Dynamo - nerdy librarian types

Dynamo 5 #2 um, mentions librarians...at least in the stereotype that the jock football type thinks of. I liked the first two issues, the building of the team of Captain Dynamo's kids and I do like the strength of his widow Maddie Warner. The female characters, Scrap and Slingshot, are posed sometimes too sexualized for me. I did like Jay Faerber's explanation that the 'big guy' the power to read minds instead of super-strength, which Scrap has to throw around cars and generally Hulk-smash.

Luna Brothers and Girls

A big goodbye to the series Girls, which finished at issue 24. I really liked this series, with it's sci-fi, relationship, sex, gender, family, sperm monster, guns, torches, and many naked girls. D at the comic store said that it "always looked so bizarre" when he flipped through it. You know when the comic store employees think it's odd, you've got something.

Ethan was a great protagonist, put upon for beginning the cycle, but coming through in the end. Despite the huge amount of naked content, I didn't feel it was as exploitative as some series for some reason.

Thanks Luna Brothers for a couple years of interesting floppies that always went to the top of the pile. I'd suggest this series to everyone, but I'll bet the cliffhanger effect is way down in trade.

linkorama:

Norm Breyfogle's art on The Danger's Dozen
(Norm drew me in OBS as a zombie!)

COUNTDOWN, DC Comics’s new, yearlong weekly series, will be supported with an unprecedented preview of the first two issues of the series on MySpace’s new comic book community. MySpace Comic Books, located at www.myspace.com/comicbooks, will be the only place to see the first two issues of COUNTDOWN online, in their entirety. The online content will roll out over a series of three weeks:

* The first ten pages of COUNTDOWN 51 will be on www.myspace.com/comicbooks on May 4.
(I haven't explored the My Space comics-- it came fast on the heels of comicspace.com)

Top 10 Comic Book Movies (if you're gonna have a top 10 list, why list 2 sequels?)

52, week 50

Free Comic Book Day: May 5

View - NJLA conf

Redhead RunnerGirl

I ran a 5K yesterday, with Shoreturtle, PhillyGirl and PhilliesGirl. It was a beautiful warm day, and I had a personal best on my run! Of course, shoreturtle blazed by all of us. We got bagels, ice cream, OJ, energy drinks, run T shirt. It was a well organized and good run. Then I was walloped for the day from getting up early and the all out run.

Have you checked out Twitter yet? My twitter profile: http://twitter.com/redheadfangirl
It asks one question: what are you doing? Dave is going to use his to post flash comic reviews.

Comic wise, I'm now only 1 issue behind in 52, reading up to 52/49. Batwoman captured, Nightwing and Renee- the new Question- go rescue her from Intergang. I'm so glad Didio and DC didn't kill off Nightwing as proposed. The science squad is a little confusing to me, but I understood Black Adam storming Oolong Island and their capture of him. The metal men, Professor Morrow, I just don't know their context. These last few issues have been big Blamo! fight scenes and captures.

Reading Dark Tower 3. The art is still without fault, and the story is unfolding, but why don't I love it? I'm sure if I read the source books.

Linkwise:
Friend johno thinks I should try out for the Spider-man musical.

Spider-Man week in NYC

Seth discusses the nudity on the cover of Mighty Avengers. When I had jury duty this week, I brought Buffy and Fell, to avoid the 'embarrassment in public' factor he discusses.

Fell 8 disappoints Andrew.

Review of Harley Quinn in Detective Comics. I was thrilled to see the return of Harley.

It's the final 'countdown'

Me at The Cloisters, NYC, praying that Marvel doesn't kill off Mary Jane.

When 52 is over, I will have spent $130 on every floppy issue. I'm reluctant to give Countdown that commitment-- I liked having a weekly book (although I was usually playing catch up with 3 issues at a time). At 2.99, this is $155. I like to be up on the DC universe, but $155-- that's ankle wrap sandals, a summer dress, peach lipstick...

My question to you:

Countdown - will you buy it? Did you buy 52? Every issue?

