Back again

So this week I´m not doing any gardening work and thankfully all the work is taking place inside. Because on Tuesday it was raining cats and dogs but not continually. It was more in little spurs to lure you into a false sense of security to bring you to leave your cover and then suddenly pouring down and getting you totally wet. Today I had to cut plastic foil which is more difficult than it sounds especially if the plastic foil is in a roll. So I pulled a McGiver and built a special contraption to cut the foil. When I have perfected it I´m going to make a patent application and spend all the millions of cash on comics. And women. And movies. Lots of stuff.

Since I didn´t get to post in the last few days I have now read all the new comics. Also the new product solicitations for DC, Marvel and Image are out. Lot of stuff to talk about but first I should finish with the books I read. So let´s get to it.

Comics from my brother´s pull list :

BATMAN 652

More revelations about what happened in the 52 year with some surprises. Not really breathtaking artwise but an interesting read. It seems that the relationship between Batman and Robin has changed a little bit and DC is trying to get Batman away from all the grim and gritty stuff.

SKYE RUNNER 1

So far I´m not sure what to make of the book. What was really realistic was the reaction of the other woman to the female main character. A good read if you like Ale Garza´s art.

BIRDS OF PREY 93

I read the first two specials of Birds of Prey but didn´t start with the regular series up till Jackson Guice started doing the art. He never was a favorite artist back in the day when he was doing one of the Superman books around the death of Superman storyline. I really began to develop a taste for his art on the RESURRECTION MAN series which by the way was one of the best comics DC published. It´s a really different superhero comic that has an ending and it should not be too expensive. You can probably find it in the 50 cent bin. It has not been translated to german like other comic milestones like the STARMAN series or MAJOR BUMMER. I had the series on my pull list but i left Birds of Prey when Jackson Guice did.But back to the new issue of Birds of Prey.

Again the mystery of the 52 year deepens. Artwise I´m missing Ed Benes and stroywise I´m just wondering what the deal is between Black Canary and Shiva. And who is that new member ? Did I miss something here ? Anyway here are some previews to check out :

Birds of Prey 58

/ Birds of Prey 60 / Birds of Prey 63 / Birds of Prey 64 / Birds of Prey 65 / Birds of Prey 71 / Birds of Prey 83 / Birds of Prey 84 / Birds of Prey 85 / Birds of Prey 86 / Birds of Prey 92

NIGHTWING 119

The second issue after ONE YEAR LATER. The art is still a bit strange for me but it seems that most of the books after the one year jump have not so exciting art. The story get´s deeper into what happened and the identity of the character that was introduced last issue gets revealed. Now I won´t say who it is because I´m not going to spoil it. I will write more when the third issue has come out. Come on, if you have not read the issues after three months you are not going to read them at all.

ULTIMATE SPIDERMAN 93

Another good issue of a series that almost has no low points. And all the issues so far have been by Mark Bagley. I whish more artist had that dedication to a title.

SENSATIONAL SPIDERMAN 25

Okay, Marvel has to start giving out character sheets to artists. Or tell them to look for other appearances of the characters they draw for reference. Case in point : John Jameson as the Man-Wolf has white fur, okay ? I know mistakes can happen but this just took me out of the story. The story itself was good and the art of Angel Medina was very dynamic as always. This series almost ended on my pull list but my brother already had it on his list. And since he suffered through all of the Mark Millar mess and the issues after he deserves a little something something for all his pain.

Again : Next time just check out the She Hulk covers to see which color the Man-Wolf has.

Sensational Spiderman 23

/ issue 24 / issue 25

BLUE BEETLE 2

I´m not sure about this series. So far the art by Cully Hamner is good, different from when I last saw his art on the MOSAIC miniseries but good. That Green Lantern spin-off series was really an interesting read that centered more on the main character John Stewart then on superheroics. I have to look if I can find the last issues I´m missing at the comic fair in Stuttgart this month or in Erlangen to find out how the story ends. I kind of stopped reading the series after issue 16 because of the many guest artists.

The history of the new Blue Beetle is kind of interesting but I find it kind of boring to have to read about all this school stuff. I already get enough of this reading INVINCIBLE and all the " hero trying to find his place " has been done to death with Kyle Rayner as the screw up hero or Wally West as the guy who trained his whole life to become the succesor of the hero. And I´m still not too convinced on the idea of the new blue beetle armor. It just sounds weird that Ted Kord never got this " mystical " artifact to work right but now this kid pulls it off. And when did the scarab go from mystical artifact to sentinent talking Guyver armor battlesuit ? Just doesn´t make any sense.

