Where I remind you of a great book that came out yesterday, review Before Watchmen Silk Spectre #1 and talk about God(aka Alan Moore)

   

     

     For some reason just over the past few months I've gotten more than a few emails about me mainly buying trade paperbacks when it comes to comic books. "You aren't supporting the talents." "You are hurting the industry." "This is one of the reasons comic book stores are closing."

     Ok, Comic Book Police, just chill your bag and boarded short pants. Just as I have the choice of not sucking on Alan Moore's tit, I can buy trades without your self-righteous {while probably downloading illegal copies}throws coming my way.

     What I do a lot is try a few issues of a series to see if I might want to buy the trades when and if they come out. There are tons of trades out there already I know I'll like based on characters, artists, and writers alone, but I try to check out new stuff also to support what is going on currently.

     I can't afford nor do I have the living space to buy monthlies and trades. I have in total now, after doing a clearing out a few years ago to a charity, four long boxes and all of those contain a complete run of the old original Valiant universe. The only other floppies I have are Doctor Who books and a few signed copies.

     On the subject of Doctor Who I'm probably going to be going trade only with those soon. I buy any Doctor Who books so I might just wait for the trades. Mainly that's a decision based on money and apartment space.

     I wish there was someway you could turn in issues to your local comic shop and maybe get a trade discount? Then I might buy the floppies more often but that probably isn't feasible for stores to do?

     Plus those single issues I buy to try books out go to friends, libraries, and strangers; which promotes said series and talents. There shouldn't be this geeky dividing line between those who buy their comics every month in single issues and those who buy trades. Oh, and by the way I know people who spend a ton of money weekly at their lcs and they would never even think of buying floppies. Do you want to drive these people away from the industry?

     Now if you want something to rant about, lets talk hardcovers.....

Reviews:

     A really cool book came out yesterday. I was planning to write this blog entry then but was busy trying to doctor up the laptop a bit. Seems to be running a lot better *fingers crossed* The book I speak of is This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers, you can find my review here as I read a ARC of it a few months ago but I'm still going to pick up a copy for my Summers collection. Go buy it here and here or here or here or here and here or your local books store independent or chain. All those links I found on the writers site but thought I'd mention here again. Go buy it. Someone actually says the Zed word in this book unlike another book I enjoy but its creator, not so much. Robert Kirkman is such a pretentious boob. Courtney Summers on the other hand is made of dolls heads, piano solos, nice juicy sick writing, and many more stuffs of awesome.

Check out the book trailer:

     Another book I gave five stars to is just out in paperback. You can find my review for Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma here. I highly recommend this book.

     BEFORE WATCHMEN: SILK SPECTRE #1

3 out of 5 stars

*I promise I'll try and keep this from becoming a rant on the two faced bullshit of some peoples attacks and boycott of this project while still buying other books from DC and Marvel. With that one sentence rant about not ranting out of the way. I picked up this book before Minutemen #1 because of Amanda Conner's artwork. I really love her work. The art is really good here also so no disappointment there. With this first issue I found myself thinking ok, that's it? Maybe that feeling was from the build up but I felt let down. The story is ok but again maybe unfair build up within me. I'm going to check out the second issue and the first issue of the other Before Watchmen series but trades are in mainly in the future for me for Before Watchmen.

     STORMWATCH VOLUME ONE: THE DARK SIDE

4 out of 5 stars

     STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS: STRANGE ALLIES

3 out of 5 stars

Cool links to check out:

     I really wish more people would step up for this project. If I had the cash I would throw some in, makes me feel bad. It would be really disappointing with so many people crying that they only see the same old thing over and over that a great project being told in an original way like The Garlicks doesn't get made. Go throw in some cash, spread the word, or both.

     Some interesting publishing related links you might wish to check out: 

Panelists Say Libraries are Perfect Ebook Partner for Publishers | IDPF Digital Book Conference and Why the ebook you want isn't for sale in your country - Boing Boing.For the writer's out there: Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling - Tubefilter We could all learn a thing or a thousand from Pixar.

     

Rants and screams:

     I really love that the history of our whole fucking nation is filled with speech after speech about how we hate countries that hold down freedom of speech, mislead its citizens, and fix elections through strong handed methods of politics but that is just what we are doing right now in America. The idea of the American Dream might be a  generationally shared delusion but that doesn't mean we should be shitting on the idea every chance we get.

     Elections like funerals end up being about anything but the persons most effected by their outcomes- i.e. the poor and the dead, and more about the people standing strong no matter what- your rich, your politicians, and your Uncle Ernie who is being stuffed with hay and dog shit. Uncle Ernie is just dead, I bet you're regretting not letting him barrow your copy of Tecmo Bowl when he was sick at age 5 now. Yep, I knew it, that's the only reason you're crying, you know that scarred his heart and the reason for the heart attack years later on the shitter.

