I liked Baz’s Romeo & Juliet. Then again I’m generally a fan of his movies. Moulin Rouge is one of my all-time favorites and I really liked Strictly Ballroom as well. Never saw Australia, though.
So I managed to read a few of this weeks comics and I must say that I am through with Zatanna. Man that series is just really suffering. On a higher note I thought this weeks PG was actually pretty decent. It was pretty much a set up issue for the new creative team and I thought it was pretty good. It read very similar to Generation Lost. And I don’t know what you guys thought of the art, but I thought it was actually pretty good as well. Don’t get me wrong I am going to miss Conner, but this artist (cause I’m not sure if its a guy or a girl) is actually pretty good. Let me know what you guys though of these issues if you happened to read them.
I digged PG book too, I think the new team has potential. Like you said it was a set up book, and I think it passed the message well. The impression I had of this team’s view of the character was good too. If it goes more or less in the direction I think it is going, I would be satisfied.
For awhile I thought Alicia Keys was the hottest thing on the planet. Especially in this video… especially at the end when she’s dancing in the rain. Oh yeah, that totally did it for me.
Because I couldn’t let the good Genral get all the story glory, but seriously, any comments / critiques ( constructive ) “I bruise like a peach” are welcome. Anyway…if any of y’all get a chance, give this a looksee.
Saving kids the Marvel way:Divorce and cigarettes are bad.Deals w/Satan and BOOTY CALLS are A-OK!
Remember this is a character they licence to Sat morning cartoons!
However, there WILL be 2 page gatefold splash in the middle of the book that will feature a toll free Suicide Prevention Hotline number… Because Mark wants you to know he really, really cares about his fans… and deep down, he understands what this shit is doing to you.
Quick question! The Agents Of Atlas: Marvel Boy HC that was just printed (featuring Marvel Boy: The Uranian #1-3)…
…Can I read that without screwing up any “spoilers” in what’s left of future Marvel continuity… Even if I have NOT finished reading all of the “Dark Reign” bullshit yet?
In other words, can I read the book out of sequence without some character commenting that they caught Steve Rogers– now the head of the S.H.I.E.L.D.– quietly rocking a two piece bikini in his personal quarters– while dancing to Ke$ha’s new CD?
Ya know… I don’t want to be spoiled on stuff like that!
I just read dynamo 5 sins of the father part 1 and it was pretty cool, i geuss invincible is suppose to be in the second issue so i’ll pick that up. Just one of my first steps of getting away from marvel and dc.
D5 is a solid Trade read. I’ve read them all so far.
IMO, the story will actually make a lot more sense if you can attempt to read the trades together. (I don’t know about you guys– but I find myself losing track of story points… As new D5 trades only show about once a year.)
I still think Noble Causes is a superior read… Though I am not certain how the “new direction” that’s currently being undertaken taken with the book will affect my opinion.
Listed in the new Previews is “Bryan Hitch’s Ultimate Comics Studio” art instruction book. Is a “instruction book” that teaches people how to properly use a lightbox really worth $25?
I never got into that series. Looked a bit too “cutesy” for me. Plus I am not a fan of wizards. But it has lots of fanservice if you like that sort of thing.
I know that didn’t help you at all but that is my feeling of the series. It does sell well though.
Its a really stupid series. It relies on Fan-service to sell. I mean GANTZ has fan-service… but there’s a more intense plot to it. But don’t always go by others’ opinions, check it just in case you like it…
I thought Love Hina was pretty good but that was basically Maison Ikkoku with lots of fan service. Like Jose, I thought Negima looked a bit too kiddie for my liking.
I think the person who made Love Hina made another comic that was kinda decent.. I THINK. Don’t quote me please, but yeah, in the last decade anime/manga has become very kirky/comedy/high schoolish for my tastes. Not all of course, but a lot of it was.
Ken Akamatsu did both Love Hina and Negima which is why I brought him up. LH is a pretty decent comedy but not for those who don’t like wacky hi-jinks and the like.
Dang, guess I was thinking of someone else… But then again Love Hina wasn’t awful I think. I saw a few episodes and it wasn’t as bad but I can’t remember it all too clearly…
Movies are such an old medium. One might argue that they’re a “dying” one considering more remakes are coming out as of lately than original projects. Same with music I guess. But I truly feel comics remain in tact and original. But not all movies/music are dying. Bradbury is a great writer and IF they stay faithful it will be a good movie. But that’s the problem. Movies never seem to stay faithful…
I’m flipping through the May/June 2010 issue of HorrorHound and have to say that it is an impressive horror film magazine. It has some great articles on early 80’s horror video distribution, why certain horror films (when they were released in theaters) had more than one title and the such. Much more enjoyable than Fangoria as of late.
Dreamland has Horror magazines? damn I wish my LCS had that. I’ve always preferred the Horror films of old than this current generation of “shock” writing and taking amazing movies and trying to remake them…
The actual remakes imo are usually okay. Those ‘modernizations’ though are a pain in the ass. By that I mean those ‘remakes’ that pick the old movie only for its name/popularity, then insert as many cash grabing elements as possible, meaning that ocassionally original stuff is removed/replaced cause it is doesn’t match.
And coincidentally the butcher, mean, director/script writer will more often pick elements to remove that were simply essential to make the original movie the work it was, making something that looks like, but toally misses the real point.
hey i am picking up the first trade in my local shop on monday what would be a good jumping on point which are so rare these days or good trade stories i should get
In that case, I concur with megaman, except if you don’t want the back up filler that is theie also, I would say start with the standard trades. I don’t think any of them have that filler. For what its worth, the filler is Invincible related.
Up above, I asked about the Negima series and Jose, Locusmortis and Mike F were all kind enough to reply. They also started discussing their general dislike of “fan service”.
Well, I’m a “newbie” to Manga, remember? So I had NO IDEA what fucking “fan service” meant.
I am now suddenly transformed into Moe the Bartender and Bart Simpson has just called the bar and asked to speak to “I.P. Freely”… I’m running around like a 2 year old, going “Fan service! Fan service! What the FUCK is fan service?” Then Jose writes something about the series being too “cutesy” for his taste and I immediately think “Oh, fan service must mean cutesy. Okaaaay. Got it.”
So later, I go to my local Barnes & Noble and I ask the really cute girl that covers the Manga section if I could see some Manga books that focus on “fan service”. I tell her “I really want to see the books with a LOT of fan service. The MORE, the BETTER!”
She takes two steps back and points at a few titles and slinks away. I’m thinking, “Did I not shower properly? What the fuck?”
Longer story shorter: Leaving the store thoroughly confused, I decided to go home and look up the term on the internet. [Blush!]
Needless to say, I printed out the definition and brought Manga girl a coffee and a muffin today, handed her the explanation and apologized for my naivete. She laughed uncontrollably… But at least she doesn’t think I’m a total PERV any longer.
(Even though I’m not exactly certain I DISLIKE “fan service”… I still don’t like “cutesy” books.)
Fanservice won’t mean your a perv tho. It just means you like women… a lot…
If your actually curious about GOOD fan-service manga, I’d say check out AIR GEAR and TENJO TENJE. Both by the great writer “OH! GREAT”.
They feature an excessive amount of fan-service BUT the over plot of each volume is great so its clear the writer isn’t using the fan-service as a way of getting sales, he just clearly likes his women…
@Luiz de Mello, RUSH, cballsack, Locusmortis, Edward, and Deemar regarding the converstation about Realism, superheroes, and the fabulous Warren Ellis 🙂
I truly think that we all know why we read superhero comics. We like the idea of seeing resolution in a twisted world. (let’s admit, mankind really isn’t moving forward)
Deep down inside we wanna see the good guys beat the odds and win. But, as years go by, I noticed its harder to relate to these superhero comics. Its easier for me to relate with the more gritty darker stories of reality. I’ve always loved the escapeism, where I could see Batman take down the bad guys and make me feel some kind of inner pride knowing someone is trying to fight evil. But, they get old I guess. The story has been told. ESPECIALLY w/ marvel man. I am so sick of the shit they produce. I LOVE DD, and plan on reading SHADOWLAND but after that I think I’ll focus more on Indie comics. Warren seems like a great writer to follow. His work never disappoints for me. His surreal gritty hardcore fashion is definitely not for everyone. I read NO HERO and felt a little sad by what I read but more so enlightened that I was reading something real, and true and provoking. Above all, ORIGINAL. Jesus christ, it only took a few pages for me to realize Millar was stealing from NO HERO for his bullshit KICK-ASS.
I agree with a lot of what you wrote. I think there is room for grim and gritty stories and good old fashion fun stories from years back. I guess the point I was trying to make in my earlier posts is that I don’t like the fact that most of the current popular superhero titles try to be realistic yet be accessible to a wide age group. They fail at this, I wish the stories were on level with the Batman the Animated Series and the Justice League Animated series. Those shows were simple and fun without being completely juvenile.
The really dark and realistic stuff can be outside of the main titles like the Elseworld stuff.
Exactly. I’ll still read a few hero titles for the pure joy of escapeing but I am really gonna cut back. I’ll probably only buy one or two a month. I’m gonna stick mainly with Indie books like Warren Ellis and anything by Image or Vertigo or Avatar Press. They deserve the money. Geoff Johns is rich enough I’m sure….
You seem to be at that crossroads point I was a few years ago with superhero comics (comics in general) where you mature and your tastes or rather need for more mature material arises.
I break it down in Phases:
A. Boy Wonder – Pure idealistic wonderment of superheroes without prejudgement or descerning tastes just simple joy and good fun.
B. Teen Angster – Searching for relatable characters and TnA in comics hormones in full effect!
C. Collector Man – It’s now a hardcore habit and my allegiance is for one of the Big 2, Allen Moore/Frank Miller is either God or the Devil.
D. Indie Emoticon – Your maturing, but still lack a true sense of personal tastes, trend following, reactive snobbery and a need too wear “Ironic” T-shirts ensue.
E. Webster Bater – You know what you like and your opinions must be heard, you can be both sensible and fanatical. You’ve found a community of like minded geeks and now must negotiate the fanboy social strata.
F. Blessed Kirby – Now much older and wiser, internet spats and comic rumors/news mean little to you. It’s just a comic and it is simply a thing to be enjoyed and shared. Unless a shitty director messes up the movie version of your favorite hero and there will be HELL to PAY!
sure but never saying never is never the final stance since never knowing your the canidate for Phase G of the “Enlightenment” process, you never had a choice being Blessed Kirby does not mean your never move beyond that phase. only that you’ll never see it coming when Phase G chooses you.So saying never is never an option.
Oh by the way Ballsy are you allergic to latex gloves or prefer non-allergenic?
And somewhere in there are the “Comic’s Journal Jerkoffs”:
People who only buy comics that The Comic’s Journal deems worthy of their hipster-dufuss money and then…well…jerkoff to them while dreaming of Gary Groth fucking them in the ass using a rolled up copy of Zap #0.
Finally read NO HERO by Warren Ellis. Dear god… All these years I’ve wasted my time/money/life with Marvel and ORIGINAL stuff was out there waiting to be read.
If you’re interested, I would recommend Fell by Warren and artist Ben Templesmith.One and done crime stories.Too bad it didn’t do better.You might also want to check out Global Frequency by Warren. I don’t have them all but the hand full of random issues I do have are fun.
Yeah, I have read a few of FELL but I can’t find the rest of them. Everyone says the same thing, they keep waiting for the next issue but its been a while…
Global Frequency I have read. Yeah, it was great. Miranda Zero is awesome 🙂 I LOVE the covers by Brian Wood too. I’d buy that comic for the covers alone, Warren’s work is just the cherry on top.
the first 8 fell are collected in tpb. It was suppose to release more issues but Warren’s computer died and he lost the scripts. He tried to recreate them but decided he couldn’t and is working on new scripts now.
Your right. I like superheroes, I like the idea of a the good guys going for the fight but right now it doesn’t feel the same. Of course there’s exceptions, (JMS is doing great with Brave and the Bold, and Fraction knows Ironman every well) but the majority of Cape comics aren’t doing it for me anymore.
I LOVE the Flash but the current Flash comics are beyond boring and pretentious.
I grew up with Manga rather than USA titles, and I am not giving up on USA titles, I’m just cutting back for more Indie titles like Forgetless, a book Jose recommended and more Ellis 🙂
I do like superheroes but I want superheroes for thinking adults. This is going to sound ridiculous but I think about characters like Tony Stark and Reed Richards. Both geniuses with near limitless resources and they haven’t solved some of their world’s problems like disease, food shortage or use of oil. See ridiculous. Sometimes a simplistic tale of clearly defined good versus evil can be great if done well however in comics the stories and characters are made to straddle the between good innocent fun and the grim realities of our real world. This I think ultimately makes for bland if not bad stories.
