Hoopla! - Episode 33: Bits and Pieces

Hello and welcome to Hoopla!

Yes, yes, I know... the last column only came out a couple of days ago and here we are again...

That's kind of kooky-crazy, isn't it?

Well, there was some quick update information I wanted to share with y'all and I figured that writing an additional column might help to restore the faith you all had in me before my recent hiatus-es...

Hiati?

Anyway, the information update is that Wonder Woman #13 is no longer the comic that I so eagerly advocated that you pre-order, mere weeks ago. Instead, it is now a fill-in issue, and issue #14 will be Gail Simone's first issue.

I thought I'd better mention this because if someone ordered Wonder Woman #13 on my recommendation, expecting to get a snazzy Gail Simone comic, and instead received an Amazons Attack epilogue that is designed to help set up the upcoming Wonder Girl limited series that no one is going to buy, that person might harbor ill will towards me.

And I don't want that.

Also, I wanted to post the following pages from a book called Proof that will be coming out in October from the good folks at Image. I originally had no interest in this title because the premise didn't really grab me. But having just seen these preview pages, I've decided to give it a try...

There's sort of a Ted McKeever vibe to the art (by Riley Rossmo) that I really, really like.

If you're interested in seeing slightly larger versions of the above pages and reading a pretty decent interview with the artist and writer of Proof, you can do so here.

Here's the solicitation text for the first issue, which evoked absolutely zero interest in me...

PROOF #1

story ALEX GRECIAN

art & cover RILEY ROSSMO
32 PAGESFCOCTOBER 24$2.99
When FBI agent Ginger Brown got a promotion, she didn’t expect her new duties would involve tracking down the world’s most mysterious creatures. The Loch Ness Monster, Mothman and El Chupacabra are now on her "most wanted" list and her new partner looks an awful lot like… Bigfoot!

TAGLINE: If you believe in monsters, you need Proof!

If you like THE X-FILES, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER or HELLBOY you’ll love PROOF!

The main problems with the above are that stupid tagline (Why even include a tagline? What's the point, except to annoy me?) and that whole "If you like The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, Star Wars, or anything else, you'll love our comic!!!" thing. Plus, the concept somehow seems overly familiar. I have no idea where I've come across a similar thing, or if I even have, but it just sounds... uninspired.

Much better is the solicitation text for issue #2, due out in November:

When El Chupacabra claims another victim, the case becomes too much for small town sheriff Elvis Chestnut to handle. Lucky for him, Proof is on the way. Meanwhile, Ginger learns the secrets of The Lodge and the Dover Demon delivers a warning. All that, plus the Cottingley Fairies attack!

Anyway, we'll have to see. I do like those preview pages, though...

Finally, I wanted to share an excerpt from an interview with Keith Champagne, who wrote the much reviled 52 crossover issues and who is now being forced against his will to write a project that sounds truly heinous, Countdown: Arena. As you might have guessed from the title, this is yet another Countdown crossover. Readers may not be enjoying Countdown, but that surely hasn't stopped DC from putting out dozens of related mini-series, specials, and crossovers.

The premise behind this particular one is that a whole bunch of super-heroes from various Earths fight each other in an arena. So, for example, you might see Batman from the Elseworlds story where he's a vampire fight Batman from the Earth where he fought in World War II. Or Superman who married Lois Lane might battle Superman who didn't marry Lois Lane.

Dan Didio has used his usual strategy of trying to garner interest by promising that characters will die, somehow failing to realize that no one cares about the deaths of obscure characters that haven't been seen in decades except for a few long-time readers who get really pissed off about it.

Anyway, here's Keith Champagne, attempting to sound enthused about a project that he clearly didn't want any part of...

Newsarama: First off Keith, how did you get involved with this mini-series? And what did you think of the concept behind Arena when you first heard about it?

Keith Champagne: Well, it's a long and tortured tale involving Dan Didio, Mike Siglain, an email or two, a meeting with Mike in the city, and my immediate and resounding yes after what exactly Arena was intended to be.When I first wrapped my head around Arena, my initial thought was, "hmmm...sounds kind of like a video game." And after writing it, I still think it's a no-brainer for a great video game. But it makes an even better comic! Honestly, I started Arena shortly after World War III. In my head, I was hoping to switch gears and write something smaller, maybe even something a little funny. But with great opportunity comes... um... a great opportunity. I couldn't say no, especially not to a concept with so much potential for good times, and a chance to work with a razor sharp story editor like Siglain again.

