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I loved Lemire's Underwater Welder, and I've read vol 2 of Sweet tooth - must track down the rest of it, as it was a fascinating concept and a really moving story. I'd not heard of Essex County, but I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Welder is also a great story. Prob. my fav. by Lemire together with Essex this far.

I'm looking forward to see how he finishes his latest story "Trillium". I'm reading some stuff digitally, and Trillium is a bit hard to read that way due to pages being upside down at times. As many other Vertigo books, it'll probably be best read in trade form.

And about Vertigo. Just re-read what probably is my fav. comic ever, 100Bullets. The five Deluxe books.

Took me the whole weekend to get through it's 2200 pages, and even if I'v already read each page 10 times already I still find new stuff about the story and the characters. The details and questions are all over the place in the book, and half the fun is combining them into new ones or answers. It's trippy saga of consequence free revenge reads like a mix between The Wire and the X-files (minus the alien or supernatural stuff) if written by Haruki Murakami.

If Sin city (I only like the first story of those) is noir on steroids then 100Bullets is noir on LSD.

Would you say it is suitable for a 7 year old who is used to 12A movies James? I'm contemplating taking my son. He has seen Avengers Assemble and loved that but he would've been a bit of a wreck watching Batman.

There are some stuff in it that could be bit heavy for a 7 year old. Showing Alex's lounges (with him breathing heavily, which adds quite a bit) and brain (at one time shown while undergoing surgery).

Not as gory as the original, but still icky in it's own way.

And while I'm at it, might I add that I quite liked it. A solid 3/5. Cool that it managed to things by itself, without repeating too much plot, onliners and what not. It dropped some serious steam towards the end, but picked it up almost immediately afterwards Robocop & c/o became heroes again, especially the very last scene. Can't say the pg 13 stopped it from being a good action movie.

Jeff Lemire's Essex county and Sweet tooth.

Essex is three different stories in a canadian commune. One about a lonely boy who feels he needs to dress up in a mask and cape, the second about a dying man who looks back at a life of hockey and loneliness and the third about a nurse with some story.

I really liked it, especially how it could make such small stories feel grand. And how everything connects towards the end. Great art and storytelling. Only thing I found a bit so'n'so was that some deaths where a bit too convient, felt like every character needed at least 1-2 deaths in the family. But it's not a biggie.

Sweet tooth plays out as if The road was about a tragic man who meets a boy with antlers on his head. Some plague is killing of mankind and children are being born with animal qualities (for example antlers, or a pig nose). And just as The road it's a very dark but still hearth warming story. And same as Lemire's Essex County it's him on art and the writing. Love it. Really hope it'll see some omnibus or hardcover treatment some day.

Can't recommend these two books enough. It's basically two stories about parenthood/childhood and how things easily repeats themselves, both good and bad.

Oooh, Sin and Punishment!!  I missed taht on the Wii.  Good to hear it's coming to Wii U. 

Okami - I didn't like it on the Wii.  I loved the PS2 for its washed out watercolour effect, and stippling of the canvas.  On the Wii it looked like it had been painted on A4 paper in gaudy acrylics.  I'd be wary of getting it on the Wii U for that reason, and that I don't think I could hack a 3rd playthrough.  It's a massive game!

Oh, sorry. It's not a list of WiiU-versions, but a list of Wii games. Ones I love (makes me think of Wii above both 360 and ps3). But they're all playable on the WiiU, and with the video output of WiiU (HDMI) being better than the Wii's (Gamecube had better) I think they're a very good fit on the console.

And you really should pick up Sin and Punishment. Lovely game. One of my absolute fav. action games in recent years. It and Kid Icarus Uprising (on the 3DS) are more or less unmatched. Having so much more fun with those than grey cover shooters!

Sorry for bump this;

"Nice pic"

Been some really good games out on it lately, but not nearly enough (especially not since 3DS got too many good games).

But I believe 2014 will be a good year. Lots of indie games. Donkey Kong this month. Mario Kart in May. New Zelda and a new Retro studio's game + others shown on E3 and later on Smash Bros.

