Evel Knievel RIP

From the LA Times Here

Evel Knievel, the flamboyant motorcycle stuntman whose thrilling triumphs and spectacular failures enshrined him as America's consummate daredevil, died today in Clearwater, Fla. He was 69.

To me he'll always be that wind-up toy from the 70s.

thanks to Plaidstallions for the the pic

-Swinebread

Trip to Japan Part II

A country road in the morning with bamboo


There was so many things going on with friends and family over the holiday weekend that I haven’t been able to update my blog with info about my journey. The good thing about it taking me so long is that my SO is now back (with the camera) and so I’ve got pictures. The bad thing is I hardly took any snapshots, as this was my third trip to Japan. Well, we’ll see what we can do.

On the second day in Japan both my SO and I woke up at 3:00 AM because of the time difference with Oregon. After lying around for over an hour we decided to get up and go for a walk. We took the short stroll to 7-ll, and my SO (who has driven in Japan) commented how narrow the Japanese roads are, obviously she’s be in the states awhile now.

We stepped into the brightly lit convenience store and the smell of cooking oden permeated air. We strolled around the low, well-organized aisles and then I immediately went to the comic section. I haven’t learned Japanese so I couldn’t read any of it but my love of comics propelled me give them a look-see. They had all the regular stuff: boy’s comics, girl’s comics, and various adult comics. The first thing I grabbed was a men’s weekly manga. I could tell it was a man’s comic because of the bathing suited babe on the cover with gi-normous fake boobs which looked even stranger on a Japanese woman. Sure enough, when I opened the comic mag to a random page, my eyes where treated to an expressive girl-on-girl finger-banging scene. For a few seconds I felt like 12-year-old kid getting away with sneaking a peek at the The Joy Lesbian Sex. Of course I wasn’t getting away with anything, so I quickly put that manga down and looked at what else they had.

One of the things that’s nice about the manga stands in Japan is that they also have thick digests that collect older comics. Every time I’ve gone to Japan there never fails to be a digest of Black Jack on the shelf. This time there was a collection of a title called Berserk. I had ignored it the states because it looked like some lame video game thing, but as I flipped through the pages I found the art and the pseudo medieval setting compelling. I realized that this title is horror fantasy, my kinda stuff. I filed it away in my memory.


My SO and I explored the rest of the store marveling at the, strange candy (like apple kit kat), exotic sandwiches, and ice coffees. The Starbucks brand was available, but what was really interesting was that they had a Japanese copycat brand ingeniously labeled Mt. Rainier. The logo looked akin to the Starbuck’s logo but with a picture of Mt. Rainier instead of the mermaid. We bought a few goodies such as chocolate covered mango bits and left.

We walked on down the road and stopped off at another convenience store called Family Mart. I picked up some green tea and drank it as we strolled through my through wife’s old stopping grounds including her old grade school. Although I’ve been here before I was still amazed at the surprising balance of suburbia and farmland that we passed on the way back to in-laws house. No ground is left unutilized.

Before we went back, we made a quick stop by the graveyard where my SO’s grandparents are buried. We performed the necessary cleaning rituals before prayers. Like a good omen, the sun popped over the trees just as my wife began to her silent prayer. It was a gorgeous morning in the cemetery but my SO told me its taboo to take pictures there so I didn’t take any.

After a nice breakfast of fish, vegetables and miso soup, My SO and I headed into town around Omiya Station for shopping and a haircut. Our first bit of business was to stop by Mr. Donut, as my SO really wanted me to compare the taste to an American donut. Needless to say it tasted like bread and wasn’t sweet at all. No wonder the Japanese students pack on the pounds when they come to the states. They didn’t’ have any decaf coffee either and were completely stunned when we asked for it.

We went to many stores including Loft, Book Off (used books, CD, and DVDs) where I picked up a Record of Lodoss War music CD, and a tiny toy store the size of a walk-in closet. We purchased all manner of items, but I was distressed at the amount of X-mas decorations and items for sale. I know the Japanese get into the commercial side of the holiday but to see it so pervasive was startling. My wife was even a little taken aback. Some of the holiday presents we’d been sending to the relatives that last few years didn’t seem so special anymore.

Eventually, we went and got haircuts at a local salon my SO likes. I appreciate Asian hair stylists, as they understand how to cut my very straight (although very soft) hair, so I had no problem going. I’ve had endless bad haircuts my whole life until I went to a Japanese salon because white folks usually screw it up pretty bad. Most Caucasians have some wave or curl so a mediocre stylist can get away with doing an OK job but my hair doesn’t allow for any mistakes. The Japanese also have many techniques for thinning out hair so I can wear it a little longer and still feel cool (temperature wise).


