Growing up, I loved comic strips. I used to grab the Sunday comics section and spend hours reading every good and crappy comic out there. I used to checkout collections of comic strips from the library. From the great, Doonesbury or Peanuts, to the crappy, Hagar the Horrible or Andy Capp, I read them all. But one of the collections that stayed with me for years, despite their being very few collections and not much information about it was George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. Years before Tom and Jerry or Itchy and Scratchy, we had Krazy and Ignatz. Set in the beautiful desert of Coconino County Arizona and populated with animals who spoke Herriman’s unusual mix of classic literature, lower class slang and general insanity, Krazy Kat was a brilliant comic strip which had an outsized impact on future comic strips.
Category Archives: Comics
Agent Carter Review
On the DVD set of Iron Man 3, there was a short called Agent Carter where Captain America cohort Peggy Carter fought sexism and took on a physically demanding spy challenge before being promoted to head S.H.I.E.L.D. The short was so popular and well-done that Disney/Marvel decided to make a short-season series to show while Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was on hiatus. Hayley Atwell stars as the eponymous character in this new series, so let’s see how it is.
Quick Miscellaneous Reviews
Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Nothing I’ve read or watched recently has made that great of an impression on me or prompted me to write about it. So I figured I’d just do a catch-all post where I give a paragraph or so about several things at once, rather than a detailed review of something I’m not motivated to write about. Join me on the random discussion of miscellaneous items.
Dororo by Osamu Tezuka
As I stood in the library looking at the graphic novel section, I realized that I had never read any Osamu Tezuka manga. So I grabbed the book sitting in front of me, Dororo. It’s not one of Tezuka’s better known stories (although it did win an Eisner award in 2009 (for an English translation). I dug in and started reading and enjoying the book and feeling a bit silly for not checking out Tezuka previously. Let’s check it out.
New Webcomics I Read
It’s been a couple of years since the last time I mentioned the list of webcomics I currently read. In the last couple years, there has been an explosion of new webcomics online as well as some old favorites either disappearing or going to very irregular updating. I’ve added a couple new webcomics to what I read (as well as adding and dropping numerous others). Let’s check them out.
R.I.P.D. movie review
The movie R.I.P.D is based on the comic of the same name. Not having read the book, I thought the premise was interesting and the movie might do a decent job of conveying it. Boy was I wrong. It wasn’t a bad movie, but it was extremely bland. There were a few moments of humor and some decent special effects, but overall it was a thoroughly predictable action movie that left me wanting to leave. Let’s check out what went wrong (spoilers inside).
Man of Steel movie review
There’s a minute in the latest Superman movie, Man of Steel, where I think I’m going to like this movie a lot. One of my chief complaints about superhero movies is the extended and mostly useless origin story. The origin lasts 30-45 minutes and doesn’t really add much to the story. We just end up with less time to tell the story the filmmakers really want to tell. And, for most superheroes, we don’t need to know or care about their origin.The Man of Steel gave me hope for a minute, but then it descended into a loud, dreary mess that should embarrass everyone associated with the movie. Let’s see what went wrong. WARNING: Spoilers inside
Harbinger by Joshua Dysart review
Years ago, in the age of Valiant under Jim Shooter, I read and enjoyed Harbinger. That series marked the re-ascendance of Jim Shooter in the comics world after his ignominious expulsion from Marvel. Shooter soon wore out his welcome in Valiant (in a move that everyone expected) and my interest in Harbinger waned. 20 years later, Valiant decided to restart Harbinger again, this time written by Joshua Dysart and drawn by Khari Evans. I was reluctant to read this due to my affection for the Shooter books. However, I picked the first two TPBs up at a recent comicon and have been kicking myself for not reading them sooner. Let’s check it out.
Iron Man: Season One by Howard Chaykin and Gerald Parel
Quick Review of Iron Man: Season One, which I only picked up due to Howard Chaykin’s name. If you’ve seen the first Iron Man movie, then this book is an inferior version of the movie. There were some changes (Tony Stark is a drunk and the big, bad mecha fight is between Tony and his captor). Gerald Parel’s art is decent, but not great. I don’t want to make this sound like a horrible book, it just really had no business for existing, as it doesn’t do anything new and doesn’t do it that well. Not Recommended.
Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose and Langdon Foss
Anthony Bourdain Get Jiro! is the celebrity chef’s latest excursion in his attempt to take over the entertainment world. First he started with his book, then a TV show, then writing for David Simon’s Treme and now, onto the graphic novel world. Aided in his quest is novelist Joel Rose (who also wrote La Pacifica, a graphic novel from DC’s Paradox Press) and artist Langdon Foss (who’s worked in Heavy Metal previously). So, let’s see how it turned out.