My New Home. I Think Maybe A Lot of People Killed Themselves Here.
so i’m reading this book. and i’m really enjoying it. And along the way i have a few questions and make some mental notes to look into them when i finish. and then i get to the Back Matter section and there are the answers.
Now i’ll buy anything Ellis writes. ANYTHING. i think the man’s a genius and will ride along on whatever trip he’s taking. But this is good. He sticks almost exclusively to the nine panel grid. and crams a nice chunk of information onto every page. The back matter goes into how the whole idea came about. Every time i read an Ellis story about these seemingly perpetually miserable people i’m thinking it will get old and unbelievable but somehow he keeps me there, addicted and dirty and abused. And i want more.
Richard Fell is a talented cop, relocated to Snowtown. “Over the bridge” and beyond redemption. His Lieutenant, Beard, has passed the point of no return and is totally apathetic. He almost encourages Fell to get drunk immediately and stay that way until the city kills him. We have a few flashbacks to Fell’s father. Looks like he’s got a photography hobby or career and young Richard remembers this fondly. Richard himself is a kind of camera. He’s a gift for reading people instantly and through this meets a bartender, Mayko.
Now in this bar scene, Fell flops down a book with the title NPL: Reading Minds. I’m a big sucker for little unmentioned Easter eggs so this is one of the questions i have that turns out to be addressed in the Back Matter. Although in the Back Matter its NLP - neuro-linguistic programming. Guess that was a little mistake by Templesmith.
Templesmith, by the way is wonderful in the book. Ellis writes to his style perfectly and some beautiful pages are created. Photographs that Fell takes are there. Lighting and color and disproportion are all superb. Lovely stuff.
A complete tale, self contained, $1.99 “slab of culture”. It totally works, i’ll buy everyone. Like there was any way i wouldn’t.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Wolfskin 1, April 2006
Well I gotta say that I’m disappointed with this book. Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp. A barbarian, intelligent, worldly, a total fucking killer. The words just weren't there for me like they usually are with Warren. I know this is a departure from his sci fi stuff, but the voice just didn't sound the same.
The one great line in it he told us in the Bad Signal.
I’m sad.
The one great line in it he told us in the Bad Signal.
I’m sad.
Monday, May 01, 2006
The Sentry TPB, 2005
This TPB reprints The Sentry 1-6, The Sentry: Fantastic Four, The Sentry: Spider-Man, The Sentry: X-Men, The Sentry: Hulk and The Sentry Vs. The Void
issue 1 act 1: the suit
jenkins does a nice job of making bob reynolds just a little crazy. he wakes from a dream, in a thunder storm. half memories of life as costumed hero the sentry. nice 60s through-back art and later 80s dark knight stuff. a nemesis the void and a serum that gives him his powers and is addictive. he drinks and his wife is pissed and has had it. cute dog. mentions the avengers and reed Richards. i liked it. jae lee art is moody and slick.
like the clothes pins on the jacket holding up the bath-towel cape.
issue 2
act 2: the unicorn
i gotta say i really enjoying this. the idea of no one remembering the sentry. we see flashbacks of his wedding to lindy. reed richards is the best man. sue and lindy used to get their hair done together. tony stark is smashed. bob and reed worry about him.
opens with sentry on the top of a crane at the FF's construction site. a cool 90s cover Liefieldesque. a dead young hero billy.
fucking william shatner LT. reed and sue get the willies as they find a unicorn statue that bob gave them to "remember him by" there's a VHS labeled "wedding video"
nice weeding of the sentry cover. who is that style?
bob on the subway is quite mad. on the video is reed saying that they r all as good as dead
act 3: the photograph
the clothespins on reynolds' bath-towel cape burn into the sentry "s". he goes to c the hulk and the hulk remembers. bob says its because of his change. hulk is sweet and somber and fondly remembers bob. calls him golden man. now i don't read hulk but if he written like this
Ok I just finished this. Really liked it. And this wont be as detailed as I would like but it’s been hanging over my head for a while now and I just want to be rid of it.
So just some bullets.
Sienkienwich art is perfect as always. Love his hulk.
Love clock.
Liked that he was the void.
Loved the retconned history.
Im still confused as to whether it was really a stan lee idea or not.
