WLG #220: A Soft Opening!

By Michael A. Diaz

And here I am folks, Michael A. Diaz, back on the attack, with the first new WLG in....what, three, four months here?

Eesh.

Where have I been? Well, I've been busy trying to get my life in order. No, I didn't have some kind of meltdown or anything. Actually, quite the opposite. Things have been going great for me: I got a promotion at work and just a couple of weeks ago I got married to a wonderful woman that loves me despite all of my geek proclivities. It was just that success that was eating up all of my free time and making it so hard for me to write this weekly column.

Also, don't let anyone tell you differently, but plannning a wedding, even a SMALL wedding is an enormous time and money suck. You want cake? $$$$ You want a hall? $$$$ Everywhere I turned someone was asking for money. I think that the planning of a wedding is one of the first tests of marriage; if you can get through the stress of inviting so and so but not him/her, of going with THIS catering and not THAT one, of having the reception at THIS hall and not the OTHER hall, well, you're well on your way to a healthy marriage.

Or to jail for strangling someone.

Luckily we seem to have chose the former instead of the latter, which is good, because really, my wife's hands don't fit too well around my massive neck. Lucky me.

Also, she doesn't know how to shoot a gun.

But here I am, back after months and ready to talk about comics, but first, this:

Standard Disclaimer: For those of you new to the WLG experience, here's how it works: Every week I check out the release schedule from the Diamond Comics Shipping List and decide which comics that I am going to spend my hard-earned money on. Yep, my money. That's good, because it helps to maintain my objectivity. If I spend money on a comic book and it turns out to be crap I'm going to be upset.I think I picked some of the BUSIEST three months or so in comics to take some time off, so I think I will quickly go over some things that I wasn't able to cover while I was away:

• Iron Man - LOVED this movie. I was hoping it would be good, but it was WAY better than I was expecting. Robert Downey Jr. was meant to play Tony Stark, pure and simple.
  
• Hellboy 2 - I thought that the first one was decent, but something about the trailer for this second one just had me geeked from day one. Saw it this past weekend and I was happy. Some people liked the first one better, but IMHO this was the better film. But that's just me.
  
• Wanted - Yeah, they changed about 90% of what made the comic so frigging cool, but this was still a fun popcorn film. I dug it very much.
  
• The Incredible Hulk - I thought that this version was MUCH preferable to the first, Ang Lee-helmed film. Overall that seems to be the general consensus, yet for some reason this movie is only making as much movies as the first one; maybe DVD sales will be better for this one, but I'm starting to think that the future of the Hulk on film is far from certain.
  
• Secret Invasion - I wasn't too excited about this book before it came out, and now that it is here and going I still think “meh.”
  
• Final Crisis - I remember the Crisis On Infinite Earths and how awesome that was. I didn't think that it needed a sequel, but Infinite Crisis was everything that I didn't know that I wanted. This though? OK, I know we're only two issues in, but why do I think this is going to be remembered more like Zero Hour than any of the Crisis... books. This could turn around, you never know, but right now I am not very impressed.

I have still been reading comics while I was away from this column. I am still very much enjoying anything to do with the Green Lantern Corps or Green Arrow, but in addition to those constant “must reads” for me I've really gotten into The Walking Dead. For a long time people have been telling me how great the book was. Last year at Wizard World Chicago I bought the first two trades from the 1/2-off trade guy, but they sat in my room for some time. For one thing, I think it is pretty well documented that I do not like zombies. At all. I know they're not real, but if they ever did rise up I would be freaked out. As such, I was hesitant to read this book. Eventually I found myself in the bathroom with nothing to read, so I picked up the first volume and quickly found myself sucked into the post-apocalyptic world therein. Shorlty thereafter I read volume two and craved more. Luckily, I happened to be in Denver, CO at the time so I found a local comic book store that was just happening to be having a 20% off sale on trades. I would have bought several volumes more of The Walking Dead but they were missing volume four, so I only bought the one that I needed next: volume three.

On the flight back from Denver I devoured the third volume and couldn't wait for more. Just the other day I picked up volumes four through eight, of which I am now about half way through reading volume six. Another week or so and I'll be caught up on trades, anxiously awaiting the next one.

During this time I also decided that I wanted to collect Y: The Last Man in trade form. Yes, I have every single individual issue of the series, but that was spread out over five plus years. I wanted to go back and read the series in a bigger chunk to see if there were things that I've missed over the years. I reread the first collection the other day and already I saw things that tie into the end of the series; color me impressed Mr. Vaughan.

So yeah, what with reading comics, books on how to prepare oneself for a zombie attack (don't ask), watching movies, and getting married you could say that I've been a pretty busy guy.

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm still behind a bit on some of the titles I collect, so at least for the first few weeks this column might seem a bit anemic at times. I never left the comic book scene, but there are large pieces of it that I think I missed, so I need to get back in the know.

Also, in the interests of being 100% honest, I'll say that I honestly don't know how much longer this column will continue to go, at least with me at the helm. Jason Brice, our glorious EiC, was more than gracious to give me some time to get stuff in order, to plan my wedding. The truth was, and is, that I was a little burnt out. Writing a column for nearly five years will do that do a person. Am I still burnt out? Honestly, I don't know. I know that right now, right here, today that these words are coming out with ease. I know that before I took my break that writing this column felt like work, felt like an obligation, not something that I wanted to do. Today? Well, I've been thinking about how I was going to write this column all weekend. I was eager, excited to write it tonight. That's how it should be EVER week, but for a while there that's not how it was.

Like I said, I'm just being honest. Tonight I'm here. Next week I'll most likely be here too, and the week after, but a month from now? I honestly hope to still be writing this column and for now that's about as good as it is going to get.

But enough of this somber stuff; let's get into the things we love; let's see What Looks Good...

DC

DC/WILDSTORM: DREAMWAR #4 (OF 6) $2.99 (Keith Giffen / Lee Garbett)

See, this is exactly what I am talking about; somehow I completely MISSED this book. How? Because I wasn't writing a weekly column about comics that looked good and constantly checking what was being released.

Let's face it, I'm a sucker for the WildStorm Universe so I have some SERIOUS catching up to do here as I try to figure out what the heck is going on.

Basically that cover with Grifter and Batman by Dustin Nguyen is enough to get me drooling; do I know what I'll find inside? Nope, buy hey, this is all about what LOOKS good.

I hope I'm right!





IMAGE

ELEPHANTMEN: WAR TOYS TP VOL 01 NO SURRENDER $9.99 (Richard Starkings / Moritat)

I am new to the world of Hip Flash and the Elephantmen; sometime last year I picked up a 2nd print of Elephantmen #1 and LOVED it. Then, later in the year I picked up the first issue of ...WAR TOYS and wanted to see how the series ended. Well, I've been looking for an excuse to read about these weird creatures bioengineered to fight the wars of man.

For $9.99 it's a pretty cheap way to check out a new series.







MARVEL

CAPTAIN AMERICA #40 $2.99 (Ed Brubaker / Steve Epting)

New Captain America versus and old, pretender Captain America?

OK, I'm intrigued to say the least.

I'll bite.












WAR HEROES #1 $2.99 (Mark Millar / Tony Harris)

Mark Millar.

Tony Harris.

Soldiers with super powers?

Sounds like perfection; sign me up!

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It's a slow start this week, but I would love to hear what you have to say. Please, stop by the What Looks Good message boards (see link below) and let me know what YOU think about what looks good this week.

And, whether you care or not, I just wanted to say that it feels good to be back.

See you next week!

Peace!

-Diaz

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Were Diaz's picks on the mark?
Have your say on What Looks Good at the Looking Good message board.

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