stuff i made
–I got quoted in the Wall Street Journal talking about digital comics and Marvel’s vault. How crazy is that? Very flattering.

–Thor: Tales of Asgard is soft. Netflix it if you have to, ignore it if you don’t.

–Ten Marvel comics that are worth buying in August
–Here’s some free digital comics

–A quick look at Adam WarRock’s new EP

–A preview of Miners Mutiny from Stackhouse x Shahan

–More digital comics, but not free

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something i like
John Rozum and Frazer Irving, Xombi 3:

Rozum’s contribution to Xombi is far from insignificant (the story’s pretty good, and I’m really very happy with how the series is shaking out), but Irving’s work is what I want to focus on right now. Off the top of my head, I’d say that the series rarely goes above five panels per page, which gives plenty of room for action and dialogue. Irving’s had a chance to show off some low-key acting (David Kim on the phone is #1 is great) and some large-scale action scenes (check out the panel progress from panels 3-5, particularly David’s head), and he’s done well with everything. At the moment, this is probably my favorite DC book. Maybe a tie with the Milligan/Camuncoli/Landini/Bisley Hellblazer.

(The colors are interesting, too. The series feels like it’s colored by mood [a burning, angry orange, a twilight blue, a calm, natural green] rather than traditionally realistic colors.)

Xombi is fairly free of metatextual commentary. Xombi isn’t a comic about other comics. Everything you need to know takes place inside the panels. This might be the first time the story in the comic breaks out of the panels. I like the extra punch it adds to the scene, though I feel like the lettering being over the action, rather than near, hurts it a little. But that right there, the blood splatter breaking out of the confines of reality, is a great touch.

created

–five manga for hollywood

–jacques tardi is pretty cool

–digital comics, censored comics, blah blah blah

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commentary

-I wanted to keep with my new format of discussing two works or bits of art I liked, but I’m on the run eating today, in addition to flirting with burnout and depression simultaneously!

-Brief bites, like the old school ciphers of two or three weeks ago. New format returns next week. Fewer complaints, too, I hope.

-The promised album reviews will have to wait, too, ugh

-One bit of art I liked from Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira:

-That coach is the greatest.

-Sometimes I go through phases of really believing that cape comics have a chance of evolving and sticking around, rather than navel-gazing their way into oblivion. And then I see the sales charts and find out that John Rozum and Frazer Irving’s Xombi shipped 12k and get depressed and bitter. Twelve thousand is pretty bad, particularly in today’s crappy comics market.

-I keep forgetting that the echo chamber that is the people I correspond with isn’t made of the traditional direct market consumer.

-Cape comics fans don’t want new, or diverse, or fresh, or even really interesting. They want what they have always had, but maybe slightly different from the last time. Maybe a new face, but not too new, in some old clothes, or an old face back from the dead and a little sexier.

-David Finch’s incredibly ugly, boring, and awful The Dark Knight came in at #4, and a couple books saw sales spikes for Reign of Doomsday.

-This is the comics industry we’ve built, and it’s gross.

–About as gross as this.

-Knowing how the sausage is made makes it harder to like comics, I think. My mistake.

-I think that the Mindless annocommentations for Batman Inc may be more entertaining than the comic they’re discussing.

-The death of Carlos Trillo is a bummer.

-Mainstream comics: I’m currently regularly buying Hellblazer, Heroes for Hire, Hulk, Power Man and Iron Fist, and Xombi.

-That’s my “pull list.”

-They’re consistently good, fairly free of stupid event-based shenanigans, and just tell good stories, month-in, mouth-out. Those are the most basic things that’ll get me to buy a comic.

-(The art on Heroes for Hire is frustratingly shaky, though.)

-I buy a lot of trades and digital books, too, but these are the only ones I buy on any sort of schedule beyond “Oh, is that out?”

-I realize that my Xombi complaint is pretty much “Why don’t people like the things I like” *throws teddy bear against the wall*, don’t get me wrong. But, that doesn’t make the fact that new books do not, and apparently will never, sell any less depressing.

-My policy is generally “Like what you like, because who cares,” but sometimes I slip.

-But it’s whatever. I’ll read something good this week (probably Hellblazer, which sells less than Xombi but has the benefit of being a Name comic in some way), forget about the fact that most comics fans don’t share my taste, and go back to gushing about how great whatever the last comic I read was.

-That comic’ll probably be Charles Schulz’s Peanuts.

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comics
David: Hellblazer 279, Heroes For Hire 7, Hulk 33, Thunderbolts 157
Esther: Yes: Tiny Titans 40, Batman and Robin 23, Superman/Batman 84 Possibly: Power Girl 24
Gavin: Batman And Robin 23, Booster Gold 44, Darkwing Duck 12, Avengers Academy 14, Avengers 13, Deadpool MAX 8, Herc 3, Heroes For Hire 7, Hulk 33, Skaar King Of The Savage Land 3, Thunderbolts 157, Ultimate Comics Avengers vs New Ultimates 4, Uncanny X-Force 10

Hey there and welcome to another week of ThWiP. This week I’m joined by David Brothers, Space Jawa and Was Taters. It’s Taters who contributes the most contrasting of comics in Tiny Titans and Vampirella. Yes, indeed, not only is Vampirella of all comics making an appearance here, but it’s sent in by the one female contributor. I don’t get it either.

Now to get this out of the way so I can continue writing my review of the most amazing and spectacular Broadway musical that I happened to catch last Friday.

5 Ronin #3 (Punisher)
Peter Milligan and Laurence Campbell

Avengers Academy #11
Christos Gage and Tom Raney

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