IT BEGINS!

It's the podcast event of the summer! Check out Part 1 of the Pittsburgh Podcast Crossover with CBP, Audioshocker and Yamagato Industries Business Report, affectionately known as "YIBR".

R.I.P. Jeremy Mullins

The comics world suffered a loss recently as Jeremy Mullins, professor of Sequential Art at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and host of the SEQALAB Podcast, died on Saturday.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and the entire SCAD community.

Pittsburgh Podcast Crossover!

Every summer you can always count on big events; major concerts, big-budget popcorn flicks, fairs & festivals, etc.

Well this summer, the Comic Book Pitt is participating in a different kind of "big event"; we're teaming up with two other Pittsburgh podcasts, AudioShocker and Yamagoto, for a mega-episode.

We'll be recording live at Phantom of the Attic on Sunday June 14th at 12:00pm. Come on by and say hi and see how we make beautiful internet magic. You might even win a AudioShocker t-shirt!

New Comics for 4/1

Happy April Fool's Day! It just occurred to me that if Marvel should have solicited Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine #3 for today to see if fans thought it was a joke or if the issue was really going to come out.

So here's what I'm planning on getting today. Strangely enough, my list is very DC-heavy this week...

FLASH REBIRTH #1 $3.99 - I wasn't planning on getting this title because I think Barry Allen should stay dead. There were a couple of reasons though, why I changed my mind. One, it's only 5 issues. Two, I want to see what Geoff Johns, who is a very accomplished writer and one I trust, is going to do with a character that hasn't been relevant for over 20 years.

HAUNTED TANK #5 $2.99 - Last issue for this modern war tale/ghost story from Vertigo Comics. Still enjoying the heck out of it, but now that it's over I want to reread all 5 issues.

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #25 $2.99 - I could be coming to the end of this title. It's been great for a long time, but the last few story arcs have been kind of confusing and leaving me feeling flat.

MIGHTY #3 $2.99 - I hope this book continues to find an audience and get support, but unfortunately books like these, with new or unknown characters, don't usually last long.

JERSEY GODS #3 $3.50 - Everyone should check this book out. Fun, fun, fun.

AGENTS OF ATLAS #3 $2.99 - See above.

GI JOE #4 $3.99 - GI JOE: ORIGINS and GI JOE: COBRA are really knocking it out of the park, making the main book look like it's standing still. That being said GI JOE is still a lot of fun and very true to the spirit of the original GI JOE.

Waiting For The Trade - Desperadoes: A Moment's Sunlight

We didn't record a show this week since we just recorded an episode the previous Saturday at Time Tunnel Comics. I was kinda jonesing to talk about some comics so I decided to review a recently purchased trade paperback in a blog feature I'm calling "Waiting For The Trade".



Desperadoes: A Moment's Sunlight, was originally published by Image/Homage Comics in 1997-1998 as a 5-issue miniseries, written by novelist Jeff Mariotte and art by a pre-Planetary, pre-Astonishing X-Men John Cassaday. The story hearkens back to old pulp adventures that also successfully mixes the Old West genre with the horror genre.

Wrongly accused and on the run from the law in the late 1800's, four unlikely allies (a former Texas Ranger, an emancipated slave turned Buffalo Soldier, an ex-prostitute and a Pinkerton detective from Chicago) search for a serial killer who is ritualistically skinning half-breed children and slaughtering their mothers. The quartet desperately tries to find a way to stop the mysterious killer and also stop a potential war between white settlers and vicious Indian tribes.



I'll be honest, I bought this book for two reasons; it was half off the cover price and the John Cassaday art. I love Cassaday's work overall, but his earlier work I think I enjoy more for some reason (I urge you to read his and Ben Raab's Union Jack miniseries if you need further evidence). As far as Jeff Mariotte goes, I've heard of him, but never read any of his work. A majority of his work lies in novels, specifically for many licensed properties such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, CSI, Charmed, and Star Trek, just to name a few.

I thought A Moment's Sunlight was okay, the Western elements were well done; the look of the characters, the dialogue, and the more historical elements were all spot-on. In some parts, the story felt a little rushed, especially the end of the fourth issue which seemed anti-climatic considering the fifth issue was a one-shot story which had absolutely nothing to do with the previous four issues. Also, it didn't seem like they gave enough time to the horror aspect of the story because there were many characters that needed their stories told.

So, to close this one out, the Cassaday art is the real draw (no pun intended), the story is good and a fun romp, but it does fall short in some areas. It's worth picking it up if you can find it on the cheap.

