#January2015
Marvel announces final issues of ‘Avengers’ and ‘New Avengers’ ahead of ‘Secret Wars’
BECAUSE OF COURSE. It seems like every fucking event these days brings with it the final issues of major titles, only to relaunch them with some new adjective after the fact. Uncanny Forceful Nouveau Avengers, here we come. However, I suppose I got to rock the Serenity Prayer and simply accept it as part and parcel of the current Big Two Comic Climate.
No Comments
Hickman says Dustin Weaver has completed his ‘S.H.I.E.L.D’ art
Man, I feel old as fuck. I know that I’ve been waiting for the Hickman/Weaver collaboration, S.H.I.E.L.D., to finish up for a while now. But I had no idea that it had been four fucking years since the series started. A series which while seemingly dismissed should not be forgotten. The son of a bitch was a glorious, frothy philosophical circle-jerk that still managed to squeeze in a goddamn shit-ton of glorious action and artwork.
Dustin Weaver cuts own sci-fi epic with ‘AMNIA CYCLE’ comic
How the fuck did I not know that Dustin Weaver was publishing his own glorious, free sci-fi comic book online? Fuck me sideways while wearing a Reagan mask. The jam is called Amnia Cycle, and at first blush it looks fucking radical. I’ve been a fan of The Weave (no one calls him that, just me, I’m a piece of shit) since his run on SHIELD with Hickman. Then he ripped it up on Infinity. But I’ll be goddamned if the prospect of seeing his own universe doesn’t seem just as exciting as either of those beauties.
Monday Morning Commute: SNORTING MARTIAN BONES ON ARES
Welcome, friends. Welcome to Monday Morning Commute. Hereon in is a column where we come together to share the various holo-films, digi-books, and post-post-caterwaulcore musics (and other assorted genres) we are enjoying during a given week. Share! Care! Be your contributions either current obsessions or happenings occurring during the next seven days. Let’s grind through the grind together.
BUY THESE FLIPPIN COMICS!!! (9/4/13) SPACE JAMZ & OTHER NONSENSE
So you might be wondering why the hell a nearly 20-year-old film about cartoons and basketball is headlining this column about weekly comic books. You might then also wonder how the hell 20 years have gone by so fast. And why hasn’t there been a sequel…ya know, with Lebron and Jason Sudeikis in the lead roles? This would lead you to then ask yourself if you could write the script. Concluding that it is either you or no one else, you then set out to do so. You hit up tumblr for some reference material on Looney Tunes. You quickly spiral down the rabbit hole of ALL OF THE BUTTS WONDERLAND, emerging days later, pants around ankles, achy, groggy. Your unfinished (unstarted) script gives you the stinkeye with its ever-blinking cursor. You realize where the 20 years have gone.
Hit the jump and let’s pass the time between tumblr sessions, talk funnybooks, bond as humans.
Variant Covers: Criminals, Mutants, and Hot Dogs.
With the stink of Memorial Day weekend-promoted seared animal and sunshine still on my flesh, I bustle to bring you this week’s Variant Covers. Summer time always smacks of considerable events, the now common deluge of superhero flicks, and a good excuse to read some funny books in front of that big shiny star looming down at us. Per usual, I encourage readers to share their pull lists for the week. I can’t read everything, haven’t heard of your favorite niche comic but I’m interested, and often just like to look at slicing swords and telekinetic knives.
Hit me!
‘Mad Men’ Gets Illustrated By Periscope Studio.
A bunch of creators have come together at Periscope Studio at give your favorite Mad Men characters life via illustration. Some of them took to panels and (empty) word balloons, while others chose singular illustrations or pseudo-print advertisements.
They’re all pretty sexy though.
Hit the jump to check them out.
Images & Words – S.H.I.E.L.D. #6
[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. // caffeine powered note: I begged rendar to let me write about shield #6. I had such a hard-on I needed to ejaculathink about it. He’ll be back next week.]
The final issue of the first volume of Jonathan Hickman and Dustin Weaver’s Shield came out this week, and it struck me at the very core of my philosophical soul. An imbecile dabbling in impracticality, I spent a good portion of my twenties floundering through school and accumulating credits in various philosophy classes. Modern philosophy, medical ethics, existentialism, Ancient Greek, Medieval, and Social Ethics among others.
