Just wanted to point you in the direction of Rich Johnston's Lying in the Gutters column, in which he reveals Alan Moore's plans to shut down the ABC line and retire from writing comics. I hate to hear this because I really wanted to see Top Ten continued, along with fave Promethea...but I can understand. I don't see how he's maintained the schedule he's been on for the last what– four years now?

"Two bytes in a chip...two birds in a nest!"

Reading the recent news about Marvel's relaunch of its Epic imprint put me in mind of one of my favorite comics series, which came out as part of that line in the 80s...Timespirits.

Timespirits was co-created by scripter Stephen Perry (no, not the Journey singer) and illustrated by Tom Yeates, fresh from his stint on Swamp Thing pre-Alan Moore. It was perhaps the best and most sympathetic treatment of Native American characters in comics ever. Difficult to sum up in a nutshell, it was an imaginative, quirky, warm and winning blend of religion, Native American legend, science fiction and high fantasy which never took itself too seriously and is sorely missed, at least by me.

At its basic level, it's about the time-traveling adventures of Cusick of the Tuscarora, an aged Native American "Time Spirit", sporting a fedora, backpack, hiking boots and Sgt. Pepper jacket who functions like an extradimensional Monty Hall– he trades strange and powerful items for souls, which he collects in a turtle shell until he can release them into the afterlife. It is in one of these transactions, in issue #1 above, that he meets teenage Doot of the Wawenoc tribe in the early days of the pre-Revolutionary War American colonies. Doot's brother, Three Birds, wishes revenge on the white man for the slaughter of his village. Cusick, hearing this wish expressed aloud, appears to him and offers him a strange creature called a Bloodless Ghebe, which will enable the Chief to rout the white man from his land forever. The Ghebe, which resembles a walking stick insect with a big eyeball in place of a head, enter's Three Birds' brain, gives him incredible strength, and enables him to fire a destructive beam from his right eye, which has been replaced by the Ghebe. It also drives him quite insane. Three Birds goes on a murder spree, uniting the tribes against the white man. In the meantime, Cusick strikes up an acquaintance with Three Birds' younger brother and recognizes him as a potential Timespirit of great power. Doot, who loved his brother and did not understand what had caused his formerly pacifistic sibling to change so, wishes to stop the rampage and kill the Ghebe, which eventually sheds Three Birds' skin like a snake. It's too late to save Three Birds' physical self, but Doot is able to save his spirit and destroy the Ghebe using his nascent abilities, and takes his brothers' soul into himself. Cusick offers to take the young brave under his wing and teach him to utilize his potential as a shaman. It's a fine adventure yarn, in a time period that isn't depicted all that often, especially in comics, with a very touching ending.

Issues 2 & 3, arguably the zenith of the entire run, has a plot which is almost too gnarly to describe succinctly. Titled "The Blacksack of King Ogam", it involves dying magicians, unrequited love, spoiled princesses, bands of Norsemen, a spiteful talking fish which came closest to being an arch-enemy of the 'Spirits, a massive octopus-like creature called the Spurtyn Duyvel which is summoned up by a rejected, hate-filled amateur prince/magician with the aid of the fish, a magic bag which is literally bottomless, Stonehenge, Noah from the Bible, and much more. It works on a number of different levels– as heroic, pulp-type fantasy, as a romance, and as a cautionary fable. If you never read any other issues of TS, get these two.

Issue four was a Christmas-themed one, with Cusick facing an uber-vamp named Varnae and eventually delivering an object called the Crystal Skull to the Christ child. It also featured fill-in art by Al Williamson, Steve Bissette (Yeates inks), John Totleben (inking Yeates), and Rick Veitch. #'s 5 and 6 was another continued story, this one mixing a dystopian future and some commentary on the state of music vs. big business with the ghost of Jimi Hendrix and in #6 taking it up a notch, mixing in some anti-US government's involvement in Nicaragua (this was 1985, you know) statements, with Yeates taking the opportunity to let his feelings be known in the matter. Mildly controversial at the time, as I recall, and both Yeates and Marvel took some shots, but these two issues were the weakest in the series because the message kinda got watered down and the whole storyline became a bit incoherent as a result. The final two issues, 7 & 8, got back to the original idea of what the 'Spirits were and what they did, with Cusick taking Doot to Tibet to meet the High Lama and to release the souls they have accumulated over the course of their recent adventuring. Problem is, the talking fish again has made a jealous and hate-filled Yeti on the mountain aware of what he needs to do to inhabit the body of the High Lama and become all-powerful. The enlightened yeti chops off his hand, which becomes a totem that facilitates the body switch and transforms the former beast into a malevolent, spirit-eating monster, laying in wait for our pair as they climb the mountain to the Lama's home. The storyline ends with surprising and somewhat tragic results, and the final page of #8 is a literal curtain call of all the characters that have appeared in the previous issues, and they all come out with one puzzling exception. It was a charming and clever way to end the series.

