Comic Joy's Journal

10:11am: This week's comics
Small week this week.

Global Frequency rocked. Reminded me why I prefer Ellis to Morrison. Morrison has had five issues of the Filth to make a plot, or at least make it interesting, and Ellis did it in one. He did it in the first three pages. GF looks to be absolutely cracking. It's hard not to make comparisions being as they both have limited series out at the same time.

Elektra: Glimpse & Echo. It was okay. I don't think this MS came anywhere near making the standard of the main series.

Crusades: Bye bye Crusades. I liked Crusades, but it was getting dull, and it ended well. Y the Last Man - I dreamed a fanfic for this last night. I just enjoy this, its silly fun.

Smallville: Yes, I got the Smallville comic. Somewhere between a magazine and a comic, with decent interviews and a nice behind the scenes look at the creation of the series. Shame that that's been duplicated in many many magazines. The kryptonite plot of the week was silly though, and told from Chloe's point of view. Yes I am a sad fangirl. Especially since I picked up the Tales of the Slayers standalone last week. Shiny and fun, and hopefully tying into what's going on with Buffy this season.


Jim Lee "Batman". Pretty. Hot ticket. We got thirty and have one left. Fantastic Four - Hilarious. This is a book I read off the shelf, although the temptation is starting to get to me.

Bad news for Transformers fans in the UK (and good news for those of us who hate it). Hasbro has jerked UK distribution of the Transformers and GI Joe comics, as there isn't a UK Licence. Ha ha.

StaZ Johnson is with us in Asylum today. All hail Staz's hair!

11:58pm: Comic Filing
So I?m filing three months worth of my comics and I?m surprised at what a small pile it is. Bits and bobs, alphabetical cause that?s how I deal with them.

Atmospherics - I read this Warren Ellis story ages ago in single issue form - it was a backup strip in something else. I?m pleased to se that Avatar are continuing in their stealth porn ways and sticking porn ads in the back once more. Athough it is a cracking read, from when before Ellis went up his own arse, it?s merely another ripoff from Avatar is my opinion.

The Authority: Kev. It?s been done Garth. Get over your superhero dislike and give us stories. A tired story with a more inept Punisher to push the plot along. I like Kev, he?s just not enough to hang the entire issue off. Still not a fan of Fabry?s sequential artwork.

Barry Ween. No words can express how much I love Barry. None. MONKEY! Ebola Monkey! Occasionally, I am Jeremy.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - I like the occasional bit of Bat, and I like Legends because its easy to read and broken up into little arcs. Concentrating on other characters in the Batverse also helps. We?ve had Robin and Commisioner Gordon lately. It?s damn readable.

Boneyard: Is just delicious.

Buffy comics: The serial is getting good - it?s at issue 50 and it?s started to go from fangirl blindspot to decent comic. Willow & Tara is always fun, but a little too easily solved in this one. I?m going to steal that plot for my RPG game.

Crusades: I keep forgetting this title when I tell people what I?m reading for some reason. Enjoyable and solid, but nothing startling. I do like where they are taking Venus though.

Elektra & Elektra Glimpse and Echo. Love Elektra. Love Glimpse and Echo - it?s just that bit different.

Fables - Excellent, enjoyable. More recognisable than you?d like. Fantastic place to pick up from this month - new storyline with Mark Buckingham artwork!

Fight for Tommorrow - My following Brian Wood around comics continues. Vertigo, it?s about a fighter and fights and it looks wonderful.

Filth - come on Grant - get a plot already. Enjoying the world. Liked the kitty cat and the monkey. It?s all about shit.

Get Kraven - Late, silly. I don?t know the backstory but it?s a vituperative attack on Hollywood. Asylum boys McCrea and Hodgkins on the art!

Gotham Girls - based on the webcartoon, it?s Bat at the most pared down. Lots of girls, lots of explosions. I like Harley Quinn!

Hellblazer. I think I said all I could say about Hellblazer. It brings home how unable Azarello was to write John properly.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol 2. Mad Batty and Intellectual. The art amkes me squeal like a monkey.

