episode 025: take this bottle

alec and joey discuss zero #6 by ales kot and vanesa del ray, truth is fragmentary by gabrielle bell, it never happened again by sam alden, satellite sam #1-6 by matt fraction and howard chaykin, secret avengers #1 by ales kot and michael walsh, and alec gives his way late review of harmony korine's film spring breakers.

music by faith no more

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diary of a guttersnipe 03/11/2013: an old man walks into the streets..

by Shawn Starr

It’s Joey Aulisio's birthday! To celebrate, here's some drivel.....

Mini-Reviews

Guardians Of The Galaxy # 0.1 (Marvel)
by Brian Michael Bendis, Steve McNiven, John Dell III, Justin Ponsor

I'm pretty sure everyone has read a comic or seen a movie that was meant to make you shed a tear (just a single one though). These kind of things tend to have a 50/50 work/fail ratio on me because deep down i’m a big baby who was not hugged enough as a child or something, but 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' is not one of those instances.

Instead it comes off as twenty pages of “i wish I knew my daddy” with a macho revenge ending that makes you groan with cliche. It seems a lot of writers like to apply these themes of empathy and revenge to one-shots, everyone want’s to make a comic where Clint Eastwood’s papa hit him at the start, but he staves off those demons of abuse until some rapscallion kills his wife and Clint finally catches up with them and unleashes all that rage. Maybe a bottle of whiskey is involved. And spitting, definitely spitting.

(God, did you guys see the end of "Unforgiven" ? That scene still gives me chills.)

Anyways, our Clint in this scenario is some kid whose mom let some alien (who looks unnaturally like a human, convergent evolution towards Homo-Sapien characteristics in the Marvel Universe is insanely prolific) knock her up after he crash landed in her backyard. It turns out there's some space war going on and he’s actually royalty so the “bad” aliens come and try and off him as a child (to sever the royal bloodline) but all they do is kill his mother and make him mad.

Flash forward 20 years and you find out this whole story has actually been him talking to Iron Man and then we get a little box at the bottom saying  “To Be Continued in...Guardians of the Galaxy #1!”

So i guess this will never be mentioned again.

Sex #1 (Image)
by Joe Casey, Piotr Kowalski, Brad Simpson, Rus Wooton

A fine first issue.

Batman Incorporated #8 (DC)
by Grant Morrison, Chris Burnham, Jason Masters, Nathan Fairbairn

If Grant Morrison's only decent issue of 'Action Comics' taught anyone anything it's that you can't kill IP (intellectual property for you laymen), so his sudden attempt at killing off the past five to ten years of his Batman “creations” over the past eight issues kind of rings hollow. Sure Damien is dead, or seems to be, I didn't see no casket so the jury's still out, but his value is found in his existence, which makes his supposed death all the more sorry, because he will be back, the market demands it!

Young Avengers #2 (Marvel)
by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Mike Norton, Matt Wilson

This opening arc seems like it should be taking place about twenty issues into the run. Instead of focusing on bringing the team together, we have two issues devoted to two character's relationship (Wiccan / Hulkling) that only really makes sense if you have read the run involving those characters previous relationship that took place over the course of  five years and two mini-series. It’s an interesting enough story, it's just that there is no real ground to stand on if you’re not into 15 pages of teenagers talking about their relationship, and five-one page updates on the rest of the team who we aren't going to meet for a while.

Hellboy In Hell #4 (Dark Horse)
by Mike Mignola, Dave Stewart

Ahhhh, yeah, That's my Mignola!

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Other things James Stokoe has ruined in Mark Andrew Smith’s life:

. His amateur ATV career.

. His Mighty Morphin Power Rangers themed sushi restaurant.

. His patent on a blanket that also doubles as a hat (he would never have to be referred to as a school teacher again!).

. His run at the Guinness Book of World Records for most names in a single name.

. His album of J-Pop inspired Johnny Cash covers.

. His network sitcom.

. His credibility.

. His collection of animals in Kangaroo pouches figurines.