MAJESTIC 16

Thank god, the story has moved away from making MAJESTIC into a second rate Superman. I mean here we have a superhero who is different from Superman because he says : " Yes, I have powers far beyond mere mortals so they should pray to me as they would pray to god. " And what is the first thing they do with him ? They make him more like Superman with a secret identity and all. For what ? Secret Identities are not necessary for all superheroes. Thor shouldn´t have one and Majestic doesn´t need one either.

Like I said the story has moved away from that crap and moved on to more of a scienc fiction adventure. I like the idea of the Kherubim as bad guys but the art just doesn´t work for me. Just looks weird and ugly to me. And most people in the comic have the same face although I don´t know if that is intentional with the members of certain groups.

HOUSE OF M SPIDERMAN TRADE

Well, I´m just glad I didn´t buy the comic. The story did not do much for me even if the art by Salvador Larocca was solid. So far the stories I´ve seen from House of M were all very boring for my taste. Maybe there are some interesting stories but so far not that much reasons to spend money on the trades.

THE AMERICAN WAY 3

This series is cool and infuriating at the same time for me. Cool because it tells an interesting story which is different from most superhero comics. On the other hand it picks up one of the ideas of POWER FREAKS ( the series I did with my brother ) namely the fights between superheroes and villains being just staged entertainment for the masses. I know that in this case it is for propaganda reasons not to sell products and the story takes place in the past instead of the future. But I just know that if issue 2 of POWER FREAKS comes out somebody will claim that we got the idea from THE AMERICAN WAY.

The series takes place around World War II and the heroes and villains all work for the american government to keep up morale at the home front. The art is not so action oriented and in your face like others but that fits in nicely because the story is more about the quieter moments. In this issue the tension keeps building and the cliffhanger is just well executed. During the whole story the New American ( who becomes the new team member in this issue ) is getting high approval from the public and his team mates but I think that´s about to change now that everyone knows he´s an afro american.

American Way 1

/ American Way 2 / American Way 3

Comics I bought myself :

YOUNG AVENGERS 11

In my opinion this is the only good that ever came from the whole AVENGERS DISASSEMBLED mess by Bendis ( and the two Spiderwoman issues by Frank Cho ) and it´s far better than the new NOT ANENGERS book. This is the best teen superhero book published by Marvel right now and quickly becoming as good as NEW MUTANTS before Liefeld came on board.

Normally I´m not a big fan of writers coming from other fields into the comic biz ( because writing comics is different than writing books or movies ) but Allan Heinberg has won me over. Coupled with the art of Jim Cheung who does his best work since SCION at CrossGen. So how many reasons do you need to read the series ?

Young Avengers 1

/ issue 2 / issue 4 / issue 5 / issue 6 / issue 9 / issue 11

TUROK 31 ( 0,84 cents ) 32 & 33 ( 0,47 cents )

There is not much to say about the issues after their dissection and indepth analysis over at Dave´s Longbox. The only thing with Paul gulacy´s art is for me that his proportions or anatomy are sometimes wrong. This didn´t bother me so much when I didn´t know that much about it but it also distracts me if artists do the same mistakes I used to do. I guess I´m now a real man after reading the issues but so far I have not noticed any changes in myself or the females around me. Maybe it just takes some time. Anyway the story was a good read and well worth the money I spend. Because these issues have all the basic ingredients for a good comic : indians, dinosaurs, bikini clad hot chicks and aliens from outer space who want to mate with eart women. This one has it all, baby.

All you need to know about the issues

So next time we will get to the solicitations for this month and how you can save 23 bucks, the question if comics really are written for their audience today and other things I´m reading right now like the MONOGRAPHICOS DOLMEN and other publications about comics. Maybe even a comparison between comic news magazines like Wizard and Dolmen.

Tomorrow my brother will be at the comic shop so there will be new comics to read since I have run out of new comics and am currently rereading some older series. But as said before more about that in the next installment of the TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN.

Strange but so it is written, so it shall be done.

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SUBZERO is not crazy - just confused

After ripping out the weeds which we in Germany call Löwenzahn ( also known as Taraxacum offincinale - look it up ) between the cracks of the museum stairs of Kornwestheim for the whole week I found the time to write again. So let´s get right to the point : what have I read since last post ?

