Everyone Has A Comics Blog

I've moved

2007-04-02T15:18:00.001-07:00

I've moved here.

03.28.2007 Reads

2007-03-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

JAN070364 100 BULLETS #82 (MR) $2.99
JAN070277 52 WEEK #47 $2.50
JAN070370 DMZ #17 (MR) $2.99
JAN070372 FABLES #59 (MR) $2.99
JAN072367 DAREDEVIL #95 $2.99
JAN072350 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #107 $2.99
JAN072352 ULTIMATE X-MEN #80 $2.99

I'm this close to not even reading UXM.  Looking forward to everything else.

03.21.2007 Reads

2007-03-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

JAN070276 52 WEEK #46
JAN070282 BIRDS OF PREY #104
JAN070284 BRAVE AND THE BOLD #2
JAN070259 DETECTIVE COMICS #830
JAN070287 FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #10
JAN070313 SPIRIT #4
JAN070382 Y THE LAST MAN #55 (MR)
JAN071939 NOBLE CAUSES #28
JAN072401 CABLE DEADPOOL #38
JAN072392 RUNAWAYS SAGA

03.14.2007 Reviews

2007-03-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

I never got around to reviewing them all.

JAN070275 52 WEEK #45 - The plotting in this series is nothing short of phenomenal. It's great to see the Black Adam / Four Horsemen / Intergang plot threads all come together. I'll be honest, I thought this book was going to be another poorly written editorially mandated promotional stunt like Infinite Crisis, but I've been surprised at the quality of this book. I can't believe it comes out on time every week.

DEC060249 TEEN TITANS #44 - Thank God they retconned the story of what happened to Batgirl / Cassandra Cain in Robin. It never should have happened in the first place, but I'm glad that they have fixed the mistake. Also, Jericho stabbing Slade was an amusing homage to the "Judas Contract" storyline. I'll be sad to see Geoff Johns leave this book, especially after the post-OYL increase in quality.

My 03.14.2007 Reads

2007-03-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Here's what I'm reading this week:

JAN070275 52 WEEK #45
DEC060298 FABLES #58 (MR)
JAN070346 GEN 13 #6
JAN070289 GREEN ARROW #72
JAN070263 ROBIN #160
DEC060249 TEEN TITANS #44
JAN072372 FRANKLIN RICHARDS MARCH MADNESS
JAN072380 IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #6

Note that I don't think that Robin and Green Arrow are currently worth purchasing, but I am skimming them to keep up.

My "pick of the week" would probably be Irredeemable Ant-Man.

Rorschach / The Question

2007-03-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

03.07.2007 Reviews

2007-03-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

52 WEEK #44

ALL NEW ATOM #9 - Who hasn't gotten beat up at least a little when they were young? Simone does an excellent job of making Ryan seem like a human being while retaining the fantasy elements of the Atom's world. I suspect that a lot of readers see their own childhood experiences in this.

DETECTIVE COMICS #829 - I still need to read this.

HELMET OF FATE ZAURIEL #1 - This story's premise just didn't pique my interest -- it's probably the weakest of all of the issues in the "Helmet of Fate" series. Given that this writer is the one that will be writing the Doctor Fate ongoing, that doesn't bode well. Still, I'm willing to give the new Doctor Fate a chance.

JONAH HEX #17

MANHUNTER #29 - With Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman in this story arc, I have a feeling that all of the cameos in this book are to help push sales. Luckily, their involvement is plausible and they are portrayed true to character, so I'm not complaining much. Can't wait to see how it all ends up.

NIGHTWING #130 - Bride and Groom is a well-crafted storyline, but nothing unique or earth-shattering. Now that Wolfman knows that he's staying longer than one storyarc, maybe he'll be able to develop a location and supporting cast that we care about. Personally, I think it would be cool to have Dick run Haley's Circus as his day job, and travel from town to town.

SHAZAM THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #2 (OF 4) - Except for 52, I'm pretty unfamiliar with Captain Marvel's history and even recent storylines involving the Marvel family. This series is just fun, especially for readers like me who may be unfamiliar with the Captain Marvel franchise. I much prefer this interpretation over other interpretations of the Marvel family that I've seen in the DCU.

The visuals are stunning, too. Some of those last sequences after Mary Marvel gets her powers feel like they're animated. This series has an innocence and lightheartedness to it that is sorely lacking in modern comics, and is probably my favorite of the week.

WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #4 - This kind of reminds me of Fables, where a rich new universe is unveiled to us through a murder mystery. Vibrant characters,

DYNAMO 5 #1 - Maybe I'd been looking at too many interviews and preview art about this, because actually reading it was anti-climactic. The concept is fantastic but the execution (particularly the dialogue) feels a little stale. Now that the concept has been introduced to readers, hopefully that will change.

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #106 - After the Clone Saga Epilogue, I was worried that Bendis would just throw Peter and MJ back together without considering the ramifications of Peter's relationship with Kitty. I'm glad to see that Bendis is a better writer than that: Peter both feels guilty about the way he treated Kitty and wants to make it right. Although I enjoyed the Clone Saga, this series is at its best when it focuses heavily on Peter Parker's life and friendships. In that sense, loved the twist at the end -- for readers of Ultimate X-Men, it gives them a sense that they are reading about a cohesive universe. Still, reading UXM isn't required knowledge, which is the way it should be.

