YACB Bulletins

ITEM! The WCBS-TV piece "A New Golden Age of Comics?" is remarkable primarily because it is edited so as to eliminate a consistant narrative and undermine the points that it is trying to make.

ITEM! Beleagured Alias Comics puts out a press release last week trumpeting the release of Victoria's Secret Service #1 this month--too bad it doesn't actually ship from Diamond in December.

ITEM! When a classic geek band and a seminal surreal comix artist get together, the results have to be good! Kim Deitch animates a short music video for They Might Be Giants with "Trees" (click on the link that says 'Dallas'). (via FLOG!)

ITEM! My Holiday Mix over on Yet Another Music Radio was a big hit. I mean huge! Who knew people would like my eclectic blend of Christmas music so much? But all good things must end, so I've put up a new mix: 2005 Favorites, featuring nearly 3.5 hours of some of my favorite tracks from the past year. Stop by and give a listen when you get a chance.

New This Week: December 29, 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 tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is Roadsong, vol. 1 by Allan Gross & Joanna Estep, the latest OEL Manga from TokyoPop. I met Estep briefly at SNAP! and ever since I've been greatly looking forward to this tale of musicians, sibling rivalry, and the mob.


In other comics:

Antarctic have issue #70 of Fred Perry's Gold Digger, which is odd because issue #69 came out just last week, and I'm sure that ol' Fred didn't turn #70 out in just a week...

Dark Horse have the penultimate issue of BPRD: The Black Flame (#5) and the debut volumes of their Harlequin Manga lina, A Girl in a Million (pink) and Response (violet).

DC have a trade of Lex Luthor: Man of Steel; the 6th Fables collection; and new issues of All Star Batman and Robin (#3), JLA Classified, and Solo (#8 - Teddy Kristiansen, with a story by Neil Gaiman).

Del Rey have a new volume of Negima! (vol. 8).

Drawn & Quarterly have a new issue of Jason Lutes' Berlin (#12).

iBooks have the 3rd volume of Blacksad, which is sure to have stunning art.

IDW bring back Peter David's Fallen Angel (#1).

Marvel debut Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (must... avoid... obvious... joke...); and bring us new issues of Black Widow 2 (#4), Daredevil (#80), Drax the Destroyer (#4), She-Hulk 2 (#3), Ultimate Spider-Man (#88), X-Factor (#2), and X-Men and Power Pack (#3).

Speakeasy have a new issue of Rocketo (#4).

Sunday Press Books' Little Nemo in Slumberland hits comic shops, although don't count on getting a copy if you didn't pre-order.

Must be the last shipping day of the month, becuase TokyoPop is dumping a ton of product in comic shops (just in time for Christmas shopping!)

W.W. Norton's Will Eisner's Contract with God Trilogy hadcover also shows up.


That's all for this last week of the year. If you find yourself with a few extra dollars, please consider donating to your favorite charity--your last chance for a tax deduction for 2005!

YAFL: Semifinal Results

Results of Semifinal Playoff Games:

1. Power Pack 62
5. Inferior 5 plus 6 62

2. Nine Pound Hammers 53
6. Danger Unlimited 87

(Inferior 5 plus 6 advances on the basis of the 1st playoff tie-breaker: most touchdowns scored.)


Results of Consolation Games:

3. Kickers Inc. 73
7. Tomorrow Syndicate 34

4. B.P.R.D. 86
8. www.rickgebhardt.net 52


Next week's games (final games of the season):

Championship Game:

5. Inferior 5 plus 6 (8-7-1)
vs.
6. Danger Unlimited (9-7-0)


3rd Place Game:

1. Power Pack (11-4-1)
vs.
2. Nine Pound Hammers (11-5-0)


5th Place Game:

3. Kickers Inc. (10-6-0)
vs.
4. B.P.R.D. (9-7-0)


7th Place Game:

7. Tomorrow Syndicate (7-9-0)
vs.
8. www.rickgebhardt.net (7-9-0)


Good Luck to All!


In my other fantasy leagues I had a pretty good week: I won the consolation bracket in my public league with a 57-45 victory; and scored a respectable 314.20 points in my Pass & Kick league (still in last place though). I didn't do so well in my Basketball league, losing 2-6 to remain in 7th place (25-37-2).

YACB Bulletins

ITEM! Rivkah posts the results of her coloring contest. It's very interesting to see how different color schemes can really influence the character of the drawing.

ITEM! Tom Spurgeon reports over at The Pulse that Sunday Press Books has nearly sold out of its first 5000 copy printing of Little Nemo in Slumberland – So Many Splendid Sundays, even though the book is priced at $120 and was generally unavailable through traditional book outlets. We've ordered one copy for our library, and one of the historical libraries on campus has another.

ITEM! Love Manga asked a bunch of manga companies, creators and bloggers what there favortie manga of 2005 were, and compiled the results.

ITEM! Chris Butcher notes that, with a movie adaptation on the way and interest starting to peak, Frank Miller's 300 is unavailable to retailers, costing retailers and Dark Horse (and Frank Miller) sales. Dark Horse seems to have a history of not being able to keep trades in stock/print and missing out on obvious tie-in opportunities.

ITEM! I'm pretty sure that it's technically out-of-print, but Amazon has 5 copies of Moto Hagio's A, A' available to order. If you're looking for a way to spend those Amazon gift certificates you got for Christmas (or whatever your seasonal gift-exchanging holiday of choice) this would be an excellent thing on which to spend your money. (Thanks to David Welsh for the pointer.)

ITEM! The Pulse profiles Tania del Rio and her work on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Coming from Archie and not from a mainstream manga publisher, del Rio's OEL Manga work doesn't receive the same level of interest as other titles, but for my money she has been turning out consistantly entertaining work and has me interested in a comic that I ordinarily wouldn't care a lick about.

Christmas Covers - December 25

For each day of December until Christmas I've been featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

We finish this season's celebration of Christmas covers with a portrait of Madonna and Child from the cover of 1957's Treasure Chest #234.

We'll be back in December 2006 with twenty-five more holiday-themed covers (and for those of you who have been patriently waiting, we'll be back to Monkey Covers next Sunday!)


(Need some music to get you through the holiday gift unwrapping? Tune in to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)

Christmas Covers - December 24

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Santa is leaving toys for all the good girls and boys on the cover of Dell Four Color #1274.

Come back tomorrow for our last Christmas cover of the season.


Just 1 more 'get-up' until Santa!


(Can't wait for Santa to arrive? You can pass the time by listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar and Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away..)

CBLDF Fund Drive - Goal Achieved!

We've now reach our goal for the Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive--a whole day early! Ten people have joined or contributed to the CBLDF at the $25 level or higher.

Thanks to everyone who participated--togther we've raised over $500 dollars fo the CBLDF. I'm heading over to their Website right now to make my own $250 contribution.

We'll be back next December to do this again next year.

Have a Happy holiday!

