8/09/2004

Oh my tails and whiskers, I have no fucking money.

Looks like this week is gonna be mighty light on the old comic magazines here at Jog headquarters. Fortunately, I have one item pre-ordered and paid for, and there’s only one other book that’ll hurt me with its absence. So take my hand, virtuous souls! Let’s frolic through:

This Week’s Comics

Jimbo in Purgatory by Gary Panter - I’ll be getting this one soon, and I’m a little bit intimidated. I’m not very ‘well read’ you see. I wouldn’t know fine poetry if it broke into my apartment and handed me an 8 x 10 autographed glossy and pissed on my sport jackets. And this book is supposed to be stuffed with allusion to Dante’s classic work, among other literary and philosophic gems. The book is thin, only 40 pages, but huge: 17.25 x 12 inches. And every page is reportedly stuffed with detail, according to those who‘ve already picked it up at conventions. I’ll have to see how well I hold up.

Flight - Yeah, I’m gonna have to hold off on this one until next week, and it’s a bitch. Check out the book’s site here for some info and sample stories. It’s an anthology (published by Image) by young and mostly obscure creators, and it looks mighty glossy and colorful. Next week.

New X-Men HC Vol. 3 - Collecting the remainder of Grant Morrison’s run. I still need to get Vol. 2.

The Punisher MAX #10 - Oh, guilty pleasure! You’ll still be waiting for me! This is part 4 (of 6) of the current storyline, and it’s feeling a bit drawn out halfway through, but I’m still onboard. Just a few more faces falling off, and I’ll be satisfied. Also note that the first trade for the MAX book (collecting issues #1-6) is also out this week.

Identity Crisis #3 (of 7) - Golly, in terms of online discussion I don’t know how this installment will top the Nobel Prize winning twists of issue #2. Maybe 20 solid pages of Silver Age villains setting kittens on fire? Nah, I get the feeling that this’ll be one of those quiet-in-comparison issues. Supporters might claim that this (hypothetical) issue reveals the book’s ’soul’. Detractors might use the respite as an opportunity to highlight the story’s fundamental flaws. Or maybe it’ll just be a really dull water-treading issue and nobody will have anything much to say at all. I hope not because I’ve managed to convince myself that just following the online discussion is much more fun (and much less expensive) than buying the comic itself.

Identity Disc #3 (of 5) - And speaking of just reading what they tell me on the Internet, it seems that this series follows the adventures of a bunch of Marvel villains as they struggle to put on a community theater production of “The Usual Suspects”… right? I believe this issue is where they sell cupcakes to raise money to buy the costumes.

X-Force #1 - Obviously, I’ve saved the best for last. Now I know you’ll all want to buy the physical comic itself to store in your personal archives but please do peruse this preview again, just to torment your body’s pleasure centers with anticipation for the ecstasy awaiting you in only two short days. I just read it again right now, and my physical form could not stand the raw entertainment power and my head literally exploded. I am now feeding myself by pouring applesauce directly into my neck and I can’t see whatsoever; I am pounding on totally random computer keys, confident that my faith in “X-Force” alone will suffice in getting my message through to my Internet brothers and sisters. Remember, if we keep reviving properties from the early 1990’s then we will actually reverse the flow of time and we will all become young(er) again and we will be able to correct all of the mistakes we have made before and the world will be flawless.

Tomorrow: Samuel Hiti’s “Tiempos Finales“.