The Morality Of Wonder Woman

This is a post I made at another message board, in regards to the moral question posed by Wonder Woman's killing of Maxwell Lord in issue #119. It has been somewhat editied for context, but not for content.

A recap, for those not reading Wonder Woman, Adventures of Superman, and The Omac Project -

Maxwell Lord, former manager of the Justice League, is now in control of the international espionage agency Checkmate. He had abused the agency to spy on Metahumans around the world, and had compiled a complete dossier on every one of them, with the help of a sattelite, Brother I, that he stole from you guessed it: Batman. One person discovered this in time, Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle, an old friend of Max's. Max then promptly killed Ted. Things got even crazier when Max began targeting metahumans for termination using living machines called Omacs, controlled by the sattelite. The Justice League was fast on the trail of discovering who was pulling the strings of the Omacs when Max played his trump card - he had brainwashed Superman and was in complete control of him. Superman's first order was to take out the League's detective, and Superman beat Batman within an inch of his life. He was stopped, barely, by the league and before Superman could be contained, Max took control again and called Superman back to him. The only one who could stop him was Wonder Woman, and they proceeded to have the most gruesome Superman/Wonder Woman fight ever put to ink and paper. Wonder Woman was able to break Max's control over Superman for a moment, using the Lasso of Truth, but Max pointed out, she "couldn't keep me in this lasso forever! As soon as I'm free he'll be mine again." Faced with this propect, Wonder Woman snapped his neck, killing him. This raised the question - did she do the right thing?

I think Wonder Woman did exactly the right thing.

First I feel I should address the idea of non-lethal superheroes vs lethal ones.

I've found that there's a pretty black and white division in comics as far as characters who kill go: either they're like Superman, who are against killing an enemy under any circumstances what so ever, or they're the Wolverine and Punisher characters, who almost seem to kill regardless of the situation. This has to do a great deal, I feel, with the way comics matured. Kept in pre-adolescence by our own comics McCarthy Era, and the implementation of The Comics Code, it wasn't until the eighties when things became "grim and gritty", and we skipped over adolescence as a form and hopped right into this faux adult hood, where everything was over-sexed and over-violenced. With the exception of very early Steve Ditko The Question stories, Wonder Woman is the first character I've seen take a very well thought out approach to killing (And even in the early Question stories, the character absolved himself of any responsibility thanks to his very unusual ethical code). When the threat is big enough, and someone, in this case a hero, is in the position to act to prevent that threat from ever rearing up again, the only moral or ethical thing to do is to kill.

When thinking about Wonder Woman herself, we have to remember that Diana is not a regular person who was bitten by a radioactive spider, or a regular person who uses a magic word to become super. She’s unlike Superman, too, who isn't from Earth but was still raised by the all-American family. Diana was brought up in a culture completely removed from almost any other on Earth, with different views on love, religion, and yes, the sanctity of life. They are warriors, primarily, and while I'm sure life is respected on Paradise Island, I doubt the concept of having to take a life in battle was taboo. If there's no other choice to reach victory in battle (and why fight if it's not a matter of life-and-death anyway?), then killing is wholly acceptable.

Wonder Woman has made these views clear on several occasions in recent comics. Her advice to Superman about how to handle Ruin was to "put him down" over in Adventures of Superman. And in her own book, earlier this year, she fought a Medusa threatening to turn an entire world to stone, and faced with a mass murderer, Diana beheaded her. Medusa may have looked like a monster, but she was no less alive than Max Lord. No one questioned the nature of her death.

Maxwell Lord had the single most powerful being on earth, and he made him a weapon. This weapon was not only a living being, not only one of Diana's closest friends, but also the greatest hero the world has ever known. She had to stop him, and her options were to either take away the weapon, or keep Max from pulling the trigger ever again. Instead of killing or exiling Superman, the best option was to kill Max, take away his ability to hurt everyone ever again. The word EVERYONE is important here, because Max isn’t some crazed lunatic, who could simply kill a few people with his bare hands… he was using Superman in a way that could cause destruction on a level unimaginable to us, a death toll that would take years to count.

I’ve heard a lot of talk about putting Max in a coma, or mind-wiping him. Both of those options, in recent comics, have not worked out terribly well. Zoom II, over in The Flash, was in a coma for about a year before he got up and began tearing the Flash’s life apart again. There’s also the moral issue of putting someone forcibly into a coma, and how different from that is death if you never intend to let him or her awaken. As for option two, I don’t think I really need to do anything more than point to recent issues of JLA or almost any other DC title to show how well mind wiping works out.

I don’t think that Diana did this as a snap judgment. All of the other possibilities and options were considered, and killing him was the only one where she could be sure that the world was safe from Maxwell Lord. It’s easy to see her speed, her strength, and her flight, but one of Wonder Woman’s powers is to see with the wisdom of Athena. She made a decision, there is a panel in issue #119, where this all happens, where Wonder Woman looks at Max, makes the decision and does what needs to be done in the quickest most humane way possible, and she feels no guilt over it.

I’m sure there is a great deal of regret she feels. I’m sure it would have been easier to use one of those other options to stop Max, and it would have made her feel better. Wonder Woman doesn’t serve herself, she serves the world, and what was best for the world was for Maxwell Lord not to be in it. It could be argued that Batman’s views are incredibly selfish, considering the number of times he could have killed the Joker and saved hundreds of lives, but doesn’t in order to be able to sleep during the day.

Wonder Woman did the only moral, ethical thing she could do by killing Max Lord, and put the good of the world above her own feelings.

My Pull List At the Shop or OW! My Wallet!

Today I decided to finely tune my list for the box held for me at Comicazi.
I thought I'd share the results with all o' y'all -

DC Comics -
52
Adventures of Superman - Greg Rucka Trades Only
Batman/Superman - Hardcover Trades Only
Gotham Central - Trades Also
Green Lantern Corps
Infinite Crisis - George Perez Covers Only
JLA
Jonah Hex
Justice League Unlimited - Digests Only
The Omac Project
Raan/Thanagar War
Teen Titans - Trades Also
Wonder Woman

Vertigo/Wildstorm -
Ex Machina - Trades Only
Fables - Trades Only
Y: The Last Man - Trades Also

Marvel Comics -
Astonishing X-men - Trades Only
Captain America - Brubaker Softcover Trades Only
Daredevil - Bendis Trades Also
New Avengers - Softcover Trades Only
Powers
The Pulse
Runaways - Digests Only
She-Hulk - Trades Also
Secret War
Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do .
Ultimate Spider-Man - Hardcovers Volumes Also
Ultimates - Trades Only
Wolverine - Mark Millar Softcover Trades only
X-Factor

Other Publishers! -
Boneyard - Trades Only
Conversation
Grounded
Metal Gear Solid - Trades Also
Scott Pilgrim
Sharknife!
SuperF*ckers!
Walking Dead - Trades Only

Misc! -
Anything by -
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Jim Mahfood
Jeffery Brown!

So that's my list, which I'm really happy with. I've got the best of each company, and alot of cool indie stuff when I need something that doesn't have so much punching in spandex.

If you see anything that's sorely missing, please lemme know!

_casey_

Pete and Repeat are In a Boat...

DAMN THAT'S HOT.

I know I allready posted the new Scott Pilgrim cover today, but then I ran into this totally bad-ass Sharknife! Volume 2 cover.

