Amused in Review

Boogeyman #1 of 4
by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier
Dark Horse, black & white, $2.95
rating: So-so

I can sympathize with Sergio Aragones' desire to have a change of pace from his usual yock-fest, unfortunately as horror goes, this just isn't all that good.  There are some jokes here, but they just serve to undercut the scary stuff--not that it's all that scary. My only fear is that it might be a while before he gets back to Groo....

JLA #21
by Mark Waid and Arnie Jorgensen
DC, color, $1.95
rating: Gosh-a-rooty!

Mark Waid, I love you.
     Before Mark's girlfriend gets the wrong idea, let me explain.  As I explained in my review of JLA #20 I was mighty worried at the end of issue #20.   Adam Strange has been one of my favorite characters since I was a kid, and if Mark Waid wasn't setting up for a big fake-out, I was going to be one unhappy camper.
     Now, I trust Mark Waid.  I know, or I think I know, what makes him tick as a writer, and I know that he would never do what it looked like he was doing to Adam Strange.  Not no way, not no how.  That's what I kept telling myself.  But what if the powers that be at DC interfered?  It's not like that had never happened before...so I waited, and I worried.
     As it turns out (obviously, if you've looked at the rating), I was right the first time.  Mark Waid stepped up to the plate, pointed over the fence, and slammed it out of the ballpark. If it weren't for the art (stuck at half-past awful) this would easily rank as my favorite DC comic of the year--it just might anyway.  My favorite exchange:
Kyle Rayner: You were counting on all this coming together? Wasn't that one hell of a gamble?
Adam Strange: If I'd contacted the Seven Soldiers of Victory it would be a gamble.  I brought the Justice League.  That's a plan.

Ranma 1/2, Part Seven #5
by Rumiko Takahashi
Viz, b&w, $2.95
rating: Gosh-a-rooty!

I'm struck by the fact that yesterday, as I was reviewing Boogeyman, I felt completely gypped by its $2.95 price-tag, yet today I sit here happy as a clam that I was able to get Ranma 1/2 for the same price.  The sheer difference in entertainment value leaves me amazed.
     In the current story line, Ryoga has become invincible--and he needs Ranma's help to cure his pitiful condition.  I've read this twice so far, and laughed out loud both times.  You can't get much better than that in my book.

Maison Ikkoku Part Seven #12
by Rumiko Takahashi
Viz, b&w, $3.25
rating: Neat-O.

For a little while there it looked like the series was getting ready to wrap up "Real Soon Now", but the tension has dropped back a few notches.  Things go from bad to worse for Yusaku, but then things are always going from bad to worse for Yusaku, as the consequences of his decision not to tell Kyoko that he was laid off from the school start piling up.  This is simply a style of storytelling, and a subject matter, that have no equivalent in American comics; it's not for everyone, but for me there's nothing that can compare.  As much as I long for Kyoko and Yusaku to get together (assuming, that is, that they do get together), I'll miss this when it's over.

Stormwatch #7
by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
Image, color, $2.50
rating: Neat-O.

I have to admit, I found this pretty confusing at first, but it's probably my poor memory (plus unfamiliarity with the rest of the Wildstorm universe) that's to blame.   See, I didn't remember who Hawksmoor was until well into the story, and the quick reference to Bendix slipped right by me...but when I finally began tracking, I thought this was a pretty strong start for a story-arc.

Happy Fourth of July!  Now go out and celebrate your independence.  For those of you without any independence, today's a good day to go out and get some.

Okay, folks, it's time for another episode of Morituri Te Salutamus, in which comics I've been reading get the axe, and I tell you why.

Young Heroes in Love never lived up to its premise. The early ads aimed squarely at a "Melrose Place with superpowers" feel, showing the Young Heroes all lounging around on a couch with a complex web of arrows explaining who was in love with whom,  while the object of affection was in love with someone else (in Hard-drive's case, himself).  That's just off-beat enough to attract my interest, and in the first year there was just enough romantic shenanigans plus an amusing look at how the DC Universe looks through the eyes of not-so-famout superhero wannabes (e.g. discussing which superhero has the coolest costume, which is physically the strongest, etc.) to keep my interest, although in nearly every review I said something to the effect "Less smashing; More smooching." In the end, either Dan Raspler was more interested in the straight heroics, or he didn't have faith that the romance and personal interaction could carry the book, and it became just another super-team title.  As superteam titles go, it isn't bad, but for straight gee-whiz heroics there's better out there.

