Comic Quickies: New Sagas and Projects

Saga #1: Well, I've been eagerly waiting for this comic since it was announced way back in July at San Diego Comic Con.  Seems like ages ago.  Well, I'm happy to say that Saga appears to have been very much worth the wait.  As far as first issues go, this one is about as good as they come.  Vaughan does a fantastic job of introducing the characters, setting up the story, all while building and developing the universe in which the story takes place...oh, and it's an exciting action packed first issue too.

In the opening pages of Saga we get a rather intimate view of young woman, Alana who is giving birth to her first child in a mechanic's shop, while her husband, Marko lends a hand.  Both Marko and Alana are human-like aliens, and as it turns out, of different races; Races which happen to be at war with one another...a war that is spanning the galaxy.

Alana is from a planet called Landfall, the largest in the galaxy, while Marko is from Wreath, the one and only satellite moon of Landfall.  Apparently, familiarity breeds contempt.  Since destruction of one would send the other spinning out of orbit, each side has outsourced the war to other planets, and now the entire galaxy finds itself embroiled in the conflict.

Aside from Marko and Alana, it looks like there's a few other players that will be big parts of the overall story.  The art here is pretty great too.  It's all handled nicely by Fiona Staples who seems to be just the right fit for this epic galaxy spanning story.  She's called upon to draw a wide variety of people, creatures and settings here, and it all looks wonderful.  I'm excited to see more from Staples.


Saga scores points on many fronts, not the least of which is the cost/value front.  You get 44 pages of comic here for $2.99!  Probably the most bang for your buck.  Also, Vaughan and  Staples earn lots of cool points from me for depicting a brown woman breast feeding on the cover of their first issue.  That might sound like a silly thing, but by and large the comics world is a sexist and racist place, and I was happy to see a comic that makes a clear statement that it will not continue to perpetuate a shitty trend.  I'm very excited to see where this one leads.

Manhattan Projects #1: This one ain't gonna win any awards for cool cover art, but it's what's inside that counts right?  Manhattan Projects is another comic from Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra, the creative team that brought us The Red Wing.  I wasn't super impressed with The Red Wing, especially on the art front as I felt that Pitarra was pretty inconsistent through the course of the 4 issue series. But the writing wasn't so hot either.  So really, I didn't have a ton of momentum coming into this title, aside from the fact that Hickman's ideas always sound so damn cool and I usually want to read and see if he delivers.

The concept here is sort of a what if situation where Hickman asks, what if the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb, was instead the Manhattan Projects a place for all kinds of weird and wild science experiments and creations to flourish?  *Sigh* I'm such a sucker for mad science.

This first issue focuses on Robert Oppenheimer's first day on the job as he is hired by some dude from the war department that appears to be a cross between Sargent Slaughter and The Great Santini.  A tour of the facilities follows and Hickman mixes in Oppenheimer's and his twin brother's back-story, while the Japanese send a troop of robots through a portal and attack the science facilities.

It makes for an interesting and exciting first issue, but I'm still a bit skeptical.  Pitarra's art still suffers from inconsistency, there's some stuff that looks good, some not so good, and some that looks down-right poor.  (Like the time the guy from the War Deparment's head looks like an unshelled peanut with eyes, ears, nose and mouth.) Consider me firmly on the fence.

Peter Panzerfaust #2: I've been eagerly awaiting this issue too, because I was so pleasantly surprised by the opening issue.  The second issue didn't let me down either.

Peter, and his plucky band of orphan boys manage to waylay some Nazis, steal their guns, knock 'em senseless, steal some intelligence, and plan a rescue mission for some captured Brits.  Not bad for a bunch of teens with no military training.

Wiebe delivers a thrilling and action packed issue once again and continues his red-hot streak of great comic writing.  Jenkins' art is a great accompaniment too.  He evokes the war-torn, occupied France look and feel very well.

My only gripe is that aside from Peter, I have a hard time keeping the other boys straight.  I think I know for sure who Felix is (cold hearted bastard in a short sleeved shirt and sweater-vest) but the other dudes are a blur of names and similar looking faces and outfits. There is one with a white dude 'fro, but I can't parcel out his name yet...I suppose I could just refresh my memory by going back to the first issue, but I'm lazy.  I'm fucked if these kids change clothes.

My laziness aside, this is a fun and entertaining comic that appears to be building towards cool things.  Bring on some more!

