Not Dead, Just Thinking

So, first off, a quick but sincere apology to you, all my long-suffering followers. After my tech disaster, I had a pretty life-changing week that really made me stop and think about my priorities. I saw Obama live in person and it was pretty damn amazing. Made me stop and reconsider what I wanted to do with my life. I'm probably going to start blogging less and writing more, if that makes sense.

. . . none of which excuses the fact that I've been a terrible host and haven't written what I said I would write days/months ago. So, please forgive me and bear with me as I get that finally taken care of for you all this week.

In the meantime, there's quite a few good links for you to check out.

The Nerdy Bird needs your help to fly high and raise money to fight Muscular Dystrophy. Go forth and donate what you can.

4thLetter! has put up a heartbreaking post connected to Empowered, showing yet again that the series has more heart and more brains than half the damn mainstream stuff getting put out on the stands. My thanks to Kalinara for pointing the way.

Speaking of awesome links, My Bottomless Cup was kind enough to expound on this excellent post on Secret Six, which discusses some of the many reasons why I love this series so damn much. If you aren't reading Secret Six, you are currently suffering from an awesome deficiency.

There's quite a bit else going on in the comics blogosphere right now, not least of which is a huge kerfuffle over the implosion of Scans Daily. I could discuss my interactions with the community at length but I try to save the drama for my mama, as a general rule. On the other hand, Kevin Church - that cool blogger with a heart of brass - has had the huevos to kick the hornet's nest on his blog. Peter David, the author who was rather rudely told to "die in a fire" on Scans Daily, is also predictably not shedding any tears about this turn of events. Favorite writer of mine Gail Simone has a radically different and more positive view, while mad genius Warren Ellis predictably uses his fine, analytical mind to apply stark realism and basic facts to the situation. Absolutely none of which changes the fact, love them or hate them, they're just going to get the community up and running again in five minutes somewhere else (psst, it's already happened).

ETA: The inimitable MightyGodKing is also doling out the harshness to all involved on his blog, if you're in the mood to read some serious snark.

And what do I think about all of this? I'd like to live by the immortal words of Mr. T - "I don't start no trouble. I mind my own business." I've got enough on my mind as it is. Still, I'll just say that, while my heart is certainly in one camp more than the other, there are a lot of valid points on the table from people I respect on both sides of the issue. So there you go.



Phew!

Drama aside, how are all of you doing today?

My Bottomless Past

Hey, folks! Still sick but I thought I'd mention that yours truly has the honor of being a featured "Wednesday Motivator" over at MyBottomlessCup, the blog of extremely talented musician and comic book enthusiast Kelly Fenton. The pictures included in her interview (and the ones in this post) are actually from six years ago, so I feel I should clarify things a bit about the goings-on in said photos.

1. I lost that sweater shortly after these photos were taken. I still miss it, even if it did make me look twenty pounds heavier.

2. I was maybe a trifle drunk on fine Scotch in one of those photos.

3. While Judd Winick's Black Canary/Green Arrow has proven more than a bit upsetting (I seriously dislike that editorially enforced pairing), the man himself and his charming wife Pam are both grand, gracious people. And if anybody says an unkind word about Pedro And Me, well, we're gonna have to have a knife fight.
Ditto to a lesser degree about Barry Ween: Boy Genius and the early run of Exiles.

4. Isotope Comics can throw one HELLUVA kick-ass shindig. Thanks again for a memorable birthday, James Sime.

5. This was also the first time I started my birthday tradition of traveling to a city I'd never been to before. So far, it's worked out pretty well 80% of the time. I can proudly say that I've now gotten lost on the bus in five states!

6. Warren Ellis will not actually murder you in the face if you approach him politely, make no sudden movements and do not get in-between him and his Scotch.
In seriousness, he's a great conversationalist and was kind enough to sign a Jenny Sparks action figure for Nerdy Sis Kay and the 1st Volume of Transmet & Planetary trades for yours truly. Not joking about getting between him and his Scotch tho'. James Sime lost an eye that night and he was one of the lucky ones.

7. Incidentally, Transmetropolitan: Back On the Streets and Sandman: Brief Lives are the only GNs I own signed by both the writer and the artist . . . even though both writers are originally from the UK. Weird.

8. Yes, those are toilet seats on the wall. It's an Isotope tradition to have artists sketch on a toilet seat and then hang the results on the wall afterwards. Hilarity always ensues.
Sharp-eyed readers may also notice the Lone Wolf & Cub series behind us, which I love to death. I don't know if I picked up my first volume there but I'm sure it was sometime around then I started reading it.

9. Yes, Wonder Woman would totally smack down Superman in a fight and I dare you to try and convince me otherwise.

10. My declaring that "my name was Kevin, I was from Denver and today was my Birthday!" to everyone I met that night subsequently inspired a 330-something odd message board thread simply entitled "KEVIN!". Apparently, I made quite the impression (and accidentally showed up in like, 25 different people's photos).
Yes, I still take pride in being accidentally famous on the Internet for five minutes. And now I run a popular* comics blog! Truly, I live out my dreams on a daily basis.

11. I really should be asleep and doped up on cold medicine right now. Good night, everybody and thanks again to MyBottomlessCup for the chance to wax on and on about comics. :)





*"Look Out! Here Comes a Comics Blog!" was officially decreed popular by Kelly Fenton on 01/21/09. It is TOO, popular. Shut up.

Excalibur on the rocks

As it might not surprise some of you to know, one of my favorite comic book runs is Warren Ellis' all-too-brief run on the (mostly) British Mutant Superteam known as Excalibur, if only because it gave us the glorious bastard that is Peter Wisdom. I'm also, more obscurely, a fan of the new Doctor Who show. So, when I learned Paul Cornell, the gentleman behind Family of Blood and the current Captain Britain and MI:13 series had his own blog, of course I had to take a look. And I'm quite glad I did, as it led me to this fine UK-based fellow's blog and more importantly, his drink recipes for major British Marvel characters. I have to say, his Peter Wisdom? Spot-on.

Still, something like this is too cool for me not to take up as a challenge. So, may I present my very own Excalibur-themed Cocktails!

Pryde And Wisdom



Smart money says a shot of painfully strong English Scotch with a Chicago-based beer as a chaser would do the trick. Still, not nearly creative enough for my tastes. Plus, all the best beers come from small breweries in Colorado, not Illinois.

The Pryde & Wisdom

1 oz Aftershock Cinnamon Liquor (for Wisdom's hot knives)
1 oz Blackberry schnapps (for Kitty's tech geekery)
1 1/2 oz Cranberry Juice (because Kitty would insist on something in this being healthy)
1/2 oz Everclear (because Wisdom would have to thumb his nose up at Kitty's attempts at making his alcohol healthy)

One of these and I imagine you'd end up having neither much pride or wisdom, which is a sad comment on how they're no longer together.
(And, if your tastes run to emo, whiny Russians, you can replace the Aftershock with Vodka and Everclear with more vodka, assuming you're one of those people.)

The Douglock



Bright yellow 'bot with blue accents? I think a variation on Electric Lemonade is in order. Try to use only Top Self ingredients, if possible.

1 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Blue Curacao
2 oz Sweet and sour
1/4 oz Goldschläger
1 splash 7-Up


Stay Out of Me Medlab!
(a.k.a. The Moira McTaggart)



Since she's now a deceased Scottish doctor, I must sadly recommend the Scotch Daisy (lifted in whole cloth from oh-so-helpful The Webtender)

"Ingredients:

* 2 oz Scotch
* 1 oz Lemon juice
* 1/2 tsp superfine Sugar
* 1/2 tsp Grenadine
* 1 Maraschino cherry
* 1 Orange slice

Mixing instructions:

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the Scotch, lemon juice, sugar, and grenadine. Shake well. Pour into an old-fashioned glass. Garnish with the cherry and the orange slice."

A little fruity for such a strong lass but there's hard Scotch at it's core. R.I.P., Doc.*

(*And yes, I know Sean would not approve. Shut up.)



Did you guys know there's actually a drink called a Wolfsbane? Remember when Rahne thought alcohol would "taste evil"? Yeah, you know, this drink doesn't strike me as dissuading her from that notion (egg? really?). Let's try to think up something better.

Bad Wolfsbane

1/2 oz Gold Tequila (to shake things up)
1/2 oz Goldschläger (the fresher the better)
2 oz Mead (preferably from the hair of the dog that bit you)
1 oz Summer Ale (preferably a Blond Summers Ale)

And yes, I know that mixing mead, beer, tequila and Goldschlager will make you . . . (wait for it) . . . sick as a dog!

