No Comic Reviews

I got nothin' this week. But to make up for this, and because I've been super busy and stressed over the last little while, I did order some stuff from Amazon. Just have to hope it gets to me soon.

One other thing I wanted to talk about was the whole kids/comics thing. After the Disney/Marvel thing happened I heard a couple people around me say "Good, maybe they'll make comics for kids again." After some questioning I've found that people are actually saying one of two things.

1. That all comics should be for kids (and that they were at some point) and adult readers should be pushed out (or at least shunned because they are reading stuff for kids). This really irks me but I don't know if it's worth while arguing with these people anyways, I doubt anything I have to say will change them from this mentality given how uninformed they are and how absolute they are that comics and adults don't mix. So I'll just bite my tongue and move on.

2. That there are no comics for kids. This one kinda bugs me too. And the truth is, I've come close to saying this in the past in saying that the North American comics industry does seem to be aimed mostly at older readers. But I think saying there are no comics for kids is also a mistake. Friends have recently asked me about comics for their kids and not knowing much about the options I had to do a bit of searching. But the truth is that I did quite easily find comics for kids. They may not feature prominantly at my local comic shops but they were there. So I send these friends off with some ideas, they take their kids to the stores, and sure enough they find some books for them. This leads me to respond to the initial group (the group complaining about no comics for kids) with questions like "Have you looked at Boom!'s Pixar stuff/Marvel Adventures/Tiny Titans/...?" Or "Have you actually taken your kids into a comic shop to have them look?" And the answers are generally very snarky and defensive which I guess my questions kinda lead to that. But in general I see that they don't actually try out the books with their kids and when they do bring them to the comic shops the parents tend to be more into shopping for themselves and not paying attention to stuff their kids might be interested in. And this is supported by what I tend to see at my local shops, parents bringing their kids in but it's only so they can pick up the latest Walking Dead TPB or something. The kids aren't even given a chance to look much less encouraged to check something out.

Of course this isn't all on the parents. I find my local shops aren't all that great for kids either. Their current customer base seems to be older so the stores stock more adult stuff so instead of cool toys a child may be interested in we get 12 inch statues of women showing off their underwear... Okay, that may be exaggerating to some degree but not by much. But can you really blame the stores? If parents aren't pushing for a kid friendly section/store then why bother changing?

And I find in the end, the comics that companies do try to put out for kids just don't seem to sell (especially around here) and get cancelled or not carried at all in my local shops. But can you blame them? If people aren't coming in to buy the children's merchandise they aren't going to carry them.

I guess in the end I'd say if you have children, and you want them to enjoy the comic experience, actually take the time to encourage it. Don't go to your local shop, scan the most recent comics seeing mostly adult aimed stuff, and call it a day complaining about the lack of children's material. It's out there, you just have to encourage it.

Weekly Comic Reviews for September 9th, 2009

Only two books for me this week. Actually, I only had one initially but I decided to pick up Hulk Team-Up even though I've made a point of not picking up all these one shots with the Hulk that are really not good in general. The story as to why I picked it up (skip if you don't care), I enjoy watching Comic Book Club on YouTube so when I heard that Alex actually got to write a story in this book I was tempted. Then, after watching the video they made of it where they talked a lot about how cool it all is, to get the artwork from the artist, to see your name on a comic, etc. And I thought "yeah, that kind of excitement should be encouraged. I will pick it up." So I'll start with...

Hulk Team-Up #1 -- As a disclaimer, I've grown really tired of these rather useless one-shots/specials so I didn't go into this with much hope. The first story was your standard one-shot/special story, with a few things happening to lead to the attempt at an emotional ending with profound words. Having said that, it wasn't bad, it was a decent story and the art was pretty good. The second story (Alex's story) was also pretty reminiscent of second one-shot stories of the past in that it wasn't all that great either. The writing was a bit clunky (and downright silly at times, and the sillyness didn't seem to work for me) and the art had me flashing back to the 90's/Rob Liefeld wannabe stuff at times. As someone who hasn't written before Alex did an okay job but I think his inexperience showed. It wasn't really that bad, it just wasn't that good. And in all, it reinforces my thinking that these one-shots usually aren't worth the money. If you're really looking for something to read, I can think of worse things, but I wouldn't really recommend going out to get it.

Elephantmen #21 -- So we knew MAPPO wasn't done with the "Elephantmen" but things are not looking good here. The artwork by Boo Cook is awesome, the action scenes really show off the intensity. This is just the first issue of this storyline so it's a little early to judge where it's going. On the one hand, it seems like a simple idea but on the other, it makes sense and leads to some interesting possibilities. I'm also thinking this issue could serve as a good jumping on point for new readers. I'm really trying not to sound like a broken record but this series continues to be one of my favourites. And I guess that's all I have to say.

I also checked out this month's Zuda competitors. To be honest, nothing really stood out for me yet. I may have to through them again. But it's okay, between the comics I currently read on Zuda, DrunkDuck and Transmission X I have enough webcomics to keep me busy for now.

Weekly Comic Reviews for September 2, 2009

Still fighting this stupid head cold so a couple quick reviews and then it's back to napping.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28 -- I've been a little down on this series as of late, this issue seemed pretty good though. Though admittedly, I could be biased due to the fact that I really just want this series to be good. There were some downs to this issue, the dialogue still seemed awkward at times though I think it was less noticeable as it wasn't intertwined with action sequences. The art was a bit hit or miss with moments I was left saying "That's ???" Or maybe it was the big character moments we have here that distracted me from the bad stuff. It's the same old story it seems, I like the big picture and the overall story, even if the individual issues may not be doing it for me.

Invincible presents Atom Eve collected edition -- I hadn't read this two issue series when it first came out (I read Invincible via TPB and didn't even know about these books). It's your standard solid Invincible writing with a mix of humour, emotion, and action (with probably most of the emphasis being on emotion). The overall story didn't really seem all that "new" and you kinda knew where it was going but it was still worth reading it to see how everything fell into place. If you're reading Invincible and didn't pick this up you really should.

So that's it, back to the couch for more nappy time for me. Cheers!

Another delay

Due to a really nasty head cold and deadlines at work I haven't been able to make it down to pick up my comics (I think I had one this week). But it's the long weekend coming up so I'm hoping to get some reading, drawing, and blogging done. I know I'll never get as much done as I'd like but I have to aim big.

Fan Expo Canada 2009

I got back from Toronto last night after a very hectic few days in Toronto at Fan Expo Canada 2009. Here's a rundown of some of the highs and lows for me.


Friday
- Met Caanan, Andy Belanger, and some of the guys from Transmission X in person. Great bunch of guys. The Webcomics 101 panel was lots of fun (and I'm happy to say that no mice were eaten). Though by the end of the con I think they'd had enough of me dropping by. :) By the end of the weekend I had sketches from both Caanan and Andy.


- Got to meet Darwyn Cooke briefly, he was on the top of my list for artists I wanted to see. I was tempted to get a full sketch from him as the ones he was doing were amazing but unfortunately it would have broke my budget (not that they were that much but I placed myself on a fairly tight budget). He was kind enough to sign my sketch book with a quick Green Lantern doodle instead.

- Friday was mostly just trying to figure things out and waiting with my brother in line for autographs or autograph/photo tickets.


Saturday
- Got to meet Bruce Campbell for an autograph and photo. He was everything I expected and more, he was quite the character playing around during the photo shoot. I ended up looking like a dork but my brother's photo came out awesome! It was definitely the highlight of my weekend.

- Photo with Lou Ferrigno, some people were saying he wasn't as big (muscle-wise) as they were expecting but the guy is still ripped. And he towers over my brother and I in the photo (though that isn't too hard, we come from a very short family).

- Accidentally ripped off J.Bone of $25 when purchasing an awesome sketch of the Hulk. Stupid mistake on my part and I still feel guilty about it but he seemed cool with it... Or he just wanted to get rid of me, who knows. :)

- Went to the Bachalo versus Maleev sketching duel where they both did Dr Doom "sketches". Both were awesome but I think I preferred Maleev's. It was really entertaining as both were lots of fun.

- Saw Dale Keown (a favourite artist of mine that I didn't think was coming) sketching. His sketches were unbelievable with so much detail being put into each one. I was tempted to get one but opted to ask him to just sign my sketch book (I know, just getting a page autographed may seem like a weird thing to get done but oh well). I also got to tell him that I thought Darkness/Pitt #1 was great.

Sunday
- Photo with Leonard Nimoy. He was friendly despite it being a very busy and long weekend. The picture came out really nice too.

- Sienkiewicz versus Manapul sketching duel. This duel was also lots of fun. Both had good interaction with the crowd. We were kinda wondering about Sienkiewicz as he seemed to be talking a lot and not drawing, yet he was done his Hellboy sketch (which they both decided to draw) in no time. Even Manapul (who was spending more time drawing, not that he wasn't also talking) seemed surprised that he was done in such a short time. Both artists were done quickly and did Joker sketches next (Sienkiewicz deciding to do a two pager with the Joker's lower jaw on a second page so you could slide the pages together to make him laugh). Then they decided to do a third sketch with Manapul drawing the Flash and Sienkiewicz doing Elektra. All of the work was great. I really wish that I could have won at least one in the draws but oh well.

- Sunday was mostly doing a last pass through the floor, picking up a sketch or two, and other more relaxed stuff as it wasn't so busy, and saying good bye to the friends I met.

- While waiting for my plane I ended up sitting in the lounge area next to Avery Brooks and seeing Dan Didio (at least it looked a heck of a lot like him and he had a DC Comics bag) waiting while their plane was delayed. I didn't bother either of them but one guy decided to take some photos of Avery while hiding behind a pillar.

