“Like Turds in Rain...” COMICS! Sometimes I Act My Shoe-Size Not My Age.

Abhay's below this, so don't dilly dally, and certainly don't shilly shally, go there! Do it NOW! Me, I'm still trying to get regular, so here's another go at that. There's a lot of toilet humour in this one. It's the only industry we have left. DKIII by Risso, Azzarello, Mulvihill & Robins

Anyway, this... SIR: The critics? No, I have nothing but compassion for them. How can I hate the crippled, the mentally deficient, and the dead? The Dresser by Ronald Harwood

2000AD Prog 1964 Art by Mark Sexton, Richard Elson, John Burns, Clint Langley, Carlos Ezquerra Written by Michael Carroll, Dan Abnett, Kek-W, Pat Mills, John Wagner Colours by Len O'Grady,the artists Lettered by Annie Parkhouse, Ellie De Ville, Simon Bowland JUDGE DREDD created by Carlos Ezquerra & John Wagner KINGDOM created by Richard Elson & Dan Abnett THE ORDER created by John Burns & Kek-W ABC WARRIORS created by Kevin O'Neill, Brendan McCarthy, Mick Mcmahon & Pat Mills STRONTIUM DOG created by Carlos Ezquerra & John Wagner Rebellion, £2.55 weekly (2016)

Borag Thungg! Another week, another issue of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic! This week in Judge Dredd (Sexton/Carroll/O'Grady/Parkhouse) the decision is taken to devote the bulk of the seven page installment to a quite bloody and brutal action sequence which leaves Dredd on the edge of death. Also, some plot developments. It's a salutary reminder that when a Judge goes wrong that's way more dangerous than just your average perp. As seven pages go it's lean, mean, gory and crunchily executed stuff. Two parts in and “Ghosts” is shaping up VERY GOOD!

DREDD by Sexton, Carroll, O'Grady & Parkhouse

KINGDOM (Elson/Abnett/DeVille) takes time out from hurtling about hither and yon for a quick plot stop. Some fruity swears and mysterious discoveries later the strip is tanked back up with motivation enough to hurtle off, in the final panel of the fifth page, into what promises to be a more typically action orientated episode. Elson art possesses a crisp precision and Abnett's script remains fundamentally derivative but still just original enough to provide undemanding fun. OKAY!

KINGDOM by Elson, Abnett & DeVille

Alas, the major question raised by THE ORDER (Burns/Kek-W/DeVille) so far is what exactly was achieved by the steampunk motorbike that could not have been achieved by a horse. So, obviously this one's not exactly pulling me in. It's not terrible though. And that's despite groan inducing clichés such as the masked rescuer being revealed to be a stunningly beautiful lady (and unless Boots The Chemist was operating in 1560 then her make up skills are a tad anachronistic). As if in balance there's a nifty bit of dialogue on the fifth and final page (the “...empircal evidence..” bit). That alone is enough to leave me optimistic that the ideas underpinning the series will eventually be revealed to have been worth the more predictable stretches. OKAY!

THE ORDER by Burns, Kek-W & De Ville

Last week, while struggling to make sense in a short space of time, I , somewhat tenuously I thought, mentioned Blade Runner in connection with the mek-nificent ones. This week Serendipity, obviously in a playful mood, shocks my socks of by having Pat Mills rejig the Roy Batty death speech everyone loves from that selfsame movie, but puts it in the foul mouth of an ailing Ro-Jaws and, thus, appropriately enough, fixes up the references within it to those of a somewhat more scatological stripe. Reader, I larfed. One of the many things I respond to in Pat Mills' writing is his unselfconscious embrace of puerility. It's particularly prevalent in ABC Warriors and is always welcome. In a strip where the authorities (who have been searching for Hammerstein) have just cottoned on to the fact that that robot that looks just like Hammerstein but with a different head is in fact Hammerstein but with a different head, having a giant robot referencing David Lynch films and also yelling about “Big Jobs!” is probably more of a help than a hindrance. (Note for Children of The Now: “Big jobs” was used to refer to babies going “Number Two” back in the day, back in the UK.) Clint Langley's art looks like it's all taking place inside an active bowel and so is perfectly appropriate. VERY GOOD!

ABC WARRIORS by Langley, Mills & Parkhouse

You know the bit in every heist movie where the heist gets underway and it's a matter of watching the protagonists evade detection before things go wrong? This week's STRONTIUM DOG (Ezquerra/Wagner/Bowland) is that bit of the heist movie. The fun here is that instead of using specialist equipment provided by a character actor in a minor but showy role, they use their mutant abilities (stretchy arms, super strong fingers, x-ray vision, a Keegan perm, a bumpy heid, etc) and there is still time for a good joke about where one would hide the scared brain of a bizarre cult's founder. Ezquerra's art remains so flawlessy devoted to storytelling it never even hints at the effort and experience underpinning every panel. VERY GOOD!

STRONTIUM DOG by Ezquerra, Wagner & Bowland

DKIII THE MASTER RACE BOOK TWO Based on THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS by Frank Miller, Lynn Varley & Klaus Janson (although once again DC only identify Frank Miller as the author. Tsk. Tsk.) Art by Andy Kubert, Klaus Janson, Eduardo Risso Story by Frank Miller & Brian Azzarello Lettered by Clem Robins Colours by Brad Anderson, Trish Mulvihill Cover by Andy Kubert & Brad Anderson Variant Covers by Frank Miller & Alex Sinclair, Klaus Janson & Brad Anderson, Jim Lee, Scott Williams & Alex Sinclair, Cliff Chiang, Eduardo Risso & Trish Mulvihill Retailer variant cover by Sean Gordon Murphy & Matt Hollingsworth, Greg Capullo & FCO Plascenia Convention Variant Cover by Jill Thompson DC Comics, $5.99 Standard/$12.99 Deluxe (2016) Batman cteated by Bill Finger & Bob Kane

If nothing else this series has proved to be a thought provoking one. The thought it has provoked in my tiny mind is exactly how bad does the writing in a comic have to get before everyone stops just waving it through? Because the writing in this comic is astoundingly poor. I've not read any other reviews because I don't accidentally want to steal anyone else's thoughts, but unless those reviews point out first and foremost how utterly craptabulous the writing is I'd hesitate to trust anything they have to say. Because, ugh. I mean, ew. Someone wrote this with a big brown crayon, allright. It's no wonder they're so keen to drag Frank Miller's name into it. It's basically the same as blaming the old dog in the corner when you fart in company. “Man, this comic is carved out of stupid!”,“Dang, must be Frank Miller's fault!”Classy behaviour, guys. You know (of course you don't, what a stupid way to start a sentence) I was in the cinema recently, and during the performance someone broke wind next to me. Now let me tell you that was one blue ribbon winner of a fart and no mistake. It was like someone had just put a Sunday dinner under my nose. You ever smell a fart that smelt like you could chew it? This was that fart. It was a heroic achievement, to which I doff my cap; respect is due to someone who can create something like that. However, before we get carried away let's remember it was still just a fart. DKIII:TMR is the comic book equivalent of that fart. It's stink is mighty. Impressively so. But it's still just a big stink.

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson & Robins

Oh, that's a bit much, John! Really? Have you read this? Tell me, what is not cretinous about Batman's plan to make the world think he is dead? Let me just recap it for you: After an absence of three years during which the world has probably started to stop thinking about him, Batman rides his Bat-cycle into the middle of Gotham. He then proceeds to engage in a pitched battle with the Gotham PD. At some point the media notice and Batman's return is plastered across every TV screen in the world. Batman suddenly has an asthma attack and collapses. At this point it is revealed that Batman is in fact a young girl dressed as Batman, and she collapsed due to grief and exhaustion rather than a respiratory condition marked by attacks of spasm in the bronchi of the lungs. She is taken into custody and says nothing for twenty seven days, in which time the media speculate about Batman's whereabouts to its heart's content. On the twenty seventh day the girl tells a thoroughly unconvincing story about how Batman died (in bed; maudlin, bed-bound and old). Usually the police would require a body, they are funny like that. But they just take this girl's word, as you would. With Batman now ineradicably on everyone's mind it's a masterstroke of idiocy to have the young girl sprung by the sudden appearance of a massive Bat-Tank, which trashes the part of the GPD which isn't already in traction before disappearing in a thoroughly ill-defined way. Obviously, having now convinced the world of his death Batman is now free to act. Given his fantastic plan to make the world forget him, his first act will probably be to soil himself and dance the Macarena. Christ. Batman the tactical genius there.

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson & Robins

That ridiculous horseshit takes up most of the first and second issues but there's still room in this one for Ray Palmer to say something science-y (but not too demandingly science-y) and act like a Batman level moron. Because at no point - AT NO POINT - does it occur to Ray Palmer that introducing to the planet Earth a city full of people who can fly, fire fire out of their eyes and probably fart mustard gas to boot, might be less than stellar thinking. Jean left you because you were an idiot, Ray. There might be pages of this comic which don't insult the reader's intelligence but I couldn't recall any. What about the art? People don't talk about the art! Why should I say anything about the art when the writing is this bad. The writing here is ruinously bad. But okay, Kubert as ever manages that trick of being both fussy and lazy, while in the mini-comic Eduardo Risso's deep contrast talents are wasted on something so superfluous it's barely there. But really, what matters the art when a character describes herself as Batman's “prick”? “I was his PRICK.”, she says. Nice dire-logue, Brian Azzarello! “I was his PRICK.”, she says. She says was an old man's prick. What does that even mean, Brian Azzarello? That she got him up at odd times during the night for a piss? Boom, and indeed, BOOM!

DKIII by Risso, Azzarello, Mulvihill & Robins

See, the real problem is that this utter drivel is soaking up attention better used on other comics. There are too many comics today, and the good ones risk getting lost in the crush. Instead of writing about Brian Azzarello and Andy Kubert's futile attempt to polish the stale turds of greater talents I should have been writing about, say, MONSTRESS, STRAY BULLETS, ISLAND, EGOs, RAGNAROK and SPONGEBOB COMICS. All of which are probably struggling to survive while this bloated, brainless and thoroughly unnecessary thing flails about attracting everyone's attention. I mean, I don't need to write about this comic do I? Everyone else will already have alerted you to how fundamentally poor it is. (Won't they?) Look, my complaint isn't even that DKIII:TMR isn't a Frank Miller comic; it's that DKIII:TMR is CRAP!

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson & Robins

NEXT TIME: On September 28th 2015 at 10:44 am “Peter” asked if I would be looking at the US attempts to “do” Judge Dredd. In 2016, he will have his answer! (SPOILER: It's “yes” and it's next up, thanks to my library.) I may be tardy but I will eventually get around to your - COMICS!!!

Abhay vs. His To-Read Pile

I haven't bought comics in some months (October? November?), but I have an out-of-control to-read pile, filled with impulse buys that I have not made much progress on for a very long time.  I had a whole night last night, and worked pretty hard today, so I'm staying home tonight, doing laundry, making pasta, having a quiet evening, and thought I'd try to make a dent in the pile.  Thought I should take breaks and ramble around.  So, you know, just hanging out, reading some comics that came out a while ago, spelling errors, paragraphs that go nowhere, "reviews" that add up to nothing, hemming, hawing, a lack of wit, tedium... FRIDAY NIGHT!  WOOOO!

You know: people talk a lot about all the girl-friendly comics right now, but I never see people talk much about the one that I like, which is the Dennis Hopeless-Javier Rodriguez Spiderwoman series...?  It feels weird to admit that I like that one or any of them-- but that's the one I like.

I just bought one last year because some of you folks requested that I write about the other bigger, more popular superheroine comics of the moment, back when I was doing those Q&A's (which I want to get back to, but).  I thought I'd do a whole month that was just those books, all analytic-like-- that was one of my Big Ideas, before the shit hit the fan with me, schedule-wise.  Anyways:  this series was the only one that made any kind of positive impression.

It’s just such a lame character-- pretty much the lamest. The smart move is they recognize that the character sucks and turn into the skid. It surrounds her with an even lamer supporting cast -- her sidekick is the Porcupine...?   (The Porcupine is a supervillain who dresses like a porcupine). Ben Urich is in there, too-- that character's always been pretty underrated, considering he had some of the best scenes in Born Again; that scene with the nurse, at least. But Urich hardly qualifies as a fan favorite, either.

I just like how they’ve made that d-list quality the appeal of the book, how that forces them to be warm towards these loser characters instead of trying to convince me some character that's always sucked is actually really great.  I always really loved that move in superhero comics -- not trying to pretend some shitty thing is great (the "oh yeah Aquaman could drown this city awwww shit Aquaman" move that fans tend to prefer), but just acknowledging that some shitty thing is shitty and that it doesn't fucking matter because the creators love it anyways (one of my favorite comics as a kid was the issue of Secret Origins about the Legion of Substitute Heroes).

The stories are just corny mystery shit (there was an issue about a road-trip that was about as good as it ever got). You know, it's all very unambitious-- it’s not a very deep read, at all-- but it’s landing the tone I think they’re aiming to land at, at least.  It's not trying to be Some Other Thing, like the stuff that gets buzz tends to do-- I like that it's just trying to be a Marvel comic.  The adventures feel like the kinds of adventures Kurt Busiek talks about in Astro City, instead of being, like, the thing-trying-to-be-the-other-thing and just reminding you how much you'd rather be reading the other thing...?

Anyways, blah blah blah: most importantly, Javier Rodriguez just fucking draws better than other folks.   I think that guy’s fucking solid, since forever now. That's the big appeal for me, at least.  His layouts are usually really fun without being intrusive or show-off-y. Plus, he colors himself on this one and every so often, he does some stuff with color that's pretty sweet, at least for a monthly book like this. I really like watching him work.

It’s the only Marvel book I fuck with, at all, but I don't really know too much what else is out there.  And I'm months behind because like I said, I haven't been to a store in ages...

I don’t get why she’s pregnant all of the sudden, though-- is it because of Secret Wars? Did the Beyonder make all the superheros stop using condoms during the Secret Wars? “Beyonder says Raw Dog It” was my favorite Frankie Goes to Hollywood song.  Was it a secret war on birth control, like the ones the Republicans are waging against our sisters??  Got deep on you there.  You thought you were reading a sad pasta-fueled middle-age man type into the night about Spiderwoman, and then no, this turned into a Comics Alliance article. GOTCHA!  Welcome to my social justice war!

"Keeping all you motherfuckers on your toes!" -- Betty Friedan.

Read the James Harvey / Harvey James (?) issue of We are the Robins, uhhh #4.  I've followed James Harvey James's work, since that Mario Brothers comic he did in 2008, so I was checking this out just to see him work.

I'm obviously not the audience for this one.  That said, boy, there was an impressive amount of whiplash to this comic, just in the disparity between how interesting I found some of the choices the art made and how lame and rote the writing was.  That whiplash happens all the time with comics-- ALL THE TIME!-- but this comic really packed a punch in that department...

I'm kinda weird in that I really get antsy when comic artists drop gutters-- I like a nice gutter between my panels.  But besides that, there's a visual-noise to the art (see, e.g., this panel), purposeful imperfections, detail-overload moves, a bunch of  choices that I thought were pretty interesting.  And then the writing could’ve been equally served by stick-figure theater.  It's just by-the-numbers DC junk.  It had nothing to it that the art's choices was actually advancing.  Not even close to being on the same page...

But probably the kids this was aimed at wouldn't mind so much...?  If multicultural Robin gang comic is some kid's jam, this issue probably was just a cool-looking issue of a thing they liked to begin with.  Nothing to get angry about, a pretty normal thing to happen with these kinds of comics, but... Just a pretty glaring example-- they're on such different pages...

Caught up to issue #5 of the Fade Out.  I'd read the first one or two, and then got behind-- it usually takes a while to muster up any energy to read a Brubaker-Phillips comic-- they're not really high-energy cups of coffee.

I think this series just wrapped up the other day?  So far, it's their usual thing-- well executed, but I'm not sure what any of this is adding up to.

I don't know-- it must suck to be doing any kinda historical thing in the wake of Mad Men because I felt like that show, whatever it got wrong, whatever choices they made that I might not have liked, the thing it nailed was I never felt lost what it was about.  With this, I just don't know what it's about yet.

Plus, that time period, people have really worn a groove into that time period-- I've never been that interested in the Hollywood blacklist, as historical topics go... It's not even really my era movie-wise, or fetishizing-LA-wise or anything, except for loving LA Confidential or those terrific articles that formed the basis for that terrible movie Gangster Squad.  All the stuff that the comic fetishizes doesn't really get me off-- we go to different churches.  I was more the audience for the LA stuff in Fatale.  I'd rather hear the B-side stories of De Palma and Spielberg and Margot Kidder on some beach in Malibu; any random paragraph out of Easy Riders Raging Bulls tops it for me any day...

But they know how to keep a thing interesting without ever doing anything splashy or fun or exciting, that team.  Like, pleasure-wise, their comics are  the anti-Akira-- it's just panel after panel; all in that same monotone; there's never any kind of "hey we're making a comic" glee to it all.  But the consistency of aesthetic and tone and style, comic to comic, book to book-- I can't help but admire what they've carved out for themselves, overall...?  Like, judging any one thing particularly just seems sort of besides the point, misses the fun of the entire enterprise, what I think keeps me coming back, of just watching these guys assemble their life's work one brick at a time.  I kind of like that overall "this will be a whole thing, you know, when they're dead" of it all more than I like the bricks...?

If they ever did try to do anything exciting to look at, Brubaker-Phillips' Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja, it'd be the worst thing to ever happen because ... it just wouldn't fit that chunk of bookshelf they're building.  (I didn't see that magazine-sized issue of Criminal though so no idea what they did there...)

Goddamn, this is so good.  It's Frontier #6, the Emily Carroll issue...?  Frontier, I think, it's like an anthology where cartoonists each take an issue and do their thing for an issue...?  I don't see it in the shop I usually go to, so this came out a while ago, 2014, I think, but I only got it mid-to-late last year sometime.

Anyways, it's a Emily Carroll horror comic-- there aren't many times that's gone wrong for me.  I really like how she tells her story in this one, mixing past-tense "documentary" stretches and present-tense fiction scenes.  She just adjusts her visual style so slightly to cue up new scenes-- I never felt lost.  The last page is a little too Goosebumps, but I like the mythology she built for this one.  It's not her in fairy-tale mode-- it's closer to her doing a found footage thing, really.

Carroll really excels at creating a little room for you in your mind to fill up on your own, at letting the reader fill in the space between panels with the terrible bits.  I wonder why it took me a while to get to this-- I like her work very, very much.

I don't know-- I've been listening to the Comic Books are Burning In Hell crowd's 2015 Wrap-Up on my commute-- I guess one of my goals for this year should probably be to get back into shape re: expanding my horizons.  I got pretty flabby with my reading last year, didn't really seek out interesting work very consistently beyond whatever passed through my store, the c-grade stuff.  I didn't have to listen very long to notice that I needed to up my reading game, to the extent I want to actually do that, which I don't know, I could just watch movies instead... Have you ever seen movies?  "Movies are pretty great, though" -- my review of comic books.

Finally sat down with Island #1.  I have a handful of these Island's lying around, figuring it'd be a kind of thing I would be into.  But never sat and pulled the trigger on one since they're all pretty thick and my attention span's only just starting to come back to me, after the year I had last year...

I got that weird thing where I get a little outside my head when I'm looking a thing like this. Just apart from the immediate experience of it, I go to a "well what about the business part of comics" place that isn't really cool to admit to.  Especially on  a thing like this, where it's so strikingly different in goals and tool-sets from whatever else is out on an ordinary comic shop shelf there that ... my mind goes straight to wondering if there's enough here for Joe Q. Ordinary Regular Comics Reader to latch onto to orient themselves.  Or Anthologies have always been a tough road for comics-- or-- or....

But like, I think I shouldn't care about any of that stuff, or that it's uncool to care about that stuff at least, and I should just talk instead about how ...

I guess the interesting thing with this is just how all the comics are constantly present-tense experiences, more interested in visceral reactions to a panel or a page, moreso than to a sequence or building a story or inhabiting a character.  Which isn't uninteresting-- it's interesting they all went in that direction, how that was a common appeal for artists whose surface qualities are so different.

Like, one part that I really liked was there's a story (by Ludroe?) where a skateboarder does some trick.  A character watching the trick in a big empty panel yells "fucking righteous" (Ludroe separates the character from the word balloon, puts space between the two so it's like those words have risen up into the air).  And then there's just this nice moment where the comic follows that up by having the bottom third of the page just be "FUCKING RIGHTEOUS" written in block letters on an all-black background.  That felt like more of a mission statement of Island #1's aesthetic than anything else-- a sort of dedication to in-the-moment enthusiasm, trumping any other virtue.

It felt like the anthology was trying to speak to one particular experience of what the fun of comics might be... uhm, the kind of experience that's the hardest to articulate where ... where it's just the juxtapositions, the timing of images, transitions between panels. Like, the Emma Rios story and Brandon Graham story are both a lot of fun, but from a "looking at page layouts" perspective, or choices of what to put in panels perspective (though that shade of red Rios chooses is a pretty aggressive choice!).

But if the juice for you for comics are stories and writing, scenes and character arcs and themes... well, I don't know what you'd make of this guy.  I barely understood what happened for most of these stories-- not that I particularly cared because ... there's more reliable things to read for stories than comic anthologies, you know...?  But that's where my "worrying about the business of comics" hat goes right back on and...

(Though I might be exaggerating how confusing the stories were, just in that the last big comics-reading experience I had was reading Ranma 1/2 where it's ... the pleasure of that comic for me was how completely direct and immediate and LOUD the storytelling in that comic is-- that way you can grab a page out of context and show it to someone, and ... And the emotions of it are just immediately clear.  It's just all cymbal crashes, the pages of that thing, so maybe the difference between that and the Island comics is just more jarring for me, as a result.  The transition to Graham, say, is pretty pronounced because his strategies are so very much the opposite-- he tends to like to have the emotional content of his stories accrete very slowly and over much longer spans of time, so the reader doesn't really notice until by the end of a comic, an emotional weight has built up around a thing.  Similarly, I suspect Rios works better in quantity because her work is about shifting readers into a different flow-- bringing readers into her aesthetic universe... Which is completely the opposite of what's going on in Ranma 1/2, which is just a completely and totally unsubtle comedy where you don't have to do any work... So... long paragraph; short version-- "maybe I suck at reading comics").

I kinda want to go back and find how other people received this issue.  I can't help but imagine some folks might've gotten thrown.  But maybe not-- maybe people are open to having this kinda experience... That'd be nice, too...   I did like the ... what do you want to call it, aesthetic coherence.  I like that editorially it seems to evidence an overall aesthetic argument being made, instead of trying to be some kinda free-floating something-for-everybody thing.

Anyways, I've rambled around enough and probably need to give that Emily Carroll comic some space-- nothing's topping that tonight, probably... Plus, my burps have gotten weird.  FYI.  I need to go figure out what's going on there.  The last couple were pretty alarming.

Arriving 1/20/16

The long missing NOWHERE MEN returns this week! Along with new BATMAN, BATGIRL, plus the all new SILVER SURFER, but still by Dan Slott and Mike Allred! Check the cut for the rest of the new comics this week!

ADVENTURE TIME ICE KING #1 AMAZING FOREST #1 AMERICAN MONSTER #1 ASTONISHING ANT-MAN #4 ASTRO CITY #31 BATGIRL #47 BATMAN #48 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #16 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA #20 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #139 BTVS SEASON 10 #23 CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 CARVER PARIS STORY #2 CLEAN ROOM #4 CROSSED BADLANDS #92 CROSSED PLUS 100 #13 DARK HORSE PRESENTS 2014 #18 DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #2 (OF 8) COLLECTORS ED HC DARK TOWER DRAWING OF THREE LADY OF SHADOWS #5 (OF 5) DEADPOOL #6 DEVOLUTION #1 (OF 5) DOCTOR FATE #8 DRAGON AGE MAGEKILLER #2 (OF 5) DRAX #3 FABLES THE WOLF AMONG US #13 GEARS AND BONES #4 HANGMAN #2 HARLEY QUINN #24 HERCULES #3 I HATE FAIRYLAND #4 JIM HENSONS STORYTELLER DRAGONS #2 JUDGE DREDD (ONGOING) #2 JUST ANOTHER SHEEP #3 (OF 5) LEGACY OF LUTHER STRODE #4 LEGEND OF WONDER WOMAN #1 (OF 9) LOOKING FOR GROUP #10 LUCIFER #2 LUMBERJANES #22 MAN PLUS #1 (OF 4) MARTIAN MANHUNTER #8 MS MARVEL #3 NEW AVENGERS #5 NOWHERE MEN #7 PATHFINDER HOLLOW MOUNTAIN #3 (OF 6) PATSY WALKER AKA HELLCAT #2 PENCIL HEAD #1 (OF 5) PHONOGRAM THE IMMATERIAL GIRL #6 (OF 6) PLANTS VS ZOMBIES ONGOING #8 PETAL TO THE METAL POISON IVY CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH #1 (OF 6) POSTAL #9 RACHEL RISING #39 RED THORN #3 ROBIN SON OF BATMAN #8 ROOK #4 SECRET SIX #10 SILVER SURFER #1 SIMPSONS COMICS #225 SINESTRO #19 STAR TREK ONGOING #53 STAR WARS #15 STARBRAND AND NIGHTMASK #2 STAR-LORD #3 STEAM MAN #4 (OF 5) STREET FIGHTER UNLIMITED #2 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #25 SUPERZERO #2 SYMMETRY #2 TITANS HUNT #4 (OF 12) TOKYO GHOST #5 TRANSFORMERS #49 TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE ANIMATED #6 UNCANNY INHUMANS #4 UNCANNY X-MEN #2 USAGI YOJIMBO #151 WAYWARD #13 WEIRD LOVE #11 WELCOME TO SHOWSIDE #3 WILL EISNER SPIRIT #7 WOLF #5 WONDER WOMAN #48

Books/Mags/Things ALL NEW X-MEN TP VOL 07 UTOPIANS BATGIRL TP VOL 01 SILENT KNIGHT BOOK OF HOPE HC FRANK IN THE 3RD DIMENSION HC GRAYSON TP VOL 01 AGENTS OF SPYRAL TP GRAYSON TP VOL 02 WE ALL DIE AT DAWN HORROR BY HECK HC MONSTER TP VOL 07 PERFECT ED URASAWA NEW TEEN TITANS TP VOL 04 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES GARDEN WARFARE HC PUNISHER MAX TP VOL 01 COMPLETE COLLECTION REVIVAL DLX COLL HC VOL 03 SHOWCASE PRESENTS BATMAN TP VOL 06 STAR WARS TP LANDO THOR TP VOL 01 GODDESS OF THUNDER THUNDERBOLTS CLASSIC TP VOL 01 NEW PTG X-MEN TP VOL 01 INFERNO

As always, what do YOU think?

“I've Had Mair Exciting Enemas.” COMICS! Sometimes It's The Comics of Tomorrow – TODAY!

Hey, I finally realised after eight years of looking at Brian (The Guv'nor) Hibbs' Shipping Lists that due to a temporal anomaly which baffles the greatest scientific minds of our times, I am able to tell the The Americas about certain comics well in advance of when they are able to read them! Or it might be because they are British comics and it takes a bit of time for them to get distributed. That's a bit mundane though isn't it? Temporal anomaly it is! So, below the line I give you The Future - NOW! JUDGE DREDD by Marshall, Carroll, Caldwell & Parkhouse

Anyway, this... For those joining us late:

2000AD is a UK anthology comic published weekly which contains usually 5 strips, each of which is given between 5 and 7 pages to strut its sci-fi themed stuff. When 2000AD (or “Tooth” as no one calls it) was first published in 1977 (Year of The Jubilee, Year of Elvis' Death, Year Zero for Punk: quite the year) this sci-fi aspect was its basic remit, but as the years have passed it has cheerfully incorporated any and all genres. Mostly though it's okay to refer to it as a weekly sci-fi anthology comic published in the UK. I was there in 1977 when it launched but I stopped reading it about 8 years ago.

Now, this wasn't because it was rubbish (I'd have stopped in the '90s if that was a problem) but because I and mine moved across the UK. Due to the speed this had to occur it was reminiscent of a movie where an ailing plane has to gain altitude to clear a mountain range and everyone throws everything out including the seats. That is to say, I had to let a large portion of my comic collection go to charity. Don't..I'll be okay...in a ...minute. Sniff! Since this included my entire run of 2000AD it seemed a good place to stop.

But then I was in the newsagent the other week and I thought why am I in the newsagent I should be in work o God have I been drinking again, no, I thought, hey it's a New Year and I can start it off by telling all those funny foreign folk about a British institution. Fair warning though, I have missed nearly a decade of issues so I might be bit rusty. Still, God loves a trier (and the odd burnt sheep) so, hey ho, let's go!

2000AD Progs #1962 & #1963 Art by Paul Marshall, Mark Sexton, Richard Elson, Clint Langley, John Burns and Carlos Ezquerra Written by Michael Carroll, Dan Abnett, Pat Mills, Kek-W and John Wagner Coloured by Gary Caldwell, Len O'Grady or the artists. Lettered by Annie Parkhouse, Ellie DeVille and Simon Bowland Rebellion, £2.25 each, every Wednesday, (2016)

JUDGE DREDD # 1962 - Street Cred Art by Paul Marshall Script by Michael Carroll Colours by Gary Caldwell Letters by Annie Parkhouse #1963 – Ghosts: 1 Art by Mark Sexton Script by Michael Carroll Colours by Len O'Grady Letters by Annie Parkhouse Judge Dredd created by John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra

JUDGE DREDD by Sexton, Carroll, O'Grady & Parkhouse

Judge Dredd remains The Daddy of the comic, I see. The Dan Dare to 2000Ad's Eagle if you will. I was slightly discombobulated by the name Michael Carroll as I have never heard of him. Yet here he is helming the flagship character. Every now and again whoever owns 2000AD realises John Wagner is in fact just mortal and won't be around forever, so they try and groom (not in that sense) a replacement. Dredd's a tough gig and even big names can fail; those of us who suffered through it still bear the mental scars of Grant Morrison and Mark Millar's petulant turd of a run. Anyway, it looks like yer man Carroll's up for anointment this time round so let's see how that goes.

First up, he's got a done-in-one called Street Cred in which a man walks into a bar and tells everyone he's shot Judge Dredd. I'm sure I've read this same story somewhere else, about another hard-ass character who provokes fear in his enemies. Batman or Jericho, whatever. It doesn't matter as there are after all only seven stories, as anyone who has read a Book on Writing by someone no one has ever heard of can tell you. (These being: a man buys a motorbike and has to sell it because he's too old for all that leather and looks a fool, a woman buys Orla Kiely wallpaper and her child spoils it with crayons, Batman kills the Joker, a small animal finds shelter in the snow, a ultra capable female assassin is sad inside because ladies have feelings, and a man walks into a bar and tells the clientele he has shot their hated enemy.) What matters is how well Carroll tells it and he tells it well. Short and to the point, with even a touch of that distinctive dated Dredd punnery (“Roseanne's Bar” indeed.). Next up Carroll goes a bit more long-play with Ghosts which in six pages contains characterisation, pathos and action while also managing to lay out the long term plot with an efficiency that never once sacrifices atmosphere. I was impressed. In both cases Carroll is aided by artists who are talented enough to combine clarity with a distinctive style, with Marshall edging towards the Gibbons end of the spectrum and Sexton clearly dipping a toe into the pool of Darrow. VERY GOOD!

KINGDOM Beast of Eden: Two, & Three Art by Richard Elson Script by Dan Abnett Letters by Ellie De Ville

Kingdom created by Dan Abnett & Richard Elson

KINGDOM by Elson, Abnett & De Ville

KINGDOM had been around a while when I threw in the towel, but the fact is I can barely remember anything about it. I'm having trouble remembering the two parts I just read, so it's consistent if nothing else. Back in the day 2000AD used to, uh, appropriate freely from the pop culture of the time and KINGDOM continues that grand tradition by being, seemingly, Mad Max versus the aliens from Starship Troopers. What helps it stand out is the fact that the characters are all humanoid dogs who communicate using a gruffly truncated vernacular. It's very much an action strip and it does that well enough. Elson gets some energy into all the jalopy jolting, and the scale of the swarm doesn't defeat his gifts. It's not bad, just a little slight as action strips are wont to be. And for something that rips off Mad Max there's nothing as memorable as “Why, he's just a raggedy man!”, and if you're entering the Thunderdome with Mad Max you need to be able to supercede the memory of Tina Turner dressed in ring pulls and cake tins. At the very least. But, in its favour at no point is the strip quite so bland and forgettable as Tom Hardy. He likes dogs though, that Tom Hardy, maybe he'd like KINGDOM more than me. OKAY!

A.B.C. WARRIORS Return To Ro-Busters Parts Two & Three Art by Clint Langley Script by Pat Mills Letters by Annie Parkhouse ABC Warriors created by Pat Mills, Kevin O'Neill, Brendan McCarthy & Mick McMahon

ABC WARRIORS by Langley, Mills & Parkhouse

In Ridley Scott's beautiful mess Blade Runner it was posited that eventually robots would become more “human than human”. This led to spiritually troubled creatures with severe issues with their creator. Pat Mills eschews this comforting high mindedness and gives us a more realistic version of “more human than human” i.e. just as dumb, evil, weak, credulous, gifted and unexpectedly magnificent as we are. But able to eat sewage or have a big hammer for a hand. Ro-Busters are a robot rescue squad. That's it. Magnificently simple premise, and one which was elevated primarily by the pungent characterisation of the droids. Ultimately though Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein were the linchpins of the series, with Ro-Jaws being a waist-high chippy oik and Hammerstein his long suffering clenched sphincter good-soldier type pal. (Oh, Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein. You got that, right? Eat Pat Mills' dust, Brian Azzarello.) ABC WARRIORS and RO-BUSTERS remain essentially the same as they ever were because Pat Mills remains essentially the same as he ever was. Herein is the usual ebullient mooning in the face of authority, the effervescently stolid exposition, the giggling wordplay, the blunt appropriation of current affairs and the ever present, ever hopeful, entreaty for the reader to “Begin Thinking. Stop Believing.” And Clint Langley? He honourably upholds the fine tradition of artists who have been called upon to depict the mechanised milieu of ABC WARRIORS in a suitably shabby and rust scored style. ABC WARRIORS same as it ever was, so ABC WARRIORS is VERY GOOD!

THE ORDER In The Court of The Wyrmqueen Parts Two and Three Art by John Burns Script by Kek-W Letters by Ellie De Ville The Order created by Kek-W & John Burns

THE ORDER by Burns, Kek-W & De Ville

Going back to knicking from Pop culture we have The Order which reads like it was written by someone whose son plays a lot of Assassin's Creed. The unconvincingly monikered Kek-W gets points for period expletives (“swiving”; always a good one) and his romp pumps merrily along in fine fashion with the gross period detail contrasting nicely with the (purposefully) anachronistic slips. Unfortunately at the sight of a steam punk motorbike my eyes rolled so hard they rattled, so I might not be the audience for this one. Still, I'll keep reading it because the magnificent John Burns is on art duties. Burns is a genius level talent of the Old School, whose flowing linework is abetted by his painterly use of colour. Throughout this strip the main character's hair is depicted as a red blob; a move elegant in its simplicity, as it pinpoints him visually no matter how deep the murk he inhabits. A lot of the strip has a distinctly cloacal hue so old red top sticks out is what I'm saying. GOOD!

STRONTIUM DOG Repo Men Parts Two and Three Art by Carlos Ezquerra Script by John Wagner Letters by Simon Bowland Strontium Dog created by John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra

STRONTIUM DOG by Ezquerra, Wagner & Bowland

STRONTIUM DOG is the last survivor of 2000AD's short lived companion STARLORD. Second only to Dredd in popularity it's Johnny Alpha who sees us out. Alpha died but came back. I can't recall the details but Garth Ennis/Alan Grant killed him off and John Wagner brought him back. Because everyone missed him, so why not. That's popular. Currently Johnny and his mutated muchachos are engaged in an ambitious, and somewhat convoluted, heist involving a race of beings who have become machines while inner ructions threaten to tear his gang apart. The fun of Strontium Dog is in the characters and their interaction within Wagner's lighthearted but still menacing universe. These days I see Wagner drops in exposition in a form reminiscent of the Hitchiker's Guide, but the affable action still unfolds with all the genially satisfying skill of a Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais sitcom. But, you know, in space. And one guy's head is in his knee. Whether Wagner is Clement or LaFrenais then that makes Ezquerra the other one, because Johnny Alpha wouldn't be the same without Carlos Ezquerra's lumpy magic. VERY GOOD!

A couple of comics that are well worth reading then. Not a bad way to start off 2016. Because after all 2016 (like every year) is the year of – COMICS!!!

Arriving 1/13/16

The big one this week is WALKING DEAD #150, but don't overlook the rest of the new books this week! Such as MIGHTY THOR and GOTHAM ACADEMY!Check the cut for the rest of this weeks new books!

ABE SAPIEN #30 ADVENTURE TIME #48 AGENTS OF SHIELD #1 ALABASTER THE GOOD THE BAD & THE BIRD #2 ALL NEW ALL DIFFERENT AVENGERS #3 ALL NEW HAWKEYE #3 ALL NEW WOLVERINE #4 ALL NEW X-MEN #3 BACK TO THE FUTURE #4 (OF 5) BATMAN 66 MEETS THE MAN FROM UNCLE #2 (OF 6) BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #15 BATMAN SUPERMAN #28 BATMAN TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #2 (OF 6) BIRTHRIGHT #13 BLACK HOOD #8 BLACK JACK KETCHUM #2 (OF 4) BLACK KNIGHT #3 BURNT COMIX #1 (OF 4) CAPTAIN AMERICA SAM WILSON #5 CATWOMAN #48 CITIZEN JACK #3 CODENAME BABOUSHKA CONCLAVE OF DEATH #4 CONSTANTINE THE HELLBLAZER #8 DESCENDER #9 DOC SAVAGE SPIDERS WEB #2 DOCTOR WHO 8TH #3 (OF 5) DONALD DUCK #9 DR MIRAGE SECOND LIVES #2 (OF 4) EARTH 2 SOCIETY #8 EGOS #9 EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #5 FASTER THAN LIGHT #5 FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS #4 GOLD DIGGER #228 GOTHAM ACADEMY #14 GREEN LANTERN CORPS EDGE OF OBLIVION #1 (OF 6) GROO FRIENDS AND FOES #12 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #4 GUTTER MAGIC #1 (OF 4) HUCK #3 IKEBANA (ONE SHOT) ILLUMINATI #3 INJECTION #6 INSEXTS #2 JOHN FLOOD #6 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #227 LANTERN CITY #9 (OF 12) LEAVING MEGALOPOLIS SURVIVING MEGALOPOLIS #1 LIMBO #3 (OF 6) LUNA THE VAMPIRE #1 MARVEL UNIVERSE GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #4 MASSIVE NINTH WAVE #2 MAXX MAXXIMIZED #27 MICKEY MOUSE #8 MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS #0 MIGHTY THOR #3 MIRRORS EDGE EXORDIUM #5 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #38 NEW ROMANCER #2 (OF 12) NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #16 NO MERCY #6 PRECINCT #2 (OF 5) REBELS #10 RED HOOD ARSENAL #8 RED SONJA VOL 3 #1 RED WOLF #2 ROBIN WAR #2 (OF 2) ROWANS RUIN #4 SCARLET WITCH #2 SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #65 SECRET WARS #9 (OF 9) SILK #3 SLASH & BURN #3 SNOW BLIND #2 SONIC UNIVERSE #82 SPIRIT LEAVES #1 SPONGEBOB COMICS #52 SPREAD #12 SQUADRON SUPREME #3 STAR TREK ONGOING #53 STARFIRE #8 SUPERMAN AMERICAN ALIEN #3 (OF 7) THE TROOP #2 (OF 5) UNCANNY AVENGERS #4 VIOLENT #2 WALKING DEAD #150 WALT DISNEY COMICS & STORIES #727 WEB WARRIORS #3

Books/Mags/Things 2000 AD PROG #1961 X-MAS SPEC 2015 PX BISLEY ABC WARRIORS MEK FILE HC VOL 03 ARCHER & ARMSTRONG COMP CLASSIC OMNIBUS HC BATMAN SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN TRINITY DLX ED HC DAREDEVIL EPIC COLLECTION TP TOUCH OF TYPHOID DEADPOOL FLASHBACKS TP DEATH OF WOLVERINE TP DIRK GENTLY TP INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF ALL KINGS FLASH TP VOL 06 OUT OF TIME GOD IS DEAD TP VOL 07 HELLBLAZER TP VOL 12 HOW TO PLAY WITH FIRE HOUSE OF M TP WARZONES JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #367 LONE WOLF & CUB OMNIBUS TP VOL 11 MAXX MAXXIMIZED HC VOL 05 MEMO GN VOL 01 MY LITTLE PONY EQUESTRIA GIRLS TP PRINCELESS RAVEN PIRATE PRINCESS TP VOL 01 ALL GIRL PIRATE C RANMA 1/2 2IN1 TP VOL 12 SENRAN KAGURA SKIRTING SHADOWS GN VOL 03 SHUTTER TP VOL 03 QUO VADIS SOUTHERN CROSS TP VOL 01 STAR WARS TP VOL 02 SHOWDOWN ON THE SMUGGLERS MOON STARVE TP VOL 01 SWORDS OF GLASS GN WAR STORIES TP VOL 03

“Today Is The First Day Of A Life Of Sacrifice.” MOVIES! Sometimes It Takes Me a Bit To Warm Up.

It’s 2016! I don’t know about you but I know that the one thing I really need right now is another year to get through! Nothing quite gets me smilin’ like the feeling I’m starting from scratch all over again. Sisyphus ain’t no mythyphus, Camus! Ugh. What is it with time? It just never stops. Ugh. Time. Double ugh. So, before I pull the covers back over my head, here’s some stuff on movies which you’ve all already seen and made your minds up about. I tried to make it even more useless than that even, but it just wasn’t possible. HAPPY NEW YEAR! The movie WHIPLASH (2014) in one panel.

Anyway, this…

Last year I didn’t go to the movies, they came to me! Which sounds super glamorous and exciting, as though Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams popped round in an ironic flurry to personally preview for me the latest derivative piece of billion dollar budgeted, pulseless shit brimming with lens flare and fan pandering. Alas, the reality is that due to bone idleness and a refusal to accept the fact that the outside world exists I don’t get out to the picture house, and so I relied this year largely on blu-rays and streaming services. Yeah, we know, John, and we know you mostly watch unpleasant foreign films, largely involving women being stabbed in the face, because you are a weird old misogynist forever locked into old horror movies as a coping mechanism for your utter failure to take control of your life, and, also, John, in a vain attempt to stem slightly the bitterly venomous resentment this inculcates in you for people better than you, and we do so hope your mother is proud, John! Ah, uh, well, okay, can’t deny you might have a slight point there, but in my defence I am vast and sometimes I watch other stuff. This year, okay, sure, I was on a bit of a horror kick, but despite my best efforts some proper muck snuck in too. I won’t go into everything I watched (please stem your disappointment) but here are the highlights of John’s Movie Year (2015):

All pictures ripped from the bleeding heart of Wikipedia because I am in a rush. As ever, all “And she said”s are supplied by La Belle Dame sans Merci and used without permission.

THE BABADOOK (2014) Directed by Jennifer Kent Written by Jennifer kent Starring Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinney, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West, Ben Winspear Music by Jed Jurzel And she said, “I had my eyes covered! What happened!”

I liked this low key, small scale, Oz set nerve jangler quite a bit. I was particularly partial since it was obviously about something, which is always nice. What it’s about is the horror of being a parent, specifically the horror of being a single parent. Being a single parent is, undoubtedly, more horrible than being one of a pair of parents, but I’d wager they have much horror in common and it’s the intensity that differs. In the interests of balance I should say that being a parent has its upside, but this is a horror movie so that’s not the side it sets its sights on. I mean, yes, THE BABADOOK is about a nasty kind of Struwwelpetery thing which gets out of a kid’s book, and menaces a mom and son duo in a horrific and violent manner, one which escalates towards a seemingly inevitable and tragic ending. But it’s also about the fear of being unable to protect your kid, and even moreso the definitive parental terror that sometimes the person you need to protect your kid from most is yourself. Think of REPULSION (1965) but centred around a stressed and sleep deprived single mother rather than a woman too sexy for sanity. Folk without kids will have a fun and spooky time with plenty of jump scares mixed in with a real sense of threat, but parents get most fun for their pennies as they’ll feel like they’ve been kicked around the room a bit. Noah Wiseman makes for a realistic kid; one at times irritating, at times infuriating, but still a kid for all that. While Essie Davis seizes the screen with her authentic portrayal of a mother clearly aware of the impossibility of what is happening and eaten away by her failure to affect the final shape it seems fated to take. But they are just stand out performances, and by rights everyone involved should be proud they made a movie about a  thing in a top hat which jumps out of a kid’s book which not only shit me right up but was GOOD!

GATE OF HELL (地獄門, Jigokumon) (1953) Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa Written by Teinosuke Kinusaga Starring Kazuo Hasegawa, Machiko Kyō, Isao Yamagata, Yatarō Kurokawa, Kōtarō Bandō, Jun Tazaki, Koreya Senda, Masao Shimizu Music by Yasushi Akutagawa

And she said, “It’s like Powell and Pressburger made a samurai film!”

Oooh, hark at her with her high-toned comparisons! She wasn’t wrong mind. And that’s the highest praise there is Chez Kane – P&P being shorthand for Peak Cinema hereabouts. This was an elegant, stately paced and sumptuously costumed period samurai tragedy. Cinematically this was just operating on another level really; as good as everything else here was, this was better. Sometimes that’s just how it is, no offence to all the other movies here. No one’s ever going to confuse it with 13 ASSASSINS because it’s not that kind of movie, but if it’s the kind of movie that could be confused with Powell & Pressburger then it’s my kind of movie. Like IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE this one was pure cinema. Just lovely, lovely stuff; a movie as colourful and sedate  on the surface as it was as dark and turbulent  in its heart; all the codes and protocols, all the honour and values of the samurai could not build a society robust enough to resist the evil born of human weakness. Oh, being flash I watched this on blu-ray via the Masters of Cinema series and you should know that the big thing about blu-rays is how variable the image quality can be. I guess people are still getting the hang of the tech or something, but I’ve seen some real stinkers. I’m not going to get sucked into technical specs, but I can assure you the picture quality on this one is magnificent; everything has a slightly faded opulence as befits the subject and the only degradation here is in the souls of the characters.  Sure, GATE OF HELL is old, and it wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs and it certainly wasn’t a high–octane thrill ride but it was vivid, captivating, painfully poignant and basically EXCELLENT!

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (2014) Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour Written by Ana Lily Amirpour Starring Seila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Dominic Rains

And she said, “I like that top she’s got on.”

This is a B&W romantic/coming of age/vampire movie set in (a hopefully imaginary version of) Iran, I think. I’m letting you know upfront it’s B&W because some people are funny about that. Like they are about subtitles. Oh, yeah, it also has subtitles. So, to recap -  it’s B&W and it’s also got subtitles, so it’s maybe not your thing. That’s okay, I’m not judging. Michael Bay’s still working, so you’ll be okay. HA! I was judging you all along! Stealth judging! Christ, lighten up; watch what you want. I do, so I watched this and I just really grooved on this one as an experience. It was just my cup of cinematic tea, seeing as how it was very much like a young David Lynch adapting an unwritten Barry Gifford novel. Yes, it was like that, but that’s not all it was. Lynch and Gifford are some weighty blankets of influence to chuck over a nascent film maker, but Amirpour’s up to it and wrestles free to produce something unique. I’ve not seen a movie so in love with silence for a long time. No, smartlips, silent movies don’t count. It’s not like G W Pabst had a choice is it?   Now, I’m not saying it was quiet but I’ve heard more dialogue between Yorkshiremen fishing.  So, okay, I am saying it is quiet and the whole embracing silence for large parts of the movie thing worked spectacularly well. It takes some special cinematic magic to make a boy oh-so-slowly crossing a room to a girl feel more thrilling than a Bond pre-credits sequence. My cuticles were screaming for mercy. Just great, great stuff; stepping back and letting scenes take as long as they took really helped with the immersion. If I was still in my twenties I’d be a living miracle, but I’d also have this poster up next to WILD AT HEART (1990) because it’s very much a movie about being Young. Or the particularly romantic view of being Young the Young have. In short the movie was as bleakly romantic and thrillingly unhurried as, er, a girl walking home alone at night. (Also, the bit with the skateboard. Yes!) VERY GOOD!

  YOU’RE NEXT (2011) Directed by Adam Wingard Written by Simon Barrett Starring Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, A. J. Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Margaret Laney/Sarah Myers, Aimee Seimetz, Ti West, Rob Moran, Barbara Crampton Music by Jasper Justice Lee, Kyle McKinnon, Mads Heldtberg, Adam Wingard

And she said, “Well, it was better than I thought it was going to be when it started.”

This was a fun one. It’s one of those home invasion movies which by their very nature have to involve an upscale middle class family, since, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, you can get from the front of my house to the back in three steps; any high stakes games of cat and mouse would be severely truncated and somewhat sparse on the suspense fronta s a result. Rich family – big house, makes sense set up wise. Unlike FUNNY GAMES (1997) which wants you to know the director is cleverer than you and wants you to hate yourself for watching people die, YOU’RE NEXT understands that watching people die is just part of modern day relaxing, like candles in the bathroom and Candy Crush. YOU’RE NEXT is supposed to be a pulpy bit of fun and it succeeds in that, but it was also a bit better than that might lead you to expect. It doesn’t mess about and gets stuck in pretty quick, rarely letting up from then on in, but it still draws the characters vividly and as obnoxiously as you might expect of a wealthy family gathering in a horror movie, but when the bad stuff kicks in somehow you start feeling a bit bad for them. I mean, the brother at the start is set up as a major douche and no mistake, but he rallies and you feel a bit sad for him as his evening gets progressively worse. Look, my surprise at the fact a horror movie actually evoked empathy for its victims speaks, I feel, more about the poor quality of modern horror movie making than any lack of humanity on my part. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Fast, funny and pulpy YOU’RE NEXT was like an updated John Carpenter siege movie starring a Joe R Lansdale heroine. Even without the perfectly healthy nostalgic pleasure conjured by the comfortingly reassuring sight of Barbara (RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND, BODY DOUBLE, CASTLE FREAK) Crampton shrieking under extreme duress it would still have been GOOD!

IT FOLLOWS (2014) Directed by David Robert Mitchell Written by David Robert Mitchell Starring Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe Music by Disasterpeace

And she said, “That’s that guy from FRED: THE SHOW!”

Like the thin musk from a faded car deodorizer in a suspiciously shiny ‘58 Plymouth Fury John Carpenter was (again) a phantom but persistent presence during IT FOLLOWS (2014), through the widescreen framing of shots, implacable pacing and the cunning use of music in particular. But no one likes that kind of untrimmed nosehair talk so let’s stick to the fact that IT FOLLOWS was basically a movie about teens who had to fuck to live. Oh, that got your attention didn’t it now, trampyhands. Well, leave the moisturising creme in the bathroom, because this movie is about as sexy as spilt Lilt on a Pound Shop floor. Purposefully so; it’s a horror movie not a skin flick. Unlike the (decent) slasher flick CHERRY FALLS (1999) doin’ it here wasn’t a guarantee of safety but just a stay of execution. Whatever the IT was attracted to was passed via, uh, intimate contact, to the partner who then had to, uh, romance someone else with their groin before IT got them. If IT caught up and got the last person to, er, shingle someone’s roof then it would work its way back down the daisy chain. In a killin’ way. Also, when IT appeared IT would resemble someone you knew such as your Granddad or Mom which made IT’s appearances super creepy. Particularly if IT was grinding IT’s groin against yours as it throttled you like you’d just spent the rent. EeeeW!  IT FOLLOWS was stylish stuff which successfully mutated the mundanity of its working class USA setting into an almost surreal theatre of horror, and while the metaphor at first seemed clear (promiscuity!) it was certainly a tad more complex than that (Her Dad? You get that?). Oh my, metaphors yet! Ugh, trim those nose hairs, John! Ignore all that dusty chunter because IT FOLLOWS was an intelligently creepy time, cleverly directed, well-acted by all involved and it set off some real ripples of unease behind my eyes where rumour has it my mind hides. IT FOLLOWS was GOOD!

  WHIPLASH (2014) Directed by Damien Chazelle Written by Damien Chazelle Starring Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Paul Reiser, Jim Neiman, Melissa Benoist, Austin Stowell, Nate Lang, Chris Mulkey, Damon Gupton, Suanne Spoke Music by Justin Hurwitz

And she said, “D’ya wanna feel the Spirit of Jazz up inside ya!”

This is that movie everyone, even your parents, liked in which J Jonah Jameson shouts at a kid so he will play the jazz drums better. Full disclosure - I’m hardly the most musical of men (check out my record CD collection for proof. Haw haw haw!), and cinematically the last jazz outing I saw was that episode in DR. TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965) where Roy Castle and Kenny Lynch upset The Spirit of Jazz by nicking his rhythms. (Bad Voodoo ensues.) In essence, then, I’m not exactly Dr. Jazz, you know. But I got the gist of this; about pushing yourself and drive and gifts and talent and, and, and, basically, and all that stuff I’ve never really felt the need for. I’m largely inert ambition wise; I just hope to get through life without killing anyone or starting a war, and maybe having raised a decent kid. It doesn’t sound like much but it sure fills the hours. The world will have to look elsewhere for excellence in jazz drumming, I fear. So, I’m probably not the ideal audience for something like WHIPLASH with its driven jazz drummer and question(s) about how much is jazz drumming worth giving up? Sure, it was extraordinarily well executed visually; at no point was I as bored as I am when people are actually jazz drumming in my vicinity in reality. And it felt like the thing had the structure of a thriller (I didn’t check though; maybe it didn’t, but it felt like it did, and that’s more important) which helped with the whole keeping-the-musically-illiterate-ambition-averse-viewer (i.e. me) interested thing. And the performances were great all the way through. Even the little parts were well done (Paul Reiser!) and the big parts were screen excellence par excellence. I hear old JJJ shouted at the kid so well that he got an Oscar(?), but, you know, Miles Teller as the kid was good too; he had the harder part I felt since he was a dick, but sometimes with great jazz drumming must come great dickishness. I think the idea was to suggest some of that “Oooh, it’s a bit of a Grey Area!” people are so fond of these days. I wasn't convinced by the ending either, but what can you say, a well made movie is a well made movie. Alas, I’m unfashionably hard line on this one; playing the jazz drums well is super special and all that, but I don’t think jazz drumming at any level is worth some kid stringing themselves up from light fittings (Don’t worry, that’s not what happens to him. I don’t do spoiling. Hopefully.) Call me old fashioned but don’t call me trad, Dad. Unhip I may be but I’m no churl, so WHIPLASH was Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! (Oh, okay, it was GOOD!)

Next Time: COMICS!!!

(maybe.)

Arriving 1/6/2016

First new comics of the year! What a week even! PAPER GIRLS, A-FORCE, ARCHIE, DOCTOR STRANGE, STAR WARS, STRAY BULLETS and GIANT DAYS!

 

Check the cut for all the hot new comics!

ACTION COMICS #48 A-FORCE #1 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1.2 ANGEL AND FAITH SEASON 10 #22 ANGRY BIRDS COMICS (2016) #1 ARCHIE #5 BARB WIRE #7 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #14 BATMAN BEYOND #8 BITCH PLANET #6 BLACK SCIENCE #19 CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS #4 DARK CORRIDOR #6 DARTH VADER #15 VDWN DASH #4 DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS #8 DEADPOOL #5 DETECTIVE COMICS #48 DOCTOR STRANGE #4 DOCTOR WHO 10TH YEAR TWO #4 REG ROMERO DOCTOR WHO 12TH YEAR TWO #1 REG ZHANG EIGHTH SEAL #2 (OF 5) ELEPHANTMEN #68 FADE OUT #12 FOUR EYES HEARTS OF FIRE #1 (OF 4) GIANT DAYS #10 GRANT MORRISONS 18 DAYS #7 GREEN ARROW #48 GREEN LANTERN #48 GUARDIANS OF INFINITY #2 INVADER ZIM #6 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #5 JOE GOLEM OCCULT DETECTIVE #3 JOHNNY RED #3 (OF 8) LARA CROFT FROZEN OMEN #4 (OF 5) LAST CONTRACT #1 LETTER 44 #22 MARVELS CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR PRELUDE #3 (OF 4) MIDNIGHTER #8 MIRACLEMAN BY GAIMAN AND BUCKINGHAM #6 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER #24 MYSTERY GIRL #2 MYTHIC #6 NAILBITER #19 PACIFIC RIM TALES FROM THE DRIFT #3 PAPER GIRLS #4 REGULAR SHOW #31 REPLICA #2 SAINTS #4 SHERIFF OF BABYLON #2 (OF 8) SPIDER-GWEN #4 SPIDER-MAN DEADPOOL #1 STAR TREK NEW VISIONS MISTER CHEKOV STAR TREK STARFLEET ACADEMY #2 (OF 5) STAR WARS #14 VDWN STRAY BULLETS SUNSHINE & ROSES #11 SURVIVORS CLUB #4 SWAMP THING #1 (OF 6) THIS DAMNED BAND #6 (OF 6) TOIL & TROUBLE #5 (OF 6) TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #2 ULTIMATES #3 UNCANNY X-MEN #1 UNCLE SCROOGE #10 UNFOLLOW #3 VISION #3 VISION #3 WARD VAR WEIRDWORLD #2 WOODS #19 X-O MANOWAR #43

Books/Mags/Things 100 BULLETS TP BOOK 04 2000 AD PROG #1959 2000 AD PROG #1960 AGE OF REPTILES ANCIENT EGYPTIANS TP ALTER EGO #137 BALTIMORE HC VOL 06 CULT OF THE RED KING BATMAN DETECTIVE COMICS TP VOL 06 ICARUS DEADPOOLS SECRET SECRET WARS TP DMC GN #2 GIRL CRAZY HC GUARDIANS OF GALAXY HC VOL 02 HEAVY METAL #278 HONEY SO SWEET GN VOL 01 LETTER 44 TP VOL 03 MICKEY MOUSE GIFT OF THE SUN LORD TP MUNCHKIN TP VOL 01 MY LOVE STORY GN VOL 07 ONE PUNCH MAN GN VOL 04 SILVER SURFER TP VOL 03 LAST DAYS SONIC MEGA MAN WORLDS COLLIDE COMPLETE EPIC TP BM ED STAR WARS DARTH VADER TP VOL 02 SHADOWS AND SECRETS TMNT ONGOING TP VOL 13 VENGEANCE PT 2 TWIN STAR EXORCISTS GN VOL 03

Comix Experience best-sellers 2015

After the cut, it's a big long data-dump for people what like that kind of thing!

I’m posting this year’s sales analysis a bit wider than usual (Hello Reddit!), so let me write a little more about myself and my CV and my stores than typical. My name is Brian Hibbs and I own two comic book stores in San Francisco: Comix Experience on Divisadero St, and Comix Experience Outpost on Ocean Ave. I opened the original store 26 years ago in 1989, when I was just twenty-one years old, and I purchased Outpost almost exactly two years ago, in order to stop it from closing overnight.

San Francisco is currently home to nine comic book stores (The others include: Cards and Comics Central, Collector’s Cave, Isotope, Whatever, Amazing Fantasy, Mission: Comics and Art, and Two Cats); down from twenty-four when I opened in 1989. There are also something around a dozen general independent book stores (note that San Francisco has no national chain bookstores!) that also carry a solid selection of “graphic novels” (which is usually really just a highfaluting name for “bound collection of comics”, and isn’t really any different in any substantial way from “comic book”, except that it makes people feel better about themselves) – but it is the comics specialty stores that are selling the most comics material, and it is my belief that my two Comix Experience stores sell roughly a quarter of all comics material in The City.

As I noted, I have been selling comics since 1989, and we’re the oldest comic store with the same ownership in the same location in San Francisco. For a quarter of a century I’ve written “Tilting At Windmills”, a regular column about comics retailing, also published in two volumes from IDW Publishing; I’ve been a judge of the Eisner Awards (Comics’ equivalent of the Oscars); I’ve sat on the Board of Directors of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (an organization that protects the First Amendment rights of comics creators), I was one of the original founders of ComicsPRO (the comics retailer trade organization); and I even led a successful Class Action lawsuit against Marvel Comics that won more than a million dollars for comic book retailers internationally.

Most recently, in response to rising costs in San Francisco, we launched an international Graphic-Novel-Of-The-Month Club where we hold streaming meetings with authors (like Neil Gaiman!) for literally hundreds of folks around the country (and globe!), and we also have a sibling club for kids aged 8-13, which is co-hosted with my twelve year old son.

(*whew*)

2015 was an excellent year for Comix Experience – sales were up by 14.41% in the main store, and by 19.53% at Outpost; something that I attribute mostly to my superlative staff (Douglas, Emma and Sienna at the main store, and Nathan, Cameron, and Jay at Outpost) – and we’ve had our best year ever at both locations.

The two stores are VERY different from one another with different tones and tenors. The main store is very much a book store that specializes in comics material: 56% of our sales came from book-format comics this year, while 40% came from periodical comics (usually stapled, usually 32 pages). Only 4% of our sales come from other material (including toys and t-shirts and so on). Comix Experience is less about the characters (Batman and Spider-Man, et al.) and much more focused on the creators that bring those characters to life. As a creator-driven store, our sales reflect that passion, as you will see below.

Comix Experience Outpost runs pretty differently – it was an existing store that we took over, and because of its location and the nature of its traffic, it is FAR more focused on the periodical comic (as well as the back issue). Outpost is 70% periodical-format comics (10% of that is back issues), and just 23% in book format comics. 7% of sales there are toys and other merchandise. It’s a very different sales mix than the Mothership!

Let’s take a look, store-by-store, at sales this year, and see what the best-sellers are in each category, and get a sense of maybe where the market is heading. Let’s look at BOOKS, first, since that’s the biggest category at the bigger store!

One important consideration here is that these numbers DO NOT include the Graphic-Novel-Of-The-Month Club numbers, every one of which would top the #1 in-store book! In fact, we’ve been told that, for at least some of the titles we selected (which were, in order: ILYA’s “Room For Love”, Ryan North and Erica Henderson’s “Unbeatable Squirrel-Girl”, Liz Suburbia’s “Sacred Heart”, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba’s “Two Brothers”, Neil Gaiman and JH Williams III’s “Sandman: Overture”, and Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crooks’ “Harrow County”), the GN club represented 8-10% of the print run of those books!

As always, our single biggest entry is the generic “Sale Book”, where we’re marking down unsold books by roughly 50% of cover price to get them out – that catchall, combined, sold more copies than our #1 book. This is true at BOTH stores. But, I’m not including that in this presentation because I think it muddies the waters too much.

So, starting with The Mothership, Comix Experience on Divisadero, the top 100 (or so) books looks like this:

1	SAGA TP VOL 04
2	SAGA TP VOL 05
3	SAGA TP VOL 01
4	SAGA TP VOL 03
5	SAGA TP VOL 02
6	SAGA DLX ED HC VOL 01
7	TREES TP VOL 01
8	DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 01 REAGAN YOUTH
9	WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 01 THE FAUST ACT
10	SPACE DUMPLINS GN VOL 01
11	SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 01
12	SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 02 TWO WORLDS ONE COP
13	SANDMAN TP VOL 01
14	MS MARVEL TP VOL 01 NO NORMAL
15	LOW TP VOL 01 THE DELIRIUM OF HOPE
16	MS MARVEL TP VOL 02 GENERATION WHY
17	EAST OF WEST TP VOL 01 THE PROMISE
	FADE OUT TP VOL 01
19	SANDMAN OVERTURE DELUXE ED HC
20	BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 01 HOW TO FALL FOREVER
21	FABLES TP VOL 22
22	DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 02 KIDS OF THE BLACK HOLE
	Y THE LAST MAN TP BOOK 01
24	EAST OF WEST TP VOL 04 WHO WANTS WAR
	IN REAL LIFE GN
26	AMULET SC VOL 01 STONEKEEPER
	BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 02 WELCOME NOWHERE
	THIS ONE SUMMER GN
	WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 02 FANDEMONIUM
30	BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 01 OUT FROM BONEVILLE
	SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE
32	APOCALYPTIGIRL AN ARIA FOR THE END TIMES TP
	THE INCAL HC
34	BITCH PLANET TP VOL 01 EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE
35	RAT QUEENS TP VOL 01 SASS & SORCERY
	STEP ASIDE POPS HARK A VAGRANT COLLECTION HC
	UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL TP VOL 01 SQUIRREL POWER
38	WATCHMEN TP
39	LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES TP VOL 07
40	NIMONA GN
	PROPHET TP VOL 01 REMISSION
	PROPHET TP VOL 04 JOINING
43	BEE AND PUPPYCAT TP VOL 01
	KILLING & DYING HC
	RAT QUEENS TP VOL 02 FAR REACHING TENTACLES OF N'RYGOT
46	DESCENDER TP VOL 01 TIN STARS
	OGLAF BOOK TWO
48	BRYAN LEE O MALLEY SECONDS GN
	CIVIL WAR TP
	HAWKEYE TP VOL 01 MY LIFE AS A WEAPON
	HAWKEYE TP VOL 03 LA WOMAN
	MS MARVEL TP VOL 03 CRUSHED
53	EAST OF WEST TP VOL 02 WE ARE ALL ONE
	EAST OF WEST TP VOL 03 THERE IS NO US
	FUN HOME TP
	OGLAF BOOK ONE
57	BLACK HOLE COLLECTED SC
58	AMULET SC VOL 02 STONEKEEPERS CURSE
	DARTH VADER AND SON HC
	MEANWHILE IN SAN FRANCISCO THE CITY IN ITS OWN WORDS
	WRENCHIES GN
62	BATMAN TP VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS
	BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 03 VANISHING POINT
	COPRA TP ROUND TWO
	EX MACHINA TP BOOK 01
	TWO BROTHERS HC
67	BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC
	CAT PERSON
	DAYTRIPPER TP
	FIGHT CLUB (Prose)
	MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 05 THE COLD WAR
	NEMO RIVER OF GHOSTS HC
	V FOR VENDETTA NEW EDITION TP (MR)
74	ADVENTURE TIME TP VOL 01
	BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC
	FABLES TP VOL 01 LEGENDS IN EXILE
	GOODNIGHT DARTH VADER HC
	SMILE SC NEW PTG
	SUPERMUTANT MAGIC ACADEMY GN
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE
	Y THE LAST MAN TP BOOK 02
82	DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 03 THE SNAKE PIT
	HAWKEYE TP VOL 04 RIO BRAVO
	MOON KNIGHT TP VOL 01 FROM DEAD
	PREACHER TP BOOK 01
	SANDMAN TP VOL 03 DREAM COUNTRY
	SISTERS GN
	THROUGH THE WOODS GN
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 23 WHISPERS INTO SCREAMS
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 24 LIFE AND DEATH
91	ATTACK ON TITAN GN VOL 01
	BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP
	CHI SWEET HOME GN VOL 01
	FABLES TP VOL 21 HAPPILY EVER AFTER
	FROM HELL TP
	HARK A VAGRANT HC
	HELLBOY TP VOL 01 SEED OF DESTRUCTION
	MANHATTAN PROJECTS TP VOL 01 SCIENCE BAD
	SACRED HEART GN
	SCULPTOR HC GN
	STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY YR HC VOL 01
	TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET
	ZERO TP VOL 01 AN EMERGENCY

As you can see, it is Brian K. Vaughan’s world, we just live in it, as “Saga” utterly sweeps the top of the chart. It is almost not fair… except, that it is an excellent comic, and sales are very much deserved. “Saga” is published by Image comics, and Image entirely dominates the charts with a pretty staggering thirty-five out of the 104 books listed here.

Another thing that is probably worth noting is that super-hero comics aren’t doing that great on this list – only nine of the Top Sellers for the year are Marvel super-hero titles, and just a paltry four are DC super-hero books. Meanwhile? I count seventeen books on our Top Sellers that are aimed squarely at kids!

