Miss a week or two, miss a lot: Thank God the holidays are finally over, and the bloggers I like reading are all back to blogging things I like to read. Bloggers like Josh Fruhlinger, who just recently had a massive check-in with various continuity comic strips (i.e. the unfunny funnies) after taking the holidays off from posting.

“Erotic Alan Moore’s graphic, graphic sex history: from, to, of novels, art”: That’s unfortunately as dirty as I can make the headline of this Guardian article by rearranging the words. It’s about Moore’s essay 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom.

“Shade and Kathy confront the JFK Sphinx in Dallas: an enormous, shattered stone head that eats anyone who can’t solve the conspiracy around his death”: Writing for Bookslut, Martyn Pedler pens an appreciation for Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo’s Shade, The Changing Man. That series is perhaps the most under-appreciated of the first generation of Vertigo books, maybe because it was just so weird that it managed to out-weird the rest, even the aggressively weird on purpose Doom Patrol book.

This just in!: Sam Henderson is still really funny.

For God’s sake DC, give Kate Beaton a treasure chest full of gold coins and beg her to do a Wonder Woman comic: See this picture? Beaton writes below it that, “I start sketching Wonder Woman absent mindedly these days.” She just draws her without even really thinking about it!

So how’s Marvel’s Dr. Strange/Dr. Voodoo thing doing?: The Internet’s number one Dr. Strange fan (I think; Wong’s not blogging, is he?) Neilalien talks a little about Marvel’s recent moves regarding their Sorceror Supreme, and finds he can’t really get too bent out of shape about any of them.

Aw Jimmy Woo (Oh, that guy on the far left is supposed to be Jimmy Woo, by the way), why do you have to spoil Ken “Gorilla Man” Hale’s fun? If Marvel Boy doesn’t mind having a miniseries with the word “Uranus” in the title, why not let him? Anyway, it looks like everyone finally agreed to Marvel Boy: The Uranian as the title of Grayson’s miniseries, even though it is far less hilarious than anything that sounds like “your anus.” It’s written by Agents of Atlas mastermind Jeff Parker, penciled by Felix Ruiz and weighs in at 48-pages for to justify it’s $3.99 price tag. Some of those pages will be reprints of classic, 1950s stories featuring the character, drawn by Bill Everett and Russ Heath! I think that officially makes this the biggest, most exciting Marvel Comics release of the week, right? What could possibly be bigger or more exiciting?

Let’s see if Marvel (or anyone else) can top Heath and Everett-drawn Marvel Boy stories, after the jump.

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When it comes to the Young Guns, it looks like Marvel has one less weapon in its arsenal, as the Source announced today that Ultimatum artist David Finch would be joining DC as an exclusive artist!

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining the DC family!” Finch said on the blog. “It feels too good to be true that I’m going to have the chance to draw some of the most dynamic, iconic, and fun characters in the business. I’ve been a DC comics fan for a very long time, so it’s a very big honor to finally have a part in their creation.”

Now, headhunting artists isn’t a new thing in this business — heck, Marvel has been doing that to DC for years, snatching up people like Jason Aaron and Dale Eaglesham after they had gotten some good buzz with stuff like Scalped and JSA — but the thing that interests me the most is… I don’t think Finch has done a mainstream DC book outside of the Darkness/Batman special. (It took me awhile just to find the above Batman sketch, courtesy of Pulp Art!)

So it’s interesting to me that the jump to exclusive was made so quickly — but that said, look at what Finch has done the past few years. He was artist on Ultimatum, which was selling like hotcakes every month it printed; he was the opening artist on Brian Michael Bendis’s New Avengers run; he’s been doing covers for books like World War Hulk, Moon Knight, and Siege; and he’s been played up for years as the first wave of Marvel’s “Young Guns” Initiative. What say you? What book would you be excited to see Finch draw?

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

NBC’s Chuck: The Complete Second Season hits the stores today on DVD and Blu-Ray. Go buy it.

Chock full of geek humor, clever homages and plain, old-fashioned great characters, Chuck is the story of a brilliant-but-underachieving retail employee who becomes conscripted to work for the government when a top-secret intelligence-gathering computer is downloaded into his brain, leaving the original destroyed. His combating CIA and NSA handlers fight for control of the operation, control of Chuck and often find themselves desperately trying to contain their homicidal urges as people who are used to living lives of high adventure become stranded in the suburban California service industry.

The second season is largely preoccupied with what’s ultimately a dead-end attempt to replace Chuck with a “New Intersect” and allow him to return to his normal life. Along the way, though, we find out whatever happened to Chuck and Elle’s disappearing father and his bitchy ex-girlfriend referenced in the pilot; and what’s to become of dead-again, alive-again secret agent Bryce Larkin, Chuck’s ex-college roommate who sent him the files in the first place. Guest appearances by Jordana Brewster (Annapolis, Fast & Furious), Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap, Men of a Certain Age) and Chevy Chase (Fletch, Community) last for at least a couple of episodes each and really liven up the season, contributing to the terrific cast dynamic that made the show so watchable the first time around.

The only thing that really hurt the show in the second season, in my opinion, was the addition of Tony Hale (best known as Buster fromArrested Development), who came in as a corporate efficiency expert and ultimately took over as manager of the Buy More where Chuck and his friends work. Hale’s character is trite and stereotypical and even the effervescence he brings to the role can’t help him, as “Emmet Milbarge” sucks the life, energy and fun out of every scene he’s in, leaving the spy stuff in the second season to be far more interesting than most of the Buy More stuff. In fairness, that seems to be where they’re headed for season three, and with Jeffster apparently taking on a life of its own and both Chuck and Morgan poised to leave the store in season three, it may be that they’ve just decided they got as much mileage as they were likely to out of that set.

Chuck, starring Zach Levi, Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin, returns to TV with a two-hour premiere Sunday on NBC, and then returns on Mondays  next week.

(Click the image above for a larger version of the strip.)

WORLD OF HURT – The Thrill-Seekers – Episode 19: “Delivering Pain”

This was more like it.  To make up for, what I felt were lackluster efforts in the previous two weeks, I decided to bring some action, a recap panel, and two tiers of bonecrushing action.

The title for this episode was inspired by hip-hop pioneers Public Enemy and the song “Welcome To The Terrordome” from their seminal 1990 album Fear Of A Black Planet.  The lyrics in question:

Subordinate terror/

Kickin’ off an era/

Cold deliverin’ pain

Exactly, Chuck.

New strips of WORLD OF HURT – The Internet’s #1 Blaxploitation Webcomic are posted every Wednesday at www.worldofhurtonline.com.

- JEP

Posts like this are the reason I love this business.

The Kokomo Perspective has an interesting story out about an alleged drug dealer who was on the lam from police. Yet apparently this guy’s drug of choice? World of Warcraft.

“We received information that this guy was a regular player of an online game, which was referred to as ‘some warlock and witches’ game,” said [Howard County Sheriff’s Department deputy Matt] Roberson. “None of that information was sound enough to pursue on its own, but putting everything we had together gave me enough evidence to send a subpoena to Blizzard Entertainment. I knew exactly what he was playing — World of Warcraft. I used to play it. It’s one of the largest online games in the world.”

Roberson — along with sheriff’s major Steve Rogers, fresh from escaping time-lost imprisonment by the Red Skull — ended up petitioning Blizzard Entertainment for the guy’s IP address. Note to drug dealers: Blizzard will give it up faster than you can say “LEEROOOOOOOOOOOY JENKIIIIIIIIINS”:

“I did a search off the IP address to locate him,” said Roberson. “I got a longitude and latitude. Then I went to Google Earth. It works wonders. It uses longitude and latitude. Boom! I had an address. I was not able to go streetside at the location, but I had him.”

At which point I’m pretty sure Cap threw his mighty shield, at which case the level 80 Tauren Shaman did yield. I think Topless Robot had one of the funnier insights to all this, however — that guy paid $15 a month to get totally busted by the Feds. To be fair, if he was selling drugs via World of Warcraft, it might explain this scene a little bit better.

[Image via Wandering Goblin]

ComicMonsters are running the Asylum — by giving the company an 11-year retrospective!

The horror comic book site will be writing up features looking at the company’s history, as well as giving out sneak peeks and interviews detailing its future.

“I’m very excited to be working with Comic Monsters to put together a giant online retrospect of Asylum Press as well as previews of upcoming books, animations, trailers, exclusive premieres, interviews with creators and more,” said Asylum Publisher Frank Forte in in a statement. “This is going to be a blast!”

If you click on their site, there is already some looks at Asylum’s book Farmhouse.

I thought I’d share with you some of my thoughts on comics that intrigued me in 2009. I tip my hat to my colleagues, Caleb and Mike, who have compiled similar thoughts. Comics entertain, fascinate and inform us. So, here’s to all our friends who share a love for this unique medium. Please read on:

Mysterius the Unfathomable (WildStorm): This title appeals to me the most for 2009. And, believe me, I go through a lot of comics. You really should find this limited series to be all-around good fun. The story of a bumbling, yet dapper, magician/detective and his trusty assistant set the gold standard with the awesome talent of Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler. The trade comes out March 17! (Read my reviews here and here).

Red Herring (WildStorm): Another winner much in the same vein as Mysterius: the energy and tension generated between a man and a woman, in over their heads, having to depend on each other to survive. Wry humor, plot twists, colorful characters, it’s all here. This limited run by David Tishman, Phillip Bond and David Hahn, is winding up January 13 and the trade will be available before you known it. (review).

The Squirrel Machine (Fantagraphics): Yeah, baby, this is what I debuted with for my Comics Grinder column and for good reason. If you want to know what appeals to me, this is as good as it gets. Aside from the most celebrated titles, it is books like this that truly bring home the level to which the comics medium can take, especially on a regular basis by its creator. Hans Rickheit has been producing work like this for years and he has perfected a certain haunted and exquisite comics style. Take it from me, this story of two very strange brothers is the real deal. (review).

Swallow Me Whole (Top Shelf Productions): What a banner year for Top Shelf with the likes of Far Arden and Essex County. Well, for me, the one that won my heart is Swallow Me Whole. Nate Powell’s  art and story about two kids who keep floating in and out of reality will have you hooked. Something like this could be taken for granted but, trust me, it’s hard work. To reach the level of skill of Craig Thompson and also retain your own distinct style and voice is remarkable. (review).

The Winter Men (WildStorm): Comics is a serious business and, while everyone is welcome to try to create something, only a few works stick around. This is one of the most offbeat works you’re likely to encounter but because Brett Lewis and John Paul Leon are serious players, you get one of the most memorable comics: a multi-layered crime/anti-superhero tale that is breathetaking. (review).

Rotten (Moonstone Books): You won’t know until you try but Rotten is the comic that does the zombie genre right in more ways than one. Given that a really good zombie story is in some way commenting on our own society, Rotten does this in a variety of interesting ways. Packed with political, pop culture and movie references, and set in the Wild West, it’s definitely something different. By Mark Rahner, Robert Horton and Dan Dougherty. (review).

Spider-Man: The Short Halloween (Marvel Comics): Don’t you love the unexpected one-shot? I want it known that I really appreciate this sort of thing and this one is probably the best of its kind for 2009. Not only is it a welcome concept but it works. Bringing on board the SNL writing talents of Seth Myers and Bill Hader, along with art by Kevin Maguire, we get a wild romp involving mistaken identity and a healthy dose of solid comics references. It’s very good to mix things up like this and I look forward to seeing more of it. (review).

Pope Hats (Ethan Rilly): Coming from the small press as I do, I totally love to see exceptional work that is self-published. From my review: “Who is Frances Scarland? We know she’s what keeps Vickie together. We know she’s loyal to her job, she’s pretty mild-mannered, and she talks to a ghost. Maybe that’s more than enough for a girl of 23 or so. Maybe it’s a perfect picture of someone young who is trying to cope with an uncertain future, just a few steps away from the nearest Zoloft.” (full review).

Nine Gallons (Susie Cagle): Speaking of indie comics, it doesn’t get much more underground than this brilliant comic. From my review: “We roll into the holiday season and more thought is given to those among us who are in need. Whether or not it’s the holidays or The Great Recession, there will always be those of us less fortunate. Susie Cagle’s mini-comic, Nine Gallons, invites those of us more fortunate to take a step into the world of the homeless and consider helping out.” (full review).

The Deformitory (Sophia Wiedeman): And one more small press wonder to consider: a very unusual little fairy tale. From my review: “The book revolves around Delores, a Kafka-like city dweller stuck in the rut of working in an office. Instead of turning into a cockroach, her hands, overworked from typing, turn into claws, each literally with a mind of its own. These claws have faces and they can talk. With cute little eyes, they could pass for muppets.” (full review).

What else would I add to this list? Well, no doubt, there’s plenty more. We here at Newsarama often need to pick up the pace as we bring you reviews as soon as titles are available. And, at other times, we can reflect back on titles and provide even more insight. I plan to come back to titles, keep tracking the latest stuff and provide whatever extra features I can for you. In general, I will follow my heart and do my best to share more thoughts with you in 2010.

I really liked this headline: Bill Castanier’s list of the best Michigan-related books of the past decade for the Lansing City Pulse includes one graphic novel, David Small’s Stitches.

Baby 1925 frightens me: Well, actually all of these Leyendecker New Year’s babies kinda frighten me, but I think 1925 is the scariest.

The sensational character find of 2009!: Two Kochalkas collaborate, create a new Batman character.

Is Bully insane?: After completing a full 365 days of Ben “The Thing” Grimm, comics blogger Bully had decided to devote 365 posts to another big Marvel lug in 2010. Yes, Bully must be insane…insane like a fox!

The mystery of the “Hulk mystery”: George Gene Gustines’ NYT blog write-up on their “graphic books” bestsellers list features a headline that mentions “Hulk Mystery Explained.” Which Hulk mystery is that, exactly? In the body of the post, Gustines mentions that the second printing of the Fall of the Hulks special that came out on Wednesday “helps solve the mystery of why there is a green Hulk and a red Hulk running around the Marvel Universe.” I guess “helps” is enough of a qualifier to cover the fact that there’s no big reveal about the identity of the Red Hulk in the book itself, but the headline sure makes it sound like it does, huh? Anyway, the post is worth a read to see how Gustines tries explaining Blackest Night to an audience of laypeople.

“Patricia Highsmith was a horrible person and Joan Schenkar’s new biography of her is an awful book, though at least one of these things could have been averted”: Damn, that’s a hell of a grabby lead, isn’t it? It’s from writer Jay Atkinson’s review of The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar. What’s Highsmith, the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, got to do with us? Writes Atkinson, “Fresh out of Barnard, Highsmith worked in the burgeoning comic-book industry, coming up with ideas for ‘The Avenger’ and ‘Jap Buster Johnson,’ which were also being scripted by Stan Lee and Mickey Spillane, respectively.” Hmm. I’ve never heard of Jap Buster Johnson, but something tells me that’s one Golden Age character who won’t be making a comeback any time soon…

“The Prince of Stories”: I wonder if headlines like this make Neil Gamian feel weird.

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Spider-Man 2099
Written by Peter David
Penciled by Rick Leonardi, with Kelley Jones

Inked by Al Williamson, with Mark McKenna
Colored by Steve Buccellato & Noelle Giddings
Lettered by Rick Parker

Only 89 more years until this becomes the Spider-Man of today!

Years back, when I bought my first comic book, Marvel’s 2099 line was brand-spankin’ new, just hitting comic shop shelves for the first time. I kind of dismissed it; a callow attempt to milk more cash from the Spider-Man and Punisher names, I assumed. (I’m sure there’s a joke in there about how little I knew about comic book companies and their attempts to squeeze every dime out of a property.) A couple years later, having discovered the writing of Peter David via his work on The Incredible Hulk (and I think Aquaman by that point, as well), I decided to revisit the absurdity of future versions of Marvel’s heroes.

As he’s done with most of his superhero work, Peter David proved to me the validity, and more importantly, the fun of the Marvel 2099 line. (Or, more accurately, he proved that he could write entertaining stories in most outlets; Karl Kesel’s too-brief FF 2099 remains the only other 2099 title I’ve read even a page of.) One day, maybe a year and a half after I joined the party, Peter departed Spider-Man 2099 and the character disappeared from my radar, fondly remembered, but filed away in long boxes somewhere and never revisited.

When Marvel announced the Spider-Man 2099 trade paperback collection, I suppose I could’ve just dug out the issues (I did complete Peter’s entire run, despite not starting the series until issue 32 or 33), but I like trades better anyway, particularly meaty ten issue trades, so I splurged, hoping it would hold up.

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From the Guardian article headlined “Somali charged with murder attempt on Muhammad cartoonist”:

A Somali man has been charged with trying to murder a Danish artist whose cartoons of the prophet Muhammad sparked a storm of protest and violence across the Muslim world.

 

Danish police shot and wounded the 28-year-old man after he broke into Kurt Westergaard’s home in Aarhus last night armed with an axe and a knife. The suspect is said to have ties to al-Qaida.

 

The 75-year-old artist had retreated to a safe room with his five-year-old granddaughter. When police arrived they tried to arrest the intruder and then shot him in the hand and knee when he threatened an officer with the axe, said Preben Nielsen of the Aarhus police.

Westergaard’s cartoon was published in 2005.

Will 2010 be the year DC Comics surpasses Marvel as the top publisher in the industry? I ask this because in my secret identity as a mild-mannered comic shop employee, I have a front row seat to watch industry sales trends as they happen. Being around comic book fans forty-plus hours a week, seeing their buying habits and talking about comics with them, in addition to getting to learn about the retail side of the industry in one of the country’s top comic shops (insert shameless plug) gives you a unique perspective on the comics biz.

If you take a look a recent sales trends–ICv2 and The Beat are great resources for retail news–you can see the potential for a reversal in the familiar trend of Marvel kicking DC’s collective butts up and down the sales charts. Blackest Night has been a sales bonanza for DC, surpassing last year’s Final Crisis event in performance and reader excitement. It’s by far the hottest selling comic being published today, and it’s allowed DC to dominate the top of the bestseller charts for the past couple of months now. (The six bestselling comics in October, as well as seven of the top ten selling books for November, belonged to DC.)

