WTF Wednesday: Every little thing he does is magic

From now on, I'm entering every room just like this.

Panel from Deathmate: Blue (#2)
Joe St. Pierre, writer; Sean Chen, penciller; Kathryn Bolinger, inker

Seaguy finally resurfaces (and it's about damn time)

After a wait of almost — holy shit — FIVE YEARS, we'll finally see the bizarre and utterly engaging Seaguy return to comic book stands in a few weeks with Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye #1.

In case you're not familiar with the title, Seaguy is the charming and oddly sinister story of a guy named Seaguy, a hero in a world so seemingly perfect it doesn't have any use for heroes. Bored, frustrated and at a loss as to what it all means, Seaguy longs for adventure and answers despite the ministration of the suspiciously benevolent Mickey Eye.

Sounds kinda weird, right? Well, this only scratches the surface of a story that also involves a hovering talking tuna, sentient food and the personification of Death. I can tell you this; whatever you think it is, it's not what you're expecting. But it's great in that nutty Grant Morrison way (oh, did I forget to mention Morrison writes this?), and the art by Cameron Stewart is so good it hurts.

The beginning of the second arc in what's supposed to be a Seaguy trilogy is scheduled for an April 1 release, and it's sure to be well worth your while. I'm not sure going into it cold would be a good idea, though, so you might want to dig up the the first arc before diving in (ha! see what I did there, with the "diving" and ... eh, shut it).

And in the meantime, MySpace Comic Books just published an exclusive interview with Morrison, featuring Stewart's art from the upcoming Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye #1. It's good stuff and gives a pretty solid sense of what you can probably expect from the series, so go check it out.

By the way, did I mention Seaguy hates the sea?

Cover Up: Tank Girl #2 (Vol. 2)

As far as I'm concerned, no other cover sums up the spirit of Tank Girl quite like this one.

Your mileage may vary and all that, but the cover of Tank Girl #2 (Vol. 2) by original artist and co-creator Jamie Hewlett is pure energy (but not Pure Energy) and distills the essence of the comic to its misshapen core of cramped and overheated insanity.

Hewlett tends to be one of those artists comic book readers either love or hate, and I fall firmly in the first category. His characters are always delightfully — often manically — expressive, and the work in his Tank Girl books would dare readers to keep up as it veered from style to style, using anything from rough sketches to hyper-detailed linework to collage, sometimes drenched in the most lurid colors you could imagine. (The mainstream would later be introduced to Hewlett's character design and slightly sinister style with his co-created "virtual" band Gorillaz.)

Some people could complain this cover is too busy, and there is a hell of a lot going on here. But I don't think any of it is wasted or superfluous. Ever seen those film clips of bombs being dropped from airplanes during World War II? The cover gives the reader a view of what it would be like to be in the middle of that insane downpour of munitions, as well as of the cigar-chomping tank pilot with the cracked goggles flying right through it.

But that's just the first thing to hit you. This cover is all about the details, from the bloody bandage on Tank Girl's leg to her furiously jabbing thumbs, mashing the fire buttons arcade-style. And don't forget the various stickers ("My Other Tank Is Crap") and decorations (my favorite is the pennant boasting that "She Came 1st") that are as much a part of the tank's design as the treads and chopper-inspired back-rest.

The cover to Tank Girl #2 is excess — which, when you think about it, is at the heart of Tank Girl itself. Sometimes too much is just right.

Friday Night Fights: Kalibak is a big John Cusack fan

OK, Kalibak, you've made it to the final round and you have a chance to win the game! You've chosen "80s Movies" as your category so let's begin.

For $800 and a year's supply of Turtle Wax® brand Club Polish, ring in and finish the title of this film: "Better Off ..."

I don't know what hurts more, the Fourth World beating or that joke.

Still, for sheer cosmic-level brutality it's hard to beat the King, a lesson Orion learns after Kalibak hits him so hard half his face disappears!

Something tells me Spacebooger would approve.


Following a link? Read more Great Caesar's Post right here!

Panel from Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus: Vol. 3
Jack Kirby, writer and artist

What's at the top of the comic book mountain?

So the other day I received an e-mail that was both hellish and irresistible, like chocolate-covered crack delivered straight to the inbox.

Steve of I Was Ben had a question: Considering all the talk going around about Watchmen being the apex of the medium, what do you think is the pinnacle of the comic book form?