Blue Estate #10: One of my favorite comics reaches double digits this month and to commemorate, Viktor Kalvachev and co. deliver what is quite possibly the most hilarious issue of Blue Estate yet.  I was happily entertained by the real estate deal turned creepy/weird sex scene starring the Beckhams Peckhams which had a cameo appearance from none other than the Hoff.

They also mix in some funny stoners, get a racehorse high, and deliver some funny sexual repartee between starlet Rachel Maddox and my favorite character, Tony Luciano.  On top of all that, they also build the plot up to a nice boiling point that will likely erupt next issue.

With this tenth issue, it really seems like the creative minds behind Blue Estate have hit stride and are feeling very comfortable with the story.  This comic has a pretty complex plot with lots of ins and outs, but it has been masterfully delivered and the ride is a lot of fun.  I know I've said this before, but I highly recommend Blue Estate.

Comic Quickies: Some Endings

Captain Swing #4 of 4:  Well, it's about fucking time!  I've been waiting for this series to conclude for quite a while now.  Not only was it about a five month wait between issue #3 and #4, but I recall buying Captain Swing #1 as my very first floppy issue purchased as an adult a little over a year and a half ago.  Yeah, that's a long time to wait for four issues.

Ellis did manage to wrap things up pretty well here, but the story definitely suffered for the long wait between issues.  For my money, the third issue was the best in the series.


Captain Swing is definitely worth a read in graphic novel format when it comes out, particularly if you're into pirates, Victorian era electro-steampunky shenanigans, good writing and solid art.

The Red Wing #4 of 4:  Unlike Captain Swing, The Red Wing came out in nice rapid-fire release style, sticking to the monthly schedule.  Unfortunately, that didn't do me a lot of good, because even with the typical gaps between installments, I still had a hard time following the story and remembering what exactly was going on.

For that reason, I would advise enjoying this tale of futuristic time-travel and intergalactic war in one sitting.  Despite my sieve-like memory, I did still enjoy this.  Have I mentioned I enjoy time-travel stories?

My one gripe for this title is Nick Pitarra's art.  I started out really liking it, but by the fourth issue, I was a bit tired of it. There wasn't much variety in the content from issue to issue, and I definitely got sick of the whole "draw every little part and piece of  some object" shtick. (Look to the cover for an example of this technique).

I'll definitely have to give this whole deal another read sometime in the future to get the full effect.

Witch Doctor #4 of 4: Winning the award for pure, crazy fun is Witch Doctor.  It's no mystery that I can't get enough of weird, crazy monsters, and Witch Doctor has been doing a real good job of providing me with my fix.

This is a title by two new creators, Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner, and they've each gotten better at their respective jobs with each issue.  Siefert's writing has gotten sharper with each consecutive issue, and Ketner's art seems to improve with each panel.  Each creator seems to be on a nice skyward trajectory, and I can't wait to see what they have in store next.

Though this is the end of this Witch Doctor mini-series, there is more to come soon.  There'll be a nice little Witch Doctor one-shot coming in time for the Holidays, and another mini-series coming early next year.  Hopefully they'll be able to keep the ball rolling on this fantastically weird, funny, disgusting, and exciting title.

Read and enjoy!

The Vault #3 of 3:  The whole time I was reading this final issue of The Vault, I kept thinking to myself how it was set up, and felt very much like a movie; with three distinct acts, the first which set up the situation, the second which saw everything go haywire, and the third where everything comes together.  Then I heard that The Vault had been already been optioned for film production.  Well, surprise, surprise!

I'm not sure how I feel about comics that are basically story-boards for a movie. I'm not sure that was writer's and artist's goal with The Vault, but the fact that I thought the comics had a movie script-like feel to them, then found out it was indeed going to become a movie is a pretty good indicator that ulterior motives were afoot.

Movie conspiracies or not, this was still a pretty fun comic to read.  My biggest complaint was that the evil beastie wasn't that cool looking.  I never felt like it made much of an impression as a thing to be feared.  Decent stuff here, but nothing that brings anything new to the table.  A decent read, but not one I consider must-read comics.

Comic Quickies: Big Names

Rachel Rising #1: I was so excited when I saw the solicits for Rachel Rising.  I've never read a thing by Terry Moore, but I've heard lots of good things about his work on Strangers in Paradise and Echo and I had a good feeling about this comic as soon as I laid eyes on some of Moore's interior art.

