R.I.P.: Will Eisner (1917-2005)

from WillEisner.com: Will Eisner passed away on January 3rd, 2005 at the age of 87 following quadruple bypass heart surgery. Our condolences to Will's wife, Ann, and his family, friends and colleagues. A true giant in comics, he will be missed, personally and professionally. More information will be posted [at WillEisner.com] as it becomes available. from Newsarama.com: There will be no funeral service, per Will's wishes. "Will and I hated funerals," his wife, Ann, said the morning after his death. "We made plans long ago to avoid having them ourselves." He will be buried next to his late daughter, Alice,…

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ménage à trois: 12/29/04

[One Marvel, one DC, both published the previous Wednesday, plus a random indie from whenever I feel like it, each reviewed quickie-style: 1 Minute=bad, 10 Minutes=good. Connections, if any at all, may be forced purely for the experience.]The Big Two ended 2004 with a so-so week, the edge going to DC thanks to the New Avengers' no-show, and despite the underwhelming Legion of Superheroes relaunch. The highlight of the week, Adam Strange #4, is joined by Marvel's self-indulgent What If...Jessica Jones had Joined the Avengers and Viper Comics' acclaimed Dead@17: Revolution #2, making for a mixed bag, heavier on the…

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Pumpkin Seeds: Seven Days “Post-Op” Edition

1. I really hope the idea that how you start the New Year reflects the tone the rest of it will take is way off base. 2. Trip #4 to the ER yesterday included an excruciating round of poking and prodding of the wound - literally, a pair of surgical scissors stuck up in there and opened in various spots to encourage more drainage. The doctor really wanted me to take the anesthesia this time but the memory of the burning was still too vivid so I clenched my teeth through it and almost regretted it. Almost. Pain you can…

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Review: Warlock #1-4

Like many of Marvel's b-list Stan Lee/Jack Kirby creations, Adam Warlock has remained something of an enigma - a putative fan favorite that has never been able to sustain a solo title. An interesting character in search of a re-interpretation that unlocks its true potential. While this new spin by Greg Pak and Charlie Adlard doesn't come close to Alan Moore's now-legendary take on Swamp Thing, it had some potential to at least make an ongoing Warlock series worth killing some trees for. Taking his original genesis as the secret project of a group of scientists seeking to create the…

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Real-Life ER Drama

I visited the ER many times as an accident-prone kid - and a couple of times as a still-accident-prone adult - almost always for stitches, almost always somewhere in my head, to the point that one time, after seeing it done so often, my mother got medieval and fashioned her own butterfly stitch for one of my lesser wounds. As of this morning, I've visited the ER three times in the last five days. *** Semi-graphic details to follow. Check out Robert Smigel's hi-f'n-larious "Blue Christmas" instead! (Or, in addition if you're the voyeur type, like Dyanna!) *** Long story…

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ménage à trois: 12/22/04

[One Marvel, one DC, both published the previous Wednesday, plus a random indie from whenever I feel like it, each reviewed quickie-style: 1 Minute=bad, 10 Minutes=good. Connections, if any at all, may be forced purely for the experience.]Not counting their Vertigo and Wildstorm imprints - for whom The Losers and Sleeper ably represented - it was DC's turn last week to come up empty on my interest radar, allowing Bloodfire Studios' Kindergoth #1 to join Black Widow #4 and Arcana Studios' 100 Girls #1, making this week's round of comic book carnality an all-girl affair.The Black Widow has always been…

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Review: Secret Skull #1-4

Steve Niles' Secret Skull mini-series starts off strong, jumping from a quick dream sequence featuring a cemetery zombie attack in broad daylight to a Batman-like vigilante in a skull mask tracking a gang of thugs through the night, one of whom it somehow knows will kill an innocent girl the next day. Except he won't get the chance as the Secret Skull executes a violent pre-emptive strike, leaving the thug's head on a pike in an alley along with the sliced-and-diced corpses of his cohorts. For the past two and a half years, the Secret Skull has been at work,…

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