My new Intuos3 finally arrived and it’s massive. I’m actually shocked by how large it is. It’s the size of a 19″ widescreen monitor! Sadly, it doesn’t have a built-in monitor, because those are like $2000, but nonetheless, it’s lovely.
Now I just gotta get used to the damned thing. My previous one had half as many levels of pressure, and was only a quarter of the size.
Anyway, here’s a doodle, with a Photochopped backgroun thrown in:
This is a pretty cool new feature they’ve just recently added. I’d embed a video to show it off, but it doesn’t work in embeds right now, so you gotta follow a link, like a sucker.
Captain America #40 – Cap vs. Cap!
As usual, Brubaker leaves me angry and wanting more! This is a great issue. The promised knock-down, drag-out brawl between 50s Cap and new Cap takes place, and they really go at it. Fight delivers! Meanwhile, at evil HQ, Sharon is trying to get free and has a fight with Sin.
This issue is an action beat in the ongoing Captain America serial, and Epting’s back to give it his best. Good stuff, and, yes, another cliffhanger. Damn Brubaker.
Mighty Avengers #16
It’s funny: I almost thought I’d bought this book before, but I realized it was just that I’d recently read the first issues of New Avengers, so the Electro conversation that starts it was so fresh in my mind. Elektra hires Electro. We finally know.
It’s a decent issue. It’s mostly action, with a big Elektra fight, and more of the Secret Invasion-patented “side issue fill in”. We find out the whens and hows of Skrullektra.
Like the previous ones, it’s enjoyable, but not really necessary to the main storyline.
Moon Knight #20
This one’s a giant-sized issue, also containing the two issues of Werewolf by Night where Moon Knight debuted. Those books are from 1975, so set your expectations to lots of expository dialogue and old-school art. To be honest, I got tired of reading after the first issue. I’ll finish it later.
The actual issue of Moon Knight is pretty good. It’s a flashback from 1994, so it really has nothing at all to do with the current Moon Knight status quo, and is basically just a one-off featuring Werewolf by Night as a kind of tribute to Moon Knight’s debut thirty-three years ago. All that aside, it’s actually a decent story, if pointless overall.
I’ve got a nice little queue of art going, and it’s keeping my free hours busy. It’s pretty cool, really. As always, my latest pics are available under the Mission link to the left, or at my DeviantArt site, but ‘cos I’m nice, here’s a few:
Annular Eclipse
GREEN ARROW AND BLACK CANARY #10
It’s still awesome. Batman’s awesome. Green Arrow’s awesome. Black Canary’s awesome. Even Plastic Man’s awesome. The whole thing’s basically one long fight scene, Team Arrow vs. “The League of Assassins”, but it’s a good fight that does what really good comic fights do: it advances plot and shows off the characters involved. This isn’t just people knocking heads; it’s people knocking heads in ways that show you who they are, including Batman using a number of sneaky moves and planning, and Canary showing that she’s more than capable of being a threat.
Good stuff.
SECRET INVASION #4
I’m still diggin’ this. Sure, it’s not as high-brow as Final Crisis is (trying to be), but it’s got enough twists and turns so that it’s keeping my interest and not just dealing out brawls for the sake of brawls.
This issue follows four basic plotlines:
1) Nick Fury and his Howlin’ Commandos
2) The Skrull armada (and Agent Brand floating outside), who’ve got Reed Richards stretched out like a bedsheet
3) our heroes in the Savage Land pulling themselves back together
4) The return of… well, that would be telling, right?
Fury’s a real battlefield general, making the hard decisions and making his new Commandos into a real threat, and I’m dying to see what he’s got planned next.
Oh, and the two heroes making their entrance into the fray at the end? I can hardly wait.
ETERNALS #2
To be honest, I mostly buy this for the art. I like Daniel Acuña’s art. Which is funny, given that I bought the previous series for the exact opposite reason. Surprisingly, I like the writing in this one better than Gaiman’s. This one just feels more streamlined.
Anyway, it continues from the first issue, with the Eternals and the bad Eternals racing to find the protoform Transformers… I mean Eternals, in order to recruit them to their side. We also get more backstory about what the whole Eternal/Deviant thing is about, most of which kinda went over my head, but I think is related to Annihilation.
I like it well enough to keep reading.