Hm…that was actually the point of a PLANETARY story by Warren Ellis some years back.Snow confronts William Leather (Johnny Storm) and angrily asks why THE FOUR (evil FF) don’t help the world with their inventions.William basically admits it’s cause they’re selfish and think they’re better than everyone else.
reality and superhero comics just aren’t a great mix. I think Warren Ellis and writers who’ve followed in his wake all need to be clubbed over the head with a Lee/Kirby Omnibus.
Honestly, I hate current marvel’s ‘sci-fi’ heroes and books, even though Fraction’s IM plots are readable per se. It is just pulp pretending to be science, and is almost like JQ’s apparent take on magic (it just works, it doesn’t need to be explained or make sense for the matter).
Early Marvel had genious, yes, but even Reed was not a master of all, they all had their fields of expertise. Even Doom and Reed were not the best on everything, even though they had a more ample array of areas and higher average level of knowledge on the others. Reed would still defer to Banner in regards to gamma stuff, for example. None of them were poping up discoveries out of their butts everyday, nor did they invent Doomsday devices while pooping and created it from their neighbor’s garbage overnight cause they couldn’t sleep like now.
Somehow now high intelligence = knowledge on all areas known or not = availability of resources = speed of learning = certainty that you will find a solution to any problem presented = viability of your solutions = whatever-else-writer-feel-like-today. In Marvel seems like magic is indeed science (and so science is also magic), but JQ’s version of magic. That one that does not need to be explained or make sense for the matter.
Exactly, these characters had limits in the past. They seem over the top these days.
How about the fact that the planet is visited by alien species on a regular basis but this little fact doesn’t seem to affect the various cultures of Earth, really? How dull are the imaginations at the “house of ideas”?
I completely get you RUSH. One thing I love about NO HERO. Its showing the reality of becoming a super hero in a pretty fucked up world. I know people wanna think that villains are glamorous but they’re not all the time. BUT I do like my escapeisms. Seeing things different from the twisted world. Things that make me forget it. But sometimes its cool to see the reality of this genre. I do normally prefer the escapeism but in this case, the reality is interesting, ESPECIALLY thru the mind of Ellis.
Its really really REALLY Fucking obvious that Millar copied Ellis’ NO HERO with KICK-ASS. Its so clear to me now…
Ellis is brilliant. I have to agree with you about being able to escapist entertainment. I think that’s why I liked Tom Strong so much when that book came out and why I still enjoy watching cartoons. I have the entire run Tex Avery cartoons he did for MGM and I watch them often.
Well, escapism is still a form of realism, just not the obvious form (or you could say that there is a direct and strong link, if you will). Both are basically two sides of the same coin.
It is a long subject, but to cut it short think of both as a SINGLE combination of imposed ‘truths’ + selected highlighted parts of reality, while everything else can be assumed to be as the real world or not exist since it is not important.
Kick-Ass is an entirely different animal. It has two of those combos, one for Hit Girl and another for everyone else. It still stinks, though.
Ellis seems to always come up with new and interesting stories. Does the guy ever sleep, because he always seems to be working on one project after another. I don’t think there is a other writer that can compare to the amount of different work that this guy puts out.
It is strange how he can always put out so much work that’s so diverse so frequently. He runs his own site, a few message boards, and regularly checks his fan email account. I don’t know if he’s really popular among mainstream readers since he does have a bit of a hardcore default to his work, but its always original and creative… Hell, I love what I’ve seen so far 🙂
steve rodgers super soldier yeah it going to be by ed brubaker but cant secret avengers be the book we get our steve fix at least for the next 6 months to a year ( and I’m resident cap fan around here!)
the invaders an alex ross thingie starring buckycap namor the torch toro and the golden age vision. did anyobe else read that snooze fest avengers/invaders? is anyone reading the torch? is anyone reading the marvels project? who green lit this sucker?
btw i think golden age vision is pretty cool and could be a nice addition to the modern marvel u
Yeah, for me if Reborn wasn’t good enough to put in the regular Cap title than it wasn’t good enough for me, and that is how I pretty much feel about this Super Soldier mini. I thought I was the only Cap fan around here. Actually, I was thinking of waiting for the trade on the Invaders mini, and the Marvels Project, but everything else I really didn’t bother with.
That Invaders mini I’m really on the fence about. Because Alex Ross is not doing the art, and I’m not to crazy about any of the books that he’s co-written or plotted.
At least Ross still respects the old characters.I don’t think he’ll do a story where Zan and Jayna lose their memories and Black Vulcan finds Jayna in Europe and shags her and then comes back to the States with a new identity and wants to kill ppl cuz now he’s edgy.
Yeah..sure I can respect his “respecting” the Old Timey days, but goddamn can’t the man look outside his window for once and realize nobody gives two fucks about the Invaders rehashing old glories?
Dude simply needs to get with the now, he can “respect” what came before while not being chained to the past.
And for fucks sake enuff with the SuperFriends homages and Flash Gordon school of costume design.
I just want too see Alex Ross do something unique, completely unrelated to a property from 40yrs ago, Hire new freaking models intstead of the same guy for Batman,Cap’n America,Superman etc…stop drawing every hero as if their 40 going 50yrs old.
Hell as much as I hate MTV, I’d force feed Ross My Sweet Sixteen, Jersey Shore, For the Love of Ray J, Adultswim, Boondocks, Daily show, Colbert Report, CNN, Glenn Beck…any thing “current” to wash that 1960s/70s nostalgia off him.
Yeah, I would agree with you on that he should do something more contemporary.
I would like to see him do a Invincible cover, just because, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
I kind of feel bad for saying this, but it almost feels like he is turning into a Frank Miller or a Chris Claremont in that he is turning into a parody of him self.
hey M you should see my shelfporn all cap stuff plus i have a nice convention portfolio of cap and cap related sketches in addition to my cap collection from 100 up
and almost all of tales of suspense im a cap fan in the truest sense FANATIC
very very mixed feelings
loved the interaction between zemo and ghost
and falc and cap when sam called bucky cap during the fight i got to say i got chocked up and psyched at the same time captain america and the falcon are back!!!
loved the scene in bar with steve buck and sam
butch guice pecils were amazing he was channelin kirby and steranko at points and beautifully i might add i love him on this book the style he is using currently fits perfectly with what luke ross and steve epting have done with the book
now the bad
zemo motivation?? are you %^&8ing kindding me brubaker? when was the last time bruaker read a comic with zemo in it? 1987? zemo has long since left that revenge crap behind. he has buried the hatchet with steve cap twice and his mini was all about him defining himself on his own terms not by his dad’s or family’s. of course his agenda got stolen by norman osbourn during dark reign ” ill save the world even if i have to rule it to do so”
going after bucky for dear old dad is beyond silly its insulting especially to fabian nicieza a very good writer whose work deserves repect
plus im sick of revenge being the ONLY villian motivation in comics
iron hand hauptmann? really bru? what is this guy 90 years old? we are supposed to take this guy seriously? it reminds me of a patton oswalt bit on birthdays ” if you heard someone cry out for help help there is a 100year old strangling me to death would you run out help?”
zemo’s plan looks a lot like red skull’s plan going after steve at the start of brubakers run going after those around him first maybe this is his way to bring the book full circle and give the sheild back to steve in like 25 issues
i think brubaker has a nice grasp of the caps and falcon but he needs a better class of villain
and of course the nomad back up annoyed the heck out of me
i wish you told me this last week D i could have been out cruising the jr highs with 25 lbs of leg weights on each ankle but schools let out for the summer which means ill have to hit a city pool up and thats never pretty
I am having flashbacks right now about an ex of mine. I remember her following up that exact line with, “Don’t worry, it happens to everyone,” as a cried in my bed while in the fetal position.
LOL, happens to everyone J. Every guy out there has to deal with a hazardous material spill at one time or another..
I knew a guy in the Army who told me the secret to avoiding that situation was to masturbate before having sex…
That’s right, this guy would sneak away to the bathroom just before getting it on with his girlfriend and ‘take care of business’ to make sure there was no fumbling on the goal line so to speak.
“so she’s naked in bed, waiting for you?”
“Yes”
“And you run to the bathroom to jack off?”
“You got it.”
“And she is cool with that?”
“Well, I tell her I have to take a leak.”
“Instead of doing that, just have sex with her twice.”
“Dude, that would be embarrassing!”
“Really?”
Personally I think it would kill the passion of the moment and possible kill your relationship if your woman ever found out what you were doing .
I did get a bit angrier than I have been in recent videos. At one point my ire was so great that the camera conked out and it took E like 5 minutes to get it going again.
Young Melendez, I want you by my side in Corusant. As Chancellor I find my life threatened constantly and a jedi such as yourself would make a fitting bodyguard.
Shouldn’t you be Master Jedi by now? Hmm? it seems the Jedi council does not see the hard work you have put in.
I also noticed that those Kick-Ass comics have made it back in to frame, and not only that they are dead center. There just there staring at me, mocking me. 🙂
planetary is unbelievable good
not only it it a great science fiction comic but its also a tour of the comic culture world including pulps, john woo movies, kaiju movies, comic books like the early FF
its so damn good and its drawn beautifully by then unknown john cassaday
its one of the best things ive ever read
Damn, I gotta find issue one. My local comic place never has good back issues… Should I just do trades? from what your all saying, its worth going out to buy right now apparently, 🙂
Another amazing technological breakthrough that will be wasted creating 3-D genitalia for people to play with.
How sad, people would rather have a virtual spouse or partner that is programmed to do whatever you tell it to do, never nag you, give yo a hard time about spending money or hanging out with the friends too much, or spending time on the computer screwing around.
Wait a minute…
On second thought this could be the greatest invention ever! Now if I can just convince my wife that a virtual girlfriend isn’t cheating..
She told me I can look, but not touch, but what if I am touching isn’t real. I guess the real problem here is my wife can touch the hell out of me if she finds out =)
Sort of, plugged my desktop monitor, printer and all of my other junk into my laptop. Strangely my laptop is running everything faster and cleaner than my desktop ever did. Just not sure if there will be any long term consequences for trying to run my laptop like a desktop computer. It doesn’t seem to be overheating the power supply at the moment. My laptop is suppose to be my emergence back up, not something I want to be running full time. But it will have to do for now.
I still plan to either repair or buy a new desktop sometime in the future. Depending on when I can get the money. My wife is convinced I ‘murdered’ my old computer in order to get a new one. So it will take some convincing on my part to prove my old puter died of natural causes and not foul play. =)
I’m so happy they trashed Perry. I can’t stand that fucker. I tried watching “house of payne” and it was nothing but Mexican and Korean jokes thru out the episode. It pissed me off so much…
Yeah, I mean he clearly has some talent if he’s got so many movie deals but that episode of his show man, was soooo bad. I just don’t think I could ever watch it again…
It might be Huckubee or somebody but it won’t be Palin.Remember,she QUIT being governor cuz she knew there was MORE MONEY in TV appearances and lectures.She is nowhere near as dumb as some ppl think.Yeh, her platitudes barely make sense sometimes,but SOMEBODY keeps giving her money!So, who’s the dummy?
She is the Mark Millar of politics.
She couldn’t last as Governor of Alaska, I don’t think she has a chance at winning the Presidency, but I’ve been wrong before, and if I am I’ll be the first one heading north.
Heh, I would agree with you MSpot but the more I watch the news the more I am convinced that the idiots of the country will crawl out of their fucking holes in the ground to vote for her. For what it’s worth I HOPE that you are not wrong.
HA HA HA!!! I thought the studio that owns the rights to this clip got it pulled from YouTube, anyway that is pretty accurate to how I feel about those damn horns. Good one Jose.
Wow! the last 30 to 50 posts you guys really ratcheted things up a bit, so let me try to catch up somewhat before I turn in for the night….uhmmm morning.
On the new technology: If only it were free. God knows my left hand is exhausted 🙂
On Christina Hendricks: I wish!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
On Tyler Perry: I don’t begrudge him his succsess, but I’ve always felt he was one of the unfunniest ppl on the planet.
on: House Of Payne: Case in point of the unfunniest comment, above
on; Aaron McGruder and The Boondocks: I was pretty hype that this newspaper strip was going to be an ongoing animated show, then I saw the show and was immediately let down.. The cleverly written somewhat insightful strip, became a dumb downed, ethnic slur ladened shadow of what it had been..
although it did have its moments; the MLK ep that Jose mentioned as well as a pimp named Slickback and the blind samurai ep.
on Prez Palin: I feel what Jose is sayin’, but while I do think she will receive a ground swell of support, I don’t think she’ll take the presidency in 2012. That said, I believe that if President Obama doesn’t start amping things up a bit, he may very well be a one termer.
