Fast Thoughts - The Week of 3/25/09

And The Rest...



CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #9 - First of all, let me say how happy I am to see Joseph Michael Linsner doing the covers instead of Frank Cho. Amazingly, given Linsner's skill with drawing beautiful, voluptuous women and reputation as a cheesecake artist first and foremost, he has not descended into the depths of fan-service that Cho did in his capacity as a cover artist for this title. Good on you sir!

Things continue on much as they did from the last issue, with Conan continuing to adjust to life as a soldier and getting a Klingon Promotion to an officer position with the front-line troops who usually suffer the heaviest losses. Naturally this suits Conan just fine.

This issue - as with the one before - is setting the ground for an adaptation of the classic Robert Howard story Black Colossus. So far things are looking very promising and I can't wait until the next issue, when we will hopefully get to see one of my favorite moments in the entire Conan mythos portrayed.


KULL #5 - A week late but I finally got it. And I want this as a regular series to go alongside Conan.

Kull often gets accused of being a proto-Conan. But while Howard did revise his last unsold Kull story ("By This Axe, I Rule!") into his very first Conan tale ("The Phoenix On The Sword"), the two were remarkably different heroes and two very different kings. While Conan gives only a cursory interest to the matters of civilization after his ascension to the throne, Kull throws himself into truly understanding every aspect of the new world he has entered into. Kull believes there are things he does not understand and must strive to do so, even as he strives to temper his warlike nature. Conan, on the other hand, is more than willing to reduce that which he does not understand to a simpler level - by the point of a sword if necessary.

I can say little about this story, save that coming as it does as a continuation of a classic Kull story it does an admirable job of fitting the Howard style and that I will be sorry to see it go next month.


JACK OF FABLES #32 - More aftermath from the destruction of Mister Revise's concentration camp for Fables and a number of disturbing revelations. The least disturbing of which is the fact that Jack is apparently the bastard son of Prince Charming and a half-literal. Who is the mom? Well, that would be telling and giving away the most glorious joke in the whole book. I've said it before and I'll say it again - if you aren't reading this book by now, you should be.


WONDER WOMAN #30 - THIS is the issue of Wonder Woman we were all waiting for when it was announced that Gail Simone was taking over the book. Because this issue, more than anything that has been done with the character in Simone's run - or indeed, any Wonder Woman story I've ever read - has established just how awesome a character Wonder Woman is and how utterly badass (for lack of a better word) she should be portrayed as being.

It all comes down to one four-page spread in which Diana...

1) arrives on the doorstep of a Secret Society of Supervillains hideout in Gotham City.

2) takes out a tank waiting for her in the lobby by throwing the front door at it

3) causes Felix Faust, upon witnessing this, to declare "I'm out" before he teleports away from the building as quickly as possible. Let me say that again: the sight of an angry Wonder Woman terrified a man who deals with demons on a regular basis.

4) takes down Shrapnel - a man of living scrap metal - in about five seconds

5) causes Phobia - a woman with the power to cause others to hallucinate their worst fears as reality - to have a panic attack without even touching her.

6) apologizes to T.O. Morrow for the damage to the building, as he whines that he built it to withstand a nuclear blast... just before throwing a scrap of metal INTO the wall next to Morrow noting "You might want this back then. I think it was the steering wheel."

More please. :)