Serpentowie

Because your day only gets better when David Bowie turns into a serpent…

Serpentowie played guitar, jammin’ good with Weird and Scaly,
The snow snakes from Mars, he played it left hand
But made it too far
Became the special man, then we were Serpentowie’s band

Serpentowie really sang, screwed up eyes and uplift forked-tongue
Like some snake from Japan, he could lick ‘em by smiling
He could leave ‘em to hang
Came on so loaded man, well hung and burnt desert tan

So where were the spiders while the fly tried to break our balls
Just an anatomy book to guide us
So we bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet not-hands?

Serpentowie played for time, jiving us that he was voodoo
The kids was just crass. He was the sass
With God given ass (fuck yeah!)
He took it all too far, but boy could he play guitar without hands

Making love with his ego, Serpentowie sucked up into his mind
Like a reptilian horizon
When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band

FCBD ’10: A Preview

Alright, so on Saturday hundreds of comic book shops across the nation will line out a couple dozen worth of specially made (by the publisher) comics for the avid fan, casual acquaintance, that one really bad date you had that one time, children, and whomever else to come on by and pick up a free comic.  Some places only allow one free comic per customer, others as much as you want, and others have some limit of like 5 or something (unless you’re like me and on good terms with the owner and get all of what you want).

What’s so great is that it really provides anyone a tasting of some comics that you wouldn’t normally pick up, and it really caters to a wide audience.  Such as, I’ve been interested in Mouse Guard and Atomic Robo for a long time, but I have yet to check them out.

Every year, this event is a pop culture phenomena.  As opposed to conventions that happen year by year, this is a nationwide event.  Therefore, a bunch of shops go all out by getting special guests and signers to come to their stores or offer huge discounts on trade paperbacks, etc.

So, at 10 or 11 on Saturday, you will find me at Atomic Comics of Tacoma.  And here’s what I’m aiming at getting:

Now, keep in mind that everything after Superman is part of the silver tier of free comics meaning that comic book shops may or may not have these ones.  If they do have them, their quantity is limited as compared to everything before the Superman comic in the gold tier.  So, if you’re really craving something in the silver but you’re not sure if the shop has it, ask and I’m sure they’ll help you out.

For more information visit the Free Comic Book Day website.

Such A Liar about B-logg-n

Okay, I know I posted yesterday saying “hey, don’t expect many posts for the next two weeks,” and now I’m posting like the little hypocrite I am.  I have a lot of work to do, I need to start/complete three essays by Tuesday.  Watch Mulan for one of those essays.  Read a couple articles for my essays. etc. etc. etc.

However, the e-mail conversation I had yesterday transcends all time constraints (although, I still apologize for not posting photos of the last batch of letters.

Anon Ymous (lettersenders@___.com):

Your blog gave us some trouble when attempting to leave a comment, so you now have an email in which to contact me/us I suppose. It sort of ruins some of the mystery, but I admit it has some benefits.

Anon Ymous (lettersenders@___.com):

Oh, and the next letters will contain your long desired clues. It’s time to amp this up.

Me:

Well, I hope that amping it up doesn’t mean you’ll be sending me lots of porn… because, that would be icky.
Or making extraneous demands that may involve my cat being tied to a railroad track…

It slightly ruins the mystery, but if you only use the e-mail for dire circumstances a la Elliott has no time on his hands and can’t post pictures of the new letters and you have to send a reminder to him types of situations.
Frankly, the e-mail address alone was worth it.  You gave me a good laugh.

Elliott.

Anon Ymous (lettersenders@___.com):

Clever reply. But no, there will be no demands, and certainly no porn. None of those is the point of this little project of mine/ours. This will be the last email you receive unless we are checking for arrivals of letters, or you desperately need a hint or a clue. This email will be checked with some regularity, for your peace of mind. Good luck.

Glad we could make you chuckle, friend.

Me:

Good, I usually don’t seek clues.  I’d rather have more cute little letters.  I’m making a collection in case I become world famous in the future and they need to make an museum exhibit for me.

Thanks for the pleasure of preponderance,
Elliott.

Isn’t this all grand!?  Sure, when I tell people about it, they get really creeped out.  I don’t think they can understand how exciting this is.  And, as long as they’re not putting me or my cat in danger, I am down for (nearly) anything.

Anyway, I was wondering if we could go to Free Comic Book Day together,

Teeheeeheeeeeee, I had a pretty bad day today, but rereading those e-mails made me feel better.
My professor gave me a stern, addressing a child “ELLIOTT!” today while a group presentation was going on because I was doodling… too loudly(?).  I don’t know, that frustrated me.

I’ve also decided to go celibate in all sexual forms for a month or more.  Last time I lasted 15 weeks.

Yeah… time to read things for my essays about: Vietnam War Film Genre, Iraqi War Film Genre, Disney, Mulan, Other Disney Princesses, Abraham Lincoln Speech, Article on the Abraham Lincoln Speech.

Then, a presentation about Web 3.0 by Michele Jackson.

Yeah.

Because the Holy Halo Lightened My Stomach and Sword

Alright, here’s the deal.

You see that zombie losing his head?

That’s me.

Why?  Well, I have an estimated 60 or so pages due in the final two weeks of school.  So, I’m a little busy.

Therefore, I’m in zombie mode… and! it feels like I’m losing my head.  HA! Super Metaphor.

Met with Grandpa Stardust today.

Letter senders contacted me over the comments section of the last letters post.

I’ll post the new ones soon.

Don’t expect too many blog posts in the next couple weeks.

A Belated To Do List

I have to apologize to Rita (who just recently cracked my code) because I have not checked the To Do List e-mail for quite awhile.  Anyway, here’s what she sent me:

Remember, right click “view image” to see at full size.

Here’s where she left it:

I really enjoy the placement inside the circle on this one.  So delicate and lovely just waiting to be found.

Here’s what Rita had to say about the to do list:

“to do list in the red yellow and blue stairs.”
background: i composed this list during thesis orientation, inside, on a saturday. on probably the first day without rain this term. the list was planted in the streisinger stairwell nearly a week later, unfinished. a giant black furry fly landed on it almost immediately, but buzzed off just as i took the picture.
i’m sorry if it’s blurry again; i tried to fix it.
peace, ra

And, to conclude things.  Sitting in front of me is a nice little post card I’m sending to someone on campus because it’s a little creepy, but I hope he enjoys it:

Sangria: Mini-Comic

No techniques, different styles… bullshit.  Yeah, it’s all grand when your eyelashes all fall off of your cheek and I feel like saying farewell to them in an uncanny response of “hey, get back here!?”

It’s late and I have no idea what I’ve been doing doing doing?  Sangria.  Never had it.  Like the sound.

I like the sound of “ia”s.

You still have wheels, kid.

Glitchpop dancecore dickfuck discocrunk isotopespread… roofcherry.

Making Charts and Love Legitimate: Batwoman

The things I do to figure out sources of information for projects… yeah, I just mapped out all of Detective Comics Sales Data (focusing on the issues with Batwoman) for the last year +.  Hope you enjoy the nice comparison.  There are definitely some interesting things at work… like the sudden drop of viewers once Jock took over from J.H. Williams III.

Yay for figuring out how to write about comic books in Writing and Culture classes!

Now, it’s time to go and find some frames from her first story arc and her time in 52.  Joy oh Joy!

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Month/Year	Rank			Story Arc	Issue #	Est. Sales	Delta	Delta%		Artist/Penciller	Writer
Nov-08	14			Heart of Hush	850	64,192	-1,678	-2.55%		Dustin Nguyen	Paul Dini
Dec-08	24			Last Days of Gotham	851	64,950	758	1.18%		Guillem March	Denny O’Neil
Jan-09	17			F.O.E.	852	56,640	-8,310	-12.79%		Dustin Nguyen	Paul Dini
Feb-09				Not Published (Batman R.I.P. Event)
Mar-09				Not Published (BftC Event)
Apr-09	1			WEH to the Caped Crusader? (part 2)	853	104,092	47,452	83.78%		Andy Kubert	Neil Gaiman
May-09				Not Published (BftC Event)
Jun-09	13			Elegy (part 1)	854	72,779	-37,313	-30.08%		J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Jul-09	23			Elegy (part 2)	855	61,160	-18,379	-23.11%		J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Aug-09	28			Elegy (part 3)	856	58,797	-2,363	-3.86%		J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Sep-09	25			Elegy (part 4)	857	57,020	-1,777	-3.02%		J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Oct-09	19			Go (part 1) – Origin	858	58,550	1,530	2.68%		J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Nov-09	22			Go (part 2) – Origin	859	54,374	-4,176	-7.13%		J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Jan-10	27			Go (part 3) – Origin	860	52,295	-2,079			J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Feb-10	29			Cutter (part 1)	861	45,937	-6.358			Jock	Greg Rucka
Mar-10	36			Cutter (part 2)	862	44,687	-1,251	-2.72%		Jock	Greg Rucka
Apr-10				Cutter (part 3)	863					Jock	Greg Rucka

Month/Year	Rank	Price	Title	Story Arc	Issue #	Est. Sales	Delta	Delta%	Batwoman (Y/N)	Artist/Penciller	Writer
Nov-08	14	$3.99	Detective Comics	Heart of Hush	850	64,192	-1,678	-2.55%	N	Dustin Nguyen	Paul Dini
Dec-08	24	$2.99	Detective Comics	Last Days of Gotham	851	64,950	758	1.18%	N	Guillem March	Denny O’Neil
Jan-09	17	$2.99	Detective Comics		852	56,640	-8,310	-12.79%	N	Dustin Nguyen	Paul Dini
Feb-09			Was Not Published (Batman R.I.P. Event)						N
Mar-09			Was Not Published (Battle for the Cowl Event)						N
Apr-09	1	$3.99	Detective Comics (special guest writer)	WEH to the Caped Crusader? (part 2)	853	104,092	47,452	83.78%	N	Andy Kubert	Neil Gaiman
May-09			Was Not Published (Battle for the Cowl Event)						N
Jun-09	13	$3.99	Detective Comics	Elegy (part 1)	854	72,779	-37,313	-30.08%	Y	J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Jul-09	23	$3.99	Detective Comics	Elegy (part 2)	855	61,160	-18,379	-23.11%	Y	J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Aug-09	28	$3.99	Detective Comics	Elegy (part 3)	856	58,797	-2,363	-3.86%	Y	J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Sep-09	25	$3.99	Detective Comics	Elegy (part 4)	857	57,020	-1,777	-3.02%	Y	J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Oct-09	19	$3.99	Detective Comics	Go (part 1) – Origin	858	58,550	1,530	2.68%	Y	J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Nov-09	22	$3.99	Detective Comics	Go (part 2) – Origin	859	54,374	-4,176	-7.13%	Y	J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Jan-10	27	$3.99	Detective Comics	Go (part 3) – Origin	860	52,295	-2,079		Y	J.H. Williams III	Greg Rucka
Feb-10	29	$3.99	Detective Comics	Cutter (part 1)	861	45,937	-6.358		Y	Jock	Greg Rucka
Mar-10	36	$3.99	Detective Comics	Cutter (part 2)	862	44,687	-1,251	-2.72%	Y	Jock	Greg Rucka
Apr-10		$3.99	Detective Comics	Cutter (part 3)	863				Y	Jock	Greg Rucka

Axe Undie Run Challenge: Some Brief Thoughts

This is disgusting.

One, Axe is justifying the hyper sexualization of women within the media through a charity.  It’s sort of a “get out of jail free card” because they can counter the claims of being a purely for profit company that just happens to demean the portrayal of women by supporting charity.

The ridiculousness of college life is exemplified in this.  Everyone has an ideal body unless there’s a shot specifically on the “joke” character.  I.E. the skinny guy trying to be sexy and the fat guy trying to be sexy.  The women are assumed to be sexy and are not meant to be funny.  They are merely there for eye candy.

The slowed down shots are disturbing removing the aim of the effort from charity to the continuation of the demeaning of women and their gender.  The men are dressed up in greek/trojan uniforms covering lots of their body and representing power and strength while the women are only in their socks, underwear, and bras.

The representation of race is also highly disturbing.  The eurocentricity of the advertisement allows for the ideal college student to be white, sexy, of ideal body shape, and wild/sexual.  I counted (quickly and without rewatching) probably 5 black people male or female in the advertisement with roughly the same amount of asian.  Compared to the dozens of white people running on the campus and “donating” their clothes (i.e. donating their body for objectification), the representation of race is incredibly skewed.

Anyway, those are just some thoughts on how Axe is continuing to hypersexualize and demean women while creating a portrayal of middle-class, white, college-student, in-shape, and wild people as the norm.

And yes, I saw this advertisement while waiting to play Scrabble on Pogo… that’s how upset it made me; it ruined my Scrabble experience.

Attempts and Codes and Truth

Can you crack the code of my life and truths?

WH7ENT  1CQGRW  ORAIXQ  CF3UBP  H7MMSG  GANZMK  NUAZZA  WLWDUN  AKHFXY  F4W3UN  VTA7NX  AFLUH.  7M3L4K  RQGGQS  ALX4LS  MKZ2HY  CE1ZNK  SMUHQS  RFRQCY  RV4B3R  ’FKRV7  HGLYRV  WL.GUF  ,WKRVU  HMLYRB  MYLWPK  NYF43R  ,PNERR  QRS,CK RFNQN,  V7N9M4  3R,YRV  ENTMQN  FMKZ3F  XUHL7S  YLWDUN  1JWACU  VLRQRS  M.

MQMULW  SUG4ZA  UTLXYF  PEWR4R  M1WRUM  LYRVWL  X4ROLX  EL’MUM  QF4QLX  ELQVQR  ’LURKC  XKIF37  BPH7MG  4F3HLWF  NAQLQHK  RV7HML  YRBQF.  W’MZEC  WREF7V  DAQLR7  HP73PN  A’MAMK  L4KRXU  W2KMUW  L’MPKHU  NGWRFUN  ACFKYN.  QXUC3SA  4RF7H7  GF7VHQ  SERFWW  YNTGQR  QFRUHM  XUWEGM  ULX71X  YDUMKMU  LXWRXWV  KR’LXED  UKHLREF  4PEMFZQ  RVLR7MF  KXAPUCE  NWEHER  BXED7L  KWRJUM  FWSELA  QR2WNKM  UNTADAT.

Q’SL3F  M9H7W’  SYN4UU  EDTUJU  HMKRIR  URWCEL  XUDWUI  ABEMG3  VUCUJF  WJA.4Z  AUNTWO  72WEGU  MFEVGZ  KHKFXUH  PUKPNU  XACEEM  AQL’GM  3HENAL  QREDUM  KMUKRA  NWOUSA  LXEF’M  DUHGCQ  MPT4C2  FUBYRV  MAMFUNW  K9M.

4FHQ7V  F3OWNT  M1G7NZL  3T4S9H  7S1MANT  Q9F.LKC  ,WB3R’  FURKCI  RUHAFK  SK.WMY  ARYJ72  SK3BVQ  MQHBUH  .IR2F7D  UH.QCYR  FLQZENT  WRNKDU.  LHEANQD  U.RQFPK  MFMKM7  LRWRYQ  LQLNAY  MNKJAX  UCYEMU  QTAUNL  XEFPER  SWRSGX  AEHFLR  3MUVK6  URFQSU  M.4CER  FF3CYN  7Z3HM3  M73R7C  4FR7M3  F43R2R  BR3FP9  GFS1XH2  WR,ERBW  CELLFX2  LXEWU.  WZHEL  UNAVQR  ’FIELF  FKXUM3  V4MLELL  ERGMQH  U.QV3R’  FIYLFL  KMEUUPU  HMEWLSJ  UKPNAYS  ESUYLGS  KHEW’ST  3MWLSR3  I,DEL4’  SNKMQLS  SKHAFRE  R4ZWHGL  LRQESRL.  M1CKRFWR  SULC1JN  YRMEHUT  Y4NQRSY  RVW’ME  LYNKMG  CWFXR3  SHQER  VQRS.

WC3R’L  OWTNS1  MUNZ,XE  FQVQR’L  HAENTA  ZAANNW  UAQ’MNQ  JWRSIXA  R4L’GJE  HANAER4  LL7NT7C  F92NWKC  33R.XUQ  RSULLU  HLEWNU  VWMVQZ  ZUHULFT  H3MTU7N  QLSPNAE  MKHU.W’  SLQHZV  KZFENU  WRSWLS  3DW7IKK  FUM.T3JUS  UVUAPTA  ,MKM7QRU.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

Now, it would be completely unfair to just let you go at this without any clues… So, here are some that I think might help you out if you decide to undergo this endeavor:

• There is no rhyme or reason to the spacing of the segments.  Most of them are 6 units long, but occasionally I fucked up.  So, there’s no special significance to this.  I just didn’t want the word length to be all that obvious to you.
• This is a correlation code.  Meaning, the letter or number you see directly coordinates to a letter of the alphabet (or more).
• Not all letters signify a single letter.  Some may stand in for one, two, or three other letters of the alphabet allowing for the code to be more varied and harder to crack.
• Some of the letters shown still signify what they are.  For example, “M” stands for “M,” in most of the cases… but that doesn’t mean it’s the only thing that stands for “M.”  There are three of these.  The total of their place in the alphabet (D is the fourth letter of the alphabet, F the sixth, M is the thirteenth making their total 23) for the three is 32.
• Only vowels and a single consonant are represented by numbers.
• Vowels are symbolized by three options.  Two letters and one number.
• This is not a caeser cipher.  In fact, I made this up and I did not get it off the internet.
• All of the punctuation is accurate and not thrown in to mess you up.
• There are no additional items thrown in to mess you up.
• There is no special code or pattern where a sequence (such as “BKR”) stands in for a single letter.
• A recommendation would be to take this into word and change the text to Courier New.

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I was listening to Chad VanGaalen while doing this… it took a long time… he is quite good, though.  Now it’s Chairlift.

Anyway, there is some incentive to figuring out my code.  If you crack it and send me a copy either in the comment section, e-mail, or the post, then I will gladly reward you with a signed copy of my self-published graphic novel from last year (made with calligraphy pens before I had the digital tablet), $5, a CD of my music (the good stuff, not the shitty “oh, I’m fucking around” stuff), and a copy of my favorite graphic novel.

Is that enough incentive?  It’s a pretty hard code, but I gave out way too many hints.

Good luck figuring out my life.

Wait… what happened? New comics…

I just spent a considerable amount of thought power writing my review of Kick-Ass, and now I just feel like bitching about something.  What better way to get my need for bitching about something than the slew of goddamn awful comics that came out in the last two weeks!?

Brightest Day #0:

Wow… I’m pretty sure DC just lost me as a customer of Brightest Day (excluding the first issue to get the last promotional ring) with this trite shit.  Honestly, I felt like I was looking at the solicitations for the next three months in comic form.  This was purely a promotional stunt and it made me feel pretty fucked over, honestly.

First up, the art is mediocre.  I can’t completely blame this on Fernando Pasarin because he also happened to have six (SIX!!!!) inkers on his work.  Way to piss all over making the art look continuous and flowing.  Nevertheless, Pasarin still had pretty bad facial expressions and ruined the refreshing portrayal of Mera (along with the writers… which is a little weird since Johns penned both) by Ivan Reis in Blackest Night.

Despite not actually knowing why Deadman’s still wearing his costume but just wearing a trench coat to cover it, the first 6 pages of the comic are the best because I like slow pacing to comics… and birds… Anyway, it’s all downhill from there as we cut instantly to the typical “hot naked woman waking up from bed to find that the husband is gone and she goes out to find him for some more nookie” scene.  How many times have I seen this?  Oh, I don’t know, somewhere up there in the couple hundreds.  Mera is no longer the strong, badass character, and now she relies fully on the man in the relationship.  She has gone from D-line to A/B-line back to about roughly C-line.  Seriously, covering up her naked, smiling body with bubbles as she dives into the ocean and still somehow manages to have an extraordinary amount of cleavage!? How the fuck is that possible?

A couple of not interesting things, then Maxwell Lord’s thing which was actually pretty badass.  Then we go to mars and see basically the most times J’onn J’onzz has ever smiled in about 4 pages.  Some more shit.  Some shitty shit.

THEN STAR CITY’S DESTRUCTION BEING IN THE SHAPE OF A STAR AND TURNING INTO A FUCKING FOREST.  Fucking dumb.  Fuck!  Ooh, and some even more Sinestro on top of that.  Then some more T & A and posed pictures for little boys to jack off to in the previews section.

Honestly, this hurt really bad.

I like how Boston Brand is the main character.  I don’t like how out of 3600 sectors the only ones revived were from 2814 (earth, basically) after so much death in Blackest Night.  I don’t like what’s happening.  Blackest Night was decent.  This is shit.