Meanwhile the Outpost has a very different looking list – the top is somewhat the same, but then it diverges wildly:

1	SAGA TP VOL 01
2	WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 01 THE FAUST ACT
3	SAGA TP VOL 04
4	SAGA TP VOL 05
5	EAST OF WEST TP VOL 01 THE PROMISE
	NOWHERE MEN TP VOL 01 FATES WORSE THAN DEATH
	SAGA DLX ED HC VOL 01
8	BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 01 HOW TO FALL FOREVER
9	CIVIL WAR TP
10	DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 01 REAGAN YOUTH
11	SAGA TP VOL 02
12	SAGA TP VOL 03
13	EAST OF WEST TP VOL 02 WE ARE ALL ONE
	MS MARVEL TP VOL 01 NO NORMAL
	PRETTY DEADLY TP VOL 01
	SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 01
	SOUTHERN BASTARDS TP VOL 01 HERE WAS A MAN
18	BATMAN THE KILLING JOKE SPECIAL ED HC
	BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 02 WELCOME NOWHERE
	NIMONA GN
	RAT QUEENS TP VOL 01 SASS & SORCERY
22	MOON KNIGHT TP VOL 01 FROM DEAD
	MS MARVEL TP VOL 02 GENERATION WHY
24	DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 02 KIDS OF THE BLACK HOLE
	LUMBERJANES TP VOL 01
26	FADE OUT TP VOL 01
	LOW TP VOL 01 THE DELIRIUM OF HOPE
	RAT QUEENS TP VOL 02 FAR REACHING TENTACLES OF N'RYGOT
29	DEADPOOL TP VOL 01 DEAD PRESIDENTS NOW
	INFINITY GAUNTLET TP
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 23 WHISPERS INTO SCREAMS
	WRENCHIES GN
33	BATMAN TP VOL 01 THE COURT OF OWLS
	CHEW TP VOL 01
	FLASH TP VOL 01 MOVE FORWARD
	SEX CRIMINALS TP VOL 02 TWO WORLDS ONE COP
	SPACE DUMPLINS GN VOL 01
	WICKED & DIVINE TP VOL 02 FANDEMONIUM
39	BATMAN ETERNAL TP VOL 01
	BATMAN TP VOL 03 DEATH OF THE FAMILY
	BEE AND PUPPYCAT TP VOL 01
	BITCH PLANET TP VOL 01 EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE
	BLACK SCIENCE TP VOL 03 VANISHING POINT
	BONE COLOR ED SC VOL 01 OUT FROM BONEVILLE
	DEADPOOL TP VOL 01 SECRET INVASION
	DEADPOOL VS CARNAGE TP
	EAST OF WEST TP VOL 03 THERE IS NO US
	SANDMAN TP VOL 01 PRELUDES & NOCTURNES NEW ED
	THEYRE NOT LIKE US TP VOL 01 BLACK HOLES FOR THE YOUNG
	TREES TP VOL 01
51	BATMAN DARK KNIGHT RETURNS TP
	BIRTHRIGHT TP VOL 01 HOMECOMING
	COPRA ROUND ONE TP
	DARTH VADER & FRIENDS HC
	DEADPOOL KILLS MARVEL UNIVERSE TP
	DISNEY FROZEN CINESTORY
	EAST OF WEST TP VOL 04 WHO WANTS WAR
	HOUSE OF HEM TP
	JUPITERS LEGACY TP VOL 01
	LOCKE & KEY TP VOL 01 WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT
	RUMBLE TP VOL 01 WHAT COLOR OF DARKNESS
	SAILOR MOON TP KODANSHA ED VOL 01
	STAR WARS DARTH VADER TP VOL 01 VADER
	STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY YR HC VOL 03 PHANTOM BULLY
	STREET FIGHTER TP VOL 01
	WYTCHES TP VOL 01
67	ALAN MOORE WRITING FOR COMICS GN
	ALL OVER COFFEE v2: EVERYTHING IS ITS OWN REWARD
	AUTUMNLANDS TP VOL 01 TOOTH & CLAW
	BATMAN HC VOL 07 ENDGAME
	BATMAN LIL GOTHAM TP VOL 01
	BLACKEST NIGHT TP
	BRYAN LEE O MALLEY SECONDS GN
	DARTH VADER AND SON HC
	DEADPOOL BY DANIEL WAY COMPLETE COLL TP VOL 01
	DEADPOOL TP VOL 02 SOUL HUNTER NOW
	DEADPOOL TP VOL 05 WEDDING OF DEADPOOL
	DOCTOR WHO OFF GUIDE HOW TO BE TIME LORD HC
	EX MACHINA TP BOOK ONE
	FATALE TP VOL 01 DEATH CHASES ME
	GREEN ARROW TP VOL 04 THE KILL MACHINE
	INFINITY WAR TP (JAN062102)
	JUSTICE LEAGUE TP VOL 01 ORIGIN
	MAGNETO TP VOL 01 INFAMOUS
	MS MARVEL TP VOL 03 CRUSHED
	NIGHT OF LIVING DEADPOOL TP
	PHONOGRAM TP VOL 01 RUE BRITANNA
	RUNAWAYS COMPLETE COLLECTION TP VOL 01
	STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY YR HC VOL 01
	STAR WARS TP VOL 01 SKYWALKER STRIKES
	TRANSMETROPOLITAN TP VOL 01 BACK ON THE STREET
	VELVET TP VOL 01 BEFORE THE LIVING END
	WALKING DEAD COMPENDIUM TP VOL 01
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 01 DAYS GONE BYE
	WATCHMEN TP NEW ED
96	APOCALYPTIGIRL AN ARIA FOR THE END TIMES TP
	BATMAN & ROBIN TP VOL 01 BORN TO KILL
	BATMAN EARTH ONE HC VOL 02
	BATMAN HUSH COMPLETE TP
	BATMAN THE LONG HALLOWEEN TP NEW ED
	BATMAN TP VOL 05 ZERO YEAR DARK CITY
	BATMAN YEAR ONE DELUXE SC
	BATTLING BOY SC GN VOL 01
	BLACKSAD AMARILLO HC
	BTVS SEASON 10 TP VOL 01
	CAPTAIN MARVEL TP VOL 01 HIGHER FURTHER FASTER MORE
	COWL TP VOL 01 PRINCIPLES OF POWER
	CRIMINAL TP VOL 01 COWARD
	DAREDEVIL TP VOL 01 DEVIL AT BAY
	DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 03 THE SNAKE PIT
	DEADPOOL TP VOL 02 DARK REIGN
	DIVINE GN
	FABLES TP VOL 22
	FUTURAMA TP VOL 01 O RAMA
	GOTG BY ABNETT AND LANNING COMPLETE COLL TP VOL 01
	HILO GN VOL 01 BOY WHO CRASHED TO EARTH
	INJECTION TP VOL 01
	JUSTICE LEAGUE TP VOL 02 THE VILLAINS JOURNEY
	KINGDOM COME TP NEW EDITION
	LAZARUS TP VOL 01
	MAGNETO TP VOL 02 REVERSALS
	MAKING COMICS STORYTELLING SECRETS SC NEW PTG
	METAL GEAR SOLID OMNIBUS TP
	MILES MORALES ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 01 REVIVAL
	MORTAL KOMBAT X TP VOL 01
	MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER TP VOL 01
	NAILBITER TP VOL 01 THERE WILL BE BLOOD
	SANDMAN OVERTURE DELUXE ED HC
	SANDMAN TP VOL 02 THE DOLLS HOUSE NEW ED
	SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN TP VOL 01
	SHE-HULK TP VOL 01 LAW AND DISORDER
	SMILE SC NEW PTG
	SOUTHERN BASTARDS TP VOL 02 GRIDIRON
	SPIDER-VERSE HC
	STAR WARS JEDI ACADEMY YR HC VOL 02 RETURN OF PADAWAN
	SUICIDE SQUAD TP VOL 01 KICKED IN THE TEETH
	THOR PREM HC VOL 01 GODDESS OF THUNDER
	UNNATURAL CREATURES STORIES SELECTED BY NEIL GAIMAN SC
	USAGI YOJIMBO SAGA TP VOL 01
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 02 MILES BEHIND US
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 19 MARCH TO WAR
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 20 ALL OUT WAR PT 1
	WALKING DEAD TP VOL 24 LIFE AND DEATH
	WOODS TP VOL 01
	Y THE LAST MAN TP BOOK 01
	YOUNG AVENGERS TP VOL 01 STYLE SUBSTANCE NOW

There are 146 titles on Outpost’s list of “Top Sellers” (Compared to Experience’s 104), mostly because of all of the ties towards the bottom. Honestly, only the top 24 titles by quantity would even place on The Mothership’s list, and Outpost’s #1 book sold about twenty percent of Experience’s #1 – like I said, Outpost is mostly periodical sales!

Of Outpost’s 146 best-selling books, fifty-one are Image books, and fifty-one are Marvel/DC superhero books (21 DC, 30 Marvel), but I still feel optimistic about this list because 16 of the Top 20 are from Image, and they also feature sixteen titles that are aimed squarely at kids. Outpost has an entrenched and trained customer base, and I believe that it takes somewhere between three and five years to build trust and shift tastes in any kind of a meaningful fashion. This looks like a pretty great start to me, at the end of year two!

What about periodical comics? Periodical comics are the crank that drives the engine – they provide a regular, steady, dependable cash-flow, and get people visiting us “52 weeks a year”. As noted above, Experience is 40% periodicals this year (I am a little surprised: that is up from last year when it was 39% -- I put this primarily on Marvel cover prices).

I actually stumped Divisadero’s staff this year when I asked them what the best-selling periodical was. They (and I!) assumed it was SAGA, or, maybe PAPER GIRLS, but, no….

1	FIGHT CLUB 2 #1
2	PAPER GIRLS #1
3	SAGA #25
4	SECRET WARS #1 (OF 9)
5	FIGHT CLUB 2 #2
6	SAGA #26
7	SAGA #28
	SANDMAN OVERTURE #5 (OF 6)
9	SAGA #29
10	SAGA #30
11	SAGA #27
12	SECRET WARS #2 (OF 8)
13	FIGHT CLUB 2 #3
14	PAPER GIRLS #2
15	SANDMAN OVERTURE #4 (OF 6)
16	SECRET WARS #3 (OF 9)
17	ISLAND #1
18	STAR WARS #1
19	SECRET WARS #4 (OF 9)
20	SAGA #31
21	FIGHT CLUB 2 #4
22	BITCH PLANET #2
23	SANDMAN OVERTURE #6 (OF 6)
	SECRET WARS #5 (OF 8)
25	MONSTRESS #1
26	SEX CRIMINALS #11
27	CASANOVA ACEDIA #1
28	PAPER GIRLS #3
29	BITCH PLANET #1
30	8HOUSE ARCLIGHT #1
31	DARTH VADER #1
32	NAMELESS #1
33	BITCH PLANET #3
34	DESCENDER #1
35	SECRET WARS #6 (OF 9)
36	WE STAND ON GUARD #1
37	STAR WARS #2
38	DOCTOR STRANGE #1
	INJECTION #1
40	STAR WARS #3
41	JOURNEY STAR WARS FASE #1 (OF 4)
42	SECRET WARS #7 (OF 9)
43	ARCHIE #1
44	DYING AND THE DEAD #1
45	INJECTION #2
	PROVIDENCE #1 (OF 12)
47	DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #1 (OF 8)
	PRINCESS LEIA #1 (OF 5)
	WE STAND ON GUARD #2
50	BITCH PLANET #4
	DARTH VADER #2
52	ISLAND #2
	STAR WARS #4
	TOKYO GHOST #1
55	DESCENDER #2
	SEX CRIMINALS #10
57	BATMAN #40
	LOW #6
	WE STAND ON GUARD #3
60	DARTH VADER #4
	FADE OUT #4
	FIGHT CLUB 2 #5
	STAR WARS #5
64	NAMELESS #2
65	EAST OF WEST #16
66	AUTUMNLANDS TOOTH & CLAW #3
	DOCTOR STRANGE #2
	SECRET WARS #8 (OF 9)
	SEX CRIMINALS #12
	UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #1 (Ser 1)
71	8HOUSE ARCLIGHT #2
	BLACK SCIENCE #12
	STAR WARS #6
	STAR WARS #8
	WALKING DEAD #145
76	FADE OUT #5
	LOW #7
78	A-FORCE #1 SWA
	DARTH VADER #3
	FADE OUT #6
	JUPITERS LEGACY #5
	OLD MAN LOGAN #1
	THOR #8
	WALKING DEAD #138
85	BATMAN #39
	SEX CRIMINALS #13
	STAR WARS #7
	WALKING DEAD #136
	WALKING DEAD #137
	WALKING DEAD #141
91	8HOUSE #3 KIEM PART ONE
	BATMAN #41
	CRIMINAL SPECIAL ED ONE SHOT
	DESCENDER #3
	FADE OUT #7
	LOW #9
	ODYC #1
	WALKING DEAD #139
	WALKING DEAD #146
	WICKED & DIVINE #8

In a never-before-seen thing, there are *exactly* one hundred titles on the Top 100 this year, and the bottom of the list is about 20% higher sales than the bottom of 2014’s list. The top is also much higher – more than a third! Also, the top 22 books were all triple-digits, which is a significant deepening from the top. From my perspective, periodical comics are sort of thriving?

FIGHT CLUB 2 #1 takes the top spot, at least in part, because we had Chuck Palahniuk in for a signing. That moved the needle a little! We also get the strongest super-hero performance we’ve had in like a decade, with SECRET WARS #1 in at position number four. We sold as many copies of SW #1 as we did (almost) the next three Marvel superhero comics combined. If only lateness hadn’t plagued that project, and sent sales dropping by 20% across-the-board on later issues.

A few things I am proud of: ISLAND #1 as a Top 20 book, MONSTRESS #1 as a Top 25 title, and 8HOUSE: ARCLIGHT #1 as a top 30 book. Oh! And ARCHIE #1 as a Top 50 title!

Overall, Image is a staggering fifty-eight of the Top 100. But note how many of those are #1s and how you’re seeing fewer #2-4s on this list. This indicates people are SAMPLING, but maybe not STAYING with those titles (at least not in the “top 100 in a year” sense)

Just eighteen of our Top 100 are traditional superhero comics – with fourteen from Marvel, and just four of those from DC. My best-selling ongoing periodical DC superhero title that isn’t Snyder & Capulo’s BATMAN is BLACK CANARY #1 way way down at (you can’t see it) 174.

As I said, fourteen Marvel Super-hero comics, but ALSO fourteen Marvel STAR WARS comics. That’s crazy, and huge! Also, you can see the occasional “(ser 1)” notation for Marvel books (MUCH more so on the next chart), that’s because Marvel released more than one “issue #1” this year for certain series, creating a wicked amount of market confusion. The UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #1 that is in our Top 100 here is the first one, not the second one.

My final note: I ran the chart out to 200 places for my own knowledge (I think that would drown you in data), and SANDMAN OVERTURE #1 (released two years ago!) placed at #185 That’s what you call a long tail! Ugh, and that it sold so much better than most of DC’s bread-and-butter superhero comics, too. DC is in serious trouble.

Let’s move back over to Outpost, and look at their periodical comic sales. This is a VERY VERY different chart. Remember, too, that 60% of Outpost’s sales are periodical comics (plus 10% for back issues)

1	SECRET WARS #1 (OF 9)
2	SECRET WARS #4 (OF 9)
3	SECRET WARS #2 (OF 8)
4	SECRET WARS #5 (OF 8)
5	SECRET WARS #3 (OF 9)
6	DOCTOR STRANGE #1
7	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1
8	SECRET WARS #6 (OF 9)
9	MONSTRESS #1
	STAR WARS #1
11	SECRET WARS #7 (OF 9)
12	PAPER GIRLS #1
13	DARTH VADER #1
14	BATMAN #41
	THORS #1 SWA
16	BATMAN #40
17	GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #1
18	INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #1
19	CIVIL WAR #1 SWA
20	BATMAN #38
	STAR WARS LANDO #1 (OF 5)
22	BATMAN #39
23	EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #1
24	BATMAN #43
25	BATMAN #42
	SPIDER-GWEN #1
27	MIGHTY THOR #1
	STAR WARS #4
29	STAR WARS #3
30	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #1 SWA
	BATMAN #44
	JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1
33	ALL NEW ALL DIFFERENT AVENGERS #1
	STAR WARS #5
35	FIGHT CLUB 2 #1 MACK MAIN CVR
36	STAR WARS #7
37	DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #1 (OF 8)
38	BATMAN #45
	SPIDER-GWEN #1 (ser 1)
	STAR WARS #2
	STAR WARS #6
42	A-FORCE #1 SWA
	BATMAN #46
	CIVIL WAR #2 SWA
	OLD MAN LOGAN #1
46	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #2
	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #2 SWA
	SILK #1 (Ser 1)
49	ALL NEW HAWKEYE #1
	CAPTAIN AMERICA SAM WILSON #1
	DOCTOR STRANGE #2
	SECRET WARS #8 (OF 9)
53	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #3 SWA
	UNCANNY INHUMANS #1
55	STAR WARS VADER DOWN #1 VDWN
56	ALL NEW WOLVERINE #1
	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 SV
	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #13 SV
	DARTH VADER #2
	DARTH VADER #4
	DEADPOOL #1
	FIGHT CLUB 2 #2 MAIN CVR
	PRINCESS LEIA #1 (OF 5)
64	CIVIL WAR #3 SWA
	DARTH VADER #6
	INFINITY GAUNTLET #1
	MONSTRESS #2
	STAR WARS #8
69	ANT-MAN #1
	BATMAN ANNUAL #4
	DEADPOOLS SECRET SECRET WARS #1 (OF 4)
	JOURNEY STAR WARS FASE #1 (OF 4)
	STAR WARS #9
74	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #4 SWA
	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS #5 SWA
	PAPER GIRLS #2
	X-MEN 92 #1 SWA
78	CIVIL WAR #4 SWA
	DARTH VADER #3
	STAR WARS #10
81	DARTH VADER #5
	THOR #8
	WOLF #1
84	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #3
	UNCANNY AVENGERS #1
86	A-FORCE #2 SWA
	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #14 SV
	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #15 SV
	DARTH VADER #7
	EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #2
	WE STAND ON GUARD #1
92	AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #18
	JUSTICE LEAGUE #41
	SAGA #25
95	BATMAN #47
	DARTH VADER #8
	MS MARVEL #1
	SAGA #26
	STAR WARS #11
	STAR WARS #12
	THOR #4
	THOR #6
	THOR #7
	TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #1

So, yeah, a pretty super-hero oriented store!

Things I like here: MONSTRESS #1 as a TOP TEN book (Wow! Staff loved that one, obviously!), and FIGHT CLUB 2 #1 in at #35.

There are 104 titles here, with only eight of them being Image (big difference to the main store!), though another difference between the stores is that The Mothership doesn’t really do multiple covers, unless there is an artistic reason to do so (the split covers on SANDMAN OVERTURE, for example), but Outpost is much more collector-oriented, building up customer bases for things like the Skottie Young variants (which sell better than many many Marvel comics) or the Hip Hop covers, etc. These numbers are COMBINED cover sales, so many of these titles have somewhere between 1/3 and ½ of their sales as being variant covers (and therefore, less likely to represent long-term readers)

“Star Wars” is almost a quarter of the Top (104) here – twenty-four SW books chart here, and there are a staggering (compared to Divisadero, I mean, not against the entire industry!) seventy comics that are super-hero oriented. Fifty-six of those Marvel, and just fourteen DC. Like I said, DC is in really deep trouble.

Let’s take a little look at how the marketshares break out. Since we’re already with Outpost, let’s stay with them. This is both categories combined, comics and books (and toys and shirts, and everything else, too!)

MARVEL COMICS	40.04%
DC COMICS	21.61%
IMAGE COMICS	15.55%
IDW PUBLISHING	4.08%
DARK HORSE COMICS	3.89%
BOOM! STUDIOS	3.28%
D. E.	1.34%
ONI PRESS INC.	0.82%
ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS	0.81%
TITAN COMICS	0.58%
GRAPHITTI DESIGNS	0.46%
AVATAR PRESS INC	0.46%
:01 FIRST SECOND	0.40%
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS	0.39%
KODANSHA COMICS	0.33%
BONGO COMICS	0.30%
GRAPHIX	0.26%
VIZ MEDIA LLC	0.24%
DRAWN & QUARTERLY	0.17%
VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT LLC	0.17%

Looks a lot like the typical market, really. But DC is starting to approach only half of Marvel, which is bad juju for them. And Image is nearly within 6 percentage points, wow. Image taking the #2 spot next year would not be a surprise. Note that Marvel and DC are both losing ground to Image compared to Outpost last year – Marvel was 41.4% and DC 26.7% compared to Image’s 12.1% (or IDW’s 3.1% or Boom’s 2.6%). Between those percentage changes, and the kind of scarily massive impact of open-to-buy Marvel variant covers on the Outpost comics list, I get worried about having a periodical focused store, despite the double digit sales growth. Year three is going to be an interesting year to see how and where things stabilize – because outside of a very few exceptions (MONSTRESS!), we’re not seeing the Image effect really landing like it does at the main shop.

Experience looks very very different than Outpost in 2015:

IMAGE COMICS	21.01%
MARVEL COMICS	20.70%
DC COMICS	18.28%
DARK HORSE COMICS	6.85%
IDW PUBLISHING	4.67%
BOOM! STUDIOS	3.25%
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS	2.46%
DRAWN & QUARTERLY	1.52%
:01 FIRST SECOND	1.34%
ONI PRESS INC.	1.27%
VIZ MEDIA LLC	1.18%
AVATAR PRESS INC	1.08%
HUMANOIDS INC	0.97%
GRAPHIX	0.90%
D. E.	0.84%
ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS	0.71%
KODANSHA COMICS	0.69%
PANTHEON BOOKS	0.63%
REBELLION / 2000AD	0.54%
TITAN COMICS	0.46%

This is the second year in a row that Image was Experience’s #1 publisher, and the first year that I feel like it’s actually a real thing: in 2014 we had Brian K. Vaughan signing the first SAGA hardcover, and that represented hundreds of $50 books we wouldn’t have sold otherwise. But in 2015? These were honest day-to-day sales not swayed one way or another by a magnet signing.

And here is the thing: Image is crippling itself by charging $9.99 for many TPs. While there is some slight marketing value in a $9.99 trade, I firmly believe that we would still be stilling at least 90% of what we do if these books were $14.99 instead. Why do I think that? Because ALL of our top-selling $9.99 Image titles are books we PUSH. Further, the spread between v1 and v2 is better than the average spread between many other books – these are selling based on content, not on price! We sold more copies of SAGA v4 and v5 than we did of v1 this year – that indicates to me that I am losing $5 on each and every SAGA v1. And so are Brian and Fiona. There is a clear inelastic demand for these books, and Image’s pricing strategy really strongly needs reevaluating in my opinion.

Marvel and DC are just going to decrease further from here, I think. While Marvel is up 0.7%, most of that seems to be from the pricey relaunch at the end of the year – and while a $5 first issue of DR. STRANGE helps me just fine, that’s not a repeatable thing every year, at least not at that sell-through number. Further, I’m not looking at any major demand with the new backlist their current frontlist is likely to be generating, and, unlike DC, they do a pretty mediocre job of stocking and positioning their older backlist.

DC lost 1.5% this year, and they REALLY don’t have any new backlist to sell from current frontlist titles, and both of their proposed/rumored plans for next year (twice-a-month shipping on some books and a full relaunch on issue #52s) sound like giant major audience-losing ideas (Seriously? Relaunching BATMAN to #1 and twice-a-month sounds on the face of it to guarantee it no longer selling 100k month, but maybe 75k or so max, right? I want DC to bring more books to sell like BATMAN, not bring down BATMAN to sell more like DETECTIVE)

Overall, both stores seem to be going in the right direction, and we’re seeing a lot of strength in a lot of great comics. We’ve absolutely got a comic that you’re going to like, and we’d love it if you came by and let us show you all of the possibilities that comics have, whether that’s at our main store on Divisadero, or at the Outpost, out on Ocean ave., or through our Graphic-Novel-of-the-Month Club or our GN Club for Kids! We LOVE comics, and we want you to love them too!

Feel free to make any observations about our sales in the comment section below – we’re always interested in questions and feedback.

“Wonderfully PEDESTRIAN.” COMICS! Sometimes I’m Less Than Impressed.

There was a new Batman comic out. It was an Event because Frank Miller was reportedly involved. I bought it. Frank Miller may well have been involved in actuality but, honestly, I could only detect homeopathic quantities of Frank Miller. Overall, I thought it was a pretty poor Event and only a mediocre Btaman comic. Yeah, that’s it; I thought I’d spare you having to read what follows. You can if you like, but it goes on a bit. Ooh, what a palaver! DKIII by Miller, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson & Robins

Anyway this… DK III: THE MASTER RACE BOOK ONE Based on The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, Klaus Janson & Lynn Varley (Although in the comic DKR’s just credited to Frank Miller alone, which is a bit rich, and not something I want to encourage. Cut that shit out, DC Comics.) Pencils by Andy Kubert Inks by Klaus Janson Story by Frank Miller& Brian Azzarello Colours by Brad Anderson Letters by Clem Robins Cover by Andy Kubert & Klaus Janson Variant covers by Jim Lee, Scott Williams & Alex Sinclair, Frank Miller & Alex Sinclair, Dave Gibbons & Brad Anderson, Jill Thompson Retailer Variant Covers by Dave Johnson, Sean Gordon Murphy, Lee Bermejo, Klaus Janson, Rafael Albuquerque, Jae Lee & June Chung, Eduardo Risso, Jock, Walter Simonson & Laura Martin, Ivan Reis & Marcelo Maiolo, Aaron Lopresti, Tyler Kirkham & Tomeu Morey, Brian Bolland, Paul Pope & Jose Villarubia, Gabriele Dell’Otto, John Cassady & Laura Martin, Tony Daniel & Tomeu Morey, Matt Wagner & Brennan Wagner, Michael Allred & Laura Allred, Brian Stelfreeze, Amanda Connor & Paul Mounts, Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson, Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson, Darwyn Cooke, Josh Middleton, Gary Frank & Brad Anderson, Howard Porter & Hi-Fi, Kevin Eastman & Varga Tamas, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Dorman, Greg Capullo & FCO Plascenia, Stanley “Artgerm” Lau, Marc Silvestri & Alex Sinclair, Kelley Jones, Dale Keown & Jason Keith, Neal Adams & Alex Sinclair, Simon Bisley, Tony Harris, David Finch, Scott Hanna & Brad Anderson, Scott Williams & Alex Sinclair, John Romita Jnr, Danny Miki & Dean White, Adam Hughes, Francis Manapul, J. Scott Campbell & Nei Ruffino, Tim Sale, Bruce Timm and Babs Tarr with John Vernon as “The Mayor” Batman created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane DC COMICS, $5.99/£4.99 (Standard Ed.), $12.99/£9.99 (Deluxe Ed.) (2015)

PART THE FIRST: Oblique? C’est Chic!