And we mustn't forget Lockheed.



Burn Your Clothes

A shot that, much like Lockheed, is small but burns mightily.

1 1/2 oz chilled Tequila
1 1/2 oz cinnamon schnapps
4 dashes Tabasco® sauce

And on that note, I think I'm done for now. If I get any further requests, I may consider putting out more of these.

Happy reading and happy drinking . . . assuming any one of you out there is crazy enough to try making these.

Haiku Reviews for 1/16/08

To make up for my rambling reviews of last week, I now present Haiku Reviews! Let's get these out of the way before I buy yet more comics today, shall we?

SPOILERS Exist Here
None in great detail mind you
Because it's haiku

Marvel Comics Presents #5 - various - B

Blade nukes Korea
Rucka's Widow appears too
And there's dinosaurs!

Fell #9 - Warren Ellis & Ben Templesmith - B+

Evocative art
Belies a brief but tense tale
Put this out more please

New Warriors #8 - Kevin Grevioux & Jon Malin - C-

Look, it's Ms. Marvel
With poorly drawn Hitler youth
Subtlety? What's that?

CheckMate #22 - Greg Rucka & Eric Trautman & Chris Samnee - A

C'est bon assassin
This Mademoiselle Marie
Au revoir Miss Chace

Booster Gold #6 - Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz & Dan Jurgens - A

Look, TED'S back! HOORAY!
I don't care why or how long
Just let me bask please.

Angel: After The Fall #3 - Joss Whedon & Brian Lynch & Franco Urru - A+

I'm not ruining
The last page of this comic
HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

What I Bought Last Week

I know that this is the day most people tend to put up their "What I'm buying tomorrow" notes. Since I'm a maverick who plays by his own rules, I will instead put up my reviews of last week's stuff!*


LAST WEEK IN REVIEW - Here's an Ellis, There's an Ellis, And Another Little Ellis, Fuzzy Ellis, Funny Ellis, Ellis Ellis, JOSS

SPOILERS! Avert Your Eyes!

Four Warren Ellis comics in one week with just one Joss Whedon chaser? God help me. I may as well just ingest massive amounts of peyote and then try to read Wired while orally pleasuring a Suicide Girl.
. . . which actually sounds like a pleasant weekend. But I digress.


Gravel #1 - Warren Ellis & Mike Wolfer & Raulo Caceres - B-
William Gravel is a combat magician. This means that he is essentially like John Constantine with Rambo's job description. In this opening issue, he comes back to England from a long hard mission of killing Taliban (much in the manner of a particularly homicidal Invisible Woman), only to find somebody's taken his job. He proceeds to investigate why and how, causing bloodshed and one-liners to ensue.

I've been familiar with the character because I've read his appearances in previous wacky romps: Strange Kiss, Stranger Kisses and Strange Killings - the first of which (if memory serves) had a man with an STD that caused geckos to exit his urethra. Yes, it's that kind of Ellis comic. This is the ongoing adventure of the man who kills people bloody to save the Earth, and specifically England, from dark ugly things that make geckos come out of your pee hole and eat people.

I didn't think much of the issue in comparison to earlier reads with Gravel. Comparatively, it's a trifle subdued. Maybe I'm just numbed to the sight of heads exploding and knifes through flesh from previous comics from British people. Still, while I didn't think the opener was as much of a huge grab as it could have been for new readers, I'm willing to give the series time to build up speed.

Ultimate Human #1 - Warren Ellis & Cary Nord - A

This is the good stuff. Mad Science crackling with a whiff of destruction on the wind.

Magnificent bastard Ultimate Tony Stark gets asked for help from the neurotic people-eating mess that is Ultimate Bruce Banner in controlling the Hulk with Tony's own blood. Tony says yes because he's a decent soul and also, he's bored. They decide to go to Tony's superbase in New Mexico because Warren Ellis loves the American Southwest it's so deserted and full of cool mad science gizmos to test the Hulk. Ultimate Peter Wisdom/Leader appears, much to my glee and amazement, making evil plans in England to get a hold of everybody's blood - which turn out to just be the cherry on the sundae as Hulk goes bonkers past Stark's safety levels and prepares to SMASH.

There's going to be a lot of hitting in issue 2. I am enthused, people. Of course, I was enthused about Ultimate Hulk Vs. Wolverine but hey, this is Ellis, not some fly-by-night TV writer. The man's probably written out the whole thing months ago, come down with yet another obscure English plague that made him spit up blood and then sent in a few dialog revisions while he recuperated by drinking scotch that's older than I am.

I'm going to be sad when he dies.

Doktor Sleepless #4 - Warren Ellis & Ivan Rodriguez - A

The art is lovely. I rarely say this but I wish this comic was bigger, just to catch every little detail of tattoos or mad science no bigger than an iPod. Ellis' dialog is grand too, giving us hints of that old Transmetropolitan "the future is beautifully fucked" operatic discourse. Of course, whereas Transmet was "the future is seedy and ugly but look, we can make something good of it", I get the reverse feeling from this one. More of "Somebody made our future seedy and ugly, let's stab people to feel better about it".

Which isn't a bad thing, mind you.

Thunderbolts #118 - Waren Ellis & Mike Deodato - A+

I rarely give out the A+ grade but I just noticed that they put an Emily Dickinson poem on the recap page. C'mon, dudes. I gotta give it up for Dickinson.

I love this comic. I don't know much about the background of these characters, other than Penance, Osbourne, Doc Samson and Venom, but Ellis has made it so you haven't really needed to. Given his disdain for thought bubbles, I wondered how he was going to tell a story about telepaths taking the team apart from the inside-out. The answer is a bunch of hallucinations that the reader sees as real as the characters. It's an effective, trippy strategy that makes me eager to see what happens in the brains of the more well-adjusted characters like Songbird, Radioactive Man and the sociopathic but rock-steady Moonstone.

Things I also loved include
- Penance getting further Good Will Hunting treatment from Doc Samson. It's nice to see Robbie being told that Stanford could have happened to anybody and Doc Samson not acting like a douche (see Hulk, Planet).
(Anybody ever notice how Marvel's the only company with all the good, helpful therapists? Doc Samson and Emma Frost aren't that many, I suppose, but with Harely Quinn, Scarecrow and Dr. Hugo Strange running around Gotham City alone . . . well, I'm just saying I'm not going to the DCU for therapy. Yes, I know about Doctor Faustus. And that Moonstone herself is a therapist. You know what? Shut up.)
- Venom eating people. I'm a sick, sad man.
- The anti-Thunderbolt posters being snuck into a page or two. It's nice to see all the "real world" reaction shots in each issue. Nothing will top "Stabbity Jones" sharing a panel with Stan Lee, however.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer #10 - Joss Whedon & Cliff Richards - B

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I actually did.

This was the issue in which the winner of a contest got to have their face and name immortalized in a Joss Whedon story. I read the story of the winning entry and it melted my dark, cold heart, so I was looking forward to this issue pretty darn eagerly. This is why I feel like the Grinch kicking a puppy just saying I liked it but I didn't love it.

The crux of the story is that Willow and Buffy have to face a demon who lives inbetween realities and delights in showing them how dishonest they've been to one another. We learn what really happened to make Dawn huge, how Buffy's funding the feeding and clothing of a bajillion teenage girls and where Kennedy's been this whole time. Very exposition-y, if pretty to look at.

The major problem I had was that the story cuts don't add to the story so much as make an already confusing tale more confusing. When you've got multiple realities, foreshadowing and flashback revelations, cutting to Dawn & Xander seems almost superfluous.

Also, at one point, Buffy sees Willow schtupping a snake-like demoness and gets surprisingly judgmental. Whatever, you blonde necrophiliac hussy. :P
(One of the things I loved about watching Buffy when it was on air was how, after Buffy lost her virginity to a dead guy and Willow regularly schtupped a werewolf, what got the Christian Right-Wingers outraged was that Willow dared have lesbian sex with a pretty blonde girl. Ah, good times. Good times.)

I wish I'd started this blog earlier, so I could have kvetched about how the otherwise awesome Faith storyline seemed to ignore all the personal steps towards redemption that Faith had made in Angel and Buffy S7 . . . but maybe that's just me being persnickety. Meh.

*Note: My own rules have not been completely formulated yet. I've only had this blog for like a month, people. Get off my freakin' back already. Jesus.