How the day began:
Pal Dorian and I are unpacking the new comic books, and I see that the only DCs that come bagged with the Sky Captain CDs are Legends of the Dark Knight and Nightwing:
Me: “Oh man, that Sky Captain CD only comes with comics I don’t buy.”
Dorian: “I’m getting both of those comics – I guess I can give you one of the CDs.”
Me (poking fun at the tone in Dorian’s voice): “…’he said grudgingly!'”
Dorian: “That’s the only way anyone can talk to you.”
Anyway, definitely the best-looking new arrival of the day was the Jimbo in Purgatory hardcover by Gary Panter. My goodness, it’s a nice-looking book. And it’s HUGE. And it manages to have gold-foil highlights on the front cover without looking ugly. I couldn’t swing it today, but it will have to be a purchase soon.
Didn’t have much of a chance to read all the comics I did manage to get this week, but I did get through the following:
- Identity Crisis #3 – and the hits just keep on coming. Now when I think about this comic I just laugh, because I can’t wait to see the inevitable online blowing of gaskets each issue brings forth. The comic itself was enjoyable, and though Dorian pointed to this Identity Crisis message thread as an example of comic message boards gone wrong, I did find it somewhat refreshing to see some people simply arguing about whether or not a particular super-villain could take on this group of super-heroes.
- DC Comics Presents The Flash – this week’s Julius Schwartz tribute comic is the first real disappointment, as neither story really sticks out as anything special. “Disappointment” may be too strong a word, as I did enjoy it…but nothing about this comic really screamed “special.” The second story (by Dennis O’Neil and Doug Mahnke) comes close, as the Flash pops in for a visit with his “old friend” Julius.
- Fables #28 – a flashback to Bigby’s adventures in World War II, which reminds me ever so slightly of “The Creature Commandos”*. If I may second the plea of another comics weblogger: please, no more cursive font in the captions!
- Haven’t read it yet, but wanted to put in a mention of Daisy Kutter: The Last Train #1, which looks like a lot of fun, and is a bargain for $3.99 for a prestige format funnybook. The cartooning on this book is really appealing…go look at the preview at that link and check it out for yourself.
Also, as Dorian has mentioned, we did not get our copies of the oversized JLA/Avengers hardcovers. Aaargh! So we got charged for them, but we can’t make any money on them yet. Very frustrating.
X-Force #1 came out today. Hoo boy. Everything old is new again, my friends, and Rob Liefeld’s art is at its Rob Liefeldest. I know everyone makes fun of his work, but by golly, it still sells. Well, it’s nothing like last time…when the original X-Force #1 came out, we had devoted a small table just to that comic, and we had hordes of people charging in the door to buy handfuls of them. Of course, that was back in the boom days of the comic market, when the rivers ran with gold, and comic store entrepreneurs lit their expensive imported cigars with burning $50 bills.
By the way, any statements by a certain Mr. The Dog regarding what I may or may not allegedly do to anyone buying X-Force #1 can not be proven in any court of law.
* If you want to read more about werewolves** fighting Nazis in World War II, may I suggest Robert McCammon’s novel The Wolf’s Hour, which also evokes that “Creature Commandos” feeling.
** Yes, I know Bigby isn’t technically a werewolf. Close enough.