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links

ECCC decided to post the majority of their panels online, some for pay and some for free, luckily the only one that mattered fell into the “free” category ‘Putting the “Graphic” in Graphic Novels’ features smut luminary Howard Chaykin (fresh off the completion of 'Black Kiss 2', a comic about how fucked up the movie industry really is + trannies) and recent newcomer and rising post-porn star Brandon Graham ('Pillow Fight', 'Perverts Of The Unknown') along with Matt Fraction and Joe Casey who kind of tangentially relate to the field insofar as they write comics with the words “sex” in the title and they needed to fill out the panel (Also present was Fiona Staples which makes zero sense, if 'Saga', just for showing tits and balls, counts as a sex comic i need to reevaluate a lot of things in my life). As with all things, Chaykin, Casey and Graham provide all the highlights, the real blockbuster reveal on the panel turns up about two thirds the way through where Howard Chaykin, yes THEE Howard Chaykin, tells everyone he was a camp counselor at one point.

Joey and Chad Nevett did something of a audio variety but won’t tell me what it was. I am annoyed.

I guess MOCCA is now the cool place to be in the month of April, i thank MOCCA for letting me in on that fact well past the point of me being able to attend. Seriously, you have DeForge and Forsman at your con and your only press announcement is “that guy who draws the retarded clown comics is coming” ? What did you want me to think MOCCA? WHAT?

Jonny Negron: "For me, [my imagery is] not as shocking. I’ve exposed myself to so much outsider art or alternative art that a lot of that stuff is not that obscene to me. I draw what I draw because I know that it will cause some kind of reaction for the viewer.”

Have i linked this before? I don’t know, but Michael DeForge's entire 'Ant Comic' series has been compiled in a single page for your viewing pleasure. Those are some fine comics.

The John Darnielle WTF podcast was very good, although i’d suggest a large quantity of alcohol be on hand while listening to it

After seeing the newest 'League Of Extraordinary Gentleman', I’m not sure why they did not also use this hardcover format for their Century titles.

Toren Smith died, from my understanding he was a major figure in the early US Manga movement, particularly in translating some major works. That is sad news. Also in other sad news Kim Thompson has lung cancer, comics would not be the same without him.

Tom Spurgeon’s ECCC con report. Along with interviewing Gary Groth.

Chris Sprouse removed himself from that bigot Orson Scott Card's Superman script due to media attention; because that's how moral stands are made, via complaining about unwanted attention. The fucking coward.

diary of a guttersnipe 10/22/2012: it's called topicality! (do you think i'm handsome, no really...do you?)

by Shawn Starr

This week in Diary of a Guttersnipe we talk about the recent crop of announcements at NYCC with Joey Aulisio (aka “The Guy Who Runs The Site”) and then i do some other stuff.

SO READ ON, MY DEAR READER!

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PIMP

Glenn Danzig: Was it great going from Marvel to DC and getting that much freedom?

Jack Kirby: I didn't get it, I took it.

AS A CANDYBAR!

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-----(((((((("We've been grateful that [you've] found other writers to fill words"))))))))------

SHAWN STARR: Well New York Comic Con happened!

I think it's fair to say Image won NYCC this year, or won as much as any comics publisher can “win” a con that is primarily devoted to pandering towards film and television fans, announcing a strong lineup of old favorites and interesting newcomers.

Its amazing that not even a year ago the thought of Image being a dominant force in the market was preposterous. Fuck I’m pretty sure Dark Horse was beating them in market share last year (or were very close) and the only thing of value at Dark Horse is Mike Mignola’s Hellboy Universe and those overpriced Milo Manara collections, and now Image is the home of just about every major writer in mainstream comics and a healthy portion of its top artists (they may even be publishing the best “mainstream” book of the year in 'Prophet'.)

Imagine if the 'DC New 52' had the same lineups as Image this year? I would probably still be buying a DC “proper” book besides 'Batman Inc.' (and even that was more a legacy title).

New Howard Chaykin always has me excited, Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky's ‘Sex Criminals’ spiked some interest too following Fraction's recent creative renaissance (Casanova/Hawkeye) along with Kieron Gillen and Ryan Kelly's ‘Three’ which seems like a collaboration that has taken far too long to occur. So which books jumped out at you?

JOEY AULISIO: Yes, NYCC did happen, and this was the first year i did not attend it since 2007. On Thursday I was starting to get a little bummed that i was not going and then once i saw this...

...i was 100% certain i made the right decision not to attend.

But yes i would agree that Image certainly “won” the con once again in terms of announcements, and it does not look like any other publisher is going to challenge that crown for quite a while. The three books you mentioned in particular were certainly standouts among a handful of others.