I do have to mention a hair fad that just mystified me. Right now a spiky, feathered, rat’s nest with a mullet is fashionable. Usually Japanese folks have a very nice sense of style even if it’s different than the US, but his time? Sorry Japan. This trend is totally thumbs down. It looks really bad especially when combined with that fakey brown hair. A Mohawk with a nose ring would look more chic.

Omiya Station not during rush hour

Eventually, we were off on a semi-crowded train to Akabane to meet our familial responsibilities. After that we headed off to Akihabara, the electric town. I had been to Akihabara 2 years ago and went around to the electronic shops. This time I was having none of that and instead looked around the geeky, Otaku toyshops instead. You see I was searching for collectables from Fist of the North star, GeGeGe no Kitaro, and Daimajin. I struck out with Daimajin but I managed to find a few, old, Gashapon pieces from Fist of the Northstar to help round out my meager collection. One store also had a nice full collection of GeGeGe no Kitaro Gashapon that I picked up. Most of the various toyshops were crammed with Gundam figures but luckily I’m not into that franchise otherwise I would have busted our budget right there.

One of the many toy stores, this one had a life-sized Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star although he's not life proportioned.

By the time we were finally ready to leave we felt a little hungry so we swung by a sushi shop for a snack. The fresh fish melted in our mouths. After that, we bid Akihabara’s bright lights goodbye and headed back to back to Omiya Station and had the distinct pleasure riding the train during rush hour. It got a little hot and heavy on the train, meaning that the bags were heavy and at the mass of bodies had me overheating.

Akihabara at night

It was a busy day and I was so tired and jetlagged that I sleepwalked through the rest of the evening including dinner.

Wanting to Watch Watchmen

In case you don’t know: Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ dark superhero masterpiece is being made into a movie for a 2009 release. These stills from watchmencomicmovie.com (here) give me hope that it will be of high quality. Fans of the graphic novel will notice many important but subtle clues in these pictures. Could it be true? Could a great Watchman adaptation be on the way? I hope so.

Who Watches the Watchmen? You and me in 2009!



Oh and read the graphic novel… it’s totally worth it. Read it.





-Swinebread

The Amazing Adventures of Captain Catsup

A hero that defends the rights of free loving Tomato based products everywhere!

This was a class project I did most of the work on back in the fall of 2004.

One of those voices in there just might be mine!

Happy Thanksgiving

The villainous Cold Turkey wants you to spare the bird this Holiday… Yeah right!

Trip to Japan part 1

I’ve been having a hard time deciding to post about my trip to Japan or not without pictures (my SO still has the camera in Japan right now), but I then realized that I could still talk about the flight and arrival at my in-laws house, as I didn’t bother taking any shots the first day.

It was a relatively sunny day when we left Portland, Oregon on our quickly planed trip to Japan. Do to the fact that Portland is a smaller city, we don’t’ have many international flights. So it’s a real relief that a direct flight to Narita is available. Northwest picked up the Japanese route a few years ago after Delta airlines abandoned it due to a lack of passengers. This is because few years’ back we had racist jerks running the Customs and Immigration service here in Portland and they treated non-whites (especially Asians) like crap. There was all manner of crazy actions like: strip-searches, days on end detentions, visitors chained up in leg irons, and refusals to allow jailed visitors to contact anybody. It got so bad that Portland was dubbed Deportland. Most of these visitors were business travelers mind you. Well, I’m happy to report that things have been turned around since then with new folks running the show. Because of this, Northwest airlines decided to provide service to Japan via Portland. It’s wonderful not to have to wait for a connecting flight in another city anymore.

Originally, my SO and I were not sitting next to each other, as we had to book the flight late. Neither of the 20-something bitches (one next to me, one next to my SO) would move so we could sit next to each other but luckily the fight attendant found someone else willing to trade seats. Long trips are an exhausting and boring experience magnified by the fact that I can’t sleep on planes because I’m so uncomfortable, however this time it wasn’t too bad. I passed the time watching The Simpsons and Transformers movies, and reading Harry Turtledove’s Agent of Byzantium. Travel Note: If you are on an international flight and they don’t have individual LCDs with interactive movies, audio, and games, you’re getting screwed.