     The subject of this link doesn't bother me because this is parody but the comment near the end, "As soon as DC does a Harry Potter comic while JK Rowling stands on the sidelines complaining, we’ll talk." DC can't do that because there are contracts probably in place that say they can't. As far as my knowledge goes Mr. Moore signed a sucky contract the same as a lot of creators have had to do over the years to make money. If he had any legal ground to stand on he would probably be suing but instead his is letting his acolytes turn him into a martyr. He got screwed, bad contract, should have read it more carefully, or not signed it at all. DC might be big douche bags and so is Marvel when it comes to their histories dealing with creators but Come On Man? Lets stop this bullshit that Before Watchmen is like the worst thing to ever happen to a creator. Go tell that to Bruce Lee's family about Kung Fu or Steve Diko about all of his hard work or the thousands of creators who have done work for companies and never got a dime one and still owed money years later. Alan Moore created Harold Potter long before he turned him into the Antichrist

     Mar called me  the other day and I didn't know she had me on speaker phone so I was my normal self and I guess there was people near by. Ooops. I told her she shouldn't have given me a live mic. I sometimes channel CM Punk and Arn Anderson when pissed off and go into pipe bomb mode. In case anyone was wondering the thing I was cursing the Gods about was the DVR remote going dead right before Euro games started.

     Wal-Mart reminds me of the coal mine owners. Has anyone written a Sixteen Tons type of song about them yet? Wal-Mart-Linked PR Officer Poses as Journalist to Workers

Where I remind you of a great book that came out yesterday, review Before Watchmen Silk Spectre #1 and talk about God(aka Alan Moore)

Where I talk about a great Kickstarter graphic novel and ways of supporting the art you enjoy. Also a question of what's a devil's threesome?

     There are some great projects going on within the internet and I'm not talking about the porn side of Tron either. From webcomics, to webseries, to ebook publishing, and kickstarter type projects and some people having been doing it longer than others, one of said people is Lea Hernandez.
     Most of my news is consumed off the internet. Some of my favorite shows are on the internet and most of my clothing is now purchased from independent designers and shops off the net. Most of that is t-shirts from merchandise stores from website I visit quite often. Now I will say a lot of this has to do with the fact that I'm on the computer for most of the day writing so webshows, podcasts, and ebooks are right there for me to consume quickly during moments of writer frustrations.
     But I will also say that I see more of a creative push online that is heads miles ahead of what you will find in theaters and on television or big publishing. It's not an either or with me but I'm drifting more and more into consuming digital artworks.
     One of my favorite things right now is the chance of seeing a full book of Lea Hernandez's Garlicks. You can read about it here at Bleeding Cool and here at Comic Book Resources and tons of people like Neil Gaiman, Jim Lee, and Kurt Busiek has thrown their praise in support of it.
     The Garlicks: Pandora Orange, Fail Vampire Kickstarter page is here. Looking at that project I don't see how anyone who has the cash to spare wouldn't want to support it but you can support great projects like this even if you don't have the cash to penny in because you my friends live in the future. It's exciting, scary, funny, and bold and that's what scares the suits the most because this is our ride and we can steer it into whatever lane we want.
     One of the things the internet can function as is a living fluid ad for things people enjoy and want to see. That's how a lot of companies like Facebook and Twitter make money in a way because we are the advertising machine behind products but its also something the individual talents and fans can use also without the creepiness of places like Facebook using our information to promote things we are actually trashing but still spreading the word in a no press is bad press thing.
     Lets use this engine to back talents we want to get some spotlight. The projects we believe should reach a wider audience. Talents like Lea should be hounded by companies to work for them but in a way we are lucky because we can see her talented art in projects she owns fully, that goes to supporting her current and future work. As fans we like to open our mouths all the time about "Why doesn't Marvel or DC let this artist do a project they truly uses their talents" but here we are finding creators doing projects they believe in, projects from their hearts, and now we need to pony up, step up, backbone up to what we like to shout our mouths off about as fans and support a project we want to read.
     Amanda Palmer proved that if you work hard and build a audience they will come and support your work but its not all about that size of audience that she has built over the years, which is pretty big and she earned that respect which helped her reach her goal. You have to have a crowd to crowd fund but its not just the talent who can build that crowd, its also the people who support their art. Word of mouth is and always have been the press of the world. Pass the word, RT the Tweet, Share the link, or write a blog entry about why you loved the artist and plan to support their project.
     Fans in my time have saved Television shows, brought back comics series or at least kept them afloat for a little while, but with the future we live in, well, as Amanda Palmer says, "We are the media." and I'm going to say it over and over, its time the fan mouth turned into the full fan action.
     One of the things Kickstarter does is say to the fans, you like this persons art, you like their ideas, you want to see this project live, you want to support them to make more art- ok then support it and it can happen. But its support it or shut up and stop grinding your gears about you wish so and so company would just let artists do their thing.
     And another little push for you to support Lea's project. Here you can read her book Cathedral Child for free online. If you like it push some coins her way, push some support her way and click others into the know about this project. Also look through other Kickstarter projects and see if you find something you like. You can even search the site to find local projects in your area. Buy some merchandise from websites who produce content you fancy because that's how you get to keep enjoying things you like. We might just be the media but what kind of media will we be and what will we support?