JSA #17
This book is still better than JLA’s been, and there’s no “action” in the entire thing! Gog’s making good on his promises, and the JLA comes to check in with the JSA. All in all, this is really just more setup for whatever inevitable twist is to come, but it’s an effective setup, because I’m kind of interested in just seeing what miracles Gog can accomplish, even if I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a dark turn to come.
I think this is just about my favourite DC book right now. The characters are interesting and have little quirks about them that the JLA seems to lack. Even the Golden Agers seem more interesting than their modern counterparts have been written lately. It’s good to see substance winning out over flash. (Not THE Flash.)
My only complaint about this book is that I noticed a typo and a case of aural homonymism. (At one point, Starman mentions someone’s “repetoire” with someone else; the word should’ve been rapport. And, no, it wasn’t due to his craziness.)
Oh well. Just more proof that even the best writers need good editors!
DETECTIVE COMICS #846
I already like this more than the actual Grant Morrison RIP. Dini builds a character portrait of Hush that is somehow believable, despite the fact that he’s constantly mutilating himself just to sharpen his focus. He also introduces a character that recites Aesop’s fables and has him act as counterpoint to Hush.
I’m not sure why this is all listed as an RIP tie-in, as the events of that book are only mentioned in passing and Batman is clearly not in the super-retarded Zur Enh Arrr place he is in Morrison’s book. If anything, this seems to take place before the events of RIP really started up. Bruce and Jez Jet (I still hate that name) are an item, but she’s not around and Bruce isn’t drugged up and crazy.
That’s probably why I like it.
BATMAN #678 RIP
What the fudge, Grant Morrison? Someone get the man an editor, now. After a confusing first issue, and a less confusing, but overly-suspension-of-disbelief-demanding second issue, we’ve got this. Apparently, Batman has been given drugs and is left in the street in regular clothes to, what? Break his will? Chip at his sanity? Destroy the Dark Knight? I dunno.
I had a hard time with the art, too. Robin looks like he’s 20, so I thought he was young Bruce. I guess Tim’s following leads and trying to track Bruce down. He asks Nightwing for help, but that doesn’t seem to work out and something happens with Dick. By the end of it, the Black Hand have “won” and it looks like 3/4s of the Bat-team (including Alfred) are down and out, and some crazy crap happens and I’m just left scratching my head.
What the hell. This thing is totally disjointed and utterly unintelligible if you’ve not read the preceding issues and probably all the weird old Batman issues that he’s referencing, and I honestly think I hate Grant Morrison a little bit right now.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #16
It’s pretty good, but the “Return of Fray!” thing is almost a lie. This is a bridge issue between the previous arc and this arc, and it unfortunately feels like a bridge issue. Things happen, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a lot of stuff that I felt could’ve been replaced with the Indiana Jones red line and dot on a map. It’s worth picking up, if only to see what happens to Dawn, and to find out how Buffy ends up meeting Fray.
AVENGERS INVADERS #3 (OF 12)
This one keeps pace with the previous issues. Namor has a showdown with himself, and Bucky continues his plan to break Cap out of their cells on the SHIELD helicarrier. I’d prefer it if they released these as 6 double-sized issues rather than 12 issues, because it feels like relatively little gets accomplished, but the whole thing is interesting enough to keep in reading.
SECRET INVASION FRONT LINE #1 (OF 5) SI
This book isn’t like Civil War Frontline, in that it’s only one story, and focuses solely on Ben Urich. I didn’t read World War Hulk Frontline, so I don’t know if that was like this, too. It’s a decent enough read, giving more of the man on the street view of the big invasion event, and setting up a few tangentially-related stories that I assume will play out against the back drop of the Skrull Invasion. Definitely not necessary to those only interested in the main SI plot.
ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #10
I’ve been of mixed opinions of the After the Fall series. I feel like they haven’t really gotten back to the feel of the series as well as the Buffy comics have, but I also recognize that that’s kind of the point, too. It’s not the same. They’re in hell, Gunn’s a vampire, Angel’s not, and Wesley’s dead. Oh, and they have a dragon. The story finally picks up after the battle against hell’s lords, and I suddenly realize that I missed issue 9. Nonetheless, I soldier on.
As best as I can tell, Lorne’s now the master of Hell.A., and Angel’s determined to do what he always does: help people that need it, despite no longer being vampire strong, and using magic to cover this fact up. Anyway, the whole thing twists and turns like a Whedon story should, and offers some snappy dialogue, like a Whedon story should, and the end of the book makes me want to keep picking up the series.