With thoughts about how Rachel (sinners_dance ) is much my female version of the Doctor (see this entry... and, so you know, she was that way before I saw anything with the Doctor), I really need to rewrite this entry. In it, she delights in the violence far too much, and that's not how I see her. William lets his anger consume him, and he pours it out upon his targets. Audrey is, well, just fucking nuts. She uses violence to quiet the voices in her head, so in many ways she does delight it in. Plus, she hates everyone.

But Rachel is different.

She's voracious in her appetites for knowledge, food, sex, and all forms of experience. She loves people, she loves reading, she loves life, she loves everything.

And I want her violence to be different than the others, to be cold and clinical. ("Must there be violence?" you may well be asking. In her world, yes, there must.) Rachel prefers not to kill. She'd rather find another way. But if she's decided that someone must die, then she goes at them like a surgeon does a cancerous growth - with swift and deadly precision. She can often be impulsive, and is always fun loving, but she's also decidedly practical.

I'm also seeing her physical look differently than I used to. She started out with a gymnast's body, inspired by Rahne Sinclair (aka Wolfsbane of the New Mutants). She's still short in my mind's eye, because much of the point is that she has to look up to everyone, or, more importantly, that most people look down on her and underestimate her. But she's plumper now, because, as she explains it, "if you want people to want to spank your ass, you've got to have enough ass to spank." She exercises and works out enough to be fairly well muscled, tough enough to take on anybody, but she makes sure that she has enough fat on her body to 1) take the kind of abuse she likes to take, and 2) have some body reserves in any worst-case scenarios. William taught her to always be prepared, and she's taken it to heart. I don't have anyone in mind or a picture I can pull up that immediately grabs me and screams Rachel. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled.... which, in case you didn't know, hurts like a motherfucker. 

So, the previous week the issue of Wolverine I got was #73. The issue I had picked up prior to that one was #71. I assumed the shop had skipped again like they had with Cable #13. Nope, Marvel pulled a McFarlane and skipped the issue. What's really, exceptionally stupid is that issues 73 and 74 were already scheduled as fill-ins that were breaking up the horrendously delayed "Old Man Logan" story line. Since they were already going to interrupt the story, they should have just changed the number on 73 and 74 to 72 and 73, and made the now even later than it originally was #72 into #74. Yes, I know it's confusing, and, yes, I realize that #72 is supposed to come out this week, and, yes, I realize that renumbering things probably would have delayed them, and, hey, since #72 is supposed to come out this week, and number #73 came out two weeks ago, maybe they should have just held onto #73 until #72 was ready. But, nope, all for the dough, nothing for the know. McFarlane should be proud, the big boys are acting just like him.

MARVEL
Agents of Atlas #5 - great stuff

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #3 of 5 - Still better than the regular series

Fantastic Four #566 - The Master of Doom? Uh-uh, the Master of Dumb

Hulk #12 - still overpriced. Next issue, the anniversary issue, is it.

Planet Skaar Prologue one-shot - good stuff 

Punisher #5 - best dig at One More Day that I've read. Punisher is presented the offer: if he quits his crusade his family will be brought back from the dead for him. His response - "Maria wouldn't like me making deals with devils on her account." That's right, folks, when something is too reprehensible for the Punisher, you know it is some fucked up, stupid-ass shit. And that's what One More Day is. 

Skrull Kill Krew #2 of 5 - better than it deserves to be

Uncanny X-Men #510 - freight train of fun

Wolverine Noir #2 of 4 - solid

Wolverine: Weapon X #2 - decent

X-Men Forever Alpha - reprints X-Men (1991) #1-3 by Claremont and Jim Lee to prepare for the new series that pretends that nothing since X-Men #3 has happened. I see a train wreck. The few preview pages already contain some glaringly awful inconsistencies (like Rogue's full name, which was finally revealed more than a decade later).


DC
The Brave and the Bold #23 - Booster Gold and Magog by Dan "Booster Gold" Jurgens. As solid a read as the Booster Gold series itself, and I foresee this tying into it eventually.


IDW PRESS
G.I.Joe #5 - The plot had better start moving along, or I'm going to start giving it a "meh"

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #11 of 12 - sweet

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Official Movie Adaptation #1 of 4 - weak


back-issue buy in a $2.98 two-pack at Toys R Us
Nomad #16 (1993) - featuring Gambit
Weird Wonder Tales #22 (1977) - featuring Dr Druid (more accurately, it's reprints of pre-Marvel Lee & Kirby tales of a character named Dr Droom who, after the advent of Marvel and a certain Dr Doom, was renamed Dr Druid)

MARVEL
Captain Britain and MI13 #13
Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1 of 5
Deadpool: Suicide Kings #2 of 5
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers #1 of 4
Savage She-Hulk #2 of 4
Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos one-shot
War of Kings: Ascension #2 of 4
Wolverine #73
X-Factor #43

DC
Booster Gold #20
Green Lantern Corps #36

 FCBD2009 followup
TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS
Owly and Friends

regular
MARVEL
Agents of Atlas #4
Astonishing Tales #4
Cable #13 - 2nd print
Cable #14
Deadpool #10
Exiles #2
Fin Fang 4 Return one-shot
Hulk: Broken Worlds #2 of 2
Marvel Spotlight New Mutants
Marvel Zombies 4 #2 of 4
New Mutants #1
Official Index to the Marvel Universe #5
War of Kings #3 of 6
X-Men: First Class #4 of 4

DARK HORSE COMICS
Buffy #25

DC
Power Girl #1

WILDSTORM
Authority #10

back-issue buy
MARVEL
X-Men Origins: Beast one-shot

Haven't checked my e-mail in two days. Don't care about posting. Don't see the point in it. I'm doing what's expected of me - job and housework. Everything else can wait until I feel like it. I'm not sure when that will be. Don't feel like getting into it here, it'd just be a bunch of masturbatory whining, and I'm far too tired.

OK, so, with my nice new digital camera, which has a sufficiently good amount of storage space, I took an assload of photos. No, really, if I printed them all out it would be really uncomfortable.

Sorry, that was totally inappropriate it. I really should delete it. I think all sense of brain-being-good has been dissolved by this work week.

I'll try to behave myself.

Anyways, if you want to just check out the photos you can go to my Cairo in Columbus 2009 set on Flickr.

Otherwise, ( Go behind the cut for a selection of favorite photos. )

Thumbnail tease of some of the pictures behind the cut -

You did get your free comics, right? RIGHT?

