Beware the ides of March

Today´s ( and in fact the next few days ) post is going to be another post where I cram various topics into one post like I have done in the past. And I guess I´m still doing so I´m not sure why I deemed this intro necessary. So let´s get on with it.


MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, EH, I MEAN SCHISM

So, Today I bought another german comic, X - MEN SONDERHEFT SCHISMA : GETRENNTE WEGE which is not ( as the cover suggests ) the brilliant X - MEN SCHISM miniseries but rather the german edition of X - MEN PRELUDE TO SCHISM. I can pretty much understand why they went with the cover by Alan Davis since I myself wouldn´t slap any of the original covers of the prelude miniseries on a comic I wanted to sell.

The german comic has 100 pages for 6.95 EUROS which is a good price but unless you are a really dedicated hardcore fan of the X - Men or the ultimate completist you really don´t need this comic. According to Marvel this is The prelude to the X - Men Event of 2011 ! What does it mean to be a leader ? What does it do to a person ? What do the choices you make mean about the person you are ? This is a story that delves into these issues and will give an X-Men reader what they need to know about their favorite mutants - before everything changes !

Sadly the comic doesn´t deliver on any of those counts. The story doesn´t have anything to do with SCHISM and rather feels like one of those " shelved " issues Marvel used to have ( and probably still has ) for the event an issue was delayed. Then there were finished comics in a drawer that had nothing to do with current continuity and could be inserted anytime. Like those shelved comics the PRELUDE TO SCHISM doesn´t have anything to do with it and really is only a waste of time.


If you are one of those guys who likes the parts in an action movie best where people are just standing around and talking a lot then this is a comic for you. Because that´s what you get here. A lot of standing around, a lot of talking and a lot of recap of ancient X - Men history. During the whole story some undisclosed threat is approaching but it never is specified which threat that is and it´s not like there is something coming in SCHISM that you could foretell or forsee from this miniseries.

The whole premise of the story doesn´t make any sense like Paul Jenkins wrote it without knowing what is going to happen in the big event it´s leading up to. The recapping of X - Me history is rather sketchy and arbitrary and not very well done. Another thing that bothers me is that in almost every story involving Magneto they come up with a different name for him. His name is Erik Lensherr, dammit. Can´t writers do their homework ?

Now this could be saved by good art but like the writing it´s subpar, mediocre at best. Even though it´s cheaper than the US trade your money is better spent by getting the hardcover from amazon which is now sold for the same price as the trade 14.95 EUROS. And you have Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Alan Davis, Daniel Acuna and Adam Kubert on one of the best x - events of the past years. Highest recommendation.


THE CATWOMAN´S MEOW

In my last post I mentioned DC sexing up Catwoman ( yes, in the all butt edition ) and I wanted to illustrate the point a little further. Of course at this point everybody knows about Catwoman´s on - panel sex acts with Batman in the first issue of the New 52 series in which she didn´t wear much clothes either. DC seems to be bent on playing her character in that way for the time being which you can see on one side by her depiction on some of the covers that really needs no further explanations.


And for everyone who wants more than just some nice pictures there´s the Bishoujo Catwoman figure that really empahsizes her most prominent features.


You can find an in - depth ( no pun intended ) analysis of the figure on this post . Now don´t get me wrong, I´m all for superheroines strutting their stuff but I´m getting some weird vibrations from DC´s mixed signals to fans. One hand is teasing me with pin up Catwoman, the other hand is covering up my Power Girl from head to toe. It´s either totally scizophrenic or DC is trying to cover all the bases while feeling the desperate need to do things different.

I´m not reading the new CATWOMAN book so it´s only speculation but maybe they want to go back to her past as a prostitute which wouldn´t be the first time they go back to it as chronicled by Comicbook Resources Abandoned and Forsaken entry on it . It´s really an interesting read and you can find many other fascinating storylines that were nixxed like Magneto being Xorn, the death of Aunt May or Prometheus going from majorly brilliant and unbeatable supervillain mastermind to pushover milksop and back again in their archive .

A HORSE IS A HORSE, OF COURSE, OF COURSE, AND NOBODY MAKES OUT WITH A HORSE, OF COURSE, UNLESS THIS HORSE ...