We touched down in the evening at the Narita airport, and instantly felt the blast of humidly as we stepped off the plane. Both of us were in a surreal kind of fog, as usually there is this big anticipation for months before such a long trip, but now we were just suddenly in Japan. We didn’t have any trouble with customs. We tried to get a female for the baggage inspection/interview but luckily the explanation that we were in Japan to see a gravely ill relative satisfied the male inspector. See, we’ve discovered that many Japanese men hate seeing a Japanese woman and an American (western) man together and so they give us a hard time by going by through our baggage. Female inspectors, on the other hand, give us no problems at all. After that, My SO bought the bus tickets that would take us on a 2-hour ride to Omiya Station in Saitama. While waiting in line, I felt the subtle, wandering eyes of the Japanese already sizing up the gaijin. That’s something that would happen thousands of times on this visit but it’s fully expected.

Before my first trip to Japan, I couldn’t understand why my SO’s parents didn’t come to the airport to pick us up. Well, after that that first trip 5 years ago I fully understand now. It’s a huge concrete maze of toll roads, and clogged traffic. In fact, my SO says that Saitama is the countryside, but to me it’s one, big, never-ending city from Narita through Tokyo to Omiya Station. Its like Judge Dread’s Mega City One has come to life only in Japanese.

One of the nice things about riding the bus is that it gives the rider a nice view. Elaborately designed signs for pachinko parlors and love hotels wiz by when there isn’t any traffic jams. I was able to peer down into various cars on the road and discovered that about 80% of them had computer/navigation systems.

When we finally got to Omiya we took a taxi to my in-laws house. My SO had a nice conversation with the driver about Oregon… he didn’t know it rains a lot in the Pacific Northwest. We rode past memorable shops, restaurants (including the family favorite sushi bar) and bike riders while navigating tiny roads that could never manage a crack-sized American SUV. After 20 minutes, we made that familiar turn next to the 7-11. Oh and by the way, 7-11s in Japan rock, they aren’t like the low class dives that peddle beer, cigarettes, and junk food in the US. After a short distance we pulled up and My SO’s parents came rushing out (in a dignified Japanese way or course) to greet us. I called out “Tadaima” (I’m Home) to be funny and the joke was received with all the attention it deserved. After the happy greetings (with no hugs) my SO’s parents tried to carry our entirely too heavy bags but I insisted on lugging the heaviest pieces.

I deftly managed to make my way inside the house while taking off my shoes and not hitting my head in the process. We sat on the floor, as there were no chairs, and tucked our legs under a low table that has a heated pit and quilt to keep everybody warm. My mother-in-law, had graciously prepared a light meal which included the best sashimi I had had in long time… come to think of it, it was the last trip to Japan when it had been this good.

We talked for a few hours, with my wife translating. At one point, while my SO was displaying the orgy of gifts we had brought from Oregon, there was a small earthquake. It was over quickly, and we turned on NHK just to be sure there wasn’t any important announcements. My Father-in-Law joked that it was Japan’s way of welcoming us.

Eventually, with all the excitement depleted, my SO and I stumbled off to bed… or maybe I should say “off to floor” for some much needed sleep.

-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Fall of Cthulhu #8.


Lone Ranger #10, Dynamite Entertainment.

Shadowpact #19, DC Comics.

Zero Killer #3, Dark Horse Comics.

Red Sonja #27, Dynamite Entertainment.

Fall of Cthulhu #8, Boom Studios. This cover makes me think of overdroid.

20 Million Miles More #3, Bluewater Productions.

Ray Harryhausen Presents #1, Bluewater Productions. This comic has previews for all the upcoming Harryhausen comics by Bluewater. Looks like we’re also gonna’ see comic continuations of It Came from the Sea and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers as well as the never produced (as far I know) WWI air combat story called Elementals.

The Walking Dead #44, Image Comics.

Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: The Andorians #1, IDW.

She-Hulk #23, Marvel Comics.

Trade Paperback:
52 Volume 4 DC Comics.

-Swinebread

Still Recovering

I had hoped to get a post up about my trip, but life and jetlag have gotten in the way so far. Until then, checkout moody minstrel’s post about our short but enjoyable meeting in the Narita airport just before I took a plane back to Oregon.

Oh and don’t believe a word about his kids acting up. ☺ They were great. It was a pleasant surprise to meet them too.

-Swinebread

My New Comics

I’ll have more info on my trip to Japan soon. Just getting my regular comics post outta’ the way. There is so much to talk about that I’m still organizing it in my brain.