On Bill Maher…sorta: Bill Maher once said that Obama could afford to take a page out of W’s book. Those of you familiar with Maher knows he’s far from a Bush supporter, but the one thing he gives Bush credit for is he’s usually not indecisive. No matter what excessive wrong thinking the former president had going on as it related to policy, if he felt he neede to push something through he did it. Sure it might be f’d up for many of us but Maher’s point had to with not copying W’s Strategies but copy his assertiveness. I tend to agree When all is said and done…history may prove that Obama was a good man, but a good man doesn’t automatically translate that you’re a good President, but hey… he still has afew years left, right?
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna see if Jose’s posted any music for today…. later gators
Maher has made it very tough for me to continue liking him. His comments on religion and the pharmaceutical industry are spot-on, but his support for the state of Israel and his dismissal of all 9/11 conspiracy theories have irritated me to the point that I find it difficult to watch him at times.
Tom Fucking Arnold FIRED him from the writing staff of “Roseanne” because Bill couldn’t write ONE decent script for situation comedy. NOT ONE.
And before anybody says, “Well maybe he DIDN’T WANT to write a script for ‘Roseanne’.” Let me assure you: the fucker was broke– at a career endpoint AND he took the job.
A damn MONKEY could write a decent “Roseanne’ script. So the FIRING STICKS:
Bill Maher could NOT write 22 minutes of LAME SHIT good enough to pass TOM ARNOLD’S smell test.
P.S. Being fired from “Politically Correct” was the best thing that could have happened to his “legacy” as a “comedian”. (Term used loosely.)
P.P.S. He’s a FUCKING PUSSY. Yeah, I said it. And I have PERSONAL stories to back it up.
Okay, here’s ONE. (I could go on but I won’t.) I volunteered for years for a major Animal Sanctuary. One night we had a benefit in LA.
Since I am in the entertainment business, they made it my job to get the “celebrities” from the front of the building over to an area where they could be interviewed quickly and talk about the charity.
Of course it was raining (and anybody who lives in LA knows when it rains, it rains BUCKETS and for hours– sometimes DAYS– on end).
So here I am greeting Bill (I’d met him several times before). I had a big golf umbrella over his head even though I was completely uncovered in pouring rain. As I am walking him about 100 feet to the interview area– still not covered by an umbrella myself and holding the umbrella for Bill– he starts complaining really abusively and very loudly about the FUCKING WATER PUDDLES on the ground. He whined that the water was going to ruin his shoes and ruin his pants… He had somewhere else to be later that night and didn’t want wet shoes. (Mind you, all he had to do was walk around the puddles. It was NOT necessary to walk through them.)
He got so nasty about it that I finally stopped about halfway to the interview area and said, “Have you happened to notice I don’t have an umbrella on myself, you whiny midget? I’m dressed as nicely as you are, prick. Would your highness prefer I PICK HIM UP and carry him to the interview area like a LITTLE BABY?”
Needless to say, that was the last bullshit I heard from Bill that night. I even delivered him to the booth and said, “His Highness Has Arrived”, bowed and walked away.
Later that evening, I had the pleasure of walking Marina Sirtis to the interview area. She was beautiful, extremely charming and made a big production out of me being so kind. (I was just doing my “job”.) She sealed it by giving me a nice wet kiss on the lips. Later inside, she asked me to dance.
Every male geek worth their salt had a thing for Marina Sirtis growing up. Especially with her uniform in the first couple of seasons. I was no different.
Now, if you told me Terry Ferrell or Nana Visitor kissed you then I would no choice but to bow to you.
All the good stuff happens after I log off to read some Trades!
😦
Read the Marvel Boy trade, Jose. It was everything you said it would be and more… Although, Marvel should be ashamed. The trade most MOSTLY reprints. I felt like Parker was rushed to get his excellent story finished in the 3 issues. If they were going to greenlight the mini, the “House of Ideas” should have allowed him 4 or 5 issues to tell HIS story– rather then they fill the trade with reprints.
I would really like to see a story where Parker sends Marvel Boy through time to save his Mom from the Nazis. That would be sweet.
I find when I sit down for a marathon trade reading session, I like to read a couple of books from Marvel or DC– then jump to the independent trades to get away from the normal, telegraphed plots and hokum of the mainstream Big Two.
But after several of the independents– I find myself drawn to the mainstream stuff again… and I believe it is because of familiarity.
Almost every time I pick up a new independent trade, I have to start ALL OVER with a NEW UNIVERSE– with new characters, new locations, new lore… Everything new. (And that’s a LOT of NEW if you read as much as I do.) But picking up a Marvel & DC book is like walking in on a continuing soap opera. You know the people, the situations, the locations.
That’s why Jose’s hatred of Marvel’s current lack of continuity is so important to note.
I pick up a Bendis book– and just like Jose has pointed out several times– the characters are NOT acting like they do in their own titles… Hell, several of them don’t even seem to be displaying the same SET OF MORALS.
Suddenly I feel like I am back reading independent books again… Confused at the doppelgangers and their curious actions I see on the printed page before me… Wondering where the “regular” Marvel characters I have come to love & respect have gone.
Yeah, Bendis. You suck. Worse than a Black Hole, Dude.
Let me play devil’s advocate here. Though it is important to some degree to have consistency in character behavior it’s not always possible since too many creators use the character in question in very different stories. On the subject of continuity, not everyone reads every book put out by the publisher so to some extent the reader has to create their own continuity based on what books they do read. If readers try to place every single story into some time line they we will go mad.
Make your own continuity from what you read, you will be much happier for it.
Well, rush… I do read almost every book. (I know NOT everyone does this… By a long shot. Both they and their wallets are most likely better for this too.)
But I read every book Marvel reprints in a Hardcover or Trade format– except “Spider-Ham”. I don’t read “Spider-Ham”. Oh, and a couple of the “Marvel Adventures” titles– but they’re not supposed to be in continuity anyway.
My counter to your playing devil’s advocate:
THEY USED TO.
Writers used to be able to write their own stories and still play nice and acknowledge other writer’s feelings on the characters as well.
THEY USED TO DO IT ALL THE TIME.
Like Jose said– they don’t do this NOW because the Editors have lost the ability to rein in the “Higher Selling” writers. Used to be, you did whatever the Editor wanted or you hit the road no matter how many books you sold… But as Jose and Elliott have pointed out, Joey Q has allowed the rise of “Superstars” at the Marvel Kingdom– and these boys can’t– or won’t– be contained.
That’s why I laugh SO HARD when somebody like Millar cries something like, “I need to just do MY OWN BOOKS… So I can have ARTISTIC FREEDOM.”
Sure Mark, Marvel’s not going to publish a scene where you write Cap making out with the Falcon after a long day of Sweaty Villain Rasslin’™… You’ll have to do that with different teammates in your OWN BOOKS. But apart from shredding the image of Marvel’s characters to fit your own musings and/or fantasies… You have gotten and received MORE FREE REIGN in a CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT than most people can even dream of.
I believe I remember very distinctly that Peter David had said it would have been nice if somebody had at least given him a “heads up” that while he was writing She-Hulk to be ANTI-registration in her OWN book… That others were writing her as PRO-registration in the team books.
So, my mini-rant wasn’t a “nerd” thing or a geek nitpick. It was I guess, just a PLEA FOR PROFESSIONAL COURTESY. I have written here before that I don’t think the BIG FISH writers even bother consulting with the LITTLE FISH writers anymore. In fact, I think the BIG FISH writers think they are the ones that need to be consulted– even when they may only use another writer’s character for SIX PANELS in a story and RUIN or CONTRADICT everything the other writer may have been attempting to achieve in the character’s solo book in those six panels.
Those good old days you wrote about all long gone and they are not coming back. I was merely stating a way readers can deal with the situation in comics today. Not everyone reads everything published by any given company, you are a rare bird y friend. I see too many people not fully enjoying the books they read due to concerns about continuity among others.
As far as professional courtesy, sadly that doesn’t always exist. Companies don’t always care either. They will always favor the employee that has the potential to generate more profit. This is the nature of business.
So at the end of the day we are left with one question, what are we as consumer going to do about any of the issues we discuss here. I like this blog for the fact that posters here discuss issues with the comics industry intelligently but after bringing all of these issues to light what are we going to do? I for one am glad to see a lot of folks here have chosen to not buy the comics they have problems with anymore.
This is pretty much what my Bendis Rant is about this week. Avengers #2 was just too much bullshit for me to handle. Bendis writing his own continuity, Tony Stark not acting like Fraction’s Tony Stark AT ALL, how Bendis makes me hate my favorite Marvel character Spider-Man, how the issue from a story stand point was one of the worst train wrecks I have read this side of Nemesis and how if ANY other writer turned in the script that Bendis did for Avengers #2 they would be fucking LAUGHED out of this business. BUT the shit sells. It fucking sells and is the #1 book in the industry and that just angers me even more.
I even got to the point where I turned all “old man fanboy” and said stuff like “These are not MY Marvel characters in this Avengers book. These characters are a fucking mockery of what Kirby, Ditko, Lee and everyone else involved at the time created.”
There is NO MORE fucking respect for the work that has come before. That’s WHY there is no CONTINUITY anymore. Well, that and the fact that editor’s are too fucking scared to tell writers to “knock off the bullshit”. These big writers all think they can do better, they think they can fix shit that is not broken, they have egos that Zombies and zealots created, gift wrapped and presented to them like they are the second coming of Kirby. These writers NEVER earned the “respect” they think they have. Their “respect” is all manufactured by hype, by Newsarama, by CBR and by FUCKING Wizard. In this day and age companies can BUY respect FOR creators by using propaganda and everybody eats it it because NOBODY QUESTIONS anything anymore.
Sorry, this comment kinda took on a mind of it’s own. In short, I agree with you 110% Insideman.
I get angry with the consumers more than the companies for the simple fact that it’s a company’s job to make the Cool Aid but we as consumers don’t have to fall all over ourselves to drink it.
I don’t think you can characterize what I am feeling as “anger’ toward anybody or any entity. Back in the day, I’ll admit it, I liked to watch “Beverly Hills 90210” every week. And no matter how bad it got, I kept watching it every week. (To be fair to myself, I think it was cause I was infatuated with a couple of the actresses on the show).
My point is, people buy/read/watch stuff for a whole HOST of reasons.
So, I am going to have to continue to blame the companies for the current state of comics– because if you like Spider-Man (which has ALWAYS been my favorite Marvel character too)– it is really not easy to stop reading Spider-Man… “Brand New Day” or not… Again, for a whole host of reasons.
Basically, the companies can produce GREAT COMICS that still sell really well. They just don’t always choose or care to. So, yeah… I’m gonna have to continue to put the “blame” back on the companies to step up their game… As their audience– by virtue of being collector based– is somewhat “captive” by its’ very nature.
Those readers that feel they can drop a title based on quality issues- SHOULD. If they don’t like what’s going on in Spider-Man and they can do without their Spidey fix… Then drop it for a few months. Like Elliott said in a one of the vids– you can always pick up the storyline in a trade later if you really miss reading it.
But you’re right, rush… Those of us that can forgo some of this “shit”– should. I have already culled several Independent Hardcovers and Trades from my list (from genres I just didn’t like or creators/books I just thought were too sub-par to continue to support)… Now it’s time to cull some of the Big Two’s books as well. Since I am behind all weekly readers (being a HC and GN reader), I’ll do it when Dark Reign is over and the so-called Heroic Age begins.
Meantime, I am extremely happy about the fact that MANY, MANY CCW Blog readers HAVE dropped titles that no longer entertain them… But, instead of using that money for a video game (or “Shrek 4” in 3-D)they’ve pledged to use their “left over” comic money to buy DIFFERENT books that they think they may like.
This means that creators who normally would NOT get a chance, now may find their sales increasing. It also means that comic stores won’t suffer lost sales… And that’s a great thing too.
One might think the numbers I’m discussing are too small to make a difference (CCW Blog Readers of CCW Video watchers) and I say respectfully, “No”. Some of Jose & Elliott’s vids are watched by over 1,000 people on YouTube alone. If half of those people stop buying a book that has monthly sales of 12,000 copies– that is a significant drop in sales. Plus, all movements have to start somewhere, right?
Exactly what I’m getting at. Complaining about something and not backing it up with action will only result in the complainer not being taken seriously.
