DEM'S GOOD READIN'

Cobras I Wish Would Appear In The Movie

2009-08-05T08:08:00.002+08:00

He's not in the movie, is he? If he is that would be so stupid cool.

The Marvel run of the Joe comic had all these crazy ass characters that appeared for only one or two issues. Maybe Hasbro had a new action figure out and wanted Larry Hama to promote it. Still, an accountant dressed up as a falcon would so make me want to watch the movie.

What, There's A Difference??

2009-08-04T07:50:00.006+08:00

Yeah, Gung-Ho. At least get the species right. That's a croc, not a 'gator chewing on Stalker's thigh.

Anyone else think that Stalker is not a bad-ass?

From G.I. Joe #13 (Marvel, 1983), by Larry Hama, Mike Vosburg & Joe D'agostino

Different Sizes Of My Dicks

2009-07-15T07:38:00.006+08:00

I don't mind the larger size (bigger panels after all) but they couldn't do this from the first book??? I mean look at that! My 'Dick Tracy' shelf looks all wonky now with the different size volumes.

Phoning It In...

2009-07-13T18:29:00.007+08:00

Wolverine and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, doing that Zen thing in a monastery somewhere in Madripoor. Yeah, I got nothing.

Then There Was The Time Mark Waid Got 'Kidnapped' By A Couple Of Fanboys

2009-07-02T15:00:00.001+08:00

The following story was totally cribbed from this week's Cup O' Joe at Comic Book Resources. Yeah, I'm cutting and pasting entire posts now. Roll with it. Anyway, it's a funny story, in a creepy, "I'm gonna make you squeal like a pig" kind of way.

Mark Waid:
Several years ago, I had done an over-the-phone college radio interview with a couple of guys in Vermont. Chat went fine, I remembered to mention what a genius Alex Ross is the requisite nine times, and we probably moved some trade paperbacks in the process. So once the interview was done, one of them explained that they ran a store in one of Vermont’s largish towns and asked if I’d be interested in doing an in-person signing. “Sure,” I said. At the time, I was living in Brooklyn, so it would be a short flight, and I’d never been to Vermont before. Fly up late on a Saturday morning, home on Sunday morning, see the sights, meet some fans. “Great,” I said. Set me up.”

The flight--on one of those twin-engine jobs where they discount your ticket if you bring your own helmet--was, despite the tiny cabin, spectacular. Honestly. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky at any point during the trip, and I just stared out the window at the beautiful farmland below. Landed around noon. My hosts were there to pick me up. They were a little younger than I’d figured they were going to be, but at least they were there at the gate like they’d promised they’d be and, besides, I’ve never been very good at picking up on Giant Red Flags.

So they piled me into their 1932 Hupmobile and, though we didn’t have a whole lot of time before the signing was scheduled to begin, they decided they wanted to give me a tour of the city. “Here’s the college,” they remarked as we drove past.

“Cool. Store’s probably nearby, right? Where’s the store?”

“And here’s the business district. This is the downtown area. And over here is restaurant row.”

“Nice. Very pretty. Very picturesque. So where’s the store?”

“Now, down here is the old mill. Been closed for a while, but it’s still a big tourist draw.”

“That is something. Yes, sir. So where’s the store?”

“Well, Mr. Waid...about that...”

There was no store.

Let me repeat that.

There was no store.

There. Was. No. Store. Instead, there were, in this town, two comics fans who had pooled their lawnmowing money to pay for a LaGuardia-to-Vermont plane ticket for their very-soon-not-to-be-favorite writer so they could meet him and own him for a day.

There. Was. No. Store.

I’ve seen the movie Misery. I’m ahead of you. I’ve told this story often enough that I know exactly what your response to that is. You want to know how quickly I reached from the back seat of the Hupmobile, snapped their necks, and took the first plane back to New York. That is a perfectly reasonable thing to wonder, but you have the dual benefits of hindsight and perspective. I had neither. For me that afternoon, it was just such a surreal, slow-dawn unfolding of the bizarre that the indignant neck-snapper in me was internally at war with my analytical-writer side, and I was forced to fully assess the situation rather than follow my murderous instincts. The arguments against Hulking out were compelling. First, I was completely dependent on these guys for transportation, and we were so far from the airport that finding, much less paying for, a taxicab was out of the question. Second, I already knew for a fact that there were no more flights back to New York that day. Third, this was long before I had a cellphone in my pocket at all times so, on the off-chance the cops would be able to fingerprint these guys’ necks before I could hitchhike over the state line, I had no easy way of letting my friends and family know whatever became of me. And...and, I admit, this was the single most pertinent factor...the morbidly curious part of me, the part that loves a good story, was dying to know what was going to happen next.

Here’s what happened next: Nothing.

I don’t mean, like, nothing bad. I mean, like, nothing. We drove around some more. I answered a lot of questions about what Alan Moore and Paul Levitz were really like. I signed a few of their comics, I lied about being hungry and made them change our dinner reservation from 7:30 to 5:00, I met their nineteen fanboy pals at the restaurant, I inhaled my food, and I was finally alone at the Sav-On-Inn by six.

There was no cable TV. I spent most of the next several hours watching fishing shows.

The next morning, they and all nineteen of their friends--each and every one of them holding in his trembling hands a mini-series proposal for the resurrection of some obscure DC character no one will ever, ever, ever care about--swung the Hupmobile by to grab me for breakfast before the flight home. I begged off on the meal, asked politely but firmly that they simply get me to the airport, and then, once I was there, where there were plenty of Federal marshals around to keep any of us from doing anything regretful, I politely read these guys the riot act. I explained how so very uncool this was, how it was flattering and their hearts were in the right place but how freakish this whole experience had been, and that before I would ever even consider referring any other comics pro to them, comic books would no longer exist. They got it. I saw in their sad, puppy-dog eyes that they got it. There was no question that they got it.

Six months later, another pro called me for info. He remembered that I’d been invited to Vermont and he was interested in taking a trip there if they’d fly him in. He’d tried calling ahead, but for some reason, directory assistance didn’t have any comics stores listed in the area.

Go figure.

Tiny Titans Darkseid Is So Cute...

2009-07-02T06:59:00.005+08:00

From tiny titans: Adventures in Awesomeness trade collection. A book that makes me squee with delight every time I read it. Which is often.

Hey, Look! A New Post!

2009-06-29T07:38:00.005+08:00

Well, it's been like what, two weeks since I last updated this blog? Sometimes real world responsibilities set up an ambush for you and you have no choice but to take care of it and leave everything else (like a blog about comic books). Anyway, I'm back and let's hope I won't go away for long after this, huh?

So what's this? John Stewart and the Martian Manhunter arrive at the planet Xanshi. They were assigned to Xanshi by the Highfather and Darkseid to destroy the Anti-Life Aspect before it destroys the planet and put the Milky Way galaxy in peril.

So off the Lantern goes without his Martian partner because he's ring is all-powerful and all that...

Whoops...
The thing they were sent there to destroy is in freakin' yellow, the one colour a Green Lantern's ring cannot fight against (pre-Green Lantern: Rebirth) and John Stewart just left his all powerful Martian friend a few thousand kilometres behind him. This will not look good on his resume, that's for sure. But wait...

Who the heck is this guy? Seriously, who is he? Look at the first panel up there. The locals have a distinctive look. This guy looks like Jerry Garcia. Is that how writer Jim Starlin looks like? It just took me out of the story for a second. It's like seeing a Charlton Heston cameo in a silly comedy or something.

20 years ago, a Cosmic Odyssey threatened to destroy the galaxy. Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola were there to chronicle it. The collection is still available online or you can wait till September and get the new edition. Probably nothing new other than a new foreword maybe.

Friday Night Fights: G7 Fight Music round 3

2009-06-12T18:21:00.006+08:00

I'm A Dinosaurus Roar, Roar, Hey everybody, I'm A Dinosaur ~ Former Fat Boys

Devil Dinosaur shows everyone why he's top lizard in Devil Dinosaur Omnibus by Jack Kirby

Shut Up, Paco!

2009-06-11T19:00:00.000+08:00

Yeah, Vibe, because your shockwave abilities are oh, so cool.

I have an irrational dislike for Paco Ramone a.k.a Vibe, can you tell?

B'wana Beast: Alpha Male

2009-06-10T20:57:00.001+08:00

There are two reasons why I love Grant Morrison. First, he brought back crazy stories into the pages of superhero comics when he took over Doom Patrol when everyone else was going for grim and gritty. The other is when he saved B'wana Beast from obscurity and reintroduced him to a new generation of comic fans in the pages of Animal Man. Because that made the writers of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon show remember B'wana Beast as well and that, in turn, prompted Adam Beechen to feature B'wana in an issue of the Justice League Unlimited comic.

That's why I love Grant Morrison.

Anyway, in issue #29 of the JLU comic, the League is up against mind controlled gorillas in Seattle and they're actually having trouble subduing the apes. Mainly because there's no help from B'wana Beast. He's off doing his "Lord of the Jungle" thing, much to Superman's chagrin.

B'wana's such a jerk...but I love him, the big lug.

Superman then asks Animal Man to go talk to B'wana Beast seeing as how they both have animal-related powers. B'wana ain't interested, baby.

B'wana Beast gives help to no one, whelp!

So then the League receives an emergency call from Mexico City. Queen Bee is holding the entire city ransom. Lots of money or she'll sic her mutated killer bees on the populace. Not nice. The League goes to work. Superman orders Animal Man and B'wana Beast to try and channel abilities of natural bee predators like wasps or bears but B'wana Beast ignores him because:

Yeah. He's off doing his own thing again until, that is, when Animal Man gets into trouble

So BB isn't such a jerk after all.

Awwww.....

