Ryan, the Librarian

SLJ Cover - October 2009

2012-02-01T08:27:00.007-05:00

Ever since I created the "sidebar" on my blog of 'quicklinks' to my book reviews for School Library Journal, I have been looking online for the cover of the very first issue I was featured in. This was way back when in October 2009. The cover is nearly impossible to get, it turns out. SLJ is great about keeping all the covers up, online, and easy to find... but only after it became 2010.

Turns out, my problem wasn't that difficult to solve. Sort of. A quick trip to the New York Public Library Periodicals Room a couple of weeks ago and boom! Cover in hand. Sorry the cover isn't in color, but I was so proud of getting my hands on an issue, photocopying, and scanning it in, I just had to share it with y'all here. I consider this a personal library victory. Hope you enjoy it!

Playing Comic Book Catch Up

2012-01-31T00:48:00.014-05:00

So, as a result of the holiday season and subsequent return-to-work haze, I missed a few monthly titles I now need to spend some time this week tracking down. After doing a quick inventory in my apartment, I discovered the following titles from last month are missing: Teen Titans #4, Wolverine and the X-Men #3, and X-Factor #229.

Very surprised I managed to miss an issue of X-Factor. The cover looks familiar, but probably because Peter David blogged about it being a clever cover when it hit the internet a few months ago. Also, if you aren't reading Wolverine and the X-Men, start. It's a slam dunk every issue, and #4 out this month with a teenage Apocalypse is pretty rad.

I won't apologize for liking the new Teen Titans book. I just won't.

Out of Print Graphic Novels

2012-01-20T16:42:00.005-05:00

Here's a bunch of out-of-print graphic novels currently sitting in my office.

Many of these might be given out this year for Free Comic Book Day

Raised by the Church: Growing Up in New York City’s Catholic Orphanages / Edward Rohs

2012-01-13T00:44:00.006-05:00

A frank and informative look at one man’s experience growing up in parochial orphanages in and around New York during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Edward Rohs doesn’t remember his parents. They gave him up when before he could form any familiar recollection of them. Instead, his childhood was spent under the care of both the Sisters of Mercy and the Marianist Brothers, moving from one institution to the next as he aged out of each one. Along with fellow author Judith Estrine, Rohs gives a brief overview of the history of orphans in and around New York City before recounting his own experiences as one. He also provides backgrounds on the religious orders that helped raise him, including the rather fascinating tale of how the Sisters of Mercy came to New York from Ireland and ended up in Brooklyn. Rohs’ story is both thoughtful and shocking as he recounts everything from a stressful incident of racism at an institutional football game to his molestation by a religious man from a visiting order. His matter-of-fact style and glass half-is-full approach to writing makes it hard for readers not to empathize with his situation. The titles does falter, however, as he begins to list all his jobs accomplishments as an adult. This doesn’t seem to keep in line with his earlier purpose; recounting his experiences both prior to and post his institutional life.

An interesting and thought-provoking book that is sure to to grab the attention of anyone interested in orphans and early New York City life.

Raised by the Church by Edward Rohs with Judith Estrine. ISBN: 978-0823240227

Resolutions & Stuff

2012-01-06T11:06:00.007-05:00

It's a new year! And it has been for six days! So I'm not going to do that whole thing where I wish you you a Happy You-Know-What, then you roll your eyes because... well, I'm way too late for the whole thing to matter. You can also tell it's a new year, since Facebook is planning on changing their interface again with a new 'Timeline' that is sure to give us all a heachache we won't soon forget.

I have two different books to read in the next two weeks, so I'll be busy with my face buried in those respective paperbacks. It's also kind of worth noting that the mid-season TV lineup has started again, at least with Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries. With the former, Rose Y. and I have resumed our podcast, so you can literally download us on iTunes (if you want). That is going to blow my mind. Every. Single. Time.

In serendipitous news, I did discover an ultimately unpublished review I thought that was lost forever for the Edward Rohs' book Raised by the Church. I'm hoping to post that in the next few days as a seperate review entry since otherwise, it never actually would see the light of day. I gave the book to my friend Alex who had a very emotional reaction to it. The book is good; it's a kind of sad tale, but touching nonetheless. And it really did give me a sense of how New York City was (especially Brooklyn) in a time long before I moved here. It's completely worth reading, and is written in a really accessible way.

School Library Journal is supposed to update their website today with new reviews. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of two pending reviews I have are up there, but we will have to wait until the end of the day to see. If you want the most up-to-date information on this development, be sure to hit up my Twitter feed @rybrarian.

Year in Review: Top 10 & Updates

2011-12-21T21:45:00.000-05:00

So, even though I am still computer-less and fancy free, I have been hard at work bringing you something I know you've all been on the edge of your seats for. Since it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, you probably guessed it's time for my annual: Top 10 YA Books of 2011 list. It has become an annual tradition since I did an okay version last year and my definitively awesome list in 2009. This was in large part due to teachers requesting fiction titles in list form when I worked in the Bronx, especially titles I booktalked when I visited their schools. Since I don't do that any more, it's emerged more as a way to rank titles I review for School Library Journal and feature titles that I read for non-review purposes (this year, that included The Doomsday Box which I got from LibraryThing and A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie from a teacher I knew from the Bronx).

Best Scene in Anything Ever

2011-12-05T13:28:00.002-05:00

There are three flowers in a vase...

The first flower is yellow.

Holiday Break

2011-12-01T12:51:00.004-05:00

My computer broke the day before yesterday. I'm angry like Ramona Flowers.

Suffice it to say, there will be a lack of updates for the foreseeable future.

Moving on Up

2011-11-29T00:44:00.005-05:00

Come hell or high water, I'm going to be moving at some point next year. As a result, I've been going through lots of stuff in my apartment and putting them, both mentally and physically in the 'keep/not keep' piles. Books are always the first thing I do this with, and as a result, I've either been donating my books to the library or moving them to a work shelf for safe keeping. So this is what I have left-

Pretty soon, they won't even be there. I'll be moving at least 3 or 4 before the Christmas break, and one of those books is an X-Mas present for my dad. Pretty eclectic group left, huh?

Anyway, I'm both sad and excited about it. SO WHY NOT BLOG IT!?

Fast as a Kid Flash

2011-11-27T15:04:00.005-05:00

From Teen Titans #2. Art by Brett Booth.

Graphic Novels Project Update

2011-11-26T19:48:00.010-05:00

So... I have some good news!

I would have posted this yesterday, but I was a good kid and actually updated the blog then. And who wants two entries from me on the same day? No one, that's who. But I'm happy to report ::drumroll please:: There's is finally a title, ISBN, and release date for the graphic novel encyclopedia I spent a good portion of my life writing! Remember me complaining? Yay!!

<--- is one possible cover for it.

Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: HEROES & SUPERHEROES (978-1-58765-865-5) is the name and it retails for a whooping $295.00. You may not want to buy this one yourself, kids. But do encourage your local library to buy it, especially if it's an academic library with an art program. The release date says April, but many list it as 3/25/12.

I'm glad it's finally seeing the light of day.

I wrote the following articles for it: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 8) series, Runaways series, Green Lantern: Secret Origin, & Wonder Woman: The Circle. I didn't receive any editorial feedback, so hopefully most of the stuff I wrote was okay. The individual DC stories were a little better, since I had more time to write 'em and they were written one at a time. I did Buffy and Runaways at the same time in the first round of submissions. That was less fun.

But I'm excited! It looks like it's two volumes now instead of three, and I think online access comes with purchase of the print editions. It is available through Baker & Taylor (you know I checked), so there's really no excuse why every single library in the world shouldn't own this. It's a no brainer. D'uh!

Gobble Gobble

2011-11-25T19:01:00.003-05:00

Again, I am guilty for not really updating. But there's not a lot to say. I'm continuing to read Past Continuous ... and I'm enjoying it. It's weird. The story is very sci-fi and not really plausible, but the protagonist is kind of a fun guy to read. I can relate to him, and he's kind of an ass, yet he's still somehow cool at the same time. There's pretty hard for an author to pull off in a young adult book, in my humble opinion.

I still have to read Peter David's Fallen Angel book I bought at NYCC. I'm wondering what to bring home for reading. I may do Laura Bennett's book, which I still have yet to read, and maybe finally will when I'm on the bus headed back to New Hampshire in a couple of weeks. Of course, I'm defeating the entire idea behind owning a nook. That fact is supposed to prevent me from bringing a bunch of books home with me. But what's wrong with two or three... right!?

Anyway, I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I'm planning a trip to the comic store soon, so hopefully I'll be able to post some covers of things I'm reading.

What's Been Going On

2011-11-19T10:02:00.009-05:00

I know it seems like I've been Absent Abby for the past few weeks, but I have been up to stuff:

I'm finally reading a new book (pictured right). I finished the first chapter and it's weird.

Not blogging here? 'cause I just wrote a blog for work. Sadly, it takes priority.

I've also been yelping up a storm, basically putting a new review up every day.

Also, if you miss me, I have not forsaken my Twitter account, which I update often.

I was writing a post about my experiences at the New York Comic Con, but it turned really negative really fast. I think I might just skip talking about it after all.

I haven't really gone out and bought any comics, either. I'm still reading Batgirl, Teen Titans, and Superboy from the New 52 round, but I might drop Superboy soon. Buffy has got her groove back, and X-Factor still remains my favorite. Wolverine and the X-Men actually isn't that bad, either. I'll post next time I buy stuff.

Scott Summers vs. a dinosaur

2011-11-18T23:02:00.006-05:00

Cyclops is a babe. I bet he works out. (art by Whilce Portacio)

From a Marvel One-Shot Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age, Sept. 2010.

Comic Book Binge: NYCC

2011-10-24T20:36:00.014-04:00

Almost all of these were autographed during New York Comic Con, with the exception of the Hellboy comic. I got that one at the Dark Horse booth. It was there that I also got an additional copy of Angel & Faith even though I already bought and read it. Three of these comics were thanks to visiting Peter David in the Artists' Alley area. I already owned Spike: Old Times... I just got it signed by him.

Coming Soon: NYCC Updates

2011-10-23T07:32:00.005-04:00

So the New York Comic Con has came and went, and there has been very little in the way of updates on this here blog. Not to worry! I will be giving you some useless information soon, a NYCC summary, and even a Comic Book Buying Binge NYCC edition. I actually picked up a lot less comics than you might think at um, er... an entire convention that was supposed to be about comic books. It turns out? There's a lot of other non-comic related entities there now, but we'll get to that when we get to that.

Hopefully I'll have some time in November to update a few regular features. I have a new Fallen Angel TB from Peter David which I can do an 'In Review' segment for, and I'll probably be picking up a few more of the DC titles that have been rebooted. I think, out of all of them, Batgirl has become my favorite title. I've getting a lot of flak from some lady friends of mine who are sad I'm not more into Batwoman, though. I'm sad, too. But I'm really not in a rush to read it. Sometimes you just have to wait for trades.

Just wanted to let y'all now... I haven't forgotten to update! It's just been hectic lately. So I promise tons of fun stuff soon.

IN REVIEW: Astonishing X-Men / Ghost Box

2011-10-11T13:59:00.010-04:00

It's been a super long time since I did one of my "In Review" blogs for a graphic novel title (not really, since really I just make sure they more official sounding when I blog them on the library's site proper). Usually, official library blogs tend to be uber positive and I gush over just how much I really enjoyed reading a particular trade. But... always being happy with what you read? That's unrealistic. You can't like everything. And while I didn't hate Warren Ellis' take on Astonishing X-Men titled "Ghost Box" - I wasn't the biggest fan of it, either.

Following Joss Whedon's run on an immediate Eisner-award winning book must have been hard. Especially since people loved Whedon's X-Men so much. I enjoyed the fusion of taking two things I love - things written by Joss Whedon and X-Men comic books, and having them combined, but Whedon had a lot of problems when it came to writing the overall storyarcs. Both the Cassandra Nova and ultimate Ord homeplanet storylines made little sense, and while he returned Kitty Pryde to regular X-Men stories for the first time in years, he also effectively removed her by chucking her into the infinite vastness of space. Way to be cool and suck all at the same time.

Some of the things he did do were cool, including having the Danger Room achieve sentience and try to kill the team. "Danger" as she becomes dubbed, eventually goes after Xavier, who in a plot twisty is revealed as knowing the room was self-aware, but chose to ignore it because he's secretly a bastard. That made for a good story, because I really like that humanizing stuff where Xavier is shown to be super fallible and kind of a jerk. While I liked the idea of Emma Frost being deceptively evil, I feel like he copped out in the end and didn't pull the trigger. That was kind of disappointing.

Ellis' X-Men are kind of jaded, world weary and more importantly reluctant heroes. He makes excellent use of Wolverine by not making him the star; you really get the sense that Wolverine is an on-edge dude who barely gets through the day. Like, he'll hack somebody to bits for looking at him crosseyed. He's also pretty dismissive of Cyclops' leadership in this tale, which is both a call back to the X-Men Animated Series and reflects their current philosophical split in the current storyline X-Men Schism. I hate that Hisako essentially becomes the Kitty/Jubilee young female sidekick of Wolverine in this story, because he never really seems to get a handle on her as a character. She comes across as a brat. You're kind of happy when she gets shot in the foot with a laser.

While the characters are written extremely well, especially Ororo and Emma (they rock individually, but those panels of them together? That's high comedy stuff. More of that, please), there are a few problems I had with the underlying story. The bizarre transdimensional Ghost Box is never really explained in a satisfying way, and the alterna-mutants vs. the faux mutants with the weird chromosome was far too complicated to be truly fun. Great of course to see Beast in his element trying to explain these things (he did somewhat get the shaft during Whedon's run), but the whole thing gets bogged down in this cerebral head space that made me not rush to continue reading the story to it's conclusion. It was easy to lose me as a longtime X-Men fan, and I trust others felt very similar, too.

The gritty artwork goes a long way in complimenting Ellis' snarky style, but... it's that weird painting art that's hard for me to get into. It just looks very rich, but the muted pallet helped me digest the look of the whole thing a lot more. Some of the more intricate technological stuff could be too busy to focus on, but things like Cyclops' optic blast and Emma's diamond form get upgrades in a staggeringly beautiful way. While it's worth reading, longtime fans will feel a little miffed when Forge just appears insane seemingly for no reason (that makes sense anyway) and promptly seems to die by gigantic space laser of doom. Kind of ridiculous. Still, worth reading, if just for the fun character moments. Cyclops is kind of hot and badass for the entire story. That alone makes it all worth it.

Going Supernova: The Starfire Scandal

2011-10-04T17:24:00.013-04:00

I feel the need to comment on the recent DC Comics scandal grasping the interwebs right now, specifically concerning the first issue of Red Hood and the Outlaws. While I haven't read the book yet, it's written by Scott Lobdell, who I've gone on record as defending as a good writer on this here blog. Many people are challenging such a thing with the way that this book is being written, specifically with the depiction of former Teen Titans' member Starfire as an amnesiac sexpot who, well... has sex. And seems nonchalant about it during the issue, let's say.

I think that all this talk is silly.

Indeed, I even feel kind of silly taking time out and writing about it. But I'm trying to keep up with what's going on in comics, and Starfire in Red Hood is all anybody seems to be talking about. The first thing I tell the haters is, this is only the first issue! Starfire has lost her memory; I think it's a safe bet that eventually, she's probably going to get it back. I think her trying to explain her actions or feeling guilty for them would both be great storypoints. The thing is, you haven't given the writer any time to explore that before you immediately leap on the criticism. Sometimes the internet bums me out, man. This is a good indication of why.

People who have brought up the point that Starfire was always kind of a sexy character have an excellent point. She was, and even in the Wolfman/Perez stories of her origin, she rountinely slept with Dick Grayson. While they did give her more of a caring personality when it came to her friends, she was also pretty badass when pushed to the extreme. She was bred as a warrior and was essentially kept as a slave in space before escaping. That kind of stuff messes you up, and I think a messed up alien Starfire reads as a much more interesting character.

Is her bikini unrealistically skimpy? Of course. There's no denying that. But as far as her sleeping with both Jason Todd and Roy Harper in the issue... I mean, those are two of DC Comics' most messed up characters. I think the idea was to show that Starfire, a character who usually held it together during a crisis, is now pretty effed up, too. I can buy that. I think most comic fans could.

The depiction of her as a kid-friendly, cartoon character from the Teen Titans animated series is how a lot of people (including myself, as I still haven't read the majority of the Wolfman/Perez stuff) see her. Blissfully naive, quick to make a referential blunder, and... well, sexless. Plus, it's obviously the most popular incarnation of the character; a Google image search will indeed bring you more images of the cartoon Starfire then her comic book counterpart. But a book with Red Hood and Red Arrow? Probably not for kids, and Starfire's appearance here is a testament to that fact.

Should they maybe have chosen a different character? Probably. But you know what? Maybe we should read more before we start bitchin' across the internet.

Comic Book Binge Buying #2

2011-09-30T22:50:00.006-04:00

Teen Titans #1 was well worth the wait, even if it really is more Red Robin #1. It features Tim Drake and really only Tim Drake, with Cassie only really appearing at the end. Glimpses of the other Titans are shown because let's face it, Tim is really one just big electronic stalker. Nice to see his brain hasn't been rebooted, too. Middle panel on top is Wonder Girl transforming, and doesn't Cassie just look DA BOMB!?
Superboy #1, more aptly named, doesn't tell us a lot about the new Superboy. Just that he was grown in a lab, seems to have gotten the emotional attention of a hot lab assistant, and is being created as a weapon... against the Teen Titans. It'll be fun to read both titles every month, especially at the beginning of both titles. That time is now.
Firestorm #1 is a good effort, and compels me to at least check out the next issue. It might become a cluster@#$! of characters pretty damn fast, especially since it's hard establishing who is who in the first issue, who survived, and multiple Firestorms? My head already hurts, but worth a read at least. I'll give it a second go around next month.
X-Factor (I believe #225 we are on now) was back on it's game this week. I missed an issue, because Rahne had her baby. So it's back to the comic store for me, maybe with a spotlight review. But Rictor and Shatterstar seem to be in trouble, Guido is getting more evil, and some all powerful zombie villain wants to kill Layla. The last part is an interesting twist I definitely want more of. Longshot gets a few good lines, and really just is the bestest lately. ANOTHER tease about Longshot and Shatterstar being connected.
Gambit, feat. The Champions was a throwback issue, out of the 'Marvel Vault'. While it takes pains to avoid interactions between Gambit and Angel, as well as Iceman, they forgot Gambit also first met Ghost Rider in early issues of the nineties X-Men comic. Who knows, maybe it was a different Ghost Rider. It was a fun issue, but doesn't really do a whole lot for any characterization anywhere. Interesting to see Spat as a grown woman (Spat and dinosaur Grovel where not only action figures, but supporting characters in a pretty obscure 'X-Men in space' arc in Uncanny right before Gambit got kicked off the team. Story for another day, probably).

Gaming Day + General Updates

2011-09-26T05:50:00.004-04:00

As September draws to a close, I find myself much less busy than I was over the summer. I am no longer blogging every week for work (I actually probably won't ever promise to do that again, in retrospect) and now that I'm no longer working for Kirkus, I'm patiently seeing if the fall season brings me any new review books from School Library Journal. At home, I'm still finishing up 'Breadcrumbs' - I've been taking my time with it, because... well, it's just a fantastic book.

At work, I'll be gearing up for National Gaming Day soon. This is the annual initiative of the ALA where we go pro-board and pro-video games. I've learned some things from last year: my event will be four hours instead of six, focusing on the hours when it got especially busy. We're also doing it exclusively in the afternoon, since no one really came in during the morning. I'm excited for it. I plan on playing a bunch of a Mortal Kombat vs. the DC Universe that day.

Not a lot to report... it's sad that when I actually have time to blog, I don't have much to blog about. Check my Goodreads profile for books I'm reading/read, as I've been really good about updating it lately. When October is over, the Children's Book List for 2011 should be completed, so I don't even know what I plan on doing with myself then.

Comic Book Binge Buying #1

2011-09-23T05:50:00.003-04:00

Batgirl #1 was probably my favorite, with the new Buffy comic a close second. Kick-Ass 2 finally got good with issue #3, but that's probably a sign it's worth waiting for trades. X-Factor didn't grab me with the filler issue, despite some funny moments. I do like Jamie and Layla together, which happens throughout the issue.

Angel and Faith is just okay, we'll see how it plays out. Very dense for a first issue. Batwoman is good, but I'm going to wait for the trade after this one. I think it might read better that way. Batwing is completely skippable, which is sad since I was expecting it to be really good.

Still waiting to buy Teen Titans #1 and possibly Scott Lobdell's two other books, but I'm not in a rush to go back to the store anytime soon. All the other reboot stuff to me seems kinda meh. I might give Firestorm (also by Simone, who writes Batgirl) a chance, too.

Sucker for a 'Dark Fairy Tale' ...

