Comic Book Notes (LJ) Sep 2005

09/01/05

Tonight I...

...read another chapter of Hawkman Vol. 3. I don't think I will be buying anymore Hawkman trades, to include the JSA/Hawkman crossover trade: Black Reign. It just ain't the same. It has lost its shine. Besides there's plenty of other stuff I'd like to try.

09/13/05

Breach - I got my Previews catalog finally. I flipped through the comics sections, taking notes of things I might want to pre-order or wait for the trade on. I was going through the DC section when I noticed that # 11 will be the last issue of Breach. It was so low on most people's radar screen that this is how I found out about it. I tried a google search and it barely registered.

Oh well, that makes two DC series that have been canceled out from under me in the past year. Fallen Angel was the other.

09/15/05

I'm listening to the 50th episode of Comic Geek Speak. I figure they must be up to # 52 or 53 by now. I haven't checked lately. Other than the Book of the Month # 3 episode (Walking Dead Vol. 1) I have listened to all the other episodes I've downloaded. # 50 is three hours long. I won't finish listening to it tonight, but it sure is geeky of me to go on rambling like this about how many eps I've listened to.

Did I mention that the comic books don't seem to be quite the guilty pleasure these days as they were a few weeks ago. Its not that I'm not enjoying them, but they just aren't quite the guilty pleasure for me that they once were. I think it must be all the anime I've been watching. It is my current guilty pleasure. I guess that means that anime are the new comic books? Dunno.

09/17/05

Black Heart Irregulars # 1 - Just read it this afternoon. I'm pondering pre-ordering # 3. I've already pre-ordered # 2. I enjoyed # 1 enough to want to read more. Its a black-and-white comic book from a small publisher, Blue King Studios. It is set in the Middle East. The first issue takes place in Bagdad. Hints have been dropped that future storylines will take place elsewhere in that part of the world. The main character is the leader of a rogue private military company, Black Heart. I'm suure of their or the writer's motivations. Hard to tell if the writer is sympathetic toward them; whether he sees them as military vets who have gone around the bend or what? It seems that they have decided to fight the "war on terrorism" themselves, without authorization from the US Government, or any other government for that matter. I think they are all Americans. The CIA is checking up on them in the first issue. In some ways in reminds me of The Losers. I think that is part of what attracted me to the book. Anyhoo, I enjoyed it. I'm intrigued. I want to read more.

Madrox: Multiple Choice - Read the first chapter last night. Fun read. I usually enjoy Peter David's writing. That's what drew me to this series. Under normal circumstances I won't touch an X-men book with a ten foot pole. I like the set up. Jamie Madrox, a former superhero, is trying to live a semi-normal existence working as PI in Mutant Town in NYC. Then one night one of his duplicates (that's his superpower, he can create duplicates of himself) comes stumbling back to his apartment almost dead. He dies in Jamie's arms, but not before Jamie can absorb his memories. Unfortunately he doesn't get enough information to figure out who killed his double. That where chapter one (of five) ends.

I'm not wild about the art work in the first chapter. It doesn't have enough flair. Hopefully it will get better. I do like the story so far. As with BHI I wanna read more, which is probably a good thing since I bought the trade paperback collection.

The next movie on my list is American Splendor. Harvey Pekar (the subject of the movie) will be in town next weekend, at the Small Press Expo (SPX). What a coincidence! I didn't arrange it this way. I knew SPX is coming up but I didn't know he is going to be there. I only found out because of an ad in the Express that caught my eye while I was working on the latest Sudoku puzzle. Anyhow, he is going to be the guest of honor at some ceremony (the Ignatz Awards?) they will be having. I don't think I will be going.

09/20/05

Buddha: Kapilavastu (Vol. 1) - Written and drawn by Tezuka Osamu. Based on the story of the Buddha. Tezuka has added to the story as it is told, or at least that is my understanding. This volume barely touches on the story of Buddha himself, other than to tell the tale of his birth. For the most part the story focuses on two young boys, Tatta (a pariah) and Chapra (a slave). The supporting cast includes Chapra's mother, a general who (ignorant of Chapra's caste) adopts him, and a monk who is convinced that Tatta is some sort of saint. At 400 pages it might seem long, but it reads very quickly.

Anyway I loved it. Tezuka's drawings are beautiful. The story has light, amusing moments as well as heavier ones. Everytime I thought I knew where the story was going it seemed to take off in a direction that I didn't forsee it going.

Hawkman: Wings of Fury (Vol. 3) - Ugh! Glad I'm done with it. It wasn't awful, but I can think of plenty of other books I would rather have spent my time re-reading. Maybe I've just gotten tired of reading Hawkman. There are plenty of other superheroes trades out there that I haven't read. I 'll give one of them a try next.

One big drawback to this collection is the seemingly consistent use of fill-in artists. I really liked the regular artists work, from the first two volumes. Flipping through the book it looks like at least half the artwork was done by fill-ins.