This Week's Haul: I Bumped my Brain!

Well, these reviews were pretty much ready to post on Friday morning, but then I got in a car accident on the way to work. Nothing too bad, but I got a slight concussion according to the doctor. Anyway, I forgot to post these yesterday, so here they are today.

Batman #686

Neil Gaiman + Andy Kubert = $$$$

I think this was really awesome. I like to make fun of Gaiman fans because they are annoying, but this really was great. The dude can write a comic (as long as it doesn't set Marvel characters in 1602). Plus, Kubert's art looked great.

Aaaand...a Catwoman-centric story? That will always win me over. Especially one where she ties Batman up for any reason.

When I was reading Alfred's story in this issue I was wondering how many casual Batman fans who are picking up this comic will be confused and take Alfred's word as bond re: The Joker. But I think the comic was pretty clear that nothing happening in it should be taken as canon.

Calling the story "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader" is a bit risky, as it compares it to one of the greatest comics ever written, but y'know...confidence in your product, I guess. It was a really entertaining read and I am looking forward to the next issue. Worth the extra dollar!

Plus I liked that line "I don't think Death is a person, Batman." Cute, Gaiman. Cute.

Amazing Spider-Man #586

For some reason I always save Spider-Man for the end of my comic reading each week. This week I put it near the beginning. It was the only Marvel title I picked up this week, so I kinda felt sorry for it.

I know that I have mentioned this before, particularly in my Best of 2008 post, but I am just so frigging impressed by how great Spider-Man has been since the relaunch at the beginning of last year. And the fact that it is coming out three times a month makes it that much more impressive. I think that Marvel has actually found the perfect formula for creating comic books: have a rotating team who are all in on the same story-line, but are all telling their own short stories within the larger arc. Brilliant! The way they have it set up, it avoids several problems that plague almost every title on the stands today:

1. There are no "fill-in" issues because there is no one single creative team.

2. The comics come out on time.

3. Because it's a continually rotating team, the larger story is very fluid, and doesn't change drastically when a new creative team comes on board. For most comics, when a new team takes over a book they pretty much start over with the character and story, taking the elements that they liked from the last team's efforts, and dropping the rest. Many things never get resolved, or are just forgotten.

This issue, which follows-up last week's big reveal of who the mysterious new villain, Menace, really is, is a perfect example of what Spider-Man is doing right. Menace has been showing up in Spider-Man comics since the relaunch. There were many issues that the character wasn't there, but Menace was never forgotten about. Typically, the identity of a villain like Menace would be revealed within a 6-issue story arc in most comic series. The Spider-Man format allows for this long-lasting story to exist while lots of other stories are happening. And the Menace storyline is only one of many larger storylines existing in the Spider-Man world. It's great stuff, and it really creates a more complex and vibrant universe for Spider-Man. There's a lot going on, but the writers have a great handle on it all. I never expected the title to be this well-managed when they first announced that it would be coming out so frequently. Well done, Marvel!

Booster Gold #17

How are the sales on this title? Good, I hope because I really love it and don't want it to go away. When Geoff Johns left the title I didn't think I would still be into it, but I still look forward to it ever month.

Nightwing #153

This was the final issue of Nightwing, and it was terrible.









Batman Confidential #26

This, on the other hand, was fantastic. Really, really great. It's the antidote to all this crazy, arthouse Batman that we have been getting lately. It's a straightforward story where a bizarre theme-based villain is terrorizing Gotham and Batman teams up with Jim Gordon to figure it out. Awesome right? Well add to that some AMAZING art by, wait for it, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and inked by Kevin Nowlan! Sometimes you just need a shot of Batman, straight up with no chaser. This is that comic.

Mini-Marvels: Secret Invasion

New Mini Marvels digest!!! Everyone should buy three of these.

Batman Died for our Sins

So something totally insane and messed up and horrifying happened to Batman this week.

Check it out:

Horrible.

And if that isn't bad enough, the comic is full of shocking scenes of violence, including this brutal death scene:

I am appalled at the levels DC will sink to just to increase their sales numbers. It can only be described as sensationalist and disgusting.*

Bonus panel:


Aquaman doesn't give a fuck.

* I am kidding. All panels are from Superfriends #11. Also, Final Crisis was awesome.

EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

LOOK AT WHAT J. BONE MADE ME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!


A little crocheted Batman!!! Isn't it the greatest thing ever!

I am starting to amass a cuddly family of Batmans! Look!


Man, I am so happy about this. In return I gave J an all-caps email. If you want to see more of J. Bone's cuddly creations, check out his blog devoted to them.

I also got a really nice gift from Darwyn Cooke! He gave me a signed copy of his new art book!

I'm the luckiest comic fan in the world!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Have a safe and happy holiday!

