Walking on the Moon

• Jonah Hex #21
  • Another solid issue. Well drawn, clear storytelling, and an interesting read. It remains an unconnected series of vignettes, which limits my love for it. It’s so nice to see a non-superhero big 3 book that I’d be willing to keep reading it on that basis alone. Fortunately, it’s also decent work.
• All-Star Superman #8
  • Still great stuff in general, but man do I dislike Bizarro stories. I understand that any reworking of the silver age is going to have a couple, but man do I dislike the Bizarros – I totally feel for Zibarro here. Morrison manages to put some clever ideas in there (and kudos for actually stating the probability figures correctly on Zibarro’s appearance), of course. The overall plot’s moving along at just the right pace and now that Superman’s back off the Bizarro World, I’m really looking forward to next issue. Do I have to say that I’m enjoying the art? Well, with this being a Bizarro story, I followed the action for pages at a time without reading the horrible pigdin English coming out of the Bizarros’ mouths and felt the pacing and followed the story. Awesome.
• Nexus #99
  • It’s tough to overstate how happy I am to see new Nexus book from Baron and Rude. Nexus is probably my favorite comics series from the 80’s, and really doesn’t need any qualifiers for greatness. The first 51 issues are as good as anything ever done in the medium, and though it wandered a little in the next 48, it’s still an amazingly strong comic. The Dude’s art just gets better with age, and the plotting and world view stills feels as fresh and crisp as if it had been being published consistently rather than just coming off a 10 year hiatus. Grab a copy and play along!

I didn’t have a lot to say about Deadeye Dick, but what I did have is up on Bell Book and Candle.

September 30, 2003:

Q Do you think that the Justice Department can conduct an impartial investigation, considering the political ramifications of the CIA leak, and why wouldn’t a special counsel be better?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There’s leaks at the executive branch; there’s leaks in the legislative branch. There’s just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.

Well, at least it’s not counter productive.

• Moon Knight #11
  • Man, I need to drop this.  This time little happened with jarring out of order storytelling.  One more issue, I promise.
• Will Eisner’s The Spirit #7
  • Filler issue where a few other comics artists take a swing at the new Spirit.  The Simonson Sprouse & Story and the Palmiotti stories are OK, but nothing too special.  I didn’t enjoy the Baker story at all – which is very rare for me.  This issue really showcases how hard it is to write a Spirit story.  These folks are all great comics creators, and working in the 8-page boundaries and other conventions of a Spirit story none of them nail it.  There’s nothing awful here, but nothing brilliant, either.  I’d skip it unless you’re a completist.
• Jonah Hex #20
  • Hex continues to be solid.  Nothing jaw-dropping, but a  solid run with an interesting anti-hero.  Consistently decent.
• Captain America #27
  • The pot continues to stir.  We check in with all the major players and things move.  I don’t quite buy the Winter Soldier’s motivation, but if you believe he’d want to do this, it’s nice to watch him work.  Great superhero stuff, even in the constraints of the big doings at Marvel.
• Black Summer #0
  • If you know what Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp are up to this summer, you don’t need to see this.  If you’re not, this lets you see the set up and a few pages of sample art for a buck.  It’s worth that to read Warren ranting in the back.  Worth a buck, easy.

This is a great resource/productivity killer. I saw a mislabeled Cerebus cover, so it’s not perfect. Still a cool cross-section of comic covers.

Well, certainly I read him partially to feed my raging fanboy jealousy. And then there’s something like his piece on Roddenberry’s induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, which convinces me both that he’s a writer and that he’s a great guy.

A guy this decent deserves to be Cosmic Boy. Of course, I’ve always thought of myself as more of an Ultra Boy.

I wrote a short review of The Great Gatsby, which deserves a long one. Fortunately, many others have handled that for me. Mine is up in Bell, Book, and Candle.

And I noticed that for the last 8 years my pages have had Jane Austen’s name spelled wrong. That’s the way to critical credibility.

Indeed.

I was feeling kind of crappy this weekend and spent most of Saturday just vegging out. To help with that, I picked up Volume 2 of The Essential Marvel Two In One, and really a better time is tough to imagine.

Two in One was one of those great 70’s titles that was hanging out there on the edge of the Marvel Universe, but that didn’t have to be The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine every month. It wasn’t exactly the Marvel flagship. It had two important things going for it – the creators didn’t take it more seriously than a comic book, and lots of great creators were thrown an issue or two as a chance to prove themselves. It also starred the Thing, one of Marvel’s most over-the-top heroes.

The result is a charming set of fun stories and general tour around the characters and situations in the Marvel Universe. Several series had their loose ends tied up in MTIO and a few actual important Marvel Universe events happened in there, too. Mostly, though, they’re fun single-issue or two-issue stories with a charismatic and visually appealing star that make it a great way to waste an afternoon.

A pleasurable guilty pleasure. (To get a feel for the series, I recommend Mark O’English’s amazingly complete and remarkably entertaining Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Home Page.)