And seriously. There's a ton of classic games on the Wii. Can't understand those saying theirs' are collecting dust, since it leaves both PS3 and Xbox360 innit. Easily my favorite console since the SEGA Dreamcast. But this is my opinion, while everyone won't share it --I'll share a list of games why I think (--I'm sure I'v missed some) it is.

Mario Galaxy 1-2
No more heroes 1-2
Metroid Prime Triology
Red Steel 2
House of the dead 2,3 (wiimote plays as good as a light gun)
Sin and punishment
Epic Mickey
NBA JAM
Okami
Muramasa
Legend of Zelda Twillight princess and Skyward sword
Mad World
Tatsunoko vs capcom
+ countless virtual console and wiiware games.

Also, these look better on the WiiU than Wii (thanks to better video output)!

A nod to the original perhaps.

But if I remember correctly, didn't they say "lose the arm", i.e, the good arm? For me, far from being a nod, its a two fingered gesture to the original film!

I like alot of the ideas José (the director) are throwing around, but I'm being careful not believing all of it made it into his film.

I agree.

Also, quite a contrast in reviews from Empire and Total Film, esp. when the latter is more or less a sister mag to the former....well sort of.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of, that they removed it in the original (but in this one they don't). Two fingered gesture? The way brittish people uses two fingers instead of the middle f-u finger?

I think they choose to leave his hand attached as a way of giving him something human to hold on to. But yeah, it looks a bit strange considering it couldn't function nearly as well as his robotic one (if it's not a synthetic one that is.)

@Pete Wells: Oh those copycat-ing bastards!

@Goaty: Yep, the hand does grate, I've read a few reviews and they say that the hand is a big distraction. I mean why go with it in the first place? To humanise him? He's already got his face to show that.   

A nod to the original perhaps.

Will watch it this Saturday. Had a hard time not buying a ticket after watching this interview. Watching it if only to support his work. Would really want to watch his upcoming documentary about missing people in Rio! (If you haven't, then watch his Bus 174. Awesome docu, better than most thrillers!)

http://youtu.be/qxjgAGaOuLI

I like alot of the ideas José (the director) are throwing around, but I'm being careful not believing all of it made it into his film.

Read it first thing this morning on my phone. The day got a good start may I say.

DREDD won me over as usual, and Titan is starting to feel like it's wrapping up MC Undercover in a way, at least Nixon. The bomb Nixon mentions goes back when she worked the docks? Cool that Dredd is stuck between the SJS wanting to blow the prison up and those wanting to make it a colony!

Strontinum Dog also did well. Continues feeling equally hopeless and badass with each page thick with blood and fire. Love it.

I only eyed area and sweet for a bit, and I'm saving the future shock for later.

But this prog felt like business as usual lately. Gold!

Debris (Progs 1792 to 1796)
Innocent (Progs 1798 to 1799)
Payback (Progs 1801 to 1802)
Sealed (Prog 1816)
The Pits (Meg 332)
Save Him (Prog 1819)
Wolves (Progs 1820 to 1822)
Cypher (Progs 1824 to 1825)
The Forsaken (Progs 1830 to 1835)
Skulls1 (Prog 1836)
Power Struggle (Meg 336)
Wastelands (Progs 1837 to 1841)
Bender (Progs 1845 to 1849)

Looks good, thanks! And a congrats to Mike regarding the page count of his

Love the pew pew pew pew sounds in this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfS1ANhIXhQ

Looks like the film could end up as quite okay. And if nothing else Jose Padilha could end up doing more films in the dream factory. Where I think he could do wonders.

I'd say the Wagner stories Bender and Wastelands are a given, and looking at the credits probably Michael Carrol's Dolman arc and probably Rob Williams arc too - I'd guess the stories with that SJS judge. Not sure about Grant - my grasp of recent Dredd is a little patchy.

I'v read Bender and Wastelands, and also the clone story where they go looking for the Dredd clone gone missing. I remember Bender and the clone chase being really good, Wasteland felt a bit like a wasted opportunity due to the ending not being the best one.