Chaykin’s ‘Midnight Of The Soul’ sounds like the exact kind of book i want to read right now. It’s hitting all the Chaykin checkpoints so far, Noir mood, 40’s-50’s period setting, takes place in NY, alcohol is involved, and i am sure someone is getting shot and/or fucked at some point. There’s also a parallel universe involved to boot! ‘Black Kiss 2’ has mostly been a fun exercise in excess and depravity so far, but i think this series is probably the one to really pay attention to. I predict it will be the book Generation Wuss will be having a shit-fit over next year but it will be probably be in my Top 5 of 2013.

I notice Matt Fraction seems to be on the explicit tip more than usual lately judging from the books he has announced from Image so far. That murder mystery book he announced with Chaykin back at SDCC looked to be more on the skeevier side of things (Chaykin is drawing it so it will feel like that regardless), and this book literally is about people who have sex to stop time and then commit crimes, so if he wanted to shed his “Marvel hack” image, i guess this is a start. Like you said though it does seem like Fraction has had a creative renaissance recently between the most recent volume of ‘Casanova’ (which came off rather brilliant on a re-read) and the solid work on 'Hawkeye' (and 'FF' from the looks of it), i am more excited to read these now than i would a year or two back. Both Fraction and Zdarsky come off as those annoying kids in the back of the class who won’t shut the fuck up on twitter, but they do make some pretty great comics from time to time.

I agree that Kieron Gillen and Ryan Kelly collaborating on a book does seem like one of those “this should've happened already” things and i am glad that they decided to come together especially on an original book. The fact that it is a book about Spartans and war threw me off at first but then i remembered that the creative team worked on both ‘Thor’ and ‘Northlanders’ respectively, now it makes more sense. I also like how Gillen described the genesis of this book, as being both a response and appreciation of Frank Miller’s seminal masterpiece ‘300’. Personally, i find it more entertaining and interesting when creators critique each other through their work as opposed to other means, that’s how we get better in a ‘call-and-answer” medium. I do also have to wonder if this was also the book Gillen has been saying was coming from Avatar Press for years, if so my eyes are thankful Image and Ryan Kelly picked up the ball on that one.

Staying on Image announcements though, it seemed like Jonathan Hickman and Ales Kot were certainly the most prolific and ambitious in what they announced. It looks like the Hickman written and drawn book 'Feel Better Now' is finally getting a release as well as a new sci-fi western series with artist Nick Dragotta called 'East and West', While Kot announced the books 'Zero' (featuring like 10+ artists) and 'The Surface' with Langdon Foss on art. Any of these happen to spark any interest for you ?

SHAWN STARR: Yeah that floor makes me want to have a panic attack.

Howard Chaykin seems like the definitive “fuck generation wuss” comic writer/artist. For a man enamoured with Jazz and the 50’s (both for machismo and style), it is fascinating that he can still elicit such a strong response in 2012 for his content, you’d figure we would be past it, or at least see it more as scandalising than content, but that's what makes 'Black Kiss 2' so strong, Chaykin is able to write a book which smears decades worth of romanticism of Old Hollywood, the French Resistance, the Titanic and fucking Disneyland by turning them into these bastions of exploitation and violence, but also subtlety use it as a critique on the American Dream and its acceptance of sex/violence.

So yeah, Chaykin and alcoholic bikers in the 1950’s sounds amazing or awesome, whichever one is more “critically” minded.

(I hope it’s in black and white and everyone dies or gets fucked though.)

The two Hickman books sound strong, Nick Dragotta is one of Marvel’s best artists whenever he shows up on 'FF'. My only complaint is that the “high concept” sounds so “high concept” that it avoids any possible discussion as to what it is actually about. Seriously what does “[A] sci-fi/western hybrid about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse's mission to kill the President of the United States.” even mean at this point in time? It’s so “AWESOME” to be rendered meaningless.

New Hickman art is interesting, i'm fascinated as to what a couple years of only writing Marvel Comics has done to his style (aka his Graphic Designing) since we’ve never actually seen one of the “Marvel” guys draw a book after becoming a “Marvel” guy (Bendis, Brubaker, Remender). Does he still have it? I’d like to see (My guess is no, but as always I would like to be proved wrong).

Ales Kot is one of those guys i’m fascinated by, he’s only had one book out (to my knowledge) which is 'Wild Children', which i think worked well enough as a piece of political comics writing; not “political” in the sense of normal “politics” (aka Republican/Democrat) but as a manifesto on comics as a medium, something akin to 'Promethea'. That said it was clearly modeled after political writers and their need to constantly write a “fictitious” story around their ideas (Fathers and Sons/Thus Spoke Zarathustra/Anthem) and their failure to understand that an actual story needs to occur in their essays (except in the case of Orwell, because well he’s Orwell and the dude can write).

'Zero' seems so ambitious as to be either a total failure in every aspect or a landmark comic. Can’t wait to see which it will be. That's one thing i have to give to Kot, the man does not take half steps - every one of his comic(s) end up being a swing for the fences, which i have to respect (His acceptance of this fact, and its natural polarization among critics and readers is even more admirable, as opposed to Morrison's recent bout of condescendence, valid or not).

Image’s big get this con seems to be Paul Pope's 'One-Trick Rip-Off'; a title originally set to be published by Legendary, which brings up the (unanswerable) question of what happened with Legendary? 'One-Trick Rip-Off' has already been solicited for a January release so it had to be in a late stage of development/production at Legendary, and along with Jamie Grant's coloring (which Image, however flush with 'The Walking Dead' cash, could never possibly afford) seems to point towards a colossal fuck up on their part.

Anyways, new Paul Pope is always a good thing.

Which brings me to a question about Legendary as a publisher, they seem to want to be making “pitch books” for their movie studio counterpart, but so far they have only published 'Holy Terror' which is really and truly "unfilmable", and their recent crop of announcements do not look much better in that respect. The description for the new Grant Morrison book 'Annihilator' reads like a Michael Bay script that someone forced Charlie Kaufman to write under threat of death (or in Kaufman’s case probably a heart to heart with his mother). Which brings us back to the question of what is the point of this comic for Legendary, since "Adaptation" was, while a critical hit (primarily because of Kaufman, or only because of Kaufman), a financial wash. It really seems like a book a post-Animal Man Morrison would produce, which means i will read it, and then be disappointed in it not being 'Animal Man' or 'Doom Patrol' like i am with every Morrison book nowadays.

Legendary announced some other comics right? I didn't read the whole press release since it was long, but i saw Del Toro’s name which seems interesting (I wonder if in two or three years we will be looking at Legendary as another Tundra? Only with less sympathy since seriously fuck Hollywood).

JOEY AULISIO: Legendary the studio brought us “The Dark Knight’ trilogy so i am forever grateful (but they also helped unleash Zack Snyder on the world which is an unforgivable act),

Legendary the publisher really just has a series of announcements under their belt and not much else. I loved ‘Holy Terror’ and was really happy someone had the balls to release it and especially throw that much promotion behind it. They recently released the first part of a collaboration with Matt Wagner and Simon Bisley but other than that nothing has actually showed up in a store. Of the stuff they announced this go around, I think the Grant Morrison book ‘Annihilator’ definitely sounds interesting, and i trust Morrison a lot more with those “run on sentence high concept ideas” than almost anybody else. No mention of an artist yet though unless it is Morrison himself, and if so, Legendary clearly won the con then.

The Guillermo Del Toro book is just a prequel to his upcoming film “Pacific Rim” (of which Legendary is the studio funding), so in other words probably a waste of time, but then again the Del Toro project at Dark Horse right now ‘The Strain’ has a great team on it and is actually a really entertaining read, so who knows? Maybe Del Toro is one of the few Hollywood guys who actually does give a shit if books with his name on it are actually good.

Speaking of Dark Horse though, they had two pretty intriguing announcements which seemed to fly under the radar a bit. The first was that the long awaited book from Gerard Way and Becky Cloonan “The Fabulous Killjoys” looks to finally be hitting shelves in 2013 after originally being announced back in 2009. Way is one of the few “celebrity comic creators” who seems interested not just in the actual medium itself but also trying to push it forward. ‘The Umbrella Academy’ certainly did not reinvent the wheel or anything but it was a genuinely pleasant surprise and an energetic and imaginative read. I also wager that book brought more people (young people especially) to the comic medium than any other comic stunt Marvel or DC has pulled in the last ten years. So another book from him, especially with art by Becky Cloonan, will definitely be something i will check out.

The other book that is one that if i had to say was my favorite announcement overall would be that Joe Casey is reviving 'Catalyst Comix' and using a rotating cast of artists including Dan McDaid, Paul Maybury, and Ulises Farinas (the latter two really caught my eye on ‘Twisted Savage Dragon Funnies’). I believe the idea is to continue the book and bringing in more ‘indie’ artists as it goes along, and since Casey seems to be the only guy really pushing the idea of a superhero comic further, i am excited to see where this ones goes.

