I thought Scott Lobdell's first New 52 Superboy collection did fairly well by everyone's favorite clone; the second volume, even interrupted by the "Culling" crossover, also worked well enough up to its end, marred only by a standard "villain of the week" story by Tom DeFalco and a handful of guest artists. Unfortunately, Superboy Vol. 3: Lost ultimately goes wrong too; it starts out fine with DeFalco and art by series regular R. B. Silva, but it gets mired in the over-long "H'el on Earth" crossover, and again a variety of guest artists fail to impress.

Near the end the book gets really substandard, mainly as the current team tries to wrap things up before new writer Justin Jordan comes on; only some hints of what Jordan might do make me optimistic for the next volume.

[Review contains spoilers]

Again, Superboy Vol. 2: Extraction's final issue (excluding the interesting Zero Month chapter) was a stumble, as Tom DeFalco seemed to introduce a peer group for Superboy including a stereotypical rich jock, a stereotypical rich "brain," a Paris Hilton-type, and etc., depicted by two guest artists and three inkers in one issue. It's a pleasant surprise, therefore, that DeFalco's opening chapter deals with some of these same characters -- now depicted by R. B. Silva -- and succeeds.

This new chapter has a vibe that the earlier one didn't, reminiscent of Jimmy Palmiotti and Dan DiDio's (making his DC debut) Superboy stories from the early 2000s, positing Superboy as a twenty-something landlord in a kind of superhero domestic comedy. That may not be for everyone, but Superboy as a "twenty-something stranger in a strange land" works here, and again Silva's art helps mightily.

The initial "H'el on Earth" chapter also works, again by DeFalco and Silva. DeFalco had a good issue last time teaming Superboy and the Teen Titans' Bunker; he achieves the same good interplay between the characters in this issue. The rest of the Titans get involved, and DeFalco has a good mix of the old and the new here -- it's Superboy fighting alongside the Titans, reminiscent of the pre-Flashpoint universe, but at the same time it's always clear the Titans don't completely know or trust Superboy, adding a greater dimension to their interactions.

From there, "H'el on Earth" begins in earnest. It's not a terrible crossover as they go (the Superman issues by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort are pretty solid), but Silva steps out for most of the Superboy issues, replaced by a variety of artists with differing styles and talent levels. There is some good stuff here, especially as regards Superboy's interactions with Superman and the members of the Justice League, many of whom he's meeting for the first time; as with the Titans issue, DeFalco offers a good mix of something that feels both familiar and fresh. At the same time, the crossover is much too long -- thirteen issues (I read it going back and forth between the third Superboy, Supergirl, Superman trades) -- and a lot of repetitive fight scenes and information recaps tend to slow it down.

Most egregious in the thirteen-part crossover is the Superboy annual collected here. In it, a Fortress of Solitude weapon shunts Superman and Superboy to a pocket dimension in the midst of fighting H'el, and they have to interact with an alien landscape to get home. The banter between Superman and Superboy is at times amusing, but there's only so much the reader can take before it begins to grate, and also the story factors not at all into the rest of the "H'el" crossover (what we had here, I'm guessing, was the idea for an annual in search of a story to tell in it); had I bought this on its own, I would have felt cheated. Also there's an "artist," two "pencillers," and two inkers on this one, and it really marks a nadir for the art in this volume.

In terms of writing, the Superboy issue that follows the "H'el" crossover is the lowest point, written by DeFalco, Lobdell, and Tony Lee (the additional hands suggesting trouble, I think, not extra effort). The issue commits two sins here, the first of which is that it re-introduces the villain Plasmus as a hulking beast with a terribly hackneyed German accent, and Wonder Woman's fearsome enemy Dr. Psycho, now a buffoonish fortune teller; neither presentation does those villains justice. Second, the issue spends much of its time on this ridiculous Dr. Psycho taking a trip through a kind of dreamscape of Superboy's mind, though this neither forwards the plot nor reveals anything the reader doesn't already know; the chapter is filler, essentially, and obviously so. It ends with Psycho finding Lex Luthor in Superboy's head, something the next and final issue reverses offhand in such a way that suggests that wherever this issue was originally going, it's not where it ended up.

For all of these reasons, it's therefore also a pleasant surprise that the book's final issue is perhaps the best of the bunch. Lobdell finally tells the origin of Harvest, whom Lobdell created in Teen Titans and Superboy, and the way the origin weaves through events of Action Comics and Superman is plenty engaging. We also meet Jon Lane Kent, son of Superman and Lois Lane; I thought he would turn out to be Superboy but Superboy is his clone instead. Either way, I know Jon Lane Kent is due to appear in this book again; it would be interesting enough to read about Superman and Lois Lane's son, but I'm especially curious given they're not even a couple in the New 52.

This, plus the promise of writer Justin Jordan coming on, is enough to bring me back for the next volume. Superboy Vol. 3: Lost did not end well, and based on this volume it's not a great surprise the title has recently been cancelled. Between Jordan and then Marv Wolfman, however, I'll give the final books a shot, if only to see "the Kid" out the door.

