Closing out the week... Vince, too, is late, but he arrives to rebut his fangirl critics in the latest edition of OMNIUM GATHERUM. Plus: a look at THE SURREAL ADVENTURES OF EDGAR ALLAN POO, wherein the writer shits out his imagination and the turd takes on a life of its own.

I'm not making that up. Honest.

/Mason

A day late, but not a dollar short, Matt Maxwell's FULL BLEED returns to ask "Where do comics fans come from?"

Nothing to do with the birds and the bees, I'm afraid...

/Mason

Wednesday... FULL BLEED has been delayed this week due to illness, so it's role today will be played by a review of VAMPIRELLA QUARTERLY: SUMMER 2007.

Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week. Send Matt your positive energy, won't you?

/Mason

Tuesday is a good day for mythology, as we take a look at DEVI from Virgin Comics.

Best book from them yet. Honest.

/Mason

Manga Monday! LE CHEVALIER D'EON is quite a nifty little police procedural/occult thriller about a boy whose dead sister inhabits his body in order to wreak vengeance on evildoers.

How can you pass up that description?

/Mason

A QUICK BIT OF COOL


Top Shelf is celebrating its ten-year anniversary this year, and in response they’ve created a nifty little marketing tool. THE TOP SHELF SEASON SAMPLER is available through their website or at conventions, and like love, it don’t cost a thang.

Contained within is a number of previews of this year’s releases, including a number of books I’ve reviewed (LONE RACER, TALES FROM THE FARM, KORGI, FOX BUNNY FUNNY, DEATH BY CHOCOLATE, SUPER SPY), The entries include a summary and some art, along with the occasional pull quote. However, they don’t just restrict themselves to this year’s releases. The sampler also includes previews of the company’s perennial sellers like FROM HELL, LOST GIRLS, TRICKED, BOX OFFICE POISON, BLANKETS and others. Then they throw in some promotion for stuff coming next year, including the third volume of Alan Moore’s LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN and Alex Robinson’s next book, TOO COOL TO BE FORGOTTEN. (Can’t tell you just how much I’m looking forward to that one.)

If you’re stuck with a comics shop that doesn’t order from the back of the catalog, or have just been curious about breaking away from the superhero grind, Top Shelf has a healthy amount of material that should appeal to you. Getting your hands on a copy of this sampler could lead you to something interesting and maybe change your reading habits.

/Mason

CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

And I mean seriously extra. Because this book is still wayyyyy off in the distance, but you’re getting your first look Right. Fucking. Here.


The book in question? HAZED, written by Mark Sable and drawn by Robbi Rodriguez, and published by Image Comics: the real San Francisco treat.

HAZED is the story of Ileana, a college freshman who winds up going to a “second choice” college and nearly immediately regrets it. She’s got a vapid roommate named James (who is a woman, despite her name), a reasonably healthy sense of self and a decent body image, and enough smarts to fill multiple backpacks. But we find out early on that it all went by the wayside and she’s headed for a life of eating disorders and binge drinking. The question then becomes, as Sable begins building his parody: how did it all go wrong?

Honestly, taking shots at college culture is pretty much like shooting fish in a barrel, and being a college librarian, trust me: I know. To make it work, you have to do two things: have at least one good character to get behind, and some new, clever ways to deliver the snark. Sable’s best: the sluttiest sorority on campus is Sigma Tau Delta… the STDs. Funny stuff.

In the rougher spots where the story isn’t quite flowing, Sable has the best backup possible in the form of Rodriguez. As he’s proven on MAINTENANCE, he has a gift for drawing projects with a warped sense of humor, and he really delivers some terrific stuff here.

Nothing about HAZED screams “genius!” or “Eisner!”, but the first chunk I’ve read here does do a solid job of entertaining and putting a smile on your face. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Be back here through the week for site updates and/or friend us on MySpace. See you next weekend for the next edition of the Blog Extra!

/Mason

Ending the week with greatness... Gipi's NOTES FOR A WAR STORY arrives on our shores, and it's one of the best books of the year, period.

Read all about it.

/Mason

Thursday... Vince Moore goes on the attack against When Fangirls Attack in the latest edition of OMNIUM GATHERUM! Plus: Marc reviews the hardcover collection of Frank Beddor's HATTER M.

What else do you want?

/Mason

Wednesday shifts up a gear, as Matt Maxwell's FULL BLEED dives into superhero hate and asks the question "Where has the imagination gone?"

It's a good one, gang.

/Mason

Scott Chantler's excellent NORTHWEST PASSAGE gets collected in an annotated hardcover edition. Folks, it's a beauty.

Read all about it.

/Mason

Manga Monday! Starting off this week, we have a look at PRETTY FACE, a manga that's actually pretty good... but a little penile-phobic...

What does that mean? Go see.

/Mason

CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

Like last Friday, I’m getting an early jump on the Blog Extra! This weekend: a look at a new title from the folks at Devil’s Due.

DRAFTED #1 is written by Mark Powers and drawn by Chris Lie. The story certainly doesn’t have small aims; we begin in the aftermath of large earthquakes which have wiped out Berlin and Ottawa, and those have occurred after bizarre disasters in Jerusalem and St. Louis. Only one thing is known for sure: people are dying by the thousands and nothing about any of it makes sense. But it all becomes plainly, horrifically clear when an alien race arrives and announces itself to every soul on the planet at one time. They have come to enlist the Earth’s population in a war against a great evil, and if we cooperate, we get all sorts of goodies. Refuse to assist, and they’ll wipe us out completely… using very similar methods to what they’ve done to our world so far. Human civilization as we know it is at an end either way… so can people put aside their differences and work together to save the species? Or is humanity about to go the way of the dinosaur?

