Waid vs Johns

Well I have now read almost 20 issues of Geoff Johns run on The Flash. And I have also read most of Mark Waid's run on the same title. Honestly I thought that nobody could top what Waid had done. But Johns has proven that he is quite a writer because instead of following Waid's approach he switched the focus.
Waid was all about Wally West and all the speedsters in the past and future. Waid has built a timeline starting in the early 1900's and finishing sometimes in the 27th century. That was one of his main assets on the book.
Johns lives in the now. He focuses on the supporting cast, the Rogues, and doesn't seem to care about the future. He has clearly blurred a few lines written by Waid about the possible Flash future and now the book is in 'everything is possible' mode.

I have difficulties in finding which one is my favorite writer but for comic fans both create a massive dose of fun and entertainment. Currently I read Johns' Flash in trade but I find it harder and harder not to jump into the monthly format bandwagon again.

Flash editions are available widely on Amazon and they are well worth reading.

Comic book stuff I wish I could relive

• The first time I saw John Romita's Spiderman- I was 4, it blew my socks off.
• The shock when I read Gwen Stacy's or Phoenix's death and the real sadness I felt.
• The headache while trying to understand DC pre-Crisis multiverse.
• My first contact with Neal Adam's Batman.

More will come

The basement tapes talk about blogs

Among other interesting things, in the latest Basement Tapes at CBR, Joe Casey and Matt Fraction give their view of what blogs should be :

"So, uh, I dunno. Blogs. Blogs are awesome when someone, somewhere, for whatever reason, decides to soapbox it and throw their two cents out there just to see what happens. Unconventional perspectives and ideas, unencumbered by the need for hits, ad dollars, approval, endorsement, or anything other than pure communication. And it seems to me that there are a lot more women in Blogopolis than in the pages of Wizard or The Journal, which is good.

Blogs are thoroughly un-awesome when they talk about blogs, talk about people talking about blogs, talk about each others blogs, or mimic each others blogs because that's what all the other blogs are doing. Blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs blogs.

Food for thoughts indeed.

Going to Paris

This weekend I'll be in Paris to meet friends, hang around and buy comics. I expect to get a lot of missing issues and a lot of trade paperbacks I have never located here like Fallen Angel, Invincible, Noble Causes and others.

REM live

I saw REM in concert in Marseilles 2 days ago. What a slap in the face! I was not a huge fan but now I am. The performance was stunning from the first track (a great kick-off) till the obvious and wonderful Man on the moon to finish the show. I had a blast!

What I may get this week

• FABLES #33, is it me or did this book has slightly lost of its original appeal?
• GOTHAM CENTRAL #27 : best DC book.
  
• NIGHTWING #101 : Chuck Dixon, Scott Mc Daniel, Nightwing Year 1. Yeah!
• WONDER WOMAN BITTER RIVALS TP : I liked the first Rucka's trade, I'll try this one.
• DARKNESS SUPERMAN #1 (Of 2) : just a glance for the laughs.
• WANTED #6 (Of 6) : started well then slipped, I expect a great finale.
• MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER-MAN #10 : quite the contrary, this books gets better every issue.
• PULSE #7 : Bendis is becoming his own crossover. I don't read Secret Wars and the appeal is slightly lost for me. The first 5 issues were just fabulous tho.
• SPIDER MAN HUMAN TORCH #1 (OF 5) : could be fun.
• STORMBREAKER THE SAGA OF BETA RAY BILL #1 (OF 6) : ditto.
• That Geffen / De Matteis / Maguire book whose names is lost so far.
  

This week is gonna hurt ! In bold are the books that I'll buy, I'll just flip thru the others.

Rolling with the punches

J. Hues column is back this week at Silver Bullet Comics. It's one of my favorite columns ever and it's very funny. Check it out.
Be sure to give a look at his strip which is always very funny too.

John Byrne art contest

JB did an art challenge on his forum. He gave his fans the possibility to ink one of his old FF stories from his fanzine days. It's a fun quite Kirby-ish story. Well you judge.

Changing its mind - random critiques

• Well, Dave Lapham is writing an interesting Batman in Detective Comics. I finally read Det 801 and 802 and this darker approach is quite worth reading. So I may not be reading THIS title on autopilot after all.
• Hell, Mark Waid has made me buy a Legion book, something I had never even considered.
• I have always liked Greg Land since his first Nightwing mini series 8 years ago. Phoenix endsong looks great but maybe too polished or too computerized. Yet the story is quite promising.
• Much more disapointing is the follow-up of the Sins Past story in Spectacular Spider-Man. Nice art but the plot is weak and sometimes almost stupid... This story and the whole What if mess makes me wonder if the editors still have a real function at Marvel as it is clear that continuity is no longer important but also logic sometimes...

What if

Marvel released 6 one shots under the old What if concept. I bought the hype, I couldn't wait. I read frantically when I got the books and was inevitably disapointed. The only good story is the FF what if written by Karl Kesel (the art by Paul Smith is always a wonderful surprise), Peter David provided a good Hulk What if, and Ed Brubaker gave a nice even if incoherent twist to Spidey . The Brian Bendis stories have proven that he has officially jumped the shark as he is not even able to respect his own continuity in DD and Avengers. And frankly does he own the rights to Luke Cage ? So why does he keep on having him on every effing book he writes these days ?
And the Claremont story, well let's just forget it as it was simply inane.

Read The Fourth Rail critics, they are not as harsh but I agree almost completely.

Death of Will Eisner

Comic book genius Will Einer is dead as reported by Newsarama. It's just sad.

John Byrne on his last convention appearance

In his not so frequent column over at UGO.com, John Byrne (currently on Doom Patrol, soon on Demon and Action Comics) explains that he is done with conventions and now prefers to exchange with his fans on his forum. Weird. Well the forum will still provide the usual madness.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Possibly the best movie of 2004. And a killer OST with a pure cover of Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes by Beck. Get the DVD now.

Books I'll get this week (sorta)

You should know that for around where I live, you don't get your new books on Wednesdays, more on Tuesdays of the following week, sometimes earlier but not that often... This being said, here's what I'll try to get according to Diamond listing and the arrivals of my local shops:

BREACH #1 (will give a look)
DETECTIVE COMICS #802 (reading on autopilot, the Bat books are going to disappear from my purchase list sooner or later)
INTIMATES #3
NEW AVENGERS #2
SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #23 (just a glance I think, as it's obviously too early for a Sins Past sequel)

God, how long has it been since last issue of Liberty Meadows?

Wizard TOP 5 for 2005 : obnoxious comments

The latest Wizard produced 121 reasons to look forward to 2005 :

1) Batman Begins : OK the trailer looks good but will that be the top event of 2005 by year end? Doubtful.
2) DC all Stars : Do we need a new Ultimate line ? Why not reboot the whole continuity filled DC books and forget about it? The bottom line, it looks like fine comics...
3) House of M mini series by Bendis and our Olivier Coipel : looks fun but same comment than for #1.
4) Bryan Singer on the Superman flick and Ultimate Xmen. Mucho hype and nothing else for the moment. I still wish he had done X3 instead.
5) Astonishing Xmen : Here's hoping that Cassaday will not fall behind and THIS may be #1 by year end.

To all things a beginning

Happy new year and welcome to the two guys blog, hosted by eltini and the Red Oak Kid. It will be filled by random thoughts, reviews of stuff we like (comics, musics, book, movies) and it will be updated whenever we can!