The winner of the contest is revealed, and no interesting post title is thought of

Due to time-consuming personal issues, I'm behind in posting the results of the recent contest, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten. If you haven't read the entries, I recommend checking them out; there are some really good ones in there, like Chris Sims' Herbie Popnecker/Boy and His Blob mashup, and some other funny ideas from Jason and Heidi Fan, and Pericope. But I really dug the winning entry by Jamie Stahl, which I'll reproduce here:

"I had an idea for a First Person Shooter. Since the genre is based so often on running around shooting bland nameless soldiers, and security guards, I wanted to see a game that explored the ramifications of what you're actually doing in these games a little bit more.

So my idea was basically a frame story, where you are a Black Ops lone wolf infiltrator, shooting security guards in the face for some reason. It plays like normal, but at certain points throughout, when you shoot someone - the camera slo mo's on the bullet and stops right before the bullet hits that guard in the face. Then it stops, and you play as that guard in a self contained stage, in the past, before you kill them. Each stage reveals some small part about that guard: some of them turn out to be assholes, some turn out average, some are wonderful people. I had, as a specific example of this, an idea where one of the guards stages is him telling his daughter a story about a knight rescuing a princess. You play as the knight in a fantasy world, but while you're playing you can hear the father and the daughter talking in the background, making up the story as they go along, which causes the world around you to shift and alter as if it's being made up on the spot (which it is). It ends when the story is done, and then cuts back, and the bullet hits the guy - and you move on.

If I had to name it, I'd like to name it something innocuous like "Stealth Ops" so that people looking for the next Call Of Duty might stumble on it.

Sorry this is a bit long, I've been wanting to get that idea out for awhile. Also it is clearly based on the Invisibles, but I thought that issue was great and would work really well in a video game - when you take over a character you empathize with them so much more then when you're reading about them (IMO)"

That is an excellent idea, one with a lot of potential for storytelling twists and turns, and forcing players to examine aspects of gaming (and maybe even social interaction?) that usually go unnoticed. It's a great example of a counter-argument to Roger Ebert's infamous "video games can never be art" statement.

So, Jamie, if you could contact me at the email address in the sidebar (or via Twitter/Facebook/telegram), I'll pass your information on to the Localpages people and get you your gift card. Congratulations!

Will free stuff make up for not blogging?

I do feel lousy for posting so little lately, so maybe this opportunity that I was offered will make up for it to "all" my "loyal" readers. As a promotional thing, LocalPages.com has offered a $50 gift card to a video game store of your choice for one lucky commenter.  All you have to do is give an idea for a video game that you would like to play, either based on an existing property such as a comic, movie, TV show, novel, or whatever, or something completely original (and maybe which would match the interests of this blog, although that's not required). Leave the description and name of the game in a comment, along with a link to a gaming store (or any retail location found on LocalPages that sells video games) where you would like to win your gift card, and the one I like best will be the winner (if I can't decide, I'll just choose one at random). There's no need to get too detailed, but I'm hoping for something funny or original.  Have at it, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions. The deadline is midnight, Central time, one week from today, which is Wednesday, May 11.

Legalese:
In order to be eligible to win, commenters must be at least 18 years
old, reside in the U.S. and must not have won any Local Pages
giveaways within the past 30 days. There is a one prize per household
limit per 30 day period.

This week, the manga will crush us all

Obnoxious satisfaction dept.: I was hoping if I whined enough, people would finally respond to my call for contest entries, so I was excited to get the following image from Mr. Tim Callahan:

Hell yeah! Steve McQueen! It was all worth it just for that.

Links: The latest Myspace Dark Horse Presents is up, and the highlight this month is "Duke Armstrong, the World's Mightiest Golfer", by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca. It's awesome. There's also a cute two-pager by Damon Gentry and Aaron Conley (of Invade My Privacy), and a well-illustrated, if fairly dumb, horror thing by Cody Goodfellow and Jeff Wamester. Check them out, says I.

Kurutta, a blog which often highlights strange Japanese ephemera, posted two really cool Taiyo Matsumoto short comics (in color!) last week, "Off TV" and "Moment". They're pretty great; now I really can't wait to read GoGo Monster.

New comics this week (Wednesday, 12/9/09):

Amber Hagerman Deserves Justice A Night Owl Story One Shot

What better way to kick off the usually snide and jokey weekly round-up than with a self-published comic written by a 14-year-old about the murder of the 9-year-old girl who inspired the AMBER Alert system? You can't criticize something like that! This sort of thing is not usually an indicator of high quality, but you never know, and at the very least, it means well. You can learn more about it here.

Anchor #3

Okay, this is more like it. Badass monster-punching, demon-scheming, and amnesia-fighting, with some nice art and plenty of weird and interesting shit. I've been digging this thing, so give it a look if you haven't already.

Anywhere #1

And now comes the snark. This one is an ostensible comedy, even written by a Comedy Central producer (which could mean anything from The Daily Show to Li'l Bush), about two slacker guys who have the power to go anywhere they want, but "are more interested in unlocking the nude code in Tomb Raider than saving the day". Ooh, topical! What other references straight out of 1997 will be included? Maybe they'll kidnap Leonardo Dicaprio from the premiere of Titanic! Or dance to the song "Barbie Girl"! Yeah, this is most likely pretty awful; if you want to know more, here's an interview with some art samples.

Citizen Rex #6

Gilbert (and Mario) Hernandez's latest series finishes, just in time for me not to read it before compiling a "best of 2009" list. I'm looking forward to getting the collection though, so hopefully it won't take too long to come out.

Days Missing #5

I've found this series about some powerful alien dude with the ability to alter time and space sporadically interesting, but ultimately not all that good. However, this issue, which I believe is the final one of the miniseries, sees the return of the first issue's creative team, Phil Hester and Frazier Irving, and it seems like they might end up revealing some secrets or something, so maybe it will wrap things up satisfyingly? Considering the nature of the comic, it probably won't be either creator's best work, but it might be worth a read. Yes, I'm as backhanded as ever with my recommendations.

Daytripper #1

Ooh, here's a really good-looking release. This new Vertigo series (or miniseries, rather, scheduled for ten issues) by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba looks gorgeous and fascinating. I love pretty much everything those guys have done, and they just keep getting better. This appears to be about a writer living in their home city of São Paulo, Brazil, although there are probably going to be magical-realist touches and whatnot; I'm trying not to learn too much about it before reading. I'm sort of planning to wait for the collection, but I might not be able to; I expect I'll at least pick up the first issue. Anyway, here's a preview.

DCU Holiday Special 2009 #1

I really don't plan to buy or read this, since these things are generally pretty awful with maybe one or two decent stories among several, but this one is at least worth mentioning because Jeff Lemire has a story in it. I doubt his style will go over very well with regular superhero fans, but you never know, maybe it will spark a revolution in mainstream artistic technique, and soon he'll be illustrating Wonder Woman or something. We can all hope.

Deathlok #2

Some people seemed to like the first issue of this weird-ass series, but I found it just bizarre and mostly incomprehensible. I guess the idea of corporations in the future fighting wars that are televised and treated like sports is kind of funny and satirical, but I found it just sort of ugly and gross. Maybe I'll like the second issue better? I'd recommend un-bleeping the naughty words though; we all know what they're saying.

DMZ #48

Your Brian Wood for the week, with more from the New York war zone. Now this is satire I can get behind, if you can call it that. I'm waiting for the next collection, as always.

God Complex #1

Here's the latest series from Michael Avon Oeming, co-written by Daniel Berman and illustrated by John Broglia, about Apollo wanting to be a human and having to fight the other gods to do so. This seems to be a popular sort of comics plot lately, doesn't it; maybe mythology is in right now for some reason. Anyway, here's an interview/preview, if you want to see what it looks like (which is Broglia imitating Oeming, apparently).

Groo Hogs of Horder #2

Groo! I always get excited about him. It's the second part of the latest miniseries, as our mendicant "hero" continues to deal with analogues for the financial crisis. Don't tell me nobody's going to be able to afford cheese dip anymore!

Incarnate #3

It's the final issue (for now?) of Nick Simmons' manga-ish vampire/monster/whatever series. This thing took a surprising turn in the second installment, morphing into a sort of school comedy or something, although it did contain plenty of action and violence. What a weird comic. I'll try to do a sort of wrap-up of the series if I end up getting a review copy.

Invincible Iron Man #21

Tony Stark continues to have coma-tastic adventures, which always makes for excitement. Actually, I don't know what's going on in this issue, but Matt Fraction has definitely brought the series in an interesting direction. Hopefully it will be good; he's managed to build up some good will after the last arc.

Muppet Show Vol 2 #0

Roger Langridge's Muppet comic is dispatching with the "series of miniseries" format and becoming a monthly ongoing, starting with this issue, which, in a surprising and hopefully temporary turn, is only written by Langridge, and illustrated by Shelli Paroline. I'm sure it will still be funny, but hopefully Langridge will be back on art duties soon. The story involves the making of a "Pigs in Space" movie. Fun?

Punishermax #2

Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon keep their awkwardly-titled run going, doing more stuff with the MAX versions of Kingpin and Bullseye, one expects. Probably enjoyable, and as good as we're likely to get without Garth Ennis.

Spider-Man and the Secret Wars #1

I have no idea what's going on with Spider-Man lately, but Marvel seems to be intent on retelling various stories from his past for some reason, possibly for the purpose of ironing out continuity issues caused by deals with the devil. Only in comics do we get stuff like this, where somebody has to write a story for the sole purpose of explaining what happened in a past story after later writers changed that story in order to make their later story make sense. Why should anybody care about this? It's completely ridiculous. It's written by Paul Tobin, who might be able to make it interesting and make some sort of sense, but really, he should be ashamed that he even has to bother, as should anybody who reads the damn thing. There's plenty of fiction and entertainment out there that isn't just different versions of things you've already read. Expand your horizons, people!

SWORD #2

I enjoyed the first issue of this series about the guys who defend the Earth against aliens, so hopefully this one will also be good. Find out more tomorrow, when I write about it for Comics Bulletin. Don't let me down, Kieron Gillen!

Wolverine Under the Boardwalk

I guess Wolverine isn't content to do his normal thing (at which he is the best, although said thing is purported to not be pleasant), so now he's crooning old pop songs about making love while people are walking above. Stuart Moore and Tomm Coker tell us all about it; way to bring the romance back into Marvel comics, guys!

3-2-3 Detective Agency in The Disappearance of Dave Warthog TP

Well, this certainly seems like a cute bit of kids' comics, about a bunch of animals who all meet on a train and form a team of detectives. That'll cleanse your palate after the inevitable blood and violence of Wolverine massacreing a bunch of Atlantic City vacationers. You can see some samples of the art here, along with a description of the cover design process. Cute?

Batman The Cult TPB New Printing

I've never read this Jim Starlin/Berni Wrightson story, but from what I've heard, it's pretty damn crazy, about Batman fighting a crazy religious leader who organized an army of Gotham City's homeless. I'll have to check it out if I get the chance.

Boys Definitive ED HC VOL 2 W/Slipcover

For those who have lots of money, here's the second half of the fancy presentation of most of the series to date, taking you up to issue #30 with extras and whatnot. If you can afford it, I won't try to dissuade you, but think of all the other good Garth Ennis comics that could be bought with that money. Also, the children, why doesn't anyone ever think of them?

Crossing the Empty Quarter & Other Stories HC

Dark Horse is publishing this collection of various short comics stories by Carol Swain, including two brand-new ones. I don't know that I've ever read anything of hers, but this looks quite nice; it might be one to check out. You can see a short preview here, and a longer one in "flip book" format here.

