i got super hero pajamas for valentines day!

in non-valentines news, my internet is broken.
in better news. the rabbi's cat, volumes 1 and 2, are unbreakable and amazing.
read them if you haven't!
more from me soon, time-warner willing.
xoxo, the negative-man

Night Of The Beasts! At SHQ Tonight

Since first posting about how the first Beasts book was my favorite non-purchase of the last year, I've gone ahead and picked up the Beasts 2 hardcover. The first one sold out so quickly that I learned my lesson and snatched this one up as soon as I saw it was available at Secret Headquarters.

And what a beautiful book. Tonight Secret Headquarters will be gathering together a bunch of the excellent artists that helped contribute to both Beasts books for a celebration and signing. The first Beasts is also in softcover now.

You can learn more about beasts over at the official blog and at publisher Fantagraphics.

If you are in the Silver Lake / Los Feliz area tonight, stop by SHQ and say hi.

- TFM

Michael Chiklis To Release Original Graphic Novel Through IDW

Being a huge fan of The Shield, this news is welcomed with a large amount of...skepticism. Michael Chiklis is an amazing actor and for as much attention as The Shield seemed to get the first couple of seasons, that show never let up and never got bad and never aired a dull episode. I feel like it wasn't on many people's radar for the last few years, but it will remain for me one of the best shows I've ever had the pleasure to watch.

But acting and comic books are two different worlds, so I'll take the "wait and see" attitude with this one and we'll see how it turns out.

Here's what the graphic novel is about, according to publisher IDW:

"Dark and stylized, Olympus tells the story of ancient Greek Gods returning to a ravaged, chaotic present-day earth where they battle for the future of mankind. Olympus features Zeus' Olympians against the Titans in an epic battle of good vs. evil, and father vs. son. Breaking The Golden Rule of Greek mythology - never to reveal themselves - the supposedly mythic Gods Zeus and Aphrodite, Pandora and Cronus, Prometheus and Jason, have returned to renew their timeless battles ... as Armageddon beckons."

Honestly? Doesn't sound that interesting to me. And Chiklis is listed as helping to "develop" the graphic novel, so it's hard to say how involved he'll be exactly in the actual scripting of this...but we'll give it a look when it finally hits shelves. No real release date has been mentioned.

-TFM

Fuck Yes!

More over at FirstShowing.net.

- TFM

Battlefields: The Tankies set for April release

To say that Battlefields: The Night Witches was one of the most enjoyable Garth Ennis stories I have read in quite some time says kind of a lot. I love Garth Ennis. I read everything that has his name on it. Not all of it is spectacular, but a lot of it is great and all of it is at the very least pretty good. I can't say that about too many comic book authors.

So the fact that Dynamite Entertainment keeps rolling out more Battlefields stories makes me happy. The first chapter of the second installment, Dear Billy, debuted a couple of weeks ago and it continues the trend of the intense, exquisite storytelling found in The Night Witches.

Even though Dear Billy just started, the next installment has already been announced for April. The Tankies reunites Ennis with his old partner in crime Carlos Ezquerra (The Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, Just A Pilgrim, A Man Called Kev, etc).

Here's a synopsis from Dynamite:

"After D-Day came the battle for Normandy, when largely untried Allied soldiers met the seasoned veterans of the German army. As Panzer units and SS troops turn the French countryside into a killing ground, a lone British tank crew struggle to rejoin their squadron. Cut off behind enemy lines, their only hope lies in their fearsome commander, Corporal Stiles- but no one in the crew can stand him, and Stiles isn't too fond of them either. And there are Tigers lurking in the undergrowth..."

- TFM

Jonathan Hickman to take over writing duties on Fantastic Four!

Yes...I know. This is OLD news. It was announced at NYCC last weekend. But in case you hadn't noticed the lack of posts around these parts, I haven't been keeping up with my comics news like I should be. I mean, hopefully in the future I will be able to do nothing but read comics and write about them and write my own. Sigh. Maybe someday.

Anyways- I'm not a Fantastic Four fan. I like Reed Richards and his place in the Marvel Universe, but I've just never really been hip to the whole FF clan. Even when Mark Millar started writing it I didn't really care enough to buy it. But Jonathan Hickman writing this is enough for me to add it to my pull list TOUTE SUITE.