SUPERMAN 651

The second issue after the ONE YEAR LATER leap. Don´t want to spoil too much let me just say Superman´s new status was explored a little more and leave it at that. Of course Lex is always the schemer and the last page makes you wonder just what he´s planning for.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED : WORLD´S GREATEST HEROES DIGEST ( collects issues 6 to 10 )

Now this is one of the best JLA books ever written. I don´t know what it is but reading this comic ( or watching the cartoon ) you just wonder why so many JLA stories suck or are just too confusing. The secret of the animated comic´s success seems to be : they love the JLA and they GET it. They understand the big idea behind the team and that sometimes you don´t need Superman to beat the bad guys. Sometimes the world´s only hope is Green Arrow or Bwana Beast. Another fact that shows that the creators of this comic love the JLA is that they always manage to find out what makes each character cool and unique and they show it to the reader. Because the stories in this book are not about the big fights or guys in costumes showing off their powers and striking poses - it´s about the people IN the costumes who are as human as you and I even when they were born on Mars or Krypton. That´s consistent with the cartoon where the charactes were often ten times of cool compared to their comic versions. My favorite example is Aquaman who never got any respect in his comic incarnation and is just soooo kick-ass in the cartoon. They even came up with a cool Kill-Bill-kind of way how he lost his hand instead of the stupid " some fishies ate it " nonsense.

And you just have to love the digest format. It´s easier to carry, you can read it on the bus or on the train. It takes less space to store and it´s not so expensive. Now, I wish it was priced at 4,99 instead of 6,99 which I find almost too much. Almost. I mean at five issues for seven bucks it´s still worth it. Now the art is just made for the digest format, with the strong and clear layout and art by Wizard winner Carlo Barberi and Ethan Beavers and Walden Wong. The stories in this compilation focus on the b-list charactes like Vixen, The Question ( who never was as cool as in the cartoon ) and the Creeper among others and what their moments of doubts and triumph are. There is one negative thing I have to mention : the comic is just over too soon. Can´t we just make it 400 pages, please ? And what´s up with the big GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR KIDS sign on the front ? No need to rub it in, okay ?

I wish this series was translated to german because it´s the kind of comic that the german comic market needs : good one issue stories, good art, enjoyable for kids as for grown ups and it ties in with a wellknown franchise that also has a cartoon show on tv. I think it´s no coincidence that the last comic boom started in Germany when a little publisher started with the BATMAN ADVENTURES. And it´s neither a coincidence that comic sales are not so good now that none of the similar series are published.

JLU 19

/ JLU 20 / JLU 21

NEXTWAVE 1 & 2, NEXTWAVE : AGENTS OF H.A.T.E. 3 & 4 ( 1 as DIRECTOR´S cut because it had the same price as the regular edition )

Speaking about people in costumes showing off their powers and striking poses you can find plenty of that in Nextwave. I´m still not sure about the premise of the book.
After reading the first issue I thought it´s just like X-STATIC one of the superhero comics published by Marvel for people who don´t like superhero comics. And I never really understood the idea behind that.

I mean, okay, you can trick people who don´t like superhero comics into spending money for superhero comics but I don´t think they will be picking up any issues of Captain America or Young Avengers no matter how well written these books are. One of the things I always liked on X-STATIC were the letters that began " Dear X-STATIC, I´ve never read a superhero comic...". Newsflash, buddy, you still are not reading any right now. You´re reading a comic specially designed to guys like you who think superhero comics are beneath him because they are just escapist power trips for fourteen year olds and they are just too intelectually enlightened for that.

A bit of celebrity name dropping, a little soap opera love triangles, a bit of critique about our consumer´s society and the media in general( yes, we´re totally commercial and cliche ridden but we also make fun of it and we´re hip so it´s okay ) and always reminding the reader that this is unlike any other super hero book. Just forget about subtile hints and whack the reader on the head with our message - otherwise it´s lost on the mtv-generation. And why make comics for the people who hate you ? Wouldn´t it be easier to make comics for people who like what you do ? It also baffled me why people like Garth Ennis would spend so much time on something they clearly hate. Always striked me as kind of masochistic because I know the guy hates superheroes and still needs to get it out of his system obviously but is it worth the time and effort ? We already know he hates superheroes and no we don´t need any more series like THE PRO which I personally found a little bit lacking. I´ve read better anti super hero propaganda in MARSHALL LAW and it just was some kind of lite version of former hate and bile. Okay, I don´t want to drag out this point I just want to read more work like PREACHER and less like THE PRO. If you hate superhero comics just write westerns. Or pirate comics. Pirates are always good. Remember EL CAZADOR ? That was great wasn´t it ?

But back to the first four issues. I am still not sure what comic this is : a comic for people who hate superheroes, a comic for people who like superhero comics but like to make fun of the things they don´t understand like their fixation with underpants......I don´t know, maybe it´s just a really weird comic with a strange kind of humor. Because humor in comics can get weird. I read the whole DEFENDERS miniseries and couldn´t find one joke in all five issues. Okay, spoiler alert, because I will now mention a few things from the plot. ( Danger, Will Robinson ! - Don´t ask. Just listen to Los Comic Geekos already. ) I mean this is Warren Ellis who wrote AUTHORITY and PLANETARY, we all know he doesn´t hate superheroes. He wrote some of their best series and stuff like TRANSMETROPOLITAN.

The team is interesting with characters that are not so often used like Monica Rambeau ( former Avengers member captain Marvel / Photon ), Tabitha Smith ( who really should use her old name Boom Boom which is just the best superheroine name. Ever. ), Elsa Bloodstone, Aaron Stack ( former Machine Man / X 51 ) or the new member the Captain. The costumes are halfway between Ultimates costumes for the new millenium and old fashioned spandex with an overcoat on top ti get that matrix vibe going. The story is not so original so far : all members of the team belonged to a supersecret organisation but when they found out the organisation was evil they went renegade and are now fighting to bring em down. I´m sure you´ve heard something similar on tv shows like ALIAS or somewhere else. What happens in the comic is just kind of confusing for me. Like in the first issue where the Captain tells of a run-in he had with Captain America when the Captain went under the name of Captain %%%% ( in the comic there are little skulls where swear words would be ) and got the snot kicked out of him when Captain America asked him his name. And then he got his mouth washed out with soap. Now this was one of the things that made me think this is a comic for people who don´t like superhero comics. Because the only person who believes Captain America could really behave so out of character is a person who never actually read a Captain America comic because " Captain America is just this stupid boy scout and it´s all just american propaganda. Why should I read this crap. F-word Bush ! " You know those people. But then I thought : Okay, how good do we really know the Captain ? He´s clearly just making this story up to look good and all bad boy. So maybe it´s like a joke ? Or Captain America just beat him up as his kind of a joke. Like : " Dude, you don´t want to give me your real name ? You think you´re so funny let´s see you laugh this off beyotch. " My brother said that Captain America just thought he was being called Captain swearword and beat him up. And that it is funny. Like I said : confusing.

Another strange thing for me were the already mentioned little skulls to show the swear words. I mean either you use swear words or you don´t but using them and don´t using them at the same time is just silly. Just make it like Christopher Priest and don´t use em but still show which words you would have used. I always thought that it´s better to write things like n-word, b-word, s-word or f-word instead of %%%%% or &&&&. Now Fing Fang Foom is really cool, maybe the best creation in the entire history of Marvel....but I never noticed he was wearing underpants. I read the Fing Fang Four comic and never noticed that he had them even in the original first appearance. Mainly because at first they had the same color as his body which then was orange. Somehow his body was colored green and the pants purple. Is this some kind of Hulk reference or an in-joke about superheroes ? I just never noticed the pants before Warren made them the main focus of the second issue. It just makes no sense and confuses me. Like the character Dirk Anger agent of H.A.T.E. Everybody knows he´s a Nick Fury knock-off but it just seems kind of childish. Maybe that was funny in the third grade like : " Anger, agent of H.A.T.E. and his dog Management. Together they are : anger management. " This is almost below Peter David´s Young Justice level. What I think is supposed to be funny are the running gags like Monica always metioning that she used to be in the Avengers ( kind of like Hawkman in Giffen and DeMatteis Justice League or Jubilee in GENARATION X ) or Machine Man calling humans " fleshy ones " and always talking about beer. Just strikes me as repetitive and getting old real fast and like I said : it´s supposed to be funny. Although it makes for a cool battlecry when Machine Man cries : " Death to the fleshy ones. "

