GrimJack: "Mortal Gods"

I've been reading comics since I was a kid, and seriously collecting them since I was 18. I've read literally thousands of comic books in my lifetime. (I am avoiding both pride and shame in that statement, merely expressing a fact.) And my favorite comics creation, by far, is John Ostrander and Timothy Truman's sword-wielding, hard-drinking, dark-brooding, scar-faced mercenary John Gaunt, better known as GrimJack.

GrimJack was a cornerstone of what I consider to be, pound for pound, the best creative run of a comics company during my lifetime: the heady heyday of First Comics. There was a stretch during the '80s, if I'm not messing up the timeline, and I don't think I am, when in the span of one month First Comics would deliver to you the gift of Ostrander and Truman's GrimJack, Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!, Mike Baron and Steve Rude's Nexus, and Baron's Badger. Holy hell, you try to tell me that is not one ass-kicking of a line-up, and I will give you such a pinch.

GrimJack is the noir-flavored story of hard-living, nearly over-the-hill gun (or sword or mystical relic) for hire John Gaunt. Gaunt goes by the street name of GrimJack, and the street he works is located in the pan-dimensional city of Cynosure ("Cyn" rhymes with sin), in which every reality meets at one time or another. He's well-versed in the ways of violence, but lives by a strict if flawed and at times even dangerous personal moral code. He wears a floppy beret with feathers on it, giant shoulder pads, big hoop earrings, a cape, index-fingerless gloves, one knee guard, and jodhpurs. And he will totally kick your ass.

Once a week (optimistically speaking), ideally on Mondays, for the foreseeable future, I plan on bringing you the stories of GrimJack, sharing my love of these comics with you. These will probably all be very long, image-packed posts. I hope you will bear with me. Maybe none of you will care. Maybe this is a labor of love that no one else will recognize. But maybe some of the more devoted comic fans among you will be intrigued enough to follow along with these posts, maybe even enough to try to find the back issues in your local comic shop, or pick up the deluxe paperback repackagings currently being printed by IDW Publishing. Or maybe (and I tip my hat to you if this is the case) you will want to dig out the copies you already own and rediscover this fantastic series along with me.

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We begin at the beginning, at First Comics' Starslayer. Starslayer was originated by writer/artist Mike Grell (who went on to create Jon Sable Freelance for First), but turned over to Ostrander and artist Lenin Delsol with issue #9. Issue #10, cover dated November 1983, is pictured below. You can see the cover raises two questions:


#1: Why did John Ostrander have such a penchant for including the word "Black" in the names of new black characters? And #2: who is this GrimJack?

GrimJack began as a back-up series to Starslayer, by neophyte comics writer Ostrander and neophyte comics artist Truman. They both had a lot to learn, and a long way to grow, when they co-created their finest work together, but that's not to say GrimJack started out weak. It started out immediately with the hard-boiled narration and lush-but-filthy visuals for which the series would come to be celebrated, and it started out immediately laying the groundwork for John Gaunt's deep, dark backstory, a biography which would become more assiduously chronicled and emotionally detailed than most any other comic character you can name, whether 70-year-old four-color superhero or quarter-century-old b&w indie superstars.

Here we have the first page of the very first GrimJack story, called "Mortal Gods" (Part 1):


Cool artwork! But, uh, not exactly representative of what was to come. I include it here for its historical value. Which is priceless.

Anyway: there's this four-armed, lamprey-faced desert god named, as you may have surmised, Zago. His bloodthirsty minions are intent on destroying the peace-loving worshippers of forest god Manwyyes. The tree-huggers cast a spell which sends one of their own to Cynosure, to locate their god, who is MIA at a fairly crucial juncture (what with all the slaughtering and suchlike). GrimJack is the man who can help them track their god down. But he's a little busy just this second.


Those are the first words GrimJack ever speaks, and I love them. You already get a taste of exactly what Ostrander's going for here: the cynicism and world-weariness of a Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett anti-hero in a sci-fi/fantasy milieu.

GrimJack is running down the Manx Cat, the grand MacGuffin of Cynosure. As we will see throughout the run of the series, it's always getting stolen, and Gaunt is always retreiving it.

And here we meet the man for the first time:


Dig those pinpoint eyes in the first panel! Nice.

Even without the extra-gray eyebrows in the second panel (which get darker in subsequent appearances -- must've used Just For Men: Touch Of Gray), we can see that this is no spring chicken, no wet-behind-the-ears young punk. Gaunt has had a hard life, and it shows in his face.

And we get a sample of his moral code here. Gaunt is all about choices, and living with the responsibility of the ones you make. Frequently, he presents certain black and white choices to his adversaries. I suggest choosing wisely.


And, as Gaunt escapes the fire by leaping out a window, we get another recurring aspect of his character: not only is he old, but he feels it. Time is closing in on this guy, and it's not treating him well.


If that narration is a little too on-the-nose for you, at least rest assured that Gaunt never says, "I'm getting too old for this shit." GrimJack predates Lethal Weapon by four years, thank goodness.

Gaunt wraps up his business with the Manx Cat, then runs into the tree-hugging priestess, Elvanna, who suddenly appears to have been light boxed. I like how Truman throws in these highly rendered artistic variations every once in a while; kind of reminds me of John Totleben, though I think Totleben was more a contemporary of Truman's than an influence. (And please note I am not suggesting that what either of those gentlemen do is anything like the liberties Greg Land takes.)


They invoked... the Rite of Llues, in case you were wondering. It was supposed to lead her to her god's abode; it brought her to Cynosure, where a local told her to get help from Gaunt. It turns out Gaunt knows exactly where she needs to go, and leads her there, taking the scenic route through the Pit.


We get a nice look here at how exactly the pan-dimensional city works. Cross a street, you might cross a dimension! In fairness, the creation of sweet, cynical Cynosure can't be credited to Ostrander. It was created for First Comics' Warp Special #1. It was supposed to be destroyed in that issue, but Ostrander thought he could find a use for it in his writing, and asked that it be saved. Good call. Oh, also: the name "John Gaunt" was cribbed from Shakespeare. From the character John of Gaunt, in Richard II. If you're gonna steal, steal from the best!

Gaunt's narration here always makes me smile: "Some called it Nirvana. Some called it Hell. One poor mook thought it Tanelorn." Tanelorn, FYI, is the Eternal City in Michael Moorcock's fantasy novels, a city which is accessible from all dimensions. As opposed to Cynosure, though, it is not comprised of all dimensions.

And I love Truman's depiction of Cynosure -- more specifically, the Pit, Gaunt's home. Fantastical and filthy at the same time -- garbage-strewn, claustrophobic, plastered with graffiti and band posters. You can't really read the graffiti in this scan, but there's a reference to a "Dash Hammet" (sic), and also an ad for "Tourbot Rental." Tourbots are a concept Ostrander will expand upon in later issues, but I get a kick out of how early he is establishing the depth of Cynosure. And of John Gaunt's place in it: his birth and early life in the cesspool of the Pit are a huge part of his backstory.

Gaunt gets where he's going, prompting this exchange, which cracks me up:


And here GrimJack crushes Elvanna's heart by revealing to her the object of her search:


That wacky Cynosure!

We pick up with Part 2 in issue #11 of Starslayer, where Elvanna is less than pleased with Gaunt's revelation:


As Manny Weese, aka Weevil, aka the god Manwyyes, explains to Elvanna shortly, he wandered into her dimension by mistake and discovered he had powers, godlike powers which prompted the locals to worship him as a deity. But the overwhelming responsibility was too much for him to bear, and he retreated to Cynosure, and the bottle.

Cue Zago, who has also tracked down Manwyyes:


While Elvanna has been gone from her dimension, Zago and his cult have destroyed every single one of Manwyyes's worshippers, and he's come to Cynosure to finish the job. Drunken, powerless Manny is no match for Zago, but Zago's powers are also greatly diminished in Cynosure, meaning it's time for GrimJack to kick some god ass.