Dark Reign Underside TPB

I really dug the Joe Casey/Nathan Fox Dark Reign: Zodiac miniseries that came out earlier this year; it actually did something interesting with the concept, and was full of crazy energy, shocking violence, and awesome art. If you missed out on the single issues, here's the collected format, but unfortunately you have to pay for Dark Reign: Mr. Negative and Dark Reign: Lethal Legion as well. Those might not be bad (I didn't read them), but considering the general level of quality at Marvel these days, I wouldn't expect too much. Still, that Casey/Fox joint was pretty fucking awesome, so maybe it'll lift the others up to the level of "tolerable" simply through proximity.

Ex Machina Vol 8 Dirty Tricks TPB

My must-buy trade collection of the week, containing the most recent storyline and a Halloween special. I think this is the one where Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris make an in-story appearance as comics biographers of Mitchell Hundred? That's cool. This series has kind of lost its luster for me now that I'm not reading it each month (or whenever it comes out), but I'm still looking forward to catching up, and I hope it all ends well. Don't let me down, BKV!

Kindling James Jean Poster Book

Twelve 12" x 16" posters for 30 bucks, so if you want to festoon your walls with some gorgeous work, here you go. See samples here. I sure do like me some James Jean.

Love Buzz GN

A new graphic novel from Oni Press, written by Len Wallace and illustrated by Michelle Silva and Dave Tuney. It's apparently about a couple's relationship struggles, which get turned into fodder for the comics that one of them makes. When it comes to romance-type stories, I do prefer ones that are about a couple learning to live with each other rather than a will-they-or-won't-they retread about falling in love. This one might be worth a look. You can read a 22-page preview here.

MMW Golden Age Sub-Mariner HC Vol 3

Another volume of pricey reprints of old comics. Probably some good stuff here by Bill Everett, and some backup stories by Basil Wolverton. Too expensive for me though. Library?

Portable Grindhouse Lost Art Of VHS Box Vol 1 TP

Fantagraphics' latest non-comics book, collecting a whole bunch of covers for exploitation movies from the 70s and 80s. Sounds cool, if you like that sort of thing. Here's their usual slideshow/preview.

Return Of King Doug HC

Another Oni Press graphic novel, this one appears to be about a kid who got transported to your standard fantasy kingdom and tasked with saving it from evil or something, but instead of rising to the occasion, he fled. 25 years later, as an adult, he has to finish the job; maybe it's all a metaphor for facing your fears or something? The book was optioned for a movie adaptation by Ben Stiller, which, depending on your tolerance of him, might or might not be a sign of quality. It might be all right; Katherine Dacey has a review here.

Runaways Good Die Young TPB

This is Marvel's latest reprint of the third collection of the first volume of the series, which finished up the initial "kids vs. parents" storyline in an exciting manner. It was pretty damn good stuff, from what I recall. If you haven't read it before in some form or other, this is as good as any.

Sky Doll TP Vol 01

And here's another collection from Marvel, showing how weirdly-priced their translations of the French Soleil books are. The three individual issues of this series were six dollars each, and this softcover collection of said issues is 20 bucks. That's just a bad deal in every format. I did like the first issue when I read it, but I just can't justify spending that much, even though I'm certainly interested in the book. Maybe I can get it at the library; I'm sure they jumped at the chance to have this sort of cartoony sexiness on their shelves.

Tale Of Despereaux Movie The Graphic Novel HC

It's a sign of the times: comics are popular these days, so animated kids' movies get graphic novel adaptations. Is it any good? I dunno, was the movie any good? It looked kind of cute, so the book probably is too? Backhanded recommendations? Yes!

Vietnam Journal Vol 1 Indian Country TPB

This was apparently an acclaimed series from the late 80s about, well, what the title says, the creator's experiences in the Vietnam War. Now it's getting a collected version, so the rest of us can find out if it deserves the praise. You can read the first issue for free here.

Azumanga Daioh Collected Edition TP

There's quite an onslaught of manga coming this week, especially from Yen Press and Viz. The former has another version of this four-panel series from Hideo Azuma, creator of Yotsuba&!, which is supposed to be good, or so I hear. I've never read it, but it seems to get a new edition every year or so. Maybe I'll get to it one of these days.

Cirque Du Freak Vol 3 Tunnels Of Blood GN

Yen also has this volume of the multimedia series about a vampire circus or something. I've been curious about it, but still haven't read it, or watched the movie. Isn't John C. Reilly in that one as a vampire? Crazy.

Detroit Metal City Vol 3 TP

Oh man, I'm behind on this series already; I still haven't read volume 2. I thought the first one was pretty hilarious, so I imagine this one continues the trend. Rape me with your music, Lord Krauser!

Dogs Bullets & Carnage Vol 2 GN

I also liked the first (zeroth?) volume of this series, and thus am behind on it as well. I'm not as frantic to catch up on it, but maybe someday. Guns and genetic mutations: that's fun, right?

GoGo Monster HC

Taiyo Matsumoto! I'm very excited to read this new (to Westerners) book of his, about a kid who imagines himself into some sort of magical fantasy world. That might sound like a tired concept, but Matsumoto should be able to make it sing. The book is kind of expensive at $28, but it's a hardcover with a slipcase, so it's sort of worth it, probably. I hope.

Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys Vol 6 TP

And here's another one I'm behind on. I'm all caught up with Pluto though, so that's something. This series is pretty epic though; it should be awesome to see what Urasawa does over the course of twenty-some volumes. I'll be there to the end, man.

Ooku The Inner Chambers Vol 2 GN

More old-Japanese gender-swapped political intrigue. I haven't read the first volume, but it's one I'd like to get to at some point. Oh, someday, always someday with these books...

Pandora Hearts Vol 1 GN

This seems to be another example of the Japanese interest in Alice in Wonderland, and also maybe The Wizard of Oz. You've got a kid named Oz, who gets saved from assassination by a black rabbit named Alice. I can't tell if it's a magical sort of fantasy thing, or a modern espionage thriller. Or if I should care, but I'm at least intrigued by the description. It's a maybe.

Raiders Vol 1 GN

This one (which, judging by the name of the creator, appears to be manhwa rather than manga) looks like it's going for an Indiana Jones vibe, with a teenage girl archaeologist gaining immortality by finding the Holy Grail and drinking the blood of Christ. And then she fights monsters or something. Fun?

Sarasah Vol 1 GN
Sarasah Vol 2 GN

Another manhwa, this time featuring a goofy time travel premise, something having to do with a girl being sent to the past to try to make sure she falls in love with the boy she likes, or something like that. Sounds like a goofy shojo soap opera twist on Back to the Future or something. Huh.

Time And Again Vol 1 GN

Horror manhwa, with a collection of ghost stories following the adventures of an exorcist. Could be decent.

Yotsuba Vol 7 GN

And for your final Yen offering, it's the latest volume in everybody's favorite comic about a cute little girl and all the wacky stuff that happens around her. I should try to catch up on this series at some point; as everybody on earth seems to attest, it's charming as hell. I think this one catches us up to the Japanese releases, so it might be a while before the next volume shows. Fans have been shown to be patient though, what with the drought between volumes; they'll be waiting for the next time a little green-haired girl comes knocking at their door.

-----

Whew, that's a lot of stuff. Comics, always comics, they never stop coming. I'm working on getting caught up on reading 2009 releases, so hopefully I'll keep writing about them. Watch this space.

We have a winner! And a bunch of losers

I'm pleased to announce that the winner of the Warren Peace Sings the Blues Third Blogiversary Giveaway is Alex Hoffman, the proprietor of Manga Widget, who sent in the following badass image:

He knows I loves me some Kirby. So that means he wins my extra copy of Moyasimon, so everybody give him a round of applause.

However, I'm less pleased to note that while his entry is awesome, it wins by default, since nobody else sent me anything. So I suppose I'll take the following quotes from the comments section of the post in which I announced the contest, and declare them runners up:

"It's...a pleasure reading [his] thoughtful reviews[!]" - Sandy Bilus, I Love Rob Liefeld

"Who'd have guessed...that [this] would be the Matt Brady with staying power!" - Alan David Doane, Comic Book Galaxy

"...one of the greats[!]" - Sean Witzke, Supervillain

Really, I was hoping I would get more entries, so I could give away more of the books I've got lying around. So, I guess I'll go ahead and extend the call for entries through the end of December. The "guidelines" are "specified" in the post linked above, but I'm just asking for something I can use, whether it's a neat image, a banner logo, a pull quote, or whatever. And in case you're worried that I'm just going to send you some random comics that I've got stuffed under my mattress, here's what I've got to give away (much of which I've written about at some point, if you want to know if it's any good):

Wonton Soup, volume 2, by James Stokoe

Remake, by Lamar Abrams

The Damned: Three Days Dead, by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt

Razorjack, by John Higgins

Krash Bastards, volume 1, by Joe Casey and Axel#13 (taken!)

Goats: The Corndog Imperative, by Jonathan Rosenberg

All You Need Is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Nylon Road, by Parsua Bashi

The Arcade of Cruelty, by Joseph Patrick Larkin

Superheroes and Beyond (How to Draw), by Christopher Hart

The Official xxxHolic Guide, by CLAMP

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Character Guide 2, by CLAMP

Random volumes of many, many manga series, including Naruto, Black Lagoon, Gimmick, Rosario + Vampire, We Were There, High School Debut, Nightmare Inspector, Record of a Fallen Vampire, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

And plenty of other stuff, if I want to dig in my closet, but considering the level of interest so far, I doubt I'll get beyond what's listed here. If people don't enter, I'll probably end up donating most of it to the local library, so get it while it's available! Or don't, see if I care.

Warren Peace: Year Four begins with some free shit!

I'm pleased to say that today marks the third anniversary of me starting this blog, which shows that people haven't gotten too tired of me, and I haven't yet run dry of things to say. That's good; we'll have to see how long that lasts. I will say that I continue to enjoy doing this, and I feel that I've gotten better at it, refining my critical voice and figuring out what works for generating content and how to express my thoughts about comics (and movies, TV, or books, on occasion). And some of the best blogging experiences involve the friendships and acquaintances I've formed with other online personalities, including people I've met in real life, like Tucker and Nina Stone, Noah Berlatsky, Scott Cederlund, and Sandy Bilus; or those who I have yet to glimpse with my own eyes but consider "internet friends" anyway, like Jog, Caleb Mozzocco, David Welsh, David Brothers, Stephen Frug, Jones, Chris Mautner, Geoff Klock, Jason Powell, Tim Callahan, John Jakala, Alan David Doane, and probably many others that I've neglected to mention. You guys make it all worthwhile.

Anyway, enough about my high opinion of myself. As a celebration of my blogiversary (a term I only use ironically, since it is stupid), I'm going to give away some comics. Specifically, I've come into possession of two extra copies of the first volume of Moyasimon (which I reviewed here), and I figure it's better to get them into the hands of someone who might want to read them than languish unread on my shelves.

So, here's the self-serving terms of the contest to win a copy: send me something that I can use on the blog. I'll take anything, whether it's a picture (something you drew (anything Jack Kirby- or Groo-related is always a good choice), or an image from a comic (or elsewhere) that might be something to put on the sidebar), a banner logo (width 800 pixels, height 500 pixels or less), a background image, a joke, a comment about something I've written or something I might like, a pull quote about the blog (even a negative one, so I can manipulate it with ellipses to try to make it sound positive), or even, if you want to really do some work for me, a guest review. Whatever you like, email it to me at mbrady325@gmail.com by, let's say December 1, unless I decide to extend the deadline. We'll see who replies, and if I get more entries than expected I'll add some other prizes, since I've got plenty of other books that I could get rid of.

But even if nobody bothers to enter, I still appreciate everybody who reads my inane ramblings, and even if I don't reply to every comment, I read them all, and thank you for dropping by and letting me know what you think. I enjoy the hell out of blogging, reading and examining comics and talking about them, and especially interacting with others who are as passionate about this little hobby of ours as I am. It's been a great ride so far, and hopefully it will continue for a long time to come.

Meager contest results!