SHAWN STARR: I don't really care what Joe Casey does in the first issue of 'Catalyst Comix' because him name dropping Ben Marra is enough to secure my $3.99. Although how amazing would a Ben Marra/Joe Casey comic be? Seriously my brain / dick would explode. So yeah, that comic sounds decent, even though i don’t know what it’s about past “Joe Casey revitalizing a bunch of dead characters no one cares about”; which seems like all Joe Casey does nowadays.

The only real imprint left talking about is Vertigo, since DC and Marvel decided to not bother announcing anything besides 'Young Avengers' (which was leaked a month ago) and a Jim Lee/Scott Snyder Superman book (which was also leaked a month ago). I’ll buy 'Young Avengers' simply because i want to see Gillen/McKelvie do another project, even though it’s not 'Phonogram', and i don't care in the slightest about a Lee/Snyder book because this is not 1992 and i don’t think “LEE IS THE DREAMIEST SCAB TO EVER SCAB” or any book which shares the same name of the movie which is going to be released around the same time will ever be good.

The Scott Snyder/Sean Murphy (it PAINS me to spell Shawn as Sean, like morally, he spells his name wrong and god help me if he didn't draw better than every artist at DC) sounds interesting, Snyder’s name does not elicit much response, he seems like a competent writer, if not over wrought in most cases ('Batman' #12), Murphy’s 'Punk Rock Jesus' is tied for the best comic DC is publishing (with 'Batman Inc') so anything he draws is an instant buy for me, although Snyder may push that into a instant trade buy, by the end of the series. The Jeff Lemire series sounds interesting, although I found 'The 'Underwater Welder' lacking and 'Animal Man' to be running in place after issue #6, but he still has some indie cred left over from 'Lost Dogs' and 'Essex County' for me.

JOEY AULISIO: I am really looking forward to ‘Young Avengers’ but i’ll buy any Gillen/McKelvie collaboration sight unseen, and I could not give less of a fuck about that ‘Man Of Steel’ book. I do think it is interesting that Scott Snyder is just “the guy” for all of DC Comics right now including Vertigo. If you think about it ‘American Vampire’ is the last bona fide hit that Vertigo has had in years, he’s certainly the golden boy at DC proper handling Batman, Swamp Thing, and now Superman to great sales so far. Has there been a creator at DC before who was literally at the top of the sales chains in both camps at DC ? I honestly can’t think of one.

Sean Murphy on the other hand has become the reluctant superstar artist at Vertigo despite DC under utilizing him in every way, and yet everything he works on winds up being a hit. To think in 2007-08 DC signs him to an exclusive and DOES NOTHING with him for years, that is just insanity! Vertigo decides to use him for some ‘Hellblazer’ fill-in’s (most of which did not see the light of day for three plus years), some superhero stuff which they shut down because it did not conform to their “house style”, and then finally gets a hit when he does “Joe The Barbarian” with Grant Morrison plus an ‘American Vampire’ mini that gets him some well deserved recognition too. Now ‘Punk Rock Jesus’ is a hit for Vertigo in spite of the fact that they tried to handicap it several times out of the gate (and like you said it is the best book DC is publishing not called ‘Batman Incorporated’), and only now with ‘The Wake’ is he getting the star treatment.

On the actual book itself, i am not a Scott Snyder fan at all. He’s competent like you said but pretty damn boring otherwise. Sean Murphy on the other hand i have bought pretty much everything he has done since that 'Year One: Batman/Scarecrow' mini and i don’t think i am going to stop now. I’m in for the Lemire one as well, at least 'Trillium' is only a mini so he can’t pointlessly meander for issues at a time like on ‘Sweet Tooth’. That’s the other thing about the Vertigo announcements is that these are basically the three guys they have left that sell anything or draw any interest in a potential audience at all (at least until the new Gaiman/J.H. ‘Sandman’ book drops). Also all the books (even the Gaiman one) are all mini-series now, i guess that’s what they are transitioning into publishing now as a model.

SHAWN STARR: Well Scott Snyder is the only reason Batman sells any copies whatsoever according to him. Take Snyder off Batman and that book will sink like a 1974 Buick LeSabre filled with misfitted clown costumes. That or he’s writing every major franchise with a top tier “superhero” artist, which has a pretty built in audience (along with the perception of its “importance”); it’s not like he saved Green Lantern and turned it into a giant dissertation on rainbows and “AWESOME” moments that are not really that awesome or anything. A new Murphy comic should be good, maybe they will even pay to color it this time (although 'Punk Rock Jesus' kind of proves color is not necessary when it comes to Murphy) and possibly keeping Lemire under 600 pages is for the best.