On its face, it's a straight-forward question. But in the depths of my geeky soul (and, I'm assuming, yours now), the torture began. Lists were made and discarded, foreheads were slapped whenever another title was remembered, and second-guessing ran rampant. Almost like asking a parent to choose their favorite child, or to decide between Coke or Pepsi (Mr. Pibb, duh), this was — as even Adrian Veidt might put it — "a toughie."

What was my answer (besides vaguely ambiguous)? Go check out Steve's post at I Was Ben to find out, as well as to get the thoughtful opinions of our pal The Fortress Keeper and Teresa of In Sequence. While you're at it, leave your own picks in the I Was Ben comments; I think we'd all be interested to hear some more points of view.

Speaking of which, you should also take a look at blog-buddy Kevin Church's recent post on good comics for new readers — there isn't a stinker in the bunch, and there are some solid suggestions in the comments, too (Vimanarama! God, I love that one!)

Now give it some thought, and let's hear it!

Morrison and Quitely? To the Batcave, chum!

Most people probably know about this already, but I'm pretty excited about the news that Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely will be the creative team for the new Batman & Robin series. Slated to launch in June, the title will be coming on the heels of the pairs' excellent All Star Superman, which combined Morrison's sky-high concepts with Quitely's best art to date.

These two work extremely well together, and seem to have that rare alchemy that brings out the best in each other. And no offense to All Star Batman & Robin's #1 fan, but I think this will be the series ASBAR should have been.

CAN'T. WAIT.

via Robot 6

Between here and there

I'll be on the road most of today, but regular posting will pick up again tomorrow. So it's a date? Awesome!

As usual, whenever we here at GCP HQ are gearing up for a road trip, we like to remember the words of that highway philosopher and asphalt poet ... Mr. Oliver Queen:


You said it, Ollie ... you said it.

Back tomorrow, kids!

It never gets old

From the always-excellent Agents of Atlas (issue #2)
Jeff Parker, writer; Carlos Pagulayan, Jason Paz and Jana Schirmer, artists

The return of Staple! and other items of interest (plus a question!)

I don't go to a lot of comic book conventions, but Staple! is one I try hard not to miss.

Staple! is an expo for independently produced comics and other self-published literature, art and any other creative endeavor that fits the vibe of a hip mini-con, here in Austin, Texas. I have an unnatural love for Staple!, and though I've said it before, it really does get bigger and better with each year.

This year is the fifth for the expo, and the organizers have some pretty exciting guests lined up. At the top of the bill is Stan Sakai, legendary creator of Usagi Yojimbo (and this year's Staplegator logo). If I can keep from going into a fanboy coma, I'm really looking forward to meeting him. He'll also be joined by Chris Onstad (of Achewood fame) and Jeffrey Brown (Incredible Change-Bots and other great comics) — not to mention a host of other guests and vendors. You can get the latest information on guests and programming at the Web site.

If you're anywhere near the Austin area, I recommend carving out a couple of hours to take in what's ultimately a very cool meeting of the comic book-minded.

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Speaking of very cool, the Staple! podcasts are being taken care of by the guys over at Dial-A-Stranger, which is itself one of my favorite regular podcasts. The concept is simple; people e-mail or call in with queries on ... well, anything ... and then hosts Mercedes and Zach randomly call someone from a list of other people who have volunteered to take a question.

It sounds simple and it is, but the interaction between the hosts and the person on the other end of the line is frequently hilarious and often poignant.

It's also well worth a listen.

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So, Scans-Daily was shut down, huh? I only went to the site a few times — usually when someone else's blog linked to it — so I can't pretend to know too much about it. But I do know that a lot of the people who populated S_D tended to skirt the definition of Fair Use and made a lot of noise, both about how creators didn't know how to use their own characters and about how the posters had some sort of right to do whatever they wanted with someone else's work.

Let me say right off that I'm a big free speech and fair use guy. But that doesn't mean that anything created by anyone else is mine to use as I will. It's illegal and it's disprespectful to the creator. And to not only post almost complete (and in some cases, entirely complete) issues online AND THEN crow about it ... well, that just isn't very smart and you deserved to get shut down. No amount of hand-wringing, cries of man-hate (I didn't even realize S_D was supposed to be a "female space" until recently) or claims of comic book evangelism will change that.

Lisa Fortuner and Andrew Weiss have very good points to make about the whole thing, so go check it out. For myself, I'm sorry people will miss their sense of community, but I'm not sorry to see Scans_Daily go. I tend to avoid message boards and the like because they always seem to end up making me depressed and angry; we'll see how long the mods can keep some of the more interesting new boards to pop up in S_D's place from spinning out of control.