P.S. I love the announcement’s mention that Jeph wrote the HIT FILMS “Commando” and “Teen Wolf”. Hell, they’re REMAKING “Teen Wolf”– that how LAST MILLENNIUM that is.
I wasn’t knocking you Matthew… I appreciate the “heads up.” Guess I won’t be needing to watch any new Marvel animation… Since Jeph was FIRED deom BOTH his Heroes and Lost jobs.
I bet he had to work hard to get fired from the writing staff of Heroes. Damn.
Hey Rush. I believe that those American Vampire #1 sales are either reorders or the second print. American Vampire #3 which did come out that month was #77. The fact that issue one is still on the Top 300 list 2 months AFTER it’s release is a great thing.
So just to add to the American Vampire discussion, I just started posting videos of my own on youtube and my first comic review included the newest American Vampire. I logged in today and was shocked to see that none other that Scott Snyder commented on my video, thanking me for supporting the book.
That was a pretty awesome thing that he did, its important for an upcoming creator to be connected with their fans.
hey whats up guys? I found that buy.com is selling all the volumes of the Scott Pilgrim Series for 7.50 a piece. If your trying to read them before the movie comes out this might be the perfect opporunity they usually sell for $12 a piece. I just finished reading volume one it’s pretty good. Here’s the like if your interested also if your order is over $25 shipping is free http://www.buy.com/umerch/q/querytype/book/store/3/als/3/loc/106/display/col/Scott%20Pilgrim.html
The CCW*TV Companion Blog 
J.
I hope he pulls Thor off.
No Norse purses
Ha, maybe I should watch Last Action Hero after all. That was an entertaining clip.
Sid the Cussing Bunny (from Craig Ferguson) on the World Cup Horns:
I’m hooked on Craig Ferguson now.
Especially when he has either Kate Mara or Donald Glover on
Must fight urge to post Laz Burman Romeo & Juliet
I pray thee do it not.
I can’t help myself
You wound sir.
Tis just a scratch, nothing more
lol. the Othello one is my favorite Sassy Gay Friend skit 🙂
I liked Baz’s Romeo & Juliet. Then again I’m generally a fan of his movies. Moulin Rouge is one of my all-time favorites and I really liked Strictly Ballroom as well. Never saw Australia, though.
How about some Poe via the creepiest actor in all of Hollywood
Christopher Walken!
Only SNL video I have ever purchased.
I really want to see Walken host SNL again
The Continental is his best character
Yes The Continental is awesome.
Definately
Hell give him his own show!
I love The Continental myself… but a close second has to be Colonel Angus.
Hah!
Yeah that was pretty damn funny.
“Just tap ol’Colonel Angus on the head”
That was funny. I don’t get why they decided to cut it.
Walken is creepier
Ya but this Milton man.
perhaps you prefer this milton
Yes! Only Milton I acknowledge
So I managed to read a few of this weeks comics and I must say that I am through with Zatanna. Man that series is just really suffering. On a higher note I thought this weeks PG was actually pretty decent. It was pretty much a set up issue for the new creative team and I thought it was pretty good. It read very similar to Generation Lost. And I don’t know what you guys thought of the art, but I thought it was actually pretty good as well. Don’t get me wrong I am going to miss Conner, but this artist (cause I’m not sure if its a guy or a girl) is actually pretty good. Let me know what you guys though of these issues if you happened to read them.
After Amanda Conner left, there was no reason to stay
Ooooh… and I was just gonna go read Zatanna #2 in a few minutes. Wish me good luck!
.nam ti deen ll’uoy
I digged PG book too, I think the new team has potential. Like you said it was a set up book, and I think it passed the message well. The impression I had of this team’s view of the character was good too. If it goes more or less in the direction I think it is going, I would be satisfied.
what was so bad about zatana ?
What was wrong about Zatana
I liked PG as well, i just wish winick would have stayed away from the generation lost stuff but i’ll see where he takes this.
Just because
Were I conducting that interview I would have needed a strategically placed ice pack.:-)
She has the proportions of women in Frazetta paintings.
She is thick! That’s what she is.
A brick house as my Gran Daddy would say
Brick House!
I likes my womens like I likes my coffee, black and strong 😀
For awhile I thought Alicia Keys was the hottest thing on the planet. Especially in this video… especially at the end when she’s dancing in the rain. Oh yeah, that totally did it for me.
If she can act, hollywood just may have fond their next Storm for an X-men reboot.
found…sheeesh 🙂
Another problem caused my global climate change.. an unnaturally horny Al Gore!
Until the ending, I was thinking this was a tutorial on how to rape someone.
Because I couldn’t let the good Genral get all the story glory, but seriously, any comments / critiques ( constructive ) “I bruise like a peach” are welcome. Anyway…if any of y’all get a chance, give this a looksee.
http://pmknight12.livejournal.com/794.html
I know some ppl stopped liking these guys when they went from being Stones/Small faces to Humble Pie,but I still like this song.
Also I hope this works.If not check out the Black Cat review at Comics Alliance site.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2010/06spiderman-boxers.j
Saving kids the Marvel way:Divorce and cigarettes are bad.Deals w/Satan and BOOTY CALLS are A-OK!
Remember this is a character they licence to Sat morning cartoons!
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/06/17/roundtable-review-amazing-spider-man-presents-black-cat-1/
Friggin’ computers! Making me late for work!
Anyone hear about Mark Millar’s Superman “homage”. I think it’s called Supreme <__>
Yeah, Jeremy it’s called “Superior”.
The book will contain zero ads.
However, there WILL be 2 page gatefold splash in the middle of the book that will feature a toll free Suicide Prevention Hotline number… Because Mark wants you to know he really, really cares about his fans… and deep down, he understands what this shit is doing to you.
@insideman: hahaha haha
I wish he would rather put a Suicide Assist Hotline number in there for his fans.
J.
HA!
I doubt the number’s necessary, after reading one of his books I doubt you’d have the strength left to kill yourself
I think what you meant to say, he is ripping off Alan Moore’s Supreme with a piece of shit called Superior.
Yup
Quick question! The Agents Of Atlas: Marvel Boy HC that was just printed (featuring Marvel Boy: The Uranian #1-3)…
…Can I read that without screwing up any “spoilers” in what’s left of future Marvel continuity… Even if I have NOT finished reading all of the “Dark Reign” bullshit yet?
In other words, can I read the book out of sequence without some character commenting that they caught Steve Rogers– now the head of the S.H.I.E.L.D.– quietly rocking a two piece bikini in his personal quarters– while dancing to Ke$ha’s new CD?
Ya know… I don’t want to be spoiled on stuff like that!
The book takes place in the 50’s so there are no spoilers. It is a self contained story. Oh, and it’s awesome too.
J.
Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy! I am going to read it in a few minutes, Jose.
Thanks for the update.
I just read dynamo 5 sins of the father part 1 and it was pretty cool, i geuss invincible is suppose to be in the second issue so i’ll pick that up. Just one of my first steps of getting away from marvel and dc.
Good work General, I have never read any of the Dynamo 5 books, but I hear they are pretty good too.
i would say pick this up but this only the first issue but if i still like it i will continue to try to give it exposure here.
I’ve got the 1st five or six issues of D5, it’s a pretty solid read. I may pick it up again in trades.
it would seem worthy of it.
D5 is a solid Trade read. I’ve read them all so far.
IMO, the story will actually make a lot more sense if you can attempt to read the trades together. (I don’t know about you guys– but I find myself losing track of story points… As new D5 trades only show about once a year.)
I still think Noble Causes is a superior read… Though I am not certain how the “new direction” that’s currently being undertaken taken with the book will affect my opinion.
it’s worth a laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r2yp1L3MJ4&playnext_from=TL&videos=gZTDRMU16uE proof that bendis dosen’t read anyone else’s comics just wait till the end of the video the last minute.
Listed in the new Previews is “Bryan Hitch’s Ultimate Comics Studio” art instruction book. Is a “instruction book” that teaches people how to properly use a lightbox really worth $25?
J.
Damn Hitch beat me to it. I was going to put out a book which instructs people how to use the tracing feature in Illustrator.
Does anybody have a critique — or even a vague impression– about the NEGIMA Manga series? I’d lobe to know before I invest! Thanks!
“love” not “lobe”. I understand that some forms of the word “lobe” are considered sacrilege around here. 😉
I never got into that series. Looked a bit too “cutesy” for me. Plus I am not a fan of wizards. But it has lots of fanservice if you like that sort of thing.
I know that didn’t help you at all but that is my feeling of the series. It does sell well though.
J.
Its a really stupid series. It relies on Fan-service to sell. I mean GANTZ has fan-service… but there’s a more intense plot to it. But don’t always go by others’ opinions, check it just in case you like it…
I thought Love Hina was pretty good but that was basically Maison Ikkoku with lots of fan service. Like Jose, I thought Negima looked a bit too kiddie for my liking.
I think the person who made Love Hina made another comic that was kinda decent.. I THINK. Don’t quote me please, but yeah, in the last decade anime/manga has become very kirky/comedy/high schoolish for my tastes. Not all of course, but a lot of it was.
Ken Akamatsu did both Love Hina and Negima which is why I brought him up. LH is a pretty decent comedy but not for those who don’t like wacky hi-jinks and the like.
Dang, guess I was thinking of someone else… But then again Love Hina wasn’t awful I think. I saw a few episodes and it wasn’t as bad but I can’t remember it all too clearly…
Thanks for all the feedback. Can’t really imagine that I would like it… Based on what you have all told me.
I like some cute butt “cutesy”… Uh, no.
Well, I like cute butts too.
Just not cutesy comics.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/06/martian-chronicles-movie-ray-bradbury.html
Movies are such an old medium. One might argue that they’re a “dying” one considering more remakes are coming out as of lately than original projects. Same with music I guess. But I truly feel comics remain in tact and original. But not all movies/music are dying. Bradbury is a great writer and IF they stay faithful it will be a good movie. But that’s the problem. Movies never seem to stay faithful…
I’m flipping through the May/June 2010 issue of HorrorHound and have to say that it is an impressive horror film magazine. It has some great articles on early 80’s horror video distribution, why certain horror films (when they were released in theaters) had more than one title and the such. Much more enjoyable than Fangoria as of late.
J.
Dreamland has Horror magazines? damn I wish my LCS had that. I’ve always preferred the Horror films of old than this current generation of “shock” writing and taking amazing movies and trying to remake them…
The actual remakes imo are usually okay. Those ‘modernizations’ though are a pain in the ass. By that I mean those ‘remakes’ that pick the old movie only for its name/popularity, then insert as many cash grabing elements as possible, meaning that ocassionally original stuff is removed/replaced cause it is doesn’t match.
And coincidentally the butcher, mean, director/script writer will more often pick elements to remove that were simply essential to make the original movie the work it was, making something that looks like, but toally misses the real point.
just watched the doctor who finale.
holy shit.
we need a thread!
just started watching this weeks doctor who got to the opening credits 2 holy S’s and 3 WTFs so far
You’re teasing the hell out of me with the info Kurumais 🙂 I’m so excited. I’m going watch it the second I get home.
You need to watch EVERY single second though or you might miss something important 😉
😛 I’ll be sure to do that Locus 🙂
Jose I was wondering what was the first issue of Invincible you have read?
I have been reading it since issue #1.
J.
Yeah the first issue I read was #68 which was just awesome with that Dinosaur villain and I have been reading it since then.
hey i am picking up the first trade in my local shop on monday what would be a good jumping on point which are so rare these days or good trade stories i should get
Peter David’s run on Hulk was pretty solid. Especially the ones where Gary Frank was the artist.
sorry i meant invincible
probably the Invincible Ultimate collection vol.1 which contains the first 13 issues of the series.
In that case, I concur with megaman, except if you don’t want the back up filler that is theie also, I would say start with the standard trades. I don’t think any of them have that filler. For what its worth, the filler is Invincible related.
You guys should get a big kick out of this.
Up above, I asked about the Negima series and Jose, Locusmortis and Mike F were all kind enough to reply. They also started discussing their general dislike of “fan service”.
Well, I’m a “newbie” to Manga, remember? So I had NO IDEA what fucking “fan service” meant.
I am now suddenly transformed into Moe the Bartender and Bart Simpson has just called the bar and asked to speak to “I.P. Freely”… I’m running around like a 2 year old, going “Fan service! Fan service! What the FUCK is fan service?” Then Jose writes something about the series being too “cutesy” for his taste and I immediately think “Oh, fan service must mean cutesy. Okaaaay. Got it.”