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

On November 11th, 2015 it was reported in a number of British papers that David Cameron, the Prime Minister, had written to Oxfordshire council leader Ian Hudspeth criticising the council’s proposed cuts resulting from the austerity policies imposed by the very same Government of which David Cameron is Prime Minister. Dave was, we are told, “disappointed”. Dave’s disappointment was mostly because he is also the MP for Witney which is covered by the council. Austerity and cutbacks are okay as long as they don’t affect Dave’s constituency. So far, so Tory. Thankfully though like the great Statesman he is Dave pushed past his disappointment to offer Ian Hudspeth unsolicited assurances and advice on how to best allocate his reduced resources. Showing he is not without humour Dave tried out the old one about how in fact the Council had more money not less. Probably in “real terms” which is always a sign someone is having a laugh. Regrettably and no doubt to his eternal chagrin Ian Hudspeth had to point out the unfeasibility of Dave’s helpful suggestions and indeed also corrected a couple of erroneous underlying assumptions particularly the one about Dave’s government having given him more money; they hadn’t, they had taken some away. But my favourite of these hesitant corrections, and one which will prove pertinent to the Batman comic under discussion today, was Dave's wizard idea that council property be sold off as a solution to the funding deficit. Alas, Mr. Hudspeth had no alternative to remind Dave this wouldn’t work as they are one-off receipts, so you can’t keep selling the same buildings every year. And the moral of this story is as applicable to Prime ministers as it is to Entertainment Corporations: You can only sell the family silverware once.

PART THE SECOND: Imitation Is The Sincerest Form of Pandering!

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

Do you remember those splash pages with a one panel inset Frank Miller did in DKSA? Andy Kubert does. Herein Wonder Woman fights a minotaur for no clear reason except this is how Frank Miller introduced his characters in DKSA – with a big splashy action set piece which had little to do with anything which followed. A lot of the book is like this – Frank Miller did something in DKR or DKSA so DKIII:TMR does it too but takes up more space, has less spark, and has no idea why it’s doing it other than Frank did it first. There’s the Gotham skyline which was used by Miller to give the city a sense of being a huge gaudy (Gaudi? Oh, I can do wordplay too!) cathedral of heat hazed sin. Here the Gotham skyline is used to show us, uh, it’s Gotham. In DKR and DKSA Miller used insets of TV screens to comment on the culture of the time, the events portrayed and also the comic itself, while also employing them to propel the narrative forward and fill in exposition in a graceful and entertaining fashion. Here the same inset TV panels are used because Frank Miller used them, and here bear as much relation to satire as does a knock-knock joke. Like most of the visual language of the book it’s been purloined from the source with no thought as to its original purpose or intent. You could imagine Brian Azzarello and Andy Kubert noticing Frank Miller looks natty in a hat and buying themselves a couple only to go out wearing them on their arses. (The only people laughing would, of course, be Haters who had prejudged those hats, or fools who didn’t understand what Kubert and Azzarello were doing. Clearly.)

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

Then there’s the youth-speak, which in DKR was apparently contributed by Lynn Varley (and her rightly legendary colouring on DKR and DKSA is in no danger of being de-throned by the trendy lens-flare and banal gloss job of Brad Anderson) but here is by Brian Azzarello and…look, I’m inclined to leniency on this one, he has a pop. It’s not as good; it’s clumsy, ineffective and calls attention to itself more than it serves any real purpose. But, still, he has a pop. That scene also show a young POC being menaced by the cops which is so timely and relevant it’s a shame to point out the scene doesn’t go anywhere and is thus shameless attention seeking rather than any useful contribution to the debate about state sanctioned violence and institutionalised racism. I do have a sneaking suspicion that our harassed POC might turn out to be the new Robin (it won’t make the book any better but it might get some coverage; that’s what matters right? “White Man Writes Black Character in Comic Book! All Racist Violence Ends!”) Mind you, it’s reassuring to know that “The Man” is still the problem. If only we could find “The Man” and beard him in his lair! All our problems would be solved! Then we could all go down the “Disco” in our stack heels and “chat someone up”!

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

A similar sense of worldly awareness is indicated in the bit where Wonder Woman breast feeds her baby. In keeping with the rest of the book this takes a lot more panels than a normal human being might expect, or a writer with any self-respect would risk. Largely, I think here it takes so long to get the kid on the tit so that we all have plenty of time to get upset. Except no one has got upset. Nice try, Brian Azzarello but you failed for the same reason Matt Fraction failed with that outrage baiting issue of SATELLITE SAM which was just blow job central. Try getting out of the house a bit, guys. It’s 2015 not 1986, superstar-comic-book-writers-whose-reputations-and-influence-far-exceed-your-actual-accomplishments, and your notions of what gets people upset are a bit behind the times. Also, calling your book THE MASTER RACE isn’t “provocative” (calling it BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT: **** ALL YOUR MOTHERS is provocative. Not wise, but provocative.) and nor is seeing Wonder Woman breast feeding. Taking a dump on Superman’s chest? Sure, that’d probably get some tongues wagging even in this fallen age, but breast feeding kids not so much. I’ve sat next to complete strangers breast feeding their kids in cafes on public streets and I managed to neither touch myself lewdly nor call the peelers. Of course we won’t be seeing Wonder Woman laying some tarmac on Superman’s chest any time soon, not in this comic anyway because Superman is having a Supersulk in his Fortress of Solitude. At first I thought he was frozen and I couldn’t understand why his naughty daughter didn’t just unfreeze him with her eye beams. At first, I admit, I was ungenerous in my response and I thought it was just shitty writing. Then I figured he was just Supersulking and the ice had frozen over him. That’s still shitty writing because it’s basically saying in order for this plot to get going we need Superman out of the way so we’ll have him sulk. Batman will turn up and shout at him and Superman will get so angry he’ll break out of his ice and…look, I’m not getting paid for this so let’s leave it to the professionals. Believe you me those dudes are getting paid for it. Otherwise it’s just fan fiction. Which this isn’t. A lot of people get confused about the difference between fan fiction and professional fiction when there’s no need to. Professional fiction is precisely the same as fan fiction it just costs $5.99, or $12.99 for the Deluxe Edition.

INTERLUDE#1: I have seen The Future of Comics And It Is Expensive!

DKIII Cover by Jim Lee

Because, yes, this comic comes in a Deluxe Edition. For $12.99 you get precisely the same comic but at a bigger size and encased in hard covers. I kind of admire the satanic genius of this. This series alone is 8 issues and a couple of “Specials”; that’s around and about $120 dollars from each punter who signed up. Imagine if your entire line of comics were in that format. Sure, there’d be an audience drop off but at those prices you could probably absorb losses of around 70% of the comic buying public. This? This is the comics retailing equivalent of David Warner at the end of TIME BANDITS! This is Concentrated Evil! This is like the comics retailing equivalent of a first strike nuclear attack. (“We’ll lose Washington, but the Eastern seaboard should still be salvageable. Forecasts are bleak for Texas, and Mexico will fall into the sea. Predictions have Lootcrate picking up the slack when the Corn Belt goes. Mr President, those losses are acceptable to our shareholders. Let the prices soar. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”) Holy terror, wait until Marvel get wind of this. Imagine $12.99 for a single issue of a slim wisp of a Brian Bendis comic! And Marvel being Marvel they’ll probably double ship the shitters too. One day all comics will be this way. Are you ready for the world which is coming? Better start saving, kids! As for comics retailers, duck and cover mes amis, duck and bloody cover. Remember WAR GAMES: The only way to win is not to play!

PART THE THIRD: The World’s Finest Splash Page!

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

My main beef with this comic is it is so badly written. We don’t say we love each other enough and, more pertinently, we don’t say comics are badly written enough. Comics have never been so replete with visual wonders. The standard of art these days is off the scale and we critics find that hard to talk about, but not as hard as we do to point out the failings which are rapidly rotting the craft of writing away from within. Oh, hang on I should in all fairness point out that visually this book is hardly better than average. Andy Kubert’s art is slick but thoroughly unconvincing in terms of spatial dimensions; the size of the minotaur is hard to pin down; at one point there’s a police car parked lengthways in an alleyway which is too narrow for it; a few times Kubert channels Miller and David Mazzucchelli but somehow makes it dull; but you know, it’s slick enough stuff. A bit too slick really. You can just about tell Klaus Janson’s at work here, but you have to really squint. There’s none of that lively line flurry and sparky scribbliness which usually peps his stuff up. He’s saved all that for The Atom mini-comic. Because, yes, for some inexplicable reason halfway through the comic you come to a bit of cardboard affixed to which is a mini-comic about The Atom. I can’t believe Frank Miller wrote this mini-comic. Sure, he probably said “And then the dame, she goes and gets The Atom to make them big. Damn big. Maybe some whores are involved. Not the ones with bruised vaginal walls and PTSD. Fun ones. Fun whores. Big damn fun whores.” But the execution has Azzarello’s tin ear and indecent love of decompression smeared all over it like Deep Heat on an old man’s back. Actually, that’s’ unfair. Decompression is a legitimate narrative technique, this is just pissing about. Brian Azzarello doesn’t use decompression, that legitimises what he does; it plays right into his money filled hands. It’s pissing about. At one point a door opens and we get this:

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

That’s a full page splash that is. It’s then followed on the page turn by this:

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

This comic takes ONE AND A HALF splash pages to depict a door opening. Decompression, my pile ridden arse. Sort yourself out Azzarello, you’re a disgrace, man.

Frank Miller definitely drew some of this mini-comic, but mostly, I’d say, it’s Klaus Janson. Which is okay; Janson never gets enough credit for all the weight he carried at the tail end of Miller’s DAREDEVIL run. I like Klaus Janson and it’s nice to see him here, tidying up Frank in his dotage. Dabbing the egg from his chin, artistically speaking. The best bit of the minicomic, the whole comic even, is the cover which is drawn by Frank Miller and features a Superman who’s all creased up like a pug dog’s scrotum. I liked it, but then I like Frank Miller’s art. I’m not shuck, I know he has got old and I think something has undoubtedly taken its toll; both you and I know his line isn’t as sure as it was and there’s just something off about it. It’s a frailer Frank, but it’s still Frank. I guess crumpled-up-and-badly-flattened-out Superman won’t be to everyone’s taste, what with the outline of “Lil Kal-El” (his Superwinklestick!) clearly visible to boot, but, you know, it’s what Frank’s doing now, so I like it because I like to know what Frank’s up to. Shit, I’m just glad he’s still drawing breath never mind drawing Superman. It’s a wrap-around drawing so the back of it is stuck to the cardboard thus providing a physical manifestation for the respect with which the big Two treat the art of even the giants of the industry.

DKIII by Miller, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson & Robins

PART THE FOURTH: The Ernest Hemingway Memorial Award for Clarity and Economy of Prose 2015

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

So, yeah, I was starting to go on about the writing and then I went on about the art. I’m not going to spend much time on this bit because it’s depressing how badly written this comic is. And, yes, people can pretend Frank Miller wrote it but he didn’t, Brian Azzarello did. You can tell because all the flaws are Brian Azzarello’s characteristic flaws. You can also tell Frank Miller didn’t write this comic because Wonder Woman rescues a bunch of stereotypical natives straight out of a 1920s Tarzan serial and no one flinches. Look, if anyone thought for one hot second that Frank Miller had written a scene in which a bunch of POCs in loin cloths with stuff stuck through their noses ran about in big eyed fear, you best believe there’d have been a right ruckus. Oh, I’m sure these natives are well researched and based on currently existent tribes but that’s not really my point. My point is that this comic is badly written and not by Frank Miller, so let’s gets back to that point.

On page 9 we have this:

“They’re afraid. And they will be, until they are what they ARE most afraid of…Dead.”

Now, I don’t know, there might be a way to make that more convoluted and unpleasant to parse but I’m happy to die unaware of it.

On page 15 we’ve got Wonder Woman describing her stroll as “Wonderfully PEDESTRIAN”.

Do you need me to walk (heh!) you through that one? She is saying her walk was both dull and something she did with her feet. It’s funny, see, because she had a fight with a minotaur which is very far from pedestrian and it was, indeed, actually something she did with her feet! O! My aching ribs.

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

On the first page of The Atom mini-comic we have:

“When Jean divorced me, a fundamental scientific tenet I’d clung to—since being a mind-blown grade schooler hearing it for the FIRST TIME—was DEBUNKED. Everything—from Stephen Hawking’s BRAIN to a molten flash of goo bubbling at the Earth’s core—shared an undeniable COMMONALITY—That being, every damn atom in the UNIVERSE, was made from the SAME basic matter. Well, Having my HEART BROKEN meant NOTHING mattered.”

Sorry, Ray, I nodded off there. Jean left you? You don’t say, Ray! Why? Why would she do that? Why, you are such an interesting fellow what with your oh-so-convincing and not at all crude and excessive shoehorning in of shallow science-isms (fundamental, tenet, debunked, Stephen Hawking, molten, core, commonality, matter, universe, jism) and your pulse quickening randomly EMPHASISED speech patterns. Stephen Hawking’s BRAIN, you say! Golly, Ray, and yet you say JEAN left you? I bet the winter nights just flew BY for you two. An undeniable COMMONALITY, yet! C’mon, Ray, NO tears. It’s Jean’s loss, Ray. Honest. Here let’s make a VOLCANO with some Diet Coke and some MENTOS! SCIENCE, Ray! SCIENCE! Cry into the science, Ray! Science Won’t LEAVE you, Ray! Cry into the SCIENCE!

Seriously the whole things like this. Any chance which arises for characterisation is rudely shouldered out of the way so that Azzarello can parade another of his fundamentally empty linguistic pirouettes, which impress no one more than himself. Dreadful, dreadful, self-indulgent stuff. Personally I pick as the utter nadir of this approach what came on p.10 when Wonder Woman’s brain emitted this tripe:

“How many times have we saved them? A hundred? A HUNDRED hundred? Though the math may elude…the SENTIMENT does not.”

Rushing past the weird innumeracy of “a HUNDRED hundred” we get “…the math may elude…” Seriously? I was under the impression Wonder Woman was a kick-ass feminist Amazon breaking faces in the name of Peace and Love not some Elizabethan dandy-man.

There’s barely enough plot in this comic for half a comic, and then to dollop on top all this obnoxious showboating results in a not terribly well-written comic. That's a pretty basic mistake to make.

INTERLUDE #2: Exclusive Extract from Frank Miller’s John Ford’s “’TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE”!

Scene: The interior of YE OLDE COMIC EXPERIENCE. Scrolls and leather bound volumes festoon the sturdy shelving. A bear of a man (BRIAN A HIBBS) hunkers behind the counter tapping at an abacus, his florid and hirsute face cauliflowered in concentration. A small brass bell tinkles as the stout door opens inward and tumbling into the shop, resplendent in doublet and hose, cassock aswirl, is the slighter but no less furry figure of JEFF OF LESTER.

JEFF OF LESTER: “Privvy, Sirrah, hast thine crusty experience and tender mentals allowed thee to ably scry the quantities required for the 1:200 Jim Lee “Static and Over Rendered Variant”? Pray tell, lest FOC pass ne’er to return! Pray tarry not and fly thine answer on wings fleeter than Hermes!!”

BRIAN A HIBBS: “Hey nonny ho, a ho nonny hey! Nay, sweet Jeff. And ‘tis to fear I shall ne’er do such. FOR MAY THE DEVIL TAKE ME FOR A PAPIST, THE MATH DOTH ELUDE!

PART THE FIFTH: Concluding Remarks

DKIII by Kubert, Janson, Azzarello, Anderson, Robins & Miller

Basically I think I disliked this comic because whatever the faults of DKR and DKSA (of which there are none, clearly, but let’s pretend) they were both at core genuine expressions of a remarkable artistic vision. The DK books were Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s books. I bought them because I wanted to know what Frank Miller & Lynn Varley were up to now. I didn’t buy them just for fucking Batman. There’s plenty of fucking Batman comics as it is, but there aren’t a lot of Frank Miller and Lynn Varley Batman comics. DKIII:TMR thinks all I want is more fucking Batman comics. DKIII:TMR thinks all I want is a largely inept but still not entirely unentertaining Batman comic set in the Millerverse. DKIII:TMR thinks all I want is an unthreatening remix; a toothless rehash of familiar elements which speaks to an ultimately condescending view of the comic book audience and embodies a complacency the source texts actively kicked against. If DC had sold this book as an Azzarello and Kubert book set in the Millerverse I’d have been a lot more indulgent, I think. All its flaws are their usual flaws after all. But DKIII:TMR’s biggest flaw is to pretend it is Frank Miller when it is patently not.

And yet…

And yet…

…there is an easily sated part of me that doesn’t mind this comic for all its flaws (which are not small – characterisation, ostentatiously awful wordplay, sluggish pacing and a fatally mistaken sense of self-satisfaction shining up from every adequate page) because I don’t expect a great deal from a Batman comic, but there’s also a part of me that despairs that something so flawed (and they are not small flaws– characterisation, ostentatiously awful wordplay, sluggish pacing and a fatally mistaken sense of self-satisfaction shining up from every adequate page) can be treated as an Event. That what is basically a fan fiction pandering remix can be met with such acclaim. Cue STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS joke. DKIII:TMR as a comic is EH! As an Event it is CRAP!

And that’s it for 2015!

Thanks for all the magic, and I’ll see you in 2016 at some point when, in all likelihood, I’ll be writing about – COMICS!!!

Abhay: 2015-- Another Year that I Mindlessly Consumed Entertainment (almost)

Hello. Sorry it's been a long time since I've had opportunity to visit with you. How was your year? Good, I hope. Mine was busier than expected, maybe the busiest and most stressful I've had professionally since I started the whole occupation-thing in 2002. So, plans I had about what I wanted to write here were delayed. So were my plans to impress Jodie Foster, though, so you know, maybe some things are for the best. You were never out of my thoughts completely though, and I'm referring here both to you and also, to Jodie Foster. And so if you'll indulge me, I did want to do another collection of year-end lists, as I have in previous years.  I just like the doing of it, and I like having like a "personal tradition" to keep up, however silly. But this wasn't a year where I felt like as engaged as other years, with comics especially, but television and movies, as well. I watched more Youtube cooking videos this year than prestige television-- it sort of has been a "rebuilding year", in ways I won't bore you with here, so as a result, this is going to be a pretty uninformed series of lists, maybe embarrassingly so where comics especially are concerned.  Plus, because of timing issues, I'm writing it all in one night, and am very sleepy during the part of the process where I usually fix errors or delete things I shouldn't say murder all the babies in their cribs.  But maybe it'll go well.  Or maybe it'll go as well as the rest of our lives have this year OH NOOOOOOOOOO...

FAVORITE MOVIES

10. Mad Max

You know, this is the one I don't really want on this list. There are movies I'd probably like more that I didn't see this year-- CREED or SPOTLIGHT. I'd probably like the END OF THE TOUR, but I'm too turned-off by the whole "biography against the wishes of the person's families or loved ones" trend this year, or just have my own relationship with the David Foster Wallace work that means something to me (moreso the non-fiction) that I don't think I'm generous enough to open up to a movie.

There were just certain things I didn't connect with for this one, most of all Tom Hardy's Max, the speed of some of the editing towards the end (especially as compared the more thoughtfully-paced earlier movies), particular images (the masses of people at the city for some reason-- huge turn-off).

That said, it'd be foolish not to say I didn't admire the obvious strengths of it-- that spectacular first action chase, the character work on Charlize Theron's character and her performance of it, the practical effects, the comparative emphasis on visual storytelling as compared to other summer blockbusters, the lack of bullshit. It was the only movie I felt like I needed to see twice in the theaters (though the second time through didn't persuade me any more, like I was hoping it might). I don't think I feel about it the way the rest of the internet feels, so it feels false and disingenuous to be on the list-- I respected it much more than I loved it. But anything else I'd put here would be more embarrassing, by comparison.

9. Clouds of Sils Maria

I'm not sure how to describe this one. This is an Olivier Assayas movie showcasing Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart, who are really kind of dynamite together. Binoche is an aging actress undergoing a sort of spiritual destruction during the course of agreeing to this play, and the movie does this thing where over the course of the movie, anything feminine about her just gets shredded away. I find that's the thing about the movie that's stuck with me more than anything, just seeing her at the end, transformed for this part, having lost herself in the process. Stewart plays her assistant, and has one of those roles that sort of comments on the rest of her career while at the same time... not just being some kind of stunt or shtick. Though there's a scene of the two reacting in different ways to an X-Men movie that's sort of a highlight of the movie...? It might not be a lot of people's kind of thing, being a character study and a movie about acting and all that, kind of up its own ass a little, but I was willing to go with it.

8. A Girl Walks Home at Night

Was this a 2014 movie? It was still in a theater when I saw it, but I don't remember when it first came out. I just loved it, though. Not for very subtle reasons-- it's about my very favorite thing for a movie to be about: a remarkably good looking actress, doing whatever the hell, who gives a shit. Nominally, it's some shit about vampires or something-- it's all in black-and-white and intimates that it's taking place somewhere in Iran (though it was actually shot somewhere in California). But the movie just has these moments of swooning -- swooning!-- over the couple in this movie and their romance, that I felt helpless not to agree with, got swept up in. I'd compare it to the Faye Wong stretch of Chungking Express, which just had that same infectious romance enough to power the entire movie.

7. Mission Impossible: Motorcycle Protocol

This movie just hits so many of the big pleasure centers of my brain, where it comes to movies: SPIES! CHASE SCENES! HITCHCOCK! KNIFEFIGHTS!

Plus, the movie has a bonus value which I used to get out of Bond movies, before they ran those movies into the ground for the dour "let's make this fun superhero super-serious" crowd:  that when I watch it, I want my own life to be a little better. Watching Tom Cruise reverse-leap off a pipe makes me want to do sit-ups more than anything else on this planet. I need to do sit-ups! I need the motivation! Or watching a whole gunfight at an opera-house where everyone with guns has a tuxedo on-- I haven't worn a tuxedo in, what, 15-25 years...? I haven't been to an opera house except one time, on a class field trip (it sucked, I was 13 and wanted to be reading New Mutants comics instead, but that's besides the point)(or is it? New Mutants: The Opera-- make it happen, Julie Taymor! Spraypaint some bird feathers onto a halloween mask and make us some money, Taymor!)

You'd probably be correct to sneer at Male Lifestyle Porn, but you know, ridiculous images of male hypercompetence just seems like an overall healthier fantasy subject than the sort of "look at this broken failure creep shithead" that Bond or Batman or these other action movies find so "adult." At least if your ultimate goal is cultivating a positive and productive outlook. Granted, I don't know if that's ever been my goal, ever. But... there's also a part where Tom Cruise is on a motorcycle and it goes really fast...? So. I liked that part, too. VROOM!

6. Cartel Land

Oh, I saw this the other day-- I don't know if it's one that's going to stick with me, but I thought this was a good one. It's a documentary about the violence of Mexican drug cartel, and vigilante groups that arise in the United States and Mexico with the stated goals of fighting the cartels. The movie digs into the vigilante groups, particularly the Mexican vigilantes, with such a penetrating gaze -- they go way deeper than I'd guessed they would, at the outset, at least. I think part of it is that I really enjoyed seeing a good movie about the cartels after seeing that movie Sicario just shit all over the bed, writingwise. The part I expect might stick with me with this movie is the end-- it just ends in such a way that's so ... It'd be wrong to call it cynical, but that seems to be the word people use whenever a thing ends with any kind of despair to it, however well earned. But god, what a mess. What a fucking mess.