[Includes original covers, though not the full "WTF" gatefold cover]

Next week, Supergirl Vol. 3: Sanctuary and more Action Comics.

[Doug Glassman ('80s Marvel Rocks!) celebrates "Indie-pendence Month" with his July reviews ...]

Sometimes you’re just led to certain comics by fate. After writing the Grimm Fairy Tales: Inferno review, I went to the same store where I picked up Wasteland: Cities in Dust last year. On the same shelf and in almost the exact same slot was Weapon Brown. I had heard of Jason Yungbluth’s twisted homage to Peanuts, but only vaguely, mostly due to the Kickstarter which enabled its small print run through Death Ray Graphics. I’m actually glad I missed out on its initial webcomic debut at Deep Fried because I know how I read webcomics: would have started reading Weapon Brown and then forgotten about it.

This trade also helps me assuage the guilt of “selling out” for Indie-Pendence Month this year; three books were media tie-ins! Conversely, Weapon Brown is much closer to the books I reviewed this time last year, with black-and-white artwork, subversive sensibilities, and the distinct difficulty a reader has in finding physical copies. There’s also a direct correlation with one of last year’s reviews. Much like R. Sikoryak’s Masterpiece Comics, Yungbluth mashes up comic strips with darker and more diverse literature. The key difference is that it’s all to set up a dystopian universe. I’ve mentioned my disdain for post-apocalyptic stories before, but spoof always overrides anything else in the genre department as far as I’m concerned.

The prologue sets the mood; as he explains it, Yungbluth is a fan of the Peanuts animated specials and of many newspaper comics. It’s a sign that this is a project created out of love . . . mostly. He still gets in some good digs now and then and pretty much every comic strip character you grew up with has been warped in this horrible future, but a lot of thought has been put into the world of Weapon Brown. It’s also not presented as some sort of “real” story behind the comics or even implied that this is the ultimate future of the funny pages. You can still enjoy Calvin and Hobbes and Beetle Bailey after reading Weapon Brown, although you might end up snickering when you remember how they were under Yungbluth’s pen. While there’s quite a bit of nudity, it mostly works with the tone, and the characters who appear naked often aren’t the ones you want to see naked.

The Weapon Brown trade is split between two main stories, beginning with “A Peanut Scorned,” the original tale. This takes up the first third and is comprised of just about every single Peanuts joke you can think of. From the kite-eating tree to Linus’ blanket, from the Little Red-Haired Girl to Shermie, from Snoopy’s dancing to “blockhead” (here used as a trigger word), there’s a deeply disturbing but hilarious gag for it all. Chuck, the titular weapon, has a cyborg arm and a bad attitude, his only friend being the one-eyed dog Snoop. How they met up isn’t revealed until the very end in an original story composed for the trade. A list of helpful annotations in the back of the trade explains some of the jokes and points out hidden references  the reader might have missed; it also provides some insight into Yungbluth’s creative process. As he explains, he really did use every Peanuts joke he could think of, necessitating a wider scope in the sequel, “Blockhead’s War.”

Note: everything I write about below really happens in this book. It’s that kind of crazy awesome.

On the surface, “Blockhead’s War” is the basic plot of every 1980s post-apocalyptic movie: a moody drifter flees a repressive government and throws in his lot with a resistance group only to leave at the end. It’s really the special touch of the comic strip characters that makes the entire read worthwhile. For instance, the powerful female warrior role often portrayed by Sybil Danning in those 1980s movies is, in Weapon Brown, filled by Little Orphan Annie, now all grown up and blind thanks to a childhood tragedy. (You will never hear the phrase “leapin’ lizards” again without laughing out loud after reading this.) An even more physically mutated Popeye is the resident strongman; Broom-Hilda is an incomprehensible sorceress. More modern comics aren’t excluded either, with Huey Freeman from The Boondocks as a key ally in Anne’s rebellion.

I wish the villains received a little more attention. Mostly it’s because one of the main villains is the Pointy-Haired Boss from Dilbert at his slimy best, leading a council with allies like Uncle Duke from Doonesbury and Mary Worth. There’s even a tiny cameo by Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light, as a prison overseer! Said prison is part of a very long gag turning The Wizard of Id into the television show Oz, but it doesn’t quite pay off due to some timing issues. This comes down to it being a webcomic collection; it’s understandable that the pacing doesn’t always work out when you’re doing a few pages at a time. Making up for this is the primary villain, Cal, and his shapeshifting tiger. There’s a “Calvin peeing” joke shortly after his introduction in case you were concerned.

I enjoy the twisted brilliance in how certain strips are combined to enhance the setting, such as characters from B.C. and Alley-Oop all appearing as futuristic cavemen. The evil military mashes up Beetle Bailey and Crock; I had never heard of the latter, but it’s one of Yungbluth’s favorite strips. The artwork helps by providing a hint of a character’s original style while amping up the horror factor. This is best demonstrated with the sandworm-like Garf, who looks just enough like Garfield to establish the joke but modified to reference Dune and Tremors. I only had to turn to the annotations to get some of the really obscure references, like the various dogs led by Snoop.