When I was much younger and just started out my comic reading career there was this one BATMAN comic where somebody was imitating the Joker to commit crimes and get away scott free. Of course Batman pretty soon discovered that it was not his old nemesis who comitted the crimes because the jokes he made were different. The jokes of the Joker are always funny, you instantly get it and even if they are sick sometimes you just can´t help but laugh. Now the jokes of the imitator were funny in the concept but they didn´t make you laugh out loud, because if you have to think too much why something is supposed to be funny it stops being funny. You understand the clever humoristic idea but the joke is lost. And that is what happens with a lot of things in this series for me : Fing Fang Foom with underpants, Anger agent of H.A.T.E. is that supposed to be funny ? With FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE or the follow up I CAN´T BELIEVE IT´S not THE JUSTICE LEAGUE I didn´t have to think so much about the jokes.

Now to the positive things : the two issue story arcs are a good idea. On CASE CLOSED I also liked the longer stories better than the short ones and with two issues you have more space without dragging it out forever. The art by Stuart Immomen is pretty solid although he seems to get more and more cubic as he goes along. Makes me wonder how his art will have evolved when he has found his new look. The mix of members is interesting and it´s a good thing somebody resurrected these characters from comic limbo. Especially Boom Boom. Any team with Boom Boom as a member is okay in my book. I´m just not sure if her being a thief is a retcon or not. But that´s just a minor complaint because I always found it weird how some writers romanticize thieves. If anybody ever stole something of yours you know that there is nothing romantic about stealing or thieves. They are just people who take other people´s stuff. And there is no problem with portraying the b-list heroes as cool nontheless which in my opinion was one of the greatest disappointments in GREAT LAKE AVENGERS. The protagonists of a book should at least get some respect in their own series, don´t you think ? What was almost funny was the origin of the Captain. Who thankfully has not the usual generic pretty boy look of most marvel creations. It really annoyed me when they changed Cannonball´s unique look to the run of the mill dresman look of all mutants.

So I guess I will check out future issues to find out what the hell I´m reading anyway. I´m just confused with this one. And I never trusted a comic that changed the name after the first two issues. Or has their own theme song ( which you can download on the Marvel website ). Maybe the AUTHORITY was Ellis version of mission impossible and NEXTWAVE is more like Ellis version of the dirty dozen. If you want to make up your own mind here are the links :

Nextwave homepage at Marvel with pages of issue 1

Nextwave 2

Nextwave 4

Nextwave theme song

So, this was the first longer review of a comic but I think it would have been unfair to just say I didn´t find it funny without explaining why.

Remember : non scolae set vitae discimus. Stay in school kids.

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Yeah, sure. Just make a liar out of me why don´t cha ?

Yesterday morning I posted that I would not have any time to write entries in the next few weeks so just to make me look bad today I have plenty of time on the computer. So I decided to get to the reviews right away. Like always I try not to spoil anything and just comment on the important stuff, like, what was good and what turned me off.

SENTRY 8

Well, this was the final issue and I´m not that thrilled. Maybe that´s because the relevation of the big secret was not what I expected. I mean I just read the first original miniseries and this last one. So maybe it makes more sense if you read all three parts. I just have the feling that every time I read a SENTRY miniseries there is still more lying under the surface I didn´t get and the really big secret is not revealed yet. Don´t know if this is good writing or bad writing. I just know that the real Status Quo never changes in Sentry. At the end of the first one it was like at the beginning - nobody knew who he was. And the end of this one was no big turning point for me.

The positive things about the series was the art by John Romita Jr. who never disappoints ( can´t wait for his work on ETERNALS with Neil Gaiman ) and the single issues. I know that sounds weird but although I didn´t like the resolution I found the single issues entertaining, intriguing and they were always throwing curve balls at the reader when nobody was expecting it. So, all in all, it was a good read.

BLACK PANTHER 15

I´m not so sure storywise. The art by Scott Eaton is tight but I just don´t know what to think about the wedding between T´challa and Ororo. Is it just stereotype that two afroamerican people get married ? Or is it just reality ? The story itself was just a prologue to the big event so not much happened.

