What I’m Reading: Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life

With a movie coming out in a few months and certain comic-reading pals of mine gushing over this series, I thought I should finally give a read to the first volume in Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s Scott Pilgrim series, Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life.

Scott is an unemployed 23-year-old who spends his time in an (admittedly) terrible garage band and semi-dating a 17-year-old high school student he met on the bus. One day, he starts having bizarre dreams about a girl with wild hair on a pair of rollerblades, and when he finally meets the girl at a party, he’s head over heels for her right away. The only catch — she’s got seven evil ex-boyfriends that he’s going to have to battle to keep her in his life.

To be honest, this is a book where I’m left wondering just what the big deal is. To begin with, Scott is an inherently unlikable character. He’s a loser who can’t get a grip on his own life and treads dangerously close to statutory territory with his sort-of girlfriend, Knives. (The character names, incidentally, are pretty unlikely as well.) The way he’s willing to throw Knives away the minute he meets Ramona Flowers doesn’t really help the situation. Then, after spending most of the book coming across as sort of a pantywaist, the first evil ex attacks and he magically turns into a character from Street Fighter, complete with special moves, with virtually no explanation. O’Malley has violated the number one rule of speculative fiction — you’ve got to establish what the rules of your universe are early, and stick to them. The superpowers are as out of the blue as they would have been if David Schwimmer had suddenly started hurling around fireballs in the third season of Friends.

That said, I’m still planning to pick up volume two.

Why, you ask? Boy, is that a legitimate question. The book isn’t a total loss. There’s a quirkiness to it that I do enjoy, and while Scott is somewhat pathetic, these circumstances are the sort of thing that can make a character man up and develop into someone you want to read about. I’d like to see that happen. And I don’t even need him to complete that journey in volume two (there are six or seven of these, I think), I just need an indication that he has that potential. That said, if I read volume two and I’m left with the same feeling I have now, I doubt I’ll read volume three.

I’ve been reviewing my butt off lately. Here are some of my latest:

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Four #3 — Part Three of “Vengeance is Mine”
• Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #14 — The return of Black Adam
• Fables #93 — Part two of “The Little Murder”
• Hack/Slash #30 — Part one of “Superhero Sidekick Slaughter”
• The Incredibles #7 — The truth of Dash’s power loss revealed
• The Muppet Show #3 — Conclusion of “On the Road”
• Nemesis #1 — Mark Millar’s latest attempt to lobotomize superheroes
• Power Girl #10 — Power Girl’s blackmailer revealed
• Secret Six #19 — Part one of “Cats in the Cradle”
• Superman #698 — Part three of “Last Stand of New Krypton”
• Superman 80-Page Giant #1 — Seven short stories of the man of Steel
• Done-In-One Reviews for April 3, 2010 — In which I review Cloak and Dagger #1, Disney’s Hero Squad #3, Incorruptible #4, Jack of Fables #44, Justice League of America #43, Justice Society of America #37, Outsiders #28, PVP #45, RASL #7, She-Hulk Sensational #1, Teen Titans #81, The Web #7 and Wizards of Mickey #3

What I’m Reading: Catwoman #83 & Power of Shazam! #48

All this month, DC Comics is bringing back canceled titles “from the dead” for one-issue Blackest Night tie-ins, and we got two more of them this week.

Catwoman #83: Although Selina Kyle still stars in a monthly book, Gotham City Sirens, she’s the co-star of that title along with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. When I heard that her now-defunct solo series was one of the books that was coming back, I figured we’d get a solo story to go with it. I was surprised, but not unpleasantly.

Writer Tony Bedard brings back the late Black Mask, once the top crime overlord in Gotham City, until he pushed Catwoman one step too far and she put a bullet in his skull. (Catwoman, it should be noted, may be a thief, but she’s no killer. It took an awful lot for her to get to that point.) When he rises from the dead as a Black Lantern, he decides to torture Selina for a while before taking her heart, and how better to do that than make her watch while he tortures her beloved sister? To save Maggie Kyle, Selina, Ivy, and Harley take off to face off against an undead menace.

