Pick of the Week Podcast Episode #129 - Hellblazer #243

[ConorKilpatrick]

Blah blah blah comics!

We discuss Josh's Pick of the Week for April 18, 2008:

http://www.ifanboy.com/comics/dc_comics/hellblazer/243/cover-thumb.jpg
Hellblazer #243
by Andy Diggle & Giuseppe Camuncoli
Running Time: 01:02:24

Click here for download info and show notes! (http://www.ifanboy.com/podcasts/audio/04_20_08_-_Episode__129_-_Hellblazer__243)

Click here to read the Pick of the Week review! (http://www.ifanboy.com/content/potw/04_16_2008_-_Hellblazer__243)

Click here to see the iFanboy Mini review! (http://www.ifanboy.com/podcasts/video/iFanboy_Mini_-_Episode__25_-_Pick_of_the_Week___Hellblazer__243)

[Higgledy]

I read Andy Diggles first Hellblazer trade Joyride it was excellent. I'm going to check out some of Diggles other work. This story sounds great and I really like the art style. Itching to get my hands it in trade form.

(I've also gotten into Fables and I'm really enjoying it. Excellent story, characterisation, etc. I love finding comic series I like when there are already 10 or so graphic novels out there so you can just plow (spelt plough in the UK :P) through them.)

Note: The pick of the week review link above leads to the cover thumbnail at the moment

[Mikegraham6]

im not following the Iron Man love. I bought it on a whim last week because i didn't have too many books, but it made little sense to me. I read the recap so i basically understood what the plot was, but i guess since i didn't read the build up, i couldn't really get into the conclusion.

[Darth Kramer]

I keep meaning to read Hellblazer, but I always forget to. I read it years ago when I was basically reading anything with the Vertigo label, but when funds started to dry up, a lot of the Vertigo stuff was the first stuff I dropped. I'll definitely try to pick this issue up sometime in the next couple weeks.

[Higgledy]

I know many people feel Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis are the definitive Hellblazer writers but Mike Carey and Andy Diggle are my favourites by a long, long stretch. Obviously, it's a matter of taste and opinion but if Ellis and Ennis didn't do it for you it's worth giving Carey and Diggle a try. Many of Carey's trades are of the 'edge of your seat,' 'read it in one sitting' variety.

[Labor_Days]

Real talk.

Carey's run on Hellblazer was tres awesome. That was my starting point with the series as well.

[kahunablair]

I meant to start picking Hellblazer up the last time Josh said it was a good jumping on point. Hopefully I'll actually remember to do it come Wednesday!

[Mikegraham6]

so ya, guys, i love the podcast, loved the episode, but i was supremely disappointed with the Battlestar Galactica spoiler. I didn't realize the spoiler warning at the beginning of the show applied to television shows as well. Im halfway through the 3rd season on DVD and this so-called "mind-blowing" season finale may not be so mind-blowing now.

whatever, i guess it's a small price to pay for free entertainment

[JAFlanagan]

so ya, guys, i love the podcast, loved the episode, but i was supremely disappointed with the Battlestar Galactica spoiler. I didn't realize the spoiler warning at the beginning of the show applied to television shows as well. Im halfway through the 3rd season on DVD and this so-called "mind-blowing" season finale may not be so mind-blowing now.

whatever, i guess it's a small price to pay for free entertainment

No offense, but that spoiler is over a year old. After a certain point you can't not talk about things.

***

EDITED to add that this is Conor using Josh's computer. I forgot to sign him off before posting.

[paper]

Yeah, there's a statute of limitations on spoilers. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

[Dave Accampo]

im not following the Iron Man love. I bought it on a whim last week because i didn't have too many books, but it made little sense to me. I read the recap so i basically understood what the plot was, but i guess since i didn't read the build up, i couldn't really get into the conclusion.

That's fair. You can't really expect to "get into the conclusion" when it's the conclusion of something like a 6-part story arc. I mean, reading the recap is good for information, but I don't think that's enough to really "get it."

This arc was definitely Iron Man doing "24." It's a sort of intense, anti-terrorist thriller. It was good. Some of the best IM I've seen in a while. I've got a few minor gripes with the storytelling, but overall it's pretty strong.

Next issue starts an arc by Stuart Moore, but then the Knaufs jump back on. I'd suggest either giving Moore a shot or just waiting for the Knaufs to come back with a new storyline and trying it again.

[Dave Accampo]

I just love these "Feel the Hellblazer love" episodes. :) The books been as strong as it's ever been with Diggle, and I'm happy to see people jumping on and checking it out.

