the hiatus is over.

I'll be back with some more comic reviews and all the other crap that I post about soon.

Immersing myself in Bat-Lore, Part 4

Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.

This is almost always listed at the top of Batman stories, and for good reason. For me, it was enjoyable, but we've kind of seen this regurgitated in the movies and animated series quite a few times at this point. That really shows how seminal this story is. It's always good to know that Batman once seemed vulnerable.

Batman: The Black Glove Deluxe Edition by Grant Morrison, Andy Kuber, JH Williams III and Tony Daniel

Grant Morrison's Batman is the one I was most excited to get into, as I've read some of the later chapters in his extended run, and going back and reading the entire thing is a lot of fun. This is the kind of Batman story I can really dig into. It's complex, layered, and just kind of crazy. Grant Morrison goes back into Batman's history and begins weaving this tapestry that's super compelling. There are annotations online for his run, because it's so in-depth. This is just the beginning of his Batman epic, and it's a great start.

Batman R.I.P. by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel

This goes with the Black Glove stuff, it's part of Grant Morrison's Bat-Epic. It just gets better honestly. Batman is broken mentally by the entity known as The Black Glove, who appears as his dead father, Thomas Wayne. Fortunately, Batman has devised a backup personality, "The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh" to fight back. It's crazy stuff. Just read it. I can't do it justice here.

Immersing Myself in Bat-Lore Part 3

Wasting no time at all, I finished 4 Batman graphic novels this past week:

The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale.

This was enjoyable. While Jeph Loeb has regressed as a writer in recent years, he was at point very capable and has written some critically claimed and best selling series, this being one of them. As far as plot goes, it was pretty good, although I predicted the ending by the third chapter, I still enjoyed the story. A lot of Batman stories are a bit formulaic in the fact that they are crime/murder mysteries, but the key is in the execution. The writing was fine, but the art is really what stands out. Tim Sale's work on this is magnificent, it perfectly captures Batman's rogues gallery, especially Two-Face and Joker. Overall, a good read, but not as good as critics say.

Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean

The graphic novel that made Grant Morrison very wealthy. This, along with the Killing Joke, Batman: Year One, and The Dark Knight Returns, are all cited as being seminal takes on the Batman mythology. This goes into the back story of Arkham, the infamous asylum that houses Batman's beyond criminally insane rogues. You get an inside look at the terror of this facility as it has been cursed b Amadeus Arkham, the founder. McKean's artwork is suitably creepy, and Morrison always brings the weird. It was enjoyable.

Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

The sequel to the Long Halloween. Pretty good, and it continues the themes and plot developed in "The Long Halloween." Once again, Tim Sale excels. I gotta say, the ending was just okay. However, for me it wasn't as telegraphed as it was in "The Long Halloween."

Batman: Earth One by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank

One of the more recent takes on Batman in my current study, this was REALLY REALLY enjoyable. A great, fresh take on the character that WORKS. Geoff Johns is one of the best writers DC has ever had, and he does not disappoint here. He updates Batman in a way that both makes sense and feels right. The Batman  of Earth One is way more vulnerable and prone to make mistakes. He's still a work in progress, and that is definitely a Batman we have rarely seen. Great stuff here.

Immersing myself in Bat-Lore: Part 2

The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland

This is probably the most widely known Batman story of the last 25 years, and for good reason: Alan Moore wrote it. It's a quality story, for sure, and I feel as if this version of the Joker become the standard, which is to say, we really outlined some of the parameters of his psychosis. The Joker has been in SO many stories since then, and many of them are just trying to live up to or possibly surpass this version of the character. No doubt, it's good stuff, but at this point, I've read and seen so much Joker stuff, I wasn't necessarily blown away by this. It's on all the top 5 best Batman stories lists, and it should be. It's the essential Joker story.

Immersing Myself In Bat-Lore: Part 1

The Black Mirror by Scott Snyder, Jock, Francesco Francavilla.

My quest to find the best Batman stories starts with The Black Mirror, which is a very recent Batman story. Dick Grayson is Batman in this story, which is a significant personnel change. In all classic Batman stories, it's Bruce Wayne. That doesn't take away from the story at all, in my opinion. Snyder really had a grasp on what makes a great Batman story, and he nails it here. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did, but this was a good one. Most Batman stories follow the crime/mystery formula, which you can only do so much with, but this one is actually really good. The art really helps too, as he's got two guys who absolutely kill it. I'd be okay with Jock and Francesco Francavilla drawing Batman FOREVER. The pencils are gorgeous. Actually, the colorist for Francavilla definitely deserves a huge bonus. This book looks GREAT. I sense that at this time in comics, creators generally know what doesn't work and what does work in a Batman story. The character has been mined for DECADES and DECADES and we've seen so many iterations and permutations of him, his rogues gallery, and now it's finally been boiled down to the essential. "The Black Mirror" accomplishes just that: it captures the spirit of the essential Batman story.

Currently Reading: The Invisibles

Finally finished Grant Morrison's magnum opus, THE INVISIBLES. I've been a huge fan of Morrison since I got back into comics in 2005 and I've been slowly trying to make my way through his massive catalog of work. I tried starting THE INVISIBLES a couple years ago but I couldn't finish the first volume, it seemed too incoherent to me. Years later, a friend let me borrow the omnibus that came out about a year ago. I devoured this thing in short order, and man, it is an experience. If any comic is like a drug, that meaning, something you ingest that expands or challenges your consciousness, THE INVISIBLES is just that. It really makes you think about a plethora of subjects: conspiracies, UFO's, Magick, and a ton of other weird stuff. Morrison's calling cards all seeped into his other work, some of it being on corporate characters, but he is given the freedom to go wherever he wants with this series, and boy does he go for it. You'll either love it or hate it, but you have to respect the level of passion put into this project. You could research all the references for years. I have really only watched some of Terence McKenna's lectures on youtube, and that has been a real treat. You can see where the Matrix took pieces of the narrative and modified it for there uses, which is also very interesting. The art is wildly inconsistent, but it didn't necessarily take away from it for me, although I prefer the issues Phil Jiminez pencils. In the end, there are a ton of essays and commentary around the web on this book, and they all go way deeper then me. I'm absolutely going to have to re-read it, it was that compelling. I've read a SHIT TON of comics in my time, but nothing quite like THE INVISIBLES. It's something else. Must read.

Status Update

I have seriously been slacking on the whole "becoming a successful writer and creator" thing. To be fair, i'm taking a summer class so I actually do have some studying to do. My biggest problem is starting projects that i don't finish. I just need to work on, and finish, ONE project at this point. There are a shit ton of comics that I would like to do, in addition to a short film that i've been working on for years. It looks like I may either be going back to school full time or working a lot come this fall, so i'm going to have to get going. At times, I doubt my own ability to become a writer, rather than, somebody that just writes. I need to convince myself that there's no reason I SHOULD'NT write everyday. There's a little more to it these days, as I have some other stuff on my plate, but I need to finish some of this shit. At some point.

Reading wise, i've got a couple cool things going on. I've decided to just tackle three or four books/subjects this summer. They are as follows:

The Invisibles by Grant Morrison and company

Batman. I'm going to immerse myself in the decades of rich mythology done on the dark knight. I've been neglecting Batman for years, and for some reason, now is the time to do my homework on him.

Crossing The Rubicon by Michael C. Ruppert

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It's also time for me and the bard to really get acquainted.

So yeah, a healthy dose of research and fun stuff.

i've come to the conclusion that

final fantasy 6 is my favorite game of all time.

Currently absorbing these albums

Got a great mix going. My music queue has been at a logjam, for like, an olympiad.

Current comics i'm into

I haven't posted any comics analysis, or anything about comics in quite some time, it seems. I have still been reading, of course. I dropped all the Marvel comics from my pull list, something i've been thinking about doing for quite some time. That's a hard decision. There are some quality books coming out from Marvel right now, but I think it's the right time to step away. That, and i'm broke. Anyways, there's just a saturation point that i've reached with Marvel where I can definitely wait for the trades. I'd like to support smaller books and jump on some new stuff. Here are some of my current favorites:

Godzilla by James Stokoe. IDW Publishing.

Godzilla + Stokoe= must buy. I've long been a big Godzilla fan, and James Stokoe is an artist of the highest caliber, so I had to see his take on the property. It's great stuff. Stokoe's art is pure eye candy. I'll buy anything he draws.

Nowhere Men by Eric Stephenson & Nate Bellegarde. Image Comics.

This is an interesting book. The writer is the long time publisher for Image, so i had to check it out just based on that. The art is really good too. It's a very interesting post-watchmen take on science fiction. The backstory's of the main characters are all well developed and not revealed in chronological order, as the story skips around key moments of character development. I've heard someone describe this comic as a mixture of the beatles and the fantastic four, and that's kind of what it is. I mentioned watchmen earlier because there's an obvious influence here, with the metafiction and charts, corporate holdings and supplemental material at the end of each issue. I want to see where this is going.

The Manhattan Projects by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra. Image Comics.