Overall
- The place was nuts. I heard they ended up having to lock the doors to the building on Saturday as there were too many people in there at once. I can believe it, walking the floor on Saturday was crazy and the lines for Bruce Campbell and Leonard Nimoy were huge. People that have gone in previous years seemed surprised by the crowds.

- When I told people this was my first big con (though some wouldn't consider it that big) they warned me about a couple things, one was the costumes. I knew what to expect so it wasn't a big deal. Some costumes were great, some weren't so great, but if they're having fun then that's all that matters. I would suggest some should re-consider their costumes though, walking around the floor inside a huge cardboard box can be really uncomfortable for you and the people you are constantly hitting/blocking with your outfit. Yes, there were the women in the more revealing costumes (body paint in some cases) getting swarmed for photos and to each their own I suppose. I did find it funny when some young female anime/manga fans dressed up as some sort of furry animals decided to try to mock the Bruce Campbell fans in the photo line holding mock chainsaws and other weapons.

- The organization seemed to leave something to be desired. People had no clue where to go and the volunteers we asked were often more clueless than us. People with non-VIP passes were being told to wait in the VIP line only to be sent to the back of the other line an hour later while VIP pass holders were being told the wrong way to go. And the autograph/photo ticket process for Nimoy and Campbell was throwing a lot of people off, especially for people who ended up having to wait in the autograph line for an hour to buy a photo ticket. I could go on into other stuff but in the end, it was confusing as all heck for a newbie like me (and many veterans from what I understand).

- One thing I learned, be friendly to those around you. Friends I met while waiting in line for one thing (like the Bruce Campbell photo) ended up helping us later in getting his autograph (which they had some sort of ticket, then numbered ticket, then sticky noted numbered ticket, process to it that we only knew about it through a new found friend, I like to think we paid him back by holding his place in line if he needed to leave for food or whatever else).

Honestly, so much happened over the last three days that I'll probably be posting stuff I forgot for the next little while. It was a great time.

Weekly Comic Reviews for August 26th, 2009

I'll try to make this quick, I still have a lot of packing and some laundry (yes, I said laundry) to do and I have to be up really early for my flight tomorrow. Oh yeah, did I mention I was going to Fan Expo Canada? Of course I did but I'll mention it again. I'm really looking forward to my first big (relatively speaking) convention.

Darkness/Pitt #1 -- It's been a long time coming but it finally started. I didn't really get into the Darkness but I'm a fan of Dale Keown and Pitt. The set up is a pretty simple one that I won't get into. Maybe there's more to the story than what we got but there's a page or two of dialogue that's a basic "here's what's happening, let's get moving". So far, it's no in depth story telling. It's "let's just get these characters together and get on with it." And I'm okay with that. And the art is beautiful. I kinda wished it was larger than a regular comic because some pages Dale just puts so much into. The character chemistry was interesting as well. No doubt, I couldn't wait for issue 1 and now I can't wait for issue 2.

The Incredible Hulk #601 -- Pak is back writing the Incredible Hulk (or should it be "Banner and Son") so I'm back reading a Hulk book. We have Banner showing off his smarts in several areas, Amadeus makes an interesting observation about Bruce, we even have an amazing link to Tales to Astonish #60/61. Solid art, good story, told well. I'm happy. I guess the only negative for me is the whole "8 smartest people" thing, I'm getting rather tired of that.

Son of Hulk #14 -- I had been enjoying this series since Jenkins took over but this issue was closer to being "just okay" for me. I think the further it goes from the characters I've known for a while (Silver Surfer/Galactus being the main ones) the more I find myself losing interest. It's not a bad book, just not a must read in my mind. I just don't find the new characters developing in my mind and we're having more and more characters thrown at us on this planet they're now on. I'm still curious to see where it's going but that curiosity may not last too much longer.

Runaways #13 -- I really liked Immonen's first issue (or two) but I think it's been sliding for me since then. This issue continued that slide. In terms of writing, I'm just not into the story, the dialogue and the flow seem weird and off throughout, and the art just isn't doing it for me. The purplish pages where everyone is darkened out, the lack of backgrounds throughout with no real establishing shots, it's just not working for me. Honestly, when I finished this book my first thought was "Okay, one more issue to go for this storyline and then that's it for me." Then I read that it seems the book will be going on hiatus for a while. So maybe I'll wait and see what happens there.

Well, off to do some ironing and finish packing. I don't think I'll get the opportunity to be around (here or on twitter) during the expo so I'll have to report in next week.

More Miscellaneous Comic Ramblings (from Twitter)

Being the lazy person I am (and probably pretty annoying as well) I figured I'd write up a quick set of ramblings about stuff I've seen on Twitter recently. Sorry if I don't give credit to the people who passed along the info to me, I'll try to give credit where I can though.

First up, Ernesto Priego has a lot to say about this article about the internet being good or bad for high end artists. Now I don't have the business savvy to really say how things are going to turn out for comic artists/companies. I think there's no doubt the internet is changing things and companies may find themselves falling behind and the issues are plenty. But in terms of web comics (I'm using this term for comics generated for the web and not print comics scanned in) I do have to wonder where things are going.

Now I'm going off topic from the original article so bare with me if you will. For people looking to make a living from comics jumping into the web comic arena can be seen as a logical step. To get your work out there you simply have to do it and post it, there are plenty of sites you can post to or you can build your own site. This probably won't get you discovered though and this is where you have to do the self promotion thing. But in the end, you have to look at making money. Now I've never tried but my understanding is that advertising revenue just won't do it and you have to look elsewhere. Selling print versions or merchandise seem to be the top choices in my mind. But then I start to wonder, what is your primary product? Is it the webcomic and are the for sale items a way for people to support your comic? Or are those sale items the real product and your webcomic is just a way to hook them? Is your webcomic really just a promotional tool for your merchandise? And does it matter?

Getting back to the article, in the end I don't really see the internet as good or bad for all artists necessarily. It will be good for those who find ways to take advantage of it and bad for those who don't. But that's probably just me.

My second rambling comes from this post on the term "graphic novel". I know it's not a new discussion but it's still ongoing. Yes, I've used the term and I generally feel bad doing so. I don't like it and yes, I often get odd looks from people (especially non-comic people who instantly think it's a novel with lots of sex and violence, and then seem to get more weirded out when they find out it's a comic I'm reading). The problem for me is that no other term really gets the point across. I know, it's a comic and most of what I call "graphic novels" were originally a comic series collected in one volume but if I say I'm reading a comic called "Watchmen" people seem to assume I'm collecting a series of books. But now that I think of it, perhaps that's probably the way to go because non-comic people seem to be confused no matter which way I go. Okay, I've decided, they're all comics.

Lastly, Nancy Lorenz posting this "25 Essential Expressions Challenge" to fill out when designing a character (good for new characters or artists taking over a book). This seems like a great idea. I'm hoping to see some examples with a "pouty" Batman or a drunk Superman. And what to do with fully masked characters like Spidey or Iron Man? :P

No reviews yet

I haven't been able to get to my local comic shop this week so no reviews yet. Though, I'm not sure I'll have any even when I do get out there as I don't think I had any books come out this week.

I did read the latest volume of Invincible (which ends prior to the crossover and Conquest stories). I must admit that it wasn't my favourite volume of the series. It seemed like too many new storylines and characters were thrown in there pushing aside the main storylines that I felt needed to be progressed. I'm definitely expecting more out of the next volume, the trouble is avoiding the spoilers while waiting until it comes out (currently listed for March I believe but I'm expecting it to be pushed back like the last few were).

Weekly Comic Reviews for August 12th, 2009

None of my regular books came out this week but since I didn't want to go home empty handed I picked up the new Ultimate Avengers or whatever it's called. I won't do a full review but it's a step up from where it was (both in writing and art in my mind). I have to admit, I'm tempted but I won't be adding it to my pull list. Though I may consider the TPB if I continue to hear good things about it. I also have the latest Walking Dead and Fables TPBs to read.

In other comic review news, I have been getting a few recommendations for webcomics I might be interested in so I may as well post about the ones I've enjoyed. To be honest, I haven't had a chance to look through too many of them (why do vacations always seem so busy, I guess I just had too much stuff piled up waiting for my time) but two I wanted to mention are Melody and Smash.

I wasn't sold on Melody during the competition stage but reading it now that it's done it is a very well done story. I was expecting something much darker out of it but was pleasantly surprised as the events unfolded.

Smash is simply a fun comic with a good balance of action, humour, and a nice level of seriousness to it. The art has a lot of character and the action scenes are really fun. I'm looking forward to seeing how they end season 1.

Hopefully by next week's reviews I'll have had a chance to look over some more of the suggestions I've received.

Weekly Comic Reviews for August 5th, 2009

Only one book this week...

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 #27 -- I've said it before, I'm a fan of Whedon, I'm a fan of Buffy, and I really want to be a fan of this series. I still am for the most part, it is Buffy after all, but my enjoyment is wavering. I had some minor complaints about last issue and this one didn't seem any better really. I didn't really find the character dialogue and interaction as interesting as what I'm used to from Buffy and it just seemed to be a lot of rambling dialogue. Other than some interaction between Oz and Willow, all the dialogue just seemed like it could have come from anyone and it didn't really seem to matter. The first scene with Twilight seems confusing as in one panel Warren seems to speak as though Twilight is no longer in the room yet he's shown to be 3 feet away in the next panel. The overall story I'm still into, Twilight seems interesting and magic being Buffy et al's achilles heal is kinda cool, but the execution seems to leave quite a bit to be desired. I'm hoping the next couple issues of this storyline get better but I'm not holding my breath. I just hope it gets back on track with the next storyline.

"Constructive" Criticism

I'm often torn about offering up what I would consider constructive criticism or critiques for webcomic creators or artists. The first issues I have revolve around me. First off I realize my "criticisms" are only really personal opinions of what may or may not have worked for me. And on top of that, I (and many others I know) can come off rather preachy or overly negative, especially when offering up criticisms. And let's face it, I don't always know what I'm talking about (I'd say it's about 50/50).

Beyond that, I know a lot of creators really don't want to hear the negatives, especially from a "nobody" like me. What helps in this case is going back and looking at how the creators dealt with what I consider fair criticisms in the past. If they are met with "Well let's see you do better?" or "Your art sucks too!" or some other attack from the creator I know to just walk away, because obviously this is the so far beyond me that I can't appreciate the creators' talents and in fact, it's so good that it will never get any better. It's especially annoying though when these people ask for criticism saying they want to improve and then reacting negatively to it (ie. their call for criticism was really just a call for more people to check out their work and pat them on the back). Quick tip, if you're going so far as to ask for a critique of your work actually take the time to understand the negatives, digest them, and take a minute to really think about whether they apply or not. Never dismiss them outright.

So in the end, I hold my tongue. The odd time, if I've gotten to know the creator a bit or they've asked for some criticisms I may offer up a "maybe you could pull out every now and then to set the scene" or "you may want to avoid having the letter bubbles cover up your characters" or "didn't that guy have a beard on the last page?" but that's about it. That's probably for the best though, I haven't gotten into an internet rumble in quite some time and I like having my own little part of the web where nobody criticizes me or says anything negative. ;)

Comic Book Solicits

I'm noticing that comic book solicits, especially those from the "big two" companies, just aren't doing it for me. I know they have to go out there to try and get people's attention but I just keep seeing "The universe will never be the same after the shocking events of this issue" and I just find it hard to care. I figure that either the events will not be that shocking (or universe altering), or things will only last until the next "shocking event" 6 months down the road (and sometimes that next "shocking event" will just be the writer forgetting or ignoring the previous "shocking events"), or that the "shocking event" means they'll be taking a book/character/universe I like and changing it into something I won't. Though it's possible they'll change things to a positive but I might as well wait and see (reading spoilers online) to see, and picking up the TPBs if I eventually change my mind.

I guess I'm just getting too pessimistic about things, which is probably why I'm staying away from a lot of the monthlies and maybe picking them up in TPB if I hear good things after the fact. But that's just me, I know a lot of the books I don't care for and "shocking events" are selling really well.

Weekly Comic Reviews for July 29th, 2009 -- SPOILER

These will be quickies, I'm a little under the weather so I'm eager to get back to bed.

Son of Hulk #13 -- I kinda went into this book expecting not to like it. I'm usually not into space stories, especially when they don't even feature characters I'm into. I also expected that this new "Son of Hulk" would either be someone just claiming the title or an actual son that nobody seemed to know about (which would seem odd to me, you'd think at least Caiera would have realized something before now). So I found a few bumps in this issue but overall, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It may have felt a little clumsy in parts as it tries to build up its own story but it was a decent enough start. So I'll be sticking it out for at least a few more issues to see where it goes.

The Stuff of Legend #1 -- I didn't get a chance to pick up the Free Comic Book Day book but I did see it online and ordered this shortly after. First up, the art is great for the most part. The style really fits the book well. There were a few times where I felt the layouts could have been a bit better, like some shots maybe could have been pulled back a bit and at least once I missed who was talking as the speech bubble seemed to be pointing to a blacked out figure in the foreground that I couldn't make out. The dialogue also seemed a bit off and clunky at times. Having said that, the presentation did work and the story is very intriguing with some interesting elements and twists to it. I'm really looking forward to issue 2.

Okay, maybe those weren't as short as I had hoped. :)

Comic Con and Digital Comics (more ramblings)

So another Comic-Con is done and gone. I guess one of the perks of not going is I can follow all the stuff online through various websites while people there won't be able to make every panel and won't find out some things until they get home (or at least to a place where they can go online). Yeah, that's the story I'll be sticking to (until I get to Comic Con myself).

There were some pretty big announcements (MarvelMan was the biggest for me as I've been wanting the Moore and Gaiman stuff back in print for a long long time and I hope this is the first step in making it happen) and some interesting looking panels (Iron Man 2 panel looked pretty cool and the Guild panel seemed fun and filled with interesting developments there). But the negative discussions linger, has Comic Con gotten too big? Is it still "Comic" Con? What about the "little man/publisher/stores"? Should deodorant/Febreeze be handed out (or sprayed out) at the doors? Okay, that last one is a bit more of a stretch.

Now as someone who has never been to Comic Con (or any big convention) I'm not the best person to answer any of these but in my mind, maybe it's gotten too big for some people. But really, what can you do? As was pointed out on Valerie D'Orazio's blog, the studios and such see the "geek community" as a place to get ideas (for now) and to try and build a fan base by promoting their scifi/fantasy movies (and some that barely touch on anything sci-fi or fantasy). A big Comic Con appearance can build quite a bit of buzz. Do you really want to start drawing a line on who is and who isn't allowed at Comic Con, especially when a large amount of people have shown they want them there or the panels wouldn't be as busy as they were. Or is the problem you want the companies and the celebrities but don't want the crowds?

As for the little man/publishers/stores, I agree, it sucks. The big companies can throw around their money, grab more space, and make it impossible for these other companies to pay for their own space. It would be nice if the competition could happen on a slightly more level playing field. But then again, Comic Con may be "the" con but it's not the only one. Smaller companies do have their chances to get in there. Get talent on some of the panels, doing workshops, get artists into Artist Alley, etc. I know I just don't understand the problem or I'm being too insensitive to people trying to make a living, but I think there's a lot of routes inside and out of Comic Con for these people.

Is it still "Comic" Con? Perhaps not. Perhaps it's more like the upcoming Fan Expo Canada convention in Toronto which is actually 5 conventions (comics, sci fi, horror, anime, and gaming) merged into one. But Comic Con still has its roots in comics and it's still "the" convention for comic professionals so I think it still has that. And in the end, I think it'll continue as Comic Con even if/when the other stuff dries up.

But as for the "digital comics" part of this post, yet again I hear announcements of comics/media coming out for iPhone or XBox or whatever. Every time I hear these I kinda wince. As someone who doesn't own an iPhone or XBox or whatever I don't really like it when content is made for these, especially content that I'd like to see. But that's just the hit I have to take for not owning them. I just hope that people making stuff for those either have a plan for eventually moving the media off them or know that they're limiting their audience a bit (and could take a hit if they rely on technology that disappears... not really a problem for iPhone or XBox though). But that does highlight a positive of print comics, your audience doesn't need the latest gadget to read it.

Weekly Comic Book Reviews for July 22nd, 2009 -- SPOILERS

A whopping two books this week. And since I anticipate being swamped at work tomorrow, here goes. I'll only be posting one full review (and it'll be pretty short), you'll see why...

Runaways 3 #12 -- I have to admit, I was a little underwhelmed by this issue. The good: We get a bit more of the story about what's going, always a good thing. Some of the art was good. The bad: The story seemed to jump around a bit too much and at bad times. The dialog seemed a little too awkward at times. I honestly could not tell what was going on for the first few pages, I'm thinking they were trapped under the plants and such but all I saw was a blank purple background. Was I missing something? Because even the people outside of wherever the Runaways were seemed to be standing in front of a purple background. At least it ended on a decent cliff hanger. But in the end, I really felt let down by it.

Incredible Hulk #600 -- Yeah, I bought it. I'll admit, part of it was the "600" hoopla and part of it was the blurbs I've heard about Pak's Incredible Hulk series coming out of this issue. Right off the bat I was irked by She-Hulk's constant use of "Banner", she's his cousin, she calls him Bruce. And I really don't want to spend any more time on Loeb's Hulk stuff. Despite this issue being somewhat better in some regards, I still think his run has been really really bad (I'm trying not to go overboard so I'll leave it at that). The Stan Lee story was silly but I expected nothing less from him. The Hulk Gray, well that was just out of place. It's Hulk #600, give us new material instead of revisiting Loeb's other Hulk stuff. And to put in just issue #1 of a 6 issue series seems wrong to me. Put something in that stands on its own, not a teaser to make people buy that series. Honestly, I just couldn't have even been bothered to read the "new She-Hulk"/Lyra story. I might eventually but not tonight.

All in all, a pretty disappointing week for me comic wise.

Weekly Comic Reviews for July 17th, 2009

And I got none. Yep, no books came out for me this week. I don't even have any TPBs sitting around on my "to read" pile. It's kinda sad really.

Speaking of TPBs, DC's The New Frontier is a pretty awesome two books (for those of us buying the two volume TPB version). There were times where I found myself slightly lost at parts, not being a big DC reader and not recognizing some of the characters I'm meant to, and other times I had a feeling of some story elements being "been there, done that" in other stories but as a whole, it was really great storytelling. I've seen it ranked pretty high on people's lists of "Top X Graphic Novels/Stories" and I think it's deserving of that praise.

So I guess that's it for reviews. See ya!

Comics I'm reading

I keep talking to people and trying to list the comics I read either monthly, in TPB, or on the web (ie. webcomics, I don't download). Mostly I just want to keep an eye on my buying trends. One problem is I keep forgetting one or two every time I try to list them. So here goes an attempt to write them down (figured I'd share if anyone was interested)...

"Monthly": Skaar, Elephantmen, Runaways, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'll be adding "Incredible Hulk", "Son of Hulk", and the Darkness/Pitt crossover when they start up.


TPB or collected: Powers, Fables, Invincible, Astounding Wolf-Man, Walking Dead, Ex Machina, Locke & Key, and Mouse Guard.