I love the all-ages superhero comics. Justice League Unlimited, Tiny Titans, DC Superfriends, Batman: Brave and the Bold, Marvel Adventures. They're not pretentious and they tell their story in one issue. Plus, I can share them with my kids. This story is collected in Justice League Unlimited: Heroes and was written by Adam Beechen with art by Carlo Barberi and Tom Fowler.

Batman Has Eggnog With The Kents

2009-06-09T10:54:00.006+08:00

Awkwaaaard. And does Clark have boobs in the background there?

From Justice League Unlimited: Heroes by McAvennie, Greene & Massengill

Friday Night Fights: G7 Fight Music round 2

2009-06-05T21:21:00.004+08:00

This time round, Spacebooger insists that all fights must relate to a song, lyric from a song or music in general. He doesn't believe in taking it easy, the Booger. So here's my entry: a giant sized man beating the heck out of a reptilian monster in briefs.

He did the mash
He did the monster mash
The monster mash

It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash
It caught on in a flash
He did the mash
He did the monster mash

Chorus from Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash. Panels from Marvel Monsters hardcover collection. Written by Steve Niles, art by Duncan Fegredo

Out Of Context Sunday...erm, no, Thursday.

2009-06-04T18:00:00.006+08:00

There's a hot looking woman chained in this guy's bomb shelter, wearing high-heeled boots and practically nothing else and he wants to know if she's a vampire???

I think he's gay.

Yes, I went there.

From Vampirella: Crimson Chronicles Maximum collection from Harris Comics. Story by Archie Goodwin, artwork by Jose Gonzalez.

Great Moment In Comics History No. 8: Holy Crap, Kal-El!

2009-06-03T21:08:00.008+08:00

Not really that far back to be considered 'history' but check this out:

Jay Garrick gets struck by lightning and what does Superman from Earth-22 do? He jumps in and punches away the lightning bolt!!

That is hardcore.

From Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come, Part Three by Johns, Ross, Eaglesham and Pasarin (DC, 2009)

I'm Outta Here!

2009-05-27T08:31:00.006+08:00

No, I'm not closing down this blog. Was that a groan I hear? Yeah? Well screw you! No, the mid-term school holidays are coming up here in Malaysia so I'm taking the family on our annual vacation trip. This year we're planning to travel to the northern Malaysian state of Trengganu. There will be no emails, no fax and no handphones. I don't care what happens to the outside world. I'm taking a break. I'll be back in a week or so. Maybe I'll write something about the holiday. Who knows, I might see something interesting/weird/scary. So adios, ciao, see ya. I will have to miss the opening Friday Night Fight at Spacebooger.com but family's first, man.

In the meantime, here's 'spiky' Ben Grimm:

Sorry, man. You're too late. I am sooooo outta here. Go ask the Beyonder or somebody else.

In Which I Officially Thank Spacebooger

2009-05-20T15:01:00.003+08:00

Because, you know, he made me Grand Champion of the recently concluded Friday Night Fights: O.P.P. (One Panel of Pain).

I would also like to thank William Messner-Loebs and Greg LaRoque for writing and and pencilling the sweet scene of a crying Wally West super-speed bitch slapping Mark "Manhunter" Shaw. That panel was like, totally rocking, you guys!

And the grand prize? A copy of the Superman IV: Quest for Peace comic. Mmm, yeah. Well, it's free and I'll bet it'll be good for a few laughs.

Before The Identity Crisis Retcon, Dr. Light...

2009-05-18T18:00:00.009+08:00

...was kinda of a dweeb. He was a joke, a B-list villain who couldn't even win against a bunch of kids. So John Ostrander got permission to use him in Suicide Squad, the mid-1980s comic where obscure DC villains get a second chance or get killed. No one knew what Ostrander wanted to do with Dr. Light so in #36, we were surprised when the Doctor actually wanted to turn over a new leaf and be a hero (after getting some pep talk from the ghost of Jacob Smith Finlay, the first Dr. Light).

So the new 'heroic' Dr. Light gets to prove himself in everyone's favourite dystopia, Apokolips, but not after more morale boosting from the ghost of Jacob Finlay.

It was all a trick! Finlay wanted revenge! But wait...

Poor Finlay. First he gets murdered then he gets to spend all eternity with his murderer because causing someone's death won't get you into Heaven. We all know now that (the second) Dr. Light is back on Earth and is actually a rapist (gee, thanks a lot, Dan Didio). So when was he resurrected? And who is that ugly troll? That creature is one of Satan's minions and Light himsellf would be resurrected in another awesome issue* of Suicide Squad, a series that had pure awesomeness oozing out its pages in just about every issue even though it was saddled with less than stellar pencillers all throughout its run.

*yeah, I plan to blog about that particular issue soon. It's a hoot, I tell you.

It's 'Thankless Job Day'...

2009-05-15T20:54:00.005+08:00

"HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!!" to all educators wherever they are

Screw Star Trek, I'll Be Watching MEGA SHARK vs. GIANT OCTOPUS

2009-05-14T14:30:00.006+08:00

Seriously, I will be. I mean, Lorenzo Lamas and 1980's teen sensation Debbie Gibson are in it. This is classic Cinema Du Fromage!

Didja see that bit at the end of the clip when the mega shark jumps out of the ocean and attacks the airplane and the one passenger who saw the shark totally wet his pants? That was cool.

Spin In Your Grave, Ms. Austen!

2009-05-12T20:39:00.003+08:00

After waiting for a few months, it's finally here. Haven't read it yet and I won't have an opportunity to really tackle it until the end of the week but boy, I don't remember the last time I was this excited to be reading a Jane Austen novel. Let's hope this won't turn out to be one huge suck. I was promised ninjas, zombies and Elizabeth Bennet kicking butt so you better deliver, Seth Grahame-Smith!

Good Comics Not Many People Read: Green Manor vol. 1 (Cinebook, 2008)

2009-05-11T18:01:00.011+08:00

I'm getting burned out by superhero comics lately but I still love to read books with pictures and word balloons so it was quite serendipitous that I found out about Cinebook, a British publisher that translates European comics into English, and a damn fine job they're doing too. Check out their site and see some stuff that may not have come to the attention of fans of mainstream comics (read: US superhero comics)

I particularly like Green Manor, a French comic. It is actually a series of short stories, none longer than 8 pages, framed at the beginning and at the end of the book by a mental patient who claims that he used to be an employee of Green Manor. The Green Manor is an exclusive gentleman's club in Victorian England which on the surface doesn't make it any special than the other clubs...except that the patient insists that most of the Manor's posh members are nothing more than thieves, conmen and murderers (mostly murderers). His years there have made him privy to a lot of stories and it is these stories that he tells.

The stories themselves are quite enjoyable. Seeing as how none of them exceed 8 pages, the stories have to move along at a brisk pace and writer Fabien Vehlmann succeeds. That doesn't mean the stories are simple though. The plots are intriguing and the mysteries always end in some kind of twist. My favourite story in this volume is Post-Scriptum where a club member challenges another member to stop him from killing a woman by midnight the next evening. He actually succeeds in killing both his intended target and the man he challenged to stop his murderous plan but did not realise that his victim had prepared something beforehand, just in case. Vengeance from the beyond the grave, so to speak.

There is no gore in any of the stories. The killings are almost always off camera and artist Denis Bodart's cartoony style presents a nice contrast to the dark mood of the stories. It is a pity that Green Manor, despite being translated into English, would probably fail to capture the attention of comic fans outside of Europe. It is time we realise that there are a lot of good stuff out there that is not necessarily from the US. They may not feature powerful people in spandex punching other powerful people in spandex but these books are no less well written and illustrated. If you like murder mysteries, check out Green Manor from Cinebook. I bought mine from Amazon UK. I wished the creators had written more but there are only three volumes of the Manor (Cinebook combined the second and third books together so the English version only has two volumes).

Friday Night Fights: OPP - round 12

2009-05-08T17:52:00.003+08:00

You know what? Call it lazy, call it 'phoning it in'. I don't care. I've won TWO OPP fights, boyo! If I want to showcase something ho-hum like a middle aged Batman kicking Superman in the jaw, well then, by golly, I'll do it!

Spacebooger has more fights from the other guys...but none of them won twice!

Dark Knight Returns by Miller, Janson and Varley

PROOF book 1: Goatsucker (Image, 2008)

2009-05-06T20:22:00.005+08:00

Proof is John Prufrock. He's a talking Bigfoot, wears a suit and tie and works for The Lodge, a clandestine agency funded by both the US and Canadian governments to investigate reports of 'cryptids' or sightings of strange animals and if true, bring such animals back to The Lodge before anyone else sees them. It's for both the creature's and the human population's sake. Think X-Files but set in Washington state and Mulder is a 9-foot ape (or think Hellboy but without the Nazis).

Sure, it's hardly original but I love these kind of stories. In this first trade collection, Goatsucker, Proof gets a new human partner, Ginger Brown, who is transferred from the FBI to The Lodge when she is rescued in a hostage situation by a Golem in New York's Diamond District. Oh, it'll all make sense once you read the book! Trust me. In this first trade the principal players are introduced (other than Proof and Ginger, there's the Lodge's boss, Leander Wight) and then it's off to Minnesota to investigate an alleged sighting of the Chupacabra or 'Mexican Bigfoot'.

This Chupacabra doesn't suck goats, it sucks out the insides of humans and puts on their skin over its own, essentially passing itself off as human because it wants, for some reason, to kill Proof. We are not told why. Even the monster doesn't remember why. Being a first volume of an ongoing series, Proof naturally raises a lot of questions and hardly answering any of them but it is intriguing enough for me to go out and look for the second trade collection. I hope I'll get some answers then. I mean, Proof is an English speaking ape who works for the government. How the hell did that happen? Where's the backstory there? And who is Mi-Chen-Po? What's up with the Golem in New York? Answers, guys! Give me some! Yeah, I'm hooked, damn you.

