Jon's Looking Forward to Wednesday 10/7/2oo9

From this week's comics, I'm planning on buying/looking at:

(Spider-Man, Spider-Man does whatever a spider can)
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #608
I'm really looking forward to this throw-back to the era in which I started reading comics: the Clone Saga!

"Strange Tales" #2 of 3
I'm sure Josh and I will be putting together another double-manned review of this fun title.

"Luke Cage Noir" #3 of 4
I've been very much enjoying this series. The first more than the second, but still. And I may break my "NO VARIANTS" rule a second time... They're both gorgeous! Which one to choose!?

(And, drum rolllll...)
"Planetary" #27
The final issue of a brilliant, brilliant series. This is the kind of comics that in the 26 issues published so far, I could count the things that were mishandled or that I didn't LIKE IMMENSELY on a single hand. Exciting.

(The odds and ends that might catch my fancy)
"Cowboy Ninja Viking" #1
This looks crazy! Could be crazy fun!

"Models, INC." #2
I got a kick out of the first issue. We'll see.

"Haunt" #1
This looks like a bit of a mess, but a very intriguing mess. It's co-written by Todd McFarlane and Robert Kirkman. If you're not a big comics reader and you aren't familiar with both or either of those names I don't think I can successfully communicate to you in this space how dramatically different these two writers' work is. This SOUNDS like a re-tread in several ways of McFarlane's "Spawn" series, but you never know.

I'm a pretty conservative comics reader, money-wise. So that's a pretty big week for me: 4 I'm definitely going to buy and 3 I'm thinking about buying.

UPDATE: 10/9/2oo9
See! Fucking huge! Okay, it's only four...

New Clothes Make "The Invincible Iron Man"

Oo! Oo!
Get a load of the new look of the covers of "the Invincible Iron Man" I found presented here.

Gorgeous? Yes. "like a book from the future”(Matt Fraction in interview)? Maybe.

The new look premiers with issue#20.

This and the cover of the second issue with this new look can be seen on Matt Fraction's website along with Fraction's quick comments.

Already Tired of, uh, Monday....

I know I'm way early this week, but I'm procrastinating on a paper, and this seemed like a perfect way to do it. Also, there's a lot of really great stuff coming out this week, stuff I'm really excited for.

First, and foremost (perhaps even foremost of any comic being released this year) is the grand finale of one of the greatest comic stories of all time- Planetary. The long awaited issue #27 of the Warren Ellis penned and John Cassaday illustrated series comes out this week and I'm really, really excited. If you haven't already checked out the preview pages Jon posted about earlier in the week, well, you should. They're pretty fantastic, as is the rest of the series.

And that's just the start of the barrage of the comics on the imprint front this week. From Vertigo we get the second issue of Jeff Lemire's fantastic Sweet Tooth and the Bill Willingham penned Fables novel Peter and Max (although I'm hoping to win a copy through this contest over at Graphic Content). What's really exciting me this week, though, is an imprint release from Icon: Criminal: The Sinners #1. The dynamic duo of Ed Brubaker (who, lets be honest, turns whatever he touches into gold) and Sean Phillips (who, aside from David Aja, might be my favorite illustrator in all of comics) proved themselves once again with the conclusion to Incognito, and I'm ready to return to the tale of Tracy Lawless- and this one sounds like a killer. Brubaker's crime stories are the best in all of comics, which is why I was sad to see him leave Daredevil...

But the new writer, Andy Diggle, seems to be planning some cool stuff- after buying the Daredevil Dark Reign one-shot, I'm convinced that Matt's life is about to get really difficult- and that makes for great Daredevil comics, so I'm pumped for #501 to come out this week. I'm also pumped for the X-Men vs. Agents of Atlas mini to get started- although I was disappointed by the last issue of the AoA ongoing a couple of weeks ago, I think the manic energy that Jeff Parker brings to his work is perfect for a short series like this and I'm curious to see which X-Men he's going to use (hopefully Nightcrawler is going to be one of them; the blue elf has been criminally underused by Matt Fraction in Uncanny). Strange Tales #2 comes out this week too, as does the new issue of The Torch, but I'm not sure if I'll be picking up the latter- I think I might trade-wait it. As for the former, well, I think Jon and I are going to take another shot at reviewing it jointly and seeing what happens. And then, of course, add Batman and Robin #5 to the list and, well, I've got a huge week to make up for last week's tiny little one.

It's going to be a good Wednesday.

Just A Quick Shout Out

So, if you're here at The Long and Shortbox of It, it means that, in some shape or form, you like comics.

Maybe, just maybe, that means you like Webcomics. And if you do, in fact, like Webcomics, you should check out this brand new one- called No One Believes in Monsters- by Danny Lewis, who graduated with Jon and is a general friend to all.

