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| Friday, May 18, 2007 02:02 AM |
| An incredibly lengthy entry, because hey, I'm up anyway |
 by Fëanor |
UPDATED. See below.
I'm up late doing Phillyist stuff! I'm done what I want to get done now, though, so I'll go to bed soon. But I wanted to say, Vegas was a ton of fun. Poppy and I are both kind of confused as to why we like it so much there, but we do. It's such a surreal place. Everything is so gigantic and ridiculously overdone, and everywhere there's bright lights and entertainment and gambling and half naked women and food. It's like walking around in a great big crazy softcore porn movie. So yeah, maybe it's not so confusing as to why we like it. Anyway, I played plenty of slots and roulette (one of the few table games I really enjoy), and won a goodly amount... but then I lost a lot more. But that's the way it is! They have ways to take your money everywhere and at all times out there. There's keno and video poker in the damn restaurants, for God's sake, and slot machines as soon as you step off the plane.
Of course, while you're out there, you have to see a show, so we saw Spamalot, the Monty Python musical. It wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it was fun and funny, and very very silly.
I also brought nearly all of my unread comic books with me, and read nearly all of them. I was thus able to get a much better bead on what it is I really like and am interested in, which meant that my shopping list for this week was mercifully much shorter than last week. Which is not to say there aren't a lot of back issues I don't still need! I wasn't able to go to a Philly comic book store, so I hit a crummy one in the Cherry Hill Mall Wednesday night and didn't come away with much that I needed. Definitely need to go back to Fat Jack's or Atomic City soon.
If you're interested, here are all the books I'm planning on following for now:
Immortal Iron Fist #2, 3, 6, and onward
Read #1, wasn't all that impressed, but then read #4 and was blown away, what with the crazy mystical action and fighting, so I want to collect these.
The All New Atom #7, and onward
Read a collection of #1-6 and it was absolutely fantastic; can't wait to get more. Brilliant, funny, and just basically presses all my geek buttons.
Superman, by Grant Morrison
Speaks for itself, really. I understand there's a graphic novel collection of the first volume of these, so I want to pick that up.
World War Hulk
I read the prologue and issue one of this, and I think Marvel has sucked me in to this multi-book cross-over epic, may Thor have mercy on my soul. Apparently the Hulk's "friends" shot him into space for being too much of a danger, and now he's coming back to Earth to kill everybody. Crazy! Also, She-Hulk is a neat character I was not particularly familiar with before, and I like this kid Amadeus, the seventh smartest person on Earth.
Nova #3 and onward
I read #1 and #2 of this, and it was pretty interesting - just interesting enough that I'll probably keep reading.
Ultimate Power #1-4, 6, and onward
Some kind of crazy series by JMS. I read 5 and it was packed with some of my favorite Marvel characters having ridiculously epic fights. It rocked.
Punisher War Journal #1-3, 6, 8, and onward
Matt Fraction, the writer of this series, is a freaking genius. Punisher War Journal #4 is one of the best comic books I've read so far. It's the funeral of a supervillain which turns into a sort of homage to and parody of the old comics, where you used to just put on a costume, pick an animal name nobody had yet, and do some crimes, and nobody got hurt. Then at the end it turns from funny and clever to brutal and breathtaking. Just fantastic. I'm hooked. Oh, and the art is great, too.
Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil #4
The only bad thing about this series is that it's only four books long and I've already read the first three. The art is beautifully simplistic and cartoony in the best way, the story is wonderfully child-like and fun, and yet also very clever and satirical. Just great comics.
Buffy Season 8 #4 and onward
It's like Buffy is back, and it's good again, and all is right with the world.
Dark Tower #5 and onward
Actually not sure how much I really like this series, but I feel like I should see it through to the end.
Eternals #2 and onward
It's Neil Gaiman doing super beings fighting an epic battle for Earth's future. Yay!
All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder #2-4, 6 and onward
Actually, #1 didn't blow me away, but it's Frank Miller doing Batman, and there were really neat bits in it, so I'm going to keep reading.
Countdown #50
I read #52 of the 52 series, and I thought it was pretty much crap and made no sense. Which could be because I read none of the 51 other issues of 52. But I read a review by somebody who did, and he also said it was pretty much crap and made no sense. All that being said, this Countdown series, which appears to be sort of a follow-up to 52, looks interesting, and I want to give it a try.
Batman #666
I picked up Batman #665, because hey, it's by Grant Morrison, and it was... interesting. Had some great lines. Batman appears to be in a weird place now, though. Tim is still Robin, but Batman has a son named Damian and now he's fighting three evil Batmen spirits or something?! Very weird. I need to catch up on what's been going on...
The Amazing Spider-Man #541 and onward
Not so sure about these. I read #539 and 540, which are one and two in a series by JMS called Back in Black, and I'm really not sure I like where he's taking Spidey. I just recently fell in love with the character as Stan Lee created him in the early issues, and now here he is without a costume on, and then with a black costume on, all dark and angry and vengeful, and most of the stuff I liked about Spider-Man is not here. But still, I want to read some kind of Spider-Man comic, and that Ultimate crap just pisses me off.
[UPDATE: I liked Catwoman #66, but wasn't blown away by it. E'en so, the positive review by the ISB of Catwoman #67 intrigues me, so I might need to get that. He also has good things to say about Conan #40, and I love Conan, so I've added that to my list, as well.]
Anyway, I really need to be in bed, so I'd better sign off now. |
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