DC Comics Library: The Batman Annuals volume one

2009-05-04T20:20:00.005+08:00

I know what I will be reading at work tomorrow...during lunchtime, that is, 'cause reading when you should be working is wrong.

I'm not a huge fan of the Silver Age Batman, having grown up reading his grim and gritty adventures post-Dark Knight Returns of the 1980s. Still, this panel sold me on this book:

Jungle Batman clubbing a panther! How can anyone not like that?

Friday Night Fights: OPP - round 11

2009-05-01T13:00:00.001+08:00

Sobek eats Osiris in the pages of 52 volume 4 by Johns, Morrison, Rucka, Waid & Giffen.

Spacebooger does the same to all the jerkwads he meets. That's just how he rolls.

It's Just A Comic Book. Cut Away, Kid!

2009-04-29T06:54:00.003+08:00

That's right! I let my kid cut out a comic book page! It's a comic book, not the the damn Mona Lisa, people! Besides, blame DC if you have to. It was them who put all that cut-out finger puppets and masks in the DC Superfriends back pages. They wanted the comic book damaged, the way it was meant to be.

Snake Eyes...

2009-04-28T07:49:00.002+08:00

...wants you to check out his new 12" action figure from Sideshow Collectibles.

yeah, I bought it. I bought an overpriced piece of plastic. I'm weak. But it's Snake Eyes, people! It's frikin' Snake-Eyes!

Friday Night Fights: OPP - round 10

2009-04-24T19:05:00.004+08:00

Then there was the time Thor introduced himself to Superman the only way a Nordic god of thunder knows how. Funnily enough, that's how Spacebooger introduces himself to strangers as well.

From JLA/AVENGERS trade papeback by Busiek & Perez.

How NOT To Insult A Priest

2009-04-22T23:04:00.003+08:00

I don't know. Calling a priest "PIG-SUCK!" isn't really a zinger of an insult. That's like calling him a badger-molestor. It just lacks a certain oomph.

From Hellboy: Wake The Devil tpb by Mike Mignola.

Look, Kids! Comics!

2009-04-20T07:30:00.001+08:00

Cover to Elephantmen #18.

Friday Night Fights: OPP - round 9

2009-04-17T19:45:00.005+08:00

Reed Richards' wildest dreams fulfilled. Unfortunately, it was a What If...? issue so nothing that occurred in it really counted.

From What If...? vol.2 #54, Marvel, by Simon Furman & Geoff Senior, collected in Death's Head volume 2 trade paperback.

Meanwhile, Spacebooger still has his hand in a cast but at least his head's intact....for now.

Web Comics You Should Read: Hannibal Goes To Rome

2009-04-16T10:25:00.005+08:00

Check this out from Shadowline Web Comics: Hannibal Goes To Rome by Brendan Mc Ginley and Mauro Vargas. Its a condensed history of the Punic Wars. The concept (history in comic form, the art) reminds me of Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe series and that's not a bad thing at all. It's quite funny and well written.

If you like ancient history particularly ancient Roman history or ever played Rome: Total War on the PC, you should check out this webcomic. The strip isn't finished yet (Hannibal has just arrived at the Alps at the time I'm writing this) so look forward to more mad Carthaginian rampage on Roman legionnaires in the days to come.

Burnout

2009-04-15T15:22:00.007+08:00

Damn, am I burned out already on superhero comics? It's only been 4 years since I came back to Marvel's and DC's respective universes and already I feel bored with their stuff. Not a good sign. I don't wanna leave but what's the point of throwing money into stuff you don't enjoy them?

Just finished reading the third collection of DC's The Brave and the Bold and I was less than impressed. It wasn't as bad the second collection but not as good as the first one either. As a fan of done-in-one, not necessarily in-continuity stories, I think BotB opened well with a huge bang and then whimpered pretty quickly soon after. I dropped Justice League when it became a pin-up gallery and I'll be dropping JSA with they finish collecting the 'Kingdom Come' storyline. This title, out of all of them that I buy, has been the most disappointing. The revival of the JSA early in the new century was a hoot. Great plots, great pencils...the later ones weren't so hot but overall the Justice Society was fun to read. Now not so much. If Marvel has Brian Bendis as their master of decompressed writing, DC has Geoff Johns.

And speaking of Marvel, it looks like I'll be dropping all three Avengers trades (Mighty, New & Initiative) with their Secret Invasion collection. "I'm not a Skrull! You're the Skrull!" was funny for about half a page, Bendis.

When reading Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace or Essential Defenders vol. 1 is more fun than reading the current stuff from the Big Two, maybe it's time to focus more attention and money on their old stuff. Of course, there's always the smaller publishers. It's not all a lost cause, I admit, but if you want to read about superhero adventures there's no place better than Marvel & DC and these days those companies aren't hitting many of my buttons.

Yeah, But She Took Care of 7 Single Men!

2009-04-13T18:05:00.006+08:00

That's true. In fact, Ms. White was quite crap in all forms of combat. (click on image for monster size and to find out what the hell I'm talking about)

Wonder Woman backbites another fictional character in Wonder Woman: Ends of the Earth hardcover collection by Simone and Chang.

Friday Night Fights: OPP round 8

2009-04-10T18:37:00.004+08:00

Colonel Rick Flag punches a fat Russian while Deadshot cheers him on in Suicide Squad #7, DC, 1987 by Ostrander, McDonnell & Lewis

Spacebooger wishes he could do what Flag's doing in that panel ('cause you know, Spacebooger broke his hand and all...)

Punisher's Got No Time For Suckers Like You, Man

2009-04-06T18:07:00.004+08:00

So if there weren't any footsteps out in the hallway, Frank would still be there in the room reading the journal? In the room where a second ago a living person fired a gun under his chin and now has a large hole at the back of his head? Man, that's cold.

From Punisher: Circle of Blood by Grant, Zeck & Vosburg

Comics Kids Can Read Without Bleaching Their Brains Afterwards: DC Super Friends: For Justice

2009-04-01T18:15:00.004+08:00

Let's celebrate this new month by watching Batman and Wonder Woman ride dinosaurs. Just because we can.

DC Super Friends: For Justice collects the first seven issues of Super Friends and is perfect for the kids. Not as zany as Tiny Titans but it has Batman riding a dinosaur and all the Super Friends exchanging costumes and masks just to fool Felix Faust. Wonder Woman got to change with Aquaman. They wisely stuck Aquaman in the background so we couldn't see his smooth legs. Smart thinking, DC. Nobody wants to see that.

Faust also failed to notice "Wonder Woman" had a hairy chest. Felix Faust isn't very smart, Batman.

Friday Night Fights: O.P.P. (round 6)

2009-03-27T22:48:00.003+08:00

Hulk, Ben Grimm. Seriously, what more do you need Spacebooger?

World War Hulk by Pak & Romita Jr.

Remember That One Time When Batman Had A Free For All In A Ring Of Fire?

2009-03-25T18:36:00.005+08:00

Silly super villain.

See, Batman figured out you are all Martians and in the DC Universe Martians fear only fire.

Batman is awesome and scary.

From JLA: The Deluxe Edition, vol. 1 by Morrison, Porter & Dell (DC, 2008)

My Love Is Poison

2009-03-24T11:40:00.004+08:00

In the latest Lying in the Gutters column, Rich Johnston wrote that Marvel's Immortal Iron Fist has been cancelled with issue #27 and there's a green light attached to that report so it's true with a +/- 5% chance of being false.

Aw, maaaannn. The Khairul H. curse is potent and is without mercy. Most books that I really, really love get the axe (Manhunter, Blue Beetle) while others like Tarot go on forever.

I fear for Fables, Jonah Hex and Incredible Hercules.

Edited to add: Apparently Iron Fist isn't getting cancelled. It was a misprint. Don't toy with my emotions, Marvel!

"Give Him A Body Bag! Nyahh-hahahahaha!"

2009-03-23T15:21:00.006+08:00

This is it. Danny is about to win the tournament with a totally bullshit move (hey, it's Hollywood, whatchoo expect?) But the part I remember besides the 'Crane Kick'? The other bully on the sideline giving his buddy words of encouragement: "Give him a body bag!!" and then laughing like a hyena on drugs. Classic!

Snake-Eyes...

2009-03-22T14:20:00.003+08:00

...wants you to play that funky music, white boy!

Friday Night Fights: O.P.P (round 5)

2009-03-20T23:38:00.007+08:00

The Wu-Han Thumb of Death. Looks painful to me.

From The Middleman: The Collected Series Indispensability by Grillo-Marxuach & McLaine (Viper Comics, 2008)

More pain here.

All-Star Superman vol. 2 (DC, 2009)

2009-03-19T19:11:00.005+08:00

I've said all I can say about Morrison's and Quitely's take on Superman over here. So I'm not going to say anything else for the second volume except: It is frickin' awesome. That is all.

Lois' eye-roll is just perfect.

Yay! My Bitchslap Panel of Pain Wins!

2009-03-18T17:00:00.001+08:00

Spacebooger has seen it fit to proclaim my entry as the winner of Round 4 of O.P.P (One Panel of Pain). My parents would be so proud!

Thanks to Messner-Loeb and LaRoque for writing/pencilling that scene. A crying Flash laying down the law on another vigilante's cheeks. Fabulous!

