Yay for new things!

KingMob · Post by **KingMob** » Tue May 17, 2005 10:24 am

Having just come off terrible nightshift and then being confronted by slightly bewildering levels of po-faced inanity, I decided to dive out and buy some new shiny things. Because shiny things are ace. And any excuse, basically.

They are all excellent and so if anyone was thinking about them, I recommend them very much; in particular -

- the new System of a Down album; possibly the best 'first listen' album I've come across in a long time, and there are several stand-out tracks that beg for repeated listening. Haven't had time to fully appreciate the album as a whole or fully work out all the lyrics, but the usual elements of clever worldplay, impassioned social/political stances, rude words and plain silly happy fun are all present. It's nice when a song makes you burst out laughing, but in a good way, with happiness, don't you think?

- Punisher: The Cell. And possibly the best Punisher comic I've ever read. It's a special, and even if you don't buy the monthly, I'd still recommend it. Punisher isn't everyone's cup of tea of course, and this issue is pretty disturbing, even more so than the usual 'serious' Punisher tales. But it's a thoughtful story accessible to all and is, strangely enough, a pretty provoking morality tale. Garth Ennis...best Punisher writer ever?

- Desolation Jones #1. Warren Ellis comic, it's ace. Mad crazy ideas, mad crazy Brit spy trapped in Los Angeles as main character, one of the very best artists in the bizness in the shape of J.H. Williams III. I know peeps here read Ellis, so won't push this, but if you're waiting for the trade it's 18 months minimum till the first one, it's a bimonthly comic.

And the Soundblaster reissue which I won't go into much detail over here, but it's nice and hey, Ravage! Rawarrr.

Isn't it nice to be able to buy nice shiny things? I feel very thankful I can spend money on meself, I do.

Anyone else had any nice recent buys they'd like to enthuse over or recommend?

Post by **Best First** » Tue May 17, 2005 10:30 am

sadly i am having to restrict myself as i am now essentially living in a work flat and so need to limit the amounts of crap i already have.

Sounds fun tho.

oh, except comics - New Avengers continues to be utter genius.

And Wanted deserves a second mention - its like Dilbert for psychotics.

Snowcat · Post by **Snowcat** » Tue May 17, 2005 10:39 am

Ennis might be good at Punisher, but he had a good go at messing up Dredd.

~shuddertwitch at the cackness of Emerald Isle~

KingMob · Post by **KingMob** » Tue May 17, 2005 10:55 am

Wanted is very good, I bought the TPB but haven't read it yet. Read the singles though.

New Avengers really that good? Hmmm. Will have to consider it then. I was all over Bendis until a really bad issue of Powers and the lacklustre transformation of Alias into the Pulse just put me off.

Ennis didn't do Dredd that well, no, but I will say that I did like a lot of his stuff at the time. Even Judge Joyce. And the Spud Gun! What were it's settings? 'Chips' and 'Mash'.

Except maybe Judgement Day. I recall thinking that was mostly pants.
Pretty much everything else he's written is fried gold tho; esp. Preacher and Hitman. Hitman is really rather good, esp once it gets going...the last 30 or so issues of that are just phenomenal stuff for a mainstream DCU book.

Where would be the best place to start with Dilbert? Sadly I have not really read any but have ready access to lots of stuff at my work.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:04 am

I'm up to Volume 7 (of 9) of Preacher by the way. Bloody brilliant!

Snowcat · Post by **Snowcat** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:05 am

I reckon there`s only really Mills and Wagner that can write Dredd properly, so maybe I`m giving Ennis a hard time.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue May 17, 2005 8:12 pm

Well, I just bought the new SoaD, and it it's absolutely fanfrickingtastic. As King Mob said, great first listen. The first time I looked at iTunes after putting it in, I saw I was already on track 5, and I was soooo dissapointed that five tracks were already over.

Ozz · Post by **Ozz** » Tue May 17, 2005 8:47 pm

KingMob wrote:Desolation Jones #1. Warren Ellis comic, it's ace. Mad crazy ideas, mad crazy Brit spy trapped in Los Angeles as main character, one of the very best artists in the bizness in the shape of J.H. Williams III. I know peeps here read Ellis, so won't push this, but if you're waiting for the trade it's 18 months minimum till the first one, it's a bimonthly comic.

Is it another limited series, or something which might last longer?

Crazy Brit spy in America sounds like fun. I like William Gravel, this one might be cool, too.

KingMob · Post by **KingMob** » Tue May 17, 2005 8:51 pm

It's ongoing with no set finishing date/number as far as I know. Only clue is that he's said he wants it to be a bit 'transmet-ish'. But considering it's bimonthly I don't expect 60 issues of it. Maybe 3 years worth?
It's obv not as in-yer-face graphic as the Gravel books, but is in the same territory of whacked-out spy stuff. There is action but Jones is more like Spider than Gravel. All reviews on the net are positive.

Re-read Wanted (nice extras in the TPB) and got a good laugh from its conclusion again, extra-loud this time considering this topic. Good stuff.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed May 18, 2005 2:41 am

Snowcat wrote:Ennis might be good at Punisher, but he had a good go at messing up Dredd.

I rather liked his tale, Judgement Day, personally. Then again, there's very little Dredd that I don't at least moderately enjoy. Which is more than I can say for a certain blue and red clad webslinger...

jboyler · Post by **jboyler** » Wed May 18, 2005 4:27 am

My PSP is my new appendage.

And as for comics, I've been very impressed so far. I'm really waiting to find out more about the Sentry, because I loved the original graphic novel and I'm so happy that he's been accepted into the regular Marvel U.

-J

Post by **Best First** » Wed May 18, 2005 9:43 am

jboyler wrote:
And as for comics, I've been very impressed so far.

yes, the way they combine words and pics is great isn't it?

Introducing the Sentry is indeed v cool... but does that mean The Void may also be on his way back?

saysadie · Post by **saysadie** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:51 am

Not exactly bought, but... shiny new (to me... and it's shared, but that's not a bad thing) aparrrrtment in ze city!

Wooooooooooooooooooooooo! So looking forward to getting my ass out of here. Another week to go before I can officially tell anyone "I'm leaving", though... hand in notice at work and everything... but ack.

No money to be spent on anything other than essentials til I find a new job unfortunately. But so worth it, I'm telling you.

Goodbye dirt roads and tractors once again. And for [composite word including 'f*ck']'s sake, about time.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Thu May 19, 2005 8:11 am

Congrats Sadie.

Post by **Best First** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:10 am

aye.

KingMob · Post by **KingMob** » Thu May 19, 2005 9:11 am

That's awesome, Sadie. Congrats.

Snowcat · Post by **Snowcat** » Thu May 19, 2005 10:18 am

More new stuff. The Constructicons from Tesco. And very spangly they are too.

Post by **Denyer** » Sun May 22, 2005 3:08 am

KingMob wrote:Hitman is really rather good, esp once it gets going...the last 30 or so issues of that are just phenomenal stuff for a mainstream DCU book.

They're certainly out there.