New Comics 12.23.2009

Ahh, the Christmas week Wednesday release.

Detective Comics #860

Written by Greg Rucka
Art by JH Williams III
co-feature art by Cully Hamner
Cover by JH Williams III
Variant cover by Alex Ross

I've become rather taken with the new Batwoman character, and, certainly, Rucka and Williams are running hot on this book right now. The art is beautiful, and the story is snappy. When they first introduced this character, the whole push seemed to be about the fact that our new Batwoman was a lesbian. That was hardly interesting, to me. However, Rucka has proved adept at letting that fact be prevalent while not taking over the story. Excellent run.

Gotham City Sirens #7

Written by Paul Dini
Art and cover by Guillem March

This will, likely, be my last issue of this title. Unless this issue blows me away, I'll be dropping the book. Pretty much unheardof for me to drop a book written by Paul Dini, but this series just leaves me cold. I love Harley Quinn and Catwoman, Poison Ivy can certainly be used in interesting ways, but I don't think it's ever gelled. The art isn't even hitting me enough to keep it for the cheesecake factor.

Green Lantern #49

Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Ed Benes
Variant cover by Rodolfo Migliari

Darkest Night rolls on and on. The strands are there, and holding, but, on a whole, The Sinestro Corps War is going to be Geoff Johns' all-time great Green Lantern story, and Darkest Night will be the also-ran. That's not to say it's BAD, because it's not. I'm certainly involved and want to see the end. I guess I just expected more.

Captain America Reborn:
Who Will Wield the Shield #1

COVER BY: Gerald Parel
WRITER: Ed Brubaker
PENCILS: Butch Guice
INKS: Array

OK, so....Captain America Reborn is plowing along. I'm sure this one-shot will get pulled for me, and I'll probably just buy it. However....Who are they kidding? When Steve Rogers is back from the dead, he'll be Captain America. Steve Rogers IS Captain America, former sidekick Bucky Barnes is filling in, generating some decent stories, but if Steve is back to life and NOT Captain Ameirca, I'm done with this series, and probably the entirety of the mainstream Marvel line.

Sometimes you get tired...

And decide to take a day off the blog.

Then you turn around and the day has become a week. What the hell happened?

I really couldn't tell you, in all honesty. I just found myself without much burning desire to share anything. There was things to share...New comic Wednesday came and went...

Here's what I got without comment:

Jonah Hex #49

Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Art and cover by Cristiano Cucina

Captain America: Reborn #4

COVER BY: Joe Kubert
WRITER: Ed Brubaker
PENCILS: Butch Guice & Bryan Hitch

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #4

COVER BY: DAVID LAFUENTE
WRITER: Brian Michael Bendis
PENCILS: DAVID LAFUENTE
INKS: David Lafuente Garcia
COLORED BY: Justin Ponsor
LETTERED BY: VC - Cory Petit

Light week. really light, and more Marvel than DC, for once.

Got to work on some music over the weekend, and for the first time in a long while, I got invigorated by it. I finished a track and was very happy with how it all turned out. It's part of a new project, a new concept and way of going about this music thing. I'm trying to not worry about how people will take it, and just write stuff I like.

That's a simple enough idea, y'know, but I have friends who are truly talented musicians. People who are creative and can pretty much see right through my bullshit and, frankly, cut me to the quick with criticism. I am a limited musician. I'm not going to be doing long free-form jazz work. It's not in me. I'm not a technical monster n the guitar, I'm not going to be doing insanely fast, complicated runs up and down the neck.

I like rhythm. I like to hear the drums and bass and guitar play off each other. To hear the instruments lock in time and weave together. The unfortunate thing is, without a live drummer, that's hard to do. It's also hard to do without everyone playing at once...

Hard to do when you're just one guy. LOL!

So, in a way, I'm trying to remove myself from the songs I'm playing with now. There's a concept in play, and it's really about me embracing the fact that, at the core, this is all a joke. That's not to say that I don't try to do as good a job as I can, or that I feel I can just suck. It means...I'm a nearing-middle-age-guy with a limited ability to record in a multi-track enviroment, and I'm using that to be creative in my own way. I'm not going to take music by storm, or even be heard by anyone outside of my friends.

(Although, that's the worst group to hand a CD, that you know is not great, to.)

I wrote a blog a while back in which my opinion was that this digital revolution really wasn't making music, or any art form "better." That, in fact, having all these people like me who were releasing material just because they could, and not because they deserved to, was watering the whole art form down. So, here I sit, with a pretty strong opinion that I'm not doing anything but being selfish and stroking my ego.

Of course, as I've also said...being egotistical is pretty close to the heart of being an artist.