Webcomics (yes, you'll notice a lot of these are on Zuda or have a connection to Zuda): Night Owls, I Rule the Night, High Moon, Bayou, Celadore, Sam & Lilah, and Araknid Kid.

Some webcomics I'm not necessarily sold on but I'm checking out: Lily of the Valley, The Hammer, Bottle of Awesome, and Raising Hell.

And there are a few on DrunkDuck that I may go through in another post.

So yeah, the webcomic list seems to be growing. The "monthlies" went down recently and will go back to the 6/7 range when the new books start up. And the TPB is around that mark as well plus I buy the odd other non-continuing series (like DC's The New Frontier or Joker).

Most of my webcomics tend to be from Zuda and from DrunkDuck as those were two communities that seemed enticing to me. Other sites I've tried just haven't felt as inclusive and I'm just not a big fan of keeping a list of various URLs for each webcomic for the privately hosted ones. I know I could do some of them in a feed or whatnot (to let me know when they update) but I just can't seem to be bothered to do it. I guess I'm just weird that way.

Zuda

It may not be worth posting (as people who read this blog post probably have seen this already) but just in case...

David Gallaher shared a tip on how to improve Zuda's load time.

As for this month's competition, there are some interesting competitors there of good quality but I had a hard time finding one that really stood out as something I'd follow. And so far, I think Vigilante Granny may be getting my vote (and yes, I know that as I type this it is currently sitting in last place... My vote seems to be the kiss of death yet again).

As for the other competitors, you never know with me. There are some winners I didn't vote for that eventually won me over (or at least have kept me interested). Lately I've been keeping an eye on The Hammer and the new instant winner, Bottle of Awesome. Not sure I'm exactly sold on either series but I'm keeping up with them.

Marvel 70th Anniversary Variants

So Marvel is doing 70th Anniversary variant covers with character borders and the X-Men ones have been released. When I first heard about Marvel's plan to do the border on books as part of their 70th Anniversary I kinda liked it(as someone who collected comics the last time they did these borders with their characters). Now that I know it's only on the variant coversit's sorta meh because I ain't paying the extra money for them. Or if they're 50/50 I'm still just "meh" because I don't like multiple covers in general.

A few quick comments:
- Liefeld's isn't horrible. Sure, it's not great and you can find stuff wrong with it but for Liefeld, that's pretty darn good.

- I don't like Land's (of course), Rogue's body just looks weird to me with her big chest and shoulders, skinny arms, legs, waist, and no butt.

- Why is the Red Hulk there??? Unless Loeb is doing a switcheroo, he's the only villain on that border. And in my opinion, he doesn't deserve to be part of the 70th Anniversary stuff. Maybe if there was a second villains edition put him on that. But perhaps that's just my hatred of the character/story/writing coming through.

Weekly Comic Reviews for July 10, 2009

A whopping one book this week for me. But I also got the two volumes of "DC: the New Frontier" to read so don't cry for me. :)

Elephantmen War Toys: Yvette (or whatever the official title is) -- If you've been reading my blog you'll know I like the Elephantmen series a lot. And looking back, I think the War Toys mini-series may be my favourite books of the series (by "series" I'm just going with all the Elephantmen books whatever title they go under). I had mixed feelings about going back there. On the one hand I really enjoyed that series so I'd like to see more but on the other hand, I was a little worried it wouldn't fit in with the original. After reading this issue, I feel silly for even thinking that. This issue fits in amazingly well and is a great Yvette story. It builds on the character, filling in a bit more of the story that didn't make it into the original War Toys series. I don't really know what else to say, I just really enjoy this series issue after issue.

Weekly Comic Reviews for July 2nd, 2009 -- SPOILERS

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 -- If you've been reading my blog for any length of time you'll know I'm a Joss fan, a Buffy fan, and a fan of this series (though I've felt some issues were stronger than others). This book felt mixed for me. The positives, the Twilight story is picking up steam after being dragged out for quite a while. Characters are coming together and acting in typical Joss fashion (witty and with plenty of issues). And we're seeing some of the previous stories (like Buffy's trip to the future) coming up again. The negatives, I felt like I was playing catch up right out of the gate here. After some length of time with slower issues I was left wondering "wait, what's happening now???" after only the first few pages. And this issue felt cramped with just too much going on. There was no time spent on what was going on, the story relied on the characters to tell you what was going on as there wasn't enough room for the art to do so and other times perhaps the art could have been stronger. Characters were jumping through emotions, seemingly rushed if the dialogue is to believed but not really rushing in the art, ... Overall, it just felt a little too rushed in several ways. And (SPOILERS HERE) I wouldn't have recognized the character at the end if he hadn't been put on the cover. In the end, I kinda liked the issue for the overall story but I think it could have been executed slightly better. I still recommend the series for Buffy fans out there.

USA Comics #1 70th Anniversary Special -- Picked this up on a whim, mostly because David Gallaher was promoting it due to the art being done by his High Moon artist, Steve Ellis (at least for the main/first part. Breaking it up in three parts, the first story was very good. It had a feel of the old stories and was well drawn by Ellis. It was definitely worth checking out. The second story was a reprint of an old Destroyer story. I find it always interesting to go back to see just how old school comics were done and how they hold up to today's comics. This one held up pretty well in my opinion but still has its share of campy/silly moments or panels. The last story was a short intro to another book which I generally dislike, and this one felt a little out of place here and didn't really get me all that interested in the series it was promoting. Overall though, the book is pretty solid and probably worth checking out.

Happy 4th of July!

Comic Reviews Update

My reviews will be delayed, probably until the weekend, due to family visiting from out of town (and maybe a little to do with Canada Day).

The Vicious Circle of Life (of Comic Book Reviews)

So a reviewer posts a very negative review of a book that some people love, the fans of that book go on the offensive attacking the reviewer, the reviewer decides to attack back, which leads to the fans to attack that attack, etc, etc, yadda yadda yadda and all that.

That's what I like about my blog, nobody reads it so I don't have to worry about anyone giving a crap about (or knowing about) what I say.

Actors and Comics

It's not really new but every time I see an actor (or some other type of Hollywood person) putting out a comic I kinda wonder if they're really into doing comics or is it something else? Especially when their main characters look exactly like them. With Hollywood's current obsession with comics (and sci fi/fantasy) it almost feels like they are trying to get a comic going so they can go back to the money people in Hollywood and say "See, this comic has a following, comic movies are huge, so you should make this into a movie/TV show." And of course, with the character looking just like them they are the obvious choice to cast.

I know I'm just being cynical and I'm sure they have what they consider great story ideas and comics give them an affordable way of getting those stories out there (very affordable in comparison to a movie or TV show). Or others really are fans of the medium and have wanted to write comics for a while. And making the characters look like them helps sell it, people walking into a store will recognize their face on the cover and possibly pick it up because of that. Some of them may just be lending their likeness out there for a paycheck or because they think it would be cool to be in a "superhero comic". And maybe I'm just being a territorial geek, not wanting "outsiders" who aren't real comic fans working in the industry.

Or maybe it's a little of everything.

Or maybe I'm just really tired and rambling on like...

... like ...

...

What was I saying again?

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 24th, 2009 -- SPOILERS

First up, I'll try to keep the SPOILERS to a minimum but if you don't want to know anything about what happens in Skaar or Runaways this week, stop reading now!

Skaar #12 -- It's happened, Skaar met his father (sorta... briefly... maybe... kinda). Well, he met the Hulk but not the "Green Scar/Planet Hulk/World War Hulk" Hulk but the standard "stupid" Hulk as has been seen lately (though seemingly written slightly more intelligent) who doesn't remember Sakaar (this is all touched on in the book). But enough recapping, this issue was good. The art was pretty solid and the story flowed well. It was cool to see a well written green Hulk. And the fight had some great moments. But it also felt like a bit of a tease. Skaar didn't seem into it as he saw the Hulk as a "clown". So the Hulk pummels him a bit. Though I found the ending interesting, Skaar cleaning up a mess that their fight created much like the Hulk has often done through his life. And we also get to see what's going on with Galactus which was somewhat unexpected for me. So good writing, good art, and a really good book. I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes in the Incredible Hulk 601. I'll be checking out the Son of Hulk book to see but at the moment, I have a feeling I might start to lose interest in it. The whole space/Galactus/Silver Surfer scene has never really been a big pull for me. But we'll see.

Runaways Vol3 #11 -- The new creative team of Kathryn Immonen and Sara Pichelli hit the ground running here and they do so with a bang. The cover outlined that one will die, one will return, and you have to expect it from this book but I didn't think it would happen so quickly and that I'd be hit by it as much as I was (if it does actually play out this way...). In short, I was really happy with this issue. The pace seems to have been picked up with a lot happening. The characters are their usual selves (children dealing with major life/superhero problems while dealing with kid problems as well). The only thing I did find weird was a single page break away from the main story, that could have been maybe spread out to give the reader a bit more of an idea what's going on there. The end also left me with a feeling of "what the heck just happened?" but I'm pretty sure that was what they were going for, or I'm just really missing something obvious. All in all, I liked the art, I liked the writing, it was a great issue. I'm really looking forward to this storyline.

I also picked up the latest issue of Wizard. I have to go through it again but I found myself skipping most of it on my first pass. I guess as my tastes move away from the mainstream Marvel/DC stuff, not to mention my moving to TPBs for some books which means I have to avoid articles about books like Invincible, this is going to happen. Though I nearly ripped the magazine in half when I saw Bruce Jones listed in the top 10 Hulk creators.

And I'm hoping to have more interesting stuff posted soon. I have some webcomic stuff I'd like to talk about (what webcomics, old and new, I'm checking out), Longbox digital comics, and reading comics on various devices. But all that'll have to wait for now.

