Liefeld's Anatomy

Ah, another blog dedicated to our ever regular blog reader Jason Green, so if you can't get this picture of Cap out of your head don't blame me.

Jason and I were talking last wednesday and I mentioned that when I was a kid I remember really liking the Marvel Onslaught crossover, which led into series called Heroes Reborn. Jason looked at me like I had lost my mind, mainly because he wasn't a fan of artist Robert Liefeld. For Heroes Reborn, Liefeld was responsible for 12 issues of the reborn Captain America title, another series I remember thinking looked really cool. Now, let me put some perspective on my perception during this time. In 1996, when these comics came out, I was about 13 years old, so my views on human anatomy were through looking at my fellow middle schoolers who were all in the middle of puberty. Everyone looks freakish and mutated when they're going through puberty!

This is probably why I thought the image of Captain America posted above didn't look absolutely bizarre when it first came out. Now, I can safely say Leifeld has an "interesting" take on human anatomy - that or the Super-Solider serum is the equivalent of getting cheap breast implants.

Liefeld is currently the artist on a 5 part mini-series called Onslaught Reborn, and his take on the human body has improved vastly over the last decade. I still think his style is really cool, even with his older work. And you have to give it up to his X-Force issues.

By the way, if you're looking for the original Onslaught series it is sadly out-of-print and the trades fetch a ridiculously high price on e-bay. No, you can't borrow my copies either!

-Jon

Good-Bye, Blog.

Hey loyal readers and shoppers, Elizabeth here. It is my sad and solemn duty to report that this may be my last Star Clipper blog. That's right, I'm leaving. But I'll still be around, if not working, than certainly shopping. Probably quite a lot. So don't be too sad.

Star Clipper will always hold a special place in my heart, as will Ben and AJ, all of my wonderful co-workers, and of course the regular customers. Thanks to all of those people for making my stay an enjoyable one. Ah, the memories. I will miss the ol' Clipper.

I'm sure the blog will continue to be just as good, if not better, without my overzealous use of commas. If you really feel the need to read stuff I wrote, head over to Playback's site to find my graphic novel reviews (I usually do them about once every two weeks). You will also find reviews by Star Clipper's own Nick, and blog comment regular Jason Green runs the show.

Well, I'll miss you guys. All of you. And hopefully I'll see everyone around. Please enjoy this picture of a baby panda bear.

-Elizabeth

A Change in the Natural Order

Comic long boxes. The bane of any longtime comic collector. A necessary evil that all of us have had to put up with since man first wanted to put his comics in order. I'm sure that a lot like me, many of you have at least a dozen long comic boxes sitting in your basement, spare bedroom, or maybe even in your mom's basement. They're big, white, hard to handle, obnoxious beasts. If you don't have a table that you can lay them all out on like some stores do, chances are they're stacked in the corner, probably three to four high. What say you're an X-Men fan. Now several times a month you have to dig out that bottom box and file your new comics, right? Right. What a pain in the ass. But up until now, you haven't really had a choice.

Enter Drawer Boxes. To be honest, it's such a great idea that I'm surprised that it took someone this long to come up with it. Simply put, they're cardboard filing boxes. The comic drawer, which is about 3-4 inches shorter then a standard long box, slides into a reinforced, double layered cardboard box. The double layers of cardboard enhance the strength of the box, enabling it to handle up to 44 lbs per square inch. This means you can stack them about six boxes high and still be able to pull the drawer no problem. In a strength test done by another store, they had one of their employees stand on two the boxes. First he put both feet in the middle of box. The box did bend and was pretty badly beaten, but not broken, and was still considered usable. Next he stood with his feet on the outside, distributing his weight across the entire surface as it's supposed to be. Didn't even wobble. And this was an empty box, full boxes tend add more strength from what was said there. FYI, the employee weighed in at about 260 lbs,

But when you come down to it, what's the advantage of these over regular long boxes? Accessibility. I know many people who haven't even seen some of their books in at least 5 years just because it's too much of hassle to dig them out. With Drawer Boxes you'll have easy access to your entire library of comics without having to be able to bench press a Buick. The other big advantage? Floor space - since you can stack them six high when fully loaded, you're dropping the amount of floor space they take up to as little as 15% of the original amount. Oh yeah, and you can get them at Star Clipper - I oughta mention that.

Dan

Ellis At It Again

Warren Ellis has a knack for making controversial political comics. From Transmetropolitan to his work on The Authority, Ellis is not afraid to make statements with his stories and characters. Perhaps the most extreme statement to date will be made in the upcoming Black Summer series, illustrated by Juan Jose Ryp and published by Avatar.

Hot on the heels of Civil War, where some heroes sided against the American government and fought federal agents, Black Summer tells the story of a superhero who decides the President is on the wrong side of the law. So the superhero kills him.

Ellis's John Horus is your average superhero. He wants justice to be done, and villains to be punished. As demonstrated by comics like Watchmen and, yes, Civil War, superheroes by nature are practicing vigilantism. So where do you draw the line? As Ellis puts it, "If your cause is fighting crime, do you simply turn a blind eye to crimes committed in politics?"

Here's an interesting story and discussion about the plot of Black Summer. No doubt the comic will be getting press all over the country once its released. After what happened to Cap, I'm sure we can look forward to many more speculations on news networks about metaphors in comics for the death of everything from the American Dream to capitalism. Woo-hoo, CNN can no longer ignore the power of the funny-book!

-Elizabeth

Do You Remember TMNT Comics?

With the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hitting the big screen for the first time in over a decade and two new Turtles comics, Raphael and Michelangelo, on the selves at Star Clipper, I feel like its 1989 all over again. I was about six years old when the Turtles became a pop culture phenomenon. It was also the first time I realized that I had the tendencies of a compulsive collector, asking my dad to get me as many of the comics and toys as possible. I actually had amassed quite the collection, especially the Archie comic series "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures." However, the other day while I was rummaging through my old comics at my moms house, I found out I had a few issues from the original Turtles comic series published from Mirage Studios. What a find!

The original Turtles comics, created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, were a lot more brooding and violent than most Turtles' fans remember. The whole concept of the Ninja Turtles was originally based as a parody of two popular 80's Marvel comics: The New Mutants and Frank Miller's Daredevil, which focus on rival clans of ninjas in New York City. The first issue, which I sadly cannot claim to have, was black & white and only 3000 issues were printed, making it an instant collectors item as soon as the series took off. The Turtles' ridiculous popularity tied up Eastman and Laird in so many licensing deals that the comic was continued by various guest artist, giving the series an anthology style rather than a continuous story-line. Here is an interesting article on Newsarama about the series.

One of the most frequently asked questions I have gotten is if we carry a collection of the Mirage Ninja Turtles series. Unfortunately, it has been out of print for a long time, but hopefully with the new movie bringing attention back to the "heroes in a half-shell", it debuted at number 1 in the box office with a whoppin 25 million, someone might come up with the bright idea to re-release a graphic novel. Wouldn't that be radical! But, if you're just going insane trying to find these comics there is an auction on ebay for the original artwork.

By the way, I want to dedicate this blog to my four year old cousin Blake, whom my mom and aunt just took to see TMNT the movie.

Cowabunga!

-Jon

Runaways Gets a Spinoff

The mark of real commercial success of a series in any media, be it TV movies or comics, is getting a spin-off series. The spin-off may not be as good, as original, as fresh... but in some cases it can really outshine even its parent series. In television, think of Angel. Some Angel fans don't even like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the series that originated most of Angel's characters.

In April, hotshot Marvel series Runaways will spawn it's very own offspring-- oh, they grow up so fast! The new series, Loners, will be written by C.B. Cebulski with art by Karl Moline. Cebulski was the original editor on Runaways, so it should be somewhat familiar territory.

The Loners focuses on the members of Excelsior, a support group for former teen heroes that was originally introduced in Runaways' "True Believers" story arc. The characters include Darkhawk, Phil Ulrich, Turbo, and Lightspeed of Power Pack.

The series should easily be able to stand alone, so don't worry about having to catch up on Runaways first (though I highly recommend you do any way-- it's a great book). And check out the awesome cover for June's issue #3; it's inspired by the poster for 80's high school movie classic Pretty In Pink.

-Elizabeth

Civil War Redux

So I have to give thanks to both Jason Green and our own Jon Scorfina for this one. Jason sent it to Jon, who passed it along to me. Seems several people are not that happy with how Civil War finally turned out. But instead of just complaining, one guy actually did something about it. He took the comics and scanned the pages, then blanked out any text and wrote his own version. Now I really like the idea, but I have to say, the dude is not a professional writer by any means, but it is pretty funny in it's own way. I would like to see more of this kind of stuff, especially from aspiring writers. I've actually heard of people getting gigs this way, taking a comic and rewriting all the word balloons. When you think about it, it's really not all that different then how Kirby and Lee used to make comics. But one piece of advice for any one who might try it, try to pick a kind of mid grade writer. I mean, how many of us can write better then people like Loeb, or Ellis, or even, in this case, Mark Millar? Not many I bet. So good luck, if you do it I would love to see a copy!

Dan

Oh, and be warned, this isn't for the kiddies.

Marvel the Exhibition at the SLSC

MARVEL® SUPER HEROES(TM) THE EXHIBITION is coming to the Montgomery Bank EXPLORADOME at the Saint Louis Science Center April 28, 2007, and Star Clipper is proud to be an official Promotional Partner of the exhibit!

Step into the incredible Marvel Universe and experience all of your favorite Super Heroes (TM) and Villains! Over 30 amazing action stations reveal the powerful real-life science within Marvel's legends. Discover how Bruce Banner's emotions transform him into the INCREDIBLE HULK! Dangle from the "Spider Web" and climb the walls, SPIDER-MAN style!! Destroy evil with WOLVERINE, STORM and the rest of the X-MEN! Take command of IRON MAN'S armor and lift a car! Sharpen your senses in DAREDEVIL'S darkened world! Find it all at the most action-packed science exhibition ever!

For questions about the exhibition, call the Saint Louis Science Center at 314.289.4400 or 800.456.SLSC, x4400 or visit slsc.org.

We'll be blogging more aboue this soon, with some behind the scenes details, but check this out:

The Saint Louis Science Center is seeking volunteers to assist with the MARVEL® Comic exhibit by dressing up as a superhero! Sorry, only non-trademarked superheroes allowed. For more information please contact the Science Center's Volunteer department at 289-4412 or stop by to pick up an application. Call 314.289.4400 or 800.456.SLSC x4400 or visit slsc.org to learn more about the exhibit.

-ben

Mailbox...or Droid?

If you walk down the street in front of Star Clipper, you will notice that our once boring mailbox has been replaced by... R2D2! That's right, everybody's favorite little droid is collecting our mail. According to TheForce.net, the mail-bots are part of a campaign to promote Star War's 30th anniversary.

Apparently there are only "320 or so" of these spread across the country, so it's pretty darn cool our sidewalk is being graced with one. And if you're thinking about making off with the ultimate collector's item, we ask you to remember that tampering with the mail is a federal offense. Who knows how long R2 will be sticking around, so make sure to come check it out soon!!

-Elizabeth

The Drinky Crow Show

Tony Millionaire fans get ready because everyones favorites drunken crow is about to get his own television show! Thats right, Millionaire is currently developing "The Drinky Crow Show" for Cartoon Networks' Adult Swim, with a fifteen minute pilot already completed. Drinky Crow is one of the main character, along with a drunken irish monkey named Uncle Gabby, in Millionaire's Maakies comic strip. Maakies irreverent humor about the nautical adventures of his two anti-heroes has already been adapted in a number of animated shorts featuring Millionaire's characters, including spots on Saturday Night Live, Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival and in The Might Be Giant documentary "Gigantic".

