Loki + Scarlet Witch = Love (?)

I just finished watching the latest Marvel movie, I Saw the Light (2015), and I'm a little confused. 

First off, I thought that Scarlet Witch and Loki were enemies, but they look awfully cozy in most of this movie. Did I miss a movie in between Thor: The Dark World and now? Was there an extra obscure extra scene after Captain America: Civil War that I failed to catch? Is this some kind of subtle set up for Ragnarok or Infinity War?

Second off, what's up with the accents? And the singing? Neither of these characters showed any signs of being Southern (or musical) last time I saw them.

Third off, did budgetary constraints cause them to forgo the costumes this time around? (Not to mention the special effects, the exotic locales, etcetera.) 

Fourth off, it doesn't surprise me that Loki gets a fair share of ass in this movie, as that gleam in his eye always struck me as a sign of sexual prowess, but I was surprised to see Marvel make the jump to R-rated action. Does this mean we'll get to see Black Widow naked soon? (Please? PLEASE?)

Fifth off, kind of a bummer ending, and it's hard to see any sequel potential here. But those Marvel boys and girls are clever, I'm sure they can pull it off.

Until then, Excelsior! And Make Mine Marvel!

The Return of the Nipple

1

The 9th issue of the No Nudity Playboy just came out. And it featured The Return of the Nipple. I had to smile. Because I have to admit that I have missed the nipples. (And it's obvious that I'm not the only one, since I don't have any influence on the world outside of my head.) I would have to go back through the last eight issues to see if this has been a gradual building process, as I suspect, but I do remember that when the November issue came out that the boob presence seemed a lot more obvious than in previous issues. (But no nipples.) And I thought then, "It's a sign; it's just a matter of time now." Because seriously . . . what is Playboy without bare breasts?
And now in the December issue, the nipple has returned. In three variations. There was the Nipple Seen Through Blouse in Paige Elkington's pictorial. There was the Just a Bit of Areola in Eniko Mihalik's centerfold. And there were several I'm Wearing Glitter But I'm Naked From the Ankles Up shots of Maya Singer which showed her perkies. 

I know that in this I-Don't-Know-What-To-Call-It Age I'm not supposed to even want to look at pictures of naked women in magazines, much less admit to enjoying it. It's Anti-Feminist and a part of Rape Culture and Radical Patriarchy and . . . and all of that. Or so we've been told.

But is it?

Here's the thing. Playboy has always been different from the other Naked Women magazines. And I'm not just talking about the articles--which I do actually read, by the way. For one thing, it has never been a Legs Spread magazine, much less a Pictures of People Having Sex magazine. It's shown its fair share of asses, pubic hair, and  labia majora . . . and even the occasional glimpse of clitoris . . . but the primary focus has always been breasts, and, more specifically, nipples. 

Another big difference between Playboy and the other N.W.M.s is that the Playboy women were pretty much all extraordinarily beautiful. If you've seen some of those other N.W.M.s, you know that that is not always the case there.

And there's the rub of it. No pun intended. Playboy has always been a paen to beautiful women. And nipples are a primary element of that song. The Aria of the Areola. It is the modern day plebeian equivalent of the female Grecian statues . . . which, by the way, were also primarily breast-oriented--and if you doubt me, check out Syreeta McFadden's very intelligent and entertaining article, "The lack of female genitals on statues seems thoughtless until you see it repeated." It's about glorifying and appreciating the female body. And hey, I don't see how you can claim it's sexist or anti-feminist for guys to look at those pictures if women are willingly posing for them, you know? 

When I was a young lad in the army, there was a Warrant Officer in our unit who was nuts about Suzanne Somers. And that was right around the time that some topless photos of Ms. Somers appeared. (I think it was in Playboy, but Wikipedia tells me that that spread didn't come out until the February 1980 issue, and that couldn't have been my source since I ETSed from the army in October of 1979.) Anyway, I bought a copy of the magazine and carefully removed the pictures of Suzanne. I trimmed the edges to make them nice, and then very very carefully cut out the nipples from every picture, then put the pictures into a pile and put the pile onto the W.O.'s desk. Venisoon after he came into the office, went to his desk, saw the pictures, and first exclaimed gleefully . . . then saw how the pictures had been mistreated and said, "Why would anyone DO this?" He was so stricken that I actually felt bad about the joke, and hard pranking was something we rarely felt bad about in those Too Many Boys Spoil the Soup days. Point being . . . it's all about the nipple. You know it, I know it, and Playboy knows it.

So thanks for bringing it back this month, Playboy. Keep up the good work.





1 BTW, lest you get too excited, the above picture is a Stunt Nipple, for illustrative purposes only, not an Actual Nipple. I know this for sure because it's actually My Nipple. See--here's the rest of it:

 +   =  

You can't sue a man for his own nipples, I'd hope. Not even for using them mathematically.

Autistic Humor

Jacqueline and I dropped Joe off at his day program this morning, and as we were driving back home she said to me, "Churches don't chase hawks, do they?" I asked her to repeat the question to make sure that I'd heard it right. "Churches don't chase hawks, do they?" I answered, "No, they don't, honey. Why do you ask?" Alas, she wouldn't reveal the story behind the question, only offering, "I'm just asking a question." Further investigation yielded only the fruit of her frustration, so I had to let it go.

But I sure would like to know that story.

Lucifer Zings It Again

"Consider me an emotional jockstrap for the Decker family jewels." 

Lucifer 

Season 2 Episode 10: 

"Quid Pro Ho" 

written by 

Ildy Modrovich 

and 

Julia Fontana

The Walking Dead, Dirty Three, "Everything's Fucked"

Short version: I still hate the way they exploited brutality and gore in this season's opening episode of The Walking Dead, but I started missing the show, and I started watching it again, and I just finished watching "Swear" a couple of minutes ago. I am still feeling a bit distanced from the show . . . not really trusting the people in charge to treat the characters properly . . . so I don't always give it my full attention, but in the last couple of minutes of "Swear" I perked up. I heard the unmistakable sounds of Dirty Three, a band I dearly love and have followed pretty much from the beginning of their recording career. So as soon as the episode was over I Googled "The Walking Dead Dirty Three" just to make sure, and sho nuff, it was "Everything's Fucked" from the first Dirty Three album, Dirty Three, whose cover looks like this:

Which is, by the way, a great album . . . as are all of the Dirty Three albums. (Available on Amazon for cheap.)

And The You Tub will let you know what "Everything's Fucked" sounds like.

So at least somebody at Walking Dead Central has their head screwed on straight.

Now It Can Be Told: 宮崎 駿 靴下

My order has arrived, so now that I know that you all can't pile on and buy everything up before I get mine, I'm willing to share:

You can buy Japanese Animation Socks. And not just any Japanese Animation Socks. We're talking Hayao Miyazaki Japanese Animation Socks. And not just any Hayao Miyazaki Japanese Animation Socks. We're talking

 Howl's Moving Castle!

My Neighbor Totoro!!

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind!!!

And one of my all-time favorite movies . . .

Kiki's Delivery Service!!!!

I bought them as a Christmas present for Jacqueline, but I have a feeling that those Nausicaä socks may find their way into my own sock drawer. (Shhh . . . no tattling.)

When You Wishbone on a Star . . .

I'd heard of Wishbone Ash, but I'd never heard any of their music. But when I saw a double album at a certain book store (hint: the words "half" and "price" are both in the name) I was tempted to buy it. Don't know why. Maybe because I'm always looking to expand my musical horizons. Maybe because I'm anxious to fill in holes in my knowledge base. Maybe because I needed to buy something. But I ended up not buying it--mostly because I didn't know anything about it, partially because I thought I could probably get some free listens on the internets.

And then I forgot about them until this morning, and as I sat down to have a little read with Trenton Lee Stewart I thought I'd have a little musical background, and I Googled "Wishbone Ash." And there were quite a few hits, so I settled on "Wishbone Ash [1970] FULL ALBUM," thinking that that would probably be the starting point. And it was almost immediately groovy. You should give it a whirl. 

I continued to listen as I read, sometimes pausing in the read to have a really good listen, and when I put my book down to move to the kitchen to make breakfast and pack lunches for the little Js, I took my playing-Wishbone-Ash-Wishbone-Ash-Kindle with me. It was somewhere close to the end of the album (and the start of breakfast #2: pancakes) that it hit me: not only was this groovy music . . . it was joyful music. Y'know? Maybe we get so used to music that's not joyful--and is often mean, nasty, or just plain disturbing--that we forget that music can be joyful. And I don't even know what the lads were singing about--it was just the tone of the music. And most certainly not in some circus-y music way. This was quite the guitar-driven sixties rock . . . though it seemed to me that it was devoid of the usual cliches that can date that music.

So hey. Wishbone Ash. I think I'll have another.

A Tale of Undertale

An hour ago I had never heard of Undertale. Now I'm grooving to its music.

It started with Realm of Roses by Chris O'Neill / Oney. I was ambling about on Bandcamp's "Discover" section and saw a super cool picture of a face constructed of rose petals with a thorn filled mouth.

So of course I had to give that a listen. And I liked what I heard quite a bit. Most of it is orchestral-y music . . . though the second track is something that I think is called Chiptune, wherein the point is to emulate the sound of early video games. (And as awful as that sounds, the track here--"Pixel Fags"--was actually pretty entertaining.) A real standout for me was a song entitled "Theme of Genesis," which featured a very lovely violin part:

So I checked to see who did the violin on this track, and it was a lovely gal named Michaela Nachtigall.  She has several songs on her YouTube channel, so I listened to a few of those, and was particularly entranced by "Calling the Four Giants and Oath to Order." Go give it a listen.

I know, right? So of course I went back to Bandcamp to see if Michaela had any albums of her own. She didn't, but she did appear on some other pieces, and as I looked down the list I saw a lovely image (of a cavern with an open dome roof, the whole scene suffused with bright sunlight and looking all watercolor-y) for a song entitled "Cave of Monsters" (from Fallen: An Undertale Tribute by Materia Collective) by Will Dawson & the aforementioned Michaela Nachtigall. So I gave that a listen (I love it that Bandcamp lets you listen to whole songs . . . hell, whole albums . . . before you slap down the dollar bills) and it was quite a lovely thing. Starts off with some scary and echoey percussion, then the sound of Michaela's violin comes in, sounding far away and fragile. Very nice. Then an electric guitar repeats the violin theme, and then the violin joins in for another go. Good stuff. So I started listening to some of the other songs on this album, and they were all quite interesting. I was particularly taken by one called  "Undertale" by Triforce Quartet. You can hear a live performance of it online which is quite good, although slightly marred by voices talking at several points and a couple of clunker notes (neither of which are present on the album version of the song, I hasten to add). 

So about this time I started to wonder what this Undertale thing was, so I checked with my Wiccan friends and they told me that it was a game . . . kind of a riff on Alice in Wonderland. With guns.

I also went to the webpage for the game and was amused by the instructions near the top of the page, which said that you could play the RPG non-violently if you wanted to do so, or you could Let It Rain.

And that's the tale of how I found out what Undertale is.

By the way, you can check out / buy the Undertale tribute album on Bandcamp. It clocks in at 97 tracks, with a total playing time of 6:05:59, so I think you get more than your money's worth for $14.99, but I feel compelled to tell you that you can purchase the same material for download from Amazon for $8.99, so do what you want to do, be who you are. 

THAT is the question.

"What's the point of living if we are never going to bag Jennifer Lawrence?"

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

"Spring" 

by Daniel Palladino

Laboratorium Pieśni Што й па мору, Ой y лиси, Oj ty rzeko, Koło mego ogródecka

Q:  What's better than a beautiful woman with a great voice singing a song?

A:  A whole bunch of beautiful women with great voices singing songs.

Q:  And what's better than a whole bunch of beautiful women with great voices singing songs?

A:  A whole bunch of beautiful women with great voices singing songs that sound Native American-ish.

I was doing a little walkthrough on Bandcamp's "Discover" section when I saw an amazing image that I thought was a Native American with a bird perched on his / her ear. (The picture was composed of bright lines and dots, though, so it was hard to tell for sure if that's what it was.) And I clicked on it thinking that it would be Native American music. And the song that I heard--"U lisi"--sure sounded Native American-ish to me. The drumbeat, the chanting voices. So I looked into it. Turns out it's a group of Polish singers who perform songs of all kinds from all over the world.

Once I started listening I didn't want to stop. I'm particularly fond of "Koło mega ogródecka." For one thing, I love the sound of a violin, and it was a very nice addition to the voices and drums. For another, the women are just so beautiful. As are their voices. And the presence of Grandma Kazia, and her bit at the end, just really moved me.

If you want a copy of their first album, you can get a download for a mere €10 ($10.54) or a cd for €13 ($13.71) by going to the Bandcamp website. I really like watching them sing, though, and there are lots of videos on the You Tub for that, but I bought the cd because I want these gals to know that I love them and to receive some small recompense for the joy that they give me. You come too.

Goldie Vance

I haven't spent much time or money on Boom! Studios's comic books. Tried a book book here and a book book there, but never really felt like I was getting top quality material. When I spotted an issue of Goldie Vance on the stands, though, I was really drawn to it. The art (by Brittney Williams) reminded me a bit of Darwyn Cooke. And Bruce Timm. And Rick Burchett. And Mike Parobeck. All of whom I dearly love. So I took a good gander at it. But it was issue #7, and I didn't want to start there, so I thought I'd check on Comixology and see if I could get a deal going there on the earlier issues. And lo and behold, not only did they have the first five issues for $1.99 apiece . . . there was also a collection with issues one through four for $9.99. (Yeah, the math doesn't quite work out on that, does it?) And then I thought, "Maybe I should check the library to see if they have the collected edition?" And not only did they have it . . . they had it on order . . . and nobody else had requested it. So today I picked up a brand new copy of Goldie Vance Volume 1. And I wolfed it down. 

What a great little book this is. It's charming in the way that old time comics are charming (courtesy of the art in part, of course, but also thanks to the writing of Hope Larson, who knows to have fun with a story).  It's a fun time, free of the cynical bullshit so many comics--even those billed as "all ages"--feature these days. Two snaps up with a twist.

Ted Chiag's $900 Book: Stories of Your Life and Others

And (1) I saw it listed for even higher prices on AbeBooks; (2) I just checked it out from the public library. (Or, as Mick Ronson's sister said in the middle of David Bowie's "All the Madmen": "He followed me home. Can I keep him?")

BTW . . . Stories of Your Life and Others is due back at the library (because someone else wants it, so that's good), so I put aside Cixin Liu's The Dark Forest and went back to re-read "Story of Your Life." And it was an illuminating re-read. For one thing, it allowed me to clearly see the differences between the movie version and the short story, and to really appreciate what a great job Eric Heisserer did on the screenplay . . . and that Denis Villeneuve did in directing the movie. They really didn't substantially alter anything in the short story . . . not even the ending. (After I'd first finished the short story and before I'd seen the movie I thought, "There is no way in hell they will allow the movie to end that way. Audiences would riot.") And what they added to the movie . . . from the squid-ink-squirty way the heptapods wrote to the design of the heptapod ships and many other things . . . was really great. That doesn't happen very often in my book / movie experience. 

I think I may need to own this Stories of Your Life and Others book, though. I'm seeing lots of different covers (clearly the American hardback is out of the question), all of which are pretty cool. My favorite one is a hardback copy, but it is in Chinese, alas. 

Arrival: Reasons to be cheerful.

1.  The spaceships. As soon as I caught my first glimpse of one of them in the trailer, I knew I wanted to see this movie. For one thing, they were so massive . . . and you immediately knew that in order to really feel that massiveness, you'd need to see it on the big screen. For another thing, they were so alien. Apropos, no?

2.  The sound. Sounds, actually. The sounds that the aliens made--like whales singing with Auto-Tune. Like the alien ships, the alien language was massive. And again, in the way that you need the big screen / big speakers to fully get. Another sound: actually the lack of it. There were quite a few quiet moments in the movie, wherein there was either no sound at all or just some very faint background noises. It really made those moments intimate and profoundly moving. The music was most excellent, too. And there was one scene wherein a character's voice was muffled just enough to make it sound a little flat, which was perfect for that moment. The audio guys and gals on this movie deserve an award, for sure. 

3.  The story wasn't stupid. Once I got the fev-ah to see this movie I found out that it was based on "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, so I immediately sought out and read (and loved) that story (and Ted, too . . . I've now read all of his published stories--which is only 15 at this point, so not as impressive as it sounds). As soon as I finished reading it I thought, "There is no way that they're going to end the movie that way. The audiences would riot." But you know what? They pretty much ended the movie that way. Gussied it up a little bit, but they mos def did not Hollywood end it. And that lack of stupidity was apparent throughout the movie. 

4.  It wasn't obvious either. I saw it a second time just an hour after my first viewing, and it was even better . . . because the first time you watch it, there's no way to understand what you are seeing at several points. Can't say more than that without spoilering it, but suffice it to say that you literally do not understand what you are seeing in the scenes where mother and child are interacting. Very cool. And very rewarding to watch a second time. Kind of like The Prestige, another of my favorite movies which is neither obvious nor stupid, and which rewards you for subsequent viewings.

5.  Amy Adams was superb. This is the first time I've seen her in a role that didn't reduce her to her sexuality, and even though I do think she is an amazingly sexy beast, it was good to see her appreciated for her acting skill this time around. A nuanced performance.

6.  Speaking of nuanced performances, Jeremy Renner . . . who is, for once, not the tough guy . . . was also splendid, and often communicated his thoughts and feelings in very subtle ways. I've always liked him, but this was, as with Amy Adams, a chance to appreciate his acting ability.

Blake Crouch's Dark Matters

I'm not quite finished reading 劉慈欣 / Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem, but I took a little side trip into Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and found some good stuff that I felt the need to record here. To wit:

"Footfalls echo in the memory 
Down the passage which we did not take 
Towards the door we never opened. 
—T. S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton”
Which is the novel's epigraph.

"No one tells you it’s all about to change, to be taken away. There’s no proximity alert, no indication that you’re standing on the precipice. And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you’re least expecting it. No time to flinch or brace."
Which is how I feel about the end of both of my marriages.

"We’re all just wandering through the tundra of our existence, assigning value to worthlessness, when all that we love and hate, all we believe in and fight for and kill for and die for is as meaningless as images projected onto Plexiglas."
Which pretty much sums up my current state of mind. Kind of like cynical Buddhism.

A book worth reading, I think--though I'm not quite finished it. But it's been quite a thrilling read.

Ouchie courtesy of Cixin Liu's THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM

"The human race is hideous. I’ve spent the first half of my life unveiling this ugliness with the scalpel of literature, but now I’m even sick of the work of dissection."

人类是可怕的。我花了我的生命的前半部分用文学手术刀揭开这丑陋，但现在我甚至生病的解剖工作。

: 三体

劉慈欣

Leonard Cohen's "Bird on a Wire" Performed by Holy Ghost Tent Revival

Check it out on You Tube. It's a really nice performance by one of my favorite bands, yet it only has 1,532 views. So help the brothers out.

I first saw Holy Ghost Tent Revival when #1 son Jimmy and I went to the 2011 Master Musicians Festival in Somerset, Kentucky . . . primarily to see Steve Earle and The Dukes perform. We were both wowed by the HGTR, though. They had so much energy . . . and there were so damned many of them. I bought two of their albums after the set and had them autographed (which took awhile). And I've been following them ever since. 