Stormwatch is being cancelled as of issue #12.  Apparently, there's going to be a big Stormwatch/Aliens crossover in #11, after which the title ceases.  A new title, "The Authority," will spring from the ashes, but I doubt if I'm going to be along for the ride to see it. I loathed the first Alien movie, liked the second, and thought that every comic crossover or story that I've ever seen done with the creatures has been unmitigated crap.  No doubt Ellis will do his considerable best, but I have less than no interest in seeing various members of Stormwatch play host to the aliens, and having decided that, despite the fact that I like Ellis' work on Stormwatch quite a bit, there's not much incentive to hang in there to the bitter end.

JLA's history now that Waid's guest-writing stint is over. The whole point of the JLA, as far as I'm concerned, is how cool it is to read about a team where each individual is strong enough to carry his or her own book.  The Avengers are the team where the whole can be more than the sum of the parts, the JLA is the team where you can't get better than the sum of the parts.  That doesn't mean necessarily that the members have to be powerhouses, but it does mean that the members have to be interesting, both in potential and as handled, and Morrison's JLA just doesn't cut the mustard.   Steel, The Huntress, Orion without Lightray, Catwoman fer-cryin'-out-loud (I know, Steel and Catwoman do carry their own books, but they shouldn't).  Take Zoriel, or Zariel, or whatever his name is--please!  It's the Justice League of Mediocre, and it's over for this reader.

More Morituri Te:

The following aren't quite in the same category as yesterday's list; I'm not dropping them completely, but I am cutting back to only buying the trade paperbacks.  And what if they don't ever get compiled into trade paperbacks?  Well, I've decided that I can live without them. Generally, these are things that I like, but I don't like well enough to justify the price.

Castle Waiting- good, but too long between issues, and the issues themselves read too fast.

Dragonball - I have these in Japanese, and while I like seeing the English versions, I can easily wait.

Dragonball Z

Gremlin Trouble - For some reason, I haven't gotten as many chuckles out of this as I once did.

Reality Check - too much really fancy computer art, and too little really inspired silliness.

Here's a question my friends and I have been discussing on and off for the past few months (as our disinterest in the current DC titles grows): If you were given carte-blanche to reboot the DC Universe, what would you do?  What would you change, and what would you keep the same (if anything)?  Over the next couple days I figured I'd share some of our thoughts on the matter, but first I'd give you guys out there a chance to think it over for a day, and send in your suggestions if you'd like.
     Meanwhile, I've been told that the following books are slated for cancellation: Young Heroes in Love (saving me the trouble of dropping it.   Look at the Morituri Te columns to see why.), Major Bummer (never quite as funny as it thought it was, and handicapped by having not a single likable character in the entire cast--it's hard to really get involved in a book when there's nobody you give a damn about), Ka-Zar (like we didn't see that coming once Waid was off the book), and....hmmm, I forget.  I know there were one or two others (besides Stormwatch, which I just talked about).... Then there are the ones that ought to be cancelled, but aren't--but I'll be nice, and not name names....at least for now--but if they keep piling on the stupid stunt story-lines I'll not be held responsible.

I'm not feeling so hot today, so I'm taking the day off.  I'll be back tomorrow to talk about how to reboot the DC Universe.

I'm not feeling so hot today, so I'm taking the day off.  I'll be back tomorrow to talk about how to reboot the DC Universe.

First of all, this isn't a column about How to Fix the DC Universe.  Not only has Tony Isabella done that much better and more thoroughly than I could, but thing have progressed (if that's the right word) since then to the point where there's precious little worth saving, if you ask me.  And if you're reading this, I'll take that as asking me.
     So, assuming that a complete reboot is in order, and assuming that we have carte blanche to do what we like, how would we reboot the DCU?  I put this question to a couple of my pals, Jeff Lang and Russell Impagliazzo, and we kicked the idea around some.  Generally we were in agreement on some of the major issues, while--naturally--differing about some of the details.  Overall, Jeff and I were closer in vision than Rusell and I were, but I'd read the books based on any of our approaches.
    The first big question is, "Where did it all start? Who was the first superhero, and when?"
    None of us hesitated to say, "Superman.  1938, or thereabouts."
    The next thing was, "How has time passed since then?"
    Again, we all agreed that time has passed more-or-less one-for-one since then, so that today is 1998, and Superman is about eighty years old (yeah, this is the year of his sixtieth anniversary--but he wasn't newborn in '38--we're assuming he was about twenty).  Fortunately Superman doesn't age, or ages very slowly compared to humans, so he looks about like the Alex Ross Kingdom Come version--maybe a little less grey at the temples.
    Since we all favor a more naturalist approach (for want of a better term), this has some implications for his supporting cast, which I'll go into tomorrow.
    See you then!

Rebooting the DCU, Part 2:

So, if Superman is 80 or thereabouts, what does that mean for the Superman cast?   Well, for the most part they're old and grey, or have passed away.  Certainly PerryWhite's gone; Jimmy Olsen is probably old but still spry; Lana Lang and Pete Ross are deceased.  Supergirl (and I was adamant that she should exist in the rebooted universe, a point on which Russell and Jeff gave in gracefully), like Superman, doesn't age, or ages at a very slow rate--but I'm willing to posit that she didn't show up on the scene until the late 50's or early sixties.  Basically, I think Supergirl   (that's Kara Zor-El, not the whatever-it-is that Peter David's writing about) needs to exist to give Superman someone with whom to talk, someone with whom he can really relate--and Jeff's of the opinion that if that's so, she really ought to be Superman's cousin (although perhaps Kryptonians don't mean quite the same thing by that), because it doesn't work well in his opinion (and I agreed) if there's any possibility of sexual tension between them.
    What about Lois Lane?  I'm of two minds on that: On the one hand, I wouldn't mind at all if she had aged normally, married Superman, and eventually died.   On the other hand, I think it would be kind of interesting if Superman figured out a way of making her nearly immortal (obviously something that Superman could do if he really put his mind to it), and--unlike pretty much every "normal" human in comics whose been offered an extended life--she accepted.  I could definitely see Lois Lane as someone who wouldn't see potential immortality as necessitating a loss of humanity (and if it did, what would that say about Superman?).
    I could also see Lex Luthor cheating death, to remain a thorn in Superman's side indefinitely.  I definitely would not favor this if we went with the Lois Lane-ages-and-dies scenario, since it would be too close to one of the dynamics in modern comics that I find really irritating: death is only permanent for ordinary people; heroes usually and villains always eventually get resurrected. 

Tomorrow: A World With A Superman

Rebooting the DCU, Part 3:

So, what does the world look like, if Superman's been active continuously since the late thirties? Well, Jeff's opinion is that it's a friendlier place--less paranoid, safer feeling, more optimistic. Fewer people die in natural disasters all across the globe, for instance.
    Russell is more interested in the political ramifications: Did WWII happen the same way, and so forth.  I was never particularly impressed with the "Spear of Destiny" stuff that Roger Stern (if I remember correctly) made up after the fact to explain why the superheroes didn't just go in an kick the Nazis' butts. My take would be that it was the presence of Axis villains keeping Superman and the other superheroes busy, but certain key details would change--for one thing, I would say that the atomic bomb was never dropped, and the first uses of atomic power came after the war and were peaceful.