With any luck "The Drinky Crow Show" will be just as brilliant as the early animated shorts. The voice actors are all incredible talents, with Futurama's Billy West as Drinky Crow and King of the Hill's Dave Herman as Uncle Gabby. But if you want to make sure Drinky Crow gets his much deserved airtime head over to Adult Swim and voice your opinion on the comedy programming scheduling suggestions link.

For more updateson the show, Fantagraphics' blog has promised to make current updates as more info gets released.

Now enjoy what has become a cult classic animated short: Drinky Crow Gets A Job.



-Jon

Stardust Film Scores

As you may know, Neil Gaiman's novel Stardust is being made into a major motion picture, due to be released in August. It's going to be pretty huge; check out the cast list, which includes Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, and Ian "Magneto and also Gandalf" McKellen.

According to Gaiman's blog, the film has been getting rave reviews with test audiences. In an interview, Lorenzo di Bonaventura (who is producing Stardust and the upcoming Transformers movie) says he was surprised but pleased by audiences' reception to the film.

Stardust is a love story and a fairy tale for grownups. An illustrated version of the novel features the beautiful work of Charles Vess. It is one of few projects based on Gaiman's work that's actually made it to production. A film based on his childrens' story Coraline is also currently in production.


-Elizabeth

The EC Archives Series

Though Marvel and DC comics are the most recognizable comic publishers, in the long run EC comics may end up being the most influential. Formed in 1944 as Educational Comics, a subsidiary of DC, EC was initially unsuccessful until the unfortunate death of its founder and comic legend Max Gaines. Relaunched as Entertainment Comics by Gaines' son William, EC found its voice in horror, suspense, science fiction, fantasy, and crime comics, and was responsible for influencing generation after generation of comic readers. Recently, EC has started the EC Archives series collecting all there most recognizable titles, including Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, and ShockSuspense stories, and releasing them in chronological order. The most recent edition "Two-Fisted Tales" was just released this week. Let me tell you, these collections are absolutely awesome.

EC comics represent a mastery of the comic book art form in the same manner that Little Nemo or Krazy Kat are renowned newspaper strips. However, due to their controversial content, EC received a harsh backlash in the 50's and folded into the humor magazine Mad. But for those interested in fully appreciating the history of comics, EC is an essential stepping stone.

The EC archive series is finally making it possible to recognize EC's groundbreaking work. Each collection of the archives series has the first six issues of it's individual series, plus a unique introduction from celebrities such as George Lucas or Steven Spielberg who were directly influenced by the company.

For more info on the EC Archives series here is an interesting interview with Russ Cochran, the man responsible for overseeing their releases.

-Jon

Midnight Cruising

(For those of you who missed this post, I'm reposting it... -ed)

I It's not often I change my mind about a book. As I'm sure you can guess, from working here I have a nice size pull list, and an even bigger buy pile every week. So many times I won't put a book on my pull until after I pick up a few issues. I guess this is just a holdover from my youth.

It's weird, I think what may have made my mind up on this one is The Boys getting cancelled. While I had been getting Midnighter, The Boys was just so much better that I was really considering dropping it all together. And I am really glad I didn't. The fifth issue just came out this past week and it really capped off the first story arc well. I really recomend picking this thing up. I think both Ennis and Sprouse have really found their feet on this character and not only the types of stories that they can do with him, but also the types of unexpected resolutions they can try. It's incredibly, elegantly, suddenly violent, which is really what you want out a Midnighter book, isn't it? Look for a trade paper back this summer if you haven't been picking up the issues.

Dan

My Pull

So after last week's Midnighter blog, people had been asking me about exactly what books do I have on my pull list and which ones I'm just grabbing off the shelf. I thought I would just save some time and toss a list up on here.

Now before I do that I just want to explain something, this is not a tactic I would recommend to really anyone else. I am in a unique position here, in that I get to grab my comics early, most times before the store even opens. So I don't have to worry about the book selling out before I get there. And while pre-orders are the only way for you to tell us what comics you think are good, I have a few more ways at my disposal. Don't get me wrong, most things that are in my buy pile make it on to my pull list, I just like to give it a little time first. I also marked the books on my buy pile so you can see what I'm thinking on those. Hope you enjoy!

