Ex Machina #2, Fables #2

Ex_machina_vol_1_2
Thos:
 Ex Machina
Thos: wow talky talky talky
Thos: I dunno - if every book is gonna preach to me i may check out pretty quickly
Job: heheh. yeah, there was a lot of dialogue
Job: about not a whole lot i care about, but whatever
Job: i remember LOLing the first time i read it when i saw the painting
Job: this time, it didn't really do it for me as much
Thos: well yeah - it would have been fine if they showed the painting - had him make a comment about 'i dont need this today' - or something
Thos: and then you know- get back to comic book life
Thos: but now
Thos: no 
Job: heh
Thos: we got 3 pages of actual intellectual arguments
Thos: plus you know- more of the dreadlock sidekick
Job: yeah, I guess, in its defense, this issue seemed to serve as a set up for just how damn difficult it is to run New York City, even if you have superpowers
Job: or maybe especially because you have super powers, as in the conversation with the police commissioner or Chief or whatever she is
Thos: yeah - i dunno - im not writing it off yet 
Job: the ending was kind of awesome
Job: at least i thought so . the seemingly random shooting that will no doubt play into bigger things later
Thos: yeah - im just tryign to think if i would have read it when it first came out
Thos: seems a pretty slow pace for the first two issues
Job: also, i don't have any real concrete examples, but have you noticed how a lot of frames from ex machina look a lot like they're retouched Life Magazine photos?
Thos: and since im reading them once a week - thats ok
Thos: but wow- how did this book make it to issue 5?
Job: heh. wildstorm was used to losing money, i'd imagine
Thos: yeah - the backgrounds all seem like images of actual city scapes
Job: yeah, i think it's a cool look, although for all the great composition, his faces don't look real good, i don't think
Job: kind of plain and blotchy
Thos: its definitely a different style
Fables_2
Thos:
 Fables?
Thos: did we puposefully pick two of the most -anti-action-slow-paced books available?
Job: maybe it's an across the board problem with issue #2s
Thos: heh
Thos: someone should do a study on a random sampling of issue #2 books
Job: sounds like another blog project we'll never get to
Thos: heheheh
Thos: mroe than likely
Job: so we meet bluebeard
Thos: yes
Job: yeah, i wiki'd him, fuckyouverymuch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard
Thos: hehehehehe
Job: murderous psycho / frenchman
Thos: i love the fact that he ran an underground railroad out of the fairyland and charged people
Thos: a regular coyote
Job: yes. we also hear about the amnesty, which i think we didn't know about before
Job: so there was a wiping clean of the slate at some point around the exodus from the homelands, I guess, eh?
Thos: apparently - hence the fact that the big bad wolf can stroll around town and have pigs sleeping in his apt.
Job: do we eventually find out who or what the Adversary is? or don't you know?
Thos: i do know - 
Thos: but im not gonna spoil it
Job: fair enough
Thos: well
Thos: let me rephrase
Thos: you find out who the advesary is- -- but not till like issue #50
Thos: a long fucking time
Thos: and a lot of build up
Job: are we sticking with it that long? we'll see i guess
Thos: so if we run out ambition on this blog project then i'll tell you :)
Job: i think i'm more likely to run out of patience for this book than i am to run out of ambition on this project, but that's just me
Job: speaking of pigs, when charming is talking to snow white in the diner, the truck drives by with the pig in it from Bigby's apartment, then again more prominently outside the candy store
Thos: yeah - 
Job: don't know if you noticed or not. just thought it was funny
Thos: i think thats just to showcase him running around - free as a bird
Job: right
Job: er
Job: free as a pig
Thos: heh
Thos: also - him eating ham in front of the pig is a nice touch
Job: yes, absolutely
Job: a note on the art, or really the color and layout i guess
Job: they leave a lot of white gutter space between the frames on most pages
Job: but then on some pages they color in the space
Job: but it seems to be random colors that have nothing to do with anything
Job: sometimes black, one page with red, a couple with like a tan color something
Job: seems sort of random
Thos: oh yeah? i guess i hadnt noticed
Job: i thought maybe like Snow White pages were one color and Bigby pages were another, but i don't think that's the case
Job: kind of a distracting choice, i thought
Thos: i'll have to go back and look - i read it kind of fast since i was late on my book report :s
Job: heh. nice
Job: you automatically lose a grade letter
Job: late work can't be tolerated
Job: i could also mention (since i was thinking about it) that ex machina has almost every page laid out with one or two edge-to-edge images, and then other frames sort laid on top of those
Thos: (editors note: the reason this is tuesdayeveningcomics instead of mondaymorningcomics is because Thos forgot to read the books until monday afternoon)
Job: we'd forfeit our paychecks, but we're not getting paid
Thos: heh
Thos: ex machina - again - i wasnt paying close attention - i did notice the circutry lines on his forehead - is that intentional for the reader - or do you suppose people in the book can see those too?
Job: i would assume everyone can see it, i guess
Thos: also - the mention of the weather by teh driver/security guy - you get the sense that that is something we'll find out more about
Job: yeah, was that actually the great blizzard in new york? i don't remember if it was 2002, but they have other things that actually happened worked in there
Job: don't remember the dates in the book. wiki says the one i was thinking of was in February of 03
Thos: you are a wiki-whore
Thos: wikhore
Thos: whorki
Job: happens in the midwest, people put on another sweater. happens in NYC, OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BLIZZARD OF ALL TIME
Job: thus, there's a wiki page for a blizzard
Thos: hehehe
Thos: we should make a wiki page of christmas 09 - sioux falls
Thos: ZOMG 25 inches of snow!
Thos: still had to fucking drive to work :)
Job: absolutely
Thos: there again though
Thos: the driver complains about hte snow
Thos: and i get three panels explaining the logistics behind running the city in a snow storm
Thos: i get it
Thos: its' hard
Job: i think the set up is kind of like the episode of House where Cuddy has to juggle like 8 different crises all at once
Job: so i guess i didn't mind that bit. if it winds up that "it's a helluva week" isn't the main theme of the arc, then we have a problem. but i'm fine with it so far
Thos: heh - fair enough
Thos: ok - lets grade it out bitches
Thos: Ex Machina - im gonna go B - 
Thos: too much talky - not enough smash for me 
Job: you're too kind. i was gonna say C
Thos: heh
Thos: here i was grading on a curve for you
Thos: C it is
Thos: or we should avg out our grades for the final rating
Thos: C+
Job: ok
Thos: Fables - B- again -lets pick up the pace people
Job: punctuation confusion. is that B -?
Thos: yes
Thos: i looked at that and realized what i did
Thos: im a fan of the dash - sue me
Thos: B-
Job: yeah, i don't know. i just hope something happens in both of these 
Thos: whats our cutoff point? 
Thos: evaluate after 12 issues if we continue?
Thos: that would be a full year of books published
Job: 12 books or 2 arcs, whichever comes first?
Thos: sure
Thos: allright - i gotta call it a night
Thos: your in charge of editing/posting
Job: ok. i'll get on it