Rebooting the DCU Part 4:

The Batman Family

In our new DCU, Batman would have begun his career in the forties, with Dick Grayson joining him as Robin in the fifties.  Barbara Gordon became Batgirl a few years later. Eventually Bruce Wayne would retire from active crime-fighting, and Dick Grayson become the second Batman, and later train a second Robin.  It wouldn't be generally known that there had been more than one person wearing the costume--a significant minority of people believe that Batman, like Superman, is effectively immortal--perhaps a vampire.
   After his retirement, Bruce Wayne began to use his detective talents and the Wayne Foundation as his weapon against crime, but this wouldn't really take off until Dick Grayson retired from being Batman and became head of the Wayne Foundation (and married Barbara Gordon).  Dick had never been quite as effective as Bruce in costume--nobody could be--but quickly came into his own with the Wayne Foundation, coming up with ways of using its power, prestige, and money in ways that never occurred to Bruce; not just fighting crime, but working to prevent crime. 
    In addition, Dick came up with the idea of Team: Batman; there was no reason that he could see that there should only be one Batman at a time.  Maybe Bruce Wayne in his heyday could stand the rigors and stress of nightly patrol, but most other people needed some downtime to remain at peak effectiveness.  They maintain the fiction that Batman is a single person, for the psychological impact (Bruce had his way with that), and never have more than one on patrol at the same time. Wayne Foundation secretly runs "Batman" as a team: bankrolling the various Batmen, Batgirls, Robin, and support staff  (mechanics, medics, researchers, engineers, and so forth), most of whom aren't aware of exactly to what use their expertise is being put.
   Today, Bruce Wayne is in his seventies, but still spry. He's still the greatest detective in the world, and is who "Batman" turns to for solving the most difficult cases; he doesn't don the costume anymore, although most of the younger Batmen are convinced that if push came to shove, he could still kick their butts.   They're probably right.
   Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon are in their fifties, and together run the whole Batman enterprise: Dick takes the lead on the Wayne Foundation and the more public aspects, with Barbara running the covert Batman side of the house.  There's a certain amount of tension between Bruce and Dick, with Bruce thinking that Dick focuses too much on the charities and public do-gooding and not enough on busting hoodlums, while for his part Dick thinks that Bruce is stuck in the past.

Rebooting the DCU, Part 5

The Green Lantern

Now, Jeff's never been that big a fan of Green Lantern; he basically sees him as a good excuse to pull other characters into a story. ("There's a crisis on Alpha-Centauri, I need your help.")  On the other hand, I think Green Lantern's a great character, and the Guardians are a nifty concept, if you jettison all the the modern baggage that makes them seem petty or stupid.  I know distopianism and nihilism are all the rage these days (at least, they sell a lot of records for the music companies), but I think a society that's older, wiser, and in every way more just than our own is at least a good jumping off point for science-fiction stories.  To me there's something compelling about "Green Lantern: Sheriff of the Spaceways...the only law in this arm of the galaxy."  At the very least I think it's a fertile ground for what's been called "Big Idea" science-fiction, where practically every story throws at you a bucket of grandiose concepts, preferably brand-new ones.  Some past examples are ringworlds and Dyson spheres, exiling criminals the Phantom Zone, and immortality through translation into software.  Attach these kind of things to the straightforward framework of stories about law enforcement on a really big frontier, and you've got a comic that I would read.

Rebooting the DCU, Part 6

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is a character that I've never quite known what to do with. (And if anyone complains to me about my ending the previous sentence with a preposition, I'll echo Winston Churchill in telling them that's "an impertinence up with which I will not put.")  Jeff would get her out of, or at least de-emphasize, the whole "embassador to man's world" stuff, and use her as the DCU's major interface with the magical and mythological, much as we would use Green Lantern as the interface to the galactic and science-fictional.   It works for me, at least until and unless someone as seriously weird as Marston comes along with a new take on it.

Flash

The Flash is probably the only current DCU character that we're all agreed isn't in need of fixing--at least as written by Mark Waid, that is.  Personally, I dropped the Morrison/Millar and Millar solo fill-in issues, and am just biding my time until Waid returns.  Flash is also, in my opinion, probably the only DC character whose story was improved by Crisis on the Infinite Earths, and the merger of Earth-1 and Earth-2.   Having Jay Garrick be the pre-cursor to Barry Allen, instead of a parallel version, made perfect sense--perhaps because that's how the Barry Allen Flash was created.   (The same goes for the Alan Scott Green Lantern and the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, as far as creation goes, but too much was changed to really make them seem related in more than name and power.)  Anyway, we'd keep it pretty much as it stands, while changing the rest of the world around it, erasing only such bits of its history that conflict with the new version (e.g. No crisis, so Barry Allen had to die a different way--probably still battling the Anti-Monitor, but without the specifics of the multiple Earths and so on).

Rebooting the DCU, Part 7

Aquaman

Who cares?  I mean, he can exist and all, but why give him his own book?   Before Peter David, he had no personality that I noticed; now he's a jerk. I don't see much of an improvement there, so unless someone can convince me otherwise, he gets relegated to "and supporting cast" status.

The Marvel Family

Shouldn't be part of the DCU, in my opinion.  Give them their own book, in their own Universe, with a writer who isn't ashamed of how silly some of the basic building blocks of that Universe seem.  So Talky Tawny's a talking tiger?  You wanna make something of it?

This just received, a press release from my good friend Brian Saner-Lamken, about the new comics magazine he's launching.  I, for one, can hardly wait.

June 14th, 1998

COMICOLOGY is coming

A new kind of comics magazine is debuting this fall. Published twice a year in a durable, squarebound format, COMICOLOGY is an ongoing library of feature-and interview-oriented reference volumes from Harbor Press that will straddle the line between book and magazine just as it bypasses the often artificialboundaries between mainstream and alternative. The first issue of COMICOLOGY is set to debut this November at the Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus and reach comic-book stores nationwide in early December.
     "It's subtitled THE 'KINGDOM COME' COMPANION," editor Brian Saner-Lamken told your Amused correspondent, "and -- in addition to coverage of DC Comics' upcoming KINGDOM event -- will offer the most comprehensive annotations to Mark Waid and Alex Ross' landmark KINGDOM COME graphic novel ever printed."
    Also included are a complete, illustrated KINGDOM COME character directory, excerpts from Ross' original proposal for what eventually became KINGDOM COME, and pages of never-before-published artwork from Ross' sketchbook featuring characters and character designs that never made it into the finished product.
     "The icing on the cake," according to Saner-Lamken, "is an original Alex Ross cover reimagining KINGDOM COME's main characters in legendary artist Alex Toth's trademark SUPER FRIENDS style. It's absolutely gorgeous."
     You can get a glimpse of it here at Amused in Review or see it for yourself on the cover of the Wizard Wizard convention booklet this coming weekend in Chicago.
     Saner-Lamken is a longtime cartoonist and comics-industry journalist whose first book, PRO-MOTION: HOW TODAY'S CREATORS BROKE INTO COMICS... AND THEIR ADVICE TO YOU! is fast approaching its third anniversary. He noted that he has plans to get back to work on a combination update and sequel to that book as soon as COMICOLOGY gets off the ground, and promised that "this time the book will be bigger and the title will be shorter."
    As with the first go-round, Saner-Lamken will be essentially self-publishing.
   "That's the case with COMICOLOGY as well," he said. "My wife and I can both testify to the headaches of the process, but the truth is that -- even setting the practical benefits of creative control aside -- putting together something yourself from start to finish is just a lot of fun, and that's the name of the game."
    Saner-Lamken recently incoporated his editorial and graphic-design business under the name Harbor Studios, and plans to release COMICOLOGY and all future projects as Harbor Press.
   "I'm an East Coast seashore boy," he explained, "and if I can't look out my window and see the ocean every day then at the very least I want it on my letterhead."

KINGDOM COME is a trademark of DC Comics.
COMICOLOGY, Harbor Studios, and Harbor Press are trademarks of Harbor Studios Inc.
###
Brian Saner Lamken
Harbor Press (A Division of Harbor Studios Inc.)
US Mail: 61 Llanfair Rd. #C3, Ardmore PA 19003
Phone: 610/645-4369 * Fax: 610/645-5346
Internet: blamken@compuserve.com

A black and white version of the front cover to Comicology #1 (The cast of Kingdom Come, Super-Friends style by Aex Ross).  I've seen the color original, and this doesn't begin to do it justice, but it's pretty neat anyway.

