Straight from the headlines of current geeky events!
Why the hell not:
Sometimes an idea hits me while just going through other people's creativity.
Rachelle over at Living Between Wednesdays (a personal favorite comic blogs of mine, by the way) had a very funny write up of Lois Lane #89. Go read it. It's funny. I'll wait.
See? Told you it was funny!
Anyway, my favorite panel from the comic / post was this one:
Another Wednesday, another week's worth of new comic goodness in my grubby li'l hands! As usual, I'm doing a little write-up on what is my most looked-forward to issue, based simply on the cover, whatever foreknowledge I may have on it (and I tend to shy away from spoilers), and my own strange tastes. I'm also trying not to do back-to-back issues, which eliminated Criminal right off the bat this week. Though that one is really intriguing.
So, instead of a tightly scripted and all-around brilliant piece of taught, almost delicate crime drama, I'm going with a book guaranteed to kick me in the arse:
Wow. And I mean... WOW! I totally forgot about this one...
Seriously, if you don't smile at this at least once, you're in trouble, kiddies!
Not a particularly humorous post, but it's been a rough, long day and apparently I've been "tagged" by Sally (whom I mistakenly referred to as "Sappy" in my hastily typed reply last post. Sorry 'bout that!), and am therefore bound to reply with 8 facts about me not already widely known.
That's only about half of the rules to this thing, but I really can't tag 8 other people who haven't already been tagged before, seeing as how that's pretty much my weekly hit total. Anyway, thanks to Sally for the consideration!
Ok, then! On me:
1) I own 4 mandolins, 5 guitars, 2 saxophones (1 alto, 1 soprano), a clarinet, and more misc. random instruments that can fit in my closet. I can even play some of them quite well, thank you very much! I sing passably, have been in more than my share of garage bands, and still find time to drunkenly embarrass myself from time to time attempting Karokee at the random bar.
2) I routinely fall asleep while watching cartoons. I think it has affected me in strange ways over the years. I don't know this to be a fact, but it would explain a lot. And that's half the battle.
3) I can solve a Rubik's Cube in under 2 minutes. My best time is under 20 seconds. Yes, I was one of *those* kids in the 70s. I'm pretty good at Elevator Action, too.
4) I was once lost in the Idaho wilderness for 3 days and had to eventually be helicoptered out. I credit my dogs with saving my life to this day. They got steak. It's quite a story, actually.
5) I frequently carry dinosaur teeth in my pocket. It's particularly fun to explain at airport checkpoints.
6) I am absolutely horrible with directions, noticing landmarks, keeping my bearings, etc. See (#4) above. I frequently make what should be a 20 minute drive into a 2 hour "Where the Fuck is that street?!?!" It's so bad that my co-workers actually chipped in to buying me a GPS a few years ago. Seriously.
7) I love bad movies / bad television / bad comics / bad computer games. MST 3K was a Godsend to me. Groaning humor makes me giggle. This is probably not a surprise to anyone reading this and following what I try to pass off as the funny.
8) I hope to never grow up.
Well, that's it! And please, Ladies? No stalkers.
Hey! How about that! Post #100! Yay! Who'da thunk it?
And, after checking the stats I'm happy to post that I'm the current number one Google search for "Supergirl Upskirt!" Ah, my purpose. It's all falling into place...
I'm also 4th for "Dominatrix Tales!" Yay!
(Hi, Googlers!)
So, anyway Soup! What do you feel like posting tonight? What it being a special entry and all?
Well, disembodied questioner, the same thing I post (nearly) every night....
Ah! But why not go for a theme and use some comic's issue #100? Y'know? To go with your 100th post?
Done!
You must know by now that whenever I use that phrase, you're in for things like this:
Arrgh! Another issue of The Spirit came out this week, making it once again my most anticipated comic that I just wrote about a few months ago. That series is sooo... good! This could start to be a problem. OK, new rule: If my weekly Most Wanted comic has been written up less than 3 months ago, it's disqualified to be written up again for the current week. That means next month's Spirit is good to go! And, I'll still get to write about every issue of All-Star Superman whenever-the-hell it comes out.
