Book of the Week

You may have noticed that I haven't picked a Book of the Week in a little while. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to pick up my books weekly anymore. However, I'm going to try to keep track of when books come out and keep the column going. I should get my books in a few days and have two Book of the Week pics in the coming week. That's pretty much how I'm hoping this thing progresses.

Anyway, I figure that since I haven't read any comic books in a couple weeks, I'll recommend a novel with no graphics. I read John Dies at the End a couple years back and liked it so much that I'm still telling people to read it.

It's gone through a few incarnations. Originally published online at http://johndiesattheend.com/, it later found a softcover printing through Permuted Press. It recently got a hardcover printing through a larger publisher with bigger distribution. Don't quote me, but I think that all three versions differ slightly.

I'm not really going to divulge much of the plot, but the book is both really funny and really disgusting and terrifying at the same time without any awkwardness. I think Don Coscarelli (who owns the movie rights) described it as Stephen King meets Douglas Adams. So, go check this out and I'll get back to the regular Book of the Week soon.

Is It Just Me...

... or does anyone else find the use of Lou Reed's Perfect Day in this Olympics ad totally weird and maybe even a little disturbing?

International Incident

I've always said that the Vaudevillian Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League is one of my all-time favorite runs in comic book history. Although, Maguire didn't draw all of this, I'm including Justice League (later retitled Justice League International and Justice League of America), Justice League of Europe, Formally known as the Justice League, and I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League.

Kieth Giffen and JM DeMatteis have since become known for telling superhero stories in Vaudeville tradition. In fact, I think that there were like three JLI covers with Blue Beetle saying to Booster Gold, "This is another fine mess you've gotten us into."

The trio also made a Defenders series a few years back, and recently were doing Metal Men backups in Doom Patrol. When those were cancelled, I was so upset that I dropped every DC book I was buying. Kind of. Doom Patrol was the only DC book I was buying. Unless you count the two Vertigo books.

Anyway, as you can imagine, I got a huge boner when I looked at DC's May solicitations. First off, Giffen and DeMatteis are taking over Booster Gold with issue 32 with a Kevin Maguire cover.

Also, the Justice League International will be returning in Justice League: Generation Lost. Although, this one, I'm not quite sure of. First, it's a Brightest Day thing, and I couldn't finish Blackest Night. Secondly, I think its something like a 26 issue mini. But mostly, its written by Giffen and Judd Winick, who I don't dislike, but have never read anything of his that I really enjoyed. Hopefully, it will still be funny. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Either way, I'm happy to see the characters.

Repuglicans

I have no idea if this is going to be any good or not, but the cover makes me laugh. It's being released by Boom! Studios (sometime soon, I think).

Good Morning, Magpie

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that this was coming out, and didn't really have much else on it. Well, I just listened to it and can tell you that its good and it sounds pretty different than previous releases. A little more traditional.

I'm told that Foxglove might be the lead track. Upon first listen, I thought that this is one of the weaker tracks. You probably shouldn't judge the album from this track. So far, the real gems are Piece by Piece and The Day.

It's getting released April 6th. I'll get a full review up on www.comfortcomes.com after a few more listens.

UPDATE: You can now listen to Foxglove here:

http://www.punknews.org/bands/murderbydeath

Book of the Week

2-10-10

First off, I'm going to say something that a lot of people don't agree with, and that's The Punisher is a garbage character. He's a psychopath with a lot of guns. I don't get his appeal. I think I'm the only person in the world who didn't like Garth Ennis' Max run (I did very much enjoy his Marvel Knights run, which is hilarious).

That being said, recent months have seemed like a bit of a time warp, being that three of my favorite monthly comics are two Punishers and a Ghost Rider. Well, Ghost Rider just ended. Maybe I'll make my way back to 2010. Although, the way the two Punisher books are going, maybe not.

When I do enjoy The Punisher, I tend to enjoy stories that aren't necessarily realistic or gritty. I watched a lot of Steven Segal movies in my youth and the avenge-family's-death story just seems a little played out to me. However, what I don't tire of is violence, and Punishermax (even the title is barely mediocre) does not fall short in that aspect.

Also, the story is told from the criminals' perspective. The Punisher just kind of shows up like Jason Vorhees every now and again, takes an almost inhuman beating, and offs a bunch of gangsters. There's really more of a pathos with the criminals. Its odd, but I find myself wanting to see the Punisher get killed.

It looks like this series will be about taking classic Marvel villains and rebooting them in the Max universe. This first arc is about the Kingpin and up next is Bullseye. A new character called The Mennonite makes his debut. Oh. And I almost forgot to mention the creative team. It's written by Jason Aaron, drawn by veteran Punisher artist, Steve Dillon, and has these really cool unique covers by Dave Johnson. Check it out.

