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So about two years back a mate of mine was giving me some playful grief about the fact I wasn’t, in his eyes, very experimental with regards the comics I was reading. I always kept in my safety zone of superheroes apparently which made me a BAD COMIC NERD! So I decided to pick up three graphic novels I would otherwise have never bothered with and give them all a full read.

Firstly I went for the “Slice of life/relationships/the one people recommend to girls” comic and read the first Strangers in Paradise pocketbook which was 360 pages of people whining about their feelings while looking longingly at that person they loved, but couldn’t tell, and who didn’t fully appreciate the wonderful human being right in front of them and blah blah fucking blah. Why this book is so popular when you can just watch daytime soaps for free I’ll never know.

My second pick was a true life/autobiographical book and I went for the multi award winning Fun Home which was AWFUL. Well, it was well done technically, but the central character was such a pretentious, self centered tosser that you just wanted her to get hit by a car or get shot all the way through. Knowing of course that it wouldn’t happen as otherwise who would have written the book?

My last pick… Manga.
Now my exposure to manga is very limited. I read the first few volumes of Akira and didn’t love it, though I do like the animated version which is of course much reduced. I’d also read and loved some Hideshi Hino horror books which were amazing. But all these were library borrows, never purchases. Also like a lot of people I was very wary of buying Manga as a lot of it has the deserved reputation of being a bit pervy. Way too many schoolgirls who cant blink hard without their skirts flying up around their necks, that kind of thing.

But as I knew a few people who were into and watching the ongoing cartoon and who assured me it was “people looking over your shoulder safe” I picked up the first volume of Death Note and was immediately hooked.

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Gonna spoil the shit outta this and by extension the end of Battle for the Cowl. Cool? Ok then

Lets start with the stick I have up my arse over Grant Morrison.
Been a fan of his writing for years, but his major output in 2008 namely Batman RIP and Final Crisis really put me off him. Both works divided the nerd community and I fell squarely in the "pretentious wank" category as both seemed more about showing how clever the writer was than delivering an entertaining story. I like books with levels you can go into, like Watchmen for example, but you can just read Watchmen as a cool whodunnit if you want to. Morrisons stuff didnt have that entertaining surface level to it, it was just confusing for the sake of it. Batman RIP especially annoyed me in particular the ending which seemed tagged on and pointless.

Why am I telling you all this? So you know how hard a sell I was on this book.

This was Morrison coming back to Batman after, in my opinion, fucking it up. If it had been my call they wouldnt have let him back on and definately wouldnt have been making a big deal about it. That said, I love the character, I wanted to be proven wrong.

Issue one seems to have done that.

This book basically is the first outing of the new Batman and Robin, these being Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne. Grayson obviously being the original Robin who has reluctantly taken on the role of Batman and Damian being Bruce's son.
The dynamic between them is played very well and reminiscent of when Bruce Wayne first took on Jason Todd who was also a bit of a shit and who I have to admit was probably my fave of the Robins, though I am in the minority with that. They were both characterised really well and I really enjoyed both their interactions with Alfred who as always is the rock in the Batman books. Looking forward to seeing how Gordon takes it and if they will pretend he is too dumb to notice a new guy under the cowl. Would hope Grayson admits who he is to him from the off.
A new villain is introduced called Pyg who is genuinely disturbing and will be a good warm up for the Joker confrontation we know they are counting down to.
Art by Frank Quitely is excellent as always and I gotta admit I was totally won over by this book and am eagerly waiting for issue 2.

Nice work Mr Morrison, it was a pleasure to be proven wrong.

Link: http://welshbluemeanie.blogspot.com/

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I have been assured that Rich is back on his meds now and that normal service will be resumed. If you're reading any of the Dark Reign stuff or even it's pre-cursor Secret Invasion from Marvel you may actually understand this post, if not I guess you're pretty screwed.

Rich's comic project with Flint Lockjaw; The Caretakers Uncannily Nasty Tales is now available to pick up from indyplanet.

Link: http://welshbluemeanie.blogspot.com

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More inspired work from the brilliant mind of the original comic book satirist Bluemeanie AKA Rich McAuliffe. I like how he's managed for the last two posts to include Ponty's very own Superhero (and his own adoring wife) Iz. You can hear Iz (sounding very girlie and feminine) waxing lyrical on all things comics related on the most excellent comic book podcast The Comic Racks, sometimes you can even hear Rich grumbling and mumbling in the background. Of course if you didn't want to listen to the Comic Racks you could always have a go with The Sidekickcast our very own podcast and if you check out this weeks Watchmen Special you can still hear Iz and Rich as they leave a kind message for the Sidekicks.

Rich's comic project with Flint Lockjaw; The Caretakers Uncannily Nasty Tales is now available to pick up from indyplanet. Expect a review on the cast and the site soon.

Link: http://welshbluemeanie.blogspot.com

I've been slacking lately, just too much podcast editing to do so we've got a backlog of comics according to Bluemeanie so you can expect a double hit today and tomorrow you lucky, lucky people. Having not read Sinestro War I don't really feel qualified yet to comment on this latest blog but that's something I intend to put right as soon as I can find some chump...er...I mean friend to loan me the trades. At the end of the funny is funny and this is funny.

Rich's comic project with Flint Lockjaw; The Caretakers Uncannily Nasty Tales is now available to pick up from indyplanet. Expect a review on the cast and the site soon.

Link: http://welshbluemeanie.blogspot.com/

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Bluemeanie has been at it again, this time reporting a bit of news we ignored here on the Sidekick Blog. Samuel Jackson has signed on with Marvel for a nine picture deal to play Nick Fury agent of SHIELD. I like the fact they have locked someone down to play the charcter in all the Marvel movies, it gives them a nice sense of consistency and continuity. Blue does however have a good point about Sam, his range has appeared rather limited over the years and we're all getting tired of it. If you've enjoyed this subject you can check out a lengthier discussion over at Bluemeanie's Bullshit, also his choice for Nick Fury is far better and more in keeping with the original Marvel continuity and not the Ultimate stuff.

Link: http://welshbluemeanie.blogspot.com/2009/02/secret-invasion-another-cartoony-thing.html

So here it is, the second post from guest blogger Bluemeanie (A.K.A Richard McAuliffe) and "that crazy welsh bastard" (Christopher Neseman of Around comics and 11 o'clock comics description, not mine) has done it again, this week taking on the mighty Marvel's latest event, Secret Invasion in hilarious fashion.

If you fancy taking a look at some of Blue's other perhaps more all age friendly comic book work check out this web comic of Baby Boomers on the Markosia Enterprises site.