Today’s column marks an incredible anniversary for me. No, it’s not the 100th column or even the 200th. I haven’t been keeping the best records of these things, so I couldn’t really tell you how many of them I’ve written.
No, this is the column where we celebrate the fifth column written since I figured out I have no idea how many columns I’ve actually done! Happy QuinQuestionMarversary, everybody!
THINGS I’VE LEARNED
One of the things I’ve learned in my time is to give the readers what they want…such as exciting recommendations for this weeks books!
HOLY CRAP! Not only does Dark Horse have new issues of Billy the Kid’s Old Time Oddities #2 by Eric Powell butHellboy is going to meet the Beasts of Burden crew in Beast of Burden/Hellboy One-Shot?! Evan Dorkin, Mike Mignola and Jill Thompson working together? This is possibly the greatest comic book collaboration in years! If you’ve ever wanted a comic book where Hellboy holds a pug on the cover, well, now you have one.
All this and the Firefly: Shepard’s Tale GN which will finally reveal Shepard Book’s origins? Dark Horse, you spoil us!
Another thing I’ve learn is to use any flimsy excuse I can to plug fun comics I like.
THE BIG TWO
If you didn’t know that Action Comics #894 from DC this week will feature Neil Gaiman’s Death from the Sandman, and that it was partially (uncredited, mind you) scripted by Gaiman than you’ve probably been living in a cave for the past year. Except for that brief episode where you were swept out to sea to be captured by Mermaids only to escape through a secret tunnel into the core of the Earth where monsters of molten magma took pity on you and escorted you back to your cave, safe and sound. Oh, sorry, that’s MY life!
Anyway, Action Comics will see Death herself, that cute goth of the beyond hob nobbing with the DC mainstream boys, all with the blessing and partial scripting of big daddy Neil “Sandman” Gaiman himself.
Meanwhile Marvel will be publishing comic books such as Spider-Man # Whatever and Deadpool meets the Who the Heck Cares. I think I fell asleep looking at Marvel’s Solicitations for this publishing week.
Jeez, look at this: Incrdible Hulk #615 features ANOTHER Hulk kid coming to Earth to, what else, destroy it like his daddy did. They pay people to recycle bad ideas? How many freakin’ kids does Banner have now? Is he in some progeny derby with Wolverine for how many derivative offspring they can sire?
BLAH BLAH
Hot ticket this week is the new collection of XKCD, the poorly drawn comic that smart, hipster nerds love to tell you is funny. I suppose sometimes it is.
Friends, we stand at a crossroads. The Internet is slowly eating comic books alive, OR the print medium has stagnated into a chrysalis that the bold, beautiful artwork of tomorrow shall emerge from.
Enjoy your comics this week, whether they be Spectacular art and story from top talents (i.e. Dark Horse’s offerings,) the over paid drivel of the uninspired (i.e. Marvels latest dreck) or print versions of comics you could read online for free.
