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Try Something Different: 5/24/05

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 24, 2005
Post category:Media Pop Culture
Post comments:0 Comments

Support Independent Comics!Independent comics (and manga) being released tomorrow, 5/24/05, courtesy of ComicList. Not all of these titles will actually arrive in all stores. If your LCBS offers a pre-ordering service, be sure to take advantage of it.Recommendations, sometimes blind, in BOLD. Which ones are YOU reading?AAA POP COMICS Golden Plates #2 (Of 12), $7.99AIT/PLANETLAR True Story Swear To God Vol 2 This One Goes To 11 TPB, $12.95ANTARCTIC PRESS AP How To Draw Manga Toning Techniques CD Ed Vol 1 TPB, $24.95AMAZE INK (SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS) Punch And Judy TPB, $7.95ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS Archie #557, $2.19 Archie Double Digest…

REVIEW: Batgirl #63

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 2, 2005
Post category:Pop Culture Reviews
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Post-"War Games", writer Andersen Gabrych is slowly but surely turning Batgirl into the most satisfying Bat-book not named Gotham Central. Freed from the angst-ridden constraints of patrolling the streets of Gotham City in Batman's shadow -- and to a lesser degree, Oracle's -- Batgirl is on her own, relocating to the mean streets of Blüdhaven and carving her own niche out of one of the darker alleys of the DC Universe. After ruining the also-relocated Penguin's arms deal by taking down the Brotherhood of Evil last issue, this time around he raises the stakes, bringing in Deathstroke to take her…

Review: Red Sonja #0

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 2, 2005
Post category:Pop Culture Reviews
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Damn Kurt Busiek and his unexpectedly enjoyable revitalization of Conan! If not for him, I wouldn't have taken a chance on Red Sonja, a comic book I was pretty sure I wouldn't like from the minute I first saw its Greg Land cover. The easy thing would be to simply say you get what you pay for and move on, but I like to do things the hard way and will figure how to belabor the obvious in as interesting a manner as possible. Cheesecake aside -- and this comic is pure cheesecake with a faux-gritty graham cracker frosting --…

REVIEW: The Losers #23

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 2, 2005
Post category:Media Pop Culture Reviews
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Most mainstream comic books these days ride a rickety wooden roller coaster throughout their ever-shortening life spans, offering an uneven mix of definitive and forgettable story arcs before inevitably being rebooted by some flavor-of-the-month talent in the kind of short-term thinking that brought down corporations like Enron and Worldcom. Then there are comic books like The Losers, defined by a singular creative vision that, hopefully, is allowed to carry through to its organic conclusion and then able to rest in peace. Typically, though, these types of comics die on the vine, languishing in obscurity as they are ignored by the…

REVIEW: 15 Minutes #3

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:May 2, 2005
Post category:Reviews
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"In the future, everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes." In this era of 24-hour news channels and Reality TV, Andy Warhol's prophetic quote has practically come true. Why should superheroes be any different?That's the angle Bob Elinskas comes from with 15 Minutes, an appealing combination of Troy Hickman's Eisner-nominated Common Grounds and Marvel's Great Lakes Avengers played straight, featuring poignant snapshots of D-list superheroes and villains, as told through the eyes of the everyday civilians whose lives they affect. While the basic premise isn't terribly original, the execution is near-perfect as Elinskas packs more emotional subtext into each…

Comment: Living the Dream…Vicariously

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 27, 2005
Post category:Pop Culture Reviews
Post comments:3 Comments

While much of the ever-expanding Comics Blogiverse is made up of wannabe writers - Grant Morrison sycophants praising his every bowel movement, and frustrated hacks full of shallow anti-Marvel/DC snark being the two largest demographics - there's another, much more interesting subculture to be found: aspiring comics retailers.As much as I'd love to one day see my name credited as writer on a Moon Knight mini-series, I don't actually have any aspirations or intent to pursue that particular fantasy. I do, however, entertain the thought of opening my own store one day. Quite often, really.Recently, I've come across a couple…

ménage à trois: 4/20/05

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:April 25, 2005
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

[So many comics, so few good ones, only three make the cut each week. Quickie-style reviews, for better, or worse: 1 Minute=bad, 10 Minutes=good. Connections, if any at all, may be forced purely for the experience.]It figures. A week after I change things up and decide to no longer require representatives of the Big Two for this column, they each throw me a Paul Jenkins curveball and buy themselves another week in the mix. Nevertheless, the pull list purge began as the once highly anticipated OMAC Project #1 got an in-store skim (solid, if uninspired story, picking up directly from…