Christmas Covers - December 23

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Rudolph & Santa soar through the winter skies on Sheldon Mayer's cover to All-New Collectors' Edition #C-53.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 2 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Want to brighten up your holiday? Listen to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

YAFL: Quarterfinal Results

Results of Quarterfinal Playoff Games:

1. Power Pack 71
8. www.rickgebhardt.net 41

4. B.P.R.D. 55
5. Inferior 5 plus 6 74

3. Kickers Inc. 80
6. Danger Unlimited 85

2. Nine Pound Hammers 64
7. Tomorrow Syndicate 51


Semifinal Games:

Championship Bracket:

1. Power Pack (11-4-0)
vs.
5. Inferior 5 plus 6 (8-7-0)

2. Nine Pound Hammers (11-4-0)
vs.
6. Danger Unlimited (8-7-0)


Consolation Bracket:

4. B.P.R.D. (8-7-0)
vs.
8. www.rickgebhardt.net (7-8-0)

3. Kickers Inc. (9-6-0)
vs.
7. Tomorrow Syndicate (7-8-0)


Good luck to all (and don't forget about Saturday games!)


In my other leagues, I won my consolation bracket game in my public league 77-60, and scored just 168.25 points in my pass and kick league (still in last place). I also got trounced 7-1 in my basketball league.

Quick Christmas Comic Reviews

The annual Marvel Holiday Special anthology is a mixed bag: "Christmas Day in Manhattan" by Mike Jenkins and Mike Carey does nothing for me. The story for "Moleman's Christmas" isn't much to speak of, but it has great fun art by Roger Langridge. The best of the lot is the Jeff Parker-written "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santron," an Avengers Christmas party gone horribly and humorably wrong, drawn by Reilly Brown & Pat Davidson, and worth the price of admission on its own.

Rating: 3 (of 5)



I can't put my finger on what seems wrong with Paul Dini's Jingle Belle: The Fight Before Christmas. The art is good, the writing is fine, but it just seems to be missing some of the spark and life of previous Jingle Belle outings. There are three stories here, with art from Stephanie Gladden, Jose Garibaldi, and J. Bone. Maybe there's just a bit too much someness in the stories by now?

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



Veronica #166 features three stories, all drawn ably by Dan Parent. The first, "A Dickens of a Tale," is a riff of sorts on A Christmas Carol, with holiday spirits visiting Veronica in her dreams to try to get her to change her spoilish ways. Graig Boldman's story "Garment Lament" is not holiday-related; Mike Pellowski's "Party Time" has Veronica feeling unfulfilled by holiday shopping, so she decides to throw a party instead. I've always found a comic featuring the self-centered Veronica to be a tough sell, and for Christmas stories that goes doubly so. As a foil for Betty for Archie's attentions she works well, but on her own it's difficult to empathize with a spoiled rich teenager.

Rating: 2 (of 5)



Betty and Veronica #213 has four stories--all by Kathleen Webb, Jeff Shultz & Al Milgrom--(plus a one-page filler), three of which are Christmas-related. The formula is in full effect here: Veronica is rich and spoiled, Betty is lower-middle-class and wholesome, and for some reason the two of them remain friends. IN other words, it's pretty much what you'll expect from a Betty & Veronica comic, with some holiday settings thrown in.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)



The Justice League Unlimited cartoon is perhaps the best ever animated super-hero show, and the comic book based on the cartton version of the Justice League is a welcome companion. Justice League Unlimited #16 is a Christmas-themed issue by Adam Beechen, Carlo Barberi & Jim Royal that find the junior members of the league assigned to monitor duty on Christmas (along with Shayera keeping an eye on them). A crisis erupts, of course, with a super-villain escaping prison to try to visit his kid on Christmas. This is a good solid holiday super-hero tale that gives some of the minor ADCU (Animated DC Universe) characters a chance to take center stage. (For all of you out there complaining that the regular DCU is too dark, why aren't you buying the ADCU titles?)

Rating: 3 (of 5)



The high-energy seizure-inducing Teen Titans Go! cartoon has never appealed to me, and despite my usual admiration for J. Torres, Todd Nauck & Lary Stuckers comic work, I have to say that this high-energy faux-manga issue-long fight scene in a mall at Christmastime from Teen Titans Go! #25 leaves me with the same impression. I did like the little chibi gag strips that showed up at the bottoms of some of the pages though--that gave the entire enterprise a sense of fun.

Rating: 2 (of 5)




Dan Slott revisits his chararacters from this year's darkly humorous GLA mini in the GLX-Mas Special. He's joined by a number of artists--Matt Haley, Geroges Jeanty & Drew geraci, Ty Templeton, Paul Grist, Mike Kazaleh, and Mike Wiering & Karl Kesel--to tell a series of stories and vignettes about the group of well-meaning but hard-luck heros as they try to cope withe the holiday season. It is alternately funny, wistful, melancholly and insightful--easily the best holiday-themed comic of the year. Hopefully we'll see more GLX at some point in 2006.

Rating: 4 (of 5)

Christmas Covers - December 22

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Ho Ho Ho! Its Santa-Thing, wishing you a Merry Christmas on the cover of Man-Thing #3 by Liam Sharp.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 3 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Looking for your Christmas-Thing? Try listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Previews-o-Rama part 2: The Middle

Back with part 2 of Previews-o-Rama for December:


About Comics have a one-shot collection of Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin, classic work by Bill Loebs that I've never heard of before, but should be good. Loebs is at his best, I think, when he's drawing what he writes.

More Keif Llama from Matt Howarth at Aeon. By this point, I've probably gotten all of you that I can to read Howarth, right?

I wonder what the chances are that any of this month's Alias solicits will actually ship? I see that they've raised their prices though--surely a result of the new Diamond policies--but let's face it, what a struggling publisher with an image problem really needs to win readers over is to increase the price of their comics.

Amaze Ink/Slave Labor have a new issue of Rex Libris , which should be cool.

Antarctic's Oz: The Manga gets an epilogue issue (you just thought the 8-issue limited series was over at 8 issues!), and Rob Espinosa starts up a four-part full-color adaptaino of Alice in Wonderland. Also, the Ninja High School: Hawaii Pocket Manga has already been pulled from Diamond's shipping schedule, which must be some sort of record for quickest cancellation.

There's more monkey fun with Ape Entertainment's Go-Go Gorilla and the Jungle Crew Winter Fun Special.

I've read the black-and-white version of David Petersen's Mouse Guard, and it's just as charming as the preview pages here make it out to be (even if story was a little light).

COnsidering the Claypool is struggling with the new Diamond cut-offs, it's a shame that the solicit for the jump-on issue of Soulsearchers is accompanied by the wrong cover, an issue of Deadbeats...

You know, the Sci-Fi Channel's movie version of Painkiller Jane wasn't half bad; but even though I have very little memory of the comic, there was very little in the movie that seemed to be related to the story of the comic. But hey, now there's a new comic, from D.E., so you can be sure that each issue will have multiple covers, and be late (although Jimmy Palmiottu & Lee Moder aren't known for their lateness, so maybe there's hope...)

Does anyone else find it ironic that Josh Blaylock isn't self-publishing his How to Self-Publish Comics? (And in what universe does this need to be a four-issue series with each 32-page issue at $5?)

For some reason I'm finding it difficult to work up much entuiasm for any of this month's offerings from Drawn & Quarterly and Fantagraphics.