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 17th, 2009

I'm continuing to see my monthly comic purchases decline. Although I had three books this week one of them is ending and another I'm dropping after this issue. This may mean I'll be going to the comic shop less frequently and possibly posting less (if that's even possible) or trying to find other stuff to post about (like starting to review more webcomics and TPBs I'm reading). But we'll have to see. As for this week...

Elephantmen #20 -- This issue continues the focus on the women of the Elephantmen universe and this time it's Vanity Case in the spotlight. Marian Churchland's art has fit these issues well and there's been no trouble following the story visually. And the stories have had a range to them and were all well written. But I should probably focus on this issue instead of reviewing them all at once. It's just that this was another solid issue for this series and it's getting a bit difficult to come up with new ways of saying that for this series. If you aren't reading this series I highly recommend you do, maybe not starting with this issue necessarily but check it out soon.

Mysterius the Unfathomable #6 (of 6)-- At times I've felt this series jumped around a bit more than I would have liked and had a little too much going on but this issue really wrapped it all up nicely. Tom Fowler's artwork has been solid throughout the series and I thought it told the story nicely in this issue. The series may be worth checking out if you're into an odd supernatural sorta thing that's a little hard to describe to others... At least for me.

Angel #22 --I had been enjoying these last few issues a little more than the first 18 or so but I have to say I think it's gone down in quality as the issues went on. The storytelling seemed to get more and more choppy. Things were just bouncing from one setting/situation to another with no real flow. I'm either missing things or it's just not being fully flushed out. I almost started laughing in this issue when Angel literally run into a guy who conveniently points him in the direction he needs to go. When Angel gets there the same guy is there (at least it looks like him) but I thought he was running away? Why was he running to? To be honest, I'm lost by a lot of stuff going on. Maybe it's just me but the story just isn't working. So yeah, this will be my last issue of the series. Which also means I won't be recommending it.

On another Elephantmen note, I noticed that the cover to an upcoming TPB collecting these last few issues advertises a new story by Marian Churchland. I've made a quick comment on the Elephantmen blog asking about it but I have to admit, I don't like the idea of putting new content in the TPBs. Character sketches, pencils, scripts, stuff like that I don't mind. But if new content is going to be put in the TPBs it seems like a slap in the face to those of us picking up the single issues. And if that's the way they're going to go I'll be dropping the monthly subscription and going with the TPBs but I'd like to know up front.

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 10th, 2009

A whopping one book came out for me this week, and it wasn't even put in my subscription box. But since things are a little hectic at work right now, here we go...

War of Kings: Savage World of Sakaar #1 (of 1) -- Right off the bat, yes, this book is pretty much your standard "tie in" where it has no real impact on the War of Kings story or Skaar's (even the final page teasing of a return to Sakaar seems empty given the events of the last few issues of Skaar). On top of that, you have the expected story of the two adversaries crash landing on Sakaar and turned into unwilling allies in order to survive (the planet itself and eventually Skaar). Having said that, there are a few twists to the story and interesting character stuff going on that keep you interested. Perhaps I would have liked a bit more Skaar interaction but that's just because he's really why I picked this book up but there was a lot going on here (which seemed nice given how so many books seem to have so very little actual content to them) so it was understandable. And the art was pretty solid in its storytelling. So to tie things up rather quickly, I enjoyed this book despite not reading War of Kings (which I hear is really good) and despite (or perhaps because) my expectations of your standard tie in to two other books.

Weekly Comic Reviews for June 3rd, 2009 -- SPOILERS

Just two books this week:

Skaar #11 -- Liking the shortened title, it's easier to type. We get introduced to Skaar's inner child while also seeing what exactly happened on Sakaar when Galactus showed up. But the story of this book is on the last page (not a huge story if you've seen anything about the next issue). I like where this book is going and some of the parallels between Skaar and his father. The art was solid in telling the story and I didn't find the issue as "choppy" as some of the earlier issues. Though the story is turning more into a superhero book (bringing in Osborn, the FF, She-Hulk, etc, on Earth rather than a barbarian warrior on a distant planet) I think I'm actually enjoying it more, despite not reading any of Marvel's Dark Reign stuff (or any other Marvel book that I can think of at the moment). I'm looking forward to the next issue and seeing where things go with the Incredible Hulk series starting up again. And to bring it back to this issue, I give it a thumbs up (cliche I know).

Buffy Tales of the Vampires (one shot) -- To start, the art style wasn't particularly to my liking. I know a lot of people like it but I found it a little too distracting and hard to follow (I kept not recognizing characters for instance). The story was well written but it almost feels done before, the whole idea of vampires being seen as "cool" and nobody thinking of them as soulless demonic killers. I'm hoping the main Buffy series is going somewhere "different" with that. So, although it was well done I wasn't a huge fan of this issue. It did fill in a bit more about what's happening in Buffy's world outside of what's happening immediately around Buffy but it might have been possible to do that without doing it as a one shot with no recognizable characters. Fans of the series will still probably want to pick it up but shouldn't be too worried if they don't.

As for other stuff I'm reading, I did polish off "Was Superman a Spy?" a little while back and it was great. Really interesting stuff for those looking for a bit more insider stuff to their favourite characters and stories. I'm still working my way through "The 10 Cent Plague", it's also really well written and has some very interesting stuff in it. And I've also caught up on the first five volumes of Scott Pilgrim and I thought those were great, lots of fun. And I think that's it. Back to work I go.

Today...

Today is David Gallaher's birthday and I think it was suggested by someone (not pointing fingers here) that everyone should celebrate his birthday by going over and reading High Moon (or maybe the suggestion was to pre-order it on Amazon, I'm kinda tired and can't remember at the moment). So yeah, go over and read it, favourite it, and wish David a happy birthday.

This week's reviews will be up later today.

Weekly Comic Reviews for May 27th, 2009

Let's see if I can get my reviews done before my cross validation results are in (that'll be the only science talk of this post, promise). So we have three books...

Ultimate Wolverine VS Hulk #6 (of 6) -- That's it? And I don't mean "That's it, I waited 3 years for that?", I mean "That's it, I bought 6 issues and that's the payoff?" Okay, the collars were a pretty new idea but this is "Ultimate Wolverine VS Hulk" and other than the ripping in half which was done in issue 1 and then replayed in pretty much every issue afterwards all we get are fancy collars. I was disappointed in quite a bit of this book from She-Hulk's apparent lack of a healing factor and the Hulk needing to "catch his breath" from a fall from a plane before he can even leap? Did I miss something there? Despite some funny and entertaining moments during this series (Logan's talk with his inner panda for example) this series feels like a let down for me. Not a big let down, but a let down nonetheless. Oh, and what was with the Hulk's size in those last few pages? I didn't think he grew when he got angry (to the point where his fingers were bigger than Fury).


Runaways #10 -- We have a one shot here as the new creative team fully kicks in next issue (Kathryn Immonen doesn't start writing it until next issue). But I liked this one shot. I think it captured a bit more of the fun aspects of Vaughan's initial run. Not that Whedon and Moore didn't put some fun into it, it just felt different. Molly's time with the X-Men was just silly fun and I enjoyed it. Though I can understand some not enjoying it so much, but in my opinion it's not really to be taken seriously so I can let a lot of things slide. It was just a simple, fun issue, with a pretty big emotional element to it that I won't spoil. But the real story kicks in next issue.

Mouse Guard Winter 1152 #6 (of 6) -- I do enjoy this series, the artwork is beautiful and the characters are unique (though I still have personal issues with distinguishing them by their look). But I think from here on out, I'll be waiting for the collected versions of the stories. They actually do a good job of making each issue episodic and you do feel like you get a story in each, but after reading the first in collected format and the second in individual issues I think I preferred the collected way. But I'm looking forward to the next volume, I'll just have to refresh my memory of the story and the characters when it comes out.

I won't be doing a full review of Invincible vol 10 or Astounding Wolf-Man vol 2 but I did enjoy both. But I am hitting one of the usual problems of going the TPB route, I've seen too many images from Invincible issues (covers and such) so I saw quite a bit coming. Though I have to admit, the thing with Cecil didn't quite go the way I was totally expecting so that was a good thing.

Oh, and I didn't finish this before the results were in but due to a brain fart I had to re-run the experiment. :( Oops, that was more science talk wasn't it?

A Quick Sketch - Codex

Just posting a quick sketch I did yesterday. No real reason. The character is Felicia Day's avatar from the Guild, Codex. I'm not quite sure who owns the rights to the character or it's likeness and I'll have no qualms about removing it should I be asked to do so.

A Little Clarification

Going over my post "Following the Dream" I realized there may be the chance for a misunderstanding so I just wanted to clarify that last line. In no way was I saying that pursuing the dream and that the work done by those I mentioned was pointless but I see that it may have come across that way. So I apologize to anyone who read it like that, especially to anyone I named in that post. The line was actually meant to be a weak attempt at humour by belittling my own post. I was tired (like usual) and couldn't really think of a clever way of bringing that post to a close (like usual) so I figured I'd just label the post pointless and then I wouldn't have to come up with a closer.

The post did have a point for me though, it was to highlight the respect and admiration I have for artists (writers, actors, comic artists, etc) that continue to put themselves out there, especially the independents without the backing of a major company, and to tie it in with the events of my own life.

I apologize for not making that clear.

Weekly Comic Reviews for May 20th, 2009

Have to make these reviews pretty quick, too much work to be done today (long story).

