So it's decent huh?

I just picked up issue 3. Are 1 and 2 hard to find? I had read some of stuff about this book in Wizard and I had wanted to catch it but totally dropped the ball until I noticed #3 in my LCBS last week. I had an, "oh man! I'm behind on this!", moment.

Anyway, it looks good.

I would say it's pretty good. The strange thing is that all of the Ross/Kreuger collaborations have a similar feel to them in terms of a slow build to some large Ragnarok-like event. Only, unlike with Earth X and its various sequels or with Justice, I have no pre-existing attachments to these characters. So it's a similar but different experience for me from reading their other stuff.

I'd call this book a fun ride, but so far not destined to go down as one of the all-time classics. I certainly plan to keep reading it.

Pick up the Michelinie/Layton miniseries ("Legacy of Doom"). It's classic, heroic Iron Man and classic, evil but regal Doom (Doom does not rant, eyes bugged and spittle flying, that his foe is a "fat piece of furniture he may need for trade." Bendis, I'm looking at you).

Thanks. Yeah, I like the fact that they're using these heroes from the early days of comics.

Just thought I'd pimp an upcoming book.

Harvey Kurtzman's Humbug is getting a deluxe hard cover 2 volume slipcase set in August and Amazon has it available for preorder for only $31.50.



"We won't write for morons. We won't do anything just to get laughs. We won't be dirty. We won't be grotesque. We won't be in bad taste. We won't sell magazines."—Declaration of editorial principles, Humbug #1

Harvey Kurtzman changed the face of American humor when he created the legendary MAD comic. As editor and chief writer from its inception in 1952, through its transformation into a slick magazine, and until he left MAD in 1956, he influenced an entire generation of cartoonists, comedians, and filmmakers. In 1962, he co-created the long-running Little Annie Fanny with his long-time artistic partner Will Elder for Playboy, which he continued to produce until his virtual retirement in 1988.

Between MAD and Annie Fanny, Kurtzman's biographical summaries will note that he created and edited three other magazines, Trump, Humbug, and Help!, but, whereas his MAD and Annie Fanny are readily available in reprint form, his major satirical work in the interim period is virtually unknown. Humbug, which had poor distribution, may be the least known, but to those who treasure the rare original copies, it equals or even exceeds MAD in displaying Kurtzman's creative genius. Humbug was unique in that it was actually published by the artists who created it: Kurtzman and his cohorts from MAD Will Elder, Jack Davis, and Al Jaffee, were joined by universally acclaimed cartoonist Arnold Roth. With no publisher above them to rein them in, this little band of creators produced some of the most trenchant and engaging satire of American culture ever to appear on American newsstands. At last, the entire run of 11 issues of Humbug is being reprinted in a deluxe format, much of it reproduced from the original art, allowing even owners of the original cheaply-printed issues to see the full impact of these creators' artistry for the first time.

"Man—We're Beat! Satire has got us beat. 1953—We started MAD magazine for a comic-book publisher and we did some pretty good satire and it sold very well. 1956—We started Trump magazine...and we worked much harder and we did much better satire and we sold much worse. 1957—We started Humbug magazine and we worked hardest of all and turned out the very best satire of all, which of course now sells the very worst of all. And now...as they throw rocks at Vice President Nixon...as space gets cluttered with missiles...and as our names are carefully removed from our work in MAD pocketbooks—a feeling of beatness creeps through our satirical veins and capillaries and we think how George S. Kaufman once said, 'Satire is something that closes Saturday night....'"—From the editorial to Humbug's final issue

^^^ Awesome!

WTF? I'm catching up on Batman and the Outsiders and now the previously dead Ralph(Elongated Man) and Sue Dibney are back together as ghosts possessing bodies like Deadman, and helping the living? When did this happen?

According to wikipedia, DC hasn't explained that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elongated_Man

Another thing that they have pulled out of their ass. We need another Crisis on Infinite Earth!!!!

That was Mark Waid's big contribution to 52 -- recasting Ralph and Sue as Ghost Detectives. I don't like the idea of them possessing living people -- it seems too much like Deadman, as you point out -- but I think it's a nice and logical use of the characters.

Isn't Deadman gone or off limits, thanks to the Vertigo series?

