Comics on a Plane

I'm sure you all have heard the phrase "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink?" No, even though I spent the week in Sub San Diego, that's not a reference to an Aquaman story but rather the fact that I spent the entire week at San Diego Comic Con, completely surrounded on all four and occasionally five sides by comic books, and yet didn't have a chance to pick up last week's new comics. And with a long, long plane trip back home to New York, I need a stack o' comics for in-flight reading. What's the solution? The solution, as always, is easily solved by the next best thing to a Green Lantern power ring: Hertz's amazing Neverlost GPS technology. Just ask its pleasant Midwestern female artificial intelligence to direct you to the nearest comic book shop, and up pops easy-to-follow driving directions:


And mere minutes later, Linda the Neverlost Voice has directed me to On Comic Ground:


On Comic Ground is a small but well-stocked store on University Avenue, with a pleasant clerk who directs me to the previous week's comics. There's also a solid selection of back issues which I hoof through looking for some books off my wish list that I didn't have a chance to look for at Comic-Con. Yay! They have those issues of Sub-Mariner and Tales of Suspense I've been looking for, and at easy-to-afford prices. Thanks, On Comic Ground!

The Pleasant Clerk and I briefly schmooze about just-concluded Comic-Con and I learn On Comic Ground is actually a smaller shop on the site of the former larger Comic Kingdom store, which I'd never been to on my earlier, brief visits to San Diego but which I've heard about. It's always sad when a big comic book store goes bust, but I'm glad there's still a shop at this location.

I also spent some of my hard-earned dimes on a big stack o' comics from last Wednesday and instead of diving into them immediately, I stowed them away in my backpack to have plenty of readin' entertainment on the plane. So as I read these thirty thousand feet above the Kansas cornfields, I'm reviewing them longhoof and will transfer my notes to the blog later on. And in my first use of startling new airline technology, I'm comparing comics and their fun quotient to famous movies about flying that may or may not be fun. I'm going to keep the reviews brief, however, so I have plenty of time to savor the lovely airline food and to enjoy the in-flight movie, Please Return Your Tray to Its Fully Upright and Locked Position, starring Susan Sarandon and Kevin Costner. Who says this isn't the age of American Airlines comics blogging? Go ahead, tell me who said it wasn't! Tell me!


52 WEEK 11: This comic is as fun as the movie Airplane! There's something diff'rent about the new Batwoman that I can't put my hoof on at the moment, but I've kinda got a big Bully crush on her. Do you think if I send her a nice buncha flowers she will fall in love with me? I bet she will. Anyway, this issue of 52 has a lot going on, and I'll overlook creepy obsessed sad Ralph Dibny for the moment for a lot of rip-roarin' action starring Reneé Montoya and the Question, who are fast becoming my two fave characters of this series. Aside from the new Batwoman, of course! I'm kinda sweet on her.


SIMPSONS COMICS #119: This comic is as fun as the movie Airplane! I almost always enjoy any issue of Simpsons Comics but the best of the best hit it out of the four-color park with a story that's as clever and funny as the TV series itself. This one does that: the saga of Homer's attempt to win Mr. Burns's Trumpish reality show could easily be a decent Sunday-night-on-Fox episode. And no pesky promos for The War at Home!


FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #10: This comic is not fun, much like the movie Fearless. And I'm giving it that mark only for the last couple pages, which is either a horrible betrayal of the Uncle Ben of Earth-2 or wherever he came from, or some sort of weird switcharoo that's horribly choreographed and confusingly drawn: either way it obviously isn't the end of Uncle Ben-B's story, but it left a horrible taste in my mouth and made me regret the fact that I earlier said "Aw, I trust Peter David with this Uncle Ben Returns storyline." I know there's more to come, but the twist is just so nasty and confusing that I can't tell what it is that's really goin' on, but this little stuffed bull knows it ain't fun.


ETERNALS #2: This comic is as fun as the movie Airplane! On the other hand, Neil Gaiman pulls off a solid mix of action, mystery, adventure, moodiness, and a nice Kirby homage without slavishly copying the King in his Eternals revamp. John Romita Jr. turns in some very nice art—this guy just keeps getting better and better in his art career, I think!—and while the twists and mysteries are less confusing if you're read a Kirby Eternals book, it's still stands solidly on its own as a decent "everything you know is wrong" comic. My only disappointment? That Marvel didn't actually set up a www.partiesbysersi.com website. Who doesn't want their next party planned by Sersi?


SHE-HULK #9: This comic is as fun as the movie Airplane! First, a bit of old business: just to let you know I did not skip She-Hulk #8 because I didn't care at all for #7. No, I simply missed it and its Civil War-themed jacket on the comic book store stand, and now it's sold out, and back issues are going for more green than Shulkie at the beach! (Haw!) No, I ain't droppin' this book, 'specially since the new one is a whole bucket o' fun, even from the cover. You all know I'm no fan of Greg Horn's covers, but this one actually works, is fun and attractive! Maybe it's just that Mister Horn draws good bling. Anyway, this ish features a wedding I'm much more interested in than the overblown Storm and Panther Wedding of the Century (after all, were T'Challa and Ororo married by Elvis?> I think not!), and even better, Jen faces off against her father-in-law J. Jonah Jameson, who is not having a good week!


CIVIL WAR #3: This comic is not fun, much like the movie Fearless. I dunno. I like the story possibilities the unmasking of Spidey that this series has brought us, but guess I'm just gettin' tired of characters I consider heroes actin' like jerks. Why is Mister Fantastic so narrow-minded? Why are the X-Men the equivalent of being conscientious objectors? Why is Iron Man completely betraying the friends and ideals he's stood for in over forty years of his own series? Why is Ben Grimm...Ben Grimm!...fighting his friends? The only high spot is the surprise last-page reappearance of one of my fave Marvel heroes. I imagine next issue he'll make me mad at him as well. Sigh.


JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #0: This comic is sorta fun, like the movie Air Force One. I don't mind the flashbacks and flash-forwards in this, which is basically just a teaser for next month's new series, but the unevenness of the "all star cast of artists" and the usual Brad Meltzer confusing and wandering dialogue isn't a big draw for me. I'm interested to see who will be in the new JLA, but there's no real resolution in here; there's not even a real story or plot. I won't hold that against a zero issue which is more about setting tone and mood, but the regular series had better have more substance and a faster plot or I'm going to get disappointed real fast.


RUNAWAYS #18: This comic is fun, just like the movie Airplane! But kinda sad at the same time. A cheerful and joyous cover that leads to an all-out fight scene and a death in the Runaways? Sniff. One of the more touching Marvel deaths in the past several years. Civil War could take in a lesson in writing characters you care about from Runaways. All that and The Best Line of the Week: "Killing him would be the biggest mistake of your life. And I'm factoring those shoulder pads into the equation."


X-FACTOR #9: This comic is fun, just like the movie Airplane! Here's some proof that the basic idea behind "Civil War" is sound: like here and in She-Hulk, the Superhero Registration Act plotline can be interesting and compelling. If only what the Act itself was stayed consistent from book to book...it's almost as if the writers weren't communicating or there was no clear editorial control...but that can be possible, can it? Can it? Anyway, it's not that hard to make the X-Men look like careless jerks these days, but at least Peter David gives it some humor and believability to the situation at the same time he sets up a more specific role for X-Factor in the post-House of M Marvel Universe. Why...it's almost as if Peter has some sort of plot and game plan in mind...how unique is that?!?


GUMBY #1: This comic is the most fun comic of the week and can only be compared to the most fun airplane movie of all time, Snakes on a Plane! Golly. The sort of fun and charming comic that hasn't been seen in a long, long time, as two of my favorite creators, Bob Burden and Rick Geary, tackle everybody's favorite clay boy in an adventure featuring a wagon full of shoes, Mexican food, Invincible Man, evil clowns, and luvvvvvvvvvv. The art is colorful and gorgeous and everything down to the lettering is pitch perfect: really, you can be a kid or a kid at heart and you'll love this book. I highly recommend it, whether or not you're on an airplane, and I have a strong feeling it's gonna be on my year-end list of Most Fun Comics of 2006. Miss it at your own peril and loss of fun, kemosabe!

I have to go now. Hot towels are being passed out to everyone. Hot towels! I love flying!