Another great series from Hickman and co. This is one of his best outings yet. I've noticed that Hickman uses a lot of real people in his stories (Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Einstein to name just a few) and it makes me wonder if it's really smart of him to use them, or it's a lack of creativity on his part that he can't come up with fresh characters. A minor criticism, as I enjoy all of his stories unequivocally. Anyways, this one is similiar to his S.H.I.E.L.D. book for Marvel which I wrote about on here a while back, I think. This series is about the Manhattan Projects being  a front for another series of super secret black ops shit, or something like that. It's cast features such titans of science as Richard Feynman, Albrecht Einstein, Joseph Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, (Fermi Paradox is named after this guy, a bit of trivia.) and Harry Daghlian. Google the ones you don't know. Hickman always does his homework, and the plot is just crazy. Usually he maps his stories out way in advance, but for this one he's doing the opposite, which is nice to see from him. It's different from his other work in that respect, and it's good to see him have fun with this project. Nick Pitarra's art is a strenghth, and he may be my favorite collaborator of Hickman. His Moebius style art looks better than ever with this series. This is going to be a good one.

Change by Ales Kot, Morgan Jeske, Sloane Leong, Ed Brisson. Image.

The first issue of this four issue series is a stunner. It's a great hook, it's got some seriously weird and trippy characters and dialogue. A plot that doesn't entirely make sense, and they throw in some Cthulhu for good measure. It raises some interesting ideas and there are some great bits of dialogue, but they didn't really stick the landing with the last issue. Still, a good read and Ales Kot is a writer who has a great future in comics. If nothing else, the art by Morgan Jeske is fantastic. Really captures the surreal tone of the story. This is worth checking out.

Clone by David Schulner & Juan Jose Ryp.

First off, Juan Jose Ryp is the man. One of the best artists in the biz. I love his style, it's so detail heavy. The premise of this series may seem pretty passe these days: what if you had a clone? What if somebody made clones? However, this book is totally awesome and rock solid. David Schulner is apparently a TV writer, and his style of writing a comic is that of every page having a cliff hanger. It's wonderful. I love it, and it works. This is a fun book with and the plot has me hooked.

Mara by Brian Wood & Ming Doyle. Image Comics.

I'm mostly here for Ming Doyle, not to say i'm not a fan of Brian Wood. The story is about a megastar athlete in the future, where hyperconnectivity has been taken to the nth degree. She develops super powers and is scouted by the military. This one is worth it for the art alone, in my opinon. 

47 Ronin by Mike Richardson & Stan Sakai.

Must buy for me. I am a huge HUGE fan of Sakai. It's nice to see him draw something outside of anthropomorphic animals. I'm also just as interesting in the tale of the loyal retainers. The first couple issues are kind of slow, but the pacing is no problem for me.

R.I.P. ComicsAlliance

Probably my favorite comics site. While they did seem to promote the projects of their friends too frequently (seems like a conflict of interest and possible abuse of their platform) those friends' projects were ususally GOOD and compelling stuff. They had several great writers including Chris Sims and David Brothers, who both wrote some of the best comics criticism i've ever read. I'll miss this site. There was much less corporate ball licking here than on Comic Book Resources and other sites, who are in bed with Marvel and DC. This site turned me on to a lot of cool stuff, and they generally got it right most of the time. The tone of the site and the reviews was spot on.

i actually unironically love this show

I love Hayden, and the cast is pretty much flawless. Good writing and sometimes I need to break out of the geekery. I'm not huge on country music but I think I could get into it, actually.

Great rivalry.

She is great as a heel. 

Awesome cast.

It's good to break out of the monotony of the same shit you're always absorbing. This is one of the few current shows I actually follow next to Walking Dead, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Parks & Rec.

How am I going to top these?

my two best halloween costumes, Joker is from 2008 and Walter White is from 2012.
i need to outdo both of these this year, somehow.

C2E2 2013

So: I worked as a volunteer this year at Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, and I had a blast. I worked Artist Alley Friday morning and all day Sunday, and I couldn't have asked for a better job or schedule. Awesome people and awesome times. I've been to many conventions in my time, I consider myself a veteran of the scene (at least in chicago) and it was quite a cool nerd prom. Working it was an even better experience. Great show, bravo, Reedpop. Here's the photographic evidence:

Pretty good Godzilla here

I think this is a character from Majora's Mask. Awesome.

 Could not stop drooling over this seductress.

Sailor Scouts were looking good too.

 Major props to this chick. Sick costume.

Really good Omega Red.

Myself and DDP, former WCW Heavyweight champ/current yoga enthusiast

Me & R.L. *freaking* Stine.