Well i think that wraps for New York Comic Con, unless something else was announced, but i really don’t care and i figure i would have heard about it by now.

So...we done?

JOEY AULISIO: Yeah, “we done”.

-----((((((((((("a defined purpose to breed familiarity and trust ")))))))))))------

Not so much a review, as a thought on one comic.

Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories (Fantagraphics)
by Gilbert Hernandez

I'm about a hundred pages into the Gilbert Hernandez 'Palomar' Hardcover and Gilbert's first string of stories are much stronger than Jaime's early Locas entries; they're both there for the most part art wise but Jaime's early stuff is overwritten beyond belief making it a chore to get through. That said the reward at the end of it all is one of the greatest long form narratives in comics, but those first hundred pages are a bitch. Gilbert on the other hand introduces a cast of roughly twenty characters who are pretty well fleshed out early on with believable relationships and conflicts. My only complaint is Gilbert has a tendency to have odd panel transitions which, while not jarring, just stand out a little more to me than they should.

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STEP ASIDE, I AM GETTING POLITICAL!

leaflet full of sweet things. #WhiteGuySayings

pamphlet full of honey's #WhiteGuySayings

spreadsheets full of broads. #WhiteGuySayings

phone books full of dames. #WhiteGuySayings

file cabinets full of shorties. #WhiteGuySayings

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"ROAD HOUSE"

“I promise you that this will be the best drive-in movie ever made. It will be a movie that people will love. It will be fun, we’ll have a great time making it, and just trust me.” - Joel Silver selling Kelly Lynch on staring in "Road House".

Truer words have never been spoken by a producer, although that was followed up with the following statement "And by the way, you don’t have a choice, you know. You’re under contract. You can say ‘no’ and we can get really difficult, but we want you and you should do this. It could be great for you." just to prove hes still a scumbag.

/////////"That gal's got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that."\\\\\\\\\
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I've been attempting to watch every Nicolas Cage film (starring roles, i have a life), so far the worst ones have been:

"Knowing"
"Seeking Justice"
"Next"

Seriously don't watch these movies, they're terrible.
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Jamie Hewlett looking Swayze.

"Sometimes, you get your throat cut while a clown is pulling your pants down." - Josh Simmons interviewed on The Comics Journal.

----The best tag line for a movie ever. ---

----The best tag line for a movie ever. ---

diary of a guttersnipe 10/08/2012: they told me to stop being so handsome, so i told them to suck on my glock 'til it popped.

by Shawn Starr

I once wrote for another site, they didn't like me that much, so i don't anymore. 

I'm here now. (Thanks Alec and Joey) 

My name's Shawn, and these are my delusions of grandeur:

Mini-Reviews

Wolverine and the X-Men #17 (Marvel)

by Jason Aaron, Mike Allred, Laura Allred

Seeing Howard the Duck in this issue kind of killed it for me, the whole story up to that point was fun and Allred's art was as always a perfect manifestation of "pop" comics; but then you flip that page and see one of the symbols of a creator getting fucked and it just felt like someone dragged Mr. Rogers into the street and beat him to death with a baseball bat screaming.

Neal Adam's Thrill Kill: Artist's Edition Portfolio (IDW)

by Neal Adams, Jim Stenstrum

I think these "portfolio" editions were designed to get people who are not completely sold on the Artist Editions to dabble in the format but a mediocre story drawn by Neal Adams that costs $30 isn't going to do that. It's insane to think anyone who would pay $30 for this would have a problem paying $100 for a 200+ page collection of Mazzucchelli art. I just don't know what the point of this book was.

New York Drawings (Drawn + Quarterly)

by Adrian Tomine

This is a book full of beautiful drawings.

Uncanny X-Force #31 (Marvel)

by Rick Remender, Phil Noto, Dean White, Frank Martin Jr.

Actively watching a comic that was once the best thing being published by Marvel, and DC (hell maybe in all of comics circa 2010-11) slowly die is a sad sight. Remender announced his departure from the book recently to conclude at the end of this arc, but it is ultimately 20 issues too late. If Remender had dropped this book after 'The Dark Angel Saga' and stuck with Opena for the whole run it would have become a revered run, as opposed to now where it's just some book that tread water trying to make 18 issues worth of story stretch to 40.

Also having Dean White color the first five pages, then replacing him with someone else just highlights how that other guy isn't Dean White.

FF #22 (Marvel)

by Jonathan Hickman, André Araújo, Cris Peter

I've noticed that artists can in no way draw age appropriate characters. Val is supposedly three but she looks eight, a similar thing happens in 'Animal Man' where Buddy Baker's well-spoken-non-genius kid is only four. I wish they would just age these kids up so their actions and rendering made any sense at all, because i get she's a genius and all, but she's three and I'm doubtful she has the motor skills to fly a jet powered toy horse across the ocean.

Lose #4 (Koyama Press)

by Michael DeForge

Lose #4 is the best single issue of the year.

Avengers vs. X-Men #12 (Marvel)

by Jason Aaron, Adam Kubert, John Dell III, Mark Morales, Laura Martin, Justin Ponsor (far too many people)

And to think, all they ever had to do was wish it away!

Buddy Does Seattle: The Complete Buddy Bradley Stories from "Hate" Comics, Vol. I, 1990-94 (Fantagraphics)

by Peter Bagge

This is the first volume in Fantagraphics' collections of Peter Bagge's 'Hate' comics and as a comprehensive collection it may be the best example on the comics market. Collections always seem more difficult than they should be for publishers, many are prohibitively priced (i.e. The Complete Milo Manara) which remove any chance of sampling, even if you're a fan of the work, while others edit/leave out material that would be expected to be included (Locas v1-2), and then there's simply shitty collections. These usually include no introductions, shitty paper stock, low-res scans, etc. (DC, Marvel, Checker Books, etc). 'Buddy Does Seattle' commits none of these sins (although it does reduce the dimensions of the art, but Bagge's art doesn't suffer too much from the compression), plus the collection is reasonably priced (~$15), has an informative introduction (although if you're going to spoil things in the intro I'd wish you would either label it as doing such, or place it as an afterward) (but I may be in the minority of people who read introductions before the main text) and it also has the added benefit of being a great comic.

War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle (Marvel)

by Garth Ennis, Howard Chaykin, Brian Reber

This is a Chaykin/Ennis joint, who you would think would collaborate more often than they do since Chaykin is essentially a more manly version of Steve Dillon, but the world is full of disappointments.

This book was done when Chaykin was hacking out work for Marvel in the late 2000's, but luckily Chaykin half-assing it with photoshopped backgrounds and 3-D models is more visually interesting than just about everything Marvel publishes so it works.

The story itself is a pretty straightforward Ennis war comic, a naive recruit realizes the horrors of war and the incompetence of leadership as he struggles to save himself and his friends. Ennis has been using this basic plot outline on just about every one of his war comics for the past twenty years, and yet it still works.

-------"You know, sooner or later every woman's bound to find out - the only thing a man's got below his belt is clay feet." ------

Bring down the Lincoln Logs of Etch-a-Sketchalism!

That Kyle Baker fella sure is funny, doing Bendis-speak ten years before Bendis broke into comics. I got his number!

The "Art of Rap: Something From Nothing" was a failure as a documentary. The problem it ran into is that it never found a narrative or theme in it's nearly 2 hour runtime, which doesn't stop it from being an interesting string of interviews (although they were limited to three to five minute chunks) but it fails to do anything grander with them.

The season finale of 'Louie' was a perfect manifestation of the series, it was both intimate and expansive, and decidedly dark and yet still the funniest show on TV.

Tom Hardy pulls off the mustache in "Bronson" so hard i don't know why he doesn't have it in every film.

The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival published their lineup for 2012. I don't know who half those people are, but i assume that's a fault of mine not theirs.

I've finally figured out why i don't identify with any awards show, it breaks down like this: the Emmy's are based on what your mother likes, the Grammy's are what your little sister listens too, and the Oscars are all about what your pretentious uncle defines as "serious".

"The Master" was a beautiful failure. Phoenix will win an Oscar, but the story fell apart from a thin script and poor editing. It drifted from scene to scene without purpose, and seemed to try and find a point towards the end but ended up nowhere.

I find that a large swath of criticism is based around justifying ones childhood.

The new Mountain Goats album came out this week, but I'm all out of whiskey so i haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

Artist Editions id like to see (but probably still wouldn't buy): Howard Chaykin's 'Black Kiss'; Milo Manara's 'Indian Summer', anything by Moebius.

