Merry Christmas

Have a great holiday everybody!

-Swinebread

There are worse fates I suppose...

-Swinebread

Joe Kubert has died

I just can't believe it. Good old Joe Kubert has passed away at the age of 85. There is so much to say but all I can muster is that he truly was one of the greats. He will be deeply missed. I loved just about everything he did. Go Easy Joe, Go Easy…



-Swinebread

Tony DeZuñiga has passed away

I was unbelievably saddened to hear that artist Tony DeZuñiga died last week and that his illness leading up to his death caused financial hardship for his family. He was one of the true greats and I consider it an honor to have met him. If you don’t know Tony, you don’t know comics imho. I have a copy of Jonah Hex #9 (of the 2006 series) that I had him autograph in 2008. I’ll treasure it forever.

-Swinebread

The passing of one of the Greats... Gene Colan 1926 – 2011

Crappy Comics in My Collection

-swinebread

Is A Group Of Zombies Called A "Herd" Or A "Pack?"

This is going to sound really sexist but I get worried when Zoe Saldana states that she's going to fight to have Uhura wear pants. Apparently she just doesn't get the character. This is akin to Zachary Quinto arguing that Spock shouldn't have pointy ears or Shatner playing Kirk without a hair piece. It's just wrong.

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This io9 article on the preponderance of zombies in comics really rubbed me the wrong way. For one thing it opens with this tripe:

First, DC Comics unleashed a legion of undead characters in its Blackest Night event. Now, Marvel has announced Necrosha, an upcoming X-Men storyline that will bring back lots of dead mutants. When did zombie superheroes become the hot new thing?

Serious fans of comics of which I don't include myself will immediately see the problem with that opening statement. Put that aside there's much more history to zombies and comics, especially surrounding the comics code, that the author appears oblivious to. Don't write about something you don't know.

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Put me in the David Tennant for Bilbo crowd.

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Here's an interview from Comic con with the great Hayao Miyasaki. My favorite bits- Miyasaki doesn't watch movies or television and still won't commit to retirement. He's going to make movies until he drops.

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I just finished all the League of Extrodinary Gentlemen GNs including 1910. Wonderful, dense work as usual from Moore. The only criticism I might level is that the books suffer (especially 1910) from a preponderence of too many characters who often have nothing to actually DO. It's really a minor quibble with some fine work.

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Me and the fam are plodding through season 5 of Buffy. That's the season where Buffy's sister Dawn is introduced. The first three episodes at least have incredibly clever/ funny dialog that's still light years ahead of most stuff on television. Great show.

-----Dean Wormer
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Happy 4th of July

Have a safe, happy holiday to my fellow Americans and to rest of the world... I hope for Freedom, Peace, and Justice.

Yeah, I know that's a tall order.

and now for those of you that need something a little more patriotic and stuff:



-Swinebread

Happy Father's Day

I so glad there is something wondeful to focus on this Sunday. Today is my first Father's Day! Little Swinebread Jr. is almost eleven months now and is absolutely into all kinds of mischief. Me and the misses have to watch him like a hawk.


-Swinebread

Reviews Of Some Stuff.

I've been running through what seems like the library's entire graphic novel collection. Here's a few thoughts on some of the stuff I've read lately.



Judgement Day by Alan Moore.

Great idea for a story built around the question of who would judge a superhero if they were accused of killing another superhero. It also had a fun retro vibe to it with historical flashbacks told in the style of the comics of that individual decade.

Essentially Moore's story is a criticism of the massively abused practice of retconning comic universes that's swept through comics in recent years.




The Groo Odyssey by Sergio Aragone.

What is there to say? It's got Groo, cheese dip, frays and Rufferto. "What do you mean "slow of mind?'"

Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland.

I've been interested in reading this since I read that Heath Ledger had based his Joker in part on the Joker in this book. In this story the Joker escapes from Arkham Asylum and embarks on a mission to drive Commissioner Gordon insane.

I have a feeling that the images in this story were probably much more controversial at the time it was first released in the 80's. In particular there's a sequence in which the Joker breaks into Gordon's apartment and shoots and tortures Barbara Gordon. Compared to the hyper-violent scenes depicted in today's comics this sequence, while disturbing, seems almost quaint.



We3 by Grant Morrison.

Arkonbey wrote a positive review of this a couple of months ago and it's been on my mental checklist to read ever since. It a terrific premise involving laboratory animals that have been surgically altered to be military killing machines. The protagonists; a dog, a cat and a rabbit, escape from the lab and head on a trek to get "home." It's "Homeward Bound" if the the cute animals were able to rip you limb from limb without working up a sweat.

There's a lot to love about this story but the thing that tickled me the most is that the animals have rudimentary oral communication skills due to their implants/ training. With just a few lines of dialog Morrison is able to convey the animal's personality to a remarkable degree. The dog is the protector of the group that wants them to stick together. The cat doesn't want to take orders and would rather strike out on his own. The rabbit just wants everybody to get along.

If I had any criticism it would be that the artwork, while excellent, is sometimes confusing making it difficult to understand what's going on. This is usually a cardinal sin with me with comics but this thing is so damned good that it's worth overlooking this minor faux paux.



Batman: Joker's Asylum by Arvid Nelson.

This could be summed up as "Tales from the Crypt starring the Joker." It's an anthology series focusing a short story on several Batman villains including the Joker, the Penguin, Poison Ivy and Scarecrow. Each of these villain's stories is introduced by the Joker from his cell at Arkham Asylum.

These stories are excellent with just the right creepy tone running through them. I was especially moved by the Penguin/ Chester Copperpot tale in which he buys a young woman from slavery and raises her like a daughter. There's a real sense of menace underlying the Penguin's kind overtures towards this woman with a suitably dark ending to the whole thing.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You by Joss Whedon.

Whedon's Buffy season 8 comics are well worth reading for a couple of reasons. The first is that many of the writers including Whedon himself who wrote for the series are writers on these books. The other is that we get a more imaginative version of the Buffyverse since they're unconstrained by network or budget concerns.

In this collection of stories several old friends show up including Faith. As a fan of the series I found myself hearing the actors voices when reading this which is a sign of good storytelling.

By twist of fate I had two similar books without pictures arrive out of my holds at the same time. Both involved American warships travelling back in time.



Destroyermen: Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson.

Out of the two books this was the one I was most interested in. During a WW 2 Pacific battle a WW 1 era steam destroyer is thrown back in time. I made it two chapters. It was a good premise that fell apart once the crew was back in time and the giant sailing ship full of lizard people showed up. Oy.



Weapons of Choice by John Birmingham.

This story begins in the year 2021 with a U.S. led international battlegroup preparing to attack an islamic caliphate in the Pacific when they're thrust back to the year 1942 during the battle of Midway.

I almost quit this book after the first chapter as well. The characters were paper thin and the set up for time travel perfunctory. The book was written in 2002 so Birmingham made some interesting assumptions (the flagship of the fleet is the "USS Hillary Clinton" named after our first female president) but also some lame assumptions (the first female vice president was Condi Rice. Yeeeechh!)

I decided to at least give the book the chance of seeing how he handles this modern fleet fighting WW 2 era navies with their lack of satellites, missiles, computers and everything that signifies modern navies. I'm glad I held out to see what happens.

I had assumed this book would be like Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South series where modern weapons find their way back in time, in that case the civil war, and have a grand affect on the outcome of that conflict. That's true in a way with Weapons of Choice but in this case the sleek warships with their AI are only the second most dangerous thing the modern navy brings back. The ideas they represent are a bigger threat to the world of the 40s and not just to the Axis powers.

Imagine the WW 2 era U.S. navy and it's lack of racial integration having to deal with a modern U.S. navy with female officers, service men and women of all races and sexual orientations. How would intergrating these navies strategically work? We take things for granted that took decades to change. How quickly could Admiral Spruance who led the Midway group deal with an African-American captain who happened to be a lesbian?

It's a fascinating book in true sci-fi form that forces you to think about things we take for granted. Well worth reading.

-- Dean Wormer
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Happy May Day

Superman, the commie one, bids you a happy May Day!

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is The Amazing Spider-Monkey #1.


Last Reign #5, Boom Studios. The ending lest you know there will be more mini-series for Last Reign but at four bucks a pop I won’t be picking them up.

Warlord #1 DC Comics. On the fence with this one. I like The Warlord a lot so we'll see if the get any better.

Marvel Apes: The Amazing Spider-Monkey #1 Marvel Comics. I had sworn off $3.99 titles… but this is just a one-shot so I couldn’t resist.

Army of Darkness #18, Dynamite Entertainment.

Army of Darkness #19, Dynamite Entertainment. Two this week hmmmmm....


You’ll notice that I didn’t pick up Marvel Zombies 4….

Also I dropped Doctor Who Classic, it’s just too expensive per issue plus the collected trade will be cheaper anyway. I deduced that I rather get Astounding Wolf-Man instead.


-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is The Freedom Collective #1.

Things are getting desperate at my local comic book store. They gave all their box customers a free copy of Previews in hopes folks would order more.

Good luck with that.

I think folks have finally realized they don’t need a bust of Antman or A-Team action figures.

Comics and collectables are overpriced. Sad but true for our friends in the industry.


The Astounding Wolf-Man #14, Image. I dropped this title but it’s just too good.

The Freedom Collective #1, Rough Cut Comics. The Marvel Age… commie style!

Jonah Hex #42, DC Comics.


Trade Paperbacks:
Chronicles of Conan #17, Dark Horse Comics.


-Swinebread

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is Showcase Presents Ambush Bug. I love how DC made the big three green for this cover as they weren’t on the original Action Comics 565.


Star Trek The Next Generation: The Last Generation #6, IDW. Meh, It looks like they didn’t know how to end this thing, so they just did.

The War That Time Forgot #11, DC Comics.


Trade Paperbacks:
Showcase Presents Ambush Bug DC Comics. It’s Here! All the Ambush Bug goodness from the1980s and early 1990s stories. BTW, what the hell happened to issue #6 of the Ambush Bug Year None miniseries?

Supermen! The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 Fantagraphics. In your face golden age stories by some of the greats of comic book history but with forgotten characters that weren’t quite so great (although I've got a special place in my heart for Basil Wolverton's Space Hawk). I love this because it’s a time of experimentation. The writers and artists are learning their craft and there aren’t any established rules yet. Sure to please fans of “I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets.” It also has an excellent introduction by Jonathan Lethem. For more see here.


Magazine:
Back Issue #33 TwoMorrows Publishing. The teen heroes issue. I’m not all the excited about this issue but it does have an article on Power Girl. Finally I’ll have some clarity on her mixed up back-story. Oh and Nova is in here too.

Update: Rob! pointed out that he had has a piece published in this issue of Back Issue #33. Its about the Teen Titans Megos. It was the first article I read and I didn't even pay attention to who wrote it! How cool and stupid is that!


-Swinebread

I saw Watchmen last week, twice actually. The first time I wanted to see it on my own terms so I went to a Wednesday matinee alone. Before the previews, I took particular delight in passing the time by reading a section of the Ten Cent Plague. With Watchmen coming to the screen, it felt as if the damage done by the comic book witch hunts of the 1950s was finally being lifted… at least creatively, but I digress.

That first viewing of the film was transportative. I didn’t come away thinking Watchmen was a perfect film. But I feel that I had seen as good of an adaptation as anyone could have pulled off. I was in a highly meditave state when I left the theater, something I hadn’t felt since… well…Groundhog Day of all things. I couldn’t stop thinking about the film and the comic. Then on Saturday, I went again with the wife and saw the movie on it’s own terms. Nobody walked out of either showing. No one bitched about the film and no dumbass brought preteen children to the movie. Mrs. Swinebread was lost, unfortunately, but that was more due to the fact that English is not her first language. She did like the fact that it was an adult film and she thought it was great that it didn’t have happy ending. She is Japanese after all.

There is so much to discuss about Watchmen that I could never mention it all but let me start with a that fact that Zack Snyder was screwed. If he adapted Watchmen for a general audience then the fanboys would rebel and tank the film. If he made a more direct adaptation of the comic then general audiences would be easily confused and the risk of financial failure looms. Snyder went with the latter, and I see it as the only real choice. And for the record I think 300 is an awful movie (although it’s not too bad if you think of it as a joke or a parody film).

There are several controversies that I feel I must address. The first, of course, is Dr. Manhattan’s Penis. All I can really say is “GROW THE F UP.” Seriously, folks need to get over their puritanical prudery. A naked man doesn’t equal porn. We’ve had full frontal female nudes in film for forever and now we get one CG cock and the whole world ends just because immature folks can’t stand the sight of the male member. This film has adult content. What a surprise, it is rated R. I take particular delight in hearing stories of families having to race out of the theater because their kids saw Dr. Manhattan’s wang. Rated R means rated R. If you are gonna get upset about something, then get upset about fact that one of the characters guns down a pregnant women. A funny thing is that I’m starting to see more positive comments from women about Doc M’s nudeness.

