Making a Profit

One of the best TV shows you never saw is finally coming to DVD!



TV Shows on DVD has the news that Profit, the extremely short-lived (just four of ten episodes aired) FOX series will be out on DVD by the end of the summer.



(via Crocodile Caucus)



Now if only we can get Cupid, EZ Streets, Misfits of Science, and the second season of Twin Peaks on DVD, I'll be a happy lad.

Quick Comic Reviews

Queen & Country #26-28

by Greg Rucka

In "Operation: Saddlebags," Tara Chase and her new Minder 3, Chris Lankford, undertake what should be a routine mission to Russia, but after it goes all fubar it causes crises of conscience all along the chain of command. It's another great spy story from Rucka, its only fault being that I read it so soon after the superlative A Gentleman's Game novel. Norton's art is at the top of his game, providing clean and sharp interiors along with some great covers. If I had my choice, Norton would be the regular artist on the series instead of the round-robin art (although most of the artists have been quite good in their own right). After this I think that I'm going to switch over to trades for Queen & Country, since I seem to be holding all the individual issues in a story to read all together anyway.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)




Shaolin Cowboy #1

by Geof Darrow

So, you might see this comic in the shop and be entranced by the pretty cover. Then you might pick it up, leaf through it, and say to yourself: "Hey, this comic has some very nice artwork. I'm going to buy it and take it home and read it." Stop right there! Yes, the artwork is very pretty. But there's no story. None. Nada. It's just a silent guy (with a talking horse) killing a bunch of scum in the wild west. That's it. No plot. No characterization. I only wish I'd been able to warn you all ahead of time. If you see this in a quarter box someday, by all means take it home and look at the pretty pictures. Otherwise, leave it on the shelf. You'll thank me.

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)




Savage Henry: Powerchords #3

by Matt Howarth

They thought they had stopped the other-dimensional alien invasion, but a copy of the infamous dimension-shattering Bulldaggers concert escaped destruction, and unless Henry can stop it from being unleashed we'll all be overrun by The Loud Ones. Can the world be saved? Yes, but only with the help of Lord Lyre, England's Musical Diety, and through the power of... mellow banjo music. Yes, this conclusion may smack a bit of Deus ex Machina, but when you have an Elder God as a member of your band you have to allow for a little divine intervention now and then. As a bonus, this issue also features an in-story discussion of the ethics of bootlegging.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Quick GN Reviews

Gatecrasher: Ring of Fire

by Mark Waid, Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti

Evil other-dimensional aliens are opening trans-dimensional gates and invading Earth, and only the Gatecrashers, an elite secret miltary force, can stop them. The Gatecrashers' secret weapon is Alec Wagner, high school senior and human/alien hybrid. Unfortunately for Earth, Alec would rather go to the prom with his hot girlfriend than save the planet from aliens, much to the dismay of Hazard, the unit's commander. Waid shows an early talent for writing non-super-hero action (though admitedly it's not far from that particular apple tree) and Conner & Palmiotti are in their element with sci-fi action and alien monsters. This is not deep stuff by any means, but it is pulpy good fun.

Rating: 3 (of 5)




Enemy Ace: War in Heaven

by Garth Ennis, Christian Alamy, Chris Weston, Russ Heath; Robert Kanigher & Joe Kubert

It's 1942, and Hans Von Hammer, Germany's Ace pilot during the first World War, has been reluctantly convinced to come back and lead a fighter squadron over the Russian theater. Von Hammer does this only out of concern for the young German fighter pilots, not for any love of the Nazi regime, which gets him into trouble with those more loyal to the National Socialist ideas. But his kill rate and the survival of his squadron cannot be ignored, so Von Hammer is allowed to stay around, until he learns too much about the horrors of modern war. It's nearly impossible to read this and not see parallels with certain present-day armed conflicts, but I suppose that has more to do with the general themes of all war stories. Ennis seems to be strongest when he is writing war comics, and his Enemy Ace is no exception; I suspect that, given his druthers, Ennis would prefer to stay with war stories, as even his horror & super-hero work usually have strong military characters and themes. The art in the first chapter, by Chris Weston over layouts by Christian Alamy, is astounding; I don't think I've ever seen aerial battles depicted in a comic with such fluidity, grace and power. The art in the second chapter is by the legendary Russ Heath, and while it is quite good, it suffers a bit in comparison to the first chapter. Heath appears to be attempting a Joe Kubert look rather than staying with his own style. The colors in both chapters are by Matt Hollingsworth, and they also seem much more vibrant and alive in the first chapter than in the second. It would have been better to keep a consistant look throughout (the story was originally published as two separate 'prestige format' issues). Rounding out this collection is a classic "Enemy Ace" story by Bob Kanigher and Joe Kubert; it's nothing much special, but I'm never going to turn down a chance to look at some Kubert artwork.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Quick Manga Reviews

FLCL, vol. 1

by Gainax & Hajime Ueda

I really wanted to like this. The art by Ueda has a unique, rough style that melds a manga flavor with something resembling Jhonen Vasquez, and the premise--a boy in a slightly surreal Tokyo suburb must help an alien fight robots from destroying Earth--held promise. The problem is that the only reason I know that's the premise is because I read it on the back cover blurb. The story here is totally incomprehensible. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I like to at least have a chance at understanding what my comics are about.

