East of West

What I Did on My Blog Vacation, Part One

March 3, 2020 // 0 Comments

So we’re back! After taking a month off to rest and recharge the nerd batteries, we return refreshed and… wiser, maybe? Because I’ll tell you the truth: much as Dork Forty was feeling like a job before I took a break from it… I also feel like I mostly spent my month off wasting time. I mean, I KNOW it was a vacation, but looking back, it seems like all I did was fart around on-line, watch professional wrestling, and read opinion pieces on crap that doesn’t really [...]

Happiness, Sadness, and All Points In-Between

October 15, 2019 // 3 Comments

So we once again have a good stack of funnybooks to discuss this week, recent columns having been rather focused affairs. We’ve got new Craig Thompson, a first-season cliffhanger for Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s The Green Lantern, and new chapters of Criminal and East of West. First, though, let’s take a look at the end of the beginning for Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men… House of X 6 / Powers of X 6 by Jonathan Hickman, RB Silva, and Pepe Larraz So, holy crap. [...]

Haunted by the Memories

May 14, 2019 // 0 Comments

So we’ve been a bit distracted here on the nerd farm of late. And while our attention’s been elsewhere, a month’s worth of funnybooks has piled up. A month’s worth of funnybooks that seem very concerned with the past… The Wicked + The Divine 43 by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie This issue, WicDiv gives up maybe its ultimate secret: the origin of the God-Cycle, and possibly the way to break it. I like how Gillen and McKelvie have couched this. Godhood [...]

THE LIST, Part One

February 19, 2019 // 3 Comments

So I did some funnybook filing this weekend, organizing, bagging, and boxing what was probably the last six months’ worth of comics. And I made the decisions I always make when I’m doing that: what books go into the permanent collection, and what books get dumped off into the “maybe I can sell this” pile. Normally, the latter of those two groupings is pretty small. It’s generally for stuff I didn’t like, or stuff that I liked okay, but know that I’ll never read [...]

A Month of Wednesdays

May 8, 2018 // 2 Comments

So while I kept going off and talking about other stuff, funnybooks kept coming out. Weird how they do that. But that means the review stack’s gotten tall. There’s a whole month of Wednesdays sitting there, waiting for my attention. And THAT means it’s time for a quick round-up of all the stuff I’ve read in the last month (or at least everything that’s given me something to talk about). CAPSULEREVIEWSAREGO!!! Xerxes 1&2 by Frank Miller Let’s get one thing [...]

Randoming Random Randomness: FUNNYBOOKSINREVIEWAREGO!!!

March 20, 2018 // 2 Comments

So I was thinking… You know what we haven’t done in a while? Just a bunch of random reviews with no connecting theme. And it’s probably a good time. We’ve got a couple of new number ones in the stack, some old favorites returning, some on-going concerns we can’t escape from… So let’s get right to it. Eternity Girl 1 by Magdalene Visaggio and Sonny Liew I bought this book primarily off the strength of the previews of it that ran as back-ups in last [...]

Stopping to Smell the Roses: FUNNYBOOKSINREVIEWAREGO!!!

February 14, 2017 // 2 Comments

East of West 31 by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta So East of West has become one of those books whose quality I sometimes take for granted. It’s been around a while, and I always enjoy it. I’m always happy when I get a new issue in my hands. But when I read it, I’m often complacent about it. “Ho-hum, another thoroughly enjoyable funnybook. This is good, this is good, blah blah blah.” That’s how I was reading this issue. It continues the story of the Union’s [...]

Black Mondays and Batmen: Catching Up With Late Summer’s Funnybooks

September 11, 2016 // 0 Comments

So you all have my apologies for the technical difficulties last week. Truth be told, they were less “technical” difficulties than they were “fatigue” difficulties. Busy times at my work and a nagging foot injury have simply left me with little energy to write of late. Such is life. But let’s face it: I’m way behind on reviews. At this point, there’s no way to catch up on everything I’ve read, and still say something substantial about any of it. So I think [...]

Comedy! Violence! Despair! Batman!

July 12, 2016 // 1 Comment

So normally I’d preface this with a pithy introductory paragraph. But this time, I think the title says it all… Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses 16 by David Lapham Holy shit what a great comic! I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a Stray Bullets more in quite some time. It furthers the on-going story of Beth and Orson’s master plan to free Nina and run off with a whole bunch of money, but it also delivers on a great set-piece, a spiffy done-in-one that starts off tense [...]

Linkblogging: Jonathan Hickman at SKTCHD

June 12, 2016 // 0 Comments

Quickly… Coming to this piece very late, but… Hit the link below for a lengthy podcast interview with Jonathan Hickman. Lots of stuff about his process, particularly on East of West, but most importantly… Right around the 30-minute mark, enjoy an amazing rant on artistic integrity and creators’ rights. Might piss a few people off, but… He’s right, folks. Or, at the very least, he ain’t wrong. [...]