The comic begins with nine wordless, art filled pages which take place in the woods with a mysterious woman watching on from a distance as another woman literally digs herself out of a shallow dirt grave.

The buried woman is the title character, Rachel Beck, who can't remember what the hell happened to her last night. As the reader, we are as clueless as Rachel, and can only search for clues in the art, and try to make meaning out of the small things she discovers.  The first issue offers up a scant amount of information: a strangely bruised neck, three missing days since she last remembers a thing....and there's something wrong with her eyes.

Not a lot to go on, but I was completely sucked in by this comic.  Moore's art, which completely carries the story for the first few pages is lush and gorgeous.  The mystery element of what the hell happened hooked me, and there are a lot of things that happen or are seen in through the course of the issue that left me with some seriously burning questions.  Like: who the fuck was that lady watching Rachel dig herself out of a shallow grave?

Awesome stuff, and easily the best comic I've read all month.

Gotham Noir One-Shot: Before I even flipped open the cover, this comic had all the hallmarks of greatness: A Gotham City/Batman story set in the 40's featuring Jim Gordon as a down on his luck P.I., a noir-style crime story, and the creative team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, which has been a money combo for me in the past.

Unfortunately, this comic failed to impress me.  I was pretty underwhelmed by the story, I found that I couldn't make myself care about what was going on.  It was sort of interesting to see how Brubaker placed classic Batman characters like Catwoman, and the Joker into the mid-century narrative, but the whole time I sort of felt like I was reading a What If? type story, that was lacking in authenticity.

I can't say that this was a bad comic, it just didn't strike me as the quality I've come to expect from Brubaker and Phillips.  It's so sad when things don't live up to expectations.

The Red Wing #2: This four issue mini-series started out incredibly well, and I had high hopes that the second issue would live up to the quality of the first.

It did...for the most part.  In terms of writing, the story took a much appreciated leap forward. This issue developed characters, delivered some important back story, moved the plot along nicely, and delivered a sweet twist at the end.  All in all, an epic win for any piece of writing.  Hickman is clearly a top-level writer working at the peak of his game.  So, yeah, in that regard, this was a great issue.

The art was a slightly different story.  Nick Pitarra was a complete unknown prior to this comic, and then he came out the gates strong with a brilliant looking first issue.  The dude set the bar pretty damn high for himself, and I felt like he didn't quite nail it on this issue.  Though most of the time Pitarra did manage to recapture the artistic glory of the first issue, there were a few times the art looked flat to me.  There also weren't any mind-blowing art sequences here like there were in the first issue.  That might sound pretty nit-picky but I guess I just have damn high expectations from the previous issue.

My petty complaints aside, this is still a great comic, and one that I'm very much looking forward to reading for the next couple months.

Sweet Tooth #24: This comic gets continual mentions here on the Comic Quickies feature because Jeff Lemire continues to not only write an amazingly captivating and emotionally gripping story, but he also continuously experiments and push the boundaries of his art.

In this issue, for the first time ever, Lemire handled some of the coloring duties.  Why? Especially when he's got Eisner Award winning colorist Jose Villarrubia on colors?  Well, it worked out perfectly on this issue as Lemire's colored pages matched up with a particular character's journey between the worlds of the living and the dead.  Lemire used watercolors, and they gave a very creepy, other-worldly feel to the pages he worked on.  Obviously, the other-worldly feel was perfect for a story that took place on err...other worlds.

This isn't the first time Lemire has tried some new things artistically with Sweet Tooth.  He's done a story-book style issue, and even an issue where three different guest artists tell the back story of three different characters.   Each time, the unique approach has made for a great comic reading experience.  This isn't the end of the art experimenting either...Matt Kindt is a guest artist for three straight issues coming out in the very near future.

Review: The Nightly News

The Nightly News was recommended to me by a very reliable source; my local comic shop owner.  The shop was celebrating its anniversary, and holding a sale for box customers, and I was browsing the graphic novels when he came over, plunked The Nightly News in my hands and told me sale or no sale, this should be my next purchase at his shop.  Since the guy's been sticking comics in my pull box (not nearly as dirty as it sounds) for over a year now, and talks comics with me on at least a weekly basis, I consider his tips to be close to golden.  The tip on The Nightly News is more like platinum.