This was actually a really good issue, although it could have fit in pretty easily as an issue of Gotham City Sirens. The girls are all in character, and Black Mask’s scheme is just sadistic enough to work, if that makes any sense. The book even lays out a plot thread that could easily be picked up by another writer later (or Bedard himself if he does more work with these characters). There are four different artists on this book, and while it is a bit noticeable when the styles shift, it’s not so bad as to ruin the book. And DC gets bonus cool points for getting original series cover artist Adam Hughes back to handle the cover of this one.

Rating: 8/10

The Power of Shazam! #48: I’ve always been a big fan of Captain Marvel and the Marvel family, and when I heard their title was coming back as part of this event, I had two reactions:

1. Woo-hoo!

2. Wait, why isn’t Jerry Ordway doing the book?

Not that I’ve got anything against Eric Wallace and Don Kramer, but Ordway made that book what it was. Not having his involvement in this new issue didn’t feel right, and as it turns out, neither did this issue. It wasn’t a bad story, exactly, but it didn’t really feel like it deserved the title Power of Shazam. Billy and Mary Batson, currently powerless in the DCU, make only a cameo appearance. Instead, the book focuses on Osiris, one of Black Adam’s own “Marvel Family” that was murdered back in 52. Osiris and his murderer, Sobek, have both risen as Black Lanterns, but something about the magic of Shazam seems to maintain the connection between Osiris’s body and his soul. While most of the Black Lanterns are dead bodies being manipulated by rings that have “downloaded” the memories of the host, Osiris seems to be the real thing riding shotgun in his Black Lantern body — and that means he’s going to want to come gunning for Sobek. It’s an interesting conceit, and it helps set this title apart. It’s not just another “heroes face the corpses of their loved ones” story like many of the tie-ins to this series have been. At the same tie, I miss the Marvel Family. I suppose when DC inevitably brings them back, they’re not going to want to do it in a one-shot tie in (that would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it, bringing back Captain Marvel in a one-shot that’s only vaguely related to the event whose title it bears?), but somehow, I just feel this book should have had a different title. I dunno, I’m probably just nit-picking. Never mind me.

Rating: 7/10

Also this week…

Secret Six #17 is part two of the three-part story begun in last week’s Suicide Squad #67. I gave this particular book the full review treatment over at Comixtreme.com, so I won’t duplicate my efforts here. You can click on over there to see my full thoughts about the issue. And while you’re there, hunt around the website. There’s plenty of cool stuff there. Besides my own Everything But Imaginary columns and 2 in 1 Showcase podcasts, CX is the home to some of the best commentary, humor, reviews, and forums on the web. Chat about current comic and pop culture events, argue who would win in a fight between Galactus and Ms. Lion, sign up to join in a Mafia game — there’s a lot of cool stuff over there, and I don’t think I give the site enough props around here.

What I’m Reading: A Month of Blackest Night!

Okay, so over the holidays I fell behind on my Blackest Night reviews. I’m sorry. I’m so… so sorry. Please forgive me.

Sniff.

Okay, now that that’s done, let’s talk about some comics! First, as promised, let me link you to my Comixtreme.com review of Superman/Batman #67. (I’m not going to duplicate full reviews from there over here, but I will point you in that direction.) Then, I’ll go through the rest of the tie-ins to the event of the year in the order in which they came out. There’s a lot of ’em here, so let’s get started!

Outsiders #25: Terra confronts her brother, begging him for help. She begs him to kill her, ending her existence as a Black Lantern… but is she being genuine, or is this just another example of Black Lanterns pulling the emotional strings of the living? Katana, meanwhile, faces her late husband, while Creeper does the surprise team-up thing with captive Killer Croc. As I’ve come to expect, Tomasi does a really good job nailing the emotions of each character. He sells us on each of them, working in great stuff for the Outsiders who are forced to face a dead love one, and having fun with those who don’t. Halo gets some very nice moments in this issue, and the Creeper/Croc team-up is a blast. I almost wish Croc was joining the cast of the book. We also get a feel for how the original members are somewhat divorced from the “newcomers” (namely Creeper and Owlman). The dynamic is interesting. Fernando Pasarin and Derec Donovan are the artists this month, and while both of them are good artists, their styles are really quite different. If you’re going to shift artists in one story, you need to get two artists whose styles mesh, and that’s not the case here. I’m sorry to see Tomasi leaving this book, but he had a good run.