And am I right that he remembers at the very end?
issue 1 act 1: the suit
jenkins does a nice job of making bob reynolds just a little crazy. he wakes from a dream, in a thunder storm. half memories of life as costumed hero the sentry. nice 60s through-back art and later 80s dark knight stuff. a nemesis the void and a serum that gives him his powers and is addictive. he drinks and his wife is pissed and has had it. cute dog. mentions the avengers and reed Richards. i liked it. jae lee art is moody and slick.
like the clothes pins on the jacket holding up the bath-towel cape.
issue 2
act 2: the unicorn
i gotta say i really enjoying this. the idea of no one remembering the sentry. we see flashbacks of his wedding to lindy. reed richards is the best man. sue and lindy used to get their hair done together. tony stark is smashed. bob and reed worry about him.
opens with sentry on the top of a crane at the FF's construction site. a cool 90s cover Liefieldesque. a dead young hero billy.
fucking william shatner LT. reed and sue get the willies as they find a unicorn statue that bob gave them to "remember him by" there's a VHS labeled "wedding video"
nice weeding of the sentry cover. who is that style?
bob on the subway is quite mad. on the video is reed saying that they r all as good as dead
act 3: the photograph
the clothespins on reynolds' bath-towel cape burn into the sentry "s". he goes to c the hulk and the hulk remembers. bob says its because of his change. hulk is sweet and somber and fondly remembers bob. calls him golden man. now i don't read hulk but if he written like this
Ok I just finished this. Really liked it. And this wont be as detailed as I would like but it’s been hanging over my head for a while now and I just want to be rid of it.
So just some bullets.
Sienkienwich art is perfect as always. Love his hulk.
Love clock.
Liked that he was the void.
Loved the retconned history.
Im still confused as to whether it was really a stan lee idea or not.
And am I right that he remembers at the very end?
Incredible Hulk 300, October 1984
I don’t think I’ve read a Hulk comic since that McFarlane Wolverine/Hulk crossover issue. Which I must have sold of lost because I don’t have it and want it badly. I’ll be buying it soon.
Anyway, not bad. Bill Mantlo script. Never read him before. Wordy but not painful.
Ton of guest appearances as the Hulk rampages through New York. Daredevil saves a boy, Katherine Waynesboro cries because she loved banner. Spider-man saves some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they fall from weird jet fighters. Dr. Strange thinks ALOT and turns out that his enemy, Nightmare, “killed” Banner’s persona, leaving only the Hulk. Savage and animalistic. He can’t even understand language. Strange is looking for another dimension to send the Hulk to where he might find peace. The Human Torch is useless. Power Man and Iron Fist show up and are dealt with easily. The Hulk knocks Cage through at least four buildings.
The Avengers are next. Led by The Vision. Thor is the only one who slows the Hulk down.
The Strange opens a doorway and exiles the Hulk to the “spaces between dimensions”.
I had no idea that Hulk comics were like this.
Anyway, not bad. Bill Mantlo script. Never read him before. Wordy but not painful.
Ton of guest appearances as the Hulk rampages through New York. Daredevil saves a boy, Katherine Waynesboro cries because she loved banner. Spider-man saves some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as they fall from weird jet fighters. Dr. Strange thinks ALOT and turns out that his enemy, Nightmare, “killed” Banner’s persona, leaving only the Hulk. Savage and animalistic. He can’t even understand language. Strange is looking for another dimension to send the Hulk to where he might find peace. The Human Torch is useless. Power Man and Iron Fist show up and are dealt with easily. The Hulk knocks Cage through at least four buildings.
The Avengers are next. Led by The Vision. Thor is the only one who slows the Hulk down.
The Strange opens a doorway and exiles the Hulk to the “spaces between dimensions”.
I had no idea that Hulk comics were like this.
Uncanny X-Men 193, May 1985
Warhunt 2.
i should say that I'm way behind on my “current” x-men reading and some things here will surely reflect that. Banshee. i miss irish. damn shouldn’t he be healed by now? how long’s he been out of commission? so he’s jogging on muir isle and jimmy Proudstar jumps him and hauls him off. his pissed about his brother’s death.
umm...why didn’t i remember Charles Xavier: Gay Rock Star?
THe Morlocks. Were they addressed in the House of M story-line? Or were we just to assume that they were all “just plain folks” during the reign of Magnus? anyway, it’s good to see the alley again. Callisto says it is a mile beneath the surface of manhattan, with branching lines all over the state. And i never wondered who built it. so now i’ve got to find out. when was it introduced into the mythos? who created it? Callisto, in a classic claremont rant, speaks of humans hunting mutants, of a race war that she’s ready to fight. And only now do we have a resonance in the rest of the marvel universe along those lines? When written well the x-men should always be the leaders of a movement. a perfect metaphor for civil liberties.
