Woo-hoo, over a third of the way there!<\/p>\n
So, what did I do during my break? Read some comic books, natch! I’m a crazy, comic book-reading fool!<\/p>\n
(Oh, look — the hysteria is already beginning.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Review code format: writing <\/b>(3-1, faboo to mediocre), art <\/b>(3-1), suitability for jumping on as a new reader <\/b>(3-1), suitability for hooking a a non-comics reader <\/b>(3-1), and eagerly waiting the collected TBP <\/b>(Y\/N).<\/p>\n
Usagi Yojimbo<\/i> #68<\/b> (Dark Horse) [3\/3\/2\/2\/Y]
\nI already reviewed the previous issue — but I’ll review this one, too. Stan Sakai rocks! Usagi Yojimbo rocks!<\/p>\n
Um … that is all.<\/p>\n
No, but seriously, what other comic could you have samurai combat, thieving attacks, cursed writing kits, giant demon stone warriors, giant fire-breathing lizards, kids in peril, plucky kids fighting off bad guys, demon-hunting magicians .. and all that jazz? Great stuff. If you aren’t reading it, I can’t recommend it highly enough.<\/p>\n
Invincible<\/i> #5<\/b> (Image) [3\/3\/3\/3\/Y]
\nOkay, some folks will think I’m cracked with this one, but Invincible <\/i>is an amazing breath of fresh air. It’s early Spider-Man without the angst. It’s Superboy without the silliness. It’s Buffy without commercials. It’s the tale of the teen-aged son of a Supermanish kind of hero, coming into his powers, and learning how to balance all of that with his everyday life. It’s a concept that’s been done before, but this feels new and simple in its retro realism. It’s still fantasy, but it it just works. Robert Kirkman as writer and Cory Walker as artist are doing something really keen here, and I hope it eventually gets the attention it deserves.<\/p>\n
On the Far side with Dead Folks<\/i> #3 of 3<\/b> (Avatar) [1\/2\/-\/1\/N]
\nI bought this series on the strength of Tim Truman’s art. I shouldn’t have bothered. Truman’s art is sub-par, and the story by Joe Lansdale (from his novel, and adapted by Truman) is … well, just dumb and violent. Cross Westerns with Cadellacs with Post-Apocalypse America with Zombies with Mad Scientists — and you’ll probably get something more entertaining and intelligent than this. <\/p>\n
Out There<\/i> #18<\/b> (Cliffhanger) [2\/2\/1\/2\/N]
\nThis is one of those series that feels like it’s about to outlive its welcome. Finally — finally — after a couple of false starts and cliffhangers, the Bad Guy is defeated, the Heroes are safe, the Town is saved … and it’s clear from the final panel that nothing is finished. Feh. I like what Brian Augustyn and Humberto Ramos did with this series, but it’s played the same note way too long, drifted along way too far, and needs to be put to bed.<\/p>\n
Solus<\/i> #4<\/b> (Crossgen) [2\/3\/2\/1\/Y]
\nI think George Perez is the great comic book artist of our time, bar none. But he sure gets stuck with a lot of mixed projects, and Solus <\/i>is, sadly, one of them. If you are into the whole Crossgen universe thang, then cool — Solus, <\/i>which acts behind the scenes, crosses between worlds, and purports to Explain Stuff (I thought that’s what First <\/i>was for) is the book for you. If not, then it’s just a confusing mish-mosh, written by Barbara Kessel. I find a lot of the Crossgen books read a lot better in collection, and that’s probably the mode I’m going to with on Solus.<\/p>\n
Thundercats: The Return<\/i> #5<\/b> of 5 (Wildstorm) [2\/3\/2\/2\/N]
\nOkay, so I’m a closet Thundercats fan. (Actually, I’m a closet Cheetara fan — I mean, a super-speed cat-woman … what’s not to like? Meow!<\/i>) Still, I felt a little silly buying this series, but I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Ford Lytle Gilmore’s tale of a returned Lion-O, and his freeing of this comrades from the imprisonment of Mumm-Ra, is not your fathers (or your kid’s) Thundercats<\/i>. Yeah, it’s not Hamlet <\/i>either, to be sure, but Ed Benes and Rob Lea’s artworok is stunningly lovely (oh, yeah, Cheetara <\/i>…). At the very least, it’s entertaining, and that’s saying something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Started in 1984, it moved to Dark Horse comics in 1995, and has been there ever since ...... until today's announcement that the comic is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7829,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/06\/bt05_shall_the.html","url_meta":{"origin":4654,"position":4},"title":"BT05 – Shall the Blogathon Endure?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 6-Aug-05 9:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Too ... much ... cheesecake ... 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It has some rough spots, but it's glorious to see stop-action Usagi.(via +GeekTyrant)\u00a0\ufeff View this post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}