WARLORD 3

Nothing much to add after what I said about last issue. The more I read of this the more I want to read the old series by Mike Grell. The story is kind of intruiging but sometimes the art is just too confusing for me. In the second issue did the sword just pass through Travis Morgan or did he just avoid it ? Here is a link to a preview if you want to check it out

AMAZING SPIDERMAN 531

The second part of the ROAD TO CIVIL WAR. Some unexpected twists here and there but because of civil war we already know how how the hearing turns out. The art didn`t do much for me. Just an in-between issue for the big event again.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDERMAN 6 & 7

Okay, I´m including the links to previews for issues 5 to 8. And I have to say : I´m just too stupid to check out my own preview links. If I had done that I wouldn´t have bought issues 6 and 7 of friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Because I´m not a big Peter David fan. I know that he can be a great writer but for every SPIDER-Man 2099 or X-FACTOR there is a SUPERGIRL or YOUNG JUSTICE. So it´s mostly hit or miss with me.

When I was at the comic shop a few months ago I got hold of issue 5 and was really surprised. THIS should have been the first issue of the series. Just skipping the whole THE OTHER crossover ( because nobody likes a series that starts with the reader having to buy other series to read it ) and beginnig with issue 5. It`s a wonderful story and...it´s a standalone issue. Yep, that´s right, there should be more standalone issues in comics. So I was willing to give the series a chance but what really got me hooked was the art by Mike Wieringo.

So because I forgot to check out the previews to issues 6 and 7 I didn´t know that Roger Cruz is drawing them. Normally I would have skipped them so I don´t know if I didn´t like the book because I was miffed that Mike Wieringo didn´t draw it or because the story didn´t grab me that much. Thankfully Mike Wieringo is back with issue 8 so for the moment I will keep reading the series.

Issue 5 / Issue 6 / Issue 7 / Issue 8

SHAMAN´S TEARS 4 & 5 ( 0,37 cents ) 6 & 7 ( 0,28 cents )

I know what you´re thinking : what the f??*'§$%% ? This is like old comic history but I never really looked at the issues. It was image, I wasn´t soo interested in the art of Mike Grell so it just came out when i wasn´t interested. But I was thinking about getting the SABLE trades because I never read the series and now they come out in nice collections. So I went to Mike´s website and when I was looking at all the nice art I thought : Wow, why did I ever stop looking for his stuff ?

So when I found four issues of SHAMAN´S TEARS for under 50 cents I just had to check them out because my comic shop doesn´t have a 50 cent bin and the only chance for me to get comics for 1 EURO or 50 cents is at comic conventions. So I read the four issues ( the last three even had Jon Sable in it ) and they weren´t that bad as I expected. Right, they came out at Image but the story was not so bad.

The issues of bio engeneering ( which now has been done to death but maybe was rather new at the time the issues came out ) and the indian culture are done interesting without the usual preaching comics sometime do. It is kind of weird that the main character is a wildlife inspector but then again - why not ? There were some gory parts in it ( and it seems I missed some nudity ) but here in Europe I´ve seen heavier stuff. Overall I liked the series especially the long letters page.

So at the Stuttgart comic fair I will be looking for more SHAMAN´S TEARS in the 50 cent bins and the SABLE trades. I think there even was an IRON MAN storyline by Mike Grell which was collected into a trade. This time there is no preview ( I don´t know if there was internet when shaman came out ) but here is a link to the official Mike Grell website

THE THING 5 & 6 ( by Kieron Dwyer )

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite series. Storywise thing 5 nad six are a two part story about Ben trying to give back something to the old neighborhood he grew up in. The art by Kieron Dwyer was not soo distracting for me because I always liked his art since the Captain America issues he did when Johnny Walker ( or was it Jack Daniels ? I wonder who came up with the names and what his alcohol level was ) tried to replace him.

This is a book that deserves more readers. Come on guys, I want to read the big poker game issue. Don´t you ?

BLOOD OF THE DEMON 14

Okay, I admit it. I´m one of those guys who reads comics by John Byrne. I was a little surprised by that myself but it all started with me gettimg the reprints of MAN OF STEEL and FANTASTIC FOUR by John Byrne. When I heard that there was a JLA stroyarc from Chris Claremont and John Byrne involving a new DOOM PATROL team I just knew it was the prologue for the new series ( I was so surprised that most german readers never made the connection ) so I got it with my JLA subscription. Later on I saw some issues of DOOM PATROL at may comic shop so I read those and always wanted to know what happened next. And isn´t that the main criteria for a comic ? Do you want to know what happens in the next issue ? So when more stuff from John Byrne came out in ACTION COMICS and BLOOD OF THE DEMON I just added it to my pull list. Sadly Action and Doom Patrol have ended but Blood is still going on for four more issues. So far the series has been always entertaining and John Byrne can still draw perspectives and skyscrapes like nobodys business. I wonder how everything gets resolved. Just how many demons are there now running around after one year later ?