If you look at what we know is upcoming in 2010, a reversal of fortunes between DC and Marvel seems very possible. Marvel’s next big event is Siege, ostensibly the wrap-up to several years worth of ongoing plotlines that the Marvel Universe proper has revolved itself around. You would think that years of build-up and major events (Civil War; Secret Invasion; Steve Rogers’s death; etc.) would translate into massive anticipation for what comes next, but there honestly doesn’t seem to be much of a buzz surrounding the story among the clientele where I work. Instead, I get the feeling that fans are growing indifferent towards the current direction of the Marvel Universe, and are less excited about Siege itself than they are what it represents as the potential end of a story that’s worn out it’s welcome. I guess we’ll find out on Wednesday, when the first issue of Siege hits the stands.

DC counters with The Return of Bruce Wayne mini-series by Grant Morrison, which begins in April, a month after Blackest Night ends. Captain America Reborn has been Marvel’s biggest success for the past few months, and given the similarities between the two projects, it seems safe to say The Return of Bruce Wayne will be a big hit, too. If DC can manage to carry their momentum through the end of Blackest Night and into TROBW and beyond, then Marvel may need to start getting used to watching DC’s tail lights for a change.

Happy New Year!

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

Do you know why comics bloggers post “top ten” and “best of” lists at the end of each calendar year? No, it’s not because it is a valuable resource for readers, given that great comics don’t stick to strict observation of calendar years. And no, it’s not because lists are easy to do in advance, giving their writers a chance to take it easy over the holidays. It’s actually because posting them is required by comics blogosphere regulators, and to not post a best of the year list is to risk losing one’s comics blogging license.

You’ve already read Mike’s list, right? Well, here’s mine.

1.) Adventures In Cartooning (First Second) By James Sturm, Andrew Arnold and Alexis Frederick-Frost: In addition to its being brilliantly written and drawn, this book was just plain more fun to read than just about anything else I read this year (save for some of the other entries on this list)  and, upon finishing, was immediately seized with the desire to give it to everyone I know, up to and including my own seven-year-old self through some kind of time travel. It’s a fun, funny how-to cartoon book that is, all on its own, a pleasant reading experience whether you care to learn what the creators are trying to teach or not. (Originally reviewed here).

2.) The Bun Field (Drawn and Quarterly) by Amanda Vähämäki: I can’t think of anything more valuable and pleasurable than dreaming—which I don’t mean in a metaphorical, Reach for the stars, kids! kind of way, but the literal what-happens-when-you-sleep kind of way. Remarkably, Vähämäki was able to recreate the experience of a dream, and put it on paper. (Originally reviewed here).

3.) Far Arden (Top Shelf) by Kevin Cannon: One of the zanier, sillier, more fun-for-fun’s-sake books I read this year, this arctic adventure comedy was deceptively well structured, and managed to slyly be about stuff beyond simply having a good time. Cannon’s artwork also made me enthusiastic about drawing in a way the work of no other comics artist really has since I was in my early twenties or so. Something about the way he draws human limbs and figures in action just made me want to pick up a pencil and draw people running around and punching each other. (Originally reviewed here).

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Happy New Year, Newsarama readership! You know what this means, it’s obligatory “Best of” list time!

Well, I haven’t read every single comic that was published this past year, but I read quite a few. So if Joe Daly’s The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book, Jamie Hernandez’s Locas II or David Small’s Stitches isn’t here, don’t fret – I fully intend to get to them. (In fact, I already own two of those three, so look for thoughts in 2010 when I get sufficiently caught up with my reading.)

Nevertheless, I present Mike Lorah’s books of 2009 that I strongly urge everyone to check out:

1. Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzuchelli. Pantheon. (original review here – scroll down a little bit)

“Technically, Asterios Polyp is an absolute tour de force, with a lesson in cartooning to learn on every page, but Mazzucchelli isn’t just showing his virtuosity as an artist and designer. By crafting a series of distinct and internally strong characters, Mazzucchelli enables Asterios Polyp to explore the human condition via his interactions with one of the most memorable casts to grace the comics page.”

2. The Photographer: Into war-torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders, by Emmanuel Guibert & Didier Lefèvre. First Second. (full review)

“Writing a script from Lefèvre’s journal, mixing the cold reality of photos and the impressionistic vision of his own artwork, Guibert captures the indelible humanity experienced by his friend in Afghanistan. The book succeeds on many levels: a document of a people’s struggle to survive, a love letter to the important work being done by MSF, and as a reinvention of the graphic rules of the comic book form.”

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