Speaking about weird stories and archives, I already mentioned in one of my posts that I was kind of hoping that now as DC seems so desperate that it restarts all titles with a new number 1 and is rehashing old storylines ( not to speak of old 90´s Image Comics art ) they would also return to the whacky stories of the Golden Age. As an example I cited one article of the I LOVE YA BUT YOU´RE STRANGE series about Golden Age Superman´s inaproppiate sexual fixation on his cousin Supergirl.


Well, Supergirl was of course not exempt of some inaproppiate stories with weird sexual implications like ANOTHER STORY WHERE SHE DISGUISES HER SO SUPERMAN CAN PLANT A WET ONE ON HER , HER AND WONDER WOMAN GIVING UP BEING SUPERHEROINES BECAUSE IT WAS TOO MANLY and THAT TIME SUPERGIRL MADE OUT WITH HER HORSE . So I guess DC can only blame themselves for all the jokes about Supergirl and her horse. By the way, the horse ALSO MADE OUT WITH LOIS LANE in another story. You can find the full extend of depraved and weird comicbook stories of Yesterday ( and maybe Tomorrow ) in their archive .

THEY SAY THIS CAT LUKE CAGE IS A BAD MOTHER...

Today I went over the latest solicitations for Marvel and DC ( yes, I know I´m way behind with it ) when I came across this DEFENDERS cover.


And looking at it I had the idea that Pam Grier would have been a cool choice for Misty Knight in an HEROES FOR HIRE movie. She played the tough cop / private eye in COFFY and cult classic FOXY BROWN and she could deliver the action sequences. As a bonus she´s really hot and she has taken off her clothes a few times in her movies.


Of course that would mean that you would cast Richard Roundtree, Mr. Shaft himself for Luke Cage. I mean is there anyone cooler than Shaft ? I don´t know how much getting rid of the stache would affect his performance ( maybe we could keep the stache since they made Kingpin black in the Daredevil movie ) but I can just see him as the hero from the hood who ends up behind bars, unjustly convicted for a crime he didn´t commit. Now that I think of it HERO FROM THE HOOD does have a certain ring to it. I think I better copyright that before somebody else turns it into a comic or movie.


So the next question who is going to play Iron Fist. Keeping with the time period and the talent available I would like to say Bruce Lee but since Daniel Rand is not really asian looking Bruce Lee would have to play Shang Chi ( in a guest appearance of course ).


As Iron Fist we could either take David Carradine who took over Bruce Lee´s part in the original KUNG FU series or one of Bruce Lee´s pupils, the young Chuck Norris.


Then we also need somebody to play Daniel´s father for which Steve McQueen would be great. He could be the overarching father figure and he would only appear in the first part of the movie and then die a tragic death. So you wouldn´t have to pay him that much money and actors just love to play a great death scene. Dying in a movie is one sure way to get an Oscar.


As for Coleen Wing I would probably go for Raquel Welch. Not really original you might say ( especially coming from me ) but she looks good, is athletic enough to do the action parts and I don´t see somebody like Sophia Loren or Doris Day playing the part of swordwielding dragonlady.


You know, for the life of me I can´t understand why, with all the comic movies Marvel is doing they haven´t done a HEROES FOR HIRE, IRON FIST or THE DEADLY HANDS OF SHANG - CHI MASTER OF KUNG FU movie.

They are doing all these expensive movies where you need tons of special effects instead of doing a martial arts movie that would be much easier to do. And don´t tell me martial arts wouldn´t rock in 3D. We´re talking about IN YOUR FACE KUNG FU, dude ! On the other side, now that Disney has made Marvel their bitch they wouldn´t do a decent fight movie anyway. The end product would be something like " The greatest fighter is the one who can defeat himself ! " B.S. or worse.

Still, if it was up to me just take IP MAN´s Donnie Yen as Shang Chi, GREEN HORNET´s Jay Chou as The Cat, Beyonce as Misty Knight ( definitely with the afro ), TEKKEN´s Christine Monteiro Kelly Overton as Coleen Wing, Michael J White as Luke Cage, SMALLVILLE´s Green Arrow Justin Hartley as Daniel Rand, Russel Crowe as Papa Rand, Tony Yah as Steel Serpent, Ken Watanabe as Lei Kung the Thunderer and Mark Dacascos as Yü Ti and make the damn movie.

You know, apart from Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee you could even take my cast from above and make a HEROES FOR HIRE movie that takes part 20 years later. Of course this is only a mental exercise. So, if it was up to you, who would you cast ?

