Comics On A Budget for June 6, 2007

I am at a crossroads. As of next week, I won't have as low a budget for comics as I have now found gainful employment and can get off the government teat. So, do I continue to have a set budget or incorporate collection reviews into the mix? I already now what Mike's answer is going to be, which is to spend my entire check at Ralph's Comic Corner, but what do everyone else think? Do you want an expansion to this? Drop me a line in the Comments section below. Without further ado, let's review some stuff.

• Jonah Hex #20 (current series) - I love this series, but this particular issue, while enjoyable, felt... rushed. Everything just was kinda glossed over. Jonah's rye sense of humor remains intact but, for the first time, with the return of a couple of characters previously used, it almost felt like you needed to have read the back issues to understand what was going on. Still, good stuff.
• Superman #663 - Continuation of the Arion storyline. Silliness abounds with a class of young New Gods taking over Metropolis and all the while we still have a brooding Superman. He finally makes a decision and it's not what Arion wants to hear, leading to a cool ending. Plus, baby Chemos! How cute is that?
• Marvel Zombies Vs. Army Of Darkness #4 - This has been just been a fun series. Ash is pretty true to his character and easily distracted by a pretty face. Lumping him into the Marvel Universe (albeit the zombie Marvel Universe) somehow works, although I am surprised by how Ash takes the fact that there are people with spectacular powers all around him in stride. Wouldn't he have some sort of comment about it? This issue has Dr. Doom, an appearance by the might Necromonicon, and a ravenous zombie Goliath. Awesome stuff.
• The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #5 - I have already posted my love for this series and its beautiful art. Now for a complaint. This issue cost $3.99 plus tax. For that amount, we get 23 pages of story, which constitutes less than half of the issue. The rest is ads, text pieces that highlight backstory, and the final part of a transcript of a Stephen King panel at the New York Comic Con. Now, I like the text pieces, but at four bucks a pop, I would prefer to have more of the actual comic and this would probably have been shorter by two issues. Once in a while, text pieces are fine, but comics is both words and pictures. I read prose for one thing and comics for entirely different reasons. I mean, Stephen King writes books and short stories. We don't need it in every issue of his comics, too. Still, this is fine stuff and I am looking forward to the inevitable collection.
• Detective Comics #833 - This is an interesting issue guest-starring Zatanna. Batman was trained in escaping by her father, Golden Age hero Zatara (he made his first appearance in the same comic that debuted some other famous hero, Action Comics #1). Now, I think way too much about the history and interpersonal relations of comic characters, which is why I was surprised by writer Paul Dini including some backstory between Bruce Wayne and Zatanna knowing each other as children. It makes sense and both children are completely in character. My former roommate and co-conspirator in many musical endeavors, Chris "The Monster" Savoy, was actually a stage magician for a time and he taught me much about the secrets. As a result, I am a sucker for stage magic and this story revolving around the murderous mystery of a magician named Ivar Loxias is right up my alley. Plus, the return of Zatanna's tux shirt, jacket, bow tie and fishnets look can only be a positive thing.
  
• Jack Of Fables #11 - This is the final issue of the two-part Jack Frost storyline. Jack continues to be a bastard, as usual, and trying to bed as many women as possible, as usual. We do get some interesting backstory about the War in the Homelands and Jack's small but important role in it. It's not what you think. Fine art by one of my favorites, Fables inker (and artist on the Hitch-hiker's Guide To The Galaxy adaptions) Steve Leialoha. I met him last year at the San Diego Comic Con. He drew a baby floating on a string like a balloon inside one of my Fables collections. He's a helluva nice guy.
  
