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So in typical Cobie fashion, I made a mistake I make about once a year. I found a series that I really thought was great but never ordered it; so by the time I recalled that it was out, I started hunting down back issues or the first trade. In the meantime, I continued to collect the current issues, not reading them, until I could get the first ones. So by the time I started reading Blue Estate by Image, I had already purchased the first (8) issues. And honestly, while it was okay, it’s not a series I think I want to continue.

I should have been tipped off when Lardy didn’t like it; usually we’re on the same page though there are times when one of us really likes something the other doesn’t. Here, I went in expecting a noir / crime / thriller type comic based on the covers of the issues and the praise I’d read online about it being very much in the pulp tradition. That might be true but not in the sense I wanted; instead this is actually a much more humor-focused comic book than anything, and that threw me for a loop. It focuses on several different characters, all with very serious motivations and circumstances, but the delivery is done in a very humorous style. And actually I found that dichotomy to not really work all that well; there is a definite disconnect between the tone and characters / subject matter. The series Chew is able to pull that off really well month in and month out, but here, it just couldn’t get over that hump from slightly amusing into something really incredible (like the aforementioned Chew).

On top of that, the art is pretty inconsistent and really not suited towards me. It’s cartoony at time and anime-ish at times, but stuck between switching from one to the next. That inconsistency continually took me out of the story.

After reading (8) issues (ugh, Lady Cobalt prob shouldn’t know how much that cost), I felt I didn’t really have enough interest to go on. This isn’t a bad series, per se, but its just not really for me.

SK – great review on Glory! I actually may pick it up now and give it a shot, especially since I was so impressed by Prophet.

FC – glad to hear that you liked Everlast. It’s a series I’d heard about and I’m interested in. I’ve seen interviews with Chad Michael Murray, who is an actor among the younger set, and he actually comes off as the real deal to me. Someone who loves literature in all its various forms and would prefer to be a writer over an actor.

Too pressed for time to really review, but figured I'd offer:

Grabbed Glory based on Sarky's rec (which is highest compliment I can offer in this forum). I had high expectations and I can say they were exceeded!. Everything Sarky says is dead on and I'd also add that it's a pretty nicely layered storytelling and excellent character work. The two characters intro-ed are terrific, and I'm looking forward to seeing them interact with Glory.

I also picked up Superbia by Boom! It was actually really good--I liked it a lot! Felt very fresh and energetic, taking a 'kinda' popular concept and injecting quite a bit of story and character into it. Best thing from Boom I've ever read.

Augh! My shop was sold out of Superbia before I could get a copy, and Bleeding Cool reports that it's selling out all over the place.

Guess I'll wait for the trade.

I'll keep an eye out for you next time I go, and if I can I'll snag a copy.

Also, we read all the same good articles at Bleeding Cool.

Yay! Thanks a million, Cobie!

And, yes, Bleeding Cool is the awesomest comics-and-more site around.

The Manhattan Projects #1 by Jonathan Hickman & Nick Pitarra (Image Comics)

Holy crap! I picked this baby up on a whim and I'm so glad I did.
Child, it was utterly fabulous!

Got that one reserved! Can't wait for it!

Hell Yeah #1 by Joe Keating & Andre Szymanowicz (Image Comics)

I almost passed this up, due to the title sounding a bit derivative of Kick Ass, but it was highly recommended by the charming & attractive clerk at my CBS, so I bought it.

I'm so glad I did!
Full of violence & profanity(but, sadly, no sex), this promising new title hooked me in with it's interesting cast, intriguing premise & well-established setting.

The lead character, Benjamin Day, is full of piss & vinegar, topped off with an adorable little tush! There's also an all-girl punk band, The All-New, All-Differents, who reminded me of my days as a bi-curious pop-tart back in college.

Auntie Anita says heck yes to Hell Yeah!

After Sarky's recommendation for the Glory relaunch proved to be a fantastic grab, I snagged the second issue...and I'm officially hooked. This is a fantastic, unique series.

It takes a lot of guts to depict a female lead like so. They do it, and pull it off. And with it comes a great story, fantastic characters and some solid storytelling.

Here's my review of a one-shot Sailor Moon story.

Casablanca Memory was a special one-shot story Naoko Takeuchi wrote about Sailor Mars. Chronologically it’s set in the first story arc of the manga before the Senshi finally met Sailor Venus. Part of the story was inspired from a conversation Naoko had with Michie Tomizawa, Mars’ voice actor, where she mentioned that her favorite flower is a white lily called a casablanca.

The story starts on April 17, which is Rei’s birthday. She unexpectedly receives a bouquet of red roses and a love letter from a boy who’s cousin goes to the same school she does. When Rei meets up with Usagi (Sailor Moon) and Ami (Sailor Mercury), she tells them they can keep the roses and the letter, because she has absolutely no interest in men. Ami mentions to Usagi that they haven’t gotten to really know Rei, probably because she goes to a different school, but also because she never really talks about herself.

When she returns to home to her grandfather’s shrine, she finds her birthday gift from her father waiting for her: a white dress and a bouquet of white lilies, the same gift she got last year. Ami and Usagi show up and give Rei a birthday gift as well, a music box which plays a song called “Rain Tree”. Usagi notes how pretty the lilies are, and Rei says they’re called “casablancas”, and they’re her favorite. After she leaves, Rei’s grandfather explains to her friends that Rei only ever meets with her father on her birthday. He’s a busy politician and Rei actively despises him, because he was so wrapped up in his career he wasn’t there for his wife, Rei’s mother, when she died. After that, Rei went to live with her grandfather at the Hikawa Shrine.

From there, we learn about Rei, her relationship with her father, and his aid, a man named Kaidou. Since Rei was little, Kaidou acted as a sort of big brother figure while he worked under her father, even after Rei’s mother Risa died. Two years before the story began, Rei was with Kaidou when she first saw a casablanca lily. Kaidou remarked that Rei would look good in white, and on her birthday shortly afterward, Rei received a bouquet of the aforementioned lillies in a white dress. She eventually realized that it was Kaidou, and not her father, who had bothered to pick out her birthday gifts. It’s quite obvious that Rei has feelings for Kaidou, and that he himself shares some of those feelings. Of course, things don’t work out in the way you think they do.

This isn’t a story about how Rei and this older gentleman enter into a doomed relationship, this is about Rei and her ability to trust people. At least, to me it is. Before meeting the Senshi, Rei had no friends because she didn’t think she was capable of trusting anyone other than herself. She felt that she and Kaidou were kindred spirits. He confessed that he didn’t want to enter a relationship either, out of fear that he would neglect his wife and children for his career. Kindred spirits. And then, one day, Rei saw Kaidou with a woman who he’s become engaged to, the daughter of the head of the Independence Party. Rei, naturally, felt betrayed. It seems she couldn’t trust Kaidou after all. That’s not their last encounter before her most recent birthday, but I don’t want to divulge what happened in that moment.

As Rei becomes more engrossed in her memories as time goes on, she begins to question why she has suddenly felt so sentimental. It’s not normal for her to be this emotional. The persistence of memories and sentimentality is a theme in this story, and they are connected with the rainy weather and the Rain Tree music boxes. The restaurant Rei went to for her birthday is also called “The Rain Tree”, and so they had one on display. The music boxes are an ongoing element, and the implications behind their sad melody are sinister. The more people keep hearing the sad song it plays, the more they think about failed relationships and unhappiness from the past. Their appearance coincides with flooding caused by the beginning of the Rainy Season, which is progressively getting worse. Could it be the Enemy?

Beyond memories and sentimentality, there’s the key element of growth as a person, and trust, and just how Rei has grown as a person, and her views on relationships. That was one of the things about Rei that got changed in the anime. In the manga, Rei was a stoic and demure miko priestess, who had a fiery temper and no interest in the opposite sex, whereas in the anime she was a hot-blooded hothead who actively sought a boyfriend and frequently got into childish fights with Usagi.

The story makes a point about choosing not to pursue romantic relationships, and Rei believes that if she ever became involved with someone she would become too greedy and wind up destroying that person. She’s fine with not having a boyfriend because she has a purpose as a Senshi and friends she count on. The ending marks a demonstration of Rei’s growth since she became a Senshi. She’s now able to trust people and she’s warmed up a little bit. Even if she doesn’t have any interest in men, that’s okay, because not pursuing romance doesn’t mean a person has to live alone.

There’s one part in this story that seems to have stuck with me. When Rei runs into Makoto (Sailor Jupiter), she treats her to a drink at the Rain Tree restaurant. It’s here that Makoto mentions a unrequited crush she once had, and Rei recalls that day she saw Kaidou with his fiance. Rei gets up and asks to play at the piano in the restaurant, and plays the theme to the movie Casablanca. Casablanca, in Spanish, means “white house”. I can’t help but feel a bit of irony in that Rei’s favorite flower is called a casablanca. With casablanca meaning white house, there’s the connection to her father and how his political career dominated his life. I try to wonder if there’s a deeper meaning to that, while at the same time I particularly like the artwork of Rei playing at the piano, with an image of the lilies in the background. It really captures her sad, strong regality, and it’s easy to understand why she was initially believed to be the Moon Princess when she first appeared.

Ragemoor #1 by Jan Strnad & Richard Corben (Dark Horse Comics)

Let me start off by saying that Corben's art is as good today as it was in it's Heavy Metal heyday.(late 70s, early 80s)

Well-paced & creepily atmospheric in glorious black & white, this book feels like it was ripped out of one of the Warren horror books of the 70's, like Creepy or Eerie. A living castle that feeds on human blood!

A fun & spooky read, with Corben indulging his penchant for drawing nudes.

Can't wait for #2!

Voice by Carla Speed McNeil

This is the latest volume in McNeil's Finder series, which takes place in an alternate world.

This is Rachel's story. Rachel is daughter of a high-ranking Llaverac (one of several clans) family. At 18, she must compete in a beauty pageant to be admitted as a full member of the clan and to enjoy a wide variety of privileges. The Llaveracs are this world's drama queens, they all look feminine and are very theatrical. (Other clans have different admission criteria, such as proving good mathematical skills.) But the Llaveracs are a hoot, and well suited to be the focus of a graphic novel.

Unlike her mixed-clan siblings, Rachel is pure Llaverac. She's a bit of a bubblehead, party girl, interested in fashion - but she knows if she can get clan membership, she can help her siblings. Going home after day one of the pageant, however, she gets mugged - and loses her hereditary ring. No ring, no pageant - so the hunt is on to find the ring.

What follows is two nights and a day of tracking through the city, looking for a nomadic friend of the family named Jaeger, who she believes could find her stolen ring. This trek is Rachel's journey of the soul; she goes through a wide variety of experiences in this delightfully strange world and emerges as an "interesting girl" - unlike the other Barbie Doll contestants. It's a wonderful coming of age story, augmented with fascinating notes from the author/artist about Rachel's world.

(You can read the next story, Torch, on-line ; old-school Cramer prefers books and the on-line artwork isn't as finished as in the paper version.)

VILLIANS FOR HIRE: OK, this wasn't a bad mini-series, by any means. Not great either, but it had enjoyable points and featured a grand plan (or two) which was interesting to watch play out.

But why the heck was Deadly Nightshade even in the thing? She got, what, 3 panels?!!! And was drawn to make Misty Knight look good, if you follow. She was publicized in all the promotional stuff and really shoudln't have been.

Bah! When's a fan's decades-long craving for black leather bikini wearing afro-puffed bad girls who can control werewolves and invent seriously wacked out crap going to be satisfied?

Dotter of Her Father's Eye, by Mary and Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse)

Two stories are interwoven in this graphic novel: Mary Talbot's, the daughter of Joycean scholar James Atherton, and Lucia Joyce's, daughter of James Joyce. Mary is researching Lucia Joyce, whose life was more or less tragic. She fought her father's condemnation of her involvement in Europe's burgeoning modern dance movement, and gradually descended into madness. Who knew James Joyce was such a stick-in-the-mud when it came to his own daughter? Mary finds some parallels between her own difficult father and James Joyce, although she comes out much better than Lucia (and thoroughly sane) in the end. Girls coming of age in 1920 vs 1960, interesting times for both women and a very interesting biography/autobiography.

Spontaneous by Joe Harris & Brett Weldale (Oni)

Melvin Reys' father died from spontaneous human combustion before Melvin's eyes and he's been on a quest for other victims - and answers - ever since that awful day.
Melvin has some sort of sense regarding future victims, of which there seem to be a high proportion in his town. "My life is a Stephen King novel", says Melvin.

Emily Durshmiller, wannabe investigative reporter, smells a good story and starts following Melvin around. There's some link to a tragedy that happened at the local chemical plant before Melvin was born: a terrible fire closed the plant down and ended the mysterious Prometheus Project. But no one alive knows whether Prometheus was a weapon, a fuel, a propulsion system or something else?

The former plant owner is confined to a retirement home, but he's not talking, except for a few cryptic comments.

The mystery is solved in the end, as all good mysteries should be, with gruesome consequences. "Prometheus stole fire from the gods... but the fire had other ideas," concludes Emily.

It's a curious subject and an interesting story, although I got a bit muddled at times and had to reread a few pages to clear up what happened at the end; a few things (like the plant owner's behaviour) were a bit too cryptic. While I felt some sympathy for Melvin, I didn't warm up to him (no pun intended) and I found the persistent Emily a tad annoying.

picked up a few trades for upcoming travel ...

cheated a bit and read issue one of the 1st Morning Glories For a Better Future volume today.