Alas, Thieves & Kings raises its price to $3.50. It's still worth it, though.

You know, I vowed at one point that I was never going to be buying any of IDW's $3.99 comics, as they broke my $3 rule for price on 32-page comics. But dammit, now I'm buying five titles from them this month (Angel, Spike vs. Dracula, Fallen Angel, Maze Agency, and Supermarket).

Now that they've raised the price to $5, I'll be dropping the monthly Knights of the Dinner Table magazine. It's hard to begrudge them, as the thing is 80-pages long, but I'm really only interested in teh 20 pages of comics in each issue, so it's really not worth it. But now that they're rapidly catching up with the Bundle of Trouble collections, I think I'll wait and read them that way.

Queen & Country: Declassified II finally gets collected. I've been missing my Q&C fix (I'm #2 on the wait list for the new novel from the public library...)

Pantheon has a graphic novel adaptation of the A Scanner Darkly movie; but really, you should just read the original novel, as it's one of Philip K. Dick's best.

Puffin have two of the Graphic Classics that should be of interest to you because of those providing the art: Alex Niño on The Call of the Wild, and Becky Cloonan on Dracula.

OEL from TokyoPop this time out include Ross Campbell's The Abandoned and the second volume of I Love Halloween (just in time for Valentines Day!). There are also new volumes of Beck and Telepathic Wanderers.

Viz have a new volume of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix.

Back in the books section you'll find two very good Larry Gonick books: The Cartoon Guide to the Environment, which is informative without being too preachy; and The Cartoon Guide to Sex, the best sex-ed book I've ever read (I wish we'd had it as a text back in sixth-grade health class!)


Okay, that wraps it up for this month--sorry this second part was so late. If you'd like to see Previews-o-Rama return on a permanent basis, please use the comments and tell me so.

Quick OEL Manga Reviews

The Dreaming, vol. 1
by Queenie Chan
TokyoPop, $9.99

I love gothic-style stories, so it's a treat to read this first volume in Queenie Chan's new OEL title. This comic has it all: a remote location, a boarding school in an old mansion, a dark forest, mysterious old ladies, secret twins, and seances. The twins in question, Amber and Jeanie, arrive at an old exclusive Australian boarding school, and are soon caught up in mysterious late-night happenings and other spooky stuff. Honestly, I eat this stuff right up! Chan's art is very good. She gives her characters a manga-style look without being derivative, her backgrounds are strong without being overpowering, and her layouts flow well. The tones are good too, providing excellent balance and enhancing the art. In all, this is the strongest of the TokyoPop OEL titles that I've read so far.

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)



Serenity, vol. 1: New Bad Girl in Town
by Buzz Dixon & Min Kwon
Real Buzz Studios, $7.97

Serenity Harper, the new girl at school, it short and mad at the whole world. She swears, gets in fights, and tries to steal boyfriends. Luckily for her, the James A. madison High School Bible Club decides to take her under their wing, and is determined to introduce her to Jesus Christ, whether or not Serenity knows that she wants to be. I'm all for having positive religious messages in comics, but Serenity is so full of cliched characters and situations that it's nearly unbearable. Kwon's figure art is good at aping a manga style, but her layouts could be stronger and the backgrounds, when they appear, are merely servicable. For its intented audience--Christian youth who want a manga fix--I suppose this will do, and the comic doesn't completely shy away from teen-oriented issues (e.g. sex). But I prefer religious themes in my comics that are more challenging (e.g. Testament--golly but I miss Metron Press.)

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Christmas Covers - December 21

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

That sly dog Archie Andrews makes time with both Betty and Veronica (while a couple of elves look on!) on the cover of Archie Giant Series Magazine #15.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 4 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Invite your best girl(s) over for a little holiday lovin', and put on Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

YACB Bulletins

ITEM! Lots of interesting things to be found in reading over Comixpedia's List of 25 People in Webcomics for 2005 (link via Tom), including that Svetlana Chmakova's CosmoGirl manga strip is available online; Andrew Ford and Michael Kelleher's Rib is now being published online via 01comics; and both Finder and Girl Genius have seen their trade sales increase significantly since going to online-only for their serial publication.

ITEM! Shawn Hoke, who writes the very good Size Matters mini-comics blog, named YACB as one of his 365 Things I Enjoyed in Comics This Year. Thanks Shawn!

ITEM! I need to read Photon Torpedoes more often. Contributor kidflash has a good rundown of the Levitz-era Dream Girl; and warlock has an appreciation of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez on Atari Force.

ITEM! Kevin notifies us that Catherine Leamy has a new issue of her Geraniums and Bacon mini out. I reviewed the first two issues back in February, and liked them a lot, so sometime soon I have to PayPal her $2 to get issue #3--and you should too (and get the others while you're at it!)

ITEM! Chris Sims, over at Chris's Invincible Super-Blog, has been spotlighting some fun Christmas-themed comics, including Marvel Two-in-One #8, Marvel Team-Up #127, and Santa Claus in the DC Universe. It makes for fun holiday reading!

ITEM! Less than 5 days left in the Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive, and I'm still looking for five more people to step up and support the freedom to read, sell and create comics. I don't want to have to beg, but it's getting near crunch time people!

New This Week: December 21, 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 tomorrow:


The pick of the Week is Flying Lessons, the third volume of Andy Runton's charming Owly from Top Shelf. I realize that some people find Owly to be too sweet and charming, but I find it to be enjoyable, and I think that Runton has a real skill in telling wordless stories. If you don't like friendly anthropomorphic forrest animals, you probably hate puppies too. And Christmas. In which case, what are you doing here?


In other comics:

Alias have the TPB of David: Shepherd's Song, collecting the 3-issue mini. Which is odd, seeing as issue #3 never came out. I suppose maybe they're not publishing #3 because the series was losing money, but for those of us who bought the first two issues--and ordered #3 and not the trade--this doesn't exactly engender any goodwill for a publisher that desperately needs some.

Antarctic have new issues of Gold Digger (#69) and Ninja High School (#134), and a new NHS Pocket Manga too (vol. 7).

Archie have a new issue of Sabrina (#72).

Dark Horse have new issues of Conan (#23) and The Goon (#15).

DC have a second collection of Kyle Baker's Plastic Man (Rubber Bandits), which IMHO contains the strongest issues of Baker's sadly under-ordered run. They also have a collection of Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing (Spontaneous Generation); the debutof Testament; new issues of Birds of Prey (#89), Hellblazer (#215), Lucifer (#69), and Seven Soldiers: Bulleteer (#2); and the third issue of Infinite Crisis, which was originally scheduled for last week, then pushed back to next week, and is now shipping this week.

Drawn & Quarterly have Seth's Wimbledon Green OGN in hardcover.

Fantagraphics have a new issue of Acme Novelty Library (#16).

Marvel have new issues of Captain America (#13), Book of Lost Souls (#3), Runaways (#11), and Supreme Power: Hyperion (#3); plus a digest collection of Jeff Parker's Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four--yes, that Jeff Parker--if you like fun little super-hero stories, you should give this one a look.

Speakeasy finally get a new issue of Elk's Run (#4) out the door, as well as the debut of Shotgun Wedding.


And if you have any money left over, please consider giving to the CBLDF as part of our Second Annual Fund Drive. Thanks!

Christmas Covers - December 20

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Francine & Katchoo set a trap for Santa on the cover of Strangers in Paradise #70 by Terry Moore.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 5 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Don't be a stranger--stop by and listen to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

CBLDF Fund Drive Update

With less than six days left in the Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive, we've had five people notify me of their new membership, renewed membership, or donation. Which means that we need just 5 more people to support the CBLDF at the $25 level (or higher) to meet our goal.

It's been slow going so far, but I have confidence in you--my readers--the heroes--that you can make this happen!

(If you're looking for another way to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, there are still a couple of days left to bid on the original art from the WildStorm vs. Aspen challenge--proceeds go to the CBLDF!)

Marvel's Dot Bomb

I have to say that I'm rather unimpressed by Marvel's new Digital Comics feature.

Representing on screen comic books originally produced for the printed page has a variety of challenges, but they boil down to two:

1) How do you present a page (or a two page spread) as the whole element, while at the same time allowing readers to zoom in close enough to read the words?

2) How do you handle navigation?

Marvel chose to handle problem one by allowing readers to zoom in on individual panels, making the words legible but leaving the pictures pixelated. They handle problem two by offering a large menu of confusing navigational options. It's a rather frustrating experience.

Contrast this with the now-defunct CrossGen Comics far superior Comics on the Web, where users could use the tab key to cause successive word balloons to zoom up to a redable size, and navigation was done with simple keyboard commands. CrossGen also had other features, such as the ability to get rid of the text entirely, or turn off the computer coloring and view the pages in raw inked black-and-white form.

This is Marvel's second try at offering online versions of their comics, and I think that it's actually worse. Hopefully the third time will be the charm...

New Library Comics: Week of December 12, 2005

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


The education of a comics artist : visual narrative in cartoons, graphic novels, and beyond /New York : Allworth Press ; School of Visual Arts, c2005.

Hatfield, Charles, 1965- Alternative comics : an emerging literature /Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c2005.

Kondo, Yuko. Too fat can't fly and other stories /Corte Madera, Calf : Gingko Press, 2004.

Kramer's ergot 5 /Corte Madera, Calif. : Gingko Press, 2004.

Marcel, Swen. David : La Finca /Koln : Mattei Medien, 2004.

Mills, Scott. Trenches /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, c2002.

Prince, Liz. Will you still love me if I wet the bed? : a comic /Marietta, GA : Top Shelf Productions, 2005.

Christmas Covers - December 19

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Tom Palmer paints the cover to Marvels 1985 adaptation of Santa Claus: The Movie for Marvel Comics Super Special #39

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 6 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Bad holiday movies getting you down? Cheer up by listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Christmas Covers - December 18

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

From 1992, Jerry Ordway draws the cover to Adventures of Superman #487, featuring Superman & Bibbo helping out the Children's Aid Society.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 7 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Can't find your Santa suit? Don't worry, you can instead listen to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Christmas Covers - December 17

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

From 1996, Scott Roberts brings us A Patty Cake Christmas.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 8 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Tired of running yourself ragged trying to find that perfect gift? Take a holiday break and listen to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Christmas Covers - December 16

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Today's cover is the 1993 Bone Holiday Special by Jeff Smith.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 9 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Need to get up the nerve to deliver gifts to your personal rat creatures? Get into the spirit by listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

YAFL: Week 14 Results

Here are the results from week 14 of Yet Another Fantasy League:


Moon Knights 46
Kickers Inc. 54

www.rickgebhardt.net 26
The Inferior Five 71

Nine Pound Hammers 53
B.P.R.D. 52

Danger Unlimited 67
Power Pack 61

Secret Six 46
Tomorrow Syndicate 53

Inferior 5 plus 6 68
The Maxx Squad 41


Final Regular Season Standings:

   Team                 W-L-T  Pct   Pts  Streak
   ------------------- ------  ----  ---  ------
*1.Power Pack          10-4-0  .714  875  L-1
*2.Nine Pound Hammers  10-4-0  .714  839  W-6
*3.Kickers Inc.         9-5-0  .643  824  W-1
*4.B.P.R.D.             8-6-0  .571  885  L-4
*5.Inferior 5 plus 6    7-7-0  .500  922  W-1
*6.Danger Unlimited     7-7-0  .500  885  W-3
*7.Tomorrow Syndicate   7-7-0  .500  856  W-1
*8.www.rickgebhardt.net 7-7-0  .500  710  L-1
 9.Secret Six           6-8-0  .429  864  L-2
10.The Inferior Five    5-9-0  .357  785  W-2
11.The Maxx Squad       5-9-0  .357  733  L-1
12.Moon Knights        3-11-0  .214  691  L-3  

Quarterfinal Playoff Games:

1. Power Pack (10-4-0)
vs.
8. www.rickgebhardt.net (7-7-0)

4. B.P.R.D. (8-6-0)
vs.
5. Inferior 5 plus 6 (7-7-0)

3. Kickers Inc. (9-5-0)
vs.
6. Danger Unlimited (7-7-0)

2. Nine Pound Hammers (10-4-0)
vs.
7. Tomorrow Syndicate (7-7-0)


Don't forget--there are 3 games on Saturday this week.

Good luck to all.


In my other Fantasy Leagues it went from bad to worse. My team in my friends & family league completed the humiliating second half of the season by losing 62-33 and falling down to last place (final record: 3-10-1); I won 52-46 in public league, but at 7-7-0 stayed in seventh place (which puts me in the consolation bracket for the playoffs); and in my Pass & Kick league one of my QBs didn't play, and I only scored 137.90--bad enough to drop to last place. In Fantasy Basketball I won 5-3-0, and moved up to fifth place (22-24-2).

National Bill of Rights Day

December 15th is National Bill of Rights Day in the U.S. Established in 1941 by President Roosevelt, it celebrates the passage of the first ten ammendments to the U.S. Constitution. Included in these ten ammendments is the first ammendment, which reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

What better day than today to support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund? And, if you join, renew, or make a donation of $25 to the CBLDF, I'll match your donation--see my Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive for the details.

Remember, it's not just about the money you're donating to a worthwhile cause; it's also about adding your name to the membership roster, showing your support for the freedom to create, sell and read comics. It's about creators, retailers and readers joining together in support of the hobby and artform we enjoy.

Christmas Covers - December 15

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

It's Hulk vs. Santa Claus on the cover of Incredible Hulk #378 by Bill Jaaska & Bob McLeod.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 10 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Do the Christmas blues have you feeling gray? Get into the spirit by listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

YACB Miscellany

A few miscellaneous items:

ITEM: The CBLDF Fund Drive continues, though slowly. So far two people have accepted the challenge, which means that we need 8 more people to join at the $25 level or higher in the next 10 days to meet our goal. Thanks for additional linkage from Ian and Mark (and I think a couple of others too--please post in the comments section if you linked and I haven't mentioned you yet).

ITEM: Monday's Christmas Cover was for the comic book adaptation of Santa Claus Conquerers the Martians. I've since learned that, as the movie is in the public domain (becuase, really, who would want to claim it?) you can get the whole movie in various MPEG formats at the Internet Archive.