-Dan

Bigfoot Lives!

And finally, a post that won't mention Captain You-Know-Who!

We've all heard the supposed myth of the bigfoot or sasquatch that lives in the woods of North America. The hairy giant ape is only meant to be a fairy tale, but many believe in the reality of this mysterious primate. Among the supporters are Jane Goodall, one of the world's leading primatologists.

And if the video documentation, huge footprints, and Jane freakin' Goodall's opinion aren't enough to sway you, what if I told you Bigfoot wrote a book? Still not convinced? Well what if I told you he wrote TWO books?

Yeah. That's right. Me Write Book and In Me Own Words tell of the difficult and sometimes tragic tribulations of this giant hairy wild man from an autobiographical standpoint. Graham Roumieu was kind enough to put the Sasquatch's words down on paper with helpful illustrations.

I defy you not to feel compelled to read In Me Own Words after only the first page. I quote:

"I am not Chewbacca. me think Chewbacca jerk. He no can act. He think he cool, but he not. He phoney loser with no class. He all messed up on crack me think. People think me Chewbacca sometimes. NO! Me have job. Bad Wookie. Bad."

I think I just felt a disturbance in the force. Like a thousand Wookies... crying.

200 Star Clippies out of 200. Phenomenal.

-Elizabeth

Captain America Media Frenzy!!!

Marvel what's going on!! When DC killed Superman they gave fans months of advance notice to prepare to mourn for the death of such a mantle superhero. Remember those cool black arm-bands with the bloody Superman logo. Apparently not. What did Mighty Marvel give us, the fans and retailers, nothing, no advance notice whatsoever. So, on the day of release for Captain America #25, everyone and their mother learns from CNN that Cap is dead, and the demand for a nationwide understocked issue skyrockets. Plus, you just had to go and make Cap really cool again with the Civil War series, so there was already increased demand for the comic. For shame Marvel, and I'm your biggest supporter here at Star Clipper.

What has been the strangest turn of events however is the media fallout. Everyone from CNN, yahoo-news, NPR, and even Comedy Central's The Cobert Report, posted above, has reported on the death of the World War 2 hero.

We in the comic industry find this infintely entertaining. Not to burst anyones bubble but dude is not going to be dead forever. He's a freakin' comic book character. They always come back in some form or another, well except for uncle Ben. But they have to bring Cap back because they're planning on adapting his character into a movie, and you gotta have comics
to sell!

So here is a question for you. How are they going to bring Captain America back?

Dan thinks that Winter Solider will take on Captain's identity. Too obvious. Elizabeth is betting that Tony Stark will clone him like they did with Thor in Civil War. Too demeaning. I argue it is going to be one of two ways. Marvel is going to either bring in four lameass Captain America wannabe's who will bicker over who gets to be Cap. Then the real Captain will ascend from heaven to reclaim his thrown as king patriot. But since that is exactly what happened with Superman we can hope we don't halve to suffer through that atrocity again. So the other option would be that the real Captain America is still frozen in a glacier since WW2, all they half to do to is find him and thaw him out. So who was shot and killed?!? U.S. Agent.

Let's see you come up with something better!

-Jon

BIG SPOILER WARNINGS FOR CAPTAIN AMERICA #25

Yeah, like you haven't heard by now. I will admit, I got totally caught off guard by this. I know now that it had broken on several of the comic websites a few days previous, and all the major news stations broke the news as soon as Marvel would let them. But I guess I kind of got lucky(though not enough as you will see), as I had been in a news and media blackout for 300. I was trying to limit my exposure to ads and stuff like that so I would be fresh for the movie and consequently missed everything to do with Cap.
This was all ruined about noon on Wednesday when some body called up and asked "Do you have the new Captain America that came out today, y'know, the one where he gets killed?" My elequent response? "Uhhhhh, wait, what?"
I've heard many similar stories from a lot of customers who saw it on the news, or read about on CNN.com or something similar. I love it, we all spend so much time avoiding message boards, spoiler sights, and such to have Anderson Cooper blind-side us. You don't get to do that! There shall be a reckoning! You hear me! A reckoning!
Lastly, do any of you actually believe it? If I hadn't heard from major new outlets that Cap was dead, an obvious manipulation by Marvel, there was nothing in that comic that would have made me think that Cap was actually dead, or was going to stay dead. I'm sorry, maybe I'm just cynical, but for F#@$'s sake, this is comics people!

