I broke the Buy Nothing Year this week *GASP*
I'd been bending the rules with my whole "store credit" at the comics shop but, yeah, this was a flagrant violation of the rules.
I went for a haircut the other day (the flowing locks are gone, now I'm all naval crewman), and the barber just happens to be across the street from BMV, a local discount/used/seconds bookstore retailer which I frequented when I was living in BOBTown (since it was also on the path on my way home). BMV has not just used DVDs and books and discounted books, but also comics and trades, you know, my weakness?
So I went in to look to see if they had any Planet Hulk or World War Hulk trade paperbacks (as Marvel often releases a glut of trades whenever a movie comes out, and Aden and I wanted to read up on some of the more interesting recent Hulk events after seeing the movie.. and since Aden was also interested in reading them as much as I, I could cheat and say they were a gift for her). They DID have some Hulk trades (and Iron Man, and a whole bunch of various Civil War and other overstocked Marvel titles) but not what I was looking for. What I did find, however, was the first two trades of DMZ for half-price (+$1) and the Hitman/JLA 2-issue miniseries which I missed late last year at half price (+$0.50), all told came to just under $20. I can't resist a bargain, especially since I've been wanting to read DMZ for some time and my Hitman collection felt incomplete without the recent mini.
Well, Adrienne feigned shock, and appropriately chided me on my cave-in, stating she didn't even want to read DMZ so I couldn't even justify it (nope, I caved due to sheer greed and my bargain shopping sensibilities. There is a pang of guilt associated with breaking my own flexible BNY rules, but I'm still happy I got those trades at a really good price. And Aden just read Brian Wood's The New York Four (which will be reviewed on Rack Raids in the next day or two) and liked it so maybe she'll be receptive to his other works and I can "write off" the DMZ purchases.
JLA/Hitman on the other hand, I just plain regret. Awfully written (Ennis made Superman out to be a child, Batman to be an a-hole, Wonder Woman a moralistic prude, Green Lantern a wimp, and the Flash an even bigger a-hole than Batman if you can believe it... pitting them all into Deus Ex Machinas that the characters should never get into), and ugly (John McCrea's never been a particularly clean or attractive artist, but this is borderline unreadable slop). A lot of fandom and reviewers, so jubilant to see Ennis return to one of his best creations, were excessively lenient on this book, and praised it as a great extension to the main Hitman series. Nope, it's utter wankery, putting Tommy Monaghan as the if not ethically, then morally superior character in the story. Plus, do you think Clark Kent is ever going to tell a story like this to anyone other than a fellow hero or his wife or mother? Come on! Like that reporter wouldn't see through the spectacled disguise the instant Clark started telling the story (and so much of it not from his own perspective). Bad character work and sloppy framing sequence, and generally intolerable writing all around.
Wow, somehow this confession turned into a review. Anyway... I cracked, I caved and I should be good for another 5.5 months now.
(of course, I'm getting those DC Infinite Heroes action figures for the stepson... yeah... for him... and the new Millenium Falcon too (it's almost bloody 3 feet long!).
I'd been bending the rules with my whole "store credit" at the comics shop but, yeah, this was a flagrant violation of the rules.
I went for a haircut the other day (the flowing locks are gone, now I'm all naval crewman), and the barber just happens to be across the street from BMV, a local discount/used/seconds bookstore retailer which I frequented when I was living in BOBTown (since it was also on the path on my way home). BMV has not just used DVDs and books and discounted books, but also comics and trades, you know, my weakness?
So I went in to look to see if they had any Planet Hulk or World War Hulk trade paperbacks (as Marvel often releases a glut of trades whenever a movie comes out, and Aden and I wanted to read up on some of the more interesting recent Hulk events after seeing the movie.. and since Aden was also interested in reading them as much as I, I could cheat and say they were a gift for her). They DID have some Hulk trades (and Iron Man, and a whole bunch of various Civil War and other overstocked Marvel titles) but not what I was looking for. What I did find, however, was the first two trades of DMZ for half-price (+$1) and the Hitman/JLA 2-issue miniseries which I missed late last year at half price (+$0.50), all told came to just under $20. I can't resist a bargain, especially since I've been wanting to read DMZ for some time and my Hitman collection felt incomplete without the recent mini.
Well, Adrienne feigned shock, and appropriately chided me on my cave-in, stating she didn't even want to read DMZ so I couldn't even justify it (nope, I caved due to sheer greed and my bargain shopping sensibilities. There is a pang of guilt associated with breaking my own flexible BNY rules, but I'm still happy I got those trades at a really good price. And Aden just read Brian Wood's The New York Four (which will be reviewed on Rack Raids in the next day or two) and liked it so maybe she'll be receptive to his other works and I can "write off" the DMZ purchases.
JLA/Hitman on the other hand, I just plain regret. Awfully written (Ennis made Superman out to be a child, Batman to be an a-hole, Wonder Woman a moralistic prude, Green Lantern a wimp, and the Flash an even bigger a-hole than Batman if you can believe it... pitting them all into Deus Ex Machinas that the characters should never get into), and ugly (John McCrea's never been a particularly clean or attractive artist, but this is borderline unreadable slop). A lot of fandom and reviewers, so jubilant to see Ennis return to one of his best creations, were excessively lenient on this book, and praised it as a great extension to the main Hitman series. Nope, it's utter wankery, putting Tommy Monaghan as the if not ethically, then morally superior character in the story. Plus, do you think Clark Kent is ever going to tell a story like this to anyone other than a fellow hero or his wife or mother? Come on! Like that reporter wouldn't see through the spectacled disguise the instant Clark started telling the story (and so much of it not from his own perspective). Bad character work and sloppy framing sequence, and generally intolerable writing all around.
Wow, somehow this confession turned into a review. Anyway... I cracked, I caved and I should be good for another 5.5 months now.
(of course, I'm getting those DC Infinite Heroes action figures for the stepson... yeah... for him... and the new Millenium Falcon too (it's almost bloody 3 feet long!).