Planet Skaar Prologue -- I have high hopes for the Planet Skaar storyline and I thought this book was pretty good at giving us a look at what's to come. Though it felt a little weird being labelled a "Prologue", it felt pretty much like an issue 1. I thought the art was a little weak, some panels were good and others looked off. I'm still trying to figure out if Reed was stretching his face for one panel (his face seems to change a lot in the next). But despite some weakness to it, the art did tell the story fairly well (though there was a panel/scene or two that could have been more clear). Overall I'm really looking forward to it. And yes, I'll be picking up Pak's Incredible Hulk but I'm still not picking up Loeb's Hulk series.

Mysterius the Unfathomable #5 (of 6) -- Sometimes reading this series feels like a whirlwind of events as you jump through settings and times. Characters come and go, and I find it a lot to keep track of. I'm starting to wonder if this series would be better read as a TPB. I did find that I was pretty disappointed with some of the set up in this book, I don't want to spoil it so I can't really say more than that. I'm still enjoying this book for the most part but I won't be too disappointed to see it come to an end, I don't think I'd stick with it if it was ongoing. Though maybe if it was ongoing it could be more episodic.

Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen #5 (of 5) -- We get the conclusion of the storyline... Wait, was there a storyline that I was supposed to be keeping track of? Really? Anywho, I wasn't really reading this for a deep story, it was just pure Colbert fun. So if you don't like Colbert, stay away. But I got some chuckles through the series and I thought it was pretty fun.

Angel 21 -- While Mysterius felt like a whirlwind I'm not sure what this one felt like. So many times I found myself wondering if I missed a page or something. It jumps around, the writing seems a bit disjoint, and the art can't tell enough of the story to cover for it. I think this book needs a second lookover to pace it out better so the story flows and the reader can follow along and get more engaged. As it is, I feel like I'm just seeing snippets of something going on, none of which ends up seeming important. Though to be honest, I've already decided I'll be dropping this series after the next issue.

Makin' Money

After my last post I thought back to the two times I made money off my "art". One time was in high school when I painted a picture that was auctioned off for charity. It was a picture of a kingfisher and was one of the first times my colour blindness really came into focus (people asked me why the branches around the bird were green but they looked brown to me). I think the picture sold for $60 and they gave me $15 of that.

But the first time was either in grade 1 or 2 where for 5 cents I'd draw a person's name in bubble letters. But a fellow student told on me and my teacher forced me to give back the money (though they got to keep the "drawings" I did). Come to think of it, I think I may have lost money on this one when some students claimed I had taken money from them even though I hadn't.

Following The Dream

Part of this post has been stewing in my head for a while. Another part was put in place during last night's How I Met Your Mother. In the episode, Lilly convinces Ted to "take the leap" by not chasing his dream of being an architect (something that hasn't been working for him) and let the "universe" direct him (ie. take a teaching job at a university). Without going into it too much, my feelings are obviously mixed. On the one hand, you want Ted to follow his initial dream and succeed but you know it often doesn't work out that way. And you can't throw your life away following a path that just isn't going anywhere.

Which brings my ramblings to a more personal level. I had several dream jobs through my life. One that stuck with me for a while was "teacher" (even while doing my Master's in university the possibility of lecturing/teaching seemed like a possibility). And of course, there was the times I wanted to do something more creative (like make comic books or movies or something). The teaching thing fell apart at some point. I think the idea of imparting my knowledge in pretty much anything and influencing the next generation always stuck with me but the idea of putting up with the kids always got to me. Plus, those around me always discouraged it since there wasn't much money to be made and everyone seemed to have this idea that I should be making lots of money.

The more creative job prospects pretty much died before they even started though. Everyone around me said that only a select few actually get to make a living at it, and for every success in the various artistic fields there are so many stories of those who failed. And clearly I wasn't good enough to be one of the success stories so I would be far better off looking elsewhere for my calling. So I followed the math/science route and at the end of high school I went to the guidance counselor who suggested I had the marks to get into Computer Science and here I am. I'm definitely not making the money I guess I was "supposed to" but I have my current government job that pays me pretty well, has good benefits, and usually doesn't require much overtime. And by sticking in a research institution, I usually get to do projects I really care about and can get behind. So it's good.

But over the years I've really noticed how reluctant I am to publicly show my more artistic projects. I've been improving on this, posting stuff on DrunkDuck, the odd image here, and for friends on other sites, but I usually do so pretty reluctantly, very quietly, and with much discomfort. Every time I do so I think back to those people who said I wasn't good enough to be one of the success stories and I imagine them seeing whatever I do and saying "See, I knew he wasn't good enough."

I think that's what makes me see so much potential in media produced for the computer/internet. It's open to so many who may never have had the opportunity before. Now many of them won't be able to make a living at it but it opens up more possibilities for those still pursuing that dream. And if not, they can still put their work out there while making a living doing something else. And that's why I have so much respect for people who put themselves out there, for David Gallaher out there promoting the heck out of his High Moon series on Zuda, for Valerie D'Orazio putting her writing up on her blog for everyone to check out, for Felicia Day working so hard on the Guild, and for every other creator putting themselves out there for everyone to see. Obviously they have the talent to make it work and they haven't given up.

Okay, to sum up this post... Ah heck, I'll just tag it as "random stuff" and "ramblings", that way I don't have to sum it up, it can just be pointless. :)

Weekly Comic Reviews for May 13th, 2009

I only had one book this week, which is actually one more than I was expecting when I entered my comic shop. Unfortunately I'm a little busy at work and super-tired due to feeling under the weather so it'll have to be quick.

Elephantmen #19 -- We get a look back into Sahara's history as well as what exactly happened between her and her father in the hospital a few issues back. It's definitely not a light hearted story and the punches aren't pulled. Having said that, the book continues to be incredibly well done. The writing is great as usual and the art told the story very well.

One thing I really like about Elephantmen is that you pretty much get a solid story in each issue. Sure, there was the spore wars with it's cliffhangers and the stories tie into one another building a larger narrative but after reading an issue I don't have that feeling of knowing I have to wait 5 more months for the story to end. They are doing a great job of keeping it episodic while still building on a larger story.

On a side note, Valerie D'Orazio looked at the demographic data for various sites, including comic book ones. I've looked briefly at the table but not enough to come up with anything other than what she has to say on her site. I have noticed that DC has done a few things to try and improve their website (which I've said in the past that I really disliked) but one thing Valerie says plays true for me in a big way:

"One thing I sometimes point out to clients is how a smaller site with a relatively simpler design does so much better than sites with all the flash and bells & whistles -- case in point xkcd, but many personal blogs, etc."

This is one of my pet peeves as well, throwing everying and the kitchen sink into the main page with as much eye catching animation and over the top presentation as you can fit into a page (or more). When I get hit with pages like that it often leads me to go back to Google and search for whatever in particular I'm looking for. If that search ends up leading me to back to the particular page (ie. the Marvel solicit page for a particular issue or character page) then fine but if I can avoid that site, I probably will.

Anyhow, rants on that stuff would probably be better left for another post. One made when I'm thinking a little more clearly.

May 2009 Zuda Competitors

I probably won't get around to doing a full review of all of this month's competitors so I think I'll just talk briefly about the ones I'm leaning towards voting for. But before I do I have to admit that I'm pretty stupid, I thought the Zuda winner was determined by voting only but it turns out it's also based on ratings, favourites, etc. I guess I should have read it more closely... Then again, I'm not the one competing. :) So for this month my favourites at the moment include:

Lily of the Valley -- Not quite sure where the story is going yet (which is a good thing) but have a sense of the feel of the story (also a good thing). An interesting art style with a sort of a weird/quirky thing going on that works well with the story.

Sides -- Again, I liked the art and the story seems like it could be interesting and different. I'd definitely keep an eye on this one should it get chosen.

Flowing Wells -- I'm not sure if there was enough meat to these 8 pages to really hook me, I felt like there could have been a bit more there to not only show more of what's going on but also to hook me in. The artwork was pretty amazing though.

And looking like a real longshot for my vote at the moment...

Gone Zombie -- On the one hand, it looks like a zombie story and I'm not big on them (despite reading the Walking Dead but that's because that book is more about the characters than the zombies). On the other hand, like Walking Dead there seems to be the potential for the story to be more than just a zombie story. Again, I'd probably check it out should it get selected but it probably won't get my vote.

Weekly Comic Reviews for May 6th, 2009 -- SPOILERS

The downside of picking up your comics over lunch, you have to go back to work for the afternoon knowing that they are sitting, unread, just a few feet away.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #25 -- Well, Dawn's story seems to have come to a close, at least for now. Overall, I enjoyed the issue. The usual combination of fun, character moments, and a bit of action. There were a few things that I felt could have been flushed out a bit more (this doll maker seemed to come out of nowhere unless Imissed something, Buffy leaving him so quickly also seemed a little odd, and Dawn's farewell to Kenny seemed a little too simple) but on the other hand, the story gets moved along at a pretty good pace. The art was good for the most part and told the story well. Overall, another enjoyable issue of this series for me.

Hulk Broken Worlds #2 (of 2) -- I know the first issue had a few problems and maybe some people didn't enjoy it that much, and I was actually expecting this to be the weaker of the two issues so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this one more than the first. The stories range from the moving Hulk stories (focussing on Banner and the characters around him) to simple fun stories (manga Hulk versus Fenris using the Midgard Serpent) and they all seemed to hit the mark for me. The art was pretty solid throughout as well. I definitely enjoyed this book overall. I know it's really more for Hulk fans than your every day comic fan but it may be worth checking out either way. And it gave me my Hulk fix for a little while at least. :)

So that's it, only 2 books this week. I'm hoping to get some reading done this weekend in between house cleaning and mother's day stuff. On the top of my reading pile would be Planetary Volume 3 (haven't started), "The 10-cent Plague" by David Hajdu (currently about 100 pages in), "Conspiracy!" by Valerie D'Orazio (only one chapter in so far), and "Was Superman a Spy?" by Brian Cronin (haven't started yet). We'll have to see how much I actually get done. :)

Non-Comic Annoyances

Just have to complain a little.