-Dan

An Old Soldier Gets a Facelift

Oh Robert Kirkman, how we love you! But, y'know, not in that way, but in that muscles and leather kind of way.

Moving right along...

Image put out a new collection of some of my favorite comics, Robert Kirkman's Brit series. Set in the mainstream Image universe, same as Invincible, Brit works for the same guys that Invincible does. Donald and Cecil actually showed up in Brit first, even though they were made for Invincible. Up until now Brit had been available as three black and white prestige format comics. For the new anthology they pumped up for a color edition. Tony Moore(Walking Dead, Exterminators), did some of his best work in these early issues and the color really makes it worth it if your a fan of his. But even if you are just a fan of Robert Kirkman or his Invincible series this is a must have. I think we even got some of the original prestige format comics floating around still if you would rather have those, given that they are signed by Kirkman. We also have signed copies of Tech Jacket, another older Kirkman book set in the same universe, and one of my favorites from his comic work.

-Dan

Hi, How Are You? A Blog about Daniel Johnston

For those interested in outsider artists, there is no greater outsider than the "sorry entertainer" himself Daniel Johnston. A musician, painter, optimist, manic depressive and recluse, Johnston came to the attention of the art and music world in the mid 80's, when he would hand out his homemade cassestte tapes to the pretty girls who came into his McDonalds in Austin, TX. Word spread fast about his unique lo-fi pump-organ music and disturbing childlike art work, and Johnston quickly became a cult hero with fans as diverse as Kurt Cobain, Beck and the Flaming Lips. Yet, his work has just recently gotten the attention that it has long deserved being documented in the major motion picture "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" and the book "Hi, How Are You? The Life,Art, & Music of Daniel Johnston" which, the book at least, we now carry at Star Clipper.

Johnston's art has long amused and delighted his fans by focusing on reaccuring characters from Jeremiah the Frog, Sassy Frass the Cat, Satan, Casper the freindly Ghost and the recently deseased Captain America. Yet, the juxatoposition of his amaturish stlye next to the mature content of his imagery is what sets his artwork apart from the various copycats of his style. "Hi, How are you?" true virtue is it's revealing look at Johnston's mental illness and how his art has and hasn't helped him overcome his personal demons. So check it out why not!

One more thing, since Johnston was such a fan of Captain America, here is a little sample of his unique art style that is also a fitting Johnston tribute to the living legend.

-Jon

The End of Captain America!

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Captain America was killed off by Marvel in issue 25, released yesterday. I've never seen a comic fly off the shelves so fast. No doubt because of the major news coverage the story received.

It turns out we were one of the few stores in St. Louis that could satisfy demand after 1 PM yesterday - we made it until about 6 before we sold out. That should tell you that we had essentially no advance warning about this dramatic turn of events.

Marvel swears that they overprinted this run dramatically and that they will be able to fill all backorders. We have many more copies coming in (if Marvel is true to their word) so we should be able to accomodate most everyone. Rest assured, all pull customers got theirs and we *won't* ever raise the price on these beyond cover. The only limitation: one copy per customer, please.

Marvel has also mentioned the possibility of a second printing. Assuming this also happens, we'll be sure to carry an ample supply for folks who want the variant cover.

-Ben

What Makes a Super Hero?

So as you all know, one of the greatest things about comics fandom is arguing with your fellows. The argument I've gotten into more times than any other centers around a seemingly simple question: what is it exactly that makes you a superhero (...tm)?