[Here's a tip, dear readers... when a writer describes his story by saying that it would make a great video game, that's what we in the business like to call a red flag. Especially when it's followed by an admission that he'd rather be working on something on a smaller scale.]

NRAMA: Tell us a little about the story. It focuses on Monarch, right?

KC: Monarch -- he sure does get around that Multiverse. And in this case, he's gone through all 52 of the universes, cherry picking the last wave of his army before he rains war down on the corn-rowed heads of The Monitors.To that end, he's lined up the greatest heroes -- and a few of the deadliest villains -- from throughout the entire Multiverse. Three versions of each, to be exact. So, among others, we've got three Supermen, three Wonder Women, three Batmen and many, many more that he's drafted into his cause.I should mention that these different versions of the characters should be pretty familiar to people who enjoyed their Elseworlds. Every universe from Gotham By Gaslight to New Frontier and all the way to Wildstorm are represented. Even Captain Carrot's. One at a time, the versions of each character must battle one another in an enormous, city-sized Arena that Monarch has constructed. He only has room for one of each: the best, strongest, and most determined in his army. From there, things get brutal and bloody.

[See? You thought I was kidding about the multiple Batmen and Supermen from obscure Elseworlds stories fighting. But I wasn't.]

NRAMA: Brutal and bloody? So does this answer those questions people always stand around and argue about at comics shops? Like... "who would win in this fight?"

KC: Yes.

There's your high concept right there.

Anyway, I just thought it was an interesting example of how you can get into the comics business and have all these great stories in your head that you're dying to tell, but then you get assigned to something like Countdown: Arena and your guitar ends up gently weeping off in the corner.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this extra-super-bonus Hoopla! column... really, I just wanted to warn you about Wonder Woman #13. Having done that, I feel like my day has been a success and my existence on this planet has been, once again, justified...

Be here next week for some real-life comic-book reviews... just like grandma used to make!

- Paul

Hoopla! - Episode 32: The Museum of Crappy Comic-Book Covers...

Hello and welcome to Hoopla!


The new solicitations for DC and Marvel books coming out in November have come out and I'm slightly under-whelmed. Not many new projects worth getting excited about, and a load of butt-ugly covers...



In honor of how crappy a lot of this stuff looks, I've decided to do an homage to some of the worst covers that will be on display in November...


Join me, won't you?

The above is a nice, generic crappy cover to start us off... what I particularly like about this cover is that I can't tell which characters I'm supposed to be looking at (Who's the guy lying in the corner? Who's the green guy? Who's the floating head at the top?), where they are, or who is fighting whom. Sure, the blue person is clearly fighting the dressed-in-red person, but what's the green person doing? Is the floating head involved in the fight or simply watching from afar? Why are there so many bats? Is one of these characters somehow related to Batman, or is it a red herring?

Who knows?

In this cover, from Batman and the Outsiders #2, I can at least tell that Aquaman is in the story, as well as Batman's torso and head, and Catwoman's butt. I think there are a couple of other characters too, swirling in the vortex that seems to be spreading from Aquaman's right hand, but I can't be sure.

Then there's a rocket that seems to be roughly the size of Catwoman's head. I don't know if the rocket is aimed at them or where they are or why Batman is floating behind the rocket or what the big explodey thing behind Batman is supposed to be. The sun, perhaps? Or why there are bubbles along the lefthand side of the cover. Maybe this is all taking place underwater? Or why Aquaman's hands are doing whatever it is that they're doing.

Ugh.

The idea behind this cover isn't so bad... using just red and white to get some kind of effect. The main problem, aside from the fact that it's ugly, is the weird shape that Kyle Rayner is shooting at. It sort of looks like he's gotten into a fight with the Red Maple Leaf from Canada's flag.

Lame.

Again, the concept here isn't so bad... who wouldn't want to read a story about Black Adam being bitten by Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and whoever that guy in the corner is supposed to be? The problem here is that it looks like it was drawn by that guy who sat in the corner next to you in high school scribbling Heavy Metal album covers.

And the purple. The purple is a problem. It's so... deliberately purple. So very, self-consciously purple. And I have to wonder... why?

"So, I have this great concept for a Midnighter cover... it's going to be this sort of amateurish drawing of the Midnighter... and most of his hand!!!"

This cover isn't nearly as bad as some of the others, but I think it warrants recognition because two members of this team have the Power Girl-patented chest-window... and one of them is a guy with a hairy chest!

Brilliant!!!

I'm guessing his super-power is that he makes people standing next to him really, really uncomfortable...

"I'm not going to look at his hairy chest-hole, I'm not going to look at his hairy chest-hole, I'm not going to look at his hairy chest-hole..."

Worst. Drawing. Of Robin.

Ever.

For one thing, he's absurdly tall. His torso alone is taller than Aqualad.

Then there's the way his face is drawn... like a mentally challenged Richie Cunningham.

The best thing about this cover, though, is that the generic uniformed green-and-yellow guys aren't quite looking up high enough to see the Teen Titans... they're sort of looking at their knees. And at each other. And they can't quite muster up the sense of shock that they're supposed to be portraying.

"Hey, Bob, you see that? The Teen Titans' knees and feet just teleported above us."

"Yeah, I see that. Huh. Weird."

When in doubt, go with the classic "straight line" pose. Not only is it visually dull, it's also a bit confusing. What are they supposed to be standing on?

And is Krypto yawning? Bad, dog, bad!

I actually kind of like the above cover... it's interesting and colorful. My only problem with it is that I can't tell what the hell that thing is. A robot? A monster? A weird giant dog?


No clue.


But, despite this one major flaw, it's still a million times better than any of the others...


Finally, in the interest of helping to cleanse your pallette after that painful journey through the dregs of comic-book cover art, I offer you the following...




Yes, it's Dr. Octopus having tea and biscuits with Aunt May and Spider-Man. And, please note, Dr. Octopus is using his tentacles to serve the tea. Very nice.


And then, finally, this...




Ahh. I'm starting to feel better already.

NEXT WEEK: Every time I try to anticipate the contents of next week's column, I wind up being completely wrong. So, this time I'm not going to promise anything at all.

Does that mean that next week's column will have everything?

Be here next week to find out...

- Paul

Hoopla! - Episode 31: The Hoopla that Time Forgot...

Hello and welcome to Hoopla!

I want to start by apologizing to both of my loyal readers... this column is very, very late. Not as late as Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine #3, it's true, but late nonetheless.

For the past several few months I've been working on my Field Statement, which is essentially a literature review on three different academic fields that are central to the upcoming dissertation. I was way behind schedule for a number of reasons, none of which are interesting enough to go into, and so had to work super-fast to get this thing done so I can get started on my disseration proposal and still have a hope of getting my dissertation completed before my funding runs out (next May).

The good news is that I was successful in this endeavor and my Field Statement is complete, my professors are happy, and I'm almost caught up to where I should be in this process.

My reward for finishing the Field Statement about ten days ago was that I then had to take the Field Exam, which is a three day process that's sort of the PhD program equivilant of college hazing.

The Field Exam is where you're given four questions that are related to your Field Statement (hence the "Field"-i-ness of it) and you're given three days to write 8-10 page answers to each of the four questions.

You do the math.

So, as of noon today (Saturday) I'm finally finished with that excruciating process and am now a relatively free man, once again! And tomorrow, to celebrate, I'm going on a (very) short vacation with Mie, who has been extremely patient with me during this whole rig-a-ma-role. (How the hell do you spell that word?)

Anyway, I'll be back on Tuesday and then I'm hoping to get back on track with this Hoopla! thing but, in the meantime, I just didn't want y'all to think I'd forgotten you.

I assure you, every morning for the past two weeks I've woken up with only one thought in my mind: "Must... write... comic-book reviews..."

Well, maybe there were a couple of other thoughts, but they were entirely secondary and not really worth mentioning...

Anyhow, to tide you over until I come back and do some actual comic-book reviews and some of that witty banter stuff that we all so enjoy, here's a list of what I'm ordering for October 2007, to do with as you will...

ACTION COMICS #857
ACTION COMICS #858
SUPERMAN #669

I don't normally pick up the Superman titles these days, but here we've got Eric Powell doing art on a Bizarro story, the first part of a Legion of Super-Heroes story (the 'real' ones, that is) and the beginning of a 3-part Superman/Batman team up written by Kurt Busiek.

What's not to love?

ANNIHILATION CONQUEST STAR LORD #4 (Of 4)
NOVA #7

Loved, loved, loved Annihilation Conquest: Prologue, Star Lord #1, and Nova #4.

Loved 'em.

AVENGERS INITIATIVE #7

BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #1

I'm not terribly optimistic about this Outsiders business because (1) it's the Outsiders and (2) it's written by Tony Bedard, who is a decent writer but certainly not a great one.

