Free Comic Book Day Previews #1

This is sort of embarrassing to admit, but I had a really hard time following the Free Comic Book Day Little Archie comic.
It's like, the Little Archie gang (plus some kid named Billy Wong who I've never heard of) are at camp and Mr Weatherbee is the camp director. Fine. I'm with you so far. And they do some boating and then there is a golden owl, and some magic elves, and a tunnel of love, and seriously I have no idea. All the while the male counselor (Betty's older brother(?!) whose name is, wait for it...Chic) and the female counselor do some inappropriate flirting in front of the children. And there's a weird map.

See if you can make heads or tails of this page:

No? Me neither. And, no, reading the rest of the story does not help.

And what the hell does this mean?!

Inappropriate.

The most bizarre thing about this comic is actually on the Fan Art page at the end. Look at this:

In particular, look at the artists' names.

Weirded out.

Not a very good comic. Plus, it's full of lies like this one:

No, Reggie. They don't.

Moving on, let's check out another supposed all-ages comic.

This reprints two Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse stories from 1936. From these stories I learned that Mickey Mouse is kind of awesome.

He's totally badass:

Oh can he ever! Check it out!!

Yeah! Now watch him go Midnighter on the guy:

"Ya like that, Big Boy?! Huh, bitch? I can't hear you over the sound of your skull cracking! What's that? You're going to be sick? Not on my shoes, bitch."

Mickey can't be tied down like that, dawg.


He's kind of a dick:


He's post-modern:


And has a great, dry wit:


Ha! Go to Hell, Goofy!

And, also, there's this panel:


Thumbs up to the Mickey Mouse comic. Thumbs down to Little Archie. I'm just trying to make it a little easier for you guys on Saturday when you're elbowing kids in the face for your free comics. Expect Free Comic previews all week.

Dudes, Seriously

I have decided to extend the contest I am currently running for another week. I thank everyone who has sent in submissions so far, but I really can't believe that so few of you comic-loving types have nerdy objects in your homes. It can be ANY nerdy fan object. Anything that proudly says I Love This Character/Comic/Show/Celebrity/Movie and If You Don't Like It You Can Get the Hell Out of My House.

So please, if everyone emails me a photo of their favourite nerdy fan object then I will be able to make an awesome post that will serve as a glowing tribute to rabid fandom.

We don't even need to think of it as a contest (although there is still a fabulous prize: one autographed copy of the new Oni Press book Shenanigans). Just think of it as something awesome you should do. I refuse to believe that anyone who reads a comics blog wouldn't have at least one beloved fannish object. Even if you have, like, a single action figure...where do you display it? How is it posed? This stuff is FASCINATING!

Alright. Start snapping those photos and hopefully by next Monday I'll have enough to make a little museum of awesomeness. Send them to rachellegoguen at gmail dot com.

Don't make me sic my Dr. Doom curly straw on you.

Batman Shopping!

My pal Mike Drake has a pal named Mairin Prentiss and she took these pictures in NYC:


So awesome.

I've never been to New York, but I have to say that a city where a man can dress in a full Batman suit and go shopping without turning a single head...well, it's clearly the greatest place on Earth.

So, what do you think Batman was shopping for? A present for Superman, maybe?

Random Bits of Awesomeness

Guess what I ate today?

Cookies baked by Steve Rude!

And yes, it was as awesome as it sounds.

Now for something important: I don't know what we, as a fandom, need to do to get DC to make this happen, but this comic, pitched by J. Bone, needs to happen. The name? DCU, as in DC University. You have to check it out at his blog. It would seriously be the greatest thing ever. I mean, look at this:


And now go look at his blog:

DCU!

Alright. You guys check that out. I'm going to go back to reading a big pile of Jim Starlin Batman comics. Because nobody rocks a Friday night like me. I might turn it into a private drinking game. Every time Batman does anything AWESOME, drink! Man, I would be so drunk so fast. I mean...look at this:


Batman totally stuffed that guy into a wall...backwards! Look at him! And then Batman's all "So, anyway..."

God damn, I love Batman.

This Week's Haul: Amazons Go 300 on Your Ass!

First of all, an announcement: I have officially removed Superman/Batman from my pull list. Think about that. Me. I will no longer be buying a comic called Superman/Batman. That is so wrong I don't even know where to start. I've been buying it since the beginning. 34 issues of mediocrity. PLEASE fix this series, DC. I know I am not the only one dropping it. (One shots, one shots, one shots, one shots...)

