My haul

Well folks another Poor week for TJ.  Yep Daycare and rent is getting into the old comic funds.

Who would of thought that having a kid was so damn expensive.  Oh Wait... everyone?!? OK, i knew it was going to be expensive but Jesus really can't get my comics on a weekly basis.  Man she must be important to me, especially in a week where the next issue of Batman RIP comes out.

Oh well this made me a little sad so i decided to do something comic related anyway.  i put in my August order for DCBS.

Here is what I Ordered

DC

Ambush Bug #4

Green Lantern Corps #29

Tor #6

Action Comics #870

The Authority #3

Final Crisis: Rage of the Red lanterns #1

Final Crisis: Resist #1

Final Crisis Submit #1

Final Crisis: Revelations #3

Kill Your Boyfriend 

Batman Ego and other Tales TPB

Marvel

Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes #1

Uncanny X-men #503

Guardians of the Galaxy #6

Punisher #63

Immortal Iron Fist Vol 3 Book of Iron PHC

Punisher From First to Last TPB

Indie (and yes i put image and Dark horse in here)

Star Wars Legacy #29 (vector 10)

Golly #3

Sword #12

Terry Moore's Echo #7

Welcome to Hoxford #3

Crossed #1 (and i went for the edition that comes with a poster of the Cover of #0 signed by Ennis and Burrows)

Hatter M The Looking Glass Wars Vol 1 TPB

And of course previews.

Sorry i have been a lazy blogger these last two weeks but the way i look at it it gives some of you slackers a chance to get caught up. Plus i am getting over a horrible cold and don't really feel like typing.

Talk to y'all later

TJ

My Haul and Final Crisis

Ok Folks, My list of shit to get this week was only three comics so how the fuck did i leave the shop with 7. kev for once i am blaming you for at least one of them.

Anyway my haul this week is:

Final Crisis #3 (yeah Bitches)

Detective 847

Nightwing 147

Robin 176(yes i bought into the whole RIP scheme)

Green Lantern 33

The Boys 21

The Authority Worlds End #1 (This better be good Kev)

Ok folks i will give a shiny canadian nickel to the person that guesses the first thing i read.

You better fucking believe it was final crisis 3.

I was a little disappointed in the coloring of this issue.  the colorist was Alex Sinclair and for some reason he decided to make this issue very drab.  I have read plenty of things that are colored by him and usually he is very vivid and the colors just pop off the page.  I felt like i was reading this issue through a fog.  I almost wanted to break out the colored pencils myself here and brighten some of the pages up.

This story was like Grant Morrison saying to Geoff Johns.  "OK Bitch! I see you silver age and raise you with a heaping dose of the Golden age! What the fuck you got." (and kevin really does not want that question answered).  I mean we have fucking All Star Squadron, Alan Scott enacting shit from Roosevelt, fucking Streaky the Wonder Cat.  Holy fuck i think i am about to cum.... Wait for it... please last.... ok there is Dinah in her panties... ok release is done now i need to clean up.

The possibility of tow holders of the anti life equation and Mokari being able to build a computer virus that will infect the fucking world.  Jesus Grant a man needs to rest after that last explosion i can't go twice so fast.

Add on top of that Frankenstein from 7 Soldiers and the Question.  Grant, JG there is only so much in a man please let me take a nap.

Well i really need to relax or my heart is going to explode.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

My Haul

Well This week I actually only had one book at the shop so i decided to be a good boy and wait till next week to pick this up. I know that i have no self control so i would pick up a trade or two and spend way more then i would normally spend if I had a bunch of comics.

My one and only book was the new Green Lantern

Anyway What i will post here is what will be in My DCBS box that is coming this Friday.

DC

Tor #3

Final Crisis Requiem #1

Action Comics #867

Boster Gold #1000000

Reign in Hell #1

Final Crisis Rogues Revenge #1

Ambush bug Year None#1

Green Lantern Corps #26

Justice LEague #23

Marvel

Astonishing X-Men #25

Captain America #40

Invincible Iron Man #3

Thor #10

War is Hell #5

Punisher #59

Criminal Vol 3 Dead and Dying

Indie

Sword #9

totem #6

Echo #4

Zorro #5

Star Wars rebellion #15 (vector part 7)

Liberty Comics (CBLDF One Shot)

Ultra Vol 1 Seven Days

Magazines

Previews

Back Issue #29

Toys

Mantle/Marris two pack from McFarlane Toys

I am really looking forward to the Reign in hell series.  I am hoping that they re introduce Etrigan in a big fucking way. I really see no other reason for them to go crazy and release the omnibus for this character otherwise.  i mean i really think that I am one of six people that have actually asked for it because we are Demon fans.  This character was left a shambles but the cock sucker that is john byrne.  I am also really looking forward to Ambush Bug because there is nothing better then a company that has the ability to poke fun at itself. And lastly, I cannot wait to read the trade Ultra.  This is the first book that the Luna Brothers put out for Image and a lot of people have told me that if you like Sword you will really like ultra.  Well I love the sword so I think i amy need a change of pants after Ultra.

Thats all for now Folks

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

Good Starting Points For the DC Noob

OK Folks, Yet another plug for my show.  I am part of a fucktastic Podcast called the F BombCast. You can get it by going to www.comicbooksavant.com and clicking the link on the bottom right of the home page.(i like putting all differnt ways you can get tot the show in each thread.)

Well we have a very loyal listener named Becca.  She is also a very loyal Marvel reader (don't judge people she has to start somewhere). But she has expressed a willingness to broaden her horizon in to the Wonderful World Of DC Comics.  She made a little mistake though. She decided to pick up a random issue of Green lantern and start there.  Now if there is one main stream character i would never suggest starting randomly on it is probably Green lantern.  his history i a slight bit convoluted and he is a little unknown, not like superman or batman where you would have to be a complete waterhead not to know their back history even a little bit. I mean sure you may not know what robin we're on or if this is Pre or post Crisis Superman (or even what the hell pre or post crisis even means) but the essence of the character is still the same. Not so with characters like Green Lanter, Flash, and don't even get me started on Hawkman or Legion.

So here is what i will do for all you marvelites that want to try the real capes company. You know the one that doesn't hold your hand with the "previously in" page and expects you to do a little homework to understand what the fuck is going on.  I have put together four tra

des that i think would kick start you into a life of good comics.  I should and probably will do more eventually but i do these at work and it really does take me a little bit to put these post together. So here we go:

Emerald Dawn-This is the retelling of Hal Jordans origin for only the second time.  This book is masterfully written by Jim Owsley, Keith Giffen, and Gerard Jones and drawn pretty well by MD Bright and Romeo Tanghal. This was released in 1988-1989 and was s six issue mini series to re introduce people to the character that before this point was relegated to the horrible Action Comics Weekly series.  This was suppesed to be a post crisi reboot just like Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Satan's... oh i mean John Byrne's Man of Steel.  This is a really great read and will fully introduce you to Hal. Also pay attention to the name of his lawyer he 

happens to be a fave of mine (i think that is in this one but it may be

 emerald dawn 2).