Well, the submissions are in, and as you can see, I've got a new logo for the blog. Looks pretty nice, if I do say so myself. Only two people entered (and one of them wasn't interested in the prize), so it wasn't as successful as I had hoped, but it's better than nothing. The winner is Martin Kretschmer, who runs the site TZG2.0. Thanks, Martin! He actually submitted five different designs, which you can see here. The other entrant was Dick Hyacinth, who submitted this sweet Casanova-based logo that I might swap in sometime:



So thanks to all entrants, and if anyone out there still wants to make something and send it to me, I'll consider using it at some point. Hell, I might try to come up with something, even though I suck at graphic design stuff. I've added a link on the sidebar where you can see the other submitted images, and any others that I might add in the future. Good times. Later.

In which I celebrate my verbosity and try to get people to do stuff for me

So, believe it or not, this is the 400th post here on Warren Peace Sings the Blues. That's a lot of jibber-jabber. I hit my one-year "blogoversary" (god, that's a stupid word) about two weeks ago, so that means I've been averaging more than one place a day. Jeez, I almost want to apologize for writing so much. So here's a roundup of some of my favorite posts, but if it bores you, skip past it, because you'll want to read about the contest/giveaway I'm doing:

Will Eisner Week
Excellent Jack Kirby panels
The original version of my 100 Bullets character map
And the updated version (at the bottom of the post), which I did after I read the eleventh volume

Reviews I like:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Empowered volume 1
Ode to Kirihito
Drifting Classroom volume 2 (notable for manga scholar Matt Thorn's revealing comment)
Heartbreak Soup
More about Heartbreak Soup
Maggie the Mechanic
King City volume 1
To Dance
Rocketo volume 2
War Fix
Vampire Loves
Garage Band
The Plain Janes
La Perdida
Elk's Run
Pyongyang
The Professor's Daughter
Kampung Boy
The Black Diamond Detective Agency
Deogratias
Alice in Sunderland
Bob and Harv's Comics (focusing on silent panels)
The Salon
Templar, Arizona volume 1
Northwest Passage
The Homeless Channel
PX!
Buddha volume 1
Chance in Hell
Shortcomings (or rather, the original Optic Nerve issues)
Silent War
Exit Wounds
Tekkon Kinkreet

Other silliness:

A crappy drawing I did as an entry for a contest on Chris Sims' blog.
Lame jokes about an early issue of Fantastic Four.
In the spirit of the holiday season, an image-heavy look at a Christmas-themed issue of Spider-Man's Tangled Web by Darwyn Cooke.
A look at the crazy-ass manga Octopus Girl, and the origin of the term "WST" (Weird Shit Tolerance) that I use every so often.

Non-comics content:

In memoriam: Kurt Vonnegut
My favorite movies of 2006 (and the revised list)
I bitch about the 2006 Oscars

Movie reviews:

Down in the Valley
Tommy
Samurai Saga
Black Snake Moan
300
Tideland
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Meet the Robinsons
Brand Upon the Brain!
Sunshine
The Great Yokai War

Video game reviews:
Psychonauts
Final Fantasy XII
Okami
-----

Okay, that's enough of that. How about a contest? I have an extra copy of the graphic novel Unbeatable:



I reviewed this yesterday, and it's a pretty good book, so if you want to win a copy, here's what you have to do: design me a banner to go at the top of the site. I'm sick of the plain text up there, and I want something more snazzy. I might be able to make an attempt at coming up with something myself, but I figured I would try to get someone else to do it for me. So, if you want to enter, come up with an image that incorporates the blog's title, Warren Peace Sings the Blues, and email it to me at mbrady325[at]gmail[dot]com. It can be an image relating to comics, a visualization of the title, or whatever the hell you feel like doing. I won't guarantee that I'll use any images, but I'll post all entrants either on the blog or on Flickr (except for any that I somehow find overly offensive, which is unlikely), and I'll mail the comic to the one that I decide is best. Depending on the number and quality of entrants, I might even award a second or third prize and send out other stuff that I have lying around. I figure I'll give a couple weeks to get any entries in, so the tentative deadline is December 10. Thanks in advance for entering, and I look forward to seeing what people come up with!