Renaissance Man's Comick Booke Landscape

2003-06-12T17:13:00.000-04:00

oh, it's been a long time, blah blah blah.

anyway, i'm sure you're still reading, you lone reader you, so here... this is for you.

i've made the switch. to trades. here and there some monthlies, as i close out ongoing stories, but it's pretty much over for me and the big two as far as monthlies are concerned.

anyway, thought you might like to know.

2003-04-03T17:03:00.000-05:00

The Golden Age Project

"During the darkest days of the twentieth century, the art form we all love had its Golden Age. Millions of copies of individual titles sold and thousands of GI's got a taste of home and an escape from WWII by flipping open a comic book. Our heroes, both the four color ones and our troops, were respected and enjoyed the support of our nation.

In the spirit of 'The Golden Age', comic book publishers and comic book enthusiast are banding together to give today's troops the respect they've earned and the support they deserve."

Some of the posters at cbr have put together this project and have already secured donations from Marvel, Crossgen and a number of Indy publishers. Now we need the money to ship the books to the USO for distribution. Donations are being accepted via paypal here.

whether you're for or against the war, i think we all agree our kids could use all the support they can get. here's something you can do for them.

2003-03-21T11:50:00.000-05:00

yes, it's been a long time. yes, i've been busy. yes, i'm behind on my reading.

the thing is though, what with the war and all, i'm just glad optimus prime is on our side. lord knows that last thing i need is a giant robot ripping me a new one. seriously.

i'm all torn up about this collecting thing... i mean i like the magazines. i like them. i like the way they feel. i like the cliffhanger. i miss that in trade. and that's actually a big part of the comics experience. i mean yes i enjoy the escapist elements of comics, and yes i enjoy the regressive thing of words and pictures (although there's so much more to it than that), so trades are enjoyable. but there's something about the magazine. i also love my comic book store. i love it. it's fun to go there every week. and pick up a bunch of magazines.

the crux: trades are cheaper, more durable, and easier to re-read. but not everything is collected in trade. and i'm more likely to devour a trade, meaning that it's a longer wait between story installments. with magazines i get a monthly fix. and a lot more clutter. but i get hobby satisfaction (which costs...)

i don't know. i don't know. i have a bunch of issues i can sell for a lot of money, replace with trade and still have cash left over. and with some series i can do it, no problem. some series, like daredevil, i like having the issues of. gotta figure it out. gotta figure it out... when i have some time. gotta get back on the catalogue train.

2003-02-17T15:22:00.000-05:00

look there are some new series out there that i've picked up that are great:

H-E-R-O by Will Pfeiffer and Kano, published by DC
Hawaiian Dick by B. Clay Moore and Steven Griffen, published by Image
Unstable Molecules by James Sturm and Guy Davis & R. Sikoryak, published by Marvel

we also lost one of the greats: My Monkey's Name is Jennifer by Ken Knudsen. some kind of hiatus crap.

2003-02-17T15:05:00.000-05:00

so the thing is, i saw daredevil last week at a press screening my friend mike got me in to. (thanks mike!) well, it wasn't half-bad. in fact, in our opinion, it rocked. i went in with low expectations, and it delivered so far beyond them i couldn't believe it. i'm not going to give spoilers here for you, because i figure you either already know them, or just don't care, but suffice it to say that they did change some stuff for the picture that i found to be successful, adaptation-wise. the acting was universally good, with one exception: colin farrell was OUTSTANDING as the psychotic assassin, bullseye.

anyway, just wanted to give a very enthusiastic reccommendation to this picture from a very devoted DD comics fan. i think the spirit is well served here. very.

2003-01-17T13:51:00.000-05:00

the grunt work of collecting is a terrible thing, friends. i mean i know it was part of the reason to start this infernal habit, but little did i know how out of control it was going to get. (real out of control is the answer, by the way.)

history
i started out small -- palm-sized actually -- as i set up a basic database on jfile for my handspring visor. then as the collection started to grow, i got scared. because comics were piling up. my fiancee got scared, too, as short box after short box started to mar the decor of the apartment. all of this started happening fast, real fast. and as i entered rehearsals for a new play, i had even less time to devote. every month or so, i'd sit down, bag, board and alphabetize, but the actual computer entry stopped. at work, i decided to get back into it, so i built a filemaker pro database, complete with simple reporting capabilities, and imported the 80 or so issues i had catalogued into the visor. and that was that. what i did not do was start to diligently enter my back-stock. mistake.

present
i have hundreds of issues that are uncatalogued. i'm not a cataloguing kind of guy normally, although i have always been a categorizer and alphabetizer, with my book and music libraries. but with this new hobby, i thought, "hey, sounds like a good way to zen out." and it is, but i work in front of a computer eight hours a day, and the last thing i want to do when i get home is look at the damn monitor again. so the impetus to catalogue has dwindled, and i have stacks of unbagged, unboxed issues. and grand dreams of sitting down for ten issues at a time, just to make a dent, and in a month or two it may all be done.

future
there's a con in my city next weekend. can i get it done before then? (no is the answer, kids.) but, i'm moving this summer. halfway across the country. which will cost money. i happen to know that a number of books in my collection are worth a fair amount of cash, which i could use, but i don't know where they are, and to look for them would require a system, which i just don't have in place. i need to get everything catalogued before i am able to decide which issues to keep, which to junk, and which to bring to upcoming cons. and it's not only about the money. oh no. for example, i have a bunch of original miller daredevils that i picked up some time ago for cheap, but i don't know which ones they are. so i go to the next con, and i can't remember if i already have the damn issue.

and so...
i need a system to more easily help me catalogue. i really like the interface i've built on the fmp database, but it means entry pretty much from scratch (although i've just written a script that should ease things a bit.) there is a very expensive solution out there called comicbase, which does all the grunt work for you, all you have to do is check which ones you want, which you need, and you're set. it even has a report generator for palm. if i had the dough, i'd pick it up in a heartbeat. but i don't, so i can't. as it is, there is a more full-featured palm database that i'm looking at which is another (much smaller) cash layout i don't have -- although that may get lumped in with wedding expense, as i've built a pretty comprehensive wedding planner on the demo. the palm solution though would not really help with the grunt work, just mobility. i've looked at a bunch of web-based solutions, and nothing will let me export details of records, just which issues i have. there has got to be a way that won't cost an arm and a leg. a way besides the damn grunt work.

i know. i know.

2003-01-08T17:50:00.000-05:00

i'm baaaack.

yes, lady and gentleman, i have returned. as posted over at mattyspace, the fact that my current work ethic sucks eggs has brought me back to blogging. i will try to post here on a semi-regular basis.

i'm not sure about weekly reviews, as that was always a bit of a pain for me (my reading tends to get done in binges, and often i'll go for two weeks or more without reading a week's books), but i will try to comment on the state of the industry, and maybe i'll do something fun like give a recommendation of the week (or whatever appropriate period of time i happen to post within).

two things today:

1. hawkman. regular readers (all two of you) will note that i have gone back and forth on hawkman. i picked it up. i liked it. i dropped it. i picked it up again. i dropped it. that was four issues ago. well, i just finished reading geoff johns' incredible return of hawkman arc in JSA (TPBs -- gotta love em), and i'm going to start picking the monthly hawks up again. because if that is the potential, i am on board. i loved what he did with the hawks in jsa -- the soap opera aspect combined with the indiana jones aspect. this is what i was looking for in the monthly but lost in favor of plain super-heroics. but in jsa, he found a perfect balance of all three. gonna pick up the missing issues tonight to see what there is to see.

2. hobby. i decided to get off my ass and catalogue the collection. i had been doing it for the first month or so of hardcore collecting last year, and then fell out practice when my buying habits started to get out of control. they're back under control now, but the problem is i have hundreds of books that need cataloguing. i'm an anal person by nature, everything in it's place, but i'm also always pushing my own personal time boundaries, so that when it comes to down time, the last thing i want to do is spend another 2 hours in front of the computer. i did design a fancy-schmancy filemaker pro database for the books though, and devised an MS excel spreadsheet to make for easy entry of long runs, so i hope to have all back issues entered by month's end (good luck). i look forward to having the whole thing indexed though, so i can look up without hassle which damn issues the bruce wayne murderer fiasco happenend in in cas i ever want to go back and well reread it. it should also make it easier for me to figure out which issues are on the chopping block. it's time for a purge, and i happen to know i have some issues, somewhere, that are worth a little dough. it sounds crass, and i know i'm killing the industry and all, but i want to unl;oad them for all they're worth while i still have the time, you know?

only 37 days till daredevil. as i am getting more and more intrigued by the alias tv show, i'm less and less miffed by jennifer garner as elektra. still not happy about ben affleck, but, what can you do?

2002-12-10T15:47:00.000-05:00

stick a fork in me...

as posted over in mattyspace, i've just got too damn much on my plate right now. i'm still reading and enjoying, but no time to write it up. more next year, i hope.

2002-11-06T13:19:00.000-05:00

of interest:

real life super-heroine in brooklyn

hmmm.

2002-11-05T13:30:00.000-05:00

i opened a show last week, which meant no time to read. but here we are with two weeks' worth. (hence the two BoWs):

Action Comics #796: ¢ D
you know, i had decided to drop this mess already, but wanted to see what happened here with manchester black and lois, and figured the return of the yellow shield might bring in some cash later down the line. whatever. this one was a pure speculation venture. sue me.
Batman #608: $ K
jim lee kicks ass. kicks. ass. this book has gone all super-heroic, and thank god. batman kicks ass. all this other bullshit belongs in the other titles. hurrah i say for batman 608.
Catwoman #12: $ K
i'm not sure what i was thinking when i dropped this title. it's consistently fun, and the art is always great. really reminiscent of old school work without being cheesy.
Global Frequency #1: $ K
so now i've read authority, i'm on the warren ellis train. i thought this book was a little facile, so i'm hoping it'll get better. the concept gives it the "$", and the potential gives it the "K"
Smallville - the comic #: $ 1
this book was weird because i could so clearly hear the voices of the actors reading it. the stories were basic smallville fare, which works better on tv, and i didn't like the art. i wouldn't keep picking it up, but the interviews are fun in a people magazine sort of way.
Y - the last man #4: $ K BoW
Yup. quite fine. full of surprises, i kept saying "oh, crap" to myself, and c. pretty much everything a comic should be.
Exiles #17-18: $ K
I've slowly but surely been catcching up on my Exiles. this one brings me up to date. this is a great book. i'll be sad to see winick go, but that won't happen for a while, so that's ok. my favorite comic book line ever uttered was uttered by sasquatch in 18: "Holy mother of crap."
Fantastic Four #62: $ K
this book is fun in a kiddie way. apart from the occasional super-title it's the youngest geared comic i'm reading, and there's something refreshing about that. this storyline seems fun, and the art is great.
Transformers G1 #6: ¢ D
finally over. yeesh. this puts an official end to my nostalgia nouveau. i may pick up the old gi joe trades marvel's releasing, because that would really satisfy the jones, unlike what this schlock turned out to be. i couldn't even tell you what happened here is how bored i got. i picked it up to have the complete mini series. whatever.
Ultimates #7: $ K BoW
This book is consistently late. this book is consistently great. i wish they were mutually exclusive, but they're not. hitch and millar are a stellar team. only criticism: tony stark sounds too damn british.

2002-10-22T17:54:00.000-04:00

this past weekend, i read abunch of comics, including:

JSA #41: $ D
while this title is fun in a silver age kind of way, i find i just don't care enough. this series is well-collected in trades, so i can wait.
Sojourn #16: $ K
this was a great issue on a title that was lagging for me a bit. the art is just so damn beautiful, and some key relationships are starting to fall into place. that said, this is the only crossgen book i'm keeping monthly.
Daredevil #38: $ K
a really interesting issue dealing with matt on a superhero defense case, having been outed. how's it gonna play out? can't wait.
New X-men #133: $ K
phoenix rising baby. gotta love the return of the phoenix. gotta. love. it.
Spider-man Black Cat #3: $ K
after lamenting the lateness of this book, i'm glad to see it in print. the dodsons are pretty great when it comes to cheesecake art, and smith's grown-up spidey is really interesting. the villain is creepy too. a good read. faster please.
Thor #54-55: $ K
ok, i had read over at the fourth rail that thor was on a new arc that dealt with the religious aspect of the title, namely the fact that these guys are GODS. well, i was sufficiently piqued, and happily satisfied by these issues. so much so i added the title to the pull list. a lot of really interesting religious questions are raised.
Ultimate Spider-man #29: $ K BoW
ok. i admit i am overtired, overworked, and underpaid. i read the last panel and started to cry. i then reread the last four pages over and over again full of disbelief. this is the best superhero comic on the market. bar-none.
Cla$$war #3: $ K
this british import is about a superteam sick and tired of working for a distasteful american administration and doing something about it. up my alley. geopolitics at work. but it's written by brits so it never rings true. the art is great (too bad he's leaving after this issue), and i like the look of the book. enough to keep it.

also caught up on some exiles. i had a crapper of a time finding issues 12-13, and i had read the whole thing (in trade) up to there, and was waiting to read the rest till i read those, and finally did, and i'm glad i get this series monthly. these stories, while rarely self-contained, still cry out to be read in a monthly format. there's somethiong about the premise of a team of hero/misfits who find themselves in parallel universes at every turn that asks for monthly magazine collection. that's all i have to say about that.

2002-10-17T10:11:00.000-04:00

hello, superfans. it's mentions day over here on the landscape:

got a mention over at neilalien.com a dr. strange oriented blog, lamenting my lack of posting thru september. i'm back, neil.

also was pointed to Read Comics in Public, a blog devoted to getting all of us to do just that. anyway, i sent him a note saying i did it, and well, the rest is chronicled there.

2002-10-16T17:34:00.000-04:00

i read these over the weekend. small week, last week, but pretty tight:

Way of the Rat #6: $ K
waffling on this one... gotta find a way to cut back, but i do enjoy that crazy po-po. hrm.
Fables #6: $ K BoW
a great read. consistently. and it really draws me into the mystery. i want to know what's going to happen.
Powers #24: $ K
how can i say enough. i can't. i can't say enough.

the thing about fables is it reminds me why i love collecting comics. the serial is a form we pretty much only get in tv these days (and harry potter novels), where cliffhangers keep you on the edge of your seat. fables doesn't have tremendously over the top exciting cliffhangers, but the book gives me a sense of anticapatory excitement i wouldn't get if i was reading the trade. now. does that mean i shouldn't give up some other books and switch to trades? who knows. what i should do is stop reading this crap altogether. give my brain a chance to regenerate.

2002-10-11T12:33:00.000-04:00

the week got away from me, what with the rough start in seattle (red-eye back to work in ny monday am), and a computer meltdown that ate wednesday and thursday, but here i am, with promised reviews. over the course of the last week, i read a bunch of comics, including:

Ruse #12: ¢ D
what started out right has gone so wrong. what happenned to this book? scott beatty. waid's attitude. who knows? i know i'm dropping it. sad.
Noble Causes - Family Secrets #1: $ K
Nice Book. I could have done without quite so much exposition, but it was cleverly masked, and i'm enjoying the new art, too.
Alias #15: $ K
bendis rules. nuff said.
Elektra #15: $ K
just when i thought i was out... this book was grrrreeeeaaaattt this week. sexy and scary, which is everything an elektra book should hope to be. nice work pulling this one from the brink. and thank god for carlos pagulayan's pencils. yowza.
Ultimate Spider-man #28: $ K
very good. as ever. i had no idea what was coming, and had two fun surprises. yay. and i like one-shots. so there.
X-statix #3: $ K BoW
i'm telling you. if david foster wallace wrote comics, this would be it. i love this book. more on-time releases, please.
Halo and Sprocket #3: $ K
my only complaint about this lovely little book is that it's quarterly. i love it and want it more often. the most down to earth, like extended newspaper comics in comic book format. just a happy book.

took the black panther (semi-)reboot opportunity to drop it. avengers is next. and where the hell are kevin smith's books. mother fucker.

the real discoveries this week were the authority trades, though. i thought i liked planetary... hah. ellis' authority run is genius, so now i have to go find his stormwatch trades to see where it all begins. i'm enjoying millar and quitely's go at the big guys as well, but the ellis/hitch/depuy team is so seamless it's a little scary. man, those first twelve issues were fucking golden. also read earth2 by morrison and quitely. nice elseworlds jla tale.

2002-09-30T17:56:00.000-04:00

hello superfans.

i know the posting here and at mattyspace has been erratic at best, but things at the old worplace seem to finally be calming down, *knocks wood, hard.*

anyway, the newest discovery (new to me, just keep it in mind) is planetary. i had heard and heard and heard, but planetary was really my first foray into ellis and the wildstorm universe at large, and well, i loved it. devoured both trades, and am looking to pick up single issues, because they just seem so cool. the big apple con is coming next month, so i hope some dealer or other will be able to help me in that regard. i may even try to set up some kind of trade, as i am seriously considering thinning my collection. i know that the last thing i need to do right now is shell out cash for back issues of something i own in trade, but the coolness factor of this title is really burning a hole in my already empty pocket.

also picked up the two extant jsa trades to see what all the hubbub was about. less impressed with the first set, but once johns joins up, it gets fun. i'm in the middle of the second trade (darkness falls), and am really enjoying these second/third tier characters quite a bit. personal fave: dr. mid-nite. i'd like to see him get his own book. i think it would be fun.

bemoaning the lateness of marvel's books. well, not bemoaning so much as wondering. why do they keep signing smith to all these books if he's gonna be so damn late. marvel.com says black-cat 5 comes out this month, when #3 hasn't even shipped yet. and they wonder why we complain. look, i'll buy the fucker. i like his style, i like the art on this book, and i like spidey. but it's gonna make me sad sad sad when this happens (again) to daredevil.

speaking of hornhead, he gets the ultimate treatment soon, and i think it looks stupid. it's certainly not the treatment he recieved in the team-up. the ultimate line is just over two years old, and ALREADY they're fucking with contitnuity. normally, in 40-60 year old established universes, i don't care from continuity, but i thought the whole ultimate thing was a way to start over. whatever.

transformers is going the way of the rest of nostalgia for me... off the pull list.

anyhow. that's things in the landscape. look for capsule reviews next week.

2002-09-16T17:59:00.000-04:00

i went on vacation and came back to three weeks of books and an extremely chaotic office, meaning posting reviews became, well, incredibly daunting.

suffice it to say i read a whole lot, though, and will be managing my new midtown pull-list accordingly. that is:

Add:

Fantastic Four
Waid showed me just how good this title could be, which is damn good.
Avengers
Johns. Nice work. Indeed.
Catwoman
I know. I Know.

Drop:

The Path
Some loyalty or something was telling me to keep it... fuck that.
Hawkman
Yup. Not enough to make me shell out.
GI Joe
Nostalgia. Been there. Done that. Maybe I'll get the new old Marvel trades.

I'm reeeeallly considering switching over to trades. I read the Exiles first trade and loved it, and decided to add it to my pull list, picked up a couple of back issues, but now I want to just do trades, I think. Thinking very seriously of the same for Crossgen, especially thinking about compendia. Edge has my favorite titles, but for Sojourn, so I could pick up Sojourn monthly, and pick up Edge... just gotta figure out how it fits in with the trades I have (Sigil, Scion, Ruse, etc.)

Soon, I'm gonna need a lot of money, and I could sell some valuable issues I have, replace them with trades, and still have plenty left over.

2002-08-13T13:17:00.000-04:00

last night, i sat in my chair and read a bunch of comics, including:

Detective Comics #773: $ D
ok, i needed this issue to prove that i can drop the series. rucka is competent and all that, but i gotta drop some books, and when loeb and lee join the batman team proper in a coupla months, it sho' ain't gonna be that book. so this one goes.
Hawkman #6: $ K
very interesting. i was all ready to drop this book and now, looky there, some neat stuff happens. i really like the way this series is drawn. nothing innovative, but the characters all seem ultra-powerful, which, i guess they are.
Superman #185: ¢ K
Not so sure, here. Johns was not at the top of his game on this issue. I've come to really enjoy Supes in self-contained stories, but if this is the best Johns can do with that mandate, I'm better off without. will give him some more room, and see. also, there are other titles out there that may speak better of the supes phenomenon.
Thundercats #0: ¢ D
Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. i love campbell's work on danger girl. love. it. but it doesn't work here. i'm over the nostalgia. g.i. joe and transformers for me. and the transformers will probably go after the current G1 saga.
The Path #5: $ K
I'm finally on board with this book. totally. will i switch to trades? now, i'm not sure, but most likely. i get the feeling this will read better collected. most crossgen does, although i do love my...
Ruse #10: $ K
Here is a very intelligent book! man. and i cannot wait to find out where everyone fits in the crossgen universe. is emma a mentor? a sigil-bearer? is simon an atlantean? what the fuck? ooooooh, it's so much fun!
Agent X #1: $ K
y'know, about a third of the way into this book i decided to drop it, until it started to make me laugh out loud. a lot. crap.
Alias #13: $ K
Bendis is the man. he's just too good. and this book is no exception. i want more jessica. more more more.
Elektra #13: $ K
ok. this one is about to go. teetering on the brink. i'm gonna keep with it for 1 or 2 more, because i want to know what happens, but i'm starting to lose patience, here. elektra is a dark and tortured soul, and since miller, i've never seen her handled properly. there's the potential for something amazing here, but i doubt it's going to happen, and frankly, i'm sad.
Spider-Man/Daredevil #1: $ K BoW
a one-shot here, MUCH better than the four issue mini from 2 years ago. these new kids they got to write it, are fabulous. the art is fresh, and the dialogue is nearly sopt on, especially with spidey. matt is a little over the top, but spidey's quips more than made up for it.
Ultimate Spider-Man #25: $ K
look, i'm sick of hearing about these HUGE cliffhangers. this one was far too hyped, because there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever. none. i really did enjoy the ish though, especially retreading the same events as last ish through another pair of (wildly psychotic) eyes.
Hellboy -- The Third Wish #1: $ K
So i didn't really know from mike mignola till amazing screw-on head a few weeks ago. based on that, and a curiosity with hellboy, i picked this one up. and man did i like it. smart comics. buy 'em.

i've also, on mike's recommendation, been reading the exiles trade. god dammit. this looks like a weekly must read. fuck. i. do. not. need. more. books.

2002-08-06T12:53:00.000-04:00

i read this stuff this weekend. had fun, too:

Dark Knight Strikes Again #3: $ K BoW
this book was great!!! there is a really good thread over at cbr which starts off really vitriolic but turns into some interesting philosophical debate if you have the time. anyway, it's over now, but i will buy anything miller writes. deconstruction of the pop icon at it's finest.
X-Statix #1: $ K
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy! i. love. this. book.
Rex Mundi #0: $ K
a preview issue that looks verrry interesting. i hope image does continue with this book, as the premise, art, and writing are all of interest.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, vol. 2 #1: $ K
i had hoped to only pick this first iss. up, and then pick up the hc in a while, but i am hooked, so i guess i'll pick up the monthlies and pick up the hc.

it was really hard to pick a best of week this week, because everything was superlative. i went with DK2 because of the debate it has engendered. it's turned the community on its ear, and that is good, my friends. oh yes.

2002-08-01T15:46:00.000-04:00

so i read these books a couple days ago, but have been busy here in midtown. yeesh.

Batman #605: $ K
good ending to the fugitive brouhaha, but i do wish i knew more about the dud who ended up being the perpetrator. that is, i wishe he were as iconic as his boss, who ended up being potus, lex luthor.
Green Arrow #15: $ K D
i realized i don't care about the title character as much as i enjoyed the writing. and now smith is gone, so am i.
Sojourn #13: $ K
an interesting stand-alone in a series with nearly imperceptible arcs. that is, the overall story is so huge that arcs exist, but only to further the whole, quite unlike your normal superhero fare. that said, i didn't care for it so much here, but saw its merits.
Fused #2: ¢ D
well, this issue was about three months late, and it had no synopsis, and i didn't care enough to dig out #1, and i thought the dialogue on the first five pages that i did read was laughable, so bye-bye.
Amazing Spider-man #43: $ K
ok, it's finally where i think it oughtta be. that is, i picked this book up months ago on mikes reccommendation, and have never been satisfied with it, but kept picking it up because it was premier creators on a flagship title. well kids, the ship has finally launched. huzzah.
Deadline #4: $ D
it's a mini, so it's over, now. i didn't actually like this series, even though it garnered so much acclaim, but i did want to have the whole thing for that very reason. that is, it'll be easier to sell in it's entirety, eventually.
Incredible Hulk #43: $ K
another solid hulk outing. fun to see the big green guy catch a bullet in his teeth. looking forward to more.

no best of week this week. why? because nothing really caught my eye as being really outstanding. maybe spidey, but it was good really only in comparison to it's previous badness. of those read, batman, spidey and hulk get the kudos, i guess.

2002-07-25T18:00:00.000-04:00

finally got to last week's books. sheesh. had some personal stuff to deal with, and it was nice to finally unwind last night with a few of my favorite super-powered friends:

Fables #3: $ K
another solid installment. i have no idea who the killer is, and i can't wait to find out.
Y - The Last Man #1: $ K BoW
the pacing of this issue was absolutely incredible. i got very nervous as it was coming down to the wire. maybe the best launch i've ever read.
G.I. Joe #8: ¢ K
not the best outing, but a great set-up for next issue. i find myself longing for more soap opera in this title, like the days of snake eyes with that wolf. those were the days.
Batman Gotham Knights #31: $ K
The Fugitive mess gets better and better with each issue. wraps next week based on an incredible revelation this go-round. i had no idea what was coming as i waded through this story, and it paid off. wow.
Alias #12: $ K
more solid storytelling. i really enjoy the page layouts on this book. it may seem like a silly thing, but design is important to me, and i think that bendis' layouts are the best going. rivalled by the crossgen machine.
Daredevil #35: $ K
nice to see spidey in the title, and nice to see DD back in action, kicking ass. a couple of great moments, and what a cliffhanger. yow.
Elektra Glimpse and Echo #1: ¢ D
gotta excercise my financial impulses ofver my completist ones. this one was fun, but not enough.
New X-Men #129: $ K
Morrison gets weirder and weirder on this title, and i like it. i do wish there was a summary page, though.. more on this topic below.
Spider-man Blue #3: $ K
I've never read any silver age spidey, but i have read old books and the klunky dialogue really turns me off. so this silver age story with a modern sensibility i'm really enjoying, as with the creative team's daredevil yellow. sort of fluffy, but i love the retro look and feel, and am having fun.
Hip Flask - Unnatural Selection #1: $ K
I don't know what the future of this book is, i'm now interested in a book about a genetically engineered warrior hippo created by the guy who letters comic books. hmm.
Halo and Sprocket #2: $ K
I love the whimsy of this book. one of the only B/W books i read. and now i want the t-shirt!
Transformers Generation One #1: $ K
More giant robots kicking ass. what could be wrong?
Way of the Rat #3: $ K
Po po rules all.

the summary page thing: marvel e.i.c. joe quesada says all marvel books will lose a page of story to this tool, and has come under fire for it. me, i read a lot of comics. i want the summary. it helps me remember where i am and where i'm going. i'm glad marvel's doing it. i want everybody to do it. lose it for the trade. but the clunky exposition is much worse aesthetically, as well as practically.

subway reading has consisted of crossgen trades. 1st generation stuff: scion, mystic, and more meridian. the crossgen universe is sucking me in, as i said in an earlier post. good and bad. good because it's nice to be so engrossed by something. bad because of the money. yeesh. the money. i was lucky to find someone selling them real cheap at a stoop sale a couple weeks ago. so at least it doesn't hurt yet.

2002-07-15T16:43:00.000-04:00

i got to sit and read all day yesterday. ahh. i can still hear the brain cells screaming:

Battle of the Planets #1: $ D worth it because it'll eventually be worth something big. I'm over the nostalgia thing, though. 'cept for joe.
Noble Causes #4: $ K BoW
Black Panther #47: $ K
Call of Duty, The Precinct #1: ¢ D. the end.
Deadpool #69: $ K
Howard the Duck #6: $ K the mini has ended, but it was a good ride.
Ultimates #5: $ K people have been talking about this series since day one, and i have liked it okay, but this ish rocked. so much fun.
Beautiful Killer #1: $ K i hoped i wouldn't like it. but it's a sexy stylish spy thriller. what could be wrong?
Transformers Armada #1: $ D this will probably also double or triple in value, making it worth it, but like i said up top. over the nostalgia. one transformers series is enough.
My Monkey's Name is Jennifer #3: $ K i love this book. read it.

i also tracked down Action Comics 775, touted by wizard as the best single comic book issue of 2001. and it was great great great. art, writing, concept. nice execution. also found AC 786, another standalone supes issue, that i really enjoyed. my superman jones is being well serviced by these stand-alone issues... i hope to see more of them in the future.

and i read the danger-girl hardcover, which collects the entire seven issue series, plus the preview and some sketchbook stuff. i love this series. the script is hot, the art is hot, these girls are HOT. and it's pure fun. i was lucky to find it on sale at virgin, as i'd been coveting it for a while, but felt it too expensive. it was indeed worth it, and i'm so glad i picked it up.

2002-07-12T15:55:00.000-04:00

so i finally, over the course of the week got to last week's books. they rate as follows:

Detective Comics 772: $ D i think my batman fix will be satisfied by the eponymous title... tho' this was a great "murderer" issue.
Gen 13 0: $ D worth it cause it was only 13 cents.
Hawkman 5: $ K someone over at the cbr boards said it was worth picking the series back up for. not sure about that, but it was fun, so i'll give it another chance.
Ruse 9: $ K consistently great. i hope this next writer can keep up the pace...
Path 4: $ K ok, ok, it's got me. though after #6, i think i'll switch to trades.
Powers 21: $ K another good outing, but i felt it was juust a little off... the art was great, but without walker, i think the book loses something.
Alias 11: $ K a long set-up for an incredible payoff
Call of Duty Brotherhood 2: ¢ D buh bye.
Elektra 12: $ K i love the direction of this book. and thank god for pagulayan (the artist).
Ultimate Spider-man 24: $ K everyone said how amazing this issue was. i disagree (good, not amazing).

now, the big find of the week was The First a crossgen outing that i picked up in trade this week. wow. i. love. this. book. the art is that over the top 90s boobs as big as your head style (gotta give credit where credit is due: boobs as big as your head is mike's phrase), but it works perfectly for this book because it's about these olympianesque gods, who are always infighting and power struggling. it's a heap of fun.

while we're discussing crossgen, i'm thinking of switching soley to trade for their stuff... except for ruse and sojourn, of which i just can't get enough. way of the rat is limited 6 issue, i have half, so i'll finish it up... path i'll keep going till i have whatever they'll collect in the first trade, but from there, it goes to trade. the format is easier to digest, and they're quite beautifully put together, and they come out on time, so i think i'll enjoy it more. and it's a little lighter on the wallet.

i'm glad i feel this way about crossgen... maybe some others i'll be able to cut back on also. the problem with marvel and dc is you never know what's gonna make it to trade. and with image, i know powers and gi joe will, but i like them too much to wait. hmmmph.

2002-07-09T14:17:00.000-04:00

so. last night i saw road to perdition.. wow. moderate spoilers follow...
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for those of you who hate organic web-shooters, this movie is not for you. for you purists who hate it when anything is changed from book to screen, chalk it up to hollywood, and walk away. the movie is different from the book. this is the way things go, and i for one never mind it, if it is done well. that is, if the filmmakers can sell me the change, i'm good to go. a perfect example of this was, well, spider-man. i bought all the changes hook line and sinker. less successful was Jurassic Park. the first one. the rest were schlock, and we all know it, so i won't go into them. but the first made all these changes to an extremely cinematic book and i just didn't buy them. i had a great time at the film, but it was sort of loosely based on the novel, or inspired by it, maybe, and i think the story was better on paper.

that said, road to perdition, too, is greatly different from the novel that it's based on, but i bought the whole kit and kaboodle. there are a few reasons for this.

quickly, the book is about a mob enforcer in the 30's who is betrayed by his boss because his (the enforcer's) 12 year old son saw something he shouldn't have. the boss's grown son takes it upon himself to murder the enforcer's wife and the kid's little brother, and so the enforcer (michael o'sullivan, a.k.a. the angel of death) is forced to take his boy on the lam, and he wreaks his vengeance on the mob. lots of people die, lots of money is stolen, and the ending is somewhat tragic. we meet al capone, and frank nitti, and elliot ness, and all are intertwined in the story. anyway, the book is a masterpiece. the writing is spare, and rightly so. in the foreword, max allan collins, the writer, talks about his big influences, lone wolf and cub, dick tracy, and john woo, and they are all very evident in this story, in a good way. the art is beautiful. i'm not normally big on black and white comics -- i find them hard to read... but Richard Rayner has an incredible style with shadows that must be seen to be believed. the pencils are fine, but his inks are out of this world.

now, the film is masterfully made by sam mendes, who made my favorite movie of the last decade, american beauty.. mendes use of color here is astounding, as it seems almost the film is in black and white, but tinted like those old photos from the 30s and 40s. every once in a while the screen is splashed with the red of someone's blood. there are amazing pieces of craft here: a tommy-gun massacre that is totally silent, a scene where two characters both know that something is up, and the tension is built by just cutting back and forth on their faces for about 90 seconds. and mendes obviously has some images in his system that he wasn't finished with in AB... here again we see the family dining at a table, set as if on a proscenium stage. again we see the brain splatter of blood on a wall behind a victim. but mendes' chicago is much grittier than his suburbs, and the depression and prohibition are very successfully portrayed.

also successfully portrayed were the main characters: michael sullivan (the o' is dropped... why? hollywood is full of crazy people.) is given an amazing amount of humanity by tom hanks. hanks, whose work i always like, and whose choice in material i almost always deplore, has never been better. a man torn between his sense of duty to his only son and murdered family and his own father-figure/employer, sullivan is also a killing machine. in the book, he is an incredible john woo badass... here, hanks shows us the man behind the machine, and makes us realize here's a guy who did a job (killing) and must use his skills to do what he needs to do to feel whole again. as john rooney (again a change... the book's clan is the looney gang. go figure.), paul newman brings his ice-blue eyes to the front, letting us see through them the man who must make horrible choices in order to run a business. rooney here is much more human than in the book, and man does it work... as we can now really feel sullivan's struggle. rooney was a father to him, and soon sullivan must make a horrible choice... avenge his family or let his "father" live. as the sons, we have two newcomers, tyler hoechlin as little michael sullivan and daniel craig as connor rooney. craig's portrayal is so much more than the looney of the book. here is a man who is trying desperately to please his father, while being drawn in by his life of crime, and stealing from his own family. likewise, as michael sullivan, jr., hoechlin exhibits gravity beyond his years as a kid who is forced to spend time with a father who has neglected him, but who he idolizes beyond measure.what about jude law? well, he rates his own paragraph:

in the book, the looney syndicate has so many friends that everywhere o'sullivan turns he is dodging bullets and killing gangsters. the filmmakers conflated those nameless thugs into one hitman, hired by frank nitti (a delightful stanley tucci). an odd drifter, maguire is a crime photographer, (inspired by weegee?) who doubles as a hitman. law's eccentric portrayal is downright creepy, and his physicality is so different from the golden-boy we've seen in talented mr. ripley and gattaca, that one can sense an amazing breakout talent. i read recently that law was in talks to play joe kavalier in the film version of michael chabon's masterpiece. for this, i absolutely cannot wait.

about halfway through the picture, the screenplay--which, like its source, has very little dialogue,-- goes off on it's own thing and almost completely disregards the book. as i was talking with mike about it, i realized that this was totally neccessary. it's one thing to read a cold novel, in black and white, square paneled, and be able to put it down when you couldn't take it anymore. a comic can be about anything, because the page and art style give it a sense of remove. but a film is the most realistic of story-telling media, and with living breathing people, the ice cold grim 'n' gritty tone of the novel would make an audience turn right off. so we are given more human plot elements, things with which we can relate a bit more, and we are given incredible actors to play the story. the movie somehow feels more intimate than the book, and there is more hope on the screen, too.

look, this has been a rave, and i won't deny it. but i did miss a couple of things: i missed all the catholic imagery... o'sullivan in the book, is known as the angel of death, and is often referred to as the angel, setting up a beautiful dichotemy. he is never referred to as angel once in the film. likewise, while the plot changes made elliot ness unneccessary, i would have liked to have seen him here. watching this film reminded me of seeing the untouchables for the first time, in a huge theatre in l.a., with my dad. now that film unfortunately starred kevin costner, which now makes me sad, but elliot ness was such a cool character, and he's a great presence in the book, and i would have enjoyed him here. and while hanks' sullivan is more believable, some of those john woo badass tactics would have been fun.

while one of the great things about this picture is how well it deals with the humanizing changes from the book, perhaps my favorite thing about the filmmaking took a direct cue from my favorite thing about the book: much of the story takes place in the car, and rayner had a few panels from michael jr's pov, where he'd be looking out the window, but the glare would give him a partial reflection of himself, while still halfway making out whatever he was looking at. this very common, everyday phenomenon is rarely acknowkledged in visual media, and i thought it was just about the coolest thing i'd seen in comics when i read this book. mendes uses the same effect in the film, and it's just brilliant.

my criteria for good storytelling is simple: book, movie, or play, i want to laugh and cry. road to perdition pays off in spades.

2002-07-08T17:06:00.000-04:00

so i read the g.i. joe stuff, up through the current issue, and it's pretty damn good. fun and silly and pretty much like an updated version of the cartoon. this makes me happy.

i'm all of a sudden so busy that i haven't yet had the time to read last week's books. this makes me sad. fear not gentle reader. soon i will read them. and soon i will post the minimalist reviews.

as for what's keeping me busy? well... tonight it's a press screening of road to perdition. review of that tomorrow. also an update on mike's brush with ebay fraud.

stay tuned.

2002-07-01T14:28:00.000-04:00

wow. as dicussed last week, there was a lot of reading, and i did give in and pick up a couple more books (though i stuck to my guns and did not pick up catwoman. so there.) anyway, with the rm/l-p on a weekend getaway, i got to my books in short order, so here we go...

Action Comics 792: $ K
Batman 604: $ K
Green Arrow 14: $ K only till next issue. once kevin smith leaves, that's it. i hope.
Route 666 1: $ D while it was a good issue, just not my cup o' tea.
Amazing Spider-Man 41: $ K this was one of those issues i picked up late. fine, i'll keep it. enough false posturing on dropping this book already. sigh.
Black Panther 46: $ K BoW
Captain America 3: $ D again, a good read, but i'm over ultra-nationalism.
Deadpool 68: $ K
Incredible Hulk 42: $ K
Spider-Man's Tangled Web 15: ¢ D
Spider-Man and the Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do 1: $ K
X-Force 129: $ K

i didn't even pick up stan lee's sandman, as i knew there would be plenty of copies for weeks and weeks, and i'm not going to read it anytime soon (crap crap crap is what that stan lee/dc series is), but since i've got almost the entire series, i've got to finish it. i guess.

and who would have thought i'd start enjoying superman. i've had an inkling lately to pick some up, and i had read over at the fourth rail that this was a pretty good standalone issue (action comics 792 above), so i tried it, and i am wanting to try more. there is something i very much like about the man of steel, who, while not as internally tortured as bruce wayne/batman, or as reluctant as peter parker/spider-man, finds he must do the right thing because, well, it's the right thing to do. hmmm. the only thing that worrie me with this guy is that all four of his titles seem to share storylines. a good move on dc's part, getting fans to pick up four titles at a time, but for a new fan, bad news. what to do. what to do.

there's still plenty of back-reading to do (g.i. joe, and that damn elektra/wolverine illustrated text thing, that i've been wanting to read for ages, but want to really devote time to, and haven't had it to devote...), but there you are for this week.

2002-06-28T13:42:00.000-04:00

man... a lot of stuff to pick up this week. too much if you ask me.

so, the question: do i pick all of it up (even though i've already decided to cut back) or do i bite the damn bullet?

on a related note. once again the 4th rail tells me catwoman is the best book this week. do i fall for it again? (don't you fret, gentle reader, i will try soon to exercise self-control.) next week seems, looking at previews to be a big week as well. what the fuck? doesn't a faithful reader and fan get a break?

also. is there anyone out there? if so, comment, so i won't be so sad. (a counter is even sadder -- because that's indisputable proof nobody's out there. sigh.)

2002-06-27T12:41:00.000-04:00

okay, so i was hanging out over at CBR and someone had posted something about g.i. joe figures and i started to get nostalgiac, so i went looking for something and found this. then i got really nostalgiac. as i went through the checklists, i realized i had, as a kid, every damn figure. when i found out in college that my parents had garage-sold my childhood memories (including all the joes, and original star wars figures, and comic books, and c.), i was a bit broken up, but now that i'm in a full scale regression, i feel like pitching a god damned fit.

anyway, i got so nostalgiac about this stuff that i decided to pick up the first couple of issues of the new image series. and i was not, as i had halfway hoped, disappointed. in fact, i was blown away. it actually is all that, and now i have another fucking title to add to my pull list. plus i had to back collect a few issues, and anyway, i'm glad to be back with america's elite underground anti-terorist force, but don't i already give the government enough of my hard-earned cash?

2002-06-27T12:30:00.000-04:00

okay. so i read a couple of these books last week, right away, and a couple of them last night, a little late. but here they are... last week's books.

Azrael Agent of the Bat 91: ¢ D. pyew. stinky installment of the fugitive storyline. seemingly out of continuity with the the fugitive storyline. makes me wish i had never gotten involved with the fugitive storyline.
Batman Gotham Knights 30: $ D. not so bad as the above, but this azreal character really does suck. only a couple more issues then this fugitive madness is over.
Sojourn 12: $ K.
Daredevil 34: $ K BoW Even the page layouts are the best out there right now.
New X-Men 128: $ K

when this fugitive madness is finally over, i will be a happy man. thank god marvel has decided against crossovers. enough already.

2002-06-27T12:18:00.000-04:00

a few things today:

comments! i finally got them working. huzzah. apparently there was a bug on Yaccs' end which they fixed. so now, i have comments. nice.
i'm starting to be known as the comic book guy amongst my blogworthy friends and i'm not sure how i feel about it. sure, i brought it upon myself, starting this blog and yacking it up all over the place, but come on, the comic book guy? oh crap. this is the saddest day ever! i mean if you want to ask me about spider-man's webbing or how daredevil lost his sight, or why batman's got such a huge bug up his ass, then ok, but do i have to get the connotations, too? to be fair, no one seems to be judging me, i am personally installing all these connotations, but the last thing anyone wants is to be known as comic book guy. you can imagine my fear.
smallville. i finally saw the season finale i had the roommate/life-partner tape, and man was it great. this show just gets better and better. the amount of shit that hit the fan in the last ten minutes was almost unbelievable. i find myself wainting in rapt anticipation for the new season.

2002-06-21T13:26:00.000-04:00

i actually read last weeks books a long time ago... but have been a little swamped here at the ol' office. so here goes:

Batgirl 29: $ D good installment of fugitive, but not good enough.
Black Panther 45: $ K
Black Widow: Pale Little Spider 3: $ the mini is over.
Elektra 11: $ K
Fables 2: $ K BoW
Incredible Hulk 41: $ K
Spider-man Blue 2: $ K
Ultimate Spider-man Special 1: $ 1
Way of the Rat 2: $ K

overall, a good week for books. makes a man happy, 'cept for the wallet being lighter. sigh.

2002-06-18T16:53:00.000-04:00

a letter to ebay fraudmeister "dan" from my pal mike:

"Hey Dan,

Just got your Ultimate Spider-Man #1. What the fuck are you trying to pull?

Here's what your description said at the ebay auction:
This auction is for issue #1 of the phenomenon known as Ultimate Spider-man. In other words, this is Ultimate Spider-man #1 Red Cover. This is NOT one of those toy store, shoe store, restaurant or "Special Edition" reprints that have been popping up everywhere. For most of you, that is all that needs to be said. Payments will be accepted threw Paypal or Money orders. Thanks and Happy Bidding.

Why the hell did you send me the FREE COMIC BOOK DAY issue? You have two choices: Send me what you promised in your ad or send me a certified check for $41.50.

You have until Wednesday (6/19) to reply and until Monday (6/24) to send the comic or money without my contacting ebay, the New York State Attorney General's Office, or finding out where you're from and driving their myself.

Now, ebay says most of the time these things can be worked out in a simple email for a simple misuderstanding. Wouldn't that be a happy alternative to legal proceedings?

Don't for a fucking minute think this will just go away.

-Mike"

things like this make me all fuzzy inside.

2002-06-11T13:01:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to realize just how much money i'm spending on this filthy habit, and trying to figure out how to cut back.

no new series! unless the thing is written by a superstar, like kevin smith.
drop the fucking books i'm picking up because someone else says i should.
this one's tough: cut back to the books i absolutely must read. this thing is rough because of speculation, and c., but i think soon, it will be a monetary neccessity. we'll see, i guess.
wait for trades.

what it comes down to is this: as long as i have the money, i will buy the books. i'm starting to question though, the neccessity of collecting. i find it to be cool, but is it just as cool to understand the medium as an art form, and pick up trades. certainly, a lot of stuff i read isn't released in trades, which makes it difficult, and as trades are more expensive at the register, i feel like i'm actually buying something; whereas i can fool myself into thinking a 2.25 comic isn't really throwing away money -- of course after a few weeks of ten-plus comics per week, it starts to feel like money. sometimes things work out beautifully -- league of extraordinary gentlemen 2 will see print as pamhlets next month. i have a beautiful hardcover of the first series, and so i want to wait for the trade so as to have a nice companion. some stuff i picked up as trades to get history on a book, like meridian. i didn't like it enough to pick it up monthly, but i'll probably pick up the next trade, so there. powers, i want both ways. i might do the same thing with ruse. i guess i can make that happen, though it seems a bit silly (of course mike has all the issues, both trades, and the hardcover of ultimate spidey-- very little variant material between the different forms.) ah, well. where to cut back? where to pick up trades? where to decide, "hey! it's only money?"

2002-06-11T12:55:00.000-04:00

strangely enough, i got to this week's books in a relatively timely manner. so:

yesterday i sat in my chair and read a bunch of comics, including:

Detective Comics 771: ¢ D (after the whole fugitive brouhaha)
Filth 1: $ D (i'll pick up the whole thing when it's released as a trade, whenever)
The Path 3: $/¢ K (but only once more-- i'm really wavering on this title, but the cliffhanger kept me in it for at least one more go-round)
Ruse 8: $ K BoW
Alias 10: ¢ K (chalk it up to everyone has a bad outing, even bendis)
Call of Duty--The Brotherhood 1: $ K (as long as it keeps appreciating in value, i will keep picking it up. cover was 2.25 last week. i've seen it go for 15.00 on ebay!)
Deadline 3: $ K
Marvel Knights Double Shot 3: ¢ D (wow was this awful!)
New X-Men 127: $ K
Ultimate Spider-Man 23: $ K
Transformers G1 3: $ K
Cla$$war 2: $ K
Amazing Spider-man 41: ¢ D (from the week before. i had dropped this book, then mike said it was worth it. he was wrong.)

2002-06-07T11:01:00.000-04:00

i've been busy, so here are reviews for books that came out last week. who knows when i'll get to this week's books?

elektra 10: $ K
batman 603 $ K
x-force 128 $ K BoW
howard the duck 5 $ K

this was a good week for books, actually, although i also decided to pick up the final issues of two mini-series i had earlier decided to drop. why pick up the issues, then? well, i was at mike's stoop sale the other day, and was deterred from buying some of his comics because they weren't in complete sets. i know i'm just gonna sell 'em later, but at least i'll sell 'em, rather than having to burn 'em, y'know?

2002-05-28T16:09:00.000-04:00

so here's the deal. i shell out a pretty penny for this trash every week. now generally i enjoy the week's pull, but i often wonder if it was worth it. so instead of boring you with summaries and art critiques, i will tell all y'all if i think the book was worth what i paid for it, and if i'm keeping or dropping the series. that's all.

yesterday, i sat in my chair, and read a bunch of comics, including:

daredevil 33: worth it ($) keep (K)
birds of prey 43: not worth it (¢) keep -- only till Bruce Wayne Fugitive is done. then drop (D)
amazing screw on head 1: $ one-shot, but i'd keep it (1)
my monkey's name is jennifer 2: $ K
catwoman 7: ¢ (when will i finally drop this fucking book?!?!)
midnight mass 2: ¢ D
sojourn 11: $ K
powers 20: $ K Best of Week
deadpool 67: $ K
peter parker spider-man 44: ¢ K
Batman: The Killing Joke: $ 1

daredevil and PP:SM were books from the week before, but my dd from then was MISSING PAGES, and i waited for some feedback on PP:SM before buying it. batman killing joke i got at a yard sale, but it would have been worth cover. so that's that.

2002-05-17T13:09:00.000-04:00

it's mike's fault, by the way. this whole obsession. i had been content to let it go way back in the eighties, about when i discovered girls, but now, thanks to mike, i've been sucked back in. thanks, mike! thanks a bunch. fucker.

2002-05-16T11:16:00.000-04:00

i've been trying to figure out how to add comments to this blog, and i am having less than sporadic success. so i say, fuck off, comments!

if you want to respond to something so badly, send me an email.

2002-05-15T10:35:00.000-04:00

[Originally posted on mattyspace a while ago.]

"With great power comes great responsibility"
--Ben Parker, to his nephew Peter.

I saw the film last night. for me, it really lived up to the hype... so far beyond the hype/reality ratios of the first batman film, or the x-men (let's not get started on hype/reality of films like episode 1 and this weekend's soon to be disastrous episode 2). i was impressed on so many levels, not the least of which was how much fucking fun it was. here is a film that was was cast brilliantly (i'm slowly coming over to the tobey maguire is good camp... i had been resisting for too long, really, and for no good reason) and directed by the perfect man for the job. the sense of fun inherent in the comic is overwhelming, and if you don't have fun when you see it, i think you ought to reevaluate your capacity to even have fun.

look, cliff robertson is amazing. he's one of these old actors who makes it look so easy, as if he's doing absolutely nothing up there. and it works. wow does it work. as uncle ben, he has about 12 minutes of screen time, and his performance had me so enthralled, i was emotionally spent when he teaches peter his final lesson. maguire and dunst are flawless as two teens caught up in a world just a little too fast for them, and capture the gawk/beautiful of movie teendom more fully than any other portrayal i've ever seen. dafoe is out of this fucking world. in some incredibly bold moves, he does a schizo freakout with himself in a mirror that you would expect to see at the performing garage. he later plays a scene with an empty mask. the theatrical flair of this guy is not to be believed, and i mean that in a good way.

for anyone who has ever read a single comic book, the writing style of this picture will make perfect sense. if you've not, then i say go out to your nearest comic book shop and pick up a copy of ultimate spider-man. read it, and you will understand. this is a genre that can only be told in this language. simple, funny, heartfelt.

for what it's worth, anyone who's ever seen a comic book movie is in for a treat. the books are always self-referencing, and homaging, and c., and the film is no different. homages abound... superman and batman both get their due in a big way, and i bet a second viewing--which i will have soon, i trust--will, no doubt yield many more. a number of the marvel universe gang even show up unannounced (as guests at the wrestling match!)

a strange thing happened while at this particular movie. a fight broke out in the row in front of me. a few kids were being loud, so some other kids started pounding on them. this was a rather large theatre, mind you, and it took seeming ages for the ushers to show up. everyone was yelling at these idiots to sit down, and finally, as i stood up to try, from behind a row of chairs, to pull one idiot off of the other, and some old ex-army dude did the same from the front, the ushers came in, and all was well. the kids were kicked out, and on our way out of the theatre that night, after picking up our free-movie vouchers, we saw one of the idiots in an ambulance.

here's the thing. i got so caught up in the with great power comes great responsibility thing... and since i box, i figured i might could lend a hand. but the roommate/life-partnere differed, pulling me away--almost as quickly as i stood to try to intervene. so my movie-goer/hero fantasies were dashed as i was forced to wait out the incredibly tardy usher response. the rm/l-p later said she knew a guy who was killed breaking up a fight. which certainly gives me pause. so, my question: was it wrong for me to endanger myself and add to the fight by trying to break it up? i still don't know where i come down on the issue. i do remember the feeling upon being pulled back down to my seat, wishing i had remembered to take off my glasses before (hypothetically) getting into a brawl. note to self: ALWAYS take off the glasses. way too expensive to easily replace.

2002-05-15T10:31:00.000-04:00

[Originally posted on mattyspace a while ago.]

okay.

so i've found a new and exciting hobby that feeds my geekiness and underground-hip factor both at once. comic-book collecting.

[now i collected as a kid: daredevil and gi joe mainly... though where those issues are now, i only wish i knew. i'm back on the dd wagon but am having trouble getting back into this new totally acclaimed wildly popular version of joe. why? who knows?]

geek factor appeal i think is obvious. underground-hip -- well deconstructionist postmodern pop-culture is all about graphic literature, baby... and it all starts here.

but. the problems with this habit are legion. first: it's expensive. books aren't cheap, and if you're at all anal, like me, then you want to have all the back issues of any particular run, which get incrementally more expensive. sometimes prohibitively so--especially if you get interested in a series that started years ago, and hasn't had a reboot (starting with issue #1 even though the title was never cancelled, mainly done to stimulate sales), but if there are only thirty or so back issues, you think "hey, i could find thirty issues..."

and it really sucks you in. because the titles are all interwoven (within major publishing houses) -- well not neccessarily interwoven, b ut they take place in the same universe -- which really appeals to me: i find literature with totally complete worlds to be so very exciting, and i eat that shit right up... so that means every time a new book is launched, or i discover a new character i'm into who interacts with a title i collect, i'm a gonner. plus the industry is so sprawling, there's so much out there, and you keep discovering new and great stuff. which means, well, more money.

and more stuff. the clutter factor is VERY high. very. i've only recently begun seriously collecting and i'm already up to an inordinate amount of books laying around. this does not go over well with the roommate/life-partner. so why not toss 'em when i'm through, like so many magazines? well, they're collectibles, dammit. probably not worth much now, but in a few years, their value will definitely go up, and i may be holding a book of extremely rare value as we speak, but you never know. nature of the beast. new writers hit it big, so their issues get hot, blah blah blah. no one knew wolverine was gonna hit, but his first appearance goes for about a grand these days. spiderman's first appearance goes for 20 times that. insane, i tell you. anyway, all this speculating means more and more space in my house is taken up by my prospective treasure trove.

why, you may ask, do i do it, then?

a) it's fun... the roommate/life-partner says it's part of a larger-scale regression, and maybe it is, but so what? who among us, when it gets down to it, doesn't want to see the upcoming spider-man movie? well, i do, anyway, and i get to follow spidey's adventures on a much more frequent basis by reading about him in the funny-books. and a lot of other guys and gals.

in fact, comics are really movies on paper -- writers use cinematic terms when plotting the things, and most big-budget bang 'em up pictures owe more than they'd like to admit to the funny-book medium. so they're a blast to read. plus there's a whole soap opera-y thing about them that is fun, and who doesn't love a cliffhanger!

but here's the thing... super-hero books are one thing, but there're tons of other types of graphic literature out there, and the medium is really exciting. the art alone is fantastic, but as you read more books, you start to see the incredible craft a good book takes (down to where to place the dialogue ballons, and how to effectively change a panels mood with color), and these guys are pushing them out on a (nearly) monthly schedule. plus there are the daily strips in the papers, which, admittedly i haven't followed since bill watterson put down his pencil, but c & h, and doonesbury, and a number of other strips took a lot of skill. if you don't know calvin and hobbes, by the way, you are in for one of the biggest treats of your life. click the above watterson link immediately, and have fun!

b) i needed a hobby. i spend far too much aimless time in front of the computer these days (damn you internet!) and needed to get away from it. i have interests, and there are things i enjoy, but i needed a non-theater related something because my head was about ready to explode. plus, if get another dinosaur coloring book (i have been a hard-core dino fan for years), i'm going to slay the giver right then and there. maybe now people will sdtart giving me danger-girl action figures.

c) see collectible, above.

d) i am an organizational fiend. cds: organized by genre and artist. books, same thing. i have two filing cabinets at home for my personal crap, which is still not enough to effectively file. my internet bookmarks? totally organized. i was the first of my friends to get a handheld computer, which i still use primarily to help organize my life. the list goes on.

anyway, comics need to be kept in good condition, and if i ever want to reread them, (which i do periodically) i'll need an easy way to find whatever issue i want. so i built my own comics database with filemaker pro and now every weekend, i happily read, record, and bag and board the week's issues, which i then put in a funny little white cardboard box, sorted by title.

for those of you interested in what i'm currently regularly reading here's a list:

DC Comics (generally much more sanitized than anything else on the market, it's pretty much where superhero books got their start with Superman and Batman back in the late thirties.):
- numerous Batman titles -- mainly Batman and Gotham Knights
- Catwoman
- Hawkman
- Power Co.
- Tom Strong
- Top Ten
Those last two are published under the imprint of America's Best Comics, run by Alan Moore, one of the best writers around. He's got a ton of great series, and wrote perhaps the greatest graphic novel of them all, Watchmen.
Marvel Comics (is the publisher from whom i buy most of my books... they really exploded onto the scene in the sixties with Stan Lee, who created, among others: Spider-Man, the X-men, and the Fantastic Four. Marvel pretty much invented the reluctant super-hero, who was all tied up in the humanity of it, rather than blindly chasing off the baddies, like Superman over at DC):
- numerous Spider-Man Titles -- Amazing Spider-man, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Spider-Man's Tangled Web.
- numerous X titles -- New X-men, X-Force, Deadpool (soon to be relaunched as Agent X)
- Black Panther
- Incredible Hulk
- Alias not to be confused with the TV show, this Alias is concerned with an ex-hero turned detective in the Marvel Universe.
- Daredevil
- Elektra
- The Ultimates, a retelling of the Avengers in the newest Marvel Universe -- the Ultimate Universe, which was created a couple of years ago to try to get kids back into reading comics by updating the characters into the world of the 21st Century, rather than keeping them in their sixties era continuity. Comic-book continuity is a nightmare, by the way, because as i mentioned, the characters all exist in the same universe, so whatever happens to a character in one book, happenned to him in another, etc, which makes guest appearances (which are plentiful) a horrorshow for editors, etc. anyway, you may also notice that comic characters pretty much never age, certainly not the forty to sixty years we've been following them, because their time is compressed (c.f.: M*A*S*H, which ran for twelve seasons on TV, but took place during a war that only lasted three years). I try not to think about comic book continuity, because it makes my head hurt. if you just can't stop thinking about it, liken it to James Bond, who seems bloody comfortable in any era.
[Phew! Sidebar over, back to titles]
Independents:
- Kabuki
- Danger Girl
- Bone
- Powers
- Fused
Crossgen, an upstart company that's only a couple of years old, made a commitment to fans never to ship late, and to consistently publish top quality work, with no ads breaking up the action. The Crossgen Universe itself is also very interesting.
- The Path
- Sojurn
- Ruse
- Meridian

I pick up a lot of mini-series and one-shots too, depending on the characters i follow. There are a few series i'm trying, and a few i'm ready to drop, and i like to experiment often. if you are interested in comics at all, it's a very easy hobby to get into. there are plenty of newsgroups on the net, and your local comic book store should be able to help quite alot. if you live in new york city... go to midtown comics, the biggest and best in the area. most comic shops are cool with letting you browse while in the store.

i didn't mean for this to be a public endorsement, buyt that's what it became, so have fun out there, true believers!

2002-05-14T17:23:00.000-04:00

Look! up in the sky! it's a geek! it's his blog! it's Renaissance Man!

I've started this blog in order to more fully embrace the fact that the simpson's comic book guy is living in me somewhere. if i can accept it, so can you. so here's the deal. i will be, musing, reviewing, griping, & c. about the goings on in the comic book world -- behind the scenes and in the books... some of you may know me from my other blog, mattyspace, but from now on, i will try to keep comics-related stuff over here, and other stuff over there. if i fuck that up, think of it as a continuity error. i.e.: get over it. and just to get things started on the right foot... i'm going to retcon this blog by adding some posts from the other. hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!