The Nightly News is about a cult of radicals bent on changing the news media by destroying the news reporters.  They begin this change by sniping a few innocents, then sniping reporters as they show up on the scene to report the story.  The idea behind all this shooting is to get the news media to become reliable and report the facts, not sensationalized versions of the news that can ruin careers, marriages, and lives.

Led by the unknown and secretive "The Voice" who delivers their ideals, and missions, "The Hand" leads a group of followers who are determined to create a revolution in the media even if it costs them their lives. 

The Nightly News isn't just about capping a bunch of news reporters.  If that was the case, this graphic novel would lack serious cool points.  Hickman peppers in a bunch of interesting factoids that will make you question the reliability of the media, understand how corporations control the news, make you do a fancy math equation to see if your education was really worth it, and much more.  Warning: These little info-graphics will make you more cynical.  These little asides add depth to the story without detracting from the narrative flow too much.  There is also a strong mystery element as to who exactly "The Voice" is, and what his/her ultimate motivations are.

It should be noted that Hickman straight up declares on multiple occasions that he doesn't condone or endorse the Cult's methods or ideals, he is simply telling a story. And a damn good one too. 

Though I found the story of The Nightly News very interesting, and well told, the art is really what makes this graphic novel stand out as special.  Hickman, who also handles the art, almost totally eschews your typical panels, and art layout for what looks more like a graphic design layout.  While some pages look sorta similar to what you'd find in nearly every comic, most pages are a single entity, with bold overlying images and dialog bubbles, but separated in such a way that doesn't require panels to depict the flow of the story.  Hickman also uses a monochrome coloring scheme, a sort of rust color for present day events and an icy blue for events in the past, to set the tone for the story and make certain graphics stand out.  When this is all put together the result is a graphic novel that looks totally unique when compared to everything else I've ever read in the comics medium.  

Since The Nightly News is totally unlike 99.9% of all comics out there, I could see how it might be hard for some folks to really sink their teeth into. The story is a pretty dense one, packed with lots of story, and all those little information graphics as well.  The art definitely takes some adjustment time, but is worth the effort.  Sometimes, due to the nature of Hickman's limited color palette, it can be slightly difficult to tell who is who, which further slows down what is already a slightly slow narrative.  But then again, these might not be problems at all.  Once I got used to his art, I had no problem telling who was who, and if you couldn't tell, I really enjoyed the story and the little information factoids.

What I think is the most impressive quality of The Nightly News is that it's a comic that can make you think and question the norms of society...which can be a rare thing these days.  Highly recommended.

Grade: A

Battle Hymns' 2011 SDCC Highlights

So, the San Diego Comic Con was this past weekend.  SDCC is the Big Daddy of comic conventions, and it is when all the comic makers like to make big announcements about big things that are coming up.

I tried to follow the highlights of the con as best I could, and I've rounded up what I consider to be the coolest, most interesting news coming out of the con.  So here are my SDCC highlights:

2011 Eisners:  The Eisner Awards are like the Oscars of comics, minus the pampered, dysfunctional insecure actors and actresses.  So, way cooler than the Oscars.  You can see the complete list here, but I'll go through a few highlights:

Best Continuing Series  went to Chew, which I think is well deserved.  The comic won Best New Series last year, so this is a move in the right direction for the comic.  Joe Hill pulled in an Eisner for Best Writer, and Darwyn Cooke, deservedly took home the Best Writer/Artist for his adaptations of the Richard Stark Parker novels The Hunter and The Outfit. 

Nate Simpson won the Richard Manning Promising Newcomer Award for his one issue of Nonplayer.  That might seem like a very small body of work to go off in order to give such a fancy award, but believe me, Nonplayer is stunning, and Nate Simpson totally deserves the accolades. 


The Underwater Welder:  From the looks of things (Thanks Multiversity Comics!)  it would appear that Jeff Lemire's next graphic novel, The Underwater Welder, will make its debut at next year's SDCC.

Lemire made this announcement via Twitter, so there isn't a lot of detail to tell about it. Other than that little tid-bit I know that it is written and illustrated by Lemire, so in my book, that means it'll likely be pretty fucking awesome.

When I spoke to Lemire at the Emerald City Comicon he said that out of all his work in comics he is most proud of The Underwater Welder, so that right there is a pretty good endorsement.  I'm looking forward to it.

