Thank You

An open letter to Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely and Root Nibot & Colleen Coover:

Thank you.

Your comics, All-Star Superman & Banana Sunday, were a bright spot yesterday in an otherwise trully miserable day. They brought a smile to my face at a time when I really needed it.

- Dave

Review: Scott Pilgrim, vol. 2

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
by Brian Lee O'Malley
Oni Press, $11.95


I created a bit of a stir in the comics blogosphere when I reviewed the first Scott Pilgrim volume. I found the video game action sequences that popped up at the end of the book to be too much of a disconnect with the slice-of-life comic that occupied the majority of the book, so much so that I felt the ending ruined and cheapened the whole endeavor. I said so, and many of you, um, disagreed with me. A lot.

In retrospect I was probably too hard on the book, and so I approached volume 2 with a lot of interest. Now knowing what to expect from O'Malley's series, how would I react?

Quite well, actually. Knowing that O'Malley is having a bit of fun by using manga and video game tropes as a metaphor for angsty relationships works, now that I know it's coming. When a fight breaks out between Knives & Ramona in the Toronto Reference Library--well, that's just a lot of fun. Granted, I have problems relating to Scott, an early-20s slacker who has too many women interested in him, but maybe that's just me.

Artwise, O'Malley is at the top of his game. A story like this runs the risk of falling off the storytelling rails, but he keeps things exciting and dynaming while still being clear as to what is going on. (And he tosses a Neko Case poster into the background at one point, which wins him cool points with me.)

I can definitely say that vol. 2 has much of the same that made the first volume such a hit, and contains ebough variation that it doesn't seem like a retread. I'm sure that fans of the first volume have already eaten this up, and maybe O'Malley is bringing me around as well.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

YAFL: Week 10 Results

Here are the results from week 10 of Yet Another Fantasy League:



Nine Pound Hammers 46
Kickers Inc. 43

Danger Limited 95
The Inferior Five 65

Secret Six 42
www.rickgebhardt.net 44

The Maxx Squad 60
Moon Knights 25

Tomorrow Syndicate 35
B.P.R.D. 62

Inferior 5 plus 6 68
Power Pack 83


Current Standings:

   Team                 W-L-T  Pct   Pts  Streak
   -------------------  -----  ----  ---  ------
1. B.P.R.D.             8-2-0  .800  662  W-6
2. Power Pack           8-2-0  .800  637  W-1
3. Inferior 5 plus 6    6-4-0  .600  655  L-4
4. Kickers Inc.         6-4-0  .600  592  L-2
5. Nine Pound Hammers   6-4-0  .600  573  W-2
6. Secret Six           5-5-0  .500  643  L-1
7. www.rickgebhardt.net 5-5-0  .500  479  W-3
8. Danger Limited       4-6-0  .400  618  W-4
9. Tomorrow Syndicate   4-6-0  .400  601  L-1
10.The Maxx Squad       3-7-0  .300  518  W-1
11.The Inferior Five    3-7-0  .300  491  L-2
12.Moon Knights         2-8-0  .200  472  L-6

Week 11 Games:

#
Inferior 5 plus 6 (6-4-0)
vs.
Kickers Inc. (6-4-0)

Nine Pound Hammers (6-4-0)
vs.
The Inferior Five (3-7-0)

Danger Limited (4-6-0)
vs.
www.rickgebhardt.net (5-5-0)

Secret Six (5-5-0)
vs.
Moon Knights (2-8-0)

The Maxx Squad (3-7-0)
vs.
B.P.R.D. (8-2-0)

Tomorrow Syndicate (4-6-0)
vs.
Power Pack (8-2-0)


Good luck to all!


In my other Fantasy Leagues, I lost 57-30 in my friends & family league (3-7-1, seventh place); squeezed out a 49-48 win in my public league (5-5-0, still eighth place); and scored 246.25 points in my Pass & Kick league, which dropped me to fourth place. Fantasy Basketball contunied as well: I got thrashed 7-1 and fell all the way to seventh place.

Team-Up Books

Remember team-up books? These were super-hero series that would have a regular star, who would in each issue team up with a different character (or sometimes group). Marvel had Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-in-One, which featured Spider-Man and The Thing respectively; DC had The Brave and The Bold and DC Comics Presents, which featured their two marquee heroes, Batman and Superman.

Those team-up books are gone now, fallen victim to a market that seems to want longer stories and less variety. Which is a shame, because these team-up books had many advantages: As a reader, you were exposed to new characters, as well as artists and writers that you may not have encountered on their regular books (this was back in the days before creative teams were changed every 11 months). For the companies, they could easily save characters and their logos from trademark & copyright limbo, and the one-off issues and rotating creators meant that inventory stories could be easily slid into the schedule. A win-win for all.

