Thanks for the reviews this week, already added Crossed and True Believers to my Midtown queue for next week....

I didn't get much last week.... I dropped Cable, 'cause there was an issue and a half worth of progress in the first five of the new series, but they suckered me in stating that the new one was not to be missed. Instead, it was a fucking recap of what had led up to the new series... Ugh. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me six time, I'm a fuckin' retard.

Also picked up Avengers/Invaders.... it okay.... but with a two month hiatus before the next ish... I just don't know... might be getting the ax. It's good but not great, and I've been trying to cut some of the fat of my list.

.

.

.General Ross

I've read Crecy, and it is indeed awesome.

But Black Gas had to be in there too. Because while I was looking at the covers -- and completely blanking on Ennis's name prominently displayed -- I was thinking 'OK, but why is Ellis going back to the well with the zombie-style stuff? It's not like him at all?'

Of course, now knowing conclusively it is Ennis, that just makes this whole thing worse.

And again, as a person who makes a living helping people find the correct book and author, it's humbling to make a mistake like that.

Hope I wasn't too disruptive or anything.

And it was the time I looked at them before the mental block got taken out of my head -- and thank everyone for that.

Speaking of bleak, I have read the Authority forever, even during R. Morrison's lackluster run. Abnett and Lanning don't compare to Ellis or Millar, two writers perfectly suited to the Authority. In fact, Millar was my favorite Authority writer ever. Midnighter and Co. are much better suited to Millar than, say, Reed and Sue et al. I don't like all these destroyed worlds. The story itself is ok, and clearly this sort of thing is what A and L love to do, they've been doing it since Legion Lost.

Acuna is the main reason to buy the Eternals. I find it terribly slow and mildly interesting. I'd really recommend waiting for the trade because then a reader could know this story is going somewhere and ending somewhere, and I think it would be much more interesting that way. I am not familiar with the Knaufs' other work, but I see this book being quickly cancelled.

Now, I suppose it's my homo sensibility, but I am greatly enjoying Hellcat. Not that it is so memorable, but it is fast moving, nice to look at, and very entertaining. It's different from any other comics I read, and I generally like minis, since they are long enough to tell a good story but short enough to end the story before it drags out.

I loved this month's Jonah Hex. There was a lot packed into one single issue. Although the art wasn't as good as the earlier issue witht the kid in the snow, this month's story was way more interesting than that other overrated issue.

Also, Laserhead...you are probably right! Duh to me! Good Spoiler. While Red Hulk is ridiculously over the top, I totally enjoy it. But then, I am not usually a fan of the Hulk, who is rather a boring character and that is ultimately why, IMO, the Hulk movies never really do that well or are that good.

Does it get to be too much at times? Absolutely. As I was reading the story in Russia and as much as I enjoy porn (grab your dick and double click for porn..porn..porn..), I really could have lived without seeing that chick go after her hoo hah with the dildo. Granted it wasn’t graphic, but it was certainly alluded to and I think quite heavy handed.

This is why I just don’t read Ennis stuff back-to-back. Nor would I feast on a steady diet of Miller with ASBAR.

Now, with someone like Johns I can just go from one book to another without a breath. It all boils down to personal taste. War & Peace will always be heralded as a great book, but fuck if I can even get past the first page.

I have a place where all we do is insult one another. Come on over to theybannedme.com and join in the flaming fun. We even have a comics section. Right now it's just filled with my reviews, but please come fill it with verbal acid.

I guess I got lucky and had genius felines.

I'm still going to contend though that despite her insane hotness, Supergirl is secreting something strange if the cat is solely pissing on the laundry basket. Perhaps Kryptonians sweat catnip.

anyway, on to more serious questions. for example if an over inflated ego explodes on the internet alone, with no one around to hear it, does it actually make a sound?

i dunno, i just got this feeling that the tomasi run on nightwing is leading up to something big for grayson. two storys arcs in and allready the 'wingster has tangled with talia and two-face, a couple of "top shelf" rouges from the bat-gallery. that HAS to mean something is afoot.

Could somebody go back in time, copy Albertson's meltdown, and post it here? I'd really like to witness that.

Rather a continuation of giving the second string charachters at DC more prominence.

We saw it come to some fruition with this latest opening and the apperance of Frankenstein.

I loooved Seven Soldiers. Just loved it, although the end was disappointing. I loved every single one of the minis. If only FC were a continuation of that. It just doesn't seem like that's what it is to me. Yes, there is a lot of attention to secondary characters, but I usually love that kind of thing. Maybe it's just my hate of bringing back long-since dead and replaced characters. But I'm cool with both Bucky and Jason Todd.

And, well, here I go again Joenathan. Although I agreed so much with you on Ennis, I am dropping all my Wildstorm Titles, because all this postapocalyptic crap just doesn't float my boat. So no more Authority or Gen13 for me. I do agree that the use of Authority as freed-up templates of DC icons makes them way more interesting (to me) than the Justice League. Plus, they have the best gay characters in all of comics.

Final Question for Laserhead. If you didn't like the first gn of The Boys, why did you buy the second. I actually dropped that crap after one issue, just exactly for the reasons Joenathan points out. Ennis sure was good on Hellblazer, back in the day. Now, he does indeed coast on the very good, but over rated, Preacher.

Can you really not get past the first page of War & Peace? It's not difficult, it's just long. Nobody seems to mind length when Stephen King is drawing a simple story out to 700 pages. Try the new Pevear and Volokhovsky translation. It's awesome. I don't mean to be pretentious, I just want to increase literacy.

I'm hesitant to say The Boys is entirely without merit; it is a damn fun read, even if it is sort of Ennis-by-numbers. I think that Tek-Knight storyline epitomizes my feelings on the series: it's a story predicated on homophobic jokes and truly vile scatology, but there's that thread of acceptance (mainly pushed by Butcher, of all people) that momentarily makes you forget you're reading a story about a guy compulsively fucking everything he sees. It's a weird and uncomfortable contrast, but I don't think it works as well as the same thing did on Preacher (or even Punisher). There's a big part of me that wants to say Ennis just throws thos elements in to defray criticism, but he's been at this long enough that I think he knows what he's doing and knows that even the broadest farce (and a big "fuck you" to superhero fans) needs a kernel of, you know, actual sympathetic humanity.

For the record, I am thoroughly enjoying FC... but... these first three issues could have been one issue.

Shit Countdown (the parts of it worthwhile) could have been about 10 issues in total. And 52, c'mon 26 would have been just enough.

Double the books though, and you double the cash.

Of course Barry wasn't in 7 Soldiers. Seven Soldiers was good. He's in FC. FC is less good.

I stand by my assertion that the end was confusing, and not because I don't want to understand, and not because I'm dumb. I'll buy the claim that the artist can't draw everything Morrison is trying to convey, but then that is partly Morrison's fault, too, IMO.

I will also buy that Mr. Miracle is the link between 7S and FC, but then FC isn't really a sequel.

Which, it seems to me, is Ennis starting a metacommentary on his own work over in THE PUNISHER--we all know Frank Castle is far worse than those he's taken out, but he's doing it for the good guys. Does that automatically make him one? Does it counterbalance his being a sick, violent, murdering, heartless machine? I think The Butcher's being used to explore that very dilemma, and I think in the end it'll be Wee Hughie vs. The Butcher, last man (if any) standing.