While you can read Weapon Brown for free online, I would highly recommend financially supporting Yungbluth’s endeavors; a PDF version is only $10. It’s effectively the comic strip equivalent of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Ray Bradbury’s imaginative tale, “The Exiles” was interpreted by artist Tom Sutton in Eclipse Comics’ Alien Encounters in 1986.

“The Exiles” in its original prose form has been oft-reprinted. Using authors like Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Dickens as writers whose works have been banned in some future society seems improbable, but Bradbury liked to use startling ideas. Having long-dead authors holing up on Mars as their works are discarded on Earth is a concept I don’t think could come from any but Bradbury.

Tom Sutton did an excellent job in visualizing the Bradbury style. Both of these talented men are now sadly deceased.

Grant Morrison's Action Comics run has been a pleasant mix of modern and throwback sensibilities -- modern, of course, in the New 52 costume and origins, and retro in the 1940s industrial settings (a callback to Action Comics's beginnings) with 1950s Elvis swagger and a heavy dose of 1960s-1970s Silver Age weirdness. But though Morrison's Action has sometimes felt a little metatextual around the edges, the series really hasn't offered full-blown Grant Morrison wobbliness ... until now.

Superman: Action Comics Vol. 3: At the End of Days is a fantastic conclusion to Morrison's Action run, exciting and moving but also a thorough head-trip as only Grant Morrison can deliver. As with Morrison's Batman, the big ideas in Action have started small, but by this third volume they're nearly ballooning off the page and out of this dimension.

[Review contains spoilers]

Volume one of Action Comics was a Brainiac/Luthor/Metallo story; in volume two, Morrison reimagined Captain Comet as a sort of post-human prophet. The quick concept of volume three is that Morrison writes a Mxyzptlk story, but surely, surely this book is more than that, especially since Mxy is central to the story but appears almost not at all. I'd even venture that At the End of Days goes down as one of the all-time classic Mxyzptlk stories, even despite that Superman largely fights Vyndktvk and his minions most of the way through.

Many of the themes that have made Morrison's Seven Soldiers, Batman, and Final Crisis so interesting are also blended in to Action. We have a multi-dimensional attack, a spear thrust from another universe that becomes marauding angels in ours (see also Final Crisis's bullet shot through time). Superman's adventures are ultimately a story being told by a jester for others' amusement (again, Final Crisis, the Monitors, and limbo; also that we are, by implication, a dimension looking in on the comics dimension). We learn that Vyndktvk has been taking revenge on Clark Kent for something done in the future by attacking Clark throughout his past (Batman's hole in everything and again the selfsame magic bullet). Vyndktvk is defeated ultimately by a kind of worldwide collective consciousness, hearkening here all the way back to Morrison's JLA. And it certainly seemed for a while that Vyndktvk was the Devil (and maybe he was), not unlike Batman's Dr. Hurt.

I don't begrudge Morrison revisiting these themes at all. Quite to the contrary, I'm glad to revisit these themes through the guise of Superman (at times I think DC ought just give both Superman and Batman to Morrison and let him go wild). I am less immediately familiar with Morrison's All-Star Superman, but undoubtedly there's some overlap between that and Action Comics, too; certainly anyone who was concerned at the outset of the New 52 that the new Superman would be more ornery than heroic need only look at Superman's constant concern for the people around him to find some kinship with All-Star.

Indeed what always impresses me about Morrison is that despite how ultra-cerebral his stories are, he's equally able to write character and emotion within his works. The book starts with a rather charming story that introduces Krypto into the New 52 (and Sholly Fisch's Krypto backup story is equally delightful). Morrison also recasts the classic Silver Age Superman story of the Kents' death to include Vyndktvk and the result is distinctly heartbreaking (here again, Fisch's backup is a fine complement).

Action also continues a Morrison tradition where the reader finds themselves in the middle of a puzzle they didn't know they were trying to solve (see also Seven Soldiers). Sure, I took note of Mrs. Nyxly mentioning that Superman's three friends had shown up looking for him, but I'd long-since forgotten that clue by the time I realized Morrison's Action to be a non-linear, time-spanning adventure, a conspiracy from start to finish. I also thought one of the strongest aspects of Morrison's story was his use of Erik Drekken, whose actual battles with Superman are never shown but whose character we come to understand by piecing him together through a variety of time-displaced details.

Early on in Action Comics I felt there were some mildly distracting art shifts between Rags Morales and Brad Walker. By this volume, however, the changes are much cleaner, and indeed often the artists' work appears side-by-side on the same page, reflecting Superman's past, present, and future. Whether this was originally intended or a patch due to artist schedules, it's an effect that works quite well in these pages.

Morrison hits one key continuity note in this conclusion, heavily referencing Doomsday and the death of Superman. There's an interesting twist in that the characters refer to red skies on the day Superman died (and indeed it's never said directly that "Doomsday killed Superman," so much as they reference Superman dying with a Doomsday-like Vyndktvk avatar on the page); there's a moment in the third chapter where Mrs. Nyxly looks directly at the camera and seems to be referencing Crisis on Infinite Earths just the same as she could be talking about present events (or even Final Crisis?).

"Doomed" is currently ongoing in the Super-titles, and I'll be curious if that story builds on what Morrison has set up here, or if Morrison's story was intentionally vague precisely because how and by whose hand Superman died in the New 52 is still up in the air.

I haven't generally felt that Grant Morrison's New 52 Action Comics run has received as much acclaim as Scott Snyder's Batman or Brian Azzarello's Wonder Woman, but I think it's equally worthy. Action Comics Vol. 3: At the End of Days especially, solidifies Morrison's Action run as firmly a part of the Morrison canon. To be sure, all of this is plenty to whet my appetite for Morrison's Multiversity.

[Includes original and variant covers, character and cover sketches. Also the Phantom Stranger. Also Vartox!]

Last week I showed some gorilla horror stories, and now a gorilla science fiction tale from DC. Flying monkeys have been around since the Wizard of Oz, but flying King Kong-sized gorillas, well, that's new.

Not only are they flying giant gorillas, they come from a planetoid which has parked itself in Earth’s sky so the flying giant gorillas can steal our atmosphere. Atom bombs can’t stop them, so our scientists use fear gas* on them. What a crazy plot.

Script is by Gardner Fox. Fox wrote it for editor Julius Schwartz, who used high concepts when planning out stories for his magazines. It’s drawn by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, and it appeared originally in Strange Adventures #125 (1961). The striking cover is by Sid Greene.

I bought this issue of Strange Adventures when it came out. As goofy as the story is, and despite my love for gorilla-fiction, what I remember most about the comic were the full page ads that heralded Joe Kubert’s Hawkman and the first full-length Aquaman comic.

*There really is such a thing as fear gas, although that name implies that is the gas’s sole effect. It does a lot more damage than that. You can read about it here.

UPDATE: I found this incredible Chinese fireworks package  on the Design/Destroy website a few days after posting the story. I love a coincidence.

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Video2:

First I introduce myself. My name is Vicky. ya this is vicky again from jaipur,I am an Manager of a firm aged 27. I am a well built guy, wheatish in color. I always had the thirst for sex. Daily at night, I used to masturbate in my bed. I usually wear only shorts and sando at night. I dont wear any inners. My cock will always be free and feel the comfort of free air in my area. I have a seperate room, where no one can disturb me. So I am always free to play with my cock any time. I use every chance I had for enjoying my sexual pleasure. At night, I used to watch xx movies and free myself by removing my shorts and sando. I will be naked when i watch xx movies and enjoy masturbating several times. I use different things such as coconut oil, soap water for masturbation. Often I will be in home alone for several days together. As others in my home will be going to my native place very often. Next to my house is Mr. Patel’s house. He is of age 33. He is a nice man, very sincere to his work. I used to go to his house and we used to talk lot about my management wrk and other general matters. His wife Mrs.Pooja Patel is also a good lady of age 25. She is slim, good looking and of very fair complexion. They are north indians, shifted to our place some one year back. I always had the lust for Mrs.Pooja. But what to do she is married. If she is unmarried, I would have proposed her. She had such a pretty face and admirable assets. At morning, when I finish my exercise work-outs in the terrace of my house, I can see Mrs.Pooja cooking on the kitchen wearing her nighty. My cock will get hard as soon as I see her. But I will control myself. When she comes to the street to get milk from the milk-man, I too stand near the parapet wall and watch her beauty in nighty. I used to wonder Mr.Patel is very lucky to have such a beautiful wife. That week none was there in my house except me. I am going to be alone in home for 1 week since I had my college. I had my breakfast and lunch in the mess. At night I used to cook simple food for dinner. After which I will masturbate till late night and then go to sleep. Next day, a friend of mine gave me a xx cd and told me that the movie will be extremely horny. I was very eager to watch that movie. While I came back to home by Bike, my entire thought was about the movie. I came home at around 7pm. And closed the door inside. Put on the TV and inserted the cd into the player. I decided to cook food only after finishing the movie. It will run atleast for next 2hrs. The movie started… A muscular guy was running a plaything shop. A sexy girl wearing micro miniskirt entered the shop. I could see she didn’t wear any panty. Also her boobs will fall out if her dress is slightly pulled down. I became hot and unzipped my pants.
I took my cock out and also removed my shirt. I another few minutes, I was totally naked.The movie continued…..The sexy girl ordered a plaything. But the guy said that the thing she orderd is not available. But instead he said he can show some other play thing. Saying this he pulled his pants down and showed his cock to that girl. The girl also got excited and took his cock in her hands and put it in her mouth. I was terrifically aroused and was masturbating great. Suddenly, I could feel some movement at the window. Mrs.Pooja was standing there. She saw me watching her and took her head back. I was embarrased. I don’t know what to do. Quickly I put off the TV and wore my clothes. Then I heard the doorbell ringing. I raised up and opened the door. Mrs.Pooja was standing there with a cover. She gave that to me and said the postman dropped the letter in her house by mistake. I got it from her. But felt shy to see her face. Mrs.Pooja intendedly asked what I was doing. Initially I didn’t tell anything. But she said that she watched everything I was doing. I began sweating. By that time Mr.Patel called her back from his home and she urged back, but with a cunning smile at her lips. After she left, I was shouting at myself for masturbating with the windows opened. But what to do she had seen everything.

