Tuesday 22 June 2010

Valhallahan's Comic Book Fortnight!

Valhallahan

I haven't done the 'What I Got & Why' the last two weeks, partially because it's been real slim pickin's on the new books front for me, and partially because I've been as busy as a nightclub urinal. I thought by way of recompense, I'd give you lovely people my week (or two) of comics -

*Insert Theme Tune*

Well... the week before last (remember that?) I had mini Marvel week. Just four books, all from The House of Ideas. Just one company, but quite a selection; I picked up Gay Cowboys (Rawhide Kid #1), trippy insects in the astral plane (Spider-Man Fever #3), the adventures of a teenage CEO (Prince of Power #2) and the comparatively pedestrian-sounding superhero vs Nazis (Captain America #606). As I've mentioned before, I was loving Fever and it finished as it started, Cap's still going strong (remarkably, after this long a run), as is PoP. Rawhide Kid was, well... a bit shit to be honest.

Unlike the rest of the comic book reading world, I rather enjoyed the first Rawhide Kid mini that Zimmerman did a few years ago (which ridiculously earned a "Mature Readers" rating due to a bit of mild innuendo and a homosexual lead) I picked up all the issues in a bargain bin a couple of years ago and was pleasantly surprised. Here, however, Chaykin continues his descent into CG hackerey and the stunted scripting does it no favours, never feeling like flowing conversation. Even the innuendos are poorly conceived and executed, which is half the fun for something that's clearly aiming to be a mixture of A Fistful of Dollars and Carry On Camping. I'd give it two (rusty) sheriff's badges of five; one of which is solely for the Ghost Rider scene - not awful, but disappointing.

I couldn't find a copy of Jonah Hex #55, but the giant wheel of comic book karma saw fit to guide me to Oxfam in Hertford where I picked up a bunch of 70s and 80s issues for a steal. So far I've read the one about Carnies and I'm saving the rest to do some kind of Hex then and now with Action Ash in the coming weeks.

Then to Edinburgh, where I braved many bars and several portions of haggis to pick up DV8: Gods and Monsters #3, which focuses on Mr Hector Morales; the mopey Deviant; and Daytripper #7 which sees the darkest story so far (which is saying something for a book whose protagonist is an obituary writer whose death concludes each episode). Both good issues, DV8 dragging a little bit, but I'm still interested to see where the story's headed. I also learned that Forbidden Planet Edinburgh is nice but a little on the small side. Weirdly, it didn’t Have Hellblazer #267 or The Walking Dead # 73, so I picked them up elsewhere. I shouldn’t need to tell you why I got those, or that they were good at this point.

On my (long-arse) up and down journey I read Luna Park which I bought for the gorgeous fucking art of Danijel Zezelj (and wasn't disappointed) and Johnny Dynamite: Underworld which was a rip-roaring pulp adventure purchased from the bargain bin at a comic convention a month or two ago. I'll post up bits on them later. I also finished The Maltese Falcon and ate some sandwiches from M&S, but this isn't really the arena for that, 'cause there weren't no pictures.

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