So, since
pal Dorian was unable to get to the store Wednesday morning due to storm-related traffic shenanigans, that left us a little shorthanded for the breaking down of the new comics shipment. However, I find that if you put the right kind of music on the stereo, even having extra work goes by a lot more quickly and easily. And Wednesday morning, the right kind of music was the Rhino Records
Disco Box sampler CD. If "Car Wash," "It's Raining Men," and "Born to Be Alive" can't speed you along your work day, then by God, nothing can.
Anyway, new comics stuff (slight spoilers ahead):
JSA #69 - a slightly frustrating issue, as it's all set up (members of the modern day JSA meet their predecessors in the past) with no payoff, really. Yes, I know it's the middle of a multi-part story, so we'll get that payoff next time around. But I enjoyed seeing the new characters meet the old, and wanted more of that interaction. Yeah, I'm impatient.
JLA #110 - liked the bits with the Crime Syndicate (now disguised as the JLA), not so much the bits with the Qwardians (only a brief scene this time). For about half a second I was afraid we were going to be seeing the old chestnut of "villains treated as heroes, villains reconsider villainy" (to which Marvel's
Thunderbolts should be the final word on the subject) but thankfully that's not the case here.
Speaking of
Thunderbolts...just read the newest issue (#4), and I'm not sure what the heck I just read. It's not anything to do with the crossover with current events in
Wolverine...there are just a lot of plots and subplots and noise and nonsense, and maybe I just need to read the issue again to get it all straight. It just seemed a little confused to me...or maybe it
is just me, since I'm still pretty medicated because of my cold. Still looks darn pretty, though...that Tom Grummett can still knock out one dilly of a superhero book.
On the topic of subplots a'plenty, there's
Fables #33, which ends with the note "NEXT: A new story begins." I wasn't entirely aware that we'd been reading a storyline over the last few issues as it was...mostly it was just subplots and repercussions from previous storylines. Not that I'm complaining, as this is still one of my favorite comics, but the tale seemed a little rudderless lately. That's just the nature of the stories in the most recent issues, I suppose...a little downtime as characters are repositioned for future adventures.
Ultimates 2 #2 - I've mentioned this before, I believe, about how I admire Mark Millar's ability in this book to take a bunch of characters that are almost entirely unsympathetic and keep you interested in them. The X-Men's Professor X pops in for a telepathic shrink session with Bruce Banner...and Xavier looks like Patrick Stewart more than I've ever seen. Is this how he looks in
Ultimate X-Men?
Two more of Warren Ellis' Apparat titles came out this week (just in time, as I was in the mood for more Ellis following the
Desolation Jones script):
Angel Stomp Future (Angel gives us a tour of the future, filled with hi-tech body modifications and infectious memes, finely illustrated in a highly detailed Darrow-esque style by Juan Jose Ryp) and
Simon Spector (Ellis does a great job conveying something quite difficult...a man whose intelligence, or at least his perceptive abilities, are far beyond any normal human's, and it's all expressively drawn by his frequent collaborator Jacen Burrows).
Alter Ego #44 - the flip-covers are gone for good, according to the editorial, but this ish has a great wraparound cover of the Justice Society/All-Star Squadron/Infinity Inc. by Jerry Ordway. Finally, Roy Thomas gets around to more discussion regarding his "Earth 2" work for DC, including interviews with Thomas' cohorts Ordway and Rich Buckler. Also included is Thomas' proposal for the
Infinity Inc. series. I was a big fan of
All-Star Squadron at the time, so seeing all the original art and unpublished pieces is a lot of fun.
Other new releases:
Spider-Man/Human Torch #1 - written by
She-Hulk's Dan Slott, and featuring a rare illustration job by the always excellent Ty Templeton. If only all the Spider-Man titles were this much good-natured fun...maybe I could start selling them to kids.
Oh, hey,
Blowjob #12 is out! Special anniversary issue! ...Okay, it's not really.
Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 Fourth Printing - let me repeat that again:
Fourth Printing. We have sold out of the first three printings. I just now added up how many comics that is...and that's a buttload of comics, my friend.
Fourth Printing...I mean, holy cow.
Scooby Doo #92 - there's a "monkey on my back" joke on the cover. A phrase that has had
drug use connotations. Sure, it
is Shaggy saying it, but still....
Stormbreaker: Saga of Beta Ray Bill #1 - Walt Simonson just barely got away with making us accept a character with the name of Beta Ray Bill. I don't know if this series is really up to the task of doing the same...it doesn't look too bad, and it is selling better than I expected it would. But still, it's such a Simonson character, I have a hard time seeing it by anyone else. I'm old and cranky that way.
Peach Fuzz Vol. 1 has a scratch and sniff sticker on the cover, supposedly with a peachy-smell. I have a cold and can't tell how successful it is, but man, I don't know how we got through the '90s without Marvel publishing a scratch-'n'-sniff comic.