If Perry has done any comics series since Timespirits, I'm unaware of them. I do think he's made a name for himself as a writer of Star Wars novels; at least I think it's him because he's left it off his online resume. Yeates mostly went on to illustrate a few issues of Zorro for Topps with Don McGregor, does a lot of ERB-related work, and still does the occasional job for DC and Marvel. The Tomahawk one-shot Vertigo Visions he did in the mid-90s was especially nice, and reminded me a little of Timespirits. I did email Yeates a while ago and ask him if he had any 'Spirits pages for sale, but he said he didn't want to let any of them go...obviously this book meant a lot to him.

Somehow, from the look of what they're soliciting so far for the new Epic line, I don't think there will be room for a series as unassuming, yet intricate, as Timespirits. Too bad...I think there were a lot more stories yet to tell about Doot and Cusick.

The coveted Bacardi Show Birthday greeting goes out today to actor par excellence Christopher Walken, who turns the big six-oh today.










Also, BSB best wishes go out to that rarest of things, a celebrity of sorts that I'm personally acquainted with: guitarist extraordinaire Greg Martin, most notably of the Kentucky Headhunters, a group that managed to grab the brass ring for a little while back in the early Nineties, and took some of us along on the ride.

More stuff later, hopefully, including a look back at an old forgotten Epic comics series that I've been struggling with for weeks now.

I did indeed get to go see Spirited Away yesterday, and I'll say this: everything that people are saying about this one is true. It's not only one of the best animated films I've ever seen, it's possibly one of the best films I've ever seen, period. A story that doesn't insult the intelligence (although I thought perhaps the parents were just a wee bit too cloddish at the beginning) and breathtaking visuals that put the recent efforts of Western animators, especially Disney (who shrewdly released this over here) to shame. I'll spare you the repetitious raving and encourage you to click on the link above to read other reviews that say it much better than I. Click on the picture (not computer animated or photographed flowers, by the way) above to go to the official site. If you get the opportunity to go see this wonderful film, then I strongly encourage you to do so, even if you have to go to a little trouble.

Picture above stolen at a new movie review site (new to me, anyway) with the amusing name of Hollywood Jesus.com. Go there and check his stuff out...don't want Hollywood Jesus pissed at me!

I found this Blogshares.com thing over at Theresa's place. It looked fun, so I thought I'd play. Not being much of a playa in the Market, I don't have the slightest idea about how the damn site works...so my low numbers reflect that. My values so far:

Value: $37.44
Outgoing link value $5.29

Maybe I'll figure out what to do one of these days...

Good morning one and all.

Wonder of wonders, I see where Spirited Away is playing at the best theatre in Bowling Green. I absolutely have to go see it this afternoon, and of course I will write a paragraph or two about it.

Also, I've suddenly had a small streak of luck on eBay. I've won a copy or H-E-R-O #1, paid too damned much for it of course, but I wanted to make sure I had a complete run. I didn't have any interest in getting the upcoming reprint either. I also won a set of Snadman Presents: Lucifer, the miniseries which preceded the excellent ongoing series out now. I already have issues 1 and 2, but I haven't been successful finding #3 until now. I'll be getting two comics I don't need, but I'm only spending five bucks for the set so it's all good. And suddenly, my ongoing searches have turned up a copy of Mary Travers' Circles, which, you may recall, I got outbid on earlier this month. It's a little pricey at ten bucks, so I may not pursue it. Also I've found a trade collection of Kane stories by Paul Grist, the second in the series, Rabbit Hunt. I came to Grist's excellent work through Jack Staff, and am finally getting around to picking up on its police drama predecessor. I've got the first Kane collection, titled Greetings From New Eden.

