Every week I do a column full of comic book reviews as I've done since March 2003 and currently published at Comic Book Resources. Then, after the reviews post, I try to come over to Komplicated and expand on the thoughts and ideas listed there. Why talk about stuff at some other site? Oh, like you've never done any private projects when you're at work! Sometimes things get profound, sometimes it's gibberish, but it's always about comics … let's see what we get this week!
What? This week's reviews …
THE GIRL IN THE SECOND STALL:Have you ever been at a bar, and seen a girl young hard to dissuade some guy, but still looking over her lashes at him, still brushing her hand against his arm, still falling into him when she laughs? You know, the girl who says she doesn't like players but ends up bent over a toilet in the bar's back bathroom a half hour before last call?
That girl? The Celestials from Marvel.
Hear me out. How many times have these Shogun Warrior wannabes come to earth, "ready" to dole out judgment and obliterate all mankind? Six? Seven? How many times have they actually done much of anything? Exactly.
They talk a good game, but they balked when Scott "Slim" Summers told them to back off, Worf Effecting the X-Men like a jobber in a wrestling ring. When pressed, "do you guys really wanna destroy the earth," they’d get all bashful, smiling like "… nawww, we're just kidding, we just wanted to hang out with you, and maybe catch a performance of Stick Fly."
Skirt all up around their waist, staring at a cigarette butt in the bottom of the bowl.
THE CHALLENGE:So retail monkey and general gadfly Quislet talks a lot if trash at Comics Ink, the store in Culver City where the Buy Pile is gestated. Recently, as he's been working on his drawing, he's decided to back that up. We agreed to co-create a "knock off" issue of Hawk and Dove (think about those Converters toys that were cheaper versions of Robotech and Transformers — I have the bootleg 3 3/4" Roy Fokker Veritech in my car right now) that would in every possible way (save, say, sales) be better than one created by Rob Liefeld.
Why? Do I have a specific beef against Rob Liefeld? I do not. He seems a cheery guy who loves comics but can't seem to draw feet. Neither can I. At every single convention I've attended, if he walks by someone has turned to me and said, "we could just walk over and kill him." I honestly don't get the volume of vitriol, but to be fair, I do not care. I just had a chance to tell a story, and that's fun for me, so I jumped on board.
Is Quislet a better artist than Liefeld? No idea and less concern. I'm in it for the laughs. The final product, whenever I write out the 20 page script (playing by "modern" rules) and he draws/colors it (I may letter it myself) will appear here on Komplicated. We’ll see how that goes.
THAT UNEXPECTED LIGHTNESS OF BEING: I really don't want to spoil this week's Secret Avengers, which gets better and better on re-readings (I lent my copy to my Kenyan co-worker, a big Thor fan, and he’s in love with Maleev's artwork, ready to go buy himself a copy) but there's a conversation between a character named Kongo and Natasha which is so quietly beautiful, ending in "thank you," that I had to remark upon it again. It still catches my breath every time I read it. I've talked about the genius of Warren Ellis while recognizing the … prickly nature of his persona, but when he drops such a subtle, throwaway gem like that … it reminds me why I love comics so, why I deal with the long drive and the irrational fans and the late Wednesday nights and the bleary-eyed Thursdays. The possibility of wonder. Worth it. So worth it.
THAT'S THE NEWS, AND I AM OUTTA HERE: The grind doesn't take days off, so neither do I.
Playing (Music): "Flight School" by Kanye West feat. T-Pain
[Source: Comic Book Resources, Toy Archive, Superpower Wiki]