Going back to public transportation, I just had to shake my head at the two young women who got upset at the bus driver for asking them to move further back to allow a woman in a wheelchair on to the bus. Moving back to allow people on should be common courtesy, getting upset because you're asked to do it to allow a person in a wheelchair on is just stupid.

And I've been hearing radio commercials for a restaurant advertising their "date night" special. What bothers me about it are the stats that are being thrown around. The first claim is that a very high percentage of women prefer to have the man pay for dinner. The second claim is that a VERY high percentage of women find men with a lof of money sexier (which seems kinda funny when you're advertising how they can save money on their date). I can't even really put my finger on why the ad irritates me so much, possibly it's just that they seem to be pushing the idea that you'll fail at dating until you have lots of money that you spend on your date, but it makes me want to avoid the place. Or maybe I just need to lighten up.

Weekly Comic Reviews for April 29th, 2009 -- SPOILERS

Before I get to the reviews, as I was waiting for my bus yesterday I saw a young blind woman trying to get on another bus. As she was trying to feel her way on to the bus three, yes three, people decided to cut in front of her, bumping her seeing eye dog out of their way as they did so. I thought about getting on the bus just to give these people a piece of my mind but I hesitated and the bus left. Some times I really do want to believe in karma.

On to the reviews.

Skaar #10 -- At least they shortened the title and dropped the "Son of Hulk" which I didn't really care for anyways. On the positive side of things, I'm still liking Ron Lim's art over Garney's. I have liked a lot of Garney's work but something just wasn't working here. As for the story, there seemed to be a lot going on and at times it was hard to follow. I may have to go back and re-read it and I'm not sure that's a good thing. But even despite that, there's the feeling that there's a good story going on and we're getting to see some development in Skaar. I'm looking forward to seeing his upcoming adventures on Earth given where he is (character wise) at the moment. I don't know if it makes my recommended reading list but I'm sticking with it for the time being.

Runaways 3 #9 -- I have to go back on some things I've said in past reviews for this series. We now learn that something is going on with Nico and where it started. And I'm happy about that. I did prefer the art here to Humberto Ramos'. I was surprised that Moore is leaving the series with a lot of loose ends (especially with Nico) but I think that's good, it creates more of a continuing story. Overall, although Moore didn't really knock my socks off with his run on the book I think it is in a good place right now and I'm looking forward to what comes next. And I liked the little bit of dialogue at the end as the kids were playing their games. But you'd have to read it, I couldn't do it justice here.

Ultimate Wolverine Vs Hulk #5 -- Well, at least they're acknowledging how much they are jumping back and forth in time for this book. I saw one review where someone was pointing out how frustrating it is that we have a series titled "Ultimate Wolverine VERSUS Hulk" and other than the Hulk ripping Wolverine in half, we haven't really seen much of the "versus" portion of that. I don't think that bugs me so much but it is noticeable. As for this issue, Leinil Yu continues to provide great art for this series and I actually found this issue a little less irritating with the flashback/flashforward writing as we seem to be moving in a more forward direction now. I am looking forward to seeing how everything comes to its conclusion and maybe in the end, the TPB will be worth recommending. But overall, I thought this was a good issue.

I also picked up a few TPBs yesterday with Astounding Wolf-Man Vol 2 and Planetary Volumes 2, 3 and the Crossing Worlds TPB. As well as the Marvel 70th Anniversary special which might be worth checking out for people who don't want to spend the money on the Marvel Chronicles (though to be fair, I'm only saying that based on a brief flip through of both books, I haven't looked at either in great detail yet). I haven't got to read those yet (other than half of the Wolf-Man TPB which I stopped upon seeing Invincible since I haven't got the latest TPB of that series and I don't want anything spoiled for me) but perhaps I'll post reviews when I do. But then again, I say that a lot about the TPBs and don't get around to posting reviews so don't hold your breath. :)

And congratulations to the creative team behind Earthbuilders on Zuda. Even though it didn't get my vote it looks like it's going to be a very well done webcomic which I'll have to check out when more pages get posted.

Heroes Season Finale -- SPOILERS

Yeah, I recorded it to watch it later so I'm a little behind.

Wow! I can't be the only one who was severely disappointed by that episode. I was really disappointed with the first half of this season and I felt the second half was only slightly better. But this episode sort of blind sided me. The battle with Sylar was ridiculous. I know they're under a budget and everything but the extended shots of Claire peeking through and then pacing around just annoyed me. And the number of things that seemed to just happen so easily to get from point A to point Z, well, I couldn't even keep count. I felt like I wasn't being told a story but getting the cliff's notes. The sudden "We need Nathan alive" stuff for example. Yes, they did end up explaining it quickly but only after they'd already come to the conclusion to do it. At first, it just seemed like it was plucked out of nowhere.

Even the stuff left open for next season doesn't catch me. Sylar still peeking out from under the Nathan blanket? Who didn't see that coming? Tracy back hunting down the people from building 26? Yippee. And Hiro suddenly saying he had to go home and nobody saying anything? He's there with people who know him, one of which is a doctor, another that's a Senator, and the Senator's mother who still has lots of power. Why would he leave and why would they let him? Unless they already know something (ie. he's dying).

Overall, the finale left me with questions but not in a good way. I don't even know if I'm going to be back to watch it next season, that's one question I have.

Weekly Comic Reviews for April 22, 2009 -- SPOILERS

Let's get right to it shall we...

Elephantmen #18 -- This was a powerful issue. The story was pretty simple and the art wasn't overly complex in its detail which fit well. The reader is presented the story in its most raw form without interference from a preaching narrative. In usual "Elephantmen" fashion, it concentrates on the characters while giving the reader a glimpse into a larger story. I think reaction will vary depending on the reader's beliefs and feelings toward the subject matter but it's done extremely well. I'm probably starting to repeat myself with my reviews of this book but it's just been so good.

Detective Comics #853 -- In case you were wondering why I'm reviewing this, it was the second part to the Neil Gaiman story. This was a pretty weird storyline, which I probably should of expected of Neil Gaiman. After the first issue I tried to explain it to my brother and was having a pretty hard time. I don't think I'm any better off after this one. It's something you'd have to read to get it and to be honest, I'm not sure I do exactly. But that's not necessarily a bad thing here. For me, it left me with a fantastic story about what it is to "be Batman". Though I'm sure everyone else who reads it would read that last line and go "What? Did he read the same thing I did?" And if Neil Gaiman ever saw this review (yeah, I know he won't but just go with me here) he'd probably say "This guy just didn't get it" and hope I never review his work in the future. But in the end, I really think it's worth checking out, it's a pretty amazing two issues. And who knows, maybe you'll be able to come back and tell me what it's "really" about. :) Oh yeah, my favourite line had to be the "retire and golf" line. I laughed at that and now I'm curious, if Batman can put so much into his belt imagine what he could do with a golf bag.

Angel #20 -- I've been enjoying this series more with the new creative team but this issue felt a little bit like a let down. It wasn't that bad but there were parts that I thought could have been done better. It seemed like the story jumped a bit at times and things weren't exactly clear. Things seemed to jump between panels or pages and it was a bit disorientating. One example that comes to mind is when the character transforms into a rampaging animal only to be unconcious in the next panel. Maybe we're supposed to surmise what happened but it didn't feel right to me. And there were other parts, like when Angel says "Mine is defective" (or something like that), I didn't know what he was refering to. I'm guessing he was talking about his sword not working on a demon but I felt that could have been more clear in the art. And around that time, it looked like Angel had large claws (his fingers were large and to a point), that seemed odd. It was just a lot of these little things that seemed to take me out of the story a bit. The overall storylines I'm interested in, I just don't think the execution is where it needs to be.

So that's it for this week. And yes, I'm now twittering. :)

Weekly Comic Reviews for April 15th, 2009

Wow, busy day today and I almost forgot to do my weekly reviews. That could also be due to only getting one book this week. So without further ado...

Mysterius the Unfathomable #4 (of 6) -- First off, I think Tom Fowler's art has been working well with this series. I think it's hitting the right tone and it works well in this issue with all the weird and "wonderful" creatures. Unfortunately though, I found this issue to run on a bit too long at too slow a pace. Maybe it's just that it didn't seem to keep up the tempo of the previous issues or we've just hit a lull in the 6 issue storyline (or, and this is a definite possibility, it was just me) but it seemed like too much of a chore to make it through. And maybe the dialogue (the rhyming) didn't help too much. Fortunately, we end on a cliffhanger with promise of some excitement in the next issue. Not a bad issue but not one of the better ones of this series.

And that's it. Kinda sad huh? Oh well, next week promises to be busy comic-wise for me.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century #1 preview

Newsarama has some preview pages here but just so you know, they try to blur certain body parts out but it may not be safe for some work environments. Anyways, I enjoyed the first two volumes but I wasn't a big fan of the Black Dossier. This looks to be more along the lines of the first two. So now the question, pick it up individually or wait for a TPB/hardcover version to put on my shelf with the other LoEG?

Wow! I seem to have a lot of things I want to blog about today... Perhaps I shouldn't have deleted my twitter account after all. :)

Very late but oh well...

I didn't realize this until now but despite Marvel's article talking about Rey Mysterio using Marvel characters as inspiration for his masks what character did he go with for Wrestlemania? None other than the Joker. Though I'm pretty sure it's not the first time he's gone DC, I think I recall a Flash one. But I do find the timing of it (with that article) pretty funny.

