Saturday, April 29, 2006

I pulled Dan Slott´s THING !!!


Friday was a very busy day which began with my contact person at the job agency calling me on the phone and throwing me out of bed at high noon. Now I know what you are thinking : Oh, that´s so typical all this unemployed slackers stay in bed the whole day. Which in my case is the result of a ton of difficulties I had with the job agency because they didn´t want to pay me and they were always basical-ly treatening me like some kind of criminal.

Now if you have a lot of problems that is not really good for your sleep be-cause you lie awake for hours phanta-sizing about blowing up the job agency and killing every single employee in the most painful way ( or maybe that´s just me ) and when you finally get to sleep it is very late. Since I almost always had troubles with the job agency my body has now fallen into a sleeping pattern that requires that I am absolutely exhausted before I go to bed which is one of the reasons why I write this blog so late at night ( or early in the morning depending how you see it ). I tried to break this routine four times already by staying awake one whole day and going to bed at a normal time. But after a few days the old sleeping pattern emerged again. All I achieved was being extra tired for three days because I lost 8 hours of sleep and had to regain them through the week.

So my job person had called and told me that one of the 1 EURO jobs I had ap-plied for and which was already occupied at that time was free again. If you are from America you may not know what an 1 EURO job is. Think slave labor that is support-ed by the state. Basically it is an easy way for politicians to fake the unemploy-ment statistics. Not that I´m against the idea of people who have no job at the moment doing something useful with their time. But why not give them real jobs ? This way politicians are only creating a new kind of cheap slaves and before long they will start to replace real jobs.

I mean who will hire a normal worker if he can get somebody to do the same work for 1 EURO an hour ? No, I think this is just one stupid idea in a long line of stupid ideas. This way the pressure on workers and the job market will only grow. I mean it will not be long before you will always have a little voice in your head that says : Somebody is willing to do your job for far less.

Anyway, on Friday I had to go to the bank, renew the lottery ticket, buy two new folders, make some photo copies for my ap-plications, complete my applications, go to the post office to send the applica-tions, buy eucalyp-tus drops for my cough, get money from the bank, drop by the comic shop.....and if all that is not enough to search the whole town of Ludwigs-burg to find the Christian Believecenter ( I know that´s not a very good translation but I didn´t name it and Faithcenter doesn´t sound much better ).

On the map it looked like it was just near the station but I found out that in reality it is at the outskirts of another part of town. What looked like a nice stroll through my home town turned quickly into one of the most grueling marches in the history of mankind leaving me physically and mentally near the point of breakdown. Of course there were no signs which was the reason why I not only had to follow the three longest streets of Ludwigsburg I also overshoot my destination for about 1 kilometer and had to double back. That was also the reason why I finally found it because it is only visible from a far distance when you are coming from the opposit direction. So I had to walk for two hours only to find out that, no, there was no open job. All the suffering for nothing. I only wanted to go home. And that´s the reason that I´m writing this the following day.

Like I said I was at the comicshop and I got some comics from my pull list :

FIN FANG FOUR 1 There´s just one reason I bought this issue : Roger Langridge. I discovered his work in Paradox Press BIG BOOK OF URBAN LEGENDS where he drew my favorite story ( which even was an in an episode of X-FACTOR the tv series where they said it was a true story - even Hollywood can fall victim to urban legends ). Almost any comic from him is worth the money except this strange one where he also wrote the stories. Don´t remember the name ( maybe it was ZOOT ) but it was like watching a train wreck. Fing Fang Four on the other hand is a really nice story. Not the comic of the century but an entertaining read for all fans of Roger.

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  • THE THING 1 - 4 Okay, I´ve been writing about it a few times now I finally did it. I pulled Dan Slott´s THING ! Man, that should be a t-shirt. For the last three months every time I was at the comic shop I´ve been flipping through the pages and thinking about buying the issues. And now I finally decided to take a chance with this series. Because dammit, I want to read issue 8 which is the big poker game issue ! And if I expect others to buy it I have to lead by example, right ? I have already read the first two issues and so far it is really good. The character-isation is spot on ( not like in She Hulk ) and while Dan Slott had problems with depicting the Great Lake Avengers as cool guys in their own series that´s not the case with good ol Benji. Everybody knows he´s a big star just oozing of coolness. The art by Andrea Di Vito is brilliant as usual.

    Issue 1 / Issue 3 / Issue 4

    RED SONJA 8 + 9 I´m still struggling with this series. I´m not a big fan of this new " from pencils directly to color " trend which can be good like in ORIGIN but normally it just looks to me like they didn´t have time to finish the comic. That was one of the reasons why I stopped buying the new CONAN series from Dark Horse and it may be this series final nail in the coffin. The variant covers are nice and all but it´s not that big of a plus if you don´t get the ones you like best. And I´m still not over the fact that Marvel HAD to change her origin to make her more of a stereotype. It wasn´t good enough to have a woman who is so good with a blade that she would only sleep with somebody who had bested her in combat because otherwise he wouldn´t be worthy of her. No, they have to give her a dramatic and " realistic " background and turn her into yet another woman motivated by rape. And the new origin doesn´t even make sense. Why should a female deity give her special powers because she was raped on the condition that IF a man bests her in combat she looses her powers ? Is that not destined to bring her into a position were she will get raped again ? I don´t think that goddess really likes Red Sonja. Maybe she was just fed up with all the prayers and said : " I know how to shut you up, bitch. I´m giving you powers but you always have to prove you deserve them. And on the one bad day when you really need me I´m going to desert you and make sure you get raped all over again. And all I´m going to do is watch. " So for now the series is on the chopping block if the stories don´t improve a lot.

    TAROT WITCH OF THE RED ROSE 36 + 37 While I was no big fan of Jim Balent´s work on Catwoman I really like TAROT. My brother initially read the series and when he thought about cancelling it I read the issues. And I really liked the mix of gothic horror, comedy, porn, female empowering magic and action. So I transfered it to my pull list. I´m not sure if I have read the issue before these two issues ( I´m sure I studied the pictures ). I know, it´s not the right cover but I don´t have any other.

    100 BULLETS 71 Always a good read. One of the few comic books by Vertigo with good art. Check it out for yourself !

  • Issue 65
  • / Issue 66 / Issue 67 / Issue 68 / Issue 69 / Issue 70 / Issue 71

    STRANGERS IN PARADISE 81 ( 9 to final issue ) I just hate it when good series end. Especially when I have followed the series for a few years and have the feeling to know the main character intimately like on Alan Davis´EXCALIBUR ( which would have ten times as much if the title had been X-CALIBUR ). So it is a bittersweet read.

    CAPTAIN AMERICA 17 So far the story with the Red Skull´s daughter is interesting especially the part AIM plays in it. I wonder what it is they need Cap´s help with. Hmmm.

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  • SQUADRON SUPREME 2 Officially back on the pull list. No slips in quality so far to the old series. Only time will tell if it stays that way.

    EXILES 79 ( Paul Pelletier is back !!! ) Finally....the Paul has come back.....to EXILES !!! Don´t you just love the Rock´s catch phrases ? This is the first issue by regular artist Paul Pelletier so I can finally start to read the series. I´m exited to see if I wasted the money I´ve invested so far or if the series is as good as I expect after NEGATION.

    That was this installation of my pull list. Next topic : the secret conspiracy of the gay community for world domination.

    New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN :

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