SO YOU SAY IT´S NOT SUPERHEROES IF IT´S EUROPEAN ?

I was just catching up on my reading of the excellent blog COMICBITS ONLINE when I found this interesting article on The Improbability of the British Super Hero .


Now, european superhero comics are something that interests me very much and not only because I published one of the few german superheo comics to this very day.

If this doesn´t interest you you might better skip this whole part. I never understood the idea that " only american creators can do superhero comics " that is propagised not only by american people but also by people in Europe, most often when asked why they don´t make superhero comics. There is this idea that superheroes MUST always be skyscrapers and always be in America. That european creators can´t do good superheroes.

Well, this is the greatest piece of s - word on a stick I have ever heard. What about the british invasion ? Not to bring the big guns but maybe you´ve heard about this little comic called WATCHMEN that´s only ..... well, possibly the best superhero comic there is. And it was done by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Who surprisingly are not american. I mean where would the comic industry be Today without the works of Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Warren Ellis, ( to some extent Garth Ennis ) or the art of Brian Bolland, Alan Davis, Brian Hitch, without such works like WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MAN OF TOMORROW, FOR THE MAN WHO HAS EVERYTHING, THE KILLING JOKE, V FOR VENDETTA, ANIMAL MAN, SWAMP THING, PREACHER ?


And that´s just those british guys. As a paisano form Spain I´m always happy to see some spanish artists dab in the superhero pool and I even got the book with all the spanish artists working on superheroes. Carlos Pacheco, Jesus Merino, Salvador Larocca, Ramon Bachs, I could be name dropping like crazy. But you get my point.

American comics have always had european creators or creators who don´t come from America and even when you get to the Who´s Who list there are a lot of gys from abroad on it : Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, George Perez, Mike Deodato Jr, hell, we even got people like Jordi Bernet or Jose Ladronn doing superheroes. Heck, John Byrne and Dale Keown are from Canada, Canada I say !


So where do people get the idea that superheroes can only be done by american creators ?

I don´t know. When we began the long odyssey that future generations would come to know as POWER FREAKS we heard the same thing over and over again. It´s impossible to do german superhero comics. Now it´s more like : It´s impossible to do more than one issue of a german superhero comic. And I´m sure if our number two had ever come out it would now be it´s impossible to do more than two issues of a german superhero comic. But the thing remains that most everybody we encountered thought it was impossible to do a german superhero comic and take the comic seriously. Not make a gag comic or a parody or a funny superhero comic.

And the thing is most people couldn´t really explain why they thought it was impossible. Most people just accepted it as fact and never bothered to try if it really was impossible. Well, now that POWER FREAKS didn´t go as planned people took that as proof that it was impossible from the start but they also can´t deny that the impossible happened. We published a german superhero comic that was a serious comic and the universe stopped. The laws of physics were negated and for that point in time we had bested fate. Which are the moments an artist lives for.

Okay, end of my longwinded rant but you see I don´t give much credit to this urban comic legend that superhero comics can only be made by american creators / people / comic companies. For years I´ve been a huge fan of Paul Grist´s JACK STAFF ( who also worked on an issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, and that as a british artist ) and I especially love JACK STAFF because it´s NOT an american comic.


I love it for the british setting but also for the rich history of british comics that are part of this universe with Paul´s own versions of MYTEK, ROBOT ARCHIE, EYE OF KELLY, STEEL CLAW or SPIDER. Those were british comics but they also appeared in the german KOBRA magazine so I guess the nationality of the product was not that specific if german readers could also enjoy it. So what´s my point ? Don´t let people tell you what´s possible and what isn´t. Especially when it comes to superheroes there are a lot of things that are taken as facts but which have no real evidence to back it up. And if you want to do superhero comics, no matter if you´re from England, Spain, Australia, India, Afrika or the planet Krypton just do it.

By the way, one thing that I´m still hoping for in JACK STAFF is one of my dream crossovers : SPIDER vs SPIDER - MAN. Paul Grist already has a SPIDER - like character in the books so it´s not impossible to do his version of the wallcrawler and let those two butt webheads. Although it would be a bit confusing in the german version since The Spider was called Spiderman ( without the hyphen, that´s why the distinction is so important ) in Germany.


