Wonder Woman tattoo 3.0!

I decided to celebrate Wonder Woman's new costume, which debuted a couple of weeks ago, by getting my third tattoo, of Wonder Woman, in her glorious "old school" costume.




This amazing tattoo is from the Darwyn Cooke illo on the spine of the Absolute New Frontier. As with the Promethea tatto and Big Barda tattoo I have, this Wonder Woman tattoo is by the amazing Dirk Vermin of Pussykat Tattoo (he and his shop won best tat shop a couple of weeks ago in the Las Vegas Weekly and there's something like 200 tattoo shops in town!). Dirk tweaked her arms and golden lasso a bit to fit on my leg and he added the boots (I wanted her 1970's boots), which wasn't in Cooke's original drawing.

My Wonder Woman tattoo only took Dirk two hours, of which I'm glad because I thought it would take at least three and a half hours. It hurt like someone was drilling fat needles into my leg (grin!), and was especially painful on the parts of my leg which don't have much skin before hitting the bone. But "no pain, no gain" and I couldn't be happier with the finished results! Now for the next weekish / ten days I get to have a swollen leg and get nervous about the scabbing healing process.

And Wonder Woman's new costume is kinda lame, but like new Coke / old Coke DC needs to mix things up from time to time, this shall pass and her comic will match my leg in about a year or so (and how cool would it be if Darwyn Cooke drew some issues when that costuem returns!?)! I'm going to have to get a future tattoo that says my legs are "property of DC Comics"!

Harvey Pekar died this morning

More sad news for everyone who loves great alternative comics today as American Splendor writer / creator, Harvey Pekar died in the early morning hours. I haven't had my internet turned on the past several hours because I actually had a lot of behind the scenes work to do and didn't want to get distracted by the internet. So I didn't hear about his death until about an hour ago, when my friend Rick called me and asked if I'd heard. I actually am shocked, because Kate and I just saw Harvey Pekar (and Alison Bechdel) at the Clark County Library not even three months ago and he seemed as well as a person who is 70 and had fought cancer could be. I haven't heard what the cause of death was, but damn, that was fast - sure he was 70, but 70 isn't really that old. Harvey seemed to be about the best spirits that I'd ever seen him in and he seemed charged about a couple of books he was getting ready to write that I'm selfishly sad that I now won't be able to read).

Harvey Pekar's death will leave a huge void in the alternative comics scene and he's going to be missed by the many cartoonists he's inspired and those of us that loved his down to earth, intelligent writing. Harvey Pekar's leaves as his legacy the reality that comic books could tell true stories about real people (such as himself, his biggest go to subject) that were every bit as fascinating as fictional characters (and for my money even more so).

Superman Secret Identiy

Superman Secret Identity originally came out in 2004 from DC Comics as a four issue prestige format mini-series written by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by Stuart Immonen. A trade paperback version of Superman Secret Identity also came out in 2004, but somehow despite excellent reviews and a great reception to this book when it first came out, it is no longer in print. Because it is out of print, people who want to buy it are having to pay in the neighborhood of $55.00 - $65.00 for their own copy, but recently, Alternate Reality Comics bent the fabric of time and procured some copies which I'm selling at the cover price of $19.99, just because I want these books to find great homes!

Kurt Busiek is most known as one of the finest craftsmen of superhero comics that he's done for years at Marvel and DC (most notably The Avengers for Marvel) and Stuart Immonen has is also mostly associated with great DC superhero comics (Superman) and Ultimate Spider-Man and The New Avengers for Marvel.

For my dollar, Superman Secret Identity is the best comic book Busiek and Immonen have done to date (yes, even better than Busiek's rock solid Astro City). Superman Secret Identity isn't really a Superman story set in the regular DC continuity, rather it is a story set in our "real" world about a normal, non-powered boy whose parents named him Clark Kent, so every year on his birthday and at Christmas everyone gets him Superman items. Well one day he wakes up and...

Yup, this is another one of those comics / graphic novels that the less you know about what's it's all about going into reading it, the better off your reading experience will be. Superman Secret Identity is the graphic novel that plays well with people who like superhero comics and those who don't usually gravitate towards the cape subsection of this medium.

Batman Odyssey; Neal Adams

Originally I was going to write a blog entry this morning about Batman Odyssey along with my entry on the excellent Scarlet (entry below this one), but wisely decided that they both deserved their own spotlight. Neal Adams, with his hyper realistic style, was the artist in the early 1970's who brought the Batman character out of the campy phase of the Adam West television Batman show of the 1960s. When Neal Adams draws a comic, you're pretty much guaranteed a great visual sequential eyefest, but as he is also writing Batman Odyssey, I was a little concerned that his Batman would be dated and not resonate with today's comic readers. I'm happy to report that not only is Batman Odyssey not dated, it would be the best superhero comic of the week if Scarlet hadn't been released the same day (actually Scarlet doesn't even count as a superhero comic because she doesn't have super powers, so...).

Batman Odysessy (which is a six issue mini series) isn't in regular continuity, rather it is a Batman year one type of story and should appeal to anyone just looking for a great Batman (and Robin) comic book that isn't reliant on several different titles to get a complete story. I'm always happy when artistic giants of yesteryear (especially those who haven't done much in the way of comic book work in years) are still capable of producing a work like Batman Odyssey that is sure to create a new legion of Neal Adams fans.

Scarlet; Bendis & Maleev - SUPERB!

Scarlet is the new creator owned comic by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev and having just read the first issue, I want to beg everyone to run, not walk, to your favorite comic book store (which is hopefully Alternate Reality Comics - grin) and pick this title up! I haven't been this excited about a new comic, since Promethea debuted some years ago.