Identity Crisis: This is probably my favorite book that has come out in the last five years. This Is written by Novelist Brad Meltzer and Drawn by fan favorite (but i hear writer hated) Rags Morales.  This book is basically a murder mystery and love story all tied into one demented bow.  So Much that is happening now in the DCU is related to this book, be it the mind wipe of Batman, to the spoiler of who the killer is, this book is awesome.

Next up is Superman For all seasons- This is a Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale collaboration.  As much as i am not really a superman fan, i love this book.  This book deals yet again with the origins of superman but relates all eras of his life with a particular season.  the writing is simple yet beautiful and the line work by tim sale can be described the same way.  A little side note about this book, this is the Trade that I gave Kev that got him to start buying comics again.  So some would say i am to blame for his lack of money but I would blame Loeb and Sale.

Last up for today is Flash: Born to Run.  This is by Mark Waid and drawn by Greg Larocque, Jim Aparo, Pop Mhan, and others.This story is about Wally West.  it begins with his time as  Kid Flash and learning how to be a speedster from Barry.  It follows his life up until he actually takes the mantle as the Flash.  really

 humorous and dramatic book of an adolescent not knowing what to do with his life and searching for the people that can help him.

So there are four books to start you on your way folks.  i didn't put a batman title because i already gave you five good ones last time out.  I may have to do one on Batman Year one and Dark Knight Returns Eventually but to be completely honest with you i don't hold those in such high regards as others (shhhh don't tell the DC Gods)

Talk to y'all later, 

TJ

My Haul and my Surprising Read

Ok Folks it was an extremely light week and i didn't have much to read but here it goes.

Superman

and

and

and

Uncanny X-Men 500

I also got the first Morrison New X-Men Trade.

OK Folks if you know me at all then you know I am not a fan of team books nor am i a fan of Marvel or of things in marvel that are laden with huge amounts of continuity. 

So why did i pick this book up? Well my good bud Kevin is a X-man guy and i love talking comics with him so this gives me something to talk about. One of my listeners, Becca, is also an x-geek. so I would like more to talk about with her. Plus she is going to give DC a shot so i feel it is only fair.

This book was written By Bru and Fraction and drawn by Greg land.

The art was really good.  I am a big fan of Greg Land and feel that he is too criticized among the fanboy community. The only problem that I had with the art is sometimes when Land is drawing characters into the background he sometimes leaves off their faces.  C'mon man you want to leave some details off a building OK but Faces are a little important, especially when you are drawing a character whose powers are in His eyes.

The writing was great, if you know Bru and fraction (and by know i mean heard interviews with) then you can kind of tell who is writing which character. Cyclops is all Fraction. The wit, the humor, it was almost like listening to Matt on a panel.

The thing that was great about this book is that even though it is #500 it is a great starting point.  I didn't feel like i was missing out on anything having not read anything really before this.  The characters were well introduced and the villains were very well placed.  I know some of you(kevin) had a problem with way that Scotty boy was characterized. Sorry if he had a little personality now but this is something that always drew me away from the book, now i have a character that i can like (god help you Bendis if you make him a skrull).

So i am on for at least three more issues, but i may need your help Kevin and Becca, if things get caught up in continuity I may have questions.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

Music I like that might shock you

Hello all,  Well for those of you that don't know i do a podcast.  It is called the F BombCast and it is so fun i hope that i comes through on the "air." Get it Here

Well one of the segments we do is "Flashback" where we pick a year and talk about our favorite Movie, Music, and Television that premiered that year.

I've been told that i have a very eclectic Musical Selection so i am going to put up some of my favorite albums for y'all with a brief write up on each

Dr. Dre The Chronic: This album came out when i was a junior in High School. This is Melodic rap at its best.  Between the Jazz undertones and the George Clinton drops and the sultry rhymes this is quite possibly the greatest rap albums ever produced.

George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars: Greatest Hits. Speaking of the atomic dog here he is.  Talk about an awesome band.  The greatest Funk you will ever here.  I saw him in concert last year at a very small venue and man was it enjoyable.  i was surprised that i was not the only white boy in the lounge.

Phish A live one: OK folks I was a pothead.  I would smoke every chance i could. College was a real earth shattering experience for me because i could smoke whenever i wanted to and not be hassled about it.(well except for the law). One day i was walking and someone had this album playing and i stumbled into their room.  They whipped out a huge glass piece smoked with me and put on a twenty minute version of You Enjoy Myself and I was hooked.  They are probably one of my top five favorite bands.(hmm thats a list for the show)

Beatles Abbey Road: Fuck Sergeant Peppers, White album go fuck yourself.  This is the album. I believe this may be one of the finest things ever put on vinyl. From the wacky Ringo songs to come together to all the songs at the end intertwining with each other, this is pure musicianship.

Radiohead OK Computer: This is the album where radiohead stopped being a pop band and went with their artistic side.  The songs told a dismal future and the tale was amazing.  There is a story in the music and this is concept albums at its finest. Karma Police is the hit but man you really need to listen to this album from beginning to End.

Pink Floyd Animals: This is by far my favorite Pink Floyd album.  The story that is told is great, Yeah it is only four songs but this 50 minute album really is one of the greatest things that my ears have heard.

Well thats it for now folks, I was going to look for the album art for all of these but i am getting lazy as it is the end of the day so deal.

Obviously there is a lot more that i like besides this and i will post that too eventually, probably another day that i am bored and need something to post.

talk to y'all later

TJ

JLA 8 & 9

OK Folks the mind is a little foggy today so decided to go as straightforward as Morrison can go.  The Reviews for today are JLA 8 & 9.

This is a two part story that is written by Morrison and Drawn by Oscar Jimenez.

The art is so so for me.  There are panels that art great but then there are

 whole pages that are very murky. ( i am so pissed at fucking blogger right now because i cannot re size the image to the cover of 9. I don't know why this little shit pisses me off so much but i just want this to look semi professional. BAH!!!!) I was happy with the return of Howard Porter in the next arc but this wasn't so bad that it took me out.

The writing is well Morrison. I don't feel like typing this again so please just look down a couple of Posts to the JLA Vol 1 TPB one and it is all there.

This story is about Green Arrow (Connor Hawk) being brought into the fold of the JLA.  When he arrives he is confronted by a villain called "the Key".  This guy has taken all the Justice Leaguers and and put them into containers and initiated viruses into them that makes them see alternate realities of the past and future.  Superman is presented a ring with the death of Tomar Re, Batman is married to Selina and Tim is now Batman (please note this for Batman RIP) and Bruce Jr. is now robin, Flash was presented a speed ring from the death of a new god but his city becomes fast for an hour each day (everyone has flash like powers), Wonder woman is much like Lara Croft and is battling Nazi Zombies with Steve Trevor.  It really was interesting stuff. Plus we get the interludes of Conner having to use his father's trick arrows in order to help the league get out of the Jam.  This is such a fucking fun read. I got it in the second trade of the Morrison JLA run.

Like i said before, The JLA feels like Morrison for beginners but man is it getting very damn good.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

My DCBS Order for shit coming in September

OK Folks just put my DCBS order together for this month and man was it a little big.  If i got everything i wanted then it would have been around $180.  Well i realized that i like being married and there is no way that this would be acceptable. So Cuts had to be made.  I kept it under a hundred with shipping but this is still my highest order with just comics on it.

