Beowulves of London

Briefly, I went to the comic shop tonight after work and picked up:

BEOWULF #2 (They never did pull #1 for me, despite my request and the fact I bought the other Speakeasy books, but then, it's just another reason I can't wait to leave this shop in the dust)
BLOOD OF THE DEMON #4 (Nice cover!)
ZATANNA #2 (I actually need to read MANHATTAN GUARDIAN #2 as well)
HOUSE OF M #1 (Yes, I KNOW--I said I had no interest. What I really meant was I could wait for the collection if I heard it was any good, and what the hell, I ended up not waiting. The shop ordered a ton of 'em, too, and were selling the variant cover edition at $20!)
CSI: SECRET IDENTITY #4
SMOKE #1
ESSENTIAL THOR VOL. 2 (Until such time as this Klassic Kirby stuff is on disc in Kolor, I can make do with these).

The only one I read so far is SMOKE, and I was pretty darn impressed by it. Yes, it's $7.49, but it's 48 pages sans ads, so it's right in line with IDW's pricing for books half that length at $3.99. It's about an assassin trapped into doing jobs only for the government (a near-future England) who looks like he'll probably be pressed into service taking out new terrorist cell The Right to Beauty Brigade, a group of morbidly obese who kidnap the visiting OPEC President, demanding liposuction and plastic surgery as ransom. That sounds a lot like something John Wagner would come up with as a Judge Dredd plot for 2000 AD, but writer Alex De Campi invests Rupert Cain with more personality, wit and emotion, and he and artist Igor Kordey pull out all the stops inhabiting this London with all manner of interesting characters. Kordey does easily the best work of his career here, and I've always liked his stuff. High recommendation here.

I also sort of read Brian Augustyn's and Dub's BEOWULF #2, which is not to say I won't read the whole thing in the next day or two; just haven't yet. The reason I skimmed the issue in the shop is a personal one--Augustyn is using the lead character from my upcoming SUPERUNKNOWN series, Trent, in this issue. He had this idea many months ago and asked me which character to use as a superpowered character rotting away in some sort of special prison for these types, being broken out by Beowulf, and I suggested Trent, since he's the leader of my team. I also suggested that maybe Trent could be helpful or impressive enough to Beowulf that the foundation is laid for Beowulf then making him leader of the Superunknown, and Brian agreed. While he never did send me his script to make sure Trent's voice was right, I have no complaints. I won't be writing him quite as "street" (he's Black), but there's nothing wrong with the characterization. And honestly, it's a small enough bit, and he's not in costume, that almost no one would notice the connection later but hardcore Speakeasy fans. Actually, maybe I'll flashback to the scene in one of my issues, if there's a good reason. I do still think Speakeasy's books need some sort of letter column and/or editorial content, and I'll push for that as we go along, making no promises, of course.

I've been playing the new James Kochalka Superstar disc, Our Most Beloved, skipping over just a few tracks that are obviously inappropriate for kids. The kids like it a lot; in fact, my son couldn't stop singing "Talk to the Wooky" tonight--it's THAT catchy. He says, "Wonky", but what can you do? Yes, the song is actually about cunnilingus, but it works on a kids' level, too. They like "Monky Vs. Robot" and "Hockey Monkey" as well, as one might expect. I'm going to burn a cd of just the good stuff for his preschool class, as they play music and dance often.