Graphic Novel A Day: The Art of Dragon Magazine

Artists: Larry Elmore, Keith Parkinson, Jeff Easley, Wayne Reynolds, Brom, Todd Lockwood, Tony DiTerlizzi, Tim Hildebrandt, Daniel Horne, Dennis Beauvais, Clyde Caldwell, Kalman Andrasofszky, etc.
Company: Paizo Publishing
Price: $34.95 ($23.07 at Amazon)

OK, technically this isn't a graphic novel, but it is a really nice art book. I read Dragon from probably somewhere in the 70s (issue-wise, not year-wise) to somewhere in the early 120s or so, and then picked it up again for a while when D and D 3.0 came out. I've gotten a lot of use out of the magazine over the years, and seen a lot of great covers too. One of the things that Wizards of the Coast does better than probably any other gaming company is that they use professional artists of the highest caliber and print their work in full color, and you need only look at Art of Dragon to see what a boost that can be to a player's imagination. It was in reading this that I discovered that my favorite Dragon artist, whose images I remembered but name I never knew, was Dennis Beauvais, and they reprint a decent number of his pieces here. There's a variety, from earlier work to the latest stuff, from the classic fantasy paintings to the more comic book and anime-influenced work that we see a lot of in D and D books today from guys like Wayne Reynolds and comics veteran Kalman Andrasofszky. It's loosely organized into themes like dragons, monsters, worlds, etc. but basically the editors get out of the way and let the art do the talking. I would have liked a little more insight, maybe commentary from the artists, but I can't complain about giving the artwork full pages so that you can really appreciate the work. Any fan of fantasy art should definitely pick this one up. I found myself wishing for a DVD-ROM version with the covers of every issue of Dragon and all the interior artwork after reading through it.

Graphic Novel A Day: Manhunter Vols. 1-2

Writer: Marc Andreyko
Artists: Jesus Saiz, Javier Pina, Jimmy Palmiotti, Brad Walker, Diego Olmos, Fernando Blanco & Bob Petreccia
Company: DC Comics
Price: $12.99 & $17.99 ($12.23 at Amazon)

Last night I read the first 14 issues of the new Manhunter series. Or reread, I should say, since I've actually kept up on the book in single issue format. I have my issues with the book, as in some ways it represents the dark and gritty over-reality of DC, and the tie-in to Identity Crisis didn't help. And at first, I found Kate Spencer too abrasive, not just real and flawed like Andreyko intended but actually unpleasant and borderline unlikable. But I've come around to really enjoy the book as a densely-packed story that incorporates some of the lesser-known aspects of the DC Universe and a modern crime drama tone. It's got more than a little in common with the late, lamented Chase, including having Cameron Chase as one of the supporting cast as of the second part of trade number two, and the artwork is terrific. The book is weirdly paced. On one hand, they have a hard time finding good chop points for the trade because the plotting is sort of old school, with plenty of ongoing subplots and foreshadowing of upcoming stories. On the other, it's really kind of hard to keep up with everything in single issue format, so it reads better in trades. Ideally, this is the kind of book I'd like to see published manga style, in $10 trades every few months, but I know just exactly how realistic that is. Still, I hope that the second trade does well and that we get the rest of the series, whether it concludes with #30 or goes on after a successful "last" arc, in trade paperback form as well.

Video: Katy's Little Gym

Today was my daughter's Little Gym "graduation", which means there was a mini dance recital and then gymnastics demonstration. Now, these are like 3-4 years olds, so it's more like cute, mostly organized chaos than an actual recital, but I had a lot of fun and dragged the video camera out of retirement to film it. Since I have Youtube, I'm showing off the results of my shoddy, amateurish camera-work and editing there for the family, and since I have a blog, I'm embedding the videos here as well. Video editing was by Ulead VideoStudio 10, which I've got on 30-day Free Trial. I think it's probably going to be my new video editing software, as it seems easy to use and can do things like import music from my iTunes collection, which is really all I require with my limited editing ability.

Graphic Novel A Day: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Writers: L. Frank Baum, David Chauvel & Kat Amano
Artist: Enrique Fernandez
Company: Image Comics
Price: $9.99 ($9.99 at Amazon)

I've never read the original Oz books, but given the way the property has been translated into comics, I'm really thinking I ought to. First there was Shanower's fantastic Adventures of Oz, and now we have this translated graphic novel, which is a faithful enough comic book adaptation to have Baum's name in the credits. It's a wonderfully engaging tale, sweet and fun and adventurous, and Fernandez's lush painted artwork reminds me of the first time I saw Scott Morse's stuff. Oh, and $10 is an insanely cheap price for this package, which is oversized, 90+ pages and on really nice quality paper. Kudos to Image for great packaging and pricing.

Solidarity for Dummies

ComicsPro, the nascent comics retailer organization of nearly 100 members, has come up with a solution to the recent problems with Civil War mis-shipping from the Los Angeles warehouse due to weather difficulties. (If you're unfamiliar with the situation, here's a rundown at CBR.)

The organization has released an open letter, which Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading has reprinted at her site.

Now, I'm one of the managers for a comics shop that was not affected by the delay. And here's my thinking: "Screw this." I'm not entirely sure how my losing out on a weeks' worth of sales (and make no mistake, not getting Civil War would have cost at least half of the customer base on this particular, relatively slow-shipping Thursday) helps anyone on the West Coast out. If I get Civil War in Austin, am I going to undercut sales to someone who usually shops in San Francisco? Or is this just a "We're miserable, we want everyone to be miserable together" kind of thing?

Seriously, I have sympathy. Had things been different, and my shop hadn't gotten Civil War last week, I would have been pissed. But I wouldn't have demanded that everybody pretend like the book wasn't available anywhere. Unless it's shipping to my local competitors and not me, I don't really see a huge problem with uneven shipping. Yes, it's unfair and yes, it sucks for those in the affected region. But requiring Diamond to not ship the books to every region for a week, undercutting everyone's sales? That would be kind of like your buddy cutting his thumb off and so you cut your thumb off in a show of solidarity. It makes you a *great* friend, but kind of an idiot.

But maybe I'm being short-sighted or selfish. Or both. My initial reaction here, though, is that this is that rare comic book screw-up that is actually nobody's fault. You can stretch and say it's Diamond's fault for not having a better contingency plan in place, but beyond being willing to airlift the comics from the trucks caught in bad weather for a huge sum of money, I'm not quite sure what satisfactory contingency there could be. You could stretch really, really far and blame it on Marvel for not having the book on time in the first place... if it had shipped in December, it might not have hit the bad weather. But really, the blame lies with bad weather. Emotionally, I get that retailers who didn't get their books would be steaming... but I would think that intellectually, they would have to realize that this was an unfortunate accident, not one of the many broken things about the direct market that needs fixing.

If ComicsPro needs a cause, how about getting Diamond to ship all accounts (not just the multi-store chains) on Tuesdays so that the books can be prepared Tuesday nights for sale instead of in as rushed a manner possible on Wednesdays? That would also have the benefit of building in more lead-time if a weather delay like this happened again.

Graphic Novel A Day: Action Philosophers Giant Sized Thing Vol 2

Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Ryan Dunlavey
Company: Evil Twin Comics
Price: $8.95 ($8.95 at Amazon)

Action Philosophers is a great comic, combining witty writing and art with actual informational content about philosophy. Their off-kilter sensibilities, which re-envision philosophers through a pop culture lens, results in this volume in the memorable cross of Karl Marx with Rambo, Derrida with the Terminator and Isaac Luria, creator of the Kabbalah, with Doctor Strange. Amidst these pop-culture laden visuals is a very straightforward, heady analysis of these mens' lives and the philosophy they refined and espoused. I'll be honest, this volume gets into existentialism and such a little too heavily for me, and I found my eyes just glazing over at the deeper exploration of more complicated philosophies, as opposed to the first volume, but there's still plenty to keep the mind and funny bone occupied. And their take on Karl Marx was both informative and possibly the funniest of the bunch except for Plato in the original trade. Check them both out, the trades are ridiculously cheap and really good.

Graphic Novel A Day: Superman Up, Up and Away

Writers: Kurt Busiek & Geoff Johns
Artists: Pete Woods & Renato Guedes
Company: DC Comics
Price: $14.99 ($10.64 at Amazon)

I was disappointed in the "One Year Later" Superman when I first read it, and stopped reading after a couple issues. I wanted Superman, not depowered Clark Kent and friends. However, Superman Confidential, All-Star Superman and good word of mouth on the Busiek/Johns run had me in the mood to give the book another go, and I'm kinda glad I did. I'm still not in love with the run, and I'm not convinced that the best way to return Superman to greatness was several months of him without any powers, but... there's some damn good writing and really terrific art here. I've always liked Pete Woods, but he's at a whole new level on this trade, with some lush work reminiscent of the best of Leinil Francis Yu. I also really dug Busiek and Johns' take on Superman's rogues' gallery, particularly the work done with Luthor and the new Kryptonite Man, and to be honest, even liked seeing Clark and Lois dealing with life without Superman. After reading this trade, I want to go back and check out the rest of the One Year Later stories that have been going on in the Superman books.

Weekly Comics to Come - January 10, 2007

Light week this week.

TOP FIVE:
Agents Of Atlas #6 (Curious to see how Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk's mini concludes)
Fallen Angel Vol 2 Down To Earth TP (More of the DC run, hoping this means we'll see all of it traded)
Godland #15 (One more issue until the 60 cent jumping-on issue)
Hellstorm Son Of Satan #4 (Surprisingly fun, Vertigo-esque in some ways)
Runaways #23 (The penultimate Vaughan/Alphona issue)

THE REST:
52 Week #36 (I think the focus is on the space stuff this issue, which means I probably won't dig it much)
Batman #662 (The Ostrander/Mandrake run started strong but hasn't done much for me since... we'll see how the ending is)
Batman Confidential #2 (Good writing, weak art)
Justice Society Of America #2 (I had some serious gripes with the first issue, but there was also plenty I liked)
Meltdown #2 (Concluding the tale of a dying hero's flameout)
Thunderbolts #110 (Yeah, I'll probably hate it... but I'll admit to being curious)

Graphic Novel A Day: The Black Coat: A Call to Arms

Writers: Ben Lichius & Adam Cogan
Artist: Francesco Francavilla
Company: APE Entertainment
Price: $12.95 (Website)

I love the concept for this story, a masked adventurer fighting a slightly supernatural menace in 1775, just before the Revolutionary War developed. And I love a lot of about the execution as well, from sure-to-be-A-lister Francavilla's art to the swashbuckling, intelligent characterization of the main character and his Shadow-like band of secret operatives. I wish the story itself had been a little less convoluted by the time it ended, as it's not a terribly satisfying conclusion for a miniseries. It ends on a massive cliffhanger, the big mystery of the traitor in the group is never resolved and the sinister League is not really explained much either. As the first arc of an ongoing, it would have been more satisfying, but even then, I would like to have seen a little more closure and less open-endedness. That said, the general vibe here is cool, and recommended for fans of pulp adventure with a new, historical twist.

Graphic Novel A Day: Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Vol. 2

Writer: Sean McKeever
Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa & Valentine DeLandro
Company: Marvel Comics
Price: $7.99 ($7.99 at Amazon)

The newest collection of the teen drama comic set against the backdrop of Spidey's early years is as good as always. McKeever and DeLandro give us the origin of Mary Jane, with elements of Spidey's origin floating in and out as the story requires, then follows up with the terrific introduction of Gwen Stacy to Peter and Mary Jane's world. It's a new perspective on Gwen, presenting her as a diversion rather than Peter's true love (it's Mary Jane's book, so we know she's his true love) but as a sweet, likable character at any rate, and it adds another dimension to a book that keeps surprising me. My initial reaction to DeLandro's art was somewhat negative, because in my mind nobody but Miyazawa should be drawing this book, but reading it knowing that someone else will be taking over gave me a new perspective and I realized that DeLandro's art was quite good, and just as interesting a take on the characters.

Graphic Novel A Day: Vertigo

Fables Vol. 8: Wolves
Writer: Bill Willingham
Artist: Mark Buckingham, Shawn McManus, Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy
Company: DC/Vertigo
Price: $17.99 ($12.23 at Amazon)

Every volume of Fables is good, but this one holds the unusual distinction of being an ending of sorts for the series. Don't get me wrong, the book is still going, and is still excellent, but the resolution of the Bigby-Snow White story brings with it a lot of closure type moments, and so the whole thing could easily be read as the last issue of the series. It's a very satisfying resolution, with Bigby getting a number of badass moments, plenty of teary reveals and relationship turning points and, as a bonus, an issue where Cinderella goes on a spy mission for the kingdom.

100 Bullets Vol. 10: Decayed
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Artist: Eduardo Risso
Company: DC/Vertigo
Price: $14.99 ($10.64 at Amazon)
On the other hand, we have 100 Bullets, which has slowly declined in my eyes with each volume. I really think this book should have gone the 60 issues and out route, because we're on issue 75 as of this volume and I'm done. Decayed is a particularly appropriate title, as a once promising and gripping noir has become repetitive in structure, confusing as hell in terms of story and laden with way too many characters. The atmosphere is still dead-on perfect, thanks to Risso's gorgeous art and Azzarello's oftentimes filthy, distinctive dialogue, but the story... I'm at a loss. I don't care anymore about the Trust, the Minutemen, etc. etc. Maybe if I reread all the issues, it'd make more sense and I'd be back to caring, but I can't quite care enough to go back and do so. I think I'm done, leaving me with 10 volumes of a series I'll probably never reread as a result.

Blog Template Update for December

This is the latest monthly update to the left column of the blog, updating my favorite comics and TV for the previous month. The listings are alphabetical, not by rank of how much I liked them in comparison. My criteria for what makes the list is when I read them, not necessarily when they were published.

December was a busy month, as evidenced by the slowdown of my writing, both here and on Comic Pants. Holidays, a nasty cold and various headaches related to stuff I'm doing added up to give me little free time, or a stressful, not-conducive-to-writing mood when I had free time. On the other hand, Christmas was terrific, spent the holiday with Suzanne's family the week before and my family the week of, saw all the brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, sisters, nephews and nieces and had a grand old time. Also loaded up on holiday DVD presents, plus my wife got me the hardcover slipcased Far Side collection, which is a joy to behold and an absolute monster to try and carry. It currently sits open on one of the tables in my office, so that I can read cartoons on a whim. New RSS feeds added this month were blogs from Asaf & Tomer Hanuka, Josh Middleton and Paul Pope.

Comics-wise, I seemed to be in a pro-Marvel mode. Which is weird, given that I absolutely despise Civil War and won't even read 95% of the tie-ins for the series for free. But I guess there's enough book format stuff and fringe materials to hold my interest. But 6 of my top 20 comics were Marvel, as were 4 of my top graphic novels. Of course, only one of the graphic novels is in continuity, and most of the series are well-clear of Civil War, with two of them being outside the Marvel Universe in general (Criminal and Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four). DC's universe isn't any more intriguing to me, though, with only 4 DC books on the list, only one of which (Manhunter) is even remotely in modern continuity. Three of the usual suspects from Vertigo are on there (DMZ, both Fables books), and it probably would have been four but American Virgin missed December by a week. Ex Machina returns to my favorites list with its best issue in a long time, and the rest of the slots (6, for anyone who is counting) are taken up by Image (2), Archaia (2), Dark Horse (1) and Oni (1). It's weird, I feel like my taste is so out of the mainstream, since I don't read a lot of the top-selling books, but my favorites are still from the big companies or what I feel like are more well-known indies. Is the comics market in that bad of shape, that even books from the bigger companies can feel like fringe reads?

Looking at my lists, it looks like my favorite writer for December was either Brian K. Vaughan (3 comics, 1 collection), Bill Willingham (2 comics, 1 collection) or Darwyn Cooke (2 comics). Probably Cooke, if only from the residual goodwill of last month's Batman/Spirit and Absolute DC New Frontier. My favorite artist of the month was Christine Norrie, for the excellent work on Breaking Up, although Brian Hurtt (from Damned) and Tim Sale (from Superman Confidential) are damn close.

As for TV... um, prepare for rant. 2006 just might be the year that TV started losing its hold on me. I'm completely addicted to the medium, but the greedy, often stupid bastards in control of entertainment are rapidly driving me away from its current delivery system. If I didn't have a Tivo, I would probably have cancelled my cable and gone to all-DVD in December. And that decision may lurk just a couple years in the future if things stay as they are. So I'm down to a top three for December, because most of the shows I was watching got cancelled or finally lost my interest. Daybreak got axed, as did The Nine, and I lost enough interest in Doctor Who season two to finally drop the thing off my Tivo. Daily Show and Colbert Report are always entertaining, but rarely diverting enough to get me to watch them instead of something else that I had on DVD. Same with Professional Poker Tour... I read Phil Gordon's new book in December, and I still have as much interest in playing poker as I always did, but I think watching poker may have become an occasional joy for me, rather than a regular one. No Lost in December, same for Veronica Mars. A couple eps of Battlestar Galactica and one of Studio 60, though, plus a brilliant Christmas episode for The Office. Dry month for TV, though, and here's the thing... I barely noticed. I still have so many DVDs to watch, videogames to play, comics and books to read, not to mention the diversion that is the Internet, that if TV magically went away tomorrow, I don't know that I'd actually miss it. And I am a diehard fan of the medium. This should scare the shit out of TV executives, who still seem intent on driving off what audience there is with hair-trigger cancellations of serial shows, constant rejiggering of schedules and some of the lowest common denominator programming I've ever seen. There may come a day when prime-time TV is all reality shows and gameshows, and is only watched by people who enjoy that. As a fan of the medium, I would find that very sad.

I don't really do resolutions, partly because I never live up to them. But my general guidelines are to get angry less, worry less, spend more time with my wife and daughter, cut down on spending money and enjoy what I have. My more specific goals are to reinstate the Graphic Novel A Day, try to do a Novel A Month and hopefully do more writing on Comic Pants. Speaking of, my Novel A Month for January is The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman, which I'm currently listening to as an audiobook on my iPod. Choosing an audiobook is not cheating, since I'm just starting this thing and thus I'm laying down the rules right now, and the rules say audiobooks are acceptable as Novel A Month selections. Hopefully there will be about five Graphic Novel A Day selections coming in rapid order, some of them already added to my Top 10 in December because I read them in December but didn't write them up on the blog yet.

Weekly Comics to Come - January 4, 2007

TOP FIVE:
All Star Superman #6 (Yay! A burst of Morrison/Quitely goodness to start off the New Year!)
American Virgin #10 (The beginning of a new story arc, I believe... possibly my favorite new Vertigo series, tied with DMZ)
Irredeemable Ant-Man #4 (Sales are dire... enjoy it while you can!)
Manhunter #27 (The first issue back was terrific, I'm enjoying this whether it's the last story arc or just the latest one)
Superman Confidential #3 (If not for All-Star, the Darwyn Cooke/Tim Sale version would be my favorite current Superman... as is, it's still pretty close)

THE REST:
52 Week #35 (Each week, something I like and something I hate... but nothing that pisses me off like Civil War does every time)
Brian Keenes Fear GN (New graphic novel adapting the horror tales of Brian Keene, by Austin writer Nate Southard)
Fear Agent #10 (More of Remender and Opena's science-fiction/action book)
Kane Vol. 6 TP (I'm actually one trade behind on my reading of Paul Grist's quirky cop book, but I'm still glad to see a new trade)
Iron Man Hypervelocity #1 (Mildly interested because it's Adam Warren, although I'd rather have more Livewires)
Manhunter Vol 2 Trial By Fire TP (Now that I know there's a second trade, it's time to go ahead and buy the first one as well. Hope there's more!)
Naoki Urasawas Monster Vol 6 (Fantastic suspense manga)
Newuniversal #2 (Ellis and Larocca's first issue was pretty good... I didn't know I even *had* any New Universe nostalgia)
Other Side #4 (Jason Aaron and Cameron Stewart's Vietnam era closes in on a finale)
Scalped #1 (Jason Aaron's new Vertigo ongoing... the preview hasn't wowed me, but I still want to give it a shot based on how much I enjoyed Other Side)
Scarface Scarred For Life #1 (A weird new book, with a weird but good creative team - John Layman and Dave Crosland)
Uncanny X-Men #482 (Brubaker's weakest book... but there's still plenty to recommend it, including Billy Tan's art)

Why Randy Has Been Slacking On This Blog

Being a series of excuses in ten parts. And also a way for me to keep track (beyond just in my head) of where all my free time is going.

1. Top Secret Project - This occupies a relatively small amount of my time, but most of my mental anxiety is derived from it. I expect it to slowly shift to occupy just as much headspace and lots more real time in the next couple months. No, I can't tell you what it is. No, it's probably not exciting to you. I'm not writing a comic or anything like that. All will be revealed in a few months, at which point most of you reading this will go "Oh, I can see why that was so stressful. But I don't really care."

2. The Family - I do like to occasionally spend time with my wife and daughter. I probably still don't spend enough time with them. And the new baby is due in June. We've had some minor issues, which fortunately still look like they're going to result in healthy baby and mama. This accounts for too little of my time, really, but I do try to spend as many hours with my daughter as I can, when she's not sleeping and I'm not working.

3. Gaming - I'm running an Eberron game for one gaming group, playing in a Call of Cthulhu/Ravenloft game with the group when I'm *not* running it, playing in a Warhammer Fantasy RPG game with another group and planning a Champions game for that group when I'm not playing WFRP or running Eberron. Net result? I only spend maybe 8-10 hours a week on gaming, maybe 2 hours or so planning for future games... but when I am gaming, that's pretty much all I'm doing.

4. Watching DVDs - I got a lot of DVDs for Christmas. Which is cool. But the piles atop my DVD case make me feel guilty, like I'm not properly using my leisure time (I know, I'm a sick man), and so I try to make a point to watch at least some of them every night.

5. Reading - I'm really trying to read books again. Just finished Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book, want to finish up the Fletch series, read the Swords of Lankhamar book and finally read through the Harry Potter books. I don't think about it at all when I'm not reading, but it takes up the time that was previously allocated to graphic novels. Although I am going to try to resume Graphic Novel A Day in January. Maybe with Book A Month as well, if I'm feeling overly ambitious.

6. Sleeping - Despite really bad sleep habits like staying up too late, I get to sleep in five days a week thanks to late shifts, so I tend to get enough sleep. Maybe more than I actually need.

7. Working - 40 hours a week, more or less.

8. Writing - Both here, on Comic Pants and (probably the most time-consuming and least consequential) at various comment threads and emails around the Internet.

9. The Internet - My gigantic time sink, as I've spent four hours on this damn electronic box tonight alone, when I had three other things I meant to accomplish relating to #8, #4 and #3.

10. Everything Else - Doing a mental checklist of the above, I should still have plenty of free time. Which means it's probably a variety of other little things keeping me busy.

So in case you're wondering why I've written so little for Comic Pants or Inside Joke lately... that's why. Holidays really screwed up my schedule, especially when I was sick for a week or two, and constant anxiety (both real and imagined) has kept me distracted from getting back to the routine. I am planning on resuming Graphic Novel A Day in January, and Comic Pants writing sooner than that.

Weekly Comics to Come - December 27, 2006

TOP FIVE:
Batman And The Mad Monk #5 (More Matt Wagner Batman goodness)
Bprd Universal Machine TP (Love the BPRD series, looking forward to re-reading this one)
Daredevil #92 (Daredevil in Europe, far from Civil War... as it should be)
Killer #2 (First issue was amazing, can't wait to read the second)
Okko Cycle Of Water #1 (New series from the publishers of The Killer, so looking forward to this one as well)

THE REST:
100 Bullets Vol 10 Decayed TP (I only read this in trade anymore, but I still enjoy it in that format)
52 Week #34 (I think I'll go ahead and keep reading, at least for a while)
Age Of Bronze #24 (New issue of Shanower's fantastic story of the Trojan War)
Batman #661 (Part three of the Ostrander/Mandrake run, which was weak in the second issue but still interesting enough)
Crossing Midnight #2 (First issue was interesting enough to get me back for a second)
Hack Slash Slice Hard (New standalone from Tim Seeley, always an enjoyable read)
Hellstorm Son Of Satan #3 (Decent horror/actioner in New Orleans)
Immortal Iron Fist #2 (Mixed feelings on the first issue, but leaning toward the positive, so I'll check in on two)
Jack Of Fables #6 (The conclusion of Jack's first story arc, I think?)
Lankhmar Book 1 Swords & Deviltry Novel (Have a copy of this, want to give it a read at some point)
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #13 (Still a favorite)
Spider-man Loves Mary Jane Vol 2 TP (Looking forward to the re-read)
Uncle Sam And The Freedom Fighters #6 (I don't even remember what's happening... but I'll check in and see if I care)
Usagi Yojimbo #99 (I'm a couple issues behind on this one, but I always enjoy it when I read it)
Winter Soldier Winter Kills One Shot (Curious about this... don't much like the character, but I really like the creative team)

ABC is perilously close to dead to me as well

Daybreak Cancelled

I had mostly forgiven them for the early cancellation of Cupid, and for recent quick cancels like Eyes... but they've now killed two of their serialized dramas for the season without giving the viewers a satisfactory ending. I'm not completely sad to see The Nine go, as it was a lot of talented actors and writers on a concept that only kept my attention about 50% of the time (but it was still better than most of what's *left* on the network), but Daybreak... damn, man, I was into that show. And worse, it was only 13 episodes and then out. It seemed like a perfect thing. I would get all the answers, and if it didn't fly, then ABC could stop pouring money into it. But they couldn't even bear to suck it up for 6 more episodes and air the finale for the many viewers who had gotten caught up.

Long-term, that kind of thing is going to bite them in the ass. I know that with the death of Kidnapped, The Nine, Daybreak and Smith, I'm a hell of a lot less likely to invest in shows with serial plotlines in the future. And since I *like* those kinds of shows better than the episodic one-offs like Law & Order, that means I'm less likely to watch new shows on the networks. I'll do like my friend Dave and start waiting until they hit DVD, so I can be assured that I won't get caught up in stories with no endings.

But really, two lines from the Variety article say it all about the state of american television:

"ABC has decided to yank the Wednesday drama from its sked, effective immediately. It'll be replaced by repeats of unspecified comedies."

and, in reference to yanking Shatner's new quiz show:

"It'll be replaced by "America's Funniest Home Videos."

While that's probably a lateral move in terms of intelligence and quality, can't you just see the day when that sentence becomes a euphemism for cancellation? Seriously, how better to show the depths of lowest common denominator programming than saying that *anything* will be replaced by "America's Funniest Home Videos." Maybe Mike Judge was right in Idiocracy, maybe "Ow! My Balls!" will indeed be the top rated show sooner than we all think.

Sick

So I haven't written any of my Graphic Novel A Day reviews in the last couple days, or really done much of anything. That's because I've had a particularly vicious cold, which has been bugging me for about two weeks but came back with a fury yesterday. Hopefully it'll go away in time for me to enjoy time with the family on Sunday and Monday. If nothing else, I hope it'll be gone by the time Christmas rolls around.

Weekly Comics to Come - December 20, 2006

TOP FIVE:
Action Philosophers Vol 2 Giant Sized Thing Tp (Affordable trade of fantastic stories... the first one was great)
Criminal #3 (One of my top five favorite ongoing books)
Fables #56 (Another of my top five favorite ongoing books)
Fables Vol 8 Wolves TP (This trade has a number of interesting extras, as well as some of my favorite stories)
Y The Last Man #52 (After reading Escapists #6, my faith is shored up that Vaughan can do good endings, so Y is looking good)

THE REST:
52 Week #33 (Recently read #1-32 to prepare for a podcast, and now I'm intrigued enough to keep reading)
Bakers Meet Jingle Belle (Love the Bakers, lukewarm on Jingle Belle)
Black Coat Call To Arms Tp (Revolutionary war adventure title with supernatural flavor, glad to see this traded)
Elephantmen #5 (More gorgeously illustrated sci-fi)
Lone Ranger #3 (Enjoyed the first two issues, I'm onboard for a while longer)
Love And Capes #2 (First issue was a lot of fun)
Maintenance #1 (From Jim Massey and Robbi Rodriguez, two guys whose work in the indie world I've very much enjoyed)
Pirates Of Coney Island #3 (After two issues, I'm very intrigued by this one... great art, unusual story and characters)
Previews #27.1 (Down the Line may be delayed, both by Christmas and by minor site issues)
Shadowpact #8 (Growing disinterested in the last couple issues, but #4 and #5 were so good, and Fables is so good... I'll try at least one more issue)
She-Hulk 2 #14 (She-Hulk, Agent of SHIELD begins!)
Union Jack #4 (The action spinoff of Cap comes to a close)
Warhammer 40K #1 (Looking forward to Boom!'s take on this dark world of future war)
Wasteland #5 (Been a while, but I'm glad to see another issue)
Wonderful Wizard Of Oz Gn (After recently finishing Shanower's Adventures in Oz, I'm interested in this translated painted GN of the original novel)

Graphic Novel A Day: Fashion High - Breaking Up

Writer: Aimee Friedman
Artist: Christine Norrie
Company: Scholastic/Graphix
Price: $8.99 ($9.99 at Amazon)

In reading the solicitations for this book from Graphix, I was pretty sure it wasn't for me. And in reading it, I discovered I was right. Aimed squarely at teenage girls, telling stories of four friends whose friendships and other relationships are suffering as they grow up, all four girls were damn near impossible for me to relate to. Not a failure on the writer's part. In fact, the writing is good, keeps the story moving, weaves subplots in nicely, builds up the melodrama effectively. I believe she accurately captured the teenage existence, but give me teenage girls more like the unrealistic but interesting Veronica Mars. I was a teenage guy, and not a popular or hot one, and so I can't really relate to the trials and tribulations of cute, popular, fashionable teenage girls, who all came off a bit flighty, dim or mean. However... I still bought it, and might buy future volumes, and here's why: Christine Norrie's art. Norrie's art impressed me when I first saw it on Hopeless Savages, and it has only improved with each subsequent project. Her work here features fine, expressive cartooning and exquisite storytelling along with surface attractiveness to make it some of the finest cartooning I've seen all year. I'm not the audience for Fashion High, and I selfishly wish that Norrie was doing work that was aimed at me... but I like her work enough that I'll pick up almost anything she does, even if the story doesn't connect.

Top 10 Most Played in 2006

I'm not real good at the Top 10 music thing, because I just don't buy enough music to really put together much of a list. But Entertainment Weekly's online Popwatch recently featured the Top 10 most listened to in 2006 feature. That I can do. I don't think I've even *heard* more than one or two of the most-played in 2006 overall, but I have a "Play Count" on iTunes that will tell me how many times I've listened to a song. Now, technically this is for as long as I've had iTunes, but it's the same general idea. So, my current Top 10 Most Played List:

1. Funny Little Feeling - Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers
2. Pistolero - Juno Reactor
3. Jerk It Out - Caesars
4. We Used to Be Friends - The Dandy Warhols
5. Struggle - Ringside Rock
6. Everyday I Love You Less and Less - Kaiser Chiefs
7. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
8. Are You Gonna Be My Girl - Jet
9. What I Got - Michael Franti & Spearhead With Gift of Gab
10. Such Great Heights - The Postal Service

This probably means little to anything, given that it's based on random plays as well as playlists, but all 10 are favorite songs for me.