Funny Book Goldmine!

Morning gang.  Its Sunday, April 29, 2012, its review day, and this is The Side.  As you noticed there was no update on Friday.  I was very tired the tale end of the week, and just couldn't find the time and energy to sit down and write.  Hit the wall, as it were.  Has absolutely nothing to do with NetFlix now having TRANSFORMERS and G.I.JOE cartoon available for streaming now.

COMIX!!!

In recent months, I've railed against things like stupid variant covers, and rebooting entire comic book lines just In the hopes of bringing in new readers.  It does seem like sensationalism is being pushed instead of good stories sometimes.  Its very frustrating for me seeing the same silliness that absolutely did not work well twenty years ago being repeated now.  This brings us to THE GOON #39, which is an issue that is sure to be a collector's item because its the book that guarantees Eric Powell won't be working for DC or Marvel for a while.  The last two issues of this comic have dealt with some serious stuff and struck emotional chords.  Not this time.  Oh no.  This issue is on big brutal mockery of every stupid thing certain larger companies have been doing to whore themselves to the media and the masses.  Changing origins, changing costumes, gratuitous pantie shots, big gay kissin', characters dying repeatedly and more is all wrapped up in one nice neat little package for use to laugh at.  This was my read of the week.


ANGEL AND FAITH #9 wraps up our heroes encounter with Druscilla who is now sane.  She had gotten a hold of a demon which can take trauma out of you.  You still have the memories, but you don't feel anything about them.  This issue is a serious throwback to the old TV series, but in a really good way.  It used to be Whedon and his writing staff would have a monster with some specific ability and that would be a plot device for a type of statement about humanity.  That's what we have here.  Having our pasts and caring about them is what makes us who we are today for better or worse.  We definitely get both sides of the coin here as on one hand you have Druscilla whose trauma drove her mad.  On the flip side, you have Faith who long time fans have seen go through a huge and tough character arc filled the guilt and trauma and come out the other side a hero.  I had been on board with this book, and liked it well enough, but the wrap up to this story really made it shine.  I wasn't expecting it, but I should have as Christos Gage really knows his knows his way around these characters.  Great stuff.


This brings us to THE ACTIVITY #3 & #5.  I can't review #4 because its classified.  That and I didn't get it in, which I'm hoping to remedy soon.  I said in my review of the first two issues that this comic is filling the hole in my soul left by an absence of QUEEN AND COUNTRY stuff.  These two issues really put a point on that because both series are spy-fi, but neither is stupid spy-fi.  There's no gratuitous action.  There's no guarantee of success.  This isn't James Bond with buckets of gadget saving the world in a tuxedo.  Issue 3 gives us an insight as to some of what happens when an operation goes completing tango uniform.  You don't get all the details, and good on Edmondson for that, because the story isn't about the operation itself.  You get a lot of information about the resumés of the characters, and you see how they handle it when things go bad.  They aren't larger than life, and this really grounded the characters for me.  It did get a little heavy-handed with the "war is failure" bit, but I understand it since if these guys do their jobs right then wars don't get started.  Issue five has our team in a Thailand prison getting interrogated.   You also get more of Weatherman's history and how he was brought into the team.  Again Edmondson doesn't throw in every last detail, because you don't need them all.  This is a comic for intelligent readers who are capable of filling in the blanks for themselves.  This way a storyline which could have been stretched out for two or three issues can be wrapped up neatly into one issue with no filler and we don't really lose anything.  Its compressed storytelling that moves fast, kinda like GLOBAL FREQUENCY in that regard.  The ruslt is a comic that you can pick up from any issue and be fully up to speed.  I'm loving this comic.

MUSIC!!

I was clicking through the radio stations and actually caught this tune.  Ain't nothin' like Jerry Reed.





That'll put a spring in your step, or at least make a fella feel better about his current situation.  See y'all Wednesday.