2011-09-17T00:15:00.005-04:00

I have, once again, accept the guilt of all guilts for not updating. Since I'm writing to you finally, it's safe to assume (and you'd be correct!) that I've taken my semi-regular 'reading break' and I don't currently have any review books pending. After a kind of review-heavy summer, I have to say... that's kind of welcome.

I did bring home a book from work, though. You never know when you might start to get the reading itch, and I have quite a bit of lag time during a morning of boring laundry tomorrow. 'Breadcrumbs' by Anne Ursu won 'book that peeked my interest the most' by a landslide at our last children's book list pow-wow. Even though we're set to talk about nonfiction at this Monday's meeting, the book was described as sort of a darker version of a modern fairy tale ... and I do love it whenever anyone describes a book for kids that way. The cover is also ominous. It tells you nothing. There's something about that that makes it too wicked for me not to read the book. If you're still with me, yeah... I'm weird.

It's also worth noting that I'm no longer currently writing for Kirkus Reviews. The 'new' section of the magazine I've been contributing to - Lifestyle - was started in February, but wasn't really bringing in advertising revenue and I guess wasn't generating the buzz they thought it would in general, so Kirkus decided to shut it down. I've had a mixed reaction to this news, but it's worth noting that overall, my experience working for Kirkus has been an overall positive one. I'll miss little post-its from Karen, my editor, and wouldn't rule out working for the publication at some future date. A big thank you to my librarian friend Laura; if it wasn't for her, I never would have known about nor written for Kirkus in the first place.

I did spend $20.98 on comics this week, and bought a few of the early DC 'reboot' titles. You might get some blogs (or lets be real, a single blog) on that sometime soon.

What Do I Know about Kids' Books?

2011-09-06T07:02:00.012-04:00

Over Labor Day weekend, I got the chance to catch with my friend Rose, the Librarian. Die-hard followers of my blog may remember her from my adventure to Washington D.C. last summer when I went to the ALA conference. Rose is one of the members of the Stonewall Book Awards, where she reads a variety of material that is GLBTQ related. Her and other committee members then debate amongst themselves over which book is the best. It can be immensely frustrating (there's A LOT of books), but it can also be a lot of fun and ultimately rewarding. Prior to Rose joining, I was on the committee for an extremely brief time and was a member of the committee for the 2010 Award Winners List. I took over the position from someone else, so I always feel iffy talking 'bout it.

I am now on a similar group for children's books at work. Children's literature (or "kidlit" as people sometimes call it - and please don't call it that) is hardly my forte, but it has been interesting to expose myself to a world in books that I really should know something about. The library used to run a similar teen list that is now defunct; if anything, I've found that the librarians devoted to juvenile books may be even more passionate about standing up for the books that they love and will deserve a place on our ultimate list. It's actually kind of inspiring.

We have a lot of fiction to get through, so I spent a good part of this weekend sorting and sifting through half-read and picked up once, then put down titles. I'll be adding a lot of the books I got through (with ratings!) to my Goodreads account over the next week, so look for updates if you're curious. October is kind of when we finish up the project, annotate the books we ultimately decide upon, and then publish the list proper. It's the figurative love child so that actual children can get the best books out there... and it's kind of awesome to be a part of it.

My Lack of 'Required Reading'

2011-08-25T06:21:00.007-04:00

So, over the weekend, I finished reading Eden Lake by Patrick Carman. It was pretty good. Suspenseful. While some elements of the story didn't work for me at all, I was generally interested in the twisty ending. It turned a mostly realistic-type book into an undeniably supernatural one. It's due out in November and will include some sort of companion phone app. I'm sure if I had a smart phone, I'd probably spend hours playing with it. Nowhere did it mention 'free' - so my red flag of 'this probably costs money' was blinking every time I read that.

Since this is a week before September, which I still can't fully believe (I mean, where did the summer go!?), I still haven't gotten a new book/reading assignment from Kirkus. This puts me in the odd position of not having anything I have to read for review purposes. While this might seem like a blessing since I can finally read what I want, it turns out that... meh. I don't really have time to start a new book (since I'll probably get a new one next week anyway) and it's actually pretty nice to have a break. I don't feel like I have to be reading, which is something I both like and dread in pretty equal measure.

Stop Pressing the 'Reboot' Button

2011-08-20T22:13:00.007-04:00

This is kind of an open letter to both Marvel and DC Comics. It can be summed up in just one line.

STOP REBOOTING SUPERHERO COMICS!

That's really the end. But it's my blog and my soapbox, so I guess I'll rant a little bit about it here. DC is set to reboot their continuity again ENTIRELY - while some of the changes are understandable, one look at the Teen Titans (which hasn't had a steadfast lineup since they first -you guessed it- REBOOTED a couple of years ago) will show you that some of the changes are dramatic. Is that supposed to be Robin there? Because he JUST GOT A NEW COSTUME LAST YEAR! Okay, I'm going to stop typing in all caps now. Gail Simone is no longer writing Birds of Prey, which was the only DC title I was buying on a regular basis for the past year. I'll guess I'll stop that now. Granted, the new art, seeming new 'tough' direction (Superboy no longer has sleeves, so I stand by my statement), and well, lots of red do grab my eye... but I was reading Titans for awhile two years ago and it just ended up disappointing me. Should I really set myself up for failure again?

The X-Men over at Marvel are also in their own event, this time called 'Schism.' They are keeping mum about many of the details (which is stupid, since people buy 'em and read 'em anyway), but Cyclops and Wolverine have some sort of bitch fight. Some stay with Cyclops in San Francisco (yeah, that's where the X-Men currently live. It's stupid, I know) and some go with Wolverine, apparently back to the X-Mansion in Westchester where they belong. I would be overjoyed if the title wasn't Wolverine and the X-Men which is, and I'm not making this up, named after a cartoon. Wolverine is the leader of this group which is really, really dumb. Wolverine as a loner, potentially dangerous killer was always sort of his appeal. Making him the leader of X-Force was pretty dumb, and this seems also like a step in the wrong direction. But Carlos is drawing the X-Men again (his last stint was during Operation: Zero Tolerance in the '90s when I couldn't get enough) and I might just buy it to look at the pretty pictures.

Now you know what made me mad. Let's talk about why.

The reason The X-Men become and are often thought of as a beloved comic (not just by me, but by millions of readers- they still have the record for number one comic sold) is because Chris Claremont spent years -years- building those characters and giving them personalities. Yes, the language and references are a little dated. But Rogue will always be that damaged girl who can't touch anyone, Magneto will always be the villain we wish was a hero, and Kitty Pryde will always be our entryway into the everyman (or everywoman) perspective of the X-Men's world. His work building those archetypes is why people loved The X-Men, and combined with Jim Lee and Fabian's writing in the 90s (and a bitchin' cartoon) made for characters kids and adults wanted to read about.

For over a decade, it hasn't been like that. There's been inconsistent writing. Magneto is getting his head chopped off one month, then some bs explanation is given about how that was never him in the first place. Grant Morrison and Chuck Austen both did much more to hurt the X-Men over the long run than they ever did to help them. Cyclops and Emma Frost are never going to really go together, and that's a thing that been going on since Morrison's run. It's just... frustrating. There's been too many characters to keep track of for far too long. Separate books no longer feel that way- if you aren't reading everything, you just don't know what's going on. That's unacceptable.

With the notable exception of Peter David's X-Factor, which is able to maintain a degree of being it's own thing. Even the Messiah Complex tie-in which had Layla disappear for awhile and gave Madrox his Bishop 'M' tattoo seemed like it was keeping in his vision for the story. He wrote it a long time ago, and he's continued writing it for long enough that I'm interested to stay with him 'til the end. X-Men has too many writers coming and going... they need to stick with one for at least a few years. And that can be applied to ANY major comic, because most of them have the same problem. As an avid reader of comic books in my youth? I just wish they were still as good as they were, that the quality was still there. It's not, and it bums me out.

End of rant.

Karen Green [with Envy]

2011-08-10T10:17:00.006-04:00

Y'all know I like to toot my own own horn. But I can also accept when a blog is just better than mine. And Karen Green's blog, Comic Adventures in Academia, is much, much better than anything I write here. Karen works at Columbia University, and I've had the chance to meet her and speak on stage with her twice (at the New York Comic Con and Book Expo America, respectively).

Karen's latest blog, Four Nights in the Museum, highlights not only a great graphic work that deserves attention, but showcases Karen's amazing talents as a writer. I love reading anything she comes out with because hey, let's face it... she's like waaaay smarter than I am.

Adult Books Can be Fun, too

2011-08-03T23:34:00.007-04:00

I don't often talk a lot about the books I read for Kirkus Reviews. I do like to say I review for them since I've picked up the gig. It might have to do with how they pay me, and I tend to like people who do that. But I don't review youth fiction titles for them, which in the past has been more of my niche. I've moved on to the world of adult nonfiction, and the section I write for - 'Lifestyles' - tends to deal with more 'popular topics' like parenting, philosophy, social media, and college acceptance.

Not all of the books I've read have been bad. Granted, some have been stinkers... but nonfiction can be kind of stuffy regardless of how well written it is or it isn't most of them time. A rare exception is the book I'm reading now titled Raised by the Church. The novel recounts Edward Rohs' experience growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in NYC in a series of Catholic orphanages. He also spent part of the time in Long Island. I've always wanted to read more about New York City seeing as how I live here now, but don't often find the excuse.

Not only does Edward's story get told, but he also gives a brief historical overview of everything from the number of and reasons why there were so many orphans in the early twentieth century to a comprehensive background of the order of nuns who were primarily responsible for raising him. It might be the Catholic schoolboy in me, but his story is just hard to put down. I actually almost missed my stop on the subway today reading it... and I'm not even halfway done. It comes out in a few months, but I definitely recommend reading it.

There will also be a book release party for the title in NYC during November.

It's 'Weird Science' All Over Again...

2011-07-20T21:58:00.010-04:00

So, after sucking it up and finally staying up late to get my reading on, I finally feel a little bit better about my workload. I am currently reading ONE book (at the start of the week, it was 3). This one had a the latest of all the review deadlines - until August 1st - so I really got to make sure I get this one done in a short amount of time. I was initially worried when I read the description...

It's about two boys building a robot. A girl robot. With all the dumb jokes you can imagine.

Finally reading the book? It's not as bad as I thought. In fact, it's surprisingly readable. It's a lot like "Swim the Fly" in two ways - one, boys are going to primarily like it and two, it fits nicely into that 10-13 age range for kids when I never know what to suggest for them to read. Fifty pages in, they've already found the robot (in one father's lab, naturally) and the she-bot has escaped their house to go run amok.

Bonus points on how they download their Facebook interests into the robot's hard drive.

There's a nice little website for the book here. But really... did the author Paul E. Watson see Weird Science? Or that episode of 'Batman Beyond' that Shiri Appleby did a voice for? This idea has been done for. I'm still going to read his book, and probably give it a nicer review than it deserves. But... c'mon. REALLY!?

Your Tweets R Diff. Than My Tweets

2011-07-07T04:36:00.002-04:00

I'm reading this book for Kirkus Reviews this month, and had to take a time out to say... I'm actually really enjoying it. Not necessarily because it's well written; I'm going to have to read a lot more to determine that, but really because... I am their exact intended audience. This book is written for people who use Twitter for their organization. I use it to represent my library. The author works for Twitter and is pointing out things I could improve on, and they are things I know I should be doing better.

They are also using a lot of case studies, but made the point that "you might not be using Twitter like everyone else is using Twitter" - or words pretty much to that effect. I don't mean to be the party poop, but... why do people even write books on Twitter then? If every situation is different, and there's no real framework to follow ... is writing about social media even helpful? Instead of helping me improve my best practices on the damn website, these are the thoughts this book is giving me write now.

I also should not write blogs at just before 5:00 AM. At least I'm reading.

Sizzlin' Smokin' Summer

2011-06-28T22:55:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, kids.

I've been busy at work attempting to blog at least once a week. While I think this makes the quality of my blogs take a little bit of a nosedive, it has been kind of fun to set this up as sort of a weekly challenge for myself. I'm planning on doing keeping pace with this until the end of August. That's when I'll be done with my weekly blog "series." The best part? The background research is watching old television shows.

I have also been busy reviewing books like a MoFo. This includes the rather lazy post a few weeks ago where I just up some covers of books I was in the process of reviewing. I've gotten through those, and now have two new ones from School Library Journal (including the one who's cover you are seeing). I can't see "Geek Wisdom" is one of my favorite books, but it does have nerdy footnotes at the bottom of every page, and there was one on Spider-Man I enjoyed.

Sadly, with my review duties at Kirkus and my attempts to finish up work on the Salem Press/EBSCO "Graphic Novels" reference project (I'm writing about WONDER WOMAN this time, which is actually a lot more fun than it probably sounds) I have kind of a busy summer in store for myself. That means this blog? Going to get neglected. Hopefully in the fall (or if I just find myself with oodles of time), I'll get back to updating on a regular basis. I want to be better, I swear. Maybe. Probably.

Upcoming June Review Books

2011-06-13T15:49:00.004-04:00

"Baby It's You" part 2

2011-05-27T15:42:00.011-04:00

I will start off by saying my Broadway experience is pretty limited.

I think in high school, when I came to New York City for the very first time, I saw Les Misérables. But it was so long ago I can't tell you where it was and if it was on or off that famous NYC street. When I actually moved to New York, and started volunteering at pretty gay library, really the only fringe benefit was being able to go to Shrek: The Musical for free. And it didn't suck. That's saying something... I mean, I kind of expected it to. My dad took me to see West Side Story during one of his visits, mainly because the first time he came to see me kept singing the music from it. When I saw it advertised, I figured we needed to see the show and he needed to pay.

In the last six months, my theater experience has expanded considerably. With my friend Jen, I saw both parts of Angels in America. Then I got to see Catch Me If You Can (I have a shameless crush on this guy) a few weeks later in the first Broadway show I actually paid for. Both were really, really good. It's hard to compare shows to one another because, like snowflakes, they really are all different. Shrek and Catch Me were both based on respective movies and included original music, while Angels was a straight dramatic piece. Baby It's You! is unique because unlike all the other shows I've seen, it was based in actual music that came out during a specific time period. I'll admit: I knew little music used in the show.

Baby It's You! deserves to be highlighted because the show is so good. I also had the sneaking suspicion that I recognized someone from the show. It turns out that Allan Louis, the male lead, was Marco the chef on Privileged (one of the television series that will be on a Top 10 lists of 'Unfairly Cancelled'). He plays such a dramatically different character play that I didn't even recognize him during the whole first act. So, damn that guy can act.

The story revolves around The Shirelles, an African American "girl group" from the 1960s who, if Wikipedia can be believed, were the first of those early girl groups to have a Billboard Hot 100 hit. If you've heard the song "Mama Said" - well, the original version was sung by these lovely ladies (and it's likely you've heard that one, since it's most famous version). Despite heavily featuring the group and their music, the show is really the story of Florence Greenberg, both her early unsatisfying home life and her rise as a business woman in the music industry. Luthor Dixon (played that guy from 'Privilaged') comes into play to help write hit singles for the girls, and later becomes Florence's lover. This was at a time when both blacks and women did not yet have full equality in our country, and interracial relationships were still frowned upon (even in NYC).

Everyone was so good in the show I can't really say anything bad about. We got to do a Q & A session after the show as done. The cast was pretty gracious, despite some weird people asking some weird questions. One guy in particular was just a nutbar. I was happy someone asked towards the end about costume changes (there are SO MANY of them during the musical it's almost unfathomable) and a few of the cast commented that slipping in and out of the outfits is akin to dance choreography; you have to make your cues and hit them right on time, otherwise the whole show will suffer. If there were any flaws or someone didn't make their mark, I certainly didn't see it. Despite my review being a little bit late, the show is still on Broadway. If you're in NYC, it's worth the trip to go see it. Especially if you're a senior; the older woman in front of me hardly stopped dancing in her seat for the entire show :)

Shout Outs aka 'The Shamless Plugs'

2011-05-26T21:45:00.006-04:00

I was finally timely in both my comic purchasing and reading this month, allowing me to achieve my long goal of actually contributing this week to the 'This Week in Panels' section of the 4thletter! blog. Y'all should be following, kids. I've been a fan for awhile now, especially Gavok, whose love of 'What If' comics and Spider-Man villain Venom rivals (if not exceeds) me own. Thanks for mentioning my blog, Gavok. You rock.

Also, head on over to Graphic Novel Reporter (which you should be checking at least weekly anyway) 'cause my ol' pal John posted the list of Graphic Novels both 'hot' and 'new' that I selected (along with many other great people, including Karen Green from comiXology blogging fame) for Book Expo America 2011 this past Wednesday. This list is amazing, and will aid not only libraries with upcoming collection development decisions to make, but also many comic readers who are looking for a good story.

The Digital Comics Divide

2011-05-01T23:55:00.000-04:00

So I have been pretty quiet when it comes to the topic of digital comics.

I was kind of blissfully ignorant on the topic until last year's NYCC, when I went to a few different presentations concerning them. I got to hear from one of the guys who runs ComiXology, a pretty cool website... if you have an iSomething or other. This website comes up pretty consistantly when you are searching for or reading about digital comics. Do you know what I take from that? There ain't a whole lot of anything else right now. So, I will be talking a little bit about them.

Jim Lee, who wields some kind of digital marketing power at DC Comics as well as drawing insanely cool superheroes, was quick to state that DC limits the platforms people can download on. They were planning on opening some sort of digital comics store (which I believe is already up) and, in addition to ComiXology and some sort of PSP compatibility, that's it. Marvel, on the flipside, is trying to make their comics available where ever they can. Both companies, as well as all the comic contenders, are on ComiXology. New titles are added, while back issues (referred to as "backlist titles" often) are being continually added every week.

As a comics enthusiast, I support what DC Comics is doing. I like the idea that they sort of can do damage control when it comes to, "Why isn't this DOWNLOADING!?" kind of questions. This is especially relevant if most of the comics in digital format will be purchased by their company directly. They know where their comics are, so they can answer questions about them pretty easily. As a librarian, I wholeheartedly appreciate what Marvel is doing 'cause, let's face it... I was able to get digital comics added to my library's Overdrive offerings because they are available there. There aren't even that many to choose from, but some is better than none. And DC? I don't even have the option to ASK for comics on Overdrive with those guys.

I am also not the type of person to embrace every new technology as it comes out. I'm not waiting in line for a new iPhone release and have no plans to buy an iPad or any of the similar slate-esque technologies. Honestly, I think it's kind of a waste of money with how often these things are updated and how trendy that they become. I guess I'm more old school when it comes to that type of stuff. I do have a B&N nook, but only because the library gave me one after I won a raffle. I doubt I would have spent money on it by my own volition. My own views of technology aside, I am really worried about comics becoming an entirely digital medium. Will the future of comics make them only available to digitally literate kids? Not everyone has a computer, man.

Have a I read digital comics? Yes. Did I enjoy it as much as in print? Hell to the no.

If you are a comic fan, and you are not having the same reaction as me, then... I don't really know what to tell you. From what I read, which is mostly on blogs and from tech-minded people, they keep talking about how awesome digital comics are. I feel like that's a pretty biased group. I should also admit I'm not that much of a webcomic guy, either. From what I hear, I'm kind of missing out. That's okay. I also don't buy every comic when I buy my monthly titles, either. In fact, I'm only buying two books on a regular basis right now. I'd prefer these not to be digital, either.

Maybe I am just stuck in the past... but if you ask a lot of comic writers and artists especially, I don't really think they necessarily are comfortable with the medium being interpreted digitally. I can already get a general plot synopsis for books as far late summer... haven't we already embraced the internet a little too much?

Iron Fist

2011-04-27T11:54:00.003-04:00

This is from Heroes for Hire #1 in the late 90s, after the whole Onslaught crossover took place. Iron Fist is kind of a crappy superhero; if you couldn't already guess, he can make his "fist like iron" by focusing his chi through it. He's sort of a generic ninja dude. BUT... his real name- Daniel Rand- is kind of cool, and I think he's visually awesome.

Exodus

2011-04-23T18:28:00.001-04:00

Wolverine vs. Archangel

2011-04-22T15:54:00.003-04:00

This little gem is from Uncanny X-Men #272. Jim Lee is on pencils here, and it's his art that really made Wolverine famous. Look at him! He looks awesome! I'm slightly afraid, but who wouldn't be of a short hairy man with unbreakable claws? This took place during the X-Tinction Agenda crossover.

"Baby It's You!" part 1

2011-04-18T23:09:00.004-04:00

So, because I'm such a good friend, I applied for a special Bloggers' Night celebration for a musical my friend Jen wants to go see. What is a Bloggers' Night? Well... I actually have no idea. But you can bet your booty I'm going to go... and then blog about it. Anyway, as a preview of said night... here's a little YouTube preview of the show I'm going to see tomorrow night (Did I mention it's for Free!? ::insert jealousy here::)

The OTHER Name for Murder

2011-04-17T22:43:00.006-04:00

Check out this classic panel from X-Force #29. This is my man Arcade. He's so badass he was never even given a real name; just a bowtie and platform shoes. Pretty much the best villain in the history of villains. He should be used more.

The Big Crunch

2011-04-15T22:13:00.005-04:00

Remember the X-Men game for Sega Genesis? Also known as the best game ever? Well, the second to last level was called "Mojo's Crunch." This was based on three issues of Wolverine in the 90's written by Larry Hama. I just bought two of the issues this week to read the story (I never had before). Here's an awesome panel of Spiral.

Forgotten Comics: X-Men Unlimited #14

2011-04-12T21:00:00.011-04:00

For a new series on this blog, I am going to be highlighting some of my favorite lesser known comic books, individual issue-style.

First up is X-Men Unlimited #14. For those unfamiliar with X-Men comics... they are basically my favorite. Many of the stores that are going to be dealt with this for this series are going to be X-Men, and they are going to be from the '90s when Marvel was over saturating the comic book market with 'em. In my opinion, it was also a creative high point in X-Men history. Many great stories took place. In 1997, this rare gem was published.

Without going too much into the convoluted history, the X-Men had just been more or less betrayed by their founder, Professor X. Tainted by Magneto's evil influence, Xavier had become an amalgam of himself and Magnus to form a villainous entity known as Onslaught. It also created what big comic companies love: a gigantic crossover, where you have to buy a lot of titles to understand what the heck is going on. Basically, Onslaught was such a threat pretty much the entire planet was in trouble. Hence, not only the X-Men banded together to stop him, but the Avengers and the Fantastic Four as well. Since this is an X-Men story, I'll skip to the end and tell you that our merry mutant band survived. Avengers? Fantastic Four? Not so lucky. Onslaught apparently kills them.

All that action aside, this story takes a look at the young son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman: Franklin Richards. Despite being an honorary member of the young group the Power Pack, the younger Franklin Richards was little more than a supporting character. When the Onslaught story starts, we basically learn that Franklin is one of, if not the most, powerful mutants ever. He can essentially create and destroy energy, mold reality in any way he sees fit, etc. Onslaught uses him for a time until the combined heroes save him. When his parents die, the X-Men are given custodianship of the young boy by his time traveling grandfather.

I don't think grandfathers lost in time should make the "these people should raise my grandchild" decisions, but... hey, I guess the X-Men are the best equipped to deal with Franklin should he use his powers to turn the world into ice cream or whatever.

Which, up to this point, Franklin just might. He didn't have a lot of emotional resonance for readers. Like I said, he was a Fantastic Four background character. I don't want to point fingers or place blame, but the FF might have been killed off because their book wasn't selling well and no one really cared about them. If the main heroes don't matter, it's a safe point no one's paying attention to their kids, either.

::Whew:: All that set up, and we haven't even gotten to our actual story.

A small group of the X-Men are at Hank McCoy's home. Hank is the Beast, the blue furry guy. He grew up in Illinois (thanks Wikipedia - I forgot that) where this story takes place. In tow along with Beast are Storm, Gambit, and a lesser known team member named Joseph. At the time, everyone thought Joseph was Magneto with amnesia. In true comic book form, it turns out he's some kinda clone, but at this point, let's just go with "He's Magneto with amnesia." The four X-Men have brought along Franklin, Artie Maddox and Leech. Artie is a mute kid with pink skin that thinks in 3-D pictures (which, think about it... is awesome!) and Leech negates mutant powers in physical proximity. He's green, not like in the third X-Men move when they ruined him.

The tale begins with Franklin having nightmares about his parents and Onslaught. We learn quickly that part of the reason this group of X-people are in Illinois is half to de-stress, but also to bring Franklin, Artie, and Leech into a more stable, family-friendly environment. Hank's parents live on a farm, are still married, and for all intents and purposes, are wholesomely adorable. They make breakfast for everyone. And embarrass Hank. This story really made me want them in X-Men comics all the time. It's good that they're not, because if they were? They'd probably end of clones of Magneto, too.

Franklin is getting along with Artie and Leech famously (the pair become a fun threesome for about two years in the ongoing Generation X before writers lost interest), but is still pretty upset and sad about his parents dying. Here is a kid who can do anything... except bring people back from the dead, it turns out. While farm-filled wackiness ensues, Franklin eventually gets Joseph alone for a tractor ride. There, he begins to beat the living tar out of him. I'm talking about the 8-year old Franklin taking on a dude with Magneto's power (considerable, if you didn't know). Joseph, in this story, doesn't really stand a chance. If Franklin wasn't grief-stricken, the implication is... in his right mind? Franklin probably could have killed him in less than a second.

The panels with a broken hearted Franklin begging Joseph to bring back his parents back to life gets me. Every. Single. Time.

Gambit, who pretty much hates this Joseph guy for putting the moves on his girl Rogue back in New York, initially watches the exchange with a mischevious glee. Only Gambit can do such delight in others' pain with class. But when Franklin starts using his omni-power to (at least begin) melting Joseph's brain, he intervenes. Eventually, Hank is able to get Leech there who siphons off Franklin's powers. You realize the X-Men are pretty smart pairing Franklin with Leech for just this reason.

Franklin is still upset at the end, so there's no real resolution. You just realize the kid's never going to get over it. That's sad, but that's a great one-issue comic. This one issue alone makes Franklin one of my all-time favorite comic book characters. Since it's an Unlimited, it's unlikely you'll find it as part of a collection. But it was a nice little ending piece for a crappy gigantic crossover. It's also proof that out of over hyped marketed comics, a really great character piece can emerge and shine.

I'm About to Cross the Line

2011-04-07T23:03:00.007-04:00

I realize I'm playing on the book title's pun, but bear with me readers... this one is a bit more serious.

I'm reading a book for SLJ that would come under the topic of LGBT bullying.

I'm about halfway done. I just got the book early this week, so ... obviously it's pretty readable. I can't decide if it's making me mad in it's portrayal of a quasi-gay high school student or proud. Maybe a little bit of both even. The character, Alan, has basically been bullied the whole book. In the chapter I just read, he showed up to school wearing lipstick.

Although not the same thing, a student in my high school came to school one time dressed in what I can only describe as a "rainbow jumpsuit." While in the library, he would approach people he did not know and ask them if they had a problem with him. The story was something I got secondhand, but I did actually know the student. There was a kind of gay/straight alliance at the school that we were both a part of. When I heard the story, I knew at least the majority of it was probably true.

At the time, I had a problem with his actions. I think I still might- I don't really think school, nor the library in particular, is a place that you should be demanding acceptance from others who either may or may not have a problem with you. I think it should be about respect. You could probably make the argument that, if my personal feelings entered into the equation, I have problems with many people I encounter. You can't make people feel a certain way if they don't want to - but you can ask that they be courteous and keep those feelings to themselves. If someone had snickered at this kid in my school, or called him "Fag!" or something worse, I probably would have been the first one to defend him. But that's not what happened. He got sent to the principle's office for disrupting other students' learning, then spent the next month saying he was discriminated against. That part, I heard directly from him. I didn't really think he got the point- I think he mostly wanted attention, and I he found a really negative way to get it.

I wonder how I would have felt if he came to school wearing lipstick.

In fact, some kids in my school probably did. I know another boy came to our prom in a dress. If he had put on the lipstick in front of me, asked me what I thought, and I had said something negative... isn't that a solicited opinion? I think the crux of my argument here is that I wouldn't really care... unless I didn't know the student and they got unnecessarily confrontational about my emotional reaction. As long as you let me go my own way, I'm glad to let you go yours.

I feel like these are the questions that everyone is still asking. I don't have an easy answer I guess. Definitely something to think about.

The Trouble With Chickens

2011-03-29T22:18:00.008-04:00

I briefly tried to think up a better title for this blog than just ganking the title of the book I want to talk about, but... well, that's an awesome title I feel the need to honor.

I've found myself flush with LibraryThing Early Reviewer books lately. I'm winning about one a month from the pile now after long lull of de nada. I've had mixed success with actually receiving these titles; because I was listing my home address and not my work one, HarperCollins foolishly sent a book to me UPS. If you read my yelp reviews, you know I hateHateHATE going to pick stuff up at the UPS Center, which is in the Bronx and right next to where I used to work. But I had Monday off and decided, what the hey? I should go out there and get my book. I didn't pay for it or anything, so I probably shouldn't complain.

I'm about halfway through The Trouble with Chickens. I don't think I'd ever describe a children's book as having noir elements; this book totally does. J.J. isn't just a rescue dog; he's a dog detective sniffing out the clues. I think this book could do for kids what the movie Brick did (or was supposed to do) for teens; it can introduce kids into this old element of a true mystery. You don't know what's going to happen and it's the not knowing that's the really interesting part. I could finish the book in one sitting, but I'm almost considering putting it off tomorrow... just to save if those two little chickens get saved in the end. I have a feeling like they just might make it. Also, you got to love a book I can not only read in a day, but pretty much read in an hour. Why don't I read more childrens books, I ask you? I might just have to start.

Anyway, I hadn't done a reading update in awhile. If you follow my Goodreads, I usually post what I'm reviewing for Kirkus and SLJ. My reviews were randomly due this week. I was all productive and finished them, so I actually had time to read something new (and possibly even play catch up, if I'm so inclined). I do recommend The Trouble With Chickens, though. It's a really adorable read.

Can Wonder Woman Bowl?

2011-03-14T12:43:00.006-04:00

I discovered the answer when I was reading up on everyone's favorite ladyist.

So... "no" then. But read Wonder Woman: The Circle. It's making me like Wonder Woman a lot. That's something I never thought I'd say.

The Pancake Disc Jockey

2011-03-10T05:41:00.010-05:00

So, while I was on the hunt for a new Twitpic yesterday, I found this image by crazy random happenstance. It made me obviously want pancakes.

It's so awesome that I just felt the need to share it with you all.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

An Unfinished Book is a Terrible Thing

2011-03-09T13:35:00.006-05:00

Recently, I have been putting myself in an awkward position.

I never like to say I've "read" a book without, you know, reading the entire thing. It might be that some of the books I've picked up lately are just.... meh, and so my lukewarm feelings lead ultimately to putting the book down. Then not picking it back up. The ending alludes me because in the end, I just don't care enough to care.

This is pretty sad, I think. It happened with Nic Sheff's We All Fall Down. I got all the way up to Part 3 of the story; it's divided into three parts, with the last part being just about 100 pages. I have it on my bookshelf at work. I know I'm going to go back and finish it at some point, but... I'm not really in a rush. You might recall this happened with Firestorm! a few months ago, too. As I try to embrace adult nonfiction, it seems to be happening even more. I'm worried it's less the content of the book and maybe just my lack of an attention span. Could it be that things are just not grabbing me like they used to? Am I just a bad reader? Do I only like books for teens and for kids?

I'm kind of curious if this happens to anyone else.

I'm sure it does, but not to the other readers I know.

As a librarian and a self-proclaimed reader's advisor, I usually tell patrons that if they are not enjoying a book they should just stop reading it. I can't take my own advice. I feel like you can't be super critical of a book you didn't get all the way through. Maybe Sheff's book gets really, unmistakably good in the last 100 pages. Maybe I should have just stuck with it in order to give it a chance. Books, like many people, often get the benefit of the doubt with me.

I just can't help thinking... an unfinished book is a terrible thing.

Empty Threats (of Blogging Soon)

2011-03-07T23:30:00.001-05:00

So I guess I kind of reneged on my promise to blog more, huh?

I did get a new gig writing reviews for Kirkus, which combined with my writing for School Library Journal, is keeping me fairly busy in terms of reading. And writing about what I'm writing. Using clever adjectives is something I'm just getting better and better at.

We should have a moment of silence for Borders. As you may or may not know, I was a big fan. They had a free rewards program. Their magazine selection was always superior. The two stores on the east side of Manhattan are both closing, so I'll have to take a trip to the stinky stores at Penn Station and Columbus Circle from now. I don't hate the Columbus Circle one - they had a CD I wanted one time there when no one else did, and I did meet Laura from the third season of Project Runway there. But I was just falling in love with the Park Avenue one... it bums me out that I won't be able to go there anymore.

It's not really like I spend a significant amount of money on buying books or even DVDs for that matter. But still.

I promise a more hearty blog soon. I caught up a lot on muh reading today, so hopefully I can update y'all soon.

Let's Get Physical...

2011-02-26T11:57:00.008-05:00

I think this picture pretty much speaks for itself...

...a pink speedo, Robin? Reading Terra Incognito from Marv Wolfman & George Perez, a prequel to The Judas Contract, which I just ordered off Borders.com

To Summer Read or Not to Summer Read

2011-02-15T23:49:00.001-05:00

While it’s still early February, it will be largely unsurprising to fellow public librarians that my thoughts have turned to a little thing we like to call Summer Reading.

Summer Reading is an initiative that most public librarians ascribe to as a way to push books over the summer while students may fall complacent over the three months that they aren’t enrolled in school. This started a long time ago, but has largely taken on a life of its own; most public libraries around the country now have some form of a Summer Reading program, one that usually revolves around booklists and programs that make the library a youth-friendly and fun place from June to August.

While I still read and review youth books and still occasionally help children and teens, my job is much more focused on services to adults since I moved into Manhattan. It’s just the way things turned out as more adults come into the library where I work now. Despite this sad reality, I still get excited every single summer when I hear about all the events people are planning for their Summer Reading programs. My boss, a staunch supported of books and reading, tried to start a more adult-themed Summer Reading program here last year. It was small in scale, but somewhat ambitious, with a weekly raffle from patrons who submitted reviews. With little advertising, the service was promoted largely by fliers at library information desks and by word-of-mouth. With over 100 people signed up this way, it's debatable whether or not the program could be counted in the "success" column or not. You're probably thinking, "One HUNDRED people! That's great!" My library? Gets hundred of people daily.

A colleague of mine, a fellow librarian named Thomas, really wants us to undertake a massive adult-oriented Summer Reading program this year. He's picked a theme highlighting a genre - Science Fiction - and he's planning on running with that, recruiting a small force of librarians to contribute booklists and blog posts to create some original content that highlights or library collection. Sounds good, right? So I don't know why I've had mixed feelings about the whole thing. I'm definitely excited for Summer Reading, as I am now every time the summer months roll around, but perhaps it's the fizzle out of last year's programs that's coloring my view. I'm worried that we might do all this work, but the people we serve just might not into it. I guess that's the danger or running any program in the library, but... I don't know. I guess I have a bad feeling about it? Does that even make sense?

What do y'all think about Summer Reading?

Dreams of Sundance / Going Kaboom

2011-02-11T20:30:00.001-05:00

Anyone who has ever met me in real life has probably experienced what I like to call, "The Excitable Ryan." Just like Tinkerbell, I often have the emotional capacity to only feel one emotion at one time. Not with every single feeling, mind you, but when I get excited about something? It's hard to feel anything else. This year, just before Christmas, there was one thing I was so excited about I could hardly think about anything else.

It was the thought of going to the one, the only Sundance Film Festival.

I've been a long and often quiet admirer for many years of Sundance. While working at the Nashua Public Library, I was exposed for the first time to the joys of independent cinema. Going to places like The Wilton Town Hall Theater and later Coolidge Corner in Boston only strengthened this newfound interest. While living in Boston, I had the opportunity to watch the IFC Television Channel, which I'll admit, sadly got kind of obsessed with. I would say about half the films on my Netflix list (when I still had it) were independents; I was clearly hooked.

By crazy random happenstance, I got the chance to go to a film at the Tribeca Film Festival my first year here. I saw a movie called Timer and was within spitting distance of both Emma Caulfield and Michelle Borth, which was... well words can't describe it, that's how awesome it was. I haven't gone to any other films at Tribeca either that or any other subsequent years. Not working in a movie department anymore, it gets harder and harder for me to keep track of what's coming out and when. Plus, in true recession form, I go to the movies a lot less and embrace entertainment sources that are often cost effective i.e. free. It's rare that I would get off my duff and seek out a film that I think has value even when I have heard of it. Pontypool was a rare exception when I found it on DVD, "Nowhere Boy" with Aaron Johnson was one I actually went to see in the theaters. I'm just saying, it needs to be special for me to care.

But Excitable Ryan wanted to go Sundance this year. Not just for the experiencing of going to the film festival (which is mainly why I've wanted to go in the past), but because Gregg Araki has a film called "Kaboom" which admittadly, I've wanted to see FOR THE PAST YEAR. One of Liz's friends told me about this when I saw them at the Boston ALA Midwinter (this was at the top of 2010). I would periodically forget about this movie; I finally had resurged interest in it late last fall when I found out it debuted at Cannes. For fun, I looked to see if it was on the Sundance rooster (Araki's films, back when he was making them all the time, often premiered there). I found out it was and, you know, wanted to go. Really bad. Enough to ask Mums & Dads as a bonus Christmas gift (there wasn't really a 'bonus' to nothing, but I digress). Predictably, they said no. I was defeated.

The story doesn't end there.

Despite certain defeat, I was still obsessed. My library search skills not withstanding, I tried to assimilate all the information I possibly could about Kaboom and about Araki. With no official website or firsthand source for information, it was hard to sift through the electronic rubbish you often find on the Internet. But, a random link mentioning Kaboom premiering in NYC led me to discover it's one-night-only showing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Those who know me in real life will also know I give the Brooklyn borough no special love, but this Thursday? It's my favorite. It's where I get to see muh movie. But why? How? If it's at Sundance, how can it possibly be in NYC...?

Apparently, BAM shows movies concurrently with the premiere at the festival. That is not only crazy cool, for me it's cost effective. It means I can see the movie without traveling to Utah. Which, you know, is not my first choice. While I would love the opportunity to attend the festival some day, I'm very happy that this particular year? I don't have to. Also, Gregg Araki is going to be there doing a Q&A.

After that? It's also going to be at the IFC Theater downtown. You need to go see it. Obviously.

Some New Books for the New Year

2011-01-18T23:59:00.008-05:00

Remember me? Just like the little girl from that movie Poltergeist, I'm baaaaaaaaaaack.

The good news? I've actually been reading.

School Library Journal, in its infinite wisdom, has been sending me a bunch of non-graphic novel titles to review. While one of my previous reviews was indeed published this month, check out my first fiction review for their magazine since 2009. At the moment, and to the right of this paragraph, you can see the nonfiction book I'm currently working my way through for professional review purposes. This book, a follow up to the YA semi-hit Tweak from a few years ago is... well, I'm not actually loving the story. And it's not in my crotchety old man it-glorifies-drugs way. I'm just finding the prose kind of all over the place; it's kind of trying to be a love story, but the protagonist is so self-involved and introspective that it really isn't about two people at all. Also, he's not exactly a character you can either identify with or even like. I mean, I'm a third of the way through the story. I'm invested to finish. But still. This is why I don't recommend to anyone that you should continue to read titles you aren't enjoying. I forgot how horrible that can be. I've been kind of lucky up until this point; SLJ has been sending me things I actually like. Law of averages though. Not every book can be as good as the last.

I've still been plugging away at the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, or The Website/Service That Got Me Reviewing Books In the First Place. I'm happy to report that one such book I recently won, The Doomsday Box, actually had a lot of promise. I plan on finishing up this title after I'm done with my SLJ book. It's nice to have something lined up to read right after but, you know me, I have to be careful not to be too overwhelmed. On the graphic novel front, a few of the books I ordered through the library have come in: Superman: Earth One with the amazing art by Shane Davis as well as a Serenity-themed book focusing on Shepherd Book. I finished Superman last night. The story was a little ehh as it re-tells Clark's origin to say that Krypton was destroyed by an angry war like race. Then they try to blow up Earth. It was doing well until it got to that part. The Shepherd Book tale I'm sure will be good, but is it wrong to have secretly wished for an Inara story more? It's not even a secret. I just wish there had been a follow up; she was barely in the movie and I really loved the character. Well, maybe one day.

I promise to start regularly blogging a little big more. I'm planning on highlighting some individual new comic issues, mostly Peter David's X-Factor since in the next 3 months, I'll be finishing out my home subscription. I also finished up Michael Northrup's 'Trapped' over the Christmas break, so I plan on talking about that book a little bit as well. I like that so far in 2011, it's been a nice mix of graphic novels and YA fiction for me. I'm hoping to continue that balance moving forward. What have you guys been reading?

