I didn't make it to the comic book store last week (Deadpool 2, lightning), so you'd think there would have been a good haul this time around, but alas there were only three books:
Cave Carson Has An Interstellar Eye #3,
Pellucidar: At the Earth's Core #1,
and
The Prisoner #2.
As for this Cave Carson . . . this so-called Cave Carson . . . I've got to admit that I don't really get this book. I bought the first four issues of the Cybernetic Eye version and I really liked Michael Avon Oeming's art (as I have many times in the past), but the story was just a little too thin for me. One of those trying too hard to be weird things, and I prefer my weird to be of the I can't help it variety. Plus it was a $3.99 book, and you know how I feel about THAT shit. So I stopped at #4. But when I saw that DC had re-tooled it with the Interstellar Eye version, I couldn't help myself, and I bought #1. It wasn't any more comprehensible than the first go round, but hey . . . most comic books are $3.99 a pop now . . . and it does have the coolest title of any comic book ever . . . and I do like that art. So we'll see if I make it past #4 this time around. As always, I am now hankering for all of the "back issues," and Comixology does just happen to have a sale on the two collected volumes going on right now . . . so it might have to be that way. Funny, I can now get all 12 of these issues for $12 plus tax . . . putting the per issue price at about a dollar an issue. Pays to wait, hey?
I didn't really want to buy Pellucidar: At the Earth's Core. I may have bought an American Mythology Productions production before, but I couldn't tell you for sure, as to me they're just another one of those small publishers who do shitty books with shitty art. Lots of stupid horror stuff. But hey, it's always good to see that Edgar Rice Burroughs is alive and well and living in four color splendor. So I picked it up, even though the terrible art on the cover made me cringe. I flipped through the book and the art was even worse on the inside . . . so bad that I really would have thought it was an amateur fanzine thing or, at best, a local artist trying to get his/her start in the career. And I put it back on the shelf, but something made me come back to it and start reading it. I was surprised. The writing was actually pretty good. And that, coupled with the fact that it was a low tide week . . . and that there was an ad for a Carson of Venus ad in the back of the book . . . made me buy it. And it was okay. I don't think it was okay enough for me to want issue #2 off of the stands, but if it goes down to $1.99 on Comixology I might could pick it up. Apparently American Mythology has done several ERB books, and is planning on doing more . . . including a crossover thing entitled Fear on Four Worlds which will include Carson of Venus, Moon Maid, Pellucidar, and The Land That Time Forgot. So that's kind of cool. Might have to look for that.
And then there's The Prisoner. Peter Milligan script. Ah, Peter. I have followed that fellow since 1989 when he put out Skreemer, which is (1) still one of my favorite comic books ever and (2) often seen in the budget bin at Half-Price Books for a dollar or two. I don't know why Peter never became a big name writer. He's still at it, so he must be making a living, but he just never made that big splash that I think his talent deserves. The Prisoner isn't his best work . . . but how could it be? I think he's doing as much as can be done with the thing. Especially as this thing is a re-vamp / modernization of the original thing. The art doesn't help. It's not American Mythology level terrible, but it's not what I would call good. None of that matters, though. This is The Prisoner, man. I am going to buy the rest of this series straight off the stands no matter what happens. It's the Kamandi of the tv series turned comic book crowd for me.
On the Digital Front . . .
Injustice 2 #58 was back to form with a couple of funny bits and a killer last panel, and #59 kept making me happy.
And I'm still reading Dungeons and Dragons books on Comixology, and still finding them to produce a pleasing scent in my nostrils. In fact, I actually started subscribing to Comixology Unlimited just so I could read the DandD books . . . though I'm also looking forward to gorging on some Atomic Robo stuff.
There were two Image titles--Dry County and Gideon Falls--which I was really interested in, but I think I'm going to hold off for the collections there . . . and maybe even hold off a little longer until the collections go on sale on Comixology, as I don't feel any desperation for them. Maybe even wait and see if the library will come up with them. I just can't afford to buy all the comic books I want to read these days.
Also happened to be thinking of Doomsday Clock. You know, I was really looking forward to reading that, but I only lasted two issues before I decided that it just wasn't worth the money. I would like to read it at some point, but I am hoping to get it from the library as I don't really think it will be worth my money to buy it--even though it will be a hell of a lot cheaper to pick up as a collected edition. It's getting to the point where buying monthly issues just isn't the way to go, you know? I mean, shit, $4 is the norm for a monthly these days . . . and you can usually get a collection of six issues or so for fifteen to twenty dollars . . . sometimes even in hardback . . . so where's the benefit of buying the monthly? The publishers really should do something to give the monthly folks a better reason for continuing to buy those titles. I don't think they're going to be able to rely on the lack of patience with delayed gratification for much longer. This is the age of the binge, after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment