What Comic Books Have You Read Today?

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Report what comic books you have read today--and tell us a little something about it while you're here!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"It was called off because the US boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics."

How quickly they I forget.

"I know you don't mean me when you day "everybody." Couldn't be. But ... everybody?"

"Virtually everyone."

"You know, I don't remember, nor have I ever researched, how many Green Lanterns Hal Jordan killed in Emerald Twilight."

I did. I'll see if I can find it.

FWIW, I agree with you about Kilowog. I also agree that Green Lantern: Rebirth makes it a moot point. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Okay, I found it. "How Many Green Lanterns Did Hal Jordan Kill?" is the final section of a 12 and a half page treatise surrounding "Emerald Twilight" and its aftermath. These days, "virtually everyone" has forgotten that the GLC was vastly reduced from 3600 at the time of "Emerald Twilight" leaving only 38 members (my estimate) at the time. Let me reread my results to determine whether any of it is worth reposting after all this time. I'm not going to transcribe nearly 13 pages! You're welcome.

"Six, you say? Sounds reasonable."

Ten actually.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"I'm not going to transcribe nearly 13 pages!"

As it turns out, that section is less than a page in length. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

QUICK STOPS #1: A guilty pleasure of mine. Clerks III is streaming now, but it costs, like, 14 bucks! The DVD is due December 6th (same day as ST:SNW); if I'm going to spend that much I'm going to at least get a DVD. I have a small section of Clerks/Jay & Silent Bob comics in my collection. This is the best of them. I give it my Pick of the Week (what the hell). 

SHE-HULK #7: I was enjoying this series until ClarkKent_DC ruined it for me. :)

$2 BARGAINS: My LCS put out another four boxes of collections to be culled from their shelves. Today I bought IDW's first volume (of two) reprinting William Messner-Loebs' Journey (about that other Wolverine). I've known about it since First Comics' "Origins of Independent Comics" series but I've never read it. It reprints the first 16 issues (original cover price: $20). I've been reading stories drawn by William Messner-Loebs lately (Wasteland), but the only comics of his I can think of that I've ever read are Flash and Jonny Quest.

I also bought a tpb of The Creature Commandos reprinting twenty 1980s issues of Weird War Tales. I wouldn't have paid #20 in 2014, but I was happy to pay $2 today.

DC GREATEST EVENTS: I don't remember seeing this hardcover (subtitled "Stories that Shook the Multiverse) when it was solicited, but it caught my eye today. (It's published by DK Publishing, and they know how to cater to fanboys.) Marvel published a very helpful guide to their events some time ago, but that was in comic book format. This one will be particularly useful (to me) for referencing more "recent" events (or the last 10-12 years, let's say). 

[The Baron]

Tiger Division #1 was pretty good. I liked it

[Jeff of Earth-J]

THE NEW GOLDEN AGE: Intriguing. This one-shot "reintroduces" several forgotten characters, mostly sidekicks, from the Golden Age. there's nothibng new about that; both Marvel (Sentry) and DC (Triumph) have tried that before with varying degrees of success. Much of this issue was drawn by Jerry Ordway, a perennial favorite of mine. Perhaps the most interesting feature of this comic is the faux "Who's Who" pages in the back of the book. If nothing else, this "new thing" seems to be well thought-out. Lots of time-jumps; somewhat difficult to follow. I would likely have been more enthusiastic about s story such as as this 15 or 20 years ago.

DARK CRISIS (ON INFINITE EARHTS) #6: Very much like the previous issues in this series, a whole lot goes on; I'm just not sure anything really happens. Oh, the JLA "comes back from the dead." does that count?

THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN (30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL): It's the anniversary of "The Death of Superman" within the DCU, too (just not the 30th). This is not the post-Flashpoint "New 52" DCU (which I guess has been phased out at some point over the last decade...?), nor is it the current DCU in which Jonathan Kent is now a version of Superman himself. Continuity aside, it's nostalgic reading four stories from writers and artists involed in the original event some three decades ago. 

FANTASTIC FOUR #1: This is a good story, well-told BUT... being a "new" first issue of the Fantastic Four (or should that be a new "first" issue of the Fantastic Four) brings along with it certain expectation, chiefly, the Fantastic Four should be in it. They're not. Except for a photograph on the second last page, Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman and the Human Torch don't appear at all. What it is instead in the Thing and Alicia caught up in a "Groundhog Day" situation. It's an okay story, but not at all what I expected. Bold choice.

X-MEN LEGENDS #4: Disappointing. 