Captain Britain and MI13, Vol. 1: Secret Invasion (Marvel, 2009)

2009-03-17T18:07:00.005+08:00

Okay, you know what I really like about this book? There is a Muslim character in it who doesn't spout off stereotypical gems like "By the beard of the Prophet!" that comic writers used to do whenever they have to give lines to a Muslim character. Okay the last time I picked up a floppy was in the mid-90s so maybe I'm out of touch but not by much, I don't think. Her name is Dr. Faiza Hussain and writer Paul Cornell has given her superpowers and she seems to be part of the MI13 team by the end of this 4-issue collection so she'll probably be featured regularly and not just a throwaway character. So, YAY!

Other members of MI13 along with Captain Britain and Dr. Faiza are the Black Knight, super speedster Spitfire, Pete Wisdom who is a mutant who can fire bolts of energy from his fingers and John the Skrull who looks like John Lennon (but he dies in this book. Booo.) Since this collection is called "Secret Invasion" it's obvious what it's all about: it's a tie-in to the Secret Invasion mega event (which I have no interest in following so you probably know better about it than I). In Captain Britain and MI13, the Skrulls attempt to conquer Britain by controlling the very essence of magic itself. They have a Super Skrull with magical powers who looks like a four armed hybrid of Dormammu and Dr. Strange. He doesn't last long anyway because this creep gets his head chopped off by Captain Britain and all's well that ends well.

And that brings me to the thing that bothered me when I was reading this book: the decapitation of Skrulls. Is this a new thing with Marvel? I know DC is all blood and gore ever since they gave Geoff Johns a free rein with their books but Marvel has been pretty conservative with depictions of gore in their mainstream comics (Marvel Zombies notwithstanding, but when you're reading a comic about zombies you expect gore). Yet in CBnMI13, Skrull heads are being separated like it was going out of fashion and it doesn't happen far in the background either. No, the reader gets a ringside seat. Except for when Spitfire does it. She bites off the heads of two Skrulls although one is only implied while the other is in silhouette. Wait, she's a biter now? When did this happen??

Maybe it's okay with Marvel since they're Skrulls and therefore not real. Two British mystical characters also meet a painful end. Lady in the Lake: vaporised. Green Knight: decapitated. Still, I'm not comfortable enough to hand this book to a young reader. I'm prudish like that (yeah, I know this book is rated T+ but I'm an old fogey). Also, Cornell uses the ampersand-dollar sign-exclamation point-hash sign-percentage sign to substitute for actual swear words which also bothers me a bit. C'mon Marvel, either you make your heroes and villains swear or you don't. This - @$%#!& - reminds me of the censors bleeping out swear words on TV...and just as annoying. You allow decapitations but you draw a line on actual swearing?

Those complaints aside, CBnMI13 is actually a fun book to read. Pencils by Leonard Kirk is pretty (I enjoyed his work on the Agents of Atlas mini series last year) and it's obvious Paul Cornell has big plans for these characters. He may have been stifled plot-wise because he has to tie in to the Secret Invasion event but I have heard that in subsequent issues he has Captain Britain fighting Dracula on the Moon or something. Now that is the kind of stupid awesome that I look forward to in my superhero comics. Can't wait to read that in the next Captain Britain trade.

4 Minutes And 12 Seconds Of Movie Awesomeness

2009-03-16T17:30:00.003+08:00

The movie Desperado (which I'm still not sure whether is a sequel or a remake of El Mariachi) is chock full of awesome scenes but the firefight towards the end when El Mariachi is joined by his two buddies armed with machine guns and a rocket launcher disguised as acoustic guitar cases was where my mind exploded and I decided that Robert Rodriguez is my new favourite stupid-crazy-awesome-action-flick director.

Guitar case rocket launcher. I want one.

Snake-Eyes...

2009-03-15T11:49:00.003+08:00

...says, "This is me. Love me, don't judge me."

Friday Night Fights: O.P.P. (round 4)

2009-03-13T21:33:00.004+08:00

That's actually Wally West in super-speed mode bitchslapping Mark Shaw a.k.a Manhunter in Flash #22, DC, 1989. By Messner-Loebs, LaRoque & Mahlstedt.

More one panel slaps, punches and kicks over at Spacebooger

Remember The Time Daredevil Dressed Up As The Kingpin In Order To Fool Spider-Man?

2009-03-03T17:30:00.002+08:00

This WTF?! moment appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #287 by Jim Owsley, Erik Larsen and Art Nichols. It was the penultimate issue of the 5-issue 'Gang War' storyline in which the NY-based mobs rushed to stake a claim in Manhattan with the absence of Wilson Fisk a.k.a The Kingpin. DD in a fat suit is the most memorable part of that story.

Classic G.I. Joe, volume 1 (IDW, 2009)

2009-03-02T17:30:00.005+08:00

Go on and buy it. You know you want to. It reprints the Marvel run of G.I. Joe, it's printed on glossy paper, it's over 200 pages (10 issues worth) and it's in colour. IDW doesn't play around with that Essential or Showcase or Archive black and white reproduction crap. The give it to you in glorious colour.

It's old school G.I. Joe adventures, long before it turned into an "It was all Snake-Eyes' fault" book*. You also get to see Kwinn, comic book's first and only Eskimo Mercenary, in his first appearance ever. An Eskimo** freelance agent! You don't get that in X-Men.

*Seriously, everything revolved around Snake Eyes. Cobra Commander, Zartan, Storm Shadow and I think the Baroness as well, all blamed their fates on him.

**Yes, I know. Inuit.

I Needed A Reason To Drop Some Books Anyway...

2009-03-01T17:30:00.001+08:00

There are a few names today that will make me drop a title from my 'must-buy' list if those names appear in the credit box:

Jeph Loeb, Rob Liefeld, Ed Benes, Judd Winick, Brad Meltzer, Mark Millar and a couple of others.

Hey, if you like their work then more power to you. I don't. Different strokes and all that. Well, here's a piece of news that has just come to my attention: Judd Winick will be writing "Batman".

Oh, SNAP!

A part of me hopes that they were joking but since it was announced on a frikkin' WonderCon DC Panel, it's safe to say they were serious. Oh well, I was looking for a trade or two to drop. Looks like Batman will be the one.

Friday Night Fights: O.P.P (2)

2009-02-27T17:30:00.001+08:00

Spacebooger wants us to show him one panel of pain. Just one panel. And make it painful, he said.

Painful enough for ya? Huh?

Dog bites man in the gonads from Preacher vol. 8 by Ennis, Dillon & McCrea.

Meanwhile...

2009-02-25T17:30:00.001+08:00

Yes, Mr. Smartly Dressed Assasin. Now. Now is the perfect time for a redhead to save an Arab Sheikh by crashing through the window on skis. Because that's just how she rolls, sucka!

Scarlett shows she can kick ass just like the rest of them in G.I. Joe #9, one of the few issues not written by Larry Hama (it was written by Steven Grant with art by Mike Vosburg and Chic Stone). This issue is also collected in Classic G.I. Joe vol. 1 from IDW. Out Now.

All Vader Needs Is Love

2009-02-24T17:30:00.000+08:00

Here is Lunch Break, a whimsical tale by John Adams, collected in Star Wars Tales vol. 4 (the bestest Star Wars comic series evar so of course it didn't sell. There are 6 volumes total. Collect them all).

Anyway, a couple of off-duty Imperial Stormtroopers are secretly reading Darth Vader's diary which one of the troopers managed to snatch from Vader's personal quarters. Excerpts:

(click on panels for Death Star size)

All he wanted, it seemed, was to be loved. But it's hard to make people love you when you can choke them long distance. Dressing in an all black getup all the time and wearing a helmet with a creepy skull motif also gives a message to others that you're a no nonsense kinda guy.

Anyway, Vader discovers his diary is missing and calls all the Stormtroopers for an emergency assembly. The two troopers who have been reading the diary try to play it cool:

Yup, that trooper is so dead.

Good Comics Not Many People Read: Scarlet Traces: The Great Game (Dark Horse, 2007)

2009-02-23T17:30:00.003+08:00

Last week I reviewed a very good but little known graphic novel called Scalet Traces which was a sequel to H.G. Wells' classic invaders-from-Mars novel, The War of the Worlds. Then Ian Edginton and D'Israeli wrote a second sequel, Scarlet Traces: The Great Game.

I call it a sequel but like Scarlet Traces, The Great Game can also be read as a self contained book by itself without any knowledge of the prior graphic novel (or even the source novel that inspired it). At the end of Scarlet Traces, the truth about the missing girls is revealed and the last page shows the British government launching an invasion fleet on Mars and you could have stopped at that cliffhanger and you would have read a very good, albeit depressing, story.

The Great Game takes the reader about 40 years after the events from the first book. British troops are still on Mars and still fighting. The news is always rosy: Our boys are vanquishing the Martians, brave Commonwealth troops captures vital Martian stronghold, yada yada yada. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Britain is gradually turning fascistic with tight controls over the press and freedom of speech. All in the name of security, you understnd. They even locked up Eric Blair (George Orwell's real name). Yes, I thought that was a nice nod to 1984 as well.

But like the first book, there is also something far more sinister going on that isn't very clear at first. By the end of the story the reader may not be so quick to condemn the politicians. Without spoiling anything, suffice it to say that the Martians were not totally defeated in H.G. Wells' book. That was just an advance force. The rest of them are still on Mars. They have learned their lesson and came up with Plan B on how to colonise Earth. Unfortunately, no one on Earth knows about it because the politicians are keeping that under wraps. Why? Well, that would be telling. Go read the book and find out.

The Great Game has the same nice excellent quality that made Scarlet Traces such a pleasure to read. The plot moves along nicely and the artwork is amazing. It also has a lot more in-jokes within its pages, though you would only notice it if you were a fan of British comics and shows like Dan Dare, Dr. Who and Thunderbirds.