ATPNY

I'll do a real post soon. I promise. Anyway, these posters are pretty cool. Too bad the lineups aren't looking that great yet (apart from the first day which still hasn't sold me).

Fuck Yeah

Happy Ending

"That's a lot of [fucking] ghost riders." -Johnny Blaze

A couple of years back, Jason Aaron took over Ghost Rider and probably gave the character the best two years he's ever seen. Despite being one of the coolest characters ever designed, Ghost Rider has a pretty mediocre bibliography.

Aaron had a very unique take on Ghost Rider. Combining elements from exploitation movies gave the book more of Roger Corman or Russ Meyer feeling than that of a typical superhero comic. He took wild, over the top characters and scenarios (such as nuns with guns) and played it totally straight.

Now, let's talk about the pinnacle of the run, Ghost Rider 34. This is not only one of my favorite comics that I bought last year, but one of the best single-issues stories I've ever read. It seems that Tony Moore was born to draw Ghost Rider. This issue contains the coolest (Ketch) Ghost Rider transformation ever drawn. Its a shame that he only did three issues. This is a really cool highway killer/ghost story that brought the return of the Highwayman. A ghost trucker from the 80's book, US-1.

After the Tony Moore issues, I think in order to boost sales, Marvel canceled Ghost Rider to culminate Aaron's story in a miniseries. Entitled Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire, it featured both Ghost Riders in the lead, just about every character Aaron used since beginning his run, and just about every Marvel supernatural Marvel character you can think of. With this, it elevated from over the top to (I guess) over over the top.

I'm really sad to see it go, but it was a great run that played out until the end. I can't recommend it enough. If you missed it, check out:

Ghost Rider 20-35
Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire 1-6

or (in trade form)
Ghost Rider: Hell Bent and Heaven Bound
Ghost Rider: The Last Stand
Ghost Rider: Trials and Tribulations
Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire

Book of the Week

2-3-10

Holy Fuck! This book just keeps getting crazier! I wish all superhero books had this much excitement.

I mean, although The Siege is only halfway through, we all knew six months ago that it would end with Cap, Thor, and Iron Man getting back together to defeat the Dark Avengers. I could still be wrong, but I don't think that there's anyone here that wouldn't bet copious amounts of money on that statement.

This book could still has the potential to go in hundreds of directions. I wouldn't be surprised if the Dragon we read for 150 issues never returns. The book could easily be shift focus to the crazy dictator Dragon or even Malcolm, Dragon's son and be just as entertaining. Possibly even more so.

Savage Dragon moves the story forward the way that the big two are always pretending to. We now have a new Dragon that eats brains; a new Overlord who's a Cubs fan. How many series are this exciting 160+ issues in? Great job, Erik Larsen! Here's to 150 more!

The Final Countdown

The final season of LOST begins in mere hours, and the anticipation is has gotten me so excited that I temporarily changed the colors to match the super-cool ending of last year's finale. Seriously, how fucking cool was the reverse logo?

Anyway, since its probably the thing to do, I'm going to post my theories. I don't spent too much time on the internet looking at LOST stuff, so I'm not sure what's popular consensus. I've also been trying to avoid most advertisements and press (although I'm kind of annoyed by a semi-big spoiler on the cover of last week's Entertainment Weekly).

Here are my thoughts: I don't think the bomb went off. I think the fade to white was another time jump preventing time paradoxes. There's also a lot of speculation on tonight's title: LA X. I'm not sure what this signifies, but the space between the A and the X implies that the writers are fucking with us, and its probably not entirely in reference to the airport.

All in all, I'm really glad to see an end to the show. It's been winding down for two seasons now, and although I've been enjoying it, the final arc has seemed a little long. Lindeloff and Cuse have done extremely well so far. They have seventeen left. I think the end should be pretty spectacular.

I Love This Clip

I figured I'd post it here in case anyone hasn't seen it.

Book of the Week

1-27-10

This book caught me a bit by surprise. I normally don't read Fantastic Four. In fact, I think the last time I bought two consecutive issues was when Claremont took over, and even then, I didn't stay on board for long. I tried the first issue of Millar's run, and found it abysmal.

But advertisements and previews got me interested in this. So I bought it. And I really liked it. This is mostly a setup book, but it looks like Jonathon Hickman has some pretty wild ideas coming up, and I'm totally excited. Dale Eaglesham's art is great. There's a great Alan Davis cover.

There's a new aspect that adds a bit of depth to the Moleman and Moloids that I've never seen. I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll just say that there are a lot of cool ideas planted here. I hope subsequent issues hold up, because it looks like The Fantastic Four are in for a far-out Kirby-esque epic. There's potential for a lot of fun.