THIS WEEK IN COMICS!!

So after an almost 3 week hiatus, This Week In Comics has returned!! Sorry for not letting you guys know that TWIC was taking a break but I did not know either. The store has just been really busy lately and I haven't had a chance to hop aboard the computer. So let's not lollygag too much and get back into it.

Marvel released part 5 of 6 this week of the quite astounding book 1985. If you haven't been reading this title, you've been living in a cave for the past 6 months. 1985 is all about a young boy whose world is completely flipped around when he comes to find that the Marvel Universe villains have crossed over into his world. Now at this point in the series, it's still just villains who have crossed over while he has crossed over to the Marvel Universe. So do yourself a favor, come down to the store and pick up all the issues of this amazing title. It's really worth every penny.

So last night I went to the movies and I saw the movie CHOKE. Choke is from the same author of Fight Club. I had never heard of Choke but I have read and seen Fight Club so I was interested. I highly recommend this movie. It's all about a sex addict who is trying to figure out where to go in life but has no idea that that's what he's doing. It's complicated to explain without giving away the movie. So just head on down to your local theater and check it out

As of the past month, I have been on a 90's Image Comics binge and recently I've reread the WildC.A.T.S. & Cyber Force crossover "Killer Instinct." Now most people will frown upon this but I grew up with all of these titles and they all hold a special place in my heart. So for as terrible as the story may or may not be, I was in heaven reading what I grew up on and see as the foundation of my comic reading life. So even if you hate these old comics, just go back and reread them just for the hell and fun of it. Comics aren't meant to be groundbreaking all the time. To me, comics do break ground in the social scene of the world but they also provide an over the top escape into fantasy at times.

Lastly we have the new video game STAR WARS : THE FORCE UNLEASHED!! Quite possibly the greatest thing to ever happen to STAR WARS since the original trilogy. Set 2 years before Star Wars : A New Hope, Force Unleashed sets you as Vader's Secret Apprentice. And then the hilarity and awesome insue. I spent a good 20 minutes throwing wookies off a bridge. Its the funniest and greatest thing ever all rolled into one. And the cool part is that the Grahpic Novel that came out about a month ago is so good too, that the game is that much more because of how well the entire idea has been handled. So If you have an interest in the game, Buy the graphic novel to see if you like the story and if you dig the store go get the game. If you just love Star Wars, get both. Anyway you can get some form of STAR WARS : THE FORCE UNLEASHED

something anybody interested in comics should listen to

i came across this interview with scott mcloud which i urge anyone with an interest in the medium to listen to... check it out here.

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!! WEEK 30

Hey there everyone and welcome to the 30th installment of This Week In Comics. This is your captain speaking and it's my job to guide you though the what's hot and what's not of the comic and comic related worlds. So let's not wait anymore and get right into our first little segment of Comics!!

This week saw the release of the FORCE UNLEASHED graphic novel. Being that it's the adaptation of the yet to be released Star Wars: Force Unleashed video game, it had a lot to live up to and boy did it deliver. Taking place exactly 2 years before the Battle of Yavin(That's Return of the Jedi or Episode 6 for you lameoids) Force Unleashed is all about Darth Vader's secret apprentice. Now the whole focus of the book is that Vader wants to overthrow the emperor and is using his secret apprentice to create the means to do so. Now going any further into detail would totally give away the twists and turn of this book. Now the art is pretty typical for a Star Wars comic. To sum up the art work in one word, Beautiful. Never have I seen an ugly Star Wars comic and I highly doubt I ever will because they consistently choose spectacular artists. So do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this graphic novel. It's only $15.95 and for an original graphic novel it's pretty fair priced because usually they're $19.99.

Now this week is getting a DOUBLE DOSE in the comics section. We have Golly! by Phil Hester and it's being published by Image. Golly! is all about a carnival worker who becomes burdened with having to tell everyone in the world about the coming apocalypse and why they should be scared. Within the first 5 pages your laughing your ass off and the art is really well done. It's not the most amazing book to look at but is sure as hell isn't ugly. Issue #1 is the only one out so far so if your looking for something new to read why not start on a number #1.

So now we wander over to the movie section and this week I have a goody for you guys. This week I'm all about GODZILLA:KING OF MONSTERS. Now I recently read a review for this on Newsarama.com and made me go dig out my copy of it. Well Newsarama was dead on with their review about it so I'm just gonna copy/paste their review so you can see why I went back and grabbed my copy.

"Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): The title says it all. Godzilla is the king! The movie that launched an industry of atomic-powered monsters, Godzilla still reigns as the 400-foot tall champion. We recommend picking up the unedited Japanese version (Gojira) if you get a chance. It's longer, and it doesn't have Raymond Burr cut in as reporter Steve Martin. Regardless, Godzilla is king of rubber-suit land.

Despite the dated effects, the movie still holds up extremely well; it crushes by comparison the weak Devlin/Emmerich remake from 1998. Hell, the scene of Bob Goldthwait in a Godzilla suit stomping the model development in One Crazy Summer is about twenty times as good as the Devlin/Emmerich version. (Yes, there are those who argue the merits of the Devlin/Emmerich version. But we must insist: Godzilla is not an iguana). - Review By Troy Brownfield"

As you can see I'm easily swayed by sheer enthusiasm because his being excited got me excited and I spread the excitement onto you.

This week saw the release of the game TOO HUMAN for Xbox 360. Too Human is about the norse god Baldur and how he's helping humanity fight against the rising threat of machines. The plot sounds very much like the Matrix except for the fact the Matrix has no story and Too Human is jam packed with story. The graphics are pure beauty and the fighting system is really fun to use. The left and right triggers are your guns while the right joystick is your sword. Essentially if you wanna hack away at something with your sword, point at the guy with the right joystick and away goes Baldur sword in hand to beat the oil out of him. Now the there is no difficulty settings which makes you think it just gets progressively harder, which it does. Now the difficulty also has a lot to do with your class choice. If you choose the Berserker class, you rip through things quickly but die often because of the lower health whereas if you choose the Defender class, your going to die less but spend more time hacking away at the bad guys. It's just a fun game and it's definitely worth picking up.

Well there's no TV section this week because I haven't seen anything really worth mentioning lately. So hopefully I catch something this week that everyone should check out. See everyone in a week and oh yeah LEAVE SOME FEEDBACK!!

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!! WEEK 29

Hey there everyone! It's me, LB JONES, once more to deliver the what's what in comics. So I'm gunna change it up this week and for the next few weeks. TWIC is going to be more than comics now. It's going to be me talking about Comics, Movies, TV and Video Games. The main focus will always be comics but since comics are now a multi media thing now It's only a natural progression to expand This Week In Comics. So let's not keep you guys waiting anymore and get one with the new and improved TWIC.

So kicking it off this week is SPOOKS :OMEGA TEAM #0. Coming from the minds of Larry Hama (G.I. JOE) And R.A. Salvatore(FORGOTTEN REALMS), Spooks is a secret government team that 's sole mission is to fight the supernatural. It's sort of like Nick Fury meets Proof meets Hellboy. The reason I add Nick Fury to the mix is because the leader of the team looks like Nick Fury and is as bad ass as Nick Fury. To sum up what Spooks is all about, Here's the description from Devil's Due Publishings website -- "Omega Team is the elite division of SPOOKS -- the baddest of the bad. Their job is to exterminate monsters with extreme prejudice, the things too dangerous for anyone else to handle." Check it out, It's 99 cents. It's not a 4 page preview. It's a full comic, so your not getting ripped off.

Now the first installment of the new set up will be for TV and the very first show to be featured is FREAKAZOID! Yes after 10 years of waiting, Steven Spielberg finally releases the greatest cartoon ever on DVD. It's only the first season but it's absolutely hysterical and it totally held up over the years. They do talk about computer speeds in one episode and if you know anything about computers you sit and laugh at how amazed at the speed of computers in 1995 as compared to today. So stop lollygagging and go get this first season and enjoy the awesome funny of FREAKAZOID!

Moving from TV to Video Games, We have SOUL CALIBUR IV. It's absolutely amazing. The graphics are perfect and the controls are as tight as ever. I have the XBOX 360 version where you get the ability to play as YODA and I have to say Yoda is so amazingly cheap it's ridiculous. He's so tiny you have to low attack all the time and you can't grab him! Also if you beat Arcade mode with Yoda, You unlock Vader's Secret Apprentice. The Secret Apprentice is the main character of the yet to be released Star Wars: Force Unleashed game. Well anyways. If you have an XBOX 360, Go buy this game and be amazed at the pure awesome of it. Now GO!

And to finish off this new format and to introduce the movie section, we have VAMPIRE HUNTER D. Now I've reviewed both the manga and the novels. This is quite possibly my favorite franchise ever. The animes are 2 of the greatest movies I've ever seen. The whole plot of Vampire Hunter D is that it's the year 12,090 AD and humans are now only starting to regain control of the world from the vampire nobility. D is the main character obviously, his whole deal is he's a vampire hunter whose also a dhampir(he's called a Dunpeal in the movies but that's do to translation errors). So he's hated by both sides. Vampires hate him for killing his own kind and helping humanity while humans hate and fear him for being half vampire. It's just such an awesome story and it's just refreshing to see the idea of vampires grow beyond just a vampire stalking someone for their blood. So definitely go get a copy of each movie plus read the manga or novels. All three medias are just spectacular.

So that wraps the new version of TWIC. Please let me know if this is working for you guys. If not I'll go back to the original style

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!! WEEK 28

Hi,
This isn't LBJ's this week in comics, Its Gore' Motherfuckin' Jones. hahahaha. sucks for you. So now I might have your attention for a minute or two, time to throw some books at you that I think you should be reading and not passing by when your scanning the shelves.

HACK/SLASH.
Tim Seeley and Emily Stone produce one of the best monthly books period. STOP FUCKIN WALKING PAST IT OR BLOWING IT OFF, READ THIS FUCKING COMIC!!!! THEY HAD A SUICIDE GIRLS ISSUE. CASSIE THE MAIN CHARACTER DID A FUCKIN FULL NUDE SPREAD!!!
Alright, now that I'm done bitching. Its the basic story of "Slasher gets revenge" but what happens when the slasher victim gets revenge. Interested?? Cassie Hack our main character is the almost victim of a slasher close to home, She becomes almost obsessed with the idea of these "people" walking around just killing random people. Cassie meets Vlad ( a combo of Frankenstein's monster meets Jason Voorhees) and takes the role of the "slasher hunter".
Amazing every month, If you've never read it we have all the trades in stock. If you are reading it please come and talk to me about it. No one here other than me and Socko read it at the store ( aside from Slacks but she's leaving to go to college ;*( )

Next one for you is:

Doktor Sleepless by Warren Ellis and Ivan Rodriguez.
Warren Fuckin Ellis needs no introduction or praise. He's WARREN FUCKIN ELLIS! the man is the godfather of modern comic writing and story telling in general. He's one of my favorite writers and I'll buy anything he makes because he's that incredible. Here's his synopsis for DOKTOR SLEEPLESS ;

You are never going into space.
You will never own a jet pack.
Your car will never fly.
HIV will not be cured in your lifetime.
Cancer will not be cured in your lifetime.
The common cold will not be cured in your lifetime.
Don't these things bother you?

Suicide is the third biggest killer of teenagers in the United States.
In 1999 more people in America died from suicide than from homicide.
Do you think about this?

As anyone who ever read MyDeathSpace.com for any period of time know, the leading cause of death in America is automobile accident. This is generally interpolated into a number placed under the heading "accidental death." When the operation of cars is the leading cause of loss of life I'm not entirely sure how it comes under the term "accidental death." It wasn't a fucking accident, it was done by someone with a car. It's 2007 and we don't know how to operate cars without killing people. It's not a fucking accident if it was caused by someone getting into a one-ton metal bullet that cannot be operated with complete control at all times.

In Europe in 2004, 13000 kids – persons under the age of fourteen -- died due to poor water. It’s 2007 and the society does not yet understand how to operate water.

Are you thinking about this now?

People keep asking me what DOKTOR SLEEPLESS is about. This is what it's about.

Someone stole your future. Don't you ever wonder who?

If thats not cool enough for you well then eat me.

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!! WEEK 27

Hey what's going on everyone, This week was filled with a lot of good reading and nothing was terrible for once. So let's not dilly dally too much and get right down to it.

So this week I got around to finishing up reading the G.I.JOE omnibus. Wrapping up 200 something issues of continuity starting with the MARVEL comics run, The World War Three omnibus delivers so much awesome my head almost exploded. So as you can tell Cobra was up to some crazy jazz and started WW3. Sounds simple enough, well how about Cobra had infiltrated every government in the world and when they finally set the plan in motion, goal one is to take over the White House. Oh yeah thats only the first HALF of the massive 12 issue book. So don't hesitate too much and come get yourself a really good read and just support G.I. JOE damn it!