Yay! Problem solved! So... instead of The Spirit, I give you:
Normally when the new monthly solicitations come out, I'll do a little writeup on what looks good / begs to be made fun of. This month however, there have been enough good ones already that I'm just going to touch on a few things of interest to probably no one but myself:
THE BLACK CANARY WEDDING PLANNER
JLA WEDDING SPECIAL #1
THE GREEN ARROW/BLACK CANARY WEDDING SPECIAL #1
Yeah, this thing is going to be a frenzy. Normally, I'd think this was going too far overboard, and going to get well out of hand... but then again, it is a big-name wedding, and like a real life wedding.. these things tend to snowball out of control. I'll look at it that way, and enjoy the irony.
THE QUESTION: ZEN AND VIOLENCE VOL. 1 TP
Written by Dennis O'Neil
Art by Denys Cowan & Rick Magyar
Cover by Cowan & Bill Sienkiewicz
A new trade paperback collecting the 1980s adventures of The Question, the faceless, morally conflicted avenger based in corrupt Hub City! A martial arts master, The Question delved into Eastern philosophy as he battled crime and the crooked politicians of his hometown. This volume, collecting issues #1-6, features appearances by Batman and many of DC's martial arts heroes.
Advance-solicited; on sale October 3 o 176 pg, FC, $19.99 US
Hell, yeah! I already own the complete series, but I'll be picking this up just to have a handy reading copy. The Denny O'Neil / Denys Cowan Question (Rama Kushna rest his soul) is just plain incredible. And if you don't think so... well, you're a poopy-head, Mr. Poopy-Head!
BATMAN #669
Written by Grant Morrison
Art and cover by J.H. Williams III
Concluding a 3-part story by Grant Morrison and J.H. Williams III! Batman's reunion with the Club of Heroes turns into a deathtrap as Robin and the Squire are kidnapped by the Black Glove! And with the Club of Villains lurking in the shadows, can good possibly triumph?
On sale September 12 o 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
This can be nothing short of fantastic. And, boy! Does Morrison love the Squire, or what?!
(Can't say I blame him.)
JLA/HITMAN #1
Written by Garth Ennis
Art and Cover by John McCrea
Tommy Monaghan, the long-lost hero of HITMAN, returns in part one of this two-issue miniseries! There's a problem on the JLA moonbase, and not even the World's Greatest Heroes can cope by themselves. Can Tommy help them out? Will he? Unpleasant secrets from the past return...on the Darkside.
On sale September 19 o 1 of 2 o 48 pg, FC, $3.99 US
OK! Now we're talking! This has so much potential to live up to in my head that I think I can only be let down. Then again... Ennis writes the Justice League? That alone is worth the cost, right there.
DEATHBLOW #7
Written by Brian Azzarello
Art and cover by Carlos D'Anda
At war not with just the enemy but with his allies, Deathblow finds himself challenged for the title of "World's Deadliest Man." The challenger is less than a man - but more than human! Half machine, half dinosaur - 100% Osamasaurus!
On sale September 26 o 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
OK, normally I would have zero interest in this. In fact, I really just glossed over the synopsis.
But... I happen to catch the phrase, "Osamasaurus: Half Machine, Half Dinosaur!" ...and, well brother?! You might have just huckstered yourself a sale there!
Just a quickie today, as I'm still recovering from my latest weekend debauchery.
You think I'd learn by now. *sigh*
Anyhoo, just to get a post down, here's something that is probably hanging on Bendis' wall somewhere:
Part two of two.
First in a series of two.
This was an odd week, and I ended up changing my mind. To be honest, I initially chose New Avengers #31 as potentially the best - and it could have been: great story arc so far, nice flow with the whole Civil War thing, the setup looked great, and that whole promised "Nothing will be the same!" last panel.