Weekly Comic Reviews for April 8th, 2009 -- SPOILERS

Well, I had hoped to get this review in on the weekend but I had a busy couple of days. I only had the one book last week, Ultimate Wolverine VS Hulk #4, so let's get to it shall we. And SPOILERS abound!

Ultimate Wolverine VS Hulk #4 -- I have to be honest, I found this issue somewhat lacking. Right from the start it seemed obvious to me that Betty would be She-Hulk in this universe so the issue felt like it dragged as they try to point to it being Jen Walters. It may also have to do with the time shifting as we are once again taken back into the past to see how it all came about, leaving the ending to this issue just moments after the ending to last issue. It just doesn't feel like anything is progressing. I'm pretty confident that will change with issue 5 since I can't see any reason to go back again (but I could be wrong). And all this is weird for me because I really think I should be getting into this book. The art is great, the dialogue smooth and witty, and the story is an intriguing one, but something about the execution of it just isn't hooking me. I wonder if it would be any different had I waited for the TPB.

I also had the opportunity to read Valerie d'Orazio's Memoirs of an Occasional Superheroine. I'm honestly still digesting it, going over and over a lot of thoughts and feelings that it's brought up for me. Right from the start, it's raw, it's powerful, and it's heart wrenching. I can't put into words just how much I admire Valerie's strength, to go through what she's gone through and be where she's at now, both personally and professionally.

The thing that has me thinking the most is that I'm opening my eyes more fully to the people I've associated with, some as friends and some as no more than acquaintances who shopped at the same comic store. Now I'd like to say that none of them came close to the people Val writes about but the truth is, I don't know. There was and always will be the rumours about one guy or another but that's all I ever heard, rumours. Heck, I've had several rumours spread about me, some from people I considered my closest friends. But I do know that I see bits and pieces that connect those people and the ones Val writes about, from the somewhat socially inept to the downright creepy. I'd have to admit to putting myself somewhere in the "somewhat socially challenged" category. And I still wonder about that guy who I saw at some conventions with the store name "Kool Kards and Komics" (the K's were always in big letters).

Perhaps one day I'll have some more coherent thoughts on this and I'll come up with something clever and insightful but that's all I have for now.

Zuda April Competition Reviews

Wow, it's been a long time since I did a Zuda review. And to be honest, I wasn't really planning on it this time (my comment about weekly reviews was about print comics) but since Ryan and Tim are looking forward to them... :)

In alphabetical order:
Cancer Troop 4 -- I thought this one was well done (though on a nitpicky note I thought the first few pages could have been a bit clearer as to what was going on). The art was unique, especially when it comes to the colour choices, and the characters were more interesting than I expected going in. And the pacing of the last few pages was excellent. But unfortunately, I just didn't feel there was anything in these first 8 pages that would make me want to vote for it. I'd like to see it continue just to see where it's going but that's not always enough to get the vote (especially when there are other books I really want to see more of).

Earthbuilders -- This is definitely a high quality book with solid writing and art. Perhaps if it wasn't constrained to 8 pages I would have liked the action to be a bit bigger (larger panels and a bit more pacing) but with more pages you have more room for storytelling. But unfortunately the story just didn't grab me, there just wasn't anything there I felt was "new". Perhaps if it were to continue and more of the story was flushed out I'd go for it but these 8 pages weren't enough for me.

Intergalactic Law: Grey Squad -- I actually had a hard time reading this one. There is some definite talent there but the story and pacing just seemed all over the place. It jumped ahead with no warning and we just kept getting snippets. The art was sort of hit or miss with me with some panels/characters seeming a little too sloppy for me. Even the talk balloons seemed a bit off at times either with too many or just drawn out kind of weirdly. It was pretty unique though and had a lot of potential. But unfortunately "potential" won't get my vote this month.

Mecha-Simian -- Maybe I just have Stephen Colbert on the brain for some reason but this one sort of reminded me of Tek Jansen in some ways. But that's neither here nor there. The art was pretty solid (though given time I think there's some room for improvement), good pacing, and there was enough story there to get the general idea across and engage the reader. I guess my only issue with this book was that the main character felt a little too "done before" with the only difference being this one is a monkey. But since we don't see any other good guys this doesn't feel too out there, I mean we also have robots and a talking ship already. So unfortunately I think this one falls just short for me.

Myth -- At first I thought this one was going to be a miss for me as the first few pages just didn't grab me but then the fifth page knocked me over. The art has a nice style to it and the writing is good. I generally skip the intro paragraph and go mostly by the 8 pages but in this case, the 8 pages left me slightly wanting and it was the intro paragraph that gave me a better idea of what to expect from this book. I think this is a bit of a negative on one hand (that the 8 pages just didn't feel like enough) but on the other hand, they were enough to make me check out the intro to see what it is that I just read. I could definitely see myself coming back to check this book out, especially if it keeps up this level of quality. And with more pages to work with I think it could really be good. So it remains on my short list of potential vote getters.

Pirate Eye -- I think the first thing that stood out for me on this book was the art and not necessarily in a good way. It's of a fairly high quality but too static. I just didn't feel any emotion or movement to the characters. Even a guy getting shot in the leg doesn't really seem to be reacting. And that scene could have been much more dynamic in its perspective. And I'm not sure if the writing really helped. Though the general idea seems like a decent one these 8 pages just didn't have any "oomph" to them, nothing that made me think "Wow!" It just felt like we were getting from point A to point B in a pretty straight line. So unfortunately I just don't think there's enough there for my vote.

Spy6teen -- Again, we have another high quality comic here. The art was great (though at times I thought the inking could have been a bit smoother) and the writing was well done with great pacing (combined with good layouts) and an interesting character. I'm already wanting to learn more about her backstory as well as see where things go from here. I really can't think of much in the negative category for this one. Perhaps I would have liked a bit more info about how/why a 16 year-old is a government spy but you could see that there was a story there and it's just something you'll have to wait to find out. And perhaps one could say we've seen similar stories to this but considering the high quality of these 8 pages again, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that once we get into the story it'll evolve into something different. This one is currently sitting as the favourite for my vote but I like to mull it over before I make my final decision. It really did get off to a great start.

The Daemon Brethren: Advent of Chaos -- You can tell that a lot of work went into this one, especially artistically, but I think it falters for me. First up, I think the brothers could have been a bit more distinct in their faces from each other. Some of the pages involving the action came across as a little confusing as to what was going on. Perhaps too much was just crammed into too little a space. And there were a few times where the art style seemed to differ so a bit more consistency in the art could be needed. Unfortunately, the story didn't really catch with me and when I read the intro paragraph I got even more confused. The story just didn't seem to flow and needed a bit more polish. That last page had me confused briefly as we move to Chicago suddenly and yet we have someone talking. It took a second before I realized that this was the conversation from the previous page continuing. I think that could have been executed better. So while there's some definite talent there, I just don't see myself following this book.

The Kind You Don't Bring Home to Mother -- Right off the bat I was pretty hooked into this story. It seemed pretty unique and the characters started to grow on me right away. The parents were great and I found myself chuckling at them the most. The art was solid and well laid out. The pacing was well done and the dialogue was great. Overall, I really don't have much negative to say about this one either. To be honest, after re-reading it for this review I think it's right up there beside Spy6teen. I'm not sure which one I will eventually go with and who knows, Myth might make a comeback over the weekend. :) I'm so indecisive, but at least it's a positive that there are a few books this month I'd like to see continue.

The Rise and Fall of the Penguin -- I think every book has an audience it reaches out to, I'm just not part of that audience for this book. I'd say I'm far from it. I didn't find it funny nor did the story really interest me at all. And the art really doesn't work for me either. I'm really not even sure there's much else I can say about it.

So that's it, I'm currently going back and forth between Spy6teen and The Kind You Don't Bring Home to Mother (which I think I'll call TKYDBHTM) with Myth still in the running.

Quick update on the reviews

I just wanted to mention that my weekly reviews will be delayed this week, possibly until the weekend due to a doctor's appointment tonight and my mother's birthday get together tomorrow.

Also, High Moon, Celadore, Bayou, and several others have update on Zuda and the April contest is under way. I haven't decided who I'll be voting for but after a first read through them I think Myth, Spy6teen, and The Kind You Don't Bring Home to Mother are the three frontrunners for my vote.

And I really need to organize my reading better as I'm currently trying to read 4 books at once including re-reading Watchmen, The 10-Cent Plague by David Hajdu, Valerie D'Orazio's Memoirs of an Occasional Superheroine, and still making my way through the Hulk Omnibus. Hopefully the long weekend will help.

Len Wein

I just wanted to comment on the news regarding Len Wein's house fire. My thoughts are with him and his family during this troubling time and my condolences on the loss of their dog, Sheba. I hope someone steps up and helps out a man who has contributed so much to the world of comics and beyond.

Weekly Comic Reviews for April 1st, 2009

I only picked up one book this week so this shouldn't take long. :)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 -- We have a Faith one shot here with her following through on her decision to help the slayers who have nobody to help them, she quickly learns about the "Slayer Sanctuary" and the action quickly picks up. Overall I thought this was a pretty good issue though it felt a little choppy at parts (more so in the beginning I think where things just seem to quickly fall into place in order to get Faith and Giles from point A to point B). Overall the story may feel a little "done before" but we do get to see a few character moments for Faith and the new slayer. So I enjoyed it but it didn't necessarily blow me away.

On the webcomic front, the latest update for Bayou contains some incredibly beautiful art and I really love this series. And I finally read through the Night Owls, and it really is well done. Sometimes the jokes or characters seem like something I've seem several times before but it's written intelligently enough to bring a new twist to it. So I'll be keeping an eye on that one as well.

And that's it for this week's reviews. Anything I missed?