• Countdown #47 - This is just in here for reference. The same rules apply for this cycle. I'll review this in three more issues.
• Uncanny X-Men #487 - It's still not new reader friendly, but this first part of the new storyline has the story settle down. I dig Salvador Larroca's art. It's a nice, moody, painted style that actually feels different than the usual primary color, splashy style that seems to infect X-titles most of the time. It matches writer Ed Brubaker's format rather nicely. We get the return of Caliban and Storm and some forward momentum on the overall story. Maybe I'll stick with this. I mean, Mr. Brubaker writes my hands-down favorite Marvel book, Daredevil, and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
• Simpsons Summer Shindig (one-shot) - Hooray! This was lots of fun. The main story revolves around a few different interlocking stories of the Simpsons clan at the Springfield County Fair and all the madness that entails. The characterizations are spot-on and the art is fun. We are also rewarded with several smaller pieces to close this issue out. I dig the Bill Morrison cover. He is, quite possibly, the finest Simpsons artist on Earth. It's a shame that his real job as Editor and Art Director of all Bongo titles does not give him more time to do more comics work. He not only has every character down, he has an amazing sense of illustrative storytelling. One of the perks of working at the finest comic shoppe around was they actually have a good clientèle of people in the industry. I mean, I have had long fantastic conversations with the mighty Sergio Aragones, talked music with Los Bros Hernandez, and pulled back issues for Scott McCloud. I never did get to meet Bill Morrison, but my former boss and good friend, Mike of Progressive Ruin, got an awesome Bart Simpson sketch for me. It stays in my Sketch Archive, which includes an Eli Stone Tick, a Sergio Groo and Rufferto, a Evan Dorkin Milk and Cheese, and several Jeff Smith Bone characters. All of them have stories behind them, but that's for another time.
  

Comics On A Budget for June 1, 2007

Wow. There has been much commotion in the House of Flesh-head in the last few days. Being that comics were released a day late due to Memorial Day, everything got thrown out of whack. It coincided with quite possibly the five of the busiest days I have had all year. They were good busy, though, with me getting a new job and scrambling around to get new tools for said job and going back and forth with the insurance company handling the pet food recall and... You know what? Let's just get down to business. Here are the reviews for last week.

• Countdown #52-48 -So far, I like this series, but the pace seems a bit slow when compared with 52. Maybe it is the format. With only a few pages devoted to each storyline, writer Paul Dini can only show so much for each featured character. I am digging the Jimmy Olsen stuff and the Donna Troy storyline has potential. Still, it is only the first month. There may be cohesiveness to this in six months.

• Green Lantern #20 (current series) - We wrap up the Star Sapphire storyline in this issue, actually rather quickly and lay subtle hints towards next month's Sinestro Corps storyarc. Overall, it laid the foundation for the next few months of issues. Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention Dave Gibbons' Tales of the Sinestro Corps back-up stories. Even though they enabled a two-part main story to stretch to three issues, they were quite good. They showed the main ideological differences between the wielders of the yellow and green rings while giving single story background tales that had an overall main plot. The back-ups almost had a old House of Mystery feel, with a character imparting the tales, narrator-style. Good stuff.
• Action Comics #850 - Is there possibly anyone on Earth that has all 850 issues of this? That's a heap of dead trees. This one almost felt like a downer. I mean, it's the obligatory overview of Superman anniversary issue, but you get the sense of how lonely Clark actually is, y'know, being the (almost) last of his race and hailing from an exploded planet and all. There were several little things I liked, though: the Golden Age classic Supes look at the beginning, how awkward Clark was as a kid, the Ziptoned panel of Silver Age Supes fighting Gorilla Grodd, and the nod to the infamous "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" article done as tastefully as possible for an all-ages book. Still, I left this feeling kinda bummed for Kal-El. They should do the exact opposite for the next anniversary issue of Detective Comics and have Bruce Wayne just party and sleep with as many women as possible and... I don't know... maybe buy a nation or something.
• The New Avengers: Illuminati #3 - I have a big problem with this series. It really should be something I should enjoy, but after every issue, it leaves my brain completely. Honest. No joke. I couldn't remember if I got issue two until my wife told me to get number three. I think she's enjoying it, but as she has been asleep for hours now, I can't really ask her. The umber one reason I started picking this up? Dr. Strange. Truly one of the underutilized greats. The split-book from the 1980's, Strange Tales, co-starring Cloak and Dagger, were what I cut my teeth on as a wee comics collector, and, to this day, I will buy ANYTHING with Dr. Strange in it. He's just a cool character. That being said, if this were an ongoing title and not a five-issue mini, I would drop this. Here's my theory of what happened in the Bullpen when this was conceived: let's take Planetary, dumb it down, take three overused characters and throw in three popular ones for fan service that have nothing better to do, and explore some of the most boring parts of the Marvel sandbox. It'll sell like hotcakes! Big fat MEH.
• Hellboy: Darkness Calls #2 - So does weird shit just happen to Hellboy all the time? If you recall my review of issue one, I was sorely confused, considering I have read one Hellboy miniseries and that two-parter that was released just before this current series that had the titular character on some existential journey. With the amount of footnotes in the first two issues, I guess this series is tightly woven into the Hellboy mythos. So, after this issue, not only am I confused, but now I am intrigued but his backstory. Hecate? Some dude trying to usurp her power? An ancient demon that had its eye stolen by Hellboy? Very interesting. If anyone feels like it, drop me a line in comments to let me know where I should start because, for as lost as I am, this series is good.
• Silver Surfer: Requiem #1 - What a depressing comic. I have no idea why I bought this. It really isn't something I get. For one, I know next to nothing about the Silver Surfer other than the basics: former herald to Galactus (he hungers, y'know), turns against him, has cosmic space adventures. Oh, and he surfs. Man, the 1970's were messed up. Plus, I don't read the Fantastic Four. In fact, I think the last FF thing I bought was the X-men/Fantastic Four crossover twenty years ago. Additionally, it's written by J. Michael Straczynski, which really doesn't mean anything to me as I have never seen a single episode of Babylon Five. BUT, I am a fan of artist Esad Ribic, so I curiously flipped it open and loved the splash page of Galactus' hand converting Norrin Radd (what a name for a surfer!) into the Silver Surfer. So I bought it. Sometimes that's all it takes. The watercolor art was quite nice but the story was slow. I'll flip through next issue before I decide to buy issue two.
• Wolverine #54 - So I guess I am in a Wolverine phase right now. Marvel suckered me in with the whole "Logan remembers stuff now" plot twist and I have stuck with it. Ultimately, Wolvie is a solid character and having him delve into his log history is rich soil to turn. Jeph Loeb, surprisingly, at least to me, is doing a fine job writing and every issue seems to find more of Logan's voice. Artist Simone Bianchi is a fine fit for the violent adventures of Canada's Hairiest Hero (next to Sasquatch). I am as shocked a anyone. I am enjoying the hell out of this current run. Good stuff.
• Daredevil #97 (current series) - The very first back issue I ever bought in my life was Daredevil #41 (first series). The cover was so cool: Daredevil in his red outfit, hands outstretched, with a blurb proclaiming "The Death of Mike Murdoch!" It was written by Stan Lee and art by Gene Colan. I was ten. I figured that the cover was cool and it was a "death" issue and cheap because it was kinda beat up, so I bought it. Ever since, Matt Murdock and his poor life have been my favorite Marvel character. I mean, the entire concept appealed to me: blind but all his other senses were heightened. Acrobat. Ninja. Everything. When Kevin Smith, then Brian Michael Bendis, took over, I was pleased. By that point, DD had lost his way. Bendis especially took Matt back to his roots (at least his Frank Miller roots) and back to the streets and had everything bad happen to him again. And he always would make it back, only to find someting worse was waiting for him. Even when Bendis was writing 1000000000 books and most not good, Daredevil stayed a quality read. I was actually bummed when he left. Current scribe Ed Brubaker took over and ramped it up, exposing Matt's identity and getting him thrown in jail, since he is classified as a vigilante and, as such, a wanted criminal. We get Matt in jail with every one of his foes, including his archnemesis the Kingpin, all the while denying that he is Daredevil. Awesome stuff. It's collected and you should get it. The current series of Daredevil is an anomoly: the best crime book today with a long-term creative team and dark, violent surprises. And it comes from Marvel? Sometimes, they do get things right. I can't really talk about this current issue as it is number three out of five in the storyline. Just go out and give it a try. Every issue's first page has a "Previously in..." recap.
  
• Justice Society of America #6 (current series) - OK I dig the JSA and read JLA but I am looking forward to the end of this storyarc in Justice League of America #10. Each issue doesn't really answer any questions. I do like how Superman is slightly torn about this because of his former membership in the Legion of Super Heroes. Maybe I am not enjoying it as much because I am not that big of LSH fan. Next issue of JSA should pick as it is the fallout of this storyline.Oh and the next issue blurb kinda let it slip that Starman is sticking around. Oops!