SEEMS IT ALWAYS RAINS IN NORTHERN PORTLAND

Here´s something else from COMICBITS ONLINE, this time it´s a clip about the local comic scene of Portland which seems to be a fertile ground for independent comic companies like Dark Horse or Top Shelf or small press comics in general. Maybe a nice town to visit, it´s got good public transportation but don´t forget to bring your umbrella.



And speaking about the comic industry, this sums it up really nice ( also found on COMICBITS ONLINE thus making it a perfect hattrick ).


Last but not least, here´s a funny strip and I can´t remember where I found it :


As one of the few blogs that travels in time - since I´m probably writing this after most people have read this post - I can´t end the post without a Doctor Who related clip ( I´ve currently made my way to the second season ) so here´s the Tardis taking off for the first time. Next time we´ll be going over some comic news that have piled up in the meantime.



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GRATIS COMIC TAG 2011 - Muppet Show

Yes, enough with the news already ( at least for now ) as I had a bad case of indigestion for most of the day. I´m not in the mood for anything right now so I might as well start with my reviews of the comics from this year´s GRATIS COMIC TAG.


Especially because I will have more to report on since there should be four new ones in my next comic order. Since my regular comicshop is still busy with moving and hasn´t fully unpacked all boxes I have to look for other sources for copies of the comics from this year´s FREE COMIC BOOK DAY and GRATIS COMIC TAG. Thankfully a few of the online comicshops offer one free book from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY or GRATIS COMIC TAG for every 10 bucks you order so I got some issues that way.

Although I have ordered quite a lot of stuff this month and last due to two birthdays ( for which you need presents ), one nameday ( spanish tradition, I think I explained it in one of my previous posts ) or just great offers by amazon. Right now I am waiting on two orders. One is from an onlineshop where I ordered X - MEN SCHISM 2 and got number 1 instead. As usual there are so many comics I´m behind on that after a few days of back and forth e - mailing if they should send me a copy of issue 2 or save it for me I just decided to see if I could find enough issues I would eventually buy to do another order.

So Yesterday I did just that and now I´m not only - finally - going to get my hands on X - MEN SCHISM 2 but I´m also getting some new comics from GRATIS COMIC TAG. And the first 6 issues of THE WEIRD WORLD OF JACK STAFF. As I have no idea if, when or how the series is going to be continued I decided to get the issues that have come out so far.


The other order is for a book I really shouldn´t buy, because I already have all the issues but it´s just too big of a bargain for me to resist. I´m afraid it could be one of these cases where I regret not ordering when I had the chance to as it already happened with a few comics.

The comic I ordered is the new DARK AVENGERS hardcover that has a regular price of 49.99 Dollars, you can get it at good online comicshops for around 38 EUROS and amazon.de is offering it at the moment for 24.99 EUROS. That´s right 25 bucks - that´s almost half price !


The hardcover comes at a whopping 400 pages and although it says that it contains the entire run of the series issues 7 and 8 are not included. Which is probably because they are part of the DARK AVENGERS / UNCANNY X - MEN UTOPIA trade and for once Marvel decided not to make their customers pay twice for the same issues.

I guess it also makes for better reading since those issues would have been confusing for readers who haven´t read the storyline. So why did I buy it although I already have all the issues ? Mainly because lately I have noticed that it´s easier to re - read a comic or particular storyline if you have it collected in a nice hardcover. The way comics are going right now with the big two I´m just one step away from quitting the floppies - except for indie publishers. I may not totally give up on monthlies but I think the number may be getting smaller and smaller.

Another reason for getting the hardcover is of course the fabulous art by Mike Deodato. What can I say, I´m a bitch for good art.


I already mentioned it in one of my previous posts but you can´t really comprehend how freaking cool it is without seeing it. From his figure work, to his babes, to action sequences, to page layout, to perspective - Mike hits all the right bases while still managing to serve the story.


And what a story this is. In my opinion this is one of THE best stories to emerge from all the CIVIL WAR fallout. While Warren Ellis showed how viable the concept of SUICIDE SQUAD still is when implemented with Today´s sensibility Brian Michael Bendis takes it one step further by the convicts now ursuping the role of the heroes who in turn have become outlaws.

The general public doesn´t know it but this team of mentally unstable, immoral criminals is just one big train wreck waiting to happen while playing at being heroes and posing for the cameras. And the worst thing is not that the craziest of them all is their leader - the Green Goblin himself - it´s that he´s the only thing keeping this ticking time bombs in check. Especially the way he manages to keep the Sentry on the short leash is hilarious and frightening at the same time.