25 Graphic Novel Reviews: A Retrospective

2010-12-14T17:45:00.006-05:00

Brereton, Dan. The Dust Waltz, Buffy. Dark Horse Comics. 1569713421.
Byrne, John. Angel Special: Lorne. IDW. ISBN: 9781600107238.
Claremont, Chris. Kitty Pryde & Wolverine. Marvel Comics. 0785130896.
Claremont, Chris. Phoenix Rising, The X-Men. Marvel Comics. 0785107118.
Claremont, Chris. X-Men: Days of Future Past. Marvel Comics. 0785115609.
Claremont, Chris, et al.. X-Men: Fall of the Mutants; part 1, part 2 & part 3. Marvel Comics. ISBN: 0785108254
Davis, Alan. Excalibur Visionaries. Marvel Comics. 0785137408.
David, Peter. Beauty & the Behemoth, Hulk. Marvel Comics. 0785106596.
David, Peter. Old Times, Spike. IDW. 1933239603.
Dixon, Chuck. Robin Year One. DC Comics. 1563898055.
Ellis, Warren. Age of Apocalypse: X-Calibre. Marvel Comics. 0785101322.
Ennis, Garth. The Boys: Good for the Soul. Dynamite. 9781606900987.
Golden, Chris. Earthly Possessions, Angel. Dark Horse Comics. 1569715335.
Golden, Chris. Hunting Ground, Angel. Dark Horse Comics. 1569715475.
Golden, Christopher. Wolverine & Punisher: Revelations. Marvel Comics. 0785107290.
Loeb, Jeph. Superman/Batman: Supergirl. DC Comics. 1401202500.
Nicieza, Fabian. A Stake to the Heart, Buffy. Dark Horse Comics. 1-59307-012-8.
O’Neil, Dennis. Batman Forever Adaptation. DC Comics. 1563891999.
Powers, Mark. Rest, volume 1. Top Cow Productions, Inc. 9781607062103.
Shooter, Jim & Tom DeFalco, et al. Spider-Man: Birth of Venom. Marvel Comics. 0785124985.
Tipton, Scott. Spike: Lost and Found. IDW. 1933239972.
Vaughan, Brian K. Runaways: Live Fast. Marvel Comics. 9780785141556.
Whedon, Joss & Brett Matthews. Serenity: Those Left Behind. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN: 9781593078461.
Wolfman, Marv. Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. DC Comics. 093028934X.
Yost, Christopher. New X-Men, Childhood's End. Marvel Comics. 0785118314.

It's Lovely Weather for a Sleigh Ride Together…

2010-12-08T16:14:00.013-05:00

It's hard to believe it's December 2010 already.

I like to think I started an annual tradition last year with my Top 10 Young Adult Books for 2009. Since I've gotten some positive feedback from the list recently in my library, I went ahead and created a NEW! Top 10 Young Young Adult Books for 2010! Exciting, right!? A few of the titles were originally published in 2009 but I managed to read all of them in the last year. I actually already have two titles to add to next year's list as well.

Also this month, the piece I wrote for Graphic Novel Reporter is now up online. Check out How to Build a Dynamic Comic Social Hour if you are interested in starting a graphic novel / comic discussion group at your bookstore or library. I've also included a permanent link to GNR on the right side of the blog. They're a great resource for librarians (including a great graphic novel core list) and anyone else interested.

I'll be taking a short break from blogging over the next month to work on upcoming 3-volume reference set about Graphic Novels from Salem Press. I'm going to be submitting articles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 and Runaways. It's been a great year for me while I've become this kind of "accidental writer." Next year will see the publication of Out Behind the Desk from Library Juice Press, another book I helped contribute to. My reviews for Booklist are out and I'm continuing to review for SLJ.

Last year, I attended the New York Comic Con. This year, I got to present at it.

I've been in New York for over two years at this point. This year, I scored some vacation time for the most wonderful time of year. Sadly, it's the first year that I've lived in New York that I won't be spending Christmas here. It will be good to spend the holiday with my family. I think, though... I might be back just in time for New Years :-)

There will be an update in the next few days with an updated 'Vintage' title index, probably in a more bibliographic format with the author's last name first. Check back for the updated list sometime late this week or early next week. Thanks for reading!

VINTAGE - Good for the Soul, The Boys

2010-12-06T00:29:00.007-05:00

Have you heard of The Boys? Well if you had, they wouldn't be doing their job very well. These five individuals, sort of freelancers that kind of work for the CIA, are called in when superheroes... well, when they don't act very heroic if you get my drift. Garth Ennis, the series' writer, really gives the finger to modern superhero culture in this book. In just one example, a supporting character known as "The Legend" - a crotchety old man who is in essence Stan Lee - swears, drinks, and throws around terms like "no prize" just so you know who he's a parody of. Fun stuff like that. The Boys are; Butcher, the leader and general sociopath (at least when it comes to heroes). Mother's Milk (or "M.M." for short), basically a guy who likes everything neat and orderly but that you really don't mess with. The Frenchman, who is often used as a kind of muscle for his tendency to go into fits of horrible murderous rage. The mute Female (of the Species) who, even with the not talking, is actually the scariest one of the bunch. Finally, Wee Hughie. A Scotsman who's girlfriend was killed with practically no regard by a speedster, he's often the voice of reason in the sea of superhero chaos. That, and he's generally a nice guy.

I read this one out of order. I accidentally got my hands on vol. 4 which is the G-Men story (a parody of The X-Men). This story follows a quiet time in The Boys' life as they recover from the vol. 2 trip to Moscow. They are revising their surveillance of The Seven (a Justice League parody). Hughie's relationship with Annie (actually the newest member of The Seven, but he doesn't know that) also intensifies when they go out on a date, then subsequently spend a first awkward night together. There's also some nice moments with insight's both into The Female, who works for the mafia, and some cryptic stuff about M.M. that I'm pretty sure is revealed more in detail later on. A backup story also reveals a little bit more about how the world of The Boys veers off from our own, specifically with what happened on their 9/11 attack when a plane flew into and subsequently destroyed the Brooklyn Bridge.

A good point is raised here. Sure, many of you reading this blog probably saw the intensely underwhelming Superman reboot movie where, in one of the movie's few good moments, show him rescue a plane full of people. Despite his difficulties, it all went rather well, didn't it? What if it didn't? This is a question raised in this story. These superheroes, despite having awesome power, really don't have any clue what they're doing. When they are placed in a life and death situation, it shows. People die. Some by their own hand, most notably when Seven member Maeve is trying to get off the plane and people won't let her. She literally has to plow through them. One member of The Seven is mortally wounded early on, another looses his head when the Homelander (a rage filled take on Superman) isn't paying attention and accidentally gets him decapitated.

I started reading these after someone suggested them. I have to say, I don't always like every decision that Ennis makes. Sometimes the series is trying too hard; we get it! It's gritty! It's adult! But I don't think people would ever swear quite that much in any situation. I really like the character of Annie in particular. I like her questioning (and even possibly losing) her faith at this point. She's really just looking for anything by the time she meets Hughie. Hughie, despite having his new vocation with the rest of The Boys, also need something else. Something human and something real. He finds that with her. The scenes with The Homelander trying to guess Butcher's motivations without the latter talking alone are kind of worth reading this tale. If you haven't checked out The Boys, try and read some. Tell me what you think.

VINTAGE - Live Fast, Runaways

2010-11-29T22:02:00.017-05:00

VAUGHAN, Brian K. Runaways: Live Fast. Marvel Comics, 2010 (originally published 2006/2007). ISBN: 9780785141556

There's nothing like a little vintage Runaways to get me in the holiday spirit. I can't really claim to be a fan of the shrunken manga style that Marvel Comics is now publishing them in, so when I was using my Turkey Day coupon to pick up a graphic novel at my favorite bookstore, I opted for the 'normal' oversized option. It's much more preferable. What's that? You've never heard of Runaways? Well, it's an amazing series by Brian K. Vaughan about a group of kids who, you guessed it! Ran away. Specifically from their parents who turn out to be a group of evil supervillains bent on wiping out most of humanity. You know, so they could be immortal. And they all hated each other because only half of them would win that special prize. Anyway, the parents sacrificed a young innocent girl once a year for power and usual sacrificial jazz. The only problem is that one year their kids see them. This is when they hatch their plot their plot to run away. To Breakfast Club-ise this, there's the Nerd (Alex), the Goth (Nico), the Jock (Chase), the Weirdo (Gert), the Princess (Karolina), and the Kid (Molly). At this point in the story, both Alex and Gert have died in separate incidents; new members Victor and Xavin have joined the team in their place. Throw in an awesome dinosaur (named 'Old Lace') telepathically connected to Chase, as well as a transportational 'Leapfrog' with an attitude, and you have the whole team.

The story opens with Nico and Victor having just gotten it on. Gert has just died, and everyone is still upset. Nico feels responsible because she's kind of become the kids' leader. Chase is even more upset because Gert was his girlfriend and he loved her. He spends the majority of the story away from everyone else. We'll get to him later. Nico and co. must contend with an upset store owner who thinks L.A. has become to modern and lost all its charm. He gets mad while someone's trying to seal him a nicknack leftover from the evil parents. It transforms the store owner into a really big monster. The kids intervene, mainly because the entire Marvel Universe (or at least the heroes) at that point were stuck in a civil war. The fight goes predictably bad because the kids are outmatched, but Nico caffine-boosts Molly. This increases her strength, and she's able to fling the monster down. Trust me; it's awesome! Nico and Xavin combine magic with shapeshifting to mimic the store owner's wife; they talk him down and he returns to normal. Kind of a fun story, right?

Chase isn't there. Instead he finds a way to contact the evil creatures who gave his (and the other kids') parents powers. He wants them to resurrect Gert. They agree, but tell him he needs to sacrifice "an innocent." After briefly debating killing a stranger, he ultimately decides to kill himself. He tells Nico all this, and she's able to convince the team to go after him. Chase's plan falls short: killing himself would corrupt his soul, therefore making him a less than worthy snack for the creatures. With Nico there, who they view as a real tasty innocent morsel, they decide to just eat her instead. Molly flings Victor to save her "fastball special" style and - well, it's worth the price of this trade just for that one full-page panel. It makes you love Runaways because even though they are heroes, they really aren't. This particular volume has something of a shock ending; I didn't really love it as much as I probably should have. It featured a character I guess I never really liked.

While it still proves to have action and the story moves forward, this collection really highlights just how angsty it is to be a kid in a superman's (or superwoman's!) world. These kids have it rough. Out of six originals, two of them have already died. Even Molly, the lighthearted "baby" of the group, has real moments of kind of sadness here. Nico's a mess. She really can't lead during the monster attack because she's so worried someone will die. I also really like her relationship with Victor. They don't really even want to deal with their gross emotional problems. The situations they keep finding themselves in allow for the perfect distraction from their non-existent relationship. I really believe you can pick up any volume of Runaways and just love it. It's that good.

VINTAGE - Superman/Batman: Supergirl

2010-11-23T00:57:00.015-05:00

LOEB, Jeph. Superman/Batman: Supergirl. DC Comics, 2005. ISBN: 1401202500

Just when you thought all the superhero action was over, I'm throwing a wonderful combo at you just before turkey day. TWO superheroes for the price of one. A little title DC Comics likes to call Superman/Batman. They slap those two wacky kids together just to see what wacky highjinks will ensue. In this one, the second volume that happens to be penned by Jeph Loeb from Batman: Hush acclaim, he reintroduces Supergirl into mainstream continuity. Hasn't there always been a Supergirl, you ask? Yes. Sort of. Since the late fifties. Sort of. Loeb does his best to explain the situation in a, I'll say it, poorly written foreward to the book. He uses a rollercoaster analogy because apparently some high-up muckity much at DC was riding a "Superman-themed rollercoaster" and saw that Supergirl's biography was kind of horrible. It described her a protoplasmic lifeform. P.S. I totally know which coaster they were referring to. It's totally Bizarro at Six Flags! I was there! And the best part of that was totally reading the bios while I was waiting in the line. I'm a nerd who reads comics. Rollercoasters are kind of scary.

Supergirl, or Kara for short, has many different origins. This story does the best job of simplifying it; she's Superman's cousin. Superman's dad, Jor-El if you didn't know, had a brother who was also on the science council. He made his own rocket, this one much bigger, and stuck his teenage daughter inside it. Before it could launch, the planet exploded. That's what you get for making a bigger rocket, dude. Anyway, eventually a meteor shot through space and landed on Earth. Kryptonite everwhere. Batman and a bunch of other heroes are collecting it and keeping Superman at the JLA's Watchtower on the moon. You know, to limit his exposure. Batman finds the ship in the ocean's depths. While investigating, Kara plops into his Batboat (yes, it's actually called that in this story) buck naked and takes it for a job ride. She crashes it into the harbor. She doesn't speak English, but a really cool Krytonian language that looks like a cross between Egyptian and Wingdings. Scared and confused, Batman finally finds her crying in a greenhouse. He uses his own piece of green to put her down; they really don't get along much after that. I'd be kind of mad if a guy like who looked like a bat knocked me out, too.

Superman is relieved to finally not be the last Kryptonian in the universe. He basically accepts Kara fully into his life, exposing his secret identity within a month of meeting her. Batman is justifiably concerned by this. I mean, if this is a trap it's totally worked at this point. While out for a walk in Metropolis, Clark and Kara are ambushed. Batman, observing in the distance, is attacked as well. Who's doing it? The Amazons? And who is their princess? Wonder-f$#%#$-Woman, that's who!! Kara tries to defend herself with heat vision, but as you can see? No match for the ol' American one-piece. Turns out Batman called in Diana. Diana's with Batman; it's a little too soon. They take Kara to Paradise Island and train her as a lady warrior. Superman's kind of mad about this since Kara is his family and people are making decisions without him. He's justified when a bunch of Doomsday clones teleport in from Boom Tubes and attack everyone on the island. He kills them all with a massive heat vision burst that is super-awesome. The whole thing? A distraction so the Female Furies could kidnap Kara and take her to the hell-inspired planet Apokolips.

Big Barda is enlisted since she has a Mother Box and can Boom Tube the threesome of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman to Apokolips. They make a cool little unit; it would have made a cool episode of Justice League Unlimited. Batman snags some Mister Miracle gear so he can keep up with the super people. By the time they get there, of course, Kara has been manipulated into evil (and an incredibly skanky outfit) by Darkseid. Diana and Barda battle the Furies in a girl-fight that's pretty evenly matched. Diana being Diana obviously gets the upperhand. Superman battles the evil Supergirl, eventually using the Luthor-worn kryptonite ring on her. Batman confronts Darkseid after arming a bunch of superbombs in his armory. He says he'll blow up the planet- and all of them- unless Darkseid gives his word to leave Kara alone. Batman is awesome. Darkseid gets mad, beats him within an inch of his life, then relents. Those are the high points. There's some end stuff I won't spoil, but I bought this on impulse and ended up really enjoying it. I don't think the origin of Supergirl will ever be any better than the "Little Girl Lost" story from the animated Superman animated series, but this story did a cute job of incorporating a bunch of DC Comic elements historically while making the title fresh and exciting.

FALL OF THE MUTANTS: New Mutants

2010-11-20T14:34:00.013-05:00

CLAREMONT, Chris. X-Men: Fall of the Mutants. Marvel Comics, 2001 (originally published in 1988). ISBN: 0785108254

The story here is not incredibly strong, especially if you haven't read the issues leading up to this. The New Mutants were a team of "junior" X-Men, sort of a second generation of X-Men teenagers after the original had pretty much reached adulthood. Like the team that was introduced in Giant Size X-Men #1, this team was supposed to be a little more international, to show that mutants were more than a bunch of caucasian Americans. There nine "official" New Mutants as of the first 50 issues; of these, only seven actually appear in this story. Here it's Cannonball, Mirage, Magik, Cypher, & Wolfsbane. It's kind of later on in the New Mutants history, which lasted 100 issues and served as a precursor to X-Force in the early nineties. Shatterstar, who I've talked about before, first appeared late in the run of the New Mutants. I actually really like the stories. Chris Claremont created it and wrote it for a long time. At this point, Louise Simonson was writing the title in Fall of the Mutants. I like Louise Simonson as a writer, but kind of hate what she did to these poor mutant kids. This story is a perfect example.

For some god awful reason, a character who was half-man, half-bird was introduced. In keeping with the lighthearted nature of the title, a previous adventure the team had was talking him to an ice cream store (called a "malt shoppe" here - dated much?) where he caused all sorts of shenanigans. Being half-bird, half-man... he just didn't get human rules, ya know? Anyway, the creature is nicknamed "Bird-Brain" and is able to communicate with Doug Ramsey, whose lame power it was to understand and speak any language. Including half-bird, half-man. He could also do computers, which actually made him much cooler than I think people realized. Anyway, he determines from Bird-Brain that he is from some awful island where he was created and experimented on. There are also others there like them. Being junior heroes, and this being a grave injustice, the New Mutants agree something has to be done. They have to rescue them.

One problem. They're grounded. At this point, though not mentioned in the story proper, Xavier is in space after almost dying in a mutant hate crime. He's okay, but still in space and pretty far away. Before he left, he put Magneto in charge of his school and thus, the New Mutants. Magneto and the New Mutants don't really get along. It's pretty evident towards the end of the story when he's yelling at them why. They're also kind of brats. Magneto is seriously trying to protect them, perhaps overprotect them, from a world that hates and fears them. The New Mutants obviously don't think they need such protection. With Illyana Rasputin's mutant power of teleportation, they also can't really be grounded. Despite Magneto's decree, the New Mutants go off to save Bird-Brain's extended family anyway. For the record, Illyana is pretty much my favorite.

The story itself is bad. This is why I gave you background. A mad scientist named the Ani-Mater is Bird-Brain's "dad." He sics a bunch of creatures on the the kids, the win at first but then get captured. Rahne (Wolfsbane) tends to cry a lot, as she identifies with the godless animals (being able to wolf out herself). She's super reglious and doesn't like the idea of baser feelings taking over. The Ani-Mater is in league with Cameron Hodge and the Right, the bad guys behind Warren Worthington's from the X-Factor story. They show up and a much bigger battle ensues. Sunspot and Warlock, who were not there, find them and it turns to the New Mutants' side. Not before the Ani-Mater pulls out a gun to stop Rahne after all the crying though. In a pretty heroic moment, Doug jumps in front of the bullet, gets shot, and dies. The New Mutants don't even realize it until after the battle is over. It's pretty heartbreaking, and it's the moment where this story gets good.

The last issue deals with the fallout. Magneto is mad. The other stories are mentioned. Illyana sees her brother, Colossus from the X-Men, apparently die on TV. Rahne and, surprisingly, Mangeto mourn Doug more than the other members. Warlock, an alien and Doug's best friend, fails to understand why exactly happened. I like the last issue a lot, but just wish the story leading up to Doug's death was better thought out.

VINTAGE - Rest [New York Comic Con]

2010-11-15T22:55:00.017-05:00

POWERS, Mark. Rest, volume 1. Top Cow Productions, Inc. 2010. ISBN: 9781607062103

This post will mostly be about the first volume of Rest by Mark Powers, Shawn McManus, and Marco Castiello. It will also be at least partially about my experience at New York Comic Con last month since my attendance there is the whole reason I both discovered this title and purchased it. The scans are going to be of the main character John, because I think he's supposed to be visually based on Milo Ventimiglia. There were also a lot of panels of him in his boxers and HEY, who doesn't love that? I know I do. It's also worth noting that I totally slightly ripped the top of one of the pages in this trade to give you those scans. That's dedication, people. It's also a little infuriating; this cost me $30.00. It was kind of worth it, though. I got to meet not only the aforementioned Milo Ventimiglia, but pretty much everyone who involved in making this comic. And they all signed it. Which... actually? Makes it kind of more sad that I ripped it. Even if it was just a little bit.

REST takes a very simple idea and puts an everyman character into an impossible situation. A pharmaceutical company develops a drug that lets you stay awake 24/7. They also develop a way to regulate your body so it thinks you still sleep even though this drug makes it so you don't. It basically let's you stay awake. No consequences.

John, our hero, is approached with this... let's call it an opportunity? by his old college buddy. His friend Teddy, who used to be kind of a fat, useless slob has transformed into a powerful, fit man. Because John always treated him right, Teddy wants to give John the opportunity he's had; to become the best possible person he can be. By never sleeping. John is reluctant. Wouldn't you be? The whole thing sounds crazy. He eventually relents. I have the feeling that I probably would, too. John also lives in New York City. If you are going to set up shop in the city that never sleeps, you may as well not sleep, either.

Things don't turn sour right away. Of course they eventually do because if they didn't, we wouldn't have a very interesting story. The pharmaceutical company is working on passing legislation and battle the DEA to get their drug legalized. John is thriving on the drug and has become a jet set, globe-trotting businessman. While in Cairo, however, he almost gets killed. He learns from his previously unseen-by-him bodyguard that rival companies would love to catch him, cut him open, and find out how the drug works. Gross. But... probably something that would really happen. John meets a woman on the subway he's part of the same "clinical trial." In true Top Cow form, she turns out to be a gun-toting badass mercenary by the story's end. That was probably the only non-believable aspect of the story. Everything else? It works.

I don't usually buy any Top Cow comics. I really attended the Top Cow panel (and I feel that I was definitely not the only one in this boat) because Milo Ventimiglia was there. But as a librarian, I was generally interested in what Top Cow was going to be publishing. They do some cool stuff that isn't just Witchblade and The Darkness, but they gave updates and are doing generally awesome things with their flagship titles, too. There is a definite indie vibe to what they do; they give a lot of creative control to, you guessed it, the creators. From people I talked to at NYCC and from my general experience, that doesn't always happen. A colleague of mine said that all the Top Cow guys (yeah, all men. I didn't see one woman creator represented for their company there at all) seemed like "one big frat house." Yeah, they did. But they made it a fraternity I might like to join. And if they are coming out with things like Rest? They have generally earned my interest and ultimately my respect. This story was good and would be a welcome addition to any library collection.

