Clutch & Comics

Here’s what I’ve been up to.

Sun Feb 24 – checked out my favourite band CLUTCH at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. They were amazing. My problem was that there are too many great Clutch songs, so I was disappointed that they didn’t get to all my fav’s. Clutch did do some great ones, if I can remember they did,
‘Promoter of Earthbound Causes’,
‘Power Player’,
‘Burning Beard’,
‘Child of the City’,
‘the Incomparable Mr. Flannery’,
‘Electric Worry’,
‘Cypress Groove’,
and they did ‘Mob goes Wild’ in their encore, because Clutch can’t come to Toronto and not sing,“Everybody move to Canada, Smoke lots of pot, Everybody move to Canada right now Here’s how we do it,Bum rush the border guard before he and his dog ever knew it”
they are no bullshit, balls out, hard fuckin’ rockers. Good show. Good fuckin’ show. If you haven’t heard of, or checked out Clutch watch this video, and tell me they don’t rock. I dare ya.



I didn’t get to the comic shop this week. In fact, I may have to take a break from buying comics. Or, er, maybe I just won’t buy so much every week. I’m gonna have to save some cash, so maybe I won’t buy a trade every time I get a stack. I guess I should get through all the trades in my ‘to read’ pile, before I get anymore new books.
Here’s some quick thoughts on stuff I’ve read in the past couple weeks,

Amazing Spiderman #550 – another solid issue. I am very happy so far with all the Brand New Day stories. I am really diggin’ Sal Larroca’s art. I think after I’ve tried all 4 new creative teams I’m gonna switch to trades. PRETTYGOOD










Fantastic Four #554 – the first issue of Millar & Hitch’s run was excellent. I know I’m gonna love this book. So far, so good. GREAT












New Avengers #38 – guest art from Michael Gaydos was some of the best I’ve seen from him. Bendis shakes things up some more. I like it. PRETTYGOOD











Omega the Unknown # 5 (of 10) – this book continues to intrigue and amaze me. This issue also has the best cover so far. BRILLIANT
















Walking Dead # 46 – WOW! I missed issue # 45 so I was gonna try not reading this but I couldn’t help it. Glad I did. I’ll keep reading, Kirkman, you got me, you always do. BRILLIANT











X-Force #1 – the story didn’t impress me, nor did the team line up. While I like Clayton Crain’s covers and pin-ups, I couldn’t follow his interiors and that doesn’t make for a good read. no more for me. LAME













Wolverine Origins (hardcovers volumes 1-3) Nothing special here. My buddy Chank kept telling me to read these, so after they sat on my book shelf for months I gave ‘em a read so I could give them back to him. I love Steve Dillon’s panel layouts and storytelling, he is easily one of the best artists in the business, but I just don’t think his style is suited for tights and capes. I love the Preacher books to death, but there is something about Dillon’s style that doesn’t mix well with spandex. I’d much rather read his stuff on a Vertigo title. My biggest problem with Daniel Ways scripts is, now that Wolverine has his memories back, he has apparently come across every modern character in his long past, and most of the time has factored into their lives quite a bit. It gets kind of old when every woman character was like a daughter to him, and every male character Wolverine either screwed over or got screwed over by them. Apparently Wolverine helped shape the lives of Nuke ( from Frank Millers Daredevil: Born Again), Black Widow, Maverick, Heather Hudson (Alpha Flight), and Jubilee. Also, he has tumbled repeatedly with Sabretooth, Siver Samurai, Cyber, and Omega Red. Now I was just flipping though volume 4 and it looks like Wolverine has had quite a past with Captain America & Bucky too. And on the last page Deadpool shows up. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that these are recurring Wolverine characters but I would like to read some cool Wolverine origin story that maybe is just a cool story about him developing and learning to use his powers without having to cross paths with a current Marvel Universe character. Or maybe even, create a new character, eh? On that note, volume 3 did feature Wolverine’s son and he was pretty cool. I would like to just get to this Romulus character that Jeph Loeb and Daniel Way have been building up to for quite some time. I have a feeling that the writers aren’t sure what to do with Romulus yet, so we are continually being teased. At this point, I don’t care anymore and I’m glad I never spent any $$$$ on this book. LAME

Sketches and shit

i drew this on the bus today. it's pretty sketchy. the anatomy isn't perfect but it is a pretty fun image. i'll probably use this in the future for something. it could easily be a Dr. Strange, Magneto, or a Dr. Light. something like that.

so, i got a stack of trades, novels, and comics in my 'to read' pile, but i found myself re-reading Scott Pilgrim 4. Scott pilgrim is sooooo good. i love it. i own 2 copies of 1-4 so that i can always lend it to people and still have it on hand to read when i want. Everyone who reads it loves it. #4 is my favourite and i find that each one is better than the previous volume. on Bryan Lee O'Malley's site he says that he isn't currently selling original Scott pilgrim art at this time, check back in early Feb. 2008. Well, O'malley? what's up? there is a lot of O'Malley art available @ the Beguiling art store, but not much Pilgrim stuff. I'm not even a huge original art collector, but i really want some pages from #4. actually, from any volume, i like so many.

on another note, like a lot of other people, i got an email from Around Comics saying that the show is going on an unexpected hiatus. this was a bit of a shock to me, cuz Around has been one of my favourite podcasts. i gotta be honest, i wasn't a huge fan of the monday show format change. i prefer the roundtable, and especially the way Tom Caters & Skottie Young play off of the more professional Chris & Sal. but it is all good, i heard that Skottie & Tom are gonna be doing their own podcasts. AND Skotties is gonna be called 'the Devil & Me'. this pleases me greatly. i think Skottie is fuckin' hilarious and we're both huge fans of the band 'Clutch'. 'the Devil & Me ' is the name of a badass Clutch song and most likely where Skottie took the name from. good stuff Young-boy.

while i'm talking Clutch, i gotta say that they are my favourite band, and i can't wait until their show @ the Phoenix Concert theatre (FEB. 24 2008). last year we saw them at the Opera House and i got too drunk, and i wasn't able to enjoy a good chunk towards the end. if you haven't heard Clutch, check out anything from their last three albums, 'Blast Tyrant', 'Robot Hive/Exodus', or 'From Beale St. to Oblivion'. do it. you won't hear them on the radio (especially in Toronto), but you'll be happy you discovered their 'moustache/camaro' hard rock.