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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #83
29 December 1998
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
Hi all. This is the issue I wrote while away last week. I bring it
to you now since it's sorta timely, so I can't just grab bits and
pieces for future columns. Just keep in mind that this was written
the beginning of Christmas week.
THE LOST ISSUE
I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago, but Pipeline Commentary and
Review's mailing list now has over 40 subscribers, and the web site had its
10,000th hit. I know these are not terribly impressive numbers especially
in light of some of the larger comic book web sites, but they are to me.
Thanks for reading, as always. I figure there are something like 150
regular readers of this column every week from those two sources, which is
enough to keep me going. Additionally, the column is posted to USENET,
CompuServe's Comics and Animation Forum, and The Comic Book Electronic
Magazine. The latter has a subscriber base of over a 1000 people. Numbers
will be impossible to determine on the other two sources, but I like to
think it brings the number of readers up to the hundreds. This may be ego,
but. . .
J. Scott Campbell is such a nice guy, isn't he? He's trying to make it up
to his fans for his lax deadlines. Since DANGER GIRL #4 is something like 6
months late, he's decided to make it up to his readers with a special
present - multiple covers! Yeah, that makes sense. Let's make the drooling
fanboys buy a second copy of the same issue so they can get the extra
pin-up cover. Whoop-dee-do. Fa-la-la. I still think DANGER GIRL is an
excellent comic book, and one which I intend to continue reading. But I
think it's disingenuous for Campbell to claim to be doing this for any
reason other than to push more copies of his comic to the same readers
who've supported his work all along. Why not just do a pin-up in the back
of the book instead of an in-house or back cover ad? That might be
appreciated more by the fans than this attempted coercion.
Speaking of which, I liked the idea Marvel had in the earlier days of
WOLVERINE and EXCALIBUR, when the back cover was another pin-up. They were
usually pretty cool. Nowadays, I can't see Marvel foresaking any itty bit
of revenue for something the fans might like. Heck, they won't give their
employees access to phones, lights, or coffee-makers at this point, so I
won't hold my breath on the return of these. . .
Speaking of which, I tried drinking coffee on the most recent business trip.
I just don't understand it. Doesn't taste like much to me. I'll stay
addicted to my caffeine in the form of Diet Pepsi, thanks.
I read Mark Waid's KINGDOM last night. Ariel Olivetti's art looked much
better than it ever did in my eyes, but the story still keeps my head
spinning. I have to go back and reread KINGDOM COME and GOG in order to
figure out all that happened. It's an interesting concept in time travel,
but I've forgotten most of the details and the characters this whole thing
circles around.
SUPERBOY was a very nice fill-in issue. Karl Kesel still writes it, so the
continuity remains strong, but Dusty Abell does the art in this issue. Is
it just me, or does his art look increasingly more like Mike Mignola's with
every job? But the story which seems like pointless filler has a very
warming ending which actually means something and adds something to
Superboy's characters. And most amazingly, Kesel finds a way to put the
issue in continuity with YOUNG JUSTICE. Maybe I'm just getting old, but
continuity has begun to mean less and less to me. I don't care where
Impulse, YJ, Superboy, and Batman issues cross over. It doesn't matter to
me. As long as all tell wonderful stories, the crossover points don't
matter to me. Besides, I don't want to give myself that headache: If
Impulse crosses over with YJ here, but Robin doesn't cross over until YJ up
there, then how do Impulse and Robin co-exist? I don't care.
I also read the complete 6 part story, "The Year of the Bastard", from the
most recent issues of TRANSMETROPOLITAN. It's a wonderful title.
Wonderfully ironic. Wonderfully tragic, loathsome, bitter, cynical, in
turns depressing and hilarious. Darick Robertson continues to provide some
wonderful visuals, the issue with the convention being some of the best and
most detailed of the work. I've told you before and I'll tell you again:
the book is not for the kiddies. But it is great fun, of a sort.
Particularly if you're a self-centered sado-masochistic bastich.
The second issue of John Byrne's GENERATIONS also just came out. This book
covers 1959 and 1969. The book starts out funny, typical, and wacky. Then
the second story kicks in, set in 1969. It's dark, tragic, shocking, and
will make you stop dead in your tracks. It's the best work from John Byrne
since NEXT MEN, by far. It'll rip your heart out. And yet I still
recommend it.
-Augie
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