FALL OF THE MUTANTS: X-Factor

2010-11-12T16:52:00.015-05:00

CLAREMONT, Chris. X-Men: Fall of the Mutants. Marvel Comics, 2001 (originally published in 1988). ISBN: 0785108254

It's part two of our Fall of Mutants series. This time, we are focusing on the original team of X-Factor. I actually briefly talked about their formation during the Phoenix Rising post since that included X-Factor #1 as the very last tale. This particular story took place over three issues from X-Factor #24 - X-Factor #26. It's not exactly the most finely crafted story, but it does introduce several elements that factored into the early nineties run of X-Men that I really loved. The first was Apocalypse as a villain. While Apocalypse had previously appeared in X-Factor #6, he's really introduced as a supervillain here. Why is that, you ask? Well, because Warren Worthington III is revealed as alive and as Death, one of Apocalypse's horsemen in the early pages of this story. Many interpretations of Warren becoming Death (and ultimately Archangel) show him as an unwilling participant in his own transformation. This story very clearly puts the blame on Warren; while Apocalypse goes to him and gives him the option to become one his servants - to "fly again." Totally not mind-controlled. Warren readily accepts his fate as he, at this point, literally had nothing else to loose.

Caliban, a mutant-tracking character from The Morlocks, was also hanging around X-Factor at this time and kidnapped with them by Apocalypse. Other than tracking mutants, he really had no other skills to aid the team. When Apocalypse defeats and captures the team, which consisted of Cyclops, Jean Gray, Beast, and Iceman- he doesn't even bother to lock Caliban up. Poor dude. Beast has also been touched by Pestilence in a previous encounter. The effects this seem to be whenever he uses his strength he gets dumber. The bonus is that at this point, he's really strong. Apocalypse brings them aboard his Ship, where most of the story takes place. The Ship is later retconned as Celestial technology. It works as this gigantic ominous thing here. As an evil mastermind, Apocalypse would have an equally evil headquarters. His horseman are War- a telekinetic who "claps" his hands together for dramatic effect, Pestilence- a Morlock whose very touch is deadly, and Famine- a teenager with an eating disorder who can literally wither away food, both outside and inside of people. They are based on the biblical four horseman from Revelation. Yep, the same one from The Bible.

Apocalypse kidnaps X-Factor with the intent to lure them over to his way of thinking. He briefly goes over his history, basically saying he's been around as long as the days of ancient Egypt. He's been worshipped as many different things by many different cultures, but essentially he's his namesake; the end of all things. He alludes to how only the strong should survive a number of times. It's weird, because X-Factor defeats the first three horsemen super fast during their first attack. Your horsemen are WEAK, Apocky. When he introduces Death, and then X-Factor realize it's an altered Warren, they are all defeated in short order. Apocalypse uses Warren as a case study in how human beings will ultimately betray all mutants, and how they all must join together to obliterate humanity before they have the chance to act. He kind of makes a good case for it, especially with Warren's downfall essential single-handedly engineered by his human best friend Cameron Hodge. X-Factor, with Cyclops being their most often spokesman, impolitely declines Apocalypse's offer whenever it comes up.

The story is essentially that. The horsemen then go to lay waste to Manhattan, and X-Factor goes off in hot pursuit. The Power Pack show up. Pestilence dies when the top of the Empire State Building falls on her. She was also trying to poison the Power Pack member saving her, so maybe she kind of deserved it? Iceman tricks Death into destroying an ice replica of himself. When Warren thinks he kills Bobby, he snaps out of it. Apocalypse is almost impressed, saying something like "strong in body, strong in mind!" Caliban joins him, and X-Factor realizes they did not do him a solid when they ignored him for the whole story. The dialogue is definitely dated- and not in a cute way. The art is also kind of thrown together, although some close up of Beast and Iceman work really well. This ended the 'X-Factor pretending to be Mutant Hunter' storyline that went on for two years and made no sense, so the story is good for that reason. It's good for the history lesson on Archangel, but... someone can just kind of tell you what happened. It makes this story ultimately skippable.

VINTAGE - Angel Special, Lorne

2010-11-08T13:00:00.012-05:00

BYRNE, John. Angel Special: Lorne. “The Music of the Spheres.” 48p. IDW, June 2010. ISBN: 9781600107238

Sometimes when you are visiting your local comic shop, something happens that can only be described as serendipity. You aren't looking to buy anything other than what you came for, but something catches the corner of your eye. It draws you in, and you are surprised that you haven't even heard of it before that moment. It's almost... magical. That was the case with this particular Angel story, focusing on the character of Lorne. When I was buying my monthly titles at Midtown Comics, a new tradition I'm trying to uphold, they had this propped up on display at the register. Not only did I not know that they were doing a tribute comic for Andy Hallett, who passed away a few years ago, but I also didn't know that John Byrne was the artist and writer involved with it. Byrne has done a few Angel comics for IDW. These are the few that I'm willing to admit are actually good.

The plot of this comic is pretty basic. Or massively complicated, depending on your point of view. It essentially involves three evil music demons with ill-defined illusion/sound powers who want to destroy all of reality. Illyria encounters one at the beginning of the story named Dischord, and it lets loose on her. She's afraid of them for most of the story, which is the only thing that makes them truly badass. It does take elements from the really bad Angel IDW flagship title, including mentioning that L.A. was recently Hell incarnate and the Groosalugg has a pret dragon named Cordelia. The entire beginning is narrated in Lorne's voice. It works. Byrne is definitely an Angel fan, or at least a fan of Lorne. He captures his voice, and his visual look, very nicely. Byrne's art has a unique style to it. I was a big fan of his work on X-Men: The Hidden Years which attempted to bridge a gap in early X-Men history. There's a kind of timeless quality to the way he draws.

Lorne is not doing so great. He collapses early on in the tale. After going to the doctor, he finds out that he has cancer. When Lorne comments that demons from his dimension (Pylea) don't get cancer, the demon doctor theorizes that Lorne's extended stay in this dimension may have had something to do with it. He goes to the Hyperion Hotel to visit Angel and the gang. Angel's the only one there, and Lorne doesn't reveal his illness. Angel is trying to research a weird reality shift he encountered the previous night. While they're talking, it happens again. Groo brings a defeated Illyria to the Hotel on his dragon, and the motley crew decide to fly where Illyria was attacked. They believe this to be the center of the phenomena. Illyria freaks out and says she won't go, but flies in on Cordelia the Dragon for an 11th hour rescue.

Lorne sacrifices himself in the end to stop the demons. It's sad, but he's kind of at peace with his decision. He dies singing, which is how Lorne would go out in the end. Both Mark Lutz (who played Groo and was real life friends with Andy) and the editor of IDW include notes at the end. Mark included personal photos of him and Andy and talked about how great he was and how much he'll be missed. He really will be. I can't believe Andy Hallett died, still do this day. The editor makes a point to tell readers that Lorne will be back in the comics- his story doesn't end here. You can probably still find this small graphic novel in your local comic shop. I wholeheartedly recommend buying it.

FALL OF THE MUTANTS: Uncanny X-Men

2010-11-06T07:15:00.022-04:00

CLAREMONT, Chris. X-Men: Fall of the Mutants. Marvel Comics, 2001 (originally published in 1988). ISBN: 0785108254

Let us harken back to the eighties... to a time when only nerds loved The X-Men.

In 1988, Marvel Comics ran a sort-of crossover between Uncanny X-Men, the New Mutants, and X-Factor. These were the only X-Men related titles at the time. There's now something like two dozen. Like I said, different times. One of the reasons I'm going to be tackling each "chapter" individually is because the titles don't really intersect. At all. While all of them have to do with the nation's growing concern over "the mutant menance" in general; the X-Men are fighting a mystical god-like being in Dallas, the New Mutants are confronting beast creatures on a weird island in the middle of nowhere, and X-Factor is fighting one of their own. Like I said, nothing really connecting them on any one particular point. The Uncanny story is my favorite, so I'm kind of glad to be talking about that one first.

The X-Men in 1988 were as follows: veterans Storm, Wolverine, and Rogue as well as old member Havok who recently returned to the team. Dazzler, Longshot, and Psylocke have all recently joined them and, along with Rogue, defeated the Juggernaut in Scotland a few issues back. Though the team is a little green, they all effectively work well together as a unit. Also, due to a misprint in the original issue, it actually lists the wrong four members of the team who fight Juggernaut when it's mentioned at the beginning of Uncanny X-Men #225. Well, they got one name wrong. I think Havok was in there instead of Psylocke or something. I remember occasionally seeing errors in issues when I was regularly reading X-Men Classic. I miss that. It makes the comics more real or something. A fun thing to point out about this lineup is that it's also has a majority of women, something that only ever happened during this period in the X-Men's history. At the beginning of this story, Colossus (with his little sister Illyana's telepoting help) rejoins the team. Wolverine is also the leader while Storm is with Forge for most of the story, which is weird. The team kind of gets their butts handed to them in this story so let's blame Wolverine for that. Logan the Scapegoat. He also gets shot so bad he can't move early in the story. Yeah... stuff like that used to happen. He's not the coolest one, people.

Forge, a Native American inventor who works for the government, is the one with the problem here. While his mutant ability is where his technical know-how comes from, he's also a mystic who unleashed some bad mojo during the Vietnam War when some of his buddies got killed. Using nine of their souls to open, well I guess essentially a gateway to hell, he tipped over the delicate balance between good and evil. An ancient being known as the Adversary, basically a trickster god, kills his mentor Naze and assumes his form. He then plots against Roma, another all powerful entity who is essentially his counterpart in the world of good. The Adversary basically succeeds in the beginning of the story and traps Roma, but not before she engineers Colossus' return in a roundabout way.

In an unrelated plot point, there's a battle royale with "Freedom Force" - essentially most of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from the Days of Future Past story, who are now employed by the government and charged with bringing the outlaw X-Men in. I like the X-Men as outlaws. I don't know why, but it's awesome when they're described as "the outlaw X-Men." Destiny sees the X-Men as a nexus of nothingness, which makes them targets for Freedom Force. Mystique also wants to bring them in to make the team look good. And most of the bad guys hate the X-Men anyway. Destiny is also having a lot of panic attacks because the Adversary's presence is essentially blocking her mutant power to see the future, but she knows the X-Men are going to die no matter which way it goes. She fears not seeing the outcome means all of reality is in danger and they could get "poofed" out of existence. She's not wrong. After fighting each other to a standstill, the X-Men enter Forge's building (yes, he owns an entire building in this story. W-T-F!?) to confront the Adversary. It's also worth noting this takes place in Dallas, TX. That is so random, but I have always loved that part of the story. Oh, the X-Men are in Dallas? Why is that? To DIE! I mean... right!?

Originally collected in Uncanny X-Men #225 – 227. At three issues, it's a short read. Any well worth it. If, for anything else, Spiral fighting different members of the X-Men. Magically attaching Destiny's mask to Dazzler's face? Genius.

VINTAGE - Those Left Behind, Serenity

2010-11-03T00:24:00.012-04:00

WHEDON, Joss & Brett Matthews. Serenity: Those Left Behind. Dark Horse Comics, 2007. ISBN: 9781593078461

Let's talk about the Serenity graphic novel.

It's good. Let's just start there. This story, which actually ran for three Dark Horse comic issues, is collected in this awesome hardcover. I remember because I bought all the issues as it came out. Which was hard, because they were selling out fast. Each issue had three different covers, highlighting one of the nine main stars of Firefly. Unlike many other Vintage titles, it's actually still in-print so you can buy it for your library. And buy it you should. Did I mention it's good? There's a co-writing credit here between Joss Whedon and Bret Matthews. I don't know who did what; let's assume, in typical Joss Whedon comics-fashion that he did much of the story plotting and Bret did much of the nitty gritty writing stuff, like say... dialogue. You can't really tell, because this is so spot on with both the show and the movie that it's a piece of the universe everyone should read in order to... yeah, I'll say it... stay shiny.

Okay, so the plot. Assuming you've all seen Firefly, it centers around a spaceship named Serenity and her crew. Not familiar? That's cool, there's actually plot background that establishes their world in the back just in case you're unfamiliar. Basically, the captain of the ship (Mal Reynolds) and his crew are a bunch of space pirates. Some of the jobs they do are legal and some are less than. Even if they are on the up-and-up, the often find themselves in sticky situations. Most of these resort to violence. One such situation is where the story opens. As Mal and his comrades Zoe and Jayne are looting a bank (okay, so it's not always legal) someone else has beat them to the punch. They're not giving up without a fight. Mal gives it to them and wins, but looses the much-needed cash the ship and crew were depending on. This would be the typical teaser for an episode of the show, and serves as the kind-of opening for Serenity the film, so... awesome. I like that the comic opens in much the same way yet manages to stay fresh somehow.

The story attempts to resolve some dangling plot threads; the "Men in Blue" are both still hunting River and get Agent Dobson- a character thought killed in the original pilot- to help them set up a distraction for the rest of the crew. Dobson wants to kill Mal, so that's pretty much all he cares about. Badger, who hired the crew a few times in the show for odd jobs, is the one the sends them to Dobson, effectively ending their business relationship (and thus, explaining why twins Fanty & Mingo take his place in Serenity). Shepherd Book becomes increasingly frustrated with having to participate in the illicit activities against his faith and better judgment finally punching Mal in the face. This is one of the cooler panels in the story. He makes plans to leave the ship, and Inara is still waiting to depart as well. You kind of forget that this many parts of the story need to be told in this in-between period for the television series-to-film. The story is paced so you kind of don't even notice.

It's great. I have almost no criticism. I would love to discuss someone who reads it but has no prior knowledge of Firefly or Serenity. Maybe it's too complicated without them. Maybe you wouldn't be interested in reading this if you haven't watched one of those first. It would ultimately be a good jumping off point for a book discussion for just these reasons. I like that the blue dudes are dealt with. The fact that they never appear again is kind of a downer; you kind of want to see them get it in the show's end. I also like how Book's growing frustration is an element throughout the story. If you're watching the movie, people who saw the show are like... w-t-f? He left? This is kind a nice grace note to explain that. Anyway, I think it's worth reading and a welcome addition to any comics collection at your local library.

The Epic End of October Updates & Stuff

2010-10-26T13:42:00.021-04:00

I'm proud of you guys for sticking with me during all my Buffy posts. I know not everyone was into it... but admit it. Some of you were. I threw in an X-Men and Batman title for balance, just in case Buffy was not your thing. I had a good time at New York Comic-Con 2010. For those that attended my panel, or didn't but wanted to, I did want to provide the handout for anyone that didn't get a copy. What's coming up in 2010, you ask? I am going to tackle a big collection in X-Men: Fall of the Mutants during the next few weeks that will be divided into three parts (Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and New Mutants respectively). The majority of my Vintage posts are done. I only have a few titles left to review, none of which will really be "vintage." Two were even published in the last year. I feel like it's the end of an era, so I've been thinking a lot about what direction this little blog should go in for 2011.

Here's a little image preview of a few covers from upcoming year-end entries:

So I might be reviewing single issue comic books after that. I'm sort of saving up Louise Simonson's new Birds of Prey series just for that purpose. I was also into the Red Hood series by Judd Winick that came out which has just one issue left. Maybe I'll review them in storyarcs so, when an actual graphic novel comes out, you can think about buying them for your library or your personal connection. I'm also considering buying a trades from Borders periodically just to review it. I guess we'll see what the future holds, but I think the last few titles will keep me busy for the next couple of months.

I'm taking suggestions for review titles- what would you like me to talk about?

For those of you curious as to whether I'm getting my YA on, I've also started doing something I call "lunchtime reading." It's reading at lunch. I bet you didn't guess that. This is because I often go a diner around the corner from the library alone on my lunch break. Since I end up watching some football game or something I'm even less interested in, I've decided to be one of those New Yorkers who reads while they eat. Reading also makes me look less pathetic I've decided... but probably not by much. I'm taking the opportunity to finish up two books I stated reading and never finished- Firestorm! by Joan Hiatt Harlow and Witch & Wizard by James Patterson. I've got maybe 60 pages left in the former (it's a fast read), but I really just started reading the Patterson before stopping. So I've got a lot more to read there. I also only read I would say 10-20 pages a day, so it'll be awhile before I've finished the books.

Also... I redesigned the blog! Do you like it? It's Envy Adams friendly now.

VINTAGE - Batman Forever Adaptation

2010-10-25T22:16:00.015-04:00

O'NEIL, Dennis. Batman Forever: The Official Comic Adaptation of Motion Picture. 64p. DC COMICS, June 1995. ISBN: 1563891999

I know what you're thinking. They didn't. But oh yes, they did. They made it into a graphic novel. And what's worse: I'm actually going to review it. I did, however, make a promise to you about going through all the old treasures in my collection... and Batman Forever is in there. Sadly. It's actually been republished, too. There are different covers I've found. Dennis O'Neil, who is actually a great Batman writer, has his name on this piece of poo. That's surprising. If you aren't familiar with Joel Schumacher ruining the Batman film franchise, this is a loose adaptation of the movie with the same name. It revolves around Batman stopping an already established villain Two-Face, inadvertently creating a new enemy in The Riddler, and gaining a new partner in circus performer-turned-orphan Robin. Like most graphic adaptations and novelizations, this was most likely adapted from the original screenplay to coincide with the release of the film. Both came out in the summer of '95, so it's a fair assumption for this title.

A lot of the dialogue has been stripped down for the graphic novel. This might be an actual improvement over the film, since The Riddler for one is a lot less annoying. All of his origin stuff has pretty much been washed out in this version; he doesn't get the weird inspiration for his costume and ends up leaving Bruce Wayne all his riddles at once, instead of spacing them out over time as he did in the film. Two-Face's girlfriends, Sugar and Spice (played by Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazar, respectively) are both in this, which is odd. If you had to cut things, wouldn't you have cut the useless chicks that really didn't need to be there in the first place? They are in a lot of panels. A lot of the actual Robin origin stuff made it into the piece, which is nice because that part of the movie was stuff I actually liked. Some scenes, especially those involving the action, aren't fleshed out enough to really get a sense of what's going on.

Why do I keep referencing the film? It's hard to follow this graphic adaptation without having seen the movie first. That's a definite disadvantage. The characters have also been drawn very specifically to look like the actors portraying them instead of their comic counterparts. This concept was somewhat abandoned in later adaptation of the first X-Men movie. Wolverine, in some parts of his movie prequel story, looked like Wolverine instead of Hugh Jackman pretending to be Wolverine. I would have preferred a more stylized approach here. The artist obviously saw the film first, then drew panels to directly homage it. The story works in much the same way. There is a bit with Riddler and Two-Face, after getting smarter from "The Box" invention, are sitting around on a sofa and talking like they're stoned. That was fun but probably in the original script that got cut from the movie.

I kind of hate adaptations like this. Unless they are providing you with some kind of backstory or original piece of storytelling about the source material, as with the aforementioned Wolverine prequel piece, there's not a lot to even talk about. Unless we want to talk about how I hate them. There's a reason I saved this one until I was almost done the "Vintage" series. I really didn't even want to re-read it. You don't even get to hear the semi-crappy Seal song "Kiss From a Rose" when you read the comic. Honestly, it's easier to just go out and get a copy of the movie and watch it again. The art, while you can tell who is who in it, isn't anything spectacular to write home about, either. I realize that DC Comics put this out with nothing else in mind other than making a quick buck but I don't know. Attempting something a little more would have been nice.

VINTAGE - Lost & Found, Spike

2010-10-23T11:00:00.013-04:00

TIPTON, Scott. Spike: Lost & Found. IDW, Jan. 2006. illus. by Fernando Goni, Impacto Studios. ISBN: 1933239972

I remember not really liking this graphic novel very much the first time I read it. After re-reading Spike: Lost & Found, I have to say... maybe I was a little to harsh. It does have a few continuity errors in it, but it's kind of a cute story overall. Angel is in the story as much as Spike is. I think it really should have been titled "Spike and Angel: Lost & Found" because that would have been a little more accurate. Anyway, like the last vintage post on a Spike comic, this was pretty early in IDW's publishing run of Angel-themed comics. They ended up being pretty expensive for fewer pages, and the stories weren't that compelling. Like the last IDW Spike comic, you can see from the panels I've scanned that they've used that too rich, painting-esque art that I'm not really a fan of. I actually think the work might be digital, using Photoshop to digitally alter real shots of James Marsters. Reading all of those Scott Allie editorials in the back of Dark Horse Buffy comics has totally paid off.

