The latest Viz annual (sub-titled the last Turkey in the shop) is out now, featuring 160 pages packed with comic strips from issues 152 to 161 of the ongoing monthly. Priced at £10.99, the large hardback includes characters such as The Fat Slags, Sid the Sexist, The Real Ale Twats, Elton John’s Bandit Beater, Roger Mellie, and many more. Artists include Paul Palmer, Cat Sullivan, Davey Jones, Simon Thorp, Alex Collier, and myself. (My contribution is Suicidal Syd on page 139 if anyone interested.)

Viz features comic that most of the public is familiar with, several years ago it was selling over a million copies an issue.Though Vis is the most successful british adult comic ever it is usually ignored by the champions of the “adult comic” and you’ll hardly find any mention of it at the UK comic convention, apparently it is too cartoony for the the taste of most fans that used to more realistic comic that is dark and scary like the work of Alex Ross.

Read The new Viz annual for more information.

While the question is not as old as whether Greedo or Han shot first, this debate on how many titles you need to read to truly understand universe changing event books has been a focal point for the better part of twenty years in the comic collecting community.

From a wide-eyed, utopian, child-like perspective every comic book should be accessible to a new reader walking in the first time. Whether the exposition is force fed through an intro paragraph or delicately weaved into the opening panels of the book, ideally the writer should get the reader up-to-speed so they can revel in the next 20 to 22 pages.

Well, excuse me while I remove the pixie-dust from ass and get grounded back in reality.

This is not an idealistic world and for a book to be truly epic it should transcend and touch upon almost every book within that universe. As we look at a Secret Invasion and Final Crisis it is naïve to think that we will get the full picture from merely the titles that bare those singular names.

Now, I bailed on SI, simply because I did not “get” what was going-on in the grand scheme of things. Why? Frankly, I just don’t read that many Marvel titles. This is hhardly Marvel or Bendis’ fault. I have never cared for the Avengers, the galactic titles do little to titillate me and my love affair with Spider-Man over the years runs as hot and cold as his relationship with the Osborn clan. I’m a mutant guy and quite frankly my interest in mutants just did not provide enough continuity fodder for me to become truly immersed in the pages of SI. I will say however, I loved the bleed of SI into tiltes like X-Factor and She-Hulk. David balanced the content beautifully between what I know about these stories without ever getting heavy handed on the SI tie-in. What I remembered from the first three issues of SI that I had read melded beautifully into these books.

Now, Final Crisis I can speak to. There are a scant few books in the DC universe that I have not read over the past three years. Is this a beautiful cross-over or epic event? No, far from it. Reading Final Crisis as a solitary book is enjoyable, but the cross pollination into other titles feels as though as it has been handled by a swarm of retarded bees. This is counting the lead-up books as well as the books churning out during the throes of the main-event. But at least I can say I understand what is going on…sorta.

From my unlearned opinion I will say that marvel seems to be taking the cake by keeping tight control on events no matter what your ultimate feelings are about the books. From my learned perspective DC has not accomplished this. In the end though, these books should not beviewed as solitary stand-alone titles, that’s why certain books are deemed monthlies and others get the coveted title of cross-over event.

courtesy Rich_Lem

I’ve been following some comics artists from the UK to broaden my cultural horizons and I must say there are some good talents over there.

One of my favorite is Sean Phillips. Love his drawings and as he is working on an exhibition you can enjoy viewing some of his work on the blog or if you happen to arrive to London just go and see some of his work.

Anyway there are more to comics than what we see here at the US so it is nice to see what’s being done on other parts of the world.

From the Comics Reporter:

Eye of the Camera, a sequel to the 1990s best-seller Marvels to begin publication starting this December. The original series’ writer, Kurt Busiek, returns, this time working with painter Jay Anacleto as opposed to original series painter Alex Ross.

I loved the original series and since Kurt Busiek returns to write the sequel there is a very good chance it is going to be as fun as the original.

I’ve been relatively busy the last few days so I just had the time to sit and read the discussion on comics criticism on 4thletter! and on Funnybook Babylon.

I decided that there is some importance to explain the place I write and sometimes complain about comics.

I too like David write about comics because I love comics. I have no ambition at becoming a writer or showing I’m smarter than the artists. I don’t even write reviews usually just discuss issues that are important to me.

When I find it hard to follow too many stories at the same time, when I feel things are repeating themselves in some sort of a cycle I say it out loud to my friends and on the blog.

I focus on the changes that are important to me and that would make my life as a comics reader more fun and less frustrating.

If the artists and the companies they work for remember that the comics are intendant for the comics reading public, they would be interested in taking the suggestions of the blogers and the comics readers seriously. Of course every artist integrates the feedback that his work gets in his own unique way but a dialogue is always a good thing.