Quick DC Crossover Reviews

Countdown #44
by Paul Dini, Adam Beechen, Carlos Magno & Jay Leisten

Countdown is quickly moving into disaster territory. Each week brings 20-odd pages of set-up, but any big event--like the Rogues killing The Flash--happen off panel in another book. I'm not one of those opposed to the Mary Marvel-gets-Black Adam's-powers storyline per se, but it takes up eight pages in this issue and not much happens. The Jimmy Olsen story holds some interest, but it's moving slowly. And I fear for poor Holly Robinson, a fave character stuck into this book and drawn like a supermodel. Finally, the back-up "History of the Multiverse" would probably be better served as links to WikiPedia. And who the heck ever wanted to see Monarch return?

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)


Amazons Attack #3
by Will Pfeifer & Pete Woods

In general I enjoy Pfeifer's writing; Finals is one of my favorite 'forgotten' Vertigo minis, and I'm enjoying his current work on Catwoman. So it's sad to see him struggling under the editorial plot hammer of Amazons Attack. Clearly there's a reason why everyone in this book is acting like a pod person, but by this point the plot and reasons need to be revealed and the story moving on to the next act. At least Peter Woods' art is pretty.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)


Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1
by Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, & Dave Gibbons

Let's end on a high note: This is how you kick off a crossover. Sinestro gathers up the final members of his anti-Corps, including some nasty, evil villains, and the surprise big bad is revealed on the last page. This is prologue, but it's a prologue where things happen, secrets are revealed, and a sense of dread hang over it all. It gives a sense that this is going to be an important and exciting event, not because the marketers tell us it's going to be important and exciting, but because the story makes it so. Story-driven event comics? What a concept!

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

New This Week: June 27, 2007

Based on the NCRL, here are some comics you may want to look at picking up at your friendly local comic shop tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is the first volume of The Collected Toupydoops, Kevin McShane's modern take on Roger Rabbit. Good humor, interesting characters, and a few keen observations on the comics and movie industries.


In other comics:

Dark Horse have the first Buffy Omnibus and a collection of Dwight T. Albatross' The Goon Noir.

DC have the second Showcase Presents Batman volume; the Green Lantern Sinestro Corps Special; and new issues of Blue Beetle (#16), Countdown (#44), Jack of Fables (#12), and Supergirl and the Legion (#31).

Dynamite Entertainment have a new issue of The Boys (#8).

Fantagraphics have a new issue of Castle Waiting Vol. II (#7).

IDW have a new issue of Fallen Angel (#17).

Image have new issues of Invincible (#43) and The Walking Dead (#38); and the final issue of The Nightly News (#6).

Marvel have a digest collection of Ant-Man; the first issue of the regular X-Men: First Class series; the 200th issue of the adjectiveless X-Men; and new issues of Criminal (#7), Daredevil (#98), Marvel Adventures The Avengers (#14), She-Hulk (#19), Thunderbolts (#115), and X-Factor (#20).

Oni have a collection of the humorous Maintenance.

Viz have several manga tankobans, including the 10th volume of Hikaru no Go.

Vertical have the third and final volume of To Terra.


Should be something that strikes your fancy, yes?

New Library Comics: Week of June 18, 2007

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection last week:


Africa comics 2003 : antologia del Premio Africa e Mediterraneo = anthologie du Prix Africa e Mediterraneo. /Sasso Marconi (Bologna) : Africa e Mediterraneo : Lai-momo, 2004.

Armstrong, Robert. Mickey Rat /Los Angeles, Calif. : Los Angeles Comic Book Co., c1972- no. 3

Baker, Kyle. Nat Turner /New York : Kyle Baker Pub., 2006-2007. vol. 2

Baker, Kyle. The new Baker /Woodstock, N.Y. : Kyle Baker Publishing, 2003- no. 1

The book of Joe : the art of Joe Coleman /Los Angeles : Last Gasp/La Luiz de Jesus Press, 2003.

Breitkreuz, Laurie. A monk's tale /[Calgary, Alta.] : Konsequential Studios, 2002- nos. 1-3

Brunetti, Ivan. Misery loves comedy /Chicago, Ill. : Paisano Pub. Co., 1989- no. 2

Burgoon, Charles. Odd /Coldwater, Mich. : Ghost Train Press, [1994]- nos. 6-7

Crumb, R. Mr. Natural /San Francisco, Calif. : San Francisco Comic Book Co., c1970- no. 3

Crumb, R. The people's comics /San Francisco, Calif. : Golden Gate, 1972.

Crumb, R. The people's comics /Princeton, Wisc. : Kitchen Sink Enterprises, 1976, c1972.

Darcy, Dame. Meat cake /[Seattle, WA] : Fantagraphics Books, 1993- no. 15

Drippytown comics & stories. /Vancouver, B.C. : Drippytown Manufacturing Concern, 2001- no. 5

Espinosa, Rod. Neotopia /San Antonio, Tex. : Antarctic Press, c2003- no. 1

Fetch, Toc. The most Pope Joey /Woodstock, N.Y. : Abanne Ink, [2001]- vol. 3 no. 1

Fingerman, Bob, 1964- Monkey jank /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics, 2000- no. 1

Gipi, 1963- Garage band /New York : First Second, 2007.

Howarth, Matt, 1954- Faith of the foe /Denver, Colo. : Fandom House, c1987.

Howarth, Matt, 1954- Fix /Providence, RI : Brave New Words, c1990.

Igort, 1958- Baobab : a graphic novel /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, c2005- no. 2

Ilano, Romy. Miromi /Berlin [Germany] : Romy Ilano, 2004- no. 1

Kochalka, James. American elf : the collected sketchbook diaries of James Kochalka, /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, c2004-. vol. 2

Kurtzman, Harvey. Harvey Kurtzman /Seattle, Wash. : Fantagraphics Books, 2006.

Lutes, Jason. Houdini : the handcuff king /New York, New York : The Center for Cartoon Studies, Hyperion, c2007.

Maconi, Gianluca, 1977- I delitti di Alleghe : romanzo a fumetti /Ponte di Piave (Treviso) : BeccoGiallo, 2005.

Magnus, 1939-1997. Le centodieci pillole /Roma : Nuova Frontiera ; Collana Eldorado, [1986]

Mangamover. /Bromley, Kent : Boychild Productions, 2004- no. 1

Mauled! : True stories of people attacked at the zoo. /Hoboken, NJ : Manual Comics : House of Twelve Comics, c2003- no. 1

Mavric, Igor. Marcinelle, storie di minatori : cronaca a fumetti /Levada di Ponte di Piave (Treviso) : BeccoGiallo, 2006.

McFadden, David. McFadden's Funnies /Pittsburgh, Pa. : McFadden's Funnies, 1999- no. 101

Mineshaft. /Brattleboro, VT : Mineshaft, c1999- nos. 14, 16, 17

The 'Nam magazine. /New York, N.Y. : Marvel Comics, 1988- nos. 1-2

The new crew. /Massapequa, NY : Personality Comics, 1991- no. 1

O'Donnell, Peter. The Official Modesty Blaise /Granada Hills, Calif. : Pioneer Comics, 1988- nos. 1-5

Ōtomo, Katsuhiro, 1954- Memories /New York : Epic Comics, 1992- no. 1

Parisi, Paolo, 1980- Il sequestro Moro : cronaca a fumetti /Levada di Ponte di Piave (Treviso) : BeccoGiallo, 2006.

Pekar, Harvey. Another day /New York, NY : DC Comics, c2007.

Pekar, Harvey. Our movie year : American splendor : stories /New York : Ballantine Books, 2004.

Periphery. /Redondo Beach, Calif. : O-P-P, 2004- nos. 1-2

Schulz, Charles M. The complete Peanuts, 1963 to 1964 /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books ; New York : Distributed to the book trade by W.W. Norton, c2007.

Stevens, Karl. The natural selection /[Westminster, MA : Atom Publishing, 1998- nos. 1-3

Taniguchi, Jirō. The times of Botchan /Tokyo : Fanfare/Ponent Mon, c2005- vol. 3

Tezuka, Osamu, 1928-1989. Phoenix /San Francisco, CA : Viz, c2003- vol. 10

Toffolo, Davide. Pasolini /Bologna [etc.] : Coconino Press, 2005.

Trondheim, Lewis. Mister I /New York : NBM ; London : Turnaround [distributor], 2007.

Science Idol

The Union of Concerned Scientists is running Science Idol: The Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest. You are asked to vote on which of 12 science-related editorial cartoons is your favorite. Voting is open through July 23.

New Camera

I got a new camera this morning: a Canon PowerShot 1000 "ELPH". So now I can bore you all with photos like these of our comics and graphic novel collection here at the library:



One side of the graphic novel shelves. Mostly US stuff on this side.




The other side of the graphic novel shelves. Non-US stuff over here: Canada, UK, Europe, Asia.




Close-up of Tezuka's Buddha on the shelf, with annoyingly-placed spine labels.




Close-up of graphic novels.




Another Close-up

Monkey Covers

Sunday is Monkey Covers day here at YACB. Because there's nothing better than a comic with a monkey on the cover.

Detective Chimp is looking for clues on Brian Bolland's cover to Helmet of Fate: Detective Chimp #1.

(Standard disclaimer chimpanzee detectives not really being monkeys applies.)

Image courtesy of the GCD. Click on the image for a larger version.

FCBM3 Wrap-up

Free Comic Book Month 3 finally wrapped-up earlier this week (I suppose it should be "Free Comic Book Month-and-a-Half"!). Everybody who entered got a free comic! Participation was down this year with only 49 entries; correspondingly, the number of free comics I gave out was also down to just 111. Nearly all of the entires were new people who hadn't entered in previous years.

The postal increase in mid-May was brutal; sure the price of letters only went up a couple of cents, but the price for mailing comic-sized envelopes went up significantly more, and the Media Mail rate went up a whopping 34% (making it usually more expensive than first class for lighter-weight items like comics).

FCBM always brings increased traffic to the blog, and May 2007 was my biggest month yet. However, traffic overall has been way up in 2007, so the bump from FCBM3 wasn't nearly as pronounced as t has been in past years.

Now for my favorite part of the wrap-up, the list of most popular comics that were listed by entrants:

11 people: Fables

6 people: All-Star Superman; Y, the Last Man

5 people: The Spirit

4 people: Astonishing X-Men; Birds of Prey; Daredevil; The Walking Dead

3 people: Amazing Spider-Man; Astro City; Batman; Death Note; Ex Machina; Flash; Hellboy; Incredible Hulk; Invincible; Invisibles; Justice League of America; Justice Society of America; Robin; Runaways; Scott Pilgrim; Spider-Man; Superman/Batman; X-Factor

2 people: Action Comics; All New Atom; Bone; Castle Waiting; Detective Comics; DMZ; Fantastic Four; Fell; Hellsing; Hitman; Manhunter; Marvel Adv Avengers; Marvel Zombies; Planetary; Promethea; Punisher Max; Sandman; She-Hulk; Sin City; Superman; Top Ten; Transmetropolitan; Usagi Yojimbo

Plus another 95 titles listed by just one person each.

Thanks go out to everyone who linked to FCBM3, including: Rob, David, Shane, Johanna, Lyle, and Michael.

And of course thanks to everyone who entered!