So here we go, On my order is:

Dark Horse

Star Wars Legacy #28

DC

Final Crisis Revelations #2

Final Crisis Rogues Revenge #3

Ambush Bug #3

Secret Six #1

Reign in Hell #3

Tor #5

Action Comics #869

Green Lantern Corps #28

Jack Kirby's The Demon Omnibus

Crossing Midnight Vol 3 TPB

Image

Golly #2

Dark Ivory #4

The Sword #11

Marvel

Guardians of the Galaxy #5

Thor #11

Astonishing X-Men #27

Punisher #62

Marvel Boy PHC

Indies

Echo #6

RASL #3

Welcome to Hoxford #2

So all in all, a pretty fucking big month for me.  19 comics, 1 Hardcovers, and 2 Trades.  

The things that i cut are : Punisher by Garth Ennis Omnibus, Absolute Watchmen, and Camelot 3000 HC.

I cannot wait to get that Demon Omnibus.  My Favorite Character with his begin tales all in one place.  if i knew one thing about this order it was that book was untouchable.

So there's my list folks, 

Talk to y'all later

TJ

My top 5 semi recent Batman Tales

OK Folks, I posted this on my forums over at the Comic Forums but decided to post this here as well. (BTW you can read our forums at http://www.thecomicforums.com.)

I am really psyched for this new Batman Film.  Since i began reading comics he has been my guy.  I love all thing Batman, Flash and Green Lantern, and from the early reviews this movie seems to be the bomb yo. (that little shout out is to Kevin)

So that got me thinking about different Batman stories that I have read through the yea

rs and there are five that stick out to me. Oh I will be spoiling so shit in them so if you want to avoid the list and just look at the titles go ahead (I'll let you this time.)

So away we go (in no particular order because that would be too much fucking work.):

Arkham Asylum: This is the First Trade I ever purchased.  i was a wee lad  (well i never really was wee) of 13 and bought what i thought was a straight up Batman Joker story.  Man this book should not be read by children under the age of 25.  this is a scary ass book.  Written by the master of Mind Fucks Grant Morrison, this deals with the Joker taking over the asylum and dragging batman down the road of mental despair.  Beautifully illustrated by Dave McKean (most famously know as a collaborator with gaimen) this book will screw with your mind and should probably have the vertigo label slapped on it.  

The Long Halloween: This is basically a Bruce Wayne/Batman and Harvey Dent Story. 

This is the book that introduced me to the Potential of Tim Sale Art.  The first Loeb/Sale collaboration i got was Superman for all seasons which a great story but I have never been that much of a superman guy so it didn't drag me in like a lot of other people.  There is on full page picture of the Joker Just smiling

 that i think is one of my favorite panels in comics.  And the twist at the end of this book Blew my mind apart.  What great shit.  I really hope that Captain America White brings Loeb back into his A game because what he was and what he has become are certainly two different people.

      

       

Knightfall: Now I know that this is the one I will probably take the most shit for.  This book has a lot of sentimental value for me.  See i wasn't like a lot of you that started to read comics when you were little kids.  i started when i was 13 and only because i had a buddy whose aunt was a colorist for DC.  he would get her box of Comped comics and give me a lot of them.  Knightfall was the first comic that I sought out to buy.  This is the story of Bane and his plan to take out the bat.  What happened afterwards was atrocious (and yet another stinky ass thing that Joe Q was attached to.) The one issue that really stands out for me is the One that has Tsasz terrorizing a girls school and holding them hostage by knife point.  Really well written and scary.

Detective Comics #826 "Slayride":  Now I may catch some heat for this one too because this is not really a Batman story.  This story centers around Robin and the Joker, and it is in this issue we get to see some of the most demented Joker scenes of the past couple of years. The one that always stands out to me is where he pulls up to a fast food drive through and they screw up his order.  Instead of complaining he simply pulls out a gun and shoots the window attendant in the face. Plus he has funny quips the whole time.

The Killing Joke:  OK I know i said that these are in no particular order but This one is I think the greatest batman story ever crafted.  yet again Very little Batman involved but the back story of the Joker and the torture and torment that he puts the Gordons through is astonishing.  This is the book that has set the status quo for a lot of characters.  The joker had a history that was comprehensible (DC still has not confirmed the cannon of this history but i like to think it is the definitive origin); This story is the creation of Oracle; This is the story that give Jim Gordon a reason beyond that of just a crime fighter to hate the Joker.  The art is amazing and the story is two shades of awesome.  I think if there is one batman story that all comic readers should read, this is the one.

OK Folks, Thats my top five list for now.  I'm sure as i hit the publish post button some other story will pop into my head but as of right now these are the first five i can think of.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

My haul Flash and Guardians of the Galaxy

OK Folks I made it to the shop this week and actually picked up some books.

I got  (and surprise surprise i still have the note on my iPod so the numbers will be here):

Spiderman 565 & 566 (and officially told my dude that i am done).

Detective 846

Spawn 180

Guardians of the Galaxy 3

Flash 242

Pretty good week.  Must tell you it was kind of sad telling my guy to stop putting spidey in my box.  Maybe I will still pick it up afterwards but now I am not obliged.

Anyway the first book I read over my Italian sub from Jersey Mike's was Flash 242. man was this book awesome. Freddie is really amping it up with the art here.  There was one page that showed half a flash face with half a disintegrating face of another character.  Really good.  Don't know if he will make this page available but if so I really want it.  This is the penultimate issue of the Spin/Grodd. We meet a character that has to be based on the Morloch Leech in looks and in Power (sort of). In stead of leaching powers this character he takes their emotions and sends them out to everyone around.  he had used this power for happiness but now the news organization is using him for fear.  Shit i am getting long winded but overall we see Iris (the daughter not the Grandmother) rapidly age... Get a great set of cans... and ***SPOILER*** she dies in a very horrific manner (well maybe but the coming up section has the unfortunately cryptic Did She?)

Second book was Guardians of the galaxy and man was this book great.  Not going to spoil to much but there is a couple of panels between Mantis and Major Victory. Major Victory has just come out a coma and Mantis is questioning him.  She says to him "So you were part of a group called Guardians of the galaxy?" MV says "Yes." Mantis returns with "So what did you do?" His response "Guard the Galaxy?" I don't know why but this had me laughing.  I really enjoyed this book a lot and can see myself getting this till its canceled. ( and lets not kid ourselves folks this book will eventually be cancelled so i am saying maybe 24 issues if we're lucky.)

Well thats all for now.

Talk to y'all later

TJ

Last weeks Haul

Well, Well, well looks like I missed a Haul post and no one noticed ( sort of a zen thing; If someone forgets to post to a blog that has no readers does anyone care)

Well there sort of is a good reason for the no Post:  I didn't get any fucking comics.  

i only had three coming out so i decided to save them for this week.  but on the other hand i made a comics related purchase.

I shot down to best Buy (man good thing i put that "to" in there otherwise the meaning is completely different and I may have police looking for me.  On that note has anyone here seen the great Gene Hackman movie "The Conversation".  Seriously if you have not then go see it.  Such a good movie based on the importance of infliction.)

