the stuff inside my head that must get out
archives
Mon, 27 Sep 2004
where to pick up Chicks
I was reading a thread on The Comics Journal message board about what
the best selling mini-comic of all time is. One poster hit the nail
on the head when he brought up this one.
Jack T Chick's 25 cent hate screeds can be found in more sales venues than Spider-Man ever will.
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OOPs they did it again
As any loyal Hijinx Customer knows, we do our best to carry every
graphic novel we can get our hands on. Unfortunately, not all of
our favorite comics are kept in print and readily available. We do
our best to stock these gems, but there are a couple of personal
favorites that are getting the short shrift. Among them is Bill
Willingham's long OOP (Out Of Print) Elementals:
click on the cover for an elementals cover gallery
Elementals was one of those books that was way ahead of it's time. It was one of the first mature readers superhero comics, and I still consider it the best of the bunch. Rather than just being ultra-violent and throwing the F-word around gratuitously, Willingham really tried to examine what his characters would really feel like if they'd been brought back from the dead by Elemental magical forces to stop the oncoming apocalypse at the hands of the immortal Saker.
What I really liked about the first story arc is that while they did manage to defeat Saker, it wasn't until after he was able to set his master plan in motion. Subsequent issues dealt a lot with the fallout of the team's first mission, as demonic forces are popping up all over the world as a result.
Unfortunately, Willingham sold the rights to the Elementals just before the purchaser, Comico, went down the proverbial crapper. Some of the characters continued in the adult's only Ironwood, but it was never the same for us fans of the Elementals. Let's hope someone acquires the rights soon, as it's too good a series to dissapear forever.
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Thu, 23 Sep 2004
who's number 1?
In case you haven't noticed, there have been an awful lot of new series
filling the racks lately, so I thought I'd give a quick run-down of
some of the new books out there. Marvel has been leading the pack with
title after new title, all of wildly varying quality, IMHO. DC was
also opened their floodgates and we've only just started to see the
deluge of new titles. Many of these issues could be better described
by the term "number 2" if you catch my scatalogical drift...
- Gambit #1: forgettable x-crap C-
- Rogue #1: see Gambit C-
- Nightcrawler #1: better than Gambit, but not much C+
- Madrox #1: the best of the new crop of x-spinoffs. Fresh story and character take by Peter David made it work. B+
- Bullseye's Greatest Hits #1: Solid art, but the story is pretty contrived B-
- Black Widow #1: great art by Bill Sinkewicz and a solid spy story made this one pretty enjoyable. B+
- Ex Machina #1: My favorite of the whole bunch. Another page-turner written by Bryan K Vaugh with exceptional art by Tony Harris. Don't miss this one! A
- Warlock #1: Better than I thought, but I don't think this will satisfy old-school Warlock fans. B
- Strange #1: Dr Strange reinterpreted by J Michael Strazynski (Rising Stars, Supreme Power). Not much happens in the first issue, but I'm interested enough to check out the next one. B
- Adam Strange #1: Oooh, it's the all new Adam Strange. Rann is gone but he still manages to find a jetpack and raygun to use in the first issue. Not bad, but far from gripping. B-
That's all I can do for now, but I'll add some more as new titles roll in.
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Tue, 21 Sep 2004
$24.95 Free Shipping
In my quest to read more Manga to see what all them dang kids are always going on about, I thought I'd try something by the master. Osamu Tezuka is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, but this series is a little deeper. It tells the story of Siddhartha Gautama, known simply as the Buddha. The story is a rollicking adventure story, with plenty of drama, pathos, action, magic and yes, even some wacky hijinx.
Tezuka is at his finest with this series. The art is lush and inviting to the eye, with dynamic page layouts that don't detract from the action they contain. The story is full of magic and lessons about the value of life in all it's forms. As a nice cherry on this sundae of comics goodness, the book and jacket are designed by Chip Kidd, who ignores his sometimes over-busy sensibility for a starkly striking design with a minimalist dust jacket. I give this one an A+
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Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
$11.95 Free Shipping
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Mon, 20 Sep 2004
The Authority: Human on the Inside
$24.95 Free Shipping
The basic plot revolves around yet another dastardly villain using yet another insidious method to attack the Authority, who are sort of a totalitarian super-friends. The catch here is that rather than death rays or radioactive meteorites, the villains instead exploit human nature to try and bring the team down from the inside by turning them against one another.
There are lots of nice "Mature Readers" moments in this book that will play well to long-time Authority fans, but I'm afraid it doesn't have much to offer to a new reader, as some of the plot hangs on knowledge of the original series continuity to truly make sense.
The artwork by newcomer Ben Oliver was servicable, with nuanced emotion and convincing action. His detail level is low, but his characters move with real weight and presence. I hope we'll see more from him soon.
Overall, this was a satisfying book, but I'm not sure it was deserving of the hardcover treatment. Once it is in paperback, I'm sure I'll sell quite a few to Authority trade customers, but I don't think this hardcover will be selling out soon. I give it a solid B.
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Sun, 19 Sep 2004
arrrrrrrrr!
Avast, ye bilge rats! September 19 be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Drag your grog
laden carcass to Hijinx for some Pirate comics. With the untimely
death of Crossgen, El Cazador's future is uncertain, so where
can you get a good dose of high seas adventure? Once again we can
turn to Alan Moore's Watchmen and the comic within a comic,
Tales of the Black Freighter. Buy it now, Lubber!
Do yourself a favor and read this nice article about one of my very favorite comics publishers. They're unapologetically snobby, but they've got the goods to back it up as they've published some of the greatest comics ever put in print. I wonder if it's tough to work with all that eerie purple light everywhere?
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Wed, 15 Sep 2004
Comix on the radio
Art Spiegelman talks about his new book In the Shadow of No Towers
on Wisconsin Public Radio.
You'll also get nice interviews with Chris Ware and Neil Gaiman and a
bunch of other folks getting all intellectual about our favorite art form.
Thanks to Anatole over in the forums for the tip.
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Tue, 14 Sep 2004
ultra-detailed map of Springfield
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Sat, 04 Sep 2004
the $64,000 question
Would Superman eat veal? This came up in about the super-dorkiest
conversation I've ever participated in. According the Mark Waid's
Superman: Birthright Superman is a vegetarian. However, it has
been long established that Clark Kent's favorite meal is Beef
Bourguignon (with ketchup), but would the man of steel eat veal?
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What's the best comic shop in Silicon valley?
If you're already shopping at Hijinx you know the answer to that
question! Share your knowledge with the world by filling out the
Metro
best of Silicon Valley survey, or by grabbing a copy of the
paper and filling out a ballot by snail mail.
I'm not going to tell you
who to vote for, but to not share your love of Hijinx with the
world would practically be a crime against humanity. Won't someone
please think of the children!
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Thu, 02 Sep 2004
downtown remodel
We've got an all-new updated floorplan for the downtown store. We've
moved and improved our all-ages section and expanded the new comics
wall by over 33% I think the new flow of the store is great and is
well worth a trip downtown to check out the best looking comic shop
you may ever see.
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