I absorbed them all but I did so with a problem lingering in the back of my head. The brightest philosophers, the most powerful thinkers, my very heroes; they were all, to an extent, full of fucking shit.
In ways both gorgeous and clinical, Hickman and Weaver make this argument in the final issue of the first volume of Shield. In a way I never could. I don’t have the components, I lack the wiring. But I know a classic when I see it.
Variant Covers: Hot Soccer Moms and School Girls.
Thank goodness it’s almost Wednesday. The weekly grind demands a brief respite, and on that third day of every week comic books come to the fucking rescue. This is Variant Covers. Inside you’ll find the comic books dropping tomorrow that I’m interested in.
Opinionated? You’re on the internet so you fucking must be. Hit the comments section with the funnies you plan on snagging this week.
—-
Jennifer Blood #1.
Jenny Blood is a new comic dropping tomorrow by Garth Ennis and Adriano Batista. The premise? Something fittingly Ennis. Blood is a suburban housewife by day. She feeds the kids, takes them to soccer, cooks them dinner. But by night! Oh you knew this was coming. But by night, she’s a totally elite assassin. In a latex get-up, which is always, always, always a good thing to me.
There was a time when Garth Ennis was my fucking idol. Between Preacher, Hitman, and his take on the Punisher, the good man owned my soul. Over time, I’ve grown less and less enthused with his efforts. While some people may find it heretical to say, I got tired of The Boys. I get it, I get it. A vulgar deconstruction of superhero motifs. Like I said, I probably just pissed a good amount of people off. I’m hoping that Jennifer Blood can rekindle my love affair.
If it’s nothing more than a female twist on the Punisher, I’d be fine with that. Perhaps my time away from the Ennis bag of tricks has been enough to recuperate my love for him.
—-
S.H.I.E.L.D. #6.
The first volume of Marvel’s most mindrapingly fantastic title concludes tomorrow. It is, without doubt, going to be my title of the week. Hickman and Weaver’s panel-smashing, contemporary narrative structure-defying, philosophically curious title has been nothing less than the fucking belle of my pull list ball since it started. This week we get the epic battle between Leonard Da Vinci and his free spirits versus Isaac Newton and his Hobbesian belief that mankind must be corralled. I think these motherfuckers are going to come to blows.
Hickman has been nothing short of brilliant to me in everything that I read of his. His killing of a member of the Fantastic Four? Had this guy in tears. His exploration of ideologies and the fictionalization of historical figures in S.H.I.E.L.D. has been something special. It isn’t a question of whether or not the sixth issue will be fantastic, but if the second volume can possibly top this first arc.
—-
Morning Glories Trade #1.
I have not read Morning Glories yet. However, I have only heard wondrous things regarding the title written by Nick Spencer and drawn by Joe Eisma. In fact, the buzz was so good that it drove me to pick up Spencer’s newest title, Infinite Vacation. Conclusion from reading that title? Spencer can fucking pen, yo! I’m not certain what Morning Glories is about. There’s been a concerted effort made by myself to stay away from any plot synopses, because I’ve read there’s a mystery afoot in the title.
Basic plot summary from various sites is, “Morning Glory Academy is one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country, but something sinister and deadly lurks behind its walls.” It doesn’t sound amazing, does it? Probably why I passed on it the first time. Do these copywriters realize people make financial decisions based on their bland fucking description of something that could be fantastic? Doesn’t seem that way.
I’m there.
—-
Images & Words – S.H.I.E.L.D. #5
[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]
This week’s pick of the comics-litter is S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 by writer Jonathan Hickman and illustrator Dustin Weaver.
If all you care to know is which comic gets the Images & Words accolades, then you can stop reading right now. I offer only my thanks for entertaining my feeble expressions thus far and encourage you to plunk down $3 for this book.
For those of you interested in why this comic gets the nod: S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 affects me. Greatly. In that way that makes met step back and consider both otherworldly possibilities and the unactivated transcendences of inner-space.
