Tag Archives: The Lovely Roger Langridge

Saturday Rundown

by Jesse

I hate to say it, but I’m a sucker for a good cover, espcially on a first issue.  When I saw the cover Epic Kill #1 I was sold without any of the other evaluation I would normally do.  While Raffaele Ienco’s cover and pin-ups were solid, but his sequential art was not.  His figures look stiff and awkward, a series of drawings with no emotion or interaction.  The story is a mediocre “girl killer on the run” that’s by-the-numbers.  Ienco definitely has a future in comics, especially since he’s put together the entire package himself, but he’s got some work to do first.  Image approved Epic Kill a little early in his career.

Hoax Hunters #0 was another good example of a cover reaching up off the stands, grabbing my eyeballs and not letting go.  Fortunately, this was a better comic all around.  It’s a great idea: a TV show busting urban legends a la Mythbusters that REALLY seriously investigates the truth behind the rumors.  And the best part is that it could be done in any format but the creators chose to do it as a comic.  (Legitimacy!)  The art by JM Ringuet and Axel Medellin is adequate, but stiff and used fairly stock posing and acting. The previews for issue #1 appear to be a different artist in a different style, so I’m looking forward to seeing if there’s any growth there.

Roger Langridge would be a hero of ours if he had only ever done  Boom!’s first Muppet Show miniseries, but he has continually impressed us with work on Snarked and the rest of an incredibly well-written and drawn Muppet run.  So despite no more than a passing familiarity with the characters, I picked up Popeye #1 on the strength of his name alone.  It was a fine comic, and Bruce Ozella’s art seemed to mimic the original well enough for me, but to be honest, the sea voyage to retrieve a mystery creature was enough for me the first time in Snarked.  This just felt like the same story with licensed characters.  I’ll leave it to Matt or Brother of the Blog Stephen to decide how good it is in the context of Popeye, but I’m not really intrigued enough to go any further with  it.

It’s been a while since I read any Tick comics, essentially since the late 90′s when Luny Bin and Tick and Arthur came out.  I decided  that Tick #100′s Invincible crossover would be as good a place to jump back in as any.  And it was!  A great comic all around that brings both characters together in a forgettable enough way and then lets them go crazy together.  It’s a lot of fun, and completely accessible as long as you have a passing familiarity with the characters, even from the old TV show.  And kudos to Benito Cereno for referencing such craziness that’s been happening in this title lately that I have no choice now but to pick up back issues of the current run.  My only real complaint (and I find myself having this problem more and more lately) is the scene transitions are often abrupt or jerky.

NEC Press, knowing this was it’s chance to snag new readers (and recapture some lapsed ones like myself) then took the opportunity to explain the Tick’s publishing history, and how the original run and multiple miniseries since then fit in together.  It was an excellent chance to play catch-up, and quite appreciated.  However, there’s always a gotcha, and the catch with Tick #100 is that it was 7 dollars.  The main story was only 24 pages and the publishing history took up about half the book.  That is WAY too much for the amount of content.  The backmatter should have been more condensed (the pictures were beautiful, but filler) and it should have run 5 bucks.  Price aside, this was damn near a perfect comic.

This Week’s Comics

by Jesse

Monday in the Spring!  The time when a young man’s thoughts turn to love, and a young geek’s heart looks to New Comic Day.  Here are this week’s new and noteworthy releases.

  • BLOODSTRIKE #27 - I thought the Bloodstrike relaunch was decent, but it’s also the Extreme title that stayed most faithful to it’s original concept.  In most circumstances that would be a plus, but since we’re talking about Extreme here, the more a title strays the better I’m finding it.  So I think I’ll pass.
  • DAREDEVIL #11
  • FF #17
  • GOON #39
  • POPEYE #1 (OF 4) - I mention this specifically for certain Popeye-loving readers of the blog.  I’ll pick it up because Roger Langridge is writing, but it will have to be unquestionably strong for me to keep going with it.
  • TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ONGOING #9
  • TWELVE #12 (OF 12) - I mention this in the hopes that Matt will let me know how long it’s been since the first issue came out.  It’s got to be closing in on 4 years, doesn’t it?
  • ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED #7 - It feels like we’re starting to sail toward a conclusion.  And while that’s undoubtedly a good thing (all stories need resolution, after all), I hope it’s not an ENDING.

I’ve apparently betrayed my inability to repeat myself ad infinitum by not being able to come up with more to say about DD, FF, or TMNT, but rest assured they still come highly recommended. That’s it for this week.  What looks good to you?

This Week’s Comics

by Jesse

It’s reassuring to see all the independent titles on my pull list this week.  It makes me miss DC titles that much less.  Here are this week’s new and noteworthy books.

  • FEAR ITSELF #7 POINT ONE - Err…I thought the Point One issues were jumping-on points for new readers.  Isn’t Fear Itself over?
  • GOON #36 - Always a solid read, last month’s issue (written by Evan Dorkin) was more hilarious that usual.  I hope they get the band back together soon.
  • HULK #44 - I recently finished reading the first year or so of Jeff Parker’s Hulk and it’s everything you could possibly want.  Namely, the Hulk beating the tar out of Marvel’s classic giant monsters. Highly recommended if you enjoy big things hitting other big things without taking itself too seriously.
  • INFINITE VACATION #3 (OF 5) - I really enjoyed the first couple issues of Infinite Vacation, a sci-fi tale of hopping bodies with other-dimensional yous, but then…It dropped off the face of the Earth.  I’m really glad it’s shown up again, and looking forward to seeing where Nick Spencer and Christian Ward take us.
  • LAST OF THE GREATS #2 - With the grand experiment in full effect, I’ve picked up more Image and indie titles with strong covers that I’d ordinarily buy.  Last of the Greats had an amazing cover by Brent Peeples, but unfortunately the story by Joshua Fialkov was a somewhat generic tale of humanity’s betrayal of 7 godlike aliens and their attempts to get the last of them to save us from another attack.  Oh, and the “Great” is a huge dick.*  The interior art by Peeples was passable, but stilted and not very dynamic.  I’ll not be picking up the rest of this series, beautiful covers or no.
  • PEANUTS #0
  • ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED #2 - Roger Langridge’s new Alice in Wonderland-style book has impressed both of us, with Matt’s tolerance for the poetry a bit higher than mine.  This is an all-ages title that is truly for all ages, and the jokes don’t stop with the dialogue, as Langridge crams each panel full of jokes.  Highly recommended.
  • STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE #2 (OF 6) - Much like Last of the Greats, Luther Strode is another title I picked up solely on the basis on a strong cover and an intriguing blurb on the Bullpen Bulletins (or whatever thing they’re calling it) on that month’s Image Comics.  Unlike LotG, I enjoyed this book a lot.  Luthor Strode sends away for a Charles Atlas-style bodybuilding kit and is turned into a huge punching machine.  While there are enough internal organs and splatter effects to fill a Mark Millar comic, I felt there was enough heart in the story to get me to come back and see how it turns out. Recommended with reservations, as it could turn either way.

Rick Veitch is an enormously talented comic creator, both as a writer and an artist.  When I saw The Big Lie in the aforementioned Bullpen Bulletins, I thought it had a solid chance of being a good read and expected something like Brought to Light, by his frequent collaborator Alan Moore.  Big Lie concerns Sandra Mansfield, who travels back to September 11, 2001 in an attempt to rescue her husband Carl from the World Trade Center before it collapses.  Armed with her trusty iPad full of evidence, she sets out to provide enough proof to convince him to evacuate.

In itself, great idea.  In practice, it’s a mess.  Veitch spends too much time establishing the pseudoscience for how time travel works, when we all know it’s just a plot device to cram in all of the evidence he wants to tell us that 9/11 was an inside job.  Once he gets to that, all we get is a bunch of rushed strawman arguments and proof that the Carl is such a huge douche** that I find it hard to believe she would cross the street to save this asshole’s life, much less invent time travel to do so.

In the end, the only people who would buy this book have heard this argument already, told better.  You may be tempted to check this one out, but it’s a book better suited for laying down and avoiding.

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters started off really strong with just it’s premise: Godzilla and a bunch of monsters are going to pound the stuffing out of each other.  And it started like that, but then it turned into The Walking Dead, where the monsters are just the backdrop for telling the survivors’ tales.  Which is fine, just not what I picked up the book for.  Phil Hester stopped doing the art with issue 4, Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh are leaving, and there’s no third act anywhere in sight.  Truly, it’s all middle, which is okay, but we still need story arcs with beginnings and endings.  KoM feels like it’s meandering along, and I’ll pick up the next issue to see what the next writer can do with it, but everything that got me hooked is now gone and unless something changes I will be, too.

Apparently I’ve had a lot to say this week!  My ongoing pull list is still a thing, and going well.  Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @LEMURComics (Hi Larry!).  What are YOU looking at this week?

*Seriously, I can’t believe that this is the only new take anyone’s had on Superman in 20 years, since The Rob created  Supreme in 1992.
**She’s 10 years older and he doesn’t recognize her at all.  Sorry, 10 years doesn’t add THAT much baggage to your face.

This Week’s Comics

by Jesse

There’s an interesting melange of titles out this week.  Here are this week’s noteworthy titles.

  • BLOOM COUNTY COMPLETE LIBRARY HC VOL 05 - Bloom County is one of my all-time favorite newpaper strips and I just read the first volume of the complete library this summer.  IDW has put together an EXCELLENT package.  Every single strip is collected in a well designed hardcover on heavy paper.  While I always love annotations, they’re a little light, though that they’re present at all is a plus.
  • PIGS #2 - I admit, I’m intrigued.  If you liked The Losers, give this one a shot.
  • FEAR ITSELF HULK VS DRACULA #3 (OF 3)
  • FF #10
  • GHOST RIDER #4
  • NEW AVENGERS #17
  • PUNISHER #4
  • UNCANNY X-FORCE #16

And then…There’s a bit of “more of the same,” isn’t there?  That should say something to me.

Matt (rightfully) called me out for my lack of detail when I reported that I was somewhat non-plussed by Snarked #0.  I think it was the high percentage of verse that turned me off.  I’m glad Roger Langridge is putting that into the book and experimenting with the form, it made the book a bit of a chore for me to read.  In addition, I wasn’t quite sure where it was going.

Maybe Snarked #0 caught me on a bad day because I’m happy to report now that I didn’t have the same trouble with #1.  Yes, the poetry took me out of the book a bit, but it was light and flowed nicely for the most part, and it didn’t comprise a majority of the issue.  The story was clear and well constructed, and as always Langridge’s art was fun to look at.  So yes, I’m on-board now.

That’s it for me for this week.  What are YOU looking at?

This Week’s Comics

by Jesse

A pretty light week for me this time around, and to be honest, not one I’m exceptionally fired up for.  This week sees a huge batch of DC #2 issues, and in a rare display of good planning, the release of all the first issue reprints for this week’s titles.

  • AXE COP BAD GUY EARTH TP - If you missed out on the Dark Horse mini series (all original material, not reprints from the webcomic) do yourself a favor and pick up this little burst of insanity.  I snagged the mini when it came out and may still pick this up for the extra material.
  • HULK #42 - Jeff Parker’s Hulk has been a revelation.  You should be reading this, especially if you like giant monsters hitting each other (which I do).
  • INFINITE #3
  • ROGER LANGRIDGES SNARKED #1 - I was very surprised that I didn’t love the Snarked zero issue, but I’ve been pleased with Langridge’s work so far to give a full issue a shot.
  • SUPERIOR #5 (OF 6) - Mark Millar Presents Mark Millar’s Captain Marvel returns after a long absence…So long that I forgot it hadn’t been finished yet.  Still, it’s a decent enough title to keep picking up, even if it sounds like I’m damning it with faint praise.
  • THUNDERBOLTS #164
  • X-MEN SCHISM #5 (OF 5) - I was up in the air about this one until I read Chris Sims’ review, which reaffirmed my Jason Aaron love.

That’s it for this week.  My pull list has been updated and the back issue search continues.  What are YOU looking at?

This Week’s Comics

by Jesse

Another big week!  Here’s the new and noteworthy shipping from Diamond.