Oh, and the Daredevil moments were just cool. I'm glad this series is getting back to being fun.

My 03.07.2007 Reads

2007-03-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

JAN070274 52 WEEK #44
JAN070281 ALL NEW ATOM #9
JAN070258 DETECTIVE COMICS #829
DEC060203 HELMET OF FATE ZAURIEL #1
JAN070304 JONAH HEX #17
JAN070307 MANHUNTER #29
JAN070264 NIGHTWING #130
JAN070316 SHAZAM THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL #2 (OF 4)
JAN070355 WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #4
JAN071918 DYNAMO 5 #1

Really looking forward to Dynamo 5.

Ugh...

2007-03-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

This is why nobody takes comics seriously anymore.

My 02.28.2007 Reads

2007-02-28T05:45:00.000-08:00

DEC061887 NOBLE CAUSES #27
DEC060290 100 BULLETS #81 (MR)
DEC060201 52 WEEK #43
DEC060213 FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #9
DEC060299 JACK OF FABLES #8 (MR)
DEC060226 JUSTICE #10 (OF 12)
DEC062305 DAREDEVIL #94
DEC062311 DOCTOR STRANGE OATH #5 (OF 5)
NOV062302 MARVEL 1602 FANTASTICK FOUR #5 (OF 5)
NOV062313 RUNAWAYS #24

Flash has been awful, but I hope that they can turn it around with the new writer. I'd hate to drop the book, but I'm really close. Blue Beetle and Exterminators are both good, but aren't really my kind of thing (so they're dropped). American Virgin was interesting, but not enough for me to keep reading it (so it is dropped too).

My 02.22.2007 Reads

2007-02-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

DEC060200 52 WEEK #42 $2.50
DEC060207 BIRDS OF PREY #103 $2.99
DEC060210 BRAVE AND THE BOLD CVR A #1 $2.99
DEC060293 DMZ #16 (MR) $2.99
JAN070278 HELMET OF FATE BLACK ALICE #1 $2.99
DEC060186 ROBIN #159 $2.99
DEC060238 SPIRIT #3 $2.99
OCT061876 INVINCIBLE #39 $2.99
DEC062341 CABLE DEADPOOL #37 $2.99
NOV062299 IMMORTAL IRON FIST #3 $2.99
SEP062161 POWERS #23 (MR) $2.95
DEC062333 SHE-HULK 2 #16 $2.99to
DEC062287 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #39 $2.99

I haven't been too pleased with Robin recently, but I'll stick with it and see where it goes. Otherwise, it all looks fun.

Countdown

2007-02-20T22:47:00.000-08:00

Paul Dini on a weekly series!?!?!? I'm there.

Rainn Wilson to host SNL

2007-02-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

Dwight Schrute from The Office will be hosting SNL this Saturday. Maybe SNL won't be crap this time.

Batman Still a Badass

2007-02-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

Oblivion Expansion

2007-02-16T14:42:00.001-08:00

Wow. Shivering Isles looks amazing.

My 02.14.2007 Reads

2007-02-14T15:31:00.001-08:00

DEC060199 52 WEEK #41 $2.50
DEC060273 GEN 13 #5 $2.99
DEC060216 GREEN ARROW #71 $2.99
DEC060233 MANHUNTER #28 $2.99
DEC060306 Y THE LAST MAN #54 (MR) $2.99
NOV062314 NEXTWAVE AGENTS OF HATE #12 $2.99
OCT062179 ASTONISHING X-MEN #20 $2.99
DEC062290 ULTIMATE X-MEN #79 $2.99

Ultimate X-Men has been crap recently, but I'll follow along for a big longer. It's a shame because I like so much of Kirkman's other work.

I'll probably check out the director's cut of the Immortal Iron Fist thingy too.

My 02.07.2007 Reads

2007-02-07T14:31:00.001-08:00

DEC060198 52 WEEK #40 $2.50
DEC060204 ALL NEW ATOM #8 $2.99
SEP060292 ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE BOOK TWO #2 $2.99
DEC060179 DETECTIVE COMICS #828 $2.99
DEC060202 HELMET OF FATE SARGON THE SORCERER #1 $2.99
DEC060223 JONAH HEX #16 $2.99
DEC060184 NIGHTWING #129 $2.99
DEC060281 WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY #3 $2.99
DEC062288 ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #105 $2.99
DEC062322 IRREDEEMABLE ANT-MAN #5 $2.99

Renee Montoya in The Dark Knight?

2007-01-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

With all the fuss about Katie Holmes not appearing in The Dark Knight, it seems a minor detail has been missed. LatinoReview.com reports that the movie is looking to find a "Female Cop - Latin, 30s. Elizabeth Pena type."

Could this mean that Renee Montoya will be in the next Batman film?

