Welcome to the Jungle

Sorry, sorry. I totally disappeared again. But you guys must be getting used to that by now.

I am in my final two weeks of grad school, so I expect to have more free time soon. Although, I will also be starting my new full time job on Dec 1 at a local publishing company. So no down time for me! I do have some posts I am working on, though. They will be up very soon. I've sort of had this extra problem where my computer is kinda busted and I have to run it in safe mode until I have time to fix it, so I can't scan anything. It's slowing me down.

Sadly, I'll also no longer be working at Strange Adventures comic shop after next week. It's been a wonderful two years! Like when Homer got that job at the bowling alley.

Now for some good news!

Check this out! My band, The Stolen Minks, was chosen as a featured artist on MySpace this week!!! Right next to Guns N' Roses! Look!!!

Adding to this excitement is the fact that our new album, High Kicks, was #2 on the Canadian independent radio charts for the month of October.

It's all very exciting. But I didn't have to do any of the hard work. My bandmates just got back from a 10 week tour of North America. You can read all about it on their hilarious tour blog.

Thanks Everyone!

I just want to thank everyone who voted for Living Between Wednesdays as the Best Local Blog in this year's Best of Halifax readers survey in The Coast! I got my plaque the other night at the party and it was exciting. This is a big win for nerds everywhere!

Um...I don't have a picture or anything for this post...

Here's a good one of Bruce Wayne suffering through a kiss from a beautiful woman:

From Batman #290...a gold mine for hilarious panels.

This Week's Haul: A Light Week

Howdy y'all! 

That's how they talk in the south, and that reminds me: I did another podcast episode with the Dollar Bin boys this week. This time the subject was my very favourite lady: Catwoman!

Listen as I talk an unending streak by clicking this link: Catwoman!

I can never hear super clearly when I am doing these phone interview things, so I just keep talking over everyone. And my heavy breathing makes it sound like I'm an astronaut being interviewed from a space station.

And now on with this week's comics!!

Here's what you should read this week:
Wonder Woman #24

Why? Because Gail Simone really rules at cramming a whole lot of story into one issue, and making every part of that story thoroughly entertaining and hilarious. Wonder Woman brings Nemesis home to meet her mother, which is great, and the second half of the issue has WW visiting the set of a Hollywood Wonder Woman movie. This, of course, is also great because it allows Simone to make some fun commentary about the unending struggle to get Wonder Woman into her own movie, and give us an idea of how horribly wrong Hollywood could get it if it were made.
 
 
 

 

Amazing Spider-Man #571
 
 

Why? Because this comic has been coming out almost weekly since Brand New Day started, and it's been consistently great.

Norman Osborn is really enjoyable in this issue, and Eddie Brock is really crazy. And the art, again, is wicked.

 
Super Friends #7

Why? Because the Super Friends teach some kids how to skateboard. Even Aquaman. I really want Batman to teach me how to skateboard.

In this comic Aquaman actually reasons that he must be a good skateboarder because he is good at riding dolphins. Probably as he is saying this, Flash is stealing his wallet.

Booster Gold #12

Why? Because this is how a time-travelling hero should be used: as an opportunity to re-visit all our favourite eras of DC comics. This week it was 1970s Batman, with the classic Batmobile and with Barbara Gordon as Batgirl.

This comic is just fun. It's always fun, and I love it.

 
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3

 

Why? This issue concludes a series that was better than the following comic series: Secret Invasion, and Runaways.

 

Seriously, this team (Christopher Yost and Takeshi Miyazawa) should be doing Runaways. And SOMEONE should do Young Avengers, because I would sure like to see a comic about them again.
 
 
 

Angel After The Fall: Final Night v.2

IDW released the second hardcover collecting the official continuation of Angel this week. First of all, these hardcovers are beautiful. Nice job, IDW. Secondly, writer Bryan Lynch's enthusiasm for what he's doing with this series comes through loud and clear in the bonus content. Plus, the intro, written by "Groosalugg," is absolutely hilarious. Seriously.
 

Also, unlike the first collection of this series, this book contains several short stories about each secondary character, each with a different artist. So having an array of artists is nice. And I know this title isn't nearly as possible as the Buffy comic, much like the television series, but I really do think it's a well-written continuation of the show. It's an entertaining comic, as is the Spike series that is being released alongside it, also written by Lynch.

I wanted to post an image of the cover of this book, but it is nowhere to be found. Not even on the IDW website. Which is weird.

 

Vote for Me!

Hi guys!

I'm not, y'know, trying to pressure you or anything...but if you like my blog and you feel like doing this you could vote for me in the category of Best Local Blog in The Coast's Best of Halifax survey. Particularly if you live in the Halifax area, or are familiar enough with Halifax to fill out at least ten categories.

And even if you aren't...I have some suggestions:

Best Local Website: could also be Living Between Wednesdays!
Best Salesperson: Dave Howlett at Strange Adventures. He has seriously earned it and anyone who shops there knows it.
Best Author: Darwyn Cooke or Faith Erin Hicks
Best Comic Artist: Darwyn Cooke, Steve McNiven, Faith Erin Hicks, or Mike Holmes
Best Halifamous person: Darwyn Cooke
Best Visual Artist: Paul Hammond and Seth Smith of Yo!Rodeo
Best Comedian: Picnicface
Best Comic Store: Strange Adventures!
Best Independent Book Seller: Strange Adventures
Best Local Film: 6015 Willow

There! Those are ten official endorsements by me.

Vote here!

Rock and Roll!


This is not related to comics at all, but I want to mention that tonight my band is throwing a big CD release show tonight to launch our third album, High Kicks.

The show is at Gus's Pub in Halifax starting around 10:30pm. You can also check out this article about us in the local paper: check it out!

Tiina's name is spelled wrong throughout the article, but other than that it's pretty cool.

The CD is released on the New Romance For Kids label out of Montreal, and is available wherever music is sold, although you might have to special order it. It will also be available on iTunes (where you can already buy our other two albums).