Hello dorks. It's been a while since I last posted a review. Sorry about that. You all know how time simply flies. Plus I have somewhat of an excuse; I've been very busy with school. Why didn't I write any reviews over the winter break, you ask? Well you'll have to figure that out for yourself.

I have one book I want to review tonight. I'm going to review a book that actually came out last week. It was so good that it needed two weeks for me to fully appreciate it. Will Eisner's The Spirit #10, written by David Hine. This month's issue features a very cool cover pose of The Spirit dodging some bullets. The title of the story, Crime and Punishment actually pays homage to the famous Russian novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The two plots are very similar. Many of you literary types out there will be familiar with the basic plot structure of Crime and Punishment(1866). The ex-student, Raskolnikov, plans the murder of a corrupt pawn-broker. In this comic rendition, the criminal Roscoe Kalashnikov(great name) takes center stage instead of the title's namesake. This one-issue story leaves the typical genre of hardboiled fiction and the whodunit to focus on the psychological aspect of the criminal's mind. Within the book, we follow Kalashnikov as he comes to terms over his guilt of the pawnbroker's murder. Along the way we get a fascinating glimpse into his inner fears, including the typical Freudian issues of parental abuse mixed with an intense fear of bugs. Really, just like the novel it was based off of, the plot of this story isn't so much the murder and the investigation by the detective, but the plot of Kalashnikov's mind as he journeys through its dark interiors. The ending leaves the reader satisfied if not a little creeped out by the sense of folly fate leads us into.

I really dig what is going on with this new volume of The Spirit. The artwork by John Kantz and Gabriel Bautista really emphasizes the grittiness of the city along with its superb use of dull colors. Also, the writing by David Hine is just excellent. I also like the ambiguity of what era these stories are exactly set in. True to its origins, the book features many aspects of a pulp-era 1930s and 40s gangster-ridden American city. But along with that we get traces of the modern and contemporary, specifically in some of the younger characters who act as The Spirit's sidekicks and close friends.

This book really isn't getting the attention I feel it deserves. To me it has become one of those top deckers, the books I immediately place at the top of my stack of comics to read. The First Wave line of books published by DC Comics have really drawn me into the pulp era of literature. Another series I like includes Doc Savage, though I feel it has a lot of catching up to do to match The Spirit for my affection. The revival of the pulps is a great thing, and like film noir, which has had its revival, I believe that this is a time for the neo-pulp to resurrect itself.

This has been Matt Reviews. Thank you and goodnight.     

Good evening, dorks. After a rough night at work, I like to lie back and read the comic books I bought for that week. Lets get to it, shall we?

First up, Will Eisner's The Spirit #5, written by David Hine. This issue is part 2 of the new story arc, Frost Bite. In this story, The Spirit must battle the presence of a new drug, nicknamed frost, plaguing the streets of Central City. This story is definatly an anti-drug tale, and seems as if it were written specifically for that purpose. Drug related issues are not foreign to comic books. Back in the 1970s, both Spiderman and Green Arrow dealt with the problems of drug addiction. Specifically, Spiderman saves a doped teenager from attempting to fly from a rather high building in Amazing Spider-Man, issues #96-98, and Green Arrow discovers that his young ward, Speedy, is addicted to a certain drug (heroin, I believe), in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85-86. The teens who get hooked on this new drug, frost, are depicted as victims, which I appreciated. In this issue, Spirit must get a young girl named Ebony to a doctor before she freezes in the frigid weather. Suitable enough concerning the name of the drug, Central City is suffering the worst blizzard on record, and Spirit has miles of snow to chug through to get to the doctor. Taking advantage of the situation, a hit is put on his The Spirit, and while he is dealing with saving Ebony, he must also contend with every criminal in the metropolis. There is a nice psychedelic splash page, where a very tripped out Ebony sees The Spirit battling the criminals. Overall, I'm really enjoying where this series is going, and I think Will Eisner would be proud to see where his creation is going. A bonus for this series is the second feature. This issue's story was written by David Lapham(need I say more?) The Spirit Black and White is definatly an awesome addition to this series of books.

