Chris vs. Previews: July 2008, Round One

We’re well into the depths of summer at this point, and where I live, that means that it’s possible to have a heat wave and a monsoon at the same time. No matter where you are, though, the dawning of a new month means another five hundred pages of stuff that you don’t really need!

 

 

That’s right, folks: It’s time once again for another two-fisted tour of what’s what in July’s Previews. Tonight, it’s the Major Publishers!

 


 

Dark Horse Comics

 

P. 26 – Solomon Kane #1: Despite the fact that I picked up a copy of The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane when Del Ray was doing all the nice paperback Robert E. Howard books, I’ve never actually read a story with the character. I have, however, heard him consistently described as “Puritan Conan,” and since the Amazon keywords for the above include phrases like “dark pallor,” “cleft skull,” “long rapier,” and “Tower of Death,” I think there’s probably some potential there.

Either way, I’m looking forward to it. I’m a pretty big fan of Howard’s more famous creation, especially what Dark Horse has done with him under Solomon Kane writer Scott Allie, Conan‘s former editor, and with a pretty entertaining Kane story up on MySpace Dark Horse Presents, it looks like it’ll be well worth reading.

 

P. 36 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer #18: So hey, remember that time there was an issue of Buffy where the cover was Faith wearing nothing but a scanty campfire, and we all thought that there was no way they could do a cover that was more exploitative or directed at a narrower fetish market?

Well congratulations, Dark Horse…

 

 

…you have hit a new low.

 

DC Comics

 

P. 58 – DC Universe: Decisions #1: Okay, look: I want to make it clear that I’m saying this as someone who has bought and enjoyed pretty much every book DC’s put out with Bill Willingham’s name on it. Fables? Proposition Player? Thessaly? Love ’em. Wouldn’t trade ’em for the world.

But this, a series exploring the political spectrum of the DCU co-written with Judd Winick, who gives the leftist perspective? This sounds like the worst idea I have ever heard.

Seriously, think of the worst idea in comics that you can. Electric Blue Superman. The Clone Saga. Nightcat. Letting Dave Campbell actually write a comic book. This sounds worse.

 

P. 62 – Ambush Bug Year None #3: So last week when I was going through Previews the first time and I saw this cover…

 

 

…I made an offhand comment in an email to bitterandrew, which led to us and a few other people spending the next few hours discussing the intricate relationship map that connects The Inferior Five and Angel & the Ape to the rest of the DC Universe (see, I’d thought Angel O’Day and Dumb Bunny were cousins, but they’re actually half-sisters).

And that, my friends… is what home feels like.

 

P. 83 – Jack Kirby’s The Demon Omnibus: FUCK YEAH!

 

 

When you get right down to it, that’s all that really needs to be said about another Kirby collection, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that we can all thank Dr. K for this one. For those of you who missed the story the first eighteen times we told it, I’ll explain:

Last year at HeroesCon, Dr. K and I went to the DC Nation panel and, despite the fact that we were told “no plans at this time” to everything we asked for, they all ended up coming out. My requests were the last two unpublished Bob Haney stories (which were later released in Teen Titans: The Lost Annual and Saga of the Super-Sons) while he asked for more Kirby collections along the same lines as the Fourth World books. Now, I’m not saying that DC has decided to take their publishing cues directly from us or anything, but if next year rolls around and we’ve got a Sugar & Spike collection and a Steve Ditko omnibus, you know who to thank.

 

Image Comics

 

P. 140 – Youngblood: Bloodsport #1 and 2: Believe it or not, I’m not going to make any value judgments about this comic book tonight, because in this rare instance, I feel like it’s my duty to provide facts instead of opinions to make you a more well-informed consumer. With that in mind, I’d just like to point out that the first issue of Bloodsport (which originally came out like three years ago from one of Rob Liefeld’s nine or ten failed companies) features a scene where the guy on the cover, “Shaft,” fights the zombie corpses of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

Yes, really.

Yes. Really.

 

Marvel Comics

 

P. 8 – Marvel Illustrated: The Odyssey #1: According to Previews, the Odyssey is an epic poem written by Alexandre Dumas. This is not technically true, but considering that last month, they said that Chris Ware is “probably best known as the drummer for the Replacements” (p. 329), and that Tarot is “female-empowering,” it’s at least a step in the right direction.

 

P. 12 – Ultimate Spider-Man #126: Now, I stopped reading Ultimate Spider-Man at about the time that the dialogue went from “repetitive” to “atrocious” and the instances of Peter crying in his basement instead of going out with his hot girlfriend spiked, but if there was one phrase that could get me back into it, I think “Silver Sable and her Wildpack on his gooey trail” is its exact opposite.

 

P. 44 – Deadpool #1: Here’s something that’s not going to shock anyone: I’m actually a pretty big fan of Deadpool. Or at least, I like Deadpool when he’s being written by Joe Kelly or Gail Simone or making wisecracks in Ultimate Alliance. Outside of that pretty narrow area, however, he tends to go from “highly amusing” to “unbearable” pretty quick.

Still, I think there’s a place in this crazy world of ours for an action-comedy about a disfigured mercenary who makes pop culture jokes while murdering people like a highly lethal installment of Best Week Ever, so this one’s got me torn. On the one hand, Daniel Way writes what is unquestionably Marvel’s funniest title, Wolverine Origins, and his stuff on Ghost Rider was always good for a laugh, too. On the other, I’m pretty sure that Wolverine Origins isn’t actually supposed to be funny, despite the fact that it’s a comic about Wolverine wandering around with a Katana fighting his long-lost bone-clawing fauxhawked son, Dokken, or Daken or whatever. Decisions, decisions.

 

P. 91 – Punisher Omnibus v.1: Okay, seriously Marvel, what the hell?

Don’t get me wrong here: I love the Punisher, and the first Garth Ennis mini-series is a personal favorite, which should be obvious to anyone who has ever seen this website, but soliciting a hardcover that collects the first mini-series and Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe (and another big chunk of the eight-year Ennis run) ONE MONTH AFTER new versions of Welcome Back Frank and PKTMU? For real?!

 

P. 99 – X-Men: Magik – Storm & Illyana Premiere HC: And while we’re on the subject of things I have trouble understanding, there’s this:

 

 

I realize that I’m in a difficult position to comment on this one, seeing as I’d buy a Wild Dog Omnibus in a heartbeat, but… it’s just… Really?

I mean, I thought it was weird when they gave the Premiere Hardcover treatment to Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, and that one’s at least got Wolverine in it, but this… is there anyone who has been demanding a high-end reprint of Magik?! Hell, is anyone even demanding a reprint of it? Because I’m pretty sure that any place with a quarter bin can hook you up with the entire series for about one twenty-fifth of what the hardcover’s gonna set you back. I mean, Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet are out of print right now, but there’s gonna be a premiere hardcover of Magik.

And even weirder: The hardcover for Marvel Boy–which actually does need to come back in print, especially with another Grant Morrison/JG Jones book that people are interested in–has to share a page with Kevin Smith’s Daredevil. Magik, however, gets a page all to itself.

 


 

And on that overly disbelieving note, I’m calling it a night. But be here tomorrow as the ISB takes on the back half of the magazine for a look at the indies and the merch, featuring another look at Mad Engine’s rapid descent into outright madness.

Be there!

89 thoughts on “Chris vs. Previews: July 2008, Round One

  1. God damn you, Sims, I will never be able to get that horrible Buffy cover out of my brain. Brr.

    Is the Punisher Omnibus not the entire Ennis run? Last time I checked, the only thing it excluded was the Barracuda miniseries…

  2. The Ennis run on Punisher is over a hundred issues, all told, so that’s a no. It’s got the first mini-series, the Marvel Knights Double-Shot story, Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe, and the first few stories from the Marvel Knights ongoing.

    Still a pretty hefty chunk of Frank, though.

  3. The world absolutely needs a SHOWCASE PRESENTS: SUGAR & SPIKE. In exactly the same way it didn’t need that “resolicited” SSSV collection.

    And the MAGIK HC can be squarely blamed on Illyana’s imminent return to “prominence” in the 616, just as the KITTY & WOLVERINE HC is the product of Kitty’s “prominence” in the craptacularity of ASTONISHING X-MEN. (“Just fly off into space, liebchen, no one gives enough of a rat’s ass about you to see if you can actually be, y’know, rescued or anything.” Man, is Richards such a dick about all his ex-babysitters?)

  4. Chris, I don’t suppose you’d consider expanding on The Inferior Five and Angel and the Ape for those of us who grew up strictly Marvel Zombies? I’d love to have backstory of the amusing non-Wiki variety before I gobble up all the upcoming Ambush Bug issues.

    Re: Buffy – I missed last issue, so I have no freakin’ clue what Centaur Dawn is all about. I’m going to keep buying it for the Fray thing, mind you, but this is just . . . yeesh. Season 8 is rapidly sliding down towards Season 6’s levels of subtlety and grace. Oy.

  5. Ok, I’ve got to wonder, why the centaur hate? Hate that cover, sure, thats understandable. But the entire concept? Did you have a really bad experiance watching Fantasia as a kid or something?

    As for the Punisher Omnibus, I’d have dropped the Punisher Kills.. in favor of putting in The Punisher: The End. Or maybe Born. One of those. But then thats me…

  6. Dear Sims,

    Next time you’re at one of those DC panels, for the love of all that is holy, kindly mention Hitman.

    Thank you.

  7. KDBryan:

    last issue, Dawn ceased being a giant and became a centaur for reasons unknown.

  8. Know what would be fun? If they just eschewed all sense of reason and started flipping to a different page of the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual each month to see what Dawn turned into:

    “Well, looks like she’ll be a gelatinous cube next month. Ah, and next month, she’ll be a phase spider.”

  9. Actually, I think “Transform into any creature in the Monster Manual” would be a wonderful superpower.

  10. Youngblood: Bloodsport actually came out in 2003. So that’s actually FIVE years between issues.

  11. How does Rob Liefeld make a living these days? (And if you reply “By drawing best-selling comic books,” I’ll just scoff.)

  12. A.R., last I checked he was doing the X-Men 616 time-travelling rehash thing. I’m not sure if that’s over now or not.

  13. re: that Buffy cover

    The current Buffy comics remind me a lot of what somebody here on the comics blogosphere said about that superhero episode of Guiding Light last year: that it manages to encapsulate both the very worst elements of both comic book culture and cult TV culture.

    But still, that aside, what gives with the inexplicable centaur-hatred, eh Chris?

  14. “I stopped reading Ultimate Spider-Man at about the time that the dialogue went from “repetitive” to “atrocious””

    Having never read any USM aside from a comic reprinting the first 3 issues, I can only assume you gave up at issue 2. “Catch you on the flip mode!”

  15. In 1991 I found all 16 issues of The Demon at the San Diego Comic Con for a quarter a piece. My biggest comic score ever!

  16. “Actually, I think ‘Transform into any creature in the Monster Manual’ would be a wonderful superpower.”

    That power makes me yawn. “Transform into any creature in the Monster Manual II” on the other hand would be the most awesome superpower ever. I can see it now: “Form of… A NONATON!”

    Chris, I don’t think you’re giving DC enough credit. I’m sure that they’ll take care when assigning real life political positions to characters to both present those positions fairly and tie them in reasonably with existing charac… snerk… characteriz… heh… characteriza-BWAH HA HA HA HA HA!

    Sorry I couldn’t get through that with a straight face…

  17. Speaking of Angel & the Ape…Magik gets a hardcover, but Phil Foglio’s DC stuff is still almost impossible to find? There’s no justice in the world.

  18. I think the answer is obvious….

    Chris was onced kicked by an ionic powered centaur, who was reading Tarot in one hand and Anita Blake in the other. Cause a centaur’s got independent eyes, like a chameleon, dontcha’ know?

  19. “we all thought that there was no way they could do a cover that was more exploitative or directed at a narrower fetish market?”

    Yeah, what sort of freak has a fetish for Dawn?

  20. “I mean, Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet are out of print right now, but there’s gonna be a premiere hardcover of Magik.”

    By sheer random chance I’ve got another Firefox tab open right now ordering Secret Wars from Amazon, along with a trade collecting the issues that led up to Infinity Gauntlet. I was looking for Thor Visionaries: Walt Simonson volume 2 but they seem to be rarer than finding a hen’s tooth in a pile of rocking horse poo. On the ‘flip mode’, I expect plenty of Magik hardcovers to be available, probably for quite some time.

  21. I actually have been reading the Solomon Kane stories, and they’re really fun, fast moving, rollicking action yarns. I recommend them.

    They’re also pretty horribly racist. Seems to be part and parcel of the pulp era, but some folks may prefer to give ’em a pass.

  22. By sheer random chance I’ve got another Firefox tab open right now ordering Secret Wars from Amazon, along with a trade collecting the issues that led up to Infinity Gauntlet.

    “Out of print” in this context means “unavailable from Diamond’s Memphis warehouse,” but yeah.

  23. Well, to buck the trend here. I’m actually kind of looking forward to the Magik hardcover. I’m a big fan of the older, obscure stories from the 80’s and they’re impossible to find in issues that don’t cost a ton for shipping.

  24. is there anyone who has been demanding a high-end reprint of Magik?! Hell, is anyone even demanding a reprint of it?

    I’m sure the folks at scans_daily are ecstatic.

    Oh, wait, they don’t actually buy their comics…

  25. A cover that features Dawn– let alone a *naked* Dawn– and what it occurs to you to hate are *centaurs*? Weird.

    Gelatinous cube Dawn, however, has real potential.

    DCU: Decisions is just a mind-bogglingly awful idea. My least favorite Willingham moments to begin with are when he waxes political (Detective Chimp’s defense of the Laws of Superheroics, the exchange between the Emperor and the Snow Queen in the current Fables). A miniseries made half of speeches like that and half of Winick, centered on a premise that might keep me away from a miniseries if Gaiman and Moore were cowriting it… yeesh.

  26. I was looking for Thor Visionaries: Walt Simonson volume 2 but they seem to be rarer than finding a hen’s tooth in a pile of rocking horse poo.

    According to Amazon, Marvel are going to be reprinting the Simonson Thor Visionaries volumes starting in December, probably to get them all in a matching trade dress but with the happy side effect of getting the out-of-print volumes back in circulation as well. As far as I know, they haven’t been officially solicited yet, so the release dates are iffy, but it looks like they start in December.

  27. In exactly the same way it didn’t need that “resolicited” SSSV collection.

    SSSV? Super Smash Smothers Vrawl?

    Chris, I don’t suppose you’d consider expanding on The Inferior Five and Angel and the Ape for those of us who grew up strictly Marvel Zombies?

    Short version: Phil Foglio, who was previous to this post the world’s foremost auteur of centaur porn and the guy who does the delightful Girl Genius, spent a lot of time in his Angel & the Ape mini-series tying it into other DCU stuff.

    Angel O’Day and Dumb Bunny from the Inferior Five are half-sisters, Angel’s mother having died when she was little and her father having re-married Princess Power, DB’s mom. Sam Simeon, the comic book artist who makes up the Ape half of the team, is Gorilla Grodd’s grandson, and thus has mental powers that he uses to make people see him as an unusually hairy dude rather than a gorilla. It’s a good series.

    “Well, looks like she’ll be a gelatinous cube next month. Ah, and next month, she’ll be a phase spider.”

    This is an absolutely fantastic idea and I support it.

    Ok, I’ve got to wonder, why the centaur hate?

    They’re stupid, they suck, and I hate them. And if you like them, then you’re stupid, you suck, and I hate you, too.

    That’s just how I roll.

    Chris was onced kicked by an ionic powered centaur, who was reading Tarot in one hand and Anita Blake in the other.

    An excellent theory, young bumbershoot, but that would also imply that I would dislike kicking, which is most assuredly not the case.

    Oh, wait, they don’t actually buy their comics…

    Hell, they barely even read ’em.

    ’m a big fan of the older, obscure stories from the 80’s and they’re impossible to find in issues that don’t cost a ton for shipping.

    Impossible to find? Really? Wha–okay, hold on a sec.

    Right, I just checked out in the store to be sure and we have four (4) complete sets of Magik, plus an extra copy of #2 and #3 floating around out there, and I assumed this would be fairly typical.

    Incidentally, the whole set costs five bucks.

  28. “last issue, Dawn ceased being a giant and became a centaur for reasons unknown.”

    It was out of the blue, but they did explain it. It’s part of the Thricewise’s enchantment – it’s the second of three forms she’ll take.