then we’re off to the rocky mountains with roulette and empath. hellions and jimmy’s classmates at the Massachusetts academy. where’s emma? haven't seen here in a while. since she had a sort of change of heart after getting storm’s powers somehow. see I'm lost again. and ooh Firestar. always loved that costume. she looked nude. don’t know her back story. Empath’s got her all “oh yes manuel! yes! yes! yes!” is he fucking everybody?
danger room training with cannonball. it’s weird how claremont writes the new mutants so differently here in uncanny than he does in their own book. look at Wolvie there lighting up in the danger room! damn i miss when you could smoke in the marvel universe. how does that censorship happen? and that’s clearly a cigarette and not a cigar. love ya logan. Charlie makes an entrance (he can walk by the way) with that gay stud outfit on. what the fuck is he thinking, walking around like that? it’s even addressed by the team. he’s gotta be flaunting right?
storm’s on a ship to africa. she’s all fucked up.
xavier in a bubble bath! hot damn! hell everyone’s toweling off in the situation room. this is so Real World.
Off to NORAD for...some reason. what’s going on, then? xavier is take easily, lockheed runs away, rachel cries, kurt beats himself up, the hellions just walk in, the general freaks out, Secbots are deployed, kitty and logan find banshee and fight jimmy and get gassed, firestar starts to slip out of empath’s control, rouge takes her powers, wolvie gets bad ass, empath faints, soldiers shoot at Nightcrawler despite the fact that he’s carrying roulette (jesus!), secbots find wolvie and kitty, rachel cries again, jimmy has a chance to kill chuck but doesn’t.
and boom, we are back in the mansion. guess everyone got out okay. Lockheed comes home. angelica and jimmy are offered a place in the school but decline.
then a nimrod epilogue. he’s in some guy Jaime Rodriguez’ house. he decided to kill the x-men. imagine that. umm...how does he walk around looking like that?
i should say that I'm way behind on my “current” x-men reading and some things here will surely reflect that. Banshee. i miss irish. damn shouldn’t he be healed by now? how long’s he been out of commission? so he’s jogging on muir isle and jimmy Proudstar jumps him and hauls him off. his pissed about his brother’s death.
umm...why didn’t i remember Charles Xavier: Gay Rock Star?
THe Morlocks. Were they addressed in the House of M story-line? Or were we just to assume that they were all “just plain folks” during the reign of Magnus? anyway, it’s good to see the alley again. Callisto says it is a mile beneath the surface of manhattan, with branching lines all over the state. And i never wondered who built it. so now i’ve got to find out. when was it introduced into the mythos? who created it? Callisto, in a classic claremont rant, speaks of humans hunting mutants, of a race war that she’s ready to fight. And only now do we have a resonance in the rest of the marvel universe along those lines? When written well the x-men should always be the leaders of a movement. a perfect metaphor for civil liberties.
then we’re off to the rocky mountains with roulette and empath. hellions and jimmy’s classmates at the Massachusetts academy. where’s emma? haven't seen here in a while. since she had a sort of change of heart after getting storm’s powers somehow. see I'm lost again. and ooh Firestar. always loved that costume. she looked nude. don’t know her back story. Empath’s got her all “oh yes manuel! yes! yes! yes!” is he fucking everybody?
danger room training with cannonball. it’s weird how claremont writes the new mutants so differently here in uncanny than he does in their own book. look at Wolvie there lighting up in the danger room! damn i miss when you could smoke in the marvel universe. how does that censorship happen? and that’s clearly a cigarette and not a cigar. love ya logan. Charlie makes an entrance (he can walk by the way) with that gay stud outfit on. what the fuck is he thinking, walking around like that? it’s even addressed by the team. he’s gotta be flaunting right?
storm’s on a ship to africa. she’s all fucked up.
xavier in a bubble bath! hot damn! hell everyone’s toweling off in the situation room. this is so Real World.
Off to NORAD for...some reason. what’s going on, then? xavier is take easily, lockheed runs away, rachel cries, kurt beats himself up, the hellions just walk in, the general freaks out, Secbots are deployed, kitty and logan find banshee and fight jimmy and get gassed, firestar starts to slip out of empath’s control, rouge takes her powers, wolvie gets bad ass, empath faints, soldiers shoot at Nightcrawler despite the fact that he’s carrying roulette (jesus!), secbots find wolvie and kitty, rachel cries again, jimmy has a chance to kill chuck but doesn’t.
and boom, we are back in the mansion. guess everyone got out okay. Lockheed comes home. angelica and jimmy are offered a place in the school but decline.
then a nimrod epilogue. he’s in some guy Jaime Rodriguez’ house. he decided to kill the x-men. imagine that. umm...how does he walk around looking like that?