Rating: 7/10

Justice League of America #40: In part two of “Reunion,” we watch as the remnants of the Detroit-era Justice League do battle with their less-fortunate teammates, and Gypsy and Vixen find no love lost with the dead Steel and Vibe. Zatanna continues her battle with her dead father, Red Tornado is out and Plastic Man can barely hold it together. James Robinson has a nice feel for these different characters, and even though most of them aren’t going to carry over to his regular JLA team, he makes them feel like significant, important characters, and that this is a story worth telling. The highlight of this issue, however, is the battle between Dr. Light and her late villain counterpart. Between this book and Superman, Robinson is doing really interesting stuff with Dr. Light, stuff I haven’t seen before. This is some of the best screen time the character has ever gotten, and I’m really glad she’s made the cut on the regular team. Mark Bagley has always been a fan favorite artist, but I must admit, all of his characters seem to look really young. Not a problem during his days on New Warriors or Ultimate Spider-Man, but it’s been noticable in stuff like Trinity. Fortunately, most of the new team is going to be relatively young, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Really good issue.

Rating: 8/10

Green Lantern Corps #43: After the staggering events of last issue, I have to admit, this one was a bit of a letdown. (If you haven’t read issue #42 yet be warned, spoilers follow.) Last month we watched as Kyle Rayner sacrificed his life to save the main power battery on Oa from an invading army of Black Lanterns. This month, his lover Soranik Natu struggles desperately to bring him back. As Soranik — a doctor as well as a Green Lantern — works on Kyle, his partner Guy Gardner allows himself to succumb to his rage… Guy Gardner is now a Red Lantern. The Guy stuff here is handled really well. Peter Tomasi has done a nice job of selling Kyle and Guy as buddies, and I’ve got no problem at all seeing Guy go red with anger at Kyle’s death. My only real beef here comes in the bits with Soranik Natu. (I’m going to try very hard not to spoil this particular issue, but that won’t be easy.) Soranik’s efforts have an interesting result. Nothing happens here that I didn’t expect, but I didn’t expect it to happen quite so quickly, and I feel like there was a missed opportunity to tell an interesting story or two in the meantime. There, I think that did it. I still liked this issue, but not as much as I expected to.

Rating: 7/10

Blackest Night: JSA #1: The last Blackest Night spin-off miniseries starts here with the creative team of Blackest Night: Superman picking up the story they began there. The Justice Society is caught off-guard when several of its Golden Age members — the original Sandman, Dr. Mid-Nite and Mr. Terrific among others — rise from the dead and attack. Superman and Superboy, meanwhile, have brought the defeated Black Lantern Superman (of Earth-2) and Psycho-Pirate to the current Mr. Terrific to study and — hopefully — find a weakness. This issue takes place on the heels of Blackest Night #5, and it’s a nice way to shine a spotlight on these heroes in the midst of those events. While most of the zombie comparisons to these titles have been derisive, this is one of the few stories I’ve yet seen where the comparison is apt. Watching the still-living JSA members holed up in their headquarters, trying to stave off the swarm of Black Lanterns, has a definite Night of the Living Dead vibe to it, and I mean that as a compliment. James Robinson nails the mood of this piece, giving us a fantastic stand-off between the living and the dead. The plot threads carried over from Blackest Night: Superman are also solid. I don’t know if DC has really considered how these miniseries will be packaged in the inevitable trade paperback releases, but the two miniseries by Robinson and Eddy Barrows really should be collected together.

Rating: 8/10

Teen Titans #78: Why in the world has J.T. Krul not been given one of the Titans family books to write on an ongoing basis? I don’t even care which one. Between this two-parter and the previous Blackest Night: Titans miniseries, he’s shown a better grasp of these characters than any writer since Geoff Johns left. In fact, I’ll say this is one of the beast Deathstroke stories I have ever read. Ravager, last issue, hunted down her father with the intention of killing him. Instead, the two of them found themselves in an uneasy alliance, fighting for their lives against the Black Lanterns of their shared past. And just when things looked their worst, an unexpected ally arrived — Ravager’s brother and Deathstroke’s son, Jericho, who is looking in much better shape than he did the last time we saw him. The richness of the characters here is wonderful. Krul absolutely sells us on a genuine relationship between the father and children that makes sense and works perfectly in the context of the story. And while Deathstroke is still undeniably a bad guy (as he should be), this issue also manages to paint him as a father too, something that hasn’t been done very well since the days of Wolfman and Perez. There are a few things in this issue that make me believe there are plans in the works for Deathstroke, and in fact he’s supposedly joining the regular cast of the Titans series soon, but without Krul at the wheel, it’ll be hard to get me on board. He’s one of DC’s rising stars, and I’ll be anxiously watching where he goes next.

Rating: 9/10

Green Lantern #49: Since this event began, Geoff Johns has used the main Green Lantern title to basically tell the stories in-between issues of Blackest Night. This issue is no exception. While Hal Jordan has been assembling the “new Guardians” and Kyle and Guy are facing the dead of Oa, what’s been up with John Stewart? The fourth Green Lantern of Earth takes the spotlight this issue, as he has to face the dead of the planet Xanshi, a world he failed to save from destruction years ago. If that wasn’t bad enough, his dead wife Katma Tui is part of the assault. John is, in many ways, the Neglected Lantern these days. He had a bit more of a spotlight when he was on Justice League Unlimited, but he’s taken a back seat to Hal in the title they ostensibly share. This is a really good spotlight on John, and it comes not a moment too soon. What makes this issue more interesting, however, is the back-up story. In a “Tales From the Corps” story, we follow the Atom and Mera, who shrank down between the molecules of a Black Lantern ring. With the Black Lantern Jean Loring as their guide, the delve into the origins of Nekron himself, and find a valuable ally in the process — Deadman. This look back into the history of the Black Lanterns is pretty good, and even better is the fact that the always-welcome Jerry Ordway does the art. And when it’s over, it’s time to jump right into Blackest Night #6. So let’s shall we?

Rating: 8/10

Blackest Night #6: The only book that came out on December 30 is likely the book that would have been the best in any given week. Last issue, Nekron revealed that he’s been allowing people to “return” from the dead for years, setting them up as foot soldiers for this invasion. Now he’s turned the likes of Superman, Green Arrow, Superboy, Wonder Woman, and more into Black Lanterns, and the grand prize will be taking Hal Jordan and Barry Allen. As the two of them race for their lives — literally — Ganthet decides a little more firepower is needed for this battle to turn, and he begins a really interesting recruiting drive. The fanboy in me turned as giddy as a child on Christmas when I realized where this was going, and the final two-page spread had me as excited as I’ve been for a comic in a very long time. Beyond just the action figure potential of these pages, we’re seeing something that’s a hell of a lot of fun playing out against an intense backdrop. We’re seeing the restructuring of the Green Lantern Corps and DC’s cosmic side as a whole, we’re seeing characters like Ray Palmer and Mera (freaking Mera) raised to A-list status, and we’re getting it all under the prism of just beautiful art by Ivan Reis. Have I said I love this book? Because I’ll say it again. I. Love. This. Book.

Rating: 9/10

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2: Set between the pages of Blackest Night #6, this issue features Wonder Woman as a Black Lantern. As we’ve come to suspect, we see that the real person and the Black Lantern are separate entities, with one controlling the other. As Black Lantern Wonder Woman battles Wonder Girl and Mera, the “real” Wonder Woman, riding shotgun, struggles for freedom. The book also expands greatly upon the last few pages of Blackest Night #6, showing what happens to Wonder Woman there from a different perspective. In and of itself, the issue is fine. Greg Rucka is a good writer and knows Wonder Woman well. The art, by Nicola Scott and Eduardo Pansica, is very nice. Scott is one of DC’s greatest artistic assets right now, and they’d be insane not to try to get more high-profile work out of her. The issue here is that, unlike the other Blackest Night miniseries, this one doesn’t seem to be telling a solid story of its own. Instead, it seems to exist only to slip between the pages of the main event. That’s not quite enough for me. It’s not bad when it happens in a spin-off issue of an ongoing, especially one as tightly tied to the main book as Green Lantern is, but it seems a bit superfluous to create a miniseries expressly for that purpose. It will also make it a less satisfying read in collected edition later.