“The Executioner” has beautiful artwork, and a real feeling of the setting and time, Chicago, 1928. Russ Heath drew this violent crime tale.

The most jarring aspect of the tale is that it was published in Creepy magazine. Not that a stone killer isn’t creepy in his own right, but we expect more of the supernatural from that magazine. I assume Russ’s bona fides as one of the premier comic artists in the industry had something to do with its inclusion. Heath is credited with the story, although either he or the editor didn’t feel he was up to the task of dialogue, because they handed that to Cary Bates.

From Creepy #92 (1977):

Pappy’s enters its ninth year

July 26, 2006 was the day I launched this blog, and as I’ve said before, I did not intend for it to go on this long. The reason it does is because I can still find things that inspire me to share. I guess as long as that is the case, or until I cannot physically do it any longer, I believe I will keep doing what I have been doing.

I was told when I was a kid that I did not have the patience to complete projects, and my critics were right. I guess I grew out of that short attention span (and got on good meds). I managed to hold down the same job for 32 1/2 years before I retired, and I’ve been blogging on a regular schedule for a few years, so to all those people who said I could not do it, HAH! What a burner on you, huh? (Quoting Clark Bent to Lois Pain, from Mad #4.)

When I’ve had some time, I have been going back to my early posts to get rid of the connection I had to Photobucket in the early years. Blogger did not offer much free bandwidth in those days, and I figured I could make up for it by also using Photobucket. But I see there are some links that don’t work because I exceeded the space Photobucket made available to me. It has been a slow process re-doing the old posts, and for a time I was re-editing them. That is an advantage when using the Internet, where unlike print I can go back and change something that now embarrasses me. But after a few of those I thought why do it? If it is an egregious error I can fix it, but the everyday things I said back when this blog was young, embarrassing or not, are part of the record. Besides, I got lazy; it was too much trouble to fix it. Re-doing the old posts is a time consuming task, and I will work on it when I can, but for now if you encounter a dead link, just wait a couple of years. I might get around to fixing it.

A tip of the Pap cap to those readers who have stuck with me so far. Thank you!

"Comings and goings" is the theme of the month in DC Comics's October 2014 hardcover and trade paperback collections solicitations.

Not only does DC have six new series premiering in October, along with the launch of one more weekly series, but in trades we also see Gail Simone's last Batgirl trade, Jeff Lemire's last Animal Man trade, Ann Nocenti's last Catwoman trade, Scott Snyder and Jim Lee's first/last Superman Unchained trade, and Marc Andreyko's first Batwoman trade (which ties in to JH Williams and Hayden Blackman's last Batwoman trade). All this plus the Futures End: Five Years Later omnibus and "why do we need another Identity Crisis trade?" So belly up to the bar and I'll run down my picks:

• Futures End – Five Years Later Omnibus HC

I've soured a bit on these omnibus editions from DC; it's pretty cool to have, say, the entirety of DC One Million in one volume (still waiting on that Armageddon 2001 Omnibus, which I would buy immediately), but they are very heavy, and very unwieldy to sit and read. It remains to be seen, however, whether these "Five Years Later" issues will be collected with each series' individual trades or not. The "Villains Month" issues were not all collected except in the omnibus, but for most of those I figured that if it wasn't important enough to collect in a trade, it wasn't important enough for me to read.

Jury's still out on buying all the "Five Years Later" tie-in issues in one book, though; probably if DC would release a digital edition of these omnibuses, I might give it some additional thought.

• Batgirl Vol. 5: Deadline HC

Notable now that we know that this is indeed Gail Simone's last Batgirl collection. I'm hoping Gail's next "secret" project involves "six" characters ...

• Animal Man Vol. 5: Evolve Or Die! TP

Jeff Lemire's last Animal Man trade (going along with Gail Simone's last Batgirl trade), but I'm not taking it so hard given that Lemire is writing still writing Animal Man over in Justice League United.

• Catwoman Vol. 5: Race of Thieves TP

Collects issues #25 and #27-34, which might seem a little confusing, but issue #26 went with the "Gotham Underground" storyline, so it's in the previous volume. Here, issue #25 is the "Zero Year" tie-in, #27-28 are "Gothtopia" tie-ins, and then finally issues #29-33 or #34ish are the "Race of Outlaws" storyline. One of the perks of being a trade-waiter is that issue #25 now doesn't interrupt the previous storyline. Keeping with this month's theme, this is Ann Nocenti's final Catwoman trade.