ITEM: My presentation last Friday went pretty well. I talked for 30 minutes or so about comics, booktalked a few--different varieties to try to touch on something for nearly everyone--and gave away copies of The Goon 25¢ special. I've put my PowerPoint slides online here in case anyone is interested in looking at them (large file--lots of images). I'm not sure how much it will make sense without my accompanying presentation, but at least you can see which comics I chose to highlight.

ITEM: Yes, I know I owe you all the second part of this month's Previews-o-Rama. I haven't found the time to do it yet--maybe this weekend? Actually content has been fairly light here the past couple of weeks--busy holiday season, you know...

ITEM: The Oni Press store is offering free shipping on orders over $25 through the end of the year. They also have sales on several of their graphic novels, including hte first volumes of Barry Ween, Blue Monday, The Complete Geisha, Courtney Crumrin, Hopeless Savages, Love Fights, Queen & Country, Scott Pilgrim, Sidekicks, and Whiteout--all of which would make for fine Christmas presents for the comic book lover in your life (or for yourself and your after-Christmas money). (link via Johanna)

Christmas Covers - December 14

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

It's Christmas fun with the tots on the cover of Sugar & Spike #26 by Sheldon Mayer. Hey DC, you know what I want for next Christmas? A Showcase Presents Sugar & Spike volume!

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 11 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Need music to listen to while decorating your tree? Get into the spirit by listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

New This Week: December 14, 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 tomorrow:


The pick of the Week is Marvel's X-Factor #1, by Peter David & Ryan Sook. Following up on David's Maddrox mini from earlier in the year, this should prove to be fun, especially with Sook on art (bet let's see how long he can keep the schedule up...)


In other comics:

Amaze Ink have a new issue of Scott Roberts' Patty Cake & Friends (#15).

Antarctic debut the new Twilight X: War mini.

Dark Horse have a new Jingle Belle one-shot; new volumes of Little Lulu (vol. 7) and Samurai Executioner (vol. 7); the first of their too-damn-expensive Nexus Archives; and possibly the Serenity prequel collection.

DC have Will Eisner's Best of the Spirit collection; a collection of the best IC-prequel minis, Villains United; and new issues of 100 Bullets (#67), Authority: The Magnificent Kevin (#5), DMZ (#2), Fables (#44), Firestorm (#20), and Majestic (#12).

IDW have a collection of Smoke.

Image have a new issue of Noble Causes (#15), and the uber-expensive Walking Dead Omnibus.

Marvel have a collection of classic Omega the Unknown comics; ring in the holidays with the GLX-Mas Special and a collection of the GLA: Misassembled mini; a digest collection of the Gravity mini; and an issue of New Thunderbolts (#16).

Oni have the second issue of Local.

Rennaissance Press have a new issue of Amelia Rules (#16).

Finally: Must. Resist. Urge. To Make. Jokes. About. Lateness. Of. Secret War #5. And. Hawaiian Dick: Last Resort #3...

Rats. Failed again.

Christmas Covers - December 13

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Jonah Hex enforces the spirit of Christmas at gunpoint on the cover of Jonah Hex #34 by Luis Dominguez.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 12 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Does holiday stress have you feeling backed into a corner? Get into the spirit by listening to Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

New Library Comics: Week of December 5, 2005

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


Doucet, Julie, 1965- Wahre haushalts-comics /Berlin : Reprodukt, 1995.

Kousemaker, Kees. De wereld van de Nederlandse strip /Warnveld : Terra, 2005.

Viz : the porky chopper : a meaty selection of prime, beefy, lean comic cuts from Viz issues 48 to 52, with stuffing and sausages /London : John Brown Publishing, 1993.

Christmas Covers - December 12

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Today's cover hails from 1966: Dell Movie Classic #725 is a photocover featuring the holiday classic "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians."

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 13 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Are martians in danger of stealing your Christmas? Join the fight against alien invasion by tuning in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Christmas Covers - December 11

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

From 1945, Batman and Robin help Santa with his sack of toys for good little girls and boys on the cover of Batman #27, drawn by Jack Burnley.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 14 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Looking for music while you do your own Santa Clausing? Tune in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Christmas Covers - December 10

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

From 1990, Gary Gianni paints the cover to Classics Illustrated #15, featuring an adaptation fo Charles Dickens' classic story "A Christmas Carol."

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 15 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Looking for a Christmas Carol of your own? Tune in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Christmas Covers - December 9

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Who is that trimming the tree? Why it's Roy Rogers, on the cover of Roy Rogers Comics #49! Good to know that hard working cowboys can take the time to spread a little Christmas cheer!

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 16 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(Looking for a little Christmas cheer of your own? Tune in to free Yet Another Music Radio for our Holiday Music 2005 mix for over three hours of seasonal songs.)


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

YACB Miscellany

A few miscellaneous items:

ITEM: If, like me, you get your weekly comic fix from DCBS, you'll be disappointed to hear that their entire overnight shipment was lost this week. Diamond had to send them an emergency shipment though, and packages are starting to go out now.

ITEM: Tomorrow morning I'm giving a presentation at our Librarians' Forum annual show-and-tell: "Why I Love Comics". I'll be talking to a bunch of university librarians about my history of comics collecting, why I like comics, what kind of comics are out there, and then I'll booktalk a bunch of good comics. I can talk about comics for hours, but alas I only have 20-30 min., which is proving to be rather challenging...

ITEM: Of course, we're forecasted to get 5-8" of snow tonight, so I'm guessing that maybe 5 people will show up at 9am for my presentation.

ITEM: The Comics Webblog Update-a-Tron 6000 XP is back up and running today, so we can all get our hourly comic blog fix. A big thanks to the operators there for linking to my CBLDF Fund Drive, prominently up at the top.

ITEM: Also providing linkage are: Johanna, David, Dorian, Gordon, Graeme, TangognaT, and Scott. Thanks all! (Did I miss anyone--it wasn't intentional if I did!)

ITEM: Alas, response so far has been very underwhelming. So far, zero people have come forward with their support. Come on people--there are no ads on this blog, I give away free comics in May and free graphic novels in August--This is all I ask of you! Once a year, give a tax-deductable donation to a worthwhile comic-related cause, and I'll match your giving. 'Tis the season for giving, you know! I should point out that, unlike last year, you don't have to be a first-time member to count towards the goal. Current CBLDF members can renew and/or give an extra $25 donation, and that counts too.