It certainly starts off with a bang. wow.

So far it's not exactly anything you haven't seen before, seems a bit like a sci fi tv show.

BUT ... it's really jam packed with excitement. It just keeps smacking you in the face with a big portion of 'didn't see that coming' or 'wow that's creepy' or 'already!'.

can't wait to see where this snowball ends up at the bottom of the avalanche!

Okay I just discovered this thread and it seems like an appropriate place to put in a shameless plug for my own graphic novel, complete with reviews by our very own Fat Cramer among others:

http://www.legionworld.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=8&t=002363#000014

Wow, what a fascinating premise for a story! That alone is intriguing despite some of the narrative criticisms you point out. Maybe I'll grab this one sometime...

Also enjoyed the heck out of the creepiness that is Ragemoor! As I've said elsewhere, Richard Corben's art is what I'd consider the scariest, creepiest and most unnerving art in comics. And theres something about it I cant help but feel drawn to!

The story of a haunted house is taken to a cool extreme here, and it's Corben's art that lends it an element of something uniquely weird.

Upon CK's recommendation I picked up Daredevil #10 ....

Daredevil versus Mole Man ... genius! This was actually the end of this story line but I was able to jump right in with a minor amount of exposition. Waid does a great job of driving Daredevil, I feel like I'm in Daredevil's shoes ... especially in regards to his powers, unique way of viewing the world, and the use of his abilities in fights. And hand picked villains perfect to face off against Daredevil. (The Klaw, a teleporter named Spot, Mole Man, all put the Daredevil in situations that show off how cool he is)

I just went to the CBS today and grabbed #1, 10.1, 4.

great dialogue btw ... in #1 you get a few sentences that sum up how Matt Murdock is back in the game after all his life imploded previously.

clever clever clever ... and the art is just right, a great mash up between a retro style, great backgrounds, and agile action scenes.

Waid and Rivera must be loving doing this series because there's a joy and energy that comes out of the book.

I've only read a handful of Daredevil stories ... ever ... and those were around the Typhoid Mary story with John Romita Jr. drawing in the late 80sish ...

but I'm really enjoying these, and they are written in a done in one way amidst a few larger plot lines ... that makes it easy to jump into ... even for someone like me, who's new to Daredevil.

Fairest #2 .... was mostly back story and only 20 pages long, and started out with a confusing jump from the last issue.

There won't be a third for me.

So in my rush to pick up Danger Club #1, I was delighted to find Hell Yeah #1 (2nd printing) and #2, both of which were flying so fast off the shelves, they're likely gone now. I read a lot of great reviews of #1, including Anita's. I've learned that if Anita likes it, it's usually very good.

My initial impression is wow, this is a fun, exiting comic! There's action, tension, complex but fun plots and teenage characters just screaming angst! Writer Joe Keatage already blew me away with Glory and that continues here. The twist ending in #2 takes the story up another notch and makes me super curious as to where its going. Meanwhile, the three female 'superheroes' from an Alt reality introduced here really hooked me, in the sense that we already have a large cast (which at like 80% female works).

The art by Andre Szymanowicz just POPS and sizzles in the right places. It has a slight Möbius / Quietly influence that I like, while still being unique. The characters are sexy and energetic. And theres something raw about it, slightly unpolished which I find appealing.

I really liked this! Yet another add to my pull list from Image. 

And this issue had more cute tushes and some sexy kissing scenes, to make up for the lack of sex in #1!

Nowhere Man by Marc Guggenheim and Jeevan J. Kang (Dynamite)

A pretty interesting series, but not blowing my mind.

It's a Philip K. Dick sort of premise: in the future, everyone has been infected with something that permits The Overmind to detect illegal/homicidal thoughts, thereby wiping out crime.

However, one child has been born and genetically altered by his father to escape the Overmind. Grown to adulthood, the only way to test if it works is for him to kill somebody.

The Overmind doesn't have things under control quite as much as the powers that be think, however. The protaganist, by issue #2, is meeting all sorts of seedy characters and is being chased by Orions (the police). And, of course, there is a beautiful blonde Orion who is also questioning things, much to the annoyance of her commander, so you figure there's going to be a love interest in future issues, and maybe lots of Overmind-free babies.

I have decided to take a break from DC for a bit and am very much looking forward to reading SAGA, SUPREME and DANGER CLUB (all from Image) next!

I would make it 5 Image titles in a row, but I I already know I love THE WALKING DEAD and I have let several issues of MORNING GLORIES pile up in my pull because I want to try reading several issues at once.