Buy my comics, make me rich: AMAZONS ATTACK #6

It's out Wednesday, the grand finale of the six-part let's-destroy-Washington action-packed epic. Here's the cover, by Pete Woods...

Any comments, he asked innocently?

Hey! Where's the circle?

I was wasting time on the Web and this image from Journalista caught my eye, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's the cover of the upcoming Comics Journal, featuring a twist on the standard Power Girl portrait from master cartoonist Darwyn Cooke...

Nice, eh? There's a Cooke interview inside, too, and given what he's had to say in previous discussions of the comics industry, it's bound to be interesting. I'd rate his NEW FRONTIER as one of the best comics of the last decade or so, and if you've got the cash to spare, I'd highly recommend picking up the Absolute edition. The art looks even better at a bigger size, and Cooke's extensive and humorous annotations at the end are worth the price of admission. It goes without saying that his CATWOMAN stories -- SELINA'S BIG SCORE and THE DARK END OF THE STREET -- are what got me interested in the character in the first place, and with every issue I write I try to include some of the fun and energy he put into every panel.

Sad to see Cooke leave THE SPIRIT (he might be just about the only artist/writer who could handle that notoriously tricky assignment -- though I'd like to see Dave Gibbons take a crack at it), but I'm glad he'll have some creator-owned stuff hitting the shelves. He's one of those guys I'd buy no matter what he's doing.

But we're going back again in a couple of weeks...

Everyone knows Friday marked the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis, but do you know who died 30 years ago Sunday? Groucho Marx, that's who, and I'd rate him as a cultural icon on the level of Elvis himself.

The first Marx Brothers movie I saw was ANIMAL CRACKERS, which was apparently out of circulation for a long time, then was made available again sometime in the late 1970s, and was shown on TV (in prime time, yet!) with plenty of hype and advance warning. I'd heard of the Marxes, of course, and seen photos and cartoon images of them, so I was pretty jazzed to see it. And though ANIMAL CRACKERS isn't their best movie (it's good, don't get me wrong, but like its predecessor THE COCOANUTS, it's too locked into the standard Hollywood template, with an deadly dull subplot involving young lovers) it was a revelation for my young mind (I must've been 11 or 12 at the time). With Chico's phony Italian accent, Harpo's silent insanity and -- especially -- Groucho's brilliant wordplay, this was one of the rare movies I've seen that exceeded my expectations.

And so, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the death of the late Julius Henry Marx, here's one of his finest onscreen moments -- Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding's thrilling recounting of his adventures on safari. The jokes may be old (and, let's be honest, they were old back in 1930, when this movie was released), but the delivery is still perfect.

Buy my comics, make me rich: CATWOMAN #70, AMAZONS ATTACK #5 ... and CATWOMAN: IT'S ONLY A MOVIE

By now, you should know the drill. Here's what hits the stands today with my name in the "writer" spot. First off is CATWOMAN #70, which finishes off the "Life During Wartime" two-parter and ties up Selina's involvement in the larger "Amazons Attack" event. Here's the cover, featuring another great Adam Hughes portrait of our lovely leading lady...

And speaking of AMAZONS ATTACK, the penultimate issue of that mini-series hits the stands Wednesday, with script by yours truly and art by the ever-amazing Pete Woods. Here's the cover, by Mr. Woods himself.

In this issue, events stampede toward the big, big ending, so if you liked what's come before, I think you'll get a bang out of this one. If not, well then, be sure to complain about it in the comments section. All I ask is that you actually buy the book.

And, in a completely not-related-in-any-way-to-AMAZONS ATTACK release, the second trade paperback collection of my CATWOMAN run arrives in stores tomorrow. Titled "It's Only A Movie," it collects issues #59-#65, including the Film Freak (aka "It's Only A Movie") and "The Paperweight" storylines, plus the single issue where we learn the fate of the father of the baby of Selina. I'm proud of all these issues, and think they read well in one single volume. Plus, it'll look great on your shelf next to the REPLACEMENTS collection.

Hey, you know who likes AMAZONS ATTACK?

Donna Troy, that's who.


And she'd know, right?