So far as I can discern, this is their complete discography:

Family (2009)
So Long I Screamed (2009)
The Blood Beneath (2010)
"Young Black Hair" from Mended Hearts Band Together Compilation for Charity (2011)
Sweat Like the Old Days (2012)
Alive at the Southern (2013)
Right State of Mind (2014)
Summer Jelly (2016)


I think I have Family and another album on CD, maybe Northbound by Southpaw (2010)

I love this band so much. And they do a lovely job on this song, don't they?



Check for: "My Heart is Yours, Honey" on Benefit Series, Volume 3, which seems to be a studio version of a song only released live on the band's albums. Also "Do Me Right" doesn't seem to be available anywhere else.

Bandcamp Takes Me to Funkytown: Santiago, Mandrill, & Booty-O's

I was just having a visit with one of my best friends, Bandcamp, and there was a featured bit entitled "After 40 Years, Neftali Santiago Releases His Solo Funk Masterwork," so of course I had to read that (as you can do, too, for free, of course, because Bandcamp is cool like that), and that was really interesting, so I hit the play button for the first track on the just released 22 Somerset Dr. (1976​-​1978)--which is kind of a greatest hits + some stuff that had never before seen the light of day--and heard a little thing called "Feeling Good" which is most excellent funkiness.

So then I took a listen to the second track, "Land Of The Leaping No No," and it also was a very pleasing scent in my nostrils, so I just kept hitting the buttons for the next track until I came to the end of the album. It goes like this:

3.  Bionic Funk (4:09)
4.  Alone Together (3:10)
5.  Freakin (1978 Demo) (3:48)
6.  To And From Gamma 4 (1:49)
7.  Set It Free (5:52)
8.  Let Our Your Beast (3:51)
9.  Everybody Hears But Nobody Listens (4:04)
10.  Feelin Good (Instrumental 1976) (2:54)
11.  Land Of The Leaping No No (Alternate Version 1978) (1:40)

And I've got to say . . . I don't know much about funk, but this is a very funky album. I am already imagining Jacqueline putting several of these songs into heavy rotation on her playlist. (She is quite a funky girl . . . with Rick James' "Superfreak," The Commodores' "Brick House," and Parliament's "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)" being regulars in her playlists.) 

BTW, if you speak funk, then you should know that Neftali Santiago did drums, percussion, vocals, and songwriting for the band Mandrill . . . which is, according to a couple of websites I've stumbled upon, "One of the most sampled groups today . . . . "
Also, the songs on 22 Somerset Dr.  include work by Cordell “Boogie” Mosson and Garry Shider from Parliament-Funkadelic, so there's that. 

One of the most striking things about this music is how it embodies The Power of Positivity. (Yes, that was an allusion to New Day from WWE. I know my booty from my Booty-O's.) For instance, in the song "Alone Together" the refrain is "Oh yes we can / Oh we can do it." And in "Everybody Hears But Nobody Listens" we hear, "Listen to your mother / Have respect for your brother." You don't get a whole lot of that kind of thing these days, y'know?

So if you give a funk, go to Bandcamp and lay down ten bucks and get it on. The album is also available on Amazon for 51 cents cheaper, but splurge a little and go Bandcamp--I am pretty sure that they give the artists a better deal on the royalties. Just sayin', sir. 

                    

Again, Laddio Bolocko

Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged Laddio Bolocko across my head. The first song on the Live & Unreleased set is entitled "43 Minutes Of (Excerpt)", and it's 23:40 long. Got to say that I find that pretty funny. It sounds quite a bit like The Velvet Underground initially, with a touch of Metal Machine Music thrown in. But it's almost immediately more interesting, more challenging, and, at times, more melodic. I really like these guys. I did go ahead and purchase the three record + dvd set from Bandcamp, and not only is it now winging my way, and not only did they send me a download so I could start listening right away . . . they also gave me an embed code. I don't know if that means you can listen to the whole thing for free, but let's try it out and see.

  And if you like it, show Bandcamp some love and buy one for yourself. 

 Now I think I need to find out where I can get a vinyl of that other Laddio Bolocko album . . . . Streaming is okay for an introduction, but when you love the music you really need to be able to hold it in your hands.

Again, Must-See-TV: Lucifer, Caligula, Stalin . . . Trump

"So we can talk about Caligula, Stalin, Trump. I mean, I know he's not dead, but he's definitely going."

Tom Ellis as

Lucifer Morningstar
"Trip to Stabby Town" 
Season 2 | Episode 8

We're not quite halfway through the second season, and Lucifer has become a show that I actually look forward to seeing. The writing is smart and funny, Tom Ellis is perfect as Lucifer (and I really like it when he sings), and there are three beautiful women in the cast:

Tricia Helfer as Charlotte

Lauren German as Chloe Decker

Aimee Garcia as Ella Lopez

All this, and the occasional pot shot at Trump?  Who could ask for anything more?

Les Misérables

"The soul does not surrender to despair until it has exhausted all illusions." 

Victor Hugo 

Les Misérables

Laddio Bolocko

It's the kind of music that makes you feel like masturbating into a hot frying pan, if you know what I mean.

Ahem. Not that I would ever--

Never mind. It was a metaphor, for goodness's sake.

I was taking a walk through Half-Price Books and I spotted a thing of beauty: an albumwith a picture of a guy blowing two saxophones simultaneously (though you couldn't see any higher than the guy's mouth.)

Except it wasn't an album, it was a box with an open side. Inside of the box were three vinyl records, and they looked pristine. And it only cost $15. Which is a good deal, as it goes for at least $30 new online. (Hence Half-Price.) But I had never heard of the band, and I already have so much music that I don't listen to very much. So I didn't buy it. But when I got home I looked them up. And I listened to one of their albums, entitled The Life and Times of Laddio Bolocko, courtesy of Amazon Prime. It was vera strah-nudge. I am pretty sure that most people couldn't listen to it for more than a minute or two before they started screaming. Or mastur-- Oh. Sorry.  

I did some checking around, and other than the Live & Unreleased 1997 - 2000 set that I saw in Half-Price, the group's complete works seem to consist of three eps. And so far as I can tell, these three eps are all collected on The Life and Times of Laddio Bolocko (the titles all match and the running times are pretty close; though oddly enough, the eps seem to be out of chronological order, since the songs for 1999's As If By Remote precede 1998's In Real Time on The Life and Times). 

So of course I started thinking about that Live & Unreleased 1997 - 2000 set again. But then I looked it up online and found that . . . there was supposed to be a dvd with the album. Oh, man. What a dilemma. I really wanted that set of vinyls . . . and it was a good price . . . but it was INCOMPLETE. I can't even begin to tell you what effect that has on my obsessive-compulsive nervous system.

I went back to Half-Price. I had a 50% off coupon. In addition to the Laddio Bolocko set, I was also lusting for a boxed three volume set of Edmund Wilson's books of literary criticism. I said to myself, "There is no way that both of those items will still be in the store. So go in, and if both of them aren't gone, buy the one that remains. If both are gone, then just walk away."

Both items were there.

I thought and thought. INCOMPLETE. Will I listen to it? I am currently loving Memoirs of Hecate County. 

I bought the Edmund Wilsons.

But now I really want to go back and get the Laddio Bolocko. Hmmmm. But wait! Here's another fly in the ointment. Bandcamp has the set on two cds and the dvd for a mere $12. Oh . . . . And what's this? Be still, my beating heart. Bandcamp has the three vinyls plus dvd set for $25. I could have my cake and Edith, too.

I think it's going to happen. And they have more if you want it, too.

And if you want a listen first, the whole of Live & Unreleased 1997 - 2000 1 is available for a listen on Spotify . . . and on Bandcamp, too, for that matter. 


1  Minus the dvd, of course.

Just sayin'.

• I wish that Hillary had won, too. 
• I voted for her, even though I really wanted Bernie.
• But all of this "She got more votes!" shit . . .

• In 1824 Andrew Jackson won the popular vote but got less than 50 percent of the electoral votes. John Quincy Adams became the next president when he was picked by the House of Representatives.
• In 1876 Samuel Tilden won the popular vote but lost the election when Rutherford B. Hayes got 185 electoral votes to Tilden’s 184.
• In 1888 Grover Cleveland won the popular vote but lost the election when Benjamin Harrison got 233 electoral votes to Cleveland’s 168.
• In 2000 Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the election to George Bush. In the most highly contested election in modern history, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount of ballots, giving Bush the state’s 25 electoral votes for a total of 271 to Gore’s 255.

So let's let that one go and find some other ax to grind, hey?

Trump on 60 Minutes

I am a card carrying Commie pinko save the gay whale coalition liberal. My bleeding heart makes me easy to track. And most of my friends are "liberals."

Here's the thing, though: I have found that most "liberals" are totally close-minded. Which isn't really liberal, is it?

I just watched Donald Trump's interview on 60 Minutes. And I was not only impressed . . . I was actually hopeful.

So here's an idea: instead of pre-emptive strikes, why don't we wait and see what he does?

He is the president, after all.

And by the way, if you didn't vote? Just shut the fuck up.

ADDENDUM: Nope, I was wrong. He did do a good job in that interview, I can't deny that, but his actions since then prove that he is as bad as we feared he was. Here's hoping that we can keep him from hurting a lot of good people.

Speaking of MEMOIRS OF HECATE COUNTY . . .

"Isn't it a howl?" said Wilbur. "Isn't it the whole of life?--society, love, politics--everything! You pretend you can do the impossible: no elastics, no threads, no gimmicks as they call them, no confederate, no rigged-up table--the spectators can stand all around you! And nobody at all can do it! It used to cost two hundred dollars to learn to perform a miracle, but now it's only a dollar fifty. You can panic your friends, you can get your girl, you can make yourself a big reputation. All you've got to do is to have a rubber canary."

"Glimpses of Wilbur Flick"

Memoirs of Hecate County

Edmund Wilson

Edmund Wilson

So first off, thank you, Universe.

See, I've known about Edmund Wilson for a long time--because Frederick Exley extolled his virtues (specifically with respect to Memoirs of Hecate County) in A Fan's Notes, which I first read about forty years ago. And I even bought Wilson's Axel's Castle and To the Finland Station somewhere along the way . . . though I never read either of them. But for some reason I put a request in to the library for Memoirs of Hecate County last week, picked it up yesterday, and am now 119 pages in. 

Today I stopped by Half-Price Books for the semi-annual 50% off one item sale, and look what was waiting for me on the Old Books shelf:

And the price was . . . 15 bucks. For three hardback books. A total of 2,042 pages. Plus they came packed inside a box. And if you know me, you know that's not a small deal. 15 bucks. But wait, remember that it was 50% off day. So the price was $7.50. 

I know I said I was trying to divest myself of books, not acquire more. But who can say no when the universe makes such a generous offer?

This Week's Comics 2016

8/3/2016

Faster Than Light #9: Wasn't this comic book $2.99 before?  Just checked, and yep.  Issue #8 was indeed $2.99. I still like it . . . but I don't know if I like it a dollar more. Maybe time to shift to Comixology on the day-old bread plan.

The Sheriff of Babylon #9 (of 12) I know this is a good comic book . . . but I no longer look forward to reading it. Maybe I need to go back and get a running start before the next issue comes out. Or maybe I should just drop it and save four bucks.

The Walking Dead #157:  Good things = 16 grid pages, Rick switching to glide, variant cover by Arthur Adams, $2.99, 22 story pages, Negan, Negan asking after Lucille. Bad things = fucking ink on letters page smears--per usual.

I also meant to buy Kill or Be Killed #1, but The Great Escape was fresh out of copies.  I might wait and see if they get more copies in next week.  Or I might just go digital.  Hmmm.

8/10/2016

Action Comics #961

New Super-man #2  I thought the Chinese Batman was kind of interesting, but not enough to make me want to buy the third issue of this series.  Solly.

Providence #10 Oh my. And to think that I used to bitch about the price of this masterpiece.

And no new copies of Kill or Be Killed #1. Hmmmmmmmmm.

8/17/2016

No comics this week. Including no copies of Kill or Be Killed #1.  Issue #2 comes out September 7. I'll bet #1 goes down to $1.99 when it does. And if that happens . . . I am on the day-old bread plan for this one, too.

8/24/2016

Action Comics #962 I really like the numbering. And the story is mildly interesting, too. Plus issue #700 is just around the fucking corner, man.

The Hellblazer #1 Meh. Maybe one or two more.

Usagi Yojimbo #157 Really hate to say it, but I think I'm tired of Usagi. It just seems like the same old shit month after month. It's especially disappointing after the really cool mini-series Senso, which was so fresh and new and exciting. I think UY is coming off the holds list.

8/31/2016

Afterlife With Archie #10 In the mail . . . my only subscription. And it arrived in truly deplorable condition. I wrote to Archie Comics about it, but I'm betting $20 that they don't even bother to respond. Fuckers. As for the comic book . . . it was okay. I think I'm officially tired of the zombie apocalypse storyline now, though.

Future Quest #4 Actually meant to cancel this one. But how can I? It's got the Herculoids in it, for fuck's sake.

