Reviews of books, comics, movies, and other random stuff.

Strip Club: Lust & Marriage

Opening Lines, Pinky Probes, and L-Bombs: The Girls & Sports Dating and Relationship Playbook By Justin Borus and Andrew Feinstein (Santa Monica Press, 2006; $14.95) While I was vaugely familiar with the Girls & Sports comic strip from the Daily News, thanks to the main crossword puzzle appearing in the comics section, it was never one of the handful of strips I typically seek out for a chuckle to brighten my bleary-eyed morning commute. (Those would currently be Dilbert, Rose is Rose, Mutts, One Big Happy and, periodically, Doonesbury.) As such, I'd most likely have never thought to pick up…

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Marketing Monday: First Things First

Among the myriad challenges comics publishers of all sizes face, one of the biggest -- and most frustrating, personally -- is marketing. Way too many publishers believe that marketing is little more than sending out badly written press releases and snagging previews, reviews and interviews from Wizard, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, et al. While some recognize industry trade shows and fan conventions as being a necessary part of any marketing plan, few understand what it takes to maximize their presence at such events. Perhaps most astoundingly, many publishers don't even have the sense to invest in a solid web site…

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Suburban Dysfunction & Blaxploitation

Ghost World By Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics Books, 1998; $11.95) I skipped the movie version of Ghost World when it came out because I could tell from the previews that it wasn't my cup of tea; stories of suburban angst make my skin crawl (ie: I hated American Beauty), suburban teenage angst even more so. But, I convinced myself a while back, there's no way I could not read the critically acclaimed graphic novel it was based on, right? In retrospect, that was as silly as thinking I couldn't just skip House of M and Infinite Crisis, and in all three…

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Amazon POD Update: Raves for Sale!

Last month I posted a brief item about Amazon's Print-on-Demand services, offered in partnership with BookSurge, suggesting it might be "worthy of consideration for potential self- and micro-publishers." On Friday, Slate posted an interesting article entitled "Raves For Sale" that reveals one of the options available to its customers is "a personally crafted review written by 'New York Times bestselling author, Ellen Tanner Marsh.'"Amazon.com's recently acquired print-on-demand division, BookSurge.com, offers several tiers of publishing programs with menus of services starting at $99.The most interesting add-on BookSurge offers is, for $399, a personally crafted review written by "New York Times bestselling…

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Smallville’s "Justice" Was Pretty Damn Good

It's been a long while since I caught a full episode of Smallville, but there was no way I was missing tonight's episode, "Justice", even if it meant skipping my latest addiction, Ugly Betty. (One year after "Code Black", Grey's Anatomy remains my numero uno!) Bart Allen is the only one of the nascent Justice League I'd ever seen before, and while I still didn't particularly like him, I think the kid who plays him does so perfectly, because if I did like him, something would be wrong. Victor Stone was cool, a rare combination of brains and brawn (even…

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On The Shelves: 1/17/07

Reading is fundamental. Don't waste your time reading bad comics out of habit! My weekly look at select comic books being released Wednesday, 1/17/07. The full shipping list, as always, is available at ComicList. [NOTE: 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. If not, find another one; or try Khepri.com or MidtownComics.com] PICK OF THE WEEK Batman: Year One HundredAMAZE INK (SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS) Tron #3, $3.50 As a casual fan who was intrigued by the first issue -- which came out…

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Review: Robotika

Robotika
By Alex Sheikman and Joel Chua (Archaia Studios Press, 2006; $19.95)

It’s rare for a mini-series whose first issue turned me off the way Robotika‘s did gets a second chance, but thanks to Alex Sheikman‘s commitment to his work — emailing me to clarify something from the first issue that I didn’t like get, and sending me the second issue that I would have otherwise passed on — it got one and I am pleased it did. I previously described it, somewhat snarkily, as “a sci-fi cyber-samurai yarn conceived by an artsy SoHo hipster,” and a “visually impressive if somewhat convoluted story that edges up to the border of pretentiousness while nudging you with a friendly elbow and raised eyebrow.”

In retrospect — with the benefit of both hindsight and a second, more thorough reading — I’d say that Robotika stands alongside Archaia Studios Press’ Artesia and Mouse Guard as some of the best work published in 2006, better than 99% of what’s on the shelves any given Wednesday.

Robotika comes during a time when almost everything has such a staid formula to it. But it’s anything but formula.

What it is is totally damn brilliant.”

Those are Ted McKeever’s words of praise from the Hardcover edition’s Fore Word, and I quote them here because I think he nails what makes this a special piece of sequential art.

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