But... every month my comic-book subscription service, mailordercomics.com, has a few titles for under a title to get you to try them. This month, one of those comics is Batman and the Outsiders #1.

For 74 cents, I'll give it a try...

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #7

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #7

CAPTAIN AMERICA #31

DETECTIVE COMICS #837

FABLES #66

FAKER #4 (Of 6)

The first issue of Faker wasn't actually as good as I'd hoped it would be, but it wasn't bad and it seems to have a lot of potential, so I'm willing to stick with it for now...

FANTASTIC FOUR #551

FLASH #233

GREEN LANTERN #24

Lovin' the Sinestro Corps storyline...

HOWARD THE DUCK #1 (Of 4)

Hey, it's Howard the Duck! And with art by Juan Bobillo, who also did the art on those totally kick-butt early issues of Dan Slott's She-Hulk. And written by Ty Templeton.

What's not to love???

IMMORTAL IRON FIST #10

INCREDIBLE HULK #111

JLA HITMAN #2 (Of 2)

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #14

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #10

MARVEL ZOMBIES 2 #1 (Of 5)

I'm actually kind of burnt out on the whole Marvel Zombies thing, but this is another of those 74 cent comics, so I'm picking up the first issue...

MIGHTY AVENGERS #6

I've enjoyed not buying Mighty Avengers for the past few months, but this issue ties into the larger Skrull thing that's going on over at New Avengers, so I'm going to give it a try...

This could be a fatal mistake on my part...

OMEGA UNKNOWN #1 (Of 10)

PARADE WITH FIREWORKS #2 (Of 2)

SUBURBAN GLAMOUR #2 (Of 4)

SUICIDE SQUAD RAISE THE FLAG #2 (Of 8)

SUPER VILLAIN TEAM UP MODOKS 11 #4 (Of 5)

Loved the first issue of MODOKS 11...

THE SWORD #1

[74 cents...]

[But what's up with that title?]

"Hey, what'cha reading?"

"Oh, I'm reading this great new series!"

"Yeah? What's it called?

"The Sword."

"Zzz..."

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #115

WONDER WOMAN #13

Gail Simone's first issue...

WORLD WAR HULK #5 (Of 5)

X-MEN FIRST CLASS VOL 2 #5

Jeff Parker!!!

Plus Booster Gold #3, the Spider-Man "One More Day" storyline, Gutsville #6, and the latest New Avengers...

So, how do you feel about that?

- Paul, ready for a vacation...

Hoopla! - Episode 30: DC Comics, all is forgiven...

Hello and welcome to Hoopla!

This week is going to be a super-quickie as I put the finishing touches on my Field Statement, but to make up for it I'll be posting the next column a little bit earlier than scheduled, and that one will have reviews and stuff.

This week's column, exercise in brevity that it is, is dedicated to some of the upcoming projects that I'm psyched about...

And, in a bizarre twist, almost all of them are from the good folks at DC Comics, a publishing company that has been getting on my bad side this past year or so with all their "Hey, look! We're going to re-set our continuity again! And again! And again!" nonsense.

Not to mention that abysmal failure that is Countdown... and Amazon Attacks... and the huge disappointments of Frank Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin and Grant Morrison's run on the ongoing Batman series.

And that whole horrible thing with Bart Allen being the Flash.

And the way they've completely ruined The Teen Titans.

And... and... and...

But never mind. I come today not to bury DC, but to praise them...

And here are just a few of the reasons why...

Dwayne McDuffie's upcoming run on Justice League of America!!!

Honestly, I can hardly believe they're doing it, because he's totally perfect for the title! It must be some kind of trick, right...?

And then to start off with a humongous Injustice League of America storyline...

Sigh. DC, you are too good to me...

And then there's this...

I don't exactly what this is or when it's coming out, but this cover was released at the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend and I think it's lovely.

Clearly it's some sort of Teen Titans project and I'm guessing it's their "Year One" limited series that was being talked about earlier.

I don't know who that artist is, but I hope s/he is doing interiors too, because that's the version of the Teen Titans that I want to read about!

And from the good folks at Marvel, we have this...

You know why this is going to kick some serious butt? I'll tell you why...

1) It's a limited series about Omega the Unknown, arguably the strangest and certainly one of the most obscure characters in the Marvel Universe. And yes, I read the original series way, way back when it first came out.

2) It's written byJonathan Lethem, a highly-regarded novelist who has written, amongst other things, The Fortress of Solitude. Which, by the way, I haven't read. So, really, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about...

