Funny Book Beatdown

Hey howdy, buckaroos!  Its Friday, January 13, 2012, eek, bad luck, and all that crap, and this is The Side.  Not terribly concerned with the whole Friday the 13th being bad luck.  If memory serves I've tended to have good days on Friday the 13th.  The only thing that concerns me is being a bit off schedule as far as my weekly rhythm.  Had a couple of short days at work which is kinda nice because I got to spend a bit of time with the kids.  Still, it feels weird because today feels more like a Tuesday than a Friday.


Next thing you know I'll be trying to go buy comics tomorrow.  Completely unnecessary since I got them already.

COMIX!!!

Snagged HEART #1-3 and got my doors blown off.  ATTACK OF THE SHOW's Blair Butler makes his comic writing debut and he hits on all cylinders.  Yes, I am absolutely biased.  Its a comic about an MMA fighter, and I love MMA.  The story follows Oren Redmond, a young guy who really has nothing going on and gets into MMA.  We see him in the beginning of the story as a guy working in an office and hating it.  His brother is an MMA fighter because he grew up wrestling and wanted to keep doing it.  Oren decides to give it a shot.  At this point you'd typically see the story take a turn in which Oren turns out to be insanely talented, and learns super secret techniques from his sensei and everyone is blown away by him.  Not this time, Butler keeps it real.  You see Oren's head in the trash can on day one puking his guts out.  You see him getting the crap kicked out of him.  He keeps going because he's feeling pretty good about this.  He feels like he's earning his rest at night.  Slowly but surely he gets better.  He gets in shape.  He figures out he has a sucky ground game.  The coaches keep working him and he starts getting amateur fights.  He does well and starts getting pro fights.  Its not all glamour.  There's a great scene in which he's working to cut weight, and the reader gets to know exactly how much it sucks.  Oren also does stupid stuff like blowing money on tattoos.  He's a likable, but not perfect character.  Kevin Mellon blows me away here.  His art is spot on.  Its dynamic and still very technical.  Its easy to draw a guy throwing a punch.  Its not easy to draw a guy locking in a kimura from his back.    Even the little things like giving the fighters' stats and listing their entrance music really made this book sing.  This book is a gem.  If you've never seen anything MMA and want to get an idea of what's up this book is a brilliant introduction.  Also, if you've got a friend who loves MMA but isn't really into comics, let them check it out.  I'm betting they'll dig it.


Moving from realism to fantasy let's head over to Dark Horse for BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON NINE #5.  Buffy's having weird Slayer dreams and those of use who have been following the Buffy-verse for a while know that these tend to set the tone for things.  There's buckets of things that go down in this book.  Huge reveal at the end.  Its really hard not to drop spoilers because of the extreme Oscar Mike Golf factor.  This is really a set up issue in which we're getting some pretty significant plot beginnings to plot threads that we'll most likely be following for the majority of season nine.  We get an inkling of a possibility of reconnecting earth to magic as well as huge personal changes for Buffy.  Karl Molina (FRAY) guest pencils, and I love his stuff.  I'm really excited to see where this season is going now.


Let's stick with vampirey type stuff with THE STRAIN #2.  This is a really nasty story.  The vampires here are pretty disgusting.  These are the complete anti-Twilight vampires.  Nothing even remotely sexy here.  Still, its a good story.  You've got to be a patient reader here because the vampirism pandemic is only just beginning.  There's no huge body count let, but things are still just just beginning.  Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and the others at the C.D.C. are still trying to get a handle on just what happened on the flight, and the three survivors aren't any help.  The mystery is deepening for them, but we get a peek of the horror that's coming.  The creepiness of this book is building, so if you love horror, you'll love this.


We wrap up this week with DARK MATTER #1.  This is a nifty little sci-fi mystery.  Six people wake up on a spaceship with no memories of who they are or how they got there.  They look for answers and fight a robot.  For a first issue, its pretty straight forward.  The set up isn't anything really fresh, but its handled well enough.  Each character seems to have their own skill sets that they're discovering.  Its not bad at all, but hasn't really hooked me.  It is good enough that I'm going to follow along for a bit and see where it leads.

MUSIC!!

Let's use one of Rooster's entrance music songs.





That's it for me today. Have a good weekend even if it feels like the middle of the week. See y'all Sunday.