And now on to this week's comics, which, sadly, were mostly a little...meh.

Catwoman #66

I'm always happy when there's a new Catwoman book, but this one was kinda dull. It's a bridge issue, ending the last story line and starting a new one. It mostly centered around a ridiculous new villain named Blitzkrieg, who, admittedly, was supposed to be ridiculous. It was pretty satisfying seeing that jerk-off cop get his head chopped off, though. And I am looking forward to more Hammer and Sickle. And Calculator.

Wonder Woman #8
Team Dodson was back on the art, so the book was looking good. The issue set up Amazons Attack, so it was more interesting than usual. I haven't been hating on this series as much as most people, but I am confused about how it fits into the larger DCU. Like...I don't understand how this Wonder Woman can be the same Wonder Woman who is in the JLA. That doesn't really make sense. The way I see it, WW shouldn't be a member of the JLA...yet. It makes sense that she would be doing some soul-searching and taking a break from being a part of a team. I mean, it's nice that the other heroes got over themselves and let her into the league, but I wouldn't have minded her saying no.

Getting back to WW #8, like I said, it's more interesting than the past few issues have been because it ties into Amazons Attack. For one thing, we got to see WW kick some serious ass:

And dig a tunnel!! Rad!

And we saw some kinda forced sexual tension between our girl and Nemesis. I mean, it's Wonder Woman. This guy is clearly not awesome enough for her:

I have a hard time believing that anyone who was molded from clay would have a birthmark. Maybe an artist's signature...

More sexual tension:

Hockey joke! I always appreciate that. It's clear that Nemesis does not follow hockey because...well, the Capitals are not winning the Stanley Cup anytime soon. And if they did, no one would care.

But I digress.

Let's see what happens when those Amazons attack!

Amazons Attack #1

Oh man. These ladies are HARDCORE. It starts with some Amazon soldiers randomly killing a father and son:

Daaaaaaamn.

Is it wrong that I kinda enjoy watching these women destroy Washington? I mean, in a fictional sense. Obviously I don't want a bunch of Amazons to really fly in on winged horses and slaughter all the men, but on paper...pretty cool.

I don't think you really have to be reading Wonder Woman to follow Amazons Attack. Especially since this attack is pretty damn sudden in WW. Plus, a lot of stuff gets repeated. But overall, Amazons Attack is a better read than Wonder Woman. Will Pfeifer is the man.

I like this scene:

I like to think that Batman completely misunderstands Steel. "I know exactly who you mean...Animal Man, right?"

Amazons are cool.

Action Comics #848
Sigh. Fill-ins. I mean...it wasn't terrible. It just wasn't very interesting. Especially since I would REALLY like to know what happens next in the Johns/Donner story. I feel for the fill-in writer because they have a tough job to do. It's like...Bruce Springsteen can't make it tonight, but here's Bryan Adams. Nobody is happy.

The art was alright, but, like, I dunno. I mean...this guy in the sweater is clearly Superman, y'know what I'm sayin'?

That's a very tight sweater.

So Superman goes to a small town to investigate this religion-based superpowered guy who has been killing lots of people (by accident, it seems). You can kind of tell who the superpowered dudes are in this little town. They kinda stand out, like in this church scene:

Soooo much bigger than anyone else in the church. That's gotta hurt the ol' secret identity.

And then scenes like this one just make me uncomfortable:

That's not usually how I stand when I fluff pillows. And, seriously, Superman looks like he's on the body building circuit. It's a little crazy-looking.

How long is this storyline?

52: Week 51

Well, this was pretty good. Animal Man is back! Yay!

Hilarious.

And Adam Strange got his sight back. Hooray! And Lobo killed that evil dolphin! And Skeets isn't evil, he's just been taken over...by the GROSSEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. I will not even post a picture of it here. I seriously couldn't look at it.

Here's a little fact about me: I hate Starfire. HATE her. She is so gross-looking, and so boring, and so over-used because she is basically naked. I really hope she's the one that dies (y'know, that whole thing where a character's death kicks off Countdown supposedly? Please be Starfire). So I really enjoyed this:

Ellen rules. Also: "Double DD's"?? Is that, like, double-double-Ds?

Is she dead?! Is she dead?! Is she dead?!

This was interesting:

Awwwwwww. It would have been better if Robin's new costume was half denim too.