[horatio616]

I disagree with Ron that Girls was too long and The Sword is poorly paced. I read Girls in trade and am reading The Sword in issues and I have a problem with neither. Twenty-four issues is not too many to tell the story in Girls just as 60 is not too many to tell Y: The Last Man. I hope his comments don't do anything to dissuade people from trying Luna Brothers titles.

[Labor_Days]

Yeah, I disagree with Ron as well. I think the Luna Bros are terrific at pacing. The momentum of the first few issues of The Sword had me on the edge of my seat. So much so I just couldn't wait for trade and jumped on issues. The same was true of Girls

Girls was fantastic in that regard. But I guess such impatience is rooted in how much one may want answers to the central mystery of the two series'.

[Mikegraham6]

No offense, but that spoiler is over a year old. After a certain point you can't not talk about things.

***

EDITED to add that this is Conor using Josh's computer. I forgot to sign him off before posting.
fair enough, but i would like to point out the DVD only came out last month......

[Mikegraham6]

I disagree with Ron that Girls was too long and The Sword is poorly paced. I read Girls in trade and am reading The Sword in issues and I have a problem with neither. Twenty-four issues is not too many to tell the story in Girls just as 60 is not too many to tell Y: The Last Man. I hope his comments don't do anything to dissuade people from trying Luna Brothers titles.
Girls read fine in trade, i didn't find it too long either

[kahunablair]

I read Girls in issue form, and I have to agree with Ron a little. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but there were more then a few spots that seemed a bit repetative. I fully understand it was a slow boil, but seriously some moments could have been cut out with no problem.

[Davetron3k]

**Possible Spoilers** (The Sword)

I do agree that this is the most oddly paced issue of series so far. The previous 6 had this kinetic momentum (I thought anyway) stemming from Dara & Company's confusion and disarray at how the brutal act in issue #1 had altered their lives.

From a character standpoint it makes sense seeing as how #6 had them regrouping, collecting and learning what the sword is and what it does. #7 is the "where do we go from here" issue. Do we take this power and hide it, do we heal our urban woes or do we avenge Dimitrius and the rest of Dara's family?

The only problem I had "and this may be a spoiler" is that story-wise, they should have had team sword somehow had a better battle that earned the family's trust before boarding the boat.

[horatio616]

Phil Collins's career is rolling over in its grave.

[CammyKnoxville]

I also disagree with you, Ron! :p

Almost every issue of The Sword usually ends up being one of my picks on my podcast. I think the pacing isn't slow at all, and have been enjoying the series as a whole immensely so far. I haven't read Girls yet, because that giant collected edition is so fucking expensive, but I've heard nothing but good things.

With that being said, I still heart Ron.

[Tad]

Ron, only you can make Flash better. Everything was fine until you outted your Flash karmic debt.

When the balance is restored the Flash will return to greatness.

BTW, what issue was it? It'd be a kick if I had it in the garage.

[Six Gun]

Jonah Hex has been one and dones for the most part

[Six Gun]

Conor, you had me pumping my fists when you laid the smack down on the DC continuity hater.

Nothing pisses me off like en-vogue glibness like "Oh, I hate events" or "Oh, the Multiverse?!?! What a joke!"

Here's a quick hint people, if you're the 20,000th person to say a joke that was dumb to begin with you're certainly not being funny.

[Tad]

Comics and plenty of SF shows have always played with the notions of alternate dimensions. DC numbered some to get some stories out of them.

I always felt that DC continuity was simpler than Marvel's because DC ignored it for the most part while Marvel was religious about it. Continuity is part of what put Marvel on the map, at least soap opera type continuity.

[Labor_Days]

In the words of Rip Hunter...

http://i32.tinypic.com/23sdue8.jpg

[Martin Gray]

Conor, you had me pumping my fists when you laid the smack down on the DC continuity hater.

Nothing pisses me off like en-vogue glibness like "Oh, I hate events" or "Oh, the Multiverse?!?! What a joke!"

Here's a quick hint people, if you're the 20,000th person to say a joke that was dumb to begin with you're certainly not being funny.

How patronising.

I don't see where the idea comes from that someone saying they hate events is them making a joke, trying to be clever, whatever. Couldn't it be that for them, the time, effort and money that goes into collecting hugely long universal crossovers isn't paying off? That they'd rather have a break from them, so creative teams can tell their own stories rather than having to tie into whatever's going on that year?

I was sick of Secret Invasion before it officially began, what with all the foreshadowing and unconvincing panic among the Marvel heroes. Countdown was a year-long irritant. And they're just the most recent examples.

