LIFESPAN: COMICS Week Seven

I'm back from the beach and a little R&R with my family and my reading stack is about 3 feet tall.

Oi...

I'm away again next week (at the convention in Baltimore, a quick trip this time around), so no Lifespan, and most likely less reading time during the week and a bigger stack all around.

Double Oi...

On a positive note, we've got another winner this week - Benjamin will be calling the Legion: Foundation TPB his very own! Assuming I can get an email back from him with a mailing address (Note to any entrant: In your email, include your mailing address. Unless you live within a 10 mile radius, I won't show up at 3:00 in the morning on your doorstep, so rest assured you're safe in releasing this info to me ;)

Look for details below on the next give-away (two books for you this week: PVP and Invincible) from my mighty stack.

Oh yeah, we've got Madbomb Reviews!

"The great things in the book far outweigh the goofiness of it. In fact, the goofiness is part of its charm I wasn't even around when these issues saw print, but it still made me feel like a kid again. That's not even mentioning the covers, which are so frantic that you start to feel like Cap's life is hanging in the balance if you don't read the issues."

Check out the full thrust of Logan's take here...

"Every panel is driven by tortured and torturous action, and the moments where Cap finally yields to the call of the Madbomb are genuinely disturbing. Brows furrowed and his face crunched into a frightened, angry fist, drool running from the corner of his mouth, Cap struggles to hold onto a shred of his mind, his personality. He can only defeat it by letting go. This is some powerful stuff, folks."

Check out all of Matt's take on Kirby's opus here...

Keep 'em coming, we'll let this run until next time we meet on these virtual pages.

Here's the stack as it stands today:

Fables #28 (Willingham/Akins: I like this series a lot, and this stand-alone looks like a bit of fun (Hits my sweet spot setting it during WWII).

Challengers of the Unknown #2, 3 (Chaykin): I liked the first issue enough to keep up with the series, although I'm a little behind getting started on #2.

Hellblazer #197 & 198 (Carey/Frusin): I'm trying to keep interested in this title, and I generally like Carey's Vertigo work; something's gotta give at some point though.

Batman: Death and the Maidens TPB (Rucka/Janson: Ra's Al Ghul is my favorite Bat-villain, so this will have to really fuck him up to make me dislike it.

Essential Iron Fist (Claremont, Byrne): C'mon, what am I made of stone?

Queen and Country: Operation Storm Front (Rucka/McNeil): New volume out this past week, and I'm just one behind. I've enjoyed what I've read (art issues aside as I mentioned at time) and think this series makes a great case for waiting for the trade. Oh wait, almost every series makes that case ;)

Dark Days (Niles/Templesmith): 30 Days of Night was good stuff, and I was reading its follow-up, Dark Days, in floppy format, but dropped out for some forgotten reason. Here's a chance to see how it plays.

I am Legion (Nury/Cassaday): This is very, very pretty (I actually saw the original French version, but don't read/speak French) and I'm hoping to work it to the top of the stack this week.

B.R.P.D. The Soul of Venice and Other Stories (Mignola/various): I liked the first volume a lot, and love anthologies, so what's not to like here?

Brit: Red White black and Blue (Kirkman/Rathburn): Still playing catch-up with the one man show that is Robert Kirkman after catching up/on with Walking Dead and digging it.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 3,4, 5, 6 (Miyazaki): I thought I'd be plowing through these, but now I appear to be stalling. My speed lines are now non-existent.

Romance Without Tears (various): This collection of public domain romance stories was bought on the cheap at WW Chicago. I had previously put thought to buying at list price, but balked. Now I'm glad I waitied...

No More Shaves (Greenberger): A purchase more for my wife than me (after getting the lasest FBI catalog I called her attention to the solicit, and she was piqued), but I'll give it a read first most likely (because I'm possessive like that).

Adrian Tomine Scrapbook: Uncollected Works 1990-2004 (Tomine, duh!): One of my favorite, least prolific artists/creators. Maybe the piece I own is in here...

Playboy: 50 Years of the Cartoons (various): This was bought on the way cheap (like half off the $50 price tag!) and is a beautiful looking book from Chroniclefull of well-drawn naked chicks!

The Hollow Grounds (Schuiten): More Humanoids for my stack!

Deicide #1: Path of the Dead (Portella/Pastoras) Yet more Humanoids for my stack!

Townscapes (Chrisitn/Bilal): No Movement.

The Horde (Baranko): No Movement.

The Future Dictionary of America (various): A lefty collection of essays and music from McSweeney's Books.

Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #3 (various): No Movement.

The Tomb (Weir/DeFilippis/Mitten): No movement.

The Kid Firechief (Steven Weissman): No movement.

The Filth (Morrison/Weston): No movement.

The Last American (Grant/McMahon/Wagner): No movement.

The Ballad of Halo Jones Books 1, 2 and 3 (Moore/Gibson): Mo movement.

Stranger Than Fiction (Chuck Palahniuk): NO MOVEMENT!

Exterminator 17 (Bilal/Dionnet)/Gods in Chaos (Bilal): No movement.

The Incal 1, 2 (Moebius/Jodorwsky): No movement.

Found (Rothbart): No movement.