Rage Returns

2007-01-21T20:09:00.000-08:00

Apparently, the members of RATM are reuniting to do one show.

The band is vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk. Their split came amid rumors of bad blood between De la Rocha and his mates, who went on to work with Chris Cornell in Audioslave. However, Morello and De la Rocha appeared together at a 2005 rally for the urban farmers of a South Los Angeles community garden.

Sweet.

DMZ featured in NYT

2006-12-31T23:45:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite comics was featured in the New York Times. Go check it out.

A Convo With Colbert

2006-12-30T12:14:00.001-08:00

A New Perspective on Vote Choice

2006-12-27T22:44:00.000-08:00

Given all of the recent buzz about Harry Potter, I couldn't resist posting another great clip from Liberty Meadows:

Local #9 was going to be set in Ann Arbor

2006-12-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

According to Brian Wood's Livejournal, Local #9 was actually going to be set in Ann Arbor. Kind of a bummer that it isn't, but its cool to be considered!

My 12.27.2006 Reads

2006-12-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

Based on the comics coming out today, here's what I'm pulling:

OCT060178 52 WEEK #34 $2.50
OCT060161 BATMAN AND THE MAD MONK #5 (OF 6) $3.50
OCT060184 CREEPER #5 (OF 6) $2.99
NOV060175 DETECTIVE COMICS #827 $2.99
OCT060186 FLASH THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE #7 $2.99
OCT060290 JACK OF FABLES #6 (MR) $2.99
SEP062141 ASTONISHING X-MEN #19 $2.99
OCT062151 DAREDEVIL #92 $2.99
OCT062159 MARVEL 1602 FANTASTICK FOUR #4 (OF 5) $3.50

Liberty Meadows rocks

2006-12-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

If you couldn't tell from the last entry, I've been reading a lot of Liberty Meadows by Frank Cho, which is about the staff and residents of the "Liberty Meadows" animal sanctuary. The strip is collected in comic book form, so I've been able to go back and read the whole thing again.

Liberty Meadows was one of my favorite comic strips as a kid (along with the Boondocks and Foxtrot), and it still holds up years later. Its got kind of a snarky humor, especially when its poking fun at the other comic strips. The character design is fantastic, especially the main animals of the series -- the art matches their personalities perfectly.

Frank, the nerdy vet of the sanctuary, is in love with Brandy, the animal psychiatrist. Frank has absolutely no chance with Brandy, and is too awkward to make his feelings known properly. Its cute. The series also features Dean (a pig who is an ex frat boy / male chauvinistic pig), Ralph (a midget circus bear), Leslie (a hypochondriac bullfrog), Truman (a naive duck), and Oscar (a wiener dog who actually acts like an animal). Good stuff.

haha

2006-12-26T23:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-25T21:30:00.000-08:00

Awwww. This is cute.

In other news, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Series of the Moment: Local

2006-12-23T01:08:00.000-08:00

I'm really enjoying Local by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly right now. Its a 12-issue miniseries, with each issue set in a different city and representing a year in the main character's life. Each issue is a self-contained story and is about a "normal" person, which sets it apart from a lot of other comics.

The basic premise is that Megan moves from city to city trying to find her place in the world, and keeps screwing up every time she gets a fresh start. There are issues where she is only peripherally involved in the story, but she is the element that ties the series together (even when she's in the background). I'm having a hard time telling if Megan is self-destructive or just quirky.

Another neat bit is the "My Local" feature at the end of many of the issues. People send in pictures, post cards, and notes about where they're from. Its a great touch and the series feels even more authentic.

If you want more information, both The Onion AV Club and Newsarama have interviews with Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly. You can also check out some art previews, courtesy of Brian Wood.

Ultimate Spider-Man #103

2006-12-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

I'm going to reserve judgment until this story is complete, but I liked this issue:

Originally, I felt that this arc was confused and a little too ambitious -- The clones, Gwen, Peter's "dad," MJ, the FF, Aunt May finding out, and S.H.I.E.L.D. are a lot to handle in a single story arc. Still, Bendis is doing a good job with resolving loose plot threads and moving the story along. The arc has been kind of dark though, especially for Peter. Hopefully they go for a story with a lighter tone after this one.

I actually thought that Peter's "dad" being a clone was appropriate. The setup was all there -- despite being a doctor, his "dad" didn't know anything about practicing medicine. Also, he "appeared" in the flashback in the same place as the other released clones, so it fits.

Tarantula died. He was probably the coolest clone and had the most potential for a future (aside from Spider-Woman), so that sucks. Not sure if Kaine is dead or not, but he doesn't really seem to be a keeper anyway.

Spider-Woman seems cool. Let's hope that she doesn't die.

If you're interested, Comic Book Resources has an interview with Mark Bagley along with preview art for Ultimate Spider-Man #104.

Hello World

2006-12-22T11:44:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my personal blog.

If you're looking for my thoughts on Michigan and National politics, you'll find it over at Capital Viewpoint. This is my place for "everything else," including commentary on comics, cartoons, movies, music, TV, pop culture, video games, tech stuff, and other odds and ends.

Peace.