Up From Genre City

I've Found The Bestest Comics Podcast Ever

Big ups to Rivkah for pointing me in the direction of the Horcast, the podcast for Horhaus Studios (Karl Kerschl, Brenden Fletcher, Kalman Andrasofszky, and Matthew Forsythe). Although it's a surprising pain to get onto iTunes (see, it's allowing me to subscribe and you can individually download all the shows since #6 [a whole other disappointment, because the first five are just as good] but for some reason it's still coming up with the Exclamation Point Of Doom in my iTunes Podcast channel) it's hands down the best comics podcast I've ever heard. Sure there might be more radioey ones out there, but this one basically takes all the things I love about Diggnation or Major Nelson (a loose and conversational style plus an insider's perspective) and puts them into a Podcast about comics.

Just got finished with the first one and there's a point where Karl Kerschl is talking about his design for Superman and the conversation turns so in depth that they end up talking about one line that was used in Superman's Justice League Unlimited design that was later removed. Fascinating, awesome stuff. It's surprising to me that something that's so in depth and actually well produced isn't completely burning its way across the comics blogosphere. Maybe it is and I haven't noticed, but they've actually bothered to put up video posts as well. I mean, there should be a Fanboy Rampage story everytime a new episode airs. The shit is that tight.

Also, it doesn't hurt that Horhaus' work is so easy on the eyes.

Seven Solidiers Walk Into A Bar, Thirsty

So I finished The Diviners the other day.  While I loved all the way to the end (and the last sentence, which literally changes the entire book that came before it), it ended up being the most political book I've ever made it through.  Only you don't really notice it until the last sentence.

That being said, the structure and the writing were definitely the biggest and best parts of the book.  I'm quite eager to see the "splash" it makes when it comes out in September.  (Get it?  Splash?  Diviners?)

The book's layout, with a chapter focusing on an individual character and usually one scene or moment as the larger narrative unfolds in the background, felt a lot like what Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers is turning out to be. 

I didn't realize it at first, but not only has Morrison fashioned each of the seven mini-series that make up the project into stand-alone reads, he's also made each individual issue of each mini-series a stand-alone story as well.  So, when it's all done, you'll not just have nine stand along stories (each mini plus the two bookends) but rather 30 individual adventure stories.  Which is pretty remarkable.  It's gotten me heavily interested in looking at the series as a whole and looking at each indiviual issue of the series as a stand-alone piece.

So I'll probably be taking up a lot of space here doing just that.

The Three Hundred And Twenty Fifth Time The Title "Pilgrim's Progress" Has Been Used To Discuss Bryan Lee O'Malley

One of the few books I picked up this weekend at MoCCA (Bonus Rule #7: GONE ARE THE DAYS WHEN YOU CAN JUST TOOL AROUND THE CON AND LET OTHER PEOPLE PIMP YOUR SHIT), was the latest volume of the Scott Pilgrim saga (actually, I like to think of it as a series of video games) Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.  Shock and surprise, it's fucking outstanding.

One of the very few comics out there that literally defies description (God knows how it was pitched for movie adaptation), it's awfully hard to review.  I mean, what, do I talk about what exactly Mal is doing contextually by putting a fight scene that in any other comic would be a dream sequence into the actual narrative of the story?  No.  I'm not going to do that.  Because anyone who's ever read a Scott Pilgrim story knows that it exists in its own world, and in the context of that world, everything makes perfect and beautiful sense.  This fluidity, combined with Mal's enviable ability to convey incredible amounts of detail with the fewest and thickest lines imaginable, creates one of the better examples of comics' ability to just straight up transport you into another dimension for about an hour or so.

My favorite example of this, and I'm really loathe to spoil this moment because it's so charming and wonderful and it made me laugh out loud on the train this morning, is that after the hilarious finish to Scott's latest battle against one of Ramona's Evil Ex-Boyfriends (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you haven't read Vol. 1 and, thus, I don't like you) an Item box appears.  That tried and true staple of video games, this particular Item Box contains, PERFECTLY, a Mythril Skateboard.

A Mythril fucking Skateboard.

There are singular moments in comics, moments where the very last thing you'd ever expect happens and every time you think about comics from that day forth, part of you will be thinking about that moment.  You know the ones I mean.  The "And, of course, he never did" page in Jimmy Corrigan.  Beak and Angel drawn by Frank Quitely in New X-Men.  Other stuff like that.  Part of me will always be thinking about that Mythril Skateboard.

That's the thing about the world of Scott Pilgrim.  If it hits you, it hits you the way you've always wanted to be hit.  With perfect levels of emotion, comedy, and cultural detail.  Not to mention just flat out incredible storytelling.  Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World contains one of the best rendered phone conversations ever, and Mal never gives you a double page spread that doesn't emotionally affect.

And the comedy is just top drawer in this book.  Scott and his friends and enemies are the kind of funny that only your friends can be and Mal's dialogue elicits the kind of laughter that is usually only reserved for the inside jokes your friends pull that make you laugh the hardest because you and maybe only two other people know what's up.  All of his jokes are like that.  Hell, all of the comic is like that.  It's like one long inside joke that you can't believe anyone else is getting.

Also, this book features the ultimate insult, free to use in any situation deemed appropriate:

"YOU SUCK, SURPRISING NO-ONE!!!"

That, and the comic on either side of it, is the best I've read all year.

The Things That MoCCA Taught Me (2005 Edition)

So I rocked myself a table at MoCCA this weekend grudgingly debuting a mini-comic entitled Kevin Analog, as some of you may already know.  I found it to be a learning experience on several levels.  Allow me to explain.

Rule #1:  BORING IS ALL YOU CAN AFFORD

Alot of what happened with Kevin Analog, a book which some of you may now be familiar with, had to do with the siren call of this fairly new development in self-publishing: digital printing.  What it promises is incredibly appealing.  For a surprisingly low fee, say 50 cents a book, you can get a color cover on your mini-comic.  Now for someone like myself, who is heavily into cover design and logo design, this is all too appealing.  I designed my first mini to look like a 7" single with a label depicting the comic inside.  I remember when I first got the box of books, my first reaction was that the printing wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't that great either.  The saving grace was that it was surrounded by a white background, which rendered any print deficiencies pretty moot, as you could barely notice them.  But it did plant that teensy voice in my head, saying, "Benjamin, you realize this is not offset printing.  This is digital.  If you look for even a few seconds too long, you will see the flaws inherent in this process."  I didn't listen to it.  Instead, several months later, I designed, drew and colored a cover I fell absolutely in love with.  With the promise of digital printing in my mind, I had visions of sellouts and raves, of several cries of "Oh, the book of MoCCA 2005?  Are you fucking kidding?  Kevin Analog.  No question."  Having a cover in your PhotoShop window that you literally can't go fifteen minutes without pulling up, even when you're drawing something unrelated or watching Scrubs Season One with your girlfriend, can do that to you.  So, the day before the convention, the box arrives on my doorstep.  And my friends, I had no clue what I was looking at.  There are a zillion reasons why the gap between what the cover looked like on my iMac looked so very and ghastlily different from the one I stared at that morning, and most of them are my own fault.  There are obviously differences between print colors and screen colors.  Had I given the printer more time to work, I would've gotten a proof (See: Rule #2).  But the resounding lesson was clear: A Book You Spent 1/3rd The Money On And Printed At Kinko's Would Look 175% More Professional This.  So, Rule #1: Boring Is All You Can Afford.  Until you can raise enough money to go Offset, don't waste your time calibrating a beautiful balance of color and design nuance.  Here's the perfect example of why.  The back of the Kevin Analog book was the simple monochrome image of a Cassette Tape  with lightning bolts around it, surrounded by white and balanced by my admittedly gorgeous Interstate ! logo.  A bold design that had the pin it was also on pretty much flying off the table.  On Saturday, I displayed the book with the front cover facing up right next to a copy of the book with the back cover facing up.  Literally, EVERY SINGLE PERSON who picked up the book went straight to the back cover version, even in some cases PUTTING THE BOOK DOWN when they flipped it over and saw the other side.  Obviously, Sunday, I only displayed the book back cover up with a gorgeous glossy mounted print out of the cover behind it.  So, the copies that didn't sell (and, friends, it is miraculous that I sold even one) are never ever leaving the box that they're in right now.  Kevin is going back to press with a completely bare bones black and white cover, featuring the logo and nothing else.  Because a good logo, which I tend to come up with occasionally, can move a book on its own, if you just get the fuck out of its way.

Rule #2: MAKE MINI-COMICS WHEN YOU HAVE THE MATERIAL, NOT THE TABLE.

This should have been obvious from the get go, but the self-publisher can easily delude him or herself into thinking that, even in this day and age of teeming internet commerce, that you only really sell books four or five times a year, from behind a table.  This is bullshit.  And the only thing it gets you is a table with two books and a hard drive at home with another 60 to 70 pages that the thousands upon tens of thousands of people who actually don't have a Modern Tales subscription have never seen, but after marvelling at that legitimately bitching Mix Tape button you made and then dropping fifty cents for the priviledge of putting it on their backpack, probably might have had a legitimate interest in.  If you had been smarter and put out cheap mini-comics whenever you had eight pages of comics to stuff them with, you would have been behind a table just flat out teeming with content.  And that means diversification.  And that means, inevitably, $$$.  (See Also: Rule #4)

Rule #3: CARROT TOP WAS RIGHT

So, the table is set up , you've got your comics, you've got your buttons, you've even got a showstopper of a banner behind you that is easily the most professional looking thing you've ever had printed.  But, for those first few hours, the interest is sort of minimal.  So, it dawns on you that you're hocking a comic about a guy who, ostensibly, uses mix tapes to fight crime.  You run to the new Best Buy which opened a mere two blocks away from The Puck and you buy ten blank tapes.  A few brilliantly conceived labels later (BANK ROBBERY 4.02.03, PRISON BREAK Vol. 2), and you're now running a table with a visual representation of what your book is all about.  I sold my first copy of Kevin Analog not ten minutes after the mix tapes appeared and spent the rest of the weekend explaining to people why there were blank tapes on my table of comics.

Rule #4: DIVERSIFY YOUR BONDS

Apparently there's this guy who walks around comic festivals, berating the exhibitors for not having more stuff.  He's, obviously, right.  The obvious change one first arrives at when considering Rule #1, is that, still, America loves beauty and color and zazz in her comic artwork.  But paying out the nose for it is just cold not worth it unless your going to do it right.  Scratch that, unless you CAN do it right.  And most self-publishers who don't have their day jobs at a Professional Printer can't.  But one thing most self-publishers DO have is a halfway decent printer.  So imagine this table, a good selection of mini-comics, that are now a bit cheaper since you didn't have to drop so much on them, with really sharp, simple, and eye catching covers.  And what's that behind them?  Glossy prints that you printed out yourself, full color and exactly as gorgeous as you envisioned them.  Hell, print five and sell them for ten, they are 13x17 after all (yeah, I happen to have access to pretty incredible printer).  Not everyone is going to buy them, of course, but all you need is that one person.  The person that actually reads Genre City every week, the person that actually knows who you are and loves your work.  On June 10th, 2005, you would've only allowed him to give you six dollars TOPS.  June 11th, 2006?  You could be looking at forty bucks easy.  Also, if you've got a sneaking suspicion that something you designed is cool enough to be on a button, for God's sake, throw that shit on a t-shirt.  I could have sold at least a dozen of those this weekend if I'd had the foresight to make them.

Rule #5: FREEDOM ISN'T FREE

I just don't get people who give away their comics to their friends and their family.  These are the only people on the PLANET who you can count on for sales.  That's it.  That's the rule.  Charge your friends, they should be over the moon to buy your shit anyway.  Otherwise they're just hanging out with you to up their street cred and they officially suck.  If your family won't buy your comics?  I don't know, man, that's some Dr. Phil shit.

Rule #6: AMERICA LOVES CONTESTS

It took me about two hours to take the Kevin Analog Mix Tape Competition from wild idea to almost fully designed flyer and press release.  Two days and one gorgeous illustration later, it's getting press on Fanboy Rampage.  MoCCA weekend, it's wowing passersby right and left.  It's the easiest thing in the fucking world to cook up and it will cost you next to nothing.

So, thanks so much, MoCCA, for the sales and for the lovely new friends I made and old friends I saw again, but more than that, thanks for the things I'll take with me to SDCC.  And APE.  And MoCCA 2006.  Etcetera, etcetera.

Now With Bleach

I'd have to say it all started with the wristband.

I have a pretty selective palate when it comes to Manga and Anime, even with my recently rekindled interest in both mediums.  One thing that's hardly ever appealed to me was your straightforward, giant-sword-brandishing-monster-hunting teen manga.  There's about a zillion examples of the genre and none of them ever caught my eye.  But there was something just incredibly cool about a kid in the typical getup of these kinds of stories wearing the red white and blue wristband.

So, that's what originally drew me to Bleach.  Lucky for me, it's a legitimately great comic.  The closest comparison I can draw would probably be to Buffy at its root.  You've a noble teenager fighting monsters but the story never slouches on delivering the minutia of teenage life that's essential to having any kind of lasting interest in the characters.  Ichigo, our protagonist, is tasked to become a Soul Reaper, which is sort of like a combination between a Ghostbuster and, I don't know, Nate Fisher?  But really all that stuff is the incidental backbone of the story and not really what I feel like talking about.

This is what I'm talking about:

I mean, it's like Jamie Hewlett drawing manga.  I am completely enamored with the design that author Tite Kubo puts into the clothes that Ichigo rocks both in the story and in the chapter endpapers like this one.  It's probably one of the greater recent influnces on my upcoming Kid Analog mini-comics. I mean, I know that there's no way I could pull off that exact level of detail in my own work, but that kind of casual fashion badassery is exactly what the doctor ordered for the adventures of a 28 year old ennui driven super-hero in the suburbs of Minnesota.

That reminds me, I haven't said word one about Kid Analog.  I ought to post a crapload of stuff about the development of the character here.  You know, show some sketches, the evolution of the pencil-only style I plan to use, that kind of stuff.

In the mean time, know this: Bleach is good.  You should read it.  I mean look at this one:

Nuts, right?  Absolutely radical.  He's even got the parka collar that is, like, Kid Analog's raison d'etre.

Oh, did I mention I learned the Hiragana?  I can write anything phonetically in Japanese now.  It's basically a first grade level of Japanese language retention, but still.  By the end of the year, I'll hopefully be able to at least read Japanese at some kind of functional level.  I've got to reccomend Remembering The Hiragana by James Hesig, the book I used.  It doesn't take long, and its use of imagery to teach you the hiragana is nothing short of brillaint.  For よ (yo), Hesig has you visualize a puppy, tied to a boomerang, getting egg yolks chucked at it.  How could you not remember that?  Four stars.

The Awful Truth

Read this.

It's an in-depth examination of Marvel's sales trends over the past seven or eight months.  It's pretty easy to go to the store every month, pick up the titles you like, and walk around dazed when you find out they're getting cancelled.  After all, you loved the book, you're smart, why shouldn't the book stay in print?  Fascinating to watch such infallible personal beliefs disintegrate after looking through a single article about sales figures.

I'm now stunned that any books I like keep getting published.  You look at something like this and the trends are so blindingly obvious, it's really remarkable that Marvel and DC take any chances at all.

How does this tie into Warren Ellis' latest column, another fantastic one about covers?  Beats me, but I feel like it does somehow.

All in all, an illuminating day.

Will Eisner: 1917-2005

Although I never met him, anyone who's ever read a page of his can't help but feel a personal connection to the man, so vital and organic was his work. The comic book medium as we know it would simply not exist without his influence, of course, but the most startling thing about his legacy is its basis in his unflaggingly giving and charitable spirit. He gave us a brand new artform as a gift, for us to contribute to or to simply enjoy and for that every one of us owes him a debt that can never really be paid. But as Brian Michael Bendis stated quite eloquently, there will never again be a world without Will Eisner. And for that I am unbelievably grateful.

On a personal note, although I really only got into his work over the past few years, there's no way I would've even considered doing the work I do without his influence on the creators who influenced me.  He is single handedly responsible for the medium of the graphic novel, and long form cartoonists like Dave Sim would probably never even have considered works of such depth and maturity if Eisner hadn't shown that it was even possible, not to mention the grace, wit, and talent he displayed in their creation.

More information about his life, his legacy, and what you can do in his memory can be found here.

The Inside Of A Fake Leg

Bought
Iron Man #2, Warren Ellis, Et Al
Adam Strange #4, Andy Diggle, Et Al
What If...Karen Page Had Lived, Brian Michael Bendis, Et Al
What If...Jessica Jones Had Joined The Avengers, Brian Michael Bendis, Et Al
Superman #212, Brian Azzarello, Jim Lee, Et Al
Superman/Batman #16, Jeph Loeb, Et Al
The Walking Dead #14, Robert Kirkman, Et Al
Ultimate Fantastic Four #14, Warren Ellis, Adam Kubert, Et Al
Ultimate Nightmare #4, Warren Ellis, Et Al
Teen Titans #19, Geoff Johns, Et Al
Legion Of Super-Heroes #1, Mark Waid, Et Al
Anchorman/Wake-Up Ron Burgundy, (DVD) Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Et Al
Port Of Shadows, (DVD/CC: 245) Marcel Carne, Et Al
The Lower Depths, (DVD/CC: 239) Akira Kurosawa, Jean Renoir, Et Al
The Rules Of The Game, (DVD/CC: 216) Jean Renoir, Et Al
Le Trou, (DVD/CC: 129) Jacques Becker, Et Al

Actually SRIW
Iron Man #2, Warren Ellis, Et Al
Adam Strange #4, Andy Diggle, Et Al
What If...Karen Page Had Lived, Brian Michael Bendis, Et Al
What If...Jessica Jones Had Joined The Avengers, Brian Michael Bendis, Et Al
Superman #212, Brian Azzarello, Jim Lee, Et Al
Superman/Batman #16, Jeph Loeb, Et Al
The Walking Dead #14, Robert Kirkman, Et Al
Ultimate Fantastic Four #14, Warren Ellis, Adam Kubert, Et Al
Ultimate Nightmare #4, Warren Ellis, Et Al
Teen Titans #19, Geoff Johns, Et Al
Legion Of Super-Heroes #1, Mark Waid, Et Al
Anchorman/Wake-Up Ron Burgundy, (DVD) Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Et Al
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto, (DVD/CC: 14) Hiroshi Inagaki, Et Al
Fargo, (DVD) Joel & Ethan Coen, Et Al
Bad Education, Pedro Almodovar, Et Al
Talk To Her, (DVD) Pedro Almodovar, Et Al
The Rest Of The Polysyllabic Spree, Nick Hornby
Some Of Sideways, Rex Pickett
The Rest Of Angel: Season One, (DVD) Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, Et Al

So, as you can see, I read every single comic I picked up this week.  With no standouts (i.e. no books so anticipated that they had to be peeked at while stopped at traffic lights) I didn't have the highest hopes for the week in general.  I was pleasantly surprised, though, when almost every single book was above average in quality.  (Sorry Teen Titans, but you didn't manage the "above".  And those What Ifs were pretty slight.)  This week's superstar was undoubtedly Warren Ellis, shooting three for three on his Marvel work.  Nightmare finally got interesting, Iron Man was gorgeous and highly intriguing, and UFF actually made me appreciate the work of a Kubert Brother!  (I'm finding I have much less of a problem with Adam these days, as opposed to Andy.)  I've said in these pages a while ago that from the start UFF is the book best suited to completely own the Manga market, and the N-Zone storyline is possibly the best example of it.  Detailed spreads, kids put in harms way, it's got it all.  Not to be outdone, Mark Waid does the impossible by simultaneously making me forget both my distate for Barry Kitson and any misgivings about completely eradicating decades of the only convoluted continuity I really had any interest in someday piecing together.  He's made Legion into a really incredible book and seeing him jumpstart the concept has made me want to go back and read everything he's ever done.  (I always find myself having a strange attraction to that post-Morrison JLA story he did with Bryan Hitch, for one.)  The Walking Dead was also another highlight.  Everything else was damned good.

You might also notice a few new additions to my little Criterion family.  More importantly, though, take note that I actually watched one of the ones I already had (this one in particular, actually, I must have had for over two years and still had not watched.)  Yes, as I'm doing with books, I'm going to curtail my fresh purchases of Criterions until I finish watching the ones I already own.  A startling turn of events for our hero to be sure.  Samurai I: Musashi Miayamoto turned out to be the perfect place to start.  (Although after I finish the trilogy I might, unbelievably counterproductively, start over with Grand Illusion just to see it shine on the WSHDTV.  Or maybe I'll just come back to it when I get to the end.)  On the surface, it doesn't look to be the most appealing entry in the CC.  Toshiro Mifune as a Samurai?  Upgrade.  No Kurosawa?  Downgrade.  But, surprise, the movie was actually quite gripping once you get into it.  It's about an actual legendary Samurai (Miyamoto, of Square's Brave Fencer Musashi fame) and the time in his life he spent being betrayed at almost every turn.  The shit this guy goes through is ruthless.  He comes home after his side loses a great battle and his childhood friend bails on him to hook up with a freaky mom and her 16 year old daughter, only to find that it's been taken over and everyone wants him dead.  He seeks solace with a local priest who wastes no time in hanging him from a tree and leaving him there for several days.  There's more ignominy in there, but I'm loathe to ruin the surprise.  The photography; full color, 1.33:1; is also a standout.  I remember thinking the transfer was pretty ass when I watched some of the film on my old TV, but somehow it looks significantly better on my heroic WSHDTV.  There are some spots where the film itself rocks some fading colors, but for the most part, it looks pretty fantastic.  (And this was most of the reason why I was tempted to start over and watch everything in the Collection again from #1 on.)

Speaking of transfers, something's rotten in the state of San Diego.  I was lucky enough to get my paws on all three Anchorman related discs (the film, Wake-Up, and the Best Buy Exclusive) and before I get started on how awesome they are, I have to say the Anchorman transfer sucks complete and total ass.  Samurai looked significantly better than this film.  None of this, however, actually stopped any of the film from being incredibly hilarious.  And this is without even getting into how awesome pretty much every moment of deleted and/or outtaked (outtaken?) material is.  The commentary is also fantastic, featuring both Lou Rawls and a long conversation about Adam McKay's upcoming projects, including Brek, an animated comedy about a fairy-tale cyclops.  Wake-Up, unsurprisingly, is a pretty thrown together movie, but it finally brings the lunchroom scene ("What do you mean one of those?") to the light of day and introduces us all to the incredible wonders of the Ron-Driving-While-Looking-At-Veronica-The-Entire-Time Scene.

I think that's all I've got for you this week.  The Almodovar was fantastic (especially seeing Talk To Her again.  When the dancers come out waltzing at the end?  Unbelievable.  And The-Guy-Playing-Marco?  Also unbelievable).  As far as Fargo and Angel go, man, my TV rules.

Yeah Thanks, Nick

So I just started reading The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby and even though I buy The Believer every month and see the column the book is based on when I flip through the latest issue before burying it under a pile of comics and/or clothes, having them all in one clump (and actually reading them) has naturally inspired me to do something similar in this space.  Long time readers will no doubt remember similar attempts to focus this blog into something more than it really is, but I think it really could work this time.  After all, everything in this blog that's not directly related to production of my comic could be framed as something I bought and my reaction to it.  My only regret is that I didn't start this a few weeks earlier, when I was reading Lemony Snicket's The Grim Grotto and Import Tuner magazine.

Bought
Following Cerebus #2, Various
Astonishing X-Men #7, Joss Whedon, John Cassaday, Et Al
Green Lantern: Rebirth #3, Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, Et Al
Sleeper: Season Two #7, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Et Al
The Goon #10, Eric Powell
JLA Classified #2, Grant Morrison, Ed McGuinness, Et Al
The Shaolin Cowboy #1, Geofrey Darrow
Wolverine #23, Mark Millar, John Romita Jr., Et Al
The Authority: Revolution, Ed Brubaker, Dustin Nguyen, Et Al
X-Men #165, Chris Claremont, Salvador Larroca, Et Al
The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season, (DVD) Various
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, (DVD) Various
Kingdom Hearts, (GBA) Various
The Believer, Issue 20, Various
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Et Al
The Days Are Just Packed, Bill Watterson
There's Treasure Everywhere, Bill Watterson
It's A Magical World, Bill Watterson

Actually SRIW (Seen, Read, Interacted With)
Astonishing X-Men #7, Joss Whedon, John Cassaday, Et Al
Green Lantern: Rebirth #3, Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, Et Al
Sleeper: Season Two #7, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Et Al
JLA Classified #2, Grant Morrison, Ed McGuinness, Et Al
The Shaolin Cowboy #1, Geofrey Darrow
Wolverine #23, Mark Millar, John Romita Jr., Et Al
The Authority: Revolution, Ed Brubaker, Dustin Nguyen, Et Al
X-Men #165, Chris Claremont, Salvador Larroca, Et Al
Some Of The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season, (DVD) Various
Some Of Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, (DVD) Various
Some Of Kingdom Hearts, Various
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Et Al
Some Of Chrono Cross, (PS1) Various
Some Of Final Fantasy X-2, (PS2) Various
Some Of Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories, (GBA) Various
Another Dose Of Arrested Development: Season One, (DVD) Mitchell Hurwitz, Michael Cera, Et Al
Some Of The Polysyllabic Spree, Nick Hornby
Shaun Of The Dead, (DVD) Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, Et Al
Return Of The King: Extended Edition, (DVD) Peter Jackson, Et Al
Some Of The Lord Of The RIngs, JRR Tolkien

(I don't know how far back this goes, but hopefully future installments will be a bit less unweildy.  These were the things that popped into my head.)

One of things I'm enjoying most about TPS is the paper trail Hornby follows in cataloguing the things he reads.  It was the thing I was most looking forward to here.  For example, you can see that I bought Kingdom Hearts but played KH: Chain Of Memories, FF X-2, and Chrono Cross.  What happened was this.  Some of you might remember my recent attempts at improving my video game driving acumen.  This was continuing on apace until, for some reason still a bit mysterious to me, I recaught my always-at-least-dormant zeal for Square RPGs.  I started back in on FF X-2 at first and returned immediately to getting into random battles and increasing my AP levels in order to learn new abilities.  I will freely admit that this is the main reason I play RPGs and probably why I stick to Square.  I honestly have no idea how most other RPGs are set up in terms of levelling (the only non-Square RPG I can think of that I've played was Knights Of The Old Republic and I didn't really enjoy it), but Square is set up, as far as my inclinations go, perfectly.  Every one of their games that I've actually finished, I've finished resoundingly, trouncing the final boss, because I've spent upwards of twenty hours in one dungeon picking fights and getting new Spheres/Materia/Jobs.  Most of the time I don't even use the stuff I've unlocked.  I'm just as bad a collector in the virtual one as I am in the physical.  Anyway, this led to me to a brief fling with Chrono Cross, a massive trade in of old and unused GBA games to fund the purchase of Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories and after getting halway through that, a necessary purchase of its progenitor, because there was shit going on that I just knew I was missing.  You can expect at least one Disney DVD purchase in the next installment of this "column" because Kingdom Hearts is great at both reminding you of what's so appealing about DIsney Animated Films and completely erasing any memory of their more annoying charateristics.  (How could I have any desire to buy Aladdin, when "Whole New World" is in the film?)

Speaking of collecting, there were some great fucking books out this week.  It might be fun in this and future installments to compare the list of comics I bought with the list of comics I read.  (For those unwilling/able, I bought but didn't read Goon and Following Cerebus this week.)  FC isn't really a comic, it's a magazine about Cerebus, but that's hardly an excuse.  The Goon is probably the best book I'm buying but slow to read.  Maybe it's because I have an inherent wariness to read a book about a weird city with stories that bend genre conventions.  For some strange reason.  Astonishing was the book I read while walking from the store back to work.  I was just dying to read it.  And it was out of control great.  There was a sense that, at a few more crowded moments over the past couple of issues, Cassaday wasn't really doing his best work.  A few scenes, like that bunch of people crashing through that wall last issue, seemed sketchier than usual. There are no such moments in the latest issue.  Tight as a drum and thank God, because this is Joss' best written issue so far.  Sure that S.W.O.R.D. exposition scene doesn't feel at all relevent (yet) but everything else was goddamned fabulous.  And that page with Wolverine (you know the one I mean) was his funniest moment since What Th--?!? #2 brought us "Grepppps!"  On the other hand, X-Men was just embarassing.  The kind of book that, even though only you are reading it and thus only you can see how cheesy and cloying it is, you are embarassed to be seen with in public.  Authority was a fine read, but its the kind of book I probably won't have much to say about it until it's finished (same goes for Sleeper).  Wolverine is a book I'm pretty wild about these days.  The art is fantastic and Millar is successfully recreating the stories behind every doodle I ever drew in High School.  ("In this one, Daredevil is fighting Wolverine!")  The Green Lantern book is only the latest Geoff Johns jernt I've picked up.  I've become quite enamored with with the way he writes superhero stories.  Don't ask me how or why.  Superhero books have always been one of my more unexplainable pleasures.  When they work for me, they work for me.  There was a scary moment while reading Shaolin where I thought I might have outgrown my affinity for Geoff Darrow's work.  Does this mean that my internal battle over whether or not to plunk down fifty bucks for the Matrix Boxset might be over?  (Pros: Conceptual Artwork by Darrow/Skroce, West Commentary, new Matrix transfer.  Cons: Nearly every second of Matrix Revolutions)  I don't know for sure that I'm all the way over him.  There were just a few moments in the book where it seemed he wasn't really working for me anymore.  We'll have to see how this ends up after a few more issues.  Morrison back on JLA was just incredibly fun to read, offering very little to discuss.

I'm kind of miffed that the people I know who I know have seen Shaun Of The Dead did not immediately ensure that I saw it immediately.  I can see why they didn't, though.  I hate, hate, hate scary movies.  This is because, when it comes to movies, I am a complete and total pussy.  I clench up in my seat, I cover my eyes and ears.  I am liquid.  So even I myself was pretty loathe to see this movie.  Wrong move.  It was so fantastic, so smartly clever (you know, clever but in a subtle way that doesn't annoy you), so perfectly attuned to my sensibilities that it went from unseen to instant personal classic in (according to the box) One Hour, 40 min.  There was only one big jump (shower scene) and I even got a little thrill out of it (this often happens with good scary movies like Alien and never happens with shitty scary movies like Aliens).  More importantly, though, it was just shit in my pants hilarious.  I won't waste time recounting line after line of comedy (I'll save that for when Anchorman/Wake Up Ron Burgundy comes out next week), but the record bit was a particular standout.

That's it for this installment.  If it's in the second list and I haven't talked about it, it was simply really excellent and I expected it to be really excellent so, really, what is there to talk about.

Ta ta for now.

Wednesday's Inbox: 8.18.04

Ultimate Spider-Man #64
Ex Machina #3
Daredevil #63
Fantastic Four #517
She-Hulk #6
Astro City Special #1
Demo #9
DC Comics Presents: The Atom #1
Books Of Magick: Life During Wartime #2
Wolverine #18
Terra Obscura Vol. 2 #1
X-Men: The End #2
Human Target #13
Supreme Power #12

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life Vol.1

Can you believe I read Ultimate Spider-Man before Ex Machina? I know. Crazy. Naturally, Vaughn & Harris kicked USM's ass up and down, but Bendis came right back with another exceptional issue of Daredevil this week. See how benificial a steady monthly schedule can be, Marvel? Fantastic Four also showed up to play, completely eradicating the sulfuric memories of the last el stinkerino storyline. This was a fanatastic read, truly worthy of its namesake. (Man, that's what comics needs. A Gene Shalit!) It almost picks up from before the Frightful Four Storyline, as if it never happened. That's how I'll be reading it! Thanks, Mark!

Demo was also a great read, which was nice, because I haven't been 100% feeling this book every month. This is probably the most satisfied I've been with any of its individual stories.

Books Of Magick comes under one of my favorite brands of Quitely covers: The Group Pose. There's so much awesome detail on the four people illustrated from their sneakers (They call them "trainers"! Odd!) to the little Dog Bone charms on the zippers on Dog's pants. You could easily stare at this cover for a good year. I know I will. I really couldn't tell you how good the comic inside is. I'm not all that compelled to read it, to be honest.

There's a bunch of other stuff I got this week, some good, some bad, none of it War Games related (I have exorcised the demon!), but I'm most excited about Brian Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim book. I fucking flat out loved Lost At Sea. O'Malley is an incredible talent, both in his writing and his art. Mr. Pilgrim is a big time front runner as subject for this Monday's dispatch.

Wait. Did I just admit to buying bad comics? Wolverine is no spring chicken these days. Terra Obscura was pretty entertaining the first time around. X-Men: The End? Yeah, that'll leave a bad taste in my mouth for sure. Human Target and Supreme Power I just need to catch up on, but I like both those books just fine.

So there's about nine dollars worth of questionable material up there. Good to know. I'll be keeping a careful eye on this whole disturbing trend.