Image + #5 You have to pay for it now, but (1) only $1.99, (2) I'm okay with that, and (3) for some reason Sonia gave me a free copy this week. All this and a Negan story as well. Woo-hoo.

Kill or Be Killed #1 Better late than never, right? And my reward for delaying my gratification was that the price did, as I anticipated, go to $1.99 on Comixology. And after reading it . . . I am seriously not sure if this is my cup of tea or not. A demon? And a deal with said demon? Not the kind of set-up I usually go for, but I try not to let my prejudices determine whether something is good or bad before I bite it.

Previews #336 I tried to stop buying Previews for awhile but Joe wanted it. And oddly enough Jacqueline likes to go through it, too. So it's on the list for forever now.

I had Jim Thompson's Killer Inside Me #1 in my hands . . . last copy on the stands . . . and I took a little glance . . . but $3.99 is too much, man(s).  So I put it back. Besides, next month it will be $1.99 on Comixology, and over the course of the series (5 issues) that's the difference between $20 and $10, which is pretty freakin' major. And there's the chance that an e-colleced edition will even be a little cheaper than that, which would be quite nice. But I do want to read this thing. If only IDW would get some good artists, though.


9/7/2016

The Sheriff of Babylon #10 I thought maybe I was through with this title, but I felt hesitant, so I pulled my back issues and started reading from issue #1, and it's kind of catching my interest again. 

The Walking Dead #158

Faster Than Light #10 and Kill or Be Killed #2 came out this week, but I'm waiting for the price drop on these two. I'm also kind of interested in Eclipse #1, also from Image, also $3.99, but will probably wait for that as well.

9/14/2016

Action Comics #963 Y'know . . . this is actually a pretty interesting story. Kinda hope it keeps on being bi-weekly.

Batman Rebirth #1 Batman Day Special Edition--which was free. And not very good. Tom King should stick to "real stories," I think.

Doom Patrol #1 Well, it was weird, I'll give you that. Weird in a nonsensical way for the most part, but I haven't lost interest yet. Grant Morrison it ain't, though.

New Super-Man #3  Yeah, changed my mind on this. It had a cool cover.

I'm also interested in Hadrian's Wall #1, but will wait for Comixology.

9/21/16

No comics this week.

9/28/16

Action Comics #964  Continues to entertain me.

Hellblazer #2 I'm already getting tired of this version of John Constantine. This might be it for us.

Image + #6

Previews #337

I looked at Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes #1, but I put it back on the shelf. $3.99 . . . and it just didn't look all that great. Maybe another one for the Comixology list.

10/5/16

Autumnlands #13

Future Quest #5

Green Valley #1 Kind of interesting. Maybe worth another look, but not sure.

Hard Case Crime Walter Hill's Trigger Man #1 Interesting,

The Walking Dead #159


And on the e-front, all of these lovelies have gone down to $1.99, so it is time to buy, I think.

Eclipse #1 Interesting science fiction murder mystery thing going on.

Faster Than Light #10 Don't know, Might be time to pull the plug,

Kill or Be Killed #2 I think I liked this issue better than the first. Maybe because the premise had already been established, so I wasn't distracted by my discomfiture for that. Most of the art was just brilliant, but there were two or three bits wherein it looked really sloppy. First time I've ever thought that about Sean Phillips's art.

Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me #1 Meh.

There's also an Iron Fist sale, and I may have to grab hold of Iron Fist Epic Collection: The Fury Of Iron Fist which collects Marvel Premiere (1972) #15-25, Iron Fist (1975) #1-15, Marvel Team-Up (1972) #63-64 . . . 527 pages for $3.99. Whuuuuuut? Yeah, had to go for it.

10/12/16

Action Comics #965

Doom Patrol #2 Not at all sure about this. It can't hold a candle to Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol . . . though that seems to be what they're aiming for.

The Sheriff of Babylon #11

Warhammer 40,000: Will of Iron #1

I was also interested in The Chimera Brigade #1 and Peepland #1, but I think I'll get them through Comixolgy. Probably do the same for the next issue of Warhammer 40,000 .. . assuming I even want the second issue. The third issue of New Super-Man was out this week, but I passed on it.

10/19/16

Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye #1 I got the one with a Bill Sienkiewicz variant cover, which made this twice as exciting.

Saw something called The Black Monday Murders which looked interesting, but they didn't have issue #1 and it was $4.99 (though probably worth it as it's over 50 pages), so I thought check it out on Comixology. Just did, and all three available issues are still at $4.99. Hmph.

There was also a new Usagi Yojimbo issue (#158), and for the first time in 20 years (literally), I didn't buy it. It's just been too much of the same thing for way too long . . . though I do love the character. In a way, the recent Senso mini-series made it harder to put up with, as that was so much more innovative and interesting than the regular series.

And there was a new Love and Rockets #1 which I was anxious to see, but it was another case of same old shit, brand new day, so I didn't go for that, either. Pickings are getting slimmer.

10/26/16

Action Comics #966

Future Quest #6  Am I really still buying this thing? Oh, yeah. Herculoids. And then I realized that there wasn't enough Herculoids content to keep me going on this one. So I didn't.

Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse #1  Meh. But I'd buy any Firefly comic, y'know?


Also got Trees #13 and #14 from Comixology (at $1.99 apiece, which is great, but then a couple of days later they had a Warren Ellis sale and they went down to .99 apiece . . . ).


11/2/16

Sheriff Of Babylon #12 Last issue. Still not sure how much I liked this one, but at least it was different. Just for future reference, though: I'm not up for a sequel.

The Walking Dead #160 Continues to hold my attention. This Negan is so much more interesting than the television version. Of course, I bailed out on that early on in Negan time, so who knows, maybe they'll end up doing something like this. Ha ha. Fat fucking chance.


11/9/16

Action Comics #967

Cerebus in Hell? #0  This was just wretched. Pointless, not funny, and not even actually drawn--just pages from Dante's Inferno with a few (4 or 5 at most, I think) poses of Cerebus. I'm sorry that Dave Sim has lost his ability to draw but for fuck's sake . . . write a novel. Those last issues of Cerebus were more short story than comic book anyway. This is just sad. I'm definitely not going to be buying the upcoming mini-series.

Doom Patrol #3 I'm about through with this book, too. It just tries so hard to create the weirdness that seemed to come naturally to Grant Morrison. And like a girl with purple hair, it just annoys me. True weirdness doesn't have to try, it just is.

Mother Panic #1 Another of DC's Young Animal books. I tried three of their four offerings--neglecting only Shade, the Changing Girl (looked at it and it just didn't appeal to me at all). And this one is just the same old shit in new drag to me. One and done.

