Time now to dig into the reading stack for a look at some titles I've received lately.

Thanks to the generosity of Brett Warnock at Top Shelf, I was finally able to read two of the most-talked-about books of the last two years, and it's certainly easy to see why; both are very good and very thought-provoking. And it's going to be extraordinarily difficult to say anything about them that hasn't already been eloquently said elsewhere. But I've never let that stop me before, so I'll give it a shot anyway. It's hard to really criticize something like BLANKETS (although I'm sure that won't stop some); when the creator lays as much personal stuff as this on the line for people to see, it almost feels churlish to take shots at it. As I'm sure that most of you reading this are familiar with the story, I'll just try to do it in a nutshell: Blankets is the autobiographical story of Thompson's childhood and early adulthood, his experiences growing up in Wisconsin with his aggressively religious parents; sharing a room with his brother; and his first love, who he meets at a Bible camp of some sort and eventually goes and visits for a couple of weeks, and gets involved with her family, who has problems of their own. It also documents his struggles with the religion he was raised with, and his eventual rejection of its teachings, and there's also significant time spent describing his love for drawing. Quite a bit to stuff in, even though it's darn near 600 pages long! I found myself relating to a lot, not all, of what Thompson was going through; I, too, was raised in a very religious household, father was a deacon in a country Fundamentalist Southern Baptist church (easily the most volatile, dare I say virulent, strain of organized religion there is, if you ask me)...but luckily for me my folks had a sense of perspective about it, and weren't fanatical. They actually realized early on that I had a great intellectual curiosity about the world, and actually encouraged me to read and explore, thank God. Of course, there were times they thought I went a bit too far (my Dad wasn't too happy with me when I brought home a copy of the Bhagavad-Gita to read when I was 16, to name an example), but by and large they were tolerant and caring. Thompson wasn't so lucky. When Thompson finally gets around to asking some hard questions about his faith, and gets no satisfactory answers, that was where I was most in tune with the whole story because I certainly have been down that road. His relationship with his brother was uncharted territory for me as well, being an only child. I must confess that I didn't really understand a lot of his motivations or reasons for many of the decisions he made, especially when it came to his relationship with the person that would seem to be his soulmate, Raina (who admittedly had seemed, inexplicably, to cool on the relationship as well), but hey- it's his life, not mine, and he's simply laying it out there for the reader, make of it what you will. Art-wise, Blankets is thrilling. At first impression, Thompson's art took a little getting used to- it's so loose and sloppy that I didn't care for it at first. But the more I looked at it, the more I began to see Will Eisner in his inking line and storytelling approach, along with other artists like Marc Hempel and Jerry Grandenetti (not an influence, I'd be willing to bet, but many of the full-page, expressionistic layouts reminded me of JG's work a lot). The amount of work that he must have put in on illustrating this book is astounding. I especially liked many of the idealized portraits of Raina he would put in at odd times, fanciful and moody and detailed and often brilliant. While I suppose people will judge Blankets for how they relate to what Thompson is giving them, for my part I was mostly empathic, captivated and especially impressed by his artwork. I don't know how much Thompson has embellished or left out of his life story here, but I do know that I was impressed by what I read and will look forward to what he puts out in the future. A

CARNET DE VOYAGE was Thompson's follow-up release to Blankets, but it's no sequel although we get several Raina references. Voyage is basically an illustrated tour diary, done while Thompson was doing a book promotion jag in Spain, Morocco, France, and the Alps, and it's absolutely fascinating. As with Blankets, Thompson doesn't hesitate to let us in on his internal thought processes; he is by now in an on-again, off-again relationship with a girl in the States and we get to share his feelings over that as they talk on the phone at odd times; most of the time he feels lonely and out of place, and has a nagging hand pain problem which I'm sure wasn't helped by the constant drawing he was compelled to do. He encounters interesting people, some benevolent, others not so; we get caricatures and art of and by other artists like Mike Allred, and several pages of outstanding renditions of buildings and scenery in the places he visits, along with lots of drawings of the people he encounters during his trip. Fascinating, and very enjoyable, and I had two impressions when I had finished it- one, I was annoyed that it was over; I wanted it to continue! two, I felt ashamed because Thompson, the space of what- three months? has done more artwork than I have done in the last thirty years, and that's not including stuff that I'm sure was left out of the final publication. And this is not (for the most part) hacked-out, hurried work, but painstaking and skillfully rendered art. Carnet De Voyage is not an epic like Blankets, but it's every bit as impressive and is actually more entertaining. I think Top Shelf needs to send Thompson back out on tour ASAP. I hope his hand is better. A

I've seen James Kochalka's work here and there for what seems like ages, and have always enjoyed it, but have never been moved to buy. I had hoped to get a chance to get something f his someday, and finally realized my ambition in that regard when I received MAGIC BOY & THE ROBOT ELF and MONKEY vs. ROBOT &. THE CRYSTAL OF POWER. Of the two, I liked Magic Boy the least; while it was certainly as whimsical and odd as you would expect, the story had the feel of something personal which Kochalka had worked out on paper, and I just didn't get it. Maybe it was no more than a simple fantasy story, but I kinda doubt it. Crystal of Power, one of a series of "Monkey vs. Robot" tales, was a heck of a lot of fun- the information-gathering Robots need the titular object to revive their Mother Computer, because a monkey that they kidnapped destroyed her power crystal as he made his escape. The robots find a new one, but it's deep in the jungle and sacred to the monkeys. And the fight is on! Not exactly Landmark Fiction, but a hoot and a half just the same. Magic Boy: B, Monkey vs. Robot & The Crystal of Power: A.

UNMARKETABLE, by Tom Hart, is the second collection of stories about his character Hutch Owen, a idealistic, philosophy-spouting homeless bum who gets mixed up with corporate greed and idiocy. Kinda like an urban Mr. Natural, I suppose. I'd seen Hart's work only once before, on his Kamandi story for DC's first issue of Bizarro Comics. That story was enjoyable enough, but his crude art style doesn't quite yank my crank...it was tolerable on the Kamandi story since its difference made it fit in, but sadly, a whole book full of it just became too much after a while. Mostly Owen goes from one situation to another, getting taken advantage of or taking advantage of others, pops off a few high-toned diatribes, things blow up , etc., etc. There were occasional laughs here and there, a lot of Dilbert-style jokes at the expense of the drones of the Worner Corporation and their boss (which (I suspect) is not quite the way Hart intended for this to be perceived), and several references to the events of 9/11 which kinda seem out of place even that terrible event provides a lot of the impetus for what happens after the first story. I think perhaps this is just humor that doesn't work on a consistent basis for me, and I must be in the minority, judging by the glowing praise reproduced on the cover and inside. For them that likes, I guess. C+

More later, including some manga and the latest from AiT/PlanetLar...

And together we are...WYLD STALLYNS!
Well, I just got home from seeing CONSTANTINE. I said I wasn't, but I did. And y'know what? It didn't suck. Much.

Of course, the biggest liability was Keanu, and his mumbling, monotone performance was at best disappointing and at worst unwatchable, especially if you know anything at all about the character he's supposed to be portraying. Casting was iffy for the whole film, with only Tilda Swinton, as the androgynous angel Gabriel, and Rachel Weisz as that type of character which is indigenous to this sort of thing, the sexy police detective, really bringing any dimension to their roles. Djimon Hounsou, as hoodoo man Papa Midnite (in the comics, an adversary from the first two or three issues, and still dead as far as I can remember there) wasn't bad but didn't have much to do. Gavin Rossdale made the most of his stunt casting as a demon. I didn't care at all for Peter Stormare's lip-smacking, eye-rolling portrayal of Lucifer; he thought he was being over-the-top, I suppose, but he just struck me as silly. I also didn't think much of the decision to rewrite Conjob's loyal but somewhat dense cabbie friend Chas as an eager young taxi-driving chauffeur/apprentice exorcist- I guess the thinking was "Constantine is a comic book character, comic-book characters have eager young sidekicks, we have to give Johnny one!" Shia LeBeouf didn't really do much with the part, either.

Fortunately, that was the one time the script kowtowed to comic-book conventions; otherwise, Constantine stayed pretty close to the established supernatural Exorcist-style movie thriller formula. It never condescended, and that was welcome, and even managed to work in some references to the comics series here and there- some to good effect, some not so. The film was deliberately paced, but there were enough tense moments and action sequences to keep me from getting bored. I wasn't expecting a thrill-a-minute Raiders of the Lost Ark approach, anyway. I was impressed with many of the special-effects set-pieces; the opening exorcism was exciting, the scene with John and the detective, outside on the dark streets and facing a demon attack was nicely done, and the interludes in Hell were effective. The whole thing was dark visually without being oppressive, a problem not only movies of this type have but comics as well. Director Francis Lawrence wisely let some color punctuate the gloom from time to time. I wished there had been a bit more of the comics Constantine's sarcastic humor- the few times Keanu got to crack wise seemed forced, and he delivers them in such a low-key fashion that the effect is negligible. I didn't like Constantine's reliance on weapons throughout; as neat as that golden gun looked, the comics' JC would have sneered at that sort of thing. And the little interlude on the roof at the end, and the way it spit on the clever ending of the Garth Ennis JC-gets-cancer story, was just annoying.

So, to sum, questionable casting, poor perf by Keanu, impressive visually, and strong enough story-wise not to piss me off. Constantine is no masterpiece, but it's not the trainwreck I've been dreading all this time since I first heard who was going to play the title role. This being said, I'm inclined to be charitable since I got in free; my daughter started working at the movie theatre a few days ago and let me use her pass. If you pay, you might be a little less tolerant.

BPRD: THE DEAD #4
JINGLE BELLE #3
HELLBLAZER #205
LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #3
LOSERS #21
SEVEN SOLDIERS #0
SLEEPER SEASON TWO #9
SOLO #3
POWERS #9

Another fat stack is in store for me, according to this week's Diamond shipping list. And you can probably add JACK STAFF #7 and AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS #2 to this pile as well. Sigh.

BSBdG's to Scott Pilgrim mastermind Bryan Lee O'Malley, 26 today.

