they were by and large completely and totally exhausted. You've never seen a sorrier looking military anything. Which is good for me as a pacifist, I guess; I thought the whole thing was pretty funny. The recruits turned around and went back down without doing the last couple hundred steps. I could probably come up with a few pictures if I ever get into my box in the basement to digitize them.

Ah, youth...

Anyone following?

Probably the monthly superhero book I'm most into right now. I just love when an indie book sneaks it's way into the mainstream. I could definitely see this being an Oni Press book or something if it didn't have all the Marvel references.

I never read Runaways but I love what Alphona's doing here - the almost cartoony designs, the wobbly line finishes, the hand drawn panel borders and the gazillion little in-jokes in the background, not to mention Herring's colors. The only thing I don't like is the way he colors hair, wish he left it a little more flat to fit in with the rest of the art - beautiful palette though.

All the family stuff is great too, they're all clearly defined but have plenty of room for subtlety and organic change. And you don't need to come from a Muslim background to relate to this group, switch them out for Catholic and you wouldn't be too far off from my family growing up (maybe a little more yelling with mine!)

Her powers feel like an afterthought to me at this point, which I'm okay with. Let it be a story about a teenager who has to deal with one more problem and figure out how to turn it into a plus(being a teen already sucks without your hand randomly growing 10x bigger).

I need that Hip Hop Family Tree. That GI Joe vs Transformers book looks crazy too. What else is good?

They have a generous limit (10 per person) so my kid can just grab what he's interested in. Between us, we're going for:

HipHop Family Tree (for me)
Avatar Last Airbender (for both of us)
Kaboom sampler
Uncle Scrooge (went over well last year)
Rocket Raccoon
Buck Rogers (been reading the old Flash Gordon so I'm in that zone)
Atomic Robo
Dumbest Idea Ever
Archaia HC (still read the one from a few years ago)
Teen Titans Go (love those Dan Hipp covers)
Will also pick up a few for my niece and nephew like Smurfs, Hello Kitty, Transformers/GI Joe.

and I hate to say it, but Things From Another World is kinda my least favorite spot. On Wednesdays I hit Floating World, on weekends I make it to either Excalibur or Cosmic Monkey. I only make it to TFAW when if I'm shopping at Freddy's, too.

Although last time I was in TFAW I got a pretty dope Duff Beer glass for the g/f, they definitely have the best memorabilia / collectibles selection of all the shops I've been to.

Yeah, Excalibur's actually my regular shop but they suck on FCBD - space inbetween the aisles of back issues makes it too tight to actually check anything out. We went to the TFAW in Milwaukie, never been to the one over in NE since we live way out in Foster/Woodstock hood. Stood in line with my boy and his friend for over an hour and a half, but they each got their Avatar comic, Teen Titans Go and Rocket Raccoon so they were happy...once we got outta there! Michael Avon Oeming was there signing, would've liked to gotten a book and chat with him for a minute but the boys couldn't stand any more once they had comics in hand.

my daughter's Daisy troop in two two shifts for 'gardening day' (which will likely devolve into the girls chasing chickens pretty rapidly) starting at 10 a.m.

So it'll likely be mid to late afternoon by the time we can get there.

Funny thing is I reminded my boy that it was coming up. I thought it was Sunday but he said 'Nah, Daddy, it's ALWAYS the first Saturday in May.'

So we'll likely miss a few of the books, but no huge deal.

All they had left was a few crappy cartoon adaptations, tumbleweeds, and exhausted looking staff. Don't know if it's like that everywhere, we decided to get up early and stand in line this time - we'll see if we ACTUALLY get up early.

Feel like I'm the only person reading both. FUSE is really cool so far, i love mysteries, stories set centuries from now, and the art. Seems like the beginning of something special.

POWERS is gonna be a TV show on my playstation and I cant freaking wait. The most recent ish was freaking awesome ("Hey, aint you the one that banged Supershock?" HILARIOUS)

New Invincible made me both aroused and sad for Mark all at the same time. It was great stuff tho. I love how Kirkman plays with the timeline in that book. Needs more Monster Girl tho.

I have Southern Bastards, the return of Pete in ASM 700,and this XMen: Original Sin.

I have read Original Sin #1 with the Watcher and Nova on the cover, I enjoyed, I know most hate big Events, but this seems cool, so far.

New Warriors feels weird as fuck but I'm glad Vance and Speedy are back, where the hells the rest of the old warrior team tho? (Thrasher, Sil, Rage, Namorita?)

I agree the first two were pretty good, so I'm looking forward to reading it. It's actually not that different from the Rai central case - future society on a space station, and there's been a murder.

I'm also reading Letter 44, which has been pretty strong.

Got the Bunker #3; 1 & 2 were good and while the concept is a bit trite (future selves warn of impending disaster) the execution is definitely different.

Rachel Rising was a better issue - it's been fairly up & down overall but this one mostly focused on Moore's strength of lighthearted character interaction.

Just read Sovereign #2 from Roberson. I was a little annoyed that the text portions of the book largely reprinted a bunch of shit that had already been in captions in the book. Pretty fucking pointless - and the same damn thing happened in Letter 44, so maybe it's just this week or something. Annoying. The story's interesting though, not great. My jury's still not really in on Roberson - my experience with both I Zombie and Memorial was that he starts off great but by #6 or so I'm better off the wagon...

Got a whole big enormous stack of other shit I'm looking forward to reading - Dead Body Road #5, Manhattan Projects, Mind MGMT, hell i cnn't even remember what else.

My Son and his crew camped out last night....

I scored upwards of 40 free books from them today and I was being picky!