Mikester: I'm curious just how Countdown is going to do. I've been hearing quite a few customers saying that, while they followed and enjoyed 52, one year-long weekly series was enough, thank you, and that they'll probably pass on Countdown. A few have cited the price increase, from 52's $2.50 to the new series' $2.99, as a factor against the series as well. I'm guessing that at least some of these folks will probably cave, and sample the series anyway. I mean, if you're coming in every week for your funnybooks, you're going to see a new Countdown on the shelf, and it's just one more $2.99 book to add to the pile...it's not that big of a deal.

Non-comic things I'm currently into:

TV: The Deadliest Catch King Crab fisherman risk their lives for crab. The competition, strategy all make for great TV. The Shield began the new season with the continued showdown between Vic and Cavanaugh (Forrest Whittaker), and the writing and characters go far beyond the dirty cop concepts.

Music: The Shins Wincing the night away. Love the song 'Turn on me'.

Book: Then we came to the end Reminds me of the layoffs at my old ad agency. Not just a satire, but well developed characters at a workplace going down the tubes.

Random links-
Who cares about superheroes in a world of graphic novels?

Ed Norton as the Incredible Hulk

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer images

Teddy Bears and Zombie tags

Boom! Studios has my attention with two titles: Tag, and Mr. Stuffins.

Tag 2
Keith Giffin, Mike Lieb, art by Chee
It's years later, and Ed can't live with the guilt of passing along the curse. So he decides -- to stop it? How can one ordinary man hope to halt the advance of a curse that crosses centuries?

I was in a bit of a comic rut, but reading Tag 2, with a well-plotted story and interesting sad-sack in Ed, I was jazzed again. Ed tries to track the zombie tag, and find out how people have lived with themselves after passing the Tag on. It was good to see more background on how once tagged, you get visions of who to pass it on to...often those who you feel wronged you or deserve to be punished.

Film rights to Tag optioned

Comic Critique Tag 1 review

Mr. Stuffins 1

Andrew Cosby, Johanna Stokes drawn by Lee Carter

I was a bit confused at the beginning of Mr. Stuffins, and believed the scientist who placed the chip was the same as the dad who bought the bear. The art is good, but the coloring is a little drab for this story-- it's not all fun with divorce and bullying and more, but it's not so dark to warrant the color scheme.

The dialogue is hilarious-- imagine a teddy bear in a nine year old's room saying things like "secure the perimeter". There is danger, literally, outside the door at the end. Very interested to see where this goes.

Mr. Stuffins review at Comics Should be Good


Other:
From the Minx line in July- Josh Howard of Dead@17 illustrates and Andi Watson.
Clubbing

Kirkman comes to NY

New Book:
The Feminine Mistake
Its basic message is passionate and unflagging: Women who depend on men for economic stability do so at their own considerable peril.

PhillyGirl meets Losties!

PhillyGirl has returned from her Lost weekend in LA-- I mean the show Lost, where they have charity events and she hangs out with Lost fans and goes bowling with the writers. So cool

Some pictures here from the party- with Rose and Bernard! [We miss them on the show!]

Sun's dad! And Shannon (Maggie Grace) in a WonderWoman- Batgirl Tshirt!


The library was half flooded this morning from a running toliet. Amazing our public and staff computers were OK. By the time I came in, it's just soppy rugs and big fans running. It has been a crazy couple days here-- thug teen gave my coworker the finger and then argued with me when I had to ask him to leave; a patron walked in my training class on Mouse Basics yesterday and asked us to "keep it down" and the flood. Who knows what's next? Public libraries are a scene, I tell you. The good news is I keep getting great graphic novels in, like Elk's Run, DC Frontier Absolute Edition, The Middleman, etc.

About 4 weeks behind on comics, but I've been kind of uninspired. But just read Keith Giffen's Tag 2-- excellent!

lead Bird flying the coop

Hey it's my freckled arm with Gail Simone on the official DC slideshow!
All the NYCC DC Comicon slideshows

One of the biggest announcements coming out the DC Nation column is Gail Simone leaving Birds of Prey, with Sean McKeever coming on. I have really loved McKeever on Spider-Man loves Mary Jane, and like his dialogue and emotional engagement. So while it's a shock and a finger-cross that things continue to go well in BoP, I like her replacement. Rumor has it her "dream job with dream artists" is on Wonder Woman-- maybe I'll actually read WW if she is writing.