MARVEL
Free Comic Book Day 2009 Avengers - Brian Michael Bendis + Jim Cheung. Probably to keep being offbeat, the first official confrontation between the New Avengers and the Dark Avengers isn't a wall-to-wall brawl between the teams but is instead a team-up. Who'd a thunk it? And though I think the first page could have done a better job of explaining the two teams, and the fact that there are people on both teams with the same name, I think this was an overall good introduction to Marvel comics for newbies, and a solidly enjoyable tale for us entrenched readers. Win.

Free Comic Book Day 2009 Wolverine - Fred Van Lente + Gurihiru. The All-Ages outing for this year is a pre-X-Men Wolverine story that not only demonstrates that there is more to our favorite Canuck than claws and the willingness to use them, namely, a brain that he does actually use, but it also makes me sad that Van Lente is no longer writing Wolverine: First Class. Enjoyable for young and old, familiar and new. Win.

BONGO
Bongo Comics Free-For-All! - various. The Bongo pieces are always lots of fun, and I have to admit to being surprised to see long time writers like Chuck Dixon and Mike W. Barr penning tales for the Simpsons. Win, as always.

DARK HORSE COMICS
Free Comic Book Day: Aliens/Predator - No, it's not another crossover. We get just under the first half of the first issues of the new Aliens series by John Arcudi + Zach Howard and the new Predator series by Arcudi + Javier Saltares. I was already planning on getting Aliens, and this has made me even more excited. I'm glad to see that they are not doing a reboot, but they are also working to make it accessible to new readers as well. I wasn't planning on getting the new Predator series, and this didn't change my mind. It looks good, I I think fans of Predator will dig it, but it's just not so much my thing. I guess I'd categorize the comic as a win since it got me so hyped over Aliens, but calling it such leaves a slight bad taste in my mouth since it's nothing more that a tease.

DC
Blackest Night #0 - Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. DC is not really getting this whole Free Comic Book Day thing, are they? I thought the point was to bring in new readers, not provide something that is for fans only. And fans are the only ones that will appreciate this. Half this issue is a conversation between Hal and Barry that will only make sense to people with a more than passing familiarity with them, and even a good portion of those readers just won't care. The rest of the comic is dedicated to files on the various Colored Corps that have been revealed so far. Essentially, the only people that are really going to dig this are the ones already prepped and raring for the Blackest Night crossover event. This might bring in a few regular DC readers that weren't sure whether they wanted to get into Blackest Night or not, but to outsiders this is going to be an incomprehensible mess. Fail. Personally, I liked it. But as a Free Comic Book Day piece, it is a failure. DC... you are so stupid. STUPID!!!

ahem.
I did buy a few things... and most were what I planned on buying!
The Showcase Presents Ambush Bug collection has all the Ambush Bug stories up to the most recent one. It's a nice, thick, phonebook-sized collection of Keith Giffen + Robert Loren Fleming black/white tales on newsprint. Aaaah, smell that newsprint! I'm totally digging it. Halfway through the zany, fourth-wall destroying antics of the Bug I realized something... this is where Deadpool came from. Deadpool is the lethal, nineties version of Ambush Bug. AB himself is the more relevant, eighties version of the Impossible Man. And Impy? He has plenty of antecedents too, but I'm too lazy to list them. 20% off.

Showcase Presents Booster Gold contains all 25 issues of the original eighties series by Dan Jurgens, as well as a crossover with Superman. Picked up because I've been loving the current Booster Gold series, not coincidentally it is also done by Jurgens. And also 20% off.

The only thing I picked up that I hadn't planned on buying was the ClanDestine Classic hardcover. I have all of the issues it contains, but couldn't pass up a $30 hardcover of Alan Davis work being offered for $5. That's like 83% off. Dude, it's Alan Davis. I've only read one single thing by him that I didn't thoroughly enjoy, and if I saw a collection of it being offered for $5 I'd probably pick it up, too. Dude, it's ALAN DAVIS.
(FYI, the thing I didn't like was JLA: Another Nail. The art was his usual great stuff, but the story was a mess.)

For those of you paying attention, there is something missing from my list of Free Comic Book Day comics... Owly! They ran out of Owly before I got one. That's what I get for being nice and waiting until the crazy-ass long line of crazy finally died down. I even went to another store, and they too had run out of Owly. Oh, woe is the Jeremy! Woe, I say!

To be continued in the Weekly Haul for May 6, 2009.

MARVEL
Avengers/Invaders #10 of 12 - Ross/Krueger + Sadowski/Berkenkotter. My main thought as I read this was, "Get on with it!" The story is so steeped in plot that there isn't any room for the enormous cast of characters to display more than teeny, tiny hints of character.

Dark Avengers #4 - Bendis + Deodato. After the previous issues upswing in quality... we're knocked back down again. There is simply nothing here to warrant being referred to as a story, it's all a quick wrap up and nothing more.

Dark Reign: The Cabal one-shot - The Doctor Doom tale by Jonathan Hickman and Adi Granov is pretty but very weak, and also doesn't mesh with my vision of Doom. The Emma Frost story by Matt Fraction and Daniel Acuna is a brief overview of her history that offers explanation to why she has joined the Cabal. The piece about The Hood by Rick Remender and Max Fiumara was the strongest of the whole bunch, with a brutal tale that gets to the heart of the character. The Namor short by Kieron Gillen and Carmine Di Giandomenico is hopefully setting something up, otherwise it is a waste. Lastly, Peter Milligan and Tonc Zonjic present Loki in a prequel to Thor #601 that goes a long way to proving that Milligan can still write, despite the atrocious mess his run on X-Men was.

Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil #4 of 4 - Tobin + Scherberger/Baldeon. The satisfying finale to the consistently entertaining miniseries features Doom and Magneto taking on Selene in order to win a wish. Just what could Doom want to wish for... ?

Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #2 of 2 offers up more zany fun. Citizen Cage, Political Power Man by Wyatt Cenac and Todd Nauck is a nice mix of super-heroics and local politics that strikes a chord with Luke Cage's inner-city origins. And the Elsa Bloodstone piece by Chris Yost and Joh James was a welcome return for the character that disappeared into limbo after Nextwave ended. But my heart belongs to Adam Warren and Hector Sevilla Lujan's story of Galacta, The World-Eater's Daughter. That's right, I'm sweet on the daughter of Galactus. Don't let it get around.

Nova #24 - Abnett/Lanning + DiVito. The Nova Corps takes on the Imperial Guard in this War of Kings tie-in, and it is not pretty. That's what happens when you kick out your best guy just because he dared to harbor independent thought. And who says comics don't teach valuable lessons?

Skaar: Son of Hulk #10 - Pak + Lim. Skaar meets Galuctus, and still fails to appreciate his place. This boy needs a spanking.

Thunderbolts #131 - Diggle + Dazo. (I'm not making that up.) Part four of the four part crossover with Deadpool is as manically crazy as you'd expect. Fun, but, I don't know, lacking that special oomph.

Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #5 of 6 - Lindelof + Yu. It took five issues, and a couple of years, but finally we've got some good. It again, obviously, employs flashbacks, but it's finally hit the right balance between serious badass violence and humor that is necessary to make something like this really sing. Come on, Wolvie's spirit animal is a panda. That earns some serious points.

Uncanny X-Men #509 - Fraction + Land. Madelyne Pryor makes her move on the X-Men, and it's the kind of well executed piece of freight train storytelling that makes the X-Men work.

Wolverine: Origins #35 - Way + Braithwaite. The X-Men finally start working with Wolverine to take down Daken, but I'm still finding it hard to care. Wake me when Daken has been beheaded.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine one-shot - No, it's not an adaptation of the movie, it's just timed to coincide with it. Chris Yost's story is mainly a dry rehashment of Logan's history, minus the involvement of Romulus that has been getting built up in Wolverine: Origins. Whatever, I could care less about the plot when it is illustrated by Mark Texeira, my top-of-the-line favorite Wolverine artist.

Ooh, pretty.

BOOM! KIDS
Muppet Show Comic Book #2 of 4 - Roger Langridge continues to translate the Muppet Show into comic book form hundreds of times better than I ever imagined it could be outside of being illustrated by Jim Henson himself.

DC
Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds # 4 of 5 - Geoff Johns + George Perez. I'm not even that much of a Legion of Super-Heroes fan and I can't help but feel a sense geekcore nerdvana when reading this series. This may be a totally confusing mess to people unfamiliar with the Legions, but it's got me glowing.

Green Lantern #40 - Johns + Tan. I think Johns is losing his grip a little bit on the story here, and I hope that doesn't foretell a mess with the upcoming Blackest Night crossover event, because this was just a big, messy fight scene. We had solid large scale battles during the Sinestro Corps War, as well as in FC: Legion of 3 Worlds, so I know he can handle it. But this here, this wasn't much.

IDW PRESS
G.I. Joe: Origins #3 - Larry Hama + Mike Hawthorne. No rayguns, no ubertech, this series relies on military action of a small, clandestine, and realistic scale. And it's some great, great stuff.
With great covers -

Don't forget, Saturday May 2nd is Free Comic Book Day.



So go to a comic book store and get some free comics.

Personally, I'm most looking forward to Owly and Friends.

But if you're already a regular comic reader, then take someone who isn't so they can get some of the free swag too.

That's right, friends, I want you to be a pusher, with comics as the drug - a hyper-addictive do-it-once-and-you're-hooked drug. 

Do it! Pimp for daddy!

A buddy of mine at work came across some boxes of old Star Wars toys and original Transformers in his parents attic and is trying to figure out how best to get some money for them. He's not looking to make a ton of dough, but would like to get a decent value for them.

Are those E-Bay Stores any good? Has anyone used one?

Would he better off setting up an e-bay account and dealing with all that involves?

Is an Amazon account better? If you've already got a Amazon account to buy stuff, can you set it up to sell stuff too?

He's only got a limited amount of stuff so it doesn't seem worth a ton of hassle for it. Though he does have an original Gen 1 Grimlock new in its box, so that could get him some nice $$$.

I doubt he'd get a decent return selling it to Big Fun, and I think Big Fun is the only place around here that's buying old toys.

DC
I totally forgot to include Detective Comics #853 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert in my Weekly Haul because I had set it aside for bec76  to read. 

Geez, now that it's all on its own I feel a lot of extra pressure.

OK.

Andy's art is, well, Andy's art. It's certainly his good stuff, and it's obvious he took his time with it, but I've never been as taken with his art as I am with Adam's, his brother. And many people swear they can't tell them apart. This is my gift. This is my curse.

As far as Neil's story goes, it's as metaphysical as one would expect from him. It works for me, as someone that knows how to take something that is not meant to be taken literally, and that already accepts that there are multiple iterations of Batman that exist. I also found it to be a satisfying farewell to Bruce Wayne, even though we know it's going to be undone some day and that he will return. But I think many Batman fans aren't going to appreciate it. They're going to be told by critics and reviewers that they should love it, but they're just going to wonder what happened to the down-to-Earth straightforwardness of Batman that they love.

I know, saying "down-to-Earth" and "Batman" in the same sentence can strike many people as wrong, but, despite the costume, he is the most realistic, most Earth-bound, and most human of DC's big name characters. And the people that love him because of that may not connect with this.

So if you don't like this, fear not for your intelligence, simply accept that this isn't your Batman...

Just like Christian Bale isn't mine.

I've gotten a couple of different Spider-Man trades on sale lately... so let's discuss!

Spider-Man vs. Silver Sable reprints the first couple of stories that featured Silver Sable. And that's seriously its only selling feature. The stories are straight out of the mid-eighties. I'm not saying they're bad, but I'm not going to say that they're great.
Reprints Amazing Spider-Man 265 and 279-281, and Spectacular Spider-Man 128-129. Written by Tom DeFalco and Peter David, and illustrated by Ron Frenz, Brett Breeding, Alan Kupperberg, and Rick Leonardi (my favorite of the bunch).

Ultimate Spider-Man vol. 17: Clone Saga was pretty darn good, actually. Though some ideas had me scratching my head and wondering who thought that was a good idea (really, the Scorpion?) others were nice touches to the original (a crazy, disfigured clone) and brilliantly obvious ideas (Spider-Woman! Bwah-hah-hah!). Overall, it's a strong story with a whole hell of a lot going on that somehow never feels out of the writer's and artist's control. Also, big thumbs up for the usage of the Fantastic Four in this, it made total sense and every scene with them had me wishing Bendis had written more of Ultimate Fantastic Four.
Reprints Ultimate Spider-Man 97-105 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley.