Some previews for John Byrne stuff

Doom Patrol 4 / Doom Patrol 10 / Doom Patrol 18

Demon 1 / Demon 2 / Demon 3 / Demon 4 / Demon 7

Action 828 / Action 829 / Action 830 / Action 831 / Action 832

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR 29

Well, I wanted to keep this issue for later but since my brother already spoilered it I thought : What the heck. The story is one of the better time travel stories but what really compelled me to try the series was the fantastic art by Greg Land. I knew of his comic work but never became an admirer till he started SOJOURN for the sadly extinct CrossGen. While you may say what you want about CrossGen and the reasons why it failed there is no denying that many artists careers really took of when they were there : Paul Pelletier, Steve Epting, Karl Moline or....Greg Land.

After the PHOENIX ENDSONG mini and his work on ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR I just hope Greg Land stays a little longer on his next series. I read that coming next issue Pascual Ferry will be taking over the art chores so I will definitely check thoes issues out to see what´s in store. I really liked the ultimated versions of old Marvel characters and can´t wait to see what´s up with Dr.Doom and the zombie versions of the FF.

VILLAINS UNITED INFINITE CRISIS SPECIAL

A INFINITE CRISIS tie in that really shakes up the status quo of the villains in the DCU. Interesting side the Secret Six take in this confrontation I just wonder what will happen in the new mini. I hope the art team stays the same as they sadly changed artists for the Shadowpact ongoing. I just hope Detective Chimp has lots of stage time. Wouldn´t you just love to read a DETECTIVE CHIMP COMICS starring Robin and drawn by Arthur Adams ? I tell you the sales on that comic....well, maybe it´s just me.

SGT ROCK - THE PROPHECY 4

I never was a big Joe Kubert fan till he made a quick drawing for me at a comic convention in Erlangen that looked just terrific without any sketchwork first.

No construction lines just doing the picture with every line going where it is supposed to go.

While the art on the graphic novel he did with Brian Azzarello looked a little raw and crude here he is at his best. One of the great comic pioneers and he still has it going on.


Issue 1 / Issue 2 / Issue 3 / Issue 4

Don´t forget : With great blogging comes great responsibility.

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on hiatus

You have probably already noticed that there have been no new posts the past few days. Well, if you are one of my two readers ( hello Phil, hello Lamond ). The reason for that is that I don´t have that much access to the computer anymore. One of the main occasions during which I was writing the post for this blog was the time when my older brother was working from 20.30 hours to 23.00 hours. But the working place is closed down now for a few weeks and he spends all his free time in front of the computer screen.

The second occasion was during the day whenever he was sleeping and the computer was free. Since I now have a 1 EURO job in Kornwestheim ( which I have to correct : 1,50 EURO per hour ) I have to get up pretty early and because I´m still not used to sleep before that I don´t get much sleep. Which means that now when my brother is sleeping during the day I will be sleeping too. And when I´m not sleeping there is my younger brother who spend shours in front of the computer. The last occasion on which I wrote the posts where after my older brother had gone to bed which was between 01.30 hours and 07.00 hours in the night. And that is when I have to sleep now so there is no chance I will get to write a lot in the next few days. When my brother bought this computer he said it was solely that I had a computer to use since he had another for his graphic work and didn´t want me to use it all the time. Then he started to use the computer on occasion to surf the web since he didn´t want to use the other computer for fear of viruses. Now he spends more time on it than me. Which means that I normally spend my free time waiting to use the computer and if I finally get to use it it takes me hours to read through the forums and message boards and whatnot since it has been several days I was there the last time.

If you wonder how this post comes about : I´m writing this before I go to work just to let you know what´s up with this lazy german guy who hasn´t updated his blog in the last days. I know the main reason for writing a blog is to write down the daily happenings of my life as long as they are fresh in my memory. Well, I guess I have to bend the rules a little there because right now this is my life : having no time to post on my blog. So all the posts about my preparations for the COMIC SALON ERLANGEN, the reviews of comics and all the general discussions of the ninth art have to wait till I have more access to the computer. I don´t know how long this will be but my brother has to start working again someday.

So it´s time to finish this post. It´s past seven in the morning and I have to go to work.

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