The plot of this story revolves around a second Gem of Amarra. This, in of itself, is a continuity error because Angel confirms that there was only one ring in the third season premier of his own show. The opening scene of this comic is of Spike explaining to Harmony "what happened in L.A." (a recap of the events of Angel's 'In the Dark' episode). This is also sort of a blatant continuity error since Harmony and Spike, at that point, weren't together. He tried to stake her, but because she had the Gem of Amarra on her finger, she didn't die. They don't see each other again until "Pangs" after he comes back from The Initiative. I guess the scene between them could work, it's just unlikely. And also not very clever. They do cut to Harmony, bored four years later in Angel's office, saying the same thing. Harmony was like that. There's actually a lot of her in this one, even moreso than the cameos we get from Fred, Wesley, and Gunn. Who doesn't love Harmony in comics?.

Angel sees news reports about "throat-ripping" murders that are happening in broad daylight. He immediately thinks that there's another Gem of Amarra (again, wouldn't the events of 'Heartthrob' be more likely? That a vampire got that surgery?). He goes to Spike to ask about how he found out about the ring. Spike doesn't really answer the question despite being asked multiple times by Angel and later Wesley. That's sad, because that's a question you could answer in this comic, writer Scott Tipton. So you disappointed me. I just want to let you know. Spike is actually written pretty well here. His interactions with Angel are also pretty spot on with post-'Destiny' and 'You're Welcome' scenes. They don't really like together, but realize they work extremely well together, so there's a begrudging respect. They eventually catch up to the vampire and a wacky chase ensues. The Gem of Amarra on his finger looks similar, but the gem is red. I think I like that because it shows that they are different, but wouldn't they be the same color? Coloring error?

Anyway, it's not very many pages... but it was nice to go back and read. A kind of pleasant surprise since it wasn't quite as bad as I remember.

VINTAGE - Hunting Ground, Angel

2010-10-20T22:42:00.016-04:00

GOLDEN, Christopher & Tom Sniegoski. Angel: Hunting Ground. 80p. DARK HORSE COMICS, August 2001. ISBN: 1569715475

Picking up where my last Vintage post on Angel left off, "Hunting Ground" is the next book is the rough sequence that Dark Horse published when it bound copies of the first monthly series. As a fun treat, there's a story here that was originally published in Dark Horse Presents #155. Meaning it wasn't in the original monthly series, so I didn't read it when it came out. Actually, re-reading the story... I'm not sure I actually ever read the Dark Horse Presents story. So it's a true vintage post, since I discovered something new from something old. Pretty much the best thing you can hope for when you are reading old trade paperbacks. So I'll break down the story in two parts; first, we get the aforementioned story I may or may not have read but definitely do not remember. We will also get the story proper, which concerns what I believe is Wesley's introduction into the comics and a fun story involving Angel being framed for murder.

The first story focuses on Cordelia. She reads a script, lands the lead role, and believes it's finally her big break. Quitting Angel's office, she wholeheartedly throws herself into the plot. Basically, the story is a Blair Witch knockoff. Two guys with a handheld camera are filming Cordelia acting scared. Angel remains at the office, answering phone calls about crazy cases that are probably not very supernatural. Bored, he reads Cordelia's script... and realizes something is off. Investigating, he realizes that "the producers" - who are in fact demons - have actually hired Cordelia and the makeshift film crew to find a magical hat that can command demons. But it's protected, and the demonic nature spirits who want to keep out the intruders target Cordelia. Angel arrives just in time to save her, but will the be able to stop the demons from getting that hat? I forget what the hat is called, but it's corny.

The second story (with a different artist) begins with the late, the great Kate Lockley. Called out for another murder victim (I think at this point, there's been two or three) she starts to discern a pattern. The killer is coming from the sewers... hey! Doesn't Angel use the sewers? He's a vampire, so he obviously did it! She forget that, ya know, the victims would be drained of blood and stuff. Actually, Kate would probably do that late in the first season. She did love playing "jump to conclusions." Anyway, Wesley is in this one (I think his first comics appearance- they don't make a big deal, he's just in the story) and he assists Angel in tracking down the killer. The fun part is, Angel and Wesley also blame the wrong guy- a kindhearted, rat-eating demon named Abner. Despite looking like a big, lumpy caveman he also has this cool thing where he can make spikes grow out of his back. Anyway, wackiness ensues as everyone blames the wrong person.

Brian Horton drew the Dark Horse Presents story, who is the artist I talked about in my last Vintage Buffy post. I had no idea he did this, too. So... awesome. Paul Lee did the pencils for the Abner story. Christopher Golden and his sometimes co-writer Tom Sniegoski wrote the stories. Giving credit where credit is due in this case is kind of hard, because these trades are really just reprints of the stories without a lot of extra stuff. Scott Allie takes about working with Brian Horton in little editorial note in the middle (actually, it's like 3 pages... so not really a "note") so I guess he really like Brian Horton's work. I have to agree. It rocks, maybe even moreso with some of the cover designs he did for this one. The give us some stuff that wasn't used. And it's da bomb dot com. I really hope they do an "Angel Omnibus" edition with this, the Buffy "Hollower" Angel stories, and with Joss Whedon's 4-part Angel miniseries. All of that stuff was good, which makes me sad for the crap that IDW is putting it out now (unless it's by Lobdell or Byrne). Anyway, it is worth reading if you find it.

VINTAGE - A Stake to the Heart, Buffy

2010-10-18T06:53:00.023-04:00

NICIEZA, Fabian. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Stake to the Heart. 96p. DARK HORSE COMICS, April 2004. ISBN: 1-59307-012-8

Before we even get started with this Buffy collection, let me just say... it's weird. I re-read all of the trades featured in my Vintage posts so I can compare what it was like reading it then compared to what it's like reading it now. I remember that A Stake to the Heart was a bizarre collection of stories. Reading it over just kinda confirmed that for me. To give you some background: this is from the pre-Season 8 run of the Buffy comics and was actually the final four issues of the regular ongoing Buffy monthly series (issues #60-64). It's totally on wikipedia, which is how I got the issue numbers right. Fabian Nicieza, who is known more for being an X-Men writer, penned this tale. As with a bunch of the storyarcs set at the end of Buffy's run, this story actually serves as a prequel for the time before Buffy Summers moved to Sunnydale. Specifically, Buffy's parents Hank and Joyce have just decided to separate. This gives Buffy all kinds of gross emotional problems, which lead us to the story at hand.

To be consistent with his pre-Buffy established character, Angel is a creepo perv who is watching Buffy outside of her house. He sees her in pain over the situation with her parents, the loss of her Watcher, and her turmoil at being called as The Slayer. I'm sure I'm leaving something else Buffy was bitching about, but maybe it'll come to me later. Anyway, Whistler is with Angel in this story for no apparent reason. So, he might as well serve as the voice of reason (...see what I did there?). Angel decides he's going to take Buffy's pain away. Even though Whistler thinks it's a bad idea, he still tells Angel about a black magic spell that can draw bad emotions away from someone and put them in somebody else. In a nice nod to Angel, he actually has to go to Wolfram & Hart to get one of the ingredients. I think he's supposed to actually be talking to Lilah Morgan, but she isn't named and it doesn't really look like her. Wolfram & Hart probably shouldn't even be in the story, but I still find it kind of fun.

So Angel does the spell. This doesn't make a lot of sense, since negative emotions would probably make him go evil, but Whistler has a stake on hand in case that happens. Angel does the spell... and nothing happens. To him, anyway. Turns out, he is successful in drawing the spirits out (they are referred to both as the Malignancy Spirits and Malignancy Demons, so to be confusing I'll refer to them as both, too). They are just somehow given form just outside reality. Sort of whispering in Buffy's ear if you like. The demons are, in order of appearance, DECEIT, GUILT, ABANDONMENT, and TREPIDATION. I couldn't do justice in words to the design of these spirits, but they look pretty terrifying. Buffy does finally physically interact with the last two, actually "slaying" them (like she does). Mostly they are her horrible feelings given form, relaying her own internal monologue back to her as evil taunts of evil.

Buffy had hit a creative steak in these prequels. Fabian Nicieza started writing the book just after Scott Lobdell (another X-Men writer I like). Both of them were telling compelling Buffy stories, even if they weren't entirely accurate. Angel reverses his spell after the third demon attacks Buffy, yet she is still confronted by a fourth. That sort of makes no sense, but it doesn't really need to. The visual elements in this tale, especially the covers and character design by Brian Horton, are really what make this story pop. You really couldn't have a story like this in the show proper since it's all very metaphorical and ethereal at the same time. Other than the random story problems, I also felt like too many characters were included. I like all the panels with Giles moving to Sunnydale, but you don't need Willow, Jessie, Xander, and Cordelia in the background (Harmony did appear in one panel, and I do need her). Whistler's involvement was also a little forced, but not all that important.

All in all, this is a great Buffy story. The copy I'm reviewing is, like many Vintage titles, long out-of-print. But I have good news! You can steal read the collection in the 2nd volume Buffy Omnibus. The trade paperback that I have includes a fun art editorial piece by Buffy editor Scott Allie, who describes Nicieza and Horton's collaboration on the demon designs, so that's the only thing really unique to this volume. So you can't read that. Go cry yourself to sleep... just like emotionally damaged Buffy did.

VINTAGE - Phoenix Rising, The X-Men

2010-10-04T11:10:00.017-04:00

STERN, Roger & Various Auth. X-Men: Phoenix Rising. 112p. MARVEL COMICS, May 1999. ISBN: 9780785107118

Jean Grey. She's a superhero who hasn't had a lot of luck with codenames. Originally, she was called "Marvel Girl." Pretty quickly she became a woman, so that name didn't stick. Then she got cosmic-powers in the eighties and started calling herself "Phoenix." Then she saved the universe. She was still cosmically powerful though, and an old enemy (Mastermind) with some new villains (The Hellfire Club) were able to warp her mind and turn her evil. The X-Men couldn't really stop her. The intergalactic Shi'Ar couldn't, either. While on the run with her main squeeze Cyclops, she watches helplessly as he gets shot with what she thinks is a mortal wound. She goes apeshit crazy, kicks everyone's ass, then sacrifices herself for the sake of the universe. It sounds corny, but it's still widely regarded as one of the great comic stories of... well, ever. Chris Claremont wrote the story. It was ballsy, because he essentially killed off one of the original X-Men forever.

In comic books, however, no character really dies. Which brings us to this collection. Despite Claremont's original intent for Jean Grey to stay dead, editors at Marvel Comics decided that it was time to bring her back. And bring her back they did. In a three part story, this collection covers an issue of The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, and finally the debut issue of X-Factor. X-Factor, in it's original form, was the reunification of all the original X-Men who hadn't been together as a team unit since the days of the original X-Men. If you are a nerd, that is a really big deal. Anyway, let's get to the story. The Avengers are having issues. Namor's just joined the team. As a former enemy, he predictably isn't getting along with anyone especially Hercules. Captain Marvel, a character I had never even hear of before, is the one in charge. She's a black female who can transform into pure light and travel great distances in a short amount of time. She's actually pretty awesome. If she was in more Avengers stories, I'd probably actually read them. She was my favorite.

Anyway, the Avengers put aside their personal issues (mostly) to deal with a disturbance in Hudson Bay. The eventually find something that looks like an opaque egg. When they get close to, it immediately repels them away. Even Namor, who gets pretty mad about the situation pretty fast. Eventually, they are able to get the thing out of the bay but they still have no idea really what it is. So who do they take it to? Reed Richards. I feel bad for Reed. I feel like people are constantly dumping their problems on him in the Marvel Universe. Like, "Ah! My costume is alive! Help me, help me!" Poor Mr. Fantastic. The biggest brain on Earth reduced to identifying evil eggs and handling fashion emergencies. Anyway, he basically has no idea what the cocoon is, either. He can determine that it's alien, which explains why he can't figure out more. He also determines something is inside. At the end of the issue, we can see a foxy redhead revealed when no one is looking. If you guess it's Jean Grey, you would be right.

Jean Grey eventually busts on out. She does a pretty good job of using her telekineses to thrash everyone around. It's somehow stronger, but explanation as to why is pretty flimsy. She no longer has telepathy. That is later reversed by other writers, just like her "death." Reed determines that Jean didn't die at all, but the Phoenix assumed physical form and looked exactly like her. That's what died. It placed the real Jean in suspended animation. Jean doesn't take all this very well, especially the part about Phoenix going evil and killing a bunch of space creatures. She's even more devastated when she finds out Scott is married to some chick who coincidentally looks exactly like her. Reed calls Warren Worthington, who essentially puts the moves on her for a really long time in early issues of X-Factor. Jean decides to reunite the original team, with Scott even coming back from Alaska and essentially abandoning his wife. Warren funds the whole thing. It turns out to be a disaster but that's for another blog post.

I'm sure this was released in conjunction with X-Men 3 which heavily featured Jean Grey as the Phoenix. Sort of. They adapted the animated show story where she's kind of possessed, which is what Claremont was sort of originally going for. Actually, X-Men 3 just makes it sound like Jean was crazy the whole time. I'm glad that they put this out so you can read the real story of her return. It's a shame it's now out-of-print.

VINTAGE - Old Times, Spike

2010-10-03T14:06:00.018-04:00

DAVID, Peter. Spike: Old Times. 48p. IDW, 2005. ISBN: 1933239972

The whirlwind weekend of Buffy inspired trade paperbacks has me writing up a storm. Today though, we are not focusing on Buffy or Angel, but the thorn in both their sides: Spike. Our friendly neighborhood English vampire didn't start getting his own titles until a few years back, when Dark Horse gave up the rights to publish Angel comics. A small independent publisher called IDW picked it up and they've been making Angel comics every since. I think Dark Horse is getting back the license sometime in the next year, but if the current Buffy comics are any indication, the new Angel Dark Horse comics might not be any better than the IDW ones. Spike: Old Times is an example of the early IDW stories. It was a short (maybe the length of two full comics) one-shot I think largely intended to see if people would buy solo Spike comics. Since they still publish them, I guess it worked.

I'm getting ahead of myself. I mean, background information about the comics publishing industry is obviously why you're here, right? Wrong. You want to hear about comics. The time frame of this comic is a little suspect. It mentions it taking place in L.A. and Spike being there to "bug" someone (presumably Angel). Spike wasn't in L.A. until after his Buffy year ended- with the exception of the "In the Dark" Angel episode, which took place long before this story. So let's say it took place sometime after the season 6 episode "Older and Far Away" by before season 7's "Selfless." It also erroneously refers to the party in "Older and Far Away" as Dawn's birthday when it was, in fact, Buffy's. So it wasn't perfect, but with that stuff out of the way, this is a damn fine example of how good a Buffy comic can be.

The story flashes back to London 1880. This is while Spike was still human, and it shows him leaving the party where he is made fun of during "Fool for Love." The partygoers continue to mock him, and Spike wishes aloud that they were the "bloody ones." When the guy who was talking about a "railroad spike" being driven into his head starts telling everyone at the party this, Cecily suddenly transforms into Halfrek and says "wish granted." They start bleeding out of the ears and eyes, then someone starts a fire and they all die. It's a great beginning. It also explains something in the show that never was explained; Kali Rocha played both Cecily and Halfrek, and in "Older and Far Away" called Spike by his given name William. So obviously they were the same person. I like that this story explains she was a vengeance demon the whole time "Fool for Love" took place, similar to how Anya had disguised herself as a high school student during her demon days.

Cut to now. Halfrek is at a bar hosting a poetry night. Spike comes out of nowhere and starts a fight. They brawl for a awhile, with Halfrek clearly having the upperhand. She eventually does her teleport spin, but Spike keeps an eye on the place to try and figure out why she was there. He eventually sees a guy leave and notices Sepavro demons are after them (a nice reference to "Something Blue" - demons that can only be killed by drowning them). Spike makes it his mission to save the guy, really only to piss Halfrek off. He also keeps mispronouncing her name as things like "Halifax" and "Halfback." It's fun when you read the story. Spike eventually figures out from talking to the guy that Halfrek has been punishing every man in his family from viking times, killing the poor descendants on their 30th birthday. Spike figures out that if he can keep the guy alive until midnight, he'll probably break the curse.

Peter David wrote this. I've talked a lot about him during my X-Factor rants (re: Shatterstar) and from my previous vintage post about The Hulk. He's clever, and while this story is much too short for my taste (I wanted it to go on forever) it's a really satisfying read. He developed Halfrek nicely, and keeps Spike completely in-character. The art is a little too "rich" for me; I wasn't a fan of these painting-esque pictures as panels, but you barely notice because the story here is so good.

VINTAGE - Earthly Possessions, Angel

2010-10-02T16:44:00.018-04:00

GOLDEN, Christopher & Various Auth. Angel: Earthly Possessions. 80p. DARK HORSE COMICS, June 2001. ISBN: 1569715335

In the olden Dust Waltz days of Buffy Comics, Dark Horse also acquired the rights to publish comics for Buffy's spinoff series Angel. The original Angel series was entirely written by Christopher Golden. Chris is from Boston and did book signings in New Hampshire on a pretty regular basis, so I got to meet him a number of times. He wrote a Spike & Dru novel, as well as many other books and even video games for the extended Buffy universe. He got Buffy, and often found the characters' voices when he was writing them. The Angel series didn't end up lasting more than a year and a half. This is ultimately sad, since the Angel stores I'm going to review here are pretty much the best examples of how Buffy/Angel stories can work in comics. Also, I have this graphic novel autographed by him. That's pretty neat. If you don't know, Angel is Buffy's ex-boyfriend who had a bicentennial. Cursed by gypsies over a hundred years ago, he is a vampire with a human soul. After he and Buffy break up, he moves to L.A. and starts up a detective agency. He helps the helpless.

"Earthly Possessions" is actually three issues of the Angel comic proper, collecting issues #5-7. The bound graphic novel, now out-of-print, doesn't even tell us that. Luckily, Wikipedia has a handy dandy list of Angel comics published. It's always nice when someone does the work already, hmm? This story falls very specifically at a point in the Angel universe; right before the episode "Hero" and then continues about a week after it took place. This means that Doyle, one of the early stars of the show, appears at the beginning. As Angel and Cordelia attempt to wrap the case up they are also dealing with their sense of loss from Doyle's death Angel is also hesitant about putting anyone else in harm's way. This largely is in keeping with his character. He blamed himself for Doyle's sense. It would make sense that he was most messed up directly after it happened. There's also some cameos from police lady Kate and Doyle's ex-wife towards the beginning and end of the book. At that point, there wasn't a lot of Angel supporting characters for Golden to draw from. He creates a few of his own, including a book store owner Angel is friendly with and Doyle's informant buddy named Ezekiel. I kind of wish these were actual characters in the show proper.

As one could infer from the title, the main plot involves demonic possession. Doyle's latest vision alerts Angel to a woman being terrorized by her husband. A defense attorney, he seems to have grown more "evil" of late. Angel reasons he might be demonically possessed. That will certainly put anyone in a bad mood. Angel turns out to be right. When he confronts the demons, things don't initially go well. The demon is capable of immersing itself a sort of blue fire which makes physical contact (i.e. beating the crap out of it) pretty much a big no-no. Just as Angel is about to get his ass handed to him, a mysterious man dressed as a priest shows up. Angel works with the man, Father Noe, and they are able to cast the demon out of the lawyer. They even get paid by the lawyer's wife. Angel notes that Father Noe seems to make his living this way. He gets suspicious and starts digging into his past. Cordelia is of the opinion that they should be grateful; it's not like anyone on Team Angel knows a lot about casting demons out, and Noe did save Angel's skin.

One week passes, and "Hero" has taken place. Doyle is dead. A movie executive wants to hire the team to stop another possession case. Cordelia is reluctant, but Angel figures it's just what he needs to take his mind of Doyle. Noe is on the scene when Angel gets there. They do their thing and save the day again. Angel starts to suspect that maybe Noe isn't just taking demons out of people, maybe he's putting them in people, too. Then he can name his own price. Angel's instincts prove correct. Noe is really only interested in turning a profit, or "earthly possessions" (hey! that's the title!). While Angel makes short work of some of Noe's demonic footsoldiers, he releases some "vapor" demons into some of L.A.'s homeless. Angel knocks them out, but Noe manages to get away. Cordelia contacts Harry, Doyle's ex-wife, who helps return the homeless people back to normal. The last few panels show that Noe has gone across the pond to England where he continues his demonic possession scam on members of Parliament.

I like that Noe gets away in the end; it makes the ending a little bit more dynamic. Angel saves the day, but doesn't get the bad guy. Christian Zanier's art is also pretty cool. Angel is always in shadowed positions, and he uses just enough sharp jagged lines to really draw readers into the visual style of the comic. He also draws Angel, Doyle, and Cordelia all pretty well. Kate and Harry look nothing like their real-life counterparts, but I easily forgive that. Definitely a story worth the read.

