Adventures in Sound: Part 14

Panel from Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter
Illustration: Darwyn Cooke

Butterflies in the sky

Sorry about the radio silence lately, kids, but things have been busy here at GCP HQ. Of course, not so busy that I couldn't swing by the library yesterday to pick up some comic trades and graphic novels I missed out on the first time around.

I'm lucky enough to have a library that is really active in bringing in a wide variety of comics, from the classic collections to the newer stuff and for all age ranges. Take a look at what I checked out (literally!) and tell me what you think of my selection in the comments.


Marvel Adventures: The Avengers Vol. 4 — Weirder and Wilder (by writer Jeff Parker and artist Leonard Kirk)

Marvel Adventures: The Avengers Vol. 7 — The Dream Team (Parker and Ig Guara)

JLA: The Hypothetical Woman (Gail Simone and Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez)

Rasl Vol. 1: The Drift (Jeff Smith)

Goats: Infinite Typewriters (Jonathan Rosenberg)

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 — The Authorized Adaptation (Bradbury and Tim Hamilton)

Jack Kirby's The Losers (Kirby)

Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter (Stark and Darwyn Cooke)


I'm probably looking forward to reading those last two the most, though I've got to admit the Satanic chicken of Goats has its own special kind of gravitational pull.

And for the record, yes, I do read books without pictures, too. Especially when I come across something called I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President (Josh Lieb). A title like that is catnip, I tells ya.

Favorite Panel Friday: Wholly Spirit

You know one of the things I like about The Spirit? He gets the living hell beat out of him on a regular basis.

This is certainly true of Will Eisner's celebrated run with his best-known and oh-so-human character, and it seems as if Darwyn Cooke will continue the tradition in his updated version of The Spirit. Cooke has done a good job of capturing the happy-go-lucky figure of Denny Colt's alter-ego, and in The Spirit #2 he also shows one of the attributes that makes him a hero; he may take a beating, but he never stays down.

And holy crap, does he take a beating. What kind of hoods are these anyway, handing out moral tsk-tsks with their smackdown? That's just adding insult to multiple injuries, man.

Luckily, The Spirit's pain is our reward in what continues to be a well-written, snazzily drawn tribute that still manages to be fun and original. Cooke's work on The Spirit makes me want to go back and read the Eisner stories; believe me, I can't think of a higher compliment.

The Spirit #2: Darwyn Cooke, writer/artist

Favorite Panel Friday has its reservations

I finally start a comics blog, and what do I do? I decide to cancel this week's Favorite Panel Friday.

And for once it's not just laziness or a too-tight work schedule. No, no - this time it's because the comic shop I've been going to lately tends to order short, so this week I got screwed on The Damned #3 and The Spirit #1.

Now, I've already talked about The Damned and how much I've been enjoying it, and I was really looking forward to the new version of The Spirit. I'm a fan of Darwyn Cooke's, I'm a fan of The Spirit, and everything I've heard about the update of the character has been pretty positive.

So, of course, I haven't been able to read it yet (except for a preview, available here). But, I'm almost positive The Spirit #1 would have held my favorite panel of the week. To be honest, it probably would have been my favorite book of the week.

Because of all that, there isn't going to be a Favorite Panel Friday this time around. But that's not going to stop me from saying you should pick up The Spirit #1; as soon as my store re-orders it, I know I will.

The Spirit #1: Darwyn Cooke, writer/artist