• Superman – Action Comics Vol. 5: What Lies Beneath HC

What's most interesting in this collection of Action Comics #25-29 is that it also includes Secret Origins #1. I'm guessing this means the Superman origin story only, but I'll be curious to see if this keeps up and the Secret Origins stories end up in the individual characters' trades only, and not in dedicated Secret Origins collections.

• Batwoman Vol. 5: Webs TP

Webs collects Marc Andreyko's first issues on Batwoman (including a "Zero Year" tie-in) and also the Batwoman Annual #1, where Andreyko cleaned up some storylines left over from the previous team, JH Williams and Haden Blackman. I rather wish they'd included Batwoman Annual #1 with the old team's last trade, such to give a better sense of a completed story despite the goings-on behind the scenes, but maybe they wanted Vol. 4 to be the old team's alone.

• Superman Unchained Deluxe Edition HC

On various boards and such, I still see some confusion about this -- Superman Unchained Deluxe collects the entire 9-issue series, previously meant (perhaps) to be an ongoing around the Man of Steel movie, but "canceled" of sorts after nine issues when creators Scott Snyder and Jim Lee moved on to other projects. Still, I'm interested to read Snyder's take on Superman, and surely Jim Lee Superman art is nothing to sneeze at.

• Identity Crisis: Tenth Anniversary Edition HC

Brad Meltzer remains a big media name, but I'm befuddled by this one.

I have something of a love/hate relationship with Identity Crisis. I love the overall mystery, and I credit Identity Crisis with giving new life to a number of characters -- among them Deathstroke and Green Arrow -- in the lead-in to Green Lantern: Rebirth and the successful Infinite Crisis era of DC. Of course, at the same time Identity Crisis reflects some of the worse excesses of that era as well.

So, I acknowledge Identity Crisis as significant. But, I also acknowledge it as very much a product of its continuity moment, as opposed to something more timeless like Batman: Long Halloween or All-Star Superman.

Does Identity Crisis warrant a tenth-anniversary edition? Is this something anyone's marking, or is there a pent-up audience for this book waiting for a new edition? Obviously DC sees some money to be made here, but I'm surprised that there is.

• Batman Adventures Vol. 1 TP

It's not an anniversary for Batman: The Animated Series I don't think, but with Batman's 75th Anniversary, some new collectables, and this trade, it looks like the show is getting a renewed spotlight. Sure seems to me an animated-series digital comic, even with Paul Dini and Bruce Timm involved, would sell well.

• Tales of The Batman: Len Wein HC

Someone can let me know if there's notable issues in here, but I think it's auspicious to see a Batman volume spotlighting a writer rather than an artist. Again, I don't know the details of the stories exactly, but I imagine this trade jumps around less following a writer than some of the artist spotlight volumes that offer only parts of stories.

• Superman for All Seasons Deluxe Edition HC

One of my favorite Superman stories, and it's maybe a little astounding that it didn't have a deluxe edition before now. Surely DC could find some additional Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale material enough to make an Absolute for this one, no?

That's what I'm (maybe) getting, but what are you getting? Favorite trades for this month I might've left out or overlooked?

Hello friends, I am Naveen, 22 years old from Hyderabad. Let me tell u about my incident in my study days. I will not call this a relation but it just happened when I was 15 years old and studying for my S.S.C. I lived in Hyderabad and our family was very conservative and talking about sex was a taboo thing those time. Even the movies with a little exposing scenes my parents never allowed me to see. Frankly I never had much knowledge of sex at that time and the information was limited to the casual talks with friends and I never had the faintest of idea what all is done during sex. Yes I knew they kiss and caress and just how intercourse is done, but I had confusion and doubts about many things of sexual act. At that time my class teacher was the wife of my father's close friend in the office and they used to stay with in a km of our house. Our family was very close and we used to visit each other for social gathering. I think she was in her late 30's or early 40's and was not that sexy but an attractive lady. She had curly hairs, tall and had an attractive face. She was having good body shape and medium complexion. She had a very attractive smile and many times I just look at her face in the class and get lost in her. She was well mannered and good in teaching and all students listened to her in the class.



Since I was finding science a little difficult she told my mother she will help me with it and I used to go to her house for clearing my doubts. It went on for sometime and I got more attracted to her because I got a chance to see and interact with her closer. Some times other students also used to come to her house for tuition and we used to have joined classes also. But most of the time she took classes for me alone since I was not going for regular tuition and only for some lessons where I had doubt. She used to sit next to me and teach and many a time we made body contacts and she used to treat me as a child I felt. She used to give me snacks tea and all and we became closer than before. On a couple of occasion when I was alone with her in the house I saw her without saree, but with only blouse and petty coat and she was least hesitant to come near me like that. She used to come near me and lean forward with her elbow on the table to explain me and I got a glimpse of her cleavage. I only glanced on a couple of occasion thinking that what she will think if she notices but I could not resist doing so in between. Also when she was in petty coat while coming bath I could see the shadow of her legs through it and her back was very sensual with a small hip but well shaped. Sometimes she used to give some work and she will go for bath telling me to finish the exercise and after wards she will come and check it after she finishes the bath.


