meep,meep. cuuute. die anyway.

Surrounded by hundreds of librarians, I spent Wed. at the New Jersey Library Association conference. Today's sessions - keynote speech by Steve Adubato, Web usability, and Publishing Trends. The exhibitors have fewer giveaways each of the 5 years I've been going-- now a pen and a piece of candy is as good as it gets. Comicons have such better freebies! It is encouraging to see young, hip librarians- even some males- that understand podcasting, blogging, graphic novels. As a reader, the what's hot in publishing was interesting. Looks like chick lit is dead, but lots of erotica, edgy memoirs, websites to books (fratire). And it was held at a hotel on the beach, so afterward I took a long and windy walk along the boardwalk.

Nextwave 4
Ellis claims there is a theme song for Nextwave at the site.
Ginger haired Ellie and team try to stop a "parasite that made it's host turn into a giant robot warrior". Quips, explosions, giant bullets- all Ellis. The captain's backstory is of aliens bestowing him with great powers, drunk and --
"singing a truly filthy song by the Sex Pistols"
Ellie sees the black cat expelled from the giant robot--
"meep. meep." "cuuuute. Die anyway."

Justice 5
The JLA fights the threats of the Legion. A long, red drenched panel fight between Wonder Woman and Cheetah is especially good. How does Ross make the metal accents of WW (or the gold on Shazam) look so, real? Like I could look into the page and get a reflection? I know the bimonthly release is long, but the art, the art!
"What do you know about loss?" Batman is irritated when Shazam brings an ailing Superman to the batcave.

Spiderwoman 5 of 5
While the end of this arc, in 2007, Spiderwoman #1 will be released. I didn't love this series, but I liked it, despite some cliched things (working against terrorism but actually for it, parents may not be dead,etc). Jessica Drew races to see if her father is alive, ends up fighting Athena project girls. Finale issue of fights, explosions, punches, kicks and guns, all drawn in Luna style of blurry backgrounds and distinct coloring. Creepy Athena project girls claim to be big fans of Jessica's and also sleeping with her father...We're the next evolution of you

Nick Fury tries to have Jessica work for S.H.I.E.L.D., but she chooses to create Drew Investigations. No lectures Fury. The West coast needs some superheroes, don'tcha think. They're all in New York.

Grimm Fairy Tales 1
Trying to give an indie title a chance, I picked this up. Starts in modern day classroom, with Brett giving hottie Haley test answers. He just drools over her, but we all know she wouldn't be into him, just uses him. She tells him to take some money and his car and get her a package (drugs).
On this quest, he gets the Grimm Fairy Tale book, that flashes back to the Sleeping Beauty Story. In this, the servant Tristan loves princesses from afar. After melting the skin off of other suitors who kissed her to wake her, Tristan kisses her. But she doesn't love him, and a familiar and sad story is exposed..
I..I though you were different. But I see you were never the person I made you out to be.
Brett sees the truth about Haley, and tells her so. The book is taken back, presumably to continue to help others.
The art was very rich, dark lines and colors (and gruesome skin melting!) The writing was pretty good, so I feel like I'll try it again.