Preview Picks for December 2006

Comic picks for Dec 2006 previews. Super late again, oh well...

All Star Superman Vol 1 HC: When #1 came out it got crazy hype and I was really looking forward to reading what people were saying was one of the best comics in recent years. I tried not to let the hype influence my reading experience but I failed… for me it just didn’t live up to my lofty expectations. It was good, but not great. When the solicit for the hardcover came out this month I decided to re-read #1, this time with low expectations. And you know what? I (obviously) loved it. I guess I was just in the right mindset this time, and read it as a good old fashion Superman story. And that it is. And now I get it.

All New Atom #8: Pt 2. Mike Norton art.

Shazam The Monster Society Of Evil #1: Jeff Smith! Need I say more? OK, I will point out that Jeff has a great blog, where-on he recently regaled stories of his world-wide Bone tour.

Time Guardian Vol 1: Not sure why I’m getting this, I may even drop it. I enjoyed the preview in Previews so it’s on my list. It’s a story about a shop where they lend you time in exchange for memories.

Strongarm #1: A kid gets a super robotic arm. Looked good.

Following Cerebus #11: A regular.

Numb (p 210): Comic about a writer trying to overcome writers block by reminiscing about an ex-girlfriend.

Utopiates #3 (p 238): Continuing the series

Mr Stuffins #2 (p 239): Ditto

Borrowed Time #2 (p 312): Yay! Part 2 of the series about a guy who becomes out of sync with time. When I read the first volume I thought it was a one-shot and as I was reading I was very disappointed that it ended before getting very far into the story. Getting over that though, the story was good, and the art was good, and I’m intrigued to see where the story goes, since it is a different way than I expected.

Wasteland #7 (p 312): Art by Carla Speed Mcneil, of Finder fame.

Amazing Spider-Man #539 (p 12): Uh, the return of the black costume, which I liked.

New Avengers #27 (p 42): I’m just getting this because the cover is so awesome. So awesome it is now my Desktop image.

X-Men #196 (p 72): Humberto Ramos art. Pt 3. I like Ramos art, especially just pencil art, which this is not.

X-Factor #16 (p 101): Multiple Man finds one of his clones that has gone off and started his own life. Sounds great.

Secret History Book One (p 220): Immortals traveling through time and guiding history. I’m mostly getting because the publisher, Archaia Studios Press seems to be bringing out some top notch product. They need some stinkin previews on their site though.

On the cutting room floor:

Beyond Hc: I’ll wait for SC

X-Factor Longest Night Tp: I might get this in the furure, but no $ left this month. Might just get from the library if they get it, which I assume they will.

Nextwave Agents Of Hate Vol 1 This Is What They Want Tp: Ditto.

American Elf Vol 2 Coll Sketchbook Diaries Of James Kochalka: I hope to get this from James at the Chicago Comicon this summer, if he’s there this year, so I can get a sketch in it.

Elks Run Gn: I’ll get later, after I re-read the mini-collected edition that came out before.

Souls Winter Collected Tmnt Work Of Michael Zulli Tp: Sad to cut this, but I have the individual issues anyway.

Walking Dead Sorrowful Life Vol 6: Waiting on this cuz I can.

Little Lulu Vol 15 The Explorers Tp : Ditto.

Batman Snow Tp: Will get someday.



 

November 2006 Previews Picks

Pretty lame month, but a couple of good TP’s to make up for it…

All New Atom #7: Mike Norton art; I loved Gravity, so I like Mike. Plus it’s cheap at DCBS.

Ballad of the Sea: Classic Italian tale now re-available in English in a new print from Heavy Metal. Apparently a must have.

Goon Noir #3: Finishing the series.

Helmet of Fate Detective Chimp #1: Bill Willingham and Shawn McManus; I’m in.

Jack of Fables TP: I read the first 3 Fables trades and liked them. Then I read the fourth and was BLOWN away. Then I ordered the fourth, fifth, and six trades from Buy.com with the Google $10 off deal. Then I order 1001 Nights from Buy.com. Now I order this. Happy days.

JSA Classified #21: Walt Simonson story and art.  I’ll get the first then the trade if it’s as good as it should be.

Meltdown #2
: Finishing the series.

Nana #5: The latest. Although I’ll have to read #4 first, since it apparently takes the series in a new direction.

Usagi Yojimbo #100: Anniversary issue of a title I don’t pay enough attention to.

Utopiates #2: Will probably get this to support it rather than trade wait.

Wilderemere v1 TP: Um, a British series I couldn’t find much info on, but the creators website gave me a good vibe so I’ll get this. Yup, based on a good vibe. Now that’s marketing.

Godland #16: 60 cent special issue; I always wanted to check this out, so I’ll bite. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.



 

October 2006 previews picks

Another month in late, but not belated, Preview picks. This month: Oct Previews; solicits for December 2006.

In alpha order, except for:

Pick of the Month!

The month’s pick of the month is a hard one… actually; there may not be a pick of the month, since there are a few at the top of the pile, quite evenly…

Oh – forgot about this one:

Fables #56: Is Santa Claus a fable? Sold! I love me some legit Santa fiction.

So, in alpha order:

Action Philosophers v1 and v2: I passed on v1 a couple months back. I remember I checked out their web site, but wasn’t really into it and there were other things I wanted more. This time around, they are releasing v2, and resoliciting v1. Since this thing continues to get great press I decided to check out the strips on the site and… this time I get it! Quite funny, and educational. I seeks to enrich me brains. And laff too.

Bakers and Jingle Belle: I have no idea who this Jingle Belle is, but I love Kyle Baker, so I’m sold. Actually, I think I heard that Jingle Belle is Santa’s daughter, so a Bakers Santa story is a no brainer.

Darkness/Pitt: I dunno, I liked Pitt back in the day, so I’ll check this out.
DDP Quarterly

Dinowars Jurassic War of the Worlds #1: Dinosaurs come back to earth after a (self-imposed?) exile, and I assume want the earth back. Go dino’s! By Rob Espinoza, so that’s cool.

Golly #1: Satan working at a carnival sideshow. Wasn’t too interested until I saw a preview, which looked promising.

Janes World Trade: I have never read this, but have a couple of issues I’ll read now.

Little Lulu v14: Yay for Dark Horse!

Maintenance #1: Janitors at a super villain think tank. Could be funny.

Meltdown #1: A superhero reflects back on his life. I think. The preview in Previews looked real good. $5.99 is rather steep though. Sheesh.
Mr Stuffins #1: Fun premise – an AI computer chip programmed with spy abilities is put in a Teddy Bear owned by a little kid.

NEWUNIVERSAL #1: OK, so I was into New universe in the day as well. Not too deeply, but I’m still interested.

Savage Dragon Archives Vol 1: B&W trade of the first 21 issues and limited series. Awesome. I like SD because it’s a labour of love by the creator.

Utopiates #1: So close to the pick of the month. I’ve been waiting for this for a while now, ever since reading the preview online somewhere. It’s about drugs that let you swap personalities with others or something cool like that.

Wizard of Oz trade: French Oz adaptation. So there it’s not funny.

Tranquility #1: New Gail Simone series about a town where superheros retire. I do love reality based superhero stories.

Wonderman #1: Man, another flashback. Wonderman was one of my fav’s, mostly due to the Jeff Johnson art. This isn’t drawn by Mr. Johnson (jerks), but I’ll still check it out.

I think that brings me to around my $50 limit at DCBS.

Here are the ones that initially drew my interest, but am going to pass on:
Okko 1: Seems to be a popular pick, but I couldn’t find any good previews so too bad, so sad.

Punisher 1st to last trade: This is really getting good hype and I’m sad to pass on it, but I haven’t read any of these 1 shots. Maybe there will be a softcover some time?

Red Sonja Annual: The only RS I’ve read was a preview issue, and it was good.

SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATER SLEEP OF REASON #1: Too bad, I liked the orig series.

Spawn.Batman: Would like to check this out.

SPIDER-MAN REIGN #1: I think this might end up on my list. Probably.
SPIRIT #1: Darwyn Cooke Spirit. I should probably read the original Spirit series first?

Town of evening: Sounded good.

World below gn: New Paul Chadwick OGN. Hate to pass on this. Might have to track down a preview.

That’s it. Bye. Too tired to check grammer. Too bad.

Previews Picks for Nov 2006 (Sept 2006 previews)

Here is my order for this month. It was pretty hard to get under my $50 limit, but I only had to drop a few things. Here are the titles, and their prices at DCBS:

Pick of the month:
Peepshow #14 $3.71 – I couldn’t believe when I saw this in Previews. Peepshow is one of my all time favorite comics, if not my favorite. The last issue came out 5 years ago and I never thought I’d see another. I was tempted to order 2 just to show my love. This is the autobiographical story of Joe Matt. I also learned Joe has a myspace page, which seems incredibly out of character, but I couldn’t be happier. In the words of Big Black, welcome back, Joe.

The rest:
Ant #11 $1.79 – I’m still getting this because I like the art; and the creator, Mario Gully, seems cool. I need to catch up on my reading of the series however.

Wolverine #48 $1.79 – For the Ramos art. On a side note, can DC please release a sketch version of Revelations TPB? The Revelations #1 ashcan was all pencils, and looked incredible.

Blue Beetle Shellshocked TP $6.49 – I read #1 and liked it. A teenage Blue Beetle who talks and behaves like a teenager.

Incredible Hulk #100 $2.39 – I’ve been meaning to check out the Planet Hulk storyline, and this seems like the perfect time. Also in the issue are reprints of 2 older stories (one is 1st Wolvie I believe). I’m sure this is what Marvel was hoping for with this issue, getting people like me to take the plunge. I’ve been planning on getting the trade if the story is good. The premise is interesting (Hulk being banished to another planet and becoming involved in their war) and the reviews are good.

Moon Knight #7 $1.79 – For the art and the Spidey and Punisher appearances.

New Avengers #26 $1.79 – Return of Hawkeye, whom I like. I think.

Dwight T Albatross The Goon Noir #2 $1.79 – Brian Posehn story.

Wisdom #1 $1.99 – To check out, because the premise sounds cool (fairies turning on the humans). If it’s good I’ll get the trade.

Birds Of Prey #100 $2.39 – To check it out. See Hulk. I’ve also been enjoying Gail Simone’s blog, so I owe it to her.

Content #2 $3.50 – Super good hype for this.
Content #1 $2.10 – Super good hype for this.

Zombies Eclipse Of The Undead #1 $1.99 – For the premise (humans holeing up in a baseball stadium during a zombie invasion.) See Wisdom.

The Super Naturals #1 $1.75 – Checked out a preview and the art looked great.

Makeshift Miracle Vol 1 Gn $9.09 – See Content. And Gail Simone super recommended it. See Birds of Prey.

And because they were cheap:
Superman Confidential #1 $0.74
Stormwatch Phd #1 $0.74
Midnighter #1 $0.74
Nightly News #1 $0.74
Immortal Iron Fist #1 $0.74
Onslaught Reborn #1 $0.74

Dropped:
Following Cerebus #10 – Hate to drop it, since Dave Sim fascinates me, but I still haven’t read enough Cerebus proper, so I should probably start there.

That’s it. Hopefully I’ll post earlier next month.

Under the Influence of Protestants

A couple of bands I’ve gotten into lately, one mainstream, one sub-stream.

The mainstream band I first saw on the best late night show around, Jimmy Kimmel live. Please program your tivo’s now (especially in Chicagoland, where Jimmy airs at like 12:30am or something ridiculous. Jerks.) The band is Under the Influence of Giants. I stink at describing music, but they are alt-rock like with a 70’s hipster flair. Hmm, better just go to their myspace page and listen.
.
In the substream category is a Milwaukee band, Protestant. Protestant play hardcore punk rock with a metal\math rock edge. I dunno, something like that. Earlier stuff seems more math rockish and later more heavy\grindcore. Cory von Bohlen who used to do Butt Ugly fanzine is the singer\guitarist so what more do you need to know?

Garden part deux

Long time no post. The garden is going good. The tomato plants I grew from seed turned out less than expected (mini) so I bought some plants from the store. The lettuce is coming in like wild fire, especially the mixed greens. The first round of the radishes are done and ate, and round 2 is growing. Next time I'll start the second round sooner -- maybe get 2 patches going. A couple of weeks ago I also started the Beans and Cuc's. Yay for food! Here's a pick, pre-planting.

Song of the year #2

OK, here's my second pick for song of the year - "I want to be buried in your backyard" by Nightmare of You. You can here the song here, on their myspace page.
I first heard the song when I saw the video on JBTV, a local Chicago cable access video show that has been on forever and plays some good alt stuff. I recently purchased the cd and it's all quite good. Thanks JBTV.

In other myspace news, I recently found the page for Driver 23's own Dan Cleveland, and was finally able to get a copy of the CD featured in the documentary. Yay for me! As for Driver 23, I originally gave the movie a low rating for the lack of a conclusion. The DVD release however contained both movies (Driver 23 and Atlas Moth), and as such come highly recommended (and looks out of print). Guess myspace is good for something after all.

Song of the Year (so far)

I'm undecided on the rest of the album, but the 3rd song on the Flaming Lips new record "At War With The Mystics" is just great. You can hear it here: flaminglips.com, click on the Music link in the New album out now! section. The song is called "The Sound Of Failure / It's Dark...Is It Always This Dark?"

Best song of the year, so far.

injoy.

Summer Project

I’ve finally taken the plunge and started on one of my goals in life – to have a garden. I actually intended on starting a garden last year, but managed to procrastinate well into October. Last year, the main problem I had was trying to decide what type/size of garden to have – one big square? A couple of rows separated by grass? Raised beds? It was all too much. This year, I decided to check out the offerings from online gardening stores and found this . Now, granted, it’s probably more expensive than I could have made myself, but I’m not much of a craftsman (no patience) so this is perfect for me. Plus, it’s always back-ordered so it can’t be half bad. So garden style problem – solved. I even found a free shipping deal to sweeten the pot.

Next step – what to grow? I took a look at my book shelf for gardening books (I mentioned this was a goal in life, which means I have collected a few books over the years) and found The 20-minute Gardener. This book, it turns out, was written just for me – it explains how to have a garden that requires a minimal amount of work – a lazy man's garden if you will. And I, being a lazy man, am all onboard.

I also read parts of Gardening in Illinois, which will give me specifics on when to plant, harvest, etc. based on the seasons in Illinois specifically. Nice. The book also covers growing trees, grass, flowers, bushes, etc.

So with this arsenal I sat down to determine what to grow in my new garden. After consulting the list of easy to grow veggies in the 20-minute Gardener, and avoiding the hard to grows, and the things I don’t like, I ended up with the following list:
Lettuce
Arugula
Spinach
Tomatoes
Radishes
Cherry Tomatoes
Asparagus

Sounded good, so I head off to several seed sites to see what was available. I ended up getting the following seeds from Heirloom Seeds due to their Tomato selection, and decent prices:

BRANDYWINE TOMATO, RED, Price: 1.50
GIANT BEEFSTEAK TOMATO - CERTIFIED ORGANIC, Price: 2.50
GOURMET BLEND RADISH, Price: 1.15
BLENDS- MESCLUN MIX BLEND - CERTIFIED ORGANIC, Price: 1.85
BLENDS - PREMIUM LETTUCE BLEND, Price: 1.85

As you can see, I opted for Lettuce and Mesclun blends rather than the above, since I figured that would be more interesting. I also went with two tomatoes, because I love me some tomatoes.

I reviewed the list with my wife, who pointed out the absence of:
BLUE LAKE BUSH BEAN - CERTIFIED ORGANIC, Price: 2.50

And Cucumbers.

For the Cucumber, I wanted a Bush variety, rather than a Vine, but couldn’t find any a heirloomseeds, so I picked up a pack locally.

Now I just have to wait for the seeds, and figure out what I have room for in the garden. I figure a small amount of each, give or take.

As for the Asparagus, I’m going to order that just before planting time (mid-May I believe), and plant it outside of the garden – probably against the back fence, but I’m not sure yet. Asparagus apparently grows for 20 years, so that will be interesting. Plus garden fresh asparagus is super delicious.

So that’s the plan. I wanted to build the garden itself last weekend, but the weather didn’t cooperate. I also have to figure out some sort of fence to protect the garden from rabbits. The book has some suggestions, although I’m not clear on how to fence in a raised bed…

Bloglines love

Have to give a quick plug to a web app that has proven to be one of my favorite, and one of the most productivity enhancing (oof – can you smell the corporate on me?) tools I use. The app is called Bloglines, and is a new feed reader, which means it allows you to subscribe to sites, and it will collect any new data from those sites for you. This means you can subscribe to all of your favorite blogs and only have to go to one page to read them all. I’ve tried a couple of news readers in the past and have been less than impressed. Bloglines was suggested as an option by Andrew and as soon as I started using it I knew it was a keeper. I think it’s the layout that won me over – very simple – the sites you subscribe to are displayed in a tree on the left side of the page. When new stories are posted to the sites they are bolded in the tree and the number of new posts is displayed. To see the stories click on the site in the tree, and the new posts for that site are displayed on the right side of the page. Simple, easy, definitely a winner. Thanks Andrew.

Pepsi Smells

Am I the only one out there who loves the way Pepsi smells? That great aroma that hits your olfactory nerve when you pour a fresh one in a nice big glass and stick your face in the fizz and inhale deeply? I love dat.

May 2006 Previews Picks

Another round of Previews picks. This looks to be a good month for comics. Much better than last month in my op. Last month it was relatively easy to keep within my monthly budget (after dropping the Ant statue, and forgetting to order the new Jeffery Brown book, oops (the later of which I’ll pick up from Mr. Brown at the Chicago Comicon this year – which in retrospect is the preferred route since then I can get a sketch in it.)) this month, however, is going to be a challenge. To wit:

Apocalypse Nerd #3: Latest of the new Peter Bagge series. It has been pretty good so far. It’s about 2 guys who go camping and return to find out that the end of the world has apparently arrived. I’m an old school Hate fan and loved Sweatshop, so this is a no brainer.

Hate Annual #6: The latest incarnation of Buddy and friends. See above.

Power Girl TPB: I liked #1 and loved the art, so I’m in.

Wolverine #42: Loved, loved, loved Humbertous art on Revelations, so yeah!

Spider-Man Unlimited #15: Book of the month!!!!!!!!!! 2 stories, one with art and story by KLAUS JANSON! Klaus has been my FAVORITE artist since Punisher #1, so I’m as giddy as a schoolgirl over this one. Big smiles.

Nana #3: I still have to read #1 and 2, but hate the backwards Japanese format.

Last Christmas #1 (p. 140): Co-written by Brian Posehn, enough said! Ok, maybe not… Brian is a stand-up comic you may have seen on Mr. Show, Just Shoot Me, or more recently in the completely brilliant ‘Comedians of Comedy’, which really needs to come out on DVD loaded to the max with extrees. Brian is also a huge comic nerd so this should be good.

Walking Dead vol 5 (p. 149) Latest trade in the top zombie series out now. Started a huge zombie trend in comics. Good story, not great, and so-so to lousy art, but I love end of the world stories, especially on-going ones.

Wonderland (p. 218): Sonny Liew art! Sonny Liew!

X Isle #1 (p.243): Something about people stranded on an island inhabited by weird creatures. I dunno, the preview art looked interesting.

GI Joe Elite Hunt for Cobra Commander: 25 cents. I liked the last 25 cent’er, so I’m sure I’ll like this one too. And if not, what’s a quarter?

Love as a Foreign Language (p. 314): The write-up on this one is good, and the previews on onipress.com are interesting. Manga about a North American in Korea.

Eddy Current vol 1-3 (p. 226): Another favorite artist of mine, Ted McKeever’s, classic story from the 80’s, reprinted here. Probably my second favorite creator, after Janson. Checkout his art in Eclipso #7 and 8. One of them is better, I think someone else did the breakdowns on #7, so I would imagine #8 blows it away. Compare for yourselves at home!

Borrowed Time #1 (p. 311) Checked out a preview somewhere out there and this looked interesting… aren’t I helpful?

Mm, good enuff. ckc

Oh yeah, I also pre-ordered the Castle Waiting HC at Amazon for super cheap.

Egg salad

Just ate some mac n cheese from the cafe at work today and was good, but that not point. Point is that mac n cheese came with a make-it-yourself side salad from the salad bar that was delish x2. I really need to start putting hard boiled eggs on my salads at home cuz dern they's good. Second only to raisins, dig.