A Sunday Review

Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Apr 30th
• Green Lantern: New Guardians Annual #2 - Um. Right. Next.
• Batman Beyond Universe #9 - This all ties in Batman Beyond much more closely with the Justice League Beyond. And we even get to see Aqua-Lord. Awesome.
• Batman '66 #10 - Mr. Freeze and Cleopatra. Fun issue. I kind of wish I had a personal cooler like Mr. Freeze was selling for summer. Seems like he could have made a lot of money off the devices legally, if he were sane.
• Scribblenauts Unmasked #4 - First Aquaman gets flame-broiled, then he gets dissed, and then he kicks butt!
• Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #4 - This continues to be a good series based on an excellent TV show... but I still wish I had a list of characters with clear references to when they showed up in the TV series so I could more easily follow the action.
• Tales of Honor #2 - The artwork on this book is very stiff and doesn't really show much. It's more like an illustrated book than a comic book. Even the places where there are speech balloons seem like afterthoughts. I very much enjoy the original material, but this definitely could be better.
• FCBD
• FCBD: Hello Kitty and Friends - Er. Cute?
• FCBD: Worlds of Aspen - I was kind of expecting to really dislike this... but the Zoohunters story was promising, if a little standard and the Damsels story also had its moments. I wouldn't turn it down if offered, but I'm not going to seek it out.
• FCBD: Defend Comics - I didn't know when I opened this that I'd be getting a history lesson AND some Sergio Aragones strips. Altogether, a decent little package.
• FCBD: Overstreet Comic Book Martketplace - Not a comic, just about comics. A decent set of articles and such, but kind of a drag to get through during my casual reading time I've set aside for FCBD books.
• FCBD: Project Black Sky - Halfway through this I was considering buying the book. It may make the pull list eventually.
• FCBD: Armor Hunters Special - Well, this didn't make a lot of sense until I read the text piece, then it made a tiny bit of sense. Not my cuppa, but interesting just the same.
• FCBD: CBLDF presents Raising a Reader - Lots of good advice in here, but a little too repetitive and a little too... um... academic. I mean, it's good information, it's just so clinical I'm not sure parents will understand it.

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Fortean Times #311 (March 2014). I had never heard of Thomas Weir, to the best of my knowledge, before reading this issue. The summary of his story: born in 1599, considered a wonderful man, loved by those who knew him, solid Christian except for one horrible accusation of bestiality that was dismissed because his reputation was so solid. Then, at the age of 70, the guy confesses to all sorts of crimes... including bestiality and incest. His sister, who had come to live with him, verified the claims. Both were put to death. And, because this was in Edinburgh, his haunted house remained standing with no one willing to live in it for many years. In fact, the point of the article is that the author went to find the location of the house and... well, let's just say the rumors of its demise were exaggerated.

Another main article talks about the use of droning sounds in music and religion, and how drone-tone can alter perceptions and, perhaps, even make people "high". A companion article visits the workshop of Garry Kvistad, founder of Woodstock Chimes and explores the harmonics of wind chimes. Next up is an article on the perverted ghosts of Palermo, Sicily. You want details? Get the magazine and read the article.

Strangedays starts with dead bats, falling raptors and a river of molten caramel. It continues with disturbing eye stories, pets that resemble famous people and dogs getting trapped in rabbit holes. Icelandic elves are discussed, along with terrifying clowns and vicious fish. Alien Zoo has bits on tapirs and white ligers (not a typo). Ghostwatch is about people who are dying seeing apparitions, as reported by people who are attending to the dying.

Archaeology has a mummified cat, more evidence of where dogs were first domesticated, the sex life of ancient bugs and diet discoveries. Classical Corner covers Nero while Konspiracy Korner tackles another wrinkle in the tale of 9/11. UFO Files has a new Mothman theory and a couple of truly perplexing cases, while Blasts for the Past has a 1888 newspaper story of a devil baby born in Ohio.

Random Dictionary is about Fortean machines and the scam artists who (sometimes successfully) promote them. The First Forteans starts a look at the life of Eric Frank Russell, who helped introduce Fort's works to the UK. The Forum includes a bit about someone testing the notion that snakes cannot survive in Ireland (er, yeah, they can) and another about a reserve of steam engines, held ready to serve England at need.