Now how could we possible top a book like The Spirit? I'm glad you asked, because my next review is of Star Wars Legacy #50, written by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, and the final issue in the series! Wow. I could leave it at that and feel complete in my review. But lets look closer. When I first heard that this series was going to be cancelled, I gnashed my teeth and swore to the gods. How could something so good end? I dismissed whoever said to me, "but remember, all good things must come to an end." However, letting the news sink in, I soon calmed down and realized that this series was one hell of a epic story, and I was just glad to have read such a book. Plus I had been reading this books since #1 first came out, about 4-5 years ago. I had been reading this book since I was a freshman in high school! Anyway, since the series was closing down, I settled in for a epic, be all, end all, battle for the galaxy between the Jedi and the Sith. As the issues got closer to #50, I began to think, "They better begin to resolve some of these plot lines, or they're never gonna have enough time!" Some clever store clerk, who's also a fellow Star Wars guru, pointed out, and Dan I'm looking at you, that they can't just end the story here. The story was going to continue even if the series didn't. Lo and behold, Dark Horse has announced a six-issue miniseries to proceed and possibly conclude from Legacy, entitled War, slotted to begin this December. That's awesome.

Putting aside that long rambling of mine, the issue is fantastic conclusion to the series. Though Cade Skywalker isn't the most heroic character, we still feel for him as he struggles to understand his destiny(it seems Skywalker and epic destiny go hand in hand). Scorning the label of Jedi, he is still a man who struggles to see good things happen, and sacrifices as much, and I'd say even more than any other Jedi. There are some epic moments in this issue, and all I can really say is you'd have to read them for yourself to get the full experience of the issue. Simply excellent.

Finally, I'd like to briefly mention Harlan Ellison's Phoenix Without Ashes #1. Harlan Ellison, enough said. Also Cullen Bunn's The Sixth Gun #3, from Oni Press reveals some background on the antagonists chasing the heroes of our tale. Excellent new series, dealing with western and demonic themes. 

Next week, I'm looking forward to Action Comics #892, and Green Arrow #3. Farewell for now.

I don't think I'm making an outrageous statement when I say that Alan Moore is one of the premier writers of his comic generation. Of course we all know him for Watchmen, the superhero satire, published in the mid-1980s with art by Dave Gibbons. In fact that book provided the stepping stone for me to really leap into the comics medium. I had seen trailers for the upcoming movie, and during a book review project, someone in my high school English class had highly recommended it. "Just as good as any novel," he said. And, wow, was he right! I devoured Watchmen, and once I finished, I realized my hunger was not satiated. I needed more things to read by Alan Moore. "A quick wikipedia search will solve my problems," I thought. So surfing the web, I found out that Alan Moore had written V for Vendetta. "That movie was based off his work!," I thought. So, promplty, I devoured that work of genius.

From that point on it was like a potluck. However, in this potluck, all the different flavors originated from the same source. The great part about Alan Moore's writing is that it is always changing dramatically, and that it covers so many different genres and topics. Lost Girls, for example, is set in an Austrian hotel, on the eve of World War I. The graphic novel explores the sexual development of the three literary characters, Alice Fairchild from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Wendy Darling from Peter Pan, and Dorothy Gale from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. But, really, who ever thought of something like that!? Only Alan Moore, it seems.

Now before I go too far, and worship everything Alan Moore has ever written, I want to discuss his Another Suburban Romance. This is a comic, published by Avatar Press, based originally off of his poem of the same name. Published sometime earlier this decade, Avatar Press is republishing all of Alan Moore's work from that company. "Another Suburban Romance", as I like to think, is Alan Moore's version of Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan. The poem evokes the decay of an urban society, London, most likely, as Moore himself stroles through the rubble, Glycon cane and all. Even without the stunning art by Juan Jose Ryp, I can still feel the human decay and the feverish attitude of the city, devastaingly overpopulated, where the "murders don't have motives," and "passions don't have names" Also included in this book are two other short stories. The first one, "Judy Switched Off the TV," feels very similar in theme to "Another Suburban Romance." Also set in a dystopian future, probably the same as "Romance", we follow the path of a man on his walk, too apathetic at this point to even notice or be surprised by the carnage around him. The last short story is titled, "Old Gangsters Never Die" This is Alan Moore's bizarre take on 1920s crime and the Prohibition era. However, it blends ghost horror themes, as all the dead mob gangsters gather in a movie theatre to watch their old lives on the big screen.