Picked up a new CD last night, the latest from Linda Thompson, Fashionably Late. This is the first album in several years from Richard's ex, and features a who's who of British folk music along with Van Dyke Parks and Rufus Wainwright. I heard a cut on Live365 the other day and thought I'd give it a listen if I ever got the chance...then last night, I was in Wal-Mart and much to my amazement, nestled in along with the Nellys and the Avril Levignes was not one but two copies of this CD! I took this as an omen and bought one. I've yet to hear the whole thing, so hopefully I'll get a little blogfodder out of it soon, and perhaps take the chance to ramble a bit about some of the other Britfolk people I like.

My comments are acting a bit funny...the count is gone. The "serve 'em up" is still there, and the window still works, but I have no way to tell if someone's left a comment or how many I have right now. So please continue to comment, I'll just have to click on each button, I guess, and see if anyone's there. It's always something.

There's a preview of the next issue of Jack Staff from Image up at their website. Check it out. Still no word about Jack Staff 12 from Dancing Elephant, damn it.

Also, here's a preview of Hawaiian Dick 3.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you...Carhenge!

Heard about it this morning on the Bob and Sheri radio show. I have to listen to it on the way to work, because the Bowling Green ESPN affiliate airs a local sports program during my drive time. I couldn't care less about local sports. I want to hear Greenberg and Golic!

Couldn't let the week go by without noting the 30th anniversary of that melancholy masterpiece, Pink Floyd's 1973 effort Dark Side of the Moon, which was, according to both Rolling Stone and Susan over at Easy Bake Coven, this Tuesday past. Rolling Stone even has an online section which features links to articles about the album. You can go here for most of an excellent article reprinted from Mojo magazine.

I'll never forget the first time I heard DSotM. It was sometime late in 1973, and I was in the audio equipment department at Sears, where a salesman was demonstrating a then brand new Quadrophonic sound system to a customer. I was standing there just looking around while my Mom shopped. He put on a copy of a record with an interesting cover, solid black except for a whitish blue (or bluish white) prism in the middle which refracted a narrow, solid white beam of light into a rainbow of color that extended to the edge of the black field. I was intrigued, and listened to what appeared to be airport noise and a clock ticking in the distance. Suddenly- alarm clocks loudly went off all around me, startling me at first but when I realized what was going on I relaxed and fell in love with the song, which was named (appropriately enough) Time. And the guitar solo. Oh man. It absolutely blew me away, and still gives me chills to this day. I asked the salesman to leave it on after he had finished with the customers and so I was able to hear the side closer The Great Gig in the Sky as well. Again, this was something unlike anything I had ever heard before...a single female voice wailing soulfully over a echoey, solitary piano and intermittent band accompaniment for about 6 minutes. I was transfixed by this as well, and flat out begged my parents to get me this album before we went home!

And I listened to it a lot over the next few months, really liking other tracks such as Breathe, the elegant Us and Them, and of course the smash hit Money. I was gratified to know that I had heard that song before it started getting heavy airplay. Eventually, though, I kinda tired of the album's melancholy, languid feel and moved on to other music. And honestly, at first I wasn't all that impressed with the successor Wish You Were Here, which came out two years later (an eternity to wait, back then, for an album), so my nascent Floyd fanaticism was nipped in the bud. Later on, I came to appreciate Wish, and actually consider it their best album now. I also eventually heard Moon predecessor Meddle and liked it a lot as well. But by the time they got around to releasing the dull (in my opinion anyway) Animals and the overblown, self-pitying Wall, I really didn't care for the Floyd (by then pretty much just Roger Waters) at all. I did later discover Syd Barrett and that whole sad story, but that's another column. "Bike" is a cool tune, I will say that much...

These days, they're all old, out of ideas, irrelevant and barely worth paying attention to, except as a concert attraction where knuckleheaded stoner Floyd fans will always queue up and shell out big bucks to see the pig fly overhead and see that huge ring of lights. The feud, which has led to Waters dismissing the other three (who then carried on gamely but uninspiredly under the Floyd name) and going solo, just seems silly and childish 20 plus years later.

But Dark Side remains a remarkable acheivement and an album that I still listen to on occasion, and I think it's kinda cool that it still inspires discussion after all these years. Many of its glum observations about life and love, greed and paranoia, still ring true today.

"Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be"

BEST OF THE WEEK

Time now for
COMICS REVIEWS!
What I bought and what I thought, week of March 26

1. CATWOMAN 17
Javier Pulido works wonders with Ed Brubaker's emotionally heavy script as the title character deals (or fails to deal, in some cases) with the aftermath of the previous issue. Simple on the surface, Pulido uses a number of different styles to illustrate a number of different scenarios, from the crime noir scenes with Slam Bradley and Selina to the open and airy dream sequences. He gets a lot of help from the colorist, too. It's rare to see an illustrator do his scripter such justice. And lucky us, there's more to come. A

2. GRRL SCOUTS: WORK SUCKS 2
In which our anti-heroines go out and get jobs in the real world (instead of dealing dope), and charm as well as entertain as they do so. Sure fire formula for success, at least with me: engaging characters plus clever, distinctive artwork=Dave likes. A

3. JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER 182
While I still prefer Marcelo Frusin's version of Johnny-boy, guest artist Lee Bermejo has some genuinely creepy moments in what's shaping up to be yet another excellent story by Mike Carey. A

4. JLA 79
Joe Kelly continues his somewhat heavy handed anti-war allegory, but it's still cleverly done and I, for one, like these new JLA members, especially Major Disaster, who's shaping up to be kinda likeable in a pugnacious kind of way. It goes without saying that the Mahnke/Nguyen art is excellent. A-

5. ZATANNA: EVERYDAY MAGIC
Joe Mays' cutesy anime style, all round heads and missing noses and wannabe Adam Warren stylings, damn near sinks this otherwise enjoyable (and long overdue) tale of everybody's favorite fishnetted sorceress. The rendition of John Constantine is especially grating, after being accustomed to the likes of Sean Phillips & Marcelo Frusin. Dini is more than welcome to write as many Zee stories as he wants, and the DC editorial braintrust is more than welcome to find him a more suitable art partner next time. B+

6. PARLIAMENT OF JUSTICE 1
Message to Mike Avon Oeming: don't quit your day job. I didn't hate this- it's actually well done, for the most part. The art by one Neil Vokes (I've heard the name but have somehow managed to avoid picking up anything with his art in it before) is a little derivative of Mignola, Kevin O'Neill and Oeming himself but is overall high quality. My biggest problems came with a story that took a long time to present us with the old bromide that "Pride goeth before a fall", quite literally, and had at its center a mystery that was challenging if one is five years old and a little slow. For $5.95, I want more. B

7. LEGION 18
Hate to rank this one so low...actually, I liked several things about this issue. Problems were Abnett & Lanning's tendency to ignore or overlook little things like internal consistency and common sense in order to make the story flow smoothly, a half-assed solution to the Princess Projectra/Sensor mess which was literally Draconian, and some sloppy, indifferent art by a guest illustrator that I hope they don't use again. Other than that, I liked it. B-

8. GLOBAL FREQUENCY 6
Like sports teams that tend to rise up to the level of their competition, Warren Ellis seems to be a writer that impresses when paired with an outstanding illustrator and not so hot when teamed with a lackluster one. Guess which one is true this time out. Artist David Lloyd is not a name I'm unfamilar with– I understand that he's done some excellent work before, mostly in British comics (I think he did V For Vendetta, a book that many people seemed to like a lot in the 80s...didn't care for it myself), so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that account. Very little of that ability is evident here, though, and his sloppy, badly proportioned art makes an uninspired, cliched Ellis script (that left me wondering whether it might have been a leftover Authority plot idea- the lead character is very similar to Jack Hawksmoor) even more unbearable. If the rest of the limited series is going to be like this, I'm hanging up on the Global Frequency early. C+

9. DANGER GIRL: HAWAIIAN PUNCH
For those who thought Codename:Knockout was highbrow spy spoofery. Phil Noto is a fine cover illustrator that would have been a busy, busy man in the 60s doing movie posters. Problem is, he's just not very good at sequential art...everything looks sketchy, awkward and underdrawn. And he's not helped by a lame, cliched, leering, monotonous script that makes me sorry I decided to go ahead and pick this overpriced, overlong trainwreck of a comic book up in the first place. D+

Much to my amazement, The Johnny Bacardi Show is now multi-lingual! Through my site referrer, I discovered that I've been linked to by a Spanish-language comics web site named La Carcel de Papel. Of course, I speak very little Spanish (I know "papel" is paper) but it's a cool looking site nonetheless and (especially) if you speak the language go check it out!