I only skimmed the article over at CBR, so as far as I can tell Hickman will be taking over "in a few months" with Dale Eaglesham on board handling pencils.

I recently professed my love for Hickman and even then I really didn't go into much detail about why I think he's so great. Call it lazy blogging if you will, but I really think you just have to go out and buy some of his past work to see what's so refreshing about it. You more mainstream people already got a preview of what he's capable of if you picked up Secret Warriors last week. One issue into it and he and Bendis are already shaking things up.

Great news Jonathan and congrats. I just hope writing these more mainstream titles still affords you the time to keep putting out your own original ideas. God knows comics needs more of what you are putting out there right now.

- TFM

Batman #686 (and other comics I will be buying on 02/10/09)

This week, Neil Gaiman asks the question "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" Let's hope he gives us a more solid answer than ol' Grant has so far.

Anyways, Batman #686 is this weeks most anticipated and it should be pretty awesome. I've been waiting for this one to hit since it was first announced. Looks like an Alex Ross cover too:



What else is this week?

Booster Gold #17
Scalped #25
Young Liars #12
Eternals #8
Incognito #2
Thor #600
Wolverine Manifest Destiny #4 (of 4)
X-Men Origins Sabretooth (Kieron Gillen!)
Gravel #9

Always excited about Scalped and Gravel. Thor might be one of the better comics you aren't reading. Or maybe it's one of the better comics you ARE reading. I honestly don't know how well that one sells.

I think I might be in the minority on my excitement level for Incognito. Seems like everyone else is bouncing off the walls about it. I do love Brubaker, but I didn't feel like the first issue was as awe inspiring as I remember feeling after reading the first issue of Criminal. It's Brubaker though and he does like to take his time and build his stories, so I'm sure this will be pretty epic by the time it's done.

That's it. Happy Wednesday!

- TFM

P-p-p-pull List!

Today is a pretty solid day to go buy comics.

Incognito #2 (YESSS)

Walking Dead #58

Young Liars #12

Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #3

Scalped #25

I go back and forth on Young Liars. Sometimes I really like it, and sometimes I'm ready to give it up for good. Lapham, can't you just go back to Stray Bullets? Pupulease?

-AR

the best 24 year old...EVER!

legion of three worlds 3
secret warriors 1
agents of atlas 1
the mighty 1
the boys 27
x-men the life and times of lucas bishop 1
30 days of night: 30 days 'til death 3
crossed 3
invincible iron man 10
cable 11
the immortal iron fist 22
trinity 36
haunted tank 3
sandman the dream hunters 4
adventure comics 0
comic book comics 3
zorro 10
madman 13

and finally
SCOTT PILGRIM VOL. 5-
each volume of scott pilgrim has been a breath of fresh air for me. the series follows the eponymous lead character as he battles all of his girlfriend ramona's evil ex-boyfriends in order to keep dating her. scott pilgrim is awesome: his friends are interesting and hilarious, his band has the best fake band name ever and he lives in a video game world where you can earn exp. points for getting a job, coins for beating people up, and should try to reach the save point before talking to your ex. the fifth volume it the empire strikes back of the series, fucking things up as much as possible so scott can fight for a happy ending in vol. 6. the art is drab in comparison to previous volumes, but it balances out with a shiny cover.

secret warriors- most retarded twist ever.

30 days til death- the most i've enjoyed lapham since stray bullets, yeah, including young liars. i don't know what the fuck is going on there anymore. this series is for all you romantics out there who have ever rescued a junkie, got mad at them, then driven to another city to suck the blood of someone who resembles them to deal with it. and THEN had your vampire relatives show up.

legion of 3 worlds: another super hero resurrection, though i'm honestly glad to see him back. this book is becoming less and less about the legion and more about 2 other major d.c./geoff johns books. it does keep the feeling of a crazy silver age super team up, but with superman getting a hole blown in him and another character being frozen and the smashed to death. but thats the beauty of having three legions: you've always got a couple of spare fill-in-the-blank boys.

the mighty- read peter tomasi. this book, about the men who run the support organization for the worlds only super hero, gives me a james robinson golden age vibe.

xoxo, the negative man