CAPTAIN AMERICA: SENTINAL OF LIOBERTY #6: I've been looking for a jumping off point. This may be it.

SPIDER-MAN #13: There are two Hobgoblins, Roderick Kingsley and Ned Leeds, the "Golden Goblin" (Norman Osborn) rescues Spider-Man, beats Ned Leeds into unconsciousness, then foots his medical bills. Roderick Kingsley, the "Hobgoblin" in charge, escapes but is then revealed to be in thrall to the Red Goblin in the cliffhanger. 

BILLIONAIRE ISLAND: CULT OF DOGS #1: I think i need to reread the first series before delving into this one. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

CLERKS (THE COMIC BOOK):  I bought this, like, 25 years ago when I was going through a "Kevin Smith" phase. This one is about after-market toy collecting. I knew some people who were into that, and this comic is more realistic than you might think.

CLERKS (THE LOST SCENE): This is the scene in the the funeral home which is not "lost" so much as "not filmed." It's true to the movie, though, and the funeral is what ties Clerks together with Mallrats

[Richard Willis]

My attitude towards Kevin Smith is colored by something I witnessed at the San Diego Con years ago, which related to this:

Kevin Smith’s 17-Year-Delayed Daredevil Comic is Still in the Works...

He was on stage taking questions. One of the fans asked him when this story would be finished. He loudly and rudely responded "Daredevil won!"

The Bleeding Cool article seems to indicate that he's learned not to be rude to the people putting food on his table, but I think the rude answer was more authentic. Now it's 20 years..

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I knew Kevin Smith as an independent film maker back in the '90s (through CBG) but I had never seen seen any of his films and found him easy to ignore. Then he and Joe Quesada took over Daredevil as part of the "Marvel Knights" launch and he became less easy to ignore. Right around that same time, IIRC, pre-publicity surrounding his upcoming film Dogma was drawing Christian ire on internet message boards. I wasn't connected at that time (no surprise there), but I had somehow acquired a hardcopy of the hatred spewed by "Christians" against Smith online. Dogma was the first Kevin Smith movie I saw, but I soon caught the others on VHS shortly after that.

Kevin Smith's comics seemed to be everywhere for a time: Daredevil, Green Arrow, Spider-Man & Black Cat and, yes, Daredevil/Bullseye. I had no idea that series is supposedly still "in the works" (I don't believe it actually is), but I do remember a "post" DD/B story which tied up some of the loose ends that series left dangling (Daredevil: Father by Joe Quesada, I believe). As for DD/B, I number that among many other unfinished series, such as Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All-Star Batman & Robin the Boy  Wonder, Alan Moore's 1963, etc., etc., etc. 

[Richard Willis]

Chasing Amy and Dogma were the first of his movies that I saw, also. I liked them, but still have never seen a Clerks or Mallrats movie.

[The Baron]

Headline on the latest edition of the New York Post: "Florida Man Makes Announcement"

Jeff of Earth-J said:

So... is it okay to laugh at Florida Man? The article doesn't really say. Hill does a good job of pointing out all that's wrong with the image, but by the end of the article he relates some instances of former "Florida Men" who are trying to take the image back. I don't follow the internet to any degree; all I know about "Florida man" is when a story breaks through to the mainstream media (or a late night talk show). I do think the proliferation of "Florida man" stories is the direct result of that states "sunshine laws." As the someone quoted in the article points out, "We are all Florida Man." 

The original solicitation for the comic book described Florida Man as "laugh-out loud funny and unapologetically offensive, but with a heart of gold." That description appealed to me. One of my favorite comic-book series from the '90s was Beautiful Stories of Ugly Children in which writer Dave Louapre and artist Dan Sweetman left it up to the reader to determine which parts of each story were beautiful and which were ugly. Florida Man writer Mike Baron describes his main character as "a decent guy at heart, and someone who would give you the shirt off his back. The challenge was to make Gary inappropriate, hilarious, and sympathetic." 

The comic book is based on a series of three novels (which were intended to be a comic book in the first place). "That first Florida Man novel says 'vile and profane' right on the cover," points out Baron, "yet it still gets the occasional one-star review." That statement prompted me to go to Amazon.com where 365 reviews (with an average rating of four stars out of five) have been posted. I didn't read all the reviews, but I did read all the one-star reviews. There is also a lengthy section of the audiobook one can listen to. Also, the comic book prints an excerpt of the book as well. 

When I finish the book I'm reading now I plan to move on to the Florida Man trilogy next. 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"Florida Man Makes Announcement"