Winter Break

Ok everybody. I hate to do this, but with everything getting busier for the holidays, I am going to be taking a break until after Christmas. I need to have more of a separation of work and not-work during the busy season, or I go insane and start having to fight the urge to stab random people with an icepick. And I don't even own an icepick, so it would have to be a special trip to the store just for a stabbing. That would be silly. So I will probably pop in here and there as I am reading things to say "Hey! This is cool!", but probably no actual audio till the rampaging hordes of mall shoppers go back into hibernation.

By the way, go read Freak Angels online. And then go to your local comic book shop (or mine, no icepick, I promise) and buy the trade.



If you don't love it, I'll be very surprised.

Episode 12

What an insanely complex week this has been. With the election and the new store opening, it feels like it's been a month since my last podcast, but (this time anyway) it's only been a week.

And what a week. No matter what your politics, it was a nail-biter. And since I carry those Obama/McCain Bio Comics I mentioned a few weeks ago, people have been coming in to talk politics. It's been educational, to say the least. When I am speaking here or as a representative of The Comic Book Shop, I try to not be preachy. But I do have very strong political opinions, and I have been doing my best to be nice to people and not rise to the bait when people want to start an argument. Whew. Exhausting.

In less angsty news, our Valley Mall store is open and it looks pretty darn good. I went out there today for the first time to check it out, and I think it's really great. I do wonder how the guys at Waldenbooks (next door) feel.


New Release

Avengers The Initiative Vol 02 Killed In Action Writers Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the Cloud 9 character and most of the MVP/KIA stuff, but the more I think about it, the more Komodo bothers me. I mean, she's part Lizard now, so when something gets cut off, it grows back. Fine, I can buy that. But when she powers down and goes into her non-super state she is a double amputee. And I can sort of live with that, except it looks like her legs from the knees down just vanish when she powers down. I think I could let it go if they, like, fell off or something, but that they just vanish weirds me out. Does the remaining leg re-absorb the bones and flesh? Ick either way.

Marvel

House of M Writer Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils Olivier Coipel

This is the second time I read this, and it was really neat to read it again. I read this the first time about a year and a half ago, and though it was cool then, now that I have some context and know who more of the characters are I got way more out of it. If you are reading X-men, or Avengers or any of the A list Marvel stuff, but you haven't read this, then you should. If you aren't reading the current stuff, but want to get into superheroes in modern comics, this would be a good place to start.

Dark Horse

Serenity Better Days Writer Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Artist Will Conrad

Yay. I loved Firefly and I love all things Serenity. This book makes me happy, like I'm hanging out with an old friend. I don't think this book is quite as good as Those Left Behind, but it still scratches my Mal Reynolds itch.

Viz

Fairy Cube Vol 01Art/Story by Kaori Yuki

Thanks to Jenny, my new closer, for recommending this one. The cover is so cutesy and mildly fan-servicey that I had sort of just ignored it. What a mistake. This is a creepy love and revenge story about a boy whose life and likeness is stolen by an evil spirit. He gets the help of an angry little fairy to try to put things right. The art is expressive, beautiful and richly detailed. My only complaint is that the artist uses a lot of non-directional word bubbles, and sometimes this makes it hard to follow the conversation. Otherwise very cool.

Thanks again, and if you have requests, suggestions or comments, just let me know.

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Go Vote

I don't care who you vote for, just get down there and do it if you haven't already. They are going to be teaching about this election in history classes in a few years. When the little kids come and ask you who you voted for in 2008, what do you want to tell them?

Happy Halloween and stuff

This has been kind of a cool and hectic week at The Comic Book Shop. We (mostly Craig and Pat) worked really hard getting our new store open out at Spokane Valley. I did what I could to help from my side, and I can't wait to see it up and running. I just need to take the long slog out to that side of town.

We also had Halloween at the mall, which means tons of Trick-or-Treaters. We handed out comics left over from Free Comic Book Day, and everyone seemed really happy. I got to see some incredibly cute costumes. There was a teeny tiny little girl dressed as Wonder-Woman, lots and lots of Iron Mans (Iron Men?), Hulks and Spideys. There was even one little guy dressed as a Pre-Crisis Superman with a lion's head (which wikipedia tells me was in Action #243). I have to say though, I think my fav for the night were the 2 nice ladies dressed as Jay and Silent Bob that came and hung out in front of the store. That was awesome.

In other news, Fallout 3 came out. Guess what I have been doing for the last several days? I did take the time to read a couple of books though, and I really liked them.


New Release

Green Lantern In Brightest Day Written by John Broome, Alan Moore, Ron Marz and others; Art by Gil Kane, Dave Gibbons and others; Cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams

This was really fun. The more I read Green Lantern, the more I like the whole family. This book collects a handful of stories starting with Green Lantern #7 in 1961 and covering all the Earth Lanterns up to Kyle Raynor in 1994. I had no idea that Hal Jordan had a side kick named Pie Face, or that originally Guy Gardner didn't have that awful haircut. This is a book I would definitely recommend to someone new to comics. It is a great "way in" to the Lantern side of the DC Universe.

DC

DMZ Vol 01 Written by Brian Wood; Art by Wood and Riccardo Burchielli; Cover by Wood


Holy Crap. How did I not read this months ago? This is the story of Matt Roth, a photo tech intern at a major news outlet that gets dropped into a demilitarized zone under heavy fire. Everyone else on his crew gets killed and he gets stranded in the middle of an urban firefight all alone. In Manhattan. It's a little "Escape from New York" and a little "Max Headroom" and a whole lot awesome.


Alright. I'm going to eat some supper and then head back into the radscorpion and raider infested wastelands.

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