Another classic GrimJack trait: the man almost never smiles, except for when he is about to deal out some ultra-violence. Then he can't help but smile. We will later learn this earned him the nickname "Grinner" in his younger days.

As tough as Gaunt is, and as weakened as Zago is, Zago is still a giant four-armed monstrosity, and he proceeds to beat the holy crap out of GrimJack. Gaunt's guns don't work, his swords don't work. He is beaten to the ground. Manny pleads for Gaunt to stand aside, to save himself and let Zago finish Manny off. But Gaunt lays down for him the unbreakable foundation of his moral code:


"I stand by my friends." The main rule by which Gaunt strives to live his life. His greatest tragedy, though, is how often he falls short. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.

Gaunt takes Manny's staff, on the theory that something from Zago's own dimension may be able to hurt him. And using the staff, he is able to strike one of the swords from Zago's grip, and recover it for himself. Now armed with Zago's own weapon, Gaunt offers Zago a choice:


And here we get a sweet, sweet sample of GrimJack's savage badassery:


Dude just performed a quadruple amputation on a god. And trash-talked him to boot. GrimJack is awesome.

"I gave you a choice, Zago. Now you're gonna have to live with it."


Looks like he lived with it for a whole second and a half, there. How's that for accelerating the relative hardcore nature of your character: having him, on page 15 of his existence, slay a god. Beat that, Spider-Man.

Denouement: Elvanna decides to stay with Manny. Her world is ruined, so there's nothing to return to. Also, as she tells Gaunt: "I dedicated my life to the service of Manwyyes. Should I abandon my vows because he needs me?" This is another theme we will see recurring throughout the run of GrimJack: everybody, even the most miserable of SOBs, needs somebody. Sometimes, even if it is as a nemesis rather than an ally.

This first GrimJack story, the two-part "Mortal Gods," wraps up with such a wonderfully cynical exchange that I want to let it speak for itself.


And there we have the 16-page introduction of my favorite comic book character ever. Hope you liked it, because I'll be back next week with the five-part epic, "Buried Past."

COMICS: Top Ten

Well, maybe it's not a top ten list, so much as some of my favorite things about comics loosely grouped together.

BEST SINGLE ISSUE

You think I'm going to say Eightball #23, don't you? Everybody says Eightball #23. Well, as you know if you read my original review, I liked it just fine, I really liked it, in fact, but it didn't own my world. That distinction belongs to Street Angel #2. Possibly the single funniest comic I have ever read, bursting with insanely inventive characters and situations and rich and clever dialogue, with humor both subtle and slapstick, I simply loved every inch of this book. (Caveat: I'm not even 100% sure it was released during 2004; maybe it was late 2003. But 2004 is when I first read it. So there.)

Honorable Mentions: Yes, yes, Eightball #23. You happy? Also, New Frontier #5. That was the issue that finally got me into the series. After waiting four issues to click into what everyone else was raving about, issue #5 blew my socks off. It was the best mainstream, superhero-type single issue of the year (is that enough qualifiers?).

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FAVORITE WRITER

At the beginning of the year, I might've said Robert Kirkman or Brian Bendis. But some lackluster extracurricular projects (Kirkman's 2099 and Captain America and Bendis' Avengers Disassembled) kind of took the shine off both those apples. Now, I think there's no question it's Brian K. Vaughan, whose Y: The Last Man has long been my favorite continuing series, whose Runaways was entertaining if light, and whose new Ex Machina is tremendous, funny and controversial and creepy and original.

Honorable Mention: James Kochalka, whose American Elf is the best graphic novel of the year (or TPB, or whatever the hell you want to classify it as), and whose Peanut Butter and Jeremy collection was cute and touching and a pure joy (though I'm pretty sure it came out last year, but I read it this year. So there. Again).

