COMICS: Villains United

Well, as seems to be par for the course round these parts, last Sunday I posted four (4) entries, and since then, I have posted zero (jack shit). So here is a new post, about a comic that was released, like, a year ago. Because I'm cutting edge.

I went into Ye Olde Comic Shoppe last week with one thing on my mind: Gail Simone. Or rather, comics written by Gail Simone. I don't think I've ever read anything by her, but I see a lot of praise for her spread around the weblogosphere on a daily basis. Especially, I've noticed, from this dude. Bordering on an unhealthy obsession, there, pal. (Says the guy with the Object of My Affection space on his sidebar.)

I've been aware of her, and her reputation, but have never been particularly interested in the titles she's been associated with. Birds of Prey? Wasn't that a bad TV show on the WB? Deadpool? Whopool? The Atom? Oh, good lord, no, not John Byrne!! AIEEEEEE!!!

But I felt like I might be missing out on a good thing. So I asked Mike what a good jumping-on point for Gail Simone might be. (I thought of rephrasing that sentence to make it sound less creepy, but then I didn't.) He suggested Villains United, which I had already considered and rejected. Too continuity-heavy. Ties in with the big dopey Infinite Crisis crossover. Not interested. But Mike made a beeline for the trade paperback and thrust it in my hands, and when Mike thrusts, you take it. (I actually rephrased that sentence to be more creepy.)

So I read it. And it's pretty darn good comic book entertainment, even for a continuity-heavy tie-in to a big dopey crossover. Simone has a great way with characters; making Catman interesting and formidable was quite an accomplishment (though having Talia Al Ghul make a comparison between him and Batman might have been laying it on a bit too heavy). She writes snappy, witty dialogue, and managed not to make my head spin too awful much from the references to a zillion characters and events from other books (the crib notes included with the paperback helped). She writes a mean fight scene, too, and has a way with bad guys spouting delightfully menacing threats at one another that I relished (although, reading all six issues back-to-back, the threat-spouting seemed to happen a bit too often, as did scenes where characters seemed to die -- but nope, not really!). I enjoyed it enough to want to check out more comics written by Simone, and I'd call that a success.

One more thing: Mike told me that if you write Gail Simone's name on your blog, she appears. Kind of like Candyman. He was too ascairt to do it on his own blog, so I'll do it here:

Gail Simone
Gail Simone
Gail Simone
GAIL SIMONE

GAIL

SIMONE!!!

If the authorities find me mysteriously exsanguinated tomorrow morning, you all know the reason why.

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Also: has everyone who needs to see this seen this yet?


Battlestar Galactica: season three trailer.

Watching a one-eyed, scraggly-bearded Tigh snarl "I've got a war to fight" has got me so psyched I could poo. OCTOBER 6, BABY!