Rating: 6/10

Suicide Squad #67: There will be no issue of Blackest Night in January, which is very very sad, but that doesn’t mean the tie-ins will stop. In fact, DC is doing something pretty cool this month to come up with unique tie-ins. They’ve taken eight old series, books that have been canceled for years (or, in some cases, decades) and they’ve brought them back for one more issue. If the characters can come back from the dead, why not the titles, right? First up is Suicide Squad #67, written by Gail Simone and original series writer John Ostrander, with art by Jim Calafiore. As Simone is using former Squad member Deadshot to great effect in her Secret Six series, it only makes sense that this one-shot would tie in to that one. The Six and the Squad find themselves at odds when the Six are hired to break out a convicted drug dealer from the prison where the Squad is based. As the two teams face each other, the dead of the past begin to rise. This isn’t a bad issue, and it’s great as part of a crossover between the two teams, but the Blackest Night connection is actually pretty tenuous. It begins with one character rising from the dead, it ends with several more rising, but otherwise there’s no real connection. The story continues in next week’s Secret Six #17, so there’s more to come, but I can’t help but wish there was more here.

Rating: 7/10

Weird Western Tales #71: The next book brought back this month (and the last in this review-a-thon) is one of DC’s old-school western titles. The light-based hero called The Ray has managed to snare one of the Black Lantern rings, and he brings it to a facility in the west, near the mass graves of a slew of cowboys, soldiers, and Indians slain during the wild and wooly days of the DC Universe. The likes of Scalphunter, Super-Chief, Bat Lash, and the king of DC’s western tales himself, Jonah Hex, all rise to reclaim the ring. Honestly, I didn’t really have high expectations for this book — it seemed a bit more of a stunt than some of the other “dead” titles brought back here — but I was pleasantly surprised. DC’s executive editor, Dan Didio, has put together a story that is suitably creepy — in fact, this too has the hopeless horror movie feel of a great zombie flick — but he also managed to capture the flavor of a western in the process. That sort of combination isn’t easy. Renato Arlem‘s artwork fits in nicely, and the result is a book that’s actually better than it should be.

Rating: 7/10

So that’s it, friends. I’m all caught up, and actually, I kind of like this format. I have no intention of letting another month go by with no reviews, but from now on, I may do a single weekly review post instead of separate ones for each title. Seems more efficient that way, doesn’t it?

Everything But Imaginary #320: Bad to the Bone

Secret Six is one of the best comics being published right now, but villain-focused comics rarely last. What makes Secret Six different? And why do villain titles fizzle out?

Everything But Imaginary #320: Bad to the Bone
Inside this column:

Back to work…

I’ve actually gotten an awful lot of work done this week, so I thought I’d share it with you. In addition to the new chapter of Lost in Silver (the book is almost over, so those of you who told me you’re waiting for the end to read it all at once, get ready), I’ve gotten many, many pages written of my newest project, still untitled. I can’t say exactly how much, however, because it’s all been written longhand, during moments I’ve managed to steal during the day. I don’t know why, but I often find I work better if I do my first draft longhand.

Also longhand, I’ve done work on A Long November and Other Stories. I’ve written an introduction for the eBook, as well as notes on each of the nine stories it will contain. It was actually a lot of fun to write, it was like visiting old friends again. (That reminds me — if my sister is reading, I still want to do that Bixby series some day. He shows up in the Christmas stories and I miss those characters, damn it.)

And finally, I’ve been reviewing up a storm. Here are the reviews I’ve tossed out there since the last time I updated you guys:

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three #4
• Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam #6
• Fables #87
  
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #3
• Hack/Slash #24
• The Muppet Show: The Treasure of Peg Leg Wilson #1
• North 40 #2
• Power Girl #4
  
