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Host Derek Coward finishes his look at the best of 2008 by talking about the titles that he has heard good things about but has never checked out yet, best miniseries that didn’t finish in 2008, best #1 comics of 2008 and the best graphic novels.

Related links (*-Amazon link, so help a brother out):
* Rasl Volume 1: The Drift
The Boy Who Made Silence
* House of Mystery
* Young Liars
* Captain Britain and MI:13
‘76
* Tangent: Superman’s Reign
The Infinite Horizon
Stephen King’s The Stand: Captain Trips
* The Twelve
* Love and Rockets: New Stories #1
* Madame Xanadu #1
Comic Book Comics
* Locke & Key
Kick-Ass
* Man With No Name
* Queen and Country Definitive Edition
* Noble Causes Archives
* The Walking Dead, Vol. 8: Made to Suffer
* Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician

Tags: '76, 11 O'Clock Comics, 52, a fistful of dollars, action philosophers, alan moore, alex ross, amazon marketplace, amy reeder hadley, andy diggle, angela paman, b clay moore, babylon five, batman, best of 2008, black canary, black samurai, black terror, blaxsploitation, bone, booster gold, brian azzarello, bruce jones, bruce le, bruce li, bruce wayne, bryan deemer, camelot, captain britain and mi13, captain trips, charles vess, chinese connection, chris marshall, chris weston, christopher neseman, civil war, classics illustrated, clint eastwood, collected comics library, comic book comics, comics code authority, continuity, cool, countdown to final crisis, dabel brothers, dan jurgens, dan spiegle, daredevil, dark horse, dc comics, dead world: frozen over, death defying devil, desperado publishing, detroit comics, dynamite entertainment, ec comics, evil twin comics, evil white cops, fifth week event, first comics, for a few dollars more, fred van lente, frederic wertham, gabriel rodriguez, game of death, Geek Brunch, geoff johns, golden age heroes, graphic novels, green arrow, green arrow year one, green lama, green lantern, greg rucka, guy pearce, heartbreak soup, hellblazer, hellblazer joy ride, hellblazer the laughing magician, hippies, house of mystery, house of secrets, hulk, idw, image comics, inferno, infinite horizon, invincible iron man, irresponsible speculation, j michael straczynski, jackie chan, jackie karma, james caviezel, jamie delano, jay faerber, jeff smith, jim krueger, jlapes, joe hill, john constantine, john stewart, jsa, kick-ass, kung fu movies, legion of super-heroes archives, leonard kirk, leonardo manco, lex luthor, little gold book, locas, locke and key, love and rockets, love and rockets: the new stories, madame xanadu, magneto, manhattan, mark evanier, markosia comics, marvel comics, matt fraction, matt wagner, matthew sturges, mike grell, new universe, next issue project, noble causes, noble causes archives, oliver queen, omega the unknown, oni press, oz, palomar, paul cornell, perhapanauts, peter david, phantom stranger, power girl, project superpowers, proof, psi-force, public domain, queen and country, queen and country definitive edition, racist hero, rasl, ryan dunleavy, salvation run, scott cederlund, secret invasion, sergio leone, seth peck, shared universe, shazam and the monster society of evil, spaghetti western, spider-man, stephen king, steve sadowski, sting, superman, swamp thing, tangent comics, tara chace, the atom, The Boy Who Made Silence, the count of monte cristo, the demon etrigan, the flash, the good the bad and the ugly, the joker, the losers, the man with no name, the odyssey, the programme, The Readerfeed, the stand, the sword, the twelve, the unexpected, the yellow kid, vandal savage, vertigo, Vince Bonovoglia, waiting for the trade, walking dead, wally west, watchmen, wednesday's haul, white event, wonder woman, wonderland, young liars, zero killer, zombie

I had time and a little bit of money so I picked up some comic books. I wanted to buy the new Flash Gordon (Ardden Entertainment?) and the new Thor special written by Matt Fraction, but the comic book shop didn’t have either of them. They were sold out. They had a lot of Final Crisis/Secret Invasion stuff.

My list of purchases (*-starred items were bought in the dollar bin)

Batman 633*

Gotham Central 23*

The Mighty Avengers 16*

Project Superpowers 4*

Madame Xanadu 4

Madame Xanadu 5

The Secret Society of Super Villains 3*

The Secret Society of Super Villains 6*

Stephen King’s The Stand: Captain Trips 2

The Sword 12

Tags: batman, final crisis, flash gordon, gotham central, madame xanadu, matt fraction, project superpowers, secret invasion, secret society of super villains, stephen king, the mighty avengers, the stand, the sword, thor

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I review The Stand Captain Trips 1 of 5.  It may seem like I am going off on tangents, but trust me it all makes sense.

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Tags: captain trips, chris eliopoulos, laura martin, lee bermejo, mike perkins, review, roberto aguirre-sacasa, stephen king, the stand

At first I thought that this miniseries was going to be a set of new stories set in the universe of The Stand. I am a big fan of The Stand and I was really amped for this. I have read the paperback, the unabridged paperback, the TV miniseries, the TV miniseries on VHS and the TV miniseries on DVD. I read a Stephen King short story that showed what happened to a small group of friends when the Captain Trips outbreak first started being known. I wish I remembered what it was called. I thought that the miniseries was going to be like that short story, original stories expanding the universe.

I was wrong. This project seems to be an adaptation of abridged The Stand novel told over several miniserieses. This first mini is the first “book” of the novel called Captain Trips. It deals with introducing most of the cast of characters and how they all deal with the original breakout. The Captain Trips part of the story is my favorite. I have a fondness for stories about the disintegration of society and this is one of the best.

The writing is excellent, but then again the source material is one of my favorite stories, so I might be a little biased. The only thing that I remember reading from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa was 4, a Fantastic Four series (Marvel Knights?) that also featured artwork by Steve McNiven.   I remember liking the dialogue and I think some of the promotional material said that he was a playwright.

The artwork on the faces was a little hinky in the prologue, but once the story got out of the Campion household, Mike Perkins seemed to settle into a nice groove. Although the image of Mrs Campion and the baby later in the issue also seemed a little off, so maybe he just doesn’t like to draw those characters.

Chris Eliopoulos does a great job with the lettering, but then again he usually does.  I really like the pages with Larry in the car in front of his mother’s house.

However, the star of the issue is Laura Martin. I have been paying closer attention to her color artwork and I can’t remember ever being disappointed. She continues her streak with this issue.

The cover by Lee Bermejo is beautiful and sinister at the same time.  I can’t wait to see the rest of the series.

The only thing that slightly pissed me off was the fact that the last few pages were from The Stand sketchbook that I got from my LCS a while back. Not a big deal because I don’t think that a lot of people picked it up, but then again, not a lot of people are crazy for The Stand like I am.

I am definitely picking up the rest of this miniseries. And probably the one after that. And the one after that. And the trade/hardcover. Yeah, I guess that makes me a sucker, but when the story is The Stand, I don’t mind being a sucker.

Since people like grades, I will give this issue 9 out of 10.

Tags: chris eliopoulos, fantastic four, laura martin, lee bermejo, mike perkins, roberto aguirre-sacasa, stephen king, steve mcniven, the stand