I’ve got to pay my comic blog union dues. The list can be found here (as long as poor CBR are working okay still) or you can get them from the source here.

Now, is it me, or does the image for All-Star Batman & Robin #3 play into the whole pervert aspect of the Dynamic Duo? Or I might be the one who needs therapy …

Although I don’t enjoy the presence of Robin in Batman comics (see previous post), I don’t get many Bat books – there’s too many of them and they all seem to interact with each other. But you sure get some pretty pictures; County Line, the cracking Jock cover for Batman #646, or the stunning cover for Gotham Central are icon-olicious …

The same can’t be said for Superman. Ed Benes’s cover for Superman #222 looks very silly (‘What? It’s only a zit!), and Dan Jurgens provides a dull cover for Action Comics #832 and the embarrassing cover for Supergirl #3 looks like a porno sci-fi cover.

Infinite Crisis begins with Infinite Crisis #1. And that’s all I shall probably say about this in my blog ever again.

Therefore, the rest of the DC Universe is of little interest to me because comics are either linked to this event or just continuations of old, old books not doing anything different or new. Firestorm looks like it could pique my curiosity (it’s nice to see Matt Haley doing the cover; what’s he doing now?) but I’ve never had much attachment to the character, so I think I’ll pass. The place to find new and different is with Grant Morrison and his Seven Soldiers maxi-series. Although Guardian #3 was slightly weaker than the rest of the output, I’m still looking forward to seeing how Klarion and Zatanna finish, as well as the others in this line. I would prefer Morrison keep on writing, but I won’t mind him his place as creative director, or whatever his title is, in the new DCU.

I still have no idea why Jack Cross is put in the DCU, but I’ll have a slice of the Warren Ellis ultra-violence nonetheless, especially as I recall Gary Erskine drawing an issue of Firearm a ways back that displayed his ability at drawing some serious gun-fu. I’m still reading LSH, so hopefully that doesn’t have an Infinite Crisis tie-in. (I’m skipping over the younger reader stuff and the manga – do I still get to call myself a comic blogger for doing this?)

And so we reach Wildstorm, which seems a strange place to find a Captain Atom revival. I have a slightly fuzzy nostalgic feeling for the Captain Atom revamp by Cary Bates and Pat Broderick. I only had the first three issues, and some of the Bates dialogue was hard on the ears, but I liked the art and the idea of setting him as a superhero to protect his military secret. It almost makes me wish I hadn’t thrown away those issues in a purge I had a few years back. An aside: I did a quick Google to check that I had the names right in my head for the creative team of my rose-tinted past. What should also come up is this post, showing Cap being sodomised by Major Force on the cover of the first annual of the revamp. I mention this because I wanted to mention that everybody should be reading Dave’s Long Box, if you aren’t already, a blog that has hit the ground running with some very funny looks at old comics (and provides the latest quote at the top of my blog, as of July). And he has a good name, too.

Another aside: what is it with comic blogging and being called David? There’s this David, this David, now this David, yours truly, the great and mighty wielder of the arctic shit knife himself, ADD, manages to cram David into his name, and the real name of the man, the myth, the legend that is Johnny Bacardi is David. Is there a conspiracy going on?

Back to the latest Captain Atom revamp. Will Pfeiffer is charged with the task of the mini-series, partnered with Guiseppe Camuncoli, who has been doing some nice work on The Intimates, as Cap ‘explodes straight from the pages of Superman/Batman and into the Wildstorm universe’. I’m not sure about this, so will wait for the trade (sorry, Mr. Pfeiffer), but you can decide for yourselves in October, if you so wish.

Wildstorm has more to keep my attention, such as the final issue of Ed Brubaker’s take on the Authority, the continuing adventures of The Intimates, the award-winning and potentially-a-film-if-it’s-lucky Ex Machina, and genre mix that is Silent Dragon (and the Yu art looks top notch). However, there are also things that make me go, ‘Huh?’, such as comics-that-originate-from-Alan-Moore-but-he-doesn’t-actually-write: Albion, Tom Strong and Top 10 (which wins the prize for missing the point that it was the combo of Moore, Ha & Cannon that made it something so special). I’m almost tempted by the partial (Alan) Moore of Tomorrow Stories Special #1 because Jack B. Quick, with the lovely art from ‘top ink jockey’ Kevin Nowlan, was always my favourite part of the anthology. However, the other stories in the anthology, even the visual experimentation of Greyshirt, always seemed like diet versions of Alan Moore, so I can’t bring myself to part with cash from my already slim wallet.

Vertigo’s big release is Loveless, by Azzarello and Frusin, an ongoing Western that looks like it will be as good as 100 Bullets. Which brings me to the horns of a dilemma: do I buy the singles to support an interesting new comic that probably won’t get huge sales, or do I wait for the trade, which will probably read better (as can be seen by 100 Bullets – I still buy the singles because I was there at the start, but you need to read it in hefty chunks to get the most out of it)? I think I’ll be leaning towards the latter, with a side dollop of guilt for not buying it as it comes out, the deciding factor being that their mini-series, El Diablo, was good but didn’t blow me away.

Vertigo also keeps up with Morrison’s Doom Patrol into trades, which is a good thing. I’ve got the individual issues already, but I get a warm feeling inside knowing that others will be more able to get their hands on some wonderful comic book stories.

Some cracking covers for Fables by James Jean and Losers by Jock and the aforementioned Doom Patrol TPB, so it’s odd that the cover for the book being used as a promotional tool for Vertigo is so ugly. Which is a down note to finish this on but, when you consider that the reason for looking so far ahead in comics is to ensure that you get the books you want, seems appropriate.