Anyway at Best Buy I got:

Batman Gotham Knight

Batman: TAS Volume 3

Batman: TAS Volume 4

and a pink Ink Cartridge (well that's not comic related but I'm sure they use pink ink somewhere)

So i sat down with my Seven Month old on Saturday afternoon and watched Gotham Knights.  I know... i know PG 13 and seven months not right, but hell she has more fun playing with me on the floor while we watched then i think she has had yet.

Gotham Knights was very good. I loved the animation of the backgrounds and the lines were great.  The face models had a little bit to be desired and some had Bruce way to fucking young. 

 I seem to be in the minority here as a lot of people thought it was very boring.  i on the other hand loved the drama that was in each of these 20 minutes shorts.  Yes the first three were a little slow moving but the character profiles that were made here were great and the last three made the movie totally worth the purchase.  The Deadshot one alone was so good i may have paid money for it. I Can't wait to delve deeper into the second disc that has a boss Bob Kane Documentary on it.

OK That's it folks, Go get this disc,

TJ

Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2

Well as promised last wednesday here is my anticipated review of Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2.

This is written by Abnett and Lanning and drawn by Pelletier (sorry about that if those are spelt wrong but you guys know i don't spend a lot of time researching this shit)

Wow i started this fucker this morning and it is too hot for me to put a coherent thought together.

Well the art is very good.  Yeah thats all i got to say there.

The writing reminds me a lot of the Giffen DeMetteis (sorry wrong spelling but don't care) JLA/JLI/JLE.  Very Witty and some characters i feel are spot on.  Rocket Raccoon is worth the price of admission alone.  He a fucking demolition expert raccoon that has a friend that is a fucking twig people. Come on why not give this a shot.  I don't know enough of the other characters to know if they are being written well or not.  i am a big fan of the Dog though.  I mean A&L really know how to write dialect and it shows in the dog that is left over from the russian space program.

Here's what i don't like (which is very little).  And this is a problem i have with a lot of team books.  Some of the characters are very similar (again i do not have any background in these characters at all so if I'm wrong please tell me.) In battle scenes sometimes i feel like i get a quip from Rocket then some dialogue that could be from anyone. then something else from rocket and then something else that could be from anyone.  When a large splash occurs that involves all the characters plus whatever baddie they are fighting sometimes that writing gets very muddled for me.

Well I am continuing on with this series.  I did enjoy it but I loved the first issue more then the second.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ 

Dark Times #12 (Vector part 6)

So today's review is of the sixth part of the Vector Story line interweaving all the star wars titles in Dark Horse.

This issue is Dark Times 12 and is written by Mick Harrison and pencilled by Doug Wheatley.

The art is very good.  I'm not going to say it was amazing but after the art in Knights of the Old Republic anything would be good.  Man was that bad and cartoony.  It almost dragged me out of the story.  I felt like i was watching anime... wait i was supposed to be talking about this one.  The art was good.

The writing was great. The evil beneath Vader and the good and anguish behind Celeste.  All the characters are very different from each other and you can tell their personalities by the way the react to each other.  Good Stuff.

The story her deals with the (and i am not going to check the spelling on this shit) Muur Talisman, a sith artifact.  This talisman has the ability to change living creatures to RakBeast. The controller of the talisman also has control of the beasts' minds.  This is why the talisman is very sought after by Jedi.  Well coming out of KotOR, Celeste had control and she was put in a hibernation chamber to wake up in the future in which she hope the jedi have won.  man was she wrong.  Vader has unearthed her chamber and is trying to mind control her to get it himself.  Now she is faced with a decision, Give in to Vader, give in to her old master, or kill herself.  We are left with her making the decision (which i am not going to spoil for you fuckers because i want you to read this shit).

Here is the thing that really pissed me off about this book.  I really liked it.  Part of the point of a crossover is marketing.  Lets try and get people who do not read these books reading them.  Well it worked , I was all up to continue Dark Times. This is an era in Star Wars lore that really rocks my world.  Well at the end the last page has Vector Continued in whatever the fuck the next book is, and then it says Dark Times will be continued in 2009.  Fuck you Dark Horse.  i am not going to wait five months to start a new series.  You can suck it.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

JLA Vol 1 New World Order

OK people today's review is for the First volume of the Morrison JLA run "New World Order"

This book is Written By the Sober Grant Morrison and drawn by Howard Porter.

The art is great but a little early 90's. That makes sense being that this is when this book came out (well 1997 but its still the 90's right). All the superheroes are a little bulky and muscular and everything is a little over the top.  That being said it is still very pretty to look at and it is done better then some that were famous for this style did it.

The writing is a little different then the Morrison then I'm used to. Very straight forward.  Not anything like Animal man or definitely nothing like the Invisibles (but i don't think my brain can take another invisibles).  But man can Morrison right superheroes.  His batman is great and his Martian Manhunter is amazing (and i hate the martian manhunter so that is saying something).  The only thing that killed this volume for me was the version of supes being used and this is more art then writing. Whoever decided to give superman a mullet should be shot.

This story centers around the formation of the new Justice league and there first mission together.  A new superhero group is on earth and is giving the people what they want; death to super villains. Supes tries to explain that death is not always the way to do things but the human culture doesn't want to hear it.  We learn more and more about the back history of these new "hero's" and what they really are (how's that for not spilling the beans on anything.) The beauty of Morrison's writing is that he gets who is who in the group and you can tell it by the first four issue arc.  He has Batman as the brains and he is the one who first figures out who everyone is.  you can tell by this initial story the love that Grant has for this character.

If you like the JLA then i would definitely suggest giving the Morrison run a whirl. If you are a Morrison fan then this may not be for you. like said before this is not Morrison's normal writing style and it straightforwardness may be a little of putting.  I find that after reading a lot on his stuff, when you are reading him, you are constantly trying to find the meaning behind things.  There is no meaning behind this stuff.  Just a good old fashioned superhero story.  Morrison for beginners is what I like to call it and I found it fantastic.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

My new level of Geek and my hatred of Borders

So first let me tell you about my new found level of geek.

You all know that i like fantasy shit (at least i hope you do since you read this motherfucker).

You all know i love comics.

Well back when i was in HS i used to play so D&D and man was it fun.  I haven't played in like 14 years and the opportunity has come up for me to join a game. So what the hell i did it. 

Now this isn't the normal sit around in the basement get fucking high as shit and pretend your wizards kind of deal. No we are playing over a forum.  That's right folks What used to be a great time of imagination and human interaction has now become: DM post part of story: You react to story: others react to you reacting.  And never will we talk about that.  You can follow our game if you like at callofcthulhurpgfun.blogspot.com. My Character is Jonathan Kellerman. 

The Game I am Playing is called "Call of Cthulhu" and it is based in Lovecraftian (is that a fucking word) mythos.  A lot of people actually do not like this game because there really is no winning or losing.  your character will either die or go crazy eventually.  There is no avoiding it.  The main goal is to stay sane as long

 as you can.  