• The Red Circle: Inferno #1
• Secret Six #12
  
• Superman #690
• Superman Annual #14
  
• Superman Secret Files 2009
• Superman/Batman #63
  
• Wednesday Comics #3
• Done In One Reviews for July 25: In which I review Archie #599, Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #3, Cars: The Rookie #4, Doctor Who: Room With a Deja View #1, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors #2, G.I. Joe #7, Gemini #4, The Spirit #31 & Tiny Titans #18
• Done in One Reviews for August 1: In which I review Batman: The Brave and the Bold #7, Jack of Fables #36, Last Days of Animal Man #3, The Lone Ranger #17 & Toy Story: Mysterious Stranger #3
• Done in One Reviews for August 8: In which I review Chew #3, Dynamo 5 #23, Finding Nemo: Reef Rescue #2, House of Mystery #16, Jonah Hex #46, The Mighty #7, Muppet Robin Hood #3 & The Spirit #32
• Done in One Reviews for August 15: In which I review G.I. Joe #8, G-Man: Cape Crisis #1, Love and Capes #11, PS 238 #40, Toy Story: Mysterious Stranger #4 & The Walking Dead #64
• Done in One Reviews for August 22: In which I review Archie #600, Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #4, Doctor Who #2, Jack of Fables #37, Monsters Inc.: Laugh Factory #1, The Stand: American Nightmares #5, Tiny Titans #19 & Zorro #15

Look to the skies…

What I’m Reading: Blackest Night #0

Since I’ve more or less decided to review all the chapters of Blackest Night here at Evertime Realms, I went back and pulled out the zero issue released in may for Free Comic Book Day. Produced by the same creative team — Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis — that will handle the regular miniseries, this issue takes place just after the Green Lantern #43 I reviewed the other day.

Hal Jordan is joined by his best friend, Barry Allen. Both the Green Lantern and the Flash are heroes who have come back from death, a feat that has been accomplished by a lot of people across the DC Universe. Today, though, they ponder those who haven’t come back from death’s door, and perhaps more importantly, why they did.

One of the central themes that Johns says will be explored in Blackest Night is the question of why so many superheroes seem to be able to cheat death again and again, and this issue sets up that theme nicely. It’s also a good focus on Hal and Barry as friends. Their own friendship is explored, as is their relationships to certain fallen heroes that we know will show their faces as Black Lanterns. (At this point at least five different Black Lanterns have been confirmed through solicitations and the like, but I won’t mention them here). Basically, the point of this book is to show the readers the chessboard. It reminds us where all the pieces are, who is in play and who isn’t, and gets us ready for the main event.

The book also features a series of pages drawn by Green Lantern artist Doug Mahnke. Each spread features a different one of the eight corps and points out the key players in each one. For those who may not have been reading the last two years of the two Green Lantern titles (more the fool you), it’ll get you up to speed quickly.

So that’s it. The prologues have been read, the players are all in place, and the Blackest Night is about to be unleashed. More than any time in my life of reading comics, I just can’t wait for Wednesday.

RATING: 7/10

Since we all do have to wait for Wednesday, though, how about you take a look at some of the other reviews I’ve written lately over at Comixtreme?

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three #3
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #2
• Gotham City Sirens #1
• Incredibles: Family Matters #2
• Incredibles: Family Matters #3
• Literals #3
• The Muppet Show #4
• Secret Six #11
• Superman #689
• Done-In-One Reviews for June 27, 2009-In which I review The Actress and the Bishop #1, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #6, Buck Rogers #1, Cars: The Rookie #3, Dynamo 5 #22, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors #1, The Last Days of Animal Man #2, Perhapanauts #6, PVP #42, The Spirit #30, Star Wars: Legacy #37 and Zorro #14
• Done-In-One Reviews for July 4, 2009-In which I review Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #26, Chew #2, Finding Nemo: Reef Rescue #1, Greek Street #1, Irredeemable #4, Jonah Hex #45, The Mighty #6, Muppet Robin Hood #2, and Toy Story: Mysterious Stranger #2
• Done-In-One Reviews for July 11, 2009-In which I review Archie’s Double Digest #200, House of Mystery #15, The Stand: American Nightmares #4 and The Unwritten #4

Reviews ‘n Stuff

Tomorrow, my girlfriend Erin comes in for one of our visits, and I can’t wait. We’re actually going to have a lot going on, beginning tomorrow with going to see The Floating Palace at the Bayou Playhouse (reportedly an excellent play that my sister, Heather, happens to be in). Next weekend, we’re travelling to Florida with my family for my cousin Lauren’s wedding. In-between… well, we’re gonna do stuff with my friends, stuff with just us… we’re gonna do stuff. In other words, I’ve got no idea what we’ll be doing all week. But it doesn’t matter, because we’ll be together.

Writing Life

Yesterday I finished a new short story for the eMuse Summer Madness contest. I’ve been telling you guys for some time now how awesome the work of J.C. Hutchins is, so I had to get involved when I heard about a writing contest centering on his upcoming novel Personal Effects: Dark Art. It’s just a quickie, really, something that popped into my head and I worked out really fast, but it was fun to take on a different story. I’ve also been hard at work on two things connected to Project Rebirth, and I’m getting more and more excited about it. Yeah. Still cryptic. Yeah, I know.

Reviews

I’ve also been firing away on the reviews over at Comixtreme.com. Here are some recent ones I’ve turned out:

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three #2 — Charles Williams seeks his lost brother
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1 — Can the Tattooed Man become a hero?
• Hack/Slash #22 — Mind Killer Part Two
• Jack of Fables #34 — The Great Fables Crossover Part Five
• The Literals #2 — The Great Fables Crossover Part Six
• The Muppet Show #3 — Gonzo’s story
• Secret Six #10 — Depths Part One
• Superman #688 — Mon-El’s power loss explained
• Superman/Batman #60 — Mash-Up Part One
• Trinity #52 — The year-long epic comes to a close!
• Done-in-One Reviews for May 30, 2009 — In which I review Batman: The Brave and the Bold #5; Ender’s Shadow: Battle School #5; Futurama Comics #43; The Last Days of Animal Man #1; Muppet Robin Hood #1; The Spirit #28; The Stand: American Nightmares #3 and Star Wars: Legacy #36
• Done-in-One Reviews for June 6, 2009 — In which I review Archie #596; Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #2; Batman in Barcelona: Dragon’s Knight #1; Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Vampires #1; Chew #1; House of Mystery #14; Jonah Hex #44; The Mighty #5 and PS238 #39

A family wedding, a Kindle suggestion, more reviews

Best Wishes, Chase

This first blurb today isn’t for my Good Buddy Chase, he of the 2 in 1 Showcase fame, but rather for my cousin Chase, who is getting married today. I really wish I could be at the wedding, but Chase is getting married in Germany because Andrea, his fiance (actually, considering the time difference, she’s probably his wife by the time I write this) is a German native and they’re going to be living there, at least for the next few years. Much as I’d like to be there, if I could afford a trip to Germany I’d already have that Amazon Kindle I keep rambling about. Anyway, Chase, we wish you all the best, we hope to see you back home soon, and please don’t cause any international incidents while you’re over there. That message really applies more to your brothers, but they’re both over there for the wedding, so pass it along.

Short stories on the Kindle?

Speaking of the Amazon Kindle, something occurred to me earlier that’s yet another reason for me to pine for one. It seems to me that it would be an excellent way to read short stories. I don’t read many short stories, which is something I actually feel sort of bad about because it’s a dying art form that I’d like to support. The thing is, how do you get a new short story? Well, you have to buy a book of short stories, which (let’s face it) is a crapshoot. If it’s an anthology full of different authors, you know perfectly well that there will be some stories in there you like and some that you don’t like at all. Even if it’s a book of stories all by the same author, say Stephen King or Neil Gaiman, you lose that impetus to keep reading every time you hit the end of a story. Rather than chugging along to the end like you will with a novel, when you finish a short story it’s rather easy to put it aside and get distracted by something else.

I think it would be brilliant if Amazon established a short writing store, similar to the iTunes music store, where writers and publishers alike could submit short pieces of writing (both fiction and non-fiction) for a cheap download. I may be reluctant to spend even the $9.99 Kindle asks for a whole book if I’m unfamiliar with most of the contributing writers, but if you give me a first paragraph as a sample and I like it, I’d be inclined to spend 50 to 99 cents to download just that story and read it. I think this would be a hit, and may help to revive the short story format if only people would listen to my brilliance.