I guess. We'll see how it pans out. I guess I was just a bit shocked when they were revealed.

Man, I tried to follow that series but I just gave up. It's like, ok...I've been through X amount of issues...where's Deadman!?!?!

Vertigo essentially "traded" DC Jonah Hex for Deadman. But instead of creating a new Deadman series with the established character, they went with the whole-new-character-with-the-same-name route. The first Deadman was never meant to show up on the short-lived new series. That said, Deadman should be available for any DC universe story, but he hasn't been. Shrug.

Deadman -- the real one -- is due to show up in next month's Brave & the Bold.

Awesome!

The following issue continues the Deadman/GL stroyline with two additional heroes:



The issue after that is a team-up that I don't think is part of the same storyline.

I'm really enjoying Brave & the Bold. Waid is one of those writers whose stuff I either really like or really dislike. This is one of those books where he's hitting all the right notes and it's really coming together for me.

By the way, what's the verdict on Countdown? The first trade comes out next week and I'm considering picking it up. I enjoyed 52, but I've heard Countdown isn't as good. Thoughts?

I'm ashamed to say that I actually read all of Countdown, and it was pretty lame. I regret going with it, and not quitting early on in the year-long run. Why didn't I quit? Probably because I did enjoy a weekly serial, but the whole thing lacked vision, and Dini's over-seeing of the title just couldn't sustain a weekly title for the entire year in terms of suspense, intrigue, interest.

Having read up to the seventh volume of Deathnote, I can say that the big shake-up didn't bother me at all. Things were getting a bit boring actually, so I'm glad that the status quo changed. Whether I'll like this in later volumes or not is left to be determined, but I'm still on board.

Actually, I was scared that the business stuff was going to be where the book was going (from volumes 5 and 6), which would have really put me off the book. That stuff was a bit too dry for my tastes.

I will say that this book just feels like I'm reading one gigantic instruction manual. All rules, plans, and logic with paper thin characters I could not care less about. For those that read it, did you feel the same? I'm really only concerned with seeing what happens next, but I'm not invested in any of these people. They're just pawns on a chess board, and it's fun to see how they're moved around.

I don't read Birds Of Prey, but I heard that Darkseid is back...and black...? Is this true?

Yeah I just read this issue.

Misfit and Black Alice get kidnapped into an underground Meta-Fight Club and all the people running it have the same names as the baddies on Apokolips. Granny Goodness is a huge masculine Black Woman, "Dark Side" is a Big black Dude who runs the fights, and so on. Since they(Apokolips characters) have all been killed I'm not sure if it's just a play on the names, or some kind of actual reincarnation of the characters.


Here's what happened in the issue. From Wiki:


Her addiction to antidepressants saves her when she's kidnapped by Darkseid's henchmen, dosed with will-suppressing drugs and pitted against other metahumans, the antidepressants intefere with the drugs. Finding Misfit similarly trapped, but almost completely brainwashed and vulnerable, she briefly contemplates the idea of stealing her teleport abilities to flee alone, in retailation for taking "her place" in the Birds of Prey. After a discovery by Bernadeth that she may be a blood relative of Misfit, she has a change of heart, and helps the girl escape. She leaves behind a letter, explaining her discoveries, but claiming that her feud with the young teleporter is not over.

That sounds...random. Though, "Dark Side" is a badass name for a big black dude...if only I could pull that off. Sadly, I'm too soft looking for that.

Isn't that straight from the Mister Miracle series done by Morrison for the Seven Soldiers of Victory mini-event? There, "Dark Side" was a big black gangster, and apparently he had finally found the secret to the Anti-life equation, reducing the New Gods to humans on Earth without their memories (I think High Father was a bum). I have no idea how that ties into the Death of the New Gods mini, as I haven't read it yet.

I'm still here!

...and I'm still reading the Ultimate Marvel titles, and re-reading lotsa [Marvel] Silver & Bronze Age stuff, and some classic Batman once in a while.

I picked up Final Crisis #1 today. I read it once and I want to reread it before I really form an opinion on it. There are some cool bits, and some good uses of some characters I didn't really expect to see ... but there's also a lot of Grant Morrison being Grant Morrison, which doesn't always work for me.

The comic also sheds some light on the New Gods situation referenced in the last few posts.