If you like to read about old-school adventure stories in space, you can't go wrong with Scarlet Traces: The Great Game. Make sure you read Scarlet Traces as well. Edginton and D'Israeli also adapted Wells' prose novel into a graphic novel but I never read that one so I can't comment on it. Oh, just get all three and have a rollicking good time. Makes a change from reading Batman. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Great Moments In Comics History No. 7: German WW 1 Fighter Aces Are BAD ASS

2009-02-22T17:31:00.008+08:00

Here's the situation: Rittmeister Hans von Hammer, "Enemy Ace" to the Allied forces, finds himself in a bit of a pickle over the skies at the Western Front. His tri-wing Fokker has been riddled with bullets and he's going down in flames. Is this the end? The hell it is!

The "Enemy Ace" saves himself from being a burnt smudge on the ground by grabbing hold of the axle of another airplane and hangs on for dear life while British fighters chase after him and his saviour over the skies of France. Just try to wrap your head around that one, will you?

This classic scene of bad-assery can only come from the mind of Robert Kanigher and the pencil skills of Joe Kubert. Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace (DC, 2008).

For more of DGR's Great Moments..., click the appropriate label below.

Friday Night Fights: O.P.P (1)

2009-02-20T21:16:00.003+08:00

In case you can't see the words, the Super Skrull said, "For the love of Kolker! Is there no one on this planet who's normal anymore?"

To which the correct reply would be, "HELL, NO!" but a SPROOOING uppercut is even better.

Spacebooger knows what I'm talking about.

From The Incredible Hulk #375 by Peter David, Dale Keown & Bob McLeod.

It's a Kodak moment

2009-02-19T18:10:00.008+08:00

My 6 year old daughter reading her first superhero comic. I'm so proud. I've always believed comics can help teach English especially to those of us whose mother tongue is not English. Include comic books in the school curriculum, teachers! Trust me. That's how I learned the language.

She's reading Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse trade collection by Art Baltazar & Franco (DC, 2008). A cute, well written all-ages comic book perfect for the kids and the kids at heart.

Planet Wifey

2009-02-17T19:05:00.009+08:00

Clarence Smith Jr., better known to, well, me as Bahlactus (former host and kick ass commentator of Friday Night Fights) has created a new webcomic, Planet Wifey, featuring true stories of married life and to quote Maxo, it's "freakin' ADORABLE". This thing is gonna fly, I tell ya. Bookmark it and check it out every other Friday.

Good Comics Not Many People Read: Scarlet Traces (Dark Horse, 2003)

2009-02-16T17:00:00.000+08:00

What happened after the events in H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds? The Martians have been defeated, Britain is victorious. So then what happened? That is the premise of Scarlet Traces, a comic book sequel to Wells' seminal work.

10 years have passed after the doomed Martian invasion and England has prospered, thanks to the alien technology that the British have exploited. Spoils of war and all that. But not all is well. While England has advanced with an industrial revolution powered by Martian knowledge, Scotland has been under martial law with government troops disptached there to quell any resistance by any means necessary. The other worldly technology has meant that one machine can do the work of a hundred men and that has resulted in unemployment and massive resentment amongst the people.

In the middle of all this, our protagonist Major Robert Autumn is thrown into a mystery when his valet's brother (a Scots) has been arrested in London for trespassing in an abandoned government building. He claims to be looking for his daughter who came down to London answering a job advertisement and was never seen or heard from again. And she wasn't the only one. It seems many young women from the impoverished North have answered the same advertisement and travelled down to London only to suffer the same fate. Major Autumn, feeling left out in a world moving too fast into the future for his taste, eagerly takes up the challenge to solve this mystery and I'm not spoiling anything when I say it won't end well for some people.

I was a bit sceptical at first when I found out that this book was a sequel to a classic novel. These kind of sequels never turn out to be good, never mind the fact this version was done in a sequential art form. It's still a sequel not written by the original author. I was afraid it was going to end up like that Gone With the Wind sequel that no one talks about nowadays. I'm glad I was wrong.

The mystery moves along at a brisk pace and since the Martian invasion plays a major part of the story, you know those pesky aliens are involved in this somehow. Ian Edginton has pulled off a miracle by writing a sequel to a classic novel that did not suck. D'israeli's art is beautiful eye candy especially when it comes to the futuristic cityscape of Victorian London. It did make me stop and wonder whether they could have achieve all this within 10 years of accidentally defeating the Martians. Mastering a new piece of technology is one thing, mastering an alien technology within 10 years during the Victorian-era is incredible. Then I realise it's just a comic book, so screw logic!

Scarlet Traces is one of those books that flew under a lot of comic book aficionado's radar when it came out 6 years ago but if you like to read a darn good story, this book should be right up your alley.

Friday Night Fights Special Edition: Love Tap!

2009-02-13T20:45:00.006+08:00

It's a Valentine's Special over at Spacebooger.com tonight so here are everyone's favourite psychotic lovers, Joker and Harley Quinn going through a rough patch in their 'relationship':

Turns out that's not even Harley but Poison Ivy in disguise so the joke's on him! Why did Poison Ivy disguise herself as Dr. Quinzel? You gotta read Harley Quinn: Preludes and Knock Knock Jokes by Karl Kesel and Terry & Rachel Dodson to find out.

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies (Quirk Books, 2009)

2009-02-11T15:47:00.003+08:00

Best argument against copyright term extension ever! This could either be very, very good or very, very bad. It's exactly what you think it is: Jane Austen's classic novel, now with zombies. And this is from it's Facebook page, "we're happy to report that Pride and Prejudice and Zombie HAS ninjas in it! We've got your back!" Mr. Darcy, zombies and ninjas, all in the same book. Kicking!

From the link: "Jane Austen is the author of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and other masterpieces of English literature.

Seth Grahame-Smith is the author of How to Survive a Horror Movie and The Big Book of Porn."

Some days I just don't mind living at the end of civilisation.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies will be out April 15 but Amazon says May 13.

Good Comics Not Many People Read: Agents Of Atlas HC (Marvel, 2007)

2009-02-10T10:58:00.009+08:00

Now that they have their own series, it's about time I give a shout out to what is probably the best comic miniseries that not many people read: Agents of Atlas. Came out two years ago and still available at Amazon, doncha know? AoA introduced me to Jeff Parker and if you click his name at the tag section down there you will know I totally have a platonic guy-love for Jeff Parker and it's all because of this book. Seriously, it's fun, funny, exciting and jam packed with extras if you like that sort of thing in your collected editions. And Leonard Kirk's pencils aren't too shabby either.

I guess it is possible to take a group of obscure characters from a publisher's early days, feature them in a miniseries and not make it suck. Having a talking gorilla as one of the characters also helps.

I honestly don't know how long their ongoing series will last. I'm guessing about 30 issues worth since most of the books I like tend to get cancelled before their 50th issue. I'm a regular Jonah, I am. But check out their miniseries collection first. It has a semi naked love goddess prancing about seducing bad guys, a killer robot shooting rays, a sea queen, a secret agent, a spaceman and the aforementioned talking gorilla.

And a dragon called Mr. Lao. Seriously.

You don't mess with Batman's Snoopy doll collection. You just don't.

2009-02-09T21:01:00.005+08:00

From Showcase Presents: The Brave & The Bold vol. 3 by Haney & Aparo.

Friday Night Fights: KA-POW!! round 12

2009-01-31T00:15:00.002+08:00

To close up the final round of this bout, here's Superman punching a gorilla courtesy of E. Nelson Birdwell, Ramona Fradon & Bob Smith.

From DC GOES APE (2008)

What The Hell? I'm Reading Ghost Rider Now?

2009-01-28T16:50:00.001+08:00

Shocking as it may be but I've never been a huge fan of Ghost Rider. I remember reading a few issues back in the '70s and I also read the few issues of the 1990s revamp with Danny Ketch. Don't remember much about that one except that the first issue had a glow-in-the-dark cover. Ahh, the 90s.

I say shocking because Ghost Rider has everything I want in a superhero comic book. It's full of crazy stupid. It's a guy in leather riding a motorcycle with fiery wheels. Oh and his head is also on fire. And it's a skull. And he goes around punching people in the name of vengeance. He was even a member of a super group once. Seriously, what's not to like? But Ghost Rider never did it for me, so when Marvel gave GR yet another series, I hardly noticed it until new writer Jason Aaron took over with issue #20, collected in this trade. Johnny Blaze is back as the Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch is back too. I thought they killed him off. Oh well) and he wants revenge on the rogue angel what did this to him. Yes, Ghost Rider's origin has been retconned. The Spirit of Vengeance was bonded to the soul of an ex-circus motorcycle stuntman because the stuntman wanted to save his dying father. Turns out the Spirit wasn't the devil's idea, it was Zadkiel's, a rogue angel. Kinda makes sense I suppose. After all why would the devil turn one of his suckers into a Spirit of Vengeance meting out justice to evil people? Vengeance, hell. The devil would probably give the evildoer a pat on the back, a cigar and his or her choice of a fiery duplex in Hades. But Johnny Blaze is still out of luck because he did make a deal with the devil, damned his soul to Hell anyway and still has to do Heaven's dirty work by hunting down the guilty. So yeah, Blaze is pissed off with everyone especially Zadkiel the rogue angel. But Zadkiel has a plan of his own. He needs the Spirit of Vengeance to overthrow God so he can sit on the Throne of Heaven himself. Yes, really.

So that is Jason Aaron's take on Ghost Rider in a nutshell. It's all about Johnny Blaze finding a way to reach Zadkiel and kick his arse while Zadkiel sends his groupies to capture Johnny alive so they can use his powers to defeat God. And Zadkiel followers come in many shape and sizes, including:

Over zealous, psychotic nurses with automatic weapons riding motorcycles! It's like Jason Aaron looked into my mind and took notes!

Not only that but both the Ghost Rider and the sexy psycho nurses have to deal with a highway haunted by cannibalistic ghosts and it doesn't end well for some:

Bye-bye, sexy, psychotic nurse who wants to help overthrow God

The second half of the trade sees Johnny in a middle of a prison riot and he's looking for a convicted priest who made a deal with a Satanist group in prison to protect himself from Zadkiel and his assassins. That's just crazy and awesome at the same time. Ghost Rider gets out of this one by pummelling the bad guy with an over sized edition of the Bible. Irony in comic books. Who woulda thunk it?

I think as long as Jason Aaron is writing Ghost Rider, I'll be along for the ride.

The Incredible Hulk....

2009-01-27T18:05:00.002+08:00

hates getting wet

Hulk receives an impromptu shower in HULK Annual 7 (1978) by Stern, Byrne & Layton, collected in Giant-Size Hulk (2008)

Short Reviews: Batman: Private Casebook, X-O Manowar: Birth

2009-01-26T21:56:00.006+08:00

Paul Dini's run on Detective continues to be collected and this time DC went with a hardcover edition first, those bastards! I prefer my books to be in hardcover but the first two collections were in paperback so it's gonna look weird on the shelf. I'm anal like that.

Anyway, Paul Dini continues his hard on for Zatanna, pitting her against the new Ventriloquist who gets an origin story. Other stories include a nice one with Mad Hatter, a Riddler-thinks-he's-smarter-than-Batman-at-solving-crimes story and Batman kicks Ra's Al Ghul's arse in an epilogue of the Ra's ressurrection storyline. Nothing to write home about but a nice collection to add if you already have the previous Dini Detective collections.

Collects the first six issues of X-O Manowar and issue #0. I heard that Manowar sold like crazy numbers at its height. God knows how because the issues collected here didn't do anything for me. They had six issues to rock me and I stopped reading after issue 3. Pity because a 2000-year old barbarian in an Iron Man suit should be a one hell of a comic. How the hell did they mess that up? X-O Manowar is not for me, I guess.

G.I. JOE #57 (Marvel, 1987)

2009-01-20T14:25:00.003+08:00

Check out that cover. Flint looks constipated, Lady Jaye is there so that kids would look at her impressive cleavage and pick up the book (hey, it worked with me) and Destro just looks ridiculous. This guy wants to be taken seriously as a feared terrorist and arms supplier? Then lose the tall collar and plunging neckline. Even in 1987 that look was a joke. And the medallion? Very chic...in 1975!!

There was nothing special about this issue. In fact, 14-year old me thought it was kinda boring. Issue 57 sees Destro going back to Scotland after tunnelling his way out of 'The PIT', the secret G.I. Joe HQ underneath the Staten Island Motor Pool, which had caved in after Cobra's failed attempt to eliminate the Joes on their home turf. Cobra Commander was with him as well but went their separate ways after they escaped from the PIT and CC tried to make amends with his crippled and blind-in-one-eye son Billy (but that's another issue).

In this issue, Destro goes back home only to find that there is already a Destro having tea and scones with the household guards at the family castle. Real Destro gets arrested, breaks out of jail with the help of Joes' Lady Jaye and Flint, goes back to the castle and has a good punch up with fake Destro ("How do we know which one's the real Destro?", one of the castle guards asked. "Let those two fight. Whoever wins must be the real one", suggests his comrade. As opposed to, say...asking the Lord Destro to take off his mask and see his face and compare it with the family potraits? Or do the male Destros wear masks right from infancy and all the family photos have them wearing masks as well? Gee, that's one screwed up family. Life must be hell for young Destro at school. No wonder he became a terrorist.)

Anyway, real Destro wins and pulls off the mask off fake Destro to reveal...Major Bludd?? I think Larry Hama received a memo from Hasbro the month before asking why he rarely uses Bludd in the comics. So here he is for one panel. Oh, and the reason Lady Jaye and Flint was on Destro's side was because they wanted to steal the plans to Cobra's Terror Drome but since they helped Destro reclaim his castle from Cobra, Destro gave it to them free of charge. How nice of him.

Yeah, not a very memorable issue. But check out that cover. Makes me laugh everytime I see it.

The Awesomeness of Tintin vs. a Pissed Captain Haddock

2009-01-19T19:00:00.002+08:00

Astronaut Tintin takes no crap from no one. Least of all a drunk sea captain.

Tintin and the Captain's shouting match whilst tethered to a rocket travelling to the moon at 7 miles per second is from Explorers on the Moon (1954) by Herge, who else?

wikiHow's How To Be A Comic Book Genius

2009-01-15T14:58:00.005+08:00

How to Become a Comic Book Genius

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

This if you want to impress people with your comic book expertise.

Steps

Buy Marvel Encyclopedias Volumes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (3 is the best skip it)and read them.
Buy the D.C. Comics Encyclopedia and read it
Start reading tpb(trade paper backs)Big ones like Watchmen, Kingdom Come, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis, the Essential tpbs by Marvel,also the D.K. Ultimate Guides (they have one on nearly every hero Marvel and D.C.)
Subscribe to Wizard this magazine is a must have
Read Comics and Graphic Novels at your library (mine has monthly issues and huge variety of hardcovers and tpbs)
Read mini series such as Civil War or 52 (these will change quite often)

Tips

Get on the forums
Research things you don't know about on the internet
Try not to get obsessed with one publication read indie publishers like Image, Dark Horse and Top Cow
If you hate reading don't try to read comics

Warnings

Don't become a Marvel Zombie!

Related wikiHows

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Become a Comic Book Genius. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

So, in order to become a comic book genius, one needs to read the Marvel Encyclopedias but skip volume 3 because "it's the best". Subscribing to Wizard is a must 'cause the Wizard guys know all about comics and shit. Also, "if you hate reading, don't try to read comics". Now I take issue with that. The comic medium, I think, is a good way to instill a love to read. All those pictures won't tax your brain too much. But then again I find it hard to comprehend how anyone can actually dislike reading. But that's just me.

I love how the author(s) of that article warn us not to be a Marvel Zombie. Because y'know, that would be bad.

And This Is Why I Think Tintin Is Awesome

2009-01-12T18:50:00.007+08:00

You're welcome.

From PRISONERS OF THE SUN

Friday Night Fights: KA-POW!! round 9

2009-01-09T18:25:00.007+08:00

From All-New Atom #17 by Simone, Norton & Scott. First published on Jan. '08 so it qualifies under Spacebooger rules. But only just.

What I Just Read: Atomic Robo vol. 1 (Red 5, 2008)

2009-01-08T20:49:00.004+08:00

ATOMIC ROBO and the FIGHTIN' SCIENTISTS OF TESLADYNE: This trade from Canadian publishing upstart RED 5 collects the first six issues featuring the titular character and his team of gung ho boffins who are members of a paramilitary unit tasked to solve weird problems. And it's funny too. Think Hellboy with a little bit more one liners.

It's a good thing that writer Brian Clevinger can write the funny because these first six issues confused me a little bit with all the flashbacks. The humour distracted me somewhat from the jumping timelines and I just went with the flow. The story opens up in 1938 with Robo foiling a Nazi scientist from taking over the world (what else?), then jumps to the present, then shifts to 1940 China then back to the present and then to 1974 where we see the late Dr. Carl Sagan offering Robo a trip to Mars and then back to present-day Egypt where Atomic Robo and his team has to stop a mobile 5,000 year old pyramid from destorying Luxor with sunbeams and then that story just ends there when we are brought back to 2005 Italy. Or maybe that pyramid story was supposed to end there? But I wanna know how they defeated the giant mechanical cycloptic mummy, dammit! You have 22 pages of mayhem just waiting to be written right there!

So yeah...I found the jumping around a bit dizzying but not much. I enjoyed it enough. If you like comic books that feature a talking 83 year old robot, Nazi cyborgs, undead mummies, commandos with Phds and a pyramid that moves (and really, who doesn't like all that in their comic books?) then this collection is a keeper.

A Confession

2009-01-05T18:06:00.007+08:00

Today instead of working, I spent most of the time at the office reading Marvel's Secret Wars Omnibus. It was good. It brought back memories of simpler times and simpler adventures in my comic books. No twists, no anti-life equation, no Skrulls. Just good guys on one side, the bad guys on the other. They fight for 12 issues!

And it had one of the best covers ever:

Sure beats catching up on my paperwork.

Friday Night Fights: KA-POW!! round 8

2009-01-02T18:00:00.001+08:00

Aaannnd DGR's back at the ring after missing the last few weeks worth of fights. Everyone else at Spacebooger.com stand aside because our contender is no pretender. He's the one and only Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-man!...and he's beating up a shark tonight! (again with the sharks!)

It's ASM #313, written by David Michelinie with art by Todd "I'm better than all of youse punks" McFarlane and it's an INFERNO tie-in. Pete and Mary Jane find themselves attacked by a damn big shark while riding a cab on their way to Queens. No big deal for ol' Pete. He's gone up against The Spot, a shark should be child's play for him.

And indeed it is:

But it wasn't over yet for Spidey. Next, he had to bring down a possessed giant balloon of himself...
Well, that must have been embarrassing.

But you can't keep a good Spider-man down for long...

All this and he had to fight the Lizard as well. ASM #313 was one crazy awesome of a comic and David Michelinie wrote it all with a married Peter Parker as well.

The Awesomeness of Tintin vs. a Shark

2009-01-01T18:00:00.010+08:00

First, there is the submarine shaped like a shark designed by the deaf-as-a-post Professor Calculus (who makes his first appearance in Red Rackham's Treasure):

But also, there is the scene where Tintin goes treasure hunting underwater and gets attacked by a shark:

He downs the shark by making him drunk (it was clear he really wanted to strike the shark's nose with the bottle, but still awesome). Batman would've just kicked the fish. Effective but oh, so pedestrian.

