A bit of a change…

So as you’ve probably noticed, there hasn’t been all the much activity here, especially considering how much I used to write about comics. I’ve just gotten to the point where I don’t seem to have much new to say about some of monthlies I’ve been reviewing over and over again. I mean how many times can you write the same paragraph over and over again.

So what I’m going to try out is doing twitter reviews for my weekly comics. That way, while I don’t feel like a lot about a comic, I can still let all you know what I’m enjoying. So follow me @CBShopReviews on twitter or just read the updates on this page. You can also follow The Comic Book Shop on Facebook as all my updates will appear there.

I will start writing here again, as soon as I feel like doing essays about comics, but for now I’m going to take a break and just stick with my quick likes and dislikes through twitter.

Matt Reviews X-Men #2, X-Force Sex & Violence #2 and more!

So yeah I’ve been kind of slow with the updates and reviews. I had a couple three day weekends that I’ve been spending with my family, doing a lot of art and frankly, there hasn’t been a whole lot of new comics that I’ve enjoyed enough to write in depth about. I’m really considering doing my awesome/not awesome rating system. Anyways–CUE REVIEWS!

X-Men #2
Yeah I know this came out last week, I didn’t read it until today. There was no part of me that wanted to read the new X-Men title after I saw all the team-up adds on the internet after they announced the book. I don’t care about team ups with Marvel Universe characters and I definitely didn’t care about the X-Men fighting vampires. I don’t want to see the X-Men fighting vampires. I know they’ve battled Dracula in the past but I’ve purposely not read it because I think it’s dumb. But I begrudgingly read X-Men #1 and begrudgingly enjoyed it. I begrudgingly read #2 and again I did begrudgingly enjoy it. And actually (besides X-Force Sex and Violence #1) it’s the only X-book I’m truly enjoying post-Second Coming. So there’s that. This issue has Blade the Vampire Hunter show up as recently infected Jubilee struggles not to succumb to her new desires and the X-Men begin setting up for a battle with the vampires. Why the vampires want the mutants so bad is pretty clever and the dialogue between Wolverine and Colossus is great. Buy it, it’s quite enjoyable. Cheesy? Yes. Very 90s X-Men? Yes. But is it a bad thing? Apparently not because I’m liking it. Hell I like 90s X-Men during the 90s so why am I complaining? Oh right because I’m me.

 

 

X-Force Sex and Violence #2
Go HERE and read the review for #1. And ditto it. This book continues to be awesome with lots o violence and some sex. I’m really unhappy that Craig Kyle and Chris Yost are leaving X-Force (and apparently mutants all together) because they did some of the best x-books in years with X-Force. I wish they’d take over one of the main X-books. But if this is the final story they’ll give us for mutants, then they are going out with an Atom bomb of awesomeness to the face. (one more thing, both assassin groups command their troops to kill Wolverine and bring back Domino. Don’t you think by now everyone knows it’s impossible to kill Wolverine? That all you’re doing is sending your troops to slaughter for no reason? I would think by know it’d would go something like, “Yo ninja, go get Domino. What, Wolverine’s there? Never mind, lets book it back to Japan Quicksilver style.”)

Speaking of X-Force, I really hope Uncanny X-Force is good. The team is decent (although I liked the Yost/Kyle line up better) Wolverine, Archangel, Psylocke, Fantomex (yay!), and Deadpool (BLARRRFFFFFFF). One of the alternate covers has Havok which I’m very happy about as I’ve always like Havok. I hope Domino comes back too (the last issue of X-Force had Wolverine talking like Vanisher and her were sticking around–well now I can’t find it in either X-Force # 28 or Second Coming #2 so maybe it was in the last issue of the Necrosha X storyline but still I hope they stick around because I love myself some Domino). The preview pages are here and the art looks decent but it has two major strikes against it. The big one is Rick Reminder who is the writer behind the train wreck called Franken-castle. The other is Deadpool being on the team which may make Deadpool-heads happy but makes me mad!

 

Marvel Universe vs. the Punisher #2

Still continues to be awesome! Frank takes on the crazed Hulk! Plus writer Jonathan Maberry takes a shot at the only thing I hated in Old Man Logan! Buy this book!

 

 

 

 

 

New Avengers #3

Still the Avengers book that I enjoy the most. Victoria Hand makes the issue for me, her dialogue and actions are great. This is by far my favorite team of Avengers and I hope they keep one or two of the mystics around after this storyline. I figure they’ll be returning Doc Strange to the Sorcerer Supreme and I figure he’ll be staying around. Immommmmmen’s art is fantastic as always.

Looks like that’s it. Sixth Gun #3 sold out before I got my copy so looks like I’ll have to wait on reorder for that. Toodles ladies!

Picks of the Week: Marvel Universe vs. Punisher #1, Casanova #2 and The Boys #45

Yeah yeah yeah I know I didn’t up date last week. You know why? Because I got a new used Iphone and it was way more fun that the books I read, sorry to say. Yes my new old Iphone is awesome and I’m in love and she loves me and we’ll be together forever. My wife told me that if I had a Fleshlight app then I’d be set and wouldn’t need anyone (YES, YES I did use that joke yesterday on my Facebook and I’m happy I did—AW YEAH! Reused humor!) Actually American Vampire was really good last week but there’s nothing really new to say about that I haven’t said about the previous few issues and I’m getting tired of repeating myself. Batman The Return of Bruce Wayne would have also been great but they used Georges Jeanty as the artist and it make we want to pour hot boiling bleach into my eyes. It’s sad because I was so looking forward to a Batman vs. Jonah Hex. Jeanty is the reason I can’t read Buffy Season 8 and I was a diehard nutter butter for Buffy and Angel while the show was on. So poo poo on you DC for using a terrible artist on such a high profile book.

And now on to this week!

My favorite book of the week was easily Marvel Universe Vs. The Punisher. It’s pretty much I Am Legend with the Punisher as Will Smith (YES I SAID WILL SMITH—the comic has more the feel of the movie than the book) mixed with 28 Days Later and something else but I can’t remember what I thought that movie/book was but I had it in my brain yesterday and now it’s gone. Pretty much the world has gone insane and started eating each other and the Punisher is the only one left to take them all out. The Punisher does stuff to Deadpool in the first few pages that I think most of us are happy to see happen to that overused character. Plus (even though it’s end of the world Marvel U), we get an actual Marvel U Punisher instead of the train wreck of a Franken-castle. I’ve never read Jonathan Maberry’s writing before and while he rips of a bunch of other stories, he does it well and crafts a fun, violent book and follows (and in my opinion) does better than Garth Ennis did with his Punisher Kills the Marvel U, which this is basically just a different take on. Because we all love to see the Punisher kill our favorite heroes. That’s weird. Anyways, Goran Parlov has become my favorite Punisher artist.

Casanova #2. I’ll admit it, it really don’t know what’s going on in this comic. I love it, but there’s so much dimension and time hoping I’m totally confused. But the art is fantastic, like beyond fantastic I totally love Gabriel Ba. Plus the book is full of killing, incest, life-like human sex dolls, orgies, Beatles references, crazed comic book villains and more acronym named super organizations than you can shake a stick at. And have I said anything about the art yet? Look at the cover for god sake!

My favorite cover of the week has to go to The Boys #45. It’s another great part to the current storyline as Anne tells Hughie about her secret life which Hughie doesn’t react to all too well, plus by the end of the issue things get even more uncomfortable between Hughie and Butcher. However, I read this issue like a read some issues of the Walking Dead, by skipping large portions of rather boring text. I just look at the PRETTY PICTURES OOOOOO!