Next up we got GRIMM FAIRY TALES : RETURN TO WONDERLAND! Alice is all grown up, married, has 2 kids and is being haunted by the white rabbit. That's just the background story, The main story is that Alice's daughter,Carroll Ann, is pulled into Wonderland and has to deal with the sick and twisted things that now comprise Wonderland. Yes in the Grimm Fairy Tale universe, Wonderland is a bunch of rainbows and gumdrop kisses. In Grimm Fairy Tales, Wonderland is filled with psychos and sick shit. For example the Mad Hatter is an old dirty Rapist and the white rabbit is slowly rotting away. Well now that I have your attention, This week at the store(7/30/08) We are having the Writer of Return to Wonderland, RAVEN GREGORY, in for a signing. Everyone should totally stop in, read some Grimm Fairy Tales because of how awesome and twisted they are plus the writer of Grimm Fairy Tales is going to be here. So stop lolly gagging.

So shooting out from Image this week we have the MONSTER PILE-UP. For just 2 bucks, thats right 2 DOLLARS, Image is hooking everyone up with 4 short stories. Each short story is from 1 of Image's monster books. The 4 books are Proof, Perhapnauts, Astounding Wolf-Man, and Firebreather. All the stories are done by their normal creative teams and are an awesome way to check out some series you may not be reading. Each story really does get to the heart of what book is. Each story is really good and I've reviewed most of the titles contained within. The only one I haven't really read is The Perhapnauts because I wanna read from the beginning and we're getting in volume 1 this week so that will be making an appearance here next week. So anyways, Everyone should read this because it's a good intro for 4 good books and it's only 2 bucks.

And lastly this week we have the MINI MARVELS TRADE!! Yes finally the greatest goofy series of back up stories has been collected into one awesome volume. Now the Mini Marvels are the little 1 or 2 page stories at the end of most of Marvel comics. Now most of us probably see them as stories for little kids which they sorta are but only if your a little kid who reads the current Marvel stories. Everyone should totally be reading this book because it's hilarious and awesome and it is such a perfect spoof of Marvel. It's fun seeing a comic company poke fun of it's self. So yeah don't just sit there and read this, go get yourself some Mini Marvel's!

So that's it for this week, Sorry for the delay but the internet was down for a day in my house. Well anyways I got some news. I just started playing Diablo 2 again and I need some people for online games and what not. So if your in just send me a message via Myspace. My Url is Myspace.com/tpaone. so yeah Hit it up, Laters.

THIS WEEK IN COMICS!! WEEK 26

Hello there everybody, It's LB here for the 26Th time. Sorry I'm a little late. So let's not wait and delay anymore.

We all know I'm not a huge Superman fan but I recently finished the "Superman and The Legion Of Superheroes" by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. I really have to say for a character I dislike, they made me like him. For most of the book Supes is without his powers because in the future Earth's sun has become red. It's pretty much "A Dude in Blue Tights and The Legion". But anyways, the whole reason Superman is in the future is because a bunch of Legion rejects have somehow risen up and declare that Superman was human not an alien. With Superman being declared human not an alien, the Legion rejects are attacking all non-humans on Earth. This story is definitely work reading and this is coming from someone who dislikes Superman.

Next we have issue #14 of Dynamo 5. I've probably already spoken about how awesome this book is and how everyone should read it. Well I'm saying it again because with issue #14, we have a really good jump on point for anyone looking to read monthly and not wait for the trades. This issue picks up from issue #13 with Dynamo 5 having broken up and Tower City under siege from super villains. Again Jay Faerber does an amazing job at writing intrigue and at keeping you involved. So go out. Get the first 2 trades and this issue. GO NOW!

After some awesome reading you should continue that with Essential Werewolf By Night vol.1. Coming straight out of the 70's, we have one of the greatest horror comics ever. Werewolf By Night is all about Jack Russell who comes to find out that he's really a werewolf and so was his real father. The art is amazing Mike Ploog does an awesome job at art and Gerry Conway writes an awesome story. Granted it's very 70's from the dialog and from how everyone is dressed, that just makes it more awesome because that means some disco kid is getting mauled by a werewolf. Now stop slacking and go get it. There's a reason they're called ESSENTIALS.

Lastly we have Amazing Spider-Man. God it's awful. Since they took Straczynski off of ASM, it's been on a spiral downwards of terrible. I mean it's out 3 times a month and all the stories are sub-par, villains show up for no clear reason and Spidey makes the lamest of jokes. Recently Daredevil showed up and made the comment of "I wish the isotope had made me deaf not blind" in regards to a joke from Spider-Man. Totally lame! The art has been good in ASM but the writing is awful and I just wish that they would choose a direction for the book already.

So that's it for this week. See everyone at the store.