The sex scene on the owl ship is was probably too long and yes the Shrek song didn’t help sell the scene. I would have preferred a sweeter, more romantic coupling. I do understand what Zack was going for though. There is an unrelenting darkness to Watchmen and I think he was taking the time too lighten things up a little, plus if I thought the world was really gonna get nuked soon I’d be having raunchy sex in an owl ship too if I had one. I’m not defending Zack’s choice here but I do understand where he’s coming from.

It’s too violent? Zack likes his violence hardcore and so punched up the gore in several scenes. The brutality is all there in the GN but it isn’t as graphic as Zack makes it out to be. I didn’t have a problem with it personally except when Dr. Manhattan splattered the gangsters onto the ceiling. That distracted from the plot. There is a certain horror to the violence in the Watchmen comic but most of that horror happens in the mind of the reader. Zack tried to bring that same sense of horror by clearly displaying the awfulness of it directly. Of course there were no bodies in New York so that’s one point that went the other way. While shocking I was pretty neutral about it.

Is it’s too dark? A lot of folks complained that it was much too awful for a superhero movie. I recognize it is a downer of story but folks are bringing a lot of cultural baggage of what constitutes a comic book movie and what doesn’t. There’s a whole universe out there in the world of comics waiting to be discovered and it’s time for folks to look passed the X-men movies. That said, WB did market the film as a regular superhero flick in the vain of Dark Knight.

The ending was changed. Not a big deal. I was pretty neutral about it. The Squid would not have translated to the screen and would not have been understood or accepted by a mainstream audience. Plus, just think of all the exposition that would have been added to the film. *Shudder* Dr. Manhattan is the only preternatural thing (besides Nixon’s nose) in the film and to introduce a fake preternatural alien would have been too much.

It should have been updated? Oh Please, this is simply laziness on the part of some of the younger folks in the audience. It’s the same old “the past is not real and so has no significance” rant. Part of the problem here is that most folks don’t know a thing about history and don’t want know. Watchmen is a very complicated story moving through different eras but I guess some in the audience couldn’t tell the difference between 1985 and 1945. Detaching Watchmen from the events that shaped the America in the 20th century renders the story pointless. Plus, the Watchmen narrative is a cracked mirror of comic books trends and stereotypes from the 1940s to the mid-1980s.


Things I liked:

The attention to detail was fantastic. I got Blade Runner vibes.

Of course, Jackie Earle Haley was great as Rorschach

The Silhouette’s V-J Day kiss!

Sticking as closely as possible to the comic.

All the stuff with Molock

The Sally Jupiter Tijuana Bible… it’s all gravy after that

I liked most of the stuff with Janey Slater

The opening… but everybody liked that

People are reading the comic… that’s cool and the best thing about this whole project


Things I didn’t like:

The music choices were not the best. I know zack was trying to make it feel like the time period but some of it didn’t work. As a good score would have been better. Did I mention the Shrek song?

The two lead gals acting wasn’t quite up to snuff.

There were some problems with tone. Zack sometimes has trouble capturing those softer moments.

Ozy’s exposition about himself didn’t work.

Having Janey Slater show up and say I got cancer was sorta off… although I understand Zack was pressed for time.

Billy’s vocals were not strong enough for me. The dispassion was good but the level was not.

Missed opportunities:
Zack tried to cram in as much as possible, so for me it’s not about missed opportunities but rather his interpretation of elements of the comic.

Things I was neutral about
The new ending
The new costumes
The running time
The Violence
The Mars stuff

I liked the Watchmen a lot but can see why some folks would have problems. It’s a very adult picture and people need to know this before they enter the theater. Snyder worked very hard in replicating the GN but he does have a few problems with communicating the right tone with Watchmen. If he was a little more experienced I think some things would flow better. We’ll get the extended DVD so that might mitigate the minor pacing and plot problems. Regardless, people are debating the merits of the film and the graphic novel and that kind of attention given to an actual comic book story is fantastic.


-Swinebread

Saturday Morning Watchmen

iSwinebread!

My New Comics... From Last Week

Swinebread Jr's Grandma has been in town, so I've been busy but here is last week's list.



This last week’s best cover is The Age of Sentry #6.


Jonah Hex #41, Marvel Comics. I’m getting a latter-day Conan/Red Sonja vibe going on between Jonah and Tallulah Black. This comic hasn’t let me down yet.

Last Reign #4, Boom Studios. I wonder if they realize that the plot in this issue is stolen right out of TMNT RPG After the Bomb.

Doctor Who Classics Series 2 #4, IDW.

Army of Darkness #37, Dynamite Entertainment.

The Age of Sentry #6, Marvel. The End of another mini-series, and thus my box list gets smaller.

Trade Paperbacks:
Savage Sword of Conan Volume 5 Dark Horse. Yeah Baby!

Books:
With all the money I’ve been saving I went ahead and picked up the paperback of Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. I can’t wait to dive into this one, but I gotta’ finish the paperback version of The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America first. The Ten Cent Plague is must read for anybody that wants to understand how pop was culture negatively transformed and how the comic book medium’s potential was basically destroyed for the next 40 to 50 years. A chilling and sadly forgotten chapter (outside of comicdom) in US history... until now.


-Swinebread

Dean's New Comics

Dean's cover of the week.

Cthulhu Tales #12, Boom Studios.

You can read the entire first series of this title online here.,

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23, Dark Horse - these books are pretty much for fans of the show. There's a lot of inside stuff from the seven years of the series. I love them.

Army of Darkness #17, Dynamite Entertainment- Consistently a strong title.


Sonic Universe #1, Archie Comics - Sigh.

Conan the Cimmerian #8, Dark Horse.

Sgt. Rock The Lost Battalion #4, DC Comics.

The Haunted Tank #4 , DC Comics.


I'm enjoying the hell out of this very adult take on a comic I loved in my childhood. The ghost of Jeb Stuart is forever condemned to help his ancestors if they bear his surname and they're soldiers. His modern ancestor is the commander of an Abrams tank during the Iraq war who just happens to be black. The writers don't shy away from the racial conflict this engenders. The tank action is pretty good as well.

War That Time Forgot #10, DC Comics.

- Dean Wormer

My New Comics

This week’s best cover is The Dark Tower: Treachery #6.


She-Hulk #38, Marvel Comics. The last issue. I hope Peter David’s run on She-Hulk will finally convince folks that he’s actually not that great of writer after all. I never liked his Hulk run.

The Dark Tower: Treachery #6, Marvel Comics. This mini ends so the next one can begin… but I’m done with DT.

Sgt Rock #3, DC Comics.

The War That Time Forgot #10, DC Comics.

I dropped more titles before this week’s shipment came in. Of note is the fact that Conan is no longer part of my box. I’m getting the trades so what’s the point.

For the comics I bought today… the total price was $13.99! Good grief… $13.99 for four comics, what an f-ing rip off. I’m finishing up current mini-series and I might be done for good in a few months but I’m not sure. I think the only regular titles that I’m still signed up for are: Jonah Hex, Red Sonja, Doctor Who Classic Series, Army of Darkness, Walking Dead, Brothers In Arms, and Back Issue (which is bimonthly). I also added the new Warlord series for look-see. This means for the first time in my life (while buying comics on a regular basis), I am not getting a regular Marvel book.

The mini-series that I’m finishing up are:
The War That Time Forgot, Jungle Girl, Age of the Sentry, Sgt. Rock, Ambush Bug, Kull, Last Reign, Fall of Cthulhu, Star Trek The Next Generation: The Last Generation, and The Twelve (which I hope finally finishes up soon).

A few books that I ordered before I dropped Previews are:
Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic-book Heroes (1939-1941). a collection of never-before-reprinted oddities from cartoonists working at the dawn of the comic-book format.

Essential Ambush Bug. Does my want for this really need to be explained?

Savage Sword of Conan Volume #5. SSoC is a gift that never stops giving.

You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! More Fletcher Hanks goodness. I didn’t order this one but I gotta’ get it after the first volume, I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets!

At some point I plan on getting The Boys in trade paperback too.

Well that's my forecast along with my new comics

-Swinebread

He Can Shamble Over Tall Buildings in a Single Bound.

If you haven't seen this then you might be unaware that DC Comics will be ripping off honoring Marvel's "Marvel Zombie" universe this summer with their "Blackest Night" line. Earth 2 Superman will be zombified.

It's going to be tough to match the dark humor and creativity that the Marvel series had reached with their own zombie heroes.

-Dean