Okay, I’m going to be a bit more selective about titles I’m blogging on — largely because I think I’m going to run out of time. And there are ones that I want to be sure to blog on.<\/p>\n
Review code format (ranked 1-5, blah to faboo): [writing \/ art \/ new reader? \/ non-comics reader?]<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Jack of Fables <\/em>#1<\/strong> (Vertigo) [4\/3\/5\/4] (w. Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges; a. Tony Akins, Andrew Pepoy)<\/p>\n
A spin-off of Fables<\/em>, Jack is the Jack from the fables — Beanstalk Climber, Giant-Killer, Candlestick Leaper. He’d left the Fables community some time back to move to Hollywood, where he’d used embezzled funds to open a movie studio run by and starring himself. The Fables have put the kibosh on that, and now he’s on his own …<\/p>\n
… and captured to someplace that resembles the Prisoner’s Village, a place where the Editor keeps Fables locked up until they’re forgotten (though never explicitly named, Sambo is clearly one of these). Will Jack meet his match, or does he have another trick up his sleeve.<\/p>\n
If this book is half as good as its parent, I’ll be happy. The art’s not quite as well done, though it’s serviceable. And part of what makes Fables<\/em> work is the ensemble. How much Jack remains on center stage might affect the outcome here.<\/p>\n
Strangers in Paradise <\/em>#83<\/strong> (Abstract) [4\/4\/1\/5] (w\/a. Terry Moore)<\/p>\n
This title wandered a more than a bit for a few years. It’s regained its focus in the last year or so, as the countdown to the final issue (7 more to go) continues, and Moore masterfully cleans up the threads he’s scattered over a decade of storytelling. I’ll be sorry to see it go, but it is time.<\/p>\n
The<\/strong> <\/em>Flash <\/em>#2<\/strong> (DC) [3\/3\/3\/1] (w. Danny Bilson, Paul DeMeo; a. Ken Lashley)<\/p>\n
So Bart Allen is the new Flash — and the only person in the world who controls the Speed Force. Except he doesn’t want to be, and he’s afraid the Speed Force is as much a danger as a boon to him.<\/p>\n
Um, ho-hum. This title is going to have a very short time to prove itself. Really.<\/p>\n
Fantastic Four <\/em>#538<\/strong> (Marvel) [4\/4\/3\/2] (w. Joe Straczynski; a. Mike McKone)<\/p>\n
Ben’s feeling more than a might conflicted over the Registration Act in this “Civil War” cross-over. But he’s more conflicted over the disagreements he sees between Reed and Sue, and even all that’s overwhelmed by his concern for the still-comatose Johnny. A walk that turns out on Yancy Street and a long chat with the denizens there who are none too happy with the Act …<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, who’s that who just cut in line and grabbed Thor’s hammer from the Oklahoma wastes …?<\/p>\n
Not a great issue, but a fairly thoughtful one.<\/p>\n
Fallen Angel <\/em>#6<\/strong> (IDW) [4\/3\/4\/3] (w. Peter David; J.K. Woodward)<\/p>\n
The newly-fallen angel is amongst Bedouins, revered as a possible goddess or incarnation of the founder of their tribe. When she pursues the treasure of her newly adopted people, she returns to find the village nearly destroyed — and she decides to take even more direct action.<\/p>\n
There’s always a danger in revealing your mysterious character’s backstory. So far it’s working. It will be interesting to see how far David can take it.<\/p>\n
Fables<\/em> #51<\/strong> (Vertigo) [4\/3\/4\/4] (w. Bill Willingham; a. Shawn McManus)<\/p>\n
A one-shot episode showing the trials and tribulations of Cinderella trying to negotiate a peace treaty with the giants in the clouds (whose realms overlook both the Earth and the Homelands, and thus are of incalculable strategic importance in the war against the Adversary). Not much to it, and the guest art is somewhat disappointing — but there are hints that echoes of this issue will have a future effect.<\/p>\n
Eternals <\/em>#2<\/strong> of 6 (Marvel) [4\/4\/3\/3] (w. Neil Gaiman; a. John Romita Jr.)<\/p>\n
The plot thickens, as the various amnesiac Eternals begin to recover their identities. But who’s plotting against them, singularly and collectively, and will they all remember in time? Gaiman’s doing a nice reboot of the property, though I wonder where things may go after this (is this actually considered Marvel continuity any more?). Romita provides a blocky grandeur that recalls Kirby without imitating him. Good stuff — not spectacular so far, but worth the read.<\/p>\n
Conan <\/em>#30<\/strong> (Dark Horse) [4\/5\/4\/4] (w. Mike Mignola; a. Cary Nord)<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, Mignola’s tale is Lovecraftean horror tale mixed with a thieving raid on a temple. Nord’s art is more Frazettaesque than usual, and the whole is only missing Conan and Hellboy running into each other in a shadow-shrouded corridor to make it complete. Just kidding.<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