Image Announces Some NEW* Comics:  When the Image Comic announcements came out I was particularly interested to see what they were promoting because, well frankly, they are putting out the best comics right now.  So, I was totally surprised to see that they were pimping a fucking MacGyver comic.  Yeah, that MacGyver.  I'm pretty sure this is seriously gonna be a comic. I look forward to giving that first MacGyver issue a flip-check.

Another cool announcement was that Kurtis J. Wiebe, who has been continuously impressive on both The Intrepids and Green Wake will have a new comic titled Peter Panzerfaust which will hit shelves sometime in 2012.  I wish there was more information about it available, but so far, just a cover image. 

It also looks like the current Witch Doctor mini-series will be followed up with a one-shot in December, and another mini in March of 2012...it's nice to see Image will still be bringing the thunder well into 2012.  (Props to Comics Alliance and Multiversity Comics for their information!)

The 6th Gun TV Adaptation:  It looks like one of my favorite ongoing comics, The Sixth Gun will be getting a TV adaptation soon.  The Syfy channel will be handling what looks to be a six episode mini-series that will cover the events of the first arc.

I have mixed feelings about this adaptation business.  Brian K. Vaughn said in a recent interview that "Comics should be the destination...not the blueprint" and I agree, but I also find that I enjoy seeing live action adaptations of my favorite stories...though I never enjoy them as much as the source material.  (Thanks to Comics Alliance for the pic and the information!) 

DC Plugs Their New "Dark" and "Edge" Titles:  This stuff gets a mention because a fairly big chunk of the DCnU stuff I'm looking forward to checking out fall into these two categories.

Jeff Lemire talked about his two titles Animal Man and Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. 

It looks like Animal Man is gonna be more of a horror book rather than a super hero book.  Which is a relief to me, since I'm not so sure how excited I am for this comic, but had planned on checking it out simply for the fact that it is written by Lemire.  That it will be a horror comic makes me more excited.

Frankenstein is gonna be more about balls out action, and the art for the series looks to fit that description quite well.  I guess there'll be some one-shots, with guest artists, mixed in which will explore Frank's history through the various people whose bodies were used to create the monster. (Once again, Comics Alliance with the info and art!) 

Jonathan Hickman Announces Two More Image Titles:  The heading pretty much says it all.

Hickman is a big name in comics, thanks in large part to his work with Marvel.  However, I'm most interested in his creator owned material, so it is good to hear that after he completes his current creator owned Image series The Red Wing he'll be moving on to more creator owned stuff.


My perusal of the Multiversity Comics blog tells me that the first one will be titled The Manhattan Projects and will about the men who created the nuclear bomb, and the second, Secret will be a corporate espionage story.  Hickman said that both titles will run longer than his usual mini's and come in around fifteen issues.  All around good news.  The comics both sound pretty interesting, so I'll be looking forward to them whenever they come out...

Brian K. Vaughan's New "Saga": So, I saved the bestest, most excitingest piece of news for last:  Brian K. Vaughan, the writer of Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina has announced that he'll be kicking off a new ongoing "balls to the walls" sci-fi comic.

The story will follow a family during their struggle to survive an intergalactic war. The art will be handled by Fiona Staples, who, judging from the teaser image, is a great choice for the comic.

There isn't a lot of information available, but once again, Comics Alliance delivers the news, and scores an interview with Vaughan where he talks a little bit more about the comic. 

I'm particularly excited about Saga for the fact that it is written by Vaughan.  Y: The Last Man is one of my all time favorite comic series, and Ex Machina, pending a solid ending, will be right up there too.  So, yeah, I have high hopes for this series.  You can bet I'll be updating information on this when more info is available.


So, that's all the news that I found particularly interesting coming out of SDCC 2011.  There were oodles and oodles of other announcements and promotions, but for my money, the above is what I consider to be the coolest stuff.

Once again, I'd like to thank Comics Alliance and Multiversity comics for their amazing coverage of the con.  I would be mostly ignorant of the SDCC happenings if not for these two sites, and for sure, this post would be a joke without their professional coverage.

Comic Quickies

The Red Wing #1: This is one of those comics that at soon as it came up in the solicits, I knew I'd be buying it.  First of all, it is written by Jonathan Hickman.  I know that's a name that I haven't mentioned yet around here, but his reputation for writing original, imaginative and ground-breaking comics was enough to get my attention....plus, I have technically read his stuff before (The Nightly News), I just haven't reviewed it yet. (Soon!)