Lucifer. Mike Carey is a god.

Mekanix: Sucker for Kitty Pryde and real world X-Men.

Nightwing - following anoher author around, this time it?s Devin Grayson. More Bat.

100 Bullets - suckerpunch each issue. Just do not know what to expect next.

Powers - still enjoying, although the plot appears to be wandering a lot recently.

Ruse - new writer. Still same art team, a good thing. See where it goes now with Scott Beatty taking over.

Y the Last Man - more monkeys, more mayhem. Funny sad awful cool,

10:33pm: Transmetropolitan
Woe is me. Transmet has ended. Bring on the sackcloth and ashes.

Transmet has always had a special place in my life. It was what really got me into modern comics. Suer I had read Sandman, and was terminally impressed by it, but wasn't enamoured of much else. Then I'm ill and Transmet enters my life. I read the first six issues many times. No matter what else I was reading: I was always reading Transmet. Sure it got dull - especially when Ellis went off on his little rants and wasn't interesting any more. But Transmet has always been brilliant to me.

I loved the way it strode boldly from gross out humour to the very human stories (Mary, Channon) and insisted on having the politicians in your face. The Smiler easily recognisable as Blair. And Bush. And all those empty headed spin reliant politicians.

I love Yelena. Yelena is possibly who I want to be when I grow up. She was Spider and yet she was herself. I love Yelena. I sweet talked Rodney Ramos into selling me a page of Transmet cheap at Bristol. It's Yelena lighting the fag like Spider from issue 49. It's the first point where she becomes overtly associated with him.

I loved the ending. I love the way the trades are coming out and it ensures that Transmet is going to be in print forever. I wrote my undergrad dissertation on Transmet, and it was the best piece of academic writing I'd done all year (not saying much). It was readable. The art was wonderful. I love the city, I love the fact that Spider hates it.

So I'm sad and glad that it has ended. Farewell Transmet. Make many new people tremble in fear at your rhetoric and rejoyce at your fucking over the system.

3:12pm: Next Week's Comics
What is about next week in the sneakpeak that I liked...

Exiles #16 by Judd Winick was a hoot, as was Hawkman. I may consider buying both these in future. Ultimate X-Men reminded me what a soap-opera X-Men used to be, and how much Morrison is doing with it. Ultimate Spidey was fun, yet childish. Green Arrow rocked, even with the new writer. Punisher was dull, but nothing new there. Craptacular B-Sides was funny and very Mystery Men.

There were others but that's the one line reviews for now.

2:36pm: Elektra
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis/Greg Rucka (current series)
Pencilled by: Chuck Austen/
Covers: Greg Horn
Published by: Marvel Knights

Elektra is one of those Marvel characters that seems to have the most involved and improbable origins. Originally, as far as I can work out, Elektra showed up in Daredevil. She was then killed. And reborn, in Daredevil. Then Frank Miller took her away and turned her into Elektra: Assasin. And killed her. And then there was the crap sequel, Elektra Lives Again. Then BIG CHANGES appear to have happened at Marvel, and they hired Brian Michael Bendis. Who went away and restarted Elektra, and promised to kill her in every issue.

So far so good. But the restart of Elektra interests me because I liked Miller's Assasin, and Bendis is one of my favourite writers (Powers, Fortune & Glory, Jinx). However, with Elektra's huge backstory, I was sort of at a loss as to understand much of what was going on. The opening story is fantastic: we got fights, we got paranoia, and we've got Elektra doing her ninja stuff. Howver, I feel that as a novice (and a DC reader) I am missing half of the plot.

The art isn't really helping. Chuck Austen is an innovater, and his art is completely computer generated. The figures occasionally look fake, but Elektra can look right ugly. The colouring doesn't help, leaving too much in the dark. Yes, it is supposed to be mysterious, but if I can't see what's going on, it doesn't help. This was remedied in the recent December 'Nuff Said' issue (story without words), whereas previously Bendis' dialogue is all that carries the story.

The book is gritty, mature, and Elektra does die a lot. I think that sometimes, however, Bendis and Austen are being too clever. It's still a book I pick up and enjoy though. And it just got even better. Greg Rucka, one of my favourite authors, has picked it up and is now running Elekta into the ground. She's being battered. Having her origins brought to bear and it is certainally a much better book. The character has become involving again.

Also - the preview of Ultimate Elektra/Daredevil looks wonderful, and I'm hoping i can grab a copy.

They've done an Elektra/Wolverine Special, called The Redeemer, and is basically an illustrated novella. I wasn't too impressed with it.

10:03pm: Channel Zero
Channel Zero

Writer & Artist: Brian Wood
Published by: AiT/PlanetLar

Channel Zero, as I know it, was published as a graphic by AiT/PlanetLar, the indie imprint of distinction. It was previously a min-series, but no one talks about it. I like Channel Zero. It's vicous and eerily beautiful.

Channel Zero came ot me off a recommendation made by Warren Ellis. Whilst the guy is an enormous wanker, he does occasionally get some things right. Channel Zero is set in an America where the Clean Act is in force: a law that utterly controls all TV (and print, which no one really cares about) and the internet. This is obviously challenged, especially by Jennie 2.5. Jennie 2.5, howver, is a performance artist, and her contravention of the Clean Act whilst a worthy attempt against the state, results in her becoming famous, and subsumbed by the media and TV.

She is sent into exile, but when she returns she finds that she has become part of the system. It's a wonderful take on the whole modern society/globalisationthing, as well as being highly entertaining.

The art is unusual. It's use of blacks and whites, and photocopied overlays and subversive text certainly add a feeling of surrealness. It isn't a traditional comic book in any sense of the word.

They've also released a design book containing all of Brian Wood's work on the book. It's of great interest to artists, I'm suer. But it's pretty. And then there is Couscous Express, which is about houmous and gangsters. Good mix then. More, and a sequel to come from Channel Zero on its way. Expecting great things from Brian Wood. Better than Generation X, anyway.



Outside Links
Brian Wood Official Pages: Guy who knows how to use the internet. Well designed and sharp.
AiT/PlanetLar: interesting. Lots of information. Stuff about self-publishing.

11:45pm: 9/11
The affect of September 11th on comics cannot be underestimated.

Before the tragedy, I suppose we had the usual prophectic plotlines- there was even an issue of Superman with planes circling the Two Towers. Of course, the good ol' schoolboy manages to stop the plane - no harm done.

After the disaster, the major companies did a fundraising tribute book to go with the outpouring of patriotism. This outpouring of patriotism has been a wave they've been riding on ever since.

Marvel really has two big irons in the fire: The Call of Duty, a series of real-life stories about fire, police and ambulance departments, which is a real departure for that company. They also heavily pushed it at cons and fairs. Also, a big redesign of Captain America. Which was good for the first couple of issues, but is now dull and we want plot not patriotism.

DC went to the other extreme, and basically killed of The Authority. The new head of publishing viewed any criticism of the manner in which America was governed as a Bad Thing and it lead to extreme censorship and obstacles being placed in the way of Authority. From the support that ads for the American Army and also the recent publicity for Superman (Smallville - over the Adventures of Young Bruce Wayne), the conspiracy theorist in me comes to the fore.

The last issue of Transmet, an issue that starts immediately after the arrest of a President for fucking over all the trust that was placed in him (also, incidentally masturbating into the American flag) and murdering hundreds of people, was put back a week so it that it didn't ship on Sept. 11th.

Tell me I'm a conspiracy theorist now.

12:51am: Morrison quotes...
" I think people are smart, and I think comic readers in particular are smart, beacuase they do more than 70 percent of the population does: they actually read stuff! And the stuff they read is imaginative and clever and switched on and connected to what's going on in the worlds of science and technology and philosophy. So in actual fact I think they're smart and it's an embarrassment I find ridiculous that people are ashamed to admit that they like clever things."