Spider-Man: The Other made me sad and angry. The writing mix of J. M. Straczynski, Peter David, and Reginald Hudlin works well overall, but whoever had the idea to switch Tracer from the amusing tech-based criminal he was in the beginning to the lame-ass "god of the machines" he became needs to be slapped around. The art is a very uneven mix of Mike Deodato's classic comic book style, Mike Wieringo's cartoony style, and Pat Lee's anime-inspired style. Additionally, Pat Lee's art was utter crap here in comparison to his work on Dark Minds and Transformers. But that's not what upset me. No, what upsets me is that Straczynski had a good idea: to explore the spider side of Spider-Man, something that hadn't been explored much in the character's 40-some-year history. They even went so far as to subtitle the story "Evolve or Die." But a year later, this, and twenty years of continuity, was thrown out the window by Joe Quesada with Brand New Day to, essentially, devolve the character. Evolve or die? Should have been "devolve and die," then maybe Joe Q might have gotten the message. Just another reason why I'm not buying Amazing Spider-Man until BND is done.
Reprints Amazing Spider-Man 525-528, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 1-4, and Marvel Knights Spider-Man 19-22. I already told you who wrote and illustrated it.
 

Played a good bit of Rock Band Saturday night at zoethe 's birthday party.

I usually don't because I've got no rhythm, but get enough alcohol in me and I'll do plenty of things I don't normally do.

You know, like have fun.

Still, I did well enough to fool Becca into thinking I was getting the rhythm.

Nope, I'm just good at hitting moving targets.

Thank you, Halo.

MARVEL
Astonishing X-Men #29 - Warren Ellis & Simone Bianchi. I apologize, but I'm going to have to break out the internet cliche WTF for this issue. The previous issue came out January 21st. It took three months of waiting to get an issue that would have been skipped by a writer that wasn't being a wasteful jackass. On the last page of issue #28 it was revealed that Forge was somehow involved with creating the super-humans the X-Men found in China. This issue, this entire issue, consisted of them verifying that Forge was, indeed, well and truly, involved in the creation of the super humans through the course of drawn out interrogations and a lot of unnecessary and highly uninteresting dialog. This was a waste of $2.99. The entire issue could have been summed up in a line or two of dialog. They could have gone from the end of issue #28 finding out about Forge to, ta-da, meeting with Forge with someone saying, "Hey, Forge, we found some guys that said you created them. What's up with that?" Warren Ellis has demonstrated an ability to craft satisfying single issues that move an overall plot along in series such as Transmetropolitan and Planetary. He can do it, but he's not. It's either editorial direction ("Hey, Warren, drag it out as long as freakin' possible. People liked it when Joss did it, so why change?"), or Warren only has one or two story ideas for the X-Men so he figures he'll just drag them out for two years. That's easier than, say, putting some work into it.
Lazy bastard.

Avengers: The Initiative #23 - Christos N Gage & Humberto Ramos. The finale to the Initiative's Disassembled storyline leaves the camp a mess, lies revealed, and the black ops team cut off behind enemy lines as Norman Osborn shuts the Hammond Training Program down.

Daredevil #118 - Brubaker & Lark. DD's deal with the Kingpin is the final piece to drive a substantial wedge between Matt and Foggy.

Ghost Rider #34 - Jason Aaron & Tony Moore. After the war in Heaven, Daniel Ketch finds himself yet again cursed to transform into the Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance, when innocents are in danger. Like when the redneck trucker from Hell shows up.

Guardians of the Galaxy #13 - Dan Abnett/Andy Lanning & Brad Walker. The Guardians team up with the Starjammers to try to talk sense into Emperor Vulcan and King Black Bolt. Admittedly, the chances are slim, but they've got to give it a try because the fabric of reality, already damaged by the Annihilation Wave, could be rent apart with a full scale galactic confrontation. And that's the kind of scale the Guardians work on.

Hulk #11 - Jeph Loeb & Ed McGuinness. Sure, this issue had one of my favorites of the Wolverine Art Appreciation covers, but I seriously feel ripped off paying $3.99 for this. That's right, Marvel has jumped a number of on-going series up a full dollar. It's not just the craptacular writing that makes me feel ripped off, but the fact that there are so few panels of art. For reference, a 22 page comic with, say, an average of four panels per page (a skimpy average as it is, in my book) would net 88 panels. This had 49 panels of story. Lame. Next issue is the last of the Defenders storyline, and it will be my last issue. Hell, I'm considering not picking it up since this has been so weak so far.


Immortal Iron Fist #25 - Swierczynski & Foreman/Doe. The tournament in the Eight City continues, and the series remains just as strong.

Incredible Hercules #128 - Greg Pak/Fred Van Lente & Dietrich Smith. Hercules versus the Dark Avengers. Still incredible.

Marvels: Eye of the Camera #5 of 6 - Kurt Busiek/Roger Stern & Jay Anacleto. The sequel to Marvels winds down while demonstrating great ties to Marvel history as well as to the previous series.

Mighty Avengers #24 - Dan Slott & Rafa Sandoval. Not the best example of Slott's writing. The writing treats Loki like her manipulations are as brilliantly subtle as she believes they are, but it's as heavy-handed as anything written by Stan Lee. (Yes, Loki is a she now. What, you never heard of a transexual god?)

New Avengers #52 - Brian Michael Bendis & Billy Tan/Chris Bachalo. As I said last time, I'm finally seeing good in New Avengers again. That hasn't happened since before Civil War.

Skrull Kill Krew #1 of 5 - Adam Felber & Mark Robinson. The never-thought-it-would-happen sequel to the Grant Morrison/Mark Millar/Steve Yeowell series of the 90s is both humorous and ultraviolent. So far, it's already beaten the original in both qualities.

Thor #601 - J.M. Straczynski & Marko Djurdjevic. Thor tries to deal with being excommunicated from Asgard, while the Asgardians look to move out of Oklahoma.

Wolverine: The Anniversary one-shot - This one-shot features two darkly stylistic tales that have to do with remembering the death of Mariko. The first, by William Harms & Jefte Palo, has art that reminds me of Jae Lee's early work, and a story that reminds me of a Wesley Snipes film - Logan has to take out some terrorists that have hijacked the plane he's riding to Japan. The second story is a short, violent dream written by Jonathan Maberry and wonderfully illustrated by Tomm Coker.

Wolverine: First Class #14 - Peter David & Roan Cliquet. Wolverine and Elektra battle the Hand, while Daredevil lends a helping, uh, hand. It's good, as Peter David always is, but I have to admit to missing Fred Van Lente on this title.

Wolverine: Weapon X Files - A one-shot full of files on various Wolverine and Weapon X related folks.

X-Force #14 - Kyle/Yost & Crain. Another comic I can't read right away, I missed Cable #13 which occurred between the X-Force/Cable: Messiah War Prologue and this issue. To make matters more annoying, Cable #13 is sold out. Fantastic! I think that's all I feel safe saying right now because I'm still pretty miffed.

X-Men: Times & Life of Lucas Bishop #3 of 3 - Duane Swierczynski & Larry Stroman. We still haven't learned exactly what Hope did in Bishop's past (our future) but at least this tied things back to Bishop's already revealed history. Not a great miniseries, as the way it is told is so straightforwardly boring, but it was at least informative in offering more background for Bishop.

DC
Picked up Green Lantern Corps #34, which I missed the first time around, then read it and last week's GLC #35 back-to-back. Have I mentioned how great this series is? This series is great. Really great. Stories, art, pacing, main and sub-plots, everything works together wonderfully. Peter J Tomasi and Patrick Gleason are doing a stellar job.

DEL RAY MANGA/BALLANTINE BOOKS
Wolverine: Prodigal Son #1 - Anthony Johnston & Wilson Tortosa. This isn't Wolverine in manga form, this is a re-imagining of the basics of Wolverine into a Japanese style story. He's still a violent loner with healing powers, claws, and amnesia that finds himself working with students and teachers, but, as is appropriate for the Japanese manga tropes, he's a teenaged student himself at a Martial Arts School in Canada. (At least he's still Canadian.) The world seems to be one without super-heroes or a general knowledge of mutants, which serves to make Logan even more of an outcast.
While the art displays the action wonderfully, the writing pulls a lot from the general tone and plots of various manga. I enjoyed it, but I still haven't decided if I'm going to pick up the next one. So far, they did such a good job of turning Wolverine into a manga that the story offers little to no surprise because everything is taken from the lessons of Japanese action manga 101, so much so that many points elicit an, "Of course," response. Of course the only student that does a decent job of standing up against Logan in the fight training is not only a girl, and not only a girl he has feelings for, but is also the daughter of the sensei. Of course the student he beat and humilated when he first arrived at the school would return later to exact his revenge upon everyone. Of course there's a secret organization out hunting him down to use him as a weapon. Of course, of course, of course...

DC
I picked up Evan Dorkin's Superman and Batman: World's Funnest based on the review of it at the end of Mark Voger's book about comics in the '90s, The Dark Age. Countless guest artists, ranging from Golden Age artists like Sheldon Moldoff to modern big names like Frank Miller and Alex Ross, contributed to make the art as fascinating as the story. Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite start a feud across numerous bizarre realities, killing your favorite characters in often silly ways and wiping out world after world. The scariest thing about this is when you sit back and realize that all of the bizarrely stupid worlds they traipse through on their quest to one-up the other are worlds that have had numerous stories told in them over the years.

MARVEL
Nobody had to recommend it, I just needed to know it existed - a Marvel comic with a full-sized Colleen Coover story! Written by Paul Tobin, to boot! What could this masterpiece of brilliant fun be? The King-Size Spider-Man Summer Special 2008. I had to hit three stores to find it, and it was the last copy that store had, but now I've got it, I've read "Mary Jane Watson in: Un-Enchanted Evening," and I can say it was well worth it. The story features the Enchantress trying to gather a group of female minions to take down Thor. Thor, after all, wouldn't dare strike a lady. To make sure they won't be competition she decides to recruit heroes and brainwash them with shampoo. Yes, it's a plot worthy of the sixties. Suffice it to say that it's up to MJ, Hellcat, Marvel Girl, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, Clea, and Millie the Model to save the day. 

Don't worry about hunting it down, all you need to do is pick up the Spider-Man: Spider-Women Digest that is scheduled to hit stores 4/29. Do yourself a favor and pick it up, this story alone is worth the $9.99.

(I know, I totally skipped over the other story, by Keith Giffen and Rick Burchett. It was mildly amusing but, all-in-all, nothing special.)

MARVEL
Halo: Uprising #4 of 4 - Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev. The former Daredevil team has finally completed the miniseries that began in October '07. Was it worth the wait? Well, unlike most things that take forever to get its ass out, this series is mostly worth it. The story is interesting, though light on plot. The dialog is great, not a surprise since that is where Bendis typically shines. The art is fantasticly beautiful, but with one complaint - the action sequences with Master Chief don't flow well and are often difficult to understand. On its surface, that comment would seem to doom this series, but the fact is that Master Chief, and heroic action in general, is mostly absent from this series. Instead we get a ground level view of the Covenant assault of Cleveland through the eyes of an everyday hotel concierge agent and a pop music starlet. It's a solid series that doesn't require in depth knowledge of Halo in order to enjoy it. Hell, I'm even going to try to get Becca to read it.

Punisher #4 - Rick Remender & Jerome Opena. Frank does an excellent job of pissing off the Hood.

Rampaging Wolverine one-shot - This collection of black and white Wolverine solo tales is pretty good.
The main story, by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Paco Diaz Luque, reminds me of the early issues of Wolvie's first ongoing title. In the story, Wolverine hunts don't someone from his past that did wrong and, well, this is Wolverine we're talking about. Flashbacks galore fill the tale with enough background to understand Logan's reasons.
The second story, by Chris Yost and Mateus Santalouca, is probably my favorite of the book. It's a short, sharply illustrated piece about a guard tower sniper that can't figure out how his target keeps getting up and coming towards him. His mounting confusion and fear is subtly portrayed, as befitting someone that is supposed to be as professional as this guy.
The third is a short narrative written by Robin Furth with accompanying illustrations by Nelson. Nicely, it continues off of the end of the previous tale. The surprise is unfortunatley ruined by one of the art pieces, but I still enjoyed it. It captured Wolverine's voice perfectly.
The final story is a bizarre one by Ted McKeever. Sure, McKeever is synonymous with bizarre, but I still couldn't really figure out if he was trying to say something or just playing around.

Secret Invasion Aftermath: Beta Ray Bill - The Green of Eden one-shot - Kieron Gillen & Dan Bereton. Damn, that's a long title. But it's a great story with a nice religious message to it. The art is very rough, though intentionally so, and I still haven't decided whether or not I like it. Final analysis is that it is essential reading for fans of Beta Ray Bill, and a good place to start for people wondering why people like this horse-faced alien with the powers of Thor.

Uncanny X-Men #508 - Matt Fraction & Greg Land. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed this series this much. Land's art may be over-the-top into pin-up land, but the writing is fan-freakin'-wonderful.

Wolverine Noir #1 of 4 - Stuart Moore & C. P. Smith. Because I didn't end up enjoying X-Men Noir that much I decided to continue or drop this series based on the first issue. And because of this issue, I'm not only going to pick up the rest but am also really looking forward to them. Wolverine fits into the noir sensibilities perfectly, the art is gorgeously fantastic, and the story even pulled in the Origin series by Paul Jenkins. Moore & Smith have yet again proven to be a winning pair.

Check out some of the sweet art at Marvel, then do yourself a favor and go buy it. Oh, OK, you can wait for the trade if you have to.

X-Factor #42 - Peter David & Valentine DeLandro/Marco Santucci. Pretty darn good.

X-Men: Legacy #223 - Mike Carey & Scot Eaton. Carey is losing his momentum with a story that probably should have been told in half the space. Still, I'm not regretting buying it.

DC
Green Lantern Corps #35 - Tomasi & Gleason. I haven't actually read it yet since I somehow missed the previous issue. Once I pick that up next week I'll read this one. I'm confident I'll enjoy it.

IDW PRESS
Transformers: All Hail Megatron #10 of 12 - Shane McCarthy & Guido Guidi/Emiliano Santalucia. The art is back up to its previous levels of greatness and the story is full of awesomely kick ass moments. A couple of mysteries are opened up, and I really hope they are explained before the series ends.

Transformers: Maximum Dinobots #5 of 5 - Furman & Roche/Raiz. The art is still pretty uneven, but the story pulls together almost  everything left open from Furman's run of IDW comics.

TOKYOPOP
Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Manga: Boukenshin - Four mangatastic tales of the crew of the NCC-1701D. On second thought, make that three mangatastic tales and one not-so-much.
Changeling by David Gerrold & E. J. Su. An amusingly written and illustrated story where Wesley Crusher gets taught some well needed lessons.
Sensation by Diane Duane and Chrissy Delk. Another strong tale with wonderfully amerimanga stylized art, this one focuses on another fan favorite, Deanna Troi.
The Picardian Knot by Christine Boylan and Don Hudson. The story is hurt a bit by art that tries far too hard for the likenesses of the cast. Still, it was nice to see a tale that acted as follow-up to an episode of the series.
Loyalty by F.J. Desanto and Bettina Kurkoski. This well written follow-up to Picard's famous assimilation by the Borg demonstrates well the hesitancy Starfleet Command had towards allowing him to take command after he was freed. The art is a little uneven, balancing precariously between caricature and representation, but the interesting layouts redeem it.   

WILDSTORM
X-Files #6 of 6 - Doug Moench & Brian Denham. The second part of Moench's story is as good or even better than the first. It would have worked quite well as an episode of the series. Overall, despite the weak spot that was Marv Wolfman's arc over issues 3 and 4, I hope that sales were strong enough that Wildstorm will produce more X-Files comics. I miss Mulder, Scully, and the monster of the week.

What is this? I'm up to date? For, like, the first time in months. Wonder how long that will last...

MARVEL
Captain Britain and MI:13 #12 - Paul Cornell & Leonard Kirk. Not only is it another great issue of a fantastic series, but I think it's the first time I've seen "palimpsest" used in a comic.

Deadpool: Suicide Kings #1 of 5 - Mike Benson & Carlo Barberi. So far so good, with more humor, violence, and plot twists than you can shake a severed arm at. Includes promises to get even better.

Exiles #1 - Jeff Parker & Salva Espin. Jeff Parker is a writer I've come to trust for fun stories. Whether it's his all-ages work, or his more complex pieces like Agents of Atlas, he knows how to keep things fun and exciting while making even wild ideas make sense. If you liked Exiles prior to Claremont, well, ruining it, then do yourself a favor and pick up the new series. Parker nails the mood of the original series by Judd Winnick with a brilliant mix of humor and serious danger. Hell, even if you weren't a fan of the old series this one is a worthwhile and entertaining read.

Marvel Zombies 4 #1 of 4 - Fred Van Lente and Kev Walker are back, dishing out equal helpings of gore and laughs. This outing features a team of monsters led by Morbius, the Living Vampire, that is all that stands between the regular Marvel Universe and a grisly zombie apocalypse. Highly recommended. Don't let the crappy cover fool you, it's good stuff.

(I can't tell if this is supposed to be mimicking a specific movie poster or not. Each cover of the previous series did, to good effect. Maybe that would explain why this is so damn crappy. I don't know.)

Savage She-Hulk #1 of 4 - Fred Van Lente (again) & Peter Vale/Robert Atkins. The daughter of Thundra and the Hulk lands in the middle of NYC with a time sensitive but secret mission. And she's not going to let any puny army made up of pathetic males get in her way.

Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #4 of 6 - Damon Lindelof & Leinil Francis Yu. Another freakin' flashback? Should have expected that from a guy that worked on Lost. But Hulk and Wolverine only appear on two pages. Two pages! What the... gyah! I can't even come up with a worthy expletive.

War of Kings: Ascension #1 of 2 - Abnett/Lanning & Wellington Alves. Chris finds out that sometimes, the more you learn about your powers' origin the less you want to know. More good stuff from Abnett and Lanning.

Wolverine: Weapon X #1 - Jason Aaron & Ron Garney. That's right, folks, Wolverine is the new Spider-man. He now has four, count them, four ongoing titles. He also regularly appears in Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, New Avengers, wherever else they can squeeze him in, and countless one-shots and miniseries that keep popping up like the mushrooms in my basement. And to think, people worried about oversaturation when he got his first ongoing title. They may be Wolverining me out. I already skipped the Wolverine: Manifest Destiny miniseries because a) there was already too much Wolverine to buy and b) it was written by Jason Aaron who really pissed me off with the pointless ending to the "Get Mystique" storyline. Oh, look who's writing this! Thrilling. I'll give it a shot for a short while since I've enjoyed Aaron on Ghost Rider, and this first arc features tie-ins to the old Weapon X stuff, but I may not last long.
Notum bonum: I've seen adds that make it look like the main Wolverine title is going to shift focus to Daken, the son of Wolverine, a character so mindnumbingly uninteresting I had trouble reading stories where he was a secondary character. If that does happen I am definitely dropping Wolverine.

DC
Booster Gold #19 - Dan Jurgens. Still consistently, brilliantly fantastic. I really need to pick up the Showcase collection of the original series. Jurgens is proving that there are still quality stories to tell in the old DC continuity.

Green Lantern #39 - Geoff Johns & Philip Tan. This issue isn't the greatest - it serves to further highlight the complex relationship of the Blue Lanterns to the Green Lanterns while also introducing, but not explaining, the Orange Lanterns. Yes, I realize how lame that sounds, but it really is working well.

IDW PRESS
Transformers Movie 2 prequel: Defiance #4 of 4 - Mowry & Khanna/Griffith. The Bayverse just gets worse and worse with them effectively castrating Megatron into a pathetic, led-around-by-his-nose little bitch. Not exactly the type of figure to inspire fear. Oh, this movie is going to suck.

Transformers Spotlight: Drift - Shane McCarthy & Casey Coller. This prequel to All Hail Megatron (which is a good example of how to handle villains!) sheds some light on the new new character while showing what the other band of Autobots was up to before things went south.

MARVEL
Agents of Atlas #3 - Jeff Parker & Gabriel Hardman/Clayton Henry. Two tales for the price of one, and both are awesome.

Astonishing Tales #3 - Wolverine & Punisher by Cebulski & Rocafort continues to be OK. Iron Man 2020 by Goodbrey & Kang continues to be better than expected. Spider-Woman by Jonathon Green and Fiona Staples was a good one-off tale. Finally, Sunspot & Cannonball in Mojoworld by Hickman & Pitarra continues to be the highlight for me, and makes this whole thing worthwhile. Plus, spoofing Civil War.

Avengers/Invaders #9 of 12 - Krueger/Ross & Sadowski/Berkenkotter/Ross. Is it over yet? No? Dammit! And now what the hell is going on? The Red Skull has used the Cosmic Cube to win WWII? Great...

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #2 of 5 - Jonathan Hickman & Sean Chen. Pretty good so far. Reed examines alternate realities for lessons to learn while, unknown to him, the rest of the team is hurtling through time and the only thing standing between Norman Osborn's troops and the Baxter Building's secrets are Franklin and Valeria.

Deadpool #9 - Way & Medina. The third part of the crossover with Thunderbolts features DP professing his love for Yelena Belova, the T-Bolts' field leader, while jumping from one violent encounter to the next.

Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil #3 - Paul Tobin & Patrick Scherberger/Esdras Cristobal. Nice, wholesome, evil fun from beginning to end.

Franklin Richards: April Fools! - Chris Eliopoulos. It's more fun with Franklin, but what is Marvel thinking with the $3.99 price tag?

Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #1 of 2 - Lots of fun (gee, it's been a fun week) from the minds of Marvel's assistant editors. A Middle-East War Story featuring D-Man by Brian Patchett and Xurxo G Penalta doe a nice job of kicking off the issue. Then there is a gorgeously illustrated American Eagle story by Jason Aaron and Richard Isanove. Closing the issue is a Hawkeye Mini-Marvels story by Chris Giarrusso. Surrounding all this is a framing tale starring the editors, done by Eliopoulos and Jacob Chabot. I'm excitedly looking forward to the next issue.

Official Index to the Marvel Universe #4 - Covers Iron Man 66-116, Amazing Spider-Man 147-197, and Uncanny X-Men 151-192.

War of Kings #2 of 6 - Abnett/Lanning & Pelletier. Politics, tactics, and more great stuff with Ronan. Fantastic.

X-Men: First Class Finals #3 of 4 - Jeff Parker & Amilcar Pinna/Roger Cruz/Colleen Coover. The main story this time around is a little weak, though it still features some hilarious dialog. The real treat is the six page tale at the end by Coover that features Man-Thing and glimpses of the X-Men's past and future.

X-Men: Kingbreaker #4 of 4 - Yost & Weaver/Diaz. It would have been nice if this had come out before War of Kings #1 as it leads directly into it, but, hey, what you gonna do? All in all, it was a fun little ride, but served mainly to set up some pieces for War of Kings.

DARK HORSE COMICS
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 - Jim Krueger and Cliff Richards. In the immortal words of Vamp Willow, "Bored now." This one-off story felt pointless and more like a fill-in than anything important.

IDW PRESS
G.I. Joe #4 - Chuck Dixon & Robert Atkins. Still exciting, but still with minimal plot movement.

Transformers: Maximum Dinobots #4 - Simon Furman & Nick Roche/James Raiz. The art is much more uneven than would be implied by just having two artists listed. Some pages are just right, while others are messy and overdone, and still others look like they were done in a minimalistic, cartoon style. The story is barreling towards its conclusion at full speed, picking up various subplots left over from previous series as it goes.

Transformers Spotlight: Jazz - Josh Van Reyk/Shawn Knowler & E.J. Su. An awesome, action-packed, character piece that takes place in the midst of All Hail Megatron.


WILDSTORM
Authority #9 - Abnett/Lanning & Coleby. Still great, still post-apocalyptic.

back issue buy
DEVILS DUE PUBLISHING
G.I. Joe vs Transformers Omnibus hardcover - I picked up this collection of all four G.I.Joe vs TF miniseries done by Devil's Due because when I went to put it on my Amazon wish list I discovered it was going for over three times its already hefty $49.99 cover price. Yes, I already have all four series. Hell, I even have multiple copies of some of them for the various covers. But now I've got them in a nice, big, heavy, all-in-one-place hardcover. I'm a geek.

Let's do this.

MARVEL
Avengers: The Initiative Featuring Reptil one-shot - Christos Gage and Steve Uy. Strong writing that revolves around characters while also following up on things left dangling by other, less competent writers demonstrates why Avengers: The Initiative rocks. 

Daredevil #117 - Brubaker & Lark. Excellently portraying the world of gray that a vigilante lives in, the Kingpin returns to New York city and immediately sets up a meeting with Daredevil. The lesson: don't piss off Wilson Fisk.

Fantastic Four #565 - Millar & Hitch. A satisfying end the Lovecraft-inspired two-parter. What surprises me the most about that statement is that I actually used the word "satisfying" to describe a new Mark Millar comic.

Guardians of the Galaxy #12 - Abnett/Lanning & Wes Craig. Do I really have to say it? Fine, it's awesome. Quasar makes a convenient appearance, popping out of and back to Nova #23, to help Drax and Phyla in their quest to retrieve Moondragon's soul. 

Immortal Iron Fist #24 - Swierczynski & Kano. We take a break from the tale of Danny Rand and the other Immortal Weapons in Hell, aka the Eighth City, to be treated with the story of the first, and probably only, pacifistic Iron Fist.

Incredible Hercules #127 - Pak/Van Lente & Dietrich Smith. Dark Reign comes to Hercules, so hopefully that means Herc can give Normie the beat-down he deserves. Probably won't happen, but with Pak and Van Lente writing it, I know it's going to be a good ride.

Mighty Avengers #23 - Slott & Pham. Hank Pym's Avengers score their first victory, but the last pages reveals more at work here. Pham's artwork is still a bit uneven for me, but Slott's writing more than makes up for it. And it was especially nice to see Pym show-up Stark.

New Avengers #51 - Bendis & Billy Tan/Chris Bachalo. And the competition to be the next Sorcerer Supreme begins. Bendis's writing is finally starting to improve, most likely because he's not writing 45 titles a month anymore.

Nova #23 - Abnett/Lanning & Andre DiVito. Richard Rider is dying, his body having been overtaxed containing the entirety of the Nova Force for so long. To make matters worse, Norman Osborn's goons have taken over the only legitimate facility that had a chance of helping him, and now he's facing the choice of accepting help from a part-time AIM agent (their bad guy uber-scientists). Plus, his only buddy to get advice from, Quasar, took off to help out in Guardians of the Galaxy #12. All in all, another excellent issue.

Skaar: Son of Hulk #9 - Pak & Lim. Skaar versus Hulk. 

Thunderbolts #130 - Andy Diggle & Bong Dazo. Part two of the crossover with Deadpool finds DP teaching the T-Bolts a thing or two about being bad-ass and batshit crazy. Oodles of fun in very wrong ways.

War of Kings: Darkhawk #2 of 2 - C.B. Cebulski/Abnett/Lanning & Harvey Talibao. Revelations about the origin of the Darkhawk armor begin, and lead to another mini-series, War of Kings: Ascension. But here we not only have some fine action but also some nice moments with Chris' support group, aka the Loners. Also reprints Darkhawk #2 by Danny Fingeroth and Mike Manley. 

Wolverine: First Class #13 - Peter David & Ronan Cliquet. Guest-starring Daredevil, it's an enjoyably written and beautifully illustrated comic... with ninjas!

Wolverine Saga - A free recap of Wolverine's past, over a hundred years of violence. 

X-Force/Cable: Messiah War one-shot - Craig Kyle/Chris Yost & Mike Choi. Part one of the X-Force and Cable crossover features gorgeous artwork and a few unexpected faces. 

X-Infernus #4 of 4 - Cebulski & Giuseppe Camuncoli. Illyana fans, rejoice!


X-Men: Sword of the Braddocks one-shot - Chris Claremont and Scott Clark. This epilogue of sorts to Claremont's atrocious New Exiles is just as bad as that was, with too much narration that doesn't explain anything, an ending that makes no sense, and too much melodrama with characters that we have no connection to. I was hoping for more Captain Britain with "Braddocks" in the title, but he did little besides stand and watch as Psylocke did her thing. Yet again, I'm left with the feeling that Claremont is fawning over this character to an unhealthy degree. Scott Clark's art may be pretty, but it certainly didn't help to humanize any of the characters, more often than not the figures were even stiffer than the dialog. It does feature a reprint of the wonderful Adam Warren and Rick Mays Psylocke story from a few years back.

X-Men: Times & Life of Lucas Bishop #2 of 3 - Swierczynski & Stroman. The "secret" history of Bishop continues, and it's nice to see it finally tying into pieces of his history that have already been shown. Final analysis is still waiting on next issue, to see if they explain his actions in Messiah Complex.

BOOM! STUDIOS
Muppet Show Comic Book #1 of 4 - Roger Langridge. I picked this up at the request of Bec, and I have to say that I was heartily impressed. Langridge did an excellent job of translating the feel of the original Muppet Show into print form, including Pigs In Space and other regular sketches. I'm excited to pick up the rest.

BROADSWORD COMICS
Tarot, Witch of the Black Rose #55 - Balent. This issue mostly serves as A) the kick-off of the next multi-issue arc and B) a way to give friends a little spotlight in the comic with dozens of cameos of people whose pictures are featured at the end of the comic. It's fan-service for a tiny, tiny group of fans. Overall, pretty weak with only a few moments of cleverness.

IDW PRESS
G.I. Joe: Origins #2 - Hama & Hawthorne. Just about every page is a winner. That's right, it's made of win.

Transformers: All Hail Megatron #9 of 12 - Shane McCarthy & Robert Deas/Emiliano Santalucia. The pacing of this issue seemed off, and the art by Deas was not anywhere near the level set by Guido Guidi in previous issues or by Santalucia on the Cybertron scenes. This is the first issue of the series that I came away disappointed in. Even the big Prime speech, though great, wasn't enough to win me back.

Transformers Movie 2 prequel: Alliance #4 of 4 - Mowry & Milne. Blah-blah-blah. Stupid humans talk. Ugly robots fight. This movie is going to suck.

back issue buy
DC
Supergirl: Many Happy Returns tpb - Peter David & Ed Benes. I picked this up after reading thezzyzx 's essay on it located here. I wasn't nearly as impressed as he was, then again I have a hard time taking anything Ed Benes does seriously. I guess my main issue was that there would have been enough plot with having the Supergirl of the 60s and the Supergirl of the 00 meet and swap places, adding in this new and never to be seen again bad guy as some sort of major threat was just over complicating things.

Planet Saturday Comics volume 1
Reviewed by Jeremy Wiggins from the ZodarZone

Written and Illustrated by Monty S. Kane
Edited by Kelli Stevens Kane
Published by Planet Saturday LLC
Cover Price: $12.95
Rated all ages

This collection is comprised of the first eleven stories of the online comic seen at www.planetsaturday.com. It features introductions to most of them as well as behind-the-scenes materials.

The first story I read was "Fight or _ _ _ _ _ _." This brilliantly layered tale really spoke to the bullied child I was many years ago, and probably served to color my reading of the entire collection in a feeling of familiarity with Emory, the main character. From the young kid reveling in his overactive imagination to the adult now having to deal with a child that exists in her own little worlds of wonder, his every reaction and expression was one as intimately familiar as my own.

I also appreciate the fact that the stories don't always have Emory at the same age. This may throw off some readers because it's not how most comics are done. But I find it refreshing that one story may have him as an adult with a baby, the next is from when he was a kid, and then the next one is back to him as adult but now his daughter is approaching tweenhood. Also, I think it allows Kane to tell the story that is the most important one for him to tell at the time, and that keeps the emotional truth intact.

While most of the stories feature a stylization that would be right at home in the Sunday comics section, they all feature a skillful ink wash that makes most black and white comics look flat and lazy. His style hasn't been completely locked in at this point, with characters sometimes having a different level of detail at times, but it usually works for me.

Overall, it may be appropriate for all ages but I don't think kids would really appreciate the stories of adult Emory. I don't see kids connecting with him. Then again, maybe they'll connect with Dot, the daughter. I don't know. The whole thing, on the other hand, can appeal to the those that are old enough to find themselves facing real world responsibilities, while at the same time still young enough to remember what it was like to be a kid. People like me.

FYI - $1 from every copy of Planet Saturday Comics volume one sold at www.planetsaturday.com/store.html goes to help uninsured kids get health care. Details are located on the website.