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FAVORITE CONTINUING SERIES

I just said it, right above! Y: The Last Man, much like one of my favorite TV shows, Lost, has a fantastic overarching mystery, several smaller mysteries generated by the fantastic supporting cast, and the ability to create genuine suspense with each issue's cliffhanger.

Honorable Mentions: Street Angel, Fables, She-Hulk, Girl Genius, Invincible.

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THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WHAT THE HELL?? OF GRANT MORRISON

The Good: We3, my favorite limited series, is just lovely, some of the best visual storytelling I've ever seen (which is what makes Frank Quitely my favorite artist), with an animal cast that's all too human. Can't wait for the finish.

The Bad: The first issue of JLA: Classified did nothing but irritate me. I have no desire to get the second issue.

The What the Hell??: I did get the second issue of Seaguy, and I wished I hadn't. I was even more lost than after the first. I didn't bother with the third. As I've said before, I don't mind being challenged by a writer, but it bothers me when it seems the writer is mocking me with nonsense.

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FAVORITE LIMITED SERIES

I just said it! We3! Pay attention!

Honorable Mentions: The New Frontier, Challengers of the Unknown, and of course, some other thing I'm probably forgetting.

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BEST SERIES I'VE ONLY READ IN TPB SO FAR

Hard Time, just edging out Sleeper.

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BEST TREND FOR THIS YEAR

Getting the "fun" back into "funny books". You can take your Identity Crisis and go sulk and brood in your dark and gritty comics world. My favorite books of the year made me laugh. Street Angel, of course, led the pack (except for the boring PSA that was issue #4), as did another new B&W indie series, the terrifically funny Scurvy Dogs. Phil Foglio's Girl Genius continued in its always reliable comedic ways. And even the Big Two were able to stop scowling long enough to release Plastic Man (which was uneven, but more than worthwhile; the more recent issues have really been great, especially the one with President Lex Luthor channeling Dubya by way of Woozy Winks) and She-Hulk (my favorite Marvel title right now).

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BEST TREND FOR NEXT YEAR

Everything old is new again. Grimjack, my favorite comic ever, is coming back! The news that Ostrander and Truman were reviving the long-dormant (due to legal issues) series was my single favorite moment in comics this year. Oh yeah. Also returning in '05: Mike Baron's Badger, Peter David's The Incredible Hulk, and Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! (the last in TPB form only, not new issues, sadly, but still, that's some good news).

COMICS: Wed. 11/10/04

Some quick notes on the comics I've read so far:

Challengers of the Unknown: Decent enough wrap-up. Although making Jan Boulton a man is kind of out of left field, and not really necessary -- that's your final commentary on Ann Coulter? She's mannish? Weak. And did I miss it: how did the moon base blow up? And did it kill the Hegemony or not? Well, obviously it didn't kill them, but were we supposed to think it killed them? Either I missed something (very likely) or that was very poorly presented. Also, the similar-sounding stilted dialogue of every character began wearing on me. Hmm, maybe it wasn't a decent enough wrap-up. Were there another series, I think I'd wait for the trades before deciding to get it or not.

Plastic Man: Dammit, I've gotta start looking more closely at the covers before buying these things. Scott Morse is no Kyle Baker. This was a really awful issue, filled with incessant obnoxious punning reminiscent of the Batman & Robin movie. Stupid fill-in issues!

Avengers: Finale: I liked the very ending, with the crowd at the memorial; extremely sappy, but effective. But the whole "best memories" section was lame. Every other character picked a "memory" he or she wasn't present for. Is it because they enjoyed so much hearing the stories from the Avengers who were there, as one character claimed? Or do you think it was because Bendis wanted to mention the landmark storylines in Avengers history, but he didn't have enough current members who were in those storylines to share their recollections, so he had to cheat and put those recollections in the mouths of other characters? I wonder. And that was a quick turn-around for Captain Britain: "I'll never forgive Wanda! Here's a toast to Wanda!"

