Subscribe Feed (RSS)Mike M’s Weekly Reads – 5/23/2006
May 23rd, 2006 by Administrator | Filed under Mike M's Weekly Reads.The Drive-In by John Lansdale and Christopher Golden TPB by Avatar. The description given in ComicBase is the following: Joe R. Lansdale’s The Drive-In is a comic-book adaptation of the author’s 158-page novel The Drive-In, which was published in 1988 and is now out of print. The first installment includes the novel’s prologue in its entirety, and most of the text throughout the issue is lifted straight from the book. Speaking of story, The Drive-In is a cracking good yarn with a twisted affinity for popcorn movies, drive-in theaters, beer-drinking buddies, and warm East Texas evenings. Most of all, it’s a fun and harrowing horror romp that gets weirder, grosser, and more perverse, as events progress. This is a story about a group of friends that go to the Drive-In and a comet hits and a strange dome covers the drive-in and there is no escape. It is a fairly interesting and one of the grossest books I have read. I give this book 3.0 Stars. The Drive-In 2 comic has just hit stores recently in case anyone is interested.
Fantastic Four by J. Michael Straczynski and Mike McKone issues 531-537.
These issues finished out the FF story and explained the cosmic rays a little. Several issues had the Thing and Torch battling the Hulk right before Planet Hulk takes place. The last few issues involve Civil War and Thor’s hammer. This issues were just OK in my opinion and I have read better FF in my opinion. I was glad to see the return of Thor’s hammer to the Marvel Universe. The entire set I will give 3 Stars.
Blue Beetle #2 by Keith Giffen, John Rogers with art by Cully Hamner. What can I say, I still miss Ted Kord. I have not gotten into the new character yet but will stick around for the first 6 issues or so to see where this book is going. 2.5 Stars
Hawkgirl #51 by Walt Simonson with art by Howard Chaykin. I was a big fan of the Johns run as well as the Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray run. So far this does not compare to the runs but Chaykin’s art is finally growing on me. I look forward to this book as I have faith in the current creative team and the where is Hawkman mystery. 3 Stars.
52 #1 by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid with art by Keith Giffen, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose (inks), J.G. Jones (cover). Featured many DC characters but focused on Renee Montoya (Batman supporting character and star of Gotham Central), Booster Gold, Steel, Black Adam, and a few others. Renee is by far my favorite as I love the characters from Gotham Central. Great start. 4 Stars.
Civil War by Mark Millar and Steve McNiven #1. Loved the opening to the Civil War and I am looking forward to see who will side with who. I am also interested to see how this will effect the super-villains. Starred Bryan Deemer from CGS, what more can you ask for. 4 Stars.
Borrowed Time by Neal Shaffer and Joe Infurnari from IDW. A reporter takes a trip thru the Bermuda Triangle to find out he is lost in time. Art and story are very interesting and I look forward to reading the next issue to see how this mystery pans out. 3.5 Stars
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Lansdale is a really good writer. I know he was in a bit of trouble because of the first Vertigo Jonah Hex miniseries, but I like his stuff.
I haven’t read FF in a while, so I will trust you on this.
You’re going to give BB six issues? If I don’t like a series (or if I’m on the fence), I usually only give it three. I guess in the era of writing for the trade, you would have to go six in order to get the full effect of the story.
I’ve always liked Hawkgirl as a character and with the focus on her, I will probably check it out.
Renee Montoya is another strong character and I’m glad she is the focus of a main storyline in a major title instead of the focus of a main storyline in a criminally overlooked series.
When I saw Bryan in Civil War, I laughed because the character looked like a demon love child of Bryan and Jamie D.
Borrowed Time sounds like a really cool story. I’ll have to seek it out.
I am sticking with Blue Beetle mostly because of the characters history. I have every single Charlton and DC book and my oldest book a Blue Beetle (Fox) book from the 40s. It almost like I have to support the character even though I am not likely the stories.
There was also supposed to be some CGS logo but I did not notice it in Civil War.
I just thought I’d comment on the last two-parter in the FF… which feature Thor’s Hammer and Doom’s attempt to possess it. I loved the covers, but both portrayed scenes that did not occur in the books. I loved them on a symbolic level, but I have to agree, I would have suspected that the Doom who attempted to lift the hammer might also have been a DoomBot. Also, I felt a good bit of the story could have been condenced. Why could this story not have taken place in only one issue? Why did we have to pay $2.99 twice to get the story instead of once and enjoy the whole one-part story? These are my most recent objections to how Marvel is pacing their stories. The plot developments take too long to play out… and most of these stories could have been (and used to be) contained in one issue through creative artwork and apppropriately sized panel artwork.
As a result, I have less money left to pursue other good stories or series, and I must eliminate or pare down the number of Marvel books that I can buy each month. Instead of 15-16, I must drop that number to 8 this month. Was this the best policy for Marvel to adopt?
After spending 8 issues on House of M, which could have been just 5 or 6, why would I invest in every aspect of Civil War? Granted, I enjoyed the first issue, and I’m now enjoying New Avengers and the tie in that are occuring… just as long as I understand when and why Civil War fits into the current NA storyline, or does it conclude before Civil War happens. I almost thought NA 19 was going to lead directly into CW1… until they all walked out on it.
Hi, Mike –
Thanks a ton for your positive words about the book. It counts for a lot. I wanted to let you know, as well, that it’s actually from Oni, not IDW. Not a big deal – just for the sake of accuracy.
Volume 2 is on the schedule for late 2006. Here’s hoping we can count on your support again when it comes out.
ns
Neal, sorry I got the publisher wrong. My bad. Great book and I will continue to plug it, I believe I heard about it from Comic Geek Speak if I remember correctly. I never thought anybody read any of my reads and it is an honor to have one of the authors comment on my feedback. I also would like to say I loved the format. Keep up the good work and I will continue to look for your work. Thanks…..
I never thought anybody read any of my reads and it is an honor to have one of the authors comment on my feedback.I thought that was pretty cool, too.
No problem, Mike. Whenever I have a book come out I try to keep tabs on the reviews as much as I can, and I like to try and say “thanks” for the good ones when I get the chance.
ns