5. The Hateful Eight

I'm in the tank for Tarantino at this point, just because he's been making movies, his movies, through my life and they've all been so much their own thing, so off on their own aesthetic universe. And now, standing as a bulwark for that tradition of movies, one that not a lot of people are out there even pretending to care about, not when there's blockbuster money to be made. Oh, there are directors working today that I like more-- I like the Coen Bros. more, I think, just in that they have a thematic consistency and work ethic I admire more, even if they've made inarguably worse movies over their careers; I really dug the Wolf of Wall Street so Scorcese out there, still able to pull of a Scorcese movie after all these years, that still feels like the argument-ender, even if he made boring-ass Hugo or whatever other piece of shit inbetween. But any Tarantino movie, by comparison to any of those other people feels the most like a fulfillment of that core idea of what's so appealing about movies to begin with, how they're the greatest trainset there is.

That's true even in this movie, one of his least "interesting" movies in a number of different respects (besides just being interesting for being entertaining). I just particularly enjoyed with this one how dedicated the movie was to fucking with the people watching in every possible capacity. Did you have the moment in the middle of the movie, counting on your fingers, going "wait, how many people are in this movie?" I really loved that moment, and that moment felt very emblematic of what was fun about the entire thing. A movie you can't trust about people you can't trust, where you root for people for reasons you maybe shouldn't entirely trust, either. Who else could get away with it?

4. It Follows

I'm not a huge horror fan, but I admired this movie. I admired that they didn't let having such a great idea for a monster push them off into doing a movie about the rules of that monster, the mythology of the monster, the shit about the monster no one really would care about besides the filmmakers and the geeks. I admired that they trusted more in the atmosphere and the metaphors of the thing. Plus, the best score, by a million miles.

3. The Big Short

It's such a funny movie, ping-ponging around with such erratic, willfully-imperfect filmmaking, jittery, constantly changing thoughts mid-sentence. But now, weeks later, I don't think about any of that and instead, I just keep thinking about Steve Carrell at the end of this movie, talking about who would get blamed. If that's what I'm thinking about weeks later, I have to figure other people are too, and I have to figure that means they nailed it.

2. Mistress America

I walked out of the theater the happiest from this movie than any other movie this year, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig's exuberant screwball comedy about characters who are so frantic and desparate and achingly sad. I don't know how many other people are working the funny-sad vein besides Baumbach, but he's been working it a long time now and I've been a sucker for it more often than I would have ever guessed-- I'm always caught by surprise, liking one of his movies-- they all sound so horrible on paper! Oh, but this movie-- it's just a movie where you'd have to be a schmuck to feel any one thing about the characters, other than to just feel happy about how much the movie fucking loves them, you know? Without being saccharine, sentimental, pointless. I don't know any movie liked its characters nearly as much, or where I felt as much the same way-- just such a warm hug of a movie. Plus, my favorite soundtrack of the year.

1. Wild Tales

This wasn't the "best" movie I saw this year, by any number of criteria, but at some point, I realized this Argentinian anthology movie was the movie I kept judging everything against, anyways.

Just because nothing was ever as just high on movies as this movie. The obvious comparison point is to Pulp Fiction, but that comparison would miss the anger of the movie, how angry it felt, how it didn't feel like it was about nothing even as it went from black-comedy gag to black-comedy gag. Maybe sometimes angry about things that as a non-Argentinian I never really fully understood or appreciated, but it felt so immediate. An often imperfect movie-- not every story is as good as the next one, in this collection of shorts. But just the collective effect of it all-- it's just like watching a rampage! This had my favorite shot of the year in it -- you'll know it right away-- but I wouldn't reduce it down to just that. I can't say I felt uplifted by it or hugged by it or any kind of nonsense talk like that-- it's a long snickering-at-people kind of thing.

If I had to guess, here's what I would guess: It just felt like a movie that came to the party awake, ready to dance and have some fun. I compared everything to that spirit, and I just don't know I can say it ever got beaten in that sole respect.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• American Harmony -- not a 2015 movie, but this documentary about barbershop quartet would be at, oh, #3 or #4 if it was. Presented by Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster. I don't think anything made me laugh anywhere near as hard.  Constantly jaw-dropping.
• Paul Walker lying on the ground staring up at the sky after escaping death in Fast 8 -- the rest of the movie was the rest of the movie, but this was one of my top 3 favorite moments in any movie this year.
• Bing Bong.
• Colin Firth touching God for a few minutes, in the otherwise so-so Kingsmen movie.
• The 2-3 minutes of atompunk in the otherwise execrable Tommorowland, which should be avoided except for those 2-3 almost-perfect minutes, at least if that imagery is your bag.
• Goodnight Mommy had the  best audience reactions. Goddamn, people were losing their shit watching this movie.
• Malin Akerman's little dance at the end of The Final Girls.

WORST MOVIE

The new James Bond was fucking terrible, but I just have to figure I'm not a huge Sam Mendes fan or a fan of the over-serious direction they've headed in overall. I hated Avengers 2 and disliked Jurassic World, but I didn't expect anything from either, so I can't pretend to be let down.

But the one I kept going "uggghhh" in my head to the most was Sicario, even though it was so beautifully shot by Roger Deakins. It was just such bullshit! So phony!  Such bad plotting -- what was the plot of that movie?  What did anyone want?  Why did that movie hate Emily Blunt so much-- I think she's super and has pretty arms???   Just unbearably-stupid macho nonsense-- who was mentally engaged by this movie, and what was their favorite Frank Miller comic? WHAT WAS THEIR FAVORITE FRANK MILLER COMIC YOU KNOW THEY HAD ONE???  At least Frank Miller can ink a page!  An extremely Islamophobic page!

I enjoyed watching it immensely while I was watching it, thanks to Deakins, but just a movie that sours every day in my memory of it.

FAVORITE COMICS

10. Private Eye

I was hoping to read more online comics this year-- I kept hearing people I trust talk up Jason Shiga's Demon, especially, or Charles Forsman's Revenger. Time wasn't really on my side. I did make it through this Brian Vaughan - Marcos Martin detective comic, though. It was okay, kind of a generic mystery story enlivened by its future LA setting and Vaughan's world-building...? For Vaughan, better than what I've seen of Paper Girls; less interesting than Saga. The best part with this was seeing Martin getting his head around reorienting his art for computer screens, trying out different things.

9. COPRA

I'm just behind on COPRA. It's one of my favorite things going, and I should probably rank it higher for that reason, but I've just been saving up issues for a rainy day. Of what I saw, I can say that I continue to very much enjoy Copra. I keep telling myself I'm going to write about it properly someday, but until then, I don't want to half-ass it, so...

This entry could easily also be Stray Bullets too-- I'm behind on that series, but I thought that last run, Killers, was very strong work, and the issues I saw of it this year were also very likable.  I'm just too behind on both of these comics because I'm waiting until my focus is really back where it needs to be to sit with them. I don't want to be looking at these things when I'm not ready to appreciate them, you know? I don't want to treat them like potato chips...

8. Kevin Czap's Futchi Perf 

Sure, this comic had room for improvement, on the writing side just in telling clearer, cleaner A-to-B stories, at least if you believe in the virtue of that kind of thing. But that having been said, it really caught me in a good place when I cracked it open. It was one I got through the mail, and I remember that day, I was just having one of those moments of, you know, gratitude or whatever, just in a good mood, feeling pretty groovy. Getting this comic dropped into my life unexpectedly really fit that overall vibe that day. Because it's very handcrafted-- it's got a texure to it that's just pleasant to hold in your hands, that comic-- I forget what Brian calls it, "good hold"...? The way the colors work, the way they look on the paper, and just the generous spirit especially that it starts with of setting its stories in this ultra-optimistic culturally harmonious version of Cleveland... You know, if your buzz from comics is that they're the most personal and one-on-one of all the visual storytelling media, and if you're having a good day, this comic can be pretty good times. This is a fond comics memory for this year for me.

7. Ronald Wimberly's #LIGHTEN UP

It seems like not a lot of comics "went viral" this year besides this one, or if they did, I don't remember them much-- but this one definitely did and it was a pretty good one. Obviously, there's the politics of the thing -- but I'm tired tonight and don't feel like belaboring any of that here. But even setting all that aside, I thought it was just an effective comic in how it's laid out, how gracefully he made his point. It's just an engaging comic to look at, the choices he makes for what to draw, how he mixes showing him reacting to things in the more narrative panels with panels more graphically laying out his internal thought processes. Or I like the different approaches to lettering-- white letters on black backgrounds, black letters on all white panels, white letters on flat colors, etc.-- the way those different choices kind of effected the "tone" of his voice. You know, probably still room for improvement-- the panel of the pin going towards the donkey's ass-- that whole panel, I wasn't so into, a little too cutesy on that one, not my favorite one. But after that, the last two panels are killers. Stone-cold killers. The reaction it got was well deserved because he was saying interesting things-- but he also saying those things in interesting ways, and it just feels... I don't know, it feels dumb in a way that's hard to articulate not to mention that, too.

6. Prez

I'm behind on this Vertigo series, but I thought the first two were pretty funny. Jokes that are funny? In a DC comic? That is a rare skill. Plus, it's sort of in that genre of wacky satirical-future comics that ... I feel like that used to be more of a thing in comics, and just went away...? Is that just in my head? It feels like not a lot of people have worked that vein in the last little while...

5. Kaptara

Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod teaming up for a He-Man/Krull-Universe nervous breakdown. The first issue of this-- not so great, but past that, I thought it was a fun adventure-comedy.  There's a balancing act to the book that I find likable, steering between loving childish shit while at the same time being horrified at the idea of grown-ups loving childish shit, adults tainting childish shit by sticking around it too long-- I'm not sure how much of that's intentional or in my head, though.  Mostly, I'd really dug Prison Funnies and Infinite Kung Fu back in the long time ago, and it was always kinda crazy-making that people weren't really paying more attention to those guys back then. So it's just kind of nice seeing those two having a big hit Image series. It proves that X number of years ago, I was right, and that's all I really care about, ever, ever, just being right, just want to be right.  I hope people rediscover the Judgment Night soundtrack next because that soundtrack had some strong ideas about how we could combine rap music and rock music that are worth revisiting.

4. Casanova: Something or Another #1

I loved the first two volumes of Casanova, give or take an issue here or there, but the last series had been really hard to connect with, at least for me-- and I think purposefully on the book's end of things. I haven't really heard other people express that frustration so maybe it was just me, but that third volume was a comic very much about dismantling all the things that I liked about Casanova to begin with, and had reacted so favorably to Casanova to begin with... I had a rough time with that. I think it had to go to that place-- the pop culture armors around Casanova had to be ripped away and destroyed. But it made for a hard book to feel any great affection for.  That having been said, the first issue of this fourth volume really hit me hard because it felt like what all that other stuff had been cleared away to make room for...? Especially there's a moment in this comic of a girl at a party by a pool that's just so ... present-tense, and just ... Casanova at its best just feels drunk on comics, and for me, that pool scene had that quality as much as any of the peak moments in that book's run. And the rest-- LA apocalyptic cult shit? I mentioned in talking about that Mission Impossible movie how some genre things are just pleasure centers for me, and ... yeah... LA apocalyptic cults? That shit landed like bombs for me.  The rest of the series? You know, highs and lows. I didn't have much use for that latest issue, but the one before it, I thought that one had some groovy stuff in it. Strikes and gutters. But what a start...

3. Lumberjanes

This had gotten by me until this year. You've probably heard about this one before -- I don't really have much interesting to add about it. It lived up to the hype.

2. Exquisite Corpse

This is an extremely light and frothy romantic comedy by Penelope Bagieu, who is more famous in France for being a blogger-cartoonist. I'd heard of her work for years so it was nice to finally see some of it in action. This isn't a very deep or sophisticated comic-- it's a very lightweight piece of work; I wouldn't expect it to be on too many Top 10 lists probably let alone this high.  But just a book whose merits I particularly appreciated when I read it, I guess-- the character acting, especially. And you know... look at this list! Holy crap I did not care about comics this year! Not enough to have a really cool list!  This is a terrible list! Oh man...

1. Sacred Heart 

Liz Suburbia's unsupervised-teens epic. I'd seen some of it online before, though it was all redrawn for this Fantagraphics re-release. Sacred Heart's very much a big sprawling ensemble piece -- when those are done well, that's just something to see for a comic, I think. The underlying mystery of what's going on in that comic is a little on the fuzzy side, but I enjoyed watching this graphic novel prowl through this small town, seeing Suburbia draw out the characters' lives...

HONORARY MENTION

If you're interested in interviews about manga, what a year. The translated discussion between Naoki Urasawa & Hisashi Eguchi would ordinarily be the highpoint, especially their talking about pre-Akira Katsuhiro Otomo. I know that section lead me to track down Family, from 1979's Highway Star (which was actually the best comic I read this year, though it felt awkward to mention on a top 10 list, being (a) from 1979 and (b) a fan scanlation-- it felt like you're not supposed to put a comic like that on a top 10 list).

But that was just the warm-up to the Naoki Urasawa television show, where he follows different manga artists and talks with them as a camera-rig he specially designed for his show films them drawing their comic pages. I don't know if you're a process junkie, but if you are, this is the motherload, Shangri-La, the philosopher's stone, the end of the rainbow. It's a multi-episode show about drawing comics, starring one of my favorite comic creators in the world talking with a cast of killers, absolute killers (there's an episode untranslated online of Golgo 13 artist Takao Saito but I haven't seen a translated copy of that episode around yet). There has never been anything equivalent to this.

WORST COMIC

I made it until December before a comic actually angered me. I kept hearing about this guy Tom King...? He's the Latest Guy, by the sound of it. And hey, congratulations to him on being the Latest Guy. That's a swell thing to be, I hope, for however long that lasts.  But anyways, I heard about this guy, so while I was at a shop for the first time in, oh, 3-4 months (?)(More?), I picked up one of his comics.  There's a new Vision comic from Marvel, #1 issue, him and Gabriel Hernandez Walta-- I think I'd even heard people specifically talking up these Vision comics as being, like, a big deal, the latest "hey even though it's a Marvel comic it's actually blah blah blah" buzz comic.

Seventeen pages.

Seventeen pages before I'm looking at a full-page splash of a woman getting a sword shoved through her torso.

I know there's a tradition to it. I'm not saying that Tom King hasn't joined a long and proud lineage before him...

But do you think after the aliens murder us all, when they're picking through the rubble, they'll pick up a comic and be like "why did the nerdy male humans fantasize so much about the torsos of the female humans being stabbed so much?" I don't think that'll happen because I don't believe the aliens will speak English-- also, I think the aliens will use high-powered laser weapons which will incinerate all of the comic books, good and bad alike.

And I get that other people don't share my aversion to seeing women getting constantly skewered in comic books. Other people are, like, whatever about that. Heck, maybe I'm the weird one. Sure. I kind of will admit that I have issues about-- about all sorts of stuff, where I react extra-negatively to this kind of imagery. I just ... I don't get why no one even notices, why it's not even mentioned, "oh by the way Tom King shares comic's bizarre insistence that women's torsos be constantly stabbed." Why don't people warn each other?  Would the butchering of women be a spoiler to you people?

At this point if a fucking superhero comic didn't have a woman's torso being decimated, I would be more surprised. I'd want a spoiler warning. "Spoiler warning-- no violence against women."

Is it... is it like some kind of Satanic or Freemason rite that all comics writers have to go through if they want to be Famous at comics? Do they have to destroy a woman's torso before they'll be accepted as a "Real comics writer" at one of those fucking Marvel retreats, when they're all licking goat-blood from off a pentagram? Is it all Lovecraftian?

... When did I ever sign up for this, is what I keep asking myself? I remember being a little kid -- I just wanted to read about Captain America throwing a metal disc at people's heads, resulting in their permanent brain damage -- you know, like a normal person! I never signed up for hating women's torsos! (I kinda think women's torsos are fun to look at and/or touch-- GASP!  Does that make me unclean???). When did that become part of the whole nerd-thing? Why is this a thing with you people?

So you know, I'm sure Tom King's great and all, when it comes to entertaining you people, with your weird anti-torso issues, and your generally-speaking being fucked in the head. Congratulations to the guy-- if I know comics, he really picked a surefire route to success -- no one in comics ever went broke making comics where women get butchered like cattle.  Congratulations to him.  But uhhhh, just... you know... After a year kind of not being all that invested mentally in comics, this ... This just didn't fucking help.

FAVORITE TELEVISION

10-- Rick & Morty -- Total Rickall

The one with Mr. Poopybuthole. I don't really know what else I can say about that. Seems self-explanatory.

9-- Doctor Who -- Heaven Sent

I'd counted this show out, I suppose, but this episode of Peter Capaldi trapped in a prison is just a hall-of-fame episode. I just really like that the core of it is so strong, they could have done this episode any year they've been making Doctor Who. JJ Abrams has talked a lot about mystery boxes over the years, but this puzzle of an episode just seemed to deliver on that idea more than he's ever managed to. Hell, it just seemed to deliver on the entire idea of Doctor Who more than so many episodes manage, especially in the last few years. I know they can't all be like this one. But goddamn, why can't they all be like this one??

8-- Inside No. 9 -- Cold Comfort

The "villain" of this piece-- politically, very uncool and offensive. That having been said, this was a pretty memorable half-hour of TV. Inside No. 9 is a Twilight Zone / Tales from the Darkside anthology show over in the UK, usually a show with dark gag-endings, but no other episode has been as unsettling or effective as this one, about volunteers at a suicide hotline crisis-center. Because even if it had a thriller plot on the surace, scrape all that away and what do you have? A suicide crisis hotline-center. That's a lot to think about, even before you start talking story or characters.

7--3:

• Daily Show -- Finale of the Jon Stewart Era
• Mad Men -- The Second-to-Last Episode
• Justified -- The Last Episode
• Late Night with David Letterman -- the Last Episode
• Parks & Recreation -- Final Episode

It seems silly to even put these in any order. I don't know there's any TV show I'm nearly as invested in as any one of these left standing.  (Maybe SNL...?) (There was also the final episode of Community in 2015, though that show had ended so many times previously, it was hard to get as broken up over it.) Whereas: Jon Stewart's someone I've been following since Talk Show Jon, Parks & Recreation had a particularly excellent final season,  Justified had always been an underrated show and stuck its landing just perfectly -- and landed it with an ending that felt like an Elmore Leonard ending, Mad Men was the best drama on TV while it was on (including Breaking Bad -- suck it), and David Letterman had been there and represented something in my head, my entire life, since early memories.

I don't know-- I kind of want to get off the "Golden Age of Television" train and all of these shows ending this year felt like ... I want to take it as a sign. We'll see, I guess.

Mad Men, I'd just put the second-to-last over the final, final episode, in that the second-to-last episode had the best moment of the final season and maybe the best single moment of the year in television-- Peggy Olsen carrying Japanese pornography down a hallway, wearing sunglasses.  Sometimes people attack that show and sometimes they pull it off, but usually I don't even know what the hell they were watching...

2-- Three Days in Hell

Andy Samberg's tennis comedy. There has needed to be a great tennis comedy for a very, very long time, and this one had about a million things in it that made me laugh. There was some good comedy in the "incredibly stupid" school of comedy this year-- the Wet Hot American Summer show had plenty. But this felt pretty obviously like the winner of that particular competition, for David Copperfield alone.

1-- Master of None -- Mornings

Oh man, I'm getting pretty tired and bored of my own voice. This show just meant the most to me, and this was the best episode of the show, the one where they put away jokes or making sociopolitical statements or sucking up to Indian parents, and just went all-in on the relationship story. I've been playing that Arthur Russell song on my commute lately since watching this episode. I've been rolling out my own pasta lately, too-- some of that's this episode, probably.

The Golden Age of TV used to be shows that were really struggling with Right Now, whats going on Right Now. And then the geeks swarmed in, and now it's shows about dragons and zombies and the Rapture and Marvel superheros-- who gives a fuck? This show felt like it was about things I actually care about right now, every which way, from the relationship talk, to the show's constant emphasis on empathy, to over-reading Yelp, to the pasta (the tough part's getting the flour-to-egg ratio right-- I still haven't gotten that part down).

And just the filmmaking, the location shooting, the soundtrack (the Pete Rock & CL Smooth drop is one of the best music drops like that I've ever seen in a TV show)-- it all just felt like people who were very present in what they were doing, with so much of the bullshit that's usually inbetween stripped away.

I just loved it very much.

HONORARY MENTION:

At some point this year, I realized that I was going to be working on a very exhausting schedule, and I came up with this idea-- my idea was that I would eliminate choice in what TV show I would watch so that when I came home from a long day of work, I could put on a show, and not have to spend time thinking about what I'd want to watch. That would mean I'd need a show with a lot of episodes, and some reason to want to watch more than one-- you know, some kind of soap opera element.

I chose a show called Pretty Little Liars.

Pretty Little Liars is one of the most popular shows in the country. Provided, that is, that you're a 15-25 year old woman. Outside of that demographic, not quite as wildly popular. And so I found that very intriguing because I'm sick of being in someone's target demographic. I'm sick of being marketed to, sick of things built for me by people who think I'm a moron, that I'm someone they can put in some well-defined box of market research. And I think in choosing this show, I wanted to break away from this programming that has all of us staying in our lanes. Why should we stay in our lanes? The whole point of art is to get out of our lanes. So why not watch a show meant for teenage girls? Right? Pretty good theory, I thought.

One small twist: it turns out this show is a little on the fucking insane side, and less a window into what life's like for modern teenagers, and more a window into ... ludicrousness...? Supposedly, it's a show about 4-to-5 girls who have to confront a villain who is blackmailing them with their teen secrets. So that sounds like a pretty straightforward teen thriller, right? But in practice... I really honestly don't even know where to start. There's the part where they're on a Halloween train, and Draculas start singing. The part where there's a fight in a sawmill against identical girls wearing red Don't Look Now jackets. There's a part where they leave town and go to another town where a lady has Dune eyes and then they meet ghosts. The teen blackmailer has an underground bunker and access to Star Trek equipment. At one point, there was a part involving human teeth that ... I don't know what I could type here to describe this moment that would actually sound like Human English. Or- or- oh god there was a part with a horseshoe that... The Horseshoe! (Begins wildly gesticulating having lost all ability to type words)

I did not expect what I got when I chose this show. They solved the multi-season long caper of "Who is the Blackmailer" over the summer (and their solution was incomprehensible and deeply offensive, like unquestionably sociopolitically offensive, indefensible in multiple ways).  But for me, the journey to get to that was so often... just inexplicable and unique and wonderful that I am ... filled with a gratitude, but also a genuine and very unshakable befuddlement as to ... like... why? Why did they make any of the choices that they made when they made this show? Why?

And now, basically, the long and short of it is regular television shows are no longer interesting to me, in so far as they are merely sane, and all the food I eat tastes like ashes. Basically.

WORST TV:

Daredevil-- Episode 8 -- Shadows in the Glass

I tried watching that Daredevil show, but quit after watching this episode. I hadn't realized I had made it that far-- I think I fast-forwarded a lot. But then I hit this moment in this episode that was so fucking infuriating...

Cast your memory back-- this is a show that when it came out, people online started to pretend it was a "Crime epic", or a "Real crime show", or "not fucking bullshit." So that was the context I was watching it, assuming I was watching something that was trying to be a real television crime show instead of just junky dweeby nonsense. And the show kinda pretends along for a little while, especially with the Kingpin parts, where they build up this mystery-- who is the Kingpin? Who is this mysterious figure that no one in the city knows, no one in the city has met, but runs all of the crime in the city from the shadows?

This episode answers that question by having KINGPIN HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE! Which Daredevil "sees" when it is broadcast live.

But why would TV news stations broadcast a man's press conference if they don't know who he is???  The whole rest of the show is that no one in the city knows who the Kingpin of crime is, that a Kingpin of crime even exists! So, to the people in the world of this show-- some random man is like "I'm throwing a press conference" and rather than, you know, videotape it, review the footage, edit it, and then report on it if it's actually newsworthy, TV news stations on this show instead just put whatever-the-fuck on live TV...? "People need to see this! We don't know who this is or what he's going to say or whether he might take out his penis, but let's roll the dice and put him out on live Television."

And then what does he say in this press conference that is inexplicably getting broadcast throughout the city's airwaves?

He tells people his name. Because they don't know who the fuck the strange man inexplicably spouting inane gibberish at them is!  They're watching a press conference from a person whose name they don't know!  And that's the best written part of that entire scene-- every other bit of dialogue in that scene is just the rankest shit. He's just someone TV stations have randomly put on TV to introduce himself to people, like some kind of weird dating video...

What the fuck was this bullshit and why were people pretending they were watching an epic crime show when one of the most pivotal scenes in the show is that fucking terribly written??? When the Pretty Litle Liars flush human teeth down a toilet, I at least don't have to hear nitwits pretend they're watching some Golden Age of TV when the toilet flushes! I stopped watching all these Marvel shows after that-- the internet's just not to be trusted -- too many people are too desperate to fool themselves into thinking they're watching an Achievement in Television Sciences while they jerk off to dimestore junk-- only teenage girls understand what I want to watch on television anymore!

SHORT VIDEOS, COMEDY SKETCHES, ETC.

5.  Inside Amy Schumer- "Last Fuckable Day"

4.  Saturday Night Live-- "Meet Your Second Wife"

3. Hell's Club

2.  The Theatrical Trailer for ROAR

1.  Key & Peele- "Negrotown"

Arriving 12/30/15 (edited!)

Last new comics of the year. Small week but cool stuff with new ANT-MAN, WE(L)COME BACK and BLACK MAGICK! Do note though that some shops, on the west coast at least, aren't receiving new comics till Wednesday morning but they are still on sale Wednesday. So be kind to your favorite comic shop people, it will be a hard day.

[EDIT: Books with an asterisk have been asked to NOT BE SOLD on Wednesday, and odds are good that most, but not all, stores will comply with this.]

Click the cut for the rest!

ALL NEW WOLVERINE #3 *AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #6 ARCHIE WINTER ANNUAL DIGEST #265 ASTONISHING ANT-MAN #3 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #13 BATMAN EUROPA #3 (OF 4) BLACK CANARY #6 BLACK MAGICK #3 BOBS BURGERS ONGOING #7 CAPTAIN AMERICA WHITE #5 (OF 5) CARNAGE #3 CHEWBACCA #5 (OF 5) CLARENCE REST STOPS #1 CODE PRU #1 CONAN THE AVENGER #21 DEADPOOL AND CABLE SPLIT SECOND #1 (OF 3) DOCTOR FATE #7 DRAX #2 DREAMING EAGLES #1 DRIVE #3 (OF 4) EAST OF WEST #23 FISTFUL OF BLOOD #3 (OF 4) FLASH #47 GOD IS DEAD #46 HARLEY QUINN & POWER GIRL #6 (OF 6) HENCHGIRL #3 *HOWARD THE DUCK #3 HOWLING COMMANDOS OF SHIELD #3 JAMES BOND #3 JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #10 JUGHEAD #3 JUSTICE LEAGUE #47 LAST SONS OF AMERICA #2 LAZARUS #21 LOBSTER JOHNSON GLASS MANTIS ONE SHOT MARVELS CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR PRELUDE #2 (OF 4) MEGA MAN #55 MERCURY HEAT #6 MORNING GLORIES #49 *NOVA #3 *OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN #1 (OF 5) OMEGA MEN #7 ORPHAN BLACK HELSINKI #2 (OF 5) RAGNAROK #7 RAT QUEENS #14 RINGSIDE #2 *ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT #1 RUMBLE #10 SPAWN #259 *SPIDER-MAN 2099 #5 *SPIDEY #2 SQUADRON SUPREME #2 SUPERMAN ANNUAL #3 SUPERMAN LOIS AND CLARK #3 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #24 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #2 TRAIN CALLED LOVE #4 (OF 10) TRANSFORMERS SINS OF WRECKERS #2 (OF 5) WAR STORIES #15 WELCOME BACK #4 WONDER WOMAN #47

Books/Mags/Things ASTRO BOY OMNIBUS TP VOL 02 CRYSTAL CADETS TP GAHAN WILSON OUT THERE TP GHOST RACERS TP GREEN ARROW TP VOL 04 BLOOD OF THE DRAGON ILLUSTRATORS MAGAZINE #12 JESSICA JONES TP VOL 04 ALIAS KUROSAGI CORPSE DELIVERY SERVICE OMNIBUS ED TP BOOK 02 MU ULT SPIDER-MAN WEB WARRIORS DIGEST TP VOL 03 MY LITTLE PONY A CANTERLOT WEDDING TP NIGHTWING TP VOL 03 FALSE STARTS PLANET HULK TP WARZONES REVIVAL TP VOL 06 THY LOYAL SONS & DAUGHTERS SQUARRIORS TP SUPERMAN DOOMED TP X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE TP VOL 03 OMEGA

AS always, what do YOU think?

“I Think of Dollar Signs. The Rest is Easy.” COMICS! Sometimes I Think Some Folk Need To Remember You Can Only Sell The Family Silverware Once!

Yeah, so I'm not getting it together at all over here. Sorry. Let's just leave it as I'll be back in the New Year then we all know where we are. But wait! No one leaves empty handed! So until we next meet let me gift you with the pathetic results of what happens when an old man messes with Paint. Yes! Please be seated and feast your eyes upon a tribute to DKIII: The Childishly Trollingly Fascistic Title, with particular emphasis upon the rocket ship pacing and Shakespearean word play of Brian Azzarello and, naturally, the visually scintillating fireworks of Andy Kubert.

DARK KNIGHT III: THE MASTER RACE by Andy Kubert, Klaus Janson, Frank Miller(?) & Brian Azzarello

I sincerely thank each and everyone one of you for your patience, attention and forbearance during 2015 and I hope to see you all in 2016. Have a great Holiday Season!

Anyway this...

All artwork by Andy Kubert & Klaus Janson.

Merry Christmas! See you in 2016 for – COMICS!!!

Arriving 12/23/15

Blah blah holidays blah blah new comics.SAGA #32 right? That is why you are evening reading this? Plus new ISLAND and DARK KNIGHT III.

Check the cut for the rest of the fresh holiday comics!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #5 ANGELA QUEEN OF HEL #3 AQUAMAN #47 ARCADIA #7 ART OPS #3 ASTRO CITY #30 BATMAN 66 MEETS THE MAN FROM UNCLE #1 (OF 6) BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #12 BETTY & VERONICA COMICS DOUBLE DIGEST #239 BLOODSHOT REBORN #9 BTVS SEASON 10 #22 CHEW #53 CYBORG #6 DAREDEVIL #2 DAREDEVIL #2 VAR DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #2 (OF 8) DARTH VADER #14 VDWN DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS #7 DEADLY CLASS #17 DEADPOOL #4 DEATHSTROKE #13 DOCTOR WHO 12TH #15 DR MIRAGE SECOND LIVES #1 (OF 4) ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK #13 EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #4 FIGHT CLUB 2 #8 GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #11 GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #12 HIP HOP FAMILY TREE #5 INVISIBLE REPUBLIC #8 ISLAND #5 ITTY BITTY HELLBOY SEARCH FOR THE WERE-JAGUAR #2 JACKED #2 (OF 6) JUPITERS CIRCLE VOL 2 #2 JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #7 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #6 KING CONAN WOLVES BEYOND THE BORDER #1 (OF 4) KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #226 LAST GANG IN TOWN #1 (OF 7) MARVEL UNIVERSE ULT SPIDER-MAN SPIDER-VERSE #2 (OF 4) MOON GIRL #1 MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR #2 MUNCHKIN #12 NAMELESS #6 NEW AVENGERS #4 OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA #14 PATSY WALKER AKA HELLCAT #1 PEANUTS VOL 2 #29 PRETTY DEADLY #7 PRINCELESS MAKE YOURSELF #0 RAI #12 RICK & MORTY #9 ROBIN SON OF BATMAN #7 (ROBIN WAR) ROCKETEER AT WAR #1 (OF 4) SAGA #32 SESAME STREET BLAST FROM THE PAST SINESTRO #18 SPIDER-WOMAN #2 STAR-LORD #2 STRING DIVERS #5 (OF 5) STRINGERS #5 (OF 5) SUPERMAN #47 TEEN TITANS #15 (ROBIN WAR) TITANS HUNT #3 (OF 12) TMNT ONGOING #53 TRANSFORMERS HOLIDAY SPECIAL TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE #48 TRANSFORMERS VS GI JOE #10 TYSON HESSE DIESEL #4 (OF 4) VENOM SPACE KNIGHT #2 VENUS #1 WALT DISNEY COMICS & STORIES #726 WILDS END ENEMY WITHIN #4 (OF 4) WILL EISNER SPIRIT #6 X-FILES X-MAS SPECIAL

Books/Mags/Things ADVENTURE TIME MARCELINE GONE ADRIFT TP BPRD HELL ON EARTH TP VOL 12 METAMORPHOSIS CHEECH WIZARDS BOOK OF ME HC DEATHSTROKE THE TERMINATOR TP VOL 02 SYMPATHY DEMON TP VOL 01 HELLS HITMAN DRAW #31 GUNNERKRIGG COURT TP VOL 02 RESEARCH KAPTARA TP VOL 01 FEAR NOT TINY ALIEN MASTER OF KUNG FU TP BATTLEWORLD NICKELODEON MAGAZINE #7 PREVIEWS #328 JANUARY 2016 ROCHE LIMIT TP VOL 02 CLANDESTINY RONALD SEARLE AMERICA HC SCALPED HC BOOK 03 DELUXE EDITION STAR WARS ARTIFACT ED HC TEEN DOG TP WHERE MONSTERS DWELL TP PHANTOM EAGLE FLIES SAVAGE SKIES WOODS TP VOL 03 X-MEN EPIC COLLECTION TP GIFT

As always, what do YOU think?

Tilting at Windmills #246 is live

Some ruminations upon the current state of the superhero segment of the marketplace in light of the simultaneous tactical errors that DC and Marvel made this year.  

You can read it, as always, at Comic Book Resources, but feel free to comment here if you like!

-B

Arriving 12/16/15

Almost the end of the year so new comics!

New BATGIRL, KLAUS, DESCENDER and GODDAMNED!

Check the cut for the rest!

ADVENTURE TIME FIONNA & CAKE CARD WARS #6 (OF 6) ALL NEW INHUMANS #2 ALL NEW X-MEN #2 ALLEN SON OF HELLCOCK #1 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1.1 ARCHIE COLLECTORS ED AUTUMNLANDS TOOTH & CLAW #8 AXCEND #3 BATGIRL #46 BATMAN 66 #30 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #11 BATMAN EUROPA #2 (OF 4) BEAUTY #5 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA #19 BOOM BOX 2015 MIX TAPE #1 BPRD HELL ON EARTH #138 BUBBA REDNECK WEREWOLF (ONE SHOT) CLEAN ROOM #3 COGNETIC #3 CROSSED BADLANDS #91 CROSSED PLUS 100 #12 DARK HORSE PRESENTS 2014 #17 DARK TOWER DRAWING OF THREE LADY OF SHADOWS #4 (OF 5) DARTH VADER ANNUAL #1 DC PRESENTS DARKSEID WAR 100 PAGE SPECTACULAR #1 DEADPOOL #3.1 TRES PUNTO UNO DEATH HEAD #5 (OF 6) DESCENDER #8 DRAGON AGE MAGEKILLER #1 (OF 5) EXODUS LIFE AFTER #2 FROM UNDER MOUNTAINS #3 GODDAMNED #2 GOLD DIGGER #227 GOLD DIGGER CHRISTMAS SPECIAL #9 GRAMPA SIMPSONS CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE #1 HACKTIVIST VOL 2 #6 (OF 6) HARLEY QUINN #23 HUCK #2 I HATE FAIRYLAND #3 ILLUMINATI #2 INVINCIBLE #126 JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS HOLIDAY SPECIAL JUDGE DREDD (ONGOING) #1 JUSTICE LEAGUE #46 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #16 KANAN #9 KLAUS #2 LOOKING FOR GROUP #9 LUCIFER #1 LUMBERJANES #21 MARTIAN MANHUNTER #7 MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE SEASON TWO #14 MARVELS CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR PRELUDE #1 (OF 4) MAXX MAXXIMIZED #26 MIGHTY THOR #2 MS MARVEL #2 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #37 PHONOGRAM THE IMMATERIAL GIRL #5 (OF 6) PINOCCHIO VAMPIRE SLAYER & THE VAMPIRE ZOO PLANTS VS ZOMBIES ONGOING #7 PETAL TO THE METAL POWER UP #6 (OF 6) PROMETHEUS ETERNAL ONE SHOT RED THORN #2 ROOK #3 SECRET SIX #9 SEX #26 SILK #2 SOUTHERN CROSS #6 SPIRE #5 (OF 8) SQUADRON SUPREME #1 STAR TREK STARFLEET ACADEMY #1 (OF 5) STARBRAND AND NIGHTMASK #1 STEAM MAN #3 (OF 5) SUPERMAN AMERICAN ALIEN #2 (OF 7) SUPERZERO #1 TEEN TITANS GO #13 THE TROLL (ONE SHOT) TOKYO GHOST #4 TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE ANIMATED #5 ULTIMATE END #5 (OF 5) SWA UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #3 UNCANNY INHUMANS #3 UNCLE SCROOGE #9 WAYWARD #12 WE ARE ROBIN #7 (ROBIN WAR) WEB WARRIORS #2 WEIRDWORLD #1 WELCOME TO SHOWSIDE #2 WICKED & DIVINE #17

Books/Mags/Things 2000 AD PACK NOV 2015 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN RENEW YOUR VOWS TP ANNE BONNIE VOL 01 JOURNEY BEGINS AVATAR LAST AIRBENDER TP VOL 11 SMOKE & SHADOW PART 2 BATMAN SUPERMAN TP VOL 03 SECOND CHANCE BATMAN THE DOOM THAT CAME TO GOTHAM TP BRIAR TP VOL 01 CATWOMAN TP VOL 04 THE ONE YOU LOVE EC ARCHIVES WEIRD SCIENCE VOL 01 EMPTY ZONE TP VOL 01 CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEAD HERO HC VOL 02 HOT JAZZ MAX ZILLON & ALTO EGO GN INFERNO WARZONES TP JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #366 LIVES GN LONG DISTANCE TP MAD MAGAZINE #537 NEXUS INTO THE PAST TP NIGHT POST GN PORCELAIN A GOTHIC FAIRY TALE GN VOL 01 STAR TREK THE JOHN BYRNE COLLECTION TP STAR WARS LEGENDS EPIC COLLECTION TP INFINITIES STRANGE SPORTS STORIES TP TEST TUBE GN TOKYO GHOUL GN VOL 04 WEIRD LOVE THAT IS THE WAY I LIKE IT HC VOL 02 WEIRDWORLD TP VOL 00 WARZONES

As always, what do YOU think?

Arriving 12/9/15

Big week! WALKING DEAD #149 leaves us waiting for the next big milestone! Plus new BATMAN, GIANT DAYS, HEAD LOPPER and WE STAND ON GUARD! Check the cut for the rest of the hot comics for this mid winter week.

ABE SAPIEN #29 ADVENTURE TIME #47 ALABASTER THE GOOD THE BAD & THE BIRD #1 ALL NEW HAWKEYE #2 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #4 BACK TO THE FUTURE #3 (OF 4) BATMAN #47 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #10 BATMAN SUPERMAN #27 BATMAN TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES #1 (OF 6) BIRTHRIGHT #12 BLACK KNIGHT #2 BROOKLYN ANIMAL CONTROL (ONE-SHOT) CATWOMAN #47 CODENAME BABOUSHKA CONCLAVE OF DEATH #3 CONSTANTINE THE HELLBLAZER #7 CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS #3 DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #1 (OF 8) COLLECTORS ED DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS #6 DEADPOOL #3 DETECTIVE COMICS #47 (ROBIN WAR) DOCTOR WHO 11TH YEAR TWO #3 DOCTOR WHO 12TH #16 DOCTOR WHO 8TH #2 (OF 5) EARTH 2 SOCIETY #7 EERIE COMICS #8 EIGHTH SEAL #1 (OF 5) FABLES THE WOLF AMONG US #12 FASTER THAN LIGHT #4 GIANT DAYS #9 (OF 12) GOTHAM ACADEMY #13 (ROBIN WAR) GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #11 GRAYSON #15 (ROBIN WAR) GREEN ARROW #47 GRUMPY CAT #3 (OF 3) GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #3 GWENPOOL SPECIAL #1 HARROW COUNTY #8 HEAD LOPPER #2 HENCHGIRL #2 HERCULES #2 HEROES VENGEANCE #3 (OF 5) HIP HOP FAMILY TREE #4 INK BRICK #1 INSEXTS #1 JUST ANOTHER SHEEP #2 (OF 5) JUSTICE LEAGUE DARKSEID WAR LEX LUTHOR #1 LANTERN CITY #8 (OF 12) LIMBO #2 MARVEL UNIVERSE GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #3 MASSIVE NINTH WAVE #1 MAXX MAXXIMIZED #26 MICKEY & DONALD CHRISTMAS PARADE MICKEY MOUSE #7 MIRRORS EDGE EXORDIUM #4 MONSTRESS #2 MUNCHKIN DECK THE DUNGEONS #1 MY LITTLE PONY HOLIDAY SPECIAL NEW ROMANCER #1 (OF 12) NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #15 NO MERCY #5 PATHFINDER HOLLOW MOUNTAIN #2 (OF 6) PHANTOM #5 (OF 6) PRECINCT #1 (OF 5) RACHEL RISING #38 REBELS #9 RED HOOD ARSENAL #7 (ROBIN WAR) SADHU BIRTH OF THE WARRIOR #6 (OF 6) SAINTS #3 SCARLET WITCH #1 SECRET WARS #8 (OF 9) SWA SHADOW VOL 2 #5 SLASH & BURN #2 SNOW BLIND #1 SPIDER-GWEN #3 SPIDER-MAN 2099 #4 SPONGEBOB COMICS #51 STAR TREK GREEN LANTERN #6 (OF 6) STAR TREK ONGOING #52 STAR WARS ANNUAL #1 STARFIRE #7 STRAY BULLETS SUNSHINE & ROSES #10 STREET FIGHTER UNLIMITED #1 SYMMETRY #1 THE TROLL (ONE SHOT) THE TROOP #1 (OF 5) TOMBOY #2 TREES #13 TWILIGHT CHILDREN #3 (OF 4) ULTIMATES #2 UNCANNY AVENGERS #3 UNITY #25 VIOLENT #1 WALKING DEAD #149 WE STAND ON GUARD #6 (OF 6)

Books/Mags/Things ALABASTER SHADOWS GN BLACK PANTHER BY PRIEST TP COMPLETE COLLECTION BUNKER TP VOL 03 COMPLETE PEANUTS TP BOX SET 1955-1958 COMPLETE PEANUTS TP VOL 04 1957-1958 COMPLETE VOODOO HC VOL 01 DEMONS OF SHERWOOD GN DIFFERENT UGLINESS DIFFERENT MADNESS HC DRIFTER TP VOL 02 ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK TP VOL 01 FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #283 FEATHERS HC FLINCH TP BOOK 01 GRIMJACK OMNIBUS TP HARLEY QUINN HC VOL 03 KISS KISS BANG STAB HARLEY QUINN TP VOL 02 POWER OUTAGE HAWKEYE HC VOL 02 INFINITY GAUNTLET TP WARZONES IZUNA DLX HC JACK THE RIPPER HC KID ETERNITY DELUXE ED HC PLANETES OMNIBUS TP VOL 01 RUNAWAYS BATTLEWORLD TP SANDMAN GALLERY ED HC SIXTH GUN DUST TO DEATH TP SIZZLE #67 SIZZLE #68 SNOW GN SUICIDE SQUAD TP VOL 02 THE NIGHTSHADE ODYSSEY TEEN TITANS GO TRUTH JUSTICE AND PIZZA TP VIOLENZIA & OTHER DEADLY AMUSEMENTS GN WE CAN NEVER GO HOME TP

As always, what do YOU think?

Arriving 12/2/2015

Things are ramping up as we get into December! New PAPERGIRLS, DOCTOR STRANGE and EAST OF WEST, plus Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin's PRIVATE EYE makes it's way to print! Check the cut for all of the freezing winter comics!

ACTION COMICS #47 ALL NEW ALL DIFFERENT AVENGERS #2 ALL NEW INHUMANS #1 ALL NEW X-MEN #1 ALL STAR SECTION 8 #6 (OF 6) ANGEL AND FAITH SEASON 10 #21 ATOMIC ROBO & THE RING OF FIRE #4 (OF 5) AUTEUR SISTER BAMBI #5 (OF 5) BARB WIRE #6 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #9 BATMAN BEYOND #7 BLACK JACK KETCHUM #1 (OF 4) BLACK SCIENCE #18 BOBS BURGERS ONGOING #6 CARVER PARIS STORY #1 CITIZEN JACK #2 CYBORG #5 D4VE2 #4 (OF 4) DAREDEVIL #1 DARK CORRIDOR #5 DC PRESENTS TITANS HUNT 100 PAGE SPECTACULAR #1 DEAD VENGEANCE #3 (OF 4) DOC SAVAGE SPIDERS WEB #1 DOCTOR STRANGE #3 DOCTOR WHO 10TH YEAR TWO #3 DOCTOR WHO 12TH #14 DOCTOR WHO 9TH #5 (OF 5) DONALD DUCK #8 EAST OF WEST #22 EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #3 GARFIELDS CHEESY HOLIDAY #1 GOD IS DEAD #45 GOTHAM ACADEMY #12 GRANT MORRISONS 18 DAYS #6 GREEN LANTERN #47 GUARDIANS OF INFINITY #1 HARLEYS LITTLE BLACK BOOK #1 HAUNTED HORROR #20 HOWARD THE DUCK #2 HUMANS #10 INSUFFERABLE #8 INVADER ZIM #5 INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #4 JAMES BOND #2 CVR A REARDON JIM HENSONS STORYTELLER DRAGONS #1 MAIN CVRS JOE GOLEM OCCULT DETECTIVE #2 JOHN FLOOD #5 JOHNNY RED #2 (OF 8) LARA CROFT FROZEN OMEN #3 (OF 5) LOBO #13 LOONEY TUNES #228 MAGIC WHISTLE VOL 3 #1 MIDNIGHTER #7 MIRACLEMAN BY GAIMAN AND BUCKINGHAM #5 MORELLA PRESENTS VEROTIKA RETURNS SPECIAL #3 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER #23 MYSTERY GIRL #1 NAILBITER #18 NOVA #2 PACIFIC RIM TALES FROM THE DRIFT #2 PAPER GIRLS #3 PLUTONA #3 PREZ #6 (OF 6) PUBLIC RELATIONS #4 RED WOLF #1 REGULAR SHOW #30 REPLICA #1 REVIVAL #35 ROBIN WAR #1 (OF 2) ROCKET GIRL #7 ROWANS RUIN #3 SENSATION COMICS FEATURING WONDER WOMAN #17 SHERIFF OF BABYLON #1 (OF 8) SIMPSONS ILLUSTRATED #20 SPIDEY #1 STAR WARS #13 VDWN SURVIVORS CLUB #3 TEEN TITANS #14 TET #4 (OF 4) THEYRE NOT LIKE US #10 THIS DAMNED BAND #5 (OF 6) TOIL & TROUBLE #4 (OF 6) TOTALLY AWESOME HULK #1 TRAIN CALLED LOVE #3 (OF 10) TRANSFORMERS #48 UNFOLLOW #2 VISION #2 WE CAN NEVER GO HOME #5 (OF 5) WHERE IS JAKE ELLIS #5 (OF 5) WOODS #18 X-FILES SEASON 11 #5 ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS #10

Books/Mags/Things ABADDON GN ALL NEW X-MEN HC VOL 03 BATMAN VS SUPERMAN TP BIG MAN PLANS TP BOY COMMANDOS BY SIMON AND KIRBY HC VOL 02 BUTTER AND BLOOD GN CHEW OMNIVORE ED HC VOL 05 DAREDEVIL TP VOL 04 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MATT MURDOCK DEADPOOL VS THANOS TP DMZ DELUXE EDITION HC BOOK 05 DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP OMNIBUS TP DONALD DUCK DIABOLICAL DUCK AVENGER TP FLUTTER GN FREDDY LOMBARD HC GHOSTBUSTERS GET REAL TP GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS TP VOL 03 GRANT MORRISONS 18 DAYS TP VOL 01 WAR BEGINS HARROW COUNTY TP VOL 01 COUNTLESS HAINTS IZOMBIE OMNIBUS HC LOEG NEMO TRILOGY HC SLIPCASE ED MARVEL 1872 TP NEW LONE WOLF AND CUB TP VOL 07 PRINCE VALIANT HC VOL 12 1959-1960 PRIVATE EYE DLX ED HC RAT QUEENS DLX HC VOL 01 SO CUTE IT HURTS GN VOL 04 SPACE RIDERS TP VOL 01 VENGEFUL UNIVERSE SPIDER-GWEN TP VOL 00 MOST WANTED SPIDER-VERSE WARZONES TP STAR-LORD AND KITTY PRYDE TP STRAIN TP VOL 06 NIGHT ETERNAL STRAY BULLETS TP VOL 04 DARK DAYS TMNT CASEY AND APRIL TP UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL TP VOL 02 SQUIRREL YOU KNOW ITS TRU WALKING DEAD OMNIBUS HC VOL 06 WOLVERINE EPIC COLLECTION TP DYING GAME WOLVERINE OLD MAN LOGAN TP VOL 00 WARZONES X-MEN YEARS OF FUTURE PAST TP

As always, what do YOU think?