3) The art is by Farel Dalrymple & Paul Hornschemeier, two outstanding indie artists. And I have actually seen their art, so please to be trusting me when I say that it's yummy-yummy goodness!

Getting back to the DC stuff, however, for all of you Legion of Super-Heroes fanatics, such as myself, there's this...

ACTION COMICS #858

Written by Geoff Johns

Art by Gary Frank & Jonathan Sibal

Welcome superstar Gary Frank as he kicks off his run as the new monthly artist on ACTION COMICS with the extra-length first chapter of "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes"! Spinning from "The Lightning Saga," the original Legion of Super-Heroes returns! When he was a boy, Clark Kent was isolated and alone until he met this teen team from the 31st Century. Today, it's been years since Superman saw his childhood friends. Why haven't they returned to visit him? What's become of the symbol of Superman in the future? And just why is the future so dangerous for Superman? They warned him away, but now he's determined to help his friends - even if it means his life! On sale October 31 o 40 pg, FC, $3.50 US

The original Legion of Super-Heroes?

Yaaay!!!

DC Comics, why are you being so good to me??? What have I done to deserve this???

They've even put Mark Waid back on The Flash, just for me...


Not to mention Gail Simone's upcoming run on Wonder Woman...

And the thoroughly enjoyable "Sinestro Corps." storyline that's currently running through Green Lantern...

It's like someone at DC woke up one morning and said, "You know what? Maybe our books would sell better if they were really, really good!!!"

And this is some kind of crazy experiment that they're trying out. Maybe it won't work out. Maybe what they really need is a few dozen more Countdown crossovers, but... they're going to give this new idea a shot and see what happens.

Speaking of which, as much as I was already looking forward to the new Booster Gold series, this solicitation has exponentially increased my enthusiasm...

BOOSTER GOLD #2 Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz Art and cover by Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund Variant cover by Arthur Adams Booster Gold's bizarre timequest to prevent an evil force from unraveling the origins of the world's greatest heroes continues in Part 2 of "52 Pickup!" Journeying years back in the past, Booster is forced to team up with an egomaniac that rivals even himself - the world's greatest Green Lantern - Sinestro! Plus, what does Dan Garret have to do with any of this? On sale September 12 o 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

So, I've learned to forgive DC for all their past transgressions. Well, almost all of them...

In next week's column, which should be coming at you a little earlier than scheduled to help make up for this ultra-brief Coming Attractions Extravaganza, I'm hoping to feature a showdown among the three worst comics I've read in the past month.

One of our contestants has already been introduced and reviewed in an earlier column, one was briefly alluded to, and one is an extra-special crappy comic from a publisher that isn't DC, Marvel, Image, or Dark Horse.

Who could it be? And who will win the title of Most Craptacular Comic of July 2007???

You'll find out in the next action-packed installment of... Hoopla!

- Paul

Hoopla! - Episode 29: Daredevil: Why are you such a bummer?

Hello and welcome to Hoopla!

A quick word to all (both?) my loyal readers... Please let me know you're out there. Last week I was actually grateful that a spammer took the time to leave a comment. It's gotten that bad.

Think of me as one of those elephants that lived with Horton. I need to hear the Whos.

And you, and you, and you... you are the whos.

So please join together and cry out: We are here! We are here! We are here!!!

That is my heartfelt plea to you.

So, I had a kind of epiphany while reading the latest issue of Daredevil. And that epiphany is this:

I'm not enjoying this series at all.

Generally speaking, I think Brubaker is a great writer, but sometimes he overplays the misery card. For example, I loved his Catwoman series right up to the point that someone (Selina's sister, maybe?) was tortured for pages and pages and was eventually forced to eat her husband's eyeball or some such thing.

I didn't really need that.

I was completely enthralled by Season One of Sleeper, although there were times it was a bit dark for my taste. And Season Two just never seemed to really go anywhere. Just round and round. I'm actually not even certain if it ever ended. Did it?

His current work on Captain America is kicking some serious butt, although even there he could stand to mellow out on the "mental torture of Sharon Carter" business.

Loving Iron Fist. Loving, loving, loving it. And I'm not even a big fan of the character. Or of co-writer Matt Fraction. But Iron Fist somehow feels fresh and unpredictable in a way that most comics simply aren't able to pull off.

On the other hand, I didn't care for Criminal at all. Criminal is Brubaker's non-super-hero comic-book. It's the comic series where he really gets to indulge his passion for crime noir.