Stopped by my shop on Friday to pick up a few things. The line was already almost 100 people. This was at 5pm. It was wrapped around the back of the shop.

Really wanted to meet Jason Aaron too, I'm sure I'll see him at some con in the future. That line though, killed whatever motivation I had to make this years event.

It was FCBD all right = Fucking Crowded But Delightful

Got there maybe 30 minutes after it opened, crowd was already sifting through the 50% off sidewalk sale and mobbed around the Free Comics. I'm OK in crowds but that shit's slightly more stressful when you're with a 4 year old (who doesn't like crowds) The line was S L O W W W. One register, a line that wound along the walls (where all the comics are, leading to some browsing bottlenecking) and eventually out the door. Took about an hour to get through. Good vibes all around though.

Main thing I was after - Hip Hop Family Tree - wasn't there, but the GI Joe/Transformers joint was plus lots of other cool stuff. I was impressed with the assortment and quality. I haven't read any of it yet but my initial reactions are strongly positive.

K4 wanted 1 book and 1 book only, the Teen Titans Go book. Well, really he was after Tiny Titans, but once he saw the homies Robin and Cyborg he decided that's all that mattered. The limit was 3 per person but he didn't want his other 2. Like I literally could not give this kid 2 free comics. I dunno if the crowd was throwing him off or he was suspicious of "free" but it was kinda funny. By virtue of being 4 in a comic shop he came up on a stuffed Iron Man doll and a Skottie Young 'Foes of Spider-Man' print. He was like "Daddy people keep giving me things I don't want"

So maybe it wasn't the magical love connection I was hoping for, but he found a story to connect to so that's a win.

Anyway here's what we walked out with:

Rocket Raccoon
Teen Titans Go
Uncle Scrooge & Donald Duck
Tansformers vs GI Joe
kaboom Summer Blast

and for 50% off I got

JLA World War III
Icon: Mothership Connection
Godland volumes 2 and 4

That was after making myself put 4-5 books back. That sidewalk sale was no joke.

I'm a little annoyed that my shop doesn't do much at all for it.

They basically have a 4'x4' box crammed with the free comics, and that's it. No promotions, no sales, nothing. Last year we went at opening and there was a line, nothing big but it took us about 20 minutes to filter through, we got our books, the kids browsed, we bought a few things and that was that.

On the other hand, outside of opening time there's no line and there's no limit at all on how many books you can take.

This year we had a brief window between Daisy gardening patch workshop sessions so snuck in around 1:15 in the afternoon. Store was more crowded than a typical workday, but not crowded - maybe 15 people all told. There was a pair of dudes in front of me at the free box, so basically no line. The kids just wanted to look at toys - they didn't even look at the comics. I grabbed some for them anyway but the one I was most excited about for my oldest - the Sonic/Mega-Mann one - turned out to be a reprint of something he already had. Teen Titans Go! too (though the 3 y.o. spent some time with the free copy I took. He loves Teen Titans Go.)

I always grab a copy of just about everything that I'm not positive is terrible, though I've found if it looks like stupid crap, it's probably stupid crap (see: Rise of the Magi this yr.)

That new 52 Brother Eye bugs book was pretty bad. Another event I'll be sitting out.
Rocket Raccoon was alright! Gave it to my boy.
No GI Joe/Transformers left, or Hip Hop Family Tree.

Went later on in the afternoon, my store was giving out 10 per person


Hip Hop Family Tree
Uber
Armor Hunters
Showa
Guardians of the Galaxy
New 52-Futures End
Street Fighter


my daughter picked up the Kaboom jawn..lol



for house goodness:


http://soundcloud.com/dj-rsenal

block.

OK I was side-eyeing some of the chattier customers for not keeping it moving but overall my heart was in the right place

A rosetta stone for where comics should be in 2014

A document not of what these properties looked like in their heyday, but how they felt

No attempts to make these toy characters seem more realistic – But rather a bending of reality itself in order to conform to their respective universes.

Proof that if you do it right, you actually can go home again

The essence of EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! itself


G-G-Godamn

I picked up issue 2 a few weeks back for the boy and this is pretty much the way the series is - had some laugh out loud moments from both of us reading at bedtime. Haven't seen the show but my son's been a Tiny Titans fan since he was 4 and this was a good transition to a slightly older age bracket - still love the Baltazar art better though.

He's gotten into Avatar L.A. hard this year so he and his best friend were excited when a guy from the store came to the back of the line and handed us a copy. He loved the Rocket Raccoon and is all over the ongoing that's coming this summer. Only thing he was upset by was that the Kaboom book was gone because he saw Uncle Grandpa once and really liked it, doesn't care much about Adventure Time though. I grabbed the Donald Duck, I knew he'd like that once we read it and he did.

Transformers/GI Joe was gone by the time we got in the store (hour and a half in line), hopefully it shows up online at some point. Remembered to pick up Hip Hop Family Tree after you mentioned it and it wins FCBD for me - really great. Will have to check out the actual books (that is why they put this issue out for free after all, right?)

Felt bad that we skipped out without buying anything but the inside-the-store line was too daunting for two 7 year olds after the long wait outside.

The Kaboom book was aiite. The Adventure Time comics I've read have been excellent and I don't think you get that from the sample story here. It makes me wonder how the other shorts stack up against their respective titles because nothing really wow'd me. I did like the art quite a bit though.

The Uncle Grandpa story in there was my favorite. Deals with a slice of pizza being told he has high cholesterol. It's stupid. I laughed.

I don't get it... maybe I missed an issue in there somewhere but there were too many connections that were important to the story that I just never made.

Still a good read, but not sure I'll be keeping with it for vol. 2.