Iron Man: This was a beautiful book. The artwork is really just amazingly gorgeous. I liked the confrontation between Tony Stark and the documentarian; a lot of great back-and-forth in that scene, with Tony sneaking in the final dig, pointing out the sheer futility of the filmmaker's career. I like that Tony is being forced to confront the destruction he's created with his inventions. Some nice character moments, too, especially the page with Tony looking at himself in the mirror. And I've never seen the wonder of flight expressed so well on a comics page. The wordless image of Iron Man arcing above the clouds was perfect. The villain looks interesting, too, but that may only be because of the artwork. As is the Marvel tradition, though, nothing of consequence really happens; the first issue is always warm-up, padding out the page count for the trade. But that's a minor fault. I gave this book a try just for the hell of it, and it's definitely hooked me.

Linkblogging

I'm falling back on the old standby that I've actually never used before. Here's a few other blogs that I enjoy.

Associated Comics and Pop Culture Webloggers of Ventura County, California, and Outlying Environs: the four people I know in real life, under the umbrella title invented by Mike, and listed at the top of my link section to the right. Recently, Ian has been deconstructing Chaykin, when he's not posting covers of bizarre and obscure motorcycle-themed comics; Corey continues to astound me with how many more bad movies he's seen than I have, including the Pat Morita crapfest Timemaster; Dorian has been making friends and raising the ire of the squares and the clueless with posts that dare to deflate both comics creators and comics fanboys; and Mike has been continuing his slow but inevitable domination of the blogging community, and soon, the world.

I dig Ken Lowery Presents: Ringwood, because Ken is so angry, he makes me look well-adjusted. Re: Hal Jordan's return: "Holy fucking god, has there ever been such a non-issue in the history of the world? It's pathetic, it's sad, we all know it, WE'RE MOVING ON NOW."

H & Mag's The Comic Treadmill has good, in-depth reviews of comics, and also is currently featuring a poll ("Who is the Identity Crisis killer?") in which one of the choices is "ACAPCWOVCCAOE". (We're losing to "Yoko Ono".)

Scott at Polite Dissent often investigates medical scenarios in comics for their real-life veracity, and also posts kooky nostalgia-related items on Mad Mod, or Wormy (remember Wormy, from Dragon magazine? You do? NEERRRRRRD!!! Oh, wait, so do I).

David Welsh at Precocious Curmudgeon doesn't watch as much TV as I do, but he tries. He also feels an appropriate level of horrified disbelief towards the John Byrne forum. And he will not be, as he recently suggested, the last comics-type blogger in the world to read Scott Pilgrim. I will.

Woody at The Sock Drawer often seems to be the only other comics fan aside from myself who also watches football. He's got a plethora of reviews of fan films around the web, and he ends each post with an unattributed quotation, so trivia buffs, try to be the first to comment with who said it and where.

I'm linking Ken C's Revoltin' Developments because he asked me to in his last post. Okay, that, and his current "Battle of..." between Tomb of Dracula #1 from 1972 and Tomb of Dracula #1 from 2004 is truly inspired.

Bill Sherman of Pop Culture Gadabout was the first person that I didn't personally know to link to this blog, so he's aces right from the get-go. His excellent reviews of various pop culture items were a partial inspiration for me to finally start a pop culture blog of my own. His recent anecdote about the behavior of Republican women at one Border's bookstore will make you grit your teeth, assuming you're not Republican yourself.

...Like Augie De Blieck, Jr. is. He has at times made his conservative leanings (which I strongly disagree with) known on his blog, Various and Sundry, and yet I still visit regularly. Why? Because it's a good blog, with insightful TV and DVD reviews and interesting links, and his politics don't change that one way or the other. He rarely mentions his politics (and has in fact recently established a separate blog to contain all political entries), but when he does bring them up, he retains his good nature and humor (as opposed to a certain other insanely hateful diatribe of a blog which I won't name here -- but its initials are Apologies Demanded).

There are many other blogs I read regularly (just look to the right), but that's plenty for now, I think. And please be reassured, even if you don't see my site's name on your referrer list, it's only because I'm visiting you via Comic Weblog Updates.

