the vanishing

drive-by readings

B.P.R.D.: Hell On Earth - New World #1 (Dark Horse) Mike Mignola/John Arcudi Guy Davis Dave Stewart Clem Robins

what we learned: with more resources now that they're under UN purview, the BPRD is less constrained in sending people into weird hotspots all over the world. but intrigues still abound. Johann still wants a body, Panya may be up to something, and Devon's lack of trust may unravel the team.
oh shit moment: disappearing acts in British Columbia. you can feel the tension as Abe investigates by his lonesome.
what's next: does Bigfoot exist? and who's behind the disappearances of the good folk?


you mean the right-wing conservative human American zealots?

sheboygan makes good sausages!

and if USAgent says so, you better believe it!!! Wisconsin represent!!!




let's go through it again:



* just in case you had to ask, legendary Marvel editor, Captain America writer, and USAgent co-creator Mark Gruenwald hails from Oshkosh, WI. all hail the Patron Saint of Marveldom!

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USAgent #1

pulp bits

drive-by readings

Batman/Doc Savage one shot (DC) "Bronze Night" Brian Azzarello Phil Noto Clem Robins J.G. Jones (cover)

imagine a young Batman starting his career in a world slightly different from any of the straight up variations we've been served - a Gotham in the late '20s to early '30s, the setting of pulp hero novels of yesteryear, with all the modern amenities (network TV, news crawl and wait - cassette tapes? what, no USB drives?). so its not inconceivable he would run into Doc Savage right? this is apparently, the concept of DC's 2010 project First Wave. feels like they needed to against Marvel's Noir line.

apparently, Dan DiDio has made peace overtures to Brian Azzarello, and now he's back for the Wave project. though i haven't finished his 100 Bullets run yet (i know, shame on me. i will.), i imagine, or hope, he'll be bringing some of the elements of his hard-hitting series into this pulp era condensation of the DCU (or maybe it should be in Noir instead?). i mean Batman already uses dual .45s (considering he swore off guns due to the death of his parents - well, that is, until the Joker pushed him to that line). and the back in the day, i guess guns were the norm (see Blackhawks and Justice Inc. - hey, i remember you, Richard Benson!)

so how else are two crimefighters gonna hook up? well, let's do it the time-honored way: one can be accused of a crime (especially if he operates in the shadows) and the other tries to catch him. Phil Noto doesn't do noir the way i expected but it's not a solo Batman show anyhow, and with the Man of Bronze around, there's a lot of sunshine to go around. i like the way Noto projects brilliance off the Doc. but here's what's puzzling - apparently upon mere observation, Doc Savage already figured out that the bullets that killed a man weren't the Bat's .45, making it look like the cops didn't have ballistics testing at that point, or they were just so lazy or slow (yes, that's a young Jim Gordon already ranting about a cop's one-hand-tied-behind-the-back job story - you go, Jimmy!).

in the Doc Savage Wikipedia entry, author Lester Dent has been quoted in interviews to have written Doc Savage as merely a job, to earn a living by "churning out reams and reams of sellable crap". that may or may not be the case back then (Dent got rich, so who's complaining), but i'm hoping Azzarello won't go down that path. nothing wrong with getting rich WHILE writing great stories, right, DiDio?