Rebooting the DCU, Part 8

The Atom

Having just read James Hogan's Bug Park, which makes the real-life miniature world seem like a pretty fascinating place to adventure, I'm tempted to propose that the Atom be another sf title, but I think the Atom needs a larger (or, rather, smaller) playing field than that.  I'd make the Atom a fairly straight-ahead science fantasy title, with scientist Ray Palmer an intrepid explorer of the myriad bizarre quantum worlds to which his belt gives him access.

Hawkman

Nobody needs a reboot more than Hawkman.  I'd take him back to the Thanagarian policeman of the beginning of the Silver Age (Ostrander's dystopian version of that was interesting, but the character didn't move me)--what James Robinson described as a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Conan, or perhaps Sherlock Holmes carrying the weapons of a Conan.  Jeff would take him a different route entirely, exploring the Hawkman-as-Eco-warrior hinted at in Kingdom Come, but since I don't exactly understand what it is that an Eco-warrior does (kill people for littering?), I'd leave that approach to him.

The Mask of Zorro
starring Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta Jones
rating: Neat-O.

Next time I go rattling on about Hollywood having no idea how to make a straightforward swashbuckler anymore, you can throw this film back in my face.  The Mask of Zorro has everything, and in darn near perfect proportions.  Not one, but two, dashing heroes, a beautiful, feisty damsel, not one, but two despicable villains, sword-fights and chandelier swinging galore. One particularly nice thing is that the film really is starring both Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas--Hopkins isn't just given billing out of all proportion to his part in order to give the film an illusory weight, as often happens to older, better, actors in films of this nature:  he gets to do almost as much Zorro-ing as Banderas (well, maybe not quite, but a considerable bit).
     What keeps it from being quite perfect is the sense that the screen-writers sometimes rely a little heavily on the audience's familiarity with the genre conventions, so that certain sequences seem almost perfunctory.  For instance, the sword-training sequences, while fun, are over quite quickly, and the training the original Zorro gives the ragged peasant-turned-small-time bandit in the art of passing oneself off as a gentleman--a member of the Spanish Court, yet--,which seems to take place in the course of one afternoon, is never shown at all. (At least The Man in the Iron Mask made the attempt).  Moreover, the film does nothing with the return of Zorro after a twenty year absence in terms of establishing him either with the peasants or the Dons, which robs the scene (I'm sure you've seen it in the trailer) where the chief henchman says "He's only one man" and the villain replies "He's not just one man--he's Zorro!" of some of its impact.  Contrast it with the splendid way the same thing is handled in Zorro: The Gay Blade and the mounting sense of frustration that the alcalde has as news of Zorro's attacks on his men start trickling and then gushing in, and it feels like something's missing.  Of course, you can fill in the gaps yourself easily enough, but I think it's what keeps this movie from knocking my socks off.
   Still, it was a thoroughly pleasant afternoon at the movies, and I recommend it to Zorro fans everywhere.

Deadly Beloved
A Gregor Demarkian Mystery
by Jane Haddam
Bantam, 324 pages, $5.99
rating: Gosh-a-rooty!

I don't know about you, but for me, one of life's keenest pleasures is to be casually browsing in a book store and happen across a the latest book in one of my favorite series just out in paperback.  Even better is when I can kick back and devote the next day to reading it.  Deadly Beloved made this a good weekend for me.
   The theme this time around is weddings, more specifically Donna Moradanyan's; previous readers of the series will recall that Donna is the character whose holiday spirit results in Cavanaugh street looking like an open-air version of Wanamaker's Christmas Village every December.  As much as Gregor and Bennis like Donna, and want to see her married to her current beau, the prospect of change in the apartment building in which they all live and the elaborate wedding preparations are getting them down.
   There's a mystery, too, which for once I solved before Gregor Demarkian did, although I had clues from the prologue that he didn't, as well as enough red herrings to populate another book entirely.  If I have any complaint about this book (besides the fact that I didn't want it to end--but then I never do), it's that I could have done with a larger dose of Bennis Hannaford and Father Tibor this time around, and a little less of the life-stories of the mostly unpleasant crowd who live in the gated community where the first murder takes place.
   All-in-all, though, I could hardly be happier.  Now, where's the next one?

   You can order Deadly Beloved through the bookstore.

Some responses from the mail-bag to recent reviews:

Jane Haddam writes,

Thank you for the lovely review.
The next one is called Skeleton Key and will be out from St. Martin's in hardcover in the fall of 1999.
There ought to be enough of Bennis in it for anybody.
Thanks again.

Brian Saner-Lamken responds to the Mark of Zorro review:

We saw it last night. There were definitely some plot and continuity points that bothered me -- including, but not limited to, the ones that you mention -- but there were also great helpings of action, suspense, romance, drama, and good old-fashioned adventure. I smiled a lot, and that says it all right there.

Inu-Yasha: Part Two #1
by Rumiko Takahashi
Viz, b&w, $2.95
rating: Neat-O.

For certain titles, I cringe at the thought of paying $2.95 a month, while for others, such as Inu-Yasha, not only do I happily pay the money, but I fully anticipate eventually owning the whole thing in two forms: the individual issues and the trade paperbacks (in this case the original Japanese ones).  Ranma 1/2 is the one that has me hooked the worst in this regard: not only do I buy all the individual issues, and all the Japanese paperbacks, I also have the American paperbacks and the videos. 
    I've been wondering why that is, and for the life of me I can't really pin down the exact reason that's so--certainly a common denominator is Rumiko Takahashi, but I don't love absolutely everything she does.  (For instance, I'm largely indifferent to Rumik Theater and the Mermaid's saga.  Even One Pound Gospel, which I like better, isn't something that I feel that I have to own in more than one form.)   I can name elements of the ones that I like best that make me fond of them; in Inu-Yasha it's the character Kagome, and the way that there are hints of romantic involvement impending for her and Inu-Yasha, but I can point to similar elements in the ones of which I'm not as fond.
   This is not an exceptional issue of Inu-Yasha: Kagome and Inu-Yasha meet another demon (a young fox spirit), who tries to steal the shards of the Jewel of Souls, so that he can avenge his father who was slain by nastier demons who possess shards of their own.  Yet....it moves me.  I particularly like when the fox-kid has a crisis of concience after Kagome saves his life, only to be kidnapped by the demon who was threatening him.  There's just something about the way Takahashi handles these characters that engages me more than all but a handful of American comics--more, in fact, than all but a handful of any stories in any medium.  I suppose the fact that it does so should be enough, even if I can't articulate precisely why.

Captain America: #9
by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert
Marvel, color, $1.99
rating: Neat-O.

When Captain America throws his mighty shield,
All those who chose to oppose his shield
must yield!

So I like his new shield.  So sue me.
An entirely satisfactory issue of Cap, although I do have to wonder what's this thing that Mark Waid has for Rhino; I mean he just used him a few months ago in Ka-Zar, and now he's here in Captain America.  Is Rhino showing up in Waid's stories like Edward Everett Horton or Eric Blore showing up in a Fred Astaire musical?  Is Rhino part of the ensemble cast?

I'm taking a break today.  Actually, I'm about to go on vacation, so I have a bunch of packing and errands to do. Before I go I'll load up the site with the next week's worth of columns, so you'll have something to amuse you while I'm away, but for today you'll have to make your own amusement.

See you tomorrow!

Unfortunately, my errands today took a lot longer than I expected, and I still have to finish packing...which means that until I find time to log on again (perhaps early next week, but I make no promises) this column will be on hiatus.  Wish me a bon voyage, and I'll be back by Monday, August 3rd at the latest.

Gone Fishing.  Back Monday August 3rd.

Gone Fishing.  Back Monday August 3rd.

Gone Fishing.  Back Monday August 3rd.