    XANDER: But at least we know they fade. And Will’s pretty sure we know the parameters. Three. Magic number three.

    DAWN: Great. Three magic enchantments wherein my ass is huge.

  29. “I stopped reading Ultimate Spider-Man at about the time that the dialogue went from “repetitive” to “atrocious”

    If I didn’t like your website for its sheer awesomeness, the Bendis-Bashing would do the trick.
    Thank God that you feel the same way. Sometimes I think that the whole world has been brain-washed by that guy.
    Tarantino-like dialogue my ass!

  30. Three forms, eh? What’s next? The pedestrian Angel or Mermaid forms, perhaps? Or the more intriguing and logical Ass Elemental. Those things are HUGE!

  31. Next time you’re influencing the decisions of DC’s editors, could you put in word for a Showcase Presents of Doom Patrol? The HC versions are way too expensive for the likes of me.

  32. Amazon still lists Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol Volume 1 as coming in January (along with Ambush Bug Volume 1).

    Now, those could end up going the way of the Suicide Squad book, but it’s better than nothing…

  33. Oh, wait, they don’t actually buy their comics…

    $2000 worth of comics up in my room since joining that comm 3 years ago would disagree with you.

  34. $2000? In three years? Hahahhahah. Light weight!

    But wait, Im confused. Who did write the Oddysey then?? (I think that’s the most important question here). I know it wasnt a centaur. Or deadpool. That much is obvious.

  35. I’m with Jacob: the Decisions series just sounds unspeakably bad even *before* I know it’s Winick and Willingham pontificating at the readers.

  36. $2000 worth of comics up in my room since joining that comm 3 years ago would disagree with you.

    Hmm…let’s see…3 years, 52 weeks a year is 156 weeks. $2000 divided by 156 is $12.82. At an average cover price of $2.99, that’s a whopping grand total of four comics a week. Or one manga title. Or half a trade.
    Yeah, that’s impressive.

    Oh, not to mention that every single person who posts to scans_daily is a whiny, easily offended dumbass. Every. Single. One.
    Now go update your Spoiler wiki.

  37. Just chiming in here, but the Previews guys don’t write the solicitation text. That’s provided by the publisher. So, that Dumas snafu? Probably not the doing of Diamond…

  38. What’s wrong with sexy Buffy covers? Are you all gay? Alternately, that sensitive male Donahue thing never works on women. You’re just a pussy.

  39. Thanks, Peppy & GingerYellow. Ten bucks says Dawn’s last curse is to become a man. Or fifty bucks on the Vegas frontrunner of Gelatinous Cube.

    Sam Simeon, the comic book artist who makes up the Ape half of the team, is Gorilla Grodd’s grandson, and thus has mental powers that he uses to make people see him as an unusually hairy dude rather than a gorilla. It’s a good series.

    Thanks for the bios, Chris. It’s interesting to see what kooky fun people can have in the corners of the DCU. Now I’m definitely interested. Sounds like a Doctor 13-ish sort of- wait a minute.

    Gorilla Grodd had a grandson? Gorilla Grodd had sex? Oh. Oh, God, no – Gorilla Grodd had sex.

    GORILLA GRODD SEX.

    *crawls into a fetal ball, cursing his overactive visual imagination*

    IhateyouIhateyouIhateyou

  40. The guy with the power to transform into any monster from the Monster Manual could be called – are you ready? – Monster Manuel!

    He’s just keep on changing into the freaking Terrasque, though. Because Monster Manuel is cheap.

  41. Oh Tom Strong, you macho man you, you know you make us poofs all weak at the knees when you talk that way.

    *giggle*

  42. I’m a Republican and Judd Winick is still like some kind of weird semi-sentient strawman. Like someone built him as a half-assed liberal caricature. Except he’s so gosh-darned earnest. About AIDS.

    *goes back to re-reading The Question.*

  43. Oh, not to mention that every single person who posts to scans_daily is a whiny, easily offended dumbass. Every. Single. One.
    Now go update your Spoiler wiki.

    Yes, because being taunted with a constant stream of cheap shots shows that you’re “easily” offended…

  44. Yes, because being taunted with a constant stream of cheap shots shows that you’re “easily” offended…

    Thanks for proving my point, Lurker, by not only getting offended on someone else’s behalf but by also rushing to defend the integrity of a group solely dedicated to facilitating comics piracy and fanboy bitching.
    Now go back to complaining about how Secret Invasion contradicts your fan-fiction.

  45. This is a new form of hate for me. Because I read scans_daily. Fascinating. The scans of new comics I can see being a sticking point… And the fanboyishness… And the Spoiler obsession… Okay, you guys have got a point. Still, until you guys start posting ancient X-Men back issues the same way you post Legion of Superheroes, I have no one else to be fannish with. Everyone needs a blind obsession, surely you agree with that.

    kiragecko

  46. I don’t “hate” scans_daily…I just find the group to be representative of the worst aspects of comics fandom. It’s like reading the Newsarama forums as filtered through the Free Republic.

  47. Not even when they hotlink your content with no credit?

    I’d momentarily forgotten about that.
    Screw it. Everyone who has ever posted to scans_daily should die in a fire while being violated by rabid dogs. With rusty knives for penises.

  48. I know this is heresy, but I don’t like Kirby’s Demon stuff. Never have. It’s better than Byrne’s horrible, gutwrenchingly awful Blood of the Demon series, sure, but compared to the Demon comics we got in the 90s by Alan Grant and then Garth Ennis’s darkly brilliant run, the Kirby stuff is weak sauce.

    This is the only instance in the history of comics where Kirby pales to creators working in the Nineties, mind you. But it’s still true.

  49. I read the comm and occasionally comment, but I get where Dorian’s coming from as of late. The community there- it’s very twitchy. The negative voices frequently drown out the positive ones, every creator ever sucks and should go die, and- well, at one point I got dragged into a debate over whether Superman making Lois forget the events of SUPERMAN II was equivalent to date rape. (Tangentially related, whether Lois in SUPERMAN RETURNS was an absuive parent because after the climax we don’t get a detailed scene of her explaining to her son who he is and that Kryptonite is bad for him and so on.) And this was in a FINAL CRISIS post.

    Sometimes they post something fun. I am even encouraged to buy some things from reading. But if fanboy attitudes are something you’re sick of, yeah. I’m surprised they don’t make Fandom Wank more often.

  50. I know this is heresy, but I don’t like Kirby’s Demon stuff. Never have.

    It’s been pretty well established that you have no taste, though.

  51. Still, until you guys start posting ancient X-Men back issues the same way you post Legion of Superheroes

    I don’t think this is hard to understand. Chris works in a comics shop. Dorian used to work in a comics shop.

    They have no reason to like people who encourage piracy of the very product they are trying to sell.

    And if you don’t understand the difference between scans of panels or pages posted as part of a review, and scanning most of a comics and throwing it online, please re-read that section on fair use laws, then get back to me.

  52. Thanks for proving my point, Lurker, by not only getting offended on someone else’s behalf but by also rushing to defend the integrity of a group solely dedicated to facilitating comics piracy and fanboy bitching.

    How was I getting offended on someone else’s behalf? You’re making vast generalizations and insults about a community I’m part of and have posted in. And when did I even mention the integrity of anything about the community? I said you were taking cheap shots…

    Now go back to complaining about how Secret Invasion contradicts your fan-fiction.

    Like that one. What the hell man? Did I punch your dog? I admit to being a petty ass also, but I’m not the one throwing out baseless insults…

  53. I’m not sure where you’re getting the idea that I’m making cheap shots. “Your Mom is fat and ugly” is a cheap shot. “You should be raped by dogs with knife-cocks” is an insult of much greater magnitude.

    And now, frankly, you’ve bored me, so I’m bowing out of this conversation. Go complain about how horribly I’ve mischaracterized a community that regularly engages in arguments over whether Booster Gold is a dom top or sub bottom to someone who cares what you think.

  54. Most of the time when I see an `argument’ on the internet I do my best to ignore it. (Except when this one guy, BlueJay, blindly refuses to see any kind reason when talking about batman on comicboards.com , in which case I join right in. I go by CensusTaker there.) but anyway, I dunno if its just somekinda vibe that the isb permantly gives out, but THIS time the snarky is just bloody piss funny.

  55. Dave Lartigue, I’m clearly reading this site while cleaning my guns and cheating on my taxes. Duh.

    I can’t very well cook dinner for mah man until after I’m done shootin’ at some food.

  56. I’ve gotten interested in a lot of stuff, like Fables, from reading Scans Daily.

    It’s a great source of info on what’s out there for a layman like me who doesn’t read those Previews or Wizard or CSn or whatever else.

    I don’t have to read the stupid commentary; I just read the comic scans.

    Also, once I posted a picture of Wonder Woman as a mermaid from Chris Moeller’s beautiful painted GN A League of One.

  57. I don’t have to read the stupid commentary; I just read the comic scans.

    Oh if only there was some kind of alternative that had actual informative or amusing commentary as well as reviews to inform you of which comics these informative and amusing people thought were good or bad!

    Alas… Maybe one day.

  58. It’s been pretty well established that you have no taste, though.

    Well, yes. I mean, I read the ISB.

    WAIT THAT WITTY COMEBACK DEMEANS US BOTH

    I DEMAND A RECOUNT

  59. So wait, they *are* coming out with a Showcase Presents: Doom Patrol? Huh. Whoever updates the wikipedia article forgot to add that one I guess. (Here I’ve just been looking forward to the Suicide Squad and Secret Society of Super-Villains ones…)

  60. (*looks around*) Okay, I’ll be the second person to give a thumbs-up the Magik reprint. Well, half a thumbs-up. Yes the comics are easy to find (there are like five complete sets for less than $5 listed on ebay right now). But they’re also, you know, crappy 80’s comics printed on crappy 80’s paper with crappy 80’s ink. My lovingly and carefully stored set is already severely smudged and faded, and well… Magik is one of my favorite characters, that’s one of my favorite limited series ever, and I’ve waited a long time for a reprint version that I can read without having to worry about, you know, damaging my already almost-as-old-as-I-am floppies.

    But a hardcover? Seriously? (*eyeroll*) I would have preferred a nice paperback like Marvel is putting out for the old New Mutants series.

  61. Magik is one of my favorite characters, that’s one of my favorite limited series ever

    You know, it’s rare in this day and age to find a collection of words that has never in the history of the world been put together. It’s like witnessing the birth of a star.

  62. Personally, I think the one scene that sums up Bloodsport #1 is the one where 2 members of Youngblood get blowjobs in a hot tub from Cyclops and Wolverine, both of whom are cross-dressing as Jean Grey.

  63. What are the chances you could learn to use an adjective besides fucking ‘awesome’ once in a while?

  64. Oh if only there was some kind of alternative that had actual informative or amusing commentary as well as reviews to inform you of which comics these informative and amusing people thought were good or bad!

    Condescending sarcasm towards people who read and admire you, inappropriately indignant rejoinders to the mildest of viewpoints other than your own… hey! Are you really Kevin Church?

  65. Condescending sarcasm towards people who read and admire you, inappropriately indignant rejoinders to the mildest of viewpoints other than your own… hey! Are you really Kevin Church?

    No, but if he tries really, really hard, one day, he can be. If only he gets over that fear of girls and whiskey.

  66. It’s like witnessing the birth of a star.

    Thanks, I try. ;)~

    FYI, when I was a little girl, Magik was pretty much the only magically-powered, morally ambiguous badass girl in comics who *wasn’t* (usually) presented as a sexy sexy slice of tits and ass for fanboys to drool over. And she conquered hell, got to run around having adventures in outer space, and did it all while spouting an endless stream of ridiculous Claremontisms. She’s awesome.

  67. This thread is the fifteen car pileup on I-5 of ISB comment threads. I can’t look away, it’s blocking my progress towards doing something more productive, and it’s producing a thick cloud of black smoke that will give me cancer in twenty years.

  68. Oh, this is nothing. You should see the part where Dorian and I get accused of sexism for thinking that people who obsess over a third-rate redundant supporting character and pigeonhole everything into their own myopic views of How Things Should Be Becasue That’s How I Want Them To Be are stupid.

    Also, it’s implied that I have something against super-hero fans.

    Ahhh… Good times.

  69. I’m not being sarcastic. It’s just the way I talk.

    Funny KITH skit, or funniest KITH skit?