COMICS: Wed. 10/13/04

After I complained yesterday about buying so many comics, I was very pleased that so many of them were so good.

The Hard Time TPB is excellent, as Dorian, Ken, and others have been saying all along. And it's such a great value -- ten bucks for six issues. It's a unique take on the superpower genre: a 15-year-old's powers manifest just before he's locked in prison, likely for the rest of his life. I had some quibbles -- why was he convicted in the first place, if even the cops (as his lawyer says) admit he never fired his gun, or at least why was he not convicted of a lesser charge, rather than the full murder counts; and, however much I appreciate his sarcastic humor, it's in no way believable that a kid could be so flip to the other convicts and not get killed 87 times before sundown on his first day, powers or not. But the rough situation, which I don't think has ever been portrayed so extensively, or so well, in mainstream comics before, and the sharply defined and interesting characters make this a fantastic read.

The Authority: More Kev: Good, funny stuff, especially the Midnighter's confrontations with idiot Kev. I'd be upset if someone threw a nuclear bomb in my face, too.

Demo: Eh. There was an interesting twist toward the end, but I wasn't invested enough in the characters to be shocked or say, "Whoa!" Instead, I think I said, "Huh." Let me go back: yeah, that was the extent of my reaction. "Huh." I doubt I'll get the next issue; might get the final issue the month after.

Fables: Very funny issue. The expression of Snow's face as she says, "A litter? I'm having a litter?" is just priceless. I'm glad Buckingham is back and the story is moving forward again.

Captain America: Limp ending to a lame arc. So it was a SHIELD-designed robot replica of Diamondback? Dude, whatever. One order of machina, extra deus on top. And what's with that ending: "Maybe we should just get a room." When did Steve Rogers turn into the Mack? Kirkman really disappointed me on this book.

She-Hulk: This continues to be one of my favorites. I love the non-traditional, but clean and appealing art. I love the humor. I love the characters. I love that after Jen finds Drax the Destroyer, the Silver Surfer, et al. have all been defeated already, she says, "We're gonna need a bigger boat." I love that the Silver Surfer's board has a splint on it. A splint! You know you've been in a fight when your surfboard needs a splint. This book is a big bundle of fun. Pick it up; don't let it get cancelled.

Challengers of the Unknown: Maybe I should've waited for the TPB. Chaykin's stories are packed with so much plot and characters, they just read better when you can go through them all at once. I think this was the best issue since the first, with plans and motivations revealed; I'm curious to see if Chaykin can wrap it all up satisfactorily in the one remaining issue. And what was with the Ann Coulter surrogate, Jan Boulton, quitting her job at the Fox News-type network? Was that explained in this issue, or was it set-up for the next?

Secret War: Three issues in and we still don't know what the hell is going on. I guess Bendis is planning on keeping the war a secret from the readers as well. The art is gorgeous; it's a shame it doesn't have a story worthy of it. What little story there is: I couldn't believe that four pages after the staples, the middle of the book, the story abruptly ended. The staples mean you've got half the book left, not four goddam pages. What a rip-off. And I really wasn't pleased that a phone transcript between Captain America and SHIELD, a conversation which was wisely left out of the main story because it was boring and pointless, took up seven goddam pages of the book. You're working my last fucking nerve, Bendis.

Powers: And yet I still enjoyed this book. Walker follows one sick and twisted false lead, and Pilgrim -- wow. That was one surprise ending. Well, it surprised the hell out of me, anyway. I think I need to cut my monthly Bendis intake back to this and... well, just this. (I already only get the TPBs of Ultimate Spider-Man.)

Ex Machina: Like She-Hulk, another book everyone should get. Smart, surprising, funny, cool, controversial. It's great stuff. The snowplow-driver serial killer storyline came to an unexpectedly sudden, and not entirely satisfactory end, but the bits with Kremlin, and the flashbacks, continue to fascinate me, as do the political maneuverings. This Brian Vaughan kid, he might have a career in comics.

