Kamandi was my favourite Kirby work at DC. The best issues were issue 16 "The Hospital" (this would have been a perfect place for the series to end) and issue #23.

I've just read the first episode of Naruto. The art is not the best in the world but it's a good story.

I re-read "Reset" in one sitting, and it worked much better. I just wish Bagge would do an on-going sitcom/soap opera, something that gives the reader characters to come back for each month.

Jason Yungbluth's "Weapon Brown: Blockhead's War" is much better than I had expected, although the first series was better. This one carries the Charlie Brown-as-post-apocalyptic-killer-drawn-like-Sin-City joke a little too far, but includes as many other comic strip characters as possible.

I'm a couple issues behind on "Fables" but I am really getting bored. The cubs are the least interesting part of the main cast to me, and "Cubs in Toyland" is the second long storyline in a row about them. I do love Mark Buckingham's art - and kudos to the coloring, which finally integrates computers in a way that doesn't make the page resemble a plate of hurl - but the series is coming to resemble Claremont's X-Men in a bad way, a constant onslaught of dangling plot ends.

The Infernal Man-Thing "Screenplay of the Living Dead Man" 1 to 3 - a sequel to "Song-cry of the Living Dead Man". I can remember reading the original as 14 year old and not actually getting it at all, though I loved the title and the combination of John Buscema & Klaus Janson was nice. It will be worth a re-read. Crazy stuff.

Due to being off work because of illness, I am doing some extra reading. So ...

Incredible Hulk 102 through to 114 so far. This comic fairly rattles along. Stan Lee could sure right a mean comic. To be Hulkinued.

I recently bought Tezuka's "Messge to Adolf". This is a nice hardback book. The story of three Adolf's - a Jewish boy, a German Boy and Hitler himself. Only read the first four chapters but it is good. Tezuka's art is very cartoony (if that's a word) but very good. I also like the fact that the Japanese seem to be able to do much bigger pieces of work than western comic creators.

Walter Simonson's "The Judas Coin" graphic novel came out this week. It follows a cursed coin down through the centuries, as it interacts with various DC characters in each time period. Simonson uses a variety of art styles and storytelling techniques in each chapter. Good stuff!

With the new Judge Dredd movie out, I thought I buy a copy of 2000AD, issue 1800 to be precise. I haven't read it in years. Anyway, whilst the art of the Dredd Story was nice (Chris Weston), the story (Chris Weston again) itself was a total waste of time, embarrassingly bad. The other stories are not too bad but they are all the first part of their respective stories but I won't bother picking up the next issue to find out what happens.

Another compilation of all the Bolland material is soliciting this month. Or maybe it's the same compilation from a few years ago re-soliciting. Whatever. All of the best Judge Dredd material under one cover.

I read some JUDGE DREDD comics as a kid in the 1980s and thought they were a lot of fun, though I'm surprised it's lasted this long. There's only so many times I need to see a scowling Dredd shoot a hole in some mutant freak.

A collection of the Bolland material sounds worthy. I just tucked a pre-ordered copy into my Amazon shopping cart.

Bolland did very little art for Judge Dredd. Judge Death was great stuff but one creepy story involved a thing called Jigsaw disease drawn by Bolland.


At a convention, I went to back in the 80s, Ron Smith, one of the artists on Dredd, spoke about how he used speed to help him meet deadlines.

Finished the first volume of Message to Adolf by Osamu Tezuka. This is great stuff and I would recommend it. Quite brutal, especially towards the end. I can't wait for volume 2.