  • DC RETROACTIVE BATMAN THE 80S #1, DC RETROACTIVE THE FLASH THE 80S #1, and DC RETROACTIVE WONDER WOMAN THE 80S #1
  • FLASHPOINT #4 (OF 5)
  • HERC #6
  • HEROES FOR HIRE #10 - I managed to snag the first few issues and liked this a lot.  Good, solid superheroics in the street-level Marvel U.
  • HULK #38
  • INFINITE #1 - Robert Kirkman and The Rob have put together a book that promises to be a step out of 1994 like Prophet.  But that’s okay.  If there’s anything a recent re-reading of books like Brigade and Bloodstrike has taught me, it’s that in a sea of imitators Rob Liefeld still has something unique and valuable to offer.  Although how he’s going to draw this AND Hawk and Dove at the same time has me somewhat puzzled.
  • PUNISHER #1 - I’m just curious to see what Greg Rucka has in store.
  • ROGER LANGRIDGE SNARKED #0 - To be fair, even if it didn’t cost just a dollar I would buy anything after the words “Roger Langridge,” even if it was “Buries Jesse In A Shallow Grave”.
  • SHIELD #2
  • THUNDERBOLTS #161
  • WOLVERINE #13

In unrelated news, Marvel has jumped on the “put your shop on our cover” bandwagon.*  Figuring it worked for IDW with their cover of Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1, Marvel is printing up variants of Amazing Spider-Man #666 with comic shop logos.  Which — don’t get me wrong — is a great gimmick to steal, but whereas IDW actually created minor changes to their art, Marvel is just copying and pasting image files.  Not quite as good a concept.  For what it’s worth, Mile High Comics is offering one of their variants FREE with any $20 order, as long as you ask for it in the comments section.  That’s a pretty solid deal.


Not much else on the list for this week.  That’s it for me.  What are YOU looking at?

*This is much like how they put out the 9-cent Fantastic Four issue after DC did the Batman: 10-Cent Adventure.

Missed

by Matt

I’m not sure how or why, but a big bit of news (for Jesse and I at least) slipped past our notice two weeks ago.

Roger Langridge will be leaving BOOM!’s Muppet Show.

Suffice it to say, this is sad news. Not only does he make the most consistently kickenass comics, Langridge is a really stand-up guy to meet and talk with. Jesse and I both got cool inked sketches from him in San Diego. Also, he’s easily my second favorite vegetarian. To hear that he’s hit some sort of rough patch is troubling.

God’s speed on whatever troubles your world.

Random Links For Your Weekend

by Jesse


I’ve apparently been sitting on a bunch of links for a while now.  Enjoy!

Game Tape

by Matt

And now it’s time for another Game Tape… the continuing story of a comic buyer gone to the dogs. Or something like that.

This time around we’re going in alphabetical order…no good reason. No bad reason for that matter.

Action Comics #891 would have been much more enjoyable if I hadn’t seen “Inception” last week. Mr. Mind’s “son” plays a frantic DiCaprio here. Lex Luthor being who he is, the story ends as it has to, but there’s still the mysterious hand behind this manipulation. That’s not to say that the book is dull. Going through it was quite a bit of fun. The down side is that it feels like more should have happened than actually did.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love time travel stories. Time travel is the one scientific conceit that is guaranteed to get my engines going. Fantastic Four #581 fired on all four cylinders. A minor mystery is resolved and Reed goes to college. Thanks to his dad, he gets a heady education. Mr. Hickman, continue the good work.

Secret Avengers #3 was a little muddled. It’s a middle part issue that isn’t too bad, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly good either. The crown business is sort of making more sense, and they’ve thrown in alternate dimensional travel to boot. Anyway, I’m still enjoying this most of the new Avengers books. As a side note, alternate dimensional travel is not nearly as interesting as time travel for me…although theoretically they’re the same thing.

Speaking of the theoretical, I should theoretically be enjoying Thor: The Mighty Avenger. It’s written by Roger Langridge. In practice, it feels like a Year One story without much meat to it. It’s curious because there is no Donald Blake, but there’s a Thor and there’s a Jane Foster. On reflection, this is really more of a Jane Foster story. It’s just sort of boring; I certainly didn’t expect that from Langridge. The first issue was decent, but heartless. This week’s second issue drags down.