When I first heard about the concept behind Scarlet, that the central character, Scarlet, was going to take an activist approach to fixing this broken world and that this title would break the forth wall (meaning the characters talk to us, the readers), this became a title I was anxiously awaiting to start. Breaking the fourth wall as a story device is my favorite kind of story and having this coupled with a story that based on what Scarlet #1 delivered, looks like it's going to have some real substance beyond just being entertaining (which it also very much is), just has me wanting to scream from the rooftops to let everyone know that they should get Scarlet!

Just based on reading Scarlet #1, I can tell you that this is going to be one of the of the most unique comics being produced today and I'm sure it'll be at least as good (but even just based on the first issue, I'm going to say this has the making of being Bendis' best book ever) as Bendis and Maleev's four year run on Daredevil, Bendis's Powers, or my favorite Bendis comic, Alias. Additionally, while I think Bendis has written many many entertaining comics, like the aforementioned, Scarlet is a totally different book from anything he's ever written and people are going to be really surprised after they read Scarlet #1.

Before hearing what Scarlet was going to be about, I thought Bendis and Maleev's new creator owned title would just be their attempt to do a book like Mark Millar's highly successful Kick Ass, which is a really really fun ride of a comic, but at the end of the day isn't anything more than that (not that there's anything wrong with that), so now I'm going to use this blog, Ich Liebe Comics!, to apologize to Bendis for this silly assumption on my part. I can't wait to talk to people about Scarlet and really think that everyone who reads Scarlet #1 will be back for the rest of the series and will be telling their friends about what Bendis and Maleev have got going on in this book. If Scarlet doesn't find an audience and have a long run, I'm going to be really sad about the state of this medium and the expectations of today's comic readers, but I'm really optimistic that Scarlet is going to get the wildfire word of mouth it deserves. Sorry for all of this hyperbole, but I am confident that when people read Scarlet, they'll see that Bendis and Maleev are really on to something different here.

Scarlet #1 gets the Ich Liebe Comics! and Alternate Reality Comics highest recommendations! Also for anyone who isn't familiar with Alex Maleev's art, you're going to have a new favorite artist after reading Scarlet #1!

Madame Xanadu #24

Madame Xanadu, published by Vertio / DC Comics is a consistently good comic written by Matt Wagner and mostly drawn by Amy Reeder Hadley. Madame Xanadu doesn't always feature the title character as the main character in the story, so in that respect it's like Neil Gaiman's Sandman. The newest issue, like the next several issues, is a self contained story that is a great jumping on point for new readers as it doesn't require you to know anything about the Madame Xanadu character (basically she's a sorceress), just that you like well crafted stories.

Madame Xanadu #24 is illustrated and colored by new-comer Marley Zarcone, and with a style that evokes Becky Cloonan, this is an artist to watch. This issue is titled Extra-Sensory, is set in 1963, and features as the main character, Rosalyn, who develops an ability to see horrific things that are about to happen to people. This is a very creepy story and Matt Wagner also uses the setting, with its pre - U.S. Civil Rights (late 1960's) period, to great effect. This is a home run comic, like last week's Unknown Soldier #21, which was a great self-contained single issue history of the AK-47 automatic rifle). There are already two trade collections of Madame Xanadu, with the second one being entirely illustrated by Madame Xanadu visual creator Mike Kaluta (who unfortunately rarely does interior sequential art).

Batwoman Elegy & a note about my absence here of late...

Ah, my dear Ich Liebe Comics! blog and dear Ich Liebe Comics! blog readers, how I've missed you! It's been just over two weeks since my last entry and my lack of having posted any new entries since then isn't for lack of interest on my part or for lack of things such as great comics or graphic novels that have come out in the past two weeks (because there have been many!) to blog about, rather life just had other plans for me. More about that after the following public service announcement...
Batwoman Elegy is of course, the new hardcover collection of Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III excellent Batwoman arc that ran in Detective Comics for seven issues. Anyone who's read Queen & Country and Whiteout by Greg Rucka already know he writes great strong female characters, so of course his Batwoman was going to be great, but the real star of the Rucka / Williams III collaboration is artist J.H. Williams III (Promethea, Chase, Seven Soldiers), who just keeps reinventing his artistic prowess (and it was fantastic when he first came on the comic book scene). The Batwoman Elegy collection is an over-sized hardcover, which allows J.H. Williams III's art to really pop - this book is the definition of the Alternate Reality Comics money-back guarantee - one of those books that will just have you waiting on the edge of your seat for J.H's return to the character (which isn't scheduled yet, but he'll be co-writing it this time as well).

Okay, now that I've stated the obvious in regards to J.H.'s art again, I'm going to get into why I've been blog absent of late. Basically there's changes afoot that will be happening at Alternate Reality Comics (one of which people will see right away as they visit this week) within the very near future. I like to think that these changes in the store will make my lovely patrons and visitors become more endeared to Alternate Reality Comics, but of course I'd like to hear everyone's feedback regarding those changes. I hate to be one of those internet teases talking about upcoming projects, but I just want to let all of my Ich Liebe Comics! blog readers know that prepping for these store changes has made me put the blog on the back burner for the last couple of weeks (the longest I've gone without posting since I started this blog), but now I should be back in the groove and actually I've got what I think is a great idea for me doing even more blog entries (sorry for yet another tease, but seriously it's just around the corner), so I hope that my upcoming Ich Liebe Comics! followers and casual readers will make room in your busy schedules to continue reading Ich Liebe Comics!

Thanks as always to all of you Ich Liebe Comics! readers and those of you who've shopped and chatted with me at Alternate Reality Comics - I love you all and that's not just the wine that I'm drinking while writing this talking!