I‘ve had a browse through PREVIEWS #253, for items on sale December 2009 and beyond.

One of the weakest months EVER, with not much of personal appeal coming from mainstream comics.

I‘ve had a browse through PREVIEWS #252, for items on sale November and beyond.

A slightly better month, with some awesome Star Wars and Star Wars stuff in there, too!

I‘ve had a browse through PREVIEWS #251, for items on sale October and beyond.

A fairly weak month, especially from Marvel. Dynamite Entertainment has announced some superb stuff, but the overall outstanding item is without a doubt the ROCKETEER hardcover!

I stumbled across a post a made last Sept 2008, in which I proclaimed my love of my newly acquired PS3. It’s interesting to look at the list of the games I had, as I now only have 4 out of those 17 listed.

This is my collection, at this moment. Not counting several PSN games I have also bought.

Burnout Paradise (Platinum)
Buzz! Quiz TV
Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare
Dark Sector
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (GOTY)
FIFA 09
Grand Theft Auto 4
Heavenly Sword
InFamous
Killzone 2
Lair
Little Big Planet
Medal Of Honor Airborne
MotorStorm
Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
Resistance
Ridge Racer 7
Saints Row 2
Sega Mega Drive Collection
Singstar Abba
Singstar Queen
Singstar vol. 3
Star Wars Lego
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
Warhawk
Watchmen: End is Nigh

And so, I still really love my PS3, and also have a half dozen blu-ray DVDS. I think the quality of the games I own and play has increased significantly, just as the games on the console seem to be getting better and better.

My top 5 fave games – SAINTS ROW 2, GTA 4, InFAMOUS, CALL OF DUTY 4 – Modern Warfare, KILLZONE 2.

SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2009 booklet

I had a great time, the weather was nice, San Diego is a great city, I spent LOTS of money!

This is some of the things I got …

TOYS
BARONESS (GI JOE) 12 inch SDCC 2009 exclusive “doll” figure = likeness of Sienna Miller
APRIL O’NEIL (TMNT 25th Anniversary) SDCC 2009 exclusive figure = this figure is based on the comic, not the cartoon.
AKKULI (Seventh Kingdom) blue feline SDCC 2009 exclusive figure
and a couple other action figures, as plenty of sellers were doing 2 for $10 deals, etc.
I would have loved to buy more toys, but my suitcase is only so big! rolleyes_anim.gif

COMICS
MOUSE GUARD volume 2 hardcover signed by David Peterson, for only US$15!
DEAD @ 17 ultimate edition tpb signed by Josh Howard
NORTHLANDERS volume 2 tpb signed by Brian Wood (he had this on sale before actual release to shops)
and a couple other hardcovers/tpbs signed by some indie creators no one has ever heard from!
and several tpbs from a seller doing tpbs $6 each or 5 for $25 (and was also selling all hardcovers for $10 each). I picked up some Dark Horse CONAN tpbs I wanted. happystrange.png In hindsight, I should have bought a crap load of the Dark Horse STAR WARS tpbs they had. Oh well, next time! shiftyeyes_anim.gif

PANELS
I attended about 20 panels, some comic-related (on Thurs and Fri), the rest TV-related (Sat and Sun).

The comic panel I attended:

Bill Sienkiewicz = I’m more into writers than artists, but Sienkiewicz is the artist I admire the most.
Kevin Eastman = I’m not really a big TMNT fan, by Eastman spoke with much grace and was surprisingly humble before the large group of attendees that sat for his panel.
Comic Podcasting panel = with JLAFAN BoB Bretal, CGS’ Pants and Charlito for Indie Spinner Rack (among others).
Mike Allred = I love this guy.
Mark Evanier/Marv Wolfman = Wolfman is witty, while Evanier is all ass. PM me if you want me to elaborate.
David Yardin = I gave up seeing Gene Colan’s panel to watch Yardin do his “how to” on cover design. Luckily it was excellent and I feel proud of being an Aussie when Yardin presents himself so professionally before an eager audience. Yardin spoiling the next 6 months of X-Factor might take a bit longer for me to forgive, tho! laughingsmiley.gif
Darwyn Cooke = I doubt there is a more classier guy in comics than this guy.
Media Writers Tie-In Awards with Max Allan Collins = this was good fun and I learnt lots from this, too.
Dynamite Entertainment = This was very disappointing and almost waste of time. After the panel I did go up to Doug Murray to shake his hand, telling him how much I loved The ‘Nam series in the 80s. He looked scared of me. shiftyeyes_anim.gif

the TV panels I went to were … Chuck, Family Guy/Cleveland Show/American Dad, Simpsons/Futurama, V (screening of pilot to new series), True Blood, Fringe, Doctor Who/Torchwood, Robot Chicken, The Middleman (which was a live reading of the “lost” finale of the series).

Sundome #5

Another volume of SUNDOME and yet more teasing. I’m not sure how Yen Press gets away with publishing this, sometimes. It’s not often you read a comic in which the lead male character gets to drink directly from a girls piss soaked panties. Strange stuff and mostly awesome, as usual.

I am still greatly impressed with the English translation done on this series, with word-play jokes that surely can only play out in English language.  It probably makes up for the million Japanese in-jokes that go over my head, despite the little footnote explanations!

The only disappointing aspect of this volume is that a lot of the great and interesting action occurs in the first half of the book, with a lot of remaining pages spent on the “Ghost Club Society” thing, though it’s humourous, it sometimes reads as a pointless distraction from the main storyline.

7 out of 10.

Volume 6 is set for release in November 2009..  who knows if that is the end or not?  One gets the feeling that the slow tease and slight sexual progression could carry on to about 20 volumes, at this point.

I‘ve had a browse through PREVIEWS #250, for items on sale September and beyond.

A good month of stuff, especially from DC, though some of those are advanced-solicitates.

The NAKED SWORD = My 16 page story for the 2009 24 hour comic book challenge!

can also be viewed at PULP FACTION forums

I‘ve had a browse through PREVIEWS #249, for items on sale August and beyond.

After last month HUGE previews, this month is rather lacklustre, especially from the big TWO – Marvel and DC.

An Excellent month from Dark Horse, though… and the indie end sees a lot more graphic novels with a social commentary.

I‘ve had a browse through PREVIEWS #248, for items on sale July and beyond.

It’s an extraordinary SUPERB month of stuff. Most of these items will be released in the lead-in to the San Diego Comic-Con, which I will be attending (late July).

Many outstanding products coming from DC!

Particular highlights are … the second Gotham Central hardcover (which WILL collect the “missing” issues the tpbs did NOT), a surprise at seeing an Alien Legion Omnibus and the super Bomb Queen gathering a hardcover collection!

Though I have not listed it below, we also see the first hardcover of Fables, my favourite comic book of ALL-TIME. I’m still on the fence about whether or not I will upgrade my tpbs to the hardcover format (I probably will), but 100% recommend this series to anyone that has any interest in reading a PERFECT comic book!