I'm really intrigued by this forthcoming title. Of course I probably would've read some, if not most of it in the Prog, but this'll definitely be high on my shopping list when it comes out.

I hope they find a thread for the stories to lean on, similar to how Tour of duty worked in collected form. I also hope there's some stuff that could be tied into Dark Justice (That should start in the prog shortly after Fallout it released). The doubt angle could perhaps be a good one. One I think Grant's latest Anderson story seems to be nailing (also the first Anderson in years, for me, that's been an actual good read).

Also hope that "The man comes around" will be included. Would make a nice ending

Day of Chaos: Fallout, any ideas what stories that will be included?

Being John Wagner, Alan Grant, Rob Williams, Trevor Hairsine and Ben Willsher as writers.

Alan for example, that mean the latest Anderson will be in it?

Rob should mean the Closet story is included, and Wagner the one with Judge Bender?

I'v haven't read much of it, but I'v heard about some of it. Dredd facing blame, judge clones and russian refugees. Anything more?

Titan

[spoiler]

So they can give someone a new set of carbon-fibre lungs, face changes, rejuves, bionic eyes, grow new arms, but Titan surgery is irreversible?

Yeah, right.

[/spoiler]

Where does it say that? In this story? Anyhows, in Wilderlands McGruder states that it is possible to reverse, but the psychic scars aren't

Anyways.

Good prog. While Dredd wasn't as spectacular as usual this issue I think some good stuff is to come, especially due to the character that showed up in the end. Hope there's an explanation about Nixon being there and rearmed. Can't praise Henry Flint's art enough.

Love the war going on in Strontinum Dog. Especially the primal vibe it has.

Flipped through ABC, Grey and Sweet. Not bad comics, but they didn't do much for me.

I fully agree. That's why I love the new chapters so much. Johnny has been where he is now before, but now he's just fed up with it.

The thing that really struck me is that this is the third time that Johnny has watched the powers of New Britain try to exterminate his people.  First the State and its death camps in Portrait, then the Church and its 'relocation' programme in Final Solution, and now it appears that Big Business has finally succeeded. Even allowing for Johnny's sense of fairness and his relationships with norms like Ruth and Wulf and the folk of Smiley's World, I can't see how his current attitude is anything but a predictable extension of his habitual coldness when faced with what by now must seem like an inevitability.  What's he supposed to say, "let's have a good clean fight and another negotiated settlement - maybe third time's the charm"?

Yeah, I definitely think it's in character of him. While I understand those who want him to keep on being a hero, I think it's understandable why he's in such place as he is right now.

I really like that there's not telling where it's heading either. Would be cool if Wagner actually went the whole way with the genocide thing as with Dredd in Apocalypse war! Been a while since I read something like that!

And today I sat down and read 1500 pages of the Brian Wood penned DMZ. A wt-If scenario where New York is turned into a war zone (not prison) that's cut off from the rest of the US. An intern in hopes of wielding his camera arrives to the city together with some more renowned journalists. But things go sore and the intern is left alone in the DMZ (former NY) and has a 3 year long career as a photo journalist. A really gritty and interesting book. Really liked it.

Best thing about it was the characters. The main character Matt's downward spiral into journalism hell leads to a bunch of interesting meetings. Everything from the dedicated "doctor" Zee, a ruler of China town to the failed suicide bomber Amina. Every character elegantly balances on a edge between fantastic and realistic.

Only negatives would be some of the art. Some of it was a bit too smudgy. Especially that of artists (there's one main one, but some different ones now and then) who already has a smudgy style. Also one or two plot threads felt like it was repeated at least once, but since it's all well written I can't really complain can I.

All and all. Felt a bit like if Escape from New York with a camera eye instead of a eye patch and less 80s punk savagery and more modern day conflict.

It's also out as a Vertigo Deluxe HC ed. this Feb. Will probably end up as 5 books containing around 300 pages each, and also on my bookshelf besides my 100Bullets Del. HC:s (Which I'll read in time for 100Bullets Brother Lono's last issue next month)