The big article is the Gail Simone interview at Newsarama:
It put the lie to the idea that male readers wouldn't read a book with a female cast, and it stayed one of DC's steadiest selling and most critically acclaimed books


Well, issue #104 is probably the biggest response to a single issue we've ever done, and it actually gets a bit crazier. And the climax of this story is going to put monster smiles on the faces of every Birds of Prey reader, I believe. It's the Six vs. the Birds. It's Tora Olafsdotter returning. It's Hawkgirl, and a still-to-be-revealed final member of the Six, and finally, it's Oracle having a friendly chat with Spy Smasher that's going to be quite memorable.

Sean McKeever, says Gail Simone 'spreads very kind lies about me'

Gallivant NYC

Happy Easter, or just Happy Sunday!
Back from a cold but fun NY weekend with C! When I booked an Easter weekend trip, I didn't think the wind and cold would have us bundled up, but that's the breaks.

I wanted to try the new Google "My maps" so if you click the map image here, you can see a few of the places I ate, shopped and visited in the city. A cool new utility from those nutty Googles.

I used the NFT (not for tourists) guide quite a lot this trip, which helped us zero in on reasonable places to eat no matter the neighborhood. Also, the Cloisters is, as I've always heard, one of the most awe-inspiring places in the city!

St marks comics

Canal st NY

Goodbye to you

My pull list has been getting shorter, as I've dropped titles. There are always new adds (Buffy, The Dark Tower), but I have to get to those long waiting trades (Testament, Preacher) and the fiction I like to read also.

I just read the last issues of two titles I'm dropping: Crossing Midnight 4 and Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis 49, the end of the Busiak arc. You have that odd distance in reading a title you know there is no future with: you want to not get invested.

Crossing Midnight is an interesting title, but I knew from the start that the art didn't appeal to me, for no concrete reason. Sister Toshi has become a geisha-esque assistant, and being broken down by taking away her name and making her subservient. Brother is on a vigil at the hospital after Mom has been cut to shreds, and teams up with Nidoru, with spiky nails and control of needles and pins. I might read the rest in trade form.
"a broken soul is the easiest meat to digest"

American Virgin is another recent Vertigo title I dropped. Still love DMZ, Jack of Fables and Y.

Linkos!
Rex Libris-- the librarian movie!

#81 reason to love comics: redhead Guy Gardner

Librarians love a list: ALA Top 10 Graphic Novels for youth

Gail Simone's Avengers would include: THE SPECKLED AVENGERS
I'm speckled, can I be one?

All I really want is...Girls 24
The conclusion to the wildly popular and utterly disturbing series has been eagerly awaited for months.

It's all geek to me
NYT article that covers -300, conservatives, sci-fi culture, irony and campiness

Snake Woman

Snakewoman 1 and 2

I had no interest in any of the titles from the new Virgin Comics line. I like reading fiction that gives me a sense of (modern) India and Asia, but the mission statement for Virgin said they were going to tap into the 'vast mythology' of Asia. It's just personal preference-- I like modern stories in my reading, even futuristic, but historical fiction or mythology are a hard sell. But Bryan at Comic Relief really liked these new comics, so I bought Snakewoman, Devi and The Sadhu.

First, the $6.99 price of the double issues was a gulp! Overall, I liked the story, but didn't love it. Jessica (another Jessica in comics?) is just an unassuming girl working in a bar - who of course has massive hidden powers to transform into a killer Snake Woman. Again, a familiar road-- but I guess that's the fantasy-- I wish I had latent unknown powers to use! The story is there is "The 68", who Snake Woman will try to kill, while juggling her good time roommate Jin and the literal guy-next-door Raj. I also thought the art was too dark, not in a metaphoric way, but that the panels had too much black and shade. The facial closeups did show needed expression. Has anyone else read Snake Woman and have thoughts?

Random links-

Variant Edition has a new segment: Tuesday headlines and what to get for new comic Wed!

Thanks to reading the news headlines on the new Wii
Vote to choose new Star Wars favorite stamp

Soon- March referrals, more reviews.