It’s time for my annual sale on norty arts. Details are available in my DA journal for those that are interested, or send me an email at agentfoo@gmail.com!
Fare thee well, City of Heroes
Reposted, word for word, from Oct 16, 2008:
The ol’ City of Heroes account has expired. Sadly, I was generally having more fun on the forums than I was in the game, so I decided to cancel and save myself the $15/month for booze and hookers.
There’s only so much you can expect from a game, and it served me for over three years, so I have no ire!
So: A shout out to all your CoH or V players out there, whether you’re still playing or stopped! I’m gonna do a Quittin’ Sale!
Anyone commissioning me who played the game gets a discount! You don’t even have to get a commission of your CoH character! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Tell the Freedom Phalanx!
*edit*
Also, for those who have become accustomed to interacting with me on a comic-based forum, may I suggest Comics Haven for all your comic-related forum-chatting needs!
Hilarious, huh? I wonder how long I’ll stay away this time!
Maybe I will do another quitting sale…
I am back at work after a two week hiatus and it is honestly the strangest thing ever. I am actually feeling all introspective and philosophical about the entire concept of working for a living.
I mean, what’s that about? What kind of crazy post-industrial world do we live in? There’s over a hundred people in my building in a company of over 16 000 people and somehow the company makes enough money to pay us all, despite not actually producing tangible goods.
The strangeness of everyday life.
Mmm, sushi: The best AYCE sushi in Toronto
FINAL CRISIS #3 (OF 7)
Oh, Grant Morrison, pony dogs? Really? At least I understand the overall thrust of this issue, and get what’s going on from the macro perspective. So, for that alone, this one seems better than all the past issues, though I still feel mostly like I’m reading it either a) like a rubbernecker at a car crash, or b) just to keep up with what’s going on in this big DC event. I know people like to harp on Bendis for being the master of decompression sotrytelling, but I’m starting to think that’s Morrison’s realm, since he seems to get away with it.
Anyway, I’m actually interested to see what’s happening in the later issues, though I think the action of this issue could have occurred earlier in the series and cause less confusion overall.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #17
Better than the last issue, which I thought was needlessly flashbacky. Buffy and Melaka figure out the basics of what’s going on, and we get to see Xander ride Dawn, and their reactions are hilarious. I think this arc will tie up the loose ends of the Fray mini-series rather well, though I wonder why and how the big bad is who she is. Like usual, worth reading, and one of the better books this week.
DETECTIVE COMICS #847 RIP
So much better than the actual RIP storyline, though I’m pissed at all these supposed RIP tie-ins that are in no way tied into that story. I’m sorry, but a mention of the Black Hand in the first issue doesn’t count. Otherwise, this is a good story, and gives you some insight into why Hush is the way he is, even if most of the answer is “because he’s batshit crazy”. (Get it?)
AVENGERS INVADERS #4 (OF 12)
Act One of the mini-series concludes, and it’s entertaining enough, though not a must-read so far. It’s nice to see young Namor and old Namor’s interactions are as dysfunctional as you’d expect. I’m most looking forward to Bucky and current Cap (also Bucky) having a little sit-down.
AUTHORITY #1
This is basically the most depressing book I’ve read in a long, long time. The entire world’s gone to shit, and the Authority couldn’t do a damned thing to stop it. Apollo lives above the clouds so he can constantly suck up solar radiation and keep himself alive. Midnighter’s on the ground trying to bring people to the downed Carrier, which crash-fused with London. All in all, this is a defeated and pathetically ineffectual Authority, and I’m not sure how this is going to be fixed, or if it will be. I’m kind of expecting a time-travel story.
SECRET INVASION FRONT LINE #2 (OF 5) SI
Decent, but ultimately, I’m not sure what the point is. Ben Urich constantly berates himself for being a coward and running from super-powered fights, and then interviews people. Will this book have a plot behind it other than that (as the Civil War Frontlines did?), or is it just going to be the man-on-the-street’s view of getting squashed by Skrulls?
Secret Invasion #3
This is awesome. Honestly. Fucking awesome. Fuckawesome.
1) Bendis teases retconning all of Civil War (which I don’t believe is true).
2) Massive superhero combat with the Skrulls’ plan unfolding to devastating effect.
3) Who’s awesome? Nick mother-fucking Fury, that’s who.
This is (so far) the best Big Event that I’ve read in ages. There’s enough plot development between this and the Avengers books that the action actually feels meaningful, and not just like it’s pasted together for the purpose of having an event to sell books.
Good job, Bendis. Don’t fuck it up now.
JSA #16
Great, as usual. JSA is probably my favourite DC book right now. This one picks up where the last left off, but takes a turn I didn’t see coming. Gog walks among us, and actually I hope the whole thing’s on the up and up. I think, for once, it might be more interesting to see miracles instead of huge brawls, with maybe a messianic sacrifice to end things off.
It’s definitely more interesting than what’s been going on in JLA recently. Perhaps it’ll tie into Final Crisis’ evil Gods?
Midnighter #20
Okay, so apparently Midnighter’s a fan of Sin City, and has a real mean time with the guy that impersonated him for the last few issues. He’s looking to find the people that hired him to come after Midnighter’s family.
The problem with this all is that Midnighter really just ends up looking like a dick. By the time the book ends, I’m not getting that “gritty and violent hero” vibe so much as a “this dude’s basically evil, and looking out for his family”, which is fine, except that’s not traditionally how Midnighter’s come across.