I like to make the assertion that Jesse Custer of Preacher, is a superhero. Costume? Check (don't tell me that white collar doesn't constitute a costume, because I know you've seen it done on Halloween). Sidekick? Check. Superpower? Um, CHECK. There was even a character on NBC's Heroes with a similar power to Jesse's Word of God.

I believe it was Dan who said that if Jesse Custer is a superhero, so is Spider Jerusalem of Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan. At first, I thought Spider couldn't possibly be considered superhuman, but I've had a change of heart. He has a costume, and not one but TWO sidekicks, after all. He may not have a power, but neither does Batman. Bats and Spider do however have gadgets. Lots of cool gadgets.

Wikipedia does not list either gentleman as a superhero. America, internet, if you believe that Jesse Custer and Spider Jerusalem are superheroes, show it by changing their Wikipedia articles! You have been challenged!!

-Elizabeth

300 Review

No spoilers, so please read on.

I saw 300 last night at our special screening. I saw lots of regulars there - it seemed like a really busy Wednesday with all the familiar faces! Seeing new movies at advance screenings is always a treat since the people who make it are typically enthusiastic and excited about the film, so you get applause and cheering that might otherwise be absent from a regular showtime.

The theater was packed, but Star Clipper staff had reserved seating - and congratulations to Brett Pernikoff and Phil Betts who won 300 shwag and reserved seats in our trivia contest.

But about the movie...

First of all, it's extremely faithful to the Frank Miller graphic novel, both from the underlying story and the visual style of the book. Visually, it's as good as you could hope for and the trailers give you an excellent sense of the film's stylistic approach throughout. It's a beautiful movie.

From a plot perspective the story is well told, though I thought they relied a bit heavily on third party narration (as in the book). The acting is solid and the melodrama is kept to a bare minimum. Unfortunately, the film lacked a certain amount of chemistry between the actors, mostly because only Leonidas' character is fully developed. At times I found the thick accent of some of the actors to be too difficult to understand. Female characters are as flimsy as you would expect from a Frank Miller story, but we went to see the action, and the film does not disappoint on that score.

The action is stunning. The battle scenes can get your heart pounding and it's easy to imagine that you've actually stepped back in time to 480 BC and the battle of Thermopylae. An excellent follow up to "The 300 Spartans", the movie which inspired Frank Miller to write the book. And of course, it's a gore-fest and celebration of dismemberment, beheading and impalements - not for the light of heart.

I thought the visual effects were wonderful. AJ was distracted by the cgi blood, but I thought it was well done. The only thing the movie really lacked was suspense - but I suppose it would be difficult to create suspense in a story where everyone already knows the ending.

8 Clippies out of 10.

-Ben

Buddy Does Jersey

Of all the great stuff we carry at Star Clipper, Peter Bagge's work is hands down my favorite. For those of you who are not familar with Bagge, he is the creator responsible for such comics as Neat Stuff, Sweetshop, Apocalypse Nerd and the legendary Hate series that tells the tale of muse Buddy Bradley. Hate lasted thrity issues starting in 1990 and finishing up in '98, and has been collected into multiple trades. A few years back Bagge's re-collected the first 15 issues into the book "Buddy Does Seattle", which recounted the classic "grunge" issues and the popularity peak of his series.Fantagraphic just released the second major collection "Buddy Does Jersey" collecting issues 16-30, and in my opinion is the better half of Bagge's work.

Unlike the "Seattle" collection, "Buddy Does Jersey" reaches a broader audience than the twenty-nothing slacker issues that are 1-15. When Buddy, accompanied my his manic girlfreind Lisa, returns to live with his parents in New Jersey some of the most relealistic drama in the series is explored by Bagge. Buddy's new life in Jersey is bombarded with the death of a parent, a major break-up in the midst of starting his own independent used "junk" store, and a rather complicated suicide. Yet, the series remains a comedy, finding the humor in real life with no pretense.

"Buddy Does Jersey" returns to the black and white format of the first fifteen issuse, in order to fully apperciate the ink work of Jim Blanchard. It also has a revealing introduction by Bagge, describing how this later works reflects his own life, and a forward by fart-joke aficionado Johnny Ryan.

