Friday Night Fights: Fin Fang Foom vs. Googam vs. Elektro vs. Gorgilla vs. Doc Samson

From Giant-Size Avengers #1 (February 2008). Story & Art by Scott Gray & Roger Langridge. Color by J. Brown. Letters by Dave Lanphear. (click pic for larger)

One Panel? Biff! Sock! Crack! Wham! Thump!

Amazon Top 50

Here are the Top 50 Graphic Novels on Amazon this afternoon. All the previous caveats apply.

1 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
2 (+1). Watchmen
3 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
4 (+1). Diary of a Wimpy Kid
5 (+1). Star Trek: Countdown TPB
6 (+2). Stephen King's Dark Tower: Treachery
7 (-6). Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert
8 (+5). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
9 (+3). V for Vendetta
10 (+4). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 3: Century #1 *
11 (+7). Time of Your Life (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 4) *
12 (+4). Batman: The Killing Joke
13 (-4). Mercy Thompson Homecoming *
14 (+20). Ignorance, Thy Name Is Bucky: A Get Fuzzy Collection
15 (+12). Batman: Arkham Asylum (15th Anniversary Edition)
16 (+3). Serenity, Vol. 2: Better Days
17 (N). The Joker
18 (+11). Wolves at the Gate (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 3)
19 (+12). The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972
20 (+3). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1
21 (N). The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
22 (-2). Batman: Year One
23 (-6). Blueberry Girl
24 (+12). Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 3
25 (+12). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
26 (N). Wolverine: Origin
27 (-16). The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack
28 (-). The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
29 (-14). A Drifting Life
30 (N). The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House
31 (N). B.P.R.D. Volume 10: The Warning
32 (-). Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind
33 (-3). Dark Tower: The Long Road Home (Exclusive Amazon.com Cover)
34 (N). Naruto, Volume 43
35 (N). Weapon X (Wolverine)
36 (-14). Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
37 (-13). The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1)
38 (+6). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
39 (-32). Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster
40 (N). The Gunslinger Born (The Dark Tower Graphic Novels, Book 1)
41 (-15). The Saturday Evening Pearls: A Pearls Before Swine Collection
42 (-17). Bone: One Volume Edition
43 (N). Deadpool Classic, Vol. 2
44 (-23). Batman: R.I.P.
45 (N). Batman: The Long Halloween
46 (-5). Marvel Zombies 3 *
47 (+2). No Future For You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 2)
48 (-6). The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle
49 (N). The Marvel Encyclopedia
50 (N). Watchmen (Absolute Edition)

Items with asterisks (*) are pre-order items.


Commentary:

* Amazon has debuted a couple of new features on their bestsellers charts: one is a green-up/red-down arrow--fairly useless since they don't indicate over what time frame the movement happens--and the other tells how long the book has been in the top 100, which gives some indication of staying power.

* The new Wolverine movie seems to have helped Marvel a bit down near the middle and bottom of the charts, with Wolverine: Origin hopping up onto the chart, Barry Windsor-Smith's Wolverine origin story Weapon X as well, along with a volume of Deadpool (who I believe is a character in the movie).

* Last week I wondered why the Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack had suddenly popped up on the rankings; mystery solved: I've since learned that on that very day, Cory Doctorow gave the book a very positive review over on BoingBoing, so it presumably got the BoingBoing bounce.

* Speaking of bounces, we now get an opportunity to see how the effects of various types of sales bounces can linger: The Huntress Year One collection, which saw a major bounce up to #1 when one person purchased a ton of copies, has now fallen completely off the charts. The Dilbert 20th Anniversary book, which last Friday was the featured Gold Box sales item, is still lingering up in the top ten. The Joe Shuster fetish book had an NPR bounce, and A Drifting Life had an New York Times bounce, and both are steadily falling down the charts.

* A lone volume of Naruto pops up onto the chart after being absent for a couple of weeks. Huh.

Please Get Some Help

Bizarro is brought to you today by Biker Chick.

I began consulting psychotherapists and counselors in my late twenties when I was beset with depression. I've always found therapy helpful in a crisis-by-crisis context, that is to say that I don't just go once a week for years on end no matter what is going on in my life, like Woody Allen or this pampered rich lady I know who actually just needs more attention for her trivial soap-opera-of-a-life than the public is willing to give her. I go when I'm having trouble with something specific like a breakup, a job change, etc., and continue until I've got a grip on it. That's how it works best for me.

My first therapist, the one treating me for depression all those years ago, taught me to monitor my feelings more closely, discern why I react a certain way to certain stimulus, and be more assertive in getting my own needs met. Then she died of cancer. I immediately sought the help of another therapist in dealing with my abandonment issues.

The most important thing about the process is to pick a therapist who is right for you. For those of you considering therapy for the first time, here are some tips about choosing one:

1. Once your therapist begins helping you help yourself, it is quite common to have very strong feelings for them. Some patients even believe they are in love. This is called "transference." For this reason, pick a therapist that you could not possibly imagine having sex with, no matter how drunk you were. If you're straight, pick someone of the same sex, if you're gay, choose someone of the opposite sex. If you've got "daddy issues," choose someone younger than you, etc. My current therapist is an avid fan of reality game shows, smells like damp Fritos, and dresses like a clown.

2.Therapy styles vary widely. Some offer advice and feedback, others sit silently for months and force you to do all the work, claiming the only way one can truly learn is to discover the answers for oneself. Choose the style that is right for you. If you are actually interested in solving your problems and moving on, someone who offers feedback might be best. If, on the other hand, you just want someone to listen to you whine, your friends and family have cut you off, and money is no object, the quiet kind may be just what the doctor ordered. My own opinion is that the quiet kind is little more than a very expensive bartender who serves no alcohol.

3. Run a background check on your therapist. If he or she has a record of extracting personal information from vulnerable people then posting it on a web site with hidden-camera videos of them using their tiny office bathroom, shy away. The legal case can drag on for years.

4. When speaking of your spouse, refrain from expressions like, "I want to kill her." They are required to report this to the authorities.

I hope you have found this list to be informative and that it helps you find help. If you're anything like me, you really need it.

FCBM5 Day 1

It's day one of the Fifth Annual YACB Free Comic Book Month!

Our first selected entry is from Michael Todd. The five comics that Mike listed are:

1. The Walking Dead
2. Fables
3. Transmetropolitan
4. The Invisibles
5. Y, the Last Man

And his other thing of interest is Sci-Fi novels.

With Mike's interest in sci-fi and Vertigo-esque comics, I think he'll enjoy:

THB #3, an issue of Paul Pope's acclaimed sci-fi comic.

For Mike's bonus comic, I'm sending him the Peanuts Halloween comic.

Mike's comics should be in the mail within a week. Enjoy!

There's still time to send in your entry for the YACB Free Comic Book Month; details are here.

Current FCBM Statistics:
5 entries
2 free comics sent so far
30 days remaining

Captain Canada

Today's Bizarro cartoon has been brought to you by Samurai Hitler.

To my surprise, this cartoon attracted some of the most vehement hate mail I've received in a long time. I suppose I should have seen it coming, but to me the joke is an innocuous take on the feeling so many Americans have had in the past eight years of being anywhere from embarrassed about our government, to afraid of retribution from others while traveling abroad. We progressives joked regularly about disguising our citizenship while out of the country and some actually did so with Canadian patches on their backpacks, etc.

To be brutally honest, I think that people who find this cartoon to be offensive have a very childish view of patriotism. I can't find the exact quote, but Al Franken said in one of his books that conservatives love their country the way a toddler loves his mother: she is always right, she can do no wrong, and god help anyone who speaks against her. A liberal loves his country the way adults love each other: you support them and want the best for them so you are not averse to offering constructive criticism, putting your foot down when they misbehave, and refusing to be abused by them. (Al said it much better but you get the idea.)

Some of my favorite quotes on the subject:

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it. – Edward R. Murrow

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it. –George Bernard Shaw

Patriotism is arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles. –George Jean Nathan

I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. –James Baldwin

When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross. – Sinclair Lewis


As for me, when America is contributing to the welfare of its citizens and the world, and upholding the principles on which it was founded, I am patriotic. When it is invading sovereign nations on false premises, torturing its captives, and robbing its poor to feed the rich, I'm ashamed of it. Your results may vary.

I promise tomorrow's post will be funny instead of serious.

The Morning Puke

Bizarro has been brought to you today by Barbie's Bang Mobile.

I don't want to turn this blog into a never ending lecture about the limitless evils of the human species, so I'll just let this cartoon speak for itself.

On a more lighthearted note, my cat is throwing up as I type this. This is her morning puke, another one is scheduled for around 7pm. She eats a small amount of cat food twice a day (her choice, not mine) and moments later throws up everything she has eaten, often right back into the bowl from whence it came. She has been like this for years, yet continues to maintain an average weight.

Were a human to do this she would at first be termed bulimic, but after years of this behavior without losing a pound, would become a source of great medical curiosity.

My other cat, the first cat's daughter, never eats at all. Neither CHNW nor I have ever seen her put a morsel of food in her mouth. Like her mum, she neither loses nor gains weight. The strangest part of this mystery, however, is that the litter box fills up daily. I've lain awake nights trying to figure it out and have come up with the following theories:

1. The cats have found another food source of which my wife and I are not aware. Like a loose floorboard behind the sofa stuffed with tuna jerky.

2. The cats are letting their friends in at night to poop in our box, in an attempt to cover the fact that they are vampires.

3. The cats don't really exist, I am experiencing early-onset dementia.

If any of you have any more reasonable theories, please let me know. I could use the sleep.

May is Free Comic Book Month 5 at YACB!

May is rapidly approaching, so it's time for the Fifth Annual Free Comic Book Month!

May 2 is Free Comic Book Day, but here at YACB one day isn't good enough. For the fifth straight year, we'll be giving away free comics every day of May!

That's right, free comics! Each day of May I'll pick someone to receive a free comic, taken from my personal collection: duplicates, things I have in trades, and other stuff. My goal is to match up people with a comic that they haven't read but that they may like. My tastes are wide and varied, so chances are I have a comic for you.

And by free I mean free. Really. No cost, no shipping & handling, all free.

Here's what you need to do to enter:

By email (superman@umich.edu), send me the following:

* Your name
* Your postal address
* Titles of five comics that you like
* One other thing that you like (a book, a movie, an activity, etc.)
* Please include 'FCBM' in the subject line

That's it! For every day of May I'll choose at least one entry and try to match up that person with a comic, then I'll mail the comic to him or her. It's easy, and it's free!

(Note that this year I'm adding one more piece of entry data: something other than a comic that you like. I hope that this will make things a bit more interesting and help me better in fitting you with a comic.)

Last year I gave away 106 comics to 47 different people!

Of course, there are a few restrictions:

* You must be 18 or older
* You must live in the United States
* You may enter at any point during May, but only one entry per person.

And a little bit of fine print:

* Persons receiving comics are chosen by me, based on whether I feel I can provide a comic to you
* Even if you've entered in previous years, you're welcome to enter again
* I'll try my best, but there's no guarantee you'll actually like the comic I send
* All winners will be announced here on Yet Another Comics Blog (please let me know if you don't want your real name used)
* At least one winner will be selected each day, but it may take me a few days to get to the post office, so please be patient
* I will not use your address to spam you, nor sell or give your information to others

But wait, there's more!

Each person who has a free comic chosen for him/her will also receive a copy of the 2008 Halloween ashcan edition of either A Peanuts Halloween or Walt Disney's Donald Duck. (Let me know if you have a preference, though no guarantees; and if I go overboard again his year and run out I may substitute something else.)

That's right, two free comics! How could you ask for anything more?

So what are you waiting for? Send in your entry today!