Yes, I know that Marvel Team-Up is back, but its longer stories and rotating casts give iit a very different feel from those old team-up books. And DC is rumored to have a new Brave and the Bold coming out on the other side of Infinite Crisis, but it would seem to be going for a similar take.

As a kid, DC Comics Presents was the first comic that I made a point of getting regualrly (and for many years had a subscription). On a limited budget, I liked the idea of getting a comic that not only featured my favorite character, Superman, in every issue, but also introduced me to a new character every month. Why get a comic with just Superman when you could get a comic that had both Superman and the Elongated Man? It was like getting two comics in one!

I still have fond memories of many DC Comics Presents issues. Some of my favorites were:

#13 & #14: With an adult Superman meeting the Legion of Super-Heroes, then facing off against a possessed version of his own youthful self!


#24: Deadman and Superman never actually meet, of course, which I thought was very cool. Plus the art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez was totally rad, as even my immature 10-year-old tastes could tell.


#26; Green Lantern is possessed (that actually happened a lot in these tales...) and creates AN ENTIRE PLANETOID OF GREEN KRYPTONITE! That is so damn cool! (Also had a free preview insert of The New Teen Titans!)


#27-29: A three parter that introduced Mongul and Warworld, and teamed Superman with The Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, and The Spectre. Superman and Supergirl teaming up to take on The Death Star? Cool! Superman accidently 'piercing the veil' into the afterlife? Cool! All drawn by the cosmic master, Jim Starlin.


#50: Superman teams up with Clark Kent? How can that be?!


#59: Keith Giffen gives us Superman meeting The Legion of Substitute-Heroes while trying to corral Ambush Bug. Still one of the funiest comics I have ever read. Ever.


#61: Superman & OMAC. The real OMAC. Drawn by George Perez. Stick that in your Infinite Crisis pipe and smoke it!


#66: Superman and The Demon. Drawn by Joe Kubert. Even my barely formed fourteen-year-old tastes could tell that Kubert rocked.


#67: Superman and Santa Claus versus The Toyman. Genius. Drawn by the best Superman artists ever, Curt Swan, and with a Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez cover.


#84: Challengers of the unknown, with Jack Kirby and Alex Toth on art. Kirby & Toth!


#85: Alan Moore steps in to give us a Superman story, nominally teaming-up with Swamp Thing.


#87: A Crisis tie-in, with the first appearance of the Superboy of Earth Prime--that's more to stick in your IC pipe!


#90: Freaky, post-Crisis pre-reboot team-up between Superman, Captain Atom, and Firestorm.


Annual #1: Earth-1 Superman & Earth-2 Superman. Plus Earth-3's Ultra Man and the Lex Luthors of All Three Earths! You cannot call your self an Infinite Crisis fanboy if you haven't read this!



Counting the annuals, there were 101 issues of DCCP before DC pulled the plug in favor of the Byrne-revamp and Action Comics becoming (temporarilly) the new Superman team-up book. It's probably the one book that strokes my fanboy memories of the eighties the most. Hey DC--how about a Showcase Presents colelction of DC Comics Presents?

(cover images courtesy of the GCD)

New This Week: November 16, 2005

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 later today:


The Pick of the Week is All Star Superman #1 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely. These are the same guys who brought you one of last year's best comics, We3, made the X-Men really interesting for the first time in years, and gave us the Flex Mentallo series. And now they're doing my favorite super-hero, Superman. I've been anticipating this comics ever since it was announced (I just hope that it lives up to my high expectations!)


In other comics:

Dark Horse have the second chronological Concrete collection, Concrete: Heights.

DC have the first collection of Waid and Kitson's Legion reboot in Legion of Super-Heroes, vol. 1: Teenage Revolution; the debut of Matt Wagner's Batman and the Monster Men mini; and new issues of Birds of Prey (#88), Captain Atom: Armageddon (#2), Fables (#43), Green Lantern (#5), Hellblazer (#214), Manhunter (#16), and Top 10: The Farthest Precinct (#4).

Image have a new Kane collection: Kane, vol. 5: Untouchable Rico Costas & Other Stories.

Marvel have the second collection of Whedon & Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men; and new issues of Runaways (#10) and Ultimate Spider-Man (#86).

Moronik have the second issues of Bug Girl and Dirtboy.

Oni have the final issue of Banana Sunday (#4) (good funny comics make Dave's tummy happy!) and the first issue of Local.

Viz have the sixth issue of Shojo Beat.