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You may have noticed (or not — what am I, a mind-reader?) that there were some strange goings-on here at the blog yesterday. Blogger has been giving me more and more trouble lately, so I ask you, Internet: Is it time to switch to Wordpress? Tell me, Internet, tell me!!

Friday Night Fights: Hit it!

Y'all ready ...


Doc Samson and the Rhino have already hit the floor, but if you still need a partner I'm sure Spacebooger and the O.P.P. crew can hook you up.


Following a link? Read more Great Caesar's Post right here!

Panel from The Incredible Hulk #218
Len Wein and Roger Stern, writers; George Tuska and Keith Pollard, artists

All right, everybody - suit up!

I don't know if this has made the rounds yet, but it's the first I've seen of it: the New York Daily News has a fun little compare-and-contrast photo feature up at their Web site comparing TV and movie depictions of superheroes to the original comic book designs.

They cheat a little bit by using multiple characters from the same movie (there's plenty of Watchmen and Spider-Man here), but the indie folks aren't left totally out in the cold, either. It's not complete (insert fanboy whine here), but it's still impressively in-depth, from the cool ...


to the omigodmakeitstop ...


What do you think? What are some of your favorite — or most hated — character costumes to hit the screen? Any love for the TV version of Flash? Let me know in the comments!

Reviews: A messy end for Blue Beetle

Things have been busy at work the last few days, which is why posting has slowed to a crawl lately (NOT THAT I BLOG FROM WORK). Hell, I haven't even been able to read all of the comics I got this week. I have managed to squeeze in a few though, so here are a few quick thoughts on some of this week's books:

Blue Beetle #36: This was the last issue of the now-canceled series, and instead of crossing the finish line with arms raised in triumph, it more or less staggered with a noticeable limp. You can't really fault writer Matthew Sturges, though; the obviously compacted and rushed issue blew by plot points and ideas likely meant to be explored more fully across several storylines, and it's easy to get the feeling he was trying to get as much out there as he could before the door closed on the title.

It's a shame Sturges won't be able to more fully flesh out the future of Blue Beetle as a rapidly maturing young superhero now touched by tragedy, because I think he would have some interesting stories to tell. Instead we have to be satisfied with a pretty big clue about who probably becomes the future Black Beetle and an ambiguous ending to what had been one of the better superhero comics on the rack.

Green Lantern #38: Well, it seems pretty obvious Hal's going to end up wearing a ring from every corps there is before this story is through — and I'm OK with that. It seems a little contrived (just like Carol joining the Star Sapphires ... again), but seeing Hal go through dramatic Wolf-Man-like transformations while his uniform turns into a patchwork quilt is so Silver Age goofy it's fun.

I still don't get the whole blood-rage-vomit thing (and I'm not sure how I feel about basically the same effect being used for Scar's Black Lantern tears o' death), but I'm trying to ignore it in favor of electric chair-Sinestro and flying elephant men.


Umbrella Academy #4 (vol. 2): This comic amazes me every issue with its ability to make me like it even more than I did the month before. Weird, clever and smart, Umbrella Academy is also gleefully violent and action-packed (even when nothing is really going on besides people standing in a room talking). I especially like how smart this title is, unraveling some horrible mystery you both dread and welcome because, dammit, how's it going to end?!

Say what you will about his band, but it has nothing to do with this comic; Gerard Way is writing a great book here, with characters you care about and an outcome you become fully invested in. And the art by Gabriel Ba? If I could I would eat it, it's that good. This is currently one of my favorite books, and you should be reading it. (preview)

Unknown Soldier #5: Brutal, unrelenting and a damn-near perfect war book about a war that's gone largely unnoticed by most people. Writer Joshua Dysart has updated the Unknown Soldier character by putting him in the middle of 2002 Uganda — a country that has spent years tearing itself apart with violence, corruption and atrocity — and making him a product of that battered and blood-caked nation.

It works incredibly well, and a reader can tell Dysart is using his story to both entertain and educate (his monthly background essays on Uganda's strife should be required reading). This title is mean in all the right ways. Likewise, the frenetic art by Alberto Ponticelli has that "Vertigo" style to it, but it completely suits the characters and the chaotic tone of the script. Since he's drawing a character who is fast becoming a bogeyman of war, it's appropriate that his Unknown Soldier is scary as hell.