Add to that such great scenes as Namor putting Osborn in his place at a meeting of the secret cabal of supervillains,


the Molecule Man showing what he´s really capable of or the Dark Avengers having to go up against Morgana Le Fay in their first mission


and you have a really great read with an unexpected ending. Unless you have read the DARK AVENGERS / UNDER SIEGE issues. But I won´t spoil it for you.

Heck, the story even includes the MAN - THING so Mike Sterling´s going to be happy. Man, how much pull does this guy have with comic publishers anyway ?


So, I just wanted to put that up on ther blog for my german readers in case they don´t already have the series. The book gets my recommendation and you can get it from amazon through the link below or via my amazon shop on the right side of this blog ( under Marvel recommendations - Avengers assemble ).



Just this week I overhauled the whole shop adding new links ( especially for the latest Neil Gaiman books now that I´m reading them ) and also deleting old ones for comics that are no longer available at amazon but i´m not sure if it´s really worth it since so few people have used it in the last months that I´m not sure if it´s still working. Oh, one last thing I almost forgot to mention, if you haven´t already got the SHADOWLAND THUNDERBOLTS trade amazon.de is offering the hardcover at 12 bucks which is about the price for the trade.

Okay, enough of the public announcement / sales pitch let´s get to the real reason for the post : GRATIS COMIC TAG 2011 and finally giving away free comics. The way this will work is that I´m giving away my copies of the issues I will review here except the ones I don´t own ( like Lewis Trondtheim´s BLACKTOWN ) or have already given to someone ( like the MUPPET SHOW comic ).

Since I would like to review them all they are first going to be put into threats at the Comicforum and the Paniniforum to see if there are people out there willing to swap them for others.


The remaining ones will be given away. So if you want one of the copies but have no comics to exchange for them you can still send me an e - mail and who knows, you might get lucky. And of course all remaining comics will be part of the next free comic contest in which I plan to include some comics from FREE COMIC BOOK DAY as soon as I have had a chance to review them. Yep, it´s going to be an avalanche of free comics.

Let´s start with one I already gave to my sister who´s a big fan of THE MUPPET SHOW and who surely is going to get a kick out of it.


Being objective on this comic is kind of hard for me since it combines three of my favorite things : The Muppet Show, comics and Roger Langridge. Ever since I discovered his art in DC´s BIG BOOK OF URBAN LEGENDS I have been a fan of him but so far it was pretty hard to follow him since he only did obscure ( and shortlived - only 14 issues ) series like GROSS POINT


or the occasional FIN FANG 4 oneshot. Although it was a real hoot to see Roger´s rendition of Gorgilla, Googam and Fin Fang Foom the issues were too few and with much too long periods between them. I guess Marvel didn´t have much faith in the concept.


When I first heard that BOOM STUDIOS was planning to do a comic based on the Muppet Show I wasn´t that excited since there have been quite literal hundreds of comics based on tv shows. And most are either not very well drawn or don´t look anything like the tv show or are not good comic books. Or all of the above. Lately there have been quite a few good comics based on tv shows but it´s still hit or miss with these things.

Also I wasn´t sure how they wanted to do a comic with Muppets. Then I heard that Roger was going to be drawing it and it immediatelly went to the top of my " must check out " list. So what do you want me to say ? This comic has successfully managed to bring all the fun, excitement and quirkiness of the original tv show onto the printed page.


A Muppets fan like me can enjoy the fun of seeing such familiar faces as Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzy Bear, Miss Piggy, Scooter, the Swedish Chef, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Animal and of course Statler and Waldorf. And somebody coming new into this world ( oh, how I envy those lucky souls ) can just enjoy the hilarity and hijinks.

The part that´s printed in the GRATIS TAG COMIC is only the first part of book 1 ( I´m not sure how that correlates to the original issues ) and has everything you expect from the show : crazy performances, behind the stage catastrophes,


Pigs in Space and the obligatory news report from Koozebane. I´m not sure how many alien planets I knew at that age but Koozebane was one of them although I probably would have spelled it Kussbeihn.


And speaking about Muppets and news, another thing I´m ALWAYS looking forward to is of course the Muppet news flash with the Muppet Newsman although for totally different reasons.


You see, one day my brother pointed out that Richard Burgi, whose tv show THE SENTINEL was shown on german tv at that time looks exactly like the Muppets Newsman.


Seperated at birth - a guy with enhanced senses and a child´s toy


Now you may not believe that there´s more than a superficial similarity between them but I dare everybody to watch the Muppet news and then watch a clip with Richard Burgi and then tell me that Richard Burgi is NOT the spitting image of the Muppets Newsman.

Although I may have to warn you that you may never look at Robert Burgi the same way again. I know that whenever I see him now on THE SENTINEL, DESPERATE HOUSEWIFES or anything else there is that tiny voice in my head, you know the one you can´t ignore no matter how tiny it is, and that voice immediatelly goes : " Und hier die neusten Muppet Nachrichten ! "

Back to the GRATIS COMIC TAG 2011 edition of the Muppet Show comic I think it totally succeeds in what it set out to do : namely get readers interested in comics, get them interested in the Muppet Show and more important get them to go into comicshops ( if only they would put the address of the comicshop on the comic so people knew where to go to ) and bookstores and ask for the Muppet Show comic. And maybe get them to buy other comics as well. The comic is not too short so that you get a good idea what the comic is all about without giving it all away. Which would be difficult since the first book has 112 pages.

I knew right from the start that this was one comic I was going to buy so I had no problems with giving it away.


And with that I want to end this first part although I didn´t manage to get to the comics I´m giving away. But I just wanted to inform my readers about the DARK AVENGERS hardcover since it´s one my favorite series.

And speaking about favorite series for all those who don´t know THE SENTINEL the main character is like Daredevil but without being blind, the radar sense or radioactive isotopes. It was pretty enjoyable and was cancelled before it got to the really interesting part.



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Merry Christmas !

Christmas is still a few days away but since I´m not sure if I can post something in the next few days I wanted to make sure to put my Christmas whishes on the blog before Christmas.


This is my fourth Christmas post and with the first three I at least managed to post them at Christmas. Although I must say that problems with my computer are nothing new. In my first Christmas post I already had the problem that I couldn´t burn any files and was about to loose all my picture archive ( just like right now ). So far the topics of my posts have been :

why I only give comic related presents ( and why some of the stinkers in your collection make great christmas gifts )and how to pick them

how I pick christmas presents and why ultimates 3 sucks ( which I already knew after reading the first issue and another one about

which presents I gave away

just a short post with a larger one on the next day

about the christmas story with deadman and the pre - crisis supergirl

Supergirl image line art by Adam Hughes, colors by Jprart on deviantart

So which topic should I choose for this post ? Now the problem is that I don´t have any access to all the pictures I collected this year. Normally I just pick something that tickles my fancy and in 95 percent of the cases I already have all the material I need. Recently one of my readers commented that my posts are waay too nerdy and all over the place.

Which is because I mostly write my posts the way I have a conversation. I thought about doing a post about Marvel´s secret Legion of Super - Heroes comics but I will do that on another occasion.

So my fourth year writing a Christmas post. I like christmas. Because I just like to give people presents. It´s true. It may sound weird that I don´t write " I like to get presents. " and kind of hypocritical. Because on one side for me Christmas is about finding the perfect gift for others. On the other side I mostly get pretty crappy gifts. Especially my younger brother has big problems in that departement.


One year I even went so far as to make a whishlist on amazon for him because he didn´t know what he should get me. Of course he never looked at it in the end. I don´t know, maybe I should just do it like my mother and drop a few decent hints throughout the last months before Christmas. There are a few series I began reading but which I haven´t continued because I don´t have enough money to follow them all :

- CEREBUS

Back when I was in the money and starving for good reading material I started reading the phone books but because of other stuff that I deemed more important the last one I read was Vol 11 GUYS. Now that the series has ended it would be nice to read the following issues.

- POWERS

The same here. I followed the series till the 8th trade LEGENDS. There have been a few since then but because I never remembered which was the last one I had read I lost track of the series. I have heard that they have even gone to Marvel´s ICON imprint in the meantime. Also a book I would like to continue even if the double page spreads are so confusing that you don´t know if it really is a double page spread or just two separate pages.