God, I don't know. This whole music thing, it tears me up every time I work on it, if for no other reason but that I cannot seem to record what's in my head. I certainly can't sing what's in my head, and it...drives...me...nuts!

**sigh**

Hey! positive news...The entire Them Crooked Vultures CD can be heard over at YouTube:

Them Crooked Vultures

Just put it on auto-play, and you're off. So awesome!

New Comic Wednesday

Perhaps I ought to be clear...I don't always get my books on Wednesday. This week, for example, I'll be putting it off until Friday or Saturday, most likely. However, this is the release day, when nerds all over the US stumble into their local comic shops and plunk down their greenbacks for their overpriced graphic storytelling pamphlets of choice. Hence, a good day to go over MY particular pamphlets of choice...

So we begin.

Batman & Robin #4

Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Philip Tan and Jonathan Glapion
Cover by Frank Quitely
Variant cover by Philip Tan

Frank Quitely's speed as an artist means, frankly, he can't keep up on a monthly book. So, smartly, this title has been designed to change artists from arc to arc in order to maintain the schedule. Why don't more companies/editors/titles see the smarts in this? I'm not advocating replacing artists on mini-series or special events, but how about a little planning and forethought, guys?

Anyway, I'm quite fond of this title. This current run with former Robin Dick Grayson replacing the presumed dead Bruce Wayne, with Wayne's illegitimate son, Damian, as Robin (and that's the last time I'm recapping that in this blog) has been working wonderfully. This is especially true with Frank Morrison's writing. I was never very happy with Morrison's take on Bruce Wayne, which seemed way too odd, flat-out insane at time. However, this new tone with Dick behind the cowl is working just fine. I'm excited to see what Philip Tan will do with it.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #4

Written by Paul Dini
Co-feature written by Marc Andreyko
Art by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs
Co-feature art by Jeremy Haun
Cover by Dustin Nguyen

I love Paul Dini. One need only play the recently released Batman: Arkham Asylum video game to see that the man has an extremely firm grasp on The Batman and his world. He's a master storyteller. However, unlike Morrison, I feel like Dini is far more comfortable with Bruce Wayne behind the cowl. Dini's work since the presumed death of Wayne, in this title and Gotham City Sirens, has been less focused and sharp. I don't think he could write a bad story, but I think we're not seeing the best he can be right now. I don't think I'd drop this title, but the $3.99 price tag doesn't help matters.

Blackest Night #3 (of 8)

Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert
Variant cover by Ethan Van Sciver

I love Geoff John's work. He's clearly become a favorite over at DC editorial, and he's earned their respect and trust with sharp, economic tales that are packed with lots of widescreen action. This particular "event" mini-series has been building for a long, long time in the Green Lantern titles, and while the general tenor and content of the event is not surprising, I have to say, I, personally, am a little underwhelmed. It's a great book, good writing, good art, well paced, but, essentially it's a huge intergalactic zombie invasion story. I, unfortunately, have never been a fan of zombie stories in any form. That's MY block, and I fully admit it's a great series, just not my cup of tea.

Brave and Bold #27

Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Art and cover by Jesus Saiz

Ah, now this is old-school comics. An old-fashioned team-up book. This will be the first issue with writer J. Michael Straczynski, who's announced his intention to use the most obscure DC charaters he can find in this book. Starting here with "Dial H for H-E-R-O," I won't even try to explain. Really looking forward to "Brother Power the Geek" in two months. Series like this often don't last long, as there is not ongoing character to be a draw month-to-month. (That's why Batman was a permanent co-star in the 80's version of Brave and Bold) I have every issue of this run, and while it's not always perfect, I usually enjoy something about each issue.

Wednesday Comics #11 (of 12)

Various Writers and Artists

My feeling remain unchanged on this series. You can read what I've written in the past. However, I am REALLY looking forward to this run ending, and not having a weekly book to buy. It's quite a drain. Before this, I religiously bought and read Trinity, DC's prior weekly book, but between 52 issues of that, and 12 of this...I could use a break.

Captain America: Reborn #3 (of 5)

Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Bryan Hitch and Jackson Guice
Cover by Bryan Hitch

Ahh, well DC is bringing the Barry Allen Flash back to life, or has. So, Marvel is bringing back the Steve Rogers Captain America, y'know, the guy they made such a big fuss about killing about 2 years ago? That doesn't bother me, really, it's comic books. What does bother me, slightly, is the way it's being done. Ed Brubaker's Captain America run has been one of big, but generally realistic stories. The focus has been with over-the-top spy action, not unlike a James Bond movie or the old Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D comic series. To have Steve Rogers "unstuck in time," and reliving events of his past seems...a little too sci-fi for what we've seen before. I admit, I have no idea how Brubaker will wrap this up, so he may address that concern.