Four books grabbed me this week:
The penultimate Ultimates. Good but seemed a bit, I don't know, rushed? That's ironic considering the schedule. I love the book, but I only remember that it exists the week it comes out. Pop fun.
JLA 2. Brad Metzler is not the greatest writer in the world, but he has a unique dexterity at handling a large cast; that quality alone will have me on board for his whole run, I think. Not hating the art either; the layouts in particular are quite nice. Architechtonic, like the writing.
Batman. Superstar Grant Morrison continues to dabble -- just in this one book -- with total mediocrity. All Star Superman? Possibly the best book in a career of staggering genius. Batman? Clearly his worst, at least so far. If there was not a name on it I would have guessed Chuck Dixon. And did I mention the book will have a fill in writer and artist for, I think, two months? It's on Newsarama this week. Does anyone else remember when Alan Moore wrote a four issue Spawn-WildC.A.Ts crossover, and a three issue mini-series about Spawns's costume? Alan Moore returned to glory in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Promethea (and LOST GIRLS, which I have in my house and will be blogging about soon); Grant Morrison isn't anywhere near as far gone as Moore was. I will cut him lots of slack. He has earned it. Batman, which I will continue to get, will not count against him in my mind.
Stan Lee Meets the Amazing Spider Man. A tribute to Stan Lee's 65 years at Marvel. It has a very nice ten page Joss Whedon story in it, but I would not say that the story alone, or the book as a whole, is worth the cover charge of four bucks. Only for Whedon completists.
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Blogger seems to be having a technical glitch of some kind today -- everyone is having a problem with their blogs. I am sure it will be fixed soon. In the mean time if you are having some problems viewing or commenting on this post, it is not your fault.
I remember Moore's WildC.A.Ts/Spawn era stuff. Like the naive and nimble fool I am, I hurdled other, less athletic comic store customers and purchased the first issue I saw, based solely on his glistening, bearded name. "Mmmmm... fresh Moore," I thought, clutching it to my terrible bosom. And then, alas, I read it.
Y'know, so much of that period of history makes little sense to me.
I just got the Moore W.I.L.D.cats Trade when I was in Boston last week... it (and Lost Girls) joins my stack of To Read Trade.
Kyle: Amazon had Lost Girls for $48 the last time I checked.
More once I read some of the stuff I got.
OT: Just a heads up... My interview with Jeff Parker (writer of Agents of Atlas and X-Men: First Class)is live at SilverBulletComics. Check it out here: http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/news/story.php?a=2618
Agents of Atlas is a pretty solid and interesting book, but X-Men: FC was not for me at all. I knew that two pages in.
As far as comics this week, I only bought Justice League and Batman. One I absolutely love and can't get enough of and the other I have mixed feelings about. I know I like Morrison's Bats more than the majority here, but I'm still not captivated by it like I am by All-Star Superman.
Ultimates did seem rushed, art as well as story, clearing the decks a little too much for the final issue.
Morrison has been worse, I think. But Batman is probably the most disappointing in terms of its sheer mediocrity. When I like or dislike his work less, he's always more interesting. It's really just meh.
Otherwise, I only occasionally pick up the Punisher (Ennis war stories w/o his hate of superheros horse to flog) and Brubaker's Daredevil. Unaffected by Civil War nonsense. That said, I wish the colors were brighter on these things, it's a little bit of a mire. Possibly, I need a brighter lamp.
Back in the early 90s, I had just gotten (back) into comics - mostly X-Men, but also raised my game to include Love and Rockets, Cerebus adn some of the proto-Vertigo DC stuff.
Issue 152 of the Comics Journal was their "mainstream" issue. Included was an article on Morrison's DOOM PATROL, which was solely responsible for me picking it up and starting a 15 year love of all things Morrison. I don't think his Batman is mediocre - would we have looked at the first 3 Animal Man issues and said the same thing? And if we did, we could not have foreseen the ending of that run. Also in that issue was an interview with Moore on what he thought of the Image books; he (essentially) likened them to crack cocaine. Then he started writing for them. Then people started liking Image books. I have started his Supreme stuff and am enjoying it - let you know after I finish. I'm interested in looking at a bunch of Superman "versions" - Mr. Majestic, Supreme, Samaritan (from Astro City) and Hyperion (from the MAX Squadron Supreme, JMS' work) and seeing what they add to/take from/say about the Superman mythos.
I got like 12 books this week making it the second biggest week for me in years...
Finished Ultimates: yeah the art looked rushed, also I'm beginning to think that something happened which sapped Millar of his wit and depth and now all he can do is write "kick-ass fight scenes" which come off more and more similarly as time goes by.
I thought Batman was a big step back in the right direction (hard to get worse than 656 though) The whole undercover cop bit was great, but the pacing is off for me and it all feels too lightweight.
morrison is far and away my favorite writer at the moment. his batman hasn't been what i've wanted it to be, but i have high hopes, given that he has made what i consider a gutsy move, bringing in Ibn (remember him from Kingdom Come and The Kingdom?)
as a big fan of your book How To Read Superhero Comics and Why, i'd like to hear more of your opinion about Morrison's All Star book, and how it fits in the post Watcmen/DKR struggles...
'though i'm a fan of superman (he IS the original superhero, after all), i feel like he's the last hero to really matter in the modern world we live in now. most writers seem to just be all nostalgic with him... but now i'm rambling, sorry!
anyways, good blog!
holla!
samax.
KyleThoreau: ah, Miracleman. I paid a LOT of money for that whole run, and you know what -- it was worth it.
Marc: you are right about Animal Man, but the difference is Morrison was not established enought to start being crazy from the get-go. Now that he is a name, with power, I expect more up front. Like I said, I will stick with Batman; I just doubt it will end with something as nuts as Animal Man 26.
Ping: you are dead right about Millar. It's why I avoided Civil War. On the subject of Moore and WildC.A.Ts, I thought his run on the book had a lot of fun stuff; the Spawn stuff and the crossover, on the other hand, was just unreadable.
Samax: A discussion of All Star Superman's relationship to Watchmen and DKR, and their effects, would be a big one -- it may eventually get into the second edition of How to Read Superhero Comics and Why. For now, thanks for showing up.
That was me... here's the post:
Another OT Music shout out: The Polyphonic Spree version of Nirvana's Lithium is the oddest thing I've heard in a LONG...long time...I feel like I'm on earth 3.
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with extra thoughts:
Seriously this is crazy, all that was evil in this song (the grinding instrumentation) is now made good and wholesome, meanwhile Kurt's dependable depression has been replaced with the the happy menace of Tim Delaughter who sounds like a freakish cult leader at the best of times... at the worst of times he comes off like he does here: as a creepy child-molester. This is probably the perfect cover, providing counterpoint at every conceivable level.
Ping: please continue with the OT posts in the future -- it's the only way I am going to find new stuff, and you have good taste.
Kewl, download/stream link @:
http://media.putfile.com/Polyphonic-Lithium
counterpoint: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXrzF3vmeLw
What was dangerous is now safe, what was safe is now dangerous.
Wow Ping. That Polyphonic Spree version of Lithium is quite remarkable. Certainly on par with Johnny Cash's cover of NIN's "Hurt". Cash's version seemed like a light at the end of a dark tunnel, while Reznor's version was the realization that his downward spiral would continue forever.
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