So far, there's only one strip- but I like it a lot. Go check it out!

"Planetary" Alignment

Just in case you still haven't heard about this excellent news:

Warren Ellis' and John Cassaday's brilliant superhero epic "Planetary" is supposedly finally coming to an end after more than a decade of publishing and only 26 issues to show for it. The 27th and last issue is due October 7, 2oo9. THAT'S THIS WEEK! This is going to be incredible. "Planetary" is the best thing currently being published in superheroes. But not for much longer! You can read the preview of the last issue here.

GO. NOW.

Unless you don't want anything spoiled for you. I can understand that. But just so you know?

These pages are awesome.

Models and Marvels

Last night I read a friend's copy of "Models, INC." #1 from a month ago or so, and was shocked to discover that it's not the complete schlock it looks like. In fact, it was fun. It's cute. And with Wikipedia at hand it actually makes sense in the larger context of the Marvel Universe and ours! Of course, I'm not saying Wikipedia is required to enjoy this comic. It just helps.

The main character is professional model Millicent Collins (the blonde, at left). Sound familiar? It should, she had her own romance/humor series for almost thirty years "Millie the Model" (from #1 in 1945 till #207 in 1973). Her close friends Toni Turner and Chili Storm (the redhead, also at left) who appear in "Models, INC." are originally from that series as well.

The other major character at play here is Patsy Walker, the first romance/humor character from Marvel Comics. She premiered as a secondary back-up feature character in Miss America Magazine #2. She eventually took over the book. It was reamed "Patsy Walker Starring in Miss America" at this issue.

Stan Lee brought all of these characters officially into the cohesive meta-story he was building that has come to be called the Marvel Universe in "Fantastic Four" Annual #3, where Patsy and her friend Hedy Wolfe appear hoping to spy famous model Milicent Collins attending the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm, the celebrity superhero couple Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman! Freaking amazing, right?

The Patsy Walker character eventually grew-out of the romance/humor genre and begged to be a super-hero. Suddenly, after hanging out with X-Men's Beast for probably ten seconds in Amazing Adventures #13, she's wearing spandex and calling herself Hellcat in the Avengers #144. So she's a super-hero AND a model. Some girls have all the fun.

Superhero secret I.D. Kyle Richmond's name is dropped several times and the Human Torch, Johnny Storm makes a pretty wonderful cameo.

On the other end of things, photographer Demarchelier is mentioned as are designers Anna Sui and Alexander McQueen. Then Dolce and Gabbana gets a mention in the Tim Gunn back-up story. (A long time mainstay of these humor/romance comics as you can tell!) And I would never have had a clue about any of that crap if it weren't for my buddy Dave Goren explaining everything as I read his copy.

This is one of the many wonderful things about mainstream comics! We get a game in which puzzle pieces come together to make a story, even one as small as this one about four professional models who are friends, part of a larger tapestry. The past! The present! All in one! Like all good art! Even if all of that was out the window, I'd still have had a ball reading Tim Gunn giving fashion advice to an A.I.M. henchmen.

Is there a lot of cheesecake in here? Yeah. Is there a lot of bad jokes and unnecessary sub-plots? Yeah... But it takes place very much in a double historical context of celebrities guest-starring in comics (from John Belushi, David Letterman, and Jay Leno to George W. Bush and a whole damn lot of Barack Obama). and old-school humor comics like Millie the Model and Patsy Walker. As well as the context of the Marvel Universe and the present-day fashion world. Personally, I find that fascinating.

And it was fun. And cute.

Jon's Looking Forward (a little behind) and Jon's just looking (9/30/2oo9)

(The standard "Amazing" and guest appearances:)
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #607
I'm not the first one to say it: Three times a month is too much.

"The Punisher" Annual #1
Well, Spider-Man going crazy was fun in the Mister Negative mini. Maybe we'll get a nice repeat of that or a repeat of the hilarious Punisher/Spider-Man team-up from a few years ago.

"Spider-Man: Clone Saga" #1 of 6
I gotta admit that as a child of the Eighties and Nineties who started reading Spider-Man, his favorite major continuing character, while the original 616 Clone Saga as it saw print was just starting? I gotta check this shit out.


(Hey there good-lookin':)
"Batman: Widening Gyre" #2
I loved the first issue of this fucking crazy series. Looking forward to getting my hands on this.

"Deformitory"
Well this looks interesting... Weird, but interesting.


So in bad local news:
I lost my job at the comic-book store last week. So I am now unemployed in the big city. For the second time. And my apologies for not having as much of a presence on this blog of late as a result.

So, if you know of any openings in any corner of the comic-book industry. Let a guy know!