VINTAGE - The Dust Waltz, Buffy

2010-10-01T01:01:00.020-04:00

BRERETON, Dan. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Dust Waltz. 80p. DARK HORSE COMICS, Oct. 1998. ISBN: 1569713421

I have quite a few of the older "Buffy" comics to talk about. As you would expect from me, I will give mostly positive reviews on the majority of 'em. I like Buffy. I liked comic books even before that. When the two things came together pretty early in the show's run, I was a happy camper. Despite the fact that Dark Horse was publishing them (at that point, I wasn't really a fan) and despite the fact that I had read several bad media tie-in "Buffy" books. That said, there were definitely a few diamonds in the rough.

The Dust Waltz is not one of them.

I just re-read it, so I can get into some of the stuff I especially hated. This was touted as the first true Buffy "graphic novel" - it was not published in serialized form and was subdivided into three "chapters." This made it about the size of 3 comic books, which isn't very long at all. The writer, Dan Brereton, was someone I had never heard of. He writes a forward to the book which is shocking bad (he puts "the wiggins" in quotes, for example) and doesn't manage to find the characters' voices even slightly. He creates pretty forgettable villains, too.

The plot of the story, if we can really even call it that, revolves around a "mother of all vampires" named Lilith, the evil demon wife of Adam from the Bible. Brereton takes liberties with Lilith here, making her a supreme vampire who can control lightning instead of a demon queen who can do a bunch of different things. Really, she's just a vampire and just controls lightning in this story. She has a sister who comes to town who does nothing, but vaguely looks like Medusa. She gets eaten by a giant snake. "The Dust Waltz" refers to a contest between the sisters where they each pick their best champion to battle each other. No reason for this contest is given. The victor opens the Hellmouth and unleashes the "father" of the two demon chicks, the aforementioned giant snake.

I wish I was making all this up.

A B-story involves Giles having a niece who comes to visit. Her name is Jane. She has a bob and freckles. She immediately becomes part of the gang and has some sexual tension with Xander for no reason. Speaking of "for no reason" she, Willow, and Xander are attacked by two werewolves for absolutely no reason at all. Jane takes out a stake and you think she might be awesome, but she ends up just fainting. She was pretty much the most horrible character ever. The question of how exactly she is Giles's niece is never addressed in the story, which would have made it slightly more interesting to me since little about Giles's family was ever revealed. The show was still going on at this point, so it's likely Brereton couldn't be too specific... ah, what the hell? I'm giving him too much credit. He probably didn't think to include it all. The whole thing is a pile of poo. Don't ever read this.

Hector Gomez's art (I've included some scans, for your un-enjoyment) was also an early problem with the "Buffy" comic. He's a Brazillian artist, and while he draws Buffy beautifully, his artistic renderings of everyone else make them look too hispanic. Cordelia and Willow look nearly identical (Cordelia is usually dressed like she's going to a tennis match, the only real way to tell them apart) and Xander... well, Xander looks like a fox. He looks too good. In Gomez's art, he's a babe. Which defeats the purpose of him being portrayed as a snarky, heroic nerd. It's just... bad. When Dark Horse started numbering the trades, this was #1. It was a bad start. When we get to my other pending Buffy trade, as well as the "Angel" comics, I promise things will get better. For now, you have this.

"VINTAGE SERIES" ~ The Master Index

2010-09-29T17:50:00.026-04:00

So it's been a few months since I had the idea to write about my musings over my out-of-print collection of trade paperbacks. With no good indexing system on Blogger (or on blogs in general), I've decided to create an index for you to better navigate the "Vintage Series"

Here's the current list (updated 10-25-2010):

(01) Kitty Pryde & Wolverine {0785130896}

(02) Wolverine & Punisher: Revelations {0785107290} *

(03) New X-Men, Childhood's End {0785118314}

(04) Age of Apocalypse, X-Calibre {0785101322} *

(05) Robin Year One {1563898055}

(06) Teen Titans, the Judas Contract {093028934X}

(07) X-Men, Days of Future Past {0785115609}

(08) Spider-Man: Birth of Venom {0785124985}

(09) Beauty & the Behemoth, Hulk {0785106596} *

(10) Excalibur Visionaries {0785137408}

(11) The Dust Waltz, Buffy {1569713421} *

(12) Earthly Possessions, Angel {1569715335} *

(13) Old Times, Spike {1933239603} *

(14) Phoenix Rising, The X-Men {0785107118} *

(15) A Stake to the Heart, Buffy {1-59307-012-8} *

(16) Hunting Ground, Angel {1569715475} *

(17) Lost & Found, Spike {1933239972} *

(18) Batman Forever Adaptation [DC Comics] {1563891999} *

Despite this batch originally being "ones I own + out of print," it's been expanded to include older comics I've happened to read / re-read. Only the ones with the stars next to them are trades I still currently own.

You'll notice that I included Kitty Pryde & Wolverine in this list. It was initially presented as one of my "In Review" blogs. In retrospect, it really was the first "Vintage" one. It inspired the whole series- so I've decided to include it here. I'll be sure to update the list as I add future titles.

CHARACTER SPOTLIGHT: Shatterstar

2010-09-28T10:28:00.023-04:00

Okay, so let's talk about Shatterstar.

Originally created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld when they were busy destroying everything I loved about The New Mutants (oh WAIT! Can you already tell how biased this is going to be? 'cause you should have picked up on that), Shatterstar is a genetically-bred warrior both from another dimension and from the future. I honestly think they wanted to create a character with such a complicated backstory future writers would probably be unable to handle him, but maybe I'm being too cynical. It was probably for the depth of storytelling that could take place. Let's face it, the early '90s X-Force stories were full of story elements. Not excessive violence or pointless mutant vs. mutant battling (why am I criticizing? I actually liked early X-Force stories). Anyway, 'star was a mainstay on the team, even as other characters such as Cable and Cannonball would leave for the X-Men team proper over the next several years and the rest of the X-Force team would eventually suck beyond the telling of it.

I did like those later X-Force road trip stories, though. It wasn't all bad.

Anyway, 'star was essentially a kill machine. He loved slicing stuff up (by "stuff" I mean people), and Cable would often sic him on people in early stories. Both he and Feral were kind of the ones Cable had to keep an eye on since they were too violent even for him. Despite being badass, Shatterstar was defeated in an early story by Deadpool. Deadpool used to be a lot scarier when he was first introduced, but I still think this story is kind of busted. Shatterstar would have won, kids. There's also a really good two-part story where Arcade kidnaps Shatterstar and pits him against a B-list X-Men character called Adam X, who got the unfortunate codename of X-Treme. While nothing great really happens in this story, it's super fun to me for some reason. I love it. We also find out that Shatterstar was part of an arranged marriage and had never met his intended wife. Random storyline for them to introduce into the "surviving Arcade's Murderworld" plot, but okay. Major Domo, an old Mojo villain, is the one who hires Arcade. Allusions were made that this is the dimension Shatterstar is from; this story confirms it I think. Early stories were very dodgy about revealing too much.

So Mojo. Mojo was an X-Men villain, seldom used now, because he was sort of a spoof of commercialism and the rise of television-obsessed culture. This alternate world is ruled by television, Mojo is sort of this fat slob with no spine who runs it ruthlessly, and he often comes into conflict with the X-Men by kidnapping them to increase his "ratings." The short-lived X-Men character Longshot is from there. While the early nineties saw Longshot fall into obscurity, many allusions were made that Shatterstar was somehow descended from him, at least genetically. There's an X-Men story where Longshot and Dazzler are expecting a baby, then Dazzler says in little type, "Shatterstar!? Are you serious?" Also, when Beast examines Shatterstar years later, he notes that not only are 'star's genetic markers similar to Longshot, they are identical. Which should be impossible. I know that there is kind of a busted story where X-Force goes into Mojoworld to help Longshot defeat the television tyrant, but I never read these stories. It's notable that Longshot first meets Shatterstar there.

So I like Shatterstar up to this point. He eventually went through many costume changes, as all the X-Force kids did. I wasn't a big fan of him in the purple sleeveless thing, which is the point we are up to now. At this point, hints were made about his relationship with fellow teammate Rictor. Shatterstar always talked kind of funny because he was from another dimension and didn't understand stuff. Rictor eventually leaves the team. I forget why, but Cable looking a lot like the guy who killed his dad never really made him want to be there. An issue of Cable includes him seeing Rictor off at the airport with Shatterstar and Domino in tow. Kind of shitty that the rest of the team didn't come, huh? Anyway, Shatterstar is like devestated that's he's leaving. It even shows him longingly watch the plane take off with his hand pressed against the glass. It breaks my heart everytime. I thought a lot of the initial "Shatterstar is gay" innuendo was kind of stupid. Now, I kind of loved it.

Then the Benjamin Russell stuff happened. An X-Force writer, I don't even know who, decided that Shatterstar's background was just too bizarre. So they tried to simplify it. As a general rule, whenever a writer tries to undo established things about a character who has existed for many years, it's going to go horribly horribly wrong. And go wrong it did. I can't even get into the busted elements they tried to introduce, but essentially Shatterstar was not Shatterstar anymore. He was some dude named Benjamin Russell who had been mind manipulated into believing he was from another dimension. And the future. What? There was like SO MANY THINGS that proved Shatterstar was from where he was from, including all the futuristic Mojo soldiers that came to claim him in his first appearance and the Arcade story. Anyway, this essentially shatters his confidence and he stops being badass. This made no sense, since being badass was the whole point of Shatterstar. It was undone or ignored later by other writers seeking to make Shatterstar awesome again. I just pretend the whole thing never happened. It's a valid life strategy.

X-Force kind of fizzled out right before the first X-Men movie came out. Movies, of course, have made Marvel rethink their whole approach to their characters. Every X-Men book was relaunched, and X-Force became this weird underground hit with a bunch of new characters unrelated to the X-Men universe. This new concept didn't last long, but most of the original X-Force character feel into obscurity. While some would "guest star" in other books, Shatterstar was noticably absent. I think a lot of this was fear. Writers were afraid to touch Shatterstar. The "Benjamin Russell" thing has made him damaged goods. Liefield eventually did both an X-Force limited series, and followed it up with a Shatterstar one that was a prequel I think. He essentially reestablishes Shatterstar as he originally intended him, undoing all of the stuff that had normalized him previously. After these limited series, 'star was still pretty absent from X-Men related comics. He was part of some 198 one shot where he was against Bishop and Micromax or something where I'm pretty sure the Liefield-reboot was observed faithfully.

Then Peter David got him for X-Factor.

Or, more specifically, got him as an antagonist for X-Factor. While the team is being observed and attacked by some weird dude named Cortex, both Strong Guy and Rictor are attacked by a Cortex-controlled Shatterstar. Rictor, now without powers, is vulnerable. So the real fight is between Guido and 'star. With Strong Guy absorbing a lot of Shatterstar's physical attacks, it's his agility and blades that prove to be the real threat. Cortex even figures out a way to slash up Strong Guy's brain before his connection is interrupted by an outside source. Free from Cortex's control, Shatterstar looks like a lost little boy... right before him and Rictor start passionately kissing each other. It was the comic book moment heard 'round the world, confirming something hinted at when I was reading comic books as a closeted gay teenager. To put it simply: it was awesome.

With a hefty X-Factor cast (the team has something like 9 or 10 members now, it's hard to keep track), one would assume the danger of Shatterstar falling into obscurity in a book he is also starring in. Not so. It might be his extra-dimensional origin, but Peter David highlights him pretty much every issue. It's either as a guy who's just not getting human emotions or as the insane killing machine Liefield originally intended him as. He now knows all about our culture, he's still just not really understanding it. His recent conversations with Rictor about having an exclusive relationship was genuis. He doesn't understand why having sex with someone else would make Rictor think he didn't love him. He also took on Ben Grimm from the Fantastic Four... and won. Like, by a lot. This, from the guy who got beat by Deadpool? Yeah. I wouldn't mess with him now. Benjamin Russell be damned.

Wolfsbane has recently returned to the pages of X-Factor, right as Rictor and Shatterstar had defined their relationship. Rahne is pregnant, and tells Rictor it's his. Readers know that it isn't, as a recent trip to Asgard is the real culprit for Wolfie being with-child. With a majority of the team heading off to Vegas for a showdown with Hela, the Asgardian goddess of the underworld, Rictor and Rahne are being given the time to figure things out. Shatterstar is with the team in Vegas, contantly picking fights and causing problems. It's hinted that this might be due to his hurt feelings over Wolfbane's pregnancy. I've said it before. If you aren't reading X-Factor, you really really should be.

Comics for Adults, New York Comic Con

2010-09-23T13:19:00.009-04:00

Over the summer, specifically when it was June and I was feeling all ambitious, I applied to moderate a panel at the New York Comic Con. My work is kind enough to allow me attend the convention as a professional development day, and NYCC offers a discount to 'educators' - librarians are included in that label, making a weekend pass only $10.00. I figured that since they love librarians, I should contribute something to them. Also, who doesn't want to speak at a panel at the New York Comic Con? I'm under the mistaken impression that everyone would want to. This whole thing became kind of a non-issue come August (AKA when I was feeling a lot less ambitious) and NYCC rejected my panel.

Now, because I am fate's bitch, it looks like instead of moderating a panel, I'm going to be speaking on someone else's. Which is cool; this panel is a lot more focused than mine was going to be, and is specifically talking about Graphic Novels and Comics for Adults, as opposed to the sort of youth-centric one you would have seen from me. I mostly only help adults now and deal primarily with an adult collection, so I guess I know stuff about the topic. I've spent most of the afternoon pulling together resources, coming up with a top 5 list (although, I sent in a list of 13 - never ask a librarian for a 'top 5 list' EVER!), and coming up with things I might like to highlight. I'm probably not even going to talk that much at the thing, but I'm excited that I get to do cool things like this every so often. I'm excited; the people on the panel are all smarter than me.

If you're going to be at the New York Comic Con, and you'd like to go to the bestest panel ever, comment on this entry and I'll e-mail you the details. As the panel gets closer, I'll probably talk a lot more about this. SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO!

CURRENT - The Losers, Book 2

2010-09-19T14:01:00.004-04:00

In my ever continuing duty to review materials for School Library Journal, they happened to send me a little ditty called The Losers, Book 2 by Andy Diggle. Which is slightly odd timing, seeing as how I just saw the film based on the graphic novel series like two weeks ago. I was thinking that maybe this collection would be some sort of sequel to the film. But as they often do in Hollywood, it looks the storyline got changed around a bunch. While the origin of the team happens at the beginning of the movie, it isn't until many, many issues into the comic book that you find out how the losers "died." Aisha, who was played by Zoe Saldana in the film, is also a much darker, harder character in the graphic novel. In the film, she is presented as this shady outsider with resources, who uses her sexiness to ultimately get what she wants. Aisha basically kills so many people in the comic that they give her single issues where she can just cut loose and go ape sh@#$ crazy. I half love reading her, while the other half is mostly just afraid.

I'm glad that this title was randomly selected for me to review, because like Brian Wood's DMZ, its comic book literature I really should be reading but probably wouldn't have. Left to my own devices, it's all X-Men and Batman. I still think the superhero genre of comic books is the biggest, and let's face it: librarians don't really want to admit that. I will, and I keep reading stuff by people like Scott Lobdell and Peter David because ultimately it's pretty awesome. The last issue of X-Factor? It was all character development. In a superhero comic. With my Vintage Series, you guys are seeing a lot of comics that I loved as a kid. I also get to justify why I loved it, which is a fun exercise. Yeah, things can sometimes be overly complicated. But that's part of the fun.

Back to The Losers. It's a fun series. Like DMZ, I can't really recommend it for young kids (even though I know they will read it anyway) because of all the f-bombs and bloody body parts panel-to-panel. The series definitely explores a lot of the more "Huh?" moments I had watching the film, including giving an explanation for why the sniper character really doesn't speak. One of the downsides is, I'm calling him the "sniper character" because I keep forgetting everyone's name. The girl is Aisha, the hero is Clay, and the bad guy is Max. The rest of the team sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, except for Jensen 'cause that dude is HILARIOUS! Anyway, at 280 pages, it's a dense read. I'm about halfway through it. I'm enjoying it immensely, and figured I would recommend it as something to order for your library or just read for fun.

VINTAGE - Excalibur Visionaries [A. Davis]

2010-09-14T10:34:00.013-04:00

DAVIS, Alan. Excalibur Visionaries, volume 1. 232p. MARVEL COMICS, July 2009. ISBN: 0785137408

So there was a time when Nightcrawler and Shadowcat got their butts kicked by an evil mutant team called the Marauders. This was during the Morlock Massacre storyline. Kitty wasn't even really hurt; she was just trapped in a phased state and couldn't resolidify. I'm pretty sure Kurt was in a coma though. He gets the prize. Anyway, they both were sent to Muir Isle to get better. Xavier's friend Moira MacTaggert (isn't that such a great name!?) made it her business for them to get better. But while they were recovering, the X-Men fought an evil creature in Dallas called "The Adversary" who apparently killed them on national television (he did, but this multiverse guardian named Roma resurrected them at the end of the Fall of the Mutants storyline). Obviously, the X-Men have lots of storylines.

Somehow, Rachel Summers had also been separated from the X-Men before they ended up in Texas. She later rejoined Kitty and Kurt in Scotland. They met with a UK superhero (and the brother of one of their fallen comrades Psylocke) named Captain Britain. The group also attracted the attention of a shapechanging empath named Meggan with a mysterious past. Together, the five formed a group known as Excalibur. While this trade isn't the origin of the team, it is arguably the twilight of the original series. With Alan Davis drawing and writing it, he tied up many of the dangling plotlines left open in the first several issues. I also learned that Rachel met up with the group while she was on the run from Mojo, which I guess is why she wasn't with the other X-Men when they were "killed." It also explains how Roma was the one who ultimately manipulates the team into forming to combat an unknown threat.

This collection includes the introduction of several characters who were intended to be new additions to the team. All of them were kind of unique and interesting. There was Kylun, a warrior who is from our world but was raised on an alternate one to be an extreme warrior. Cerise, an interdimensional alien who could create hard light constructs. Feron, a mystical descendant of a powerful sorcerer who is brash and impulsive. And finally, the mutant Micromax who could change his shape at will. The latter is introduced as more of an annoying obstacle for the team, as he is employed by the government and butts heads with them on a few early occasions. Ultimately, though he helps the team in their battle against the evil Necrom, who both Kylun and Feron are destined to defeat albeit because of much different reasons. Davis's departure from the book essentially meant the demise of these characters; I think only Micromax has been used in current continuity, and sparingly at that.

Excalibur originally had a cute, lighthearted tone that was preserved when Alan Davis wrote this series of issues. In a way, this is kind of their loss of innocence. When Scott Lobdell took over the book, he began writing them as a much darker team, focusing primarily on the original team members. I always found this kind of sad, because the team here had a lot of potential for being great. And Excalibur always had this kind of quirky otherworldly-ness that did set it apart from other X-Men books at the time. It's sad that it became just another X-Men title to Marvel Comics, then was eventually canceled. The series was sort of revived by Claremont again a few years ago, but lacked all the things that made this version of the team great. Unlike other vintage titles, this one is still available (ya know, if your best friend Scott B. isn't holding it hostage) so grab it while you can!

VINTAGE - Beauty & the Behemoth, Hulk

2010-08-29T10:09:00.009-04:00

On impulse, I decided to comb through the racks of discount graphic novels at Midtown Comics one afternoon. I was in the mood for something older, something that reminded me why I fell in love with comics in the first place. They didn't have much, but they did have an older trade paperback of Incredible Hulk issues that caught my eye. As a big fan of Peter David's work on X-Factor and of the author in general, it's hard to believe I haven't read a lot of his 11+ years that he spent writing The Incredible Hulk. I decided, what the hey? It was worth a shot. The Hulk is never my first choice for comics, red or otherwise, but I figured David's work would be strong. He also wrote an introduction and a conclusion for the book which was a nice touch.

This volume jumps around a lot. So much so that it's hard for me to sum it up in a few paragraphs. This was published in the '90s before trade paperbacks really told a coherent story, so it's more of a 'best of' collection of Betty Ross's relationship with Bruce Banner/the Hulk. It tells the origin of The Hulk, which is nice for first-time readers. This is mainly because the first issue is where Bruce and Betty meet. It then goes into a story where Betty is already a gamma-inspired villainous called the Harpy with really no explanation as to how she got that way. If such things don't bother you (I'll admit, it didn't bother me as much as you might think) then just go with it. Don't know why the Harpy story really made it into the collection, other than it's referenced in the very last issue as a throwaway line in the last issue and Bruce cures her while she is the Harpy, I guess proving his love or whatever.

The idea of following an epic love of two characters sounds like a good idea on paper, but so many different things have happened to The Hulk over the years that it means whatever stage of transformations he's in is going to be hard to follow. For instance, The Hulk is the grey Hulk by the time you get to the McFarlene-drawn story (don't get excited about that, it's definitely not his best work) you kind of wish you knew more about what happened in the in-between periods. The last story I reviewed, Spider-Man: The Birth of Venom did have little prose pieces in between the reprinted issues to tell you something like, "Peter Parker broke up with Felicia Hardy; he then marries Mary Jane." Stuff that would obviously good to read, but doesn't really directly relate to oh, say the aforementioned birth of Venom. I think it's kind of integral to know what's going on with The Hulk to better understand the story here, as Peter David's storyline for the character just made him too dynamic to read snippets of.