Violent Love #1 The art reminded me of Darwin Cooke, which is why I picked this one up. Although I have read and enjoyed previous Frank Barbiere stories before (especially Five Ghosts). But this one . . . way over the top of my threshold for violence. Two scenes of guys having nails driven into their arms. And a scene of a man being drenched in gasoline and set afire with his 19 - 20 year old daughter watching. Not for me.

Warhammer 40,000: Will of Iron #2 Said I was done with this one, but . . . sometimes you just need to read a story about giant warriors in robot armor. This was one of those times.

I meant to buy Green Valley #2, but it was sold out. I might take a look for it on Comixology . . . but not until it drops down to $1.99. The first issue wasn't that good.

And from Comixology (at $1.99 each) I picked up Eclipse #2 and
Kill or Be Killed #3. I liked Eclipse quite a bit. It's kind of a science fiction cop story. I'm less enthusiastic about Kill or Be Killed, I'm sorry to say. The fantastic element of the story just doesn't work for me, and although I am a huge fan of Sean Phillips's art, it continues to be sub-standard here and there in this comic book. This time around, for instance, there were a couple of drawings wherein a character's head was drawn way too big in proportion to his body. I think I'm about through with this one. If I am, it will be the first time I've dropped a Brubaker / Philips comic book since I first started reading them.



11/16/16

Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye #2 Sorry to say that I have not been impressed by DC's Young Animal line, but I am looking forward to this title. Just the title, though. The comic book is shit. Ha ha. Maybe not ha ha. We'll see.

Kinda tempted to buy Thanos #1 as (a) I have a soft spot in my heart for the big guy, and I've been with him since the beginning in Iron Man #55 (February 1973), (b) it's written by Jeff Lemire, who I have at times loved dearly. But (A) I have not liked the mainstream Lemire things that I've read . . . and I've read a lot of them, and (B) it's a Marvel book, therefore $3.99 . . . and Marvel rarely decreases their prices on Comixology as the other companies do. So we'll see.

Speaking of which, Hadrian's Wall #2 just went down to $1.99 on Comixology, so ahmo go get me some of that. Unfortunately, looks like that's it for this week.


11/23/16

Action Comics #968 I'm still enjoying Action. And it's still being published every two weeks, which is pretty cool. Not as cool as the Action Comics Weekly anthology run, but I guess I'm in the minority in my love for that incarnation. So this version will do. I'm in it at least until issue 1000 . . . which is less than a year and a half away if they keep up this pace.

Also interested in A.D.: After Death Vol. 1 with art by Jeff Lemire, but at $5.99 it's too rich for my blood. I suspect that this is a comic book which won't go down in price, either, so I will probably wait for the collected edition. And I continue to want a look at The Black Monday Murders (#4 is out this week), but all of the issues have stayed at $4.99, and even though it looks like it'd be worth it, ahmo wait on it. A collected edition is due out in late January for $15.99 on Comixology,  $12.04 on Amazon, which puts the price into my range. Assuming that I can wait that long. UPDATE: I lucked out on both counts here. The Great Escape was having a 25% off sale, so I picked up A.D. for a mere $4.19, which was too good to pass up, and I found the first two issues of Black Monday Murders on the Image website for .99 apiece. Hot damn. BSM was really interesting, and the art was fanfuckingtastic. It's going to be hard to resist buying issues 3 and 4 now. Maybe Image will knock the prices on those down, too? Anyway, A.D. was a very nice package--heavy stock cover, high quality interior paper, nice printing--and the story was pretty interesting. It's also so nice that Image puts its ads in the back of the book instead of interrupting the story with them . . . and the ads were for other Image books. And Black Monday Murders also looks great--the art reminds me a bit of Sean Philips and / or Michael Lark, which is about as good as it gets for me.

Speaking of Comixology, they had another big Marvel sale, so I picked up Daredevil: Back in Black Volume 2: Supersonic (and how is that for a convoluted title?) for a mere $4.99. Unfortunately, it wasn't worth it. That'll teach me to trust Marvel to put out a good comic book, I suppose.

More speaking of Comixology: there was an even bigger Dark Horse Comics sale . . . over 2,500 comic book for 99 cents a shot. So I picked up some stuff I wanted . . . like Tarzan and The Planet of the Apes #1 and #2, Dark Matter #1 - #4 . . . and some stuff I've been wanting to check out, like Lady Killer #1 and Elfquest: The Final Quest #1. And the verdict(s)? Lady Killer was about what I expected it would be, and I don't think I need any more of it . . . unless the library gets it in, in which case I would finished the first story arc, I think. It was pretty much a carbon copy of Garth Ennis' Jennifer Blood. Elf quest was actually pretty interesting, and I might go back and buy a few more issues while they're still at 99 cents apiece. I've been in and out of Elfquest over the years, but I've never felt the need to stick with it. (Although I did just put in a request for The Complete ElfQuest Volume One from the library . . . which I've probably already read quite a bit of, as I remember buying at least two of the little bitty book collections a decade or so ago. Hmm, I wonder what I ever did with those things? Time for an archaeological dig, perhaps.) I enjoyed the Tarzan books and would like to finish the series, but the 99 cent sale will be over before the third issue is available, and I'm not about to pay full price for it. Probably not even $1.99 apiece, but we'll see. And as for the Dark Matter series . . . it was pretty good. I didn't like it as much as the television series, but, then again, I didn't like the television series all that much after the small arc that was this four issue comic book story. Funny that no more comics have come out, but maybe the creators are all up in the tv show's business now. So all in all . . . a nice little binge of comic books, and even some very good stuff in there. Thanks, Comixology.



11/30/16

Direct Currents #1  I'm pretty excited about this--which is just a freebie preview thing--because I grew up with that yellow Direct Currents box in all of the DC comic books.

Image+  #8 Glance, glance, glance, Megan story. Hmm. Y'know, for all intents and purposes, I'm paying $2 for a 4 page comic book. That might have to stop soon.

Previews #339

Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse #2 Sorry to say it, but the story is just okay, and the art is not what I'd call good. I will continue to buy this because I have to--it's Firefly, for fuck's sake!--but I don't think I'm going to feel very good about it.

At The Great Escape in the back issues they had all four issues of the Roy Thomas / Gil Kane The Ring of the Nibelung for cheap ($6), so of course I picked that up. That's like 200 pages of Gil Kane art, man!

I was just checking on Comixology to see if any of my day old bread titles were up, and I found out that #10 was the last issue of Faster Than Light. Hmpf. Did I miss that earlier, or was that a recent decision? Oh, but Eclipse #3 was down to $1.99, so at least there's that. And it's still a good read.



12/7/16

Providence #11 32 pages of What The Fuck? this time around . . . but not in a bad way. In a way that will probably cause me to go back to #1 for a re-read in the very near future, though. I am really sorry that there will only be one more issue of this book.

Super Powers #1 One look at the cover and I knew that I had to buy this one. There's just something about the This Is a Kid's Comic look that really appeals to me. And you know, the story was actually at least as intelligent as any other issue of a super-hero comic book. I don't think I need any more of this, but it was a fun read.

The Walking Dead #161 This book continues to deliver the goods. I have pretty much given up on the show, but the comic book still keeps me in suspense. And what Kirkman is doing with Negan here is pretty amazing stuff. Hard to imagine them taking this route in the television show, but who knows, they've surprised me before.


12/14/16

Action Comics #969 Still pretty interesting for a flagship mainstream title.

Neither Doom Patrol nor Warhammer 40,000: Will of Iron are coming out today, though I'm pretty sure they're due. Hmm. I'm guessing that  Comixology will have $1.99 day old bread sales for Eclipse #3 and Kill or Be Killed #4 . . . assuming I'm still buying the latter . . . though if Action Comics is the only book I buy that's coming out, I probably will go for them both.

Later . . . yes to Kill or Be Killed #4, as well as Warlords of Appalachia #1, Hadiran's Wall #3, and Motor Girl #1. No Eclipse yet, though.

Kill or Be Killed finished its first story arc, and the last page made me feel better about the premise. The art still shows the occasional dysfunction, which is boddering me, but I'm game for some more at the day old bread price.

Hadrian's Wall continues to please me with an interesting mystery / detective in space story, and there where times when the art smacked of Bill Sien
Kinetics, which is high praise indeed. Just found out this is only an 8 issue series, though, so I'm not happy about that. I mean hell, were almost halfway done already. Why bother? But I probably will.

I picked up Warlords of Appalachia mostly because of its Kentucky setting, but I won't be going back for more. It's just another tired ass dreary future thing with clinchedcharacters doing improbable things.

Motor Girl, on the other hand, was quite fun. I haven't spent much time with Mr. Moore, but maybe I should have. I definitely want to see another issue (or more) of this.

So wow . . . I just took a look at my buy list, and if I drop all the titles I'm thinking about dropping, that would put me down to only five titles, one of which is Previews. And for the first time in my life it's not because of money constraints, but because of aesthetic concerns. Where have all the good times gone?



12/21/16

Aquaman #12 I've been thinking that I needed to check in on this sooner or later since Dan Abnett is now writing it and he's quite a good writer, and I thought I was going to wait for the first trade paperback, but when I saw the cover with the sunken Statue of Liberty (hard not to think of Kamandi there), I had to go for it. And it was a pretty good story. Not good enough to make it to my must buy list, but maybe good enough to make it to my must read list. Louisville Free Public Library, are you listening? 

Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye #3 And speaking of covers, the variant cover on this one was quite a pleasing scent in my nostrils: an "Artist's Edition" "original art" look.  As for the comic book itself? Well . . . there's a nice allusion to the Bat man tv show #the Adam West one), but other than that, not much. I don't think it's worth $3.99 anymore. So so long, farewell.


Warhammer 40,000: Will of Iron #3 Sometimes you need to look at giant space knights two or three . . . maybe even FOUR months in a row. Y'know.

I also see that Comixology has a Warhammer 40,000: Will of Iron #0 up for free. It's a shorty--just ten story pages, but (1) nice cover, (2) some background features on the art, (3) script page, and (4) did I mention that it was free? Yep.

Comixology had a big Marvel sale going on, so I put down my $6.99 for Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection. It's a great deal--which you can read about HERE and HERE if you're so inclined.

And there's also a sale on Image Comics--50% off--so I picked up Black Monday Murders #3 and #4 for a mere  $4.77 (including tax), so I've made out pretty well on this pricey series--four issues which would retail for a total of $19.96 (plus tax)--or $17.98 (including tax) at The Great Escape--which I got for $6.95, for an average issue cost of $1.74. Wotta deal! Thanks, Image.




12/28/16

Action Comics #970 I took a look at the Top 100 selling comic books for last month, and I only bought four of them. Two of the four were issues of Action Comics. And y'know, it's a pretty good book. Dan Jurgens knows how to write interesting Superman stories. And the is always at least pretty good, and sometimes excellent. I started buying the book again when they reinstated the original numbering, and I fully intended to continue buying it until they reached #1,000, but I hadn't expected to enjoy it so much. Good job, DC. (BTW, in case you're wondering, the other two top 100s I bought were The Walking Dead and Mother Panic--the latter of which I shanty be buying again for sure.)

A.D.: After Death #2 At $5.99, a heck of a lot more than I'm usually willing to lay out for a comic book, but I was mighty pleased with the first issue, so I decided to go for it.

Aquaman #13 Enjoyed #12 so much that I thought I'd have another. And you know, it was a good ride. Dan Abnett's writing has impressed me before, and I am now begins Nguyen to think that I might need issues 1 - 10 of Aquaman. For medicinal use only, you understand. In this issue Aquaman squares off against the Justice League . . . And they don't throw down. That discuss the situation rationally. Wow. That's something you don't see very often in Comic Book Land.

Image + #9 The end is night. Ahmo buy until they finish the Negan story, but I think that will be it. Although this one did have a very nice Jeff Lemire cover.

Previews #340 Now with a new matte cover which I hate. It's Previews, for God's sake. Even I don't keep them when the month is over, and I keep my shit and piss in baggies. I'd like it better if they switched to an even lower quality stock and knocked a dime off of the price tag. Cause it's Previews, man.

Saga #41 This is the first physical copy of Saga that I've ever purchased. I do have the first three as e-comics. And I've read every issue up to #36 (thank you, Barnes & Noble). But this one I bought because I noticed that the cover was the one that Image has issued a recall on because of a printing error. Can you say "collector's item"? Oh, yeah.

Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse #3 Of course I'm glad that Serenity is stultifying, but is this really the best that Dark Horse can do? Chris Roberson's story is ok--and he does capture the voices of the main characters well--but the art by Georges Jeanty and Karl Story is just plain bad. There are actually panels in which the character's faces haven't even been drawn in. Firefly deserves better. I'll put up with it because I want to do my part to keep Serenity flying, but jeeze . . . .

Super Powers #2 (of 6) Yeah, I was surprised, too. But this Balthazar guy is is pretty freaking cool, and I couldn't resist it. And I always did have a soft spot in my heart for kid comics.

And exciting news: They're Not Like Us will be returning next month with issue #13. It's been 9 months since issue #12 (March 30, 2016), so I am ready for this.