But this I noticed she did only when I was alone with her and she never did when other students are with her. At that time she will be properly dressed also. Then sexual thoughts started coming to my mind about her and one day I masturbated fantasizing her I got a unique pleasure at that time other than the normal days when I used to masturbate thinking of some other ladies in our neighborhood. But I was too scared to do anything further. Then one day she caught me glancing at her cleavage when we were alone while explaining me a lesson and she reacted to it sharply by covering it quickly and I felt very embarrassed and afraid. If my mother come to know about it I could not think what will happen and I really sweated. She then told me a little seriously that this is not the age for such things and concentrate on my studies and also only because it was me she was behaving so close and casual with me thinking I was a good mannered boy. And she is teaching me thinking I am serious about my studies and if I am not interested it studies and if my attention is going somewhere else she need not put those efforts. I really felt guilty, ashamed and bad. I told her sorry and apologized to her and requested her not to tell my mother and was really frightened. I could not concentrate on anything else and I told her to leave me early that day since I am upset and she did so without telling me anything further.


That night I could not sleep thinking how to face her again and next day I did not go telling I am not well. After two days she came to my house and I was too afraid an embarrassed to face her. But she behaved normally as if nothing happened and told me to come that afternoon and I agreed. I told I was not well for two days for which she smiled at me the meaning I and she only knew. I now was sure she will not tell my mom about it but she casually told my mother I have to improve my concentration in studies and smiled at me. I became nervous at that time but nothing more she told at that time. I went to her house that afternoon and she was alone. She taught me as if nothing happened and it went on for few days. I avoided looking at her except her face and that also only when required. Then our festival holidays started and she came one day to our house and asked my parents if I can stay for two nights in her house since her husband is going out of station for some work and her children had gone to her sisters place for holidays. Her husband had also mentioned this to my father and my parents were only too happy because she can help me with the studies. I was shocked a little how she can do such a thing but I now became clear she is not angry with me nor she does not have any mistrust on me.

I went to her house that night and it was raining heavily. She started teaching me and we took dinner and she started teaching me again. It was around 10pm we almost finished our study and she told me she want to talk to me for a while and she asked why I was glancing at her like that? I was taken aback and I did not reply she came near to me held my hand and told not to worry and she will not tell anyone and neither she had not told anyone about that incident. But I was nervous which she noticed, she put off the light in that room and came and sat near me holding my hand. She asked whether I was attracted sexually to her or just looked like that. Whether I read any sex book? Whether I had seen any lady naked? I really sweated and was speechless. She told it is normal to have such feelings and I don't have to worry but I should not lose interest in studies with such thoughts. And I should masturbate and relieve myself. She asked whether I masturbate and I told yes with much hesitation. She asked me why I am hesitating and it is a natural thing for boys especially and even girls do it which was a information for me. Then she asked the most embarrassing question to me that whether I think of her and masturbate?? I was shell shocked and told her no. But she raised my chin with her hand and told me to tell the truth and don't worry about it but she want a honest answer. I did not answer for long she persuaded again and again when I told yes I do. She gave a naughty smile and she asked what situation I fantasize? I just kept quiet I was too afraid what is happening but at the same time I felt the erection.

She held my hand and took me to her bedroom. She did not put on the light. But in the adjoined room the light was there and I could see her clearly even though like a shadow. She told me whether I want to see her breast, this time I could not believe it. She did not wait for my answer, she removed her saree and unhooked her blouse and held me close to her. I told no by reflex action. But she told why I don't want to see it? She told it is ok and only we both will know this. I got aroused and up till now I was craving to see a lady naked. She kept my hand on her breast and told me to feel it if I want. She unhooked her bra also and stood with a naughty smile. Then suddenly she started unbuttoning my shirt and she removed it and then she felt at my trousers and she felt my erection. She whispered in my ear that I am naughty and telling I did not want but was fully prepared for it. She removed my trousers and I just stood there shocked. She embraced me tightly pressing my erection on to her belly and in one action she removed her blouse, bra and petty coat. She was not wearing any panty and both of us was fully naked in the dark and she embraced me kissing and sucking my lips.