COMICS: Wed. 8/11/04

Bite Club: This one isn't really holding up in the long run. First Risa has her silly, kitty cat-inspired epiphany last issue; this issue Leto goes from good guy to bad way too quickly to be convincing. One minute he's a priest, next minute he's taking over the crime family, feeding the Monsignor to the crocodiles, giving his sister a hot kiss, and banging his old girlfriend. This book never transcended its "vampire gangsters" high concept the way I hoped it would.

Challengers of the Unknown: On the other hand, I think Chaykin's other book is getting better each issue. More backstory filled in, more frighteningly evil activity from the Fox News surrogates, and now this religious mysticism -- when she says "Holy Grail," is that a euphemism, or is that really the Holy Grail? I still couldn't name the five Challengers for you, but I'm fascinated by their story, and Chaykin's storytelling with his art is fantastic.

Captain America: I am really disappointed with this book. Kirkman's writing, which I enjoy so much elsewhere, is mediocre at best here. It's by turns corny, obvious, and dumb. Seriously, Diamondback slips a mickey into Cap's drink? That's the Red Skull's brilliant evil plan? Lame. And the SHIELD conspiracy is even lamer, falling for a trick from Red Skull more obvious than "Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip." And Batroc? What the? Laaaaaame. And what's with Batroc saying he's never seen Captain America so brutal? #1, Cap certainly is nowhere near "brutal" here, and #2, Batroc obviously missed those Marvel Knights issues where Cap was nothing but an intense, "brutal" downer. Kirkman is trying to make Cap lighter and more brutal at the same time, and you simply can't have it both ways. He's aiming for goofy, old school fun (I presume), but he's really missing the mark. I had high hopes for Kirkman coming over to Marvel; I'm still looking forward to his Marvel Team-Up, but much less so now.

SpyBoy: Pop Mhan's art looks different, and nowhere near as good as it normally does. Is it just me? Is it a rush job? Is the inker not quite getting his style? What? And this story seems off to me. Alex's grandfather and the SHIRTS agent seem surprised by the appearance of SpyBoy, when they really shouldn't be. And if SpyBoy is going after SpyGuy with extreme prejudice, why didn't he just shoot him when he had the chance? This story isn't coming together very well for me at all.

Fables: Now that's a hell of a next-issue teaser: Frankenstein vs. the Wolf Man! Cool. Too bad Mark Buckingham is off the art chores for this story; I can't tell one damn soldier from another. This issue is a decent enough interlude, but I'd rather get back to the main Fables action. This is only going to be a two-issue story, right?

Powers: Okay, we learn a little more about the new Retro Girl. Could she be the original Retro Girl's daughter? Could Walker be a daddy? I have no idea if that's the conclusion I'm supposed to be reaching or not. And Deena may be a badass in the interrogation room, but she really needs some lessons in her field work. She's always getting her ass kicked. Why would she go by herself to a superpowered suspect's door? An okay issue, mostly for the interrogation stuff, but not great.

It seems like I'm forgetting something. I usually do. Oh well.

COMICS: Wed. 7/14/04

I just spent over an hour on a comics post that just got obliterated because Blogger's "improvements" to their post creation form are buggy as hell and suck copious amounts of ass. I even right-clicked and saved the text as a precaution: the crash still erased it all. Blogger is a severely shitty site.

GOD DAMN IT!!!

I'm so furious I can't even attempt to recreate the post now. I'm done. Here, here's my frickin' update: Street Angel is awesome, The Punisher and Superman/Batman need to finish their tedious current storylines right now, the finish of the Wooden Soldiers story in Fables was surprisingly disappointing, Chaykin's Bite Club is just okay, while his Challengers of the Unknown is excellent, visually exciting with a compelling story, though the characters are all underdeveloped so far, and The Pulse was typical Bendis, meaning the story is padded beyond belief, but I still liked it, the dialogue, and the characters.

And I haven't yet read She-Hulk, Robert Kirkman's debut on Captain America, Scurvy Dogs, and Eightball.

God damn lousy Blogger.