Sharknife!, while it doesn't posses the same indie-rock heart as Scott Pilgrim, is groovy as all get-out, and Corey Lewis draws fighters so dynamic, you're likely to get punched in the face while reading it. What other comic gives you a list of the hero's special moves?

Check out Corey Lewis' Sharknife Website!

Also, the new cover references The Hieroglyphics, who are unbelievable.

God bless Oni Press.

_casey_

Oh SNAP!

This is the first time I've seen this, poached off of Amazon.

Check out Bryan Lee O'Malley's website if you think this cover is as awesome as it ACTUALLY IS. Radio Maru

The only way this could make me happier is if it were called "Scott Pilgrim 3: Now With More Kimberly Pine"!

_casey_

Pull List and Reviews for 09/08

We’re gonna try something a little different this week!
Since I ACTUALLY got down to the store, and ACTUALLY had money to buy books… ta-da! Reviews of what came out this week, plus a few other things in my box and what I actually thought of them…

At Least This Week, The Books Were Late!
Pull/Review List from 09/08:

- Serenity #3 – Wash Cover!

For a book that has Wash on the cover, there was sadly little Alan Tudyk action on the inside.

This is the finale of Serenity, an series that leads right into the movie of the same name that opens at the end of the month. Based on Joss Whedon's show Firefly, if you like the show, if you’re going to see the movie, then you’ll probably like this comic. Sadly, I didn't see much in this book to draw the average comic reader towards the box-office on the 30th, as something about the show’s characterizations and pace is lost when adapted to tiny boxes. Much of that can be attributed to the truly excellent acting on the show, but also the story inside is a bit rushed, probably to get all the issues out in time for the movie. Had they given it a little more time, we could have gotten more of the people, a better set up for the villains, and perhaps a little clearer depiction of the action, which gets a little confusing as to what’s actually happening in the end of the book.

If this was your first dip into the Firefly universe, go see the movie or Netflix the show anyway. And if you’re buying it because you love the show as much as I do, hell, this review is meaningless anyway.

- Ex Machina Vol 2. – Tag;

CURSE YOU AND YOUR CLIFFHANGERS, BRIAN K. VAUGHN!

Even in trade format, how they haunt me.

This second arc about a superhero that becomes Mayor of New York delves further into the extra-terrestrial source of Mayor Hundred’s ability to talk to machinery, and how exposure to it hasn’t affected everyone else in such a positive way. It’s a good superhero story in of itself, but that’s not REALLY what this book is about.

Vaughn uses science fiction, like any good sci-fi writer, as a springboard to discuss social issues, from School Vouchers to Same-Sex Marriage. While I don’t agree with everything said in the book, and Mayor Hundred sounds a bit pompous occasionally, I fully buy that’s how the characters would express their beliefs.

On top of that, he tackles something that I haven’t seen tried anywhere else, and that’s an Elseworlds-esque take on the bombings in New York on September 11th. In the book, the main character is an engineer, a superhero who can talk to machines. So when one plane crashes into a skyscraper in his hometown, he rockets (literally), to the towers, and commands the second plane to land, saving thousands of lives. It’s respectfully executed, realistically done, and just really bold of someone to do.

While I do tend to be a bit writer-centric, again Vaughn has found a team of artists who manage to illustrate his story stunningly. Tony Harris’ pencils manage to give ludicrous things like The Great Machine’s costume a layer of humanity on top of the fantastic, while still creating a realistic New York and it’s populous. People have different body types and are expressive, something which I appreciate more and more. Tom Feister and JD Metter on respective inks and colors bring the book alive. Applause all around.

- Gotham Central #35;

This is the best book DC or Marvel is publishing.

Another great chapter of this story of dead Robins, a concept witch was inspired to begin with.

Buy it, add it to your sub-list, order the first two trades and feverishly hunt down all of the back issues.

- Villains United #5 of 6;

People seem to be going bat-shit over this series, but to me, it’s lost some steam since the first issue. Gail Simone pulled a great slight-of-hand when the book came out, changing the focus from what people assumed was going to be the Secret Society of Super Villains and instead giving us principles like Ragdoll, Cheshire, Deadshot and Cat-Man of all people. But as of a few issues ago, we’re getting a bit too much “behind the closed doors of the society” nonsense, where instead of spending more time with the mismatched characters that make the book interesting, we get to see Lex Luthor in a meeting with Vandal Savage. While it provides for a few humorous quips, it lacks substance. Cat-Man and the rest suffer a bit, sort of just re-saying and re-doing everything they’ve been saying and doing for three issues now. Even the big, two-page “LOOKIE ALL THE VILLIANS” spread seems a bit stale five issues in.

Also of note, two characters who haven’t appeared since the first Crisis show up, something that is explained and speculated on with far more detail and expertise here, as my pre-Crisis DC lore is rusty, at best.

- Y: The Last Man #37;

I need to change my background image to one of Greg Rucka and Brian K. Vaughn skipping hand-in-hand, happy that they’re bringing good comics to me near weekly. It seems every Pull List now, I’m writing up 3 or 4 books I’m sort of lukewarm on, and then doing back flips over something put out by one of these two gentlemen. Coincidence? Fanboy over-hype? Simply good writing? I choose the later.

Yorick Brown’s story continues as he finally reaches the place he set out for in issue one – Australia. GOD, TAKE FOREVER, YORICK. So what, there were no trains to the coast! So what you couldn’t take a plane! So what you had to contend with Lesbian Pirates! Beth’s not going to wait around forever, there are other fish in the sea… oh yeah, “last man on earth.”

This ish is told from the point of view of a reporter hunting down rumors of that aforementioned last man, and it affords Vaughn the opportunity for lots of winking and nodding at the reader regarding our hero’s previous adventures, and boy does he take them! It’s still a damn good read, and with only twenty-some issues to go in the series, I hold each issue even dearer than the one before.

Also in this issue: COCK!

- Ultimate Spider-Man #82;

I don’t know what it is about the way Bagley draws Black Cat, but she reminds me of a girl i knew from high school. It’s not so much the way she looks, but it’s the black, latex cat suit.

Wait. Reverse that.

Anyway, damn. For all the nonsense Spider-Man puts up with in the Ultimate Universe, he forever out-pimps both his regular Marvel U counterpart and Luke Cage combined. He gets a new girlfriend in the Annual, and now the Black Cat comes back and all but jumps his barely post-pubescent bones. We also get a little taste of Moon-Knight who is, not suprisingly, less interesting than either Spidey, Black Cat or Elektra, also in this book. I know Marvel’s trying to re-vamp him a bit, but don’t we have team-up books or crappy, regular Marvel Universe Spider-Man books you can toss Moon Knight in? Put him in New Avengers or something, there’s enough going on in this title.

So that’s it, kind of a slow week. Tomorrow or Tuesday I’m back with some reviews of books released weeeeeks ago that I finally bought (The Sacrifice arc and it’s aftermath, mostly), as well as an article on that pesky game Animal Crossing, which has sapped most of my time for writing into it’s vortex of pretend fishing and pretend paleontology.

_casey_

- One last time; For Lily.

Bookshelf: A Trio of Trade Reviews

I picked up three trades this week, so I'm going to jump right into it

- Runaways Vol. 3;

Brian K. Vaughn’s Runaways is the little book that can, and does.

In this case, it’s a literal little book as they’ve reprinted the first 18 issues in three digest-sized volumes. I used to look over at the bookshelves at the store, eye-balling digests with confusion and disgust. Sin City is where it began for me. When they canceled the good, old fashioned, 8 by 11 trades and began only publishing Miller’s fantastic looking noir in tiny pages, I was annoyed and frustrated. But when I found out that Runaways was only being published two ways, in three travel-friendly digests and a hardcover. I’m damned picky about my hardcover comics. I like to keep them nice, the slip-covers damage so easily and they’re typically big, in this case 18 issues. So I sucked it up and dropped the 7.99 on the first trade.

To almost no surprise I flipped over it. It’s Vaughn, so the writing is razor sharp, but I feel that with Runaways he’s stretching the reference rubber band a might bit thin, a reference to The West Wing in volume three being the most strained of the bunch. It’s a tiny problem, but one I felt needed mentioning.

Runaways immediately garners some respect from me by being a team book full of original characters, a concept that can seriously miss. And oddly, through 18 issues, Wolverine doesn't show up. Marvel Editorial must have been asleep at the wheel on that one. Thankfully, Vaughn decides instead of linking them together by a similar super-power or ability, he links them by a more common theme: our parents are evil. The Runaways are a group of teens (and a pre-teen), that find out one day that their parents are super-villains, and not the “ground you on the weekend of the big party” super-villains, they’re a group of super-villains with capes and costumes and human sacrifices. So, keeping with the title, they band together and run away.

The most immediate benefit to the book, and the reader, is that instead of forcing characters into the personality to match powers in the theme of animals or elements or types of candy or whatever, Vaughn gets to use characters that seem like real kids. My favorite is Molly, the junior high-schooler who could kick the Hulk’s ass. One of the other Runaways gives her the nickname “Bruiser”, but she demands to be called “Power Princess.” She says that while punching her way through solid rock walls. Just awesome.

Vaughn gets a lot of attention as he's one of the popular new kids in the comics class, but Adrian Alphona’s art is extremely pretty. Like almost everything else, it’s heavily influenced by manga, but it works for this book. The characters all look… different. I know that sounds silly, but when you browse through a book like New Avengers, or even something less mainstream like Blue Monday and you can’t tell the characters apart from page to page, well… you learn to appreciate characters without their costumes looking like different people. Unfortunately, the book's art suffers the most from the format, as it's not only shrunken down, but also has it's colors washed out from the cheaper paper-stock. I assume the hardcover will shine in this respect.

In this volume, we learn the truth about the traitor, find out what’s in The Pride’s codec, and see which direction the teen’s hormones ping-pong off in. It’s some good, good stuff, pick it up, either in hardcover, or these adorable little digests.

- Superman/Batman Vol 3, Absolute Power

Superman/Batman is a fine book for punchings. Sometimes the punchings are good, as in volume one when Superman and Batman hand out said punches to the somewhat sanctimonius Hawkman and Captain Marvel. Sometimes it’s not, as in volume two, when Batman punches Darkseid. Yes. Darkseid. Yes. Batman. Boo.
After reading volume three, I found it to be excellent, both for punchings and for some more crazy things, like time-travel and dimension hoppings.

Carlos Pacheco takes up art duties and does his usual bang-up job. But, oh, the things Jeff Loeb gives him to draw! My golly! This story starts when Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen, and Cosmic King go back in time and scoop up the wee versions of Superman and Batman to raise them as their own. Now, what would having the most powerful brawn and the most powerful brain on Earth loyal to you get? Well, for one, the Statue of Liberty is now the Statue of Batman and Superman, it’s new inscription reading “OBEY OR DIE!”

I love this stuff. The whole alternate time-lines and possible future stuff tickles me pink. I get all tingly in my nethers whenever I read a good Elseworlds or What If...? story. It frees up writers to explore the characters further, boil them down to their essence and then send that essence in a new, sometimes crazy direction. It’s what makes the Elseworlds line so popular and effective in it’s storytelling, but those are typcially "imaginary stories*". When you find a way to throw these stories into continuity like in this, and the time-traveling Teen Titans story-arc a few arcs back, the writers get to do a little more, and add some foreshadowing on the upcoming arcs.

This story has a Wonder Woman/Freedom Fighters team up, Uncle Sam with a Power Ring, JLA Zombies, Ra’s Al Ghul, Jonah Hex, Kryptonite bullets, and some New Gods. Most importantly, I had no idea what was going to happen from page to page, something that’s rare in a comic nowadays. Good stuff.

- The Cute Manifesto by James Kochalka

A mild way to describe the James Kochalka catalog would be “diverse”. The man can put out a huge book of stories about a cat who thinks she works in an office and wears various hats, or a semi-erotic story about a frog in his sexy forrest. And he puts it all out consistently and constantly. In the last month alone, he released both SuperF*ckers!, a sort-of super-team book, and The Cute Manifesto, a collection of graphic essays on everything from the state of comics to his decision to have a child. The one I intrested in was The Cute Manifesto, and after reading it, I was unforunately dissapointed. As it's a collection of essays, I'm going to tackle each one individually.

Craft is the Enemy & Craft is Not a Friend;
Ok, well, maybe not INDIVIDUALLY individually, but these two are so similar in tone and content that they have to be talked about together. These essays are less than a page of text each, and yet they were probably the most interesting things Kochalka had to say on the matter of art for hire and the comics industry in general. Talking about art versus honing your ability to make art, what defines quality, and if quality in art is even something that matters, as long as you've communicated what you, the artist, wants. Actually quite powerfull articles.

Sunburn;
This was... less powerful. Sunburn is the kind of thing people who read exclusively superhero comics envision when you try to get them to read a non-capes title. Entirely captioned first-person voice-overs with nothing to say, lots of observations about things that don't warrant as much attention as they're given, and overdrawn, black-and-white close ups on things that don't seem relevent to whatever the narative is. Maybe it just went over my head, but it's somewhat more likely that it's just cliche.

Reinventing Everything, Part 1;
A huge step up from Sunburn, this essay espouses Kochalka's view of the world, diessected into pixels and grains of sand. He loses himself halfway through (something he makes a nod to in the second to last page of the essay) and begins to cross over into Scott McCloud territory. Fortunately, Kochalka slowly ties his point back to the first two essays of the book, and how to best serve your art. Because of this, his sincerity seeps through the vauge message and manages to give an interesting, if not completely successful, telling of his world view.

Reinventing Everything, Part 2;
Part 2 of Reinventing Everything is Kochalka's best chapter of the book. It's a mixture of what he believes in, how the plane crashes on September 11th affected him, and how much his child means to him. In fact, it's the story that explains how he and his wife came to the descion to have a lil' elf, and it comes of just as emotional and personal as it sounds. It's full of humanity, and beauty and honesty and a tiny bit of that naval gazing of the earlier essays, but in this huge, life-changing context, it more than makes sense, it's sympathetic. A great, great short.

The Cute Manifesto;
Only a few pages in length, this is Kochalka's "There's beauty in everything" bit, but it doesn't really come across as such. It starts pointing out the cuteness inherent in everything, even ugly things, and spirals down to "we must choose cuteness." Unfortunately, it fails to explain why cuteness is "good" and why ugly is this story's "evil". Whatever happened to beauty being in the eye of the beholder? Just felt it was dashed off and underthought.

The Horrible Truth About Comics;
In this chapter, Kochalka talks about why he doesn't sleep - he can't stop thinking about comics. It streches out into everything he sees is wrong with the comics medium, and the artists working in it. It's the longest essay in the book, and it feels much like the insomnia he talks about... it goes on forever, and you're just sort of waiting for it to end. I've read it and re-read it, trying to figure out what he's saying, but sadly alot of it is said allready in the excellent, first two essays, and everything else seems somewhat insubstantial. He deserves credit for practicing what he preaches, however - he's expressing what he wants to with the tools he has now. The question is, I suppose, if the problem with the essay is the message or the tools? Ah well.

In the end, I was pretty let down with this one. Art-wise, the drawings were quite good from Sunburn on (though Kochalka gets credit for trying a new style), but the writing was just sort of unimpressive and over-worded. This is also sort of an arguable point, but it's a tiny book, about 4x4 inches, and it's fairly thin and the price point is 19.99. I know that since he's not going to move as many copies of this as he might say, Peanut Butter and Jeremy or Tiny Bubbles, then he needs to charge a bit more, but when I plunk down a full twenty, I just expect more. I'll still pick up anything he puts out, since this is the first thing in a large, varied, and excellent catalog that's dissapointed me at all.

So that's what I've picked up more recently in the trade department, later tonight or tomorrow I'll have my pull list for this week up, and then I'll talk about what's been consuming too much of my time, a GameCube game called Animal Crossing.
Till then,

_casey_

More Pull Lists Than You Can Shake A Stick At!

Ta-Da! A Post!

In the spirit of Kevin Smith, I’m actually going to sit down and write something I promised to. If only I could take all my writing cues from the Bearded Wonder, I'd finally bust out of this two-bit blog and into the big-time!

Anyway, my life in upheaval and my work schedule as it was, I sadly found little time for comics in the past week. Thankfully I made it down to Comicazi on Wednesday night and raided my box, and here are the results!

Not only the Pull List for two weeks ago, but the Pull List for last week and this week as well!

PUUUUUUUUULLLLLL LIIIIIIIIST... – 08/17
(to the tune of SPAAAAAAACE GHOOOOOOOOOST!)

- Ultimate Spider-Man Annual;

I'm excited to see the return of annuals! I was always eager to shell out the extra few dollars for a bigger comic that was almost always had a self-contained story with important twists. The first Amazing Spider-Man Annual was awesome, as it had the birth of the Sinister Six, which is still the coolest super-villian team around, no matter what happens in Villians United.

In this issue, we find out who Spider-Man's new girlfriend is, after the rather harsh way he cut M.J. loose. Day-um. They've blacked her image out from the promo covers, but I'm hoping it's Ultimate Kitty Pride. Her version of Collosus is playing for the other team, so she's got to look for love somewhere else, and where better than your Friendly Neighborhood Spidey?

Aaaaaaaaand... That's it for the week? More like “Weak...” C'mon, Marvel/DC/Image/Oni... get on the ball! The only other thing that even caught my eye was Justice League team of Giffen, DeMatties and Maguire on The Defenders. I wasn't terribly excited about the first issue, which was odd, as I've read and re-read Formerly Known As... and I Can't Believe It's Not... about a hundred times now.

At least we got a new Batgirl and Birds of Prey, so The Lady will be happy when she next gets her comics.

P-P-P-P-PULL LIST! Late Version! - 08/24

- Adventures of Superman #643;

Superman… can be a very dull character. Aside from being the very icon on which other Super-Heroes are based, Big Blue is also a little too powerful. When a character flies through the sun to clean his costume, what drama is there? What challenges are there he can’t simply right with his god-like powers? I guess other people felt that way, so he got seriously powered down after the last Crisis.

Wait, no, second to last Crisis.

Soon to be third previous Crisis.

Way to name your events, DC.

Anyway, since this journal should probably be called “Gay For Rucka!”, it’s not a huge surprise to the lot of you that I do pick up Adventures when it comes out in trade format. But since I got suckered into picking up all of the Sacrifice arc like the rest of you rubes, when this follow-up hit the shelves, I scooped it up.

Thankfully, in spite of my complaints and Rucka’s apologies, I really like the Sacrifice storyline. It’s a little violent, but violence in comic books is nothing new, and when you’re dissolving the trust between The Three Musketeers of the DCU, bold strokes are neccissary.

This issue is almost entirely talking heads (not the band), so we get some damn fine characterizations. Superman is filled with shame, confusion, and more of the flawed morality that fuels his distrust Wonder Woman. Batman is completely self-assured and over-confident as usual, but his regular brooding and contemplation are replaced with a blinding fury. After the shockingly brutal fight between Wonder Woman and Superman at the climax of the story, this third act wind-down of talking heads is quite welcome.

- The OMAC Project #5;

Omac is my favorite of the Countdown miniseries, a good mix of suspense and spy-fiction and now big-time Super-Hero action. The penultimate issue features the reuniting of Giffen’s Justice League, and it’s a blast to see them duking it out with the Omacs. I can only hope that Booster Gold’s new square-jawiness is the result of his two best friend’s deaths (That’s right, I’m counting Skeetz!) and not a new direction for the character. I’m not looking for a stubbly, trench-coat-wearing Booster, thank you. That being said, I’m excited for what this has been leading to, and the last page makes me tingly with anticipation.

- A FEW WORDS ABOUT COUNTDOWN;

It’s odd.

Normally big crossovers turn me off. They seem like big money-making schemes and make me nervous that things will be shaken up in baaaaaad ways afterwards. See: What I wrote on House of M. But now… Now for some reason I’m really into everything leading into Infinite Crisis. I think the execution has been well thought out, and now that everything’s coming together I’m excited for new issues again. I always enjoyed getting the next part of the story, but with this I’m craving the next issue to see where this is going. In case you’re not sure, Casey Like.

- Teen Titans #27;

WHY? WHY, WHY, WHY?

I just don’t know what anyone is thinking by publishing this.

Did someone want to punish Gail Simone? Did she wrong someone in some way that she deserves having her writing, which never dips below par and sometimes shoots into excellence, cursed by this creature’s pencils?

Poor form, DC.

- Daredevil #76;

Sooooooooooo excited for this new story-arc. The last one was definitely a mark in the miss column, but I can forgive it if this, the last of the Bendis Daredevil work for now, pays off the way I hope it does.

This story covers the year Matt Murdock took over as Kingpin, and I can not wait to read it. Flipping through it, I saw Milla, my favorite of the Matt Murdock love-interests (I know, blasphemy in the Church of Frank Miller), and I yet again saw a panel of Ben Urich getting stabbed through the chest with a sai, so, you know, already the makings of a classic.

Current Comics! My Word, What A Strange Thing This Internet Is! - 08/31

You know, for a man who spends a great deal of his ch-ch-change on c-c-comics, I don't really get many each week. My ample budget for trades must suck most of it. I probably shouldn't say budget as that implies a more structured spending than going "OOH! PRETTY!" and plopping down fifteen to twenty dollars.

- Flash #225;

AH-AAAAAAAAH! HE'LL SAVE EVERY ONE OF US!

Sorry, I was having a Freddie Mercury moment, mustache and all.

This is, sadly, scribe Geoff John's last issue on the book he arguably made great. I was never into the Mark Waid work on the character, an odditity considering how much I enjoy Waid's other works with Wally's predecessor in JLA: Year One and The Brave and the Bold. It wasn't until the Blitz story that someone pointed me the way of John's Flash. Zoom was on the cover, and that's all it took for me to pick it up. Scott Kolin's artwork was his usual flashy, silver-agey excellence. The man draws people like Captain Boomerang in an unappologetically silly way to the point they look cool. For other examples, check out a highly underrated Avengers miniseries, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This was Kolin's last story on the book, but as I've praised it for in the past, instead of just picking someone who could draw the Flash well, the book picked artists based on what kind of story Johns wanted to tell: Alberto Dose's noirish, bleak pencils for when Wally was lost without his alter-ego and then finally to Howard Porter's more modern-style pencils, his best stuff since the early days of JLA.

Now Johns is the one leaving the Speedster, and he's going out with a bang. And Fwsssssh, and a Boing! and a FRZZZZZZZ and whatever other noises the various Rogue's powers make while they're tearing up Keystone City. The final chapter of Rogue War hopes to pay off on the return of a key Flash villian, tie up the war, unleash some new slash old foes for future villains and point to Wally's role in Crisis. It was some of the best tights fights you could find for a long, long time... you'll be missed in this corner of the DCU, Geoff.

- Wonder Woman #220;

Wonder Woman in handcuffs!

William Moulton Marston Marston would be proud, that nutty bastard.

This ish has everyone's favorite buxom amazon dealing with her actions in Sacrifice. I think the difference between this and last week's Adventures of Superman will be Wonder Woman's lack of moping and more defending her convictions. She didn't seem bothered at all by what happened, and in one reader's opinion, she shouldn't be. Proud to see they're choosing to explore the darker side of superheroics in someone who isn't the Punisher or Superman. As long as good ol' Greg Rucka brings it back and keeps it true to the character like he's been doing, it'll be on my favorites every month.

- Powers #13;

That's right, breath deep. It's that time of the month, when you push aside New Avengers... dig deep through the piles of unsold House of M's, Scrooge McDuck Style, and emerge triumphant with pure Bendis goodness. Fresh air at last.

I love Powers. The stories aren't always the most original, but they shouldn't be. They're bouncing off our expectations for the super-hero genre, so when things go as wrong as they do in the world of Detectives Walker and Pilgrim, our familiar footing is pulled right out from under us. Plus I'm a sucker for any dialog that could be described as "Mamet-Esque" yet still somehow retains it's own voice.

This issue starts a new story-arc, and deals with the rather gruesome events of the previous arc. If you haven't been following along, plop down some dough for the first trade, Who Killed Retro Girl, or if you're feeling particularly saucy you can get the new hardcover Marvel just put out. You won't be sorry for long.

- The Ultimates 2, Vol. 1 - Gods and Monsters TPB;

If Michael Bay got ahold of the Avengers, a brain and a fair dose of wit, The Ultimates would be his baby. It's violent, it's MTV "sexy", but what makes it work is that it's completely self-aware and heaps on the irony higher than the Hulk. It does have an unfortunate tendency to ship late, and after the first series' final issue shipped, I swore that I'd only buy it in trade, as the high-octane pace this book tends to keep can be ruined by it's late shipping schedule.

This trade covers the first half of Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's second go-around, which features the trial of the Hulk, (sorry, no John Ryhs Davis this time), and the revelation of exactly where Thor comes from... or is it? Ok, so I read them in the store, sue me. Not for everyone, but if you're looking for an Avengers book filled with extreme violence and absurd realism that brings it firmly into the realm of satire, look no further.

- Wha, Huh?
Oh my stars and garters.

Bendis and Mahfood poke fun at pretty much any and everything Marvel. Mahfood seems like the go-to guy when it comes to Marvel tounge-in-cheek, as he did two rather absurd issues of Spectacular Spider-Man wherein the Sandman is a sentient beach who eats people at MTV's Spring Break, one issue of the sadly short-lived and underrated Ultimate Marvel Team-Up with the aforementioned Bendis with a somewhat psychadelic Fantastic Four, and the most bizare issue of Spider-Man: Tangled Web you can (and should) get. Excitement abounds.


So that OPUS is the post I've been working on for the past week and a half, plus a few more paragraphs I'll spare you from for another day or to. Thanks for your patience, I'm hoping to get back on a regular schedule soon.

When I do unleash those paragraphs, I'll review the three trades I picked up last week and give a few words on Bryan Singer's television baby, House M.D., featuring the surly Hugh Laurie.

Until Next Time, True Believers.

_casey_

Late, Late, Late... Pull List for 08/10

Is there a more universal theme in our modern culture, a theme that stretches into every facet of the fiction we love, than "Work Sucks"?

Unfortunately between my regular job and three job interviews (two in real life, and one via IRC, a first for myself), this is the first time I've been able to put finger to key and pound out another exciting installment in...

Comics-Casey-Decided-He-Might-Like-Three-Months-Ago:

- Adam Strange: Planet Heist TPB;

Adam Strange has one of the coolest look in comics. People talk about Superman as being "iconic", and damn if his costume isn't the most frequently copied in the medium, but Adam Strange? He's absolutely classic science fiction. Heavy Buck Rodgers influence, he's rockin' the jet pack, the ray-gun, and the fin on the top of his head. Absolute retro-Spaceman. So when I heard they were updating the look, I got a little excited and very wary. Some updates have been a boon to comics, such as Robin actually wearing pants, or Nightwing loosing the big, yellow collar.

There are however, many, many, bad examples.

Happily this was not the case for our intrepid explorer! In fact, I'm a big fan of the newer look. It keeps everything that made him Adam Strange, that made him scream "OUTER-SPACE!" and updates it to remove the giggle factor so many superhero costumes have (hehe, Superman's got his underwear on the outside!).

This is the collection of the Adam Strange eight issue mini from last year/earlier this year that lead into Raan/Thanagar War, the most incomprehensible of the 4 Countdown mini-series. I've been reading it to get my Kyle Raynor fix, as he's pretty much been bumped from the Justice League thanks to John Stewart and the cartoon, and now also bumped from Earth thanks to the return of Hal Jordan.
Even with my familiarity with Kyle, I still don't know who the majority of the characters are and what they're doing in a war... I'll be picking this up, not only because I was excited about it before, but also so I can re-read Raan/Thanagar and know exactly what's going on.

- JLA #117;

The third part of "Crisis of conscience" by DC's master puppeteer Geoff Johns. He seems to have his fingerprints all over the major players and titles of the DCU leading up to this crisis, with the exception of Wonder Woman, whom Greg Rucka has hoarded all to himself with results that make me all fuzzy inside.

This story lost a little steam with me, since it ties into Identity Crisis more than Infinite Crisis, a miniseries that wrapped up six months ago. To blame is Kurt Busiek's, I feel sub-par, arc on JLA. They took up eight issues fighting both the Crime Syndicate of Earth 2, and the Weaponers of Quard in a story that should maybe have been published when all the happenings in the DCU...Well, weren't.
Dramatic build up my furry blue behind, I think editorial just messed up the schedule.

In this ish, the old school Secret Society of Super villains take the JLA to task for the whole pesky "Mind-Wipe" thing. Also, given chapter two's big reveal, I'm hoping an old arc (#38-40) from Giffen & DeMatteis' Justice League will play a big part. Good old continuity! If so, chapter three will definitely get me excited for the penultimate and ultimate issues...

- Raan/Thanagar War #4 of 6;

Who are these people? What happened to Thanagar? I picked up Villains United and The Omac Project fairly cold and figured it out, but this one... I'll read the Adam Strange trade first.

- Villains United #4 of 6;

Nana-nana-nana-nana-nana-nana-nana-nana....

CAT-MAN!

Seriously, this comic should be called "Why Not to Feed B-List Villains to Monkeys," because in the hands of Gail Simone, they're actually interesting.

In this ish, the villains go stealthy-like, and wear all black outfits, further infringing on the Dark Knight's copyrights. I guess we should have seen it coming, given Catman's love of darkness. Oddly interesting characters like Ragdoll and Deadshot are given depth that they by no rights deserve. Simone deserves an award for making Deadshot seem like more than just a Deathstroke clone, if for nothing else. Always a fun book, if a bit gritty at times, this is the one Infinite Crisis mini that you don't have to know what's happening with Infinite Crisis to both enjoy and understand.

So that's it for me, small week I guess. Sorry for the lateness, on top of the job jibba-jabba, I was without the World Wide Web for a few days. If I had a webcam, heaven forbid, you'd see a brittle shell of a man slowly being brought to life by mother internet's loving grasp.

Sweet cradle of movie and comic news, I feel safe in you once more...

_casey_

Pull List: A Day Late Many, Many Dollars Short

Hey cats and kittens, I'm here to thrown down my Pull List for Wednesday, August 3rd. I still haven't actually read any of these, as I'm broke as a joke. Tomorrow, luckily, is payday, and for anyone wondering, this...

Is What I like to do With My Money...

I also like to buy comics.
This post is being written while I listen to The Theme From S.W.A.T., which to be honest, is a breathtaking piece of funk.

Here Are The Comics That Get Me All Tingly:

- Serenity #2;

I don't consider myself one of the number of terrifying Joss Whedon fans roaming around free. My friend Jeremy is one of their ilk, and he startles me sometimes with his passion for everything the man touches, especially considering I spent some time talking him into watching a stray episode of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer here and there on FX. That's right, I love love love the first four seasons of Buffy: TVS, and Angel is no slouch either. It's not going to change the world; it's just quality television. Now he owns every season of Angel and Buffy on DVD, and the man hounded me, literally followed me around and told me to watch Whedon's much-revered Firefly.

I vaguely remember catching an episode on TV (one of the rare instances Fox decided to actually show it), and was not impressed. I'm not going to go into how a canceled television show became a feature film and a comic book spin-off three years later, as the tale is told all up and down the web. FireflyFans.net is a good place if you're interested.

The thing that made me cave into his poking and prodding was actually the trailer for the film Serenity. The trailer looked like a ton of fun, I'm a big fan of Westerns when mixed with another genre (Trigun, The Quick and the Dead, Desperadoes), so I got all excited. I did not, however, want to be lost, so I borrowed the DVDs. I can now say without hesitation that it is Whedon's best stuff, and now The Lady is absolutely nuts about it, too. Maybe later I'll espouse my love for it more fully, but for now just take in that I liked it, and the comic is pretty good too.

A lot of people complain about alternate covers. My feelings are as long as they're shipped 50%/50% or in this case 33%/33%/34%, then it's a great thing. It gives people more choices and they can get the cover that appeals to them the most. In this case, happily, it serves a function! There are nine characters featured in Firefly, and three issues of the miniseries, so voila! Three alternate covers for each.

Issue two features Zoe, Shepard Book, and the cover I want, Kaylee!

She's cute as a button, click and see.

- Jim Mahfood's Stupid Comics #3;

There was a year in high school where I doodled incessantly, trying to design graffiti. I wanted to make art that seemed like it was always in motion, that felt fierce and maleable and too-cool-for-school. I wanted to draw like Jim Mahfood.

Like a million other Kevin Smith fans, I discovered Mahfood's work in Clerks: The Comic Book one-shot. Oddly enough, since I usually worship at The Altar of Smith, I was more taken by the thick lines, hard angles and dynamic poses of the art than the appropriately verbose word-balloons. So I snatched up everything that was available by 'Food, which at the time was Grrl Scouts, a comic about three lady drug dealers who deliver their goods inside cookie boxes. It was originally put out by Oni Press, but if you don't have it Image has re-released the trade as well as a trade for it's follow-up Grrl Scouts: Work Sucks. Grrl Scouts has humor, wit, social commentary and revolution, sex, drugs, and violence - everything that makes a story great. It also had Mahfood's art, which, if you hadn't caught on, is dazzling. Basically since then I've picked up everything with his name on it, and I don't think I've been disappointed once.

Stupid Comics is more focused on the first three things that made Grrl Scouts great, with a healthy enough dose of the last three to make it still realistic and keep it from getting preachy. These issues are released sporadically, and worth picking up whenever they show up at the shop.

- Gotham Central #34;

Six issues from being replaced by a title called Streets of Gotham, Central is one of the most compelling books I pick up month to month. Both Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker know exactly how to pace a mystery for a monthly comic, better than almost anyone else (I'll get to Brain K. Vaughn in a minute). I don't know how I can praise this book more than I've already done in previous posts... Read it, peoples! This is part two of the Dead Robin story-arc, with a pretty swanky Usual Suspects/Teen Titans cover. At least one book I get this month featuring the Titans will be good... Yeesh. Can't wait to pick up the book, and excited to hear more about Streets of Gotham from Wizard World: Chicago this weekend.

- Y: The Last Man #36;

I told you I'd get to Brian K. Vaughn in a minute. It takes a great deal of guts to publish a comic book monthly that always, always, always ends in a cliffhanger. Luckily Vaughn has the writing chops to do it. The story of the last man on earth traveling from New York to Australia trying to reach his fiance is funny, romantic in both the lovey-dovey and grand adventure sense, action packed, and just plain brilliant.

In this issue, the artist who started the book with Vaughn, Pia Guerra comes back to tell the tale of the aforementioned fiance, who we got brief glimpses of earlier in the series. I'd say that this was a good jumping-on point for new readers, but the first trade is 11.95, a price point so low that it makes an even better jumping-on point. And to even one-up that, Vertigo makes the first issue available for download right here! What a swell bunch of gals and chaps.

- Metal Gear Solid #11;

Only one issue left of this adaptation of my favorite modern video-game, and the it's, "Snake? Snake?... SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE?!?!"

Ashley Wood does art chores on it, and it's right pretty. Maybe I should check out Pop-Bot?

- Ultimate Spider-Man #81;

People accuse Brian Bendis of writing "talking heads" too much, and usually I argue fervently with them. The man knows how to write, be it action, comedy, noir, whatever's appropriate. But even I found it a little silly in the last issue when Spidey had a big fight with Ultimate Moon Knight of all people, and then sat down to a slice of pizza and five page-chat with the Kingpin. Still, if I don't like one issue out of eighty then the title's doing pretty good. This one continues the Moon Knight (is it a Moon Knight story?) arc...

That's it for me this week, thank god it's light as things have built up so badly that I'll need a burro or some other pack animal just to get the comics home.

Tomorrow (or next time I get around to posting), SCUMM! A little preview:
The Wonders of Tomorrow!

_casey_

A Correction, A Rant!

- A Correction

In my last Pull List, I talked about how excited I was about a new issue of The Pulse coming out, as it was a return of Michael Gaydos to the book and praise, celebration, huzzah, ect.

On Monday, I walked into a comic book shop for the first time in two weeks, which for me is much longer than it sounds. Comicazi was in near a job interview I had this morning, so I was doing little skips and hops up the street when I realized that I had an excuse to make the trip to a comic shop! I perused the shelves and what did I see upon the cover of The Pulse #10?

HAWKEYE.

House of M, you've screwed me again.
It turns out that this month was their "Super Fun Cross-Over Month".

By "Super Fun Cross-Over Month," I mean, "Did we just END a story that crossed over with The Secret War? What is HAPPENING here? Why can't these characters have their own stories with out CRAZY SUPER-PEOPLE CHANING THE ENTIRE WORLD!?" Alias was an amazing stand-alone book, with the occasional "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern/Jessica Jones & Luke Cage" moments behind the scenes of Daredevil, I don't mind that it's about the Daily Bugle now, but... I'd really like it to be about the Daily Bugle now.

So I guess the birth of Jessica's baby is next issue? Soon? I hope.

- A Rant!

A reality-altering mutant has changed the past! The future is NOW, and one of the X-Men's most deadly adversaries has become the ruler of the planet, and only a select few characters really know what's happening! Can the few remaining heroes save us from...
The Age of Apocalypse?!?

Oh... Sorry... The House of M?!?

It's disappointing when a company goes back and mines old ideas in lieu of fresh ones, and it's simply annoying when they're Super Epic Mega Events that effect every and anyone who reads a Marvel comic on a monthly basis. This time around it's just sad, as the House of Ideas apparently ran out, and recycled a 10-year-old X-Men story, but applied it to the entirety of the Marvel U.

For those not following along:
Ahoy, Matey! Spoilers Ho!
The Scarlet Witch, after going nutty nuts and killing a bunch of Avengers, has altered the entire reality Marvel Comics are based on and put her Daddy (Magneto), in charge. Unlike The Age of Apocalypse, which was a horrid wasted landscape, The House of M seems to be a bit of a utopia... unless you're human. "Sapiens" are slowing being wiped out by the Marvel version of evolution, which doesn't mean natural selection so much as it means "LAZOR EYES!" Now it's up to a small group of resistance to put things back the way they were, lead by Hawkeye (Wasn't he... dead?), and Wolverine (Ugh, AGAIN?) who both know something's wrong... for some reason.
End Spoilers!

There are a few things that strike me as odd about all this:

- Why Now?

The dots on DC's pointillist potential masterpiece are coming together across the street, and plans laid down two years ago by the three most influential writers on the payroll are coming to fruition. When all this is going on, and you re-hash a ten year old plot that really was sort of a bore at the time, don't you think there'll be some unfavorable comparisons?

Perhaps that's why they've resorted to hype for a great deal of the publicity involved with THoM. Whereas DC has been able to let the comics do the talking, and let fans see for themselves the plans laid over the last few years, Marvel's epic event is so sudden, and as on of my friend's put it "seemingly knee-jerk" that they can't do that. This has left Joe Quesada and Brian Bendis are sounding more like carnival barkers and snake-oil salesmen of late, with their claims long-lasting effects and things we've never seen before. I'm sure The House of M will also cure all ailments, turn straw into gold, and bring Jean Grey back from the dead as well, fellas. This leads me into my next point...

- Why Should We Believe You Guys?

This story is supposed to change the nature of the Marvel Universe and effect all the characters dramatically, but... it's so sudden. It feels like Daredevil throwing on his Armored Costume, or Superman turning blue and having electricity powers... A gimmick that a company uses to grab some quick sales and attention: something that just won't last. A few things sort of grabbed my attention and turned it that way.

When Avengers Disassembled was published, Bendis had said something along the lines of "this is a story I've wanted to do for years..." Recently he was quoted over at Newsarama saying this (click here for full article):

"After Avengers Disassembled I was in full 'not realizing what I was saying out loud' mode. I said, “You know, Wanda is now the worst fear of the Avengers and the X-Men. She's the worst case mutant scenario... ever!” I thought, you know a couple of my minis had done pretty well and they were asking for others, and I thought this was a damn good idea for a mini. The Marvel gang turned it into this."


So this whole business isn't something they've been cooking up forever, it's an idea that's 8 months old, at the latest. Being 8-months old doesn't make it a bad idea, but as far as Continuity Shattering events go, it loses some credibility.

The other big clue that's putting doubt in my mind is this, The House of M Checklist.

Take a look at it.

In the big event that is "the worst fear of the Avengers and the X-Men", do you see any titles missing? Pre-House of M, Marvel's top selling (top 25), non-Ultimate titles are, in order: Astonishing X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, Amazing Spider-Man, Young Avengers and Fantastic Four. Bendis' New Avengers also consistently cracks the top ten, but was delayed in May. In April it topped the charts at #1. So out of these, the hottest Marvel U titles, a whopping two are directly involved in The House of M.

Part of me is glad that they're not interrupting the regular books, that you can sort of turn away from it and only buy "House of M: Spider-Man" if you're interested... but that only works if you're reading a hot-hot-hot book. If you're picking up Ed Brubaker's Captain America, you get a sharp stick in the eye as the Winter Solider mystery gets interrupted. See above for my frustrations regarding The Pulse. Even if you are one of the people that just read, say, Spider-Man, Astonishing X-Men, and Fantastic Four, turning your back on THoM, guess what? It'll apparently be affecting those titles as soon as House #8 wraps up! Time to buy the trades!

Really, when it's all boiled down it's clear that my problem with The House of M isn't necessarily the story itself, it's Marvel's handling of it: the hype, the execution, the potential aftermath. Time will tell if it's something I can look back on and enjoy in the future.

This has been the summer of the Epic Event, of the Continuity Cross-Over, with House of M, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, and Seven Soldiers all taking up self space. So I'm saddened as a Marvel fan that in the battle of The Great, The Bad, and The Grant Morrison, Countdown has been pretty good, and House of M sure isn't Grant Morrison.

_casey_

The Pull List: Comics I'm A-Grabbin'

I have a pull list at a rockin' little shop in Somerville called Comicazi (link in the sidebar), and every week I'm going to post what I'm excited for, and why... Eventually I'll get around to letting you readers of funnybooks know which ones I liked or not, but for now...

These are Comics which Theoretically Rock My Socks:

- The Flash # 224;

The second to last issue of Geoff Johns' now truly essential run (no pun intended) of Wally West's Super-Hero career. The man not only made The Rogues respectable, he made them menacing. Whoever thought that Captain Cold would give me shivers (pun wholly intended)? The man also brought back not one, but two Zooms. Howard Porter's art is the best it's been since JLA #1. This and the next issue will no doubt bring a tear to my sentimental eye.

- Wonder Woman #219;

She's a wonder! WONDA-WOMAAAAAAN!

Part 4 of Greg Rucka's out-of-left-field opus, Sacrifice. Sacrifice, for those not keeping up with Big Blue, is a story that crosses the three main Superman books, Wonder Woman, and The Omac Project. Some, such as I, would argue that since three of these books retold the same fight three different ways, stretching it into a crossover was excessive. However, I'm always up for a good reason for two heroes to throw down (See: Spider-Man Vs Wolverine), and this fight where she takes on Supes looks to be greuling. I'm down.

- The Omac Project #4 of 6;

See: Above. Sadly this issue is supposed to be more tying up the Sacrifice story-arc. Hopefully there will be plenty of Omacs running around Initiating Counter-Measures and shooting those eye things and Maxwell Lord teasing Batman. "Gotcher Spy-Satellite! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!"

Maybe that last one is wishful thinking.

- The Pulse #10;

Back when The Pulse was Alias, it was the best book on the shelves. Alias is still one of the best set of trades you can pick up, and Jessica Jones is such a great character, with real emotions and problems in a world of super-men and people in tights, that she's been completely interwoven with the Marvel Universe lately. It probably doesn't hurt that her boyfriend and baby-daddy is in the New Avengers.

Sadly, the Pulse lost something when it changed over. Maybe it was the lack of F-Bomb every few words, but I like to think that since Alias artist Michael Gaydos drew Jessica Jones so perfectly, that no other artist has managed to capture the character the same way. So fear not, faithful readers, as Stan the Man would say: Gaydos returns to this book for the birth of Jessica's baby! MOZELTOV!

It's one of the last books I'm reading at Marvel, it really deserves a monthly (rather than bi-monthly) publishing schedule.

- James Kochalka's The Cute Manifesto;

Kochalka is an artist who has completely won my heart. It started with Peanutbutter & Jeremy, a story about an annoying crow and a cat who thinks she works in an office. She wears a tie! He also did the Superfriends spoof SuperF*ckers! and the completely off the wall Fancy Froglin's Sexy Forrest. I enjoy so much of his work, I'm willing to at least check out anything he has to say. And it seems he's got quite a bit, as the Manifesto is all about his personal philosophy, his life, and where he's going. Looks to be intensely personal and a moving read.

So I think that's pretty much it for me this week. My box at the store must be ready to break under the pressure.

Clearly the next step for my broke-ass is getting a PayPal donation button for y'all to click on! I can count on you, the reader, can't I?

Can't I?
...
...
Fine, be that way.

_casey_

Con Report - Boston "Spectacular"

Wizard World is coming to my little berg of Boston this September, which for people like me is like saying that Christmas has finally arrived after being in Chicago and Texas.

Nerd Christmas.

Despite their recent Starbucks-like move in Atlanta, I'm a huge fan of Wizard World, and comic conventions in general. I've been to two Wizard Worlds in Chicago before, with my friend and not-so-secret lover Steve, and we had a blast. I met Kevin Smith (who complemented me at his panel one year, and jokingly called me an "asshole" the next. At least, I hope jokingly.), Greg Rucka, Bendis!, Jeff Smith, Jim Mahfood, and a ton of other people. I even got to stand a fair distance from George Perez and sort of stare and claw the air in front of me in a reaching motion for a minute or two.

The panels are so much fun, and they have them on everything. It's a great way to learn about the medium, the industry, and even interact with it a little bit. Artists Alley is a good chance to see people who haven't broken in yet, some tragically so, and to meet some larger pros who still remember their roots. And the dealer tables... The dealer tables are the closest thing to the Floating Market from Neil Gaimen's Neverwhere as we'll ever see on earth. The odds and ends from booth to booth range from fantastic (like the aforementioned author's badass leather jacket), to the shockingly mundane (It's an odd thing when you see a wall full of early-run Spider-Man comics and react with "Meh."), to the sickening (The next time I see an issue of New Avengers that's been CGC'ed and priced in the double digits or over, I may snap.). So... Yes, I like Wizard World.

So when I heard there'd be another, smaller, annual con in Boston happening this past weekend, I thought I'd check it out. So I grabbed The Lady and I attended the "Boston Comic Book spectacular" on the sixth floor of the Radison. It was run by the slightly notorious "Primate Promotions" whose site can be found here. Fair warning, if you click it your computer may regress to the days of Prodigy and Windows 3.11. The link lacks an animated .gif of flames, but that should give you a good idea of it's contents.

The Specatular was not unlike the site; somewhat crude in design, but functional. It was what you'd expect from something on the sixth floor of a Radison. That being said, it was full of a few notable things:

- Quarter/Fifty Cent Bins:
The Lady and I must have spent most of our few hours here pawing through these treasure troves. She got, along with a heapin' helpin' of my jealousy, the KuiKuiKui issues of Giffen and DeMatiess's Justice League run from the eighties, some X-Static issues, some Birds of Prey, and a JSA trade, kind of crushed, for a dollar. There was more, but I forget what else she got, as she holds her treasured comics close to her like a child with some candy. She also holds her candy that way. I made off with a happy haul as well! I grabbed the complete minis Ambush Bug, and Son of Ambush Bug for a dollar each. Evan Dorkin's Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic, #1 & 2 for fifty cents each! They're reprinting these now, in black and white for 13 dollars for something like four issues! So the rest of this series is on my list for the quarter bins of Wizard World.

I got the complete Batman Adventures in two digests. They were priced at two dollars each, but I Scrooge McDuck'ed the guy down to three dollars, and they were worth every cent at full price. Ty Templeton had the bright idea to do a Batman comic in the Bruce Timm style, but instead of making it soley episodic, the stories have ongoing plots, and mysteries, and character development. It's a really, really fun comic. They also manage to make good, creative, use of almost every Batman villian in the span of something like 10 issues, a rare feat, seeing as Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee managed to waste all of them in 13. (Take that HUSH!)

My favorite, and wholly original, bit is that the Joker has been undergoing therapy at Arkham that's actually working, and is now polite, and kind, and full of love for Harley Quinn. Quinn, of course, will have none of this new Joker, and goes to shocking measures to get her old Mista' J back. Pick them up next time you're looking for a Batman who isn't quite as sad a sack as the one skulking around the DCU nowadays, and want something fun.

- Artist's Alley:
There were some unexpectedly big names at the con, such as Dan Slott, Paul Pelletier, and Ron Frenz. The only problem with going to cons for me, is I have no idea what these people look like! This led to two slightly awkward moments: one where I had to ask Dan Slott who he was, since he had no name tag, and another where I was espousing how much I like Spider-Girl's art to The Lady while Ron Frenz was sitting a few feet away, deep in a sketch-book. His table was set up with prints and pages from other artists as well, I didn't even catch that he was there for a minute!

We're both big fans of She-Hulk (which is relaunching soon!), so it was definitely cool to talk to Slott for a few minutes. He's exactly what you would picture from reading his work, overly enthusiastic, full of love for comics, and funny. And did I mention verbose? It was hard to get a word in edgewise, and when I noticed some promo art for his new JLA: Classified run, he proceeded to turn the 32 pages of the issue and tell us the story, panel to panel. SURREAL. But it looks like a good issue.

So that was our con experience for the weekend, now the gearing up for the big one in September starts! The coming weeks will be full of the pinching of pennies, the stomping of feet in anticipation, and the gnashing of teeth in nervousness... But once The Lady pounces Greg Rucka like Tigger, I'll both be having a great time and know that it's true love.

With The Lady, I mean.

Not Rucka...

...

(I think they bought it.)

_Casey_