This week’s... er... last week's best cover is Living with the Dead #2.


The Un-Men #4, DC Comics.

Living with the Dead #2, Dark Horse Comics.

Spider-Man/Red Sonja #4, Dynamite Entertainment/Marvel Comics.

Captain Carrot and the Final Ark #2, DC Comics. Yessss!

The Amazing Spider-Girl #14, Marvel Comics.

After the Cape #1, Image Comics. Impulse buy.

Howard the Duck #2, Marvel Comics.


-Swinebread

Back from Japan

I’m very tired and will elaborate after I get some rest. My SO still has another week in the Land of Rising Sun and thus has our digital camera. The photos will have to come later or… maybe I’ll wait for pics to do proper posts about the trip.

Off for a nap.

-swinebread

Portland Comic Book Show

Well, as per my mission as assigned by Swinebread I attended the Portland Comic Book Show this morning, although I woke up with a sore throat and completely stuffed up head. I almost decided not to go, but if I didn't, I'd end up dead, (if you have a brother....you know what I mean). So after drugging myself sufficiently with cold medicine, pain medication, and vitamin C supplements, I headed off to the MAX to see the show.

As per Swinebread's Blog Entry on the last show, the creepy basement venue did nothing to improve my mental disposition. I paid my entrance fee and promptly noticed I'd forgotten the most important thing-the toilet paper. When you have a constantly dripping nose, nothings worse that being with out it! Fortunately, I was able to steal several napkins from the food vendor where I bought the ubitquitous Nacho Cheese chips.

In my drugged stupor, the things that caught my eye first were the huge psychodelic 70's pot posters. I quickly checked a couple places to see if they had the last trade paperback of Alan Moore's Promethea, (link takes you to my post on the subject as my alter ego, Hypatia); I have the first three, but not the wrap-up fourth. Nada, it's a couple years old and not on the top of the (mostly male) customer list.

Then I looked around the author tables and immediatly saw Trina Robbins, as she sports red curly hair, and was the only woman author I saw! I had to push through fan crowds of more famous artists, but got to Trina's table and was able to speak to her in person. She's fiftyish, VERY friendly and VERY enthusiastic! I bought two books, Wild Irish Roses (for me), and Eternally Bad Goddesses with Attitude (for brah). However, I was busy talking to her, so I didn't notice she signed Irish one "To H...", and the "Bad Goddesses" to me!

Oh well, anyhoo I then went to wait for the talk at noon, which PRAISE BRIDGID, lasted only 15 minutes. She had a really great slide presentation to go along with her talk, and showed many comic book pages from the various "Fly Girls". She started out with a little chit-chat w/the folks next to her, and compared Portland to San Francisco, and said what a wonderful town Portland is, how everyone who she knows moves here (or to Seattle), and that we have "the Best Bookstore in America, Powells!".

She first introduced the raven-haired "Jane Martin-War Nurse" who spent less time in her white nurses uniform and more in her aviatrix outfit flying behind enemy lines! Next up was blond "Flying Jenny" Dare, who was also drawn by women artists and the dialogue often makes references to the WACS.

Trina also showed pictures of two famous WWII women, Jaqueline Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love, as well as several women who died during their service (their planes crashed while they were transporting them). Trina also showed some other items, like fly girl paper dolls and fly girl fiction books a-la-Nancy Drew, which demonstrated that girls were part of the whole customer base in the 1940's.

The last American-heroine type girl was a Red Head, who I forgot to write the name of..in any case, she was a little different that her fellow flyers. She was a little goofy, didn't follow the rules, and often pulled crazy stunts (like smashing the controls with her high heel to fix them!).

Last but not least is the "evil" German Valkyrie-who switches to the American side as a double spy due to the "incredible" charisma of Airboy. In fact, Trina used the cover that appears on the Airboy link in her slide show.

Sadly, the "fly girls" genre only lasted a couple of years past the war; the characters were literally "decomissioned"-turned into airport waitresses, control tower announcers, and girl reporters. No flying allowed!

Since the talk ended quickly, I thought I might stick around for the Q & A period, but it was immediately taken over by some old guys arguing about women's flying clubs after WWII...and more about WWII. I was only interested in the comics, so I ducked out.

Trina has alot more to say about women and their "herstory" as you can read on her website. She was very upbeat and interested in everything all her fans had to say! You can also buy her books and other items on her site, check it out!