So yeah, count me as someone with crossover fatigue who's not trying to be clever by saying so. It's rubbish to say, as one of the chaps did on the podcast, that events have been going on since the Sixties. Sure, there were summer JLA/JSA team-ups - confined to one book - but what else? Nah, events as we understand them didn't start until Secret Wars and Crisis on Infinite Earths begat annual crossovers.

So can we cut the anger and allow people to have differing opinions?

[Labor_Days]

Crisis On Infinite Earths was 20+ years ago. I'm pretty sure it is safe to say that the annual crossover/big event has been a regular thing in mainstream superhero comics since then. 20+ years.

No seriously, get over it dudes. Events are part of mainstream comics and have been for 20+ YEARS now.

You don't have to buy them.

Countdown was not an event. It was just a weekly series of middling quality.

[horatio616]

Are there two Legions running around? This is a serious question.

[horatio616]

Comics and plenty of SF shows have always played with the notions of alternate dimensions. DC numbered some to get some stories out of them.

I always felt that DC continuity was simpler than Marvel's because DC ignored it for the most part while Marvel was religious about it. Continuity is part of what put Marvel on the map, at least soap opera type continuity.

Hmm, the way I see it Marvel is ignoring continuity (with Astonishing and the new FF), while DC micromanages theirs.

[Labor_Days]

There are more than two Legions depending on how you view Legion history. Four is the conservative number I think.

The glib response would be there are an infinite number of Legion of Super-Heroes. Considering each of the 52 Earths have their alternate realities and timelines.

[Mikegraham6]

im in the midst of revisiting a lot of my Civil War stuff and (besides the lousy ending and delays) i really enjoyed it. I think it gets a bad wrap because of how long it took and having major events just merely touched upon on the mini, but when i look back on it there were some really solid tie ins. Amazing Spidey was the best it had been in years, Fantastic Four actually made me care about three of the four characters, Wolverine was balls to the wall action, Frontline was great for about 5 issues, Captain America, New Avengers, X-Factor, The Confession, the list goes on. There were some really solid stories there, sure they kinda went a bit overboard (every book was a tie in) but if it gives you good stories who cares. Plus i remember how much everyone LOVED it! it was only at the end when everyone soured on it. Sure it wasn't perfect but few things in life actually are...

[Labor_Days]

Shockingly, Wolverine was my favorite tie-in during CW. Overriding my absolute hatred of Wolverine for a brief moment.

CW dragged it's feet a lot and was fairly toothless by the end. Millar should have gone all out. I long for the day when Millar can be a vicious as he wants to be in a mainstream book.

[Six Gun]

How patronising.
So can we cut the anger and allow people to have differing opinions?

I'm sorry if you think I'm being patronizing. But I meant what I said brother.

[Six Gun]

Shockingly, Wolverine was my favorite tie-in during CW. Overriding my absolute hatred of Wolverine for a brief moment.


Ugh, Wolverine is an awesome character! :D

[Labor_Days]

I respect your opinion, but you are wrong. ;)

[kahunablair]

Wolverine is a good character. Sadly they milked the crap out of him.

Too much of anything, is always going to lead to bad things.

[kahunablair]

I'm sorry if you think I'm being patronizing. But I meant what I said brother.

It's cool, man. It's apparently only ok for some people to call a post patronizing, while three paragraphs later they want no one to talk poorly about their opinions.

[Six Gun]

It's cool, man. It's apparently only ok for some people to call a post patronizing, while three paragraphs later they want no one to talk poorly about their opinions.

Yeah. I noticed the irony

[Mikegraham6]

Jonah Hex has been one and dones for the most part
I bought the first trade and i've finally added this to my pull list. Great Eff'n series, sorry for showing up so late to the party

[Thefreakytiki]

Jonah Hex has been one and dones for the most part

You beat me to the punch! I love the one and done gritty stories of Jonah Hex. Take a guess which comic podcast threesome turned me on to long, long ago? ;)


the Tiki http://www.pixeljoint.com/files/icons/tiki_torches.gif

[Martin Gray]

Yeah. I noticed the irony

I love irony. Makes me want to say: 'How ironic (choke).'

Anyroadup, what I thought was patronising was the apparent assumption that everyone who said they were sick of crossovers was wrongheaded. I suppose that's also an opinion, mind, so I'm off to Hypocrisy Corner. :( Oh well.

[JAFlanagan]

I disagreed with them about that. You can not like crossovers. I'm cool with it.