So later, I go to my local Barnes & Noble and I ask the really cute girl that covers the Manga section if I could see some Manga books that focus on “fan service”. I tell her “I really want to see the books with a LOT of fan service. The MORE, the BETTER!”
She takes two steps back and points at a few titles and slinks away. I’m thinking, “Did I not shower properly? What the fuck?”
Longer story shorter: Leaving the store thoroughly confused, I decided to go home and look up the term on the internet. [Blush!]
Needless to say, I printed out the definition and brought Manga girl a coffee and a muffin today, handed her the explanation and apologized for my naivete. She laughed uncontrollably… But at least she doesn’t think I’m a total PERV any longer.
(Even though I’m not exactly certain I DISLIKE “fan service”… I still don’t like “cutesy” books.)
That is a fucking awesome story!!! Classic.
You could have just asked us, ya know?
J.
He he. I think the lesson of the story is never assume.
The lesson of the story is use the internet and be well informed before venturing forth into the world.
and that too. 🙂
that is awesome great story
you really need to ask your internet friends before approaching chicks with questions like that 😛
Fanservice won’t mean your a perv tho. It just means you like women… a lot…
If your actually curious about GOOD fan-service manga, I’d say check out AIR GEAR and TENJO TENJE. Both by the great writer “OH! GREAT”.
They feature an excessive amount of fan-service BUT the over plot of each volume is great so its clear the writer isn’t using the fan-service as a way of getting sales, he just clearly likes his women…
did you ask her out? because that makes for a great story
fan service is mostly just lots of panty shots, even the intro to Battle of the Planets had fan service 😀
@Luiz de Mello, RUSH, cballsack, Locusmortis, Edward, and Deemar regarding the converstation about Realism, superheroes, and the fabulous Warren Ellis 🙂
I truly think that we all know why we read superhero comics. We like the idea of seeing resolution in a twisted world. (let’s admit, mankind really isn’t moving forward)
Deep down inside we wanna see the good guys beat the odds and win. But, as years go by, I noticed its harder to relate to these superhero comics. Its easier for me to relate with the more gritty darker stories of reality. I’ve always loved the escapeism, where I could see Batman take down the bad guys and make me feel some kind of inner pride knowing someone is trying to fight evil. But, they get old I guess. The story has been told. ESPECIALLY w/ marvel man. I am so sick of the shit they produce. I LOVE DD, and plan on reading SHADOWLAND but after that I think I’ll focus more on Indie comics. Warren seems like a great writer to follow. His work never disappoints for me. His surreal gritty hardcore fashion is definitely not for everyone. I read NO HERO and felt a little sad by what I read but more so enlightened that I was reading something real, and true and provoking. Above all, ORIGINAL. Jesus christ, it only took a few pages for me to realize Millar was stealing from NO HERO for his bullshit KICK-ASS.
Any thoughts?
I agree with a lot of what you wrote. I think there is room for grim and gritty stories and good old fashion fun stories from years back. I guess the point I was trying to make in my earlier posts is that I don’t like the fact that most of the current popular superhero titles try to be realistic yet be accessible to a wide age group. They fail at this, I wish the stories were on level with the Batman the Animated Series and the Justice League Animated series. Those shows were simple and fun without being completely juvenile.
The really dark and realistic stuff can be outside of the main titles like the Elseworld stuff.
Exactly. I’ll still read a few hero titles for the pure joy of escapeing but I am really gonna cut back. I’ll probably only buy one or two a month. I’m gonna stick mainly with Indie books like Warren Ellis and anything by Image or Vertigo or Avatar Press. They deserve the money. Geoff Johns is rich enough I’m sure….
I wish DC still put out Elseworld stuff.
I think for the summer I’ll just go with Daredevil, Action Comics, Maybe Ironman if the issue looks promising, and Green Arrow possibly…
I understand your feelings on the subject.
You seem to be at that crossroads point I was a few years ago with superhero comics (comics in general) where you mature and your tastes or rather need for more mature material arises.
I break it down in Phases:
A. Boy Wonder – Pure idealistic wonderment of superheroes without prejudgement or descerning tastes just simple joy and good fun.
B. Teen Angster – Searching for relatable characters and TnA in comics hormones in full effect!
C. Collector Man – It’s now a hardcore habit and my allegiance is for one of the Big 2, Allen Moore/Frank Miller is either God or the Devil.
D. Indie Emoticon – Your maturing, but still lack a true sense of personal tastes, trend following, reactive snobbery and a need too wear “Ironic” T-shirts ensue.
E. Webster Bater – You know what you like and your opinions must be heard, you can be both sensible and fanatical. You’ve found a community of like minded geeks and now must negotiate the fanboy social strata.
F. Blessed Kirby – Now much older and wiser, internet spats and comic rumors/news mean little to you. It’s just a comic and it is simply a thing to be enjoyed and shared. Unless a shitty director messes up the movie version of your favorite hero and there will be HELL to PAY!
DEEMAR!! Did you come up with all this man? Damn you just nailed it so perfectly. I’d say I’m at the D now…
I think I might make this a semi-regular “Deemar Musings”
I’ll see what E&J think, what say you?
You’re good enough, smart enough and gosh darn it people like you.
Gosh
🙂
I’m in between a D and and E.
Sorry the New Yorker in me often swears when its completely not needed…
Fucking yes, my friend.
Indeed D. Fuckin the Dalai Lama of comics.
I have a condo in Tibet.
It didn’t get gaffled by China?
The Mandarin house sits for me.
🙂
I’m definitely in the Blessed Kirby stage. Is there anything beyond?
Cave drawings depicting the coming of the shining gods.
Yes, but it involves LARPING, plastic sheets, lube, pork by products and viagra.
Only the most dedicated gets to this level
Damn Skippy Rush, Damn Skippy!
You know how people use the qualifier “never say never”? I’m saying never.
What about a role playing scenario involving a hot girl and you’re the pool boy. See not all role playing is bad.
Yeah the next level could mean nubile girls Larpers on a oil drenched slip-n-slide,while spam burger are cooked on a grill Hawiian style.
Hmmm..
Yes, but you didn’t post a picture of that scenario. Shame, really.
Just for you D. Whores of Warcraft.
http://tour.whorelore.com/?nats=MTQxMzk1OToyOjE1,0,0,0,0
I so want to go too Whore Lore! but no viruses for me.
sure but never saying never is never the final stance since never knowing your the canidate for Phase G of the “Enlightenment” process, you never had a choice being Blessed Kirby does not mean your never move beyond that phase. only that you’ll never see it coming when Phase G chooses you.So saying never is never an option.
Oh by the way Ballsy are you allergic to latex gloves or prefer non-allergenic?
Just saying.
😉
That sounded like a Randy “Macho Man” Savage interview with Mean Gene. OH YA DIG IT!
Snap into a SLIM JIM!
lol
And somewhere in there are the “Comic’s Journal Jerkoffs”:
People who only buy comics that The Comic’s Journal deems worthy of their hipster-dufuss money and then…well…jerkoff to them while dreaming of Gary Groth fucking them in the ass using a rolled up copy of Zap #0.
J.
Whole other list my friend.
Heh..that’s 2000AD list
Is there a “I hate my country’s comic writers cause they all make the heroes sit around eating Chinese food, think I’ll turn to Manga.” category?
I swear I’m not that one.
Manga with fan service right?
Your on right on the Indie Emoticon Phase
Well Manga with Fan-service would be a sub-category of just manga 😉
Then there’d be Ecchi, which I wont corrupt you guys with.
and NO I don’t read Ecchi.
Futanari perhaps?
Wow, we almost went an entire year on this blog without someone mentioning futanari. I am amazing it lasted this long.
J.
I am really sorry I googled that.
How the fuck did you not know what futanari was ballsack? I thought you were a worldly man. I am disappoint.
J.
hee hee you are going to have wierd dreams tonight CBALLSACK
I fear googling this term
Dare I?
There are deep dark recesses of your mind J I do not want too venture
Did you go to that link I post for you D.
Rush Ya’ll got me scared
I ain’t going to link nowhere! heh!
Futanari, Guro? Shota? Dude nah ain’t gonna do it
I thought yaoi would be right UP your ALLEY with some of the comments from you recently 🙂
Hell No!
Thems jokes I might have a perverted sense of humor, but Deemar ain’t no perv.
Well maybe a little
I underestimated you RUSH. haha, a formidable opponent indeed 😉
Ask for that at Barnes And Nobel 😀
I have not heard of either of these things, what do they mean?
I need a peoples eyebrow emoticon for you.
Emoticons are for people who watch Glee and/or have a thing for Justin Bieber.
I fucking ❤ Justin Bieber AND Glee. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 😉 😉
J.
Are they also for people who Google futanari Cballsack?
😉
Well I had to taint my internet history with these words. Thanks a lot for the no answer guys.;)
Hey man, I said earlier I wouldn’t corrupt anyone with these terms. Believe me, some people would rather not now what goes on in the far east…
Any other time I’d be the first to answer you.
Sorry Tom. Futanari is not something that can be explained, it’s something that needs to be experienced.
J.
While we’re at it look up yaoi and get it over with TOMSTEWDEVINE
Rush, I can see now why I never came accross this term.
Damn you, Rush.
YAOI!!!!
http://www.geekologie.com/2010/06/batman_pregnant_with_supermans.php
J.
That is a disturbing image I had scrubbed from my brain.
you should familiarize yourselves with the following terms also Bakunyu, yuri, guro, shota
Bakunyu, now thats my shit.
Holy shit I dodged a bullett!
You summabitches!
Wit yo’ Japanese smut
I’m not even looking.
I’m with Tom on this one. Bakunyu is all I need.
J.
Put the post in the wrong spot -___-
J.
Finally read NO HERO by Warren Ellis. Dear god… All these years I’ve wasted my time/money/life with Marvel and ORIGINAL stuff was out there waiting to be read.
Bravo, Warren.
If you’re interested, I would recommend Fell by Warren and artist Ben Templesmith.One and done crime stories.Too bad it didn’t do better.You might also want to check out Global Frequency by Warren. I don’t have them all but the hand full of random issues I do have are fun.
Yeah, I have read a few of FELL but I can’t find the rest of them. Everyone says the same thing, they keep waiting for the next issue but its been a while…
Global Frequency I have read. Yeah, it was great. Miranda Zero is awesome 🙂 I LOVE the covers by Brian Wood too. I’d buy that comic for the covers alone, Warren’s work is just the cherry on top.
the first 8 fell are collected in tpb. It was suppose to release more issues but Warren’s computer died and he lost the scripts. He tried to recreate them but decided he couldn’t and is working on new scripts now.
All I’m going to say is yes you have, most of what Marvel and for that matter DC(the popular titles) is sophomoric.
Your right. I like superheroes, I like the idea of a the good guys going for the fight but right now it doesn’t feel the same. Of course there’s exceptions, (JMS is doing great with Brave and the Bold, and Fraction knows Ironman every well) but the majority of Cape comics aren’t doing it for me anymore.
I LOVE the Flash but the current Flash comics are beyond boring and pretentious.
I grew up with Manga rather than USA titles, and I am not giving up on USA titles, I’m just cutting back for more Indie titles like Forgetless, a book Jose recommended and more Ellis 🙂
I do like superheroes but I want superheroes for thinking adults. This is going to sound ridiculous but I think about characters like Tony Stark and Reed Richards. Both geniuses with near limitless resources and they haven’t solved some of their world’s problems like disease, food shortage or use of oil. See ridiculous. Sometimes a simplistic tale of clearly defined good versus evil can be great if done well however in comics the stories and characters are made to straddle the between good innocent fun and the grim realities of our real world. This I think ultimately makes for bland if not bad stories.
Never thought about that scenario (At least lately)
I’d like to see a story showing the actual “why” of Reed Richard not ending world hunger.
Me thinks lawyers and corporate CEOs would be the villains within the story.
Hm…that was actually the point of a PLANETARY story by Warren Ellis some years back.Snow confronts William Leather (Johnny Storm) and angrily asks why THE FOUR (evil FF) don’t help the world with their inventions.William basically admits it’s cause they’re selfish and think they’re better than everyone else.
you are correct sir.
reality and superhero comics just aren’t a great mix. I think Warren Ellis and writers who’ve followed in his wake all need to be clubbed over the head with a Lee/Kirby Omnibus.
Locus that quote is tattoo-able!
We agree to disagree 🙂
I’d tat it on your bum
🙂
First the “go hard” comment and now this. 🙂
I’m saving for my coming out party
🙂
At the love parade perhaps.
Also isn’t Stark an arms dealer? He “saves lives” as Iron Man but how many people die because of his inventions?
