C!TB’s Best of the Week | May 21st, 2013 (Part Two)

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By on May 21st, 2013

hey girl wanna talk about comics we read last week aw yeah

Another day another dollar.

Actually no wait, we don’t pay ourselves jack shit for this blog. Because “passion project” or whatever. Say, you guys, could you give us some money? Rest assured, it will be used to buy comics. Sweet, sweet comics.

Again, James is off for this week, and so we I present to you the second part of our “single person deadline” Best of the Week post!

KINSKI #1

Fact: any week that features a comic with art by Gabriel Harman is a good week. One that features him drawing a cute story about a lost dog named Kinski is even better.

The story is what you think it is. During his travels, a man stumbles across a lost dog and falls in love with it. He gives it a name, and then things happen. Admittedly, this story is less Homeward Bound and more… I don’t know, The Office in tone? Both are terrible, terrible comparisons but for whatever reason, they’re the best I can grind out of my brain at the moment. This is not a light comic. When the bad thing happens, what follows is not exactly easy to watch. Yes, it’s a movie about a man and his love for a cute animal, but it’s not exactly a happy story, nor is it an easy one. It’s a story filled with awkwardness (hence the earlier comparison to The Office), about the choices a human might make, even in the face of what might be right… even if there is a right in this case. All in all, it’s a book that should be on your radar. At the moment you can’t purchase physical copies of this book, but you can head over to ComiXology where the first issue is available through Monkeybrain for a scant 99 cents. Read it and let us know what you think!

C!TB’s Best of the Week | May 20th, 2013 (Part One)

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By on May 20th, 2013

hey girl wanna talk about comics we read last week aw yeah

Happy Monday, cats and kittens!

For those of you who are sadly not Canadian, welcome to what we like to call “Victoria Day”. Originally a federal holiday created in honour of Queen Victoria’s birthday, it is now the day during which all Canadians remember those times that Ted was with Victoria. You guys, Victoria was pretty cool. She made deserts.

A note: James is still of in Ontario for a bachelor party, so to make things a bit easier, this week’s Best of the Week post will be split and feature mini write ups of some of the best books from this past week.

ff7

01. “All of you pale before our herteronormative cisgendered classification of family!” Read more →

Um, Actually | James-cation

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By on May 20th, 2013

Welcome to the Como Murder PalaceWelcome, dear readers, to our regular letter column; a series of missives from and to the internet, delivered by a series of tubes.

A word of warning: James is off across the god damn country at a friend’s bachelor party, so Brandon is flying solo. This probably means no essays or insights

Thank you, internet.

———-

Brittney (@britl) asks: Why did Jaymes leave you? Is the Jaymes Robit helping?

James left me because apparently he thinks he needs to see other bros in other provinces. Which is fine. I’m fine, just… look, whatever. And the Jaymes Robit is not helping out this week because I’m so fine with this whole stupid thing I pushed it off my balcony because I don’t need him anymore I don’t need anyone.

———-

Danica (@DanicaHere) asks: Why haven’t we been listening to Thrilling Adventure Hour lately? We’re many episodes behind.

Umm… except for my darling girlfriend Danica of course. Uhhh… hey babe. We’ll catch up soon. Also hey, you know how you said it was creepy that I kept a life-sized robot of James in the big blue trunk of ours? Whelp, I decluttered it, and I’m not even crying.

Read more →

Not Rory: Doctor Who, Series 7, Episode 13

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By on May 17th, 2013

[Ed. Note: After the success of Speed Me Deadly, our weekly Breaking Bad recap series, we're pleased to welcome our friend and colleague Scott "Famous Inker" Williams on-board to talk about Doctor Who.  As always, there are spoilers abound in these articles and you should watch the episode in question before reading beyond the header.  Geronimo etc!]

Nightmare in Silver

Doctor Who Episode 713: Nightmare in Silver

“Hail to you, the Doctor: Saviour of the Cybermen!”

Oh, the Cybermen. What a drag to have these iconic villains that never seem to get anything good to do. Sure, they pre-date the Borg by decades, but Star Trek figured out how to do cybernetic zombies somewhat more excitingly than Doctor Who seemed able to. While this series has been home to numerous innovative new threats, monsters and mysteries, every time the Cybermen get carted out, they seem like stodgy relics. They embody so much about what the Doctor fights against and yet it’s just so hard to take them seriously. The best Cybermen episodes seem to be memorable in spite of them: Do you remember that they were the villains of “The Next Doctor,” or can you only think of David Morrissey’s goofy, loveable amnesiac Jackson Lake? Then there’s “Closing Time,” where the Doctor teams up with ex-landlord Craig and his newborn son, Alfie/Stormageddon. On paper, appearances by these legendary foes of the Doctor should be anticipated, but a lot of fans of the new show that I’ve spoken to just roll their eyes: “Oh, another Cybermen episode.”

But this one was written by Neil Gaiman, a man with a record of taking old stories and breathing new life and wonder into them. “It’s no ‘The Doctor’s Wife,’” my brother said after this episode. I answered, “Maybe not, but it was ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ of Cybermen episodes.” Indeed, the whole 7th series began last fall with one of the best Dalek episodes I’ve seen, and now we’ve got pretty much the best Cybermen one too.

Read more →

Um, Actually | All Kinds of Stuff

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By on May 16th, 2013

Welcome to the Como Murder PalaceWelcome, dear readers, to our regular letter column; a series of missives from and to the internet, delivered by a series of tubes.

Thank you for all your questions and comments. We really couldn’t do all this without you.  Why aren’t you sending us money yet?  You should be sending us money.  I’m sure you have some extra.  Maybe your child doesn’t need that new backpack.  What’s more important, us or them?  They don’t write shit.

Thank you, internet. Read more →

Impossible (or) Brandon Totally Doesn’t Cry While He Reads an Event Tie-In Comic, You Guys

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By on May 14th, 2013

Fantastic Four #5AU
(In which I finally get around to talking about Fantastic Four #5AU. This one is a long time coming, I’ll admit. I read this back in March. I started writing this back in April. The words didn’t quite come together until now. So.)

01. This shouldn’t happen.

With all the resources at his fingertips, monetarily and mentally, Reed Richards is a man who turns the improbable into the probable. He looks at complex problems and finds them wanting, routinely bringing the future closer and closer into what passes for reality in the Marvel Universe. Because of this the Fantastic Four has been a book overflowing with brilliant ideas. From the days of Stan and Jack wherein the two built the Universe part of the Marvel Universe cosmic by psychodelic brick to the team’s more recent days running a school where the ideas of tomorrow are conceived of today, the best Fantastic Four stories have always laughed at the impossible. Few have attempted to tackle a full blown impossibility with Reed hitting a brick wall. Of those few, there are less that ring true to the core of the character.

And then, there was Fraction. Read more →

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