Termination

As you may have heard, there’s a new Terminator movie out this weekend. We at the 2 in 1 Showcase podcast, being shameless hangers-on to popular culture, always like to do an episode to coincide with a major genre film. So today, we’re converging at Mike “The Internet is a Bunch of Tubes” Bellamy’s house to watch the first three films in the series and record the episode. Then, tomorrow, we’re going to catch the new movie and do our review. If you’ve already seen the film, don’t spoil it for me. I hear the reviews are mixed, but I’m genuinely excited for this flick, and if I’m going to be disappointed, I’d rather be disappointed on my own terms.

Reviews

Finally, how about a few more Comixtreme.com reviews for you guys? Here are some comics I’ve reviewed since the last time I did one of these posts:

• Astro City: The Dark Age Book Three #1: Dual review with Walt Kneeland
• Fables #84: Part four of The Great Fables Crossover
• Secret Six #9: A Battle For the Cowl tie-in
• Trinity #50: Closing in on the end
• Done-in-One Reviews for May 16: In which I review House of Mystery #13, Sonic the Hedgehog #200, Super Human Resources #4, The Unwritten #1 and The Walking Dead #61
• Done-in-One Reviews for May 23: In which I review Cars: The Rookie #2, Doctor Who: The Time Machination #1, Olympus #1, The Phantom: Ghost Who Walks #2, Tiny Titans #16 and Zorro #13
  

Reviewapalooza

Once again, I thought I would regale you with some of my recent reviews over at Comixtreme.com. As prolific as I am here at Evertime Realms, I also write a ton of stuff for CX, including mucho comic book reviews, and the occasional movie and DVD review. In fact, after I catch Star Trek tonight with the guys, I’ll be reviewing that one for CX. I also recently reviewed the DVD of PVP The Series: Season One. It was pretty good, for the most part. PVP, as you may know, is one of my favorite webcomics, and I enjoyed the webisodes that were produced a while back. Hopefully this DVD will do well enough to justify a second season.

And how about all the comic book reviews I write? Here’s a batch of the most recent.

• Fables #83 (Part One of The Great Fables Crossover)
• Jack of Fables #33 (Part Two of The Great Fables Crossover)
• The Literals #1 (Part Three of The Great Fables Crossover)
• The Muppet Show #2 (Spotlight on the fabulous, furry, fast-and-frantic Fozzie Bear!)
• Power Girl #1 (Finally in her own series!)
• Secret Six #8 (Date night for three of the Six)
• Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade #6 (The senses-shattering conclusion!)
• Superman #687 (In Superman’s absence, Guardian and Mon-El hold the line in Metropolis)
• Trinity #48 (Heading into the last month of the year-long weekly)
• Done-In-One Reviews for May 3, 2009: In which I review Ender’s Game: Battle School #5, Madman Atomic Comics #15, & Witchblade #126
• Done-In-One Reviews for May 9, 2009: In which I review Atomic Robo: Shadow From Beyond Time #1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #25, Cerebus Archive #1, Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! #1, Hack/Slash: Entry Wound #1, Irredeemable #2, Jonah Hex #43 & The Mighty #4,

Yes, I still write reviews

It’s been some time since I updated you guys with my recent reviews over at Comixtreme. I am still writing them, though! Not as many as I used to — we don’t do the Marvel advance reviews anymore, which reduces my workload considerably. Now I’m only reviewing the books I volunteer for. It’s still quite a bit, though. This week, for instance, I reviewed the first issue of The Muppet Show from Boom! Studios. This book is really good — the writing is sharp, funny, and perfectly mimics the TV show. Even the musical numbers are still intact. I love it.

Other recent reviews from yours truly have included…

• Batman: Battle For the Cowl-Commissioner Gordon #1
• Fables #82
• Hack/Slash #21
• The Incredibles: Family Matters #1
• Secret Six #7
• Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade #4
• Superman #686
• Superman/Batman #56
• Trinity #42
• Done-In-One Reviews: March 28, 2009 — Including reviews of Batman: the Brave and the Bold #3, Jack of Fables #32, The Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks #1; Star Wars: Legacy #34 & Super Human Resources #2

And of course, you can always shuffle through my past reviews at the terribly incomplete and constantly-being-updated Comic Reviews Archive Page right here at Evertime Realms.