I'm going to do something that will be sort of a regular, infrequent feature on my LJ. Starting with this post, I'm going to be reminiscing about my "career" as a fanfiction writer, starting with my earliest work on through to today, a time that spans TEN FREAKING YEARS. I'll be talking about the behind the scenes stuff when it comes to different projects, and I'll provide links to those projects that are still posted on the web.

I guess I should start this off by saying I was a fanfiction writer for years before I joined the HEROES community and started focusing on comic fanfic. I was a huge X-Files fan in the late 90s, and in my first attempt at writing I got all ambitious and created a website of my own. The X-Files Virtual Season was me and a few other writers I'd become acquainted with turning out lengthy "episodes" of the X-Files once a week. The deadlines were brutal, and weekly updating was a chore and a half. I'd had no web design experience before this, and I literally taught myself how to create and maintain a website. Naturally, the initial efforts were pretty amateur, as was the writer (on my part, not the others, who were all excellent writers). The site is still up today at http://www.angelfire.com/realm/xfvs/ but I don't recommend anyone try and read my stories, as they're fairly awful, lol.

I'd been away from reading comics for about 5 years when, in 2000, the X-Men movie came out and reignited my love for the medium. I started reading comics again and by happenstance I ran into an X-Men fanfic site called Mutant Underground Revolution, which sadly isn't on the web anymore. It was there that I scored my first comic fanfic series, a well-received six issue run on GENERATION X. Funny enough, my first attempt at a proposal for X-FACTOR was rejected, and rightfully so, as it was so scattershot even I had trouble making sense of it, lol. While affiliated with MUR I also penned a fill-in issue of UNCANNY X-MEN featuring Jubille being stalked by Sabretooth that I was quite proud of at the time. It was at MUR that I first met two of my long-standing friendships in the community, Ian Astheimer and Ryan Krupienski, who I remain close friends with to this day.

While writing GENERATION X for MUR, I discovered the HEROES community and the plethora of sites under its umbrella. This was in 2000, and both Marvel X and MV1 were still posting regularly (though both were far from their glory days by this point). I went to Marvel X and proposed a new series, MIDNIGHT SON, that allowed me to write all of my favorite horror characters. It lasted three issues and actually got quite a nice reaction from readers. It was at MX that I met another guy whom I have had a long-lasting relationship with, Michael Franzoni (who today I co-write STARMAN at JLU with). Marvel X went on to become a sub-imprint of Avengers 2000, but I don't believe MIDNIGHT SON is available to be read.

Come back next time, when the topics of interest will be Marvel Dark Lore and my relationship with editor Alex Maggi, and the rise of Marvel Dark Design!

I've just finished reading the new issue of THUNDERBOLTS that Steve Crosby scripted from my plot, and it is absolutely amazing. Everyone that's been waiting for this series to get back on track, yeah, you're gonna be *real* happy when this issue is released!

Its been awhile since I did this, so here's an updated list of the monthly comic series I pick up regularly:

Amazing Spider-Man
Avengers: The Initiative
Batman & Robin
Blackest Night
Detective Comics
Ex Machina
Gen 13
Ghost Rider
Greek Street
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
Hellblazer
Justice League: Cry For Justice
Madame Xanadu
Mighty Avengers
New Mutants ("Necrosha" tie-in issues only)
Punisher MAX (once Jason Aaron's run begins)
Secret Six
The Unwritten
Wildcats
Wolverine: Weapon X
X-Factor
X-Force
X-Men Forever
X-Men Legacy

I'm picking up a lot more Vertigo titles than normal, I notice from the list. While I'm still on the fence about Greek Street, both Madame Xanadu and The Unwritten are absolutely fantastic books. Some of these are on the verge of getting the axe, though; particularly Amazing Spider-Man (3 times a month hurts the wallet, man), Batman & Robin (which lost a LOT once Quitely was gone), and Detective Comics (beautiful art, boring-ass story).

Today I picked up the "X-Necrosha" one-shot and the New Mutants tie-in issue, and at least at the start this crossover doesn't look like its going to disappoint. Even New Mutants, a book I dropped after its second issue due to it being absolutely pointless, seems invigorated by the crossover. It helps that this is a story that Kyle and Yost have been building to since their early issues of New X-Men all the way through the fucking awesome X-Force series, so it doesn't feel slapped together like most crossovers (::cough::Utopia::cough::).

I'm trying to complete my run of the comic series Sandman Mystery Theatre, and if anyone has the following issues and would be willing to part with them for a small fee I would be simply delighted.

Sandman Mystery Theatre #s 49, 50, 51, 52, 54
Sandman Midnight Theatre # 1 (this was a one-shot produced by Matt Wagner and Neil Gaiman as a crossover between the two different Sandman titles)

::crosses fingers::

So I realize its been quite a long while since I said anything about my various fanfic projects here. The sad knowledge is that through all the bad happening in my life right now, writing has taken up the last spot in the pole position. Because of this, I've left a few projects and others have been put on indefinite hiatus. Here's the rundown on what I still have active on my plate, but still no promises as to when you may actually see new issues of them.

JLU 2001:
SECRET SIX - With apologies to my co-writer Steve Seinberg, its been awhile since the first issue of this was released with no word on the second. I'm still committed to this series, as is Steve, its just going to be one of those projects that takes a lot of time to produce new issues for. We both put a LOT of hard work into that first issue, and we're both determined to work equally as hard on following issues. Hopefully, # 2 will see the light soon.

STARMAN - This is a series which the lateness actually isn't my fault, lol. My co-writer Mike Franzoni had to take some time away from writing the last few months (and boy, do I ever understand that) and the release of issue # 3 falls on his ability to commit time to it (my half has been completed for some time). I hope to see the finished issue soon, more so because that means Mike has been able to sort out all the things going on in his life right now and is settling back into normalcy.

HELLBLAZER - The only series I've managed to stay productive on, believe it or not, even though the latest issue was completed way back in August. This month's update will see not only issue # 15 but also the first Hellblazer Annual, which features short stories by Curt Fernlund, Jae Lizhni, Meriades Rai, and yours truly. Tell me those names don't make you want to read that issue right freaking now, lol.

SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE - I know I've been promising this for a long time now, and I can assure you it IS still happening. Now that I'm a few projects lighter, once my personal life settles down I hope I can get this series going. On the plus side, while it started out as just a 4-issue mini-series project I think I'm fairly confident that I'd like to do it as an ongoing. We'll see what happens, I suppose.

Marvel Omega:
X-MEN - Dino's been doing a great job keeping this series running smoothly, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Thinking of it, though, I DO need to get him the plot for the next issue sometime in the near future, lol.

GAMBIT - This series is thankfully one that's pretty easy to knock out new stories for, at least the first issue was anyway. I've started work on # 2 and it should be completed soon.

NEW X-MEN - This one, on the other hand, is proving to be difficult as fuck, lol. A huge cast full of distinct personalities coupled with the fact that teenagers are inherently difficult to write anyway have made this one turn into almost a chore to try and write. I'm beginning to think this series may have been a mistake.

Marvel 2000:
THUNDERBOLTS - No idea where this one stands, that's all up to Steve Crosby.

SECRET AVENGERS - This is a new series I foolishly propositioned to get me back in the game at M2K's Avengers branch, inspired by all the sweet stuff being produced there by cats like Crosby, Meri Rai, and Exner III. Like New X-Men, I'm beginning to wonder if this wasn't a huge mistake on my part, but I'm determined to see it through the first 3-issue arc at least.

That's the list as it stands today. Of course, there are some glaring omissions, you may have noticed. WEB OF SPIDER-MAN for Marvel Omega was always intended as a project that wouldn't see the light of day for some time, and that remains the case. WILDCATS for JLU 2001 is now looking for a new writer, as both Dino and I have parted ways with that series. GREEN LANTERN CORPS for JLU 2001 is another casualty, even though I was only writing the introductory 2-issue arc of the series. As always, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, lol.

Nick fucking Cave, that's who.

Now this, *this* makes me happy.

STARMAN #81
Written by James Robinson
Art by Fernando Dagnino & Bill Sienkiewicz
Cover by Tony Harris
James Robinson revives his beloved STARMAN series for one more issue as a Black Lantern Starman haunts Opal City. Which Starman has returned and who can stop him from wreaking havoc on the city? Well, the Shade would rather just continue his date with Hope O’Dare, but if no one else can be bothered, what choice does he have but to investigate? Just don’t dare call him a Super Hero.
As the rest of the DC Universe is learning, defeating Black Lanterns isn’t easy – is this the final curtain call for the immortal Shade? Find out in another of this month’s one-issue revivals of classic DC Universe titles!

I'm glad to see Robinson fighting the temptation to bring back Jack, and checking in with Shade and the Opal is wonderful. Too bad we couldn't get interior art by Tony Harris or Peter Snejbjerg, though.

This does make me hopeful that the final two Robinson Starman stories will finally be told next year. He's confirmed that the Shade's origin will be published soon, and that only leaves the flashback story with Jack Knight in the Orient. Fingers crossed on that one, though getting Harris to do the artwork for it is probably a pipe dream, lol.

Since I'm sitting here at my desk, knocked up on a cocktail of tanaflu, tramadol, and ambien and await for the mercy of sleep, I thought I'd give you all some vaguely legible ramblings about why you should all read the following books. These are, no argument, THE BEST COMICS CURRENT BEING PRODUCED and you absolutely should be reading them. Right now, go! I can wait.

X-Men Forever -- I know, I know, it took a lot to sell me on the book's premise, too. I think pretty much every reader, X-fan or not, saw the details on how Forever is an alternate history book picking up from where Chris Claremont left off back in 1992. It was most likely going to be the most disastrous trainwreck ever caught on a 4-color page, and I admit to getting front row seats. Damned if this series didn't actually impress the hell out of me from word one. We actually have an X-Men book that's not afraid to take chances, to kill or alter important characters in service of the story, and its all done at such a break-neck pace that it brings to mind some of the better thriller stories of the old days. In comparison to the abomination that Matt Fraction has transformed Uncanny X-Men into and the sheer "who gives a fuck" mentality reserved for Warren Ellis' Astonishing X-Men...I can't believe I'm saying this, really. X-Men Forever came out guns-a-blazing to become THE best X-Men book on the stands while Chris Claremont can finally stand up and say "SEE, PEOPLE! I DID HAVE IT IN ME TO BE GOOD AGAIN! I TOLD YOU ALL! BWA-HA-HA!" Not all good, though, because the revamped costumes are just downright fugly. Most importantly, though, is that Claremont has finally hooked me with a mystery concerning Wolverine and the two versions of Storm running around, and I am actually eagerly awaiting the resolutions to those plots. This book rules old school.

X-Force -- For the new school, however, X-Force is pretty much your one-stop-shop for the current X-Men continuity. Uncanny and Astonishing are laughably bad, Legacy is decent at the moment while its trying to find its feet again, and New Mutants is high school reunion as its main plot thrust. You can always count on X-Force to deliver the goods, though, and the current "Not Forgotten" arc just keeps amping up the threat level with each dropped issue. We're in the run-up to "X-Necrosha", the X-lines next big crossover, which apparently deals with dead mutants being reanimated by Selene and the Technarch with Genosha as their kingdom. I know the immediate snark points to Necrosha as a weak attempt to cash in on Blackest Night and their ring zombies (and hey, I read AND love Blackest Night so far, so no snark from me here) but people need to pay notice to the fact that X-Force/New X-Men writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost have been planning for and establishing stepping stones toward "Necrosha" as far back as "Decimation" in 2006. SO while the similarities between the stories are kinda disappointing, any finger pointing at Marvel for trying to steal some of DC's thunder is just, well, bullshit. While I think keeping "Necrosha" strictly in the pages of X-Force would have been better instead of making it a crossover with books like Legacy and (ugh) New Mutants, I still have faith that it's going to be a rockin' year's eve when it finally hits. So yeah, X-Force rules new school.

EDIT: It's now the next morning, and I have no memory at all of writing this post. Ambien is the fucking DEVIL. Anyway, I just want to correct the statement that I think X-Men Forever is one of the "best" comics being produced. That is blatantly UNTRUE. I like it a lot, but wow it's like saying Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore is the greatest example of cinema. It just ain't true, lol. So, yeah, my apologies.

Just got back from the doctor, looks like I've got the flu and I'm highly contagious. This couldn't have come at a worse time, because my dad came home from the hospital today and he still has an IV stuck in him. So I'll probably have to quarantine myself in my room for the next week.

So I'm sick. Like, really really sick. Coughing my head off, temperature of the sun, every inch of my body hurts from my hair to my toes, sick. The cough started at work last night, and by the time I woke up today I had the full body shivers and all that wonderful shit. Thank god I was able to find someone to fill in for me at work tonight, because that would have been absolute misery. I am going to have to cancel my physical therapy in the morning, though, 'cause there's just no way I can tolerate THAT shit right now.

http://img32.yfrog.com/i/19wx.jpg/

How freaking awesome is THAT?

So, yeah, with all the stuff going on with me right now I haven't had much a presence on the 'net. This is just a sort of scattergories style smattering of odds and ends.

-- For those of you who already know about my Dad's hospitalization, he's doing fine and stable. He's been moved to a nursing home for temp care until the infection in his leg clears and his replacement knee can be put back in. Just playing the waiting game now.

-- The only writing I've managed to do lately is a new issue of Hellblazer for JLU 2001's September update. Honestly, I don't know if I have it in me to write anything else this month, but I guess we'll see how things develop.

-- I've been going through a nice little Avengers kick of late, reading back through my favorite classic runs (and even some not so classic, lol). "Ultron Unlimited" remains the best of the awesome Busiek/Perez run, "Avengers Forever" is still the BEST FREAKING AVENGERS STORY OF ALL TIME, and "The Crossing" is still better than every single shitty story that Bendis has done on "Faux Avengers".

-- I was feeling bummed, though, that I had to walk away from my favorite superheroes a few years ago. So, on a complete whim, I picked up the run-to-date of Dan Slott's Mighty Avengers. Why hadn't anyone told me that Marvel was actually producing a REAL Avengers book again (well, okay, Dino did - but like I listen to THAT guy)? It's not phenomenal, but it's perfectly solid team comics that absolutely runs rings around New, Dark, and The Initiative.

-- Back in the 1990s I was an obsessive X-Files fan, and tonight on TNT they're playing my absolute FAVORITE episode: "Pusher", from Season Three. Easily one of the most tense hours in television history, especially the Russian Roulette showdown between Mulder and "Pusher" in the last quarter of the episode. Man, when that show was on its game, it was ON ITS GAME.

The writer slots for the Hellblazer Annual have been filled, so the open call is now officially closed.

Gotham City
One Year Gone

It had taken a year of shadowing and stalking, a full twelve months of research that had led them to that particular street on that particular night in rainy Gotham gloom. Picking the victim had been easy, of course, as Gotham City was filled to the brim with a bottom-feeding class of prey for the predators to feed upon. This particular sacrificial lamb was a waitress at a gentlemen's club a block down from the charmingly named "Crime Alley". Her name wasn't important, because no one of importance would remember her once she was dead and gone. Her death, in fact, would be the only thing of note done with her wasted excuse for a life.

Her death would draw down the city's dark guardian, and she would play her part to perfection.

Abigail Moorland stood in the shadowed doorway, chain smoking her menthol cigarettes with a pile of lipstick-marked butts collecting at her heeled feet. She had a love/hate relationship with Gotham, for while the wet and dank made her elderly bones creak and swell she couldn't deny the intoxicating effect of a city so thoroughly infused with fear. That feeling surged when her man Malcolm entered the alley, dragging the shrieking waitress by her hair, the screams playing like music to her ears.

Malcolm didn't acknowledge his mistress's presence, his attention focused on the crying, mewling girl hoisted into the air by her ponytail. The rain slapped against his bare chest and shaved head, trickling down the creases of his chiseled musculature, and each tiny movement made by he and the large axe held in his free hand caused the young woman to scream more and more frantically. How long would it take to bait their true prey, he wondered.

His question was answered when the caped vigilante descended into the alleyway, landing crouched between Malcolm and the alley's mouth. "Let her go," the avenger snarled, his shroud moving around him like a thing alive.

Malcolm smiled, and then buried his axe deep into the girl's neck, the strength of the strike nearly cleaving her head from her shoulders. Her screams stopped suddenly, and the protector of Gotham City visibly flinched in disbelief. Malcolm dropped the mutilated woman and hefted the axe over his shoulder, the smile still beaming from his face. "What will you do, little hero?"

It was that moment precisely when the Ragman lost his composure. He had seen much during his time as a vigilante in Gotham; arguably not as much as the city's more well-known hero, but he believed that even the Bat would have been taken aback at the senseless brutality he'd just witnessed. The Ragman leapt forward, catching the much larger Malcolm around the waist, and his momentum carried them crashing into a ring of metal trash cans at the alley wall. "Sick bastard!" the hero yelled as his fist collided with the killer's face over and over again. He barely felt the axe handle smashing into his ribs, his rage giving his already enhanced durability and strength an increased vitality.

Abigail watched from the doorway as her agent fought half-heartedly against the hero, just as she had commanded. With his superior strength and the occult power flowing through him, Malcolm could have murdered the Ragman just as easily as he had the girl, but that wasn't the plan. She had to admit that the chance to see the Ragman in action was a curious experience, seeing the man's patchwork quilt of a costume flowing around him as he moved, the cloak apparently aiding him in his fight with Malcolm. From what she'd read, the Ragman was a man cursed to take the souls of murderers, trapping them forever in the folds of his costume. Each sewn patch represented the soul of a killer taken by the hero's supernatural sense of justice, and it wasn't difficult to predict the fate that awaited her faithful servant at battle's end. In fact, she was counting on it.

"Never in my days," the Ragman said as he clutched Malcolm by the throat, "have I seen a soul more deserving of punishment!"

The hero activated his curse, ripping free the soul of the madman he'd beaten so easily - something a better hero would have questioned - and allowing the empty body to fall with a wet thud to the concrete. His costume moved and rippled like a pond, making space on his chest for the latest patchwork addition, just as it had always been when a killer had been taken. Imagine his confusion, then, when a crippling sensation of lightning ignited throughout him, causing to fall to his knees in agony. As he teetered over onto his back, fear ran up his spine - he was paralyzed, his body locked in painful rigor mortis. Only his eyes remained capable of movement, and he watched as the old woman emerged from the darkness to stand over his prostrate form.

"So, so easy," she said as she clumsily crouched over, her aching joints unwilling to cooperate with her, to sit beside her victim. "I suppose I owe you an explanation, boy. My dear, sweet Malcolm and I hail from Opal City, and before we left our home we were responsible for the murders of thirteen innocent men, women, and children. I am the Prairie Witch, Rory chile, and with my power I bound those thirteen innocent spirits to the soul of the man you just took."

She knew his real name, she knew about his curse, she knew everything. Ragman tried to hide the fear in his eyes.

"Had you ever wondered what would happen if you absorbed the soul of an innocent?" she asked while fumbling through her purse. "Looks like you couldn't handle the stress, poor thing. Don't worry, though..."

Ragman's eyes widened when she produced the surgical scalpel from her handbag.

"...Auntie Abigail will make everything all right again."

“I have a message for you, John.”

John Constantine scowled as he stepped into the two-up, two-down squatting in the heart of Belfast, pushing his way past the woman of the house. His sidekicks, the two youngsters pulled into a situation that was miles above their heads, hung back under the porch light, afraid to step over the threshold. The woman, Kathy Ryan, didn’t know whether to be terrified or pissed off. John didn’t have such a problem, he knew exactly which emotion to have when the demon in the identical scruffy trenchcoat smiled its row of razored teeth and extended his middle finger into the air.

“Up yours, mate!”

“Fifteen years ago,” John began the long explanation, while his demonic doppelganger smirked and lit a fresh fag, “a demon had me over a barrel. Because of me a mate’s kid was going to Hell, literally, unless I offered up my soul in his place. It was the demon blood I had swimming around in me veins that had doomed me to accept the fucker’s trade, but I eventually came up with a way out. I created a double of meself, split meself in half and animated it; it got the demon blood and all the rest of the negative badness that had built up inside me over the years, all the viciousness and apathy. I created this lesser Constantine and offered it up on a plate to the First of the Fallen, and because it had the demon blood the Devil had no choice but to take it in my stead.”

“Jesus,” the young man named Shocka whispered from the doorway.

“Hell didn’t kill me, though, did it?” the Demon Constantine interjected. “I survived; hell, I fucking thrived down there, embraced the demon part of me and ascended up through the bloody ranks. Once I got my fill, I came back to Earth, ‘round ‘bout five years ago, maybe?”

“And now this mad fucker has been killing off women whose only sins were falling in love with me at one point in their lives!” John yelled, tearing off his coat and tossing it to the side, getting ready for the confrontation. “You went after Kit, you poncy fuck? We bloody loved her!”

Kathy Ryan kept silent while two halves of the same man argued about her like she wasn’t there. Instead, her eyes darted over to the young girl that had crept her way to John’s back, a manicured hand placed soothingly on his shoulder. John calmed at her touch, leading Kit to wonder just what kind of sick relationship he was having with a girl young enough to be his daughter.

“So Mum’s ghost was right,” the girl said, “in a queer way, you did murder her, didn’t you?”

The Demon Constantine’s eyes lit up at her statement, prompting him to sit forward on the edge of the couch to get a better look at her with his blood-red eyes. “Strewth, is that Mercury back there, John? Little girl’s come back all perky and round-arsed, hasn’t she? You ‘aven’t diddled her yet, have you? I’d hate to have to add her to me list and all, you swarthy bastard you.”

He stood, then, the Demon Constantine, causing all assembled but John to take a nervous step backward. In one clawed hand a cigarette dangled between fingers while in the other was clutched the red-stained butcher’s knife. “I’m going into the kitchen,” he said, pointing with the cigarette to the door at his left, “and there I’ll be waiting, John, for you to come in and settle this. If you’re able to man up first, of course.”

The Demon raised the knife, causing only poor Shocka to flinch, and with a casual downturn of his arm stabbed the blade into the wooden coffee table sitting in front of him. With a smirk and a draw of his cigarette, the creature turned and walked through into the kitchen, the door swinging back and forth on its hinges. Kit, Mercury, and Shocka all turned toward John, who sighed and with a deliberately slow pace unpacked and lit a cigarette of his own.

“I see it now,” he said, “I really am a sodding prick, aren’t I?”

So I'm looking for 3 or 4 interested writers to help me produce the Hellblazer Annual # 1 for JLU, which I envision as an anthology special for a series of short stories. The only rule is the continuity cut-off, which is right after the end of Brian Azzarello's run (issue # 174). If you think you'd be into it, post a reply and I'll be in touch!

So lately I've been on a fairly massive Hellblazer kick, reading back through my rather large (and complete) collection of John Constantine stories while finally getting back to work on the next issue of my own Hellblazer series at JLU. All this furious re-reading has led me to do a series of posts on my all-time favorite Conjob stories, followed by a post about the *worst*. Feel free to agree or disagree, or hell if you're a Constantine fan do your part and at least do some discussing of the issues I ramble on about. First up...

10) “Lapdogs and Englishmen” (issues # 162-163; Brian Azzarello/Guy Davis)
Brian Azzarello's run on Hellblazer gets a lot of shit kicked its way, and much of it is for good reason - he'll have at least one appearance on the "worst of" list that's coming later. However, that doesn't mean that Azz didn't have it in him to write a great Constantine story, as this 2-issue tale clearly examples. It's a flashback story to John's days as a punk rocker in London, the only time Azzarello set a story outside of America. It features very nice artwork by Guy Davis (a favorite from Sandman Mystery Theatre) and showcases how John was a manipulative bastard even when he was young. It also had an absolutely fantastic final scene in # 163 that, unfortunately, was left hanging without resolution due to Azzarello's abrupt departure from the series ten issues later. You can find it in the Freezes Over tpb.

9) “Telling Tales” (issue # 143; Warren Ellis/Marcelo Frusin) -
When it was announced that Warren Ellis was taking over Hellblazer, it seemed to be an absolute *pitch-perfect* match made in Heaven. Sadly, though, the run flopped nearly from the outset with a 6-issue story that only had enough material for 3 issues and a series of unconnected vignette stories following. When DC refused to publish his story "Shoot" due to controversy over school shootings in the news, Ellis resigned, making issue # 143 his last. Funny enough, it was also his *best* issue on the series, dealing with a tabloid reporter getting the dish on the real horrors of London from Constantine himself. It's an inconsequential story, sure, but the sheer loads of BS fed to the writer (and the readers) by John lead up to a great little ending. About as "fun" an issue as Hellblazer is allowed. It's collected in the Setting Sun tpb.

8) “Desperately Seeking Something” (issue # 120; Paul Jenkins/Sean Phillips)
Paul Jenkins gets a severely bum rap for his time on Hellblazer; while his run did indeed flounder at the end, he and Sean Phillips produced around 30 issues that really did a lot to re-humanize Constantine after the "blood 'n puddin'" splatterhouse that ended Garth Ennis' run. This one, which celebrated 20 years since John's creation, is probably my favorite one-issue story from that era; it allows the reader to step into the story itself (each panel seen from our POV) as John leads us around London during a "typical" night in his life. Expertly rendered by Phillips, who to me is the BEST artist the Hellblazer series has had (and it's had some fantastic artists down the years). Sadly, none of the Jenkins/Phillips run has yet to be collected, making this one hard to track down (though well worth it if you do).

7) “R.S.V.P.” (issues # 214-215; Mike Carey/Leonardo Manco)
It's sort of a sad reality that for every great run on the series, the writer's always seem to fall flat during their final arcs (see Ennis' "Rake at the Gates of Hell", Jenkins' "How to Play With Fire", and Azzarello's "Ashes and Dust in the City of Angels"). Leave it to the fantastic Mike Carey to defy the trend and offer up a 2-issue finale to his run that was pretty much perfect. Another Hellblazer trend is for each writer to erase the slate at the end of their run, which usually means murdering all of the friends John has made throughout their term. Carey goes one step further and actually has John burn every last item from his past to literally "start fresh", though not before taking care of one last piece of unfinished business. This story is collected in The Gift tpb.

Next time, #s 6-4!

Okay, here's the track record so far when it comes to my friends:

One friend is in jail facing murder charges after he SHOT A MAN IN THE FACE. TWICE.

Another friend went in the hospital a few weeks ago for a pain pill addiction. She went to one rehab session afterward and refused to attend any more sessions because she "didn't like it".

And I just found out today that another friend just got out of a week's stay in a psychiatric hospital because he shot himself IN THE FACE. Luckily he can't aim for shit since all he accomplished was blowing a bunch of his teeth out.

Seriously, what the FUCK is wrong with my friends?

Since it's been a few months since I last had an issue go live at JLU, here are blurbs for the five - count 'em, FIVE! - new issues that I and my co-conspirators will be bringing the readers in August and September!

Green Lantern Corps # 1 - "Once More, With Feeling", Part One of Two - It's a brave new world for JLU's greatest space-faring hero! But with the last Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, having died during the cataclysmic "JLA/Avengers" crossover who is left to kick-start this brand new series? How about Earth's very first Green Lantern, the JSA's own Alan Scott and his emerald-skinned daughter Jade! Written by Chris Munn!

Hellblazer # 14 - "Children of the Grave", Part Four of Four - John Constantine has finally discovered the identity of the person responsible for murdering a number of his ex-girlfriends. But when face to face with the Demon Constantine, will John be able to look at his twisted mirror image without blinking first? Written by Chris Munn!

Secret Six # 1 - "A House of Secrets", Part One of Six - Who are the Secret Six? In response to the bloody swath the newest Vigilante has been cutting through the villains of the DC Universe, the mysterious Mockingbird has assembled a crew of assassins to hunt down and eliminate the killer! But to do so, the newly-assembled Six will first have to survive an encounter with Deathstroke the Terminator! Written by Steve Seinberg and Chris Munn!

Starman # 3 - "Tattered Hearts", Part Three of Four - The murderous Ragdoll has returned to gain bloody vengeance on the heroes responsible for his death thirteen years ago, and the original Starman Ted Knight is at the top of the list! Will even the current Starman, Jack Knight, be enough to stop the maniac's plan for revenge; and just how DID the Ragdoll come back to life anyway? Written by Michael Franzoni and Chris Munn!

Wildcats # 5 - "C.A.T. Miami" - FBI Agent Fagin Tyro is on a warpath toward the Florida compound of his ex-wife and Halo associate CC Rendozzo to reclaim his kidnapped son! Will the Wildcats, including the newly liberated Grifter, arrive in time to keep the feds from raiding CC's compound? Written by Chris Munn and Dino Pollard!

Of these new issues, my halves of Secret Six and Starman are finished and awaiting completion by my esteemed co-writers, work is progressing nicely on my first issue of Green Lantern Corps (a series which I'll be penning the first two issues of before handing off to another writer). Next up is Wildcats and Hellblazer!

Considering how relatively controversial my "top ten writers" list was, I'm curious as to the reaction to my favorite artists list. As always, comments are welcome and even encouraged - just don't be surprised if I call you "dumb" at some point during my reply. ;)

1) Travis Charest (Wildcats)
2) Tony Harris (Starman, Ex Machina)
3) George Perez (Avengers)
4) Bill Sienkiewicz (Moon Knight, New Mutants)
5) Leonardo Manco (Hellstorm, Deathlok, Hellblazer)
6) John Cassaday (Planetary, Astonishing X-Men)
7) Sean Phillips (Wildcats, Sleeper, Hellblazer)
8) Frank Quitely (Authority, New X-Men, We3)
9) Tim Bradstreet (Hellblazer, Punisher)
10) Paul Smith (X-Men, Dr. Strange)

As with my exclusion of Alan Moore from my writers list, I'm sure there are at least a handful of people wondering why Jack Kirby isn't on this. Simple answer: I don't like Kirby's art. I have the utmost respect for what the man did for comics, I just can't get into his work, end of story. Let the hate crimes commence, lol.

Honorable Mentions go to: Steve Dillon, Guy Davis, Matt Wagner, Gene Ha, John Romita Jr., Skottie Young, Mark Texeira, and Chris Bachalo. I'm also certain that there are some fantastic artists out there whose work I love, and I just plain forgot about. Feel free to point some out.