Honestly, I hate current marvel’s ‘sci-fi’ heroes and books, even though Fraction’s IM plots are readable per se. It is just pulp pretending to be science, and is almost like JQ’s apparent take on magic (it just works, it doesn’t need to be explained or make sense for the matter).
Early Marvel had genious, yes, but even Reed was not a master of all, they all had their fields of expertise. Even Doom and Reed were not the best on everything, even though they had a more ample array of areas and higher average level of knowledge on the others. Reed would still defer to Banner in regards to gamma stuff, for example. None of them were poping up discoveries out of their butts everyday, nor did they invent Doomsday devices while pooping and created it from their neighbor’s garbage overnight cause they couldn’t sleep like now.
Somehow now high intelligence = knowledge on all areas known or not = availability of resources = speed of learning = certainty that you will find a solution to any problem presented = viability of your solutions = whatever-else-writer-feel-like-today. In Marvel seems like magic is indeed science (and so science is also magic), but JQ’s version of magic. That one that does not need to be explained or make sense for the matter.
Exactly, these characters had limits in the past. They seem over the top these days.
How about the fact that the planet is visited by alien species on a regular basis but this little fact doesn’t seem to affect the various cultures of Earth, really? How dull are the imaginations at the “house of ideas”?
Well said. I agree 100%. I’ve had the same feeling about the so-called super intelligence of several characters.
I completely get you RUSH. One thing I love about NO HERO. Its showing the reality of becoming a super hero in a pretty fucked up world. I know people wanna think that villains are glamorous but they’re not all the time. BUT I do like my escapeisms. Seeing things different from the twisted world. Things that make me forget it. But sometimes its cool to see the reality of this genre. I do normally prefer the escapeism but in this case, the reality is interesting, ESPECIALLY thru the mind of Ellis.
Its really really REALLY Fucking obvious that Millar copied Ellis’ NO HERO with KICK-ASS. Its so clear to me now…
Ellis is brilliant. I have to agree with you about being able to escapist entertainment. I think that’s why I liked Tom Strong so much when that book came out and why I still enjoy watching cartoons. I have the entire run Tex Avery cartoons he did for MGM and I watch them often.
Well, escapism is still a form of realism, just not the obvious form (or you could say that there is a direct and strong link, if you will). Both are basically two sides of the same coin.
It is a long subject, but to cut it short think of both as a SINGLE combination of imposed ‘truths’ + selected highlighted parts of reality, while everything else can be assumed to be as the real world or not exist since it is not important.
Kick-Ass is an entirely different animal. It has two of those combos, one for Hit Girl and another for everyone else. It still stinks, though.
I think escapism is necessary part of our overall experience but this doesn’t mean the bar for creativity should be lowered.
Ellis seems to always come up with new and interesting stories. Does the guy ever sleep, because he always seems to be working on one project after another. I don’t think there is a other writer that can compare to the amount of different work that this guy puts out.
I think it’s peyote.
Actually, I bet that’s not far off.
Agreed. he he
It is strange how he can always put out so much work that’s so diverse so frequently. He runs his own site, a few message boards, and regularly checks his fan email account. I don’t know if he’s really popular among mainstream readers since he does have a bit of a hardcore default to his work, but its always original and creative… Hell, I love what I’ve seen so far 🙂
Unrelated sidenote
Chris Brown on the BET music Awards, doing the Michael Jackson tribute performance.
1. He still sucks
2. During the “Man in the Mirror” segment he starts crying like a little bitch.
3. Never have I wanted to jump through a tv and bash another humans head in more.
BET truly has no class
ya maybe no class, but I hear they have a Black Panther TV show.
Nope not even that it’s gonna be offered online.
Did the ebon hued male Britney at least not lip sync?
does the world need these titles?
steve rodgers super soldier yeah it going to be by ed brubaker but cant secret avengers be the book we get our steve fix at least for the next 6 months to a year ( and I’m resident cap fan around here!)
the invaders an alex ross thingie starring buckycap namor the torch toro and the golden age vision. did anyobe else read that snooze fest avengers/invaders? is anyone reading the torch? is anyone reading the marvels project? who green lit this sucker?
btw i think golden age vision is pretty cool and could be a nice addition to the modern marvel u
Super soldier is just a mini right?
Yes
Yeah, for me if Reborn wasn’t good enough to put in the regular Cap title than it wasn’t good enough for me, and that is how I pretty much feel about this Super Soldier mini. I thought I was the only Cap fan around here. Actually, I was thinking of waiting for the trade on the Invaders mini, and the Marvels Project, but everything else I really didn’t bother with.
That Invaders mini I’m really on the fence about. Because Alex Ross is not doing the art, and I’m not to crazy about any of the books that he’s co-written or plotted.
I always feel cheated by Alex Ross, he’ll do the covers and the interior art just doesn’t meet his level of skill.
Plus to be honest I’m really tired of his fixation with the Golden Age and SuperFriends. It’s like the guy is always living in the past.
Until Ross does something contemporary I’m passing on what he does
im with you on ross’s fixation with the past its starting to annoy me
At least Ross still respects the old characters.I don’t think he’ll do a story where Zan and Jayna lose their memories and Black Vulcan finds Jayna in Europe and shags her and then comes back to the States with a new identity and wants to kill ppl cuz now he’s edgy.
Yeah..sure I can respect his “respecting” the Old Timey days, but goddamn can’t the man look outside his window for once and realize nobody gives two fucks about the Invaders rehashing old glories?
Dude simply needs to get with the now, he can “respect” what came before while not being chained to the past.
And for fucks sake enuff with the SuperFriends homages and Flash Gordon school of costume design.
I just want too see Alex Ross do something unique, completely unrelated to a property from 40yrs ago, Hire new freaking models intstead of the same guy for Batman,Cap’n America,Superman etc…stop drawing every hero as if their 40 going 50yrs old.
Hell as much as I hate MTV, I’d force feed Ross My Sweet Sixteen, Jersey Shore, For the Love of Ray J, Adultswim, Boondocks, Daily show, Colbert Report, CNN, Glenn Beck…any thing “current” to wash that 1960s/70s nostalgia off him.
*Pant*
*Pant*
Whew, ranting fills good
Yeah, I would agree with you on that he should do something more contemporary.
I would like to see him do a Invincible cover, just because, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
I kind of feel bad for saying this, but it almost feels like he is turning into a Frank Miller or a Chris Claremont in that he is turning into a parody of him self.
hey M you should see my shelfporn all cap stuff plus i have a nice convention portfolio of cap and cap related sketches in addition to my cap collection from 100 up
and almost all of tales of suspense im a cap fan in the truest sense FANATIC
Fanatic, at least you said it. So, anyway did you happen to pick up Cap #606, and if so what did you think?
very very mixed feelings
loved the interaction between zemo and ghost
and falc and cap when sam called bucky cap during the fight i got to say i got chocked up and psyched at the same time captain america and the falcon are back!!!
loved the scene in bar with steve buck and sam
butch guice pecils were amazing he was channelin kirby and steranko at points and beautifully i might add i love him on this book the style he is using currently fits perfectly with what luke ross and steve epting have done with the book
now the bad
zemo motivation?? are you %^&8ing kindding me brubaker? when was the last time bruaker read a comic with zemo in it? 1987? zemo has long since left that revenge crap behind. he has buried the hatchet with steve cap twice and his mini was all about him defining himself on his own terms not by his dad’s or family’s. of course his agenda got stolen by norman osbourn during dark reign ” ill save the world even if i have to rule it to do so”
going after bucky for dear old dad is beyond silly its insulting especially to fabian nicieza a very good writer whose work deserves repect
plus im sick of revenge being the ONLY villian motivation in comics
iron hand hauptmann? really bru? what is this guy 90 years old? we are supposed to take this guy seriously? it reminds me of a patton oswalt bit on birthdays ” if you heard someone cry out for help help there is a 100year old strangling me to death would you run out help?”
zemo’s plan looks a lot like red skull’s plan going after steve at the start of brubakers run going after those around him first maybe this is his way to bring the book full circle and give the sheild back to steve in like 25 issues
i think brubaker has a nice grasp of the caps and falcon but he needs a better class of villain
and of course the nomad back up annoyed the heck out of me
Oh yeah! A real Cap fan would abuse steriods and join the Army, befriend a underage boy, get him killed, sleep in a refrigerator for 40 yrs.
Do it! Do it!
😉
i wish you told me this last week D i could have been out cruising the jr highs with 25 lbs of leg weights on each ankle but schools let out for the summer which means ill have to hit a city pool up and thats never pretty
Heh!
My bad man
So, ya, this week’s Last Rants is about Brian Bendis. Just thought I’d share that info.
J.
Hmm?
Wonder if I have time too whip something up.
Please J go hard!
“Please J go hard!”
that sounds a tag line to some 80’s action movie. 🙂
Or the new Lexington Steele video.
LMAO!
That made my head hurt laughing so hard.
“Please J, Go Hard!”
That is going in the Funnies.
Heh, welcome to my world Deemar, where all the cool things in my brain become embarrassing typo’s as I write them =)
Yeah Heh! That came out all kinds of wrong.
“Please J, Go Hard!”
I am having flashbacks right now about an ex of mine. I remember her following up that exact line with, “Don’t worry, it happens to everyone,” as a cried in my bed while in the fetal position.
Thanks for that wonderful reminder D.
J.
lol
LOL, happens to everyone J. Every guy out there has to deal with a hazardous material spill at one time or another..
I knew a guy in the Army who told me the secret to avoiding that situation was to masturbate before having sex…
That’s right, this guy would sneak away to the bathroom just before getting it on with his girlfriend and ‘take care of business’ to make sure there was no fumbling on the goal line so to speak.
“so she’s naked in bed, waiting for you?”
“Yes”
“And you run to the bathroom to jack off?”
“You got it.”
“And she is cool with that?”
“Well, I tell her I have to take a leak.”
“Instead of doing that, just have sex with her twice.”
“Dude, that would be embarrassing!”
“Really?”
Personally I think it would kill the passion of the moment and possible kill your relationship if your woman ever found out what you were doing .
IM
A remedy is a remedy.
I usually toss a handful of chicken bones on the ground, sprinkle dust in a spiral, pray to mine lord Glycon whilst spitting rum unto a fire.
That’s just me
You got the handbook also?
sure do! rule number one, don’t drink Jo-Bu’s Rum
also Jesus cant hit a curve ball
Depends of the partner you get. For me the right ones would only be mad for having warm up and foreplay alone 😉
Hah!!!
Sorry for bringing “Up” bad memories, didn’t mean to get you “Down”.
Hey I know it gets “Hard” when you can’t perform, but let me “soften” the “Blow” at least you have your friends like Elliot to “straighten” you out.
Hilarious!
I “Go Hard”
heh
Here is an idea for a CCW t-shirt. The front will have the CCW logo and back will say “GO HARD”
Dude that is an excellent idea!
I’ma have to talk to Elliot about that.
This blog is big enough now for swag, don’t ya think?
That would be cool!
Make happen Deemar. I would buy and sport a CCW t-shirt.
I did get a bit angrier than I have been in recent videos. At one point my ire was so great that the camera conked out and it took E like 5 minutes to get it going again.
J.
Did it look something like this..
Not as much splatter
Almost. It was a little closer to this.
J.
The BEST Sam Jackson performance in my book. Nothing else of his even comes close.
J.
True dat!
Rent Caveman’s Valentine Sam can do more than “Loud angry blackman”
I have seen seen it.
It’s one of his best performances.
In fact I’d like for Sam Jackson to do more indie films, just to change up the pace.
Excellent!
Young Melendez, I want you by my side in Corusant. As Chancellor I find my life threatened constantly and a jedi such as yourself would make a fitting bodyguard.
Shouldn’t you be Master Jedi by now? Hmm? it seems the Jedi council does not see the hard work you have put in.
*Yes..he’s moving closer too the darkside*
what could you possibly say about the guy and his writing that you havent already said? now im very curious to see
I also noticed that those Kick-Ass comics have made it back in to frame, and not only that they are dead center. There just there staring at me, mocking me. 🙂
I moved them this week MSpot. They will mock you no more.
J.
Good to know. Damn you Mark Millar, Damn you to hell!
Millar’s hell would be being forced to speak truthfully and plainly without Hype
Millar’s hell is the best thing I heard all day.
Is Planetary Good, anyone?
Great, I’m waiting for the fourth volume to go into paperback so I can complete my collection.