For those Bagge readers who never read later Hate nows your chance. I highly recommend it, ecspecially if you want to understand the mind of any twenty year old guy who loves records and comics!

-Jon

A Little Bad News

I have bad news for you: we're all out of 300 passes.

If you didn't get one, I'm sorry. To those of you who did, congratulations and I hope you enjoy! I'll be manning the store that night, so you won't see me, but if you keep an eye out you might spot the rest of the Star Clipper crew hanging around somewhere so be sure to say "Hi."

On a similar note, we had our prize drawing for the quiz, so congratulations to everyone who won on that as well. Winners will have received a phone call Saturday night, so if you didn't hear from us, again - sorry, but their were only so many prizes to go around. If you were wondering, the correct answers were: Frank Miller, 480 BC, The 300 Spartans, Leonidas, and 30.

Oh, a quick side note, when you're watching the movie, remember that Leonidas' wife, Gorgo, is his half-brother's daughter. Those crazy Greeks!

-Dan

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 Delayed!

Bad news, Whedon fans! Due to a catastrophic printing error that led to the entire print run being pulped, Dark Horse has been forced to push back the release of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 by one week. At least, that's what we're being told right now. So the comic we were all expecting this Wednesday, March 7 has been pushed back to at least Wednesday March 14. We'll know Friday, March 9th if Dark Horse will meet the new release schedule, and I'll try to remember to post here either way. Of course, you can always give the store a shout at 314-725-9110 or e-mail us at info AT starclipper DOT com for confirmation.

Not to worry, though folks! Star Clipper has literally hundreds of these bad boys coming in, so there will be plenty in stock for you when it finally does ship.

-ben

Jim Lee Finally Completes Something!

Jim Lee has become notorious-- nay, infamous for the delays on his books in 2006. At a myspace sponsored "secret panel" at the New York Comic Con, he addressed this issue directly speaking to fans.

When asked about All-Star Batman and Robin (which has not come out since issue 4 hit stores in May, 2006), Lee surprised all present by pulling a portfolio with all the art for issue 5 out and letting a fan look through it. Of course, series writer Frank Miller is currently out of commission after a hip injury, so who knows when the book will actually hit shelves. Possibly sometime this year, if we're lucky.

Lee also promised that he's fighting to get WildStorm's release schedule back on track. WildCATS #2, originally supposed to come out November 15, 2006, is now set for the end of March. That's a third of a year's delay on a "monthly" comic, for anyone keeping score.

Making light of the sitaution, he joked that WildStorm was introducing a series called "365", with a new issue every 365 days. Ha-ha. Any fan waiting months on end due to his less-than-snappy art style probably failed to see much humor in that.

Hopefully Lee's promise to work harder at getting WildStorm's stuff together is genuine, otherwise a huge drop in readership seems likely. Consistently late is not the same as dependability, and I expect readers to start pointing this out to comics companies more and more.

But, hey, at least Civil War is over.

-Elizabeth

Star Clipper's 300 Screening Cont'd

You might remember that in my last post I mentioned you could dress up in costume for our 300 screening and get moved to the front of the line, right? Just arrive at the theatre about an hour before the movie starts in your Spartan finery, or Persian if you prefer. What would be nice is if we could get a couple of hundred people in Persian gear, and then one or two as Spartans, you know, just to keep the ratio balanced.

And so what do you get if you show up all decked out and bedazzling? Priority seating. Not quite the same as reserved, but what it does do is let you in to the theatre before all the modern day plebeians. Now I'm gonna tell you right off the bat here, if you just tie a bed sheet around your torso and call it toga, that's not gonna fly. Ya gotta put a little effort into it, besides, you don't know who might be taking pictures. So go cut, rip, mend, and sew your way into a free movie.

And by the way, we got the big theatre at the the Esquire and we're the only place giving out these freebies! We have a few left, so tell your friends about it and come see 300 at the Esquire. It starts Monday night at 7:30!

-Dan