YAFL: Week 13 Results

Here are the results from week 13 of Yet Another Fantasy League:


www.rickgebhardt.net 70
Kickers Inc. 44

Inferior 5 plus 6 65
The Inferior Five 89

Nine Pound Hammers 71
Moon Knights 59

Danger Unlimited 63
B.P.R.D. 59

Secret Six 42
Power Pack 43

The Maxx Squad 67
Tomorrow Syndicate 24



Current Standings:

   Team                 W-L-T  Pct   Pts  Streak
   -------------------  -----  ----  ---  ------
*1.Power Pack          10-3-0  .769  814  W-2
*2.Nine Pound Hammers   9-4-0  .692  786  W-5
*3.B.P.R.D.             8-5-0  .615  833  L-3
*4.Kickers Inc.         8-5-0  .615  770  L-1
 5.www.rickgebhardt.net 7-6-0  .538  684  W-1
 6.Inferior 5 plus 6    6-7-0  .462  853  L-7
 7.Danger Unlimited     6-7-0  .462  818  W-2
 8.Secret Six           6-7-0  .462  818  L-1
 9.Tomorrow Syndicate   6-7-0  .462  803  L-1
10.The Maxx Squad       5-8-0  .385  692  W-1
11.The Inferior Five    4-9-0  .308  714  W-1
12.Moon Knights        3-10-0  .231  645  L-2

Week 14 Games:

Moon Knights
vs.
Kickers Inc.

www.rickgebhardt.net
vs.
The Inferior Five

vs.
Nine Pound Hammers
vs.
B.P.R.D.

Danger Unlimited
vs.
Power Pack

Secret Six
vs.
Tomorrow Syndicate

Inferior 5 plus 6
vs.
The Maxx Squad


This is the last week of the regular fantasy season, and there are still 4 playoff slots remaining. Should be exciting!


In my other Fantasy Leagues it was bad news all around. I lost my fourth straght in my friends & family league, getting creamed 76-26 (3-9-1, down to ninth place, and just half a game out of last place); lost 85-72 in my public league (6-7-0, still in seventh place); and scored a pathetic 170.20 points in my Pass & Kick league, which kept me in fifth place. In Fantasy Basketball I lost 3-5-0 and drapped back down to seventh place (17-21-2 overall).

Christmas Covers - December 8

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Today's cover is Liberty Meadows #29, with Brandy & Oscar drawn by Frank Cho.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 17 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Christmas Covers - December 7

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" Everyone's favorite lab mice try to take over Santa's job--and the world!--on the cover of Pinky and the Brain #19.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 18 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

New This Week: December 7, 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 tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is Grant Morrison & Philip Bond's Vimanarama collection from DC/Vertigo. It's Bollywood meets Jack Kirby--big and bold and alternately funny and tragic.


In other comics:

Aardvark-Vanaheim & Win-Mill have a new issue of Following Cerebus (#6).

Abstract have a new issue of Strangers in Paradise (#78), as well as the fifth massive SiP Pocket collection.

AiT/PlanetLAR have the collection of Brian Wood & Becky Cloonan's Demo.

Dark Horse have a special 25 cent issue of Penny Arcade.

DC have the finale of David Lapham's "City of Crime" in Detective Comics #814; Showcase Presents: Justice League of America with lots of silver age super-hero fun; and new issues of Gotham Central (#38), JSA (#80), Jonah Hex (#2), Swamp Thing (#22), and Y, the Last Man (#40).

Drawn & Quarterly have a new issue of Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve (#10).

Fantagraphics have a new edition of Charles Burns' El Borbah as well as a new issue of Love & Rockets (vol. 2 #15).

IDW have the return of Maze Agency and the first issue of the new Angel: Old Friends mini.

Image have new printings of the first two issues of Ellis & Templesmith's Fell--so if you missed them the first time, pilgrim, be sure to get these (as well as #3, which came out last week). And you can get the latest issue of Age of Bronze (#22) too.

Kyle Baker has the second issue of his Nat Turner bio-comic.

Marvel have new issues of Powers (#15), The Punisher (#28), Supreme Power: Nighthawk (#4), Ultimate Spider-Man (#87), and Ultimates 2 (#9).

Tetragrammatron Press have the first issue of something called Caveman Robot, which I know nothing about, but that sure is a cool title!

Top Shelf have a new issue of Surrogates (#3).

Viz have a new volume of Banana Fish (vol. 11) and the re-issue of Maison Ikkoku (vol. 14).


That just about does it. If you have any money left over, consider giving to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund--I'll match your contribution if you join at the $25 level. Who knows--the comic you save may just be your own!

Christmas Covers - December 6

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Today's cover is Spider-Man's Tangled Web #21. Artists Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone draw Spider-man with visions of something sweeter than sugar plums dancing through his head!

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 19 more 'get-ups' until Santa!


(And don't forget Polite Dissent's comic cover advent calendar; Love Manga's advent calendar manga give-away; or my own CBLDF Fund Drive.)

Second Annual CBLDF Fund Drive

It's December, so it's time for YACB's Second Annual Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) Fund Drive.

It's styled on the matching-funds pledge drives that my local NPR station does (but without interrupting Car Talk six times in an hour...)

For the period between now and December 24, if 10 people join as CBLDF members at the $25 level (or higher) I will donate $250 to CBLDF.

(To donate, go to the CBLDF Website, click on the link across the top that says 'Membership', the scroll down to the join link.)

Just email me the confirmation email that you get from CBLDF when you make your donation. I'll post periodic updates until the goal has been met. (Please mention in your email if you'd prefer to remain anonymous.)

From the CBLDF site: "The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community."

Update - December 23 We've reached our goal of 10 contributors. Thanks to everyone who participated!

New Library Comics: Week of November 28, 2005

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


Emerson, Hunt. The big book of everything /London : Knockabout Comics, c1983.

Feuchtenberger, Anke, 1963- Mutterkuchen /Berlin : Jochen Enterprises, c1995.

Lecroart, Etienne, 1960- Ratatouille /Paris : Editions du Seuil, c2000.

Mr. Stocca. Les jours etrangers /Belgrade : REX / Samizdat B92, 2002.

Panter, Gary. Satiroplastic : [sketchbook facsimile] /Montreal : Drawn & Quarterly ; New York : Distributed in the USA and abroad by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005- v. 1

Christmas Covers - December 5

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Today's cover is from 1996: Artists Dan DeCarlo & Mike Sagara give us the cover for the Christmas-themed Shanda the Panda #14.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 20 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

Christmas Covers - December 4

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Ty Templeton's cover to The Batman and Robin Adventures #3 features The Riddler setting a Christmas Tree on fire--doesn't he know that you're not supposed to use real candles?

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 21 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

Other Christmas Covers

Over at Polite Dissent, Scott is doing a Comic Book Advent Calendar of his own, but his is more clever than mine, as he's using the issue number of each chosen comic to count down to December 25.

And I'm sure you're stopping in each day to Love Manga, where David & Immelda are using their advent calendar as a contest to give away a free manga volume every day until Christmas. Now that's getting in the holiday spirit!

Be sure to come back here to YACB on Monday as we debut a 'contest' of sorts of our own: our 2nd annual CBLDF fund drive.

Christmas Covers - December 3

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Today's cover is from 1949: Marge's Little Lulu #18 features Lulu giving Santa a helping hand getting back up the chimney (perhaps he ate too many cookies?)