Grant "The Man" Morrison, in Abercrombie & Fitch: Back to School Issue 2002

This is one of these things that remind me why I read Grant Morrison no matter how crap and slow his new series is.

8:18pm: Ruse
I love Ruse. It's new and exciting, although it's probably not going to survive the departure of Mark Waid.

Written by: Mark Waid
Pencilled by: Butch Guice
Inked by: Mike Perkins
Coloured by: Laura DePuy
Published by: Crossgen

Ruse is a fascinating new book from Crossgen. Most of Crossgen's output is based around volumptous women (most anatomically inaccurate ones at that), and it was a surprise to find them producing something this sensible. Ruse is set on a pseudo-Victorian planet known as Arcadia, and the story takes place in the city of Partington, an parallel London.

Emma Bishop
Emma could be seen to be the main character in Ruse. The story is certainly told from her point of view. She's a young woman whom nobody rememebrs, as she pales into insignificance beside her partner, Simon Archard. Emma has some kind of supernatural power, which seems to enable her to stop time, but Simon doesn't know about it.

Simon Archard
Simon, for all that he is a brilliant Holmesian detective, is a bit of a twit. He's insensitive and socially gauche, and ignores Emma most of the time. He lives in an incredible old Cathderal, which doubles as his workshop. Simon doesn't seem to care much about anything other than getting to the bottom of the mystery.

Miranda Cross
Miranda is the baddie of the piece. She is a mysterious Baroness from the mysterious Eastern land of Kharibast. You can tell she's the baddies, as she first appears in a very slinky red dress! But she has an evil plot to take over the city. The first arc seems to deal with her conclusively, but she's pretty, so maybe she isn't dead yet.

Malcolm Lightbourne
Simon's mysteriouis mad partner, Lightbourne appears to hold a grudge against both Simon and the city of Partington. A long cat-and-mouse tale later, we learn of his nefarious, steam-punk plan. Go crazed scientist!

Waid is at the very best of his writing ability here, well outside his normal superhero haunts. He displays a gift for crafting mysteries, as well as incredibly fascinating characters. Guice's art is luscious, utterly complimented by Perkins' inking and DePuy's colouring. The cityscapes are what I appreciate most, as well as the odd gargoyle. It is mentionable that none of the women involved look alike, and that Simon is distinctively handsome. Features, not just body shape, quite an acomplishment. It's just an epitome of comics, it really is.

Art Check
Simon's head, drawn by Guice and inked by Mike. Whee.

8:13pm: Not in Moniaive
As the subject line says, I didn't get to Moniaive. I am quite pissed, as it means that I had to go to work. But I've organised to go out and cheesy dance in a club with some workmates next weekend, and I think it'll be fun.

2:30pm: I've been making icons, for I have photoshop at work. Isn't it good to do nothing but play on photoshop. Sad, but good.

I would have thoughts on what I've picked up this week, but unfortunately I haven't bought anything yet. Tomorrow I am going to Moniaive where I hope to acquire some more sketches, and get a few things signed.

I did have a look at Batman: Black & White Book 2. I loved the first collection of B&W, which had an especially memorable story by Gaiman in it (Batman and the Joker in the Green Room reading their scripts). B&W2 is a collection of stuff that ran as a supplement in Gotham Nights and a few others. I am looking forward to reading them again, especially as some were fantastic.

To tell a story in four or five pages meant that the stories were compact amd interesting. Fascinating challenge to writer and artist both.

It is a very expensive hardback at the moment, so I'm waiting until the softback comes out to buy.

2:02pm: 100 Bullets
After my slagging of Azarello on the previous entry, I thought I'd shove in a reason why I love 100 Bullets.

Written by: Brian Azzarello
Pencilled by: Eduardo Risso
Covers by: Dave Johnson
Published by: DC Vertigo

100 Bullets first attracted me by use of a preview inside Transmetropolitan. I loved the idea of the entire set-up. What would you do if someone handed you an attache case full of evidence about the person who ruined your life, and 100 untraceable bullets? Not least because it's a very appealing idea to me.