 

You might also want to check out these cool links:
     Human Parasites. And we aren't talking babies or politicians here. Human Parasites I pissed off a lot of people on Twitter the other by saying they should watch this while eating. Sorry but you feed that hook to yourself. The internet version of DON'T LOOK AT THIS is you have to look at this.
     I'm always interested in reading about how other writers increase their writing output. Might not apply any of it to myself but always interested in what works for others. I'll do what I do when I come across something that catches my eye and apply it to a project to see if anything sticks to how to work. Guest Post: How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day
     Found this on Felicia Day Flog show. Listening as I type this up. The Canterbury Tales Remix
     I've always went with my view that people like smaller ebooks and most of my friends have told me the same. When it comes down to it ebooks are like any other book in if its a really good book people will read it no matter the size but mediocre books people wont make the commitment to. That's really not a new thing. Also in the same mind of how I've always said ebooks should help push short stories back into the forefront through on the go quick reads. Do E-book Customers Prefer Longer or Shorter Books?
     Interesting. And the whole LIKE and SHARE system can lead to only the popular product being reproduced but its also part of the new machine until it molds itself into something else we need to find the best ways to use it. When The Internet Deletes Hype
     If you write, you might want to check this out: Writer Scams Found this on Neil Gaiman's Twitter.
     I don't know if I agree with every point here but I do think this is a good read for anyone doing webcomics or epublishing in general. The Shape Of The New Webcomics

Rants and random but not so random thoughts:
     The DC reboot wasn't a game changer because it didn't change the game. It was a half filled effort to bring in new readers that failed on many levels including releasing too many books so quick, too many early talent changes, releasing so many first volume trades as hardbacks, and introducing a new reality before many have jumped on the old new one.... see even typing that sentence almost turned me off from those books. It would have changed the game if it had grabbed a hold of new readers but it really didn't. There are so many great books in the 52 relaunch but there are also some real stinkers but stinkers aside they failed in doing the main thing set out for the reboot to accomplish and that's to grab new to comics readers. They may have pulled in some old have left comics but now back in readers but that isn't a game changer. Comics A.M. | Eight months in, New 52 isn’t sales ‘game-changer’
     Also internet, a hot debate was going on last night on our balcony. Is a Devil's Threesome when two guys and a girl have sex and the two guys don't do anything together or just any time sex involves two guys and a girl? I say its the former and would also apply to two girls and a guy if the two girls weren't interested in doing anything together. This is a very important debate tonight and was triggered by my strange writer brain.
     With all the talk about the Before Watchmen books I want to just again say a few things. Are you still buying any Marvel or DC books? Do you read pirated comics? Do you support Hero Initiative? Depending on your answer to those questions you might just be fan boy masturbating Alan Moore and just caught up in the crowd. You are not any better than anyone else. A moral stand...means you have to be standing.
     Interesting piece Maureen Johnson wrote on Blog Tours And The Word No I know since I started back blogging regularly my productivity went off a bit. Like a cliff. It's growing back to where it was but it took time because writing blog updates takes time. Time and thoughts that could be spent on a story but with me I needed it. Blogging has always been something I enjoyed and needed as part of my writing life. One of the main reasons I blog on a schedule now is to keep myself to four entries per week, giving me three days to just focus on fiction. I rant way too much to blog daily. It takes up enough time daily just bullshitting on Facebook and Twitter but I might even cut that out on my three writing days, though that would be a tough withdrawal. I also have people asking me to write reviews for them or guest blog or the like and for the most part I say no or only accept if I'm getting paid. Otherwise its just another time suck from a story. It really has to be a project I'm interested in or an idea I really needed to get out. It takes me forever to edit my chaos sushi writing into something a few people might be able to understand so its not a good thing for me try the overload dragon.
     I think the best option for pain management, that doesn't involve a ax, when you don't have insurance, is over stimulation of the brain through learning shit. BOOK YEAH!

Where I talk about a great Kickstarter graphic novel and ways of supporting the art you enjoy. Also a question of what's a devil's threesome?