Like a classic Hollywood mega-blockbuster, DRAFTED brings together an international cast, places them in danger, and jams the plot into motion. Certainly, as hard as Powers tries, none of the characters come across as anything but stock, but that isn’t necessarily a flaw. We’re meant at this point to get only a slight glimpse, and any development will occur as each one faces the horrors ahead.

As a fan of the disaster genre, I liked DRAFTED maybe more than I should have. Honestly, not enough happens here; we’re not even at the point of the series when we find out exactly what the title truly means yet, and there was a preview issue before this one. Still, Powers and Lie get a lot of latitude from me on this one, so I’m counting on them to come through.

Be back here throughout the week for site updates or friend us on MySpace!

/Mason

Finishing off a very exciting week here at the Waiting Room... the second edition of FULL BLEED, the addition of OMNIUM GATHERUM... and wrapping it all with a new review today of ANGEL SKIN.

It's gotten fun around here! Go see why!

/Mason

*500*

It is here, on the occasion of the 500th post to this blog, that I'm pleased to reprint this piece of PR I Just sent out:

"THE COMICS WAITING ROOM PROUDLY WELCOMES VINCENT S. MOORE TO THE SITE!

Comics Retailer, Writer and Editor Joins the Comics Columnist Community!


TEMPE, AZ, Thursday, September 20, 2007-

The Comics Waiting Room (www.comicswaitingroom.com) is proud to announce the addition of columnist Vince Moore to the site. Moore, who has spent time on both the retail and creative sides of the comics industry, will be writing his column “OMNIUM GATHERUM” for the site, and using it to discuss his thoughts about the comics industry, the process of creating and publishing his own, review books new and old, and riff on other topics of note.

“OMNIUM GATHERUM” will appear on Thursdays on a weekly to bi-weekly schedule, and the column will be archived at www.comicswaitingroom.com/vince.html so that anyone who has missed an installment can easily catch up.

Comics Waiting Room owner and Editor-in-Chief Marc Mason had this to say about the addition of Moore to the site: “Having Vince at the site makes me very happy. He’s a very mellow, thoughtful guy, and even when he has a controversial opinion you might not agree with, he’s just so damned nice that you still love him anyway. I’m glad he said ‘yes’ when I asked if he’d like to come onboard. Year two at the Waiting Room is all about adding more content and variety to the site, and Vince is a huge part of it! And there’s more to come!”

About Vincent S. Moore:
Vince has been a retailer, comics editor, and is now creating comics of his own. He’s also written for Comic Book Resources and Silver Bullet Comics.

About The Comics Waiting Room:
Established by Marc Mason in July 2006, after working for a number of other comics-related websites, The Comics Waiting Room has consistently added new content five to six days a week. The site offers reviews of comics, graphic novels, and media, as well as occasional media and entertainment features. After producing 99.9% of the content himself in the first year, the second year will see the addition of three new columnists to the site."

Throw in a review of SNAKE WOMAN vol.1 from Virgin Comics, and you have zero excuse for not clicking and reading today!

/Mason

World War Wednesday! Two new comics reviews: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON ZERO and EVA: DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON! And if that wasn't enough, it's the newest installment of Matt Maxwell's FULL BLEED, wherein he discusses how horrible it would be if television were run like comics!

Tomorrow: the arrival of Vince Moore's OMNIUM GATHERUM!

Make with the clicky!

/Mason

Today... ELEPHANTMEN gets the deluxe hardcover treatment, and we have the review...

Tomorrow... more new reviews, plus the newest installment of Matt Maxwell's FULL BLEED...

Thursday... more new reviews, and Vince Moore's OMNIUM GATHERUM joins the site...

Do you really need any more reasons to click here?

/Mason

Manga Monday! SUZUKA is, technically, a fine manga, but the characters are becoming obnoxious to the point of being painful.

Should I keep caring?

/Mason

POTTER’S FIELD #1

I’m mixing things up a bit with the Weekend Blog Extra, bringing you two new reviews, and on Friday to boot! Let’s tackle number one, shall we? From Boom Studios:

POTTER’S FIELD #1 is written by Mark Waid and Drawn by Paul Azaceta. This book has achieved near-legendary status before ever shipping, giving it a lot to live up to. Originally announced as JOHN DOE, it was supposed to be in stores over a year ago. Ads for the book kept running in the back of other Boom products, but the JOHN DOE remained an unknown. However, with Waid’s arrival as EIC of Boom, the perfect time has arrived to get the comic on stands.

FIELD follows the exploits of a man known only as John Doe, and Doe’s mission in life is a fascinating one: he investigates the identities of those buried anonymously in New York’s Potter’s Field, ultimately working to give the dead a name and a story, and hopefully allowing the living to mourn their losses. He is aided by a network of operatives throughout the city, using their connections and talents to supplement his own intuitive gifts. Issue one puts its primary focus on a young girl who seemingly committed suicide. But there was much more to it than that, which allows Waid to take a poke at one (disgustingly) popular member of today’s media, and Doe must dig through a case cold enough to be frozen solid in order to put the girl at rest. But what surprises is what occurs when he displays his own sense of justice in resolving the issue.

The book looks terrific; Paul Azaceta gets better and better with every book he draws. Waid’s poke at the aforementioned media member is the book’s biggest weak spot, as it’s an awfully easy target. But it works better in its setup, as the concept is very solid. In fact, it’d make for a perfect TV procedural drama, and considering Boom’s efforts in development, I’d be shocked if that weren’t where it was headed.

/Mason

Closing it out... Henry Chamberlain wraps up ALICE IN NEW YORK and does a solid job of it.

It's been a huge week around here, and it's only going to get bigger next week as we add ANOTHER new columnist!

/Mason