Chronicles of Conan 2, 3,4 (Thomas/Windsor-Smith/Kane/Buscema): No movement. No interest?

Lone Wolf and Cub #3,4 (Koike/Kojima): No movement. Like Nausicaa, I thought I'd be sailing through, but my big eyes have closed for now to this series.

Here's what left the stack this week, and where it's going:

PVP at Large (Kurtz): Life's too short, and my stack is too tall. So... I'M GIVING THIS (mostly unread, I only made it like 5 pages in) COPY AWAY!

EMAIL ME BETWEEN NOW AND MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, AND I'LL PICK A WINNER AT RANDOM, LITERALLY, AND SEND THIS OUT... FREE! (YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN THE CONTIGUOUS UNITED STATES, THOUGH!)

Star Wars Infinites: Return of the Jedi TPB (Gallardo/Benjamin): This wasn't very good on any level. Heading to the basement to find a new life outside my home.

Back Issue #5 (various): A slight, quick read. No need to ever reference again, though. Heading to the basement to find a new life outside my home.

Comic Art #6 (various): I picked this up for the Seth feature, but found the rest of the magazine great reading (particularly the interview with former The Imp creator/publisher, Daniel Raeburn). I think I might need to subscribe to this (and Illustration as well). I'll be keeping this to look back at every once in awhile. At 9 bucks an issue, I'd be hard pressed to dump it in the recycling pile.

The Comics journal #262 (various): This is really becoming the perfect comics magazine again (providing a nice balance of all worlds) and I dig the new format and additional comics content as well. I should probably subscribe again, shouldn't I? I'll be keeping this to look back at every once in awhile. At 10 bucks an issue, I'd be hard pressed to dump it in the recycling pile.

The Castaways (Vollmar/Callejo): This has been on my "to-buy/read" list for like a year, so now I've done both. Good stuff, and looking forward to Vollmar's BluesmanThis will head to the secondary stacks in the basement.

I Never Liked You (Chester Brown): Well, I never really liked you either, Chet. I mean, I never really liked your previous stuff (Playboy, Yummy Fur, anything else?), and thought that this was slight. I loved Louis Riel though, so stick with stuff like that and maybe we can tolerate each other, ok? Heading to the basement to find a new life outside my home.

Clyde Fans Book 1 (Seth): Seth is my favorite comics writer/artist/creator and I'd been looking forward to this for months. It's wonderful stuff, beautifully illustrated, touching, and interesting - all about a couple of brothers selling fans. And that's why he's my favorite... A keeper in every sense of the word, racked right next to my favorite work of his: It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken.

Invincible: Family Matters TPB (Kirkman/Walker): Add some speed lines, big eyes, creepy fetishes, and make this digest sized and you've got your next big manga hit. I'll give this one away this week as well.

EMAIL ME BETWEEN NOW AND MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, AND I'LL PICK A WINNER AT RANDOM, LITERALLY, AND SEND THIS OUT... FREE! (YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN THE CONTIGUOUS UNITED STATES, THOUGH!)

A whole stack of floppies are shipping out from the stack and I couldn't be happier to see them go: Lucifer #52: Part 2? I don't remember part 1; Supreme Power #11/12: So, these three super-beings are getting together to take on... a serial killer? Kee-rist; Doctor Spectrum #1: Pass; Punisher #10: Wordy/Boring; District X #4: Moderately Entertaining; Wildcats #23/24: It was so good at the start (Boardroom Superheroes), but ended so poorly (That Coda Nonsense); Fables #27: My favorite monthly series I think; Catwoman #32/33: Brubaker's Leaving? I'm already gone; The Moth #3: Forgettable, pretty and unnecessary; Astro City Special: My favorite series that's published whenever it's published; Avengers #501: I thought someone was going to die every issue? Eh...; Hulk/Thing: Hard Knocks #1: Unnecessary Squared and I don't like Jae's Hulk; Gotham Central #22: Wrapped up; Y: The Last Man #25: Going nowhere very slowly every month, but it's an entertaining ride; Batman the 12 Cent Adventure: Worth every penny; DC Comics Presents: Hawkman, Green Lantern, Superman, Flash: Beyond me; Losers #14: Needs Jock; Human Target #12: On Target; Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #11: Boring, but with great Bruce Timm art on the first short story; Ultimate Spider-Man #65: The best issue in all this Ultimate Clone/Gwen/Carnage crap; Ultimate Elektra #1: I normally like Larroca, but not here -- I think it's the paper stock and coloring; X-Statix #26: This Issue, Everyone Dies!; Ultimate FF #10: Techno-babble-riffic!; Plastic Man #8: Awesome on all levels; Seaguy #3 What the fuck?; Astonishing X-Men #4: I'm on board; Sleeper #2: I'm not feeling it this time around, and this could have been one series; Ex Machina #2: I'm on board; Identity Crisis #3: This Issue... Everyone's Raped! This generation's Watchmen, and I mean that with no respect to this generation; Amazing Spider-Man #511: This started poorly, but brought me in. Damn you Nerd King, Damn YOU!

Joseph Rybandt has been working "professionally" in the comics "business" for close to 14 years. He lives in the mountains of Northern PA with his wife, daughter and companion Cosmo. His thoughts and opinions are, mercifully, his own.