Oh yeah, Happy 2009!

On Hiatus...

2008-12-22T19:20:00.001+08:00

Taking a break.

Be back next year.

When come back, bring pie.

What I Like About Marvel's Incredible Hercules...

2008-12-16T23:08:00.010+08:00

...besides the fun script and cool looking art? The sound effects. I especially love the sound effects.

and my personal favourite:
This one reminds me of Shooting Stars whenever Reeves and Mortimer introduce Ulrika Jonsson, "Ulrikakakakakakaka". What can I say. I'm easily amused.

I wouldn't have thought Incredible Hercules could wow me so much. Coming out from the ashes of World War Hulk, I thought Marvel lost the plot when they gave Hulk's book to Hercules of all people. But it's been a great read so far. Even the Secret Invasion tie-in is interesting. 'God Squad'. Hah! Almost made me want to read the actual Secret Invasion mini series. Almost.

The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (Del Rey, 2008)

2008-12-15T15:18:00.001+08:00

Ten years ago, Star Wars uber-fan Steve Sansweet and Timothy Zahn wrote the Star Wars Encyclopedia, a comprehensive primer to everything Star Wars. Everything Star Wars in one 300+ page book. This was in 1998 and since then there have been the prequels, the Cartoon Network Clone Wars, the video games, more comics and even more novels. So obviously the encyclopedia needs an upgrade and here it is:

That is the slipcase that holds the three volume Star Wars encyclopedia.

Some notable Darths. I don't even know half of them. Must have appeared in the comics and novels.

The volumes contain just about every character and events that happened in the movies, comics, novels and video games. The Skywalkers and the Solos get a lot of column inches obviously but that Imperial commander standing behind Vader's right shoulder in that scene in Empire Strikes Back also gets an entry. So that's nice.

Even this guy gets an entry. He was one of the ceremonial guards at the rebel's Yavin base during the medal ceremony. His mom must be so proud.

All in all, it's a very entertaining set of books for the Star Wars nerd. Though if you can't afford it, there's always Wookieepedia.

Friday Night Fights: KA-POW!! round 4

2008-12-05T19:57:00.006+08:00

This week's fight is from G.I. JOE #84 (Marvel, 1989, by Larry Hama, Marshall Rogers & Randy Emberlin). The scene: Cobra Commander approaches Zartan for the first time in a biker bar. It was the beginning of a long and not so beautiful relationship.

By the end of that issue we discover that Zartan became Zartan that we know because of Snake-Eyes. Cobra Commander set up terrorist organisation COBRA in part because, in his mind, he blames Snake-Eyes for the death of his brother. And G.I. Joe existed to combat COBRA. So it was all Snake-Eyes fault!

Wanna know who else blames Snake-Eyes for their problems? Check out Spacebooger.com

I Guess This Was Normal Behaviour Back In The 40s

2008-12-04T18:08:00.004+08:00

So we catch Bruce Wayne give his ward Dick Grayson six of the best one morning...

Look at Bruce's face. The guy's enjoying this.

Seriously, what the hell?? I bet you Jason Todd would have kicked Bruce Wayne in the balls if he had so much looked at Jason funny. And people were shocked, shocked!, at All Star Batman.

From The Batman Chronicles vol. 6

Watching the Watchmen HC (DC, 2008)

2008-12-02T08:47:00.006+08:00

Watching the Watchmen is a retrospective look by the guy who illustrated the ground breaking limited series, Dave Gibbons. What with the movie version scheduled to hit the screens in 2009 and Alan Moore more or less having burned his bridges with DC, it's up to his collaborator to pony up some stuff to fill a 250+ page coffee table book. And I fell for it. Now don't get me wrong. Watching the Watchmen isn't a complete waste of money. Gibbons shares with the reader some trips down memory lane: his first meeting with Alan Moore, the genesis of Watchmen, his and Alan Moore's status from nobodies in the world of American comics to superstars after the success of Watchmen among other tidbits. Intersperse that with pictures of Watchmen merchandise, Alan Moore's first draft and a lot of preliminary sketches of the Watchmen characters, and you get a quite interesting book even if you, like me, don't really care about sketches.

But then we reach the bulk of the book: a "dissection" of Watchmen issue by issue. Unfortunately, it is nothing more than Gibbons rummaging through his files and giving us a look of his thumbnail sketches of each issue. And Watchmen was a 12-issue series. So a lot of page after page of rough pencils that were later inked, coloured and lettered. Big whoop.

Okay, the book was advertised as an art book and Dave Gibbons is primarily an illustrator and serves me right for hoping to read about a comic book's history in an art book but dude...valuable trees were chopped down just to print Dave Gibbons test pencils of Watchmen before he actually sat down and drew it for real?? Even a budding artist would find that boring.

Wait till next year after the movie has ended its run. I guarantee you this book will be in the bargain bins by then. Get it then if you still want it.

(The book comes with two different covers. The more commonly advertised one with Dr. Manhattan and the one you see at the top, with the Comedian's mug leering at you. That's the version I bought. Other than that there are no other differences).

Because Sometimes...

2008-12-01T20:31:00.003+08:00

...you just need to see Batman & Robin take a ride on an inflatable giant hand.

From Showcase Presents World's Finest vol. 2

Beetle Bailey: The First Years 1950-1952 HC (Checker, 2008)

2008-11-24T13:06:00.007+08:00

Looks like Fantagraphics started a trend in the American comics industry when they started collecting Peanuts strips in chronological order and wrapping them between hardcovers. Every classic comic strip from Dick Tracy to Popeye to Dennis the Menace to Pogo has been or will be collected for fans and new readers to enjoy. Thanks to the folks at Checker Book Publishing, Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey is the latest cartoon strip to be collected in hardbound format.

I used to read Beetle Bailey in the local rag back when I was still reading the local rags and whilst it was occasionally mildly amusing, most of the time it was just lame. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I picked up this book collecting the first two years of Bettle Bailey's 'life' and I'm glad I did. This book is a treasure and its present incarnation is just a far paler shadow of what it used to be.

I was surprised to discover that the strip did not begin with Beetle already in the U.S Army but instead in college. In fact it was the Korean War that prompted Mort Walker to shift locales and make Beetle a private at Camp Swampy where he has remained ever since. It is in Camp Swampy that we are first introduced to the regular supporting cast of the Beetle Bailey strip: Sarge (thinner here), General Halftrack, Cookie and Casanova wannabe, 'Killer'. Walker and his readers didn't know it then but all these characters would still be featured in the strip 50 years later.

Beetle Bailey's adventures are the same then as they are today: he puts his hat over his eyes so he can sleep undetected, tries to pick up girls and basically survive Army life while doing as little work as possible. So why is he so not funny today? Honestly, I don't know.

Also included is brief biography on Mort Walker and some rejected strips including one where Beetle's eyes are revealed.

All in all, this is a very good collection and I hope to collect any and all future collections up until the 1970s strips. That's when the strip jumped the shark, in my opinion.

Friday Night Fights: KA-POW!! round 2

2008-11-21T18:01:00.009+08:00

Three days ago, we were shocked to discover here in DGR that not only was Dredd taken down by a punk with mad martial arts skills, Dredd was taken down by a punk with mad martial arts skills called Stan Lee! Stan Lee got away then but fool must have forgotten to take his smart pills because he came back to Mega City One.

And Dredd wants a rematch. It is on, boyo! Though Stan Lee gets first crack on Judge Dredd with the old 'kick-them-through-the-restaurant-signboard' maneuver...

...Dredd quickly comes back and whapps him one with a right hook.

And then just for shits and giggles, he makes sure the poser stays down with a good crunnkk upside Stan's face.

In Mega City One, police brutality is the law! Much like Spacebooger on Friday Nights.

From Judge Dredd Case Files 11 trade paperback by John Wagner, Alan Grant & Barry Kitson

Bush Gives Medal to The Man

2008-11-19T14:45:00.005+08:00

Stan Lee gets a medal from the National Endowment for the Arts. Congratulations, sir!

Suck it, Ditko! Suck it hard!

Dredd Doesn't Know Kung Fu

2008-11-18T18:24:00.011+08:00

Swede has been getting too big for Clubland. Time to cut him down to size by 'Iron Fist' here. Too bad Judge Dredd was patrolling nearby. No problem, just throw some shurikens at his chest.

Dredd can give as well as he can receive...

...but this new guy is just too good, Drokdamnit!

So who was the mystery assailant who took down the baddest Judge of Mega City One?

Stan Lee?! Dredd got served by a punk named Stan Lee!!

So will we, Dredd. So will we.

From Judge Dredd Complete Case Files 10 trade paperback.

Friday Night Fights: KA-POW!! round 1

2008-11-14T19:07:00.003+08:00

It begins again. Only this time, Friday Night Fights has a new home. Bahlactus has left so all ass kicking will take place at Spacebooger's place.

DGR's contender: The Incredible Hulk. He KWOMS that sucka Marvel so bad, boy actually yelps like the dirty dog that he is!

From Incredible Hulk #246 or the Heart of the Atom HC collection, whichever you prefer. Bill Mantlo & Sal Buscema, the talents.

Well, At Least I Have the Trades

2008-11-14T07:44:00.007+08:00

Well some sucky news...DC will cancel Blue Beetle with issue #36. I wasn't shocked when I heard it. This book has been threatened with cancellation practically since it's first year. DC did everything they could to boost sales: guest appearances by Batman and Superman, included the book in the mega popular Sinestro Corp War, giving Beetle a guest appearance in The Brave & The Bold and making him one of the Teen Titans. DC did everything they could but sales just would not jump.