Here's one of my favourite superhero Christmas scenes (though it's kinda heartbreaking) from Dave Gibbons' and Steve Rude's Worlds Finest series.

Awwww, Superman. Points for trying.

Best of 2008 post coming soon!

This Week's Haul: Supergirl for Everyone!

So I've already told you how awesome The War at Ellsmere, which came out this week, is. But there were also a lot of other awesome comics! Probably some bad ones too, but I fortunately didn't read any of those!

Batman #682

I think that all the confusing mess that was Batman: R.I.P. was worth it if it got us to this issue. It is absolutely bananas, but really, really enjoyable. It reminded me of All-Star Superman, the way that it embraced and celebrated Batman's zany silver age past. Grant Morrison...you are alright with me!




Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade #1

I definitely had high hopes for this one, and I wasn't let down. It's fun and silly and it pays no attention to proper canon or continuity. In other words, it's perfect for kids. And, much like Tiny Titans, it is fun for adult nerds as well.





Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom #3

Everyone should seriously be reading this series. I am going to keep saying that every week until it is over. This is the Superman/Supergirl interaction I have been waiting for.






Jonah Hex #38

And everyone should seriously be reading this series. I can't say enough good things about Jonah Hex, even though I don't talk about this comic nearly enough on this blog. It's completely and totally awesome. I know it is perpetually in danger of being canceled, and it would be tragic if it happens. Comic fans keep asking for one-shots and this is a whole series made up of them. Plus it has great writing and all-star artists.



The Amazing Spider-Man #579

I don't want to say the word 'perfect' here, but these last two issues of Spider-Man, by Mark Waid and Marcos Martin, have been pretty damn close. They have everything you could possibly want in a Spider-Man comic. Not only is Spider-Man witty and likable throughout, he is also incredibly heroic. I was almost teary-eyed. HE JUST GIVES SO MUCH OF HIMSELF!



JSA #21

Man, that Gog guy wasn't as cool as he seemed. Colour me surprised. I was sure everything would work out fine for those tortured souls who populate the Justice Society.






Hey! Y'know what else came out this week?! Showcase Presents: Supergirl v.2!!!

Ohhhh yessssss.

Not convinced? How about a 2-part story where Comet the Superhorse turns into a human temporarily and starts dating Supergirl?

Oh it gets worse...

That's why I don't date horses. They lie.

This Week's Haul: We hardly knew ye, Batman

Would you believe I am still sick? This is the worst cold ever.

BUT I am done my classes and I only have a few things to finish up before I am done school forever! I am going to celebrate by playing video games all day and partying all night.

Here are some comics I read this week.


Batman #681

The end of "Batman R.I.P." and what a long, crazy trip it's been. I've seen the "Batman BRB" jokes floating around that internet. That's pretty funny. Or, maybe, "Batman WTF?" I actually found this particular issue to be surprisingly fluid, for the most part. I don't think this storyline needed all the mass media attention it received. And it completely failed as a cross-over, as far as I'm concerned. Neither Detective, Nightwing nor Robin seemed to tie into Batman in any notable way.

I liked the Batman R.I.P. storyline, though. I don't know if I understood it, but I liked it. I just think people who don't regularly read comics who are picking up this issue because it made the news are going to be very dissapointed and confused.

Captain America #44

Do you know why Bucky is awesome? Because he is two super heroes! When he's got a job to do that's too dirty for Captain America, he switch to Winter Soldier. This issue shows that off nicely.






Daredevil #113

I am loving this Lady Bullseye storyline. I'm glad that we finally get some Matt Murdock reaction to the revelation that Elektra is a Skrull. And I am glad that we get some characters like Danny Rand and Master Ito kicking around for levity. Plus Dakota is still awesome. And not dead yet...will she shake the "sleeping with Matt Murdock" curse? I hope so.




Superman #682

I think this was James Robinson's best issue of Superman so far. The voices seemed a lot better, whereas before it just sounded like a bunch of James Robinsons conversing with each other. I always like Renato Guedes art, too, especially when he's drawing Supergirl.





Wonder Woman #26

I'm really glad that DC not only has the perfect person writing Wonder Woman (Gail Simone), but they also have the perfect person drawing this title (Aaron Lopresti). This issue launches a new storyline that looks like it's going to be fantastic.

Batman + Catwoman 4eva

Last week was a big week for Batman/Catwoman fans as we finally got to hear Bruce Wayne confess his undying love for Selina Kyle in Detective Comics #850. And all it took was for Hush to literally tear her heart out in what is easily the most heavy-handed metaphor of the year.

Here's our money scene:

Shriiiiiieeeeeek!!!!

This made me pretty happy. Bruce and Selina are my favourite couple of all time. And I am including myself and my husband.