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 22 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

YAFL: Week 12 Results

Here are the results from week 12 of Yet Another Fantasy League:



The Inferior Five 69
Kickers Inc. 73

Nine Pound Hammers 74
www.rickgebhardt.net 71

Danger Limited 85
Moon Knights 34

Secret Six 61
B.P.R.D. 45

The Maxx Squad 37
Power Pack 69

Inferior 5 plus 6 73
Tomorrow Syndicate 99


Current Standings:

   Team                 W-L-T  Pct   Pts  Streak
   -------------------  -----  ----  ---  ------
*1.Power Pack           9-3-0  .750  771  W-1
*2.B.P.R.D.             8-4-0  .667  774  L-2
*3.Kickers Inc.         8-4-0  .667  726  W-2
*4.Nine Pound Hammers   8-4-0  .667  715  W-4
 5.Inferior 5 plus 6    6-6-0  .500  788  L-6
 6.Tomorrow Syndicate   6-6-0  .500  779  W-2
 7.Secret Six           6-6-0  .500  776  W-1
 8.www.rickgebhardt.net 6-6-0  .500  614  L-1
 9.Danger Limited       5-7-0  .417  755  W-1
10.The Maxx Squad       4-8-0  .333  625  L-1
11.The Inferior Five    3-9-0  .250  625  L-4
12.Moon Knights         3-9-0  .250  586  L-1

Week 13 Games:

www.rickgebhardt.net (6-6-0)
vs.
Kickers Inc. (8-4-0)

Inferior 5 plus 6 (6-6-0)
vs.
The Inferior Five (3-9-0)

Nine Pound Hammers (8-4-0)
vs.
Moon Knights (3-9-0)

Danger Limited (5-7-0)
vs.
B.P.R.D. (8-4-0)

Secret Six (6-6-0)
vs.
Power Pack (9-3-0)

The Maxx Squad (4-8-0)
vs.
Tomorrow Syndicate (6-6-0)

Good luck to all!


In my other Fantasy Leagues, I continued my losing streak in my friends & family league, getting creamed 104-49 by my father (3-8-1, still seventh place); had another big loss in my public league (6-6-0, fell to seventh place); and scored a sad 248.95 points in my Pass & Kick league, which kept me in fifth place. In Fantasy Basketball I won 5-3-0 and moved up to fith place (14-16-2 overall).

Christmas Covers - December 2

For each day of December until Christmas I'm featuring a Comic Cover Advent Calendar. Just move your mouse over the image to reveal today's special Holiday comic cover. Click on the image to get a larger version.

Today's cover is from DC's Limited Collectors' Edition #C-43, a "Christmas with the Super-Heroes" tabloid. It features Superman filling in for Santa's reindeer, and an odd assortment of characters hitching a ride with Santa on the sleigh.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 23 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

Preview: Coffee and Donuts

Coffee and Donuts
by Max Estes
Top Shelf. $10.

Dwight and Jules are a couple of anthropomorphic junkyard cats, down on their luck. Tired of living onthe streets, they hatch a plan to rob an armored truck, but not being professional criminals it doesn't go well. Even worse, they run afoul of a couple of real criminals who were planning on robbing the truck themselves.

Truth be told, this is not exactly my cup of tea. The story is very straightforward: the things that happen, just happen. The book is over 100 pages long, but with just one or two panels per page it makes for a rather quick read. But even with that limited layout, Estes tells the story clearly and manages to get a lot of dynamism across. He uses a purposely crude drawing style, with thick lines and distorted proportions. It's the sort of thing that would fall into the Kochalka 'craft is the enemy' camp; if that's the sort of thing you're after, and want it in an all-ages way, then you'll probably want to give Coffee and Donuts a look. (It's in the current Previews for ordering now, and is scheduled to go on sale in February.)

Rating: 3 (of 5)

(A preview copy of Coffee and Donuts was provided by the publisher.)

Christmas Covers - December 1

Last year's Christmas Covers were a big hit, so we're doing it again: twenty-five more comic covers with a holiday theme, in our little virtual comic book advent calendar.

Hover over the image to reveal today's cover, and click on it to see the larger-sized version.

The first Christmas Cover of 2005 is by Bob Moore, from 1951's Walt Disney's Christmas Parade #3.

Come back tomorrow, and every day this month, for a new Christmas cover.


Just 24 more 'get-ups' until Santa!

The Goose is Getting Fat

That's right: Christmas is coming, and it's coming to Yet Another Comics Blog!

Playing now on Yet Another Music Radio is my Holiday 2005 mix, with over three hours of Christmas music.

Starting tomorrow we'll have our 25 days of Christmas Covers, counting down the days until Santa brings us lots of comics and graphic novels and manga for our stockings.

And next week will be the start of my 2nd Annual CBLDF fund drive.

Plus I'll scatter in reviews of holiday-themed comics, and who knows what else?

(And I'm sure you've already seen it, but David & Immelda over at Love Manga will be kicking off an Advent Calendar/Manga give-a-way, starting tomorrow.)

New This Week: November 30, 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 tomorrow:


The Pick of the Week is Jeff Nicholson's Colonia, vol. 2: On Into Great Lands from AiT/PlanetLAR, the second chapter in his alternate world fantasy. I can understand how, with Nicholson's slow production schedule, you may not have wanted to buy Colonia in the individual issues; but now that it's collected, you should really pick it up.


In other comics:

Aeon have the second issue of Matt Howarth's latest Keif Llama: Xenotech series. I get the feeling sometimes that I'm the only person around who loves Howarth's stuff. Won't you please give it a try?

Dark Horse have new issues of BPRD: The Black Flame (#4) and Usagi Yojimbo (#89).

DC have a collection of Warren Ellis's 'reclarified' Ocean; the penultimate issue of Kyle Baker's Plastic Man (#19); and new issues of JLA: Classified (#14), Legion of Super-Heroes (#12), and The Losers (#30).

IDW have a new collection of classic Grimjack: Legend of Grimjack, vol. 4.

Image have a fourth Walking Dead collection; and new issues of Fell (#3) and Ferro City (#4).

Ludovico Technique debut their new high-concept series Living in Infamy. (The concept? Witness protection for super-villains.)

Marvel have the Marvel Holiday Special 2005, anew issue of X-Men and Power Pack (#2), and the final issue of X-Men: Kitty Pride - Shadow & Flame (#5).

NBM have the latest of Rick Geary's Treasury of Victorian Murder: Vol. 7: Abraham Lincoln.

If it's the last week of the month, that must mean that TokyoPop is dumping a pile of books on the market. Among their 30(!) tankobons is the debut of Queenie Chan's OEL manga The Dreaming.

Viper have the final issue of the first Middleman mini (#4)--with monkeys on the cover!


Another relatively short week, so how about spending some of your hard-earned dough on some comics as presents for your friends and family?

The Legion of Librarian Comics Bloggers

Okay, so it's not quite a legion (yet...)

Besides me, there's TangognaT, Redhead Fangirl, and the newest addition: Shelly's Comic Book Shelf.

I'm surely missing one or two, yes?

Anyway, the Legion of Super-Heroes started with just three members, so I think we're well on our way!

Previews-o-Rama part 1: The Front

Yes, Previews-o-Rama is back, at least for this month. We'll see how it goes...


Dark Horse

Hellboy: Makoma is a two-part flashback mini telling a story of the big red horned one in Africa. It's written by Mignola with art by Richard Corben. The preview page looks pretty good.