As a wait-for-the-trade guy I admit my disappointment is hypocritical. If I loved the book so much why wait 6 months for the collection? Okay, I give you that. BUT, there are way more readers out there who buy the monthly comics than there are us "wait for the trade" people. I'm not blaming anyone (though it looks like I am) but if they had picked up Blue Beetle and see what a cool, fun comic it is along with their usual Batman or X-Men comics then maybe, just maybe DC would have had more faith in the title. But it's a business and at the end of the day they look at the numbers and the numbers stink.

What attracted me to this new Beetle? Well, for starters Blue Beetle is an Hispanic teen named Jaime Reyes (that's "Hey-me" Reyes and not "Jay-me" Reyes). Most superheroes can trace their ancenstry back to when the Anglos met the Saxons and they live in fictional places like Keystone City, Gotham, Metropolis and Atlantis. Jaime lives in the real city of El Paso, Texas. Plus, Jaime didn't become a superhero to avenge his parents' death or to right the wrongs of the world. In fact he wished he never picked up the damn blue scarab in the first place but now that he did he's making sure he'll put it to good use...while making some mistakes and some tough decisions on the way. Far cry from the uber-perfection of the more established superheroes who never seem to put a foot wrong. Long story short, Jaime Reyes could be one of us and the last time comic book readers could say that was when Lee and Ditko created Spider-Man over forty years ago!

Oh well, all this is academic. It was a fun ride while it lasted. I still have the trades if I ever miss reading his adventures and I recommend everyone who never picked up the book to read the trades. Four books so far, with the final fifth volume no doubt coming out next year.

Adios, Jaime. See you whenever.

And don't get me started on Manhunter...

Hulk: Heart of the Atom HC (Marvel, 2008)

2008-11-13T15:55:00.007+08:00

Remember the time when Greg Pak wrote that cool storyline where Hulk was blasted off into space by Iron Man and Reed Richards because they didn't want him to go rampaging all across the Midwest ever again but unfortunately the shuttle the Hulk was in veered off course and landed on an inhabited planet with warring factions and he quickly became the leader of the losing side and kicked the butt of the ruling class, appointed as the new ruler, fell in love, got married and then lost everything to a bomb because one of his new friends betrayed him? Yeah, Heart of the Atom is actually nothing like that.

It shares some similarities, though, but instead of outer space the Hulk travels down to microscopic level where he discovers the existence of a medieval-like civilization. The inhabitants embrace him after he shoos away some rampaging creatures that look like wild boars from destroying their castle. Plus, they also have green skin so they immediately accept Hulk as their own. If Spider-Man had saved them instead of the Hulk, they would probably shoot their arrows at him. Bastards! Anyway...

Hulk is brought to Jarella, Empress of this microscopic world, who orders her three sorcerers (two of whom are called Holi and Moli, I kid you not) to make the Hulk understand their language so that they can communicate. Not only did the magic spell work it also resulted in the Hulk having Bruce Banner's intelligence as well. One quick marriage with Jarella and the defeat of a jealous would-be usurper later, the Hulk is happy in his new role as King but this being Hulk, happy things don't stay too long. He is soon snatched back into the regular-sized world leaving behind a distraught bride who has no idea why her new husband grew to ginormous size.

Hulk visited the micro world a few more times over the years but it would end the same every time: something would compel him to leave his wife and her sub-atomic world. Things get really interesting when Jarella is transported back to Earth along with Hulk and she ends up getting killed. No, that's not a spoiler. You know things won't end well with her the moment she set eyes on Hulk. It's a given. It is also when Sal Buscema took over pencilling chores and I like his rendition of Hulk with the ever gaping mouth and spittle. Sal Buscema's Hulk never, ever looks dumb. He's just very angry and that's the way I like it.

Heart of the Atom collects all the relevant issues (11 in all) plus What If? #23 which asked what if Jarella hadn't died. All in all, it's a good collection on an often forgotten part of the Hulk mythos. No doubt it would claim credit for inspiring Greg Pak's Planet Hulk story (heck, the inside cover flap of the book practically said so) but there's nothing wrong with that. When you have been telling stories of the same character practically non-stop for the past 40 years it's kinda hard to come up with something new and fresh. Just read the back issues for ideas and try to cater it to the modern audience. Every writer does that. If you've read Planet Hulk and thought it was great, read Heart of the Atom. Greg Pak obviously did.

Oh, by the way, the cover above is the cover of one of the issues collected within and not the cover of the collection itself. The hardcover has dark green lettering on a black background and it didn't scan well. At least not on my cheap scanner.

Seconds Out...

2008-11-12T18:20:00.006+08:00

Just warming up before this week's opening Friday Night Fights at the new ring over at Spacebooger.

Page from Bat-Manga, as if you didn't know.

Bat-Manga!

2008-11-11T18:22:00.006+08:00

This is what I'm thumbing through right now:

One of the reasons why you should get Bat Manga: The Secret History of Batman in Japan:
Batman vs. intelligent ape = Gold, in whatever language.

Just Finished Reading Ms. Marvel vol. 5: Secret Invasion HC (Marvel 2008)

2008-11-06T10:30:00.008+08:00

Five hardcovers on and I think I'm about done with Ms. Marvel. I still cannot bring myself to empathise with the character. Her siding with the pro-registration Republican-Avengers during that little misunderstanding called the 'Civil War' probably didn't help either. Maybe the problem with volume 5 is that it ties in with Marvel's annual mega event which hasn't been released as a one book collection yet as of this writing. For someone who waits for the trade, I only have a vague idea of what is going on in Ms. Marvel: Secret Invasion.

Tony Stark thinks Ms. Marvel is a Skrull so he sends SHIELD Agent Sum to take her down. Unfortunately, Stark sent Sum to the wrong Ms. Marvel (that is to say the real, human Ms. Marvel). Fisticuffs ensue. The collection ends with her big fight with all those Skrulls in Manhattan and her discovery that the Extra-Super Skrull was a Hydra project which adds more confusion that won't clear up until I read the Secret Invasion trade when it comes out.

The artwork by Melo, Benes and Coelho is the saving grace for this book. Ms. Marvel has always been saved by the artwork. If it wasn't for the cheesecake I would have dropped it two collections ago. It's not a bad comic. It's just a passable comic. Efforts by the art team could make me raise it to being a good comic but only just.

Go Out And Vote America!

2008-11-04T17:50:00.004+08:00

Y'know, a Captain America-Batman ticket would totally rock.

From Captain America: War & Remembrance trade paperback collecting Roger Stern's and John Byrne's nine issue run on Captain America

It's O.K. To Hurt Gorillas When They're Nazis

2008-11-03T18:36:00.007+08:00

Context: Hellboy has been captured by a Nazi scientist and has left Hellboy in the "care" of a cyborg Nazi ape. Nazi ape has been torturing Hellboy with electrical shocks when somebody switched off the supply. Nazi ape knows what's coming next...

Hellboy takes down a cyborg Nazi ape while mouthing off the sound effect himself. It's like that Onomotopeia guy in Kevin Smith's Batman story. Aw, go look him up yourself. Hellboy: Conqueror Worm, written and drawn by Mike Mignola is just all kinds of awesome!!

The Conqueror Worm trade is still widely available or you can just wait a while, save some cash and wait for the oversized hardcover 'Library' edition coming soon next year. The Volume 1 is already out. So is Volume 2. Every discerning fan of comics needs to have these babies in their collection. After all, volume 3 will have Hellboy punching a Nazi Gorilla in huge, huge panels! Also, a guy named Lobster Johnson craps in his pants when he has to shoot a horde of the undead in a derelict Nazi castle.

A question all of us wish we could ask at least once in our lifetimes.

When A Talking Duck Met A Vampire Cow...

2008-11-02T13:10:00.005+08:00

Really this thing should have been posted sometime, oh I don't know, before Halloween maybe but with real life responsibilities and sheer laziness DGR has been kinda quiet in October. Mea Culpa. I even missed what looks to be the final Friday Night Fights ever.

So anyway,
Apparently, Bessie the cow was bitten by Dracula (or at least a vampire in a cape, anyway) and for the past 300 years have roamed the world as an undead bovine to seek revenge.

Good thing Bessie was a Christian cow, huh? Wouldn't have worked if she was kosher.

And that's the end of Bessie the vampire cow. Brought low by a talking duck. I think we can pretty much agree that the late, great Steve Gerber was a comic genius right? So go get the Howard the Duck Omnibus sharpish. His next of kin will appreciate the royalty checks.

Friday Night Fights: Ladies Night Round 11 - Impressive, Most Impessive.

2008-10-24T18:08:00.006+08:00

I've been lax with my Friday Night Fights lately. Would you believe I had trouble finding really good female contenders? But I got a good one tonight!

I present to you, Princess Leia Organa-Solo (nee Skywalker).

Latent Jedi powers + her father's temper + a lightsaber = somebody's gonna get his hand chopped off.

From 'The Other' by Jason Hall & John McCrea collected in Star Wars Tales vol. 4 (Dark Horse, 2004)

Tales from the Crypt: Cutting Cards

2008-10-23T17:54:00.007+08:00

So there're this two gamblers, right? Gus Forney and Lou Crebis. They love to gamble. They live to gamble. They also hate each other. They can't stand each other. They both wish the other would just die. So one day they decided to settle the matter once and for all. They're gonna bet their lives. Winner takes all, loser dies.

They decided on Russian Roulette:

Okay, that didn't work because the bullet turned out to be a dud. No one dies. So Gus suggests a new game, Chop-Poker. What's chop-poker? Well, let the Crypt-Keeper explain it:

Now that's just messed up!

From Cutting Cards, collected in EC Archives: Tales From the Crypt vol. 3. Art by Fred Peters.