That's it. A relatively small week, all things considered. So you have no excuse to not buy All Star Superman #1!

New Library Comics: Week of November 7, 2005

Here are the comics we got in for our library collection last week:



Atak, 1967- Alice : kuss den Mond bevor er schlaft /Berlin : Jochen Enterprises, [1995]

Bennett, Jonathan. Torrential /New York : Smallest Press, c2004.

Brown, Jeffrey (Jeffrey David), 1975- I am going to be small : tiny comics /[Deerfield, Ill. : Jeffrey Brown, c2003.]

Brown, Jeffrey (Jeffrey David), 1975- Last night lasted all morning /[Deerfield, Ill. : Jeffrey Brown, 2003?]

Brown, Jeffrey (Jeffrey David), 1975- Mini sulk /Deerfield, Ill. : Jeffrey Brown, 2003.

Brown, Jeffrey (Jeffrey David), 1975- To Wenatchee /Deerfield, Ill. : Jeffrey Brown, [200-?]

Cole, Allison. Asher Bear makes a pod /[Providence, R. I. : Allison Cole, 2002.]

Cole, Allison. Modern rock /[Providence, R. I. : Allison Cole, 2002.]

Cole, Allison. Sketchbook of frustration; Eight days eight drawings; Modern rock /[Providence, R. I. : Allison Cole, 2001-2002.]

Cole, Allison. Sketchbook party /[Providence, R. I. : Allison Cole, 2002.]

Cole, Allison. Stress mess /[Providence, R. I. : Allison Cole, 200-?]

Collier, David, 1963- Just the facts : a decade of comics essays /Montreal, Quebec : Drawn & Quarterly, 1998.

Crane, Jordan, 1973- The shortcut : which is Chapter 2 (two) of a book without a name /[S.l. : Reddingk, 2002?]

Ferguson, Lee. Freak /Orange, Calif. : Image, 2004.

Harkham, Sammy. Ramsden /[S.l. : Sammy Harkham, 2004?]

Little "dirty" comics /San Diego, Calif. : Socio Library, 1971. vol. 1

MacPhee, Josh. Stop /[Chicago : Josh MacPhee, 2002.]

Moench, Doug, 1948- Slash Maraud /New York, N.Y. : DC Comics, 1987- no. 1-6

Nananan, Kiriko. Blue /Wisbech, Eng. : Fanfare ; Rasquera, Spain : Ponent Mon, [2004.]

Plastic Man. /New York : National Periodical Publications, c1976. no. 14

Richards, Ted. Two fools /San Francisco, Ca. : Saving Grace, a division of Keith Green/Industrial Reality, c1976.

Salazar, Souther. Field trip /[Pasadena, Calif. : Souther Salazar, 2003]

Taniguchi, Jiro. The times of Botchan /Tokyo : Fanfare/Ponent Mon, c2005.

Zero zero. /Seattle, WA : Fantagraphics Books, c1995- no. 17, 19

Review: The King

The King
by Rich Koslowski
Top Shelf Productions, $19.95


Rich Koslowski's career in comics has taken an interesting path. He began as an inker for Archie Comics, and then moved into self-publishing with his 3 Geeks, a series about well-meaning but terminally geeky comics fans. He then moved on to Top Shelf and into 'serious' comics back in 2002 with Three Fingers, a dark look at funny animals and the golden age of animation. Three years later Koslowski is back with The King, his latest Original Graphic Novel that continues his foray into serious comics territory.

There are two stories in The King: The first is that of the title character, a mask-wearing Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas who many feel may be the actual Elvis Pressly. Some believe he has come out of hiding; others believe he is Elvis back from the dead, and some of those believe that The King is a god, worthy of worship and adoration

The more interesting story is that of Paul Erfurt, a sometime reporter whose previous career--as a writer for The National Enquirer--consisted of spinning lies out of the truth. But as the only reporter to whom The King has agreed to tell his story, Paul now has to determine what is true and what isn't, and what is the difference between facts and faith. The King is cryptic in his responses to Paul's questioning, never giving a straight answer, but through his interviews with The King's entourage Paul learns about the transformative power of belief and grace, all from an unlikely source.

Though maybe I'm reading too much into the story. If The King has a fault, it's in the fact that the story is all on the surface, and there's no other depth to the narrative. Then again, I'm not a huge Elvis fan, so mayeb there are allusions that I'm just not hip to.

The King is a good graphic novel, although it could probably have used a bit more humor. The art is strong--probably Koslowski's best work to date--and he paces the story well. It's another look by Koslowski at the sometimes seedy, sometimes redemptive world of entertainment.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

(A review copy of The King was provided by the publisher.)