One final thing about 52 this week: is Ralph Dibny dead for real? If he is, I am going to be very, very sad/angry. I assumed he wasn't really dead, but now I worry that he is. And if so, how dead is he? Green Arrow dead, or Bruce Wayne's parents dead? Please don't be dead, Ralph! I can't handle losing Ted and the Question and you!

Blue Beetle #14

A new addition to the Living Between Wednesdays weekly haul! I finally got caught up on this series, and just in time for this delightful Gardner-centric romp!

Unfortunately, I couldn't scan any of it because I borrowed it, but I would like to say that I loved Gardner's casual clothes. Especially the chain.

It took me awhile to pick up these comics because I was so pissed about Ted Kord being killed. I love that guy. Kind of the same reason why I wouldn't read the New Atom. But they are both really good series. Goes to show what you miss out on when you're a stubborn jerk.

Connor Hawke: Dragon's Blood #6

Mud wrestling! In dragon's blood!

Cue the porn music aaaaand...roll the clips!

And that's the end of that story! Wait...what was it about again? Connor not being gay or something?

Justice #11
Hal Jordan fans rejoice, because there was a whole lotta him in this issue. Lookin' fine.

My favourite thing about this issue is that Ralph Dibny survived being eaten by Clayface. Man, it was just really good to see him again...totally sane.

Sometimes I get confused about what's happening in Justice vs what's happening in DC continuity. And sometimes it's the same. Like...Captain Marvel defeating Black Adam and forcing him to become mortal again. It all looked very awesome:

Have we seen an Alex Ross rendition of John Stewart before this series? Because he looks awesome:

Here's some of that Hal Jordan radness I was talking about. I love how crazy he makes Sinestro:

"Shut the hell up!" Aw, he's just saying what we're all thinking.

This cracked me up:

Ha! Quote of the week.

And here's a page that I stared at for quite a long time:

I especially like Ralph Dibny in this picture. And the little Bat Family reunion.

Like most issues of this series, there were some totally confusing things, and way too much going on. But it all looked fantastic.

Justice Society of America #5

Ok, when I said my comics this week left me feeling kinda meh...I was not including JSA. This comic rocked. You got your dark, crazy Batman first half in Arkham, and you got your bright, cheerful Superman/very brief history of the Legion of Superheroes half in the Fortress.

Lots of great moments, like this one:

Is that a Meltzer dig? Probably not, but it should make all the fans who cry foul when the heroes call each other by their first names happy.

But, seriously. I love Starman and his craziness. And I loved this:

"I make things heavy!" Awww.

Also, there are a whole lot of Batmans in this issue. So there's some sweet Batman-on-Batman action:
Batmans!

I also just want to quickly mention that this gets my vote for creepiest panel of the week:

Ewww! Get away from Dream Girl, Skeletor Dr Destiny!

I am loving this cross-over. LOVING IT!

Outsiders Annual #1

I checked this out because I love annuals. As I read this I suddenly remembered that I don't care about The Outsiders. I love me some Roy and some Nightwing, but damn. This is pretty boring. Annuals should be funner than this. I haven't read Outsiders since Infinite Crisis, so there are probably people out there who will get more out of this than I did.

Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #2 featuring The Avengers

I feel that this is a good idea for a series, and could potentially be very good, but the whole thing is very summer blockbuster. The all-star line-up of artists is great, and the cute way of making each issue a different stage of grief is neat, but overall...meh. I do want to say, because I don't think I mentioned it last time, that the lack of first-person narrative in Loeb's writing is refreshing and surprising. However...I dunno. I think I would have liked to see Bendis on this mini-series. It's just that...Loeb kinda came out of nowhere to do this. He wasn't working on any major Marvel titles leading up to, or during Civil War. He's on there because it sells issues, and it's kind of too bad because this series could probably be a whole lot better. Like, I am a very casual Marvel reader, and this series is too spelled-out to even hold my interest, y'know what I'm saying? It's all a little "I am The Thing. I like beer and poker." "I am Wolverine. I am a jerk with a good heart under my gruff exterior." "I am Spider-Man. I am emo and annoying."

Thumbs up on the McGuinness art, though. Very nice. And, of course, I bought his cover and not the Turner variant.

I gave Wolverine #53 a quick read, but it was so terrible I'm not even gonna bother reviewing it. And the next issue...Wolverine fights Sabertooth. Ok. They must know how ridiculous that is. It must be a joke, right? That every issue ends with the same preview of the next issue, more or less?