Arriving 11/25/15

If there was only one week to come and get comics, this may be it! SAGA returns alongside ARCHIE and JUGHEAD! Plus BLACK MAGIC from Rucka and Scott, the SILK relaunch, new SQUIRREL GIRL and the much anticapied DARK KNIGHT III!

Check the cut for all the other comics to get you through the long holiday weekend!

ADAM.3 #4 (OF 5) ALL NEW WOLVERINE #2 AMERICAN VAMPIRE SECOND CYCLE #11 ANGELA QUEEN OF HEL #2 AQUAMAN #46 ARCHIE #4 ARCHIE FUNHOUSE JUMBO COMICS DOUBLE DIGEST #17 ART OPS #2 BART SIMPSON COMICS #99 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #8 BATMAN ENDGAME DIRECTORS CUT #1 BLACK HOOD #7 BLACK MAGICK #2 BLOODSHOT REBORN #8 CARNAGE #2 CHEW #52 CHEWBACCA #4 (OF 5) CONAN THE AVENGER #20 CROSSED BADLANDS #90 DANGER GIRL RENEGADE #3 (OF 4) DARK KNIGHT III MASTER RACE #1 (OF 8) DARTH VADER #13 VDWN DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS #5 DEATHSTROKE #12 ELFQUEST FINAL QUEST #12 EMPOWERED SPECIAL #7 PEW PEW PEW B&W FADE OUT #11 FIGHT CLUB 2 #7 FISTFUL OF BLOOD #2 (OF 4) FLASH #46 FUSE #16 GHOSTBUSTERS ANNUAL 2015 GRAYSON #14 GROO FRIENDS AND FOES #11 GROOT #6 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #2 GUIDE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNI INCREDIBLE HULK IRON MAN #2 HAIL HYDRA #4 SWA HELLBOY BPRD 1953 WITCH TREE RAWHEAD BLOODY BONES HOWLING COMMANDOS OF SHIELD #2 INVISIBLE REPUBLIC #7 ITTY BITTY HELLBOY SEARCH FOR THE WERE-JAGUAR #1 JACKED #1 (OF 6) JUGHEAD #2 JUPITERS CIRCLE VOL 2 #1 JUSTICE INC AVENGER #6 (OF 6) JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #6 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #5 KAPTARA #5 MARVEL UNIVERSE ULT SPIDER-MAN SPIDER-VERSE #1 (OF 4) MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR #1 MUNCHKIN #11 OMEGA MEN #6 OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA #13 OVER THE GARDEN WALL #4 PEANUTS SNOOPY SPECIAL #1 PLANTS VS ZOMBIES GARDEN WARFARE #2 (OF 3) POSTAL #8 POWER UP #5 (OF 6) PROVIDENCE #6 (OF 12) PS BLACKCROSS #6 (OF 6) RICK & MORTY #8 RINGSIDE #1 ROBIN SON OF BATMAN #6 RUMBLE #9 SAGA #31 SECONDS HELPING DRAWING ASST MEMOIR ONE SHOT SHIELD #12 SILK #1 SILVER SURFER #15 SWA SINESTRO #17 SPAWN #258 STAR TREK ONGOING #51 STRINGERS #4 (OF 5) SUPERMAN #46 SUPERMAN LOIS AND CLARK #2 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #23 SWITCH #2 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #95 TET #3 (OF 4) TMNT ONGOING #52 TOMORROWS #5 (OF 6) TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS EYE #47 TRANSFORMERS SINS OF WRECKERS #1 (OF 5) UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #2 UNCLE SCROOGE #8 VENOM SPACE KNIGHT #1 WALT DISNEY COMICS & STORIES #725 WE ARE ROBIN #6 WEIRD LOVE #10 WILDS END ENEMY WITHIN #3 (OF 4) WILL EISNER SPIRIT #5 WITCHBLADE #185 WONDER WOMAN #46 X-O MANOWAR #42

Books/Mags/Things AMAZING WORLD GUMBALL ORIGINAL GN VOL 01 FAIRY TALE TROUBLE BATMAN 66 MEETS THE GREEN HORNET TP DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES TP VOL 01 DEADPOOL CLASSIC TP VOL 14 SUICIDE KINGS ETERNAUT HC FLASH BY GEOFF JOHNS TP BOOK 01 FRANKENSTEIN UNDERGROUND TP HOPELESS SAVAGES BREAK GN JESSICA JONES TP ALIAS VOL 03 KABUKI LIBRARY HC VOL 02 KITCHEN TP MILES MORALES ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN ULT COLL TP BOOK 03 OH MY GODDESS OMNIBUS TP VOL 02 PEANUTS EVERY SUNDAY HC VOL 03 1961-1965 PREVIEWS #327 DECEMBER 2015 RICK & MORTY TP VOL 01 SIXTH GUN DUST TO DEATH TP SOLDIERS HEART TP WWII VETERAN DAUGHTERS MEMOIR SONS OF THE DEVIL TP VOL 01 CVR A INFANTE SPREAD TP VOL 02 CHILDRENS CRUSADE THE VALIANT DLX HC UNCLE GRANDPA TP VOL 01 UNTAMED SINNERS PLAYER HC USAGI YOJIMBO SAGA TP VOL 05

As always, what do YOU think?

“The One You See Coming.” COMICS! Sometimes Moon Knight’s Gonna Drive You Home Tonight!”

I am given to understand that self-proclaimed Futurist and alleged butter sculptor Warren Ellis is currently writing the comic book adventures of Britain’s favourite misogynistic throwback tool of the ruling elite. Not only that, but word has reached me that said knuckle faced sop to the Pre-Suez nostalgists like Your Grand-Dad is also currently tumbling out of explosions and beds while adjusting his cuffs at a Multiplex near you.  Talking about James Bond there, not Warren Ellis. Although, having said that, having said that…no, definitely James Bond. So, what could be more appropriate then, than to write about a completely different set of comics Warren Ellis wrote and Declan Shalvey illustrated. Probably a lot of things would be more appropriate, John. Yes, but this is what you got. Life lessons, we got 'em! MOON KNIGHT by Shalvey, Ellis, Bellaire & Eliopoulos

Anyway, this… MOON KNIGHT VOL.1: FROM THE DEAD Artist – Declan Shalvey Writer – Warren Ellis Colour Artist – Jordie Bellaire Letterer – VC's Chris Eliopoulos Contains material previously published in magazine form as MOON KNIGHT #1-6 MARVEL WORLDWIDE INC, $17.99 (US), $19.99 (CAN) (2014) Moon Knight created by Don Perlin & Doug Moench © 2014 Marvel Characters, Inc.

NB: This book was obtained from Derbyshire County Council's excellent Library Service. Do NOT let them take your libraries away.

In which we join Declan Shalvey and Warren Ellis in Marvel's continuing battle to make anyone care about Moon Knight (MK) post Bill Sienkiewicz. Changes have been made. Changes not only to the creative personnel but also to the set up itself. MK doesn’t have his old supporting cast anymore, but he does have a special Moon Mobile which is dead flash; like one of those big long cars, you know, like those limousines teenagers and hen parties hire to drive around Grimsby town centre in for reasons which quickly escape them. It drives itself, because of course it does. That’s Warren Ellis, The Futurist there (“In the Future cars will be faster, literally, and maybe have, uh, bigger wheels! MAYBE FLIGHT IS INVOLVED!!! Hic!”)  MK also has a drone thing, because drones are bad except in the hands of insane vigilantes who are unaccountable to anyone. Then they are cool. More spooky Futurism there probably (“Everyone (burp!) will have their own drone, like. To go down the shops and that, yeah? I drink whisky and swear. AND YOU CAN’T HANDLE IT!!!”) Also, I misspoke back there because it turns out Sir Moon’s not nuts no more. So the whole “lunar” and  “lunatic” wordplay thing has gone for a Burton. Shame, I liked that but then I am a bit traditional. Hey, keep up, old man, tradition’s for tossers and it’s the 21st Century (according to my Cats in Funny Hats calendar) so in the first issue both MK and we are told (in a phrase clearly intended to be quote fodder, and who am I to disappoint (shut up, mother! SHUT UP!)),  “You’re not insane. Your brain has been colonised by an ancient consciousness from beyond space-time. Smile.”  Naturally, this being Warren Ellis the flop sweat scented  linguistic razzle-dazzle errs away from the meaningful and more towards the polytechnic-lecturer-down-the-pub-with-the-new-intake-and-his-eye-on-the-wee-lassie-with-the-nose–ring-and-the badly-obscured-cold-sore. Like many an Ellis-ian concept splash it’s not like it ever gets mentioned again, but I think we all felt all the cooler for reading it. I know, being a simple soul, you might think having a character “colonised by an ancient consciousness from beyond space-time” might be something you’d want to expand upon a bit, but no. As it happens, astonishingly enough, it doesn’t matter because MK still acts like someone who needs a hug and a good chat. Just in a different way.

MOON KNIGHT by Shalvey, Ellis, Bellaire & Eliopoulos

Visually MK is redesigned as a man in a suit with a bag over his head. (Well, sometimes he isn’t, but it’s this image that works best and that you  come away from the book with, so in the interests of brevity: a man with a suit with a bag over his head.) Sounds silly but it isn’t. It’s a good design; men in suits generally look really quite grand, I find. Lot of graphic potential in a suit, you know. It’s just plain classy for a start. The bag’s okay visually too, and is a proper bit of Futurism because, and there is no way Warren “Future Sailor” Ellis could possibly have known this when he wrote the book, shops now charge you for a carrier. I am forever being caught out by this, but MK can just stick his chicken dippers in his hastily doffed headgear. No fool he. I imagine (many things, but let’s stick to this one) Declan Shalvey is the one who makes the redesign work quite as well as it does. (“He’s in a suit now, Declan, not that capey thing. Oh, stop whining, JUST BLOODY DRAW IT!!!”) It’s a sharply cut suit and the visual potential of a nicely draped ensemble’s ability to communicate flow and to just generally cut a flash dash on the page is fully realised by  the man Shalvey.  Someone has also decided not to colour MK in which makes him really pop off the page. Pages beautifully toned by Bellaire's subtly muted shades. Unlike Warren Ellis the Irish human being Declan Shalvey is a new one on me, but he’s very much worth watching as an artist (as opposed to watching as a “suspect”, but never rule anything out, eh). I was first struck by his apparent talent when I noted the jaunty angle at which he had cocked MK’s shoe sole on the initial splash. By the end of the book there was nothing apparent about it, Declan Shalvey was pretty firmly established in my fractured mind as a Talent with a  capital “T”. Which is lucky, because sometimes it’s Shalvey’s Talent that makes the book work as well as it does. Which is why everyone refers to it as Declan Shalvey’s MOON KNIGHT, right? Oh.

MOON KNIGHT by Shalvey, Ellis, Bellaire & Eliopoulos

It’s easy to knock Warren Ellis (so I did) but in his defence FROM THE DEAD collects six issues, the majority of which are very strong done-in ones (they vary, but are mostly good times). It’s possible Ellis even put his drink down and typed with both hands on some of them. Inevitably though there’s  a couple of underdone slips into the worst of Warren Ellis’ patented Post-It Note plotting. He gets a lot of stick for this, but in all fairness sometimes this works (and equally sometimes it doesn’t). I guess it depends how detailed his Post-It Note gets before he collapses from the exertion of coming up with a crunchy hi-concept soundbite hook. Because all these issues have a crunchy high-concept soundbite hook, but they don’t all have a story. I would hesitate to suggest that Warren Ellis occasionally has his writerly priorities wrong since, you know, he’s the feted millionaire author with a built-in audience and I’m the erratic  crank who has his hair cut at home and whose own love partner won’t read his stuff, but it did cross my mind every now and again. Particularly during “Box” which seemed to be based on “Moon Knight punches Ghost Punks!” and then forgot to be about anything else, although there was some half-hearted stuff about gentrification and a sad music box. All of which possibly interesting stuff was shuffled to the side-lines, because who doesn’t love pages of Moon Knight punching ghost punks! Haw, Haw. Oh, that tickles me. Ghost punks. Punching. Well worth all those pages. (There’s some sarcasm going on there but as I don’t use emoticons I’m just going to have to risk you missing it). It’s okay, sometimes comics creators are clearly having a lot more fun than their audience (Matt Fraction) which is fine in moderation (everyone else). Oh, Shalvey tries his best and it is gorgeous stuff, but storywise at base “Box” is pretty thin  gruel. However, in all fairness,  “Scarlet” works really well and that one’s just “Moon Knight beats up five floors of thugs to rescue a little girl.” Which as a story is equally austere in its development and complexity (“Declan, child, I have seen this film called THE RAID. DELIVER THAT UNTO ME, YOU CUR!!!”) But, ah, ah, but, crucially, this one is rich as Croesus in the visual opportunities it offers up to Declan “I can” Shalvey. The brutal choreography and general illusion of movement created by Shalvey’s art here is superlative stuff and truly cinematic in the very best sense. I winced more than once at the imaginary violence on show.

MOON KNIGHT by Shalvey, Ellis, Bellaire & Eliopoulos

Since Shalvey saves “Scarlet” there’s only really “Box” which is a damp squib. “Sleep” gamely attempts to present a creepy mystery; one which Ellis has given a decent beginning and a solid ending, but during the (lengthy) mid-section relies so hard on Shalvey’s phantasmagorical fungi fuelled  hallucinations it’s only they that prevent its title becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. “Slasher” is impressive for not only introducing the new MK set up with economical élan but also for cramming in a serial killer who MK hunts and bests using his intelligence. It even finds room for a little dig at the weaponisation of humanity to keep things current (“THEY’LL TURN US ALL INTO GUNS, I TELL YOU!!! Oh look, HOLLYOAKS is on”). It’s a tidy comic book script and Shalvey’s art keeps it interesting even during the largely static (and just on the right side of self-consciously flip) conversation  bits, but it really hits its stride when things get a bit weird under the streets where the S.H.I.E.L.D. creeps sleep.

MOON KNIGHT by Shalvey, Ellis, Bellaire & Eliopoulos

“Sniper” raises the game in term of storytelling. Yeah, Ellis really exerts himself on the one about the sniper. Or maybe it’s the case that Shalvey nearly busts a gut on this one. Perhaps it’s even a joint strainer. Whatever the case may be, it’s really just an exercise in storytelling rather than a story as such. But it’s such a good exercise in storytelling you can forgive the bit where the man walks in at the end to explain the point of the story to Moon Knight. And since that point is that bankers are dangerous assholes and we should never forget this since we are all still trying to claw our way out of a recession their unregulated greed caused with very little impact on themselves, I’m inclined to leniency. “Sniper” is a thing of beauty in its execution. As Shalvey's countryman Frank Carson once said, “It's the way I tell 'em!” and in “Sniper” the way Shalvey & Ellis et al tell it is pure COMICS!!! The volume closes with a smart call back to the first issue, “Spectre” (Now THAT's impressive futurism.), where a bit part player goes entertainingly if somewhat unconvincingly nuts and tries to replace Moon Knight. I say unconvincingly nuts but if anyone was exposed to the previous volume of Moon Knight (apparently fuelled by “years of research” into MK’s condition. Oh, give over.) then in comparison Warren Ellis’ treatment of mental illness here resembles that of B.F. Skinner.

MOON KNIGHT by Shalvey, Ellis, Bellaire & Eliopoulos

Given the paucity of plot elsewhere there’s a surprising surfeit of it in “Spectre”, maybe too much. Might have been better to have it running as a sub plot through the other issues…but clearly it’s more important that each issue be “stand alone” and self-contained”  in line with whatever high-falutin’ modus operandi Warren Ellis has informed the world he is operating under via interviews I haven’t read (“NOW HEAR THIS!!! NOW HEAR THIS!!!). Remember all that horsefeathers about “comics as 7-inch pop singles” (“One day there will be 12-INCH POP SINGLES!!! Mark my words!”)? I know I am forever picking up copies of FELL and exclaiming, wow, this is like the comic as a 7-inch pop single! Rather than, Oh, yeah, another series he just left floating like the sad corpse of a duck that didn’t make it through the winter! Obviously that whole 7-inch single thing is a bit dated now, so this time out these particular comics are probably  “fibre optic nano-belches of picto-jism”. You know how he gets, that Warren Ellis. With his catchy tag lines and such. Oh, you can mock, you cur, but that’s what they pay him for. With MOON KNIGHT VOL1: BACK FROM THE DEAD Warren Ellis trots out his long running Warren Ellis schtick and gives us exactly what we expect, exactly what he gets paid for, warts and all. However, Declan Shalvey, the wee shaver, is a total and thoroughly pleasurable artistic revelation, so it’s on him that the book ends up with VERY GOOD!

Seriously, that “Sniper” Chapter is - COMICS!!!

Arriving 11/18/15

Big week this one! Including the return of MS. MARVEL and MIGHTY THOR, new I HATE FAIRYLAND, LUMBERJANES, PHONOGRAM, RAT QUEENS and WE(L)COME BACK!

 

Check the cut for all the other mid Autumn comics!

ACTION COMICS #46 ADVENTURE TIME FIONNA & CAKE CARD WARS #5 (OF 6) ASTONISHING ANT-MAN #2 ASTRO CITY #29 BATMAN 66 #29 BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #7 BATMAN EUROPA #1 (OF 4) BEAUTY #4 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA #18 BIZARRO #6 (OF 6) BLACK KNIGHT #1 BLOODSHOT REBORN #8 BOY-1 #4 (OF 4) BPRD HELL ON EARTH #137 BTVS SEASON 10 #21 CAPTAIN AMERICA SAM WILSON #3 CLEAN ROOM #2 COGNETIC #2 COPS FOR CRIMINALS #1 DARK HORSE PRESENTS 2014 #16 DARK TOWER DRAWING OF THREE LADY OF SHADOWS #3 (OF 5) DEADPOOL #2 DIRK GENTLYS HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY #5 (OF 5) DOCTOR FATE #6 DOOMED #6 EARTH 2 SOCIETY #6 ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK #12 EVE VALKYRIE #2 (OF 4) EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #2 FUTURAMA COMICS #77 GIANT DAYS #8 (OF 12) GODZILLA IN HELL #5 (OF 5) GOLD DIGGER #226 GREEN LANTERN THE LOST ARMY #6 HACKTIVIST VOL 2 #5 (OF 6) HARLEY QUINN #22 HUCK #1 I HATE FAIRYLAND #2 INVINCIBLE #125 JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS #9 KANAN #8 LOOKING FOR GROUP #8 LUMBERJANES #20 MARTIAN MANHUNTER #6 MARVEL UNIVERSE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE SEASON TWO #13 MASKS 2 #8 (OF 8) MIGHTY THOR #1 MISTRY PI #5 (OF 5) MS MARVEL #1 MULAN REVELATIONS #4 (OF 4) MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC #36 NEW AVENGERS #3 NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #14 ONYX #3 (OF 4) ORPHAN BLACK HELSINKI #1 (OF 5) PHONOGRAM THE IMMATERIAL GIRL #4 (OF 6) PLANTS VS ZOMBIES ONGOING #6 GROWN SWEET HOME PRETTY DEADLY #6 PUBLIC RELATIONS #3 (OF 5) RACHEL RISING #37 RAT QUEENS #13 RED THORN #1 ROOK #2 SECRET SIX #8 SECRET WARS TOO #1 SHUTTER #17 SIMPSONS WINTER WINGDING #10 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #278 SPIDER-WOMAN #1 STAR TREK GREEN LANTERN #5 (OF 6) STAR WARS #12 STAR WARS VADER DOWN #1 VDWN STAR-LORD #1 STEAM MAN #2 (OF 5) TITANS HUNT #2 (OF 12) TOKYO GHOST #3 TOMBOY #1 TRANSFORMERS #47 UNCANNY AVENGERS ANNUAL #1 UNCANNY INHUMANS #2 USAGI YOJIMBO #150 WAYWARD #11 WELCOME BACK #3

Books/Mags/Things A-FORCE TP WARZONES VOL 00 ALL NEW X-MEN TP VOL 06 ULTIMATE ADVENTURE ANDRE THE GIANT GN CLOSER TO HEAVEN ASTRO CITY LOVERS QUARREL HC BATMAN & ROBIN TP VOL 06 THE HUNT FOR ROBIN CAPTAIN MARVEL AND CAROL CORPS TP CHRONICLES OF CONAN TP VOL 30 DEATH OF CONAN DISNEY ROSA DUCK LIBRARY HC VOL 04 LAST CLAN MCDUCK GIANT DAYS TP VOL 01 GUARDIANS OF GALAXY TP VOL 04 ORIGINAL SIN INFINITE LOOP TP JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #365 JUNCTION TRUE GN LADY MECHANIKA TP VOL 01 MYSTERY OF MECHANICAL CORPSE LOW TP VOL 02 BEFORE THE DAWN BURNS US LUMBERJANES TO MAX ED HC VOL 01 MARVEL ZOMBIES TP BATTLEWORLD MS MARVEL TP VOL 04 LAST DAYS MY LITTLE PONY ADVENTURES IN FRIENDSHIP HC VOL 04 OUR EXPANDING UNIVERSE TP PAUL KIRCHNER BUS HC VOL 02 RAGNAROK HC VOL 01 LAST GOD STANDING RICK & MORTY TP VOL 01 SILVER SURFER EPIC COLLECTION TP FREEDOM STAR WARS TP JOURNEY TO SW FORCE AWAKENS SHATTER EMPIRE STEVE CANYON HC VOL 06 1957-1958 SUPERMAN EARTH ONE TP VOL 03 SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN TP VOL 02 WAR AND PEACE SWAMP THING DARKER GENESIS TP ULTRAMAN GN VOL 02

As always, what do YOU think?