Adventures in Longboxes!

Treasures of the Longbox 1: September 3rd

2009-09-03T20:21:00.010+01:00

Welcome to Treasures of the Longbox, a poorly-named feature that will be subject to change as soon as something better occurs to me. In this weekly event I'll be looking at the comics I bought and passing wrathy judgement upon them like a crazed and hairy deity.

First up is Image's Chew 4, John Layman and Rob Guillory's current darling of both the indie scene and eBay, as the auction site rakes in listing fees from everyone rushing to sell their copies every month it comes out.

Layman has taken the first issue's brilliantly off-kilter concept (a food-telepathic cop in an America where chicken has been declared illegal due to avian flu), and thrown on an increasingly surreal twist each issue since, culminating in this edition's climax of planet-shattering proportions - although whether this is meant to be a punchline to this instalment's setup, or a development to be touched upon at a later date is something that could've been made clearer. Consistently entertaining though, and well worth a buy.

Marvel's Strange Tales 1 is an anthology book where a horde of independent comic creators are invited to give their take on a plethora of fan favourite characters, and in that sense it's not too dissimilar to DC's current Wednesday Comics. Where they differ however is in Strange Tales' giddy unpredictability that pours from every page - whereas DC's effort offers up some pretty and solid storytelling, it's apparent that the stips involved are serving preconcieved expectations of each character - Superman is heroic, Batman is brooding, and so on. Strange Tales is a comic where we see Spider-Man goad Doctor Octupus into a barfight by inviting him out for a beer and then tossing a pint over him, and Dr. Strange faces his greatest challenge yet in fighting a contagious yawn. It's to Marvel's credit then, that this willingness to be unashamedly goofy in the portrayal of it's cashcows that translates into such an infectiously fun book, and their choice of creators has done them no harm either.

From Paul Pope's stunning cover, which is worth the otherwise steep $4.99 admission alone, and his delightful spotlight on Lockjaw and the Inhumans, through Dash Shaw's Ditkoesque Dr. Strange, the consistently entertaining Michael Kupperman's take on Namor, and even a couple of single page delights from Nicholas Gurewitch's Perry Bible Fellowship, the quality bar is set consistently high. So much so in fact, that a couple of clunkers can be forgiven - James Kolchalka's Hulk tale is woefully unfunny, and Peter Bagge's Incorrigible Hulk appears to be something of a damp squib, given the hype built up around it after close to seven years on the shelves in Marvel's offices. Given that Incorrigible Hulk is one whole comic which has been chopped up and spread across this three-issue mini, perhaps it would be harsh to write it off with one-third gone.

Overall, this is a fantastic concept delivered by an amazingly idiosyncratic collection of talent - those who have contributed to the project more than deserve your further attention, and for that reason alone it's my pick of the week.

Also worth a fleeting mention this week is Fred Van Lente's Marvel Zombies: The Return 1, where he continues the sterling job he started with his work on Marvel Zombies 3 and 4, which is ultimately cleaning up the bitter aftertaste of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Zombies 2. The Return 1 drags the concept of an undead Spidey kicking and screaming back to a point where its possibly even more entertaining than the original Marvel Zombies, which is lofty praise indeed.

Batman: Hates a Library

2009-09-02T22:00:00.005+01:00

So I was scouring the net for research on a couple of posts, but when I saw The Batman take out this bookshelf, I knew my work for the evening was over.

You too can lose all track of time at http://thedailybatman.com/

Mission Statement: The War on Meh

2009-09-01T11:07:00.003+01:00

So, where were we?

Welcome to Adventures in Longboxes! (exclamation point as standard), comicdom's most redundant-before-it-started blog. Dipping its toe in to an already oversaturated market, A in L! to give it its truncated name, is here mainly as an excuse for me to be more prolific in attempts at putting finger to keyboard, but also as an exercise in celebrating all that is good in life about one of its greatest artforms - the comicbook. My name is Bell and I'll be your cantankerous host, without agenda, just acomputer.

Will we stay solely focused to comics? Probably not. More's the chance that you'll find me waxing on TV, movies, music and other happenings. Rest assured however, there will always be some form of geek angle to whatever shows up here, as it's hardwired into my DNA.

One of the main reasons for this whole thing kickstarting is because in my times of lurking on messageboards I have grown to spit bile at the use of the word 'meh'. This delightful expression of apathy has, of late, seemed to have become some form of acceptable critique. Not so in the eyes of A in L! Offering no constructive form of criticism to those the term is directed at, and revealing a lack of passion and a limited vocabulary on the behalf of those that use it, 'meh' does no favours for anyone, and so it has no place on this blog. If something is awesome, I will tell you for why, and if it's not, I will at least offer some kind of sophmorish critique explaining so.

So, the manifesto:

1) I will try not to suck.
2) That's about it.

This is the modern world, so follow this blog on Twitter: www.twitter.com/longboxes and we'll have one of those new-fangled MySpacebook pages up soon. The first person to post 'meh' under this blog will not only recieve my disdain, but also my lifelong friendship for letting me know that someone's reading this. Onwards!

As Good A Place To Start As Any...

2009-08-31T15:58:00.010+01:00

So here I am typing up a Mission Statement to boldly announce the birth of comicdom's 43rd* most essential blog when the mother of all stories breaks. To wit:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8230504.stm

For those click-adverse, here's the scoop - Disney are buying Marvel Entertainment in a reported $4 billion deal. Is it a deal? I don't know. If I had that kind of money, I suppose I'd be trying to buy the rights to make my own Spidey stories.

Further down the line, does this mean the Disneyfication of Marvel's output? What will Walt and his cronies make of Marvel's MAX line, and will they admire Joe Quesada's stance on smoking in Marvel comics?

I'll leave these loftier questions to loftier blogs for the now. In the meantime here's what I want to know:

When do I get my Daredevil/Goofy team-up?

Or for that matter, Ultimate Wolverine Vs Pooh?

When does Dick Van Dyke's Bert the chimneysweep from Mary Poppins get outed as a skrull, thus creating a retconned accent explanation?

Or better yet, let's mash things up, Amalgam Age style - Donald the Hulk? Mickey MODOK?** Time will tell. All I know is that the internet is going to be awash with these kind of riffs within the next 24 hours, so I'm glad I got mine in early doors.

A Mission Statement and introduction of this blog will follow! Hello!

*possibly lower

**prizes to those who can knock up a nice picture depicting these characters! adventuresinlongboxes@googlemail.com