(listening to: Barenaked Ladies, “Shoe Box” from <\/i>Born on a Pirate Ship)
\n(listening to: Horn, Shirley , “It’s Easy To Remember” from <\/i>Rodgers & Hart Songbooks, Vol 2 – My Funny Valentine)
\n(listening to: O’Brian, Richard, “Science Fiction Double Feature” from <\/i>Rocky Horror Picture Show)
\n(listening to: Isaak, Chris, “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” from <\/i>Forever Blue)
\n(listening to: Enya, “Pax Deorum” from <\/i>Memory of Trees)
\n(listening to: Sting, “One World (Not Three) — Love is the Seventh Wave” from <\/i>Bring On the Night)<\/p>\n<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Okay, I’m going to be a bit more selective about titles I’m blogging on — largely because I think I’m going to run out of time. 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Bill Willingham; a.\u00a0Mark Buckingham, Shawn McManus\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? Witty, imaginative, gripping -- Fables is simply one...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9312,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/07\/29\/bt06_three_comi.html","url_meta":{"origin":9275,"position":1},"title":"BT06 – Three comics TBPs that delight","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 29-Jul-06 10:54am","format":false,"excerpt":"Review code format (ranked 1-5, blah to faboo): [writing \/ art \/ new reader? \/ non-comics reader?] \u00a0 Fables: Arabian Nights (and Days) (Vol 7) (DC\/Vertigo) [4\/4\/3\/4] (collects 42-47) w....","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24240,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/05\/sometimes-a-story-about-a-cigar-is-just-a-story-about-a-cigar.html","url_meta":{"origin":9275,"position":2},"title":"Sometimes a story about a cigar is just a story about a cigar","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Dec-11 6:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"Bill Willingham has written a cogent and classy faux Q&A about the fan movement against \"Once Upon a Time\" (the TV show) as a rip-off of \"Fables\" -- and in so doing talks a fair amount about the stuff dreams are made of. #ddtb Embedded Link Bill Willingham on \"Fables\"\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":15332,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/bt09-f-is-for-fabulous-blogathon.html","url_meta":{"origin":9275,"position":3},"title":"BT09 – F is for Fabulous (#Blogathon)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-Jul-09 11:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Fables, Vol. 10, \"The Good Prince\"\u00a0(Vertigo) [collects #60-69] Fables, Vol. 11, \"War and Pieces\"\u00a0(Vertigo) [collects #70-75] w. Bill Willingham; a.\u00a0Mark Buckinghan, Steve Leialoha, et al.\u00a0 Writing New reader? Art Non-comics reader? Willingham's epic of Fairy Tales forced to our \"Mundy\" world in front of the conquering hordes of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7853,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/06\/bt05_the_blogat.html","url_meta":{"origin":9275,"position":4},"title":"BT05 – The Blogathon Strikes!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 6-Aug-05 10:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"I love comics. Really. In case there were any questions in your mind....","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37690,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/09\/dave-does-the-comics-issue-51-9-jun-2013.html","url_meta":{"origin":9275,"position":5},"title":"***Dave Does the Comics – Issue 51 (9 Jun 2013)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 9-Jun-13 6:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Another really fully month of comics since the last outing. [powerpress] The covers below are for the issues I gave an individual review of; hover over the covers below to see the ratings out of 5 stars (with an occasional added comment), and click to embiggen. Subscription info for this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "***Dave Does the Comics"","block_context":{"text":"***Dave Does the Comics","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics\/dave-does-the-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/All-New-X-Men-12-full.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/All-New-X-Men-12-full.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/All-New-X-Men-12-full.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/All-New-X-Men-12-full.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/All-New-X-Men-12-full.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/All-New-X-Men-12-full.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9275","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=9275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}