Comics Fondle

Brian K. Vaughan presents “The Secret Origin of Matches Malone!” Really. He does. These three issues feature Batman going “native” as a gangster, out to kill the Ventriloquist for killing the real Matches Malone. Again… really.

DC’s reprinting this crap in a Vaughan Batman trade in a couple months, which I imagine will kill lots of […]

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Obviously, Brian K. Vaughan has had some creative writing classes. Unimaginative ones. He pays homage to them in Swamp Thing #3, an atrocious done-in-one set on a crabbing ship. The issue opens all right–Tefé keeps trying to get her narration right… until Vaughan reveals it isn’t Tefé narrating, but one of her shipmates, a young […]

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I’m not sure what to think, leaving The Masochists. Bertozzi’s thesis is two-thirds simple–people suck and life is not just a constant disappointment, but constant despondence. The first and last stories (of three) echo each other in their negative review of life… the first is high school angst, the third is about a mildly disabled […]

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I was only going to read the first three issues–pausing after the suicide special (I think it’s odd DC’s got a book called Suicide Squad they sell and then put a PSA in Robin… kind of sends a mixed message to kids, doesn’t it?)–but then I kept going. Big mistake.

Beechen’s strongest material in these issues […]

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In today’s comics, supervillains are evil enough to compare to Armadillo on “The Shield.” In the 1980s, apparently they were just as evil, but had environmentally conscious nicknames and powers. (I’m mostly referring to the bad guys–the Masters of Disaster–killing their employer because they know it’ll piss off Black Lightning). These two issues contain three […]

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