Now here comes something that some of you may be shocked at (if you can be shocked by a faceless entity on the Internet).  I have never read any Lovecraft. So in searching the borders website they said they had a book that was the complete Lovecraft in stock at the one by my work. Well this has happened to me the last six... yes i said six... times i went there.  i look for the book, can't find it, go to information desk, they look for the book and can't find it.  They say that the computer inventory is wrong sometimes and offer to order me the book.  What the fuck.  How can your inventory be wrong so many god damned times?  I'd hate to be the guy who has to catalog all these errors.  Now the woman that helped me was great.  And i know that it is not her fault.  She looked everywhere for this book. I mean she even looked in the arts and crafts section because she realized how dumb some of the people that work there are.

So I ended getting a different book that had a bunch of stories in it:

So these are the stories that are in the book:

• The Outsider
  
• The Music of Erich Zann
  
• The Rats in the Walls
  
• The Shunned House
  
• The Call of Cthulhu
  
• The Colour Out of Space
  
• The Dunwich Horror
  
• At the Mountain of Madness
  
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth
  
• The Shadow Out of Time
  

So have any of you read any of this shit before and did i get what would be called as a good starter in Lovecraft.  What stories would you recommend me getting that are missing?

Help a brother out reading some good psychological Horror.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

My haul

OK Folks this is one of those great holiday weeks where the Holiday doesn't fuck up comic releases.

Here's what I got:

Batman

Spiderman

The Boys

Guardians of the Galaxy 1&2 (yes Mike and Kevin i do listen to you assholes sometimes.)

I will blog about Guardians of the Galaxy later (most likely tomorrow). But i feel i need to talk about Batman 678.

Holy Fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought Grant Morrison was firing on all cylinders on Final Crisis but this shit is blowing me away as well.

First the Covers!  I may be alone in this but I am getting really fucking sick of Alex Ross Covers.  I mean yeah they are beautiful but they all seem the same to me.  I wish they would let Daniel do a few or more if he had been doing them before this.

The Interior art is a masterpiece. Daniel really knows how to capture the spirit of Batman and combine that with the craziness of the Morrison writing.  Well Done sir!

The writing.  Grant Fucking Morrison. (yeah that's all I need to say)

Bruce Wayne homeless? Check! Addicted to Crystal meth and Heroin? Check! Dick Grayson given so much Thorazine that he has gone crazy and is foaming at the mouth? Check! Jason Todd being chased by a Mime and a guy that looks like the Black Knight of Monty Python Fame? Check! Morrison bringing back a concept that was first introduced in Batman 113 in 1958? Check! All I can really say is Holy Fuck! What a motherfucking read! 

Oh and to check out the Zur-En-Arrh shit from 1958 read this site: DC Encyclopedia

And to understand what Grant is doing to the character, his interview with Comic Book Resources sums it up.  In that interview he said that what will happen to batman is "so much better than death. People have killed characters in the past but to me, that kind of ends the story! I like to keep the story twisting and turning. So what I am doing is a fate worse than death. Things that no one would expect to see happen to these guys at all."

Well, like I said, I will blog about my experience with Guardians of the Galaxy either later today or tomorrow.

Talk to y'all later,

TJ

My Movie taste and Someone I just don't get

OK all. Let me preface this posting by letting you all know what type of movies i like. i will put them as a list.

Drama

• Godfather 1 & 2
  
• Citizen Kane
  
• Casablanca
  
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  
• and recently No Country for Old Men
  

Action (and a lot of these are not straight up action)

• Reservoir Dogs
  
• A Clockwork Orange
  
• Full Metal Jacket
  
• Batman Begins
  
• and recently Iron Man
  

Comedies ( and for the rest of this post this is the most important category)

• Night at the Opera
  
• Monte Python and the Meaning of Life
  
• Dodgeball
  
• Anchorman
  
• Blazing Saddles
  

OK so you can see that i have very eclectic taste. I love screwball comedies as well as movies that make you think.  Sometimes i want to escape reality and sometimes i want to be engulfed in it. Well, that brings me to a Director/writer/producer that i just don't get and it is pissing me the fuck off.

The wife and I sat down last night to watch Wes Anderson's newest flick "The Darjeeling Limited." Now that is two hours i will never get back.  This movies follows three brothers on a trip of self discovery through India as they are trying to get to Tibet to meet up with their mother. All in all this is something i can wrap my head around.  But the writing goes fucking no where.

Know "cool" "hep" people that read my blog, please explain to me why this motherfucker is so highly regarded in your circles. His writing is wooden (much like David Mamet but don't get me started on that one).  Nobody talks like that.  Not one person i know talks in such short witty fucking quips.  I know if any of my friends ever talked like this i would slap them across the face. 

The Directing is good i guess because he is directing his own words that are shit so he knows how it is supposed to go.

Now i have see three of his movies and couldn't stand any of them.  Rushmore is quite possible in the top ten stupidest movies I have ever seen.  The kid is annoying, Bill Murray is annoying, and what was supposed to be funny i found myself giving the "heh" courtesy laugh. Royal Tannenbaums was not very good. better then Rushmore but gay porn with all bears would be better than that. and now this.  

There was one point in this "look how smart I am" film that i turned to my wife and said, "I enjoyed that what a good ending." problem was i looked at the time and we were only 40 minutes in.  i still had an hour to go and there was no point to that other hour. 

So if any of you like this jerk off please let me know why.  I won't criticize you  (unless your name is Kevin because it is fun to be critical of his choices.)

Oh well talk to y'all later,

TJ

Y: The last man Vol 7 Paper Dolls

OK all the Monday review for you is Y: The last man Vol 7 Paper Dolls.

This book is the opus of Brian K Vaughn and Pia Guarra (sorry if i spelt that wrong but i am feeling lazy hence no name checking and no cover art)

The art is amazing.  IT is a little different then most vertigo books that seem to make the art an afterthought. Pia is on top of her game.  (There is also a fill in artist but again feeling lazy and whoever it is meshes so well with Pia that it is hard to tell the difference.)

The writing is amazing. Next to preacher i think this is the best thing that Vertigo has ever put out.  This is a great science fiction political satire.  Vaughn really now how to mesh high drama with humor and not let political ideals get in the way of the story telling.  Through all seven volumes the reader really begins to feel for the characters and learn their motives (you think).

The story in this one was just OK. Vaughn has a way with playing with the time stream where each section takes place at a certain point of time but is not necessarily linear. If you go into the book not paying attention to the section where he puts "5 Months Ago" or hell even "30 Minutes ago" you really can get a lost feeling.  There were points in this volume that i found myself getting a little lost but that may be because of my mind set going in.  We learn a lot of the back story of 355 which was great and we also meet a character that we haven't seen in a while and boy has she changed.  There is church allegory (more specifically catholic allegory) that is kind of witty and not off putting if you are a strong believer in that faith. Anyway this volume was good to move the story forward but not nearly as good as Volume 4 which is still my favorite.

No a little side story.  My wife is a big reader (big as in reading a lot not as in size because my wife is a little thing). She is a fan of Jodi Piccoult and Lifetime (you know guys the channel we try to block on our cable list) put on a movie of her latest book "The 10Th Circle." Like the good husband i am I DVR'd it for her and she watched it last night.  As she was watching I read this trade.  In the background i get the gist of her story.  A HS student is distraught over her boyfriend breaking up with her.  She then get drunk at a party and gets raped by said ex boyfriend. The police are investigating it and this guys life is ruined to the point where it looks like he kills himself.  We later find out (do you all mind if i spoil this chick flick) that the mother pushed the kid off the bridge but it was an accident and nothing happened to the family.

No here was the mistake i made.  After the show was over I turned to her and said "Man you sure read a lot of Drivel."  Mind you I said this while i was reading a science fiction book where all males are destroyed by a virus except one and his pet monkey and we come to find out that the monkeys poop is what is the savior of mankind.  man was she pissed. Oh well

Talk to you later,

TJ

New Feature on side

So I was reading Living Between wednesdays today and i was looking over some of the features she has on her blog.  One was a pull list... well... list.  I thought this would be a great edition to my site so yet again i copied her and added it to  the right.

Oh and you guys should read her blog.  She is very witty and funny.  (and she was at heroes con.  Fuck I forgot to go say hi to her.)  You can either reach her by going to the link on the right or going to http://livingbetweenwednesdays.blogspot.com.

Talk to you later.

TJ

Final Crisis 2

OK Today's review is Final Crisis 2

Written by God and Drawn by his son.

JG Jones is an amazing artist.  His pages are great.  I know there was some people who were questioning his ability of doing sequential art after years of doing mostly covers but man this guy has not lost a step.  Each page is great.  The only pages that kind of had me scratching my head was the semi-splash page that involved the Japanese super team.

The writing is amazing. Each character moves into each other and you can read the words even if the art is jumbled (which it is not for the most part) and still understand what is going on. I know , I know usually people use this as a way to judge the art but i am saying the opposite so fucking deal with it.

I am not going to go into the story much but holy fuck.  Remember what i said before (way back about a month ago) that if you are not steeped in DC knowledge then you may want to jump off or read this with wikipedia open... well I take that back. Fuck the DC Universe if you are not aware of the small little section of the DC Universe that I like to call the Kirbyverse then get the fuck off. (or you can still drool over all the pretty pictures.)  There is so much New gods shit in here that I am sporting a chubby reading the whole thing.  I mean Glorious Godfrey shows up. We learn about Granny Goodness, Simyan and (one of my personal favorites) Mokari, we meet sonny samurai who is being speculated to being the most famous of the sons of the new gods. And there are rumors flying around about the Police Detective that is sort of our eyes for part of the story.  And to end it all we see a certain speedster out racing the Black Racer.  Fuck what a good book.

So that is that. Go get the book and read with your wiki.

Talk to you later,

TJ

My Haul and DC Continuity starting to piss me off a little bit.

OK Folks First My haul:

Amazing Spiderman

Superman (looking forward to see what James Robinson does to this title)

Green Lantern (please end this origin retcon and get on with your fucking story Johns)

Flash (yes I'm still reading this)

 and that's it

Yep Nothing else

Did anything else come out?

FUCK Y"ALL OF COURSE I GOT FINAL CRISIS 2.  

This book was so crazy that i need to read it again and then dedicate a whole blog posting about it.

No what i am going to blog about today is all the wacky shit going on with DC Continuity.

Most specifically i am going to be writing Justice League of America, Booster Gold, Death of the New Gods, and Grant Morrison.

OK so I'm sure you read the interview with Grant Morrison where he came out and said Final Crisis was done before (or at least a good part of it) before countdown and death of the new gods even started.  He also said that the continuity he is going with is the continuity from before either of these "events".  OK i am willing to put these two things aside and just go with Morrison Continuity because we all know "In Morrison I Trust."  Well here is a little problem because DC can't decide which they are going with.

This weekend i read Booster Gold 10 and Justice league 21 (i think, its whatever one had the fucking sightings shit on top) In Booster gold He is rounding up the old JLI crew.  When talking to Mister Miracle he is apologizing for Barda. OK in this book Death of the new gods happened.  In Justice league The trinity are talking about expanding the roster and Dr. Choi is brought up.  Bruce doesn't want him because he believes the the spot should be open for Ray who hasn't been found... i repeat who hasn't been found yet... What the fuck you assholes.  Weren't you there in the Darkseid/Orion battle where Ray was coming out of Jimmy.  Wait a minute in your mother fucking world this battle never happened because Orion Dies in issue one.

I don't care if Morrison wants to ignore the continuity of these two things (hell i think i even prefer it) but can you please have your other fucking books tie into this and not let your writers pick it all willy nilly (yes I said Willy Nilly)

Oh well more posting later probably tomorrow.

TJ

X Factor PHC Maddrox

Been a long time for one of these motherfuckers huh?

Well today My review is for the first X Factor Premier Hard Cover : Maddrox Multiple choices. (seriously did we need that much in a fucking title this book has two fucking subtitles)

This is written by Peter David and Drawn by Pablo Raimondi.

The art had a classic crime movie feel. This is perfect because that is what this is. Well its not a fucking movie people its a comic Follow me people Jesus. While I feel that this art wouldn't fit a book like (holy shit i don't think marvel has a light hearted book, what gloomy dark motherfuckers they are over there) Superman. It is perfect for this one.  A little scratchy at times but not too much and great faces.

The writing is pretty good.  I am not ready to anoint Peter David as the next coming of (insert great writer here) he is definitely adequate.  ( i think i just heard 1000 fanboys' mouths gaping open). He writes Maddrox very well  and gives each dupe such a distinct personality, you know it isn't the original but not so different that it becomes distracting.  i just re read that and my writing is very confusing oh well I'm paid to edit not write. (and you can tell by the grammar in my blog that i have duped the fuck out of these people at this job).

The story centers around Jaime Maddrox and his forming of the XXX Mutant investigators.  He is basically getting the band back together when a dupe that has been knifed shows up and dies.  maddrox , having the ability to get the memories of the dupe, see flashes of Chicago and the murderer and decides he needs to investigate.  Well not to spoil to much he finds the killer and all is good including the Cheesy as ending where someone (sorry x folk way to many people for my corroded mind to remember) says "Jaime we changed the name of the agency to something a little different" and we see them closing the door and it says "X Factor"  Almost made me throw-up in my mouth a little bit.

The one thing that annoyed the fuck out of me and actually dragged me out of the books sometimes is You could tell that David was going for a film Noir style with the title.  You can not only get this by reading the book but David has Maddrox say every fucking moment he can " This is so film Noir." I mean come on man,  if your fucking readers are too stupid to not get what you were going for leave them behind.  There was one specific issue where it seemed like in a two page spread maddrox says that 5 times.  Don't treat your readers like an idiot,  i can get it and don't care if someone can't.

Would i recommend this book,  Hmmmmmm.  Well it is right on the fucking cusp falling towards the good read side.  If you can get it at a really good price it is definitely worth the read.

TJ

My Weekend of fun

So this past weekend was spent with the in-laws (yes all of them) and good time were had by all (can you sense the sarcasm in my typing)

All four of my wife's sisters and her parents came over on Saturday and we headed out to long island on Sunday for her grandfathers 80th birthday party.

This is going to be a rant on a couple family members.  First off my Father-in-law.  This is a man with no social skills whatsoever.  He is truly an asshole and i can't stand to be around him.  i am not alone in this as his whole family feels the same way.  Even his parents questioned my mother-in-law whens she was going to marry him.  We were all sitting around BS'ing and doing family shit and all the man could do was look at my book case and pick up books to read.  Then after looking around and noticing that there were no seats in the living room, instead of bringing over the folding chair that he was seated on and joining the conversation, he went to his car and went to sleep.  He probably would have stayed there all night if my mother-in-law hadn't woken him.  

Let me tell you some stories of my father-in-law.  In my first trip to Maryland (a 5 hour drive mind you) with my wife to visit them (i had met them before at college but this was going to be the first "sleep over" visit), we drove down there and went to the zoo, he met up with us at the zoo and asked me where we were staying.  When i said me and Melissa had a hotel room nearby he proceeded with the "when did you guys get married" rhetoric.  I simply walked away my wife walked up to him and said "we're leaving".  That's right folks i drove five hours was there for less then an hour and we turned around and went home. (this is a mild story and there are a lot more that are worse but i will save those)

This shit happened all the time.  man do i hate this guy.  And he gets joy out of being an asshole.  He likes causing people pain psychologically.  This man couldn't die fast enough (did i just type that). (i just found out what i put there originally might have been construed as a death threat so i changed it.  Don't want to go to jail and all)

So they stayed the night at my place. (yay!)  Next morning we all plan to leave 9:30 but her sisters are not there yet so surprisingly her parents are ready to go at that time (did i mention that they are notoriously late for everything).  I tell him the best way to go.  For all of you who don't know the geography of New Jersey and New York, to get from my house to long island is pretty much a straight line if you take the GWB.  So anyway we leave a half hour after her parents leave and show up at her aunts house.  No parents to be seen.  They show up an hour and a half later because he decided to go south and drive through Staten Island and then through Brooklyn.  A fucking triangle when you could have gone in a straight line.  Fuck what an ass.  I believe that is was all done to avoid a $5.00 toll.  

And to cap a beautiful trip off my daughter decided all of a sudden to not like Car rides anymore and screamed for an hour and a half each way.  Man is that fucking draining.  When you go over the GWB there is a sign saying to report suspicious activity.  i was going to call on my daughter because at that fucking moment i truly thought that she was some kind of terrorist that used Sound Diversion techniques.

What a fucking hassle.  

Well talk to all you fuckers tonight on the show.

TJ

My Podcast

Well it has been out a couple days and I just realized that I didn't plug my own fucking show on my blog.

ME and a couple of buddies decided it would be a good idea to get our opinions out there.  My new podcast started last Wednesday with episode negative 3.  Yeah you heard that right negative three.  That should explain to all y'all the irreverence of the motherfucker.  

The show is called the F BombCast and it is released by my good friend James of The Comic Book Savant.  IN the first episode we explain the show a little bit, talk about beer, comics, movies, porno, and whatever our little vulgar hearts desire.

I will warn you now thought that this show is definitely NSFW (or for all you jerk offs that don't speak in letters Not Safe for Work)(i used to be part of that crowd and still am.  I hate shit that are just acronyms.  is our lives that fucking busy that we cannot say the whole words.  Then you come across One that you don't know and spend 20 minutes just thinking what the hell the letters can stand for.) 

Anyway.  Please give it a listen.

You can get it at: www.comicbooksavant.com/cbs/fbcindex.cfm.

Fuck that was annoying, blogger changed the format on how you put links in here and it took me more then the 5 seconds that it normally does.

I am so tired today because my Daughter decided to be an asshole yesterday but just to me and my wife.  She was pleasant as can be to the rest of the fucking family.  Oh well such is being a parent.

Oh yeah before i forget the podcast also has a blog.  it is fbombcast.bogspot.com (there we go back to under five seconds).  On this blog you will not only find my ramblings but also the rambling of the co host Mike and Kevin.  (Which i am told write a lot like me.  Mike writes like me when i am going on a tear and Kevin when i am taking this a bit more seriously). 

Anyway, Talk to you all later.

TJ

My haul

What a great week.  Nice four issue haul, sun is out, Final Crisis Begins, Podcast coming out tonight, Baby gets up at 5 every morning. Well 4 out of 5 is not bad.

What i got this week:

Final Crisis 1 (my shop only had the Lantern Cover so the decision was made for me on which i would be getting)

Batman

Green Lantern

Action Comics

Well you all know that i needed to get right into Final Crisis as soon as i got into the Fucking deli next store to get my sandwich

This book is written by the holy spirit of my Comics Trinity Grant Morrison, (Would he be anything other then the spirit) and was extraordinarily, beautifully, exceptionally (can i though any more superlatives out there) drawn by JG Jones.

Holy Fuck was this the most fun i have had reading a goddamn comic in a long time.   Morrison is starting off in the red (any car junkies read my blog). We start with Anthro just as Morrison said but who the fuck could have expected Metron to be there.  OK I now just realized that if you are new to DC Jump ship now because you will have no clue about half the shit that is on this book but you can still look at the pictures like a waterhead a drool so whatever buy it anyway.  We then Get into Dark Side (yes that is spelled right motherfuckers) from his Mister Miracle mini in 7 soldiers.  We see some demented kids that have learned the anti life.  Stewart and Jordan come across the dead body of Orion.  The Hall of Justice and the Legion of Doom juxtaposed beautifully.   We even get some tattooed man but Not Abel Torent(i think i spelled that right) but i think it was the guy the torant inked in prison during the vertigo series that came out in 1993 (or around that time). I mean holy shit you have had to have been reading everything DC for about 15 years just to wrap your head around any of this shit.  We see Martian Manhunter being tortured by the villains. and it ENDS (you see the big fucking word ENDS there that means i am Going to SPOIL the shit out of this. SPOILERS ASSHOLES TURN AWAY NOW IF YOU DON"T WANT TO KNOW THAT MARTIAN MANHUNTER IS DEAD)(i guess i shouldn't have typed that last part in big letters.  Oh well you know what they say about hindsight).

We are in for a hell of a fucking ride and I am going to enjoy each and every step.

TJ

My Haul

Pretty Average Size week for me.  Have I mentioned that the great guy that is My LCS owner has decided to skimp out a little bit and stop including Bags and Boards to Subscribers.  He now charges you 25 cents if you want it.  He doesn't know it but that has caused me to order more and more on line.  Oh well for him.

Anyway.  I got

Flash

Spawn

Spiderman

With my hour lunch back i now get to go back to my normal routine which was Get my Books.  Bullshit for a little bit with the owner and then go to Jersey Mikes Sub shop and get a roast beef sub and read a book.  This week I chose flash.

No everyone I think is in agreement that Flash has been Fucking Horrible lately and if you do not agree with that then you are a fucking retard.  (Just kidding... kind of).  Well these last two  (maybe three) issues have to deal with  villain named Spin.  All issue this motherfucker keeps saying that he needs to report to Dark Side.  I was pissed.  I mean not only were they bringing Dark Side back but they are doing it in a shitty book where the author can not even spell the fucking name right.  

OK Folks Follow me here.  I just Finished Seven Soldiers of Victory by Grant Morrison about a week ago (i would of reviewed it but i am still trying to figure out who and what i read).

In there one of the soldiers is Mister Miracle.  No Not Scott Free but some Black Man named Shilo Norman (again i think that is his name but that is the extent of the research you get on this blog). It seems that in the not too distant Future in that book the New gods have Died and been reincarnated as thugs and gangsters.  I really don't know it confused the Fuck out of me.  But the reason i am bringing this up is that the Big Bad and Controller of the Sheeda from the Mister Miracle series was A big black man named Dark Side.  And in this Flash Issue The same black man is there Named Dark Side.  

Morrison is a writing genius.  So who gives a fuck if you don't understand 7 soldiers that was really just ht e fucking prologue for what is about to happen in the DCU.  Morrison had this event fucking planned for something like 5 years and everything else that has happened in the DCU is just to fill time and help people connect the fucking Dots.  

Holy Shit i just realised in the puny little brain i have that the Same Artist was on both of these motherfuckers.  Freddie Williams II is the artist on Flash and Mister Miracle.  My mind is beginning to get blown. 

This is going to be a great ride.

TJ

My New Job

Well people i got a new Job.  

I am still working for the same company but in a much different capacity..

For those of you that didn't know, I worked (and still work for) a cigar company.  I have had a love of tobacco since I was fourteen and when i lost my Job as a stock broker i thought it would be perfect (plus they would hire me which is more then I can say about some Banks). Here's the problem the only job they had open was for a sales associate.  Well i took it; got paid shit;  worked horrible hours; got very bored.  So the next logical progression was customer service.  man I thought order-taking was a piece of shit of a job this was horrible.  Not only was I still talking to customers but now i was talking to the assholes with problems.

Again Got very bored doing this.  So the owners assistant was leaving to open his own store and i was thought of for the position.  Flattered, i thought it was great at first.  I dealt with the million dollar and international customers.  This was great for three months and then Bored again.  the problem i was having is that everything i was doing was the same shit just with different people.  Well now a job opened up for the magazine, Cigar Magazine, that i didn't even think to apply for.

My supervisor came to me and said (paraphrasing of course) , I need a writing sample because i can tell you are bored there and i submitted your name for the editorial assistant position of the magazine. Well i was shocked.  I had no skill sets for this job.  My degree is in Finance for Fucks sake.

Well i Interviewed and got the job.  This means a raise, working exclusively on a mac, and most importantly the return of my hour lunch..  Yeah remember the post i had a while ago ranting like a maniac about my half hour lunch and all that shit.  Well strike that reverse it.  I started the job on Monday and for the past two days I have been able to read three comics at lunch as well as eat.  Holy shit is this great.  I am four issues from being caught up.  Good times are ahead for me and the Blog and The podcast.  Oh Wait i wasn't supposed to say anything about that yet.

Talk to you later.

TJ

My Haul

Well sorry for this being a day late but i promise you that you will be happy for the reason why:

What I got this week:

Batman
Spiderman

Yep that's it sorry that is was kind of uneventful.

Also on a side note i decided not to buy Secret Invasion. i will wait for all you Zombies (and that is an affectionate term) to read it and let me know if it was any good. I got the Prelude "Infiltration" in trade so i think that getting this in trade would be a good idea.

And i Urge all of you to Subscribe to the Comic Book Savant Podcast because big things are coming my friends. Not only was I on the last episode but there is a lot more on the way.

That is all i will say for now.

Talk to you later,

TJ

My Haul

Well people yet another week of Nothing. i am so piss poor i cannot think to spend the $12 to get my four books this week.

But here is what i would have gotten if I didn't order online and if I actually had money

DC
Detective Comics 844
Action Comics Annual 11 (i can't believe i am finally getting an end to this fucking story)
Countdown to Mystery 7
Tor 1

Marvel
Amazing Spiderman 558
Secret Invasion 2

Indie
The Boys 18

I am deeply saddened by the Countdown to mystery title. Not because it is bad but quite the contrary. I love the way Steve Gerber put his spin on the Doctor Fate character and his untimely passing will prevent me from getting and end to this tale. Well let me take that back because DC is finishing the story and i think (if i read it correctly) the way they are doing it is classy as shit. From what i have heard is DC is bringing in a whole bunch of guest writers to complete this story as a tribute to Steve.

And for those of you that are completely unaware of Steve i would highly suggest getting the Howard the Duck essential (its only 16.99 at full price people) and give it a read. In my opinion it is one of the few perfect comics.

Talk to you later,

TJ

Penance #5 and Thunderbolts #119

Todays books are somewhat related.

Lets start with Penance Relentless #5 ( of 5)

This Book is written by Paul Jenkens and the art is by Gulacy.

The art is pretty good. Nothing that says wow i want to spend way too much money so that i can own a page from this book. But is is good.

The writting I thought was great. This is a character that Jenkins "invented" during the bullshit that was Civil War Front line. This is one of the only threads from that story that i enjoyed. A lot of people disliked this story because of the characterization of speedball from the new warriors but i never knew that character so i couldn't give less of a fuck about that.

This story is about Penance defecting from the Thunderbolts after the beginning of his psychological profile. WE come to learn that he is on his way to Latveria and to the Prime person that is over there, Doom. Doom has been holding captive a certain person that is the cause of all Robbies pain and suffering and he wants his last licks at this person. When he gets to him a battle ensues and man what a fucking licking Nitro gets. Really great action scenes.

Next up is Thunderbolts 119

This is Written by one of my Trinity, Warren Ellis and the art is by Mike Deodato.

The art is ok. It is a little too phot realistic for me but man can he draw the shit out of action sequences. Some of the panels with swordsman in this are simply beautiful. On the other hand His Venom looks fucking ridiculous. I mean Venom has more back fucking muscles then is possible even if you are infested with an alien Symbiote. Come on man what happened to the clean look of this villian from the McFarlane Michelenie( i really can not spell). That was a villian that almost every one loved. Now he is just a muscle bound freak that is trying to feed his hunger.

The writing is great. I mean it is Warren Fucking Ellis so you know i was going to like it. He just knows how to write. Each character is unique. I also think it helps that each character on this team is a little crazy. If you ever followed Warren Ellis you know he falls on that side of the crazy line as well.

This story centers around the Swordsman and his growing angst against being controlled by Norman Osborn. In the background of the story is Doc Samson's psych profile of Penance. This story culminates with Swordsman getting his sword back and battling his way through thunderbolts mountain. Great Battles and especially great art in his battle with Venom. If you are not reading this book i would look for the back issues of the ellis run becasue sadly he is leaving the book soon becasue (his words) "he is getting bored by it".

My only problem with this and this is a problem i have with a lot of comics is when the hell is the Penance Mini taking place in regards to this thunderbolts arc. For gods sake it seems like Robbie is the sane one in this story while in his mini he is off the fucking deep end. I love in the beginning of stories a little editorial direction. A nice note like "this takes place after thunderbolts 119" would have been nice. I know that this is a little fan boy of me but Fuck that is what i am and I like my continuity in place.

That little problem didn't stop me from enjoying the fuck out of these issues though and I would suggest that y'all pick this up in trade.

Talk to you later,

TJ