Second, this is a comic about time travel...I've been a sucker for time travel ever since I saw Back to the Future.

Third, the art, handled by Nick Pitarra, (a dude who was a total unknown to me prior to this comic), looks like a beautiful blend of Geoff Darrow, and Frank Quitely.  Which is to say, the art is wonderful. 

So, does it all come together to make a decent comic?  YES!  The story is told in a non-linear fashion, and the first issue mostly serves as a means of introducing the characters and the world.  Basically, from what I can tell, it looks like humanity is at war with an alien race, and that war takes place all through time thanks to time travel.  So far the comic has a bit of an Ender's Game meets Wing Commander meets Star Wars X-wings.  But is probably even better than that sounds.

Mystery Men #3:  When I think about this issue, I have to let off a bit of a sigh.  After the first issue, (despite a catch-a-bullet-in-the-teeth scene) I had high hopes for this comic.  The second issue was pretty solid too, and further buoyed my hopes, but this third issue...well, those hopes got a bit deflated.

In this third issue, we learn that the evil board of directors, who have manipulated millions for their own profit, have created a couple more enemies thanks to meddling and back-stabbing done mostly by The General.

One such guy is a country doctor, whose home gets burned down after he gave medical aid to a striking miner.  Deciding to get revenge, this normally mild-mannered Doctor becomes The Surgeon.  The transformation from country doctor to slasher who deals cheesy one-liners like: "You need to remain still for the operation.  But don't worry...you will feel everything."  was a bit of a stretch.  The character just felt way too forced, and I don't see why he's in the story.

The other new character, who'll also very likely definitely become a team member and help fight The General is an archeologist who gains the powers of Achilles complete with shield and roman style sword.  The issue centered almost exclusively around these two new characters, and they were both pretty lame. 

The writing didn't seem on par with the first two issues either, though the art was still high quality.  Hopefully the next issue can get back to what made the first two issues worth reading: noir-style setting, that is light on the over the top super-hero antics and cheesy elements like shitty dialog and goofy action.

Sweet Tooth #23: Not much to say here except: Holy Fucking Shit!  I did NOT see that ending coming.

Um, so yeah, total shocker of an ending in this month's Sweet Tooth issue.

I realize that every time I do a write-up about Sweet Tooth I mention how I absolutely can not wait for the next issue because of some sort of cliff hanger ending.  Well, this issue has the mother of all cliff hanger endings, and I've never not been able to wait for the next Sweet Tooth issue more than right now.  If Jeff Lemire doesn't give me at least one major coronary by the end of this series, I'll consider myself lucky. 

Seriously, if you read my blog, and I haven't sold you on Sweet Tooth yet, I don't know what to say.  With this epic issue, I think Sweet Tooth just nosed ahead, and is no longer tied with Chew as my favorite comic. 

Green Wake #4: Another fantastic issue of Green Wake.  This issue delivered some long awaited reveals about the characters, their past lives, and Green Wake itself.  It was good to get some answers to a few of the mysteries that have been swirling around since the first issue.  From the looks of things, the next issue should be an exciting end to the first arc of this comic.

This is probably my favorite Green Wake issue so far.  There's some slick detective work, some gristly horror-action, and some interesting psychologically thrilling moments.  Rossmo's art was great too, I feel like he captured each scene quite well.

The next issue should wrap up this story arc, so I'm excited to see if Wiebe can bring everything together and deliver an ending that is as great as these past four issue have been.

  Popgun vol. 3:  So, I haven't read the first two Popgun volumes, but it doesn't really matter.  For those not familiar, Popgun is a giant comic anthology (467 pages!)  that collects a wide variety of short comics by a huge variety of comic creators. 

As you might guess, like most anthology collections, you gotta take the good with the bad here in Popgun vol. 3.  There were times when I was reading this that I was totally absorbed into many of the comics and times when I was completely underwhelmed by the content.  That being said, there is more good here than bad, and some of the stuff is really cool.

As far as anthologies go, I say this is a pretty damn good one.  There is literally something for everyone in here, and thanks to it's giant size, there is plenty of material, so you get to experience a whole bunch of different creators.  Worth checking out if you are unsure of what kind of comics you like and want to experience a wide variety of stuff.  Did I mention Popgun offers variety?