Granted

So here we have Grant Morrison, a contemporary of Alan Moore, being interviewed in the latest Comic Heroes magazine. Someone who has been through the same kind of crap in the comics industry and had similar fall outs with the Big Two as Alan Moore has. This is his response to Moores' statement that the constant rebooting of characters has has left the comics industry creatively bankrupt;

"....the reason they're recycled is simple: these are primal stories that appeal to human beings in every culture, at any time. They're designed to be told over and over again. If you were an Aboriginal kid or a tribal shaman, that's what you'd do; participate in the recycling of stories..."

Makes sense to me. Why doesn't it make sense to Alan Moore?

CLiNT - A REVIEW

Well, it's got a great cover hasn't it? A heavily bearded Frankie Boyle (so that's what he's been up to since he left Mock The Week) throwing down some kung fu moves, backed up by Kick-Ass and Hit Girl. There's something about the design of this cover that reminds me of the late, great Death Ray magazine. As for the interiors? Well......

The problem I have with this magazine is that I have read most of it already. I've already bought (and enjoyed) Turf#1 and Nemesis #1. Most of the non-comics material has already been done (or something very similar) in Zoo/Bizarre/FHM/Total Film. Frankie Boyle's strip feels like bog standard 2000AD. The only thing I enjoyed was the 8-page intro to Kick Ass 2. Not a good return on £3.99. Now I know that this magazine isn't meant for people who actually read comics (huh?) but I think it would benefit from having more comics related material. Maybe some variation on CBR's Comic Book Legends, Johnathon Ross writing about Manga, Frankie Boyle writing about the comics he loves, features on the British small press scenes, anything really cool or strange about comics that the mainstream may not be aware of. And more comics. I think this mag could make a nice new home for Graham Pearce's Sgt Mike Battle or Martin Eden's O Men.

Now the dilemma. Do I continue to buy something that is not value for money in the hope that it gets better or do I just spend that £3.99 trying out a different comic every month? I do like the idea of Clint, and I would like to see it succeed but I would also like it to be good. There's a lot of talented people in the small press scene that Millar could draw upon to improve the mag.

ABNORMALS

Just checked my Hotmail account for the first time in ages and found this rather cool pic by Grant Springford. It's of his new small press comic "The Abnormals". It's actually an old series of his but he's in the process of creating an updated version. The rather dapper fellow in the background is a character from his last SP series "Pest Control". I'm kinda curious as to why he's there and how he ended up there as things were not looking too good for our heroes in the last issue of PC. It's clear to see how much Grants' art has improved since PC #7 (a few years go). And just look at that perspective work! I don't think I'll ever get my head around perspective, but I'm always glad to see someone else master it. For more info checkout the Abnormals Facebook page.

OI! ALAN! NOOOO!!!

We all know Alan Moore is an exceptionally talented man. His artistic integrity has garnered him the respect of pretty much everybody who has come into contact with the man and/or his work. Marvel Man, V For Vendetta, Watchmen, The Birth Caul, Big Numbers, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He's no one hit wonder or flavour of the month. Heck, he even managed, in Supreme, to write a decent Image comic (probably an even greater achievement than Watchmen!). But boy am I tired of his seemingly incessant whinging. I've recently read his interview in SFX's latest Comic Heroes mag and it actually left me feeling quite happy about his supposed retirement from the comics industry. The thing that annoys me about Alan is that every time he vents his spleen at the "comics industry" he's really only talking about two companies - Marvel and DC. Rarely does he ever make that distinction. By all means bash Marvel, demolish DC but please do not tar an entire industry (or art form, if you will) with the same brush. For someone who has done so well for himself as a writer of comics it would be nice to see him stop ranting about how redundant the super hero genre is and start spotlighting all the good stuff out there. What about Seth, Jason, Adrian Tomine and Art Spiegleman? What about the U.K. small press scene? What about Bendis and Maleev and their magnificent Sopranos equalling run on Daredevil? We all know that 90% of everything is shit, Alan. Why not focus on that other 10% for a fucking change.

COMICS!

Saturday was such a lovely day for travelling into London to buy comics. So nice that I decided to sit in Hyde park and read some of the comics I picked up from Forbidden Planet. I didn't purchase as many comics as I thought I would but I did get a few things that I was quite looking forward to reading. Avengers #1, Secret Avengers #1 and Avengers Prime #1 - the beginning of Marvels' Heroic Age. I'm not a "traditional" Avengers fan, I only started reading the book when Brian Bendis took it over and swiftly Disassembled it. I was all about the X-Men as a kid and the Avengers always seemed old fashioned in comparison. Bendis and Finch really gave the book a shot in the arm and in doing so, made the Marvel Universe such an exciting place to hang out. I think before this I was only reading Bendis and Maleevs' Daredevil, Morrison and Quitely's X-Men and Millar and Hitch's Ultimates. I just didn't care at all about what was happening in the larger Marvel U.

Anyway, Avengers #1. With the exception of the usual Bendis funny and that hammer blow ("that would be what it's like to be on the Avengers with Thor") this book seemed to have a lot of that old fashionedness of the pre-Bendis era. I mean, Kang? Another dystopian Marvel future? The Avengers' children? Who cares? Of course, the gorgeous Romita artwork will keep me around for a couple more issues but I suspect that New Avengers (once it's relaunched) will remain "my" Avengers title.

Secret Avengers #1 was a better read, for me. Interesting cast of characters, good interaction and a really intriguing last page (what does that mean?).

I picked up Avengers Prime mainly for the Alan Davis artwork and the great man did not disappoint. Unfortunately the same can't be said of the colour work on this book. I do not know of another artist that has been so ill served by various colourists as Alan. Take a look at his miniseries, Fantastic Four: The End. That's how you colour an Alan Davis book (gawd bless yer, John Kalisz). Strangely, this feels like the most un-Bendis like Bendis book I've ever read. I'm still going to pick up the rest of it, though( it's Alan Davis for goodness sake!).

Right, That'll do for now.

Take care.

THEY KILLED RORY!? YOU BASTARDS!

Er, is it too late to insert a spoiler warning?

Absolutely gutted that Rory has been killed off. Ok, we knew that something bad was going to happen to Amy and Rory. Of course we did. Moffett wouldn't have had the "older" Amy and Rory appear at the beginning of this superb two-parter just for the sake of a throwaway line. It was supposed to lull us into a false sense of security. And it bloody well worked! It's such a shame as I was really, really enjoying the new dynamic with Rory on board the Tardis. I was a bit wary of Amy Pond at first. She seemed a bit too cocksure, a bit too willing to follow the Doctor anywhere and everywhere, regardless of the potential danger. I've always felt that this show was at it's best when there was somebody around to hold the Doctor to account for his actions, to remind the viewer of just what can be at stake whenever the Doctor rushes toward mystery and danger in the name of adventure. That is what Rory brought to the show. He made Amy and the Doctor more interesting.

Oh well, off to Forbidden Planet this weekend with the intention of spending loads of money on comics (Avengers #1, Secret Avengers #1, Avengers Prime #1, Second Coming, and lots more hopefully) so that should cheer me up.

END OF AN ERA

Crikey, so much for posting every sunday! It's not even as if I have been so busy that I just have'nt had the time to update. I just kind of....forgot. Anyway, at least this means the catch up shouldn't take too long.

13th March 2010. That's the date that Neil and Kate closed the doors of thier comic book store after almost 30 years of trading. Not as a result of the recession, just problems with thier landlord and a growing desire to devote more time to their animal rescue farm. It was a weirdly emotional day. I had been buying comics from them for a little over 20yrs (yes, I am that old) so had a deep connection to the people and the place. I can remember the day when me and my dad "discovered" Neil and Kates' store (Escape). I don't think I had realised before that point there were such things as comic book shops. It was like a bloody treasure trove to me back then. I could have happily spent the entire day there (it was a saturday) but I was mindful of the fact that my dad wanted to get home, so I grabbed some comics that seemed familiar to me and promised myself that I wouldn't forget where this shop was, so that I could return the following week. I must have been about 12yrs old at the time, so this was when a week felt like a year. If memory serves me right, I picked up Uncanny X-Men #248, a copy of GI Joe (which I immediately recognised as Action Force under a different name), a copy of Web of Spiderman and ....um...She Hulk #10 (I was 12yrs old!). Most of the X-Men stuff I had read previous to this were from British black & white reprint comics so X-Men #248 made no sense to me whatsoever. But that was okay. Because Escape had back issues! Boy, those were the days, huh?
Anyway, when I went there for the last time it was busier than it had been since the heady, exciting days of the early 1990s. I got the sense that some people wanted to have a good chat with Neil and Kate but were too self concious with all the people around. People were milling around waiting for the others to leave. I had a brief chat with Neil while I paid for my comics, shook his hand and wished him the all the best. And that was that. Onwards and upwards, as they say, so it was off to Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Ave to see what all the fuss was about. Y'know, for a store with that reputation I was expecting something bigger and with a better layout. And no back issue section?! I suppose that's the trade paperback market for you. They really need to sort out the shelving for their comics in that place. It goes right down to the floor! I was practically on my hands and knees trying to see what was on the bottom shelf. And, as we've already established, I'm getting on a bit and these knees of mine cannot take much more of that. Anyway, they do have a great selection of books and comics and now the challenge is going to be to get out of that place without spending an obscene amount of money.



THE DOCTOR IS IN.

Two episodes in to the new series and I'm still quite enjoying it. Smith does'nt command my attention the way Tennant did but he's a curious fellow is'nt he? I think I'm more impressed so far by the little things that Moffett has brought to the show (the fairy tale/Avengers feel of ep 1 was great).


O-MEN-ATHON.

Making my way through the entire run of Martin Edens' fantastic O-Men comic. Check it out on Myebook.com or order copies from Smallzone.co.uk. Then check out his new book, Spandex. Both books have had amazing reviews in all sorts of places that you wouldn't expect to see comic book reviews. Quite an achievement for a small press comics creator.

Right, that's it for now. I'll try not to leave it so long next time.

Cheerio.