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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #36
08 February 1998
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
I have to admit I haven't really had time to read this week's comics yet.
Some school commitments (as well as my attendance at a Billy Joel concert
Friday night =) kept me away from my more literary pursuits this weekend.
So we're trying something different in this column again. Call it
"Commentary Without Reviews," or "Random Observations," or "Augie Writes By
The Seat Of His Pants," or just plain "Blabber On." Take your pick.
* ASTRO CITY 1/2 came out this week. The Kurt Busiek/Brent Anderson story
originally presented in a Wizard 1/2 issue is reprinted here, along with a
text story which originally saw print in an anthology somewhere. Haven't
read the text piece yet, but the short sequential art story is a real gem.
Don't miss it. But now allow me to cry for those of us who spent our money
and took the time and effort to send away to Wizard for the "exclusive" 1/2
issue. It's not exclusive anymore. (Trust me -- I'm playing Devil's
Advocate here.) I would've been better off, it appears, to have saved my
time and money and just waited out the year to read this story, since I
also get a new Alex Ross cover to go with it.
Oh, even I can't make those arguments with a terribly straight face.
Mayhaps I should just move along.
* The Stan Lee/Moebius Silver Surfer graphic novel, PARABLE, was just
reprinted by Marvel at an affordable $6 cover price. Square binding,
cardboard cover, introductions and epilogues by the creators... I haven't
read it and already I like it. Of course, they're aping the format of Walt
Disney's Comics and Stories, but what the hell? ;-) Of course, this
brings up the uneasy question of "What if it's all style and no substance?"
Jeez, am I the cynic this week or what? Just wait til I read it. (And,
yes, I did miss the Surfer's cartoon premiere this past Saturday. D'oh!)
* I've done a lot of reading this week about USENET for my senior seminar
project in computer science. It's easy to find lots of historical accounts
of the system. And, truth be told, I find them fascinating, both from a
human interest standpoint as well as a technical standpoint. Therein lies
the problem -- not enough technical info. If anyone has any reading
materials or web sites they care to suggest on this topic, let me know.
The reason I'm not a regular on rec.arts.comics.* anymore is that I just
have never found a way to read through it that doesn't annoy me all to
hell. I don't want to read all the subjects, pick the ones I want, and
download them. I have a 28.8 modem! Not a 300 baud jobber! I'd check the
newsgroups everyday and only download a handful. Is it really to much to
ask to be able to download them all, sight unseen, and let me go through
them later myself, just once? Hard drives are made amazingly large today,
especially with the invention os Zip Drives and the like.
But I suppose I could set up Forte Free Agent to do that, right? Here's my
next problem: Aren't there any DOS based newsreaders that'd do this for me?
I hate using the mouse. It physically hurts me after awhile. Give me some
easy keyboard commands, the likes of which I might find in tin or rn or one
of the UNIX-based readers I can't use without a Shell account.
I'm sorry. I just had to vent. Thanks for listening.
* I'm looking at my stack of comics sitting in my "To Be Read" box and it's
getting depressing. Marvel's ULTRAGIRL mini-series was finished a year
ago, and I don't think I've read the last issue yet. I'm waiting for a day
when I can put aside enough time to read all three issues in a row. Same
goes for DEATHBLOW AND WOLVERINE, the recent STARMAN 4-parter,
Homage's DESPERADOES, and STAR TREK: TNG: ILL WIND by ace scripter Diane
Duane. (Speaking of which, I just finished reading her "Dark Mirror" TNG
novel. Rather good, although some of the technobabble was annoying. It
got to the point where I had no idea what was going on, but I knew it was
suspenseful! =)
In any case, I've just gotten into the habit of reading the first part or
two of a story arc and then waiting for it to finish before I finish
reading it. The story always works better that way, with a few exceptions.
(ASTRO CITY, again, is a big exception. The recent Confessor storyline was
easy to read and remember isseu-by-issue.)
* THE KENTS #9 just came out. Haven't read it yet, but I will. It's
strange. This series I do read issue-by-issue, but go back every few
months and read a run of. It works out much better the latter way, but I'm
still so drawn to John Ostrander's tale of Clark Kent's relatives that I
can't wait months between readings.
* CHRONOS #2 features the Kents in it. Haven't read it yet, but I have my
apprehensions. I'm not a big Chronos fan yet, as it is, and to incorporate
this western series into a science-fiction "superhero" series has me a
little worried.
* Is it just me or does the cover to KA-ZAR #12 look like everything else
Andy Kubert has ever drawn? He has this tendency to have Ka-Zar jumping
out at the reader like that, and to have villains in that arms and legs
spread pose an awful lot. What other artists can you think of whose work
you could spot not by artistic style, but by character poses?
* Speaking of covers, WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES has a real beauty
right now, on issue #622. It's taken from a Carl Barks painting of $crooge
diving into his money bin. Very nice work there.
* Is the Swipe of the Week web site just a swipe of THE COMICS JOURNAL's
"Swipe File?" Is there room for both? Ack, of course there's enough room
for both of them. I just wish the web site would go back new stuff
sometime soon.
* I'm also having a hard time tracking down a copy of THE COMICS JOURNAL
this month, with their 200th issue spectacular. On the other hand, with a
cover price close to $13, do I really want to find it and have to make that
monetary decision?
* Next week: The pendulum swings back! Nothing but reviews! (Maybe. I'll
let you know next Sunday morning.)
-Augie
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