Invincible Returns:

How about we call this: A bunch of reasons why Invincible shouldn’t kill any more and why Cecil is a manipulating bastard and Atom Eve is still pregnant (surprise!) and let’s change back into an older costume!

Invincible is usually fairly reliable to land in the 3-5 star range, but this little reason gathering before Invincible enters the long-awaited Viltrumite War with a really bad recap back up was pretty damn awful.  There was just soooooo much text, and the action sequence thrown in was completely stilted and awkward.  There really was no furthering of the plot here and it just gave us more of what we already knew as regular readers.  In that sense, this would probably be considered a jumping on point for the series.  However, I would definitely not start reading Invincible based after this book.  It’s terrible and pretty, “hey, remember how awesome that was!?… well, something else awesome and surprising is going to happen… buy our book!”

Egh.  At least it had better, more original art than Brightest Day.

The Flash #1:

I bought this so I could get the Flash Ring which actually fit way better than any of the Corps rings.  Anyway, I won’t be being the second issue.  This comic, along with Flash Rebirth, still does not make a very convincing argument for the need to bring Barry Allen back.  Nevertheless, I’ve accepted the fact and moved on.  The problem with this issue is that the writing is really, really, really fucking bad.  I think Geoff Johns was probably sleeping and his drool wrote out this and he decided it would be great and thanks drool.  The only thing holding this issue up is Francis Manapul’s art.  Even then, though, I have some problems.  All of his faces sort of look the same after awhile unless they’re a main, main character or are of a different age range.  I like the clean, refreshing, and younger appeal of the new Barry Allen and what not, but there are some problems.  Nevertheless, Manapul brings a light to this comic that is missing in the writing and really knows how to portray speed in an interesting way.  I’m quite a big fan of the single page spread directly before the silent pacing page then the 2 page reveal of time-travel.  He’s running through traffic and has to jump up in order to miss getting hit by a car and I love his facial expression afterward.  It’s a really well designed page.

What really made me upset, though?  It was the two page teaser for next year’s Flash-event that Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert are doing.  Frankly, it looks really dumb, and the only reason I might read it is because of the White Lantern involved.  Otherwise, it just looks like a time-travel clusterfuck and nothing really fresh or new.

Batgirl #9:

A decent set-up issue for another storyline with good work on writing and pencilling duties.  Some really good work on characterization.  Nothing special, though, and that was my main problem with it.  Once again, Barbara Gordon’s hair as the strange capacity to change length and style on a whim.  They are creating a nice niche for Stephanie in Gotham that I’m appreciating.  However, a flood?  Hasn’t Gotham had enough natural disasters?  Why are people still living there?

Red Robin #11:

You know? Ra’s Al Ghul is such a badass.  This comic continues Ra’s targeting everyone who ever mattered to Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake-Wayne to get back at Tim for his betrayal.  Things continue to build in this issue (I actually thought this was the conclusion to the storyline, but I’m actually pretty glad for another issue) and my only problems were some coloring errors and Vicki Vale somehow being able to take out some League of Assassin trained ninjas.  So, some uncharacteristic things.  I enjoyed the quick face off between Tim and Damien which was lovely illustration.  Once again, torture comes up as an issue in this one, and it’s very interesting.  I really believe Marcus To is going to be great and I’m glad he’s on this book.  Like Batgirl, though, nothing extraordinary.  The comic is still a little messy, but with some cleaning up on both sides of the spectrum, it really could be great.

Batman and Robin #11:

I couldn’t find the awful Frank Quitely cover that the main comic was printed with because it’s bad.  You know? I’m glad this comic is only $2.99.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t buy it.  Morrison does provide a strong amount of twists and turns in this comic, but a dollar more just wouldn’t be worth it.  I really enjoy Andy Clarke’s visual style because it’s so distinctive within comics (despite it resembling a modern take on the many block prints of the early 20th and late 19th century).  Nevertheless, I really don’t like his design of Talia Al Ghul.  Morrison’s brief description countering claims of the even more expansive cavework underneath the mansion after the earthquake a couple years before is a little frustrating.  Well, his work with batman is a little frustrating.  Yet, he somehow manages to make it entertaining.  So, kudos for that.

Nothing extraordinary… and a lot of bad… and I need to go and eat.