I'm having trouble figuring out my feelings on 'Dal Tokyo', it is essentially two different comics, the first segment (originally published in the US) has a firm narrative and rotating cast of characters for 70 odd installments, when the strip moves to Japan several years later though the narrative is dropped almost immediately (it has vague hints in the beginning but they're not followed up on) and falls into a mixture of abstract art pieces and "poetic" prose over non-sequential images. I wasn't even sure i was reading it in the right direction at certain points. Its one of those books that cant be consumed all at once, but rather piecemeal over several days, and even then it's difficult to digest. Carter Scholz has the best review you're going to find for it over at The Comics Journal, but I'm still left at odds with the work. Maybe next year.

The Chemical Box's own Joey Aulisio talks about the "Space Jam" soundtrack for twenty minutes on some other podcast this week.

If only Marvel hadn't "misplaced" all of Jack Kirby's artwork, those would make for some nice Artist Editions.

I want to buy every page of 'Black Kiss' art. If someone knows how to contact Mr. Chaykin or his art dealer, I'd appreciate it.

'Freaks and Geeks' is on Netflix Streaming now, that's one of those shows that the more removed you are from high school the harder it is to watch. I remember seeing it for the first time my senior year of high school with my brother and loving every second of it, now i watch it and cringe over how awkward and terrible everything was. Its a show that somehow becomes more personal the farther removed you are from it.

I like that that site i don't write for anymore rediscovered all the comics i was talking about six months ago. Good for them. (Can i have my non-paying job back?)

You know what, if you block quote 20% of another persons article; along with large chunks of other people articles, you really should be forced to have the article credited to "some asshole".

Fuck dude, even when Rich Johnson steals someone else's piece he adds a bunch of terribly naive and silly political commentary to it for padding. Its called journalistic ethics!

------To play us out, here's Dave Sim - comics greatest martyr-----

"On the Feminist side, well, no I’m not a feminist per Se. But, I think that pointing out that 50% of the world’s population is responsible for 100% of the world’s births and that that fact represents a structural flaw to feminism is just pointing out a structural flaw to a political movement. It doesn’t mean I hate women. The replacement birth rate has dropped for five successive years and that means society is on a collision course with oblivion. There is some yet-to-be-determined percentage of the female population that needs to be primarily engaged in giving birth to and rearing children in order to move the replacement birth rate back up to a point where we are actually replacing instead of exponentially losing population. I’m pretty sure it’s one of the driving forces behind the economy collapsing. Population drives the economy in a real way. If your population is collapsing so is your economy. I don’t pretend to know WHAT percentage of the female population needs to be so engaged to move us back in a more sensible direction, but I think we are way PAST whatever percentage that is, in the wrong direction. Nor am I (pace Margaret Atwood’s HANDMAID’S TALE) suggesting we need to pass laws forcing women to give birth. No, it would have to be completely voluntary and I don’t see any sign of it even becoming a topic of conversation although I think it’s a conversation we are long overdue for having as a society. If that makes me the “Adolf Hitler of Graphic Novelists” then it’s just something I’ll have to accept as the price of being in the situation to bring up subjects that I think need to be looked at that no one else is willing to discuss. Winston Churchill took a lot of flack for warning that Germany rearming in the 1930s was no small thing, but he was eventually proved right. It was no small thing. 90% of women being out in the workforce, in my view, is no small thing."

- Dave Sim, a man the New York Times don't want none of.

episode 018: debauchery

in this episode joey and alec chat about the end of summer, the abrupt end of butcher baker the righteous maker and the slight joe casey backlash, howard chaykin's black kiss and black kiss 2 #1, fatale #7 by ed brubaker and sean phillips, daredevil #17 by mark waid and mike allred, batwoman #12 by j.h. williams III and w. haden blackman, our recent buying habits + the current state of superhero comics (yet again), and more.

music by my bloody valentine

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episode 008: death via committee

in this week's episode joey and alec discuss the current state and uncertain future of vertigo comics, our anticipation and concerns about grant morrison and rags morales' upcoming run on action comics, episode 48.1 of the excellent wait what? podcast, the death of spider-man storyline (ultimate spider-man #155-160) by brian michael bendis and mark bagley, the amazing spider-man teaser trailer, new avengers #9-13 by brian michael bendis with howard chaykin and mike deodato, avengers #13-14 by brian michael bendis with chris bachalo and john romita jr., our love is real by sam humphries and steven sanders, and supergirl #65 by kelly sue deconnick and chriscross.

music by animals as leaders

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