DUDE, get Planetary like now.
planetary is unbelievable good
not only it it a great science fiction comic but its also a tour of the comic culture world including pulps, john woo movies, kaiju movies, comic books like the early FF
its so damn good and its drawn beautifully by then unknown john cassaday
its one of the best things ive ever read
IS it good?
It’s better than pussy on a triscuit!
Damn, I gotta find issue one. My local comic place never has good back issues… Should I just do trades? from what your all saying, its worth going out to buy right now apparently, 🙂
Yes, get up from your couch and go to the shops and pick up the trades.
Do trades
You ain’t gonna find single issues easily
I guess groceries can wait 😉
Thanks guys!
Why eat food when you can digest, Digests
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_asia/2009-09-16/163021253061.html
Touchable holograms? is the future finally what we dreamed of?
Hey Jose can work out that problem of his now in the safety of his home with no eyes too judge him.
🙂
Another amazing technological breakthrough that will be wasted creating 3-D genitalia for people to play with.
How sad, people would rather have a virtual spouse or partner that is programmed to do whatever you tell it to do, never nag you, give yo a hard time about spending money or hanging out with the friends too much, or spending time on the computer screwing around.
Wait a minute…
On second thought this could be the greatest invention ever! Now if I can just convince my wife that a virtual girlfriend isn’t cheating..
She told me I can look, but not touch, but what if I am touching isn’t real. I guess the real problem here is my wife can touch the hell out of me if she finds out =)
IM
Just tell her she can have a virual Denzel Washington or Brad Pitt.
Fair is fair
So, when you getting your Christina Hendrick’s hologram D?
J.
Well I have the Christina Hendricks hand puppet so I need to upgrade
Oddly enough it would be virtual ‘Jason Statham’ =)
She likes ugly
LOL! Fuck you! =D
J/K
IM
Ah, sweeeet gravatar IM! Did your wife pick that out for you? 😛
J.
Heh, well at least it makes role-playing a little easier..
“OK, here is the deal, I’m Jason and your my hot Asian “Package” that I need to deliver.”
“Sure”
“So I am going to stick you in the trunk of the car and drive around town for a couple of hours, then when we get back home, we have sex.”
“What!?!?”
“Wait! Lets see if I can find a suitcase big enough for you to fit in.”
“Your crazy!”
“Remember, no talking! its suppose to be a surprise when I find you in the trunk.”
IM
HA!
If they ever make a Christina Hendricks doll, it’s a wrap!
I’m saving up for mine. Can’t wait!
J.
Perhaps there should be government subsidy.
Obama’s gotta get on that.
J.
Virtual
Anyone else been watching Boondocks this season?
J.
Yeah, I’m watching it now.
I’ve been liking this season quite a bit. The animation is pretty slick.
J.
Agreed. I think the comedy has gotten stronger too. Top notch voice actors too.
“Booty..getting sum booty is the most important thing, If I like a man I tellem”
Hah!
Watching it right now.
Kind of rapey.
Lots of bleeping in this episode.
J.
A new season, dammit! Why am I missing everything now!
Plus I keep forgetting I have a DVR now..
Good lord, I have become my grandfather now, with the blinking light on my VCR.
Anyway, is the new season any good?
IM
Most consistent season so far.
I take it you fixed your computer problems.
J.
Sort of, plugged my desktop monitor, printer and all of my other junk into my laptop. Strangely my laptop is running everything faster and cleaner than my desktop ever did. Just not sure if there will be any long term consequences for trying to run my laptop like a desktop computer. It doesn’t seem to be overheating the power supply at the moment. My laptop is suppose to be my emergence back up, not something I want to be running full time. But it will have to do for now.
I still plan to either repair or buy a new desktop sometime in the future. Depending on when I can get the money. My wife is convinced I ‘murdered’ my old computer in order to get a new one. So it will take some convincing on my part to prove my old puter died of natural causes and not foul play. =)
IM
Dude if you keep the laptop plugged-in then take the battery out of your laptop.
Holy Shit, didn’t think of that, Thanks Rush!
IM
Your welcome. Also don’t keep the laptop on 24-7.
Yep!
The Tyler Perry episode was genius
I’m so happy they trashed Perry. I can’t stand that fucker. I tried watching “house of payne” and it was nothing but Mexican and Korean jokes thru out the episode. It pissed me off so much…
I can appreciate the dudes accomplishments, but yeah not a fan.
Yeah, I mean he clearly has some talent if he’s got so many movie deals but that episode of his show man, was soooo bad. I just don’t think I could ever watch it again…
I dont’ watch at all, I know a few people who’ve worked directly for Perry and that episode ain’t far from the truth.
I still think my favorite episode was the one with Martin Luther King Jr.
J.
The rant at the end of that episode by King was great.
I’m moving to Canada.
When Palin wins in 2012 I will be the first one up there. I shit you not.
J.
Dude don’t even put something like that out there.
The sooner we face the fact that it IS a possibility the better off we will be…though we will probably be worse off for it. 🙂
J.
It might be Huckubee or somebody but it won’t be Palin.Remember,she QUIT being governor cuz she knew there was MORE MONEY in TV appearances and lectures.She is nowhere near as dumb as some ppl think.Yeh, her platitudes barely make sense sometimes,but SOMEBODY keeps giving her money!So, who’s the dummy?
She is the Mark Millar of politics.
She couldn’t last as Governor of Alaska, I don’t think she has a chance at winning the Presidency, but I’ve been wrong before, and if I am I’ll be the first one heading north.
Hey we elected a half-tard in 2000, when clearly have the ability to do it again in 2012
half-tard, don’t you mean high functioning retard. I would like to thank Charlie Murphy for that term.
that’s offensive to retarded people
Your both right.
Heh, I would agree with you MSpot but the more I watch the news the more I am convinced that the idiots of the country will crawl out of their fucking holes in the ground to vote for her. For what it’s worth I HOPE that you are not wrong.
J.
Me too, me too.
I think the Republican party could do better with Bobby Jindal. He is a lot smarter than that cow.
My 5 year nephew is smarter than her but look how fucking dumb GW was. Intelligence means jack shit to the far right.
J.
The Indian Howdy Doody?
Hell no
HAHA but seriously he done a lot of good, I usually don’t see that from Rep. party
I’m going to Africa with Dave Chappelle
Which part? I’ve lived in Nairobi, it was nice but I can’t say with any certainty if it still is.
If Sarah Palin becomes Prez, meaning if she becomes a teenage boy named Prez
I don’t know Jose, I think she can see Canada from her house too, might want to pick a country on the other side of the planet =0
IM
Yeah, I agree with you there I change my vote I’m moving to Amsterdam.
Where the window shopping is expensive. He he
Yup, yup.
J.
I wonder why Amsterdam
🙂
Move to China, she’ll have to dig to see you then.
🙂
Aaron McGruder is pretty much the black Bill Maher.
Agreed.
“You ain’t too fat and ugly to be raped, Mutha Fucka.”
“I apologize for my rudeness.”
HA!
“All in favor of Bitches?!”
“What about white bitches?”
“Alright the list is so far..”
“Bitches…white bitches…asian bitches..blind bitches……eskimo bitches and Alaskan bitches…”
Oh lordy
Squidbillies…meh.
J.
I like the squids
I dedicate this vid to MSpot.
J.
J.
HA HA HA!!! I thought the studio that owns the rights to this clip got it pulled from YouTube, anyway that is pretty accurate to how I feel about those damn horns. Good one Jose.
i hate to say it but i have to agree with uncle adolph on this one
Good night all.
Who knows what evil lurks? TheMSpot KNOWS!!!
Fucking Sarah Palin, writing notes on her hand, who fuck does she think she’s fooling? Not me that’s for damn sure.
Later MSpot.
J.
Later Spotty!
I’m not gone running silent while drawing.
Wow! the last 30 to 50 posts you guys really ratcheted things up a bit, so let me try to catch up somewhat before I turn in for the night….uhmmm morning.
On the new technology: If only it were free. God knows my left hand is exhausted 🙂
On Christina Hendricks: I wish!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
On Tyler Perry: I don’t begrudge him his succsess, but I’ve always felt he was one of the unfunniest ppl on the planet.
on: House Of Payne: Case in point of the unfunniest comment, above
on; Aaron McGruder and The Boondocks: I was pretty hype that this newspaper strip was going to be an ongoing animated show, then I saw the show and was immediately let down.. The cleverly written somewhat insightful strip, became a dumb downed, ethnic slur ladened shadow of what it had been..
although it did have its moments; the MLK ep that Jose mentioned as well as a pimp named Slickback and the blind samurai ep.
on Prez Palin: I feel what Jose is sayin’, but while I do think she will receive a ground swell of support, I don’t think she’ll take the presidency in 2012. That said, I believe that if President Obama doesn’t start amping things up a bit, he may very well be a one termer.
On Bill Maher…sorta: Bill Maher once said that Obama could afford to take a page out of W’s book. Those of you familiar with Maher knows he’s far from a Bush supporter, but the one thing he gives Bush credit for is he’s usually not indecisive. No matter what excessive wrong thinking the former president had going on as it related to policy, if he felt he neede to push something through he did it. Sure it might be f’d up for many of us but Maher’s point had to with not copying W’s Strategies but copy his assertiveness. I tend to agree When all is said and done…history may prove that Obama was a good man, but a good man doesn’t automatically translate that you’re a good President, but hey… he still has afew years left, right?
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna see if Jose’s posted any music for today…. later gators
Maher has made it very tough for me to continue liking him. His comments on religion and the pharmaceutical industry are spot-on, but his support for the state of Israel and his dismissal of all 9/11 conspiracy theories have irritated me to the point that I find it difficult to watch him at times.
Here’s how Bill Maher will live in INFAMY.
Tom Fucking Arnold FIRED him from the writing staff of “Roseanne” because Bill couldn’t write ONE decent script for situation comedy. NOT ONE.
And before anybody says, “Well maybe he DIDN’T WANT to write a script for ‘Roseanne’.” Let me assure you: the fucker was broke– at a career endpoint AND he took the job.
A damn MONKEY could write a decent “Roseanne’ script. So the FIRING STICKS:
Bill Maher could NOT write 22 minutes of LAME SHIT good enough to pass TOM ARNOLD’S smell test.
P.S. Being fired from “Politically Correct” was the best thing that could have happened to his “legacy” as a “comedian”. (Term used loosely.)
P.P.S. He’s a FUCKING PUSSY. Yeah, I said it. And I have PERSONAL stories to back it up.
RE: P.P.S. – Insideman, please share your personal stories on Maher.
Okay, here’s ONE. (I could go on but I won’t.) I volunteered for years for a major Animal Sanctuary. One night we had a benefit in LA.
Since I am in the entertainment business, they made it my job to get the “celebrities” from the front of the building over to an area where they could be interviewed quickly and talk about the charity.
Of course it was raining (and anybody who lives in LA knows when it rains, it rains BUCKETS and for hours– sometimes DAYS– on end).
So here I am greeting Bill (I’d met him several times before). I had a big golf umbrella over his head even though I was completely uncovered in pouring rain. As I am walking him about 100 feet to the interview area– still not covered by an umbrella myself and holding the umbrella for Bill– he starts complaining really abusively and very loudly about the FUCKING WATER PUDDLES on the ground. He whined that the water was going to ruin his shoes and ruin his pants… He had somewhere else to be later that night and didn’t want wet shoes. (Mind you, all he had to do was walk around the puddles. It was NOT necessary to walk through them.)
He got so nasty about it that I finally stopped about halfway to the interview area and said, “Have you happened to notice I don’t have an umbrella on myself, you whiny midget? I’m dressed as nicely as you are, prick. Would your highness prefer I PICK HIM UP and carry him to the interview area like a LITTLE BABY?”
Needless to say, that was the last bullshit I heard from Bill that night. I even delivered him to the booth and said, “His Highness Has Arrived”, bowed and walked away.
Later that evening, I had the pleasure of walking Marina Sirtis to the interview area. She was beautiful, extremely charming and made a big production out of me being so kind. (I was just doing my “job”.) She sealed it by giving me a nice wet kiss on the lips. Later inside, she asked me to dance.
Yeah. Fuck You, Bill Maher.
Counselor Troi kissed you… on the lips?
You are now my god.
Yes she did. And I swear, I still remember what it feels like to this day. Too bad, she was married. Her husband was one lucky bastard.
I am thinking you may need this.
J.
You know it. 😉
Every male geek worth their salt had a thing for Marina Sirtis growing up. Especially with her uniform in the first couple of seasons. I was no different.
Now, if you told me Terry Ferrell or Nana Visitor kissed you then I would no choice but to bow to you.
J.