On top of that, this is the last book of his series, so the that’s the last impression of him I’m going to get, which will colour my opinion of the series. Otherwise, the book’s perfectly serviceable, even if Apollo looks kinda screwy.
Buffy Season Eight #15
Fantabulous wrap-up to the “Wolves at the Gate” storyline. It has everything, really, huge fight scenes, daring do, magic spells, Dracula with a sword, and giant robots.
Drew Goddard does well with Joss’ people, and I forget that this isn’t an actual episode from the TV show and get all emotional about halfway in. Nice, nice work.
Also: lesbians.
The Dark Tower: Long Road Home #4
More of the same, really. I enjoy them, but they also feel so short that I think they’d probably be best read in trades. This series is actually worse in that way than the last, as almost half of the action takes place within Merlyn’s Grapefruit and Roland’s mind. You get a few pages of brain scenes, some of Roland’s ka-tet out in the real world, and then the whole thing’s over for the month.
Is it good? Yeah, I think so. The art’s still great, and the story is fantastical and original, but, really, we’ve spent two issues on the side of the road now.
Avengers/Invaders #2
Last issue focused on the Invaders stumbling into 2008 and then meeting up with the Mighty Avengers. This issue shows their inevitable hero vs. hero misunderstanding battle and then teases the New Avengers getting involved.
It’s pretty good, really, except that it kind of gives the New Avengers an almost villainous vibe through their dialogue. On top of that, this is a twelve-issue series that’s apparently taking place after Civil War, but before Secret Invasion, so we’re going to have a year’s worth of books which are already being told out of continuity and can only get worse as time goes on.
Does that matter? Not really, but it may become hard to keep track of.
Anyhow, this book is pretty good, and there’s the potential for some interesting stuff, especially between Bucky and the new Captain America.
Giant Size Astonishing X-Men
Whedon and Cassaday’s epic is finally concluded. The bad news? It’s waaay late, the art isn’t up to Cassaday’s usual par, and we all pretty much knew what was going to happen, more or less. The good news? It’s a solid story, with interesting possibilities for new stories coming out of it, and we get to see Whedon writing Spider-Man.
Worth it to finish off the series, but could’ve been much better if it were on time and if certain events hadn’t been given away in other books.
Batman #677 RIP
This issue is better that the first (or at least easier to understand). My complaints about the first issue still stand (I don’t like Jez Jet and feel she’s a plot device waiting to happen, among other things), but it’s a more enjoyable read.
I’m sure the Morrisonites will proclaim it more manna from Heaven, but as a more casual devotee of his, this book actually feels rushed and more than a little heavy on the buy-in. There are a few aspects of the Black Hand’s plan which I feel like they’re just asking us to accept. For example, when Batman did his sensory-deprivation experiment, the doctor that oversaw it did something in preparation for this grand plot.
Will my suspension of disbelief pay off? I suppose we shall see.
Final Crisis #1
Right off the bat, let me say this: This feels like a Marvel story. In fact, in some ways, it feels like bits of Marvel stories that’ve already happened. For instance, we have Libra essentially doing the Hood thing from New Avengers, the Monitors feel like a combination of the Watchers and the Marvel Asgardians, and the whole thing’s wrapped up in a package that puts me in the mind of Galactus meets the Celestials.
Does that mean it’s bad? No. It’s quite good. It’s got a nice pace and there’s enough there to make me want the next issue, even if I’m having trouble placing the events. An example of that: we just wrapped up Death of the New Gods, with Orion battling Darkseid and ol’ grey face getting burned into nothing. Final Crisis opens with a Lanter report of a 1011 on the galactic space police radio. For those not up on their space police codes, that’s a Deicide. The victim? Orion. Meanwhile, a dark and familiar figure from Morrison’s Seven Soldiers series shows up, and we also see a pretty major character get the shaft.
lol puns.
New Avengers #41 SI
I have to admit that I’m really liking these Avengers SI tie-ins. Despite the fact that the story doesn’t progress at all, and the whole thing is basically Bendis showing us all the breadcrumbs that he placed building up to this event, I’m still entertained.
Really: Spider-Man gets bucked by a T-rex, and gets into an argument with SheenaShanna over her name, and it has Ka-Zar and Zabu fighting Skrulls. How can that not be entertaining?
The art’s nice, like Cho-lite. The story’s got action in the jungle, and ends with a confrontation that I’m pretty sure will play out in the main SI book, so really you should be reading all of these books to get the full scoop.
Iron Fist #15
This is the first Brubaker-less Iron Fist book and it seems he wasn’t kidding when he said Fraction didn’t need him anymore to write these. SO WHY AREN’T YOU, FRACTION!? Oh well. Let’s not my trepidation for next month’s new Iron Fist creative team ruin this great issue.
This issue is another of the stand-alone Tales of the Iron Fist one-shot fairy tales. This one has to do with Iron Fist Bei Bang-Wen (1827-1860), who fought in the Second Opium War.
I’m a big fan of these, as they really serve to give depth and history to the entire Iron Fist legacy, and more than that, they’re just really cool little stories. I could see an entire series being written of “Iron Fist Mysteries”, Planetary-style. I could see myself buying it.
Anyway, great issue as usual, and I cross my fingers for next time.