I wonder what the clerk at Forbidden Planet was thinking when I was buying Blankets. This really was not my type of comic. Sure I've been in deep relationships but I did not really enjoy this. It was way too soft. The main character was a pretty big lame. I dont know I just did not really have any sympathy for him. The brother was a good character but he was not nearly cool enough to save me from disliking this comic. I will say it was well put together. The story was uninteresting but the art was pretty cool. Maybe if he focused his drawing talents on a more interesting story I could appreciate it more.

Preacher: With Great Vengeance and Furious Anger

I've only read up to vol. 5 of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's series, Preacher, but i already consider it one of the better comics I have read. What makes it so cool to me is that the heros are also kind of messed up. Jesse reminds me a lot of Wolverine in the sense that he's a killer but he's got morals. Cassidy is the same, but he needs to kill to live.For some reason I read the first two volumes thinking that Cassidy was british. I suppose I should pay better attention. Tulip is a really interesting character as well. I couldn't believe when she got her face shot off. It was also cool how they brought her back. My favorite character is the Saint of Killers for obvious reasons. The one scene at the French monastery where he literally fills a room with bodies was an exercise in absolute bad-assery. I like how sometimes he completely disregards the gutter. I think this is a good way to make everything seem like its supposed to be a single moment. The art is good but not the best I have seen. I would say that it definitely fits the grittyness of the story. Overall I really like the Preacher series and cant wait to finish it.

Y is he the Last Man?

Y the Last man is a pretty entertaining story. However it is not unlike anything that we have seen before. Movies like "Children of Men" and "I am Legend" share a lot in common with Y. As far as my impressions about those stories, I thought "I am Legend" was alright. I really liked Children of Men though. Y does not have the luxury of being a 2 hour movie so it has a lot more chances to piss me off. There are plenty of things not to like about this comic. The most glaring problem is the main character who, at least in the first three books of the series, just walks around acting like  douche bag. Being the last man on Earth you would think that he would have some sort of sense of responsibility but instead he is completely selfish. He is a self righteous smart ass with only his best interests in mind. The way the story is structured is also kind of predictable. Like of course those astronauts  were going to die. Of course the creepy shadow lady was Yorick's mom. I also don't really like the Amazons that are so crazy that they actually chop off their boobs. I feel like this crosses the line in so many ways.  The art work is so so. One problem with the art is that they do not really do a good job of conveying motion. I guess its not a big deal but in some instances i have no idea that they are even moving when they are supposed to be. Some of the other characters like the his two female companions and the monkey are really good and are the driving force of the comic for me. I especially like badass agent 355. I'm probably going to check out the rest of the series when I get a chance.

Not for the Squeamish

I cannot recall a Joker story that is better than Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's, The Killing Joke. It is dark, crazy, smart, and hilarious. Joker is clearly one of the more complex villains in the Batman comics, and this story definitely adds to that. In it the Joker kidnaps and torments Commissioner Gordon in an attempt to drive him insane. He shoots and paralyzes the Commissioner's daughter who up until that point was the original batgirl. He does all of this to show that all it takes is one bad day for a person to snap and go crazy like him. The  Gordon story line runs parallel with the story about the day that caused the Joker to snap and go crazy. Both of these stories are really tragic, but at the end you find out that Joker may have been making his bad day up all along. You never really know if he is lying or not. It is my understanding that the Joker from the Dark Night is based largely off of the one from this comic. There are definitely a lot of similarities in the way that these Jokers speak and in their actions. What I like best about this story is that even after all of the bad things that he has done, in the end you still kind of feel sorry for Joker. As in Alan Moore's other works, the story is told in his signature straight forward panel by panel style. Even the story reminds me a lot of his other works. I feel like the Batman in this story sports the same attitude as the heroes from the Watchmen. He is more of a masked vigilante like Roarschach than an actual Superhero. This is a really good quick read but it leaves a lasting impression. 

Billions of Microscopic Exploding Suns

I remember the first time they killed Superman well over a decade ago. An alien named doomsday crash lands on earth and beats him to death. The comic was pretty graphic. There was one scene where Doomsday punches Supergirl's face off. There are not any scenes like this in the new story of the death of Superman, All-Star Superman, but I still enjoyed it. There is a more peaceful style and approach to All-Star Superman. In the book, written by Grant Morrison, and drawn by Frank Quitely, Superman is not killed by a monster, but by the source of his Superhuman strength, the sun.  Lex Luther tricks Superman into flying too close to the sun, amplifying his powers significantly and poisoning him at the same time. When Superman is told that he has very little time to live, he embarks on a quest to complete 12 tasks to ensure safety in the universe. There are twelve issues in the series.Some of the issues are really emotional while others are kind of ridiculous.Most of them highlight a single task but some issues have none while others have multiple. It is interesting to see how Superman/Clark Kent interacts with all those that he loves that he is never going to see again. The art and story telling are very similar to Quitely and Morrison's other collaboration, We3. Quitely's unique way of framing is really cool looking. Im not really the greatest Superman fan but I have read some really good Superman stories. Red Sun may be my favorite. Kingdom Come is also spectacular. AllStar is not as good as either of these, but it definitely is a classic Superman story.

LONG LIVE THE GREAT TOKYO EMPIRE!!!!

There are many subjects and themes explored in this 2000 page epic by Katsuhiro Otomo, from social to scientific. Overall it is about being a youth in a world where no one cares about you. The two main characters(in a cast of dozens) Kaneda and Tetsuo are barely 16. They start out as friends but fate makes them enemies. Kaneda is the leader of a motorcycle gang in Neo Tokyo. Tetsuo was bullied all of his life and when he gets his incredible power all the rage built up over the years comes out and he turns into a juggernaut powerhouse. He destroys Neo Tokyo, and then winds up becoming a god along with Akira, a recently awoken physic destroyer with the same, if not greater, power as Tetsuo. Early in the story it is revealed that Akira is responsible for Word War 3. He winds up being frozen thousands of feet underground. These two wind up changing the whole universe.

The story teaches a lesson about underestimating the younger generation.Other topics are discussed like failing school systems, drug addiction, and shady government business.  Crazy pill popping motorcycle gangbangers speed through the streets beating the shit out of each other, while government officials in their giant office buildings frantically try to- then fail to, avert disaster. There is hyper violence at every turn. It is a story about killer-psychic kids so there are many head explosions . There are also a lot of gunshots to the head. At least a hand full. A lot of folks get obliterated People get crushed in all kinds of circumstances. People freeze. Some have heart attacks. One dude gets his ran over by a motorcycle. There is a lot of violence and Katsuhiro does like to get graphic with it. He is very skilled at drawing people getting brutally killed. Overall it is a really well drawn comic. There are parts where it is just page after page of the ruined  street of a devastated metropolis. Every bombed out office building and pile of rubble is done with great attention to detail. I think the black and white gives the story a more grimy feel. I great deal of the story in color and it was also pretty cool. Its hard to say which i like better because I feel like the color adds an extra level of gloom and dread because its easier to convey darkness. The anime version of Akira, also done in color, gives you a good impression of what its like.He only gets experimental with the actual placement of his frames a few times throughout the story. Instead, he focuses on a more old school approach with standard placement of his frames. Personally I like this idea because there is so much story to be told that to have a lot of weird framing would be kind of distracting. Or maybe it wouldn't matter at all. I am not exaggerating when I say that Akira Is hands down my most favorite story in any medium of all time. An art piece, whether it be comic, tv, movie, painting, whatever, is more likely going to get me interested if it is wildly insane. Akira is just that

SSSSSTINK BOSS: WE3

I love WE3. If anyone ever said that they didnt like this comic I would take it personally. In just three short issues it does so many things right and almost nothing wrong. The whole style of it is beautiful and is something that comic writers should aspire to achieve. I've rarely seen framing laid out so well and explain so much. The story is heartbreaking but still makes you feel good in the very end. It deals its complex subject matter in as little words as possible and still manages to drive it home. There are too many good parts to count but here are a few that really stuck with me:

1. The Cat aka 2

From an evolutionary standpoint cats are pretty much the perfect creature. With ridiculously amazing senses and physical ability they are perhaps the only animal that nature got right on the first try. Birds used to be dinosaurs, dogs used to be bears, man used to be apes, but cats have always been cats. Now to take an animal that is already damn near perfect and outfit it with a supersuit that would give iron man a run for

 his money is perhaps the coolest thing i've ever heard. 2 is awesome because of what he can do to a helicopter pilots eyes from the trees hundreds of feet below. He also appears to be the smartest and most tactical out of the three.

2. Animal Behavior

People always wonder what animals are thinking, or what animals would say if they could talk. I think this is handled particularly well. The dog is a do-gooder always asking for his master for approval. The cat puts on the facade of an asshole but you can tell that she cares. The rabbit is always trying have sex with everything. Dead-On!

3. The Framing 

I mentioned this before. In many instances death is portrayed in a single moment. This is not the case in WE3. Take for instance the scene where the three are terrorizing the small army sent to destroy them, when the dog aka 1 goes head to head with the humvee. Almost 30 frames are used to just detail the gruesome way in which he dispatches the passengers. The action probably lasted a second or so but we get to see pretty much everything that goes on in that instant from the terrified look in the drivers eyes to the broken glasses that got blasted out of the vehicle.

4. Explosive Poop

A rabbit with the ability to poop bombs?!? UH-OH!

The Watchmen: Protecting Mankind...FROM ITSELF!!!

Watchmen goes right up there with Akira and Batman: Long Halloween as one of the most satisfying graphic novels that I have read. I say satisfying rather than greatest(even though it is definitely one of the best things I've read) because I genuinely feel that the story was executed perfectly. There are a few reasons why. First of all, the art of the book was excellent with a great attention to detail. My favorite recurring detail would have to be Rorschach's  mask. I can only imagine how long it took for them to decide which blot goes where.The characters and the sequencing of their respective stories in and out of each other was also pretty brilliant. Some of the characters who the audience is led to hate in the beginning, like Comedian, wind up being somewhat redeemed in the end, while others wind up almost betraying the reader. I think that the extra texts at the end of each chapter really helped flesh out their  backstories, but even without them it would still be very good. The whole idea of Caped-Avengers vs. Superheroes was really interesting and I like how they brought that conflict sort of full circle with Veidt besting Dr. Manhattan. 

Speaking of which, Adrien Veidt aka Ozymandias might just be one of the biggest baddasses in any genre ever. I always love it when the bad guy wins but in this case he isnt necessarily the bad guy. Sure he committed mass genocide but he accomplished world peace in doing so. I guess you can even say that because of Rorschach's journal at the end that maybe Adrien doesn't win. In fact one can even argue that Rorschach with his inability to compromise is the books biggest antagonist. Regardless of whether or not you agree that Adrien is in fact the villain, you cannot tell me that when he finally realizes his achievement that you do not feel happy for him. When the tears begin to well up in his eyes and he proclaims, "I DID IT!", it made me revaluate my whole perspective on what it means to be a hero. In the Dark Knight, Michael Caine talks about how sometimes a Hero has to be more to the people tha just someone who rounds up badguys and rescues kittens from trees. This applies to Veidt because he realized what was at stake here. He knew what he needed to be for the people. For a couple million he was the final judgement, but for billions of others he was the last savior. He was the one that had to bare the burden. The other Watchmen were just going along for the ride and at times made things even worse

Comic Con 2009

The 2009 New York Comic Con was pretty hectic on its opening day. Even though I have never been to any sort of convention besides the auto show, I cannot say that I was too awe inspired. In fact I would say that it was pretty much what i expected it to be. Not to say that it was a let down. In all honesty I did not attend any seminars or sneak peeks or anything like that.We tried to get into the Furturama movie but it looked too crowded I pretty much stuck to the main floor. We started out in the ATM line right outside of the entrance which was perhaps longer than any other line. While waiting to get some money I saw several scantly clad women in Princess Leia and Supergirl Costumes. When I finally entered the main room it was kind of like sensory overload. Everywhere you looked someone was geeking out to the max. I noticed a whole bunch of video games that hadnt come out yet that i would have liked to play. However I didnt really want to wait in anymore lines, plus I figured I would get my chance. I think I was there maybe 10 minutes before I bought my first item, "Mavel's: A Celeration of Dinosaurs". I figured Id get a sense of the whole place so I hit up all the spots. I waled through the artist alley and got to see what its like to be a struggling artist in a sea of other struggling artists(cant wait until that is me). Over in the video game section we were confronted by this woman who in a crowd of Chewbaccas and Captain Americas seemed out of place. She tried pimping this rotating video game seat to us and was all in all very creepy about it. The one cool game that i saw and actually tried to play was this game called "Deadly Creatures" where you play as a tarantula in the desert, biting peoples feet and eatin' rats. It was pretty cool to walk around and see so many familiar comic books from my child hood. I purchased several Spiderman and X-men issues based on the covers alone. Half way through though I realized what I really should be setting my sights on, Akira in Color. I didnt even know if they existed in English but my friend told me that he once read a colored version of Akira in French so i had to see.The rest of my time there was spent going from booth to booth seeing if any of them had any old issues from the 80s when Akira made its first North American run. After the first several failed attempts at finding it, I finally came across a booth that had many issues, including the very first one, AT HALF PRICE! I proceeded to buy all that I could, but still would up coming short of the complete set. It was still pretty awesome though. After my purchase I finally felt that i should leave, knowing that if i stayed there any longer i would have to make another trip to the ATM. I took one more victory lap then bounced. I really had an interesting time there to say the least.

The Spirit

The origin story of The Spirit is comparable to those of many other heroes and villains over the years. It seems like something straight out of batman what with the vat of acid changing him into something more than human. I feel like comics these days require more explanation whereas back then the very fact that it was a lot of acid will do just fine. I personally like this approach better because i do not like pretending like a know a lot about science. I mean I know that his face should have been burned off but I do not really care. The Spirit is pretty cool and Im glad we've read some of it because after the movie I was completely prepared to write it off.

The grimy story  of "Lorelei Rox" is like something out of gotham or Sin City, or some sort of film noir. There are serveral other influences out side the realm of comics that helps push the story. Lorelei is an obvious take on the three deadly sirens from the odyssey. The visual style is very dark and sinister almost as to instill a sense of fear into the reader. However it still manages to maintain a level of goofeyness that you only see in the funny-pages of newspapers. Everything from the characters facial expressions to how they pronounce words seems to lighten up an otherwise pretty grim story. I wasnt scared reading it but you get the sense that most of the characters are always on edge, Dolan specifically. Even the spirit at times seems kinda scared, or maybe hes just always mystified with what is going on. As for what I thought about it, I'm not really picky about comics, especially ones that are decades old. It doesnt really make sense for me to pick it apart in terms of what it did right and what it did wrong. I probably wouldn't normally read the Spirit on a regular basis but it definately gives me gold insight into the golden age of comics.

Understanding Comics

Scott Mcloud did a nice job of breaking down the inner workings of comics. He manages to talk about difficult and sometimes whimsical subjects without sounding confusing or like a know-it-all. If you are a beginning artist or someone who doesn't take comics seriously as an art form this would be an informative read. The most interesting part I thought was when he talk how people recognize faces and why children like cartoons. Its pretty cool to think that cartoons are a basic representation of how we would remember a person.