Off to Japan

I’m rushing off on my unplanned trip to Japan. Hopefully I’ll have a few pop culture things to rattle on about when I get back but again, I’m going for a family emergency so don’t expect too much in the way of entertainment news. I’ll try to take a lot of pictures so I can put some sort of rambling narrative together. Enjoying myself will be difficult under the circumstances, but I’ll do my best.

Ladybug said she’d check out the Portland Comic Book Show for me so Atomic Romance can still have a post about it. I wanted to see Trina Robbins’ presentation, but instead I’ll settle for a blog post just like the rest of you.

Take care,

-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Jonah Hex #25.


Omega the Unknown #2, Marvel Comics.

Terminator 2: Infinity #4, Dynamite Entertainment.

Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash #1, Dynamite Entertainment/Wildstorm (DC). This is supposed to go for 6 issues. Is there really that much story here?

Jonah Hex #25, DC Comics.

Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: The Vulcans #1, IDW.


-Swinebread

Manga Thoughts

A few quick Manga notes

I bought this month’s Wired magazine as it has a couple of articles on Manga, the first is called “Japan Inc.” by Daniel Pink. The article gives a brief overview of Japanese comics (which any passing manga fan would know) and delves into the fact that unlike the United States, the comic industry is the core of the entire Japanese pop culture machine. That’s right, video games, movies, cartoons, books and even music to some extent all rely on a healthy comics environment. The trouble is that Manga readership is down in Japan. The numbers are still huge of course when compared to the US, but this flatline of readership can lead to big problems for Japan’s entertainment empire. But, in the Article, Pink talks about the one area of comics that’s growing and that’s dojinshi or non-professional comics. Fans with professional level skill make these dojinshi comics and usually use established “copyrighted” characters as their topics. Think about it. It would be like an American fan creating stories about Batman and Spiderman. Want a tale with Superman and Batman as lovers? Or how about Wonder Woman getting married to Howard the Duck and going domestic? That’s what dojinshi creators do and the Publishing companies don’t go after them because they don’t want to crush the creative spark that’s central to manga. They only thing I can think of that’s similar in the states is that Paramount says it won’t sue trekkies that make fan films. Fans films that don’t make money… in Japan dojinshi are actually bought and sold. Amazing.

The second article is titled “How Manga Conquered America.” It’s a nice little history lesson presented in the actual manga format. Yes, its worlds and pictures, but it’s also read right to left. So the reader has to follow the 10-page story just like a kid reading the latest issue of Fruits Basket. See the article educates the reader with the format along with the information. Most of the info in the article, again, is common knowledge to manga fans but for folks interested in this comic book phenomenon that has exploded in the US, it’s a great primer. The two most important facts that one can take away from the article are that there were several attempts to get manga into the States, all of which failed until publishers decided to skip the comic book store and go directly to the bookstore. The second fact is that Amime, adapted from manga, paved the way for the source comics to reach Americans. These comics were “cool” and they didn’t have the inherent geekyness of their American counterparts (whether that’s really true or not).

On another note, since I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket, I picked up an Osamu Tezuka manga titled “Apollo's Song.” It’s a nice companion piece to Tezuka’s Phoenix comics. A short blurb I found on the web

Plot Summary: Chikaishi Shogo is a young man who hates the concept of love, and has never known what it means to be truly loved. Due to a course of shock therapy he dreams that he's taken to various times and places by the goddess of love.

It can come off as a little preachy and strange, especially the WWII sequence, but if you read Apollo's Song with your heart and not your head, it’s clearly a great effort by the Godfather of Comics. Love is the main theme here but its explored in a way that fans of Buddha and Phoenix would gravitate to. I also like that fact that Tezuka again validates that science fiction is useful and even a necessary genre to explore what it means to be human.

To be honest it took me a while to get into some of Tezuka’s work, except for Black Jack, which I immediately devoured (and sadly is rarely published in English), because of the whole big eyes thing. For me, it tended to make the work look childish and it jarred with the seriousness of the topics Tezuka delt with. But as time has gone on, I’ve grown accustomed to it. One, because Tezuka was the originator and two, thanks to Stan Sakai’s Usgai Yojimbo, which has a high cuteness factor but a deep, layered storytelling style, I realized cute isn't so bad.

Japanese comics are on my mind because soon I’m a taking trip to Japan. It’s under unhappy circumstances, but my SO and I are going to make the best of it. It will be rushed, so my glorious plans to "meet and greet" people and see all kinds of manga related things will have to be on put on hold for another visit. Family first.

-Swinebread

Josh & Lady

Here’s a video that has shot up as my most viewed on youtube.

Again, it was for a video class. The assignment was to essentially do a very short documentary. This buddy of mine has a strong bond with his cat so I chose him. He was happy to do it. This video was shot and edited in early 2004. Both Josh and Lady are still going strong.



-Swinebread

What D&D Character Are You?

Apparently I’m totally lame... because I am a:

Chaotic Neutral Elf Bard

Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral characters are unstable, and frequently insane. They believe in disorder first and foremost, and will thus strive for that disorder in everything they do. This means that they will do whatever seems 'fun' or 'novel' at any given time.

Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently concern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.

Primary Class:
Bards are the entertainers. They sing, dance, and play instruments to make other people happy, and, frequently, make money. They also tend to dabble in magic a bit.

try the quiz Here

Oh well, at least I'm the life of the party...

...so to speak.

-Swinebread

Germaine Gregarious was gracious enough to have me over for her Halloween party. It was a real blast and the food was excellent. Dr. Zaius managed to snap a few shots of the festivities here. In one of the pics you can see me sucking down a chip while Becca is providing a full frontal. Now that’s a party that can make you hungry! But Wait, it gets better! BAC from Yikes! created an awesome video of the whole darn thing.




Whew! Here it is Sunday and I’m still recovering.

-Swinebread

Note: The pic is from Dr. Zaius who is an accomplished Photoshop virtuoso. Just check out his site you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Audio Visual Project

Here is another class project from back in the day. The point of this assignment was to have the audio as the driving force rather than the video, which is often completely random.

See what you can do when you're just sitting around your apartment.

Snowblood Surprise

I came home from work the yesterday and my SO struck up a conversation about a friend wanting to borrow some DVDs. Well, I started to look through our collection when I noticed one was facing backward. My SO said, “What’s that?” I grabbed it and turned it around. To my surprise it was Lady Snowblood. She had found it on sale and grabbed me a copy. It’s one of those films I’ve always wanted to own but just never got around to buying. The film is based on the excellent comic (currently published in English by dark horse) written by Kazuo Koike of Lone Wolf and Cub fame. Most folks have gotten to know Lady Snowblood because of Quentin Tarantino's affection for the film. It’s a classic with plenty of drama and martial arts action that only a deadly lady assassin could deliver. What a nice surprise indeed.


Last month, My SO also got me a copy of Looney Tunes Golden Collection #4. I’m a big fan of these wonderful characters and cartoons, so I’m really happy. It’s interesting to watch my SO’s reaction to these animated shorts. Ya’ see, she’s originally from another culture so she’s watchn’ these ‘toons with fresh eyes, while I other hand grew up them. She finds them very creative and likes the fact that they’re only a few minutes long. Her favorite characters are: Speedy Gonzales, Road Runner and Coyote, and Marc Antony and Pussyfoot.


All and all, I say I made out like a fat rat.

-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Army of Darkness: From the Ashes #3.


Jack of Fables #16, DC Comics. I liked the Jack O’ Lantern on the cover so I picked up this Halloween story in the sprit of the season.

Sword of Red Sonja: Doom of the Gods #2, Dynamite Entertainment.

Army of Darkness: From the Ashes #3, Dynamite Entertainment.

Battlestar Galactica: Pegasus #1, Dynamite Entertainment.

Men of Mystery: Spotlight Special The Nedor Heroes #1, AC Comics. Reprints a sampling of the Golden Age superheroes from Nedor comics including the Black Terror. They were popular comic books in their day but eventually Nedor went out of business and their characters became public domain. This black and white reprint would be of interest to folks picking up Dynamite Entertainment’s new take on the Nedor characters, Superpowers. That’s why I bought it, I had to special order it through previews though.

Trade Paperbacks:
Conan and the Midnight God Dark Horse.

El Cazador Disney. One of the best pirate comics ever! From the inside cover: “El Cazador the widely popular and critically acclaimed comic book series, sailed for a mere six issues from October to 2003 to June 2004, a casualty of the shuttering CrossGen comics. For the first time ever, all six stunning, high-octane issues are bound together to tell the story of Lady Sin and quest for vengeance.”

The Last page does says "to be continued." Could Disney actually be thinking of reviving El Cazador?

Magazine:
Alter Ego #73 TwoMorrows publishing. Came out last week. Interesting articles on the old Crime Does Not Pay comic from the golden age.


-Swinebread