So now that you all know how much I love Alan Moore's writing, I would like to show you some of his other works and the span of genres he writes about. "The Courtyard", a short story, was his take on Lovecraft and Cthulhu. This work has also been adapted for comics, and is also available from Avatar Press. Other Cthulhu themed works of his, include the sequel to 'The Courtyard", Neonomicon, which has just started, and Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures. Supreme is Alan Moore's Superman. With a twist, of course, and a little bit of existentialism. Not only does he pay homage to old archetypes but he also adds his own unique feel to the story. Finally, if you are a hopeful future comics writer, you should really pick up Alan Moore's Writing for Comics. He mediates through the writing process in his own way, clear on the point, though, that writing is a very individual process.

Alan Moore is my favorite comic writer. Hell, he's probably my favorite writer. It has come to the point where I look for his name, and I know I want to read it. Oh the story is about this? Well that's great and all, but it's Alan Moore. I think I'll enjoy it primarily for that reason.

I don't know about you guys, but this week has been a great week for me concerning the comics I collect and read! From the pulp hero of Doc Savage to Mike Carey's The Unwritten, I couldn't be happier in the books I bought this week.

First on my list today, I will be reviewing DC's Birds of Prey #4, written by Gail Simone, with art by Ed Benes. This is the final issue of the first story arc and I was really looking forward to some closure concerning the new threat the team had to face. In the first issue they encounter the deadly White Canary, hell bent on bringing pain and suffering to the Birds of Prey and those that are close to them. I really like how Gail Simone brings us Black Canary, aka Dinah Lance's thoughts as she grapples with this mysterious threat. Though this is part 4 of the 4, we do get a nice cliffhanger into where the series will be going from here. I've never read the first Birds of Prey series, but what really intrigued me into picking up the new series was the idea of an all-female team. Not only do they look really hot, but they are very strong female characters, who have humanity, but can also kick your ass if you try to mess with them. Even though he plays a small role in the story, I'd have to say my favorite character is Hawk aka Hank Hall. Being the only male on an all-female team, he really sticks out as this macho jock jerk, which is both amusing and interesting, seeing how he interracts with the women of the group.

Next I wanna talk about Doc Savage #5. Taking over from writer Paul Malmont, B. Clay Moore takes us into the next phase as Doc Savage and his crew seek refuge after the lightning attack on their home base. I gotta be honest, the first story arc wasn't my favorite but I do enjoy the pulp feel of the book, and have really been enjoying the First Wave books, also featuring The Spirit, and The Bat-Man. This issue was really fun because it's a stand alone tale where we see the normally powerful Doc Savage in a really vulnerable state. His team goes to Greece where he has to put his trust into a crime lord, who offers him a safe place to gather and recoup. I also really like Doc's team of men, who include Ham, Renny, Johnny, Tom, and Monk, each with their own unique skills and personalities. DC has done a great thing bringing back the old 1930s pulp characters to new 21 Century readers. Brian Azzerello, who is writing the main First Wave miniseries, will soon take over the Doc Savage series. What else can you expect from the writer of 100 Bullets and Johnny Double, but excellence?

Finally for this week's reviews, I wanna discuss The Unwritten #16, written by Mike Carey. This is classic Vertigo, smart and entertaining. This is a great issue because we get many answers to previous questions we all had for what was really going on with Tom Taylor and the shadowy literary organization out to get him. Tom finally meets his missing father for the first time in the series, and these two have some serious father/son issues to work out. Trying to explain to his son why he is so important and how they must defeat this evil organization who control the world through its literature, their meeting is cut drastically short by the arrival of the assasin Pullman. I don't wanna spoil too much, but death is involved. Meanwhile Lizzie has her own troubles, struggling with her identity as a literary character from Dicken's novel Our Mutual Friend, living in the real world. This series has been nothing but a joy to read, and I hope it lasts far into the years to come.

These three I wanted to highlight, but other great reads this week were Superman #702, Daytripper #9, and Zatanna #4.

For next week's books, I'm looking forward to the epic conclusion to Star Wars: Legacy, in issue #50. Also next week, Harlan Ellison will unveil his new comic miniseries, based off his tv pitch, The Starlost, titled Phoneix Without Ashes. Finally Cullen Bunn's The Sixth Gun #3, will be waiting eagerly in my pull to be read.

This has been Matt's reviews for the week and I will see you all next week.