New Comics

It's a good week for comics, definitely a nice variety of books I'm picking up this week:

REBELS #2 $2.99
SIMON DARK #18 $2.99
CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #11 $2.99
GHOST RIDER #33 $2.99
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #11 $2.99
IMMORTAL IRON FIST #23 $2.99
GI JOE #3 $3.99
HEXED #3 (OF 4) $3.99

Looking at this list I realize that I've talked about almost each of the above titles at least once, but I haven't talked about SIMON DARK, CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 or GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. SIMON DARK is a new title for me so I'll get to that one eventually, but I've been reading CAPTAIN BRITAIN and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY both since issue #1. I think I'm way past due for reviewing both titles on the podcast.

New Releases

It's a pretty big week with a variety of titles coming out. It's weird to see I'm only getting two Marvel books.

HAUNTED TANK #4 (OF 5) (MR) $2.99
MIGHTY #2 $2.99
SECRET SIX #7 $2.99
MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #14 (RES) $3.50
AGENTS OF ATLAS #2 DKR $2.99
DAREDEVIL #116 $2.99
DREAMER #5 $3.99
TERRY MOORES ECHO #10 $3.50

-Dan

Who ya gonna call?

We mentioned the new Ghostbusters game in Episode #14 but I forgot to put the link for the trailer on the site. Rather than edit that episode's post, I thought I'd just blog it.

New Comics!

It's Wednesday, the most special day of the week ever. Here are the titles I'm looking to pick up today:

WALKING DEAD #58 (MR) $2.99
CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #10 $2.99
INCOGNITO #2 (MR) $3.50
THOR #600 $4.99
GI JOE #2 $3.99
HEXED #2 (OF 4) CVR A $3.99

So...

...do you think they're going to go back to Thor's original numbering now that they hit #600?
...it's a good thing that Hexed is only a 4-issue series. Even though I know it's coming, I'm still not ready for to pay four bucks a piece for my comics on a monthly basis.
...since it doesn't indicate "#2 (OF 5)" I wonder if Incognito is open-ended depending on how well it does. Maybe Brubaker will keep it going past it's original run.

Comic Book Pitt Special Edition

When I woke up this morning, little did I know that I'd be in an auditorium listening to Jerry and Mike, creators of the web comic Penny Arcade. Since they were on the east coast for the New York Comicon, they made a stop in Pittsburgh and spent a couple of hours at Carnegie Mellon University where they answered questions from fans and gave their insights into the video game and web comics industries.

I was able to record the Q&A session and it's posted on the Comic Book Pitt website.

New Comics!

Every Wednesday is like Christmas Day for people like me. Even if you know what you're getting, 9 times out of 10 you'll find something at the comic book store that you weren't expecting. So here is what I'm expecting this week:

HAUNTED TANK #3 (OF 5) (MR) $2.99
MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS #13 $3.50
AGENTS OF ATLAS #1 DKR $3.99
IMMORTAL IRON FIST #22 $2.99
SECRET WARRIORS #1 DKR $3.99
DREAMER #4 $3.99

What are you guys getting this week? Any titles you'd like us to talk about? Write in and let us know.

You might be wondering...

...just where the heck is this week's episode. Well the simple answer is that both Scott and I had the exact same prior commitment; attending this month's Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School, an informal drawing group that meets once a month to draw live models and have a lot of fun in the process. This month's theme was 'rejected superheroes', so of course we had to be there. You can see my pics of the event and, more importantly, the models right here. Also, here are some random drawings from various Sketchy nights.

This week's episode will most likely be recorded on Friday, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, comic books stop for no man. Here are the titles that I plan on picking up this week:

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #29 (FOE) $2.99
VIGILANTE #2 (FOE) $2.99
DARK AVENGERS #1 DKR $3.99
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #9 $2.99
PUNISHER FRANK CASTLE MAX #66 (MR) $3.99

Stay warm everyone!
-Dan

Comic books on Friday? Is this Bizarro World?

I hope everyone had a good, safe New Year holiday. I had a good holiday, but I'm ready for things to get back to normal. For example, the delayed comic book shipment due to the holiday means I only have two days to read, reread, absorb, and pick apart my comics before we record on Monday. Plus I'd like to try to fit in a screening of The Spirit, despite all the bad reviews.

Comics I'm getting this week include:

*JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #28 $2.99
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #22 $2.99
*NORTHLANDERS #13 (MR) $2.99
CAPTAIN AMERICA #45 $2.99
GUARDIANS OF GALAXY #8 $2.99
+INCOGNITO #1 (MR) $3.50
++KICK ASS #5 (MR) $2.99
PUNISHER WAR ZONE #4 (OF 6) $3.99
+WOLVERINE #70 $2.99

*Considering dropping these titles
+Can't wait to read
++It's about time!

The complete shipping this for this week can be found here.

-Dan