The first three issues form an arc detailing how Agent Graves (see right) meets Dizzy (below) and gives her the infomration to avenge the death of her husband and child. Excellent set-up, if nothing special. The language and characters all felt authentic, and so I kept buying. That's when the plot kicked in.

Graves (whom we slowly learn about) was apparently in charge of a group called the Minutemen. The minutemen appear to be enforcers for a group known as the Trust. The Trust (some kind of Mafiosa style group, with a big secret) apprently destroyed the Minutemen, and Graves is using his clients to get revenge. We think. We're not sure.

100 Bullets is deliciously paranoid. For a while it seemed as if Azzarello was being too clever for his own good, as all the details about the Trust and the Minutemen only seem to have come out by serious brainwork. On the other hand, it's all there, it's all tied in. There is no such thing as coincidence, and the entirety is cleverly plotted. For a book based about revenge, it certainally covers the whole crime d'passion thing well.

The gritty artwork fits the subjects well. Colouring in shades of brown and red works, as the settings tend to be urban, or hot. The episodes in Paris tended to have more blues and grays, but segued seamlessly into the more American shades. It adds a sense of continous style to the book, complimented by the continuity of the production team.

Whilst the stories are good on their own - I especially love the story of the baseball player who shot JFK (it's wonderful, and it's the ecomic on the site) - I think that the plot is finally set to go into overdrive. I see a big shapeup after the next six issues.

Outside Links
100 Bullets Official Site: DC Vertigo put a decent amount of effort into this, with an entire issue up there to read for a sampler. Very basic character bios and some wallpapers. Good design

11:29pm: Hellblazer
I thought I'd throw in a inagural entry about Hellblazer.

I love Hellblazer - John Constantine is one of the most compelling characters in modern comics, and also one of the bitterest. Equally, Azarello has been one of my favourite authors for a while. However, Mike Carey's first issue of Hellblazer showed up exactly what Azarello was doing wrong.

The dialogue was spot on, the setting was better. I have said from the start of his run that Azarello needed a Brit to check his vocab and pacing, but once Mike Carey took over it was apparent how far Azarello has been drifting away from what makes Hellblazer a personal favourite.

John needs to be in the foreground. It is his book, and the ways inwhich he fucks up are much more intersting than the menagerie of American scum that Azarello managed to wonderfully depict. I'm not interested in them. To a certain extent, I'm reading 100 Bullets for the fucked up Americana. Constantine needs to hold the reins of power, and do it in such a way that he is the centre of the story.

Bringing Constantine home (to Liverpool - he isn't a Londoner for all that it's his city) and reuniting him with his previously established family brings back all the past that was also missing from Azarello's run. I know that Jock's issue reunites John with Chas, his wife and their granddaughter. This sense of place has been missing. America is such a featureless place to me. Apart from established cities (New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Fransico are the ones that jump into my mind) I have problems saying - oh that's there, and the people from there are like... With Britain being a small hunting ground, going from Liverpool to London takes him through such a variety of places. No endless fields of corn, or mountains. The very age of the land is something that has also played well into Hellblazer.

Mike Carey's work on Lucifer has always struck me as hugely intelligent, and I'm hoping he brings some of this quality to the book. Azarello's work was never stupid, but it lacked subtlety, which Carey has in spades.

Overall assement: New writer, return to the old book.

Art Check
Page by Ridgeway (#5, pg 28)
Page by Simpson (#53, pg 2)
Dangerous Habits sketch by Simpson (A3)
Cheery John by Buckingham
Wet John by Jock (new artist on Mike Carey run)
Messy John by Sean Philips
Puffing John by Warren Pleece
Smug John by John Higgins

11:25pm: Introduction
I'm hoping to use this journal to talk about what I'm reading, what I'm loving what I'm hating. And lurk over other people's shoulders of randomness.

I'm Wendy, check the profile for most pertinant information and if I say something stupid (which I am prone to do) tell me and I'll yell louder at you.