Sometimes “capsule reviews” is just code for “hey, here’s what I’m reading that you might be interested in, even though I don’t have anything like the laser hot insight I brought to comic books with gorillas riding horses.”
Join me after the jump for an embarrassment of riches! (and by “riches,” I mean “embarrassments.”)
Beyond the headline-grabbing “Lois Lane finds out!” element of Superman #42, there’s something else very interesting going on under the covers of Gene Yang’s second issue as writer; something that speaks to the (wonderful, still highly recommended) issue of Action Comics that came out this month, in an unexpected way. Namely, when did Superman turn into what the kids would call a social justice warrior? Continue reading
Reading Dynamite Entertainment’s Blackcross is like visiting a ghost town, in many ways. In one sense, that’s by design; the atmosphere for the series in both writing and art is purposefully spooky and unsettling, and the whole thing plays as much like a horror movie than a superhero comic. (Even if the title feels like someone saw Broadchurch just as solicitations were due and thought, “Sure, a dramatic town name, that’ll work.”) Continue reading
Yup, one of us saw it.
Greetings, Whatnauts! Welcome to the 181st (or so) episode of Wait, What? The 181st! It sounds like it should be a platoon or a squadron or something, right? “The Fighting 181st!”
Anyway, start listening, and join us behind the jump for show notes detailing our battles on the shores of Ant Man (The Motion Picture), revealing how we stormed the first issue of Strange Fruit, and pointing out there may have been some minor infringements of the Geneva Convention in our discussion of the first two volumes of My Love Story!!
Two Franchises Walk In…
One Franchise Leaves.
Brainstorming. Vision Boards. Writing prompts.
In the last week, I’ve used all of these with one single goal in mind: how can I write something topping last week’s piece in its combination of old nerd obsessiveness and dangerously low reading comprehension? A lot of brainstorming. Many vision boards.
And so, after the jump: my review of Star Trek/Planet Of The Apes: The Primate Directive. Warning: I spoil the crap out of the end of Beneath The Planet of the Apes and also the end of this miniseries. Full spoilers, people, FULL SPOILERS.
Something I had forgotten about weekly comics reviews is just how weird it can be to try to review a random middle issue of a long-running comic book series — JOGGERS #235 or whatever — if there’s been no major change in the creative team or the cast. “Um, yeah. It’s the TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIFTH ISSUE of this comic about people jogging. If you enjoyed the last two hundred and thirty-four, do I have a delightful treat for you!”
These days, House To Astonish tends to only review first issues (or issues that are somehow like a first issue — cf. “new creative team,” etc. above), but I remember feeling a kind of awe back in the day when Paul O’Brien would review every issue of every X-book, and only rarely did he fall back on, like, “IT’S ANOTHER ISSUE OF FIGHTING TO SAVE A WORLD THAT HATES AND FEARS THEM WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?!?!?!?!”
Anyway, I’m not there yet and maybe never will be, but it was a thought that occurred to me as I read this week’s issue of Flash and thought, “Yup. That was a Flash comic, kinda like the last one.”
Soooooooo … should I shut up and do some reviews, or keep babbling about this?
Well, there’s only one of me, and “just listen” wasn’t one of the options, but … reviews — including Cyborg #1 — after the jump.
Previously on Baxter Building: Having survived Galactus, a fake Ben Grimm, the return of the Inhumans and Doctor Doom stealing the Power Cosmic so that he could catch a wave made out of air — really, will surfing Doctor Doom never stop being funny? — the Fantastic Four are ready to kick back and relax for awhile, as (I’m sure) are Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Spoilers: That doesn’t happen.
Welcome back to the latest installment of “Where Did The Time Go?” in which I rhetorically ask questions like “hey, where did the time go?” before admitting I barely made headway on my tall stack of pending books, and instead grabbed my iPad, made all kinds of impulse purchases, and then compulsively read them instead.
After the jump: find out what I was reading in place of what I was supposed to be reading!
So these first few weeks, I’m kind of trying to figure out what the best approach is here. Last week’s post decided to turn itself into a lovenote to the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League, which … well, fair enough. Who am I to stand in the way of a piece of writing taking on whatever form it feels is most natural, right? YOU DO YOU, BLOG POST.
But this week I’m going to try on the old-fashioned capsule review format and see how it feels. It won’t just be books from this week (although I’ve got a couple of those in here), and there’s really no rhyme or reason to which books I’m including beyond “comics that made me think of something to say.” And, full disclosure, some of these were received as review copies while others were purchased with my own cash, so that probably influences my opinions as well.
Anyway! Enough preamble! After the jump, capsule review type things!
I said on the podcast at one point that I had the idea that I’d keep a diary of San Diego Comic-Con this year, and that I’d post that here on the site afterwards as some kind of As It Happened expose and tell-all of my experience. That plan was utterly derailed by the events of my very first night there, but even if it hadn’t been, I’m sure it would’ve fallen apart the next night, or the night after that, perhaps; it was a trip that, even though it didn’t include my working all through the night at any point (In large part because most of my work was done right there, at the con, because of what was required of me), nonetheless featured late nights and each evening, I was exhausted and not in a mood to write about what was going on.
That makes it sound like I was in some kind of grumpy, horrible mood, and nothing could be further from the truth; it was one of the stranger, and at times, most stressful Comic-Cons I’d attended, but also one in which I met a whole host of people I’d only ever known online in person for the first time, and every single one was great, weirdly re-affirming a faith in comic folk (and movie folk, and publicity folk and… fuck it, let’s just say “folk” in general) that I wasn’t even really sure I’d had in the first place. It was also a trip that let me see a bunch of people I don’t get to see enough as-is — you know who you are — and that was worth any price of admission, no matter how ridiculous. And, really, things got pretty fucking ridiculous at times. Continue reading
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