RIP Hunter S. Thompson, who surprisingly topped himself yesterday. Don't know what to say about that, other than it's a shame and I hope he's at peace. Also, Bonnie Raitt's dad John Raitt, and Sandra Dee.

BEST OF THE WEEK
COMICS COMMENTARY!
What I bought and what I thought, week of February 16!

100 BULLETS 58
Major plot developments this issue, as we get a surprising death, more insight into the pecking order of the Minutemen and the Trust, and an unexpected twist involving a character that's been around since the very beginning. Nice to see this book moving forward with purpose again. A

PROMETHEA 32
In which Alan Moore helpfully provides a summing up of everything he's tried to enlighten his audience about for the last 22 or issues, and is thankfully entertaining and not too obtuse about it. More than anything, this winning coda is a tour-de-force for artist J.H. Williams, who gives us a bright, colorful, trippy visual accompaniment, and even sneaks a little cheesecake in just so the whole thing doesn't float away into the ether. Although this comic certainly didn't go in the direction I thought it would when it started (remember early on when everyone regarded it as a Wonder Woman ripoff?), and I'm not 100% convinced that it would have taken the path it did if sales had been better, it's been an enchanting, fascinating, often gripping trip, always spectacularly and lavishly illustrated. And if we are to accept the gist of what Moore's saying, this has been as close to a genuine religious experience as this stubborn skeptic could possibly hope for. A

OCEAN 4
The good guys and the bad guys get a bit more definition and the basic conflict is further enhanced in this deliberately paced serial which will most likely read better collected, but I can't help it- I'm an impatient cuss. Some have opined that Ellis is falling back on formula here, especially dialogue-wise, but I've read my share of his prior work and I find it as witty and concise here as ever. To-may-to and toe-mah-toe, I guess. Anyway, it's not Ellis' show in the first place- Ocean is first and foremost a showcase for the stellar art of Chris Sprouse and Karl Story. A-

JLA CLASSIFIED 4
I can't resist the good-natured Henny Youngmanisms of Giffen and Dematteis' Justice League; they should include a CD with rimshots and canned laughter with each first issue. And despite the dark shadow cast over this opening chapter by Identity Fiasco I still laughed out loud in several places and was hugely entertained throughout- and was genuinely surprised at the ending. I must have been one of the few. Anyway, always great to see this much Kevin Maguire art in one place, facile and solid in spite of the inconsistent inks of Joe Rubenstein, and I can't not mention the new colorist, David Baron, who is a colossal improvement over the previous colorist and gives us as good a job on a superhero book as I've seen lately. A-

LIVEWIRES 1
I'm a sucker for Adam Warren's art, and his scripting when he's in full-bore futuristic technospeak mode. Unfortunately, he's only writing this one, but colleague Rick Mays, whose art I hated on the Paul Dini Zatanna one shot of a year or so ago, manages to ape his work well enough to get by. And sure, this is one big getting-acquainted infodump, with tons of expository dialogue (which normally causes me to gnash my teeth) but by gosh, at least it's cleverly written and lively, and he throws us a nifty curve when he reveals the true nature of one of the principals. So far, I like. A-

ULTIMATES 2 3
The Hulk on trial, huh? Now where have I heard that one before? Guess he figures his contemptible readers don't have memories that go that far back. Anyway, the trial happens, relationships between the fractious team break down further as they zing and snark among each other in admittedly entertaining fashion, and Mark Millar stops boning his fans long enough to give us a contrived, cliched "Of course- how else could it end?" resolution. Well, maybe he didn't stop after all. Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary contribute their usual dynamic, expansive illustrations. B+

LUCIFER 59
After a slow stretch, Mike Carey turns his attention towards a character he seems to have a strong interest in, cabaret singer slash supernatural baby receptacle Jill Presto, and this opening chapter of the latest arc starts promisingly. Peter Gross and Ryan Kelly are back on the art chores, and they're as competent as ever. B+

DAREDEVIL 70
Speaking of slow stretches, this arc is FINALLY over. Bendis took seemingly forever and two weeks to essentially launch his new White Tiger, and you can't tell me that the resolution here was a surprise to anybody. Still, all said, this arc didn't stink, it was just too padded and convoluted, and Alex Maleev tried really hard to vary things up, succeeding as often as he failed- and while no classic, was good enough, all things considered. B+

TRIGGER 3
We seem to be in a stretch in this Blade Runner knockoff where we, the readers, have already figured out most of the plot and now we have to wait around for the characters to put it all together...and I don't have a whole lot of patience for that sort of thing. I don't like to bail on limited series, especially after I've read half of it, so I'm sticking around- but I want to see more than I've gotten so far. B-

MIA- Jack Staff 7 and Amazing Joy Buzzards 2.

Posting has been light, I know, and nobody hates it worse than me. I've got several things upon which to opine, and I plan to do so over the next few days, but last week was very busy at the ULPJ, and frankly, after typing auto dealer ads, real estate ad listings, auction ads and the like, I'm to busy to write at work and too sick of banging on the keyboard to do it when I get home! So that's my excuse, love it or leave it.

My reading stack has gotten slightly smaller, but I received the first volumes of Worst and IWGP from Digital Manga Publishing, and haven't finished everything from Top Shelf yet, either. I did read IWGP last night, and I liked it OK- many of my standard manga objections still apply but I was quite impressed with the renditions of the female form by Sena Aritou. I'll have more later. As far as Western comics go, and I'm not talking about Dell/Gold key, I got everything listed back on Monday with the exception of the new issues of Jack Staff (dammit) and Amazing Joy Buzzards- apparently my shop didn't get its full shipment. My books may have come in during the week, but I didn't particularly care to drive across town to find out. And no, I didn't buy two copies of Promethea 32 to take apart and make the poster. Actually, I kinda enjoyed reading it in bound format; kinda added to the disorientation of the whole experience.

Interesting to see where Johanna Draper Carlson has picked up on the observation I made in my review of Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life about the age gap in comics these days; while I realize that my statement sounded more definitive than I intended, and I realize that there are many comics being published with older characters, it's just that most of them aren't as high-profile and talked-about as Scott Pilgrim or most manga. I hope that an interesting discussion breaks out. And believe me, by bringing it up in the first place, it's not that I want to become the poster child for old-fogey comics fans- but I just couldn't help but note. Y'know?

I know, I said a week or so that I would do another Johnny B Heart Netflix, and there are a few movies I've seen in the last couple of months that I haven't written about, but I just haven't been able to buckle down and get them typed up. I'll get to them eventually. I haven't seen anything new recently since I cancelled Netflix and can't afford to go to the cinema; but heaven (or hell) help me, I've been considering going to see Constantine. Wait, wait, let me explain- as a longtime fan of the character, it galls me to see him being represented to the great unwashed out there in the form of Keanu Reeves. Nothing against Keanu, who's not a bad actor per se, despite his Lugosi-like inability or unwillingness to lose that Valley-Boy surfer-dude inflection in his voice and mannerisms. He's best when asked to play roles that he can inhabit without stretching credibility, like QB Johnny Utah in Point Break, the abusive redneck husband in The Gift, and of course Neo in the Matrix flicks. But ask him to play a character outside his comfort zone, like Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker's Dracula, and he is inept and ludicrous. He damn near kills that film as he struggles to sound British- "That bah-stahd." I suppose we should be thankful that if they had to cast the guy as Ol' Conjob, at least by making him an American they spared us that. Anyway, I've been reading the mostly poor reviews, and while they're hardly ringing endorsements (and often boneheaded, when they insist on making Matrix comparisons) the events and situations they describe sound kinda imaginative, which is borne out by the trailers I've seen, so I'm kinda thinking about sucking it up and seeing if I can't tolerate Ted "Theodore" Logan in a trenchcoat for the visuals. Maybe if I think of him as another character, like Clive Barker's Harry D'Amour. Plus, I have two free passes to the movie theatre, so I won't be out anything of value, except my time. One major deterrent to me is the spoiler Rich Johnston posted in last weekend's Lying in the Gutters, which describe an event in the film which effectively spits on one of the comic's best scenes.

I got some belated birthday money the other day, so I placed another Amazon.com order. I got the latest Wilco CD, A Ghost Is Born, the Pentangle's Solomon's Seal, one of my absolute favorite albums only recently available on CD and that as an import; plus, I ordered May Pang's book about her time with John Lennon before and during his "Lost Weekend", a chapter in his life which continues to fascinate me.

Music the last couple of days, including this morning: The Raspberries' Greatest Hits, Todd Rundgren-Liars (great song-"Soul Brother"); Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot; Bonnie Raitt-Fundamental and Takin' My Time; The Essential Dave Brubeck; The Best of KC and the Sunshine Band; Wendy Waldman-The Main Refrain; Babe Ruth-First Base; George Harrison-Living in the Material World, Dark Horse, and Thirty-Three and 1/3; Hamilton Camp (who has a supporting role in Desperate Housewives!)-Here's To You; Traffic-When the Eagle Flies; Roger McGuinn; and Aerosmith-Rocks.

Those of us who have been coupled up for any length of time more than likely have an album or albums, even, that remind them of their dating days. Mrs. B and I have several such albums, but at left is one of ours, the self-titled 1977 debut album by one Dean Friedman.

If you've heard of him it all, it's most likely for his hit from that album, "Ariel", a goofy, but charming popsong ditty about a date with a free-spirited Jewish girl who looked "mighty fine" and eventually made love like "bombs bursting in ai-ai-aiiiirr-e-ell". It hit the top 30, and I liked it so much it led me to check out the album, which is mostly singer-songwriterly relationship-type songs, piano, strings, a little sax, very late 70s sounding but redeemed a lot by Friedman's charming sense of humor. Another standout track was the forlorn "Solitaire", which is another piano-and-massed-strings song, but with a great melody. Mrs. B and I started dating not long after I got the album, and not long after that I picked up its follow-up, 1978's equally witty and melodic Well Well, Said the Rocking Chair, which in a lot of ways is even better than its predecessor; much more varied in its sound and subject matter, as is borne out by the likes of "S&M" ("My credo and my ism is sado-masochism") and the title cut, a gleefully surreal kind of pick-me-up song, which even rocks in a light fashion, sung by the singer to himself. Both albums are available as a twofer, if you're inclined to check 'em out. He was backed by a number of NYC studio musos of the period, including a pre-King Crimson Tony Levin on bass.

He did one more major-label album after that, 1981's Rumpled Romeo, which I never got around to checking out. Since then, he's kept his hand in playing club dates, doing soundtracks for the odd TV show and underground film, and working on video technology. Of course, I got all this off his website, which I discovered after receiving an email (how I got on the mailing list I'll never know) from "Dean Friedman", and thinking it was spam, prepared to delete it, but curiosity got the best of me and I opened it. It was a link to a new Flash animation, a political satire written by Friedman called "Four More Years", and it's pretty clever. He's no Dan Bern, but hey. From there, I visited his site, and decided to pass it on to you, my deserving readers.

Besides, I haven't done a music post in a dog's age, so here it be! Felt good. I'll try to do more sometime.

Well, crap.

I just checked my SiteMeter, and was delighted to note that as of a few minutes ago, I have just reached the lofty heights of 100,000 visits to my humble blog. The referrer URL was listed as "unknown", but it came from somewhere in the Midwest, or someone on Mountain Standard Time, anyway.

I am simply amazed that I have had 100,000 visitors. Of course, before I learned to set my SiteMeter not to recognize my IP address, I was probably responsible for about 25,000...but regardless, I am honored, I thank all of you, and will always try to do my best to be at least interesting in the future.

This is beginning to feel like an Oscar® speech...

DC, out of the goodness of their corporate hearts, was nice enough to give us their solicits for May- so I figure the least I could do is run 'em down, like a good little comics blogger...



The prominent theme, at least early on in the list, is "Month of May= excellent Cliff Chiang cover art". Above is from BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #65, which is hyped as being "...the shattering conclusion of Ivy's quest!". Sounds painful. Don't want anything shattered, so I won't buy. But bojemoi, that's a nice cover.

Another excellent Chiang image, this time from GOTHAM CENTRAL #31. Hey, look! Cliff draws Josie Mac for the first time in years!

James Jean is on fire, too- his pop-arty cover for GREEN ARROW #50 looks great.

But holy geez, what a wretched awful thing that's going to be stuck on HAWKMAN #40! Reminds me of something you'd see on a Caliber or Top Cow book. Ugh.

THE OMAC PROJECT #2 continues to look interesting to me, even though I'm not a big fan of Jesus Saiz's art.

There's going to be 16 issues of PLASTIC MAN. Wow. Baker must have some dirty pictures of somebody somewhere. I've been so underwhelmed by the last couple of issues that I'm strongly considering dropping it, and I may do it before you've finished reading this.

The Seven Soldiers parade continues with SEVEN SOLDIERS: SHINING KNIGHT #2 and SEVEN SOLDIERS: THE GUARDIAN #2 . Beauty cover on that Shining Knight, eh? My wallet is groaning at the thought of having so many miniseries to keep up with, but so far it looks like it will be worthwhile if I don't go all chapter 7.

Wouldn't mind having that WRATH OF THE SPECTRE TP, since I don't have my original Adventure comics anymore. Those were some wicked fun, especially the first four issues or so before it got a tad formulaic. Also, the Spectre fan in me has a hard-on for THE GOLDEN AGE SPECTRE ARCHIVES VOL. 1 HC, but if I could afford hardcovers I'd be sitting on a stack of Spirit Archives right now. Sigh.

I tried picking up a couple of issues of WONDER WOMAN recently, but just couldn't get into 'em. WW is a character I've always kinda liked, but have rarely liked the way her own title was done, a state which continues to this day. I wonder if Promethea knows that Wondy has snagged her staff?

On to the Wildstorm section.

CITY OF TOMORROW #2, the latest Chaykin joint, looks good. Hope I signed up for #1- I forget!

DESOLATION JONES #1: Warren Ellis. J.H. Williams III. I'll be getting this, even if I have to give plasma.

MATADOR #1 kinda-sorta looks interesting; it's by Devin Grayson, with whose work I've been unimpressed, and Brian Stelfreeze, with whose work I've been somewhat more impressed. After Angeltown, I'm a bit reluctant to stick my toe back in the urban crime thriller comics genre pool.

THE RAZOR'S EDGE: REDBIRD #3: Does no one have any cover scans for this? We were given a small illo for #2, and there's some sort of caption box on this one. Hey, it's still Jason Pearson, and that's cool, but...

SLEEPER SEASON TWO #12 draws the final curtain on one of the best series in recent memory, most likely for good. Can't wait to see how it turns out, though.

TOP TEN: THE FORTY-NINERS HC I'll believe this is coming out when I see it on the rack. I think I might have to order it from DCBS- I miss Top 10 so bad that I'm fiending to read this!

James Jean, who's absolutely on a roll: at right, the cover for FABLES #37.

The first three PREACHER trades are being re-released; if you haven't read this series, do so now. Unless you're easily offended.

And that looks like that! I thought April was a slack month, and there was more to look forward to coming out then than this month! Oh well, there's always the usual suspects like 100 Bullets and The Losers, which didn't move me to comment.

Wish I could say that by May I would have broken off with my comics shop and went exclusively DCBS, but that doesn't look like it's gonna happen anytime soon. C'est la vie.

UPDATE! Mighty Mike Jozic has reminded me of a May solicit that I had overlooked: BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE #'s 1 & 2, the much-ballyhooed return of Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers to a character they did for a short but brilliant time in the late 70's. Many of the story ideas they initiated have been blended into Batman lore, including Joker fish and the whole Clayface thing. I recall those being somewhat adult in tone, especially compared to the norm in comics at that time. Anyway, I'm considering picking these up, but I'm a bit apprehensive- many times creators have come back to the scene of past glory, and have failed to live up to expectations. We shall see, I guess!

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things
When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad
[Repeat all verses]-Rodgers & Hammerstein

Oh. Wait. That's not right at all. Actually, what I meant to do was perpetuate the latest meme-onic madness that Freddy Hembeck started, in the immortal words of George Harrison, "All Those Years Ago" and Meestah Alan David Doane took to a whole new level, and Mike Sterling called everybody out on, namely

100 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT COMICS
Johnny Bacardi style!
And among other things, that means "in no particular order except that in which I thought of them".

1. THRILLER by Robert Loren Fleming and Trevor Von Eeden. Big surprise, huh. Incidentally, the creators are both good people. If I were President of DC, first thing I would do is put out a deluxe trade of the first eight issues, then put both men back to work on a 12-issue follow-up. And buy them cell phones so they could stay in touch this time...!

2. JERRY GRANDENETTI's expressionistic 60s Warren and DC work. Very unappreciated.

3. The comics wall rack at Cave City Drugs in the 60's and 70's.

4. SPIDER-MAN by Steve Ditko and that Lee fella, especially #16, the first one I ever read and one of the funniest comics Lee ever wrote.

5. AMAZING ADVENTURES featuring KILLRAVEN, by DON McGREGOR and CRAIG RUSSELL. As close as we ever got to Wagner in spandex.

6. BAT LASH by Nick Cardy. Too smart for the 60's room.

7. GEMINI BLOOD by Christopher Hinz and Tommy Lee Edwards. Suffered by comparison with the other Helix titles.

8. The MIGHTY ATOM and the PIXIES by God only knows...

9. SUPER-HIP! by Arnold Drake and Bob Oksner in the ADVENTURES of BOB HOPE.

10. WONDER WOMAN by Mike Sekowsky and Dennis O'Neil. I've only read one or two, don't own any, and am DYING to get some. Sekowsky Wonder Woman, that is.

11. The SHADOW by O'Neil and Kaluta. Beautiful mood and period detail, and O'Neil's no-nonsense Shadow dialogue was great. There just weren't enough of them, although successor Frank Robbins was pretty good. When you read #2, listen to Electric Light Orchestra II to get the total David Allen Jones 70's Shadow experience.

12. THE SHADOW by Andrew Helfer and Kyle Baker. Outstanding black comedy, one of the best things DC ever put out in my own humble opinion. I still pause before eating hot dogs, thanks to Helfer and Baker.

13. The spinner rack at Jr. Foods on the corner of Hwy. 259 and the Old
Glasgow-Munfordville Road.

14. THE ROCKETEER by Dave Stevens.

15. MICHAEL WILLIAM KALUTA, one of my absolute favorite artists. Stylish, graceful, classy. Did about a million DC House of... covers in the 70's and 80's. Seemed to be a nice guy when I met him once in 2000.

16. THE PHANTOM STRANGER by Len Wein, Jim Aparo, Arnold Drake and Gerry Talaoc. Wonder whatever happened to Talaoc...?

17. BEOWULF: DRAGON SLAYER by Michael Uslan and Ricardo Villamonte. Another overlooked, but clever and witty, sword and sorcery title that got lost in the shuffle.

18. X-MEN by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams. Kicked my widdle ass when I was about 9 years old.

19. BRAVE and the BOLD 80- Batman and the Creeper vs. the Hellgrammite by Bob Haney and Adams.

20. PAUL GRIST (Kane, Jack Staff)

21. CHASE by D.C. Johnson and J.H. Williams III/Mick Gray.

22. BATMAN FAMILY 17, with the Bob Rozakis/Michael Golden Man-Bat meets the Demon story, plus a typically kickass Kaluta cover.

23. LETTERS PAGES in the Brave & the Bold, Unknown Soldier, and any others that actually printed my letters! There were also Batman Family 20, 70's Captain Marvel 57 and Thriller 12- and that was about it for my letterhack career...

24. JAIME HERNANDEZ. I love his way with an ink line, his always-dead-on black spotting, and he draws some of the sexiest women EVER. "Nuff said.

25. FLAMING CARROT by Bob Burden. Ut!

26. Lettering by IRA SCHNAPP on those old 50's-60's DC comics covers and house ads. Go here for some great examples, but beware- the fella who posted them must have scanned them all at about 1850 dpi, so they can take forever and a day to load...

27. HOWARD VICTOR CHAYKIN- Especially Ironwolf, Times Squared, his Solomon Kane take with Roy Thomas, and, of course, American:Flagg!.

28. COMICS STARRING FAFHRD and the GRAY MOUSER- DC had Sword of Sorcery, Marvel put out a Mignola-pencilled Chaykin-scripted miniseries in the 80s. There should be more.

29. JACK KIRBY's FANTASTIC FOUR. With great dialogue and story assists from Stan. Favorite from my youth: #32, "Calamity on the Campus!", in which evil alchemist Diablo brings Dragon Man to life, and all hell breaks loose at Reed's alma mater.

30. JACK KIRBY'S MISTER MIRACLE. I liked all the Fourth World books, but this was my first and still my favorite. Sure, the characters are silly and the dialogue was, to be charitable, odd- but those comics had an intensity and energy that was downright exciting to read. And it's VerMAN Vundabar, not VerMIN.

31. JACK KIRBY. Period.

32. STEVE DITKO's Dr. Strange. Three stories in particular always come to mind: the one with the two extradimensional sisters; the one in which he battles in his ectoplasmic form with other spirits over an airplane, as he flees from Baron Mordo, and the first Tiboro issue. Ditko was giving us hallucinations without drugs.

33. ALEX TOTH. The master. Oddly enough, one of the first stories featuring his work that made an impression on me was the "Death Flies The Haunted Skies" story in Detective Comics, which he doesn't look back on all that fondly. Bravo For Adventure is great, too.

34. WARLOCK by Jim Starlin.

35. NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. by Steranko

36. DC SPECIAL SERIES #16, the Death of Jonah Hex, by Mike Flesher and Russ Heath. I had this comic in my original collection, let it go, and it's so scarce that I can't find it anyplace, eBay, you name it, for under $10. Feh.

37. HAMMER LOCKE by Tom Joyner, K.S. Wilson, and Chris Sprouse. I know, I know, I keep saying I'll do an overview of this series, and I actually have one about two paragraphs long in draft status. Keep watching the skies.

38. The spinner rack at the Ben Franklin five and dime store, featuring all the best Gold Key and later DC comics.

39. ZOT! by Scott McCloud

40. THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS by Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan, read for the first time in 1976 while stoned in my friend Dave's basement room. Thought I was gonna die laughing. Literally.

41. STARSTRUCK by Elaine Lee and Mike Kaluta. An incredibly witty and densely populated saga that is sadly nowhere near complete. I wish Lee and Kaluta could get back to it someday.

42. THE WHOLE FRIGGING COMICS BLOGOSPHEREIVERSE. Of course, I have my favorites, but I love 'em all. Mostly. And you know who you are.

43. CAP'N QUICK and a FOOZLE by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. Another clever series that was over way too soon.

44. SWAMP THING by Wein and Berni(e) Wrightson, later by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben.

45. THE CHECKERED DEMON by S.Clay Wilson. Sick, but funny.

46. Waiting for the Haxby News guy to deliver new comics to the drug stores and convenience stores in the 70's.

47. COMIC BOOK ARTIST magazine, volume 1. I've only read 1 issue of vol. 2, and it was fine, but I got a huge kick out of the first series.

48. PROMETHEA by Moore, Williams III and Gray.

49. PAUL POPE comics, especially 100%.

50. PREACHER by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.

51. HELLBOY by Mike Mignola. Accept no substitutes.

52. THE NEVERMEN by Phil Amara and Guy Davis.

53. Borrowing my friends' copies of Wizard and Toyfare so I wouldn't have to buy 'em myself.

54. The WORST issue of THE MONSTER TIMES, #30, in which Joe Kane introduced me to the likes of Brother Power, The Geek and Dell's Dracula.

55. The 1970's SUB-MARINER by Bill Everett, in which he gave us the sexiest Venus and cutest Namorita ever.

56. MAJOR BUMMER by John Arcudi, Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen.

57. HELLSTORM by Warren Ellis and Leo Manco.

58. MONKEYMAN and O'BRIEN by Arthur Adams. I can't believe he's let this languish and become forgotten over the years.

59. EVAN DORKIN.

60. Ellen Forney's Wonder Woman story in the first BIZARRO COMICS.

61. MANHUNTER by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson.

62. THE SPIRIT by the late great Will Eisner

63. FLEX MENTALLO by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Still the best explanation I can give for continuing to read comics after I've theoretically grown up.

64. HOT STUFF comics from Harvey. Including Stumbo the Giant. The L'il Devil Kid ROCKS!

65. THE AVENGERS by Thomas and John Buscema. There have been many fine Avengers series since, but this one still is the best, as far as I'm concerned.

66. RED ROCKET 7 by Mike Allred. Just for mentioning Mott The Hoople and T.Rex.

67. The Bouncing Ball of DOOM! (Strange Tales 131)

68. THE SPECTRE, a character I've liked in almost every incarnation he's ever had. Except as Hal Jordan.

69. OMAHA THE CAT DANCER by Reed Waller and Kate Worley. No unicorns.

70. URSULA by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba. Ideal for Valentine's Day.

71. SKELETON KEY by Andi Watson.

72. DAME DARCY.

73. PECULIA by Richard Sala.

74. DAVID MAZZUCHELLI. Don't see his art nearly enough.

75. FRANK ROBBINS, especially on the Shadow and those 70's Batman stories. I didn't appreciate his Caniff-esque style nearly enough when it mattered.

76. BRUCE TIMM and all his followers.

77. SCARY GODMOTHER by Jill Thompson.

78. JOHN CONSTANTINE. Will always be cooler than Keanu.

79. DC GO-GO CHECKS!

80. Speaking of which, the MAD MOD.

81. GIANT-MAN and the Wonderful WASP in TALES TO ASTONISH. Childhood favorites.

82. TOP SHELF COMIX, who are putting out some excellent titles. Same can be said for

83. AIT/PLANETLAR,

84. ONI PRESS, and

85. FANTAGRAPHICS.

86. "Still only 25¢!".

87. BUNNY BALL. One of my first loves. Sigh. She was so yvoorg.

88. Finding out about a character or title you've never heard of, but sounds cool as hell. See "The Life and Loves of Lisa St. Claire", the post earlier today.

89. The first comics store I ever saw, off Broadway in Louisville. It wasn't there very long.

90. GENE "THE DEAN" COLAN.

91. THE SILVER SURFER by Stan Lee and John Buscema.

92. DOOM PATROL by Grant Morrison and Richard Case. Special mention to the last six or so issues, done by Rachel Pollack and Ted McKeever.

93. SANDMAN: THE KINDLY ONES by Neil Gaiman and Marc Hempel. Way to finish an epic, fellas.

94. The fabled Marvel collection of a fellow named (I think) DOUG LINDSEY, about 8 years my senior, who I would see once in a great while when I went with my father on his sales route. Don't know what happened to the guy, or his comics, but he had complete runs of every Marvel book, and that includes romance and westerns, through 1972 or so. I still get a chill thinking about that collection.

95. Oh, all right, THE COMICS JOURNAL. I don't read it much these days, can't afford it, but I was a regular buyer from 1978 till 1996 or so, and it shaped my tastes and writing style immeasurably.

96. ADAM WARREN art, especially on Dirty Pair.

97. Covers by JAMES JEAN, ADAM HUGHES, and DAVE JOHNSON.

98. JUNGLE ACTION- The Black Panther by Don McGregor and Billy Graham

99. CONAN by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith.

100. TEX ARCANA by John Findlay. Originally ran in Heavy Metal, one of the best gol-durn supernatural Western comedies I've ever read. Needs to be collected.

Wow, that's 100 already! I'm sure I've left out a ton of stuff that I'll think of later, and if I don't mention you, please don't take offense! Perhaps one of these days I'll get the time to whip out the ol' Photoshop and do a visual 100 Things. Don't hold your breath. Anyway, I'll try to link up more of these entries in the next day or so.

Yes, it's that time of the week again. No, it's not my look at DC's newest solicits; that's coming soon. Instead, it's time to take a squint at the new Diamond shipping list! Here's what I should be getting on Wednesday, and it's a monster:

100 BULLETS #58
JLA CLASSIFIED #4 (wouldn't miss this for anything. Whoops- I should have put the Bwah-ha-ha Justice League in my 100 Things list!)
LUCIFER #59
OCEAN #4
PROMETHEA #32
TRIGGER #3
AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS #2
JACK STAFF #7
DAREDEVIL #70
LIVEWIRES #1

Ouch! Plus, I've still got Ultimates 2 3 out there, which could come in. I'll have to endure the disapproving glares of the comics shop people when I tell them to put back the Bill & Ted trade for the third straight week. Le sigh.

I typed this up after I posted the 100 Things list, but I set the post date before 'cause I wanted it to be seen. Just in case you were wondering!

From all of me to all of you, Happy Valentine's Day.

But wait! There's more!

Whilst clicking around the Grand Comic Book Database, looking for a romance-themed comic book cover, I came across this:



What the f-? There was an ongoing series in this DC romance book? And looking at the covers, many of them were drawn by Mike Sekowsky, who in my opinion drew some mighty fair females! The Lives and Loves of Lisa St. Claire is the title, it began in Young Love issue #68, and now I'm super-curious. Gonna have to do some research, and I'll bet these comics are scarce as hen's teeth. Anybody out there have the skinny on Lisa St. C? A Google search wasn't much help.

BEST OF THE WEEK
COMICS COMMENTARY!
What I bought and what I thought, week of February 9!

VIMANARAMA 1
A Bollywood version of Zelazny's Lord of Light, as filtered through Bend It Like Beckham. Guess maybe the synchronized schoolgirl volleyball players on pages 2-3 put that in my head. Anyway, Grant Morrison gives us a light, lively script which is ably illustrated by another of his best collaborators, Philip Bond. Nobody can genre-bend like our boy Grant. Right now, as with so many first issues, it's kinda hard to get a handle on where this will go, but so far so good. A

GOTHAM CENTRAL 28
With Michael Lark gone (except for covers) and Brubaker right behind him, a lotta people are preparing last rites for this title, a bit prematurely maybe- but for now it seems determined to remain strong as ever as Greg Rucka returns with a look at what happens when a Flash villain's Gotham hideout (which begs the question, do Batman villains have hideouts in other cities, and so on?) is discovered by a couple of Latin kids and a police officer, with grisly results. Longtime GC inker Steve Gaudiano gets to show what he's got as he assumes complete art duties, and he does not disappoint. While his ink style is as sloppy and distracting as the fill-in artist we've had for the last couple of issues, it's tempered by great layouts and pacing, and better figure drawings. A-

FABLES 34
In this issue we get a fill-in from Bite Club's David Hahn, and while I thought he was about eleven kinds of wrong for the sanguinary snark of that title, frankly I love his work here- it just suits his clean, babyfaced style a hell of a lot more. Heck, some panels here even remind me of Chris Sprouse, and that's high praise, as far as I'm concerned! Only one complaint- the stylized squiggle he puts on everybody's ears (like Fred Hembeck's elbow and knee spirals, only with sharp edges) just looks dumb. This being said, I would be perfectly happy if the uninspired Buckingham/Leialoha art team was sent packing and Hahn were to take over on a permanent basis. Story-wise, Bill Willingham gives us a side-trip involving Jack B. Nimble (and to a lesser extent, Thumbelina, pun somewhat intended), who has stolen a bunch of the late Blackbeard's money and goes to Hollywood to become a filmmaker, and becomes a major player by throwing a bunch of money around. Now, honestly, I didn't believe for a minute that it would be that easy to set oneself up as a big-shot film producer; I would imagine that nine times out of ten there are dues that have to be paid and channels to go through. Also, I seriously doubt that anyone would be interested in seeing a three-picture Lord of the Rings-style trilogy of films about Jack the Giant-Killer, Jack and the Beanstalk, and the third, which involves some sort of elaborate revenge fantasy for our jack and actually doesn't sound too bad. Still, Willingham gives us a sequence of events which manages to convince, without too many "fables", if you will, so I can happily report that this was the best issue of this book I've read in a good while. A-

SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL 1
Hoo boy. Beautifully drawn, even with revisions, but the plot is straight out of a 50's drive-in B picture. Fortunately, I like 50's drive-in B pictures, so I can laugh at the amusing joke and tolerate the unlikely premise. And did I mention that it's beautifully drawn? B-

ANGELTOWN 5
Things happen this time out, thank goodness, but the players are so poorly defined that you can't tell 'em apart without the scorecard they neglect to give us, the mystery is banal, and the dialogue these characters spout is leaden and nowhere near as street as its writer thinks it is. But hey- I'm just a poor Kentucky boy, how do I know how the brothas talk? Which is what Phillips is banking on, I'm sure. Again, the excellent art by Shawn Martinbrough is wasted on this mediocrity. C

MIA: ULTIMATES 2 3.

Comics reviews later today. First, an announcement posted over at the Sketch Blog (remember it?), posted here in case you haven't seen it:

It's with a heavy heart that I make this announcement: In one week, I'll be deleting this blog. I'm not updating it as much as I should, it has failed to inspire me to draw more, like I hoped it would, and I'm just using bandwidth that someone else could be using to do something worthwhile. So one week from today, Johnny B's Sketch Blog is history.

I'm giving everybody a week to remove the link from their blogs, if you've linked up to me here, or download images for some reason if you so desire. If for some reason you'd be interested in any of the originals I've posted here, please send me an email.

Thanks for checking it out, and for the kind, positive comments you've provided. This was kind of an experiment for me, and I guess I found out what I needed to know. There are few things sadder than someone with a gift, and no idea how to best take advantage of it.


More later.

Haven't had a whole lot of non-work related computer time lately, so apologies for the whole lot of nothing I've given you lately. When I haven't been working, I've been reading; I just finished with Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and for the first time in ages I got caught up in a book, unable to put it down...or at least put it away with a modicum of effort. It's a very imaginative take on the Baum OZ characters, especially the Wicked Witch of the West, a character everybody knows but no one knew anything about. Hopefully I'll write a bit about it at some later date.

Let's see, what else can I spout off about?

Jason Little has begun the follow up to his excellent Shutterbug Follies, starring "Bee"- Motel Art Improvement Service. I read Follies as he posted it on his website about three years ago (and as a sad result I never purchased the hardcover book, despite the fact that it looked sensational), and I'll probably read the sequel this way too. I love Little's clean, colorful art style, and his Bee is a likeable character.

You should go over to Alan David Doane's to see his 100 Things I Love About Comics. It's really something. Inspired by Fred Hembeck own "100 Things" list, ADD has put in a lot of time on it and it shows. I'd do one, but it would just seem like I'm riding on ADD & Fred's coattails.

Four Color Meat & Fish, a blog I thought I already had on the blogroll at right, is having a contest in which they're giving away the first two Fables trades. Hey, those are some pretty good comics, well worth your time- so go enter, already!

I've been seeing the music meme pop up in a lot of places you don't usually see memes of that sort pop- Warren Ellis' PULSE column, for example, or Heidi MacDonald's Beat at the same location. I've yet to read one that's less than completely fascinating.

Looks like my reading stack is not going down anytime soon; I still haven't finished my stack of comics from Wednesday thanks to the Wicked Witch and the wicked people who take out ads in the newspaper. I got everything I listed the other day except Ultimates 2 #3, which was supposed to be in my holds so all I can surmise is that it didn't ship, my shop didn't get any copies (unusual for such a high profile Marvel book) or got damaged ones and sent them back, or who knows. We shall see. I got Shanna The She-Devil #1, though. Not exactly compensation. I had also meant to keep an eye out for the Batman: The Man Who Laughs one-shot illo'ed by Doug Mahnke, but I didn't see it either. Hmpf. Another significant addition to my reading pile was the gift of a handful of books from Brett Warnock at Top Shelf Comix, including Blankets and Carnet De Voyage! Many thanks to Mr. Warnock. I can't wait to get into the much-praised Blankets and its successor. Of course, I will be sure to relate all my impressions of those and the other books I received ASAP.

While I'm recounting personal good fortune, I suppose I should finally spill the beans about the Significant Event that's coming up for me, namely, my first actual for-money printed article! In a real, honest-to-goodness magazine, or to be more precise, Special Edition Book. Back in October, I was approached by Sean Collins, who as you all may know works at Wizard Entertainment, who asked me if I'd be interested in trying my hand at some freelance writing. Now, folks, what you've been reading here at the Show represents the sum total of my journalistic output; I've never done any "real" writing, so I was apprehensive about it to say the least. But, tempted by the promise of monetary recompense for my efforts, as well as the desire not to spend the rest of my life wondering "what if", I decided that I'd take him up on his offer, figuring I'd get a short piece, perhaps on some obscure character or comic of some sort. When Sean sent me my assignment, I received a shock- it was a 3000 word piece, for the upcoming "Best of Basic Training" collection, about the "tools of the trade"- in short, what materials pros used to illustrate comics. I had never written ANYTHING on this scale before, and I gotta admit that I almost backed out...but I said "No, I can do this!" Part of the job was to interview 6 artists, in other words actually call them up or email them and ask them a series of questions, to be distilled into the body of the piece. So, being an interview journalism virgin, I had to go out and get a recording device of some sort, then I was ready. The Wizard folks wanted me to contact none other than John Cassaday, Mark Bagley, Jim Lee, Steve McNiven, David Finch, and none other than a living legend...John Romita Sr! I was given contact info, and set out on my task. Cassaday and McNiven gave me their answers by email, and I conducted phone interviews with Bagley (friendly guy, fine conversation), Lee (also very open and friendly, and probably the most surprising responder, with his accounts of his laid-back work habits), and I gotta tell you- John Romita Sr. gave me enough material to write two articles! He was very open and friendly as well, and boy, did he love to talk! He gave me a ton of anecdotal information, and I gotta tell ya it made the inner fanboy in me swoon when he would casually drop names the like of Kirby, Buscema, and Gene Colan into his accounts! Niven I never did get in touch with; his emails kept being kicked back and his phone number was the wrong one, so he didn't get interviewed. I'm sure he's losing sleep. Fortunately, I was able to call upon one of the few pro contacts I have, JLA Elite inker Tom Nguyen, who provided me with a wealth of info about inking. Anyway, after taking forever (this came during a very tumultuous time in my life, I had design projects and job interviews and a bunch of other stuff going on) and getting a couple of deadline extensions, I finally got it finished, sent in, revised, and sent in again...and then I heard nothing for several weeks until I saw it solicited in March's Previews, so I emailed Sean about what was going on with it, since I kinda wanted to blog about it- he said it had been edited up, and was indeed going in, so at last I can tell you all the story. Of course, I won't be able to afford a copy of my own, but you guys can check it out and tell me if it sucks too much! It's funny- doing actual paid writing was far from my mind when I started this blogging thing oh so long ago, but it's led to it and y'know what? Although it was kinda stressful, I enjoyed it- and even if I never get to write anything for anyone else I'm very glad I did it- if nothing else but because I got to chat with John Romita Sr.! Many, many thanks to Sean for giving me the opportunity.

OK, I guess that's enough for now. I'll be back with comics reviews over the weekend, and who knows what else.

Even though I missed the Bat Lash Justice League Unlimited episode, I've caught the two new ones since then- and they've been a mixed bag. The windup of the Chronos thing was disappointing, with a contrived ending (but let's face it- time travel stories are contrived by nature), even though it was nice to see the Batman Beyond cast back again. I always kinda liked that show.

The "Cat and the Canary" episode was OK, mostly because it was fun to see Black Canary animated, an added bonus being Morena (Inara from Firefly) Baccarin providing her voice. It bugged me that she wasn't wearing fishnets, buy then again, I'm sure those would be a bitch to animate...wonder why they didn't put her in the type of costume she's been wearing lately in Birds of Prey? Guess they wanted that "classic" BC look without the most classic component. Or did they think the black jacket and blonde wig was the strongest visual hook? Anyway, the story itself was OK, as far as I could tell was pretty consistent with the Wildcat characterizations of the past, even though he's been a tad more self confident in the pages of JSA, to the best of my memory...it's been a while since I've bought that book. I've never cared for the whole Roulette and her "Fight Club for super-villains" concept, which strikes me as very implausible, always has. They tweaked it a bit for the TV show, though, giving us a crowd full of non-costumed big shots and high rollers, where in the comics I remember the spectators being other super-villains. I had a hard time buying that the entire crowd would file out while BC cradled the presumably dead Green Arrow in her lap- first of all, it takes a long time for the crowd in a big sporting event like that to clear the building, and I can't believe nobody would make some sort of attempt to remove the body from the ring, or some old Canary foe with a grudge would try something. If Arrow's poison had lasted, say, another six hours, would she have stayed there with him in her lap for that duration, and would no one suspect something was going on? Weird ending.

Anyway, onward...saw some of the brief clips from future episodes in the closing credits, and the ones with Mister Miracle and Barda, one of which I've thoughtfully provided for you above, looked really good to me- not surprising, since I've always thought that the Superman Adventures WB series of a few years ago was at its very best when dealing with Kirby's Fourth World and its characters. Hopefully, this will continue the streak.

Good morning.

Got an email press release today from James Sime, he of Isotope Comics Lounge waaaay over in that fabled land of San Francisco. Since he was thoughtful enough to send it to me, who's kinda out there on the fringe of Comics Journalism, I thought the least I could do is pass it on to all of you. It's mighty damn long, and I sincerely hope I'm not violating some sort of rule of journalism by doing this, but here's an excerpt. If you want to read the whole thing, email me and I'll forward it to ya. Anyway, here's most of the pertinent parts:

SAN FRANCISCO (February 9th, 2005) Acclaimed San Francisco comics retailer James Sime, proprietor of Isotope - the comic book lounge, announced today that submissions for the much-celebrated 2005 Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics will be accepted until March 15th at midnight. "Alright mini-comic creators, it's time to fire up your printers and copy machines again," said Sime, "And it's time to score yourself some of the gold and the glory that is the third annual Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics!"

Established in 2003, the Isotope Award was created to celebrate the thousands of unique, hand-produced mini-comics that are created each year. Focusing on this often overlooked segment of the comic industry and the creators who make them, the Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics is known internationally for launching the professional comic careers of Rob Osborne (1000 STEPS TO WORLD DOMINATION) and Josh Cotter (SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST)...

... The only fee for entry to this competition is five copies of your mini-comic sent to Isotope's Special Projects Director Kirsten Baldock at the Isotope address (1653 Noriega St San Francisco, CA 94122) before the March 15th deadline. As is tradition, the award will be given out at a grand ceremony during APE AFTERMATH at the Isotope in conjunction with San Francisco's ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO. San Francisco's APE convention has been a forum for small and independent publishers in the industry for many years. Because of the nature of this award, the winner will be contacted in advance and must be present at the Isotope at 9 PM on Friday, April 9th for the award presentation ceremony.

"These award ceremonies are a blast, and I don't doubt that this year's award ceremony to be the best one yet!" enthused Sime, "Our entire judging committee is going to be there to honor this year's winner, and both Osborne and Cotter will be in attendance to welcome the next generation of Isotope Award recipient into the winner's circle. And for those who attended APE AFTERMATH last year, you can expect our usual massive turnout of supporters and creators... but this year we're going to be having even grander superstar entrances for the Isotope Award winners!"
Like Sime and the rest of the Isotope Award Committee, Rob Osborne encourages all mini-comic creators to take a chance on their work and get their minis in before deadline, "Winning this award completely blew the doors of the comic industry open for me," said Osborne, "That step from the shadows of mini-comic obscurity to the limelight of big time published creator may be just one submission away, I highly recommend that you submit your mini-comic for the Isotope Award. You may be a mini-comic star and not even know it!"

The Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics could be yours, submissions of five copies accepted until March 15th at 1653 Noriega St. San Francisco, CA 94122. For more information contact the Isotope at (415) 753 - 3037 or at jamessime@earthlink.net.

And if you win this thing, remember your ol' pal Johnny B when you're rich and famous.

Diamond shipping list powers activate! Form of...what I'll be getting this Wednesday!

ANGELTOWN #4 (...zzz...)
FABLES #34
GOTHAM CENTRAL #28
VIMANARAMA #1 (Can't resist Bond and Morrison)
ULTIMATES 2 #3

And that's it!

OK, the Super Bowl. See, I toldja the Patriots were gonna win, didn't I? And that it would be a very close game too, right? So, smart guy, I hear you saying, why was your postseason prediction record 5-6? Uh...well...y'see....aw, to heck wit'it. Wait till next year.

Favorite Super Bowl commercial (and bear in mind that I turned to Carnivale at 8 CST, then back when it was over, so I missed a few): the FedEx spot with Burt Reynolds. The rest I saw were a boring, derivative lot. The FedEx spot was derivative by design, though, so that's OK. I guess.

Paul McCartney was pretty good at halftime, too, performing on an elaborate stage that reminded me of a high-tech version of something that some network would have cobbled together for the Fabs around 1965 or so. Pretty routine run-through of familar tunes, but the band was tight and the songs were fine. I was gratified to see that he has retained many of the members of his Driving Rain tour band; I think they've spurred him to his best music since the mid-70s. Just wish he'd get around to doing a new studio record with them soon. We were fortunately spared the sign of his undoubtedly wizened teat, but I wish that he would have worn a Janet Jackson t-shirt or something equally cheeky. But "cheeky" and Paul really don't go together very well, do they?

And this concludes what will most likely be the last football-related post for a good long while. Almost time for pitchers and catchers to report!

BEST OF THE WEEK

COMICS COMMENTARY!
What I bought and what I thought, week of February 2!

CONCRETE: THE HUMAN DILEMMA 2
Uh...is it just me, or does Concrete, standing in the distance all pensive and stuff, look like a big gray penis on that cover? Anyway, it's kinda appropriate given the theme of this miniseries, namely global overpopulation. After a rather clumsy and forced sermon on that very subject, we then get a little fatal road rage action then a surprisingly erotic scene which, despite the strangeness of the whole thing, works very well. It also promises something which, I suspect, will be more significant to longtime readers than neophytes. You just never know what you're gonna get with this book sometimes. A-

ADAM STRANGE 5
Adam gets another step closer to finding out what has happened to his adopted homeworld in another solid, if not especially remarkable one way or the other, chapter. About the only thing I knew about the L.E.G.I.O.N. concept and book, which I didn't buy back in the day, was that a Braniac ancestor/descendant named Vril Dox is in charge, and sure enough, here he is. The Omega Men return, and provide effective comic relief and plot threads, Pascal Ferry still can't draw figures that aren't coiled, tense and ready for action, even when standing still, and I actually thought the coloring was better than last issue. I don't know whether it's Ferry or the colorist who's responsible for putting such a soft-focus edge on everything, but I wish he'd stop. Makes me want glasses. B+

MONOLITH 12
For those who complain about decompressed storylines in ongoing comics. With the black dog of cancellation nipping at their heels, writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray squeeze about four issues' worth of story into one as we see the resolution of the Alice kidnapping, her second detox in one comics year, belated Christmas gifts, and a reveal we already knew was coming in a sappy ending conveniently titled "The Sappy Ending". Despite the supercompression, this was actually a better read than the last three issues, and a fitting farewell for a title that had potential in equal measure to the total weight of its protagonist. B+

THE QUESTION 4
Recalling instances in the past when Tommy Lee Edwards drew Superman, and liking those (as I tend to do with fave Edwards), and also recalling writer Rick Veitch's take on the Supes legend, Maximortal, I was anticipating the much-hyped guest appearance by the Man of Tomorrow in this issue. Well, so much for anticipation. Supes' appearance is little more than a finger wagging cameo, and Edwards chose to hide his features behind the Photoshop "find edges" filter which is supposed to represent the Question's "shaman sight"...so it was more frustrating than anything. Veitch and Edwards fare better when giving us Q running around messing up the underground operation of villain Minos, and advancing the whole Science Spire/buried ghosts thing, which has me curious to where it's going. Could have been better, could have been worse. B+

JUSTICE LEAGUE ELITE 8
You know, if you want spandex action, you could do a lot worse than this title. Of course, the dark shadings will repel some, but writer Joe Kelly, resisting his well-known penchant for convolution, is doing some great character stuff and for once the sci-fi plot doesn't strain credibility, either, if you accept the whole multi-dimensional travel aspect of the thing. We even get this tied in to Kirby's Fourth World towards the ending, and a faint sense of wonder in even invoked. Of course, if not for the art of Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen, I wouldn't even be buying this in the first place, and they don't disappoint. For them that likes, here it is. B+

MIA: Shanna The She-Devil 1, because my shop sold out. More copies are coming from another store, they tell me.

And now. What you've all been waiting for:
JOHNNY B DOES MANGA!

Japanese culture is very seductive. The art, the films, the language and customs- some people get obsessed by it, and while I'm not exactly there I've enjoyed my share of Japanese films, took a language course in college (retained very little, thank you), and hold out a faint hope that someday I'll visit that tiny island nation before my time is done. I have fond, faintly fleeting memories of watching Astro Boy cartoons on the Bowling Green TV station (and there's no WAY that dreadfully stodgy station would show that sort of thing now) in the early 60s, as well as Tobor, The Eighth Man on one of the Louisville stations. Guess I wanted to establish that I'm open, receptive, and friendly to the culture, which would seem to clash completely with my stance so far on manga.

Right now, Japanese comics aka manga are all the rage, not only with the Comics Blogosphereiverse, but surprisingly with the general populace, especially kids and teens. Me, I remember the prehistoric era of manga over here, in the late 70s-early 80s, when we were introduced to such titles as Barefoot Gen, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Mai The Psychic Girl. And while some of it was skillfully done, I just never warmed to it. There was just a monotony to the subject matter and art style that didn't, and still doesn't, appeal to me. Add to that the fact that all Western manga are by necessity translated from the original katakana or whatever they're written it in, and frankly the dialogue in nearly every manga I've read (and I'll be the first to admit that there is a LOT that I haven't sampled) scans as flat, awkward, matter-of-fact and dead, and reads like it's a translation- and something's getting lost. There's no flow, no poetry, none of the idiosyncratic personality that can (not always, but can) be found in Western comics. I'm sure many of you out there can cite me dozens upon dozens of examples of exceptions, and I kinda hope you do, but right now I'm just callin' 'em as I see 'em. Recently, I decided that since it's a well-established fact that I don't know everything, and have been known (believe it or not) to be absolutely wrong on more than one occasion, that I should listen to the multitude of voices of those whose opinions I respect and dip my toe back into the mangapool. Trying to decide what to buy, I kept seeing one title mentioned over and over again: the four volume series from Tokyopop, Planetes, written and drawn by Makoto Yakimura.

First of all, what or who or why is a/the "Planetes"? How is it pronounced? Plan-et-EES? Plan-etts? Plan-ett-us? Planuties? I'm confus-ed. It's certainly never mentioned in the first volume. Now, all facetiousness aside, I gotta say that in spite of my reservations, I got really caught up in the exploits of the three garbagemen in space, set in the year 2074. All three characters got lots of screen time, so we could find out what drives each of them. First up was Yuri, who we see lose his wife in a space shuttle accident, who is quite understandably scarred by this and is seeking to lose himself in his work. The pages that depicted the shuttle accident were in color, even though the rest of the book was in black & white; I wondered why this was. Hachimaki Hoshino, the rookie of the group, dreams of becoming a rich and famous astronaut and sees the garbage detail as a necessary step towards realizing his ambition. Hotheaded, chain-smoking, impulsive Fee (and I'm sorry, but I kept thinking of the Tubes' Fee Waybill) is the pilot of the ship and probably gets the least development, at least this time out. In this volume, we also see Yuri get a measure of peace with the tragedy in his life and befriend Hachi's young, rocket-building brother in an interlude on Earth, probably the best chapter; Fee gets an amusing, action-filled showcase when an eco-terrorist group prevents her from finding a place to smoke; Hachi meets a young girl who was raised on the moon and has never been to Earth; and in the final story has to cope with isolation therapy in the aftermath of an accident in space in which he was exposed to radiation, and realizes if he can't overcome his fears he'll never get to go back in space, let alone become an astronaut.

Yukimura's art is great. He especially excels at depicting the majesty and beauty of outer space, the shots of Earth below as the astronauts float in the emptiness and so on. It's nicely detailed, and he does action very well, too, especially in the aforementioned Fee showcase story. There were many scenes that were staged in a fashion that reminded me of work I've seen by John Cassaday and Warren Ellis on Planetary, especially in the opening color sequence. Guess we know what Cassaday probably referenced, huh! One thing I can't help but wonder, though, and bear in mind that this is an uninformed question: why do manga artists, almost unanimously and without fail, draw their characters with Western, or at least race-neutral, features? None of the presumably Japanese people look even remotely Asian! I'm sure the desire not to be race-specific and the desire to appeal to a world audience as opposed to a Japan-centric one is the key there, but why is this, I wonder?

Well, all things considered, I liked the first volume of Planetes, and I can certainly see me picking up the next four books in the series one of these days. I still can't see a time when I'll become a regular reader of manga- there just aren't enough colors for me in the palette- but as long as I can keep finding solid reads like this I'll certainly try a few more titles before I'm done.

Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you
If you're young at heart
For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind
If you're young at heart

You can go to extremes with impossible schemes
You can laugh when your dreams fall apart at the seams
And life gets more exciting with each passing day
And love is either in your heart or on it's way

Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth
To be young at heart
For as rich as you are it's much better by far
To be young at heart

And if you should survive to 105
Look at all you'll derive out of being alive
Then here is the best part
You have a head start
If you are among the very young at heart

"Young at Heart" by Carolyn Leigh and Johnny Richards

As of last January 16, I am 45 years of age. I say this not for your sympathy, but to establish a point early on, nothing more. There's method to my age and song-quoting madness, bear with me.

Right now, there is nobody with more hype and buzz than Bryan Lee O'Malley, the fellow responsible for the much-talked-about Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life Vol.1, as well as his debut effort Lost at Sea. Again, I know that most of you reading this already know that, so again bear with, OK?

I read Lost a couple of weeks ago, and Pilgrim a couple of days ago; I wanted to wait until I had finished them both before holding forth. And I had two initial reactions, one after the other: this guy's art is deceptively great; and I am nowhere near the target demographic for either of these stories. I felt like I was trying to hang with my daughter's friends, another pathetic old man trying to be (Dr. Evil voice here) all "I'm hip, I'm with it!".

It strikes me as odd that in a field which is concerned constantly with writing "comics for adults", and is often preoccupied with not seeming juvenile or childish, how few graphic novels are actually written for adults. And by "adults", I'm saying people in that over-30 years of age bracket, not the young, trendy, edgy, advertising-dollar-friendly 18-25 bracket. In most comics, especially Indie books, that I run across- all the protagonists are twentysomething or younger, like (in most cases), their author/artists, with that sexy "alternative" look, all baseball-sleeve shirts, black-rimmed glasses, choppy/long straight hair, belly shirts on the girls, lots of barrettes, clunky heels, all of them pretty as sin and most of them preoccupied with the very sort of thing that trendmakers and MTV mandate that one must be preoccupied with. And yes, I know, I'm simplifying and generalizing, and I could probably use better examples to make my point, but Jesus, Mary and Joseph, do I feel old and in the way after reading a lot of Indie output these days, and that extends to webcomics like Scary-Go-Round, Diesel Sweeties, Girls With Slingshots, Wapsi Square, and others. This is nobody's fault, creators are just doing what they know best, which is kind of the number one rule given to aspiring writers and artists. But I can't help but wonder- who's doing the comics for people in my age group and older? A cynic would answer that Marvel and DC are perpetuating their corporate trademarks with its hidebound continuity concerns for the aging fanboys out there, but what of those of us who don't particularly want to read Thomas/Conway/Wolfman-style comics until they're dead? The only Indie graphic novels or comics that featured older people as the main characters that I can think of offhand were Paul Grist's Kane (and he may have been in his twenties), and AiT/PlanetLar's Last of the Independents. I'm sure there are others, but they don't come to mind easily and for every one of them there are three DEMOs, Blankets and Couriers. DC, more so than Marvel, seems to feature more, shall we say, "mature" characters; scanning a recent issue of Justice League Elite, to name one of many, I get the idea that Green Arrow is probably in his mid-thirties, Flash in his early thirties, and over in Superman and the Batman books, especially Gotham Central, the title characters appear to be in their mid-thirties and some of the members of the GCPD older than that. And don't get me wrong here- identifying with the main characters is not absolutely essential for me to enjoy a story; one of my favorite comics series of recent memory is Courtney Crumrin, fer Chrissakes.. I try to maintain an interest in the new, and I haven't closed myself off to youth culture, film, books, music- at least not as much as many of my peers in the ordinary run of life have. Hence the song lyrics up top. Maybe I'm an arrested adolescent, who can say. But like I said earlier, ofttimes I read a lot of what is most hyped in Indie comics circles these days and feel like I'm trying to run with my son's buddies. I don't belong, and I can't relate.

So, long-winded rant aside, what did I think of Lost at Sea and Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life Vol. 1 ? I liked them. With reservations. Lost is the story of a self-absorbed, spacey young girl named Raliegh (age 18, but O'Malley draws her as if she was 12) who is traveling back home with some friends she met in college. Shy, self-conscious Raliegh is convinced that she has no soul, that cats stole it. Actually, Raliegh is suffering from a broken home (she has a silly, ineffectual, arrested-adolescent dad and a driven career Mom who are divorced) and is crushing on a guy she met online, and once met in person as well, and had a brief relationship. Raliegh keeps seeing cats, and eventually persuades her friends to catch some of them in hopes of getting her purloined soul back. Everybody has a lot of self-revealing scenes, they all bond, and Raliegh decides perhaps her life isn't so bad after all, because she has friends and they make her feel good about herself. And here's where what I said earlier comes into play; as a parent of two grown children, and as someone who went through a sizable amount of adolescent angst myself, I just wanted to sit her down and say "Raliegh, this, too will pass. When you get older, you'll look back and see how trivial your problems were and regret spending so much time being preoccupied with yourself". And perhaps this is what she realizes at the end, anyway- but it takes a fair amount of time to get there. On a craft level, O'Malley has a nice knack for writing dialogue, especially humor. Even though I never was comfortable being privy to the journey of Raliegh and her friends, I admired the natural, relaxed storytelling style O'Malley has. In lesser hands, this could be unbearably pretentious, but O'Malley never gives in. I like his art a lot more than his writing, even, and more on that after I've held forth on Precious Little Life.

I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim a lot more than its predecessor; it was a lot more lively and fun. It's about 3/4 rock 'n' roll romantic comedy, then (as I'm sure most of you are aware, so hopefully I'm not dropping spoilers here) it makes an abrupt, jarring switch into superpowered video-game style fighting which would be completely offputting if not for the fact that O'Malley builds up such goodwill with his note-perfect relationship stuff that he can hand this to us with a smile on his face, and we nod and say "that's pretty cool". It's very hard to resist that panel with them all standing in unison, pointing, towards the end. O'Malley has the stones to make his title character a bit of a self-absorbed dick; but he still somehow makes him likeable enough to where we hope Scott ends up with his literal dream girl Ramona, even though we develop an attraction to the high school girl named (for no apparent reason that I could ascertain) Knives Chao that he takes up with first. It's a neat trick. As with Lost (I'm gonna talk about art now), O'Malley has a deceptively simple art style, with his elastic-limbed, Lego-headed figures...but he can take his endearingly sloppy fat ink line and grant them all expressiveness to burn, plus he is outstanding at staging, composition, spotting blacks, and all that good old technical stuff. Like Andi Watson, whose work hums a similar tune, he is very good at saying a lot with little more than a few brush strokes. It's a nice ability to have.

So yeah, I liked both these books, Pilgrim more so than Lost. I'd give the former an A, the latter a B+. I will, of course, be right there with most of my Comics Blogosphereiversal peers when Pilgrim Vol. 2 comes out. And I hope nobody says "Go home, Grandpa, this is NOT FOR YOU!!".

Heh- Eddie Vedder reference.

Time now for the season finale of JOHNNY B'S FEARLESS NFL PIGSKIN PLAYOFF PROGNOSTICATIONS!

You all remember that two weeks ago I said that the LOSERS of the conference championships would be Pittsburgh and Atlanta, right? Right? Oh, all right. I laid an egg. Screwed the pooch. Missed the boat. Was WRONG. Philly simply never let my Falcons get anything going on offense, and it didn't help that when Atlanta finally DID get down at the end zone late in the first half, and could have closed to within a field goal, they opted to kick the give-up FG instead of trying to punch it in with the league's best running attack. Bojemoi. The whole second half was just an exercise in futility after that three-pointer, which won the battle but lost the war. And I STILL maintain that Chad Lewis's first TD was bogus- it sure looked like he had his LEFT foot on the sideline...but the TV announcers and everyone else were focused on his RIGHT foot, with which he barely grazed the ground- but he was OUT OF BOUNDS. NO CATCH. It's beside the point now, but a score here and a score there affects momentum, which is important. Oh well. Wait till next year! In the other game, let's face it- the Patriots played a perfect game, closed down the Steelers running attack which was crucial for them to control the clock, and made Ben Roethlisberger look like the rookie he is. So I went 0-2 two weeks ago, and ensured that I have a putrid 4-6 losing record in my playoff predictions.

But, there's still one more chance for me to go out on a positive, and that's tomorrow's Super Bowl game. Of course, it's no easier to pick than any of these have been this year. Both teams are exceptional and solid. Philly's defense is quick enough to hold their own against the precise Patriot offense, and Donovan McNabb is crafty and skilled enough to make things happen on offense. Bryant Westbrook, not Terrell Owens, is key if the Eagles are to win the first franchise championship of any kind since the year I was born. I think Owens will contribute, maybe even catch a TD pass- but Westbrook is gonna have to make things happen himself for the Eagles to be victorious. So enough already, Dave, who's gonna WIN?

The New England Patriots.

I've picked against them for the last two months, it seems, and they've punked me every time. I'm tired of being punked. I go with the Pats to win their third.

And it wouldn't surprise me at all if I was wrong again.

Lots of stuff to write about, and I'm off work and home alone so watch out.

Caught an episode of the WB's Batman about an hour ago. I realize that it's "supposed" to be for kids, but geez- the Joker, in his new (Matsuda-designed, I assume) all-wrong feral look, has a big ray gun that can create, apparently out of thin air, a huge plastic (or something) faux playing card in which the target is encased, presumably able to breathe but nothing else. This little device, which might have gone over in a Bridwell or Fox 1964 DC story, might, completely blew the episode for me. Not to mention the horrible, cliche-filled dialogue, full of "Easy, partner, don't do anything rash" and "Joker, you maniac" pronouncements. Ugh. I haven't been able to catch many episodes of this new series, because of work and Saturday morning errands and odd jobs which always seem to pop up- and while I like most of the character designs, Joker excepted, and art style in general, so far I'm not impressed. Dini, Murakami and Timm have nothing to worry about.

Ooh! Ooh! Music meme! Found at Bill Sherman's, from Beaucoup Kevin.

1. Total amount of music files on your computer:
I'm at work, and my iTunes tells me I have 1307 songs, 5.57 GB. Mostly, it's CD's I bring from home and rip so I can listen to them here and not have to carry my CD's around so much. On the mighty mighty indigo iMac here at Casa Bacardi, 483 files, 1.9 GB. I seriously need to burn some CDs and get these off my computer.

2. The last CD you bought was:
Neil Young's On The Beach, purchased last Saturday. I had put it off long enough.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?
"Morning Glory", Tim Buckley. From the 2 CD career retrospective of the same name. I'm still warming to Buckley, whose singing style is an acquired taste but the man could write a melody when he was inclined...

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
There are so many candidates for this, it's not even funny. Here's a list off the top of my head, mostly in the "mean a lot to me" category:

"What He Doesn't Know"- Lloyd Cole, from Don't Get Weird On Me Babe
"Anastasia" by Elliott Murphy, from Just A Story From America
"Glad And Sorry"- Faces, from Ooh La La
"The Lottery Song"- Nilsson, from Nilsson Schmilsson
"So Young"- Ron Sexsmith, from Other Songs

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why?
Brendan! You, definitely. Dave Puckett! I still have many, many fond (if somewhat foggy) memories of listening to a lot of great music at his basement apartment circa 1977. And I would have said Bill S, but he's already done it, or Sean Collins, who doesn't blog anymore...if anybody else wants to take a crack at it, cool, but let me know if you saw it here first, 'kay?

Oh, what a difference a year makes.

The text of an online article at Comics World News, dated February 4, 2004:

Palmiotti, Gray & Winslade Sell Out
The debut issue of the new series THE MONOLITH has sold out at DC Comics.

DC COMICS SELLS OUT OF THE MONOLITH #1

The debut issue of the new series THE MONOLITH (DEC030283) has sold out at DC Comics. The issue, written by Jimmy Palmiotti ( recently interviewed here at CWN) & Justin Gray with art and cover by Phil Winslade, arrived in stores on February 4.

"This is great news and a real solid sign that people are interested in experiencing new and exciting concepts," say Palmiotti & Gray. "We cannot thank the wonderfully talented crew at DC Comics enough for their hard work in making THE MONOLITH a hit!"

"We printed this issue substantially beyond retailers' orders," says Bob Wayne, DC's VP - Sales & Marketing. "Between advance reviews and word of mouth, this series has momentum. We suggest retailers increase their orders now on upcoming issues."

Well, what did you expect him to say?

Well, hello there! Busy busy today, so precious little bloggy goodness from me. Just thought I'd post a little somethin-somethin while I was monitoring the high school ballgame (I play the commercial spots, and get the announcers on and off. Fun.) here at the radio station.

So, here's a better-late-than-never BSBdG to:



The lovely Latina lady with the revolving pelvis, the Charo of the Aughts...Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll aka Shakira! I liked what little I heard from her Laundry Service CD, just not enough to take the plunge and buy. Sure liked that "Whenever, Wherever" video, though...

Oyasumi Nasai, y'all!

Hey! New webcomic from none other than Hope Larson, who, along with Kean Soo, will be posting dueling comics- Larson's on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Soo on Tuesday and Thursday. It's called The Secret Friend Society. The secret is out!

I like Larson's style, and I've never seen her sequential work before so I'm looking forward. Her story's titled Salamander Dream. Soo's- titled Jellaby- also looks cool, judging by the splash page anyway. Go! Check it out!

Wow- a new Christgau's Consumer Guide (I'm thinking I should check out the Arcade Fire) and a new Tuesday Morning Quarterback column in the same day! Sweet!

Back about a million years ago, in the 1980's, my good friend Dave Puckett got me interested in a comic published by Aardvark-Vanaheim (and doesn't THAT take you back) called Journey. Its writer/artist, William Messner-Loebs, told a remarkably detailed and fascinating account of the adventures of the frontier scout Wolverine McAlistair in the post-Revolutionary War era USA, and while I will guiltily admit I never bought it myself but read Dave's copies, I thought it was a great series and wouldn't mind having a collection, if one existed. After Messner-Loebs wrapped it up and started working for DC on their corporate trademarks, it seemed to suck all the vitality out of his work and after being curious at first about how he would work out with these superhero characters, I soon lost interest and moved on, and forgot all about Mr. Messner-Loebs. I barely noticed, several years later, when his byline gradually stopped appearing...I figured he had gone on to bigger and better things or had retired to pursue other interests.

Turns out this is not the case- Mr. Messner-Loebs has been dealing with a lot of bad fortune over the years, as pointed out by the Detroit News. And now, the fellas at Mercury Studios have decided to try and help out by putting a bunch of art up on eBay to try and raise some fundage for him. If you've got the cash, why not go bid something up?

THE COURIERS 3: THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY FUNWRECKER is the latest from AiT/PlanetLar and Brian Wood, and it's pretty much on a par with the first three in the series. This time out, we get a look at those deadly and efficient (not to mention street-smart and potty-mouthed) mercenary couriers, Moustafa and Special, in the dim and distant days of 1993, when they got their gangbanging start with the organization of Chinese crime boss Johnny Funwrecker. Isn't it neat how you can stick "Johnny" in front of almost anything and it sounds cool? Ha. Anyway, we get a look at how M and S first met, are introduced to Moustafa's not-so-nice Mom, and the beginnings of how they established their urban merc delivery service...kinda like Kevin Bacon in Quicksilver, except if he carried an AK-47. There's even a funny scene in which they watch that very film. We also get a quick glimpse of Moustafa's girlfriend Olive, star of Couscous Express, as a little kid. Eventually, the duo decide they've had enough being in Johnny's employ when the Feds threaten to bust the operation, and decide to take over- which, as you may imagine, doesn't go over very well at all with Mr. Funwrecker. Much fast-paced mayhem ensues, and the resolution won't come as much of a surprise, especially since this takes place, after all, twelve years ago. Even as teenagers, Moustafa and Special (and Johnny F) have charisma to burn, and Brian Wood writes them with snappy dialogue. Rob G. is once again back on art duties, and while I still find his style crude and sketchy in places, especially on the figure drawings, this issue shows a lot of improvement from his previous Couriers outings, and he's even learned to lay off the Photoshop "blur" filter a bit.

Also as with the previous books in the series, I like the characters and the concept a lot more than the execution, no pun intended. These Couriers stories work best if you turn off your brain and don't think about them very hard. This being said, if you're looking for fast-paced action-movie thrills, and don't particularly want to worry about such trivialities as cause-and-effect and realism, Ballad will certainly satisfy.