And muchos gracias for the link!

I wrote a while back about my Match Game obsession, and here's a nice page devoted to host Gene Rayburn. Don't be afraid, click on the link!

Found at Retrocrush, by the way...

My comic collecting friend from waaay back, Dave Puckett (I wish I had some of his art to link to...he's really a unique illustrator), sent me this groovy pic of Yvonne Craig aka Batgirl holding the copy of Detective Comics (I forget the issue #) in which the character first appeared. Ms. Craig was a nuclear hottie, and you can click on the pic above to go to her official site.

The main reason Dave sent this to me is that the book she's holding is one of the comics involved in a book trade we made when we first met...I forget the year, but it must have been in the late 60s or early 70s. I traded him that comic for a couple of MLJ Mighty Crusaders comics, if I recall correctly. I'll leave it up to you to tell me who got the best of that deal! We didn't see each other again for several years after that (he's a bit older than me and moved away some time after our trade), until we met again in 1976 by chance, when I got a job at a local pizzeria, Carmen's. (Hi, Linda A!) After it finally dawned on us that we had met before, we started hanging out and yes, trading comics some more, and he's been as good a friend as I could ask for ever since.

Good morning, one and all.

Some good news, courtesy of Franklin's Findings. Now maybe I'll get an opportunity to see the Oscar® winner for best animated feature. Nah, wait, who am I kidding. I live in South Central Kentucky. They wouldn't get a film like that in a million years here in Bowling Green, a college town, no less. Hope they prove me wrong.

I was mostly pleased with last night's Buffy, if nothing else because of the return (for good this time, I hope) of badass Spike. This episode concentrated on Buffy, Giles, Spike, and Wood at the expense of the other cast members (Anya and Andrew only got one line each, and if Xander said anything I don't remember), but that's OK because the cast is too darn big and unweildy right now anyway. Even though I like Principal Wood, I was kinda hoping Spike would do him in, if nothing else than to decrease the cast a little. Always nice to see Drusilla again, even though the business with Spike and his Mom was straight outta Anne Rice...I'd even be willing to bet that it was copied direct, but it's been so long since I read those Vampire Chronicles books that my memory fails. If you, like me, are a fan of the Giles character then you'll be disappointed in his actions and apprehensive about how he's going to fit in now. Now we can look forward to more reruns for a while; I'm still mulling over whether or not I want to keep watching Angel. I got a little more interested after viewing the big Willow/Faith crossover.

Stayed up way past my bedtime last night and watched Conan O'Brien, who had as his guests Ringo Starr and Eddie Izzard. Mildly disappointing, though...the Ringo interview went nowhere, and Izzard wasn't given much of an opportunity to be funny. Conan even trotted out the ancient "are you a straight or gay transvestite-explain yourself" question that I thought interviewers stopped asking him 5 years ago! Ringo came back out at the end and played his latest single, an earnest tribute to George Harrison that is well meaning but unremarkable musically. I'll reserve further judgement until I hear the studio version. It kinda sounded like just about everything else he's done since 1981...competently played, mildly tuneful, but otherwise as exciting as watching paint dry.

As an example of how slowly the wheels in my head grind, I have decided to change the "comment" button below to the more genial "serve 'em up!". It was only what– November? That I asked my two or three readers at the time for suggestions about what word or phrase I could use instead of the machinelike and cold "comment". Better late than never, I suppose. I think it was Joanie, who never comes over anymore, that suggested "serve 'em", so here's credit where credit is due, no matter how tardy it is.

From the Political Desk comes this. I don't necessarily believe, or want to believe, what the writer states although I will admit it crossed my mind in the aftermath of 9/11. I just present it for your perusal, any conclusion you may draw is up to you.

In case you're inclined to care, a new Christgau Consumer Guide is up.

Time for a little of the old This or That Tuesday Q's and A's!

1. Poetry or prose? Both are worthy of respect, but I tend to gravitate toward prose. I've not been too successful at writing either.
2. Funky modern art or the older, "classic" variety? I wasn't aware of any funky older classic art. Oh, I get it. For me it depends– I like examples of both. If I have to choose one I'll go with older "classic" variety. I'm kind of the older classic variety myself.
3. Sculptures or paintings? Paintings. I'm just not much for appreciating or creating sculpture, as anyone who suffered through my college sculpture class with me will attest.
4. Theatre: exuberant musical or serious drama? Again, it depends. I suppose I'd prefer an exhuberant musical...makes it easier to stay awake.
5. Ballet or modern dance? Not very fond of either, thank you. No offense to the dancers out there.
6. Movies: major studio or indie? I have enjoyed movies by both, so again this is a choice that's no choice at all. Both have strengths and both have liabilities. I suppose Indie, it's less compromised.
7. Authors: Shakespeare or Dr. Seuss? Nothing against Billy boy, but Ted Geisel was the MAN.
8. TV: PBS or A&E? PBS. No contest. A & E is gradually morphing into E!
9. Music: Beethoven or Beatles? Again, nothing against lovely lovely Ludwig Van, but the Beatles got my soul a long time ago.
10. Thought-provoking question of the week: You are a contributing member of your favorite art museum, and visit on a regular basis. They announce a new, temporary special exhibit by an artist surrounded by controversy...this person's work and/or political views offend you. Do you stop supporting the museum, or just stay away during the time the exhibit is there? Stay away. First, I'm very difficult to offend, and second, I realized long ago that the Earth revolves around the Sun, not me, and other people might be interested in viewing this work.

Today's Bacardi Show Birthday greeting goes out to Reginald Kenneth Dwight, aka Sir Elton John.

These days, most of us know Sir Elton as a disgusting old troll queen with the worst hairpiece in popular music history, singing smarmy bombastic overblown ballads for soccer moms everywhere. But there was a time, children...oh yes, there was a time. There was a time when new Elton John records were cause for celebration. You knew that you would be getting well played, often clever and witty rock & roll and pop music in a variety of styles. John and his main band had an uncanny ability to do a ponderous ballad one track, a balls-out rocker the next, then a Beach Boys pastiche, then a reggae tune often on the same album (sometimes on the same side, even). For a period of about seven years, 1970-1977, Elton John's music meant the world to this young music loving Kentucky boy. Then something happened. John stopped working with his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin and began a long, slow slide into slickness and irrelevance, punctuated with personal excess and the resulting personal problems, only peeking out from the mire on rare occasions, like 1984's surprisingly good Breaking Hearts album. Mostly though, the last 25 years have been a waste for anyone looking for the outstanding work of his "classic" period. John has been too busy being a professional celebrity and schmoozer to concentrate on his music. Like with his "mate" Rod Stewart, another performer who seemed to completely lose the plot all together after 1976, I gave up on Elton a long time ago.

But in all fairness, I understand that his 2001 effort Songs From The West Coast is a surprising and heartening return to form, and based on the two songs I've heard (I Need Love, This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore), I can't dispute that. For once, Sir Elton was saying all the right things, apparently energized by listening to Ryan Adams among others...now there's an odd couple for ya! Guess I'll reserve total judgement until I actually own a copy of the album. And also in the interest of fairness John has done a lot of charity work, using his hard-won schmoozablitly for good causes like the battle against AIDS.

So happy birthday to ya anyways, Sir Elton. I owe you one for Empty Sky, Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across The Water, Honky Chateau, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Caribou, Rock of the Westies, and Blue Moves.

You've probably seen these posters in other places (heck, I had one for a couple of weeks in the feature box at right), but here's the site for all of them in a handy slide show format. Click on the image above. Original link found at the most excellent GoodShit.

New Diamond Shipping List is up, and it says that I'll be getting the following on Wednesday:

CATWOMAN #17
GLOBAL FREQUENCY #6 (Of 12)
HELLBLAZER #182
JLA #79
LEGION #18
ZATANNA: EVERYDAY MAGIC one shot
GRRL SCOUTS WORK SUCKS #2
PARLIAMENT OF JUSTICE #1

I may also be getting DANGER GIRL: HAWAIIAN PUNCH, but I don't remember signing up for it. While I kinda liked the original Cliffhanger series, I've been disappointed by subsequent one-shots and even though this one has interior art by Phil (as an interior artist, I make a good cover illustrator) Noto, I won't get it if it's not in my stack. X-Statix 9 comes out tomorrow as well, but I've decided to drop it (again) so I won't be picking it up either. Looks like a mucho expensive week for me anyway, with two books alone costing more than $5 each. C'est la vie. I'm looking forward to a couple of these, and you can look forward to the inevitable reviews when I'm done reading them. Whether or not you interpret that as a threat or a promise is up to you.