Thursday, July 03, 2008

BSing @ The Spoiler Comic Shop 7/3/08

I wanted to give something a try here. Bear with me.

I get most of my comic books via an online shop these days, ever since MacGuffin closed down. MacGuffin was really the only shop in the area that I felt was worth abandoning a 40% discount to shop at locally. Heroes & Villains is a great shop in many ways, but they're almost exclusively a super-hero comic shop (as the name might imply). The owner is a great guy, but I figured if I had to constantly check Previews or risk missing a gem of a book, I might as well just stick to ordering online.

One of the things I have missed since going exclusively with online ordering is the camraderie of sitting around the shop, bullshitting with the owner and other customers about this week's books or recent developments. In fact, that probably plays a large role in the frequency of my blogging. Nature abhors a vacuum, after all.

So...I thought I'd try something out: a blog created every Thursday where I invite anyone reading to start posting whatever the hell they'd like to about what's going on with comic books, in the pages or outside the pages. Nothing off limits (as long as we keep it fairly respectable). Spoilers are fair game. They'll be kept entirely in the comments section (even if I'm dying to talk about something, it will be in a comment) so as to not spoil anything for people just browsing the front page.

Probably the worst week to try to roll it out, given the holiday...but what the hell...got anything on your mind this week?

16 comments:

  1. 1. I love Echo, this is seriously becoming my favorite book, it could overtake Fables at any moment. #4 was awesome and the whole thing with Julie getting the flashback of Annie was awesome.

    2. If you did not get Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam. You need to turn your ass around and get thee to your shop (or keyboard in Kevin's instance) and get you one it is awesome. Follows directly from Jeff Smith's great mini last year. It is fun and light hearted, All ages friendly and you even have to decode some of the dialogue.

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  2. I actually didn't picked up Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, but it was definitely a close call. I'm feeling the pull to go back after numerous good reviews.

    Have you been following the Batman R.I.P arc? I'm torn between whether this could turn out to be one of the best planned storylines in a long time, or if its all thrown together too hastily. #678 had points a literally frustrated the hell out of me, plus in usual DC style the insane number of crossovers into other batverse books is making me seriously out of pocket.

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  3. I wouldn't worry about the tie-ins; Morrison's said that he didn't have any input in them, so they're mostly "oh nos Batman is gone now someone else must deal with [some villain]!"

    I have no idea what Dini's arc has to do with it at all, considering he said it takes place *before* RIP.

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  4. I hate to say this but I'm waiting for the trade on Batman R.I.P. (as well as Final Crisis). Morrison's writing is far too out there to understand issue by issue. He's definitely low on my list of likeable writers. After reviews of FC ! and the latest Batman...yeah Morrison has nothing on Johns.

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  5. Batman by Morrison is best followed from the beginning, Batman and Son, the first arc, will be available in TPB on Wednesday... The book is very referential to itself and some things from long ago in Batman's history... The tie-in stuff as David said is inconsquential as Morrison has said he has no idea what they are about, he assumes that they must have to do with the effects of his story on the bat mythos as a whole...

    I am digging both Batman and Final Crisis, but they are a very different kind of book and not for everyone. Morrison does not write a flowing decompressed story, he is writing very exciting beats that are interconnected. I am enjoying it very much, but it plays out like the anti-comic compared to most people's drawn out six part arcs. The way Morrison writes, Metlzer's entire Justice League run (including Lightening Saga) would have been one double sized issue. It is hard for a lot of people to take, but I personally enjoy it and think that if we can find a happy medium, comics as a whole will be better for it.

    If you are interested in RIP, start at the beginning of Morrison's run or be ready to be lost.

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  6. 4th & David: I hadn't caught Grant saying that. Wow...that kind of makes them all Red Sky type tie-ins, at best, eh? Ain't that a disappointment...

    I'm pretty sure I advance-ordered Billy Batson, so I'll be able to comment when it gets here (likely Monday, due to the holiday). But it is certainly encouraging to see that so many others have liked it, thus far.

    I was pretty disappointed with Final Crisis after issue #2. After a week of simmering and getting over the fact that it really isn't written like an event, I'm warming up to it. Still think his Japanese characters thing is just a bit too much self-indulgence.

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  7. I want DC to cut the crap with the whole Shazam thing, making Freddy the new cap just feels kind of like he's banging a mutual friends girlfriend and there is not a thing I can do with it. I've been a life long fan of the whole Captain Marvel mythos (third generation to be exact.) So this whole new direction while I understand DC's idea to move the character forward and change things around, for old fans like me the Jeff Smith thing was great, I just wish the regular DCU would keep up the classic story If what they say is true at the end of Final Crisis that worlds will be splintered I hope we get Earth S back.

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  8. Yeah, I'd have to agree. Didn't seem to me like there was anything wrong with the Batson Cap. If there was, I don't see how it is solved by a Freeman Cap.

    Johns was doing something cool with the Cap/Stargirl romance in JSA. I thought it was pretty funny how Jay Garrick was all overprotective because he thought Cap was too old for her.

    All the property needs is a writer who knows how to get the most out of it, not wholesale changes.

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  9. I was telling the owner of my local shop how consistently terrible Ultimates was last week (yeah, yeah, I know, I really regret picking it up) and we came to the conclusion that Jeph Loeb has completely lost it.

    Nothing he has done since returning to Marvel has been anywhere near good. His Wolverine run was savaged & Hulk seems to be a mess. It really worries me that he is the saviour of the Ultimate universe.

    We came to the conclusion that he needs to take some sort of break altogether or just focus on TV work. Somewhat ironically on the box that night was the Heroes finale written by Loeb himself. Admittedly it was a fairly good episode.

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  10. Yeah, Paul, you're not the only one with that opinion. I can't fully judge the series because I checked out after the first issue of his run on Ultimates.

    But at the convention, some brave soul actually asked how Marvel could let Loeb make Ultimates so terrible. I think people up on the panel mentioned liking Mad's art and that this is just a different sort of story from what Hitch & Millar did.

    The fan pressed for a more direct answer, but didn't get one. There's no real answer to give to someone coming up saying, "I hate this book...why did you let Creator X make this book I hate?" Still took balls to ask that, IMO.

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  11. What get's to me is I'm not hesitant to get the Second Ultimate's Hardcover cause I like the first Ultimate's I don't want to get invested more into the universe. But yeah I agree Loeb does need to take a break, Wolverine was a big disappointment his hulk is just okay, I'm entertained by it, I guess that's what really matters but it's sort of a mildly entertaining affair.

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  12. I meant to say "I'm now hesitant". Stupid hangover.

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  13. LOL I'm sure most of the people there were thinking what a dick that guy was, Kevin. But yeah, credit to him for speaking his mind.

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  14. Paul: Ha. Actually, I was one of those who thought he was a bit of a dick. Especially when he still pushed the point after he got the only answer they'd possibly give. But it still takes some brass ones to ask a question like that.

    Von Doom: I think you'll really enjoy Ultimates Vol. 2. Don't let the idea that you'll become that much more attached to the universe keep you from picking it up. :)

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  15. I picked up the Shazam book, but put it back after seeing how much decoding I'd have to do to read it. Chapter titles, ala the miniseries, okay. Lines of dialog, too much work for lazy old me. :)

    I thought Echo was just a collection of Frank Cho's online chats. eCho. Get it? Okay. Never mind. :(

    The best part about getting comics every week is the chatter. Also, I don't have to make posts saying I only buy trades, so I have nothing to say. ;)

    Alan Coil
    .

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  16. Yeah...the sense of community that comes from the chatter is one of the best parts. Everything is made better by having a socializing aspect to it, IMO.

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