Yeah, I'm a sucker. I would complain about a bait-and-switch, but one that actually involves a Skrull in disguise? ... well, I have enough of a sense of humor to realize that really, that's kinda funny. Fooled me good, you did Marvel.
So, I'm swapping my first choice with another one. And because it's another Big Event title, I'm still a sucker. Well, at least this one was decent:
I just finished Countdown #47. You know, the one with the Mary Marvel exploding boobie cover? Yeah, well aside from that, something was real familiar with it to my (albeit, very strange and easily distracte... Hey! Hiya, puppy!) head. It reminded me of something else.. couldn't quite place it, but something real familiar...
Figured it out:
[This was something I've meant to write about for a while, but Rachelle's challenge to write about your favorite comic shop pushed it to the forefront. Well, at least until after I got over my Freakazoid bender, anyway.]
Several years ago I moved from Georgia to Idaho, and quite honestly, I love it out here. Take today, for example: It's a pleasant 70 degrees, nice friendly breeze, clear skies, and I can see a really majestic mountain range (that still has the remains of last winter's snow covering the tallest peaks) right through the window as I'm typing this. The people are plain-spoken, no-nonsense and very friendly. They look at me funny if I slip into my (slight) southern accent. Usually that involves alcohol. And you can buy that on Sundays out here. Another plus.
Yes, I moved here and for the most part I didn't look back... except ... you see, I'm convinced that I moved away from the Planet's Greatest Comic Shop: Athens Georgia's Bizarro Wuxtry.
(that link is hardly representative, but there doesn't seem to be another)
Athens is a small town, about an hour from Atlanta, hosting a huge school (University of Georgia) and as a result has a quaint, "old southern town meets hip college crowd" vibe to it. Downtown is, ohhh... maybe 5 streets by 10, and is chock full of coffee houses, bars, cheap college-y food joints, fantastic dance and music clubs (Athens has an amazing musical history - and not all of it is centered around R.E.M.), and as many hip dorm room deco kitsch stores that you can shake your parent's money at.
One of these downtown stores is Wuxtry Records, a fantastic record store in the classic sense; their racks of CD's are matched by racks of LP's. It has that great old record store smell... and they have a ton of Athens music memorabilia. I often think about it and wonder how much its changed (or will change) as music inevitably marches towards the digital.
If you go around to the side of Wuxtry, and climb a foreboding set of stairs, you come face to face with the entrance to Bizarro Wuxtry.
I remember laughing my ass off at this episode back in the day. Enjoy!
The last one worked so well, I thought I'd try it again...
I made a funny over in the comments of a recent post at Comics Make No Sense and decided to follow through:
Because of the holiday, I decided to skip last week's Most Wanted ... wasn't much worth writing about, anyway. Plus, Saturday was my LCS' anniversary sale and I decided to just wait until then to get my weeklies.
So, I'm back - and actually, it turned out to be a pretty good haul! I initially narrowed down the books to about five that I was the most interested in. From those, I honestly had to think about which one I was really keen on reading first. And although Paul Dini doing a Zatanna/Batman story is intriguing, and although Buffy has turned into a really enjoyable series so far, I'm sticking to one that is the conclusion of a story arc I've been waiting four months for:
I'm probably one of the few, based on the many, many bad reviews, but I've actually been somewhat enjoying DC's Countdown - mainly because I know that it's all set-up at this point and can sort of see the distant road ahead. Not the particulars, not the road's destination, just if the road ahead is one I want to travel.
I could be totally proven wrong, but I'm giving it a few more week's to get out of the "set-up" mode and into full-fledged "major stuff's happening now!" mode before I drop it. I still hold out hope.
I (and again, this is probably just me) particularly like the Jimmy Olsen bits. We're starting to get a peppering of Silver-Age Olsen.. that's a good thing, and I hope we'll have a lot of fun with that arc. Hopefully, we'll see his whole wacky history touched on before it ends... I mean, the dude's done everything, if you think about it! Everything. He could teach us a lot. Seriously:
