Since we´re on the subject of my last post I wanted to thank Geier from the most excellent Geierheim blog for providing me with the link to § 86 Strafgesetzbuch about the graphic depiction of swastikas or variations thereof. I also have to thank him for reminding me that the german version of Danger Girls was put on the Index of youthendangering publications because of the hammer symbols the Nazis had in the comic instead of swastikas. I changed that in the text.
Oh, and sorry, I have to apologize to all readers who followed the link for § 86 Strafgesetzbuch and ended up with the episode of ComicGeek Speak that had the conversation with the late Gene Colan . I already fixed that.
And last but not least I wanted to thank Terry Hooper from Comic BitsOnline to let me publish his mail which was the origin of the post.
I wanted to post earlier Today but it´s been really hot and I had to walk all the way to ALDI for some art supplies and afterwards I was really exhausted. I don´t know what´s wrong with me lately but whenever the heat outside is really intense I turn weak as a kitten. Or maybe I got a dose of red kryptonite because I felt like somebody had materialized his foot into my head and just stomped on my brain a few times. I couldn´t keep one train of thought so please bear with me when I´m shooting into a few tangents Today. And I´m going to correct any spelling mistakes - I promise. Now I have already finished another post since the post on german censorship but because I posted all the links for the DC comic news before my last post it´s now directly below it so you might have missed it.
Since it has been over a week since my last post you might ask yourself what I have been doing in the meantime. Well, from time to time there are moments when I´m kind of neglecting my comic collection and just buying the usual stuff from my pull list. And other times I want to close the gaps and try out some new stuff.
Usually I order a few things from different dealers at different times and they all arrive at the same time so I´m either waiting for new comics or swamped with them. And I have to say : having too much to read is better than not having anything to read. Because when I don´t have anything to read I get cranky and lazy ( Yes, more cranky and lazy than usual ) and on the other side when I have lots of stuff to read I´m energized and funny and daring.
This time around I´m trying to spread things a bit over the next few weeks. And since my budget is rather small I have to use different venues like amazon where you can get some books at bargain prices or the Paninicomicforum where people sell their used comics. Used meaning - in this case - read once or twice at the most.
I ordered two hardcovers at blackdog because they had them at a lower price than amazon but it looks like they have to order them first so it will take at least 2 weeks until I can read them. Last week I got the hardcover of ASTRO CITY - THE TARNISHED ANGEL at a bargain price from a guy at the Panini Comic Forum who didn´t like the resolution of the story. Well, it´s one of my favorite stories ( second only to the CONFESSIONS storyline ) and it will get a special place on my porn shelf rack.
Yes, so far I only have one shelf that´s visible the rest of my porn shelf is hidden. Okay, I also have a second porn shelf furniture but I have moved so often from room to room that it´s now three rooms from my new room. And I think if I try to move it one more time it´s going to fall apart.
Anyway, since the 2 hardcovers from blackdog still hadn´t arrived last Sunday I ordered three hardcovers from amazon and they arrived Today. That´s what I call fast keeping in mind that they didn´t receive my order on a working day. The three comics I ordered were ULTIMATE COMICS NEW ULTIMATES - THOR REBORN by Jeph Loeb and Frank Cho, WEATHERCRAFT by Jim Woodring and BULLETPROOF COFFIN by David Hine and Shaky Kane. Now the THOR REBORN HC I got because I was thinking about getting the trade but the hardcover was just cheaper through amazon. Okay, it was just by 1 EURO but if you think about the additional free shipping it´s really a good deal. I mean why would anyone pay more to get the softcover version or - even worse - the german softcover which might have a really bad translation ? I know I already have all the single issues but it´s Frank Cho and I just love his art. Although the doublepage spreads are better in the floppy version.
Okay, we´re probably never going to see an uncensored version of SHANNA even though Joe Quesada keeps announcing it every year. But aside from that I´m always excited to see new pages from him and I can´t wait to get my hands on his X - MEN SCHISM issue.
One thing I have to mention - before rereading the comic and doing a proper post on it - is that I always found it kind of weird that the only difference between the regular Black Panther and the " ultimate " Black Panther is that the ultimate version is mute. I´m not sure what the message is here. The only way to make the black dude on the team better was to shut him up ?
The second comic book I ordered, WEATHERCRAFT is a comic I wanted to get since January when I found out - through one of the various " best of 2010 " lists I posted in my yearend post of 2010 - that there is a new comic from Jim Woodring. I´m not sure if I got all the FRANK comics he did but I have all the issues that were published in Germany and some US issues ( which don´t include the comics where I have the german version ). Somebody once said that if there is an artist out there who can draw dreams it must be Jim Woodring. I hope I can do a post on the new comic from him - which is a graphic novel to boot - although it´s probably a bit difficult to explain that I buy a comic without words for the story.
I haven´t read it yet but so far all FRANK comics by Jim Woodring have been nothing less than brilliant and I don´t think this one is an exception.
And last but not least BULLETPROOF COFFIN is a comic where I´m taking a chance and it´s all Terry Hooper´s fault. I have never heard of this and wouldn´t have paid any attention if it hadn´t been for a post on Comic BitsOnline about the book. To quote the author of the review Paul Brown :
Hine’s script is clever and knowingly wry and self - mocking, while Shaky Kane is having enormous fun drawing everything any fanboy would want to draw, from Kirbyesque psychotic Vigilantes to Neon Tyrannosaurs, all coloured in an eyeball - shredding dayglo colourscheme Warhol would’ve been proud of.
If you love old comics, and you could do with a fun read, I urge you to go and nab Bulletproof Coffin where and while you can.
The art is obviously not the first selling point but how can you go wrong with a story about comic geeks, superheroes, dinosaurs, mad professors, scantily clad cavewomen with large breasts and the obligatory comic book within a comic book ?
I´m also thinking about doing a real post on one of my favorite series that ended to soon : LEAVE IT TO CHANCE by James Robinson and Paul Smith.
Lately I tend to get the paperback of a series rather than hunt for the single issues and in some cases I even prefer the hardcovers especially if it´s a comic where I just love the art. I have to confess most of the hardcovers I have were bargains or in a few instances I already knew I had to get the hardcover like with FINAL CRISIS - LEGION OF THREE WORLDS. But there are some comics I read more than once and in that case it´s easier to just pick up the hardcover. And they often are more durable than the trades. I don´t know if my JUSTICE SOCIETY - THY KINGDOM COME books would look so good in the trade version if I had re - read them as often as my hardcovers.
Now with LEAVE IT TO CHANCE the second and third volumes were offered on amazon in the hardcover version for 11 bucks ( there is still one copy of each in stock ) and just a few days earlier I had finished re - reading all the issues so the notion what a great series it had been was fresh in my mind.
I don´t know why I re - read them to begin with but I guess I was probably bagging my comics and decided to read them once again right after MIDNIGHT NATION. If you have a comic collection as extensive and widespread ( and with that I mean all over the house and parts in the basement ) as mine you often forget which comics you have and bagging comics can turn into a treasure hunt. You always end up finding things you had almost forgotten.
I don´t have all of my comics bagged but whenever I get comics through the mail or when I´m at the comicshop I collect the comic bags and when I have a big bundle I bag another box of comics. I even get the bags my brother receives by mail because he doesn´t believe in bagging comics. I tried to tell him more than once that it would increase the lifespan of his comics but so far he doesn´t believe me.
In any case whenever I´m bagging my comics - or looking for a particular comic - I re - discover some comics where it would be a shame to read them only once. With MIDNIGHT NATION I think it was mostly because I had forgotten most of the story and it´s one of J. M. Straczynsky´s best work. Not too mention Gary Frank´s gorgeous art. I think he really found his definite style in that one.
With LEAVE IT TO CHANCE I just wanted to read the story once more since it´s one of my favorite series and it ended far too soon.
So I had just read the whole run and when I saw the two hardcovers I just thought it would be nice to have them on the shelf. Back in the days when the series was still in full swing I missed the beginning so I had to get the first trade to read the start of Chance Falconer´s adventures in Devil´s Echo. And wouldn´t the three books look perfect together ?
No they don´t. Because the hardcovers don´t fit ! Yes, I got a huge surprise when they arrived because they are the hardcovers but they are in the oversized album format that rivals the european comic album format. I couldn´t believe it. Those things are huge. Now I only have to find volume one in that format. Man, for 11 bucks that´s a steal. I´m so glad I ordered them.
At the moment I have to muster all my strength not to order the CAPTAIN AMERICA OMNIBUS by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting. I have all the issues, I bought the second Winter Soldier hardcover at the last comic fair in Stuttgart but less than 50 bucks ..... for an oversized hardcover that will cost me 75 bucks if I get it from my comicshop ..... let´s just say I´m tempted. But for the moment I´m still resisting.
My brother´s birthday is at the end of this month and I´m still don´t know what to get him. The last years I always got him one trade of NOVA and one trade of IMMORTAL IRON FIST but maybe I´ll go for something different this time. Something that´s not so predictable.
I thought about getting the third TRINITY trade for him since I gave him volume two for Christmas this year. But he still hasn´t found ( and read ) the first trade so I´m the only one who could really enjoy it. Oh, and don´t worry that he might find out what I´m giving him as a birthday present. My brothers never read my blog and one of them doesn´t even know the name of my blog.
So I´ll try to get something he wouldn´t expect, maybe the PENACE trade. Speedball kicked ass in that one, he just opens a can of whup - ass on the Marvel universe but it´s just one giant ..... oh no, that would be telling. There may be people out there who haven´t read it yet and I´m not going to spoil the mother of all punchlines.
Oh, I just realized that I have talked and talked about comics and I haven´t written anything about the GRATIS COMIC TAG which was supposed to be the topic of this post. I don´t know why, but I always get sidetracked when I´m starting with this topic. And I really want to do the reviews because then I can finally start to give the comics away. Which - by the way - is your clue to send me an e - mail if you interested in getting one of them.
I really should get to it as I already gave away the MUPPET SHOW comic.
Right now I´m still thinking about how best to give them away ( yes, I also didn´t think it would be so difficult to get rid of comics ) and I´m probably going to put a post on the blog and a thread on the Panini Comic Forum. I´m also undecided if it wouldn´t be best to write the reviews in german since the comics in question are german and only available to readers in Germany. And are my foreign readers really that interested in reading about german comics ( and BDs ) ? Maybe it´s just boring for them.
So, I have enough comics to read at the moment and also enough comics to write about. There are the comics I ordered, LEAVE IT TO CHANCE or the new LOVE AND CAPES miniseries I just finished I can write about. But first I have to do the post about the issues from the GRATIS COMIC TAG, dammit. Whew, this was supposed to be just a short post to let people know that the blog is still up and running but as always I got a bit carried away. The whole post reads a bit like a sales pitch. Although I would never recommend a comic that I haven´t bought and enjoyed myself. And if I have discovered such a rare gem I want to share it with others even if I might be biased or opinionated. But that´s why you read the blog in the first place, right ?
So as usual, time to wrap things up and if you have any comments or special requests ( like you´re dying to know more about LEAVE IT TO CHANCE ) just drop me a comment.
Since this post is about nothing in particular it´s a bit difficuklt to find a video that fits. So - since I have just watched the first two episodes of season 6 of Dr Who - here´s the official trailer for it. I swear, just when you think it can´t get any better they add another level of brilliance. How do they do it ?
New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN : top ten posts / more posts of interest
Let the punishment fit the crime !
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