She asked me if I have any objection and I told no and I responded by holding her tight to me and moving my hand on her back and buttocks. For a moment I could not believe what was happening but suddenly I kissed her pressing my erection on her belly. I did not know what to do? But I was squeezing her belly, back, buttocks, thighs and where ever I can. She took my mouth to her breast and told me to suck it and lick on the nipples. She took my middle finger and guided to her vagina, it was hot and slippery and she was mourning and breathing heavily and stroking my penis. Suddenly she kneeled down and took my penis and started sucking it hard. I could not believe this and such things are done in sexual act. She was doing it so fast and hard holding me close to her mouth with one hand, I could not control for long and I ejaculated in her mouth all of a sudden, she sucked hard and hard catching with one of her hand and stroking it, I mourned loudly and every drop she took in her mouth. She went on sucking and I panted and pushed her mouth out since I did not have any stamina to withstand. I felt too shy to look at her. She took me to the bed and told me to lie down and we lied down for half and hour talking. She showed me some English sex book with photo illustrations and I could not believe such poses are done for sexual act. She again started talking erotically and started stroking my penis. She asked me whether I want to see her in the light. I told yes. She then asked me how long it take me to masturbate and I told less than 5mts.


Then she explained me how to do intercourse and how to satisfy women and I should try to hold more time without ejaculation to satisfy the women and all. I was surprised with all those information. She told me to fondle and caress the women a lot and do a lot of oral sex to arouse her and I was really amazed with all these. She then put on the dim light and told me to explore the body and we slowly slipped into love making under her guidance. I was thrilled and got my erection again she taught me how to guide it to the vagina, initially I had some trouble when my skin on the tip of my penis stretched and pained a little. She encouraged me and I got slowly wild and fast. I was kissing and sucking her lips, breast, caressing all over her body and the sight of her naked body made me mad I would say. Suddenly to my dismay she told she would now come on top, a total surprise for me. She came on top slowly inserted my erection into her hot and slippery vagina and started pumping sucking my lips and licking my face and told me to caress her buttocks and thighs and also to suck her breast. She went faster and faster and went on pumping so hard and talking all erotic stuff and finally fell down panting on my chest. It was really an experience and in the mean time I had ejaculated a second time.

We lied down there for sometime in each others embrace and then she took me to the bath room and cleaned me with dettoll and soap and told even if I get some itching don't worry but tell her, for the first time perhaps it may happen.

We had sex again in the morning and the subsequent night. Next day she told me not to go to any other lady for sex and don't get too much distracted because of this. When ever possible she will allow to do it with her. She made me promise not to go to any ladies nor tell anyone about it. She told lot of teenagers get distracted from studies because of curiosity for sex and since now I have experienced it I should not get into bad company or something. She told me to masturbate but not too much also and when ever I get too much urge tell her and she will try to have sex with her. But it did happen only once again and we never had a real opportunity again except to do oral sex, kiss and caress passionately on a few occasions. But I could never forget that experience in my life and still linger that in my mind. The first oral sex and my ejaculation in her mouth I remember even now sometimes and masturbate, even after my marriage. My wife never was able to give oral sex with such passion.

She had confessed to me, ten years later once we met alone in her house, she all of a sudden felt a lust for me after she noticed I was looking at her cleavage and she is not a bad character or sex maniac. She never had any feelings for me nor for any young boys till then and looked at me as her son only. It was only a spur of the moment action and she could not explain how this idea went into her. She apologized to me if it had hurt me but I told her that she was my perfect teacher and what she taught on that night was very useful for me to get out of my sexual desires and fantasies and I never felt the need to explore any other women, the thing I should have done if she had not done it. I know some of my friends who got into trouble experimenting with the maid servants and relatives. Since she was matured and she guided me to sex with such a perfection and without ill effects. I told I never had sex with any one else after that but I told I had fantasized her and masturbated a lot after that and it used to give me a unique pleasure. I told her I still fantasize her and masturbate. She told even though she talked harsh to me when she found I was looking at her cleavage she felt sorry for me afterwards since she knew I am a good mannered boy and slowly she felt like helping me in sex. She felt like feeling my curiosity and nervousness for sex and exploring her body and that is how it happened and once when she fantasized me while having sex with her husband she felt nice and this idea got into her.


She told she was wrong in doing so and had regretted a lot and had felt guilty for long thinking that it had hurt my feelings and I was forced to do it but I told I only enjoyed it and it only helped me and please do not have any guilty feelings. Telling this I just took her in my arms and kissed her so passionately which she never expected and I told to remove all of her guilty feelings for the last time we will have sex once again. She resisted it initially but I persuaded and I had a passionate sex with her after closing the doors and windows. It was afternoon, she was a little hesitant anyone will drop in by chance. But I was so passionate for her, we both became fully naked and had sex so violently and passionately. I t lasted for half an hour. I made her come on my top and she climaxed first and then I gave my penis in her mouth for oral sex and I climaxed ejaculating in her mouth by gyrating my hips violently and squeezing her breast so hard. I then told her we will not repeat it again. Now I meet her sometimes and she greets me with a naughty smile. And now I became very naughty and had a lot of experience and knowledge about sex. Dear sisters and aunties, if u r interested to have sex with me, u can mail me, and I hope that u had enjoyed my story, for any suggestions u can mail me, my mail id is alwayswithsmile_naveen@yahoo.co.in. Bye for now.