I didn't really get the impression that this was going to change anything in the Batman world, especially since he's supposed to be dead soon, or whatever. It was a very nice moment, though, and I thank DC for it. It doesn't make up for canceling Catwoman AT ALL, but it's not bad.

Oh, Batman and Catwoman. You've come such a long way.

Shut up, Robin.

Thanks Everyone!

I just want to thank everyone who voted for Living Between Wednesdays as the Best Local Blog in this year's Best of Halifax readers survey in The Coast! I got my plaque the other night at the party and it was exciting. This is a big win for nerds everywhere!

Um...I don't have a picture or anything for this post...

Here's a good one of Bruce Wayne suffering through a kiss from a beautiful woman:

From Batman #290...a gold mine for hilarious panels.

The Man Loves His Work

There's nothing quite like the satisfaction someone feels after a job well done.

Sometimes even Batman is thrilled by how awesome he is.

(Panel from Batman #290 by David V. Reed and Mike Grell).

Who exactly are Humpty Dumpty's enemies? Walls?

Ugh. Stupid boring real life is really eating up all my time lately. I have a huge stack of comics from this week that I won't be able to read for days. AND a new issue of Comic Foundry! Yay!

School is over forever in about six weeks. My band is in Atlanta tonight playing a show with the Black Lips, and I am home writing marketing case study reports. Sigh.

It's times like this that I need a hit of comic book craziness. Because only comic books can deliver complete fantastic nonsense like this:

You're not going to see that scenario anywhere else! Certainly not in these marketing textbooks!

I'm the birthday boy or girl!

It's my birthday!

My gift to you is my favourite still from the Justice League cartoon:

If ever they were going to kiss, this would have been their moment.

And this link, which my friend sent me. Some brilliant person amassed a collection of Kermit the Frog photos which mirror photos of Christian Bale. It's amazing: CHECK IT OUT!

All the fun of Batman: Arkham Asylum...now a video game!

According to Newsarama, there is a new Batman video game in the works.

Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I know that, like, 99% of super hero video games suck, and yet I still get excited for each and every one.

I actually liked the Batman Begins game quite a bit. You got to be sneaky and clever, and I like that. This game sounds like it will be scary. Batman meets Silent Hill.

I hope it's actually based directly on the book, and that the Joker hits on Batman in creepy, creepy ways.

The Countdown to Lego Batman Starts Now

I haven't yet mentioned this in my blog, but I am absurdly excited for the upcoming Lego Batman video game.

I am a huge fan of the two Lego Star Wars games, and the Lego Indiana Jones game. I think the Batman one is going to be the best one. And the trailer is frigging adorable:



Look at Penguin waddle! And Catwoman is all smooching Batman!

Can I build myself and make myself smooch Batman?!!!!

If so then this is more exciting than The Dark Knight.

My Spoiler-Free Mini-Review of The Dark Knight

I saw a sneak preview of The Dark Knight in Imax on Wednesday. It has taken this long for me to come down from that high.

I am not going to drop any spoilers (although, seriously...if you haven't seen it by now then we don't have as much in common as I'd hoped), but I will say this:

I liked Batman Begins a lot. This made Batman Begins look like a giant sack of crap. I went into this concerned about the look of the new Joker. I never liked the way the Joker looked in any of the posters, promo images or trailers. I am a fan of Heath Ledger, so I felt that it would be a good performance, but maybe not what I am looking for in a Joker.

Long story short, I was wrong to doubt anything. The Joker was amazing. The movie was amazing. Two and a half hours long and not a dull second. Plus, Batman kicks, like, SO MUCH ass!

I actually can't believe how much happened in this movie. It's pretty astonishing. It was so intense and so crazy that I can't believe I was ever entertained by a Batman movie where the main point of suspense was a microwave emitter that was going to evaporate Gotham's water supply. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

So yeah. Amazing. No complaints from me. If I was a parent of a young child who wanted to see this movie, you might hear some complaints. Fruit Roll-ups ads aside, this is not a movie for kids. At all.

Mmmmm...inappropriate.

If you would care to discuss this movie in more detail in the comment thread, bring it on. I still have to get caught up on some of the other blockbusters (Wall-E, Hellboy 2). And I am very excited for X-Files next weekend.

I'ma Light the Bat Signal!

Josh Elder wrote me into a Batman Strikes comic! And you can buy it today!

Here's Gordon asking me to do an important job:


Yeah. I know. My name isn't spelled right. But still! I like to think I'm that tall, blonde, Nazi-looking cop.

I just want to point out that between Chris Sims, Dave Campbell and I, I definitely get the coolest job.

So there you go! Getting married is only the second most exciting thing to happen to me this week!

This is Batman Strikes #47, just to be clear. And it's a lot of fun!

Batman Piderman

I wish I could stop watching this for one second:



But I can't. It's hilarious.

Thanks to Ben for showing it to me.