- RISING STARS

Yes, this is an oldie but goody. I read the first two trades and for anyone who wants to try this series out I should add that you should read the first two trades or none at all. Because there are some things in the first trade that are weird and only make sense after reading the second one. There were a few more trades but I think there are two that are important for the storyline.

- DYNAMO 5

This is a rather new one. I don´t think I have written something about this series. It´s a pretty decent superhero book with an innovative twist ( at least as far as I can say after reading the first trade ) and nice art. I got the first trade which was pretty cheap - thanks to IMAGE´s policy of putting out the first trades of series for ten bucks - but I never got around to buy the following ones. I also lost track of INVINCIBLE but a few months ago I got all the new trades.


- JACK STAFF

I started reading Paul Grist on his cop series KANE of which I only got some scattered issues. There were some plans to release the series in Germany but I don´t know if they ever released more than one. KANE was a series which I mostly found at conventions or one time even at a WILDSTORM signing but I lost track of it. I don´t even know if the whole series is available in trade.

With JACK STAFF I felt it was my second chance to read Paul Grist. The series is about the hero JACK STAFF who was Britain´s greates hero who vanished twenty years ago and resurfaces now - a bit like Captain America. I like the series not only because of Paul Grist´s art and writing but also because he tries to build the english superhero universe. And into this he incorporates such heroes / anti heroes like THE CLAW, THE SPIDER and others who appeared in british pulp comics and which were published in Germany in the cult comic KOBRA.


Just ask anybody of my generation and he will probably fondly remember the KOBRA comics. Anyway, trying to stay on topic here I got the first two trades but there are two more available. And although the writing is a bit repetetive in some cases - due to the fact that this series is not written for the trade - I would like to see how the story continues. One thing I have to add about the switch from black and white in the first trade to colour in the second trade is that it has good parts but also it´s bad parts.

The good part with the black and white version is that since you have to colour it in your mind it´s always right as if it´s colored by the comic artist your vision might not be the same as his. The bad part with the black and white version is that for instance a black person can look white if the artist doesn´t draw him different from the whiteys. Which is the case with one of the characters. I reread the first two trades recently and tried to order the third from amazon but they ran out of copies. So I will have to order them through blackdog or another comicshop one of these days.


Other series that I have on my list are WALKING DEAD - I only got the first two trades, THUNDERBOLTS - because of my budget I am following it in trade now but I always forget to write down the last issue I read before going to the comicshop, WALTER SIMONSON´S THOR - I got the first two trades but since I already have the issues in the floppy format it´s not that urgent, NEW MUTANTS CLASSIC - got the first two trades to close gaps in my collection and I have to get the following trades one of these days, MAN OF STEEL - also to close some gaps ( as well as reading them in chronological order ) and I need the trades 5 and up, etc., etc., etc.

The list just goes on and on. On the other side there are some comics which are going to be presents in the not too distant future. For one VAMPIRE BOY 1 by Carlos Trillo and Eduardo Risso which wasn´t up to the quality of 100 BULLETS and also the first LONE RANGER trade which for my taste had a weird story and pretty mediocre art. I think the best part were the covers by Sean Cassidy. I put both of them in my thread to get rid of some of my comics and tried to get some WALKING DEAD trades for them. But no luck so far.


As for the Christmas presents for this year I got all of them till the end of last week which is cool because you don´t have to get into the whole mess that is Christmas shopping in the last days before christmas. The bad part is that you have to wait that much longer till it´s finally Christmas. I think I got some good ones this year and if I can I will post something about that after the holidays because there is the slim chance that one of my brother´s might read this.

I know that they usually never read it but like always it would be just what I need that one of them finds out prematurely about his present. My older brother is especially hard to surprise since he has begun to sneak around my stuff lately. I remember that once I had to buy three birthday gifts for him because he kept finding the hidden presents and ruined the surprise. Which is one of the reason why I try to buy presents that I also like. You never know when you have to keep it for yourself because your brother already found out and ruined the surprise.

So anyway, once again this is the end of the post. I hope to do a review of this year which is a pretty popular thing for blogs at the end of the year. Last year I started a look back on the best and worst as well as some predictions what the new year has to offer. With a bit of luck I can do something similar this year - even if I couldn´t finish the series last year.


So here´s a Merry Christmas to all my readers out there ( if there are still a few left ), all my link partners, the writers of the blogs I like to read as well as all the other bloggers out there keeping it real.

If you are reading this you are the resistance.

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