Or Ashley Judd, who played Ensign Robin Lefler in two episodes.
Or Chase Masterson, who played Leeta the Dabo girl.
Or Nicole deBoer, who had the cutest smile ever.
Did anyone watch tonight’s episode of True Blood? WTF was with that last scene?
I’ll watch it tomorrow so I’ll let you know then.
J.
spoilers kinda…………………..prob the most disturbing sex i have seen, ever….
Alright I’m out later folks
Philly holla!
All the good stuff happens after I log off to read some Trades!
😦
Read the Marvel Boy trade, Jose. It was everything you said it would be and more… Although, Marvel should be ashamed. The trade most MOSTLY reprints. I felt like Parker was rushed to get his excellent story finished in the 3 issues. If they were going to greenlight the mini, the “House of Ideas” should have allowed him 4 or 5 issues to tell HIS story– rather then they fill the trade with reprints.
I would really like to see a story where Parker sends Marvel Boy through time to save his Mom from the Nazis. That would be sweet.
I like killin’ Natzis!
This is somewhat related to the discussion above.
I find when I sit down for a marathon trade reading session, I like to read a couple of books from Marvel or DC– then jump to the independent trades to get away from the normal, telegraphed plots and hokum of the mainstream Big Two.
But after several of the independents– I find myself drawn to the mainstream stuff again… and I believe it is because of familiarity.
Almost every time I pick up a new independent trade, I have to start ALL OVER with a NEW UNIVERSE– with new characters, new locations, new lore… Everything new. (And that’s a LOT of NEW if you read as much as I do.) But picking up a Marvel & DC book is like walking in on a continuing soap opera. You know the people, the situations, the locations.
That’s why Jose’s hatred of Marvel’s current lack of continuity is so important to note.
I pick up a Bendis book– and just like Jose has pointed out several times– the characters are NOT acting like they do in their own titles… Hell, several of them don’t even seem to be displaying the same SET OF MORALS.
Suddenly I feel like I am back reading independent books again… Confused at the doppelgangers and their curious actions I see on the printed page before me… Wondering where the “regular” Marvel characters I have come to love & respect have gone.
Yeah, Bendis. You suck. Worse than a Black Hole, Dude.
Let me play devil’s advocate here. Though it is important to some degree to have consistency in character behavior it’s not always possible since too many creators use the character in question in very different stories. On the subject of continuity, not everyone reads every book put out by the publisher so to some extent the reader has to create their own continuity based on what books they do read. If readers try to place every single story into some time line they we will go mad.
Make your own continuity from what you read, you will be much happier for it.
Well, rush… I do read almost every book. (I know NOT everyone does this… By a long shot. Both they and their wallets are most likely better for this too.)
But I read every book Marvel reprints in a Hardcover or Trade format– except “Spider-Ham”. I don’t read “Spider-Ham”. Oh, and a couple of the “Marvel Adventures” titles– but they’re not supposed to be in continuity anyway.
My counter to your playing devil’s advocate:
THEY USED TO.
Writers used to be able to write their own stories and still play nice and acknowledge other writer’s feelings on the characters as well.
THEY USED TO DO IT ALL THE TIME.
Like Jose said– they don’t do this NOW because the Editors have lost the ability to rein in the “Higher Selling” writers. Used to be, you did whatever the Editor wanted or you hit the road no matter how many books you sold… But as Jose and Elliott have pointed out, Joey Q has allowed the rise of “Superstars” at the Marvel Kingdom– and these boys can’t– or won’t– be contained.
That’s why I laugh SO HARD when somebody like Millar cries something like, “I need to just do MY OWN BOOKS… So I can have ARTISTIC FREEDOM.”
Sure Mark, Marvel’s not going to publish a scene where you write Cap making out with the Falcon after a long day of Sweaty Villain Rasslin’™… You’ll have to do that with different teammates in your OWN BOOKS. But apart from shredding the image of Marvel’s characters to fit your own musings and/or fantasies… You have gotten and received MORE FREE REIGN in a CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT than most people can even dream of.
I believe I remember very distinctly that Peter David had said it would have been nice if somebody had at least given him a “heads up” that while he was writing She-Hulk to be ANTI-registration in her OWN book… That others were writing her as PRO-registration in the team books.
So, my mini-rant wasn’t a “nerd” thing or a geek nitpick. It was I guess, just a PLEA FOR PROFESSIONAL COURTESY. I have written here before that I don’t think the BIG FISH writers even bother consulting with the LITTLE FISH writers anymore. In fact, I think the BIG FISH writers think they are the ones that need to be consulted– even when they may only use another writer’s character for SIX PANELS in a story and RUIN or CONTRADICT everything the other writer may have been attempting to achieve in the character’s solo book in those six panels.
PROFESSIONAL COURTESY. That’s ALL I’m asking for.
P.S. This wasn’t aimed at you rush… I just took your post as an opportunity to explain my feelings on the matter further.
I take nothing personally man. 🙂
Those good old days you wrote about all long gone and they are not coming back. I was merely stating a way readers can deal with the situation in comics today. Not everyone reads everything published by any given company, you are a rare bird y friend. I see too many people not fully enjoying the books they read due to concerns about continuity among others.
As far as professional courtesy, sadly that doesn’t always exist. Companies don’t always care either. They will always favor the employee that has the potential to generate more profit. This is the nature of business.
So at the end of the day we are left with one question, what are we as consumer going to do about any of the issues we discuss here. I like this blog for the fact that posters here discuss issues with the comics industry intelligently but after bringing all of these issues to light what are we going to do? I for one am glad to see a lot of folks here have chosen to not buy the comics they have problems with anymore.
This is pretty much what my Bendis Rant is about this week. Avengers #2 was just too much bullshit for me to handle. Bendis writing his own continuity, Tony Stark not acting like Fraction’s Tony Stark AT ALL, how Bendis makes me hate my favorite Marvel character Spider-Man, how the issue from a story stand point was one of the worst train wrecks I have read this side of Nemesis and how if ANY other writer turned in the script that Bendis did for Avengers #2 they would be fucking LAUGHED out of this business. BUT the shit sells. It fucking sells and is the #1 book in the industry and that just angers me even more.
I even got to the point where I turned all “old man fanboy” and said stuff like “These are not MY Marvel characters in this Avengers book. These characters are a fucking mockery of what Kirby, Ditko, Lee and everyone else involved at the time created.”
There is NO MORE fucking respect for the work that has come before. That’s WHY there is no CONTINUITY anymore. Well, that and the fact that editor’s are too fucking scared to tell writers to “knock off the bullshit”. These big writers all think they can do better, they think they can fix shit that is not broken, they have egos that Zombies and zealots created, gift wrapped and presented to them like they are the second coming of Kirby. These writers NEVER earned the “respect” they think they have. Their “respect” is all manufactured by hype, by Newsarama, by CBR and by FUCKING Wizard. In this day and age companies can BUY respect FOR creators by using propaganda and everybody eats it it because NOBODY QUESTIONS anything anymore.
Sorry, this comment kinda took on a mind of it’s own. In short, I agree with you 110% Insideman.
J.
I get angry with the consumers more than the companies for the simple fact that it’s a company’s job to make the Cool Aid but we as consumers don’t have to fall all over ourselves to drink it.
I don’t think you can characterize what I am feeling as “anger’ toward anybody or any entity. Back in the day, I’ll admit it, I liked to watch “Beverly Hills 90210” every week. And no matter how bad it got, I kept watching it every week. (To be fair to myself, I think it was cause I was infatuated with a couple of the actresses on the show).
My point is, people buy/read/watch stuff for a whole HOST of reasons.
So, I am going to have to continue to blame the companies for the current state of comics– because if you like Spider-Man (which has ALWAYS been my favorite Marvel character too)– it is really not easy to stop reading Spider-Man… “Brand New Day” or not… Again, for a whole host of reasons.
Basically, the companies can produce GREAT COMICS that still sell really well. They just don’t always choose or care to. So, yeah… I’m gonna have to continue to put the “blame” back on the companies to step up their game… As their audience– by virtue of being collector based– is somewhat “captive” by its’ very nature.
Those readers that feel they can drop a title based on quality issues- SHOULD. If they don’t like what’s going on in Spider-Man and they can do without their Spidey fix… Then drop it for a few months. Like Elliott said in a one of the vids– you can always pick up the storyline in a trade later if you really miss reading it.
But you’re right, rush… Those of us that can forgo some of this “shit”– should. I have already culled several Independent Hardcovers and Trades from my list (from genres I just didn’t like or creators/books I just thought were too sub-par to continue to support)… Now it’s time to cull some of the Big Two’s books as well. Since I am behind all weekly readers (being a HC and GN reader), I’ll do it when Dark Reign is over and the so-called Heroic Age begins.
Meantime, I am extremely happy about the fact that MANY, MANY CCW Blog readers HAVE dropped titles that no longer entertain them… But, instead of using that money for a video game (or “Shrek 4” in 3-D)they’ve pledged to use their “left over” comic money to buy DIFFERENT books that they think they may like.
This means that creators who normally would NOT get a chance, now may find their sales increasing. It also means that comic stores won’t suffer lost sales… And that’s a great thing too.
One might think the numbers I’m discussing are too small to make a difference (CCW Blog Readers of CCW Video watchers) and I say respectfully, “No”. Some of Jose & Elliott’s vids are watched by over 1,000 people on YouTube alone. If half of those people stop buying a book that has monthly sales of 12,000 copies– that is a significant drop in sales. Plus, all movements have to start somewhere, right?
Exactly what I’m getting at. Complaining about something and not backing it up with action will only result in the complainer not being taken seriously.
We here at CCW like to practice redistribution of wealth…in a way. 🙂
J.
Jeph Loeb is the new Marvel VP of television.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=26892
Matthew
that explains why he was off Hulk.
Interesting. I guess this means he’s officially done with writing comics… for now, anyway.
THAT just made my cereal milk curdle.
Can’t wait for THE RULK animated series.
Pays to be best buds with Joey Q.
P.S. I love the announcement’s mention that Jeph wrote the HIT FILMS “Commando” and “Teen Wolf”. Hell, they’re REMAKING “Teen Wolf”– that how LAST MILLENNIUM that is.
(Thanks, Matthew!)
Just passing along the info to the CCW community & giving something for everyone to discuss.
Matthew
I wasn’t knocking you Matthew… I appreciate the “heads up.” Guess I won’t be needing to watch any new Marvel animation… Since Jeph was FIRED deom BOTH his Heroes and Lost jobs.
I bet he had to work hard to get fired from the writing staff of Heroes. Damn.
…fired from “both” his Heroes and Lost jobs… (Is what I meant to type.
No problem Insideman.
Matthew
oh god i will kill him if he messes up the avengers animated series coming up in september
On a happier note, I just finished reading Marvels for the first time. God damn that book ruled. Now I’m off to go re read kingdom come. Heyyyyo
THAT is time well spent, Friedmiester.
Well Marvels is a good warm up to Kingdom Come, the superior book.
I really enjoyed Earth X. Definitely one of my favorite reads.
http://www.icv2.com/articles/markets/17679.html
Look at #300, I am bewildered.
Damn! Donald Duck and Friends beat it. ouch. That sucks
Simple too much crap in the comics industry mainly from the big two. On the plus side, I preordered the American Vampire HC.
Matthew
Don’t be, rush.
That must have been a 2nd printing of #1… As American Vampire #3 came in at a VERY respectable #77 on the charts.
Ya I think you are right, good catch.
Oops. I didn’t see Insideman already beat me to the punch.
J.
Hey Rush. I believe that those American Vampire #1 sales are either reorders or the second print. American Vampire #3 which did come out that month was #77. The fact that issue one is still on the Top 300 list 2 months AFTER it’s release is a great thing.
J.
So just to add to the American Vampire discussion, I just started posting videos of my own on youtube and my first comic review included the newest American Vampire. I logged in today and was shocked to see that none other that Scott Snyder commented on my video, thanking me for supporting the book.
That was a pretty awesome thing that he did, its important for an upcoming creator to be connected with their fans.
ANyway just thought it was a cool story
That is cool.
How the Fuck is damn near 50,000 people reading the Hulk, what kind of world do I live in?
hey whats up guys? I found that buy.com is selling all the volumes of the Scott Pilgrim Series for 7.50 a piece. If your trying to read them before the movie comes out this might be the perfect opporunity they usually sell for $12 a piece. I just finished reading volume one it’s pretty good. Here’s the like if your interested also if your order is over $25 shipping is free
http://www.buy.com/umerch/q/querytype/book/store/3/als/3/loc/106/display/col/Scott%20Pilgrim.html