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)




Imadoki! Nowadays, vol. 1: Dandelion

by Yû Watase

Ah, see, now this is how you do a shojo comic. As a new scholarship student at an elite academy, bubbly Tanpopo Yamazaki only wants to make friends. And no matter how much the rich students snub her, she's goign to keep trying until they come around. Her tactic? Start a gardening club! Watase's art is in top form, with strong characters and backgrounds and dynamic yet easy-to-follow storytelling. But it's the personality of the heroine that draws you in. Compared to many mopy shojo protagonists, Tanpopo's sunny disposition and never-say-die attitude is a welcome change. While I tend to burn out on shojo series after a few volumes as they become repetitive (e.g. Kare Kano), I hope that Imadoki! will remain fresh for a while. (Note: Viz rates this 'T+' for 'older teens' though I have no idea why, as there's no reason why younger kids couldn't read and enjoy this. Perhaps things get more intense later in the series?)

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Making Music

Jon Silpayamanant over at Mae Mai has posted a cover of "Dancing Queen" by his band Il Troubadore. Some time back I urged Jon to try this ABBA classic, so I'm glad to get a chance to hear their version, done in a Renaissance band style on mandolin and cello.



And since one musical turn deserves another, I've put up a song I created a few months back: "Peach Pit". Enjoy...

New This Week: December 29, 2004

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop tomorrow:





The pick of the week is the third collected edition of Girl Genius by Phil & Kaja Foglio. If it seems like just a couple of months ago that the pick of the week was Girl Genius vol. 2, well, you're right. And since I know that you enjoyed it, I'm sure that you'll want to pick up volume 3 as well.





In other comics:



Antarctic has the collected edition of Rob Espinosa's Courageous Princess; if you've enjoyed Rob's Neotopia, you'll want to pick up the collection of this earlier work in the same vein. Antarctic also has the sixth issue of Ben Dunn's Heaven Sent.



Avatar has the second of Warren Ellis's Aparat one-shots, Quit City, with art by the wonderful Laurenn McCubbin.



Dark Horse has the first issue of Concrete: Human Dilemma.



DC has the fourth issue of Adam Strange, the debut of the once-again-rebooted Legion of Super-Heroes, and the conclusion of Ed Brubaker's Tom Strong two-parter (issue #30).



Image has Wildguard: Fire Power, a one-shot follow-up to Todd Nauck's mini.



Marvel has the delayed third issue of the latest Kabuki series, a new issue of the much-delayed Ultimate Nightmare (#4), a new issue of Supreme Power (#14), and almost all of the What If one-shots.



Viper has the final issue of Daisy Kutter (#4).



Viz has new volumes of Fushigi Yugi (v. 13) & Inu Yasha (v. 20).





Remember when the week between Christmas & New Years was a true skip-week, and DC and Marvel didn't publish any comics? It was a great time to break out of the mold and try an indy comic or two. So even though DC & Marvel are publishing some comics this week, make it a point to try something off the beaten path; give a title from Oni or AiT/PlanetLAR or Slave Labor/Amaze Ink or Fantagraphics or Drawn & Quarterly or Alternative a try. Who knows, you just may find something that you like!

Rarebits

Last night I dreamed of Marv Wolfman.



I'm not really sure why--I've never actually met the man, and while I've certainly enjoyed many things he's written over the years, I don't think I've read anything by him recently. But dream of him I did.



Marv didn't show up until the third part of my dream; the first part involved me helping out at a public library (but not any public library I've ever been to in real life...) creating a series of displays of children's books for each major section of the Dewey Decimal Classification. This somehow transitioned into a dream where I was in the Babylon 5 universe, aboard a giant Earth battleship. We captured a malignant alien entity and were holding it captive in a stasis prison (whose other captives included one of the Shadows and Mexican General Santa Ana...) The evil alien entity escaped by possessing the body of a female vice-admiral, and as the entity/vice-admiral wandered the corridors of the battleship I found my perspective in the dream morphing into the vice-admiral's, where I was in my body but unable to affect it's actions as I watched the evil alien entity go through its nefarious paces (oh, Freud would have a field day!)



Which brings me to Marv Wolfman. As I turned a corner in the battleship I found myself back to being me again and in control of my own body. I was now in what appeared to be a shopping mall but in the dream I took it to be a convention center. As I turned the corner, I ran into Marv Wolfman. Now I couldn't tell you what Marv looks like in real life, but in my dream he was tall, with slightly greying hair and a goatee, and I instantly knew him to be Marv Wolfman despite the lack of any sort of identifying badge. I wold him how much I liked his wook on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, which is odd because he's never written any. But Marv took my compliment in stride, and asked me which of his works I liked best. I told him that I of course liked his work on Teen Titans, but what I really thought was underrated was his work on the Star Trek comics; I was thinking of the early DC Star Trek, but Marv didn't write those either, although he was the series editor for a time. I was just about to mention his work on The Adventures of Superman when Marv said that he had to get back to a panel he was on; we shook hands and then I woke up.



Not much point to retelling all this actually, except to thank Marv Wolfman for being a consummate professional to a blathering fanboy in his dreams.