The chronological Concrete collection continue with the fourth volume: Killer Smile, collecting the titular mini plus a bunch of short stories.

The Territory is a hardcover OGN by Jaimie Delano and David Lloyd. The description summary given doesn't do much for me, but that creative team makes it worth a consideration, as Lloyd doesn't seem to do much comic work these days.

Okay, who the heck asked for a Scarface prequel novel? And wtf is Dark Horse doing publishing this?

Okay now, let's talk Crying Freeman: writer Kazuo Koike wrote Lone Wolf & Cub, one of the best manga series ever; and artist Ryoichi Ikegami is a fantastic artist. Yet I'm telling you to stay away from this series. Why? It starts rather strong, focusing on the titular reluctant assassin; but as it continues, it gets more and more violent and misogynistic. I was reading this when Viz published it many years ago, and its one of the few comics I ever stopped buying because it became too offensive. It's quite a shame, actually. If you need an Ikegami fix, hunt down the out-of-print editions of Sanctuary or, even better, Mai, the Psychic Girl (and hope that Viz sees fit to release those again at some point).

There are a couple more Harlequin Manga as well: Idol Dreams in the pink (all ages) line, and Holding On to Alex in the purple (smutty) line. I know they're probably targeting the February Valentine's Day crowd, but wouldn't it make more sense to space out the releases on these rather than putting two out in the same month?

Fans of horror manga will no doubt be happy to see Octopus Girl and School Zone.

The post-movie Star Wars titles kick off with a 25 cent flip-book issue.

Oh, I'm loving the half-page The Goon strips that Eric Powell is providing in the Previews listings--hopefully they'll be collecte dup at some point.


DC Comics

Paul Pope on Batman: Year One Hundred looks cool (and will probably look just as cool in the inevitable trade collection later in the year).

Hey look: Cliff Chiang is drawing Detective Comics! I suppose it's too much to ask that he'll be sticking around as the regular artists after the OYG (One Year Gap).

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight hits the magic 200th issue. Eddie Campbell writes, and Bart Sears does the art--depending on which Bart Sears shows up, this could be good, or could be an eyesore.

The unnecessary Batman: Gotham Knights finally comes to an end.

Alas, so does the wonderful Gotham Knights, which just goes to show that a major publisher can have a quality, critically acclaimed title and have it still not make it in today's market (see also: Plastic Man).

Superman, Action Comics and Adventures of Superman give us a three-part overview of the history of the Earth-2 Superman, by Joe Kelly, Ed Benes & Dan Jurgens.

Showcase Presents this months brings us House of Mystery: 552 pages of classic silver-age code-approved horror.

Paul Levitz and George Perez on JSA? Sold!

Jonah Hex! Sgt. Rock! And now Warlord!--the 70s are back in a big way at DC. It looks like Bart Sears is using his good art for this book, so it may be worth picking up.

Dude, that's Dawnstar, Blok & Tyroc on the cover of Legion of Super-Heroes #15! If they'd pring back Quislet, Polar Boy, & Tellus my life would be happy (at least for the 15 minutes it would take to read the thing).

Wonder Woman also come to an end (at least until she is rebooted after the OYG)--wouldn't be a Crisis without a Wonder Woman cancelation, would it?

Speaking of Crisis, there's plenty to go around this month, including Superman vs. Superman in Infinity Crisis #5. Look, you know whether or not you're getting this; nothing I say one way or the other will change you mind, will it?

If you're looking for some good, accessible Superman stories, you can't go wrong with the two Superman Adventures digest-sozed collections.

Golly, but all of a sudden CMX seem to be publishing a ton of manga. They're not quite at the TokyoPop or Viz level yet, but they're getting there. Too bad none of it interests me.

John Ridley's Those Who Walk in Darkness was a darn good super-hero novel, so I'll give his new mini-series, The American Way a try.

Hey look: Planetary! Which comic do you think will fall behind first: The irregular Planetary or the suppsoedly bi-monthly Astonishing X-Men?

Along with his Solo issue, Howard Chaykin's City of Tomorrow was one of his strongest efforts in a long time. Hopefully it'll find the audience it deserves in the trade collection.

Those of you late on the Grant Morrison bandwagon will want to check out the Kid Eternity collection.


Image

Bendis's Sam and Twitch finally get a propper trade collection. it was actually pretty good stuff, if I rememebr correctly.

I suppose if I were a big Belle & Sebastian fan I'd be totally stoked about Put the Book Back on the Shelf, an anthology of adaptatios of B&S songs into comics form. I'm not, but maybe you are?

I am, however, toally stoked to see that Jimmie Robinson has a new mini: Bomb Queen. This from the man who brought us the underrated CyberZone, Amanda & Gunn and Evil & Malice.

Hey wait; there was a zero issue of Rocketo? I missed it. It's not worth it to me to buy the whoel colelction just for that, but if you missed this series when it was at Speakeasy, you have a second change to get yourself some slow-moving but pretty pretty comix.

If you're not buying and enjoying Fell or Gødland, there may be something wrong with you; see your family doctor soon!


Marvel

For no good reason, Ultimate Thor steps off the cover of a romance novel and onto the cover of Ultimate Fantastic Four #27, where he hovers myseriously and gigantically over the White House. Note the complete lack of any mention of Thor in he solicitation copy.

Yeah yeah, Astonishing X-Men is back. Supposedly bi-monthly. Figure in the inevitable delays, and I figure you'll be able to buy the trade collection sometime in mid-2007...

The real first issue of Peter David & Mike Wieringo's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man finally hits with the fifth issue.

Sean McKeever and Takeshi Miyazawa deserve your money, so you are buying Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, right? Right? Look, if you don't spend it on this comic, that big bully is just going to beat your lunch money out of you anyway, so you may as well get a good comic out of it.

Ed Brumaker and Michael Lark take over Daredevil--this better be worth losing Gotham Central over, is all I'm saying.

Look: a fun new Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius one-shot. Coolness.

Why oh why do Marvel insist on publishing things like Ares, Doc Sampson, New Mangaverse, Sable & Fortune, and Underworld?--C-list characters by 2nd-tier creative teams that will get no promotion support to speak of? They may be perfectly good comics--heck, one or two of them may even be great--but does Marvel expect these things to sell themselves?

Can I just say how damn happy I am that Peter Milligan is writing an X-Statix mini? Oh, I'm sure it'll sell for crap (see the previous paragraph) but I don't care. I'll be reading it (along with three or four of you other people), and that's enough.

File also under damn happy: Peter David & Ryan Sook doing X-Factor.

Y'know, if Ladronn were doing the interiors of Incredible Hulk, and not just the covers, I'd be tempted to read it again.

Funniest solicitation of the month: The Secret War hardcover collection. Nothing intrinsically funny about the solicit; just the humorously misplaced optimism that issue #5 will come out in time to be collection.

Essential Moon Knight! I missed this stuff the first time around, so I'm happy to see this affordable collection come down the pipe.

Just in case you missed any of it when it came out in comics form, Marvel are dumping ever single House of M story into a collection this month. Cause nothing says oversaturation like eight trade paperbacks.


Whew--I forgot how much work this is! Part 2, the middle, will be along at some point in the near future...