In the Also Ran category are Buzzard #2, Muppet Show #8, Batman, Return of Bruce Wayne #5, and Bill Batson and the Magic of SHAZAM!

But you don’t have to take take my word for it…

by Matt

I imagine some of you are tired of hearing about the wonders of Heroes Con, but I promise that this will be the final post until next year’s convention.

The problem of living in the sticks, comics-wise, is that the stores don’t hold a wide variety of non-cape and cowl trades. I read about something that looks good, but I forget about it because I can’t find it. The convention is the perfect chance to pick up things of this nature. The best part is, at the cons you can get it signed. I’ll start with something you probably haven’t heard of:

Several months ago I read a review of a series of adventures each focusing on a different member of a family tree. The volume coming out focused on the french foreign legion. Who writes and draws comics about the FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION? Apparently, cartoonist Chris Schweizer does.

Crogan’s Adventures is the series. Each volume is self contained and loosely tied together with modern bookends relating to the Crogan family as a whole. The volume I picked up at the con, Crogan’s March, is the volume about the foreign legion. It’s the second volume, but like I said it’s self contained so you can start anywhere. Schweizer’s style of cartooning, while certainly his own, compares favorably to Jeff Smith’s work on Bone. There’s humor and poignancy in his characters; each has a distinct look and a distinct voice. Even though this is their introduction and sole appearance, it is neither difficult to know who they are and what they are about nor is it a tedious introduction. The story itself is a solid well rounded adventure taking a more modern view on the end of the colonial era for France. It’s excellent story telling. So enjoyable that I’m picking up copies of March and the first volume Vengence for my class library. This was the most pleasant surprise of the convention because I got to rediscover the title.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Schwiezer is a genuinely nice guy with a offbeat sense of humor. I picked up a print from him titled “Smokers of the Marvel Universe.” Take a few minutes and check him out.

Something else I picked up that I’ve wanted to read for a while is Roger Langridge’s Fred the Clown. We spend a lot of text here praising Langridge’s work on The Muppet Show, and rightly so. The man is comically gifted. His timing is as keen as spanish steel. Langridge honed his craft on Fred the Clown. The title character is an unfortunate and hapless loser, and Langridge abuses him with cartoonish glee. Like the Muppet Show, this thrives as a series of short pieces, essentially comic sketches in panel form. I hesitate to call them strips because it’s usually more complex than a three panel gag. The real treat for me to discover with this collection was Langridge’s diversity as an artist. With in this volume he manages to successfully ape just about every great cartoonist of the 20th century: Walt Kelly, Windsor McCay, Charles Schultz,  Chic Young, and Jack Kirby being most notable. It’s hilarious and ridiculous in the same way that the most surreal of Monty Python’s bits are. Fred can be a little risque at times, but it’s never blue. Published by Fantagraphics, I’m surprised that Jesse didn’t pick it up in Seattle.

The final item I snagged was from Ryan Dunlavy’s table. The More than Complete Action Philosophers afforded me a chance to read the entire series in one sitting. I was familiar with the work of Dunlavy and van Lente both individually and collectively, and I was looking forward to reading some more about history’s greatest philosophers (I had already read a short volume featuring Jean Paul Sartre and John Stewart Mill). This collection didn’t disappoint. Fans of The Incredible Hercules should enjoy this collection as van Lente continues to clever and entertaining while teaching you everything you need to know about philosophy. For example: I never knew that Plato was a wrestler (and is portrayed as a luchadore herein). I’m looking forward to a collection of their current project about famous cartoonists and comic book creators.

Jesse and I have both talked about Love and Capes so I won’t go over it again here, but it’s as worth picking up as any of these books. For more information on these and other great books, why not head on over to your local library?!

Bonus: Here’s the sketch of Dr. Doom that Dunlavy did for me. He says that he and van Lente are working on a Doom project due out later this year.

And the Mebberson cover of Muppet Show #6.