New Mutants 26, April 1985
Legion
This Sienkiewicz cover alone is worth the price of admission. The man’s art is reason enough to have been reading this book. Does anyone else capture rage and torment like this guy? dear lord.
I can’t really be sure if Claremont’s writing steps up as a result or if it just seems so. We’re used to being written down to in New Mutants up until now but maybe, just maaayyybe, Claremont’s pushing the younger audience. If not, then Sienkiewicz is certainly blasting them to a new levels, eyes bleeding and brain seizing. good stuff.
So Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander have been changed in to Native American Gods by the Demon Bear. Hanging out on Muir Isle while, presumable Moira figures out what the fuck happened to them. And David Haller, Legion, Xaiver’s son, is coming into his own as a schizophrenic, world-class telepath. Nice little Exorcist scene.
chuck and the kids show up to bring Banshee home and see what’s up. Warlock is the real treat here. He’s all over the place in form and thought. His words balloons are filled with images and symbols. Pretty cool stuff.
Cameo by Jamie Madrox. A smoking Gabrielle. A white hot Emma Frost shuts down Manuel De La Rocha’s empathic powers. She’s so bad ass, love ya Emma.
Lee Forrester checks up on it with Magnus in that weird ass Bermuda Triangle Castle Thing. She just fucked Cyclops like a week ago. Damn girl, u just gotta thing for super powers huh? No B-listers for u! What’s Bendis call ‘em in Alias? Cape chasers?
Chuck shuns Gaby, i know he coulda hit that. And Rahne cries to Moira, nice little mother-daughter moment.
Then David blows the fucking walls down.
This Sienkiewicz cover alone is worth the price of admission. The man’s art is reason enough to have been reading this book. Does anyone else capture rage and torment like this guy? dear lord.
I can’t really be sure if Claremont’s writing steps up as a result or if it just seems so. We’re used to being written down to in New Mutants up until now but maybe, just maaayyybe, Claremont’s pushing the younger audience. If not, then Sienkiewicz is certainly blasting them to a new levels, eyes bleeding and brain seizing. good stuff.
So Tom Corsi and Sharon Friedlander have been changed in to Native American Gods by the Demon Bear. Hanging out on Muir Isle while, presumable Moira figures out what the fuck happened to them. And David Haller, Legion, Xaiver’s son, is coming into his own as a schizophrenic, world-class telepath. Nice little Exorcist scene.
chuck and the kids show up to bring Banshee home and see what’s up. Warlock is the real treat here. He’s all over the place in form and thought. His words balloons are filled with images and symbols. Pretty cool stuff.
Cameo by Jamie Madrox. A smoking Gabrielle. A white hot Emma Frost shuts down Manuel De La Rocha’s empathic powers. She’s so bad ass, love ya Emma.
Lee Forrester checks up on it with Magnus in that weird ass Bermuda Triangle Castle Thing. She just fucked Cyclops like a week ago. Damn girl, u just gotta thing for super powers huh? No B-listers for u! What’s Bendis call ‘em in Alias? Cape chasers?
Chuck shuns Gaby, i know he coulda hit that. And Rahne cries to Moira, nice little mother-daughter moment.
Then David blows the fucking walls down.
New Mutants 27, May 1985
Into The Abyss
Look at Warlock on this cover. Fucking cool right?
Damn near this whole issue takes place inside David’s head. Turns out that the little arab boy isn’t one of his own personalities but that of a terrorist the David had to killed and absorbed when his power manifested. Wow, “arab terrorist”, that’s how they refer to him.
Anyway, the art’s fantastic, the writing is typical Claremont verbiage with nice little nugget if you take the time. Like Rahne calling Cyndi (the pyrotic personality, very clever) a spalpeen. Had to look that one up.
And Gaby’s Still smoking, even on the astral plane. Love it.
On the last page Xavier is given a ferocious knife to cut the arab out of his son’s head. Wow.
Look at Warlock on this cover. Fucking cool right?
Damn near this whole issue takes place inside David’s head. Turns out that the little arab boy isn’t one of his own personalities but that of a terrorist the David had to killed and absorbed when his power manifested. Wow, “arab terrorist”, that’s how they refer to him.
Anyway, the art’s fantastic, the writing is typical Claremont verbiage with nice little nugget if you take the time. Like Rahne calling Cyndi (the pyrotic personality, very clever) a spalpeen. Had to look that one up.
And Gaby’s Still smoking, even on the astral plane. Love it.
On the last page Xavier is given a ferocious knife to cut the arab out of his son’s head. Wow.
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