Good Intentions

I went out to the comic book store today and bought Harrow County issue 15, Batmanissue 5, and the book John Constantine, Hellblazer: Good Intentions by Brian Azzarello, Richard Corben, Marcelo Frusin and Steve Dillon. I went along to KFC and had a Zinger Tower Burger meal, and walked around in the, very rare, warm sunlight.

Ghostbusters

Last night I finished reading the graphic novel Dark Night: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini, with art by Eduardo Risso. It's an autobiographical book about writer Dini, who was a very successful writer for animated TV shows. In January 1993, Dini was brutally attacked by a couple of muggers and savagely beaten. As Dini recuperates and tries to find his way back to the world, he imagines conversations between himself and Batman, the Joker, two face and other characters. it's a powerful book about healing, about the power of creating and the value of fictional creations. 

I managed to leave work early and I went up to the local comic book store and bought Batman issue 3, Green Lanterns issue 3, Tales from the Darkside issue 2, Superman issue 3, Detective Comics issue 936, Civil War II issue 3, Hellblazer: Rebirth issue 1 and Black Panther issue 1.

I went along to the movies and saw the new Ghostbusters which I really enjoyed. I was a big fan of the original, and pretty much grew up with it (it was one of those standard movies that we had on video when I was a kid and put on pretty much every holiday), but I did think that this one was funnier.

The Fear Machine

Last night I was watching an episode of Spaced which I thought was really funny. I also finished reading the graphic novel John Constantine, Hellblazer: The Fear Machine written by Jamie Delano and illustrated by Mark Buckingham, Richard Piers Rayner, Mike Hoffman and Alfredo Alcala. The story was originally published in nine monthly installments in the Hellblazer comic-book between 1988 and 1989. In the book occult detective and amateur magician John Constantine is on the run in the English countryside after being falsely accused of murder and joins up with a group of New Age travellers. However, before long he finds himself caught up in a bizarre conspiracy involving a sinister corporation who intend to use ancient magic and a psychic little girl in a devestating new weapon called "The Fear Machine". However this itself is part of an even greater conspiracy which reaches to the upper echelons of power. As an ancient and evil supernatural force awakens, even Constantine believes that it is too late to stop them. It was a good story, perhaps not the best Hellblazer story, but not bad at all. The artwork is slightly crude by the standards of modern comics but it isn't bad at all. I've reviewed it over at Permanently Weird. Fans of The Sandman would also recognise a very brief appearance from Morpheus, the main character in Sandman.

Today has been fairly quiet. I went out to get my groceries for the coming week and watched a couple of episodes of The Big Bang Theory, and also part of a show called Into the West (mainly because Rachael Leigh Cook was in it). I've started reading a book called The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac which so far looks like it should be pretty good.

I think it's the Oscars tomorrow night. I've never understood why there's so much attention paid to what the people are wearing on the red carpet, because it's not a fashion show it's a movie awards show. Also it must be stressful enough for people being nominated without the worry that if you pick the wrong outfit it would be all over newspapers magazines, the internet and TV shows. One of the things that I like about the Oscars is that there are certain things which are completely inevitable. For example at several points there will be shots of Jack Nicholson in the audience with a massive grin on his face wearing his shades indoors.

Dangerous Habits

Last night was pretty quiet. I read the two Hellblazer graphic novels that I got on Friday. The first book, Original Sins, collected the first nine issues of the monthly comic-book from 1988, in which cynical, chain-smoking magician John Constantine faces off against a grotesque hunger demon, yuppies from Hell, the ghosts of a lost platoon from the Vietnam war, bizarre and deadly religious cults and life in 1980s Britain. It was a very good collection. In the second volume, Dangerous Habits, Constantine's smoking habit has given him terminal lung cancer. With time and options rapidly running out, Constantine has to make peace with his life and play one final desperate game against the Devil himself. That was a very good book and often genuinely affecting and moving. They are both reviewed over at Permanently Weird.

Today I went along to my parent's house for lunch. We had a kind of sausage bake with potatoes, onions and cherry tomatoes, followed by apple pie. After lunch we had a walk to a supermarket but I didn't buy anything. I got home at around half past five.

Early to Work

Last night I spent most of the time reading. This morning I was up at five in the morning and got into work around seven. There was a baguette run at work and I got a panini with cajun chicken, savoury cheese, onions, chilli sauce and jalapeno peppers. I was only working for six hours today so I left at about one and went up to the comic book store. I bought Batman and Robin issue 19, Dracula: Company of Monsters issue 5, Freedom Fighters issue 5, iZombie issue 9, Let Me In: Crossroads issue 2, The Walking Dead issue 81 and House of Mystery issue 33, along with the graphic novels John Constantine, Hellblazer: Original Sins by Jamie Delano, John Ridgway and Alfredo Alcala and John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits by Garth Ennis and William Simpson (incidentally the Dangerous Habits storyline was one of the main basis for the Hellblazer movie version, Constantine). I went out for a few drinks afterwards.