sizzler

drive-by readings

The Boys #46 (Dynamite) "Believe, Part Three" Garth Ennis Russ Braun Tony Aviña Simon Bowland Darick Robertson (cover)

what we learned: finally: Butcher and Hughie let it all out, and i can empathize with Hughie for being scared of not being trusted anymore. Butcher breathes a sigh of relief, but there's still a big problem as the two are in love. also Mother's Milk flask is missing.
oh shit moment: two: Queen Maeve is a spy for the Boys (and didja see her pics!!) and Hughie watches Annie/Starlight's initiation into the Seven.
what's next: like Butcher says, you gotta be cruel to be kind. is this gonna break up Hughie and Annie?


due to the family nature (pfshhh) of this blog, that's all we can show you.

opening wounds

drive-by readings

The Boys #45 (Dynamite) "Believe, Part Two" Garth Ennis Russ Braun Tony Aviña Simon Bowland Darick Robertson (cover)

what we learned: Annie comes clean with Hughie, but the latter pukes and runs. the Homelander and Oh Father start rolling the dice on whether they should support Vought on the "supes for national defense" thing. good thing the Boys are on the case.
oh shit moment: when i realized that The Female cutting loose in that right-wing Christian festival was just a teaser. damn!!!
what's next: Butcher and Hughie have been conveniently dancing around for issues now on the subject of Annie. goddammit, let the truth out already!!!


Simon Pegg is asking for his royalties.

wayne's west

drive-by readings

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #4 (DC) "Dark Night, Dark Rider" Grant Morrison Georges Jeanty Walden Wong Tony Aviña Travis Lanham Andy Kubert (cover) Cameron Stewart (variant cover)

what we learned: Bats meets up with Vandal Savage once again, this time in the old west, and the latter has teamed up with Thomas Wayne (ok, this plot has been thickening since Batman R.I.P.) to find a mysterious box. they've even hired Jonah Hex to take care of this Bat Ghost.
oh shit moment: Hex guns down the Bat.
what's next: Bruce is back ... in the modern world. with the box. the very thing that Superman et al were trying to prevent.


you win this round, Hex, but not the box office!

snaps: Batman #700

... where Grant Morrison and a bunch of artists craft a time-tossed tale that's not the Return of Bruce Wayne. whodathunk? anyhoo, anything related to time and history is Morrison's bailiwick so i end up going whoa several times during the read. and he certainly puts it out there that Damian IS going to be the Batman soon (wait, how does Terry McGinnis figure into that when Bruce is still alive in McGinnis' time?). ok, maybe in some alternate branch of reality. or Bruce is just reaaaally old. whatever. added bonus: various pinups by major talent (love Shane Davis' and Juan Doe's), and a Batcave tour courtesy of Freddie Williams II.

you know the implication, right? Joker's CHOKING THE CHICKEN.


weren't those his staves during his time as Nightwing?


like they needed any more rumors about their relationship


I, blogging.


McGinnis? Terry McGinnis? is that you??


but who's watching your teef?

snaps: Batman & Robin #11

... where the past and present collide - man, those Waynes were such douchebags, much more than the Starks! these rich people. anyway, Robin is unfortunately being remote-controlled by his mother (oh, those mothers!) and we are still one issue away from truly finding the answers on what Dick found in the secret cave, and if Oberon Sexton is truly the missing Bruce or just a scented dandy.

* hey, so after like a year or so, Bruce is probably going back and reclaim his costume, and Dick goes back to being Nightwing, and for all of that, we had that atrocious Battle for the Cowl??

aside from being an arrogant twit, you're fine!


huh? aren't you talking about yourself?


but they do have 99 luftballoons!!! eeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!


ah, Deathstroke, still batting .000 for killing someone of real significance.


and for the question y'all wanted to ask ...


answers in 30 i guess ... because Morrison wants to stick it to the Eisner Award committee!!

new Olympic sport: mouse throwing

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Batman & Robin #9

BATMAN

... just accidentally dropped his iPad on the concrete floor.

or

... accidentally found himself in a gay porn photoshoot.



/the lameass Chris Sims tribute post of the week

well, since DC is going retro anyway ...

... why not turn back the clock on the WildStorm universe as well?



does this mean we'll have another Grifter-Zealot-Spartan love triangle? wooohoooooo!!!

the real inglorious basterds

The Boys doing their version of goose-stomping on Nazi super"hero" Stormfront. wooohoooooooo!

drive-by readings: Herogasm #2

Herogasm #2 (Dynamite) "Amsterdam" Garth Ennis John McCrea Keith Burns Simon Bowland Tony Aviña Darick Robertson (cover)

we didn't learn much from this issue, except ... wait, we learned a lot from this issue, and they're all unprintable. yes, little boys, move along now, nothing to see here. don't you see the Mature Readers label? geddouddaheah.

and on that note ... we look forward to the Boys crashing the party next issue. snort up.

drive-by readings: The Boys #31

The Boys #31 (Dynamite) "The Self Preservation Society, Part 1" Garth Ennis Carlos Ezquerra Hector Ezquerra Simon Bowland Tony Aviña Darick Robertson (cover)

finally! from the opening storyline where we were introduced to the Seven (the ethically-challenged version of the JLA), i was waiting for this throwdown. in a set up that kind of echoes the death of Luca Brasi, one of the Boys get taken down. and that made me really sad. dammit, i want a lot of asskicking to happen because of this. no more name taking, Billy Butcher. by the way, Garth, nice work on retelling an alternate version of Hal Jordan's origin.

where no 15 year old geek has gone before

... Garth Ennis is taking them there, aye, as long as they even get to purchase this material.



after the tongue-in-cheek sleazy premise of the first few issues, The Boys jumped (or were pushed?) off the DC/Wildstorm wagon because of the material itself. finding a new home under Dynamite, the series continued its narrative on superhero skullduggery and political conspiracies while toning down (relatively) its graphic depictions of the crazy shit that Ennis said would "out-Preacher Preacher". if you ask me, the past year's output has been too talky for me.

now comes (pun intended) its first spinoff, Herogasm, which takes us back to those early days (in tone) of The Boys. in a nutshell, all these (damaged) superheroes (who are technically backed by the military establishment) need their R&R, and what better way to do that than cook up a fake global/planetary crisis ("alien invasion!") and heroically "leave" Earth to deal with it. actually, they just all went to some supersecret remote island, where all the best hookers in the world are waiting. and i don't just mean female hookers.

i started laughing as soon as Homelander (the Superman of this book) made his Hollywood-tailored we-who-are-about-to-die speech - i knew where this was going, and i'm surprised no one has thought of this before. all the heroes we idolize are just frauds and just as fucked-up as the rest of us. they just happen to have superpowers.

according to CBR (by way of Wikipedia), Ennis states that " ... while we're having a pop at the notion of mass crossovers within a shared universe, we're not picking on 'Crisis' or 'Secret Wars' or 'Countdown' or whatever in particular." oh yeah? i think i lost it when Homelander started mentioning "Chaocrisis" and "Covert Intrusion". "Final Fracas"? "Civil Dispute"? heee heee heee.

so where are the Boys in this version of a summer event? right smack in the middle of it, and they're not after a cape this time. oh no, they aren't ...


summer suddenly got even better!!!

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Herogasm #1