Alright, there you go, reviews (sort of). Read and be merry and wish me luck. I’m about to overdose my brain on Robert Crumb comics, Drinky Crow cartoons, manga and Samuari Champloo cartoons. Yeah my brain may be swiss cheese by the time this is done.

What I’ve been reading Episode Two: Manga Invasion: Solanin and Saturn Apartments

I still think it’s funny that no spellchecker recognizes manga as a word. Anyways, first off I’ll have to pretend to apologize for not updating much lately. I’ve suddenly become obsessed with drawing and I’m having a blast doing so. Am I any good?  Probably not but I’m sure having fun with it. This all came about as I was searching the internet for webcomics. There are hundreds of them and a good chuck of them are as crappy as all hell. So I thought, if they can do it, why can’t I? Not that I’m looking to draw a webcomic, it’s more to the point that I might as well try to draw too. Who knows, maybe in ten years I’ll be a great artist. Probably not, but you never know.

But back to the task at hand. I’ve been a bit burned out on super heroes lately and I’ve really been looking for other things to read. I’ve talked about Scott Pilgrim, Questionable Content and Shaman Warrior as a remedy to my super hero woes. And now, it’s a couple of great manga titles. Yes me, reading manga. The majority of manga does nothing for me, I find nothing in titles like Dragonball, Naruto, Deathnote—I hate any title where some random comedy happens in the middle of a fight and their faces get all huge and eyes bug out or they start crying gigantic tears. That sort of manga is not for me. Luckily, Viz puts out a Signature line that has some great titles. I’ve always been a fan of Blade of the Immortal, but who doesn’t like some bad ass samurai action? But these are far from it and also far from the buggy eyed silliness.

So Patrick Pugh who I do the webcomic Nat and the Beanstalk and who used to manage our Valley store was the one who got me to read Solanin. Solanin follows a group of friends, but focuses on Meiko and her boyfriend Naruo who are stuck in that limbo between school and the rest of your life, trying to figure out what will make them happy, the pressures of family and the aimlessness that seems to surround them. It’s written and drawn by Inio Asano who has some of the best art I’ve seen in a long time. One thing many manga artist capture more often than America comics is style. This book is full of that. So much thought is put into how their clothes look, how the musical instruments look, etc—everything looks cool. For me, only Paul Pope and Jim Mahfood really bring that to American comics.

But regardless, Solanin is an amazing story, made me laugh, made me sad and I was disappointed when the story was done. But damn did it end well. I’ve ordered Asano’s other two Viz books, What a Wonderful World Vol 1 and 2 and I’m really looking forward to them. I’m sure you’ll have to listen to what I have to say about those too!

Next up is Saturn Apartments Vol 1. The story is set in the future where the Earth has been turned into a nature reserve and people now live in a gigantic structure that forms a ring around the Earth. Written and drawn by Hisae Iwaoka, Saturn Apartments follows the life of young Mistu, son of a window washer who takes up his deceased father’s job. Mistu must figure out a way to fit into his father’s former life while at the same time still trying to deal with his father’s death on the job. The characters are fantastic and again the art has such a style to it. It was what drew me to the book in the first place.

So that it’s for this episode. Check back in a few days for this week’s new comic releases. As for me, back to drawing obsessively.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 6–Epic!

So Scott Pilgrim Vol 6. SO AWESOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME! It didn’t disappoint at all! I was able to read half of it on my lunch today. We quickly sold out of our initial run at work (more in next week!) and so I wouldn’t feel bad and give my copy out, I branded it and wrote my name upon it. Anyways, got off work came home made dinner read a few more pages which was full of awesomeness. With dinner done and two beers down I sat outside to finish it. So freak’n gooooooood. I immediately darted into the house and found my wife at the computer playing solitaire. I thrust the book in her face. “THE ENDING OF SCOTT PIGLRIM WAS AWESOME!” I proceeded to say awesome over and over again while pulling the book back and then shoving it back in her face. Finally I ducked what was sure to be a concussion inducing blow, I pranced around the house continuing my “awesome” chant. It really is that good. The final battle between Scott and Gideon was fantastic. The book was packed full the humor, cleverness and action that made the Scott Pilgrim series great. I’m really looking forward to sitting down and re-read all the books at once. I would feel sad that it was over but luckily the movie is only a few weeks away. I will actually leave my house to go see it in the theatres—YES THE THEATRES. I cannot guarantee I’ll wear pants. But I can guarantee I’ll probably yell at stupid teenagers.