Personally, however, I don't share that passion. I've read a couple of books by Jim Thompson that I thought were outstanding and I loved the movie version of After Dark, My Sweet, but as a general rule when I'm watching or reading crime noir, I get stuck on the props of that genre rather than the story itself.

I have the same problem with the fantasy genre, incidentally. It takes a truly superlative piece of fantasy for me to be able to overcome my natural resistance to elves and dragons and wizards.

Anyway, my original point was this... Daredevil. Too bleak. Not so fun. At all.

Brubaker's first storyline, where Matt Murdock was in prison, was outstanding. Very suspenseful. Entirely satisfying.

After that, though, it felt like nothing really happened ever again. Yes, Daredevil went around Europe and fought some people and there was something about some woman who smelled really good.

Then that ended and all of a sudden the Kingpin's wife solved all of Daredevil's problems.

[I didn't totally understand why she would do that or why Daredevil would then feel compelled to meet his end of the bargain, given that he very clearly told her that he wasn't going to, but whatever. I could live with that.]

But now we have this Gladiator story. And it's just going on and on.

The story, as best I can recall, is about former villian, Melvin Potter, aka. the Gladiator. He's been framed for some murders, but then it ends up that he hasn't been framed. Or, sort of. He is the one doing the killings, yes, but there seems to be some kind of mind-control or hypnosis involved or something.

Which, y'know, is not so very interesting.

But it's okay.

The real problem is that the story isn't moving forward at all. Every issue feels the exact same as the last. Characters debate whether or not Melvin Potter is truly the one committing the crimes. Then we see him actually commit the crimes. But then we see that he feels bad about it, or doesn't remember having done it.

Whatever.

On top of that, this latest issue featured the Gladiator attacking Matt Murdock's wife while she was alone in their house. And, as it happens, in her underwear.

Now, there are a couple of things about this that give off a rank odor.

First of all, the whole "hero's girlfriend gets attacked and is all helpless and stuff" routine has been done 20,000 times before. And that's just in comics. Include movies and TV and novels about detectives pursuing serial killer masterminds and the number goes up to 800,000.

It's not interesting, it's not fun, and it's definitely not original.

And then there's the fact that she's in her bra and underwear for the whole sequence. That's an interesting choice.

'Interesting' in the sense of not being interesting at all, that is.

It's difficult to think of a single reason why they would have her dressed like that throughout the attack except to titillate the audience. Which, given the brutality of the scene, kind of rubs me the wrong way.

And not only is it offensive, but--possibly even worse--it's just so typical, you know? I mean, of course she's in her bra and underwear. Of course she's completely helpless and being attacked by the big, brutal Gladiator. Of course she's being used to hurt Daredevil. It's all so... expected.

Anyway, I've had enough.

I could forgive that one exercise in poor taste if I were really enjoying the rest of the series, but in fact I'm not enjoying it at all. The covers are ugly, the stories don't seem to be going anywhere, and there's no lightness to juxtapose against the incessant darkness. Everyone in this series is miserably unhappy. Everyone's a potential victim.

"But," you cry out, "Perhaps it's about to get better!"

Well, I checked. Here's the solicitation for the September issue:

DAREDEVIL #101
Written by ED BRUBAKER

Penciled by MICHAEL LARK

Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

Things couldn't be going worse for Matt Murdock. Everything he thought he'd gotten back teeters on the edge of a precipice, ready to shatter all around him, as he fights a battle on both fronts of his life-in the courtroom and on the rooftops of Hell's Kitchen! The searing second chapter of "Without Fear!" 32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99

There's nothing inherently wrong with any of that, but there's also nothing that suggests any sort of change in direction. I mean, really, how many times have we seen his life shattering all around him in the past few years...?

It's just not that interesting anymore.

If Daredevil were my friend, this is what I'd say to him:

"Daredevil, I want to be there for you because you are my friend, but you are really starting to drag me down with all of your problems. I think you need to seriously put away that costume and just focus on doing something fun for a while. Maybe go to the zoo with your wife. I just went to the zoo with Mie, and we had a really great time. I think that you and Milla might have a great time too."

"What's that? You can't go to the zoo because of your hyper-sensitive sense of smell? Hm. Good point. The zoo can be rather stinky. Tell you what, then, how about you and Milla go camping? Or spend a few days at a beach. Work on your tan. Play in the water. Read a John Grisham novel. Sleep late. Have kinky sex with your wife. Learn to play the tuba."

That's what I would say.

And then, because I am Daredevil's friend, after all, I would be brutally beaten and perhaps killed.

So, maybe it's all just as well...

- Paul