But I managed to get tons of things done. I labeled dozens of tapes, I finally have read all the comics I bought at the Comic Salon in Erlangen ( except a few trades ), I put all the comics from my secretary in order, I heaved two boxes of comics to the cellar, I put all the new comics into my reading box on top of my secretary and I even finished one of the tax forms I had to fill out. Now the first thing I want to do is a quick update :
1. ) Okay, this is the biggest notice. FINALLY SOMEBODY POSTED SOME COMMENTS ! This proves that the comment function is not disabled so that excuse has expired. I guess that means I have now three readers. Welcome aboard. It seems my plans for worlddomination are slowly taking off. Nya-ha-ha-ha.
2. ) Maybe you have already noticed but TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN has a new look. I don´t mean a new color or fancy features. Due to an unknown network / computer / digital glitch the whole link section - together with the archives and my profile - can now be found on the very bottom of the page. I have no idea why or how to fix it with my limited knowledge of HTML. So for the forseeable future you can find the links and the archive at the bottom of the page.
3. ) Last but not least, I wanted to give a quick shoutout ( which is only two weeks late but nevertheless ) to blackdog comics who is now officially Germany `s fastest online shop. The last order I made was on a Monday and on Tuesday the comics were already in the mail box. That´s like a 24 hour delivery ! I knew you could get your photos done in 24 hours but I never knew that you can also get your comics in 24 hours. Awesome.
So after this quick update what has been happening here in Germany ? Of course, the soccer world cup was big and I have to say that it was the first time after a long period that I became interested in soccer. Normally I only watch the games with Spain but this time all of Germany had soccer fever and I just got infected by the positive atmosphere. The team of Jürgen Klinsmann inspired everyone and I think the germans learned that it can be okay to show the flag of Germany and to be proud of your home country. Patriotism has been in the hands of extremists and Nazis for too long. In the end Germany made third place but everybody was celebrating like they had won the world cup. Which makes up a little for it. Now enough of soccer and back to comics and what is going on in my life.Yesterday my brother came home from Spain and brought some stuff. It is always frustrating to see how cheap some comics are in Spain. One of the things I knew when I started taking the SHANNA issues out of my comic bag was that I would regret it. And now I know why : the spanish version of the comic is an oversized hardcover edition for the price of 15 EUROS ! That´s right...the complete miniseries by Frank Cho, in hardcover and oversized on glossy paper for only fifteen bucks. That´s why Spain is one of the best countries to buy comics. Some editions are just a steal especially in the hardcover section. And there is a simple reason for that : because its a reader´s market and the publishers act accordingly. My brother brought an issue of X-MEN by Salvador Larocca and it sells for 1,70 EUROS. You won´t find such prices in Germany, man.
Some other stuff is the BIGFOOT comic by Richard Corben, the missing NIGHTWING issues by Rick Leonardi, the newest issues of NARUTO ( one of the best Mangas published today ), the first few issue of Hero squared and two new issues of DOLMEN Spain´s best comic magazine. So I can finally make the big three-continental-comic-magazine-tournament which will compare comic magazines from Germany, Spain and America. For Germany starts COMIXXENE with two older isues since my brother stopped buying it, for America I wll take a look at the last two issues of WIZARD I read and for Spain I will make an indepth analysis of the two new issues of DOLMEN. I know there are more comic magazines in America than WIZARD but it´s the only one I get in my comic shop on a regular basis. I will write about other comic magazines when I have the opportunity ( maybe even a post about the ten must have comic magazines ) but for now that´s not an option since it wouldn´t be fair to play " best of " of the comics journal or such.And I just like to rub it in that although everybody hates the WIZARD it is in my opinion the best comic magazine - in America. But more on the subject when I make the post. Another comic my brother brought from Spain were the first issues of Hero Squared and there was one thing that bugged me the whole time. No, not the story. Unlike PLANETARY BRIGADE and the DEFENDERS mini series Hero Squared was actually funny. What bugged me the most was the art. I just don´t like this whole new " straight from pencil to color " trend in comics that´s all the craze. It looks awesome in 1 %, pretty okay in 9 % and just awful in 90 % of the comics it´s used in. And to keep the suspense to a minimum : yes, this comic falls into the 90 percent category.
I know that there are a lot of arguments made for this new approach but it just doesn´t stick with me. I know, this is " truer " to the pencil artist and looks " much better ". Newsflash, bub : I don´t buy comics alone for the pencil artist. I buy them for the penciler - inker combo. If I want Jim Lee with Jim Lee only I buy a sketchbook. But in a comic I expect the Jim Lee - Scott Williams tag team. In fact it would be strange to see Jim Lee without him. Like Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, Siegfried and Roy or Batman and Robin there are some dynamic duos which are unseperable. In the comic field there are lots of examples where only the combination of an artist with the appropriate inker achieves the highest level of art like John Buscema and Tom Palmer, Alan Davis and Mark Farmer, Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, John Byrne and Terry Austin, John Romita Sr. and Bob Layton, Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino or Sal Buscema and Ernie Chan. So if it was good enough for the names on this list to be inked it should be good enough for everybody else. I mean if you REALLY would want to get the full artistic impact of the penciller just let him ink his own stuff like John Romita Jr., Walter Simonson or Arthur Adams do. But this whole penciled comics just look like unfinished ashcan editions to me. Like the comic company couldn´t bother to finish the comic. I mean you can say a lot of things about POWER FREAKS - but at least all pages are inked. But I think that´s enough on this topic. I see that I almost missed DR. HOUSE that I have to tape for my younger brother who is still in Spain. So I guess this waraps up today´s post.
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