Update: Oh look! Updates from San Diego, Scott Pilgrim six inch toys. DROOL!

What I’ve been reading Episode One:

Here are the things I’ve been reading over the past few weeks that are not my normal weekly new comics. For the most part these are the comics I’ve accidently stumbled upon or set out to find them. I didn’t read these just because they were new or because I needed to keep up with a storyline or crossover, these are different for me somehow. They tap into the fan aspect of comic reading over the retailer aspect. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy reading the new weekly releases, but part of reading as much as I do each week is to fill my head with a ton of comic knowledge so I can help my customers better. There’s nothing I hate more than saying, “uhhh I don’t know.” So below are the things I’ve obsessively read over the past few weeks, the books that really remind me how much I love comics and how awesome the art form of comic books can really be.

Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques. My new favorite thing. Easily THE best webcomic I’ve ever read as well as one of my favorite comics of all time. I was hooked after reading five strips and those were the current ones where I had no idea who the characters were. I jumped to the beginning and read 1700 strips in a couple weeks. I had to force myself to stop to do things like feed the kids, shower, go to work. When I finally got caught up, I wanted to lie on the ground and weep for I could no longer read hundreds of QC comics a day! QC is a slice-of-life comic focusing on romance, indie-rock, little robots and the day to day life of a growing group of friends. This comic made me laugh, made me giddy (that’s not a word most people would attach to me) and made me cheer when cast members got together or were merely able to hug someone–in other words the comic made me happy! I can’t say enough good things about it. If you head over to the QC site this week, you’ll be getting guests strips by different creators as Jeph is at the Comicon. You’ll want to go back a few to test it out or just start at the beginning. His art was pretty basic at the beginning. One of the great things about the strip is you get to see him grow as an artists.

Shaman Warrior by Park Joong-Ki. Park Joong-Ki crafts an epic samurai tale of violence, love and revenge. I reviewed the first Shaman Warrior book quite a while ago. I should have read the second one right away because volume 2 is where the book really takes off. The story is fantastic, the art is amazingly beautiful, the violence gory and exciting, the characters engaging and awesome. If you’re fan of great samurai movies, you’re gonna love this. And for those of you that don’t try much manga and are turned off by the right to left read, this is Korean manga ( manwha) which means it’s printed left to right like American comics. There are nine volumes to this complete series and are available for special order at the North Division Store or in stock at the Northtown location.

So that’s the end of part one. I should be updating in a couple day with the second post of this series as well as my normally weekly books.

Matt’s Picks–X-Force Sex and Violence #1, Daytripper #8 and Batman #701

X-Force Sex and Violence #1
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!  Wolverine!  Domino!  Sex!  Violence!  Hilarity!  Awesome!

Daytripper #8 proves to be the most depressing of all the Daytrippers–and that really says something.  This issue is told through Bras wife and son as they wait for him to come  home from a book tour.  It’s all love, longing and finally loss and despair.  It’s another great issue but there’s nothing overly happy here.

Batman #701
So begins the first of two issues filling in the gaps between Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis.  If this came out, oh I don’t know, like a year or so ago it would have saved me from a bunch of people complaining.  Didn’t Batman die in the water?  How’d he appear in Final Crisis?  How’d he die twice?  AH! AH! AH!  I didn’t write it myself! Would have saved me a lot of headaches and explaining.  Otherwise, it’s nice to see Grant write Bruce Wayne again and is an interesting story but kind of pointless by this point.

Finally this week we have The Sixth Gun #2 by Oni Press.  Also released this week is a reissue of #1 that was originally given away at Free Comic Book Day.  This book is fantastic and perfect if you love Spaghetti Gunslinger westerns.  This is tinged with some supernatural elements but at it’s heart, it’s a western.

Well that’s it for the week. Kind of short but as my wife says, that’s exactly what I am.  Be sure to check out the new episode of Nat and The Beanstalk and I’ll probably be back soon with another post featuring the two comics I’ve been obsessing over during the past two weeks.

Reviews! Batman and Robin #13, Scarlet #1, Casanova #1 and More!

Damn, what a great week for comics.  I haven’t had this much to read in a while.  There’s a bunch of new series here too so let’s jump right into it, shall we?

Batman & Robin #13
My favorite comic of the week is a tossup between this one and Scarlet #1.  This is probably my favorites issue since the amazing Batman and Robin #1.  This issue starts out with a bang–literally.   Sexton has been revealed as Joker (the whole Oberon Sexton identity was just fantastic).  Joker explanations are great (especially the fate of the real Oberon Sexton), his reasons pure Joker.  He tries to convince Dick and Damien he is on their side.  And as the cover show, Damien gets revenge on Joker for poor Jason Todd…with a crowbar.  Great issue and I thought the art was just fantastic–I really like Frazer Irving.  I think he makes the Joker look so creepy.  However, the cover makes me long for a full issue by Frank Quietly, it’s a shame we don’t get to see him draw a full storyline featuring the Joker.  I wonder who they’ll reveal Thomas Wayne to really be?  Maybe he really is Bruce father, but I doubt DC would let that be true.  But we’ll see I guess.

Scarlet #1
Finally we get Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s creator own book through Marvel’s Icon imprint.  This was one of my most anticipated comics for the summer and it doesn’t fail to impress.  The story follows Scarlet who after her life is shattered by violence from a corrupt cop, sets out to start a revolution with violence of her own.   Scarlet talks to us as she narrates the book and it works really well.  The flashback pages of her “firsts” are done particularly well.  A great start and I’m really looking forward to the next issue.  I’ve always felt Bendis shines when he’s doing his own creations, Powers being one of my favorite books of all time.  Maleev shines as always and I’m very happy they decided to end Spider-Woman for this.

Casanova #1
Yet another Marvel Icon book this week and yet another of my most anticipated comics of the summer.  This is mostly a reprint however most people never read it when it first came out.  It’s written by Iron Man and X-Men scribe, Matt Fraction with art by Gabriel Moon and Fabio Ba of Daytripper (another of my favorite books currently coming out) and follows super spy Casanova Quinn and his multi-dimensional adventures.  There is a brand new short story at the back for those of you that have read Casanova before.  This is all leading up to brand new material.  Pick this book up, it’s a lot of fun and quite different from Fraction’s normal Marvel work.

Batman Odyssey #1
So apparently nearly all of my most anticipated comics for the summer came out in the first week.  Neil Adams returns to Batman.  Not that I ever read Neil Adams on Batman first go around, but I’ve been a fan of his art for a while now so I was excited to see something new.  Before I was able to read this issue, I saw a bad review of this book that likened it to Frank Miller’s own return to Batman (Dark Knight Strikes Again) so I was quite worried going into this book that I would have to remove my own eyeballs upon completion.  Luckily it was not the case, I found the Odyssey #1 a lot of fun.  Neil’s art is fun, full of life and fluidity.  The story was fun, although a bit jumpy and actually it reminded me a lot of Grant Morrison’s current run on Batman and Robin–some of the same ideas and concepts are found here.  Good stuff, pick it up!

Sweet Tooth #11
Jeff Lemire continues the back story on Jepperd and it’s a sad one at that.  Not that there’s a lot of happiness to be found anywhere in this book.  There’s not much else really that can be said about it without just giving away everything that happened but I just wanted to mention I’m still enjoying this book.
X-Force #28
Well I didn’t expect that to happen.  Try to stay away from internet spoilers people and wait to read the book when we get them on Monday.  What happens in the first few pages is a shocker for sure.  From there we have Hope going against Bastion as her powers are finally revealed…and maybe something else.  I’ve really enjoyed this crossover and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for our mutants.

Finally this week is a book from last week, Batman Beyond #1.  I didn’t get to read this book right away since he sold so well, people are excited for some future Batman.  I probably wouldn’t have picked this book up if it wasn’t for Batman #700, where Grant Morrison ties in Batman Beyond to current continuity.  Adam Beechen writes a fun story and while I don’t know if this is cannon, it is a good read.

And that’s it for the week.  Hopefully by the time you read this, I’ll be sitting a beach enjoying the sun instead of work.  I promise I’ll think of you all.

Hello my name is Matt Reynolds and I’m a Scott Pilgrim Addict

If you’ve been frequenting our website lately (thecomicbookshop.net), you’ve probably noticed the big Scott Pilgrim updates and since I’m at the creator, controller and ruler of the website (god of the comic book shop website if you will) then you’ve probably figured out I kind of like Scott Pilgrim.  Kind of is probably not the word to use, more like absolutely in love with it.  I will say I wasn’t sure when I first looked at the books a couple years back.  I was worried I was too old for it, that they would be too young and hip for me to enjoy since I’m a crotchety old man.  Finally I tried them out, reading a few pages of random books and was pleased to discover I liked them.  However, at that time the first few books were constantly in and out of stock from the distributors so I quickly forgot about them while waiting and then didn’t have interest for a while, as things often go with me.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 2

But then came the trailer for the movie.  If you haven’t seen it yet (which seems impossible in this setting but I’m sure there are a few of you out there), go to our website or scottpilgrimthemovie.com and watch them.  The movie looks fantastic, directed by Edgar Wright (director of two of the best movies of all time, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) and starring forever awkward teenager Michael Cera.  With how excited I got for the movie, it was time to give the series a real shot.  And I totally friggin loved it!  I don’t think I’ve read a series in recent memory where I just couldn’t wait to get to the next book.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 3

Of course the series stars Scott Pilgrim who falls in love with a girl named Ramona Flowers and he must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends to date her.  While the movie will condense that into a single story, in the books he fights one of the evil exes  in each volume.

These series is just plain fun.  It’s nice slice of life stuff then suddenly they break into video game violence, scaling the walls punching people across a couple city blocks and battling robots.  Scott defeats an ex-boyfriend and they  burst into coins.  He gets a job, he gains experience points.  There’s just a lot of fun, goofy stuff thrown into the books–Bryan Lee O’Malley is quite a clever writer.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 4

My only real complaint is that his art is so stylized (in a good way) and there are so many female supporting cast members, that I was having trouble keeping track of who was who.  By the third book that was no problem, once I matched up their distinguishing feature (glasses, style of hair, freckles) I had no problem whatsoever.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 5

The supporting cast is equally as enjoyable as the main characters.  I love Kim Pine, Wallace, Stephen Stills and the rest of the group.  The books aren’t just about Scott fighting the evil exes, it’s about this group of friends and their lives, how they react to Scott, trying to get their band going and just trying to survive their jobs.

The sixth and final volume is due July 20th, just in time for the movie and let me say, I’m chopping at the bit for it to come in.  Both stores should have a good stuck of all the books, I highly recommend picking these up, especially before the release of the movies.

Scott Pilgrim Vol 6

Scott Pilgrim Vols 1-6 are $11.95 each.  You can check out the official Scott Pilgrim site HERE or follow Brian Lee O’Malley himself on his Twitter page HERE.

My Scott Pilgrim Avatar

Matt Reviews Green Lantern #55, Pale Horse #1 and Captain Swing #2

A change of venue…

So the Alltern8 gig was fun and I learned a lot, got paid for a bit which was cool but now it’s time for a change again. I do have some new ideas coming up. A new rating system that’s very me, links and perhaps some audio.  Audio? Hmmm we’ll see. Otherwise read on for my reviews for the week!

Green Lantern #55

Green Lantern #55

So I haven’t been overly happy with the Green Lantern story post-Blackest Night. To me it just feels like he’s setting up for the next event.However, this issue chalks up to be one of the greatest Green Lantern books ever. Why? Lobo. More specifically, Doug Mahnke drawing Lobo. Doug Mahnke is one of my favorite artists. He did the art of the fantastic and never collected Hitman/Lobo Special.

Hitman Lobo (find this book!)

Besides Simon Bisley himself, Doug Mahnke is the best Lobo artist. For me this issue is all about the main man himself. Geoff Johns does a great job at capturing what Lobo once was before the 1990s ruined him. The Bo used to be one of THE BEST characters in comics and gods knows how long it’s been since he’s been enjoyable. And not only does Johns write him well, he pits him against Atrocitus. The battles are as brutal and over the top as you can expect and the old Bastich has some great one liners that will make you laugh out loud. Hey there’s even Lobo’s dog vs. Red Lantern kitty Dex-Starr.And ONTOP of all that awesome action and dialogue, there’s a back-up story feature the origin of Dex-Starr  I GOOD KITTY.

Seriously the only bad part of this book is Hal Jordan. He’s become such a pompous jackass I just want to smack him in the mouth. And I think Lobo’s right, time to get over Central City Hal.

Pale Horse #1

I was pleasantly surprised by Pale Horse. Yes I realize this did not come out this week. But we sold out first day on it and finally the reorders have come in. I’ve gone kind of cowboy nuts having recently finished Red Dead Redemption and currently remaking my way through the Sergio Leone movies. I had considered the book when it first came in, but it is a Boom Studios book and I’ve really not found much that I’ve liked from there.

The book take place in 1862 starring a black man named Cole whose Indian wife is brutally murdered by some bandits. Revenge is quick and brutal as goes the rest of the issue. Cole is written very well and comes off as believable and not the typical western stereotype. I’m quite impressed by Christian Dibari’s art, there’s a lot of Guy Davis in there. He’s depictions of violence are just awesomely blood and horrific. I will definitely keep reading this book.

Captain Swing #2

So I got kicked off the Warren Ellis forums. Every time he announced a new crappy Avatar project, I’d simply post “finish Fell and Desolation Jones first.” Both of those great series are halfway or more into storylines that he’s just never gone back to–which to me is a slap to the face of his fans and/or anyone who has put money into both of those books. Both of those series blows away anything he’s done at Avatar or Marvel. But for some reason, he has no interest. And it drives me nuts that he does that to his fans, especially when he does that to me. So after the second time I posted that, Warren himself railed on me about how I don’t know his schedule and blah blah blah NO ONE TALKS BACK TO THE GREAT AND MIGHT ELLIS! Yeah no one does on his forums, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to his forum but I tell you with his fans, his butthole is sparklingly clean. So as it is with my nature, the next new series post, I yet again posted “finish Fell and Desolation Jones first” in which I received my banishment–which made me laugh.

Now with all that being said, after reading Captain Swing maybe I don’t want him to finish Fell and Desolation Jones if this is how he writes now. Captain Swing is terrible, freak’n dreadful. The writing is horrible–the story, ideas and dialogue makes me want to pour bleach in my eyes. The art is standard semi-talented Avatar artist, it’ll give them that. But the main character looks like a recycled Lazarus Churchyard, an old Warren Ellis creation. I actually couldn’t make it through issue 2, it was so bad. I barely made it through issue 1. So maybe I don’t want him to finish Fell and Desolation Jones.