Wizard World, After Hours

It's late, we're headed into the last day of Wizard World '07 and there's plenty I could write about -- how I finally got a chance to hang out with Patrick Gleason, who drew my brief AQUAMAN run back in 2005 (and who I haven't seen since before we actually started our stint on the book); how I had a swell time talking comics and pop cult with the guys from Around Comics and John Siuntres of Word Balloon, a couple of great Chicago-based podcasts; or how jealous my wife is because DC's Saturday afternoon DARK KNIGHT panel actually featured appearances by Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman and, yes, Christian Bale. But let's be honest: The only thing people curious about this con really care about is how the new bar over at the Hyatt measure up to its predecessor, the overpriced, overcrowded, overloud sports bar "Knuckles," lovingly nicknamed "Fisters" for reasons obvious to anyone who every had to pay for a drink there.

Contradicting earlier reports, I'm going to give the new bar -- called The Red Bar -- a thumbs up. Yes, it lacks the raucous ambience and Golden Tee Golf Game of Knuckles, but it's also a lot more open. It's in a new, more central location, spilling out into the second-floor lobby area and making it much easier to (a) find a seat, (b) have an actual conversation and (c) get a drink. Sure, with $13 martinis you won't get one cheap, but beers are a normally obscenely expensive $5 or so. Hell, any enterprising young alcholic comic book fan should be able to figure out a way to bring his (or her) own suds into the bar area, thus saving plenty of money for buying varient covers and pogs at the show the next day.

On Saturday night -- the traditionally biggest boozing night of the show -- the place was pretty crowded without being fire-code-violatin' like Knuckles tended to get. Plus, thanks to the presence of a couple of guys in suits near the entrance selling beer, you could easily obtain a nice cold overpriced bottle of run-of-the-mill beer for your very own within seconds. This, as anyone who spent the entire con weekend waiting to be served at Knuckles knows, is no small improvement. And apparently, the Red Bar was having an effect on business at the Sofitel lobby bar, which had become the de factor drinking-and-talking location in recent years. The place was sparsely populated late Saturday night (aka early Sunday morning) while the Hyatt was still hopping.

Hope this review proves useful to all would-be drunkards planning to join us here for Wizard World '08. Bottoms up, true believers!

Preview of a coming attraction

I'm here in beautiful Rosemont, Illinois, getting ready to head over to the Wizard World convention, but first, I thought I'd give you all a treat and share the just-released trailer for yet another movie I'm looking forward to, Michel Gondry's BE KIND, REWIND, starring Jack Black and Mos Def. As far as I'm concerned, my ticket was purchased as soon as I heard those opening notes from the GHOSTBUSTERS theme...



Looks good, eh? Damn right. Tune in later for (hopefully) posts actually related to the convention.

Got plans for the weekend?

If you don't -- and don't tell me you'll be waiting in line for tickets to RUSH HOUR 3 -- and you happen to be in the greater Chicago area, why not stop by Wizard World Chicago and wallow in several dozen acres* of comics and comic-related ephemera?

I'll be there, of course, hanging out at the DC booth and signing copies of whatever comic anyone slides in front of me. CATWOMAN? Sure. AMAZONS ATTACK? You bet. HERO, AQUAMAN or -- bless your heart -- FINALS? Be glad to. Or if you just want to stop by and say "hi," hell, get out to Rosemont and make my day. Why else would I spend a whole weekend in a noisy, stuffy convention center? Dammit, if I have to be there, so do you.

Actually, it's a lot of fun. And really, do you have anything better to do?

Me neither! See you there.

* This is a rough estimate at best.

It's a miracle, I tells ya -- a miracle!

The show's been cancelled, but apparently ABC has some timeslots to fill, so for the next few weeks, the best sitcom in years, THE KNIGHTS OF PROSPERITY, will hit the airwaves once again. Tune in tonight (that's Wednesday) at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. (that's Central Standard -- your times may vary). These are episodes that never aired, featuring our intrepid band of thieves trying to rip off Ray Romano. I've written about the brilliance of KNIGHTS here, here and here (oh, and here, too), but if my golden prose can't convince you, maybe this clip can...



"Maybe we could go with something plural" -- c'mon, America! That's funny stuff! Please, if every single person reading this blog told every single person they'd ever met to tune in, then if they each all wrote a letter to ABC and then told 10 random strangers apiece to do the same, maybe we could save this great little show.

Hey, a guy can dream, can't he?