This Week's Haul: Too many awesome comics aaaaahhh I'm gonna explode!

A perfect storm of comic books.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's always exciting, and makes for a busy day at the ol' comic shop. This week was one of those weeks. Plus, I live in Canada so I actually got my comics on Wednesday!

Before I even begin, let's look at the all-star line-up of writers we had serving up the good stuff this week: Not one, not two, but three books by Grant Morrison, two by Geoff Johns, two by Ed Brubaker, plus books by Joss Whedon, Jeff Parker, Sean McKeever, Will Pfeifer, and Matt Fraction. Truly an awesome week.

Here are my thoughts on some of what I read:

Final Crisis #1

I hear people saying things like "Yeah, I don't know about Final Crisis...I guess I'll just see how the reviews are." To those people I say: guys, seriously. This is a sure thing. It's Grant Morrison and it's J.G. Jones. This is as safe as betting that I will never, ever see the Sex in the City movie.

The first issue was great. Really great. It was exciting, original, insane and laugh-out-loud funny at times.

And the art was beautiful. And most of the tie-ins are going to be written by Geoff Johns! What more do you want?!

Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1

The most eagerly anticipated book finally hit the shelves this week. This exceeded my high expectations, I don't know about you guys. Just an awesome read. And long! With no ads! I enjoyed having Joss Whedon writing some of the extended Marvel universe characters who show up in this book, including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Dr Strange, and Iron Man.

I also enjoyed John Cassaday drawing them.


I don't care if that facial expression is physically impossible. I LOVE IT!

What if they teamed up for a 3-issue arc on Amazing Spider-Man?! Oh man!

Anyway, this was a very good comic. Worth the ridiculously long wait.

All-Star Superman #11

I can't believe this is almost over. I actually can't stand the thought of a world without new issues of this series. It's heartbreaking. Almost as heartbreaking as this issue was. Man, it was so good.

This series features my very favourite Lex Luthor ever. He's just perfectly written. So arrogant and so brilliant and so funny.

Really, every character is perfect. So as much as I can't wait for the next issue, it's going to be a sad day when it comes.

Batman #677

I don't know how into this event I am as a storyline with tie-ins, but I will reserve judgement. I am really liking the two issues of Batman so far in this story, though. As much as I don't care about Jet Jezebel as a character (her biggest flaw: she's not Catwoman), I did enjoy her sensible opinions about Bruce's probable insanity in this issue.

Seriously, Bruce. She has a point.

I especially loved that she mentioned witnessing the brutal murder of her own father, and how she didn't respond to it by becoming a vigilante in a bat costume.

Overall, this storyline is just really damn interesting, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Action Comics #865

Geoff Johns sets some things right in the world of Superman in this issue. Most importantly, he cleans up this whole Toyman mess that has been happening for decades. He brings Toyman back to being one guy, with one look. No more crazy interpretations. It's well done. And I appreciate it because, yeesh, that shit was getting confusing.

He also is bringing Cat Grant back to Metropolis! Yay!

This really was an awesome issue. I know it's going to get buried under all the other awesome this week, but you'd do well to pick it up.

Green Lantern #31

Geoff Johns again! I've been enjoying this Secret Origins arc because, as I've said before, I'll never get tired of reading Hal Jordan's origin story. And Johns' sense of humour really makes for a great re-telling.

Plus, y'know, gorgeous art. I can't wait until this is collected into a trade and I can sell it to people who want to be introduced to Green Lantern. Although, New Frontier is pretty much unbeatable for that too. But this brings in Sinestro, and these days that's all that new Lantern fans care about.

I loved this panel too:

Oh, Hal, honey. We know.

Daredevil #107

Dakota totally rules. She's just saying what we're all thinking.

Uncanny X-Men #498

Hey, look what I'm reading now!

I think it was the cover with Cyclops and Emma in the sixties get-up from last month that got me interested. Or maybe I was just bothered by the fact that there was a Brubaker title on the shelves that I wasn't reading. Or maybe I just needed a fix while waiting for Giant Size Astonishing. Whatever the reason, I added this title to my pull list and have been enjoying this story arc immensely so far. I also immensely enjoyed the extreme beefcake bondage cover this week. Oh Wolverine. Always getting tied up with your shirt off.

I read an unprecedented number of X-Men books this week, I think. And they were all really good. Besides the ones I'm writing about here, I also enjoyed Wolverine First Class and, as always X-Men First Class (complete with yet another adorable Colleen Coover back-up!).

Blue Beetle #27

Will Pfeifer steps in to guest write this issue and does a great job. It's a fun, wacky story that perfectly suits the title. Plus, there's lots of Traci Thirteen, which I am pleased about. Will Pfeifer rules.

And the cover, by Rafael Albuquerque, is really beautiful too.


Man, how is next week going to live up to this week?! It's just not possible!