Update!

Much has been accomplished in the ten days since I suspended blogging, and here are some updates :

1. For now, reviewing duties at Clever Name Blog will be handled shortly by friend and fellow comics enthusiast Jeffrey. Now don't be frightened...but he reads more than just DC Comics. Don't be surprised if you see reviews from other publishers :-) I'm sure he'll be introducing himself as soon as I get his author permissions straight.

2. I'll still pop in from time to time with reviews or updates about my project. I have a few pages done and will be posting some more information very shortly.

3. Finally, and I may post a full review, Where the Wild Things Are was awesome! I had very little expectations going into this and honestly just went because my wife wanted to see it in the theater. The movie was beautifully done and I was impressed that a short children's book could be stretched into a thoroughly enojyable 90 minute movie.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for sticking around while we change some things up and work on pet projects.

Thanks,

-Jason

Blog Suspended For Now

Hey Everyone. Unfortunately I'll be suspending regular blog posting for a short time due to another project that I'm dedicating most of my energy towards right now.

What is this new and exciting project? Glad you asked. I've written a 3 issue comic book mini-series called Superhero Temp Services, and I've started on the artwork which is taking up a good bit (translated : all) of my free non-work and non-wife time. This is a good thing, since I am thoroughly excited about this project.

I'll post more info as the project progresses so please keep checking back.

Thanks again for checking out the blog and I'll keep updating with as much information as I can.

- Jason

My Comic Collection by the Numbers

I was playing around with my comic collection database (from collectorz.com) and here are some of the statistics that you can pull up :

Total # of Comic Books : 1400
Total # of Pages : 48,386

First Book in Database : 52 #1

Last Book in Database : Zero Killer #1

Longest Continuous Run (excluding weekly comics) : Superman - 41 issues

Favorite Ridiculous Title : Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe

Top 3 Characters (rated by appearance in a comic)

1. Superman (329 appearances)
2. Batman (319 appearances)
3. Wonder Woman (195 appearances)

...although Green Lantern is gaining quickly with 168.

Top 3 Publishers

1. DC Comics (1024 books)
2. Marvel Comics (67 books)
3. Image Comics (50 books)

...hmmm, I never claimed to be anything but a DC fan :-)

Oldest Comic : August 1976 – Justice League of America #133

Top 3 Stores Purchased From

1. Collector’s Edge North (732 books)
2. Downtown Books (55 books)
3. Half-Price Books (28 books)

Top 3 Cover Artists

1. JG Jones (64 books)
2. Alex Ross (44 books)
3. Ethan VanSciver (32 books)

Top 3 Writers

1. Geoff Johns (202 books)
2. Greg Rucka (116 books)
3. Grant Morrison (106 books)

Top 3 Interior Pencillers

1. Ivan Reis (39 books)
2. Dale Eaglesham (27 books)
3. Patrick Gleason (24 books)

A Trip to Half-Price Books #3 (10/02/09)

My wife and I hit the Half-Price books on 76th street after work for some rummaging and here's what I came up with :

I scored two books that were on the list that I keep on my phone :

Iron Lantern #1 – Continuing my collection of the Amalgam Comics, this one has been a little more difficult to find around here. This was a combination of Iron Man and Green Lantern written by Kurt Busiek.

Wonder Woman #219 – This is the conclusion of the Sacrifice story arc which ends with Wonder Woman making an extremely tough decision and killing Maxwell Lord. This moment set the tone for much of what was to come in the DC Universe for years. Not bad for $1.00.

Bought For the Cover :

Green Arrow #32 – For an issue entitled “Boys Night Out” this amazing Brian Bolland cover features Roy Harper (Arsenal) and Connor Hawke (Green Arrow) peering through the shapely legs of a stripper, and the boys are in jaw-dropped awe. Just a fun cover that will be hung up in my art studio.



Other Finds :

Amazon #1 and Dark Claw Adventures #1- Two of the other Amalgam titles that I was on the lookout for.

Bite Club #1-3 – I picked these up for my wife, with her current fascination with vampires (True Blood, not Twilight) I thought she would enjoy them.

Silke #2 – Written and drawn by current Batman artist Tony Daniel for Dark Horse.

Batman Confidential #18 – I didn’t really collect Confidential but I remember loving this story. It’s in the early days of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl who is chasing down Catwoman in Gotham. Catwoman ducks into a nudist facility (they wear masks though) because she doesn’t think that Barbara has the guts to follow. Well, she does, and the naked brawl between the two on the splash page following (with conveniently placed debris flying about) is a fantastically drawn fight sequence.

Captain America for the win!

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice on my entry into Marvel Comics. After hearing opinions online and at the comic shop, Captain America is the winner. Thanks to Jeff for loaning me the trades in order to quickly catch up. I've already blown through two of them :-) I know I originally said that I didn't want to read a bunch of trades to catch up but Brubaker's stories just flow quickly and catching up is pretty easy.

I am a little concerned that my hometown of Philadelphia is subjected to a terrorist attack early on, but the town of Clifton Heights (where I grew up) does show up on a map behind Nick Fury in one of the panels. Represent!