The reviews were solid, letters were strange, and the "it happened to me" stories slightly heartbreaking. Phnomenomix continued the story of W.B. Yeats. All-in-all, yet another good issue of the best magazine out there.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist -- My Camera Wishlist

It's Friday Night, Time for Links

Ingredients of the Batman Ice Cream are revealed (scroll down).

A collection of links about The Dionne Quintuplets. If you've ever read an old comic book, you've seen ads featuring them.

The Gordon Lee case is dismissed. It should never have started in the first place. And Lee offered to write a letter of apology before the whole thing even started, so the District Attorney is a scumbag twit and should pay back every dollar spent on this wasteful attack.

Can't afford any more action figures, but these would be fun to have.

I like Augie's To Do List. I might try it myself.

When I consider what I and my siblings got away with at 9 years old, I can't see why people are so upset that a woman let her 9-year-old son ride home by himself on a New York subway and bus.

You can watch all of season one of Babylon 5 on-line.

BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!! Sorry, the idea of a guy in a trash bag yelling "Darth Vader!" attacking poor wannabe Jedis is hilarious.

I went ahead and added Mecca Time to my FoxClocks add-on, just in case.

Scientists find 17 living relatives of 'iceman' found in glacier. Yup, DNA testing.

One Laptop Per Child: keyboard problems. Not good.

It's not illegal to take photos, even if stupid police or overbearing security guards think it is.

Be good to your local postal carrier, she just might save your baby.

Plastic Ban. Anyone know what types of bottles have this in them? I'm just wondering if I drink anything with this stuff in it.

Why DRM sucks. MSN music DRM server to be shut down: all legally purchased music through them won't work on new computers, because it can't be validated. Stupid stupid stupid.

The Oldest Active Fuller Brush Man.

22 innings in 6 hours and 16 minutes, yeah, old news by now... but still impressive.

I think I want this. Numbered drawers... so useful. So nerdy.

A win for the good guys.

I like the idea of a prize for "vat-grown meat". But, as Slate points out, it won't do anything.

As for meat, would you eat meat from cloned animals? This is a different question than vat-grown meat, and I have a different answer. Cloned animals present all the same problems as far as waste to the environment, and they are living creatures. So, while I would eat it, I'd rather try the vat-grown stuff.

For the in-laws: a sad pug puppy.

Mickey?

We may not have to wait for the Supreme Court's decision on copyrights to see Mickey Mouse in the public domain. See, he's apparently on a 700-year-old church fresco in Austria. Ok, so we know it's not Mickey, but the resemblance is truly frightening.

Over on eBay, Jim Lee has sold himself to raise funds for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and the going price for Jim Lee is $6,700. The CBLDF needs money for the appeal to the Supreme Court of the Castillo Decision.

The taping of the Victoria's Secret special was disrupted by anti-fur protesters. They targeted a model by the name of Gisele Bundchen who has just become a spokesmodel for fur designer Blackglama. Said the model: "I'm the biggest animal lover in the world, I was just doing my job." PETA, on the other hand, says: "Gisele has blood on her hands and blood money in her pockets."

The wonderful hubby-Eric taped SpongeBob for me yesterday, so I was able to see a few more stories. No Mermaid Man yet. And I don't think there will be more reviews of Spongy, too much work...

FIGHT ON, CBLDF!

Peter David reports that the CBLDF is going to fight for Jesus Castillo. If you believe that comics are for everyone, not just kids, visit The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Website and help fight the battle against censorship.

If you haven't read about this story yet, Jesus Castillo was the clerk at a comic shop that was targeted in a very strange sting operation. He was convicted of obscenity charges for selling an adult comic book to an undercover police officer, an ADULT, even through the book did not meet the test for obscenity. He was convicted because the jury agreed with the prosecution that comic books are for kids!

In other words, all comic books should be aimed ONLY at children. It's apparently not legal to have any adult material in comic book form, even if you are only selling it to adults. Forget mature readers books like Powers, those are obscene! Not because they are really obscene, of course... but because they aren't aimed at kids.

If you run a shop, or even work at a shop like poor Jesus did, be really careful! You shouldn't be selling comics to adults!! Comics are only for children, according to the state of Texas.

I personally think that the jury is obscene, as are the higher judges who didn't overturn the ruling on appeal. The store in question was very careful with its adult material, making sure that no kid could get at it. They never sold adult materials to children. And yet they were still successfully taken down, even though they were being responsible citizens.

And that, my friends, is pretty sick.