'Best of TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
Best Sellers
This week, we've got the information on the best selling graphic novels in comic book shops for the month of April, and I'll toss in some short reviews:
1 HELLBOY VOL 6 STRANGE PLACES TP (MR) $17.95 DAR 6,436
It has been a LONG time since there was a new Hellboy collection. The movie did a decent job of bringing the character to life, and Mike Mignola is just an amazing artist. The story is typical weird pulp stuff mixed with Mignola's love of drawing dark, moody sequences. It's a lot of fun to read, and is recommended for anyone who liked the movie.
2 ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 5 CROSSOVER TP $12.99 MAR 6,152
I haven't liked the Ultimate Fantastic Four very much. The charm of the original Fantastic Four was the creativity of Jack Kirby and the humor that Stan Lee infused the comic with, and this updated version has left me cold. This story, however, works. In it, Reed Richards thinks he has found an alternate Universe where the Fantastic Four has been around for almost 20 years. When he brings the rest of th team there, however, things aren't quite what they seem. A well done action story that leads into the series "Marvel Zombies" and is mildly recommended.
3 100 BULLETS VOL 9 STRYCHNINE LIVES TP (MR) $14.99 DC 5,809
This series has a simple premise: A man shows up and gives a person an untraceable gun with 100 bullets. What they do with it is up to them. Even though this is the 9th volume in the series, the continuing aspects don't intrude on the plot. A fine crime noir comic that is highly recommended.
4 SHOWCASE PRESENTS TEEN TITANS VOL 1 TP $16.99 DC 5,751
The "Showcase" series of graphic novels is DC's big, cheap reprint series, and each volume contains about 500 pages of old comics from the 60's and 70's in black and white on cheap newsprint. This volume reprints the first 25 or so Teen Titans comics, and the stories have not aged well. They were written by middle aged men in the mid to late 60's who were trying to have the character's sound "hip" and "with it" and come off as campy at best. The art by Nick Cardy is solid and entertaining, but the only value to these stories is pure nostalgia.
5 ASTONISHING X-MEN VOL 1 HC* $29.99 MAR 5,685
This collects the first 12 issues of this series, written by Joss Whedon (Buffy and Serenity). Reading these stories, it is clear he is a HUGE X-Men fan, and uses that knowledge to write stories that give the characters their best moments in years. However, he isn't just some Hollywood guy writing fan-fiction, but someone who knows how to put together a great super-hero story. If you liked the X-Men movies at all, this is a must buy and is the best super-hero graphic novel of the month.
6 V FOR VENDETTA TP $19.99 DC 5,671
Still selling because of the movie, and it deserves to. As good as the movie was, it was a less complicated version of this very smart, very incendiary graphic novel. It may have been written in response to Reagan and Thatcher, but it's more relevant than ever, and is Highly Recommended.
7 EX MACHINA VOL 3 FACT V FICTION TP (MR) $12.99 DC 5,649
This series, about a super-hero who is elected mayor of New York City, has been very well done, but the second and third volumes haven't been as good as the first. Rather than it being a standard super-hero story, it's more of a political story that has some super-hero trappings in order to get comic book fans to try it. A solid comic and mildly recommended (but the first volume is Highly recommended).
8 X-MEN COMPLETE AGE O/APOCALYPSE EPIC BK 3 TP $29.99 MAR 5,401
The first thing on the list that I find nearly unreadable. In the mid 90's, mainstream super-hero comics suffered from being event driven, and some of the worst art in the medium's history. The prevailing style was for Big Splash Pages and lots of eye candy at the expense of telling a story, and this is a textbook example of it. If you hadn't read the X-Men for 20 years, there was no way you could figure out what was going on in this story, and I have no idea why Marvel is reprinting it. Avoid.
9 STAR WARS CLONE WARS ADVS VOL 5 TP $6.95 DAR 5,335
The comics are telling the stories about what happened between the 2nd and 3rd Star Wars movies. I was not a fan of the "prequels" and had no interest in these stories. They aren't good enough to win me over and are just for Star Wars completists.
10 YOUNG AVENGERS VOL 1 SIDEKICKS TP $14.99 MAR 4,599
When this book was announced, I ignored it. The name of the book is stupid, they pushed it as "From one of the writer's of TV's 'The OC'", which I don't care for, and Marvel's new series usually only last about 12 issues before they get canceled, never to be heard from again. However, this series is a LOT better than it has a right to be. Creating a group of new characters with connections to underused Marvel characters, and having a complex time travel story to start the book off, this series has worked because it concentrates on making the characters interesting. It's VERY much a super-hero story, and requires a working knowledge of Marvel Comics, but if you have that, it's a surprisingly good comic. Mildly recommended.
That's the list for this month. I'll have reviews of the rest of the top 100 selling graphic novels on my website: www.solitairerose.com/comics.html starting on or around 6/10
Cory!! Strode (The Best Dressed Man In Comics) has written comic books, novels, jokes for comedians, Op Ed columns, the on-line comic strip
www.Asylumon5thstreet.com and has all kinds of things on his website, www.solitairerose.com
Recommended Reading
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Jan Frel: Election Monday: A Mixed Bag for Progressives (AlterNet.org)
John Tester's victory in Montana offers a great chance for a serious progressive in the Senate; a loss for Marcy Winograd in CA against Dem hawk Jane Harman; Busby comes close in Republican-heavy San Diego in spite of $10 million in GOP cash.
Nat Hentoff: Justice Department's Black Site (villagevoice.com)
The administration censors internal probe of lawbreaking by the Oval Office and the NSA.
Kara Platoni: Not Dead Yet (eastbayexpress.com)
Newspapers aren't the only medium whose demise has long been predicted.
Jessica Centers: Game On (westword.com)
The Denver pick-up artists come out from their lair. Look out, ladies!
Annalee Newitz: Artificial Wombs and Pregnant Men (AlterNet.org)
Feminists shouldn't back away from the debate on genetic engineering, or it'll be up to the men. Again.
Not so unfortunate (guardian.co.uk)
As Lemony Snicket, he's a multimillionaire superstar with 12 blockbuster children's books to his name. As Daniel Handler, he's just another aspiring author of adult fiction. So is he jealous of himself? Tim De Lisle meets the 'Roald Dahl of our day'
Richard A. Lanham: ECONOMISTS OF ATTENTION
Our recently ended twentieth century overflows with monuments to artistic outrageousness. Never have so many artists flung so many paint pots and puzzles in the face of so many publics: urinals turned upside down and exhibited as art, Rube Goldberg machines that do abstract drawings, canvases that are all white or all black, paintings of Campbell's soup cans, sculptures of the boxes the soup came in, trenches dug in the desert where nobody can see them, the Pont Neuf in Paris wrapped up in gold cloth for a few days and then unwrapped again.
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New Tour
Dixie Chicks
Initial ticket sales for the Dixie Chicks' upcoming tour are far below expectations and several dates will likely be canceled or postoned.
Ticket counts for the 20-plus arena shows that went on sale last weekend were averaging 5,000-6,000 per show in major markets and less in secondaries, according to sources contacted by Billboard. Venue capacities on the tour generally top 15,000.
Early ticket sales are clearly not meeting projections. The plug was pulled on public on-sales for shows in Indianapolis (August 23), Oklahoma City (September 26), Memphis (September 27) and Houston (September 30) because of tepid pre-sales in a national promotion with Target stores.
But not all shows on this tour are below projections. "We're happy (with our on-sale) and comparatively seem to be ahead of most," says John Page, Global Spectrum COO/GM at Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, where the trio is booked for July 25. A second date was added for the Air Canada Center in Toronto, where the first show sold out in eight minutes. "Canada loves the Chicks," says ACC booking director Patti-Ann Tarlton.
Dixie Chicks
DVD Version
Popeye
Warner Home Video on Tuesday announced a far-reaching agreement with Hearst Entertainment and King Features Syndicate that gives the studio exclusive worldwide home entertainment distribution rights to all Popeye theatrical shorts and TV cartoons.
The distribution deal covers all the original 231 Popeye animated shorts released theatrically by Paramount Pictures from 1933-57. Warner also has licensed the exclusive rights to 220 Popeye made-for-TV animated shorts produced from 1960-62, 65 episodes of "The Continuing Adventures of Popeye," produced from 1978-81 (and consisting of 161 animated shorts) and 26 "Popeye & Son" shorts produced in 1987.
The Popeye theatrical slate includes 120 black-and-white shorts (106 of them produced by Fleischer Studios, the other 14 by Famous Studios) and 111 Technicolor cartoons (three produced by Fleischer Studios and 108 produced by Famous Studios).
Popeye
Texas' Ransom Center Donation
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro made an offer the University of Texas could not refuse.
The Academy Award-winning actor is donating his collection of film-related materials - scripts, costumes and correspondence - to the cultural archive at the university's Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.
There are more than 3,000 costume items and props from De Niro's films, including some from his Oscar winning roles in "The Godfather: Part II" and "Raging Bull." It even includes a full body cast used in the 1994 production of "Frankenstein" when De Niro played the monster.
Robert De Niro
Directing 'Nutty Professor' Musical
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis, who played "The Nutty Professor" in 1963, has a wacky new scheme: staging the film as a Broadway musical. The first show is planned for January at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where the 80-year-old comedian has a houseboat, he said.
Lewis will direct the show, which he aims to have on Broadway by October 2008.
The show will be produced by The Michael Andrew Company. Andrew, a 41-year-old crooner and comedian who fronts The Atomic Big Band, is set to play the lead, the bucktoothed Julius Kelp, who invents a potion that transforms him into the suave Buddy Love.
Jerry Lewis
Touring With Marley Sons
Bunny Wailer
Bunny Wailer, the reggae legend who was one of the original Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, will tour for the first time with a new generation of Marleys.
Wailer will play alongside Marley's sons, Stephen and Ziggy, on the Roots, Rock, Reggae Festival, a month-long tour that opens Aug. 6 in Redway, Calif., after a year hiatus.
The 59-year-old Wailer, whose real name is Neville O'Riley Livingston, is the lone surviving member of the Wailers. Marley died of cancer in 1981; Tosh was murdered in 1987.
Bunny Wailer
Increases Indecency Fines Tenfold
Congress
Congress gave notice to broadcasters Wednesday that they will pay dearly for crossing the line with offensive material like Janet Jackson's 2004 Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction," passing legislation that would multiply indecency fines 10 times.
The 379-35 House vote on the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act sends the bill to resident Bush for his signature. The bill, which already passed the Senate, increases the top indecency fine the Federal Communications Commission can levy from $32,500 to $325,000 per incident.
Bush said he looked forward to signing the legislation into law. "I believe that government has a responsibility to help strengthen families," he said in a statement. "This legislation will make television and radio more family friendly by allowing the FCC to impose stiffer fines on broadcasters who air obscene or indecent programming."
Congress
MSGOP Chief Leaving Network
Rick Kaplan
Rick Kaplan is out after two years as MSNBC president, during which the perennially third-place news network showed modest gains but didn't change its competitive standing with Fox News Channel and CNN.
His exit was described Wednesday as a "mutual decision" by NBC News President Steve Capus and Kaplan.
One of Kaplan's biggest priorities, a political show with former CNN commentator Tucker Carlson, proved to be a failure and was quickly moved out of prime time.
Rick Kaplan
Woman With An Opinion
Hillary Rodham Clinton
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton lashed out at Ann Coulter for a "vicious, mean-spirited attack" on a group of outspoken 9/11 widows, whom the right-wing television pundit described as "self-obsessed" and enjoying their husbands' deaths.
"Perhaps her book should have been called 'Heartless,'" the senator said. "I know a lot of the widows and family members who lost loved ones on 9/11. They never wanted to be a member of a group that is defined by the tragedy of what happened."
The New York Democrat and former first lady said she found it "unimaginable that anyone in the public eye could launch a vicious, mean-spirited attack on people whom I've known over the last four and a half years to be concerned deeply about the safety and security of our country."
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Magazine Threatens Action
Hello!
The celebrity magazine Hello! threatened legal action on Wednesday against Internet sites that posted a leaked exclusive photo of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt with their infant daughter.
Just as People magazine announced on Tuesday that it had landed exclusive North American rights to the first pictures of the baby, an unpublished Hello! cover shot of the newborn Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt and her parents popped up on at least two Web sites.
Hello!, which acquired rights to distribute the first Jolie-Pitt baby photos overseas, planned to publish the pictures on Thursday.
Hello!
Cable Networks
Ratings
Rankings for the top 10 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of May 29-June 4. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses.
1. "The Sopranos" (Sunday, 9:03 p.m.), HBO, 5.81 million homes, 8.9 million viewers.
2. NBA Playoffs: Miami vs. Detroit (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), ESPN, 4.99 million homes, 6.6 million viewers.
3. NBA Playoffs: Detroit vs. Miami (Friday, 8:09 p.m.), ESPN, 4.85 million homes, 6.45 million viewers.
4. NBA Playoffs: Phoenix vs. Dallas (Thursday, 8:49 p.m.), TNT, 4.63 million homes, 6.2 million viewers.
5. NBA Playoffs: Dallas vs. Phoenix (Tuesday, 9:02 p.m.), TNT, 4.51 million homes, 5.75 million viewers.
6. NBA Playoffs: Dallas vs. Phoenix (Saturday, 8:34 p.m.), TNT, 4.29 million homes, 5.89 million viewers.
7. Auto Racing: Nextel Cup (Sunday, 2:11 p.m.), FX, 4.1 million homes, 5.96 million viewers.
8. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.6 million homes, 4.98 million viewers.
9. Movie: "Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Comedy Central, 3.4 million homes, 5.3 million viewers.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.28 million homes, 4.36 million viewers.
Ratings
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