FLIGHT VOLUME FOUR
Edited by Kazu Kibuishi
Every time a new one of these come out, I tell everyone how amazing FLIGHT is and how foolish they are for not reading it. Well, volume 4 just came out so here I am again. Jeff Smith's BONE still holds my number one spot for favorite comic, but in regards to comics that are still being published, it doesn't get any better than the yearly short story anthology FLIGHT.
Favorite stories this year:
"The Saga of Rex: Castaway" by Michael Gagne
"The Window Makers" by Kazu Kibuishi
"The Forever Box" by Sarah Mensinga
"Igloo Head and Tree Head" by Scott Campbell
"The Story of Binny" by Lark Pien
I also picked up DEMO by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, which I haven't read yet. I am a big fan of Becky Cloonan, especially her work on AMERICAN VIRGIN. I've been told by more than one person my art reminds them of Cloonan's, which I take as a great compliment.
By the way, my computer's broken which is why I haven't put any new art up recently. Flight of the Living Dead series 2 was supposed to start in August, but I don't know if it'll be possible now. I have the first few pages done but no way to upload them.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
The first Smashing Pumpkins album in seven years came out this week. They officially broke up in 2000, and Billy Corgan "reformed" the band in 2005 after his disappointingly awful solo album, "TheFutureEmbrace." However, only two of the original members (Billy and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain) are present here, and Jimmy drummed not only on Billy's aforementioned solo album, but 2003's "Mary Star of the Sea," the only album by Billy's side-band Zwan, which was actually pretty decent. So in effect, this is not a reformed Smashing Pumpkins, but the same thing we've been getting from Billy Corgan for the past three years, with the SP name added on to sell more records.
The Smashing Pumpkins were my favorite band in high school, and I've spent countless hours listening to their albums over and over. However, in retrospect, it was really just 1993's "Siamese Dream" and 1995's "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness." Their first album, "Gish," is forgettable, and their final album, "MACHINA/the machines of god," is awful. 1998's "Adore" is notable for being the only album Billy's ever made without Jimmy Chamberlain (he was kicked out of the band in 1996 for his heroin addiction, following the overdose and death of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin. A drum machine stood in for Jimmy in "Adore," and he rejoined the band just in time for them to break up), and for being a huge departure from their previous stuff, and the most depressing fucking album Billy Corgan ever made. You could also count 1994's "Pisces Iscariot" and 1996's "The Aeroplane Flies High" among their great albums, but really they're just collections of songs that didn't make it onto "Siamese Dream" and "Mellon Collie."
So I was apprehensive about "Zeitgeist," knowing full well it was probably going to suck. And it does. It reminds me more of "MACHINA" and "Judas O," the second disc of unreleased material from their 2001 Greatest Hits collection. It has that whole "see? we're heavy! we're hard rawk!" vibe that MACHINA had following the more subdued "Adore," full of down-tuned guitars and frantic drumming. This is an album full of songs that sound like "The Everlasting Gaze," arguably the Smashing Pumpkins' worst single, not counting their "The End is the Beginning is the End" from the Batman & Robin soundtrack.
Admittedly, "Tarantula" is not as bad as the rest of the album, but in the same way that a piece of your least favorite candy sitting on top of a turd might be the highlight of the turd if you were forced to eat it.
Rating - 2 out of 5 pumpkins.
The Smashing Pumpkins were my favorite band in high school, and I've spent countless hours listening to their albums over and over. However, in retrospect, it was really just 1993's "Siamese Dream" and 1995's "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness." Their first album, "Gish," is forgettable, and their final album, "MACHINA/the machines of god," is awful. 1998's "Adore" is notable for being the only album Billy's ever made without Jimmy Chamberlain (he was kicked out of the band in 1996 for his heroin addiction, following the overdose and death of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin. A drum machine stood in for Jimmy in "Adore," and he rejoined the band just in time for them to break up), and for being a huge departure from their previous stuff, and the most depressing fucking album Billy Corgan ever made. You could also count 1994's "Pisces Iscariot" and 1996's "The Aeroplane Flies High" among their great albums, but really they're just collections of songs that didn't make it onto "Siamese Dream" and "Mellon Collie."
So I was apprehensive about "Zeitgeist," knowing full well it was probably going to suck. And it does. It reminds me more of "MACHINA" and "Judas O," the second disc of unreleased material from their 2001 Greatest Hits collection. It has that whole "see? we're heavy! we're hard rawk!" vibe that MACHINA had following the more subdued "Adore," full of down-tuned guitars and frantic drumming. This is an album full of songs that sound like "The Everlasting Gaze," arguably the Smashing Pumpkins' worst single, not counting their "The End is the Beginning is the End" from the Batman & Robin soundtrack.
Admittedly, "Tarantula" is not as bad as the rest of the album, but in the same way that a piece of your least favorite candy sitting on top of a turd might be the highlight of the turd if you were forced to eat it.
Rating - 2 out of 5 pumpkins.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Liefeld Link
I've been playing quite a lot of Zelda recently, and was inspired to do this Liefeld version of Link.
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