This collection is not in-print anymore, which I'm not actually going to lose sleep over. The earlier stories, including the Hulk's origin and the Harpy tale, are not written by Peter David. The art is also all over the place, and it prevents the volume from that cohesive feeling I think you're supposed to get from reading a collected work. I think it was good to read these stories and have them stored away in my vast knowledge of comic book history, but reading some of the now-published Essential collections might give a reader a better conception of The Hulk's story overall. The cover is also epically horrible. While Bruce's relationship with Betty is obviously integral to his story as a whole, it's really not enough to base a collection on. That's why this trade paperback just doesn't hold up.

VINTAGE - Spider-Man: Birth of Venom

2010-08-25T09:24:00.010-04:00

Ah... Spider-Man, Spider-Man. He does whatever a spider can. But there was a time, many many years ago, that he got a really cool black costume. This costume let him do a little bit more than just your average friendly neighborhood wallcrawler. For example, it could mimic any type of clothing with nothing more than a thought. And it could also create its own webbing. The only real downside was that Peter Parker tended to be a little bit exhausted while he was wearing it, but he didn't even put it together that it might be his fancy new threads that were causing that. I mean, why would a goopy black costume from outer space make you tired?

Well, that costume was alive. It was a symbiote, an organism that thrives by bonding to another. And in the weird alien costume's defense, the only really negative thing it was doing to ol' Spidey was highjacking his body in the middle of the night and fighting more crime. A lot of personal issues prevent Spider-Man from getting his costume checked out early on, mostly his fractured relationship with Aunt May. Peter thought it would be a good idea to drop out of graduate school, so May thought it would be a good idea to stop talking to him. Oh, Aunt May. You go, girl! Anyway, Spidey is all butthurt about it. He's also getting frisky with the Black Cat, but he has the sneaking suspicion that she is lying to him about something. She is; she has weirdo bad luck powers she got from the Kingpin, but doesn't want to tell him about it. Also, he spends more of the story actually thinking about her than spending physical time with her. That, to me, made me not care as much about their relationship. There's also a really bizarre moment when they're in his apartment and she "can't even look" at his face without his mask on. That's kinky. I mean... does he leave the mask on?

Spider-Man fights some pretty lame villains in the lead up, including a feral dude named Puma and Vulture rip-off villains calling themselves 'the Vulturions.' I don't know if the Vulturions ever came back, but seeing as how Spidey could barely maneuver himself around while he was having an internal struggle with his costume, it's pretty sad that he manages to beat four of these dudes when his heart is not even in it. It's easy to see why Puma and the Vulturions aren't adapted into most 'alien costume' updates in media adaptations. They suck. Well, the Puma half-sucked. I liked the panels with his face changing. That was groovy. He had a lot of logic problems. Like, "as long as I fulfill my tribal obligations I can TOTALLY be an assassin!" Nope, buddy. I don't think that really works. Anyway, Peter manages to get him and his freaky ass costume over a bell tower, where sonic vibrations nearly kill them both. The costume gets off him, then also saves him from a bell-inspired brain bleed. It's weird that the costume saves him and later tries to kill him, but I guess bonding with a new host gives it perspective on how it was ultimately betrayed. Or, I'm trying to solve Marvel Comic plot points without getting paid for it. Either way.

I totally left out how Spider-Man took a trip to Fantastic Four headquarters and discovered the costume was alive after Reed Richards tested it. He uses this cool looking 'sonic blaster' to get it off Spider-Man. Then, Johnny Storm gives him an original Fantastic Four costume. But since they have no masks, he pokes eye holes out of a brown paper grocery bag and gives him that to use. Heh. Then he put a 'Kick Me' sign on his back. Double 'heh.' I don't think the Human Torch gets as much credit nowadays for being an ass, but he totally should. I guess Chris Evans playing him in the movies (and being the best part of those movies, let's face it) is vindication enough. But it's a nice little moment. For some reason, in the alter McFarlene stories, Spider-Man keeps going to talk to The Thing. Why? Wouldn't you rather have Mr. Fantastic, the SMART one, being the guy who gives you advice on your evil alien costume? This is probably because McFarlene wanted to draw The Thing more than the other characters. He draws him with this weird dinosaur ridge on his head. It's cool-looking, but I don't think Thing is supposed to look like that. Also, it just makes no sense that he's the one Peter is talking to.

So we all know the story, right? Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist, is thinking about killing himself. He goes to a church to pray (he is Catholic, after all) and instead of being bathed in heavenly light, he is bathed in alien goop that Spidey used to wash in his sink. It's the alien costume! And it finds a friend in Eddie, who blames Spider-Man for his current, crappy life. Really, if you read the story Eddie lays it all down. At no point is it really Spider-Man's fault. It's hard to say that it's Eddie's fault, though. It's actually just kind of, life sucks dude. It wasn't his fault he got played by some chronic confessor, then reported a false story. Spider-Man caught the real killer, so it's his fault? That's kind of faulty logic, Eddie. The costume should have more of a beef because Peter actually tried to kill it. The story also makes a point to mention that the symbiote had no emotions before trying to bond to Parker; that Parker ended up giving the creature a measure of emotional intelligence it didn't have previously. Which also means he's sort of responsible for it hating him for the simple fact that it learned hate from him. That is kind of awesome in how unfortunate it is.

Whether you love him or hate him, Venom is a character that in the early '90s you couldn't really escape. It's funny how there are a lot of limited things you can do with the character; his single-minded quest to destroy Spider-Man as well as knowing that he and Peter Parker were one and the same noticeably excluded him from the mid-nineties cartoon following his first appearance. He does show up eventually, but I think by then he was so redeemable he wasn't even a villain anymore. I like how in initial stories, he isn't really portrayed as a bad guy; in fact, a back up story in this collection has him saving people in a truck stop (the story is amusingly titled, The Truck Stop from Hell!). Venom would go on to sort of be an anti-hero of sorts, but it is sad no writer has really captured the complexities of how great this character could really be.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the Blog Entry

2010-08-22T10:46:00.014-04:00

For those of you who don't know me in my precious little real life, I was highly anticipating the release of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. After having a lot of initial doubts about the casting of Michael Cera in the title role I firmly get to stick it in my craw or whatever that expression is because he was genius. Once the trailer came out, I was basically drooling for the movie to come out. It didn't disappoint. I've seen it. Twice, natch.

Blogs are of course writing about how good it is but how the box office numbers don't necessarily reflect this. In fact, they really really don't. Which is a shame, because it's a high budget movie that basically found an artistic indie director (I will always kind of think of him as that Memento guy) and this film was supposed to be his first mainstream success. But people aren't getting it and it's being (largely) written off as a "youth" movie with no attention span. I think people have forgotten that first and foremost, movies are really there to be entertaining. More than that, Scott Pilgrim the film takes all the best things from the graphic novels (there's a lot of inside references that support the text if you give it a read, despite the fact that movie deviates from them in a lot of clever ways) and makes it accessible to a wider audience than just your average comic book nerd. It's sad that people aren't giving this movie a chance. Sad enough to make me write a blog entry about. Sad enough to go see the movie again a third (and possibly fourth) time.

Also, shout out to Michelle (my very own Envy Adams) who sent me the movie poster through the mail. It's hanging above my computer, and you basically can't escape it no matter where you go in my apartment. I also bought the soundtrack. And I want to buy the score (especially for the 'Roxy' track). Obsession can be a sick, sick thing.

Scott Pilgrim movie aside, I am now picking up a few more comics monthly. While I still have yet to read Simonson's Birds of Prey series (which is getting ridiculous; I have 4 issues in my 'comixbox' at home [it's like a 'mother box' but cooler]), I did catch up on both Winick's Red Hood miniseries which I'm oddly liking a lot and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer one-shot that just came out focusing on of all people Riley Finn. For those of you who don't know, Riley was an oft-hated character who dated Buffy after Angel did. This sort of sealed his fate; no one ever really liked him (except maybe some of the writers. I'm talking to YOU, Marti Noxon!). Ultimately, that's kind of sad because he became much more interested in the 5th Season of the show. He kind of realizes Buffy's drifting away from him, she's not realizing it, and he doesn't really like her friends. He became this weirdo loner character, and eventually leaves mid-season when, let's face it, they ran out of things to do with him. Marc Blucas was both sexy and heartbreaking; I was actually kind of sad when he left Buffy; his send-off was much better and worked better story-wise than when Seth Green had left the show over a year earlier. Anyway, that's Riley. He came back once and was married to some hootchy that everyone just had to love because of how badass and cool she was. Horrible character, in my opinion, who I constantly come up with "how she died after the show ended" scenarios in my head for. True fans of Buffy will agree with me. She sucked.

Jane Espenson, much beloved writer of episodes like Earshot and Triangle to name just a few, penned this single one-shot from Dark Horse focusing on why Riley mysteriously appears as a bad guy (then a good guy) in the ongoing Buffy series. It's sad, because with so much going on, Riley definitely faded into the background during the ongoing series. Is he even still alive? I don't even think the let us know. Anyway, Jane wrote a Jonathan Levinson book awhile back that was genius, so it's no surprise that her Riley issue is really, really strong here. She made me care about his marriage. What? I hated that chick! But here, it's like they are an old married couple who happen to be awesome super spies that are let's face it, never really going to get to retire. They are trying to talk about kids, but like while disarming warheads. Fun stuff like that. The issue is just kind of a back and forth between Riley and Mrs. Riley (her name is Sam. SAM! That is so dumb! It's like she's a dude!) talking about him helping Buffy out, their relationship, etc. But it works. I enjoyed it enough to say it's probably going to be one of my favorite issues of the whole series, maybe seconded only to Harmony's issue where she becomes a reality TV star.

There's also some stuff about Angel talking to the forgotten character of Whistler that's nice but that I really didn't care about. The single panel shots featuring the Twilight design though are nice. I really, really love his mask and overall trenchcoat look. Karl Moline drew the issue (he also drew the Frey crossover in the ongoing) and his work is top-notch here. He obviously had time to really do it up. Anyway, I promised some rants on single issues I read, so thar ya go. I'm inspired to geek out over comics by going through back issues of the 4th Letter, which now appears in my blog links to the left side of the screen. I already have chosen Gavok as my favorite writer there. So many good comic nerd points are made on that blog, I can't even begin to describe how much I love it. Oh yeah, you should also go see Scott Pilgrim. Right now he's vs. the Box Office, and he needs your help to touch the back of their knees.

Updates, Smupdates

2010-08-19T08:28:00.009-04:00

I shouldn't have to tell you to go see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. You should have already seen it. Twice. Like me (...and I'm probably going a 3rd time, too!). The fight between Ramona and Roxy is reason enough to pay the $13.50, kids. Go now, GO!

So my lack of reading trend continues. I have been catching up on so many movies I really wanted to see over the past few years, but never really got the chance to. Last night was Factory Girl with Sienna Miller. She was kind of amazing, even if they did sort of pick and choose what parts of the reality of Andy Warhol's life and times the decided to portray. I think you can still take away that it was entertaining. And Hayden as a faux Bob Dylan was super sexy. Sort of like he was born to play that role.

After buying comics on a monthly basis, I'm ready to spend a night or two finally catching up on issues I'm getting but haven't been reading. This includes a bunch I previously Bookmooched but never read (there were two issues of Green Arrow in there, including one when he fights Mirror Master) and that Spider-Man epic "The Birth of Venom." I believe I promised you a review. If I didn't, I'm doing it now. I might even start reviewing single issues comics, since at least that would give me something to write about. I'm going to start reading the new Birds of Prey series (I have the first 3 issues) and I'm buying all the single issues of the Red Hood Jason Todd story. So I promise, you will get something from me soon. This is boring. It's just me justifying not reading. I like to let you know that I didn't forget I had a blog; I just stopped caring a little.

In other news, read this blog called The 4th Letter. It has an extensive Top 100 What If? Countdown that I found AMAZING. I remember many of the issues (and have that at my home in NH still) and the reviews are accurate, as well as massively entertaining. I LOL'd guys, literally.

CURRENT: Witch & Wizard

2010-08-10T14:11:00.004-04:00

My summer dry spell continues. After successfully cleaning up my office and donating books to many worthy causes (including sending several to a program on Rikers Island- you can learn how to the same here) I was left with very few books on my shelf.

If you guys remember all my Book Expo 2010 planning, you'll remember that Little, Brown sent me a bunch of copies of James Patteron's newish YA novel Witch & Wizard. While I found several deserving teens to hand the books out to, I was left with several hardcover copies on my shelf. After my massive clean out, I still had one left. I've never read James Patterson before, despite his popularity. I figured maybe it was time. I've read the first few short chapters and the story is pretty good. It's about some totalitarian near-future world where the government has been supplanted by someone sort of dictator called 'The One.' The brother-and-sister Allgoods, the novel's protagonists, are captured by this government in the beginning. While it hasn't been revealed why, I think it's safe to assume that it's probably because they have some sort of latent magical powers. Definitely a mysterious mood at the beginning as we discover this new world, and the action is a nice change of place since it's been awhile since I read something exciting that wasn't a graphic novel. I'm thinking of keeping the book at work and reading on my break time, as opposed to lugging it around with me everywhere I go. I think I might even finish it quickly this way.

I apologize for not blogging more. It's been happening with my work blog as well; it turns out that when I'm not reading, I have nothing to blog about it. I have been continuing my trend of watching movies lately, and a backlog of housework is really cutting into time for fun stuff like reading. I'm actually partially reading the Patterson book just so I have something to blog about. This is probably a bad reason to start reading a book, but I'm optimistic that I actually might enjoy it. It's also nice not to really be in a rush to finish a book, with a book review deadline or trying to nominate it for a booklist committee. I'm thinking about starting to read the Suzanne Collins books since Mockingjay is coming out in less than a month. What do you guys think should I read it?

CURRENT: Harvey by Herve Bouchard

2010-07-31T13:50:00.009-04:00

Despite my proclivity for movie viewing lately (seriously, it's becoming a problem. I have about 10 movies from the library at home... including the oddly addicting second season of True Blood) I'm slowly getting back to books. We can thank School Library Journal once again for sending me a graphic novel to review. It's definitely something that's completely out of my normal element. Harvey, by Herve Bouchard and illustrated by Janice Nadeau, will hit bookstores on the first of October. In France and Canada, the book is already out. The catch is you have to read it in French. In fact, it's actually won one of the many literary awards I've never heard of. In this case, it's the Canada Council for the Arts Governor General's Literary Award. Pictured here is the French/Canadian, and not the upcoming American, cover of the book.

I'm about halfway through the title. I suspect it might win some American literary awards as well. The book is obviously for children, focusing on a young child and written with a kind of childlike innocence. The book is also pretty dark, using muted colors and, for lack of a better description, "ugly" art. I'm not usually a fan of unpretty pictures in graphic novels. Harvey is one of the rare exceptions. For this title, it works. It helps sets the mood that ultimately, this is not going to be a happy book about happy things. I'm already planning on handing it off to a few other librarians to see what they think about it, especially when it comes to deciding which age groups it's the most appropriate for.

For those of you who follow me on Goodreads and LibraryThing, you probably noticed that I splurged a little and brought a new graphic novel recently. There should be a review and musings about Spider-Man: The Birth of Venom sometime in August. After going through the early sections of the tome, it's a lot more about Spidey getting used to his new costume than it is about Venom. I guess arguably the costume is Venom, but the story really starts for me when Eddie Brock gets his new threads and starts talking about himself in the plural form.

So... what's on your summer reading list?

IN REVIEW: Pontypool (2008)

2010-07-26T05:46:00.012-04:00

While it is extremely rare that I will gush about movies here, there's just one that I have to tell you about. For about a year, I heard about- which is ironic, keep reading- a little horror flick called Pontypool. Discussing this movie is oddly appropriate on a book blog because it was based on a novel titled Pontypool Changes Everything. A man named Tony Burgess wrote both the book then adapted the movie for the screen. I'm curious to read the book. The movie is inspired by Welles' War of the Worlds, taking place inside a radio station from the perspective of a radio shock jock, his producer, and a few supporting characters. I think the book might go into greater depth than the movie does, expanding the general concept of Burgess's radical idea which, sadly, is being reviewed as "a zombie flick."

Pontypool is not a zombie movie. There are similarities, sure. But this is more of an epidemic/disaster movie and kind of an original one at that. Burgess proposes an idea that language can become a disease. In this movie, as the characters struggle to realize what's happening, they learn that certain words are "infected." When they say a word, they don't understand. Then they keep trying to repeat it until they do. An infected word for you is not an infected word for someone else. As your mind deteriorates, you begin "hunting" for sound. In sort of the zombie twist, infected people try to ingest the sound. So, for instance, if you hear someone talking you grab them and try to bite their mouth. Literally, they are trying to steal the sound. One infected person, after going through repeats and confusion, just goes off in a corner and starts making this low pitched howl at one point. Super creepy.

A repeating mantra or chant seems to throw off infected people. With everyone saying the same thing, it somehow appeases the disease. It's as if one vocal concept can become a consensus. I also like the idea that when an infected person initially starts repeating a word it might be "an immune response" - your body and mind trying to find this unnamed word disease. It's also kind of great to have a movie where characters are warned halfway through to "avoid the English language." The key to curing this affliction is to understand words in ways that are not the way they are. For example, the one cured person in the film starts repeating "kill" over and over again. When the hero tells her, "kill is kiss" over and over again, she begins to conceptually understand the word differently. Opposites are warned against in the climax, which I'd like to assume is because when you are thinking about the opposite of what a word means, you are still sort of understanding the root word. What's really scary is, can you really stop understanding what a word means? I don't think I could.

Part horror, part suspense, Pontypool is definitely a unique thriller. It challenges your conception of language. Even when the characters know they shouldn't be talking later in the movie, they still can't help themselves. Both the Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia have fun articles about the film because well, gosh darnit... it was just so good! Movies don't usually keep me on the edge of my seat like that. I also just read and remembered that, although unnamed in the movie, those afflicted are known as "Conversationalists." Awesome. And a sequel is planner. Awesomer. Without giving away the end, I leave you with the line the protagonist, Grant Mazzy, leaves Pontypool with at the end, "It's not the end of the world, it's just the end of the day."

IN REVIEW: Blackout by Keith R.A. DeCandido

2010-07-13T17:14:00.013-04:00

I often tell people that despite working in the library environment for nearly a decade, it wasn't until recently that I started "reading again." This is actually somewhat inaccurate; in a way, I really never stopped reading; I just didn't tell people what I was reading because it was slightly embarrassing - I had a weakness for anything Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Pocket Books.

As you would imagine, much of what I read was horrible. However, it's also where I discovered Christopher Golden, a writer who contributed greatly to the Buffy expanded universe. I now read his titles unrelated to Buffy and discovered some truly great horror and fantasy worlds that he's created. Some of the books- in particular one by Golden and his often co-writer Nancy Holder- like Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row is excellent. Taking place during World War II, it follows what Spike and Drusilla were doing in Europe. The title I'm reviewing today was in a similar vein; taking Buffy-type supporting characters from the past and expanding upon the little information we cold glean about them from the television series. You know, if you go for that sort of thing.

Blackout is an amazing book, second only to the aforementioned Spike & Dru novel. The book is now out of print and pretty hard to come by. I had to interlibrary loan, just as I did the Days of Future Past story from the X-Men. The story centers around two primary characters it focuses on are Spike and Nikki Wood, the latter of which was the vampire slayer during 1977 in New York City. Keith R.A. DeCandido, a native New Yorker who grew up during the seventies, did a bunch of research into the title. He found out that in July, NYC suffered a 25-hour city-wide blackout. Hence the name of the book. Most New Yorkers are facing a city-wide budget crises, including prisoners being released because it was no longer cost-effective to hold them, and the Son of Sam killer was still unidentified and roaming the streets.

While Keith did take some liberties, it's surprising how accurate a picture of 1977 he creates. He also creates Reet Weldon, a former plantation slave turned vampire who has overrun (and now mostly controls) the criminal underground of the city. Reet is probably one of the best villains ever in a Buffy book, a villain who is so used to controlling things behind the scenes that when he finally steps up to fight, well... you can probably guess what happens. The book incorporates several a-ha! moments from the television series and Angel, including Roger Wyndom-Pryce's run in with Spike mentioned in an aside comment from one episode. Keith was obviously a fan of the show and really did his homework. Drusilla, who I feared wasn't going to be in the novel, does finally appear. She's written wonderfully despite being relegated to a sort of damsel-in-distress role.

This novel was so good. I'm sad